i want adventure in the great wide somewhere - running journal! (comments welcome)

[DopeyBadger]

And then when we came out of Magic Kingdom we saw Tink and her... sister?

Fraternal twin sister, Periwinkle. I’ve watched too many Tinker Bell movies…

 

[xjillianpaige]

Fraternal twin sister, Periwinkle. I’ve watched too many Tinker Bell movies…

Running AND Tinkerbell expert. The man does it all.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Ya'll came for the running, stayed for the books.

I LOVE how many of us are also avid readers.

As we're coming up to the finish chute... well... it was the most beautiful moment. THEY WERE PLAYING ANTI-HERO BY TAYLOR SWIFT.

excuse me WHAT!!!

Fraternal twin sister, Periwinkle. I’ve watched too many Tinker Bell movies…

Adding this to your list of expertises… I laughed out loud when I saw this post.

 

[xjillianpaige]

I LOVE how many of us are also avid readers.

excuse me WHAT!!!

Adding this to your list of expertises… I laughed out loud when I saw this post.

1. So many readers! I love it
2. YES! ANTI HERO! Not at all 90s. Purely Swift.
3. I also LOLed

 

[xjillianpaige]

Dopey Challenge 2023 Race Recap Post #5
Day 6: Marathon​

How is it that we've woken up 4 days in a row and we're not even halfway done with the mileage? I gotta be honest, before running Dopey, I never even thought about how many miles you really run and how it takes 2 miles in to the marathon to actually be halfway there. It's not on day 2. It's well after day 4 has started.

Anyway, welcome to day 4. Another early morning and more glitter. This time, Jenna, Eric and I were running. Eric as Powerline and Jenna and I as Lizzie and Isabella from The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Even down to the microphone (which I tossed before we hit a quarter mile. Jenna was Lizzie (blonde) and I was Isabella (brunette) so she wore purple and I had green.

We managed to get these perfect colored tank tops/shirts/skirts. Jenna made the vinyls.



Alex drove us to EPCOT after we got ready. Bridget and Tara were sleeping in for a bit before going to Animal Kingdom with Bridget's family. We headed to the start line/corral and Alex went to the monorail so she could head to Magic Kingdom. The plan was not for us to see her there, she just wanted to go there while it was dark and hang out before she went over to the Grand Floridian for breakfast and to see us at around the halfway point.

While she was doing that, we were sitting in the corral, wrapped in throwaway sweatshirts and the mylar blankets runDisney gave out at the finish line of the half. My fuel plan was really solid. A bowl of cereal when first waking up, an uncrustable when arriving to the corral, and a second uncrustable right before we started.

But then the nerves kicked in and I felt so nauseous I couldn't even imagine taking a bite of the second uncrustable. I ended up tossing it to the side as we began walking to the start line. We were at the front of C again and were surrounded by other Dopey runners.

We crossed the finish line and started our run! The list of characters had been leaked so that helped us plan. I wanted to meet Belle and Eric wanted to meet Powerline (who ended up not being out there). Our plan was to stick with the 1:1 that we had done the day before instead of increasing to 1:30 to 1 (which is what Jenna was training at).

The first 2 miles are highway and parking lot. I had my first fuel at mile 2 since I had struggled to have my pre-race fuel. And right before mile 3 (maybe around 2.5) I jumped some shrubs and went to the bathroom. Right after I finished doing that, they had a cast member standing where everyone was leaving the course for the bathroom so the line was gone. Back on the course and we hit mile 3 in EPCOT.

​

Epcot was quick, and we hit mile 4 back outside near the starting corrals. They were already breaking them down - it was wild to see. Back onto the highway and mile 5 means we are on the way to the Magic Kingdom.

Somewhere in here, maybe right after mile 1 is where I saw Belle and stopped for a photo.

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She was so cute! Love the winter outfit. It was pretty chilly, I threw my throwaway back on. I can't remember when that got tossed. Maybe around mile 2?

Not much to report in mile 6 and 7. It's a highway. It's boring. When we got to the Magic Kingdom parking lot entrance (the one you drive through and we had run through the day before) we fondly remembered last year when we were spotted by my cousin Jeffrey and his girlfriend Hannah while they were on the monorail to MK.

