Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

[run.minnie.miles]

How are you getting along today, sleeping beauty?? That is definitely the downfall of a nap...

Insta:
A- I love a good running insta and you are not just another random runner to me

 

[jennamfeo]

A - Would definitely follow. However, I did delete Insta from my phone so I am not on it as much now.

 

[Bree]

A! My instagram has been sorely neglected since I've been sick.

 

[SarahDisney]

How are you getting along today, sleeping beauty?? That is definitely the downfall of a nap...

I ate all the chocolates.
Also ... please send coffee.


Side note ... working on a training plan is really hard when you're not excited about the race. I know I need to put in the effort because if we don't create a plan that I'll enjoy, I'm going to be even more miserable about it. But I just can't muster up the enthusiasm to care. Sigh.
Also ... I'm thinking about cancelling my barre3 reservation for tonight because I'm tired and there's baseball on. But I don't know that I want to go tomorrow instead. And I don't want to not go this week.
Sigh.

Send coffee.

 

[SarahDisney]

Also ... if I'm only doing one night at Universal, should I splurge for a fancier hotel? Or am I better off sticking with with Cabana Bay because I think it fits my personality best?

 

[Bree]

Also ... if I'm only doing one night at Universal, should I splurge for a fancier hotel? Or am I better off sticking with with Cabana Bay because I think it fits my personality best?

Depends on whether you think the upgrade to get Unlimited Express Pass would be worth it. It's January and you'll be there on a weekday (right???). I don't expect it's going to be that busy. You'll still get early entry into Harry Potter which is the best part IMO.

 

[SarahDisney]

Depends on whether you think the upgrade to get Unlimited Express Pass would be worth it. It's January and you'll be there on a weekday (right???). I don't expect it's going to be that busy. You'll still get early entry into Harry Potter which is the best part IMO.

I figured in January I probably wouldn't need the Express Pass at all. I'm there for 2ish days (Tuesday and Wednesday - plan is to leave WDW first thing Tuesday morning, stay overnight Tuesday night, and fly home late Wednesday), so even if I wait in line, I should be able to get all the Harry Potter stuff done and hopefully hit up a few other things too.

 

[SarahDisney]

A few last things and then I'm going for a quick pre-lunch walk/coffee run:

1. I'm going to barre3 tonight even though I don't want to because I should. Hopefully the Yankees won't completely blow it before I get home.
2. One of the things Coach and I are discussing is paces for the new plan. Basically, I'm afraid that the paces we're working with are too fast because it's been two training cycles with these paces and I'm still not hitting them. But I do have some prior race results that indicate that I should be able to run these paces. So basically, I'm trying to decide whether I should stick with the more comfortable but slower paces or try to reach for the faster paces and just try not to be disappointed if I don't hit them all the time. Thoughts? What would you do in my situation? I'm not wild about a 2:50+ half, which is what I will have next week if I use the slower pacing scheme, but I also hate consistently not hitting my paces.
3. Also, I'm trying to balance not wanting to do multiple "hard" workouts in a week with wanting to experiment with different tempo paces. It's a tough balancing act. Basically, marathon training plan creation is hard and I'm glad I don't have to do the hard work and all I have to do is cause trouble.
4. The pictures from my race-that-shall-not-be-named are up. There seem to be no pictures of me. Not sure how I feel about that, actually. (Also, I was all excited for Harry Potter book club today but I didn't check my email last night and I came in this morning to discover that it had been rescheduled to later this week)

 

[Keels]

I figured in January I probably wouldn't need the Express Pass at all. I'm there for 2ish days (Tuesday and Wednesday - plan is to leave WDW first thing Tuesday morning, stay overnight Tuesday night, and fly home late Wednesday), so even if I wait in line, I should be able to get all the Harry Potter stuff done and hopefully hit up a few other things too.

I went yesterday at park open and was able to do all the HP stuff inside of two hours (I didn’t do a wand show since I’ve already got one, but tack on 20-30 minutes if you want to do that). And this was on a “high season” day. Midweek in empty season, you’ll be fine.

You can download the UniOrl app and it has wait times to give you a good idea of how things go. Most people start at Hogwarts and then go to DA, I prefer DA and then Hogwarts for a newbie because I like to go to the bank and exchange money, etc. You’ll want to make sure you take the train both ways though because the experience is different.

