In Every Run That Must Be Done; There is an Element of Fun (comments welcome)

Wine & Dine 10K

Well, I can now join the club of people who have experienced a runDisney bus snafu. My bus driver from CSR thought he was driving a car and went to the parking lot 🙄🙄 This was after it took forever (like 10 minutes) to get a bus order to the Casitas stop because they were all stacked up at the tower. So I didn’t have as much time before the corrals opened and I chose to get a picture with Lilo instead of hanging around for a Dis meetup.

I’m sad Stitch slipped down off my shoulder in this pic, and that I’m an idiot and did the hand thing backwards 😄😄
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My feet were really sore in the beginning of the race, and my left achilles was sore. And I forgot that the highway miles were first today, so I didn’t have my music or intervals going, and then I had issues getting the interval alerts. I finally kind of got in the groove, but I was still struggling a bit. By the time I got to Mickey’s line, I was ready for a break, so I hopped in. The 20 minutes I was there really gave me a breather and I was ready to run again. Since I stopped for Mickey during the race, I had to wait for Minnie afterward, but thankfully she was relatively quick.
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I was really feeling good as we hit Hollywood Studios, and Stitch and I managed to get a not-terrible selfie at RNRC
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Now that we were in the parks, we had Photo Pass people to smile for. It also meant people started acting more annoying than usual. People with wings and capes need to be more conscientious of the people behind them before they flutter them around, and everyone needs to not cut in front of people at the last minute. I still managed to get some shots, but a few had to be cropped a little tight because of the aforementioned cape and wing people.
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The evil path was reasonably not horrible today, but I’m sure it will be dreadful tomorrow. I stopped for Chip & Dale in Epcot because I will always stop for Chip & Dale.
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I was almost finished, just coming to the bridge from World Showcase to Future World when 7am hit and I needed to stop to get my lightning lane for Flight of Passage. But the #@$*%! Disney app wouldn’t let me log in with out a code from my email and that was hard to access on my phone and it took like 5 minutes, and I didn’t pause my watch for all of it because it should’ve taken just a second to do and I’d planned to just walk slowly (all the way on the right hand edge, out of everyone’s way, like a courteous runner). Once I got it purchased, and actually got a perfect time slot, I got going again, only to be immediately annoyed by people cutting in front of me for pictures. The photographer actually caught my “running b**** face” in the background of someone else’s picture, as well as this look of annoyance/determination when I decided to find a hole and blast through it:
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A few more annoying people as I ran through the last bit of the race, including people who stopped in front of the finish line cameras so I didn’t get a nice frontal shot, even though I made sure I was finishing in a nice big gap. Honestly, some of these people are lucky I actually pay attention to where I’m going, otherwise I might barrel right into them. I got my medal and my bag, and switched into my comfy shoes (best feeling ever). Then I bought a chocolate muffin for breakfast and ate it while I waited for Minnie. Then back to CSR to get cleaned up. I got a hot shower today because I finally remembered that the water controls here are counter-intuitive—you have to turn the know into the blue dots to get hot water, not the red.

After that, I headed to AK for my favorite ride: Flight of Passage. It never gets old, and the water spritzer was refreshing. I do wonder if they’ll do up some new scenes after the new movie(s) come out. It would be really cool if they had different scenarios running like they do at Star Tours. I zipped through the single rider line for Everest, and had an early lunch at Restaurantosaurus. I browsed the shops and then went back to the resort since it was too early to hop anywhere (that rule really needs to change to noon) and too early for the meetup.

Later, I used the AK bus to transfer to Beach Club and that was just a disaster because the BC bus never showed up, and they had to use a floater. Once I finally got there, it was great to hang out with everyone and talk. Now I’m back in my room, enjoying my annual Fifth of November viewing of V For Vendetta. Not even a Disney trip or a need for sleep will deter me.
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2022 workout data to date: 299h 50m 54s of exercise; 126,053 active calories burned; 153,706 total calories burned
 
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That last picture made me laugh with you so perfectly in focus with your look of annoyed determination and the lady in front of you smiling for the camera is all blurry. 😆
Your costumes turned out great and photographed really well!
It’s even better with this pic of me with hardcore RBF a second before I started to make my move. Stitch and I look slightly menacing 🤣🤣
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Wine & Dine 5K

Well, apparently I was eager to run today. I always think I’m going to just take the 5K easy, and then I never do. Pace-wise for the time I wasn’t waiting in line for Caballero Donald, I was only 5s/mile slower than my PR (which was virtual, so not excess mileage included). I wish there had been better characters on course, instead of having all the “Latin American” characters in the pre/post-race area.

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It was so great to see you during our pre-race mini-meet! Loved your costume and congrats on a great 5K.
 