We ran through the parking lot, then the ticket and transportation center. No bathroom stop here. Not this time.

As we neared the Contemporary, we walked up that crappy hill. We also discovered that... we run under WATER there? Jenna and I thought we were hallucinating a whole boat going above our heads. But there it was, the channel between Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon (thanks to my map for showing me). On we go now to my favorite view... Space Mountain!

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Jenna and Eric were a little ahead of me when I stopped for this photo so I ran a little faster (a lot faster) to catch up to them.

Ok.. quick back story. My dad had one friend running the marathon and another spectating. My dad was texting me updates and said Kristin was not far behind me. I was also trying to connect with Brenda, and she had texted to let me know her location on Main Street. Confession time. I had no idea what Brenda looked like. I've met her, sure, but couldn't pick her out of a line up. So, I'm coming into Magic Kingdom now and am looking in the crowd for Brenda, hoping that when I get near the store that she's outside of, she'll recognize me and call my name.

Well, I found someone named Brenda in the crowd... but it was MY MOM (AND DAD). THEY SURPRISED ME. Totally had me fooled! I had no idea they were coming down. They had flown in on Saturday night and were leaving Monday morning. Stayed at Pop Century. I saw them and literally screamed and burst into tears, then ran clear across the course and into their arms. Jenna realized what was going on and snapped this photo:

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It was so cool. So incredible. We didn't stay long because Eric and Jenna were a bit anxious about the balloon ladies (we were fine). So we kept moving and we let Alex know about the surprise. I connected my parents in case they wanted to hang at the finish together.

​

God I love that sight. We did our thing here, running a bit and walking a bit. We left Magic Kingdom and started going past the resorts. This is where Alex was and we stopped to refill water, take some Tylenol, and grab some more fuel. I should have given her a sandwich for me to eat. While we were stopped, Jenna and Alex's friend passed us. She had been feeling super nauseous all morning and we weren't sure if she would finish. Turns out she just needed to puke and was feeling better. We didn't know this, though, and Eric panicked that someone who was supposed to be so far behind us had caught up to us. I knew we were fine, though, and would catch her, so I was insistent that I could finish filling my water bottle.

Moving on... I was still feeling good. The sun was fully up now and it was getting warmer but it was not even close to as warm as it was the year before or during any of the Princess half marathons I've done. This part also all feels so long because it's just highway and backstage roads. We did stop somewhere between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom because the Powerline meet and greet was here. Except... it wasn't Powerline. It was Max and Goofy hanging out to the music of Powerline. It was actually very cool as they did the choreography from the movie and runDisney used a photo of Eric with Max and Goofy in their Facebook post from the race.

Anyway, e finally made it to the road that brings us into Animal Kingdom and I taught my friends this mantra:

"I will not panic if the roads are empty when I leave Animal Kingdom." Last year was really traumatizing, to be honest, when we left Animal Kingdom and the water/powerade tables were starting to break down and there was no one going into the park. But we finished last year when that happened and we would finish this year.

Not going to lie, I was really struggling here. My stomach was all sorts of off. My fuel was great and I felt like it was fueling me the way it needed to, but my stomach was just bad. It hadn't been great all week, culminating in today. So as we entered the park I made it very clear that I needed a bathroom and quickly. So I went to the bathroom near the bird show.

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We left the bathroom and came around toward Everest and saw Bridget, Tara and the family! It was so good to have familiar faces in each of the parks. We didn't stop for anything more than a high five and made our way through Asia and Dinoland where... Eric decided he needed the bathroom. Also this next picture... that's the face of a woman who feels 100x better.

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Back out the way we came, and, as predicted, people were not going into the park and water/gatorade was beginning to break down. I repeated my mantra and we kept going.

As we ran the highway to Blizzard Beach, I was gassed. Now, I don't know what did me in. Maybe it's the heat? My feet were KILLING me. My lungs and muscles were fine, it was just my feet. I honestly thing in the heat my feet swell and that's the problem, so I'm going to look into compression socks for future marathons (particularly warm ones). I wanted to quit along here and walk the rest, but Jenna encouraged me to hit the mile 20 marker.

So we hit that marker and start walking. Eric wanted to continue. He gets antsy and, quite frankly, annoying. So he went off on his own and Jenna and I started walking. We got to Blizzard Beach and let's celebrate that we didn't need a single med tent as opposed to last year's 3. No blisters!

