Hanging up my running shoes-Update on ZellyB

[girliea]

Get better ZellyB! Cutest pool puppy ever!

 

[Ariel484]

Noooo, not that knee again! You are smart to rest it, even though it stinks that you have to.

Can I come over and swim in your pool and play with your pup? Looks like you have an ideal set-up there!!

 

[ZellyB]

Get better ZellyB! Cutest pool puppy ever!

Thank you! He's a little sweetie and he loved hanging out by the pool.

Noooo, not that knee again! You are smart to rest it, even though it stinks that you have to.

Can I come over and swim in your pool and play with your pup? Looks like you have an ideal set-up there!!

Right on the knee? But, honestly, I've not let it fully heal and so I need to behave myself and get it legitimately better!

Come over any time. The pool temp this weekend was perfection.

 

[rteetz]

I hope that knee gets better!

Cute picture of your dog! We don't have a dog anymore. We also finally opened our pool but I haven't gone for a swim yet.

 

[ZellyB]

I hope that knee gets better!

Cute picture of your dog! We don't have a dog anymore. We also finally opened our pool but I haven't gone for a swim yet.

Thank you! That was my first time in the pool this year too. It was great!

 

[ZellyB]

TRIP PLANNING
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Since I'm not going to have a lot to update on with my running, how about I share some information about general trip planning? That's much more enjoyable than talking about injuries, right?

I have made some additional plans lately about the trip which is always fun and gets me so excited for the time to fly by until we get to be in sunny Orlando again. I had mentioned before that we rented out DVC points to stay at the Beach Club Villas for the first portion of our stay. I'm so excited about finally staying at a Deluxe resort at Disney and even more so that it will be at one of the Boardwalk hotels. I've always wanted to explore that area of Disney more and we just never have found the time. Most of our exploration has been limited to running through it at the end of a marathon. Beautiful.

The BCV rooms are in the process of a refurbishment that should be fully completed by the time we arrive, so the rooms should be in great shape. Even better, the studios are being redone in a way that will add a murphy bed along with the sofa bed to allow for an additional guest. Now, there are just 4 of us, but my daughters detest sharing a bed, so this will allow for one to sleep on the sofa bed and one on the murphy bed. That should help to keep them happy. Still 4 of us in one hotel room for 4 nights is more "together time" than we usually share, so I'm hoping we aren't all ready to kill each other by the end.

We are again planning to spend time at the Disney parks as well as time at Universal, so I need to plan on some accommodations for staying on-site at Universal. For those of you who don't know, Universal offers Express Pass entry for their rides to people who stay at certain Universal hotels. We used this last year when we went and it was so awesome to just be able to effectively Fastpass almost every ride without the hassle of planning it out 30-60 days in advance and only be allowed a limited number of them. It's an amazing perk!! There are three hotels that offer that perk so I've been debating which one to stay at and reading a lot on the FAQ threads about each resort here on the Dis. While researching, I found that each of these resorts offers a kids suite. This room has separate bedrooms for parents with a king size bed and a kids room with twin beds. We decided to splurge and book one of these rooms because we thought after the coziness of the suite at BCV, we would probably all appreciate some space. So, next I needed to decide which resort. We ultimately settled on the Hard Rock Hotel!! YAY!!! I thought the theme of that hotel would appeal to my soon to be 13 year olds and those kids suites have the unique trait of two separate shower/bath facilities which will be useful as well.

I went ahead and reserved even though the price made me gulp a bit. Who knows, I may chicken out on the splurge, but right now I'm thinking it will be pretty awesome.



So, the next piece to secure was transportation. We had reserved our BCV studio for a Thursday, January 5th arrival. That allows us ample time to hit up the expo before the first race on Saturday. My original thought was to fly Allegiant which flies into Tampa on Thursdays and we'd just rent a car for the drive to Orlando. I'd checked and was excited to see they finally had flights out for our dates. The prices were really good too. Around $225 roundtrip per person. Now, there are always some extra fees for luggage and such, but still that's a great price. I went to book the flights and discovered they changed the times of the flights and we wouldn't arrive in Tampa until like 10 PM. WHAT?!?! By the time we would drive to Disney that would mean a midnight arrival. I was so bummed. So, I started checking flights with other carriers and the prices were much higher from our hometown of Springfield. But, then I had a thought about driving up to Kansas City on Wednesday night and staying with Chris' parents or brother and then flying out from KC to Orlando. So, I checked flights and found some for almost exactly the same price leaving from KC and flying into MCO via Delta. Flying into MCO would let us use Magical Express and then we can decided to either rent a car later to get to Universal or use a shuttle or cab or whatever. So, flights are now booked and we arrive in Orlando at 1:19 PM which would allow us to enjoy our Thursday evening at Disney. Woohoo!!! While that means we need to drive up to KC, we were going to be driving from Tampa regardless, so it works out about the same on driving time, so I think it's a win.


