Running Renaissance: WDW Marathon 2025

[GollyGadget]

WDW Marathon Training
9 Weeks - We've made it halfway!

9 weeks completed and 9 weeks to go. The mileage starts dropping with 4 weeks to go though so it's really like there's only 5 more weeks of hard training. And one of those weeks is a race week, so now it's really only 4 weeks . Obviously, there's still a lot of miles to go, over 400 of them, but it's fun to pretend that I've nearly made it.

4 Nov - Easy 5
I was in rough shape the day before, so I fully expected this to be a grind. It really wasn't though. I took this one on the faster side of easy as I tried to beat some rain. My max hr was 148 so still in the easy zone but it was kind of fun to go a bit faster than usual. Normally, I just go as slow as I want and don't pay attention to pace at all. Now I'm thinking I might try some of these faster easy runs when the body is feeling good.

5 Nov - Easy 7
This was election day in the USA so I decided that I would run to my polling place. It's only 1.5 miles away so I did a few extra miles beforehand to get the full 7. It was nice to change up my route, but I wasn't such a fan of the big hill just before voting. It did mean my run home was entirely downhill/flat so it wasn't all bad.


After voting, I did the week 1 strength video from the series that I followed this summer. I had taken a break from it while trying out the free fitness classes in October, but that free trial is over so it was time to get back to it. I wasn't nearly as sore as last time that I started up so that's a good sign.

7 Nov - Easy 12
I still have a good chuckle every time an easy 12 miler is on my schedule, it feels like an oxymoron. But the run was easy. I tried to race the streetlights and lost but still made it home before dark. My legs did get a bit tired at the end, but I guess that's what 12 miles on a Thursday will do.

8 Nov - Easy 5
Nothing remarkable about this run. I ran a slightly different route than usual so that was nice. Then I snuck in the week 1 strength training before heading to a college volleyball game.

9 Nov - Easy 8
It was supposed to rain all day so I woke up early to try to beat it. Unfortunately, the rain arrived sooner than predicted so I postponed until after my volunteer shift at the zoo. It did in fact rain pretty much all day but I delayed long enough that it was just a light mist.

10 Nov - M Tempo 8 + GotR 5K
The Girls on the Run 5K was this afternoon, so I had to complete this in the morning. It ended up working out great, I'm just usually not much of a morning runner. It took me a couple miles to find marathon pace, but once I did, it went really well. I was actually shocked at how easy that 8th mile felt.

Really happy with how the week went which probably has something to do with the lack of T pace . I'll return to that this week so please send good vibes.

Happy running y'all!

 

[GollyGadget]

WDW Marathon Training
8 weeks to go and all I do is run

Seriously, I've never ran so much in my life. This week I ran for 9.25 hours, the most in recorded history. The only other time I broke 9 hours was 23 months ago, and just the once.

11 Nov - Easy 5
This run was delayed until sunset which made for some pretty photos but wasn't so great once it was dark. My path is well lit and decently traveled but I still got a bit spooked when I heard some unidentified rustling under the bridge.



Had to stop for this Hidden Mickey ☺


12 Nov - Easy 7
Ran this in the hilly neighborhood and barely made it home before dark. I really need to get better at my time/daylight management now that I only see 9 hours per day and most/all of those are spent working.

14 Nov - T 2x2 + 1
In a surprise to no one, I was anxious about this one. It also went much better than expected but I was absolutely spent afterward.

15 Nov - Easy 5ish
This was scheduled to be 7 miles but my legs were feeling it so I decided to cap at an hour and focus on recovery.

16 Nov - Easy 8
My legs were still a little beat up but the run went fine.

17 Nov - Marathon Tempo 6 + 4
Meh, this could have gone better. I struggled to find the pace. I was supposed to end with a mile at T but it was much closer to marathon pace because I was absolutely spent by the end. Happy to get the 15 miles in though. One way or the other....

So is all this running going to pay off? Only time will tell, but I have seen some improvement in my data lately. I found the below training graph on runalyze that shows fitness, marathon shape, and a few other things. Both marathon shape and fitness are just measures of training load, but it's nice to see them trending upward and higher than they were in August when I would have told you that I was fittest I had been in years.



Then there's Garmin which has improved my race predictor paces. I don't trust these times exactly, but I do trust the trends, mostly. I do wonder how much is because it's been a lot cooler these last couple of weeks. Interesting, my Garmin calculated V02max has held steady this entire time.




Happy running y'all!