Remember, I wasn't stopping my watch so I hit mile 22 in the blizzard beach parking lot, a whole mile ahead of the actual mile marker. We began to walk and a pace group caught up to us. They were doing 15:30 so we decided to join them for as long as we could. We ended up staying with them all the way to EPCOT.

But let's rewind. We made it to Hollywood Studios where we were in the park for all of 15 seconds but... guess what... another familiar face! Emily and her family were there so they came to see us as we left through the backstage are next to Beauty and the Beast. It was nice to see more friends cheering.

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We were still with the pace group and did our best to stay with them through the very crowded path from HS to EPCOT. There were some faster runners coming by us who were definitely annoyed, but there is only so much folks can do on that path.

We got to the boardwalk and back into EPCOT for the final time. We were still with the pace group, but the adrenaline of being almost done caused Jenna and I to speed up, so we began to sort of do our own thing? I don't even know what we were doing with intervals now. No margarita this time. I wanted to be done and we had a celebration planned for at night. All the way through thee World Showcase and back out the same way as we finished every other morning.

A sprint to the finish and...

 

[xjillianpaige]

DONE
​

 

[Naomeri]

It’s been almost 20 years since the Lizzie Maguire movie came out, and I think I just got the song out of my head last month, and now it’s back again—thanks to you!

Great job and great recap—that’s so awesome that your parents surprised you like that!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Well, I found someone named Brenda in the crowd... but it was MY MOM (AND DAD). THEY SURPRISED ME. Totally had me fooled! I had no idea they were coming down. They had flown in on Saturday night and were leaving Monday morning. Stayed at Pop Century. I saw them and literally screamed and burst into tears, then ran clear across the course and into their arms. Jenna realized what was going on and snapped this photo:

That's pretty cool. Literally "what dreams are made of..."

Congrats on the races and a wonderful recap!

 

[xjillianpaige]

It’s been almost 20 years since the Lizzie Maguire movie came out, and I think I just got the song out of my head last month, and now it’s back again—thanks to you!

Great job and great recap—that’s so awesome that your parents surprised you like that!

You're welcome!

View attachment 737159

That's pretty cool. Literally "what dreams are made of..."

Congrats on the races and a wonderful recap!

That's definitely what dreams are made of. What's funny is that a few people commented on our shirts, but one person said we had it wrong. the marathon was what "nightmares" were made of.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Way to go girl!!!!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Providence Half Marathon Training Journal​

Excuse this brief trip report interruption while I do a quick review of the past few weeks! Yep - I'm running again. Took two weeks off and felt good so decided to get back to it.

In other exciting news... I'm officially working with a coach! Carmela is my club's coach and runs the track programs that I've participated in. She's always been a major champion of mine and so encouraging, coaching me without officially coaching me. If Boston was on the agenda, she would have been the one I asked to coach me, so I decided to bite the bullet and have her start now! So the first goal is a sub 2:20 half marathon in Providence this spring.

The past two weeks have not been part of the official training plan, just me getting out there to make sure I was ready to start with Carmela. Here's what I did:

January 21: 3.01 miles • 32:44 • 10:52 avg pace
My return to Tuesday nights. It had just snowed so sidewalks weren't great. We did loops in the neighborhood near the restaurant. Everyone else had 4 miles so I scooted back a few laps before them and stretched a bit while I waited for everyone else to get back. Used my Runkeeper to track since my watch was dead.

January 28: 5.01 miles • 55:38 • 11:06 avg pace.
Five miles felt like the right place to start for a first "long" run after the marathon. I met everyone at the group run and ran with Ellen so we could catch up since it had been a few weeks since we saw each other. Runkeeper again since I went to start my watch and it said no more room for activities! I needed to clear my watch.

January 31: 4.00 miles • 43:24 • 10:51 avg pace
Okay, finally have my watch again. Tuesday night and much clearer than last week. I felt really good and it's wild how much we sped up at the end. The first mile was 11:18 and the last one was 10:40.