All this planning and booking reservations makes me so excited for the trip. Sure hope the next 7 months go by quickly!!! Can't wait to be here again!!!

 

[rteetz]

Trip planning!!!

I love Beach Club especially for marathon weekend! You're going to have so much fun.

I've never done universal but do want to eventually.

 

[Ariel484]

Ahhh, your plans look great!

That's awesome that they are refurbing the villas - I stayed in a studio in 2012 for Marathon Weekend and I just remember it seemed a little worn and tired, which was annoying since I knew that the non-DVC rooms were so pretty. But that area is so great, so close to Epcot and DHS - the rides to/from the start and finish lines were pretty short. And definitely great news about them adding the murphy bed!

Kid suite sounds awesome! What a great idea. The express pass sounds totally worth it!

Such a great picture in front of the castle...have you thought about shirts for 2017 Goofy yet? Too soon?

 

[dancingtodisney]

HEY!!!!

So sorry to hear that you are injured... being injured SUCKS!!!! But what better way to cheer yourself up than to talk about Disney plans... YAH!

So jealous that you'll be staying at beach club villas... I'm hoping to stay there September 2017 on rented points as well but I also want to stay in the polly or GF so I need to decide haha

I've lots of catching up to do on your journal!! I'm off to read!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Oh man, I'm sorry about your knee still bothering you! I am sending you good, healing vibes!!! I'm sure your rest will do the magic your knee needs, and you will back up and running before too long.

Your plans sound sooooo fun! There really is nothing like planning a Disney trip to lift your spirits! Both BC and Hard Rock would be a splurge to me, and I say go for it! I'm sure your daughters will love it!

 

[roxymama]

Not the knee!!!! Sorry Zelly...throwing all the positive karma your way that I can muster.

I've never stayed at the Beach Club, but I honeymooned at the Yacht Club that whole resort area hits me in the feels! Excited for you and jealous too. Can't wait to hear how the Universal stay goes as well. I'm thinking by the time we go to WDW again for a long enough stay we will have a kid old enough to want to maybe check out all the Harry Potter stuff over there.

One of the most fun days we had during our honeymoon was we walked to the boardwalk bakery and had breakfast sitting on the tables outside and then rented a boat at the Yacht & Beach club rental area and just toodled around the lake area before going back to the hotel for swimming in the sand bottom pool and then ordering room service for lunch. It was a total do-nothing, but do-everything day. I don't know why I am sharing this...just being sentimental

 

[ZellyB]

Trip planning!!!

I love Beach Club especially for marathon weekend! You're going to have so much fun.

I've never done universal but do want to eventually.

I'm super happy about Beach club for the weekend. Hoping it will be especially good for my kiddos to be so close to two of the parks. You should really go to Universal. It's a very different type of park from Disney, but we really enjoy it. We are big Harry Potter fans though, so that certainly is part of the appeal for us.

Ahhh, your plans look great!

That's awesome that they are refurbing the villas - I stayed in a studio in 2012 for Marathon Weekend and I just remember it seemed a little worn and tired, which was annoying since I knew that the non-DVC rooms were so pretty. But that area is so great, so close to Epcot and DHS - the rides to/from the start and finish lines were pretty short. And definitely great news about them adding the murphy bed!

Kid suite sounds awesome! What a great idea. The express pass sounds totally worth it!

Such a great picture in front of the castle...have you thought about shirts for 2017 Goofy yet? Too soon?

Plans make me so happy. I'm really happy about the refurb too. I'd seen some recent pictures of BCV and thought it looked a bit worn, so it should be great to have a chance to stay in them so soon after they've been spruced up.

I'm struggling a bit on coming up with a good idea on shirts this year. I don't want to be repetitive from previous years. I've thought about going with a more classic homage to Donald on the half run (since it's his anniversary run and all) and then doing the custom shirt for marathon day. I keep hoping inspiration will strike, but so far...no so much.

HEY!!!!

So sorry to hear that you are injured... being injured SUCKS!!!! But what better way to cheer yourself up than to talk about Disney plans... YAH!