 

[GollyGadget]

WDW Marathon Training
7 weeks to go and when I'm not running, I'm eating

I've officially reached the point of training where I'm hungry all the time. I've had two snacks since lunch and I'm still counting down the minutes until dinner. On the plus side, Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas cookie season is right around the corner .

Speaking of food, I've been trying out some new fuel options. I'm still keeping my beloved dates but I noticed the skratch chews were upsetting my digestive system. Fortunately this wasn't happening during the run but several hours afterward. It actually took me a while to realize they were the root cause. Last week I tried probar energy chews. The cran-pomegranate flavor was good but the pink lemonade was sticky. Not sure if that's normal or because they'd been shoved in my pocket for 90 minutes. Either way, they've been eliminated because my stomach was not happy as I was going to bed.



This week I tried Clif bloks and I was a very big fan of the salted watermelon. I also like the slim design of their packaging and the fact that a serving is only 3 instead of 5. The strawberry lemonade had a very unnatural sour candy flavor that wasn't my jam but they did have caffeine which I like to mix in. Most importantly, my stomach seems to tolerate them. I still have gu chews and honey stinger chews in my pantry. I've used honey stinger before but I have no memory of why I stopped. I'll give those a try in the coming weeks and hopefully find a solution that works for me.

18 Nov - Easy 4
I snuck this in before work because it was forecast to rain all day. It did in fact rain all day, so it was good that I did. I took it REAL slow but forward is a pace, at least that's what I told myself. I also had some cute spectators.



19 Nov - Easy 6
I did this after work and definitely ran out of sunlight. Whoops. I was back to my hilly route and my legs were quite grumpy about it. Both my quads and calves were still sore from the week before. Lungs felt great though

21 Nov - I 4x4min
We had 40 mph winds all day. Plus I didn't get done working early enough to beat sunset anyway. So it the treadmill for me. I really wasn't excited for this run. I'm not sure why, I usually like these shorter intervals. I'm sure it had something to do with the 6 mile warm up. That meant this was going to be a LONG one. Despite my lack of enthusiasm and desire to stop after every rep, I got it done. Mostly. I did cut the cool down a bit short because my movie ended and I was OVER it. Still did 10 miles on the treadmill though. Garmin even rewarded me with the treadmill 100 badge



I actually find it quite impressive that I've been logging runs with Garmin for 5 years and just now hit 100 treadmill activities. And it's not from a lack of running. I've done plenty of that, just mostly outdoors

22 Nov - Easy 6
Officially I was scheduled for 5 but I felt so good that I decided to sneak in one of the missed miles from the day before. The winds had finally subsided and the sun was out. Overall, a great little run.

23 Nov - Easy 7
I was a bit tired and sluggish but I got it done.

24 Nov - M tempo 8
Calling this marathon tempo is a bit of a stretch, but I covered my 16 scheduled miles. The pacing was heading the right direction until I discovered a giant hill at mile 10. My typical loop trail had a closure so I took one of the offshoots and was unpleasantly surprised. I could never find the pace again after that. I was ready for the run to be over by mile 13 but proud that I finished it out. Especially since I passed my car just after 14.5 and it would have been really easy to stop. Coincidentally when I got home, my partner remarked that he wasn't sure I was ever coming home because he saw on my livetrack that I went right past my car .

In (sort of) non running news, we're fully decorated for Christmas. I hung the last of the lights up this afternoon. It was nearly 60 and it's not going to get above 40 for the foreseeable future so it was now or never. I have a tradition of buying ornaments when I travel somewhere new and there were lots of fun new additions this year.










2024 was one heck of a year! I'm expecting 2025 to be a little less adventurous but I'm sure I'll still find something to add.

Happy running y'all!

 

[azrivest]

My favorite ornament is the Paris one!

 

[GollyGadget]

My favorite ornament is the Paris one!

That one is actually a keychain because I couldn't find any ornaments . I agree that it looks great though.

 

[KellyKateri]

That one is actually a keychain because I couldn't find any ornaments . I agree that it looks great though.

I have to add that I saw your Paris ornament and was like “ugh how did they find one?? I just got a key chain and called it a day” glad to know I was not the only one looking for an ornament over there lol

 

[GollyGadget]

I have to add that I saw your Paris ornament and was like “ugh how did they find one?? I just got a key chain and called it a day” glad to know I was not the only one looking for an ornament over there lol

I don't understand why there weren't any ornaments. I had a hard time finding one at Disneyland Paris as well. It'd make more sense if they didn't celebrate Christmas but maybe they don't do Christmas trees? Or decorate them differently?