February 2: 4.00 miles • 42:39 • 10:40 avg pace
I showed up on Thursday morning with no plan so Kristin told me we were running 4. I didn't have a choice. It was a really pretty sunrise this morning. And even faster than Tuesday night. The first mile was 10:59 and the last was 10:26. Again, I felt pretty good. After we ran I ended up sitting with Carmela to discuss the plan and my goals. I'm so excited to start with her this week!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Way to go girl!!!!

This time next year I'll be reading your race report and celebrating your finish!!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Dopey Challenge 2023 Race Recap Post #6
Day 6: Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue​

Hello from my dining room. I'm home sick from work today, so decided that I would do a little trip report update. I was supposed to have my first speed workout with my coach yesterday, but instead I dipped out of work since I was sneezing and sniffling and my nose was running like crazy. Coach said "we don't train through illness" and moved the workout to next Tuesday.

But enough about that, you'll see more of that stuff as I give you half marathon updates. Let's talk about sangria.

So, I left you with us finishing the marathon and the DOPEY CHALLENGE. Holy cow. I will never do that again. Unless, of course, someone convinces me to.

We took our finisher photos and limped our way to the car so Alex could drive us home. I don't remember much at this point. I might have had a snack of some sort? I definitely took a shower. And then the plan was for everyone to nap. I had the most false sense of confidence that I didn't need a nap, so I brought my pillow and a blanket out to the living room so I could read.

Guys, I never even turned my kindle on. Alex began to do some laundry and legend states that she asked me if I had my tide pen. I responded, "What?" Then when she turned the corner to clarify or restate her question, I was out cold on the couch.

Jokes on me. I have zero recollection of this exchange. So we all took our naps and then woke up because we had to rally for the hoop-dee-doo musical revue!

Backstory that I don't know whether or not I told you... Alex and Jenna requested to do this dinner and a show MONTHS before the trip. And I said I was down without doing any research. I then proceeded to call it the "Howdy Doo Revue" in every planning meeting leading up to the trip. Finally, I had to do some googling to find out where it was and I learned that it was not, in fact, called the HowdyDoo Revue but was actually the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. When I shared this revelation with my friends they told me that they thought I knew and that I had been doing a bit for months.

Nope, not me being hilarious. Me being dumb. Anyway, now we all call it Howdy Doo.

OK SO. We wake up and I find that while we were napping Alex did a liquor run and picked up tequila, high noons, and other accoutrements for us to pregame with. We all got dressed and ready and did a shot before calling the uber to come pick us up.

​

There was a very minor snafu where our driver took us to the wrong Wilderness Lodge, but luckily the gentleman at the gate was able to direct him to the Wilderness Campgrounds across the street. We waited at the bus stop and it brought us alllll the way to the back of the campgrounds where the show was. We somehow managed to time this perfectly so as we were on the bus the fireworks at Magic Kingdom were going off. Our bus driver told us that the view got even better further up and she was right. It was so gorgeous. I love fireworks when they're quiet. Also, this bus driver was A+ 10/10 because she warned us whenever she was turning the lights on.

I thought we would be late, but luckily we were not late. We checked in and got into the line to enter. And this is where the fun begins.

We mostly chose this place because of the BOTTOMLESS SANGRIA. Yes. You heard that right. Bottomless. Unlimited. All I care to drink.

There was a little confusion at first because the menu mentioned something about a two-drink limit... but that was not the case. Never fear. It was truly unlimited. I wish I had pictures of the food but we were HUNGRY and dove right in. When we were seated there was salad, coleslaw, and corn bread already on the table. Listen, I want to MARRY that corn bread. Phenomenal. Flavorful and warm and moist (sorry).

Our incredible server got out drink orders (sangria all around, except for Eric who had a beer) and brought us our glasses.

He brought me two.

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And the next time he came to check on us, Alex asked for the pitchers and to keep them coming. And boy did he deliver.

Quick sidenote on our seats: I think we paid for the cheap seats... I figured we'd be in a balcony and little away from the action. Nope. We were on the first floor, toward the back, center of the room and we had a fantastic view. So either I got played and we paid more money for this dinner show than I realized or some of the cheap seats are really good.

Ok, back to the food. The main dishes were fried chicken and ribs with sides of macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and beans. Jenna is pescatarian so they brought her salmon.

