Running Renaissance: WDW Marathon 2025

[nancipants]

Congrats! Love the mascot pic.

 

[GollyGadget]

Dam to DSM Training - Week 3

Thank you! I’m hoping to get an even shinier one in two weeks but that’ll likely depend on the weather

Amazing job on the PR!

Fun game of chasing down your partner too, I love that!

Thanks! I highly recommend the strategy. It definitely helped me stay on task and not settle into a more comfortable pace.

Congrats on the PR! Having to catch your partner is really good motivation.

Thank you! I definitely recommend! And if not your partner, maybe someone else. For my first half, my goal was to beat the elites running the marathon

Congrats! Love the mascot pic.

Thanks! I somehow always miss him at this race so was really glad to get the pic this year.

 

[GollyGadget]

Dam to DSM Training - Week 4
Training is going fine. I still have some opportunity to be more consistent, but even with that, I feel training is in a much better place than when I was following Garmin’s advice. Highlight of the week was obviously the 10K race recapped above.

Tuesday I ran 10x150m and it went pretty well. My first three reps were on the slow side but the last 7 were all right near 6:30 min/mi and I was really pleased with that. The most interesting part of the run was weigh in results. My nutritionist suggested weighing myself before and after to estimate fluid loss via sweat. I dropped nearly 2 lbs in under 90 minutes! this blew my mind.

Wednesday was an easy run and I decided to weigh myself again just to compare. Only half a pound loss so effort level definitely makes a difference. I also ran in the am because my Wednesday’s continue to be hectic so it was a tad cooler.

Thursday was a scheduled day of rest and Friday was supposed to be another easy day. Somehow even though I had the day off work, the day totally slipped away from me and I ended up skipping this run.

Saturday was race day . The only other thing I wanted to mention is how garmin reacted. All of a sudden it thinks I can run a faster 10K because I had run faster



When I woke up on Sunday my back was surprisingly sore and my hamstrings were unsurprisingly sore. It also rained all day. However, I didn’t let either of those get in my way and I completed my scheduled easy 4 miles. I was literally the only human outside in the 40 degree rain but I felt much better afterward.

My race last weekend kicked off the Drake relays and this week is full of fun T&F festivities. Tonight (Tuesday), I’ll be running the road mile and really hoping that I don’t blow up

 

[col1]

Dam to DSM Training - Week 4
Training is going fine. I still have some opportunity to be more consistent, but even with that, I feel training is in a much better place than when I was following Garmin’s advice. Highlight of the week was obviously the 10K race recapped above.

Tuesday I ran 10x150m and it went pretty well. My first three reps were on the slow side but the last 7 were all right near 6:30 min/mi and I was really pleased with that. The most interesting part of the run was weigh in results. My nutritionist suggested weighing myself before and after to estimate fluid loss via sweat. I dropped nearly 2 lbs in under 90 minutes! this blew my mind.

Wednesday was an easy run and I decided to weigh myself again just to compare. Only half a pound loss so effort level definitely makes a difference. I also ran in the am because my Wednesday’s continue to be hectic so it was a tad cooler.

Thursday was a scheduled day of rest and Friday was supposed to be another easy day. Somehow even though I had the day off work, the day totally slipped away from me and I ended up skipping this run.

Saturday was race day . The only other thing I wanted to mention is how garmin reacted. All of a sudden it thinks I can run a faster 10K because I had run faster

View attachment 959222

When I woke up on Sunday my back was surprisingly sore and my hamstrings were unsurprisingly sore. It also rained all day. However, I didn’t let either of those get in my way and I completed my scheduled easy 4 miles. I was literally the only human outside in the 40 degree rain but I felt much better afterward.

My race last weekend kicked off the Drake relays and this week is full of fun T&F festivities. Tonight (Tuesday), I’ll be running the road mile and really hoping that I don’t blow up

Good luck for the road mile

 

[GollyGadget]

Grand Blue Mile Recap
Heading into this race, I was questioning my sanity. Anytime someone would ask about it, I would mention that I do not recommend it. Nothing against the race itself, it's the distance. Running a mile at max effort is difficult and painful.

All that said, I didn't have any lofty goals. I was hoping to be sub 7. Theoretically, that shouldn't be a problem based on my other races results. In practice though? Time would tell. Compounding my uncertainty was the fact that I hadn't done any practice sessions. Sure, I've been running, but I haven't been doing anything mile specific, especially not time trials. Despite all this, I still felt confident sub 7 was reasonable.

As for the race itself, there are several events. The first is Spike's Sprint, a children's event. It was really fun to watch while I did my warmup. After that was the recreational division mile. This event is the most chaotic, even more chaotic than Spike. It has the most participants and also the most variation. There are folks in the recreation division that run sub 5 and others that take 20 minutes. My neighbor was running the recreational division this year and looked really strong! But she also looked really bewildered by the crowds at the beginning. There is also a mascot race that happens at the very end of the recreational race.

The next race is the women's competitive mile. I always feel a bit of imposter syndrome being in the competitive division but the guidelines are 8min and under so I definitely belong. I also appreciate not dealing with the masses

I had warmed up for about 20 minutes during the other races and was as ready as I could be. I hung back at the start line because there were some definite speedsters in the mix and I didn't want to get sucked into going out too fast at their pace.

It didn't matter, we were off with a bang. One of the participants next to me even made some remark about how this was way too quick. I checked my watch and sure enough, it was too quick. 5:xx too quick! I tried to slow down but the adrenaline and other racers kept pulling me along. The first quarter mile was done in 1:33

Of course, we weren't even halfway through so I still felt good. I even heard lots of cheers of my name. I have an extremely common first name so I assumed it was for someone else but I still have no idea . Right at the halfway point was the first turn and officially I crossed that mat at 3:17. My watch said 3:15 though and at this point I was delusional enough to think that if I could "just hang on" I could finish in 6:30

After the sharp left turn was a slight uphill which erased all my delusions as now I was fighting to finish. This was quickly followed by another left turn onto Grand, the race's namesake. The local drum corps was performing here and all those drums bouncing off the building was making my head pound . This is not the drum corps' fault. They are one of the highlights of the race. Undoubtedly this was past Katie's fault for drinking 3 glasses of wine at a concert the night prior.

My official time at 3/4 mile was 5:09 so definitely slowing down. Colleen Quigley had made a post on Instagram about turning it on with 400 to go so I tried to follow her advice. I was giving it all I had but could not find another gear. As I approached the finish line, the clock was ticking up near 7. It still seemed feasible that I would make it but then I realized it was a lot further away than it appeared. As I entered the finish chute, I watched the seconds click by in disbelief. I knew I wasn't crossing that line without the clock saying 7.




At least I look like I'm flying .

I collected my Bulldog Double Medal and a Powerade and then found my partner. He was really excited and celebrating that I beat my goal. I was very confused what clock he was looking at . Regardless, I knew I did what I could on the day. Honestly I think that's part of why I keep doing this race. The mile is just as hard to master as the marathon. I know if I could figure out my pacing, I could knock a few more seconds off.

My first official time running the mile in 2023 my splits were 1:31, 3:15, 5:03 & 6:55. Last year was pretty similar with 1:34, 3:18, ??? & 6:59. Obviously third time wasn't a charm. Maybe I'll learn my lesson in time for next year

We stuck around to watch the elites run for the USATF road mile championship. It was a lot of fun to watch Karissa Schweizer earn a spot on Team USA in front of a hometown crowd. I was quite sad afterward when I heard the world athletics road championships were cancelled.

P.S. My official time was 6:58 so I guess I did meet my goal, and one second faster than last year

 

[col1]

2 PBs in a week!! way to go