So jealous that you'll be staying at beach club villas... I'm hoping to stay there September 2017 on rented points as well but I also want to stay in the polly or GF so I need to decide haha

I've lots of catching up to do on your journal!! I'm off to read!

Hey! Being injured does suck. But, I'm making improvements which is great and making those plans totally cheered me up. The power of a Disney trip!! I looked at both Poly and GF as well as Bay Lake Tower, but ultimately decided I wanted to get a chance to spend time in the Boardwalk area and I love that you can just walk to Epcot in the evenings for dinner and then a nice walk back to the hotel. At least that's what I'm envisioning.

Oh man, I'm sorry about your knee still bothering you! I am sending you good, healing vibes!!! I'm sure your rest will do the magic your knee needs, and you will back up and running before too long.

Your plans sound sooooo fun! There really is nothing like planning a Disney trip to lift your spirits! Both BC and Hard Rock would be a splurge to me, and I say go for it! I'm sure your daughters will love it!

Thanks for your healing vibes. This darn knee has been quite the pesky injury. Luckily my rest seems to be paying off.

I'm sure at some point the cost of all these splurges will hit me, but I'm setting back money each week and then using that to pay for things, so luckily, paying it out little by little helps me not notice it as much. I just need to avoid adding it all up to keep the shock at bay.

Not the knee!!!! Sorry Zelly...throwing all the positive karma your way that I can muster.

I've never stayed at the Beach Club, but I honeymooned at the Yacht Club that whole resort area hits me in the feels! Excited for you and jealous too. Can't wait to hear how the Universal stay goes as well. I'm thinking by the time we go to WDW again for a long enough stay we will have a kid old enough to want to maybe check out all the Harry Potter stuff over there.

One of the most fun days we had during our honeymoon was we walked to the boardwalk bakery and had breakfast sitting on the tables outside and then rented a boat at the Yacht & Beach club rental area and just toodled around the lake area before going back to the hotel for swimming in the sand bottom pool and then ordering room service for lunch. It was a total do-nothing, but do-everything day. I don't know why I am sharing this...just being sentimental

Thanks for the positive karma! I'll take all I can get!!!

My kids were totally smitten with Diagon Alley when we went the last time. I'm sure your kiddo will love it when she is older.

That sounds like a perfect way to spend a morning. I'll have to check out the boat rental thing. We are, per usual, cramming our days pretty full, but I really want to fit in a day that is more relaxing as well. Thanks for sharing. I'm a sucker for sentiment!

 

[ZellyB]

TRAINING WEEK 5/30 - 6/4
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No training all week.

I decided I wasn't even going to go lift (even though I could focus on the upper body), but I just decided if I'm resting, then I'm going to rest everything. I'm just bummed to be missing out right now so can't even get the energy or desire to do anything. Blech.

BUT - on a good note, my knee is feeling MUCH better. Ever since I hurt it, even when it wasn't bad, I was always aware of some twinges in there and just some mild discomfort. While that is still there sometimes, I noticed on a couple of days there were times it actually felt completely normal and I didn't even think about it. YAY!!! So, the plan is to take this week off again, but I'll plan to do our long Galloway run on Saturday. That's just short of two weeks, but Chris is working on his doctoral program and he has a residency course that has an all-day session on Saturday (seriously???), so he can't be there to lead our group. I'm really optimistic that I'll be doing well by then. If for some reason I feel like it's a risk though, I'll just have to tell our group leader that she'll need to combine our group with another one until we can get back to it.

Chris' training is going really well for his 50K though. This was his last long weekend of running, so he did 24 miles on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. They did the 24 on the trail where the race is run, so he has a good idea of what he is in for. I'm really proud of him. He's had to put in some really long tough runs and some of those have been solo and he's done a great job. I'm planning to go our and cheer him on once we finish up our Galloway run that day.

After the excitement of my planning stuff last week, there's not much more to say today, so here's another RDP for you while we dream of January...

Our first family trip to Disney. Waiting for Fantasmic to start. Where did all my little babies go???

 

[Ariel484]

That picture is soooo adorable! So glad to hear that you are feeling some improvement - I think you are smart to "totally" rest up.

Costumes for the half...you could be Daisy and Chris could be Donald?! I know that's not creative at all...

 

[rteetz]

Great picture of you guys!

It probably sucks not training at all but it's better to be all healthy then not to be. Awesome job to Chris for training for the 50K!

 

[ZellyB]

That picture is soooo adorable! So glad to hear that you are feeling some improvement - I think you are smart to "totally" rest up.

