Magical Miles to the Marathon! Comments welcomed

[Blue Caterpillar]

Time is flying! I leave this Friday for Tucson. I have a half on Saturday morning, I'm just going to focus on finishing and not any time goals. The half is actually pretty close to where LIV golf is playing, but I'm not sure if I will try to go or not. I saw on stubhub the tickets weren't too bad. Then I fly out that night for Disneyland! I'm going to try to stick to a merchandise budget. I know I want a pair of ears and a magicband+. I might try to rope drop Rise. I'm hoping that since toon town is opening that day maybe it won't be so hard. I find Galaxy edge in Disneyland seems more empty feeling, than it does in WDW. I so wish they didn't stick it in a time period, and you could meet Han, Leia, and Ewoks etc. But maybe Baby Yoda will cross my path.

I've been mostly working on my base running wise before I start training for my race in June. the weather has been delightful for running, and since it was a wet winter, there should be lots of wildflowers. I have found a few more pennies and nickels bringing my YTD total to 53 cents. This is on pace to be the least amount of money Ive found in a year. Lots of copper though. These yellow flowers bloom first, (blackfoot daisy, i think) then the poppies come later hopefully.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Half marathon done! I'm at the airport waiting for my flight to Disney. It went well, I finished in 2:28. But I did the first half in 1:17 and the second in 1:11. I really would like to get under 2:25 next race, maybe with better pace I would be able.

And the Indy ride is open! I can't wait to ride it, Its my favorite, and the last time in was mostly in the dark.

 

[NYC_MW]

Nice negative split! Have fun.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Disneyland was fun, though the weather was not the best. And I really didn't bring enough warm clothes. But it was delightful none the less. I didn't take many pictures.

I just found out I may not be able to take off for marathon weekend. THe bad thing is I won't know until after registration. Do I risk it? Or wait and do another weekend? I hope I hate the themes and then I would be able to skip. I have a feeling it will 100 related and I really like all the merch they have done so far.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Well, I decided to plan to register for Goofy again. Worst comes to worse, I can fly out Friday morning and home Sunday evening. Though I am pretty sure I could at least get the Monday. Anyway that is problem for future me, after future me hopefully succeeds in registration.

The weather has finally turned to Spring which is awesome, besides the wind. I saw my first horny toad of the season!

I love horny toads, but if they are out it also means snakes are out.

Lots of wildflowers this year, in real life these are more orange. Of course that also means more weeds. I am always amazed at how fast weeds can grow. I spent a couple of hours pulling weeds around my house, and the next day I was so sore I could barely walk. I guess I need to work on my hamstrings more.


I was hoping to get under 2:25 at my next half in June. The course is mostly downhill, I went on a downhill long run this weekend. And It really bothered the ankle I rolled back in December. It doesn't hurt when its flat or uphill. I need to work on strengthening it.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

In for Goofy! This time I hope to be confident enough to ride the rides during races! Last year I was so worried about finishing that I skipped them both (Teacups during the half, Everest during marathon)

Thanks to a Dr's appt I was weighed and have lost 9 lbs from the end of Jan. Still more to go, but its nice seeing progress.

I hope everyone who wanted to do marathon weekend got in!

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I am very excited to do Goofy again. I tried to convince myself I would be ok if I didn’t get in, but yesterday morning I was anxious about registering. It also seems that on the marathon thread most people got in as well. Way better than last year. I really wish I could book my hotel for marathon weekend and flights (Southwest). Southwest releases the next batch thru Jan 7, on May 4 or thereabouts so I can at least get one way done in a few weeks. In addition to riding the rides, I want to wear more of a costume as well.

Running has been going well, though today was the first day where I ran when it was about 85 and sunny. I’m not heat adjusted yet, but it wasn’t too bad. I still have been doing my ankle exercises, I might try a downhill run this weekend to see how it is. The Provo half in June I am signed up is a steep downhill.

I do want to run a marathon this fall, I think. I was thinking about the Tucson marathon, but that is early December, and has a lot of downhill. I think I may try to find one in early October or late September.

I love the virtual medal that Rundisney posted. Not enough to pay for it but it is really pretty.

More wildflowers!

 

[superchime]

The virtual races are so expensive! But I do love that medal.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I like to read/listen to books about running(and running related). I recently have listened to three that are included in Audible plus catalog.

Running is my therapy by Scotty Douglas. I enjoyed this book, nothing to earthshattering, but he had lots of science on how running helps. I also liked that it didn’t make it seem that running alone is all someone needs but in addition to talk therapy and/or medication. Though I am extremely jealous of anyone that has a therapist that will give a session while running/walking.

How bad do you want it? By Matt Fitzgerald. I found this book fascinating. It shared many stories and examples of great endurance athletes, both doing amazing things and sometimes choking, and how their mind influenced their performance.

Diet Cults by Matt Fitzgerald. Amazon got me with their algorithm and suggested this book. It was interesting, comparing diets to religious dogma. He is critical of many popular diets and points out both strengths and weaknesses. He calls the diet he recommends “agnostic”, for me by time in the book I was over the metaphor.

I have also started to listen to the Chicken soup for soul “running for good”.



Now I am trying to decide to listen to the Des linden book or Deena Kastor’s.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I don’t know about anyone of you, but I have some very specific fears (and most are very unlikely) when it comes to running, especially since most of my routes are very rural highways or dirt roads.

1st: being bit by a rattlesnake (I do try to remind myself everyone I know who has been bit has survived)

2. getting injured somewhere there is no cell reception.

3. Getting hit by poop that flies out from when they are hauling cattle. (if you have driven behind one its horrible)

4. getting hit in the face by a rock from a passing semi- they break windshields. It used to be getting hit just in general, but I actually got hit in the back once- luckily it was during winter so my jacket made it not too painful.

