My Journey to 50 miles (2nd attempt)... (comments welcome)

[disneygpa]

Well that's it. Training is done. Now to see if I can survive Dopey. I've done almost every mile of training. I'd guess 98-99%. Only cut short a couple runs so I'm feeling well trained. This morning was easy. 1.5 miles and some strides. Felt great after meandering around Epcot all day yesterday.

Temps so far have been chilly in the mornings. Mid and upper 40s. That's going to change I know. But yesterday's high temp I saw was 68. This turns out to be about the temp for the start of the marathon. It actually felt quite comfy. I realize that it's going to warm up. But at least the beginning of the race is going to feel good.

Today we are heading to HS. Not going early enough to get in the virtual q. No one wanted to get up extra early another day!

Thoughts pre "races".
I'm nervous about my abilities. Even though I've done almost all the training, I've never done more than a half. Everything step past the half will be new territory.
Physically I'm doing pretty well. Normal stiffness, aches, pains... Stretching helps. Left knee decided to start feeling stiff yesterday. I'm stretching and foam rolling. Wondering if it's actually getting sore again or if it's all in my head.

Nothing left to do but stretch, run, stretch, sleep, repeat....

Hope everyone has a great race/races!!

 

[Jules76126]

Best of luck!

 

[disneygpa]

Best of luck!

Thank you!!

 

[disneygpa]

Thoughts on my first runDisney event! Holy smokes that's a lot of people!!!

Run itself was nothing to talk about... I was in A and DW, DD and friend were in C. I ran very very slowly to Chip and Dale and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited... If you happened to get your pic with Chip and Dale and wandered why some guy in a blue shirt was standing at the head of the line... Now you know. Ran on to Beast but that line was insane... Got a pic with Gepetto (sp)... And pretty much walked the rest of the way enjoying the sights and singing along with songs..

1 run down... 3 to go... Feeling good!!

That was fun!

 

[disneygpa]

10k!!
Finally met up with the DIS group! I'm sorry I didn't get everyone's names. Hopefully I'll meet more of you at HH this afternoon.

Race went well! Ran a little faster than I was planning on. But the pace felt good and comfortable.


The heat really wasn't a factor this morning. It was much warmer than Thursday but still not too bad to start. But that humidity is no joke!

Stuck to the plan to walk thru the water stops and put in 2 cups of water every stop.

Tomorrow I'll drink my muarten prior to running and then a gu at 4, 7, and 10 miles. 2 cups of water at every stop... Hopefully that'll work!

2 runs down, 2 to go... One step at a time!!

 

[disneygpa]

Half marathon complete... Wow!! That was a lot of people!! Being my first run at Disney I'm totally blown away by the number of crazy people that get up that early to run!!
Run was pretty good. Kept things pretty slow. Stopped for a pic with Dopey and the pirates. Stuck to my plan for fuel and water. Feeling pretty good so far.. going to mostly relax today. Rest, stretch, eat and drink..


Same fuel and water plan for tomorrow obviously with more fuel... All I gotta do now is go twice as far as I did today!!

Sorry I missed the meet up this morning. Running a little behind schedule and hadn't realized how many more people would be there today... Hopefully see you tomorrow pre-run

 

[disneygpa]

That does it!! I'm a marathoner and Dopey runner!!! I can't believe I actually did it!

 

[disneygpa]

It's now Monday morning. Marathon and Dopey are done. I'm happily surprised that I'm not too sore today. Quads are a little tight and feet/ankles are slightly tender.

@DopeyBadger you did it! With your help, training plan and guidance I was able to reach what has really been a dream since I was 16...



I know I could probably run this faster. But since survival and beating balloon ladies was really my only goal I'm really happy with the results!

What's next? Not sure. Gonna take a couple weeks off and then set a new goal.

 

[Jules76126]

Congrats on finishing dopey and your first marathon! What an achievement.

 

[StacyStrong]

Congrats!!!!!

 

[Kazrak]

Congratulations!

 

[michigandergirl]

Congrats! It was nice meeting you and your wife at DATW!

 

[Bree]

Congrats! It was great to meet you and your wife!!!

 

[FFigawi]

Well done! Glad to meet you at DATW!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Awesome job!

 

[disneygpa]

Thanks everyone for the congrats!!!

I'm finally home. Got in early and I do mean EARLY this morning. Had a 5 hour delay and blah blah blah... anyway, now I sit with a glass of wine trying to decide what I want to post today.