Costumes for the half...you could be Daisy and Chris could be Donald?! I know that's not creative at all...

We actually have been thinking about Daisy and Donald for the half. I bought a white linen sparkle skirt with that thought in mind. But, it's impossible to find white men's running shorts with compression shorts underneath. But, I guess we could just pretend that Chris' version of Donald doesn't run around bottomless.

Great picture of you guys!

It probably sucks not training at all but it's better to be all healthy then not to be. Awesome job to Chris for training for the 50K!

Thank you!!! I love that picture too and you almost can't tell that we were all melting in the July heat!!!

 

[girliea]

Love the picture Zelly! And even though your kiddos have grown, u and Chris look the same-how ever did y'all do that?!?

 

[ZellyB]

Love the picture Zelly! And even though your kiddos have grown, u and Chris look the same-how ever did y'all do that?!?

Aw thanks! I know that's not true, but I appreciate it anyway.

 

[ZellyB]

DID YOU MISS ME???

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Hey, y'all. I haven't done an update in a bit because I've been moping over my ridiculous knee injury. But, I've gotten some new information and I hope a new plan to try and get back on track, as well as an exciting update on Chris and his 50K!! So, buckle up and here we go.

On my last update, I think I mentioned that after two weeks off, I was planning to go out to lead our Fuchsia group for a run while Chris was in a class. My knee was feeling okay (although still not normal), so I was hoping for a decent run. There were only a few of us in our group and it was a hot day. Our average temps have been in the 90s with high humidity for almost two weeks now. It's crazy!!! We don't typically see a run of temps like that until we get into August. It's not fun running in that at all.

Anyway, we headed out and I was feeling pretty good, but I was definitely aware of my knee. We were managing an average pace of around 10:45 for the first 4 miles and then we headed out on our second loop. Once we started on the second loop, I was just becoming more and more concerned about my knee and how it was feeling, so around 4 and a half miles, I gave the directions for the finish of the run to my other group members and walked back to my car. I was feeling pretty down and out at this point. Just seeing all my plans for marathon maniac status, a sub-5 marathon and maybe even a fun, successful Goofy run going down the tubes. I decided while trudging back that I needed to go to the doctor and at least make sure if there was an actual injury in there or if I'm just finding tendonitis and figure out how to fix it. While walking back, I saw our group leader as well and told her my plans. She recommended a sports medicine place that also does some chiropractic stuff and said they had helped her a lot in the past and to consider them.

My knee was okay through the rest of the weekend, just stiff and a little painful. On Monday morning, I called and got an appointment to see my primary care doctor. She did a pretty thorough exam and really felt it was classic runner's knee, but also ordered an x-ray just to be sure. I work at the hospital where they did the x-ray, so I checked out the preliminary report (they do let us look at our own medical records electronically) and no obvious injuries to the bones or soft tissue. So, I felt like that was good news for me. My doctor also referred me for PT and to take some pretty high does of naproxen for a couple of weeks.

I did get a call from PT to schedule, but I don't think I'm going to do it. I think PT is very helpful and I need to do some things, but it's also really expensive and having done PT before, I can honestly look up the appropriate exercises and do them on my own. Maybe I shouldn't, but I plan to anyway. I'm also going to contact the sports medicine/chiropractic place and give them a try. I'm going to try and rework a schedule for training and see if I can work out some lower miles to start easing back into things. I may have to jettison my plan for marathon maniac status for this year and just drop back to the half for our local in the fall and then work out a mileage schedule to have me ready for Goofy.

So, after all that gloom and doom, I am so happy to say that Chris ran his 50K this weekend and did a fantastic job!!! It was ridiculously hot and humid on the run, but he was so strong. He was hoping to finish just under 6 hours, but instead I think ended up around 6:20 or so, but considering the conditions and that this was his first 50K, he was a rock star!!! I was stationed near one of the aid stations, so I got to see him three times on the run as well as at the finish. He killed it and all the hard work and training he put in really showed.

I can also say that after watching him run it, I still have ZERO desire to run anything beyond 26.2 in a single day. So, that's it folks. Sorry for the big block of text and I'll try to put some more photos and upbeat info in the next update!!

​

 

[rteetz]

Oh boy, I'm really hoping your knee gets better! I'm glad you went to the doctor and found out exactly what is going on though. I hope you'll be back and healed up soon.

Congrats to Chrison the 50K! Yeah that's something I have no desire to do either. I'll do dopey and see how that goes but a 50K just seems like too much for me.