I had a piece of fried chicken. I don't eat ribs so I skipped those. The fried chicken was REALLY good but my stomach struggles after a marathon so I chose to load up on the mashed potatoes, mac'n'cheese, and corn bread. I love good Boston Baked Beans... these were not it so I skipped those after having a taste.

The musical numbers were so much fun! Major talent in the cast of Pioneer Hall Players. And the grand finale (served after dessert which was a strawberry shortcake as big as my head) was so much fun as they brought out washboards for us to join in on the noise - I mean music! - making.

We all got prettttyyyyy drunk (except Eric) but I did not get drunk enough to be hungover. I did not need that energy in my life. We waited in a pretty long line for the bus back to the front of the campgrounds and then called our uber home. AND GUESS WHAT! IT WAS THE SAME GUY!

Ok bye see ya next time.

 

[azrivest]

Love this recap.

Dunno how you managed. After running a marathon, I would have been out cold after just the one shot

 

[jmasgat]

Oh to be young.....I can't imagine even going out in the evening--forget having run a marathon. (The drinking part I would just do in my room!) Am even more impressed that you napped and were able to move after that.

What a great experience with your friends.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Unlimited sangria sounds like a good thing!!!!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We've done the luau, but never Howdy Doo We just honestly weren't sure if we would enjoy it, but it sounds like the food and drinks would definitely be worth it even if we don't love the show.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Love this recap.

Dunno how you managed. After running a marathon, I would have been out cold after just the one shot

Thank you! I also don't know how we managed.

Oh to be young.....I can't imagine even going out in the evening--forget having run a marathon. (The drinking part I would just do in my room!) Am even more impressed that you napped and were able to move after that.

What a great experience with your friends.

My training is primarily focused on being able to function after a run.

Unlimited sangria sounds like a good thing!!!!

It is!

We've done the luau, but never Howdy Doo We just honestly weren't sure if we would enjoy it, but it sounds like the food and drinks would definitely be worth it even if we don't love the show.

I've never done the luau! Where is that? The show itself wasn't super long and was split up between courses. Maybe only 45 minutes to an hour of actual show?

 

[xjillianpaige]

Providence Half Marathon Training Journal​

What. A. Week. I officially started with Carmela on Sunday, then Tuesday I had my first workout and I was sick and had to leave work so we moved that run to this coming week. Then on Friday my car was totaled (I'm okay) and I ran my little workout on Saturday. Yeah. A week.

February 5: 5.00 miles • 58:39 • 11:44 avg pace
Easy Sunday run. My first official assignment! Went to the bike path and timed my run so I would finish around the same time as a few friends so we could get breakfast at a nearby diner. The goal pace was between 11:47 and 12:55. My actual pace was 11:44 (splits: 11:55, 11:41, 11:45, 11:50, 11:29). It was hard to run easy! Had to focus on keeping my pace down and not just let my legs carry me because I kept speeding up.

February 9: 4.00 miles • 43:39 • 10:55 avg pace.
Easy Thursday run. My pace should have been the same as Sunday's goal pace, but I ran with the group and so I kept pace with them. Obviously too fast the whole time (splits: 11:18, 10:534, 10:48, 10:40).

February 11: 7.01 miles • 1:19:58 • 11:24 avg pace
Saturday quality session (workout). My workout was 1 mile warm up, 2 miles easy, 2 miles marathon pace (11:40), 1 mile easy, 1 mile cool down. Splits: 11:09, 12:01, 11:35, 11:21, 11:19, 11:37, 10:49. For the warm up and cool down I just let my legs carry me. Then I had to really focus on slowing down for the easy miles. When my watch buzzed for the marathon pace miles I got excited and started going really fast, like hitting low 10's, so again I had to consciously slow down. The switch from the easy to the marathon pace is much more subtle than I thought it would be. Cool down, again, I just let my mind wander and ran and was ready to be done so went pretty quickly. Carmela was happy with my run, especially considering the accident Friday. I felt great and really grateful to be able to run.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I've never done the luau! Where is that? The show itself wasn't super long and was split up between courses. Maybe only 45 minutes to an hour of actual show?

It was at the Polynesian, on the Grand Floridian side of the boat launch. That was in 2012. We really enjoyed the show and the food there.

Edited to add that it looks like the luau was discontinued last year to make room for the new Polynesian DVC construction.