Wine & Dine Half Marathon

Well, I’ve been meaning to write this up for a week now, but with the hurricane and such, and then re-entry into home/work life, I just hadn’t gotten around to it.

So, to start off—no bus issues 🥳 And no alarm issues. I wasn’t sure how to set my alarm correctly to work around the time change, since I usually get up for rD races just before 2. I solved the dilemma by setting my phone back manually on Saturday night so my alarm would go off at the correct 1:45 (and 1:55) am.

I got all ready and caught a bus about 2:45. I checked in my gear bag, grabbed a pic with Elvis Stitch, and hung around the meetup pole until they opened the walk to the corrals. I decided to go ahead and head to the corrals early since it was such a long walk. I didn’t think I’d end up at the front of my corral, but I was. I sat down to save my feet and to stretch a bit. The rain was annoying for me as a glasses-wearer, but otherwise didn’t bother me in particular (although I would always prefer to run in dry shoes).

Once the race started, I felt pretty good, much better than I did during the 10K. And I made sure that my interval alerts were working correctly long before the race started. Because I was so far ahead of the crowds, the character lines were really short, and I ended up stopping 16 times throughout the race (plus a selfie in Hollywood Studios). I think Genie at the end was the longest wait time, but that included a break for Genie. All told, I spent 50:04 paused in character lines, which averages to just over 3 minutes per line. My actual moving time was only 5:45 over my half PR, so that was cool.

I really really wish there were less on/off ramps on the course. Not just because they’re usually angled and that’s hard to run on, but because they’re so freaking narrow, and the walkers just take up all the space. I’m all in favor of people walking whenever they need to, and goodness knows, a lot of those folks walk really darn fast, but when they’re all the way across the available space, it makes it really hard to run, and towards the end of the race, walking just kills my feet and I want people to move! So, to anyone who may have been a victim of one of my very pointed “on your left”s as I passed on the painted line or in the grass, I’m not really sorry 🤷‍♀️
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I am so in love with how comfortable both my Lilo dress and my music dress turned out to be to run in. And I got so many compliments on the music dress, including from one of the on course DJs (so, of course, I had to do a little spin and show off a touch 😄😄). I’m definitely going to be checking this Amazon seller for dresses for future costumes. And it even dried in time to wear it to the after-party (it didn’t smell at all, obviously)
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After the race, I grabbed my bag, sat down and changed my shoes, ate my uncrustable, and headed straight for the bus. I wanted a shower and to sit for a few minutes before I had to head to lunch. I made it to Beaches & Cream with no trouble, hopping a bus from CSR to Hollywood, and taking the skyliner the rest of the way. Lunch was tasty, as always. Afterward, I went to Epcot, but I didn’t stay long. I hit Spaceship Earth on my way out for a quick sit-down break, and then went back to the resort. I decided I wanted a nice rest before the party.

Once I got back to Epcot a little before 7, I headed straight for the queue for the last Boyz II Men show, and got a pretty good seat. Then I watched the fireworks from America, which wasn’t great, but I was sitting, and that was more important than seeing everything. Then I headed to France, because my plan was to get character photos, and I wanted to start at one end of World Showcase and work my way around. This was, in hindsight, a stupid plan that fell apart in Morocco. The line there took forever, and it ended up being just Genie when I got up there, which was always a chance, but I thought the odds were low that it would be just him by the time I got to the front of the line. I did drink my first Rhapsody in Purple while I was waiting, and that was delicious!
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After a million years (or possibly just 45 minutes) in the Morocco character line, I continued on my character trek, but didn’t feel like waiting in any lines until I got to China. I also got another Rhapsody along the way 😋 Mushu was the character when I got in line, but Mulan took over before I got to the front (it was a nice, short line) and that was exciting because I haven’t had a picture with Mulan. Then I made it to Mexico, and waited in line for Miguel because I didn’t realize how far back the loop of the line went, and when he went on break at midnight, and I wasn’t even halfway through, I bailed—the standing was killing me. My feet were fine as long as I was in motion though, so I went to the dance party and danced until the party ended.