I have an interactive wand and LOVE it, so I would definitely set aside spending $$ for that. I go and just do wand tricks for hours.

 

[SarahDisney]

I went yesterday at park open and was able to do all the HP stuff inside of two hours (I didn’t do a wand show since I’ve already got one, but tack on 20-30 minutes if you want to do that). And this was on a “high season” day. Midweek in empty season, you’ll be fine.

This is good info! Thank you!!

You can download the UniOrl app and it has wait times to give you a good idea of how things go. Most people start at Hogwarts and then go to DA, I prefer DA and then Hogwarts for a newbie because I like to go to the bank and exchange money, etc. You’ll want to make sure you take the train both ways though because the experience is different.

I have the app already, but haven't started to explore it. So I'll definitely dig into that a bit more. I've done Hogsmeade before (first spring break after it opened ... yep, it was exactly as crowded as you're thinking. I don't know if I'll be able to handle Forbidden Journey without a 2 hour wait...), so I definitely want to start with DA. But I do definitely want to take the train both ways. I may do it one way each day, since I want to try to do both parts both days.

I have an interactive wand and LOVE it, so I would definitely set aside spending $$ for that. I go and just do wand tricks for hours.

I'm trying to decide if I want to get the wand or not. On the one hand, I'm a giant Potter Nerd and it feels like a must have, especially because I'll be able to spend as much time as I want exploring with it since I'll be solo. On the other hand ... I don't know if/when I'll be going back after this, so I don't know that it's worth it for two days. Adulting is the worst.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

I'm a big fan of the wand! It is definitely special to go through the ceremony at Olivander's and then take all of the time you want looking at every wand in the store. We had so much fun going through them all. They are a little pricey, but we found it to be worth it! On the other hand, looking and not buying is ok too! If you are ok just watching others' do the tricks, that is enjoyable too!

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm a big fan of the wand! It is definitely special to go through the ceremony at Olivander's and then take all of the time you want looking at every wand in the store. We had so much fun going through them all. They are a little pricey, but we found it to be worth it! On the other hand, looking and not buying is ok too! If you are ok just watching others' do the tricks, that is enjoyable too!

Thanks for the input! It's definitely something I need to give a lot of thought to.

 

[ZellyB]

Hi All,
I'm thinking of starting a running Instagram to help give me an extra layer of accountability for marathon training.

Will you...
A) Definitely follow!
B) Definitely not follow.
C) Possibly follow.
D) Follow, not because you're interested in my training but because you love following instagram runners
E) Follow, but expect me to get bored with it after about 3 runs
F) Not follow because you know I'll get bored with it after about 3 runs

(for the record, the correct answers are either E or F ... but I'm curious how people feel about following yet another random runner on Instagram)

I'm going with A but I am also incredibly random and sporadic about checking Instagram. I'm older than most of you whippersnappers, so I'm mostly old school Facebook.

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm going with A but I am also incredibly random and sporadic about checking Instagram. I'm older than most of you whippersnappers, so I'm mostly old school Facebook.

Okay. Let's talk about this.
When I was in college, Facebook was a college network where you could connect with people from your college or other colleges in Facebook's system. You had to have an active email from a college that was in their system. I know this because my school didn't get added to their database until April of my Freshman year (when Facebook was still in its infancy ... it was maybe a year old at that point).
That was when I used Facebook. Now that it's some advertising-centric platform that anyone can use, I'm barely interested.
Sorry. That was my Facebook rant.

 

[ZellyB]

Okay. Let's talk about this.
When I was in college, Facebook was a college network where you could connect with people from your college or other colleges in Facebook's system. You had to have an active email from a college that was in their system. I know this because my school didn't get added to their database until April of my Freshman year (when Facebook was still in its infancy ... it was maybe a year old at that point).
That was when I used Facebook. Now that it's some advertising-centric platform that anyone can use, I'm barely interested.
Sorry. That was my Facebook rant.

Oh, I totally get that. I've just never managed to get adapted to Instagram or Twitter. Facebook is very annoying at times too but many of my cohorts and family use it exclusively so it's my best network for those folks, but I am trying to get more into Instagram. Thus a good reason for you to give me another excuse to check into it.