 

[KellyKateri]

I don't understand why there weren't any ornaments. I had a hard time finding one at Disneyland Paris as well. It'd make more sense if they didn't celebrate Christmas but maybe they don't do Christmas trees? Or decorate them differently?

I had the same problem in Disneyland Paris too! I am definitely a “travel ornament” person so I was on the look out the entire time. Here’s to repurposing key chains lol

 

[GollyGadget]

WDW Marathon Training
6 weeks to go and the winter weather has officially arrived just in time for my check-in race

25 Nov - Easy 4
My only notes from this run are that I need new shoes. I just bought new shoes a couple of months ago and they're fine but a bit clunky (Asics gel nimbus??) I like to have at least 2 pairs of active shoes so that I can rotate. Usually it's one pair on the way to retirement and another pair that's just gaining started.

The problem is that all of my other shoes are way past due for replacement. I ran in a style of sauconys forever until they changed them on me and I haven't found a good replacement yet. I tried some Ons earlier this year, but they started cramping my toes these last few months. Because of that, I've been milking every last mile out of the pairs of sauconys that I had stocked up. My body has finally said that's enough. I happened to have a $15 reward at fleet feet that expired that day so I headed there right after my run. I found a pair of Altra experience flow that I think might be the answer. Of course, as I type this, they're on sale and I'm wondering if I should buy a second pair . I've only been and to run in them once though, so definitely need a few more trials before I commit.

26 Nov - Easy 7
This was a cold (20) early morning run but I wanted to get it done and showered before my haircut over lunch. The run felt great in the new shoes.

28 Nov - Easy 6
No turkey trot for me this year. I debated it but I had already decided on a race for Saturday and worried about recovery. I had scheduled myself for 12 easy miles but a combination of the impending race and my watch yelling at me for the last two weeks that I needed to reduce mileage, I cut it short. Real short. I thought I would run 9 miles but I just wasn't feeling it.

29 Nov - Easy 4
This run felt really good and my legs felt snappy during the strides. A good sign for the race the next day!

30 Nov - 10 Mile Race
Recap coming later this week

1 Dec - Rest
I planned to do a light recovery run but during my lunch dog walk, we did a short jog to get their GI systems moving and I instantly felt an intense pain in my left upper hamstring/low glute area. I decided an extra day rest was necessary. I don't think it's injured, just a bit overworked. Strangely, I never used to feel my hamstrings but then I started strength exercises that focused on them and it's like they've been awoken from hibernation. Probably for the best, but an interesting turn of events.

It wasn't exactly how I planned to start the month, but there's still lots of time to turn it around. Regarding November, I somewhat surprised myself with my overall mileage. 210.6!!! That's just half a mile short of my record from December 2022. I expect that I might set a new record this month . I'm still on track to hit my goal of 1500 for the year but it remains tight. It will be good motivation to hit my weekly miles.

 

[GollyGadget]

Great River Road Run Recap

I registered for this race to have a mid training check in point. I really enjoy the race day atmosphere and I’ve found that I’m better motivated if I have more than one race on the horizon. There are lots of options in the fall but this one rose to the top because it’s later date gave me more time to recover from Paris and get into the swing of training again.

It’s also perhaps the flattest race I’ve ever run. Certainly the flattest race longer than 10K. Being late November in the Midwest, the weather was a risk but being in the southern half of Illinois, it was likely to be good racing conditions.

Another positive of the race is that it’s a fundraiser for the local running club who uses the money to support youth running. Plus it was a good excuse to go see my family for Thanksgiving. The last few years we’ve skipped the roadtrip and stayed home since we travel for Christmas.


This is a very lowkey local race. There were fewer than 300 participants between the 5K & 10 mile. Despite this, there are folks from all paces. Plenty of current high school athletes as well as walkers.

Keeping with the lowkey theme, there was no expo or packet pickup. Instead there was “show up at the nearby bar an hour before the start to collect your bib & shirt.” Personally, I enjoyed the no fuss experience.

As my check-in race, I was planning to go all out and really see what I could do. Mother Nature had other plans though and treated me to snow instead. During my warm up, I learned that the first quarter mile was quite slippery and debated a DNS. The road conditions improved as I went and I needed to get the mileage in one way or the other, so I decided to give it a go. However, my main goal switched to don’t get injured.



After my warm up, I ditched the sweatshirt and found a spot in the starting chute. We were quickly on our way. I did my best to take it easy and let the crowd go but I still somehow went out quicker