5. Being chased by a herd of stampeding, cattle, goats, rams what have you. Or the Dog that guards them. Intellectually I realize this is pretty silly (except the dog part) but they are so big and AZ is open range …..

A new one happened to me yesterday, that made me jump and scream.

6. Drive by from an angry bird! I am not even sure what kind of bird it was but it came very close to my face when I was just minding my own business.



Anyway I spent some time looking at marathons I would like to do and decided Chicago would be the most ideal. Which of course I will not be able to get into. So the search continues.



I am quite proud of myself for resisting a purchase (though I do have a bit of non-buyers remorse). I use Mercari a lot to what I like to call Trade, (sell old stuff, use funds to buy new stuff) I came across this dress for only 57. But it was a size too small, is there anything more disheartening than having something super cute you can’t wear? If I was running Dopey it would be even more difficult. It sold, so the temptation is now gone. I will keep an eye out for it though in my size, as that was the first time I was made aware of it. I might try for Dopey next year and how cute would this look with the medal
?

I decided to order a used physical copy of Deena Kastor's book.

 

[jmasgat]

6. Drive by from an angry bird! I am not even sure what kind of bird it was but it came very close to my face when I was just minding my own business.

Around home, it's the season of red-winged blackbirds. They are pretty territorial and I run by one stretch of trees/bushes and keep a wide berth. I have been buzzed, but not so far this year.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Is there a reason you think you wouldn’t be able to get into Chicago? My understanding is that it’s one of the “easier” races to get into via the lottery.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Is there a reason you think you wouldn’t be able to get into Chicago? My understanding is that it’s one of the “easier” races to get into via the

I'm looking for a marathon this fall, but I do plan on entering next year.

 

[garneska]

My DH got hit in the back of the head by a duck while running in the park. the ducks are not the best fliers.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

My DH got hit in the back of the head by a duck while running in the park. the ducks are not the best fliers.

Was he ok? Ducks seem to a solid bird..

 

[garneska]

Was he ok? Ducks seem to a solid bird..

He was but both him and the duck had to shake it off.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I had planned on watching the end of the Boston marathon. But I forgot that now we are three hours behind the east coast instead of 2. Even though I remembered for registration day. I missed all of it. I would love to run Boston one day, but that is unlikely. Unless I run for charity.

I haven’t found much of interest of late. I am up to 73 cents, really on pace to my least amount of money found in one year. The mine in the town over sometimes has lots of contractors who commute, then I find much more stuff. But the amount of beer/ liquor bottles is also way down. It’s always depressing how many there are. Found lots of copper of course. And a car key. When in Disneyland I found a rain jacket, poncho (the amount of rain I bet those two people were very sad) a pair of ears, and an unopened bag of jerky. I turned everything into CMs. Honestly if I wasn’t a vegetarian, I probably would have ate the jerky.

I was happy to see the Barn owls are back in the old water depot building for our town. I hadn’t seen them in a while, there was some effort to clean up the building (it’s in the flood plain, abandoned) so I think it scared them off for a bit.



My neighbor has the loudest peacocks ever. But they also recently added turkeys and now I can watch baby turkeys grow up, to make up for the racket. You will need to zoom in.




Running has been going well, and my ankle feels like it is getting stronger. I ordered a wobble board from amazon to keep at work. The weather is delightful. I love twilight and decided to do an easy three miles after work. It was pleasant, but I couldn’t get to sleep that night. I run almost exclusively in the morning because of that.

I enjoyed following along the Springtime Surprise.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Today I decided to work on heat acclimation. It's not fun, but better to start it now, then wait to the day when it seems like someone flipped a switch on a heater. Right now is when we have big temp swings, from like 45 to 90 in the same day. I waited until it was 80 and then went for my run. And Garmin took away a point from my Vo2 score for my efforts.

The wobble board from amazon arrived and I have been trying to do it a couple of times a day at when I'm work. I still have done any big down hills for awhile, I think I will try next weekend.

That's about it. I have seen 4 dead snakes, only one was a rattler. No live ones yet.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

So, we got just a taste of the heat – low nineties on sat/sun. Now the weather is dropping where at the next weekend the high is only 79 before it heats up again. Not too bad.

I’m back up in the low 30’s for weekly mileage. That is normally what I keep to during the summer at the most. But I think I may see if I can increase it this year. Especially if I want to do an early fall marathon in late sept or early oct. I’m going to see how May goes with heat, but it really is July/august I find the worst, as the humidity is much higher that time of year because of the Arizona monsoons. I really struggle with humidity. The 10K 2022 Springtime Surprise was brutal for me.

I woke up pretty tired and today was speed day. 12 x 400-meter repeats. It was a bit of a struggle for the last couple. I made my time goal, but I must do something funny with my head/neck when I am tired as the muscle on my right neck collarbone starting hurting. Weird.



I finally saw the wild turkeys that live near the river! There was a group of six, here is a terrible photo from my phone. I haven’t seen them at all this year. A few more dead snakes.

These wild flowers are some of my favorite, Brittlebush.


I was too chicken to try steep downhills this past weekend. I will make myself this Sat. The race down Provo Canyon is June 3rd. Distance wise I feel fine, just the downhill scares ne.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I have had to defer my run-on June 4th. My Dad has had some health issues and my mom can use my help. Luckily this race did offer deferrals.(it was out of state, and I'd would have been gone about a week)

I was increasing my running and it also increased my appetite, so my weight loss has stalled. I need to figure out better timing of my meals.

I think my next race will be Sept 9, I am going to see how training goes thru the heat on whether I want to do the half or the full.

I have found more change up to 1.16. And saw my first live snake, a king snake.