I think I'll just start with some pics, I've kinda summarized the trip in bits and pieces above. We headed down on Jan 4th, this was a big lesson learned. I don't think I would do that again. We spent a lot of time in the parks and it was fatiguing. Lots of steps and lots of standing around. Note to self, maybe go down the day before and just stay later next time.

5k, this was just going to be fun with DW, DD and friend. It was excellent! Walked/jogged for race. I think I finished in something like 1:27. Definitely my worst 5k but without a doubt the most fun! Running into Epcot was a memory that I hope always stays with me forever! We sang, took pics and sang some more!


DW & DD had so much fun that they are thinking about doing the half with me next year!!

10k first run by myself.

Not much to say about this. It was fun, ran it at a comfortable pace. Didn't really try to race any of these races. Decided last minute that I would sport my Cardinals t-shirt. I always wear RED on Friday's so this and the fact that I grew up a Cards fan seemed like a good enough reason to wear the shirt. Finished in 1:11ish. Not my best 10k.



Half time! One of the main goals of all this training was to run up Main Street! It was every bit a special as I'd hoped. I took my time to soak it all in, walked some of it, high fived many, and got to see my gal!! Our castle selfie was something that I'd pictured since I dreamed up this crazy idea! Again, I just ran a comfortable pace during this run. Stopped for a couple pics, stuck to my plan for water and fuel. All in all it was great! I finished and still felt pretty dang good at the end. Went home, took an ice bath, stretched and pretty much took it easy the rest of the day.

 

[disneygpa]

Marathon... this is what I'd worked for since I was allowed to run. Nerves were definitely high. Spent a lot of time pre-race thinking about the past 18 months and wondering if I was really ready for this. I'd done the training, the stretching, the physical therapy, the walking, recumbent bike, etc... It was finally time for the reward for all the hard work. By the end of the first mile, I was sweaty in places that I'm not sure had ever felt sweat before. I stuck to my plan to run at a comfortable pace, walk thru the water stops and when I was taking fuel. Stopped for two pics. Venelope because that's DW's spirit princess and Olaf, well... because it's Olaf and at the time I needed a short break. Sometime around mile 20 I started to think I might actually be able to finish this thing! I never really hit a wall, but then again I never really intended to try and run this at my marathon pace. I think I owe it to myself to try and run at least one marathon at my marathon pace just to see if I can do it. Another Castle selfie with DW! Coming thru HS, I was able to get a hug from my grandson! This is just what the doctor ordered! Perfect timing!





I think the finish line pic speaks for itself! I'm not gonna try to hide the fact that I got pretty emotional coming around world showcase. Good thing I had the sunglasses on.

The dream of running a marathon was sparked in 1984 when I was running cross country in HS. Then life happened and I really thought it was a lost dream. After gastric sleeve surgery and 100+ lbs of lost weight in 2017 I thought maybe, just maybe I'd be able to try again. 2018 brought another major set back with totaling my car and back fusion surgery.

The first thing I asked the surgeon was if I could run again. After she said yes, the marathon became my way of working thru PT and all the struggles to get back to running. At some point the marathon morphed into trying the Dopey. I'd read that others had done it for their first marathon, so I knew it wasn't completely "Dopey".

 

[disneygpa]

I've run on a bit here and shared a lot of pics. Now I'd really like to take a second to thank all the people that helped me reach what is pretty much a life long goal.
Dr Landerholm and team-weight loss surgeon
EMT's that got me on the back board after me wondering around for several minutes with a broken back.
Dr's and staff at Skagit Hospital- thanks for not killing me when I sat up and took off my own t-shirt!
Dr's, Surgeon and staff at Harbor View in Seattle- without a doubt the best of the best at this facility, thanks for putting me back together
PTs Brian and Kirsten- You guys got me back to running as quickly as possible!
Dr Jared and Lyman- stretching is a good thing and thanks for all the work with my form!
@DopeyBadger Billy- from the bottom of my heart, thank you!
I'm sure I'm missing lots of folks who helped me reach this goal!!

Finally, I special thanks to my wife. Her patience, love and support have been amazing!! She may have thought I was crazy, but she still supported my craziness!!


If anyone reads to the end of all this and you've ever thought about running a marathon I only have one thing to say! YOU CAN DO IT!!

 

[TCB in FLA]

Congrats on becoming a marathoner! It was great meeting you at DATW!

 

[disneygpa]

Congrats on becoming a marathoner! It was great meeting you at DATW!

Thanks! It was great meeting you too!! DATW was hilarious!!