 

[SarahDisney]

For a nice change of pace, here's the elevation map I promised for my half next week:

I think mile 9 is definitely going to be my favorite.

 

[SarahDisney]

Okay. I did it.
There's nothing there yet, but here's the link: https://www.instagram.com/intentionally_grumpy_2019/ (if you'd rather just search insta, it's @intentionally_grumpy_2019)
Expect it to last about through the Staten Island Half, no longer. Maybe not even that long.
I'm notoriously bad at keeping track of myself.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Will you...

If I ever sign up for Instagram, I will follow.

I figured in January I probably wouldn't need the Express Pass at all. I'm there for 2ish days (Tuesday and Wednesday - plan is to leave WDW first thing Tuesday morning, stay overnight Tuesday night, and fly home late Wednesday), so even if I wait in line, I should be able to get all the Harry Potter stuff done and hopefully hit up a few other things too.

I went to Universal for one day in late April 2017 after the Dark Side races that year. I got all of Potter done and went on Forbidden Journey 3 or 4 times even though it was closed until about 12:00pm that day.

I also recommend the Universal Orlando official app. Because Forbidden Journey was down, the app allowed me to set up a notification for what it opened.

In my one day I was able to do everything I really wanted to over both parks although I opted to skip a few things I've seen at Universal Hollywood in favor of more time in Wizarding World since that was the entire reason for my visit and passed on the nighttime spectacular altogether because I was tired (2 days removed from the half marathon). I ate at the Three Broomsticks and The Leaky Cauldron. Plus I bought lots of various Wizarding World sweets and of course had some Butterbeer (frozen variety as it was a hot day).

However, I would advise getting experiencing Escape From Gringott's done to your heart's content before buying the wand if you buy one. Small lockers and very long wand boxes might not mix.

I'm trying to decide if I want to get the wand or not. On the one hand, I'm a giant Potter Nerd and it feels like a must have, especially because I'll be able to spend as much time as I want exploring with it since I'll be solo. On the other hand ... I don't know if/when I'll be going back after this, so I don't know that it's worth it for two days. Adulting is the worst.

I had fun being chosen by a wand. My wand is Phoenix feather and it chose me because of Frank Costanza's legendary quote "I'm like a phoenix, rising out of Arizona." I used at the various spell casting places to my heart's content. I liked the ones in Diagon Alley a bit better than the ones in Hogsmeade.

All that said, I have not used it since that day as I don't go to Universal Hollywood that often. It is a lot of fun to do and if you're a huge Potter fan you might just enjoy it for the experience of it all. Just remember that if buy a replica wand belonging to a wizard seen in the stories, it doesn't do all the spells because "it belongs to another wizard."

 

[SarahDisney]

I went to Universal for one day in late April 2017 after the Dark Side races that year. I got all of Potter done and went on Forbidden Journey 3 or 4 times even though it was closed until about 12:00pm that day.

I also recommend the Universal Orlando official app. Because Forbidden Journey was down, the app allowed me to set up a notification for what it opened.

In my one day I was able to do everything I really wanted to over both parks although I opted to skip a few things I've seen at Universal Hollywood in favor of more time in Wizarding World since that was the entire reason for my visit and passed on the nighttime spectacular altogether because I was tired (2 days removed from the half marathon). I ate at the Three Broomsticks and The Leaky Cauldron. Plus I bought lots of various Wizarding World sweets and of course had some Butterbeer (frozen variety as it was a hot day).

Thanks for the info/insight - this is super helpful! Hopefully this means I should be able to get most things done (Wizard and Muggle) over the two days.

However, I would advise getting experiencing Escape From Gringott's done to your heart's content before buying the wand if you buy one. Small lockers and very long wand boxes might not mix.

Oh yeah ... lockers. I gotta figure out what bag I'm bringing to Universal.
Although I may end up going back to the hotel for a mid-day break one of the two days, in which case I could put the wand away in the room for a little bit and get some more locker stuff done.

 

[SarahDisney]

Spoiler: thing I can't say where it belongs

I kinda think of the runDisney part of the boards as both Fight Club and Mean Girls Club (*ducks*). Or just a really obnoxious clique.