The next day, I went to Magic Kingdom to get some pictures, but it was a madhouse. I used a lightning lane to meet Tiana and Rapunzel, and then hung around and got a picture with Merida. The party and the meets at MK are my first real character interactions in my whole life, and it was really fun. I showed Merida a picture of me from Princess Weekend dressed as her, and explained all the features of my medals to Tiana and Rapunzel. I hopped to Epcot after MK and rode Guardians and Spaceship Earth, and had dinner, and then headed back to the resort. I was way more exhausted on this trip than previous ones. I had hoped to hop to Hollywood and catch the 8:00 Fantasmic, but I knew my feet were not going to be able to handle it.
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Wine & Dine Weekend: The Aftermath

So, on Tuesday, I went to Hollywood Studios, and was planning to hop to AK for a Tree of Life pics before getting ready for the Christmas party at Magic Kingdom in the evening. But Nicole threw everything out the window. I did HS, and that was fine. Then I decided to drop AK and go back for a nap so I could get the most out of my Christmas party. I stacked some lightning lanes, including one for meeting Cinderella and whatever visiting princess she had. The rain was really causing me worry, but I was going to try to muscle through it, and I really wanted the pics with Cinderella.
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When I woke up from my nap, and opened the Dis, I saw that MCO had announced it was closing at 4pm Wednesday, and I had a 6:40pm flight. I had a bit of a panic attack, because I had no idea what I was going to do if I was stuck. My grandma found me a seat on a 3:10 flight, and I managed to get through to Sunshine Flyer and get switched to a 10:50am pickup.

I decided I was gonna try to make it to the Christmas party—it wasn’t raining at Coronado. But the bus took FOREVER to show up, and then there was horrible traffic, and it started pouring rain, and I was never gonna make my Cinderella LL, and the party was gonna suck if I was soaked, so when the bus got to MK, I just went to guest services and got a refund for my party ticket and turned around and went back to my room to pack. Packing was harder than it was supposed to be, since my new flight was on Sun Country, instead of Southwest, so my baggage was limited.

Wednesday came around, and I was woken up in the middle of the night by my new resort neighbors on the other side of the connecting door shouting at each other (which they had also done Tuesday afternoon, but it’s harder to complain about noise in the middle of the day) and then they woke me up again at 6:30 with more shouting. Some families should maybe not travel together. Anyway, I managed to get to the main tower at Coronado between rain showers, and hung out for an hour before heading to the bus stop. It was a good thing the driver had a drop-off, since they never put me on his list for a pick-up. It was a long bus ride, long enough to watch all of Jungle Book and start over again (that’s what the bus tv was playing). Once I got to the airport, it was a short wait to check my bag, but I was 1.5 lbs over, and they charged me $20 (or I could’ve pulled stuff out, but I was already maxed on carry-ons)—I thought airlines used to have a little more compassion around hurricanes.

Then I finally made it to my gate, and had a few hours to sit around. Then my gate moved and they didn’t bother to make an announcement. I noticed other people leaving and checked the airport website (since Sun Country is useless) and found the new gate. Then it was time for more waiting around. And more waiting around. And more waiting around. Boarding time came, and there were no gate agents, and no plane. I was getting kind of freaked out. Finally, some agents showed up, but didn’t make any announcements. From eavesdropping when other people asked, they didn’t know anything useful. Finally, the plane showed up at around 3:20-3:30. They rushed the people off the plane, and rushed the people onto the plane, and the flight attendants had a note of panic in their voices when they were taking to us. We managed to take off at 4:03 😱😮‍💨 The captain told us later in the flight that they’d been told that even if they were halfway down the taxiway at 4pm, they’d be turned around, so we got very lucky. He said there were 2 Delta flights taxiing out behind us, but I heard from someone at baggage claim in Minneapolis that one of those flights got held back.

I really don’t know if I want to do Wine & Dine again. I know it’s really past the usual hurricane time, but with weather getting more unpredictable, I’m not sure I want to risk it. I’m 2-for-3 on fall WDW trips in getting out the same day they close the airports due to a hurricane (I also just missed Irma in 20 17) and that’s just more stress than I need in my life. Plus, if DL races return to their previous schedule, they should have a November race weekend, so that would be a nice alternative.

All in all, it was a good trip. Here’s the trip by the numbers:
73,362 runDisney steps (this included almost 6,000 steps related to the expo)
170,947 total steps over 8 days
75.54 total miles
8,939 active calories burned
23,867 total calories burned
 
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I’m sorry about your Christmas party & all the travel stress! Glad you had some good races though, and I enjoyed your pics and report.
 
End of Training Plan/New Plan Summary

I’ve come to the end of my training plan, so I thought I would give a little summary of how it went. This plan ran for a total of 18 weeks, from July 10-November 12. I ran 268.99 miles, including races, in 60h 57m 15s, with an average pace of 13m 24s. On the stationary bike, I went 200.73 miles in 12h 56m 45s, at an average pace of 3m 46s. I had some ups and downs along the way as far as weight, but I ended up gaining just .4 pounds over the course of the plan. I’m hoping this will be different over the course of my next plan.


My new plan starts today, and runs for 21 weeks through the Saturday after Springtime Surprise. I will be running 3-4 days a week, and cycling on the stationary bike 1-2 days a week. For the first time, I will be incorporating speed workouts into my running, and also switching up my intervals on occasion.


2022 workout data to date: 306h 51m 44s of exercise; 129,086 active calories burned; 157,387 total calories burned
 
Congratulations on all your races over the weekend! You got a lot of really great photos. I'm glad you made it out of Florida in time!
 
101 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

First run of the new plan, and it was snowing! Thankfully, it got a bit warmer today than yesterday, and the plow did a single run-through at some point this morning and most of the snow today melted on the roads. I was a little faster than “easy”, and only came out correctly on the overall pace because it took me 10-15 seconds to get at my watch to end the workout (too many sleeves 😆)
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As part of my new plan, I now have easy run + strength days, and this was one of them, so after I got home from the run, I did a 20 minute strength workout for runners from the Sworkit app.

I was looking on the FB page for the Twin Cities Marathon Weekend, and they had posted a bunch of pictures they’d taken, other than the official pictures they’d offered for sale (for exorbitant prices—we get one free download of pictures of their choice, and in one of the 2 pictures they offered me for free, I’m barely in the frame, and some dude has his arm covering my face; in the other, I’m out of focus). But in the FB album, they posted a picture that happened to feature me accepting my medal for the 10 Miler, so I downloaded that.
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2022 workout data to date: 309h 9m 35s of exercise; 130,074 active calories burned; 158,564 total calories burned
 
99 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

Well, I picked a lovely day for my first speed workout 😂❄️🌨️ West wind 15-20mph and snow, feels like of 17°F

Can you see the snow blowing through my backyard?
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Anyway, the workout was supposed to by 6x400m. I came up a little short with where my starting point was—next time I’ll start from the other side of the entrance to my neighborhood and that will probably get me the extra distance I need. I can also see from the Strava lap paces that it really made a difference when I didn’t walk the whole recovery lap—my 2nd run lap suffered. I also figured out that I need a 10-15 second walk break at about the halfway point of the run lap. I’m happy that the laps are sort of even, especially considering I’ve never done this before.
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For the second half of the run, I had a little “cheering section”—it’s possible he was also telling me to get away from his property, but I chose to hear cheering 😁😁
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After I got home, one of my cats was restless, so I turned on my fireplace and put her bed in front of it.
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2022 workout data to date: 310h 41m 53s of exercise; 130,675 active calories burned; 159,321 total calories burned
 
96 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

Well, this winter is causing trouble in my plan already, and it’s only week 1. I was supposed to do a 50 minute long run yesterday, but the roads were too icy. Since I only had a 1 mile time trial today, I figured I would just do the 50 minutes afterward, but I wore the wrong jacket and my arms were cold, and the zipper was smacking me in the chin for the whole time trial, so I headed home to change it before the long run. But on the way, I realized that I could do the 50 minutes tomorrow, because I moved Tuesday’s run to Wednesday because of a dental appointment after work, so I would have a rest day between runs.

My time trial was ok, but I shouldn’t have messed with my normal intervals. I used 60/15, instead of 30/45, and I only beat my fastest mile ever by 2 seconds, and I had to struggle for it.
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Last night, we went to The Arb for their Winter Lights display. It was really cold—I had my cold weather leggings under my jeans, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks, boots, gloves, hat, and a jacket. Most of me was warm. The lights were beautiful, but the s’mores station was really disappointing. They charged $7 for ingredients for 4 s’mores, but hadn’t bothered to keep the marshmallows warm and they were frozen solid! When I tried to get them on the skewer, they just broke in half. So I got 2 chocolate bars and 4 graham crackers, and no marshmallows 😭😭
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2022 workout data to date: 312h 21m 51s of exercise; 131,287 active calories burned; 160,068 total calories burned
 
Those lights are so pretty! But, OMG, hilarious about the frozen marshmallows! Hilarious because I'm not the one missing out on s'mores. But really, no one thought of that? You usually get cold up there, right? LOL
 
95 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

It was a beautiful day for a wintry lunchtime run. Except for mile 3, where I was running into the wind. But the sun melted most of the ice off the edges of the road 🥳
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As usual, I was a little fast, especially later in the run. Halfway through mile 3, I looked at my watch and my lap pace was 12:30 and I’m like, “hey! none of that now; this is supposed to be an easy run” so I skipped a run segment and tried to run slower to get closer to the 13:30 goal pace.
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2022 workout data to date: 313h 11m 58s of exercise; 131,701 active calories burned; 160,567 total calories burned
 
Must be a shock to the system to go from a balmy W&D weekend to snow! I’m glad you squeaked by and didn’t eat stuck in FL. We had that last minute rush happen one year with a freak freeze in Houston and had to leave WDW early to make it home before our airport shut down. We made it, but only by a couple of hours. Super stressful!

Great racing. That music dress is really pretty and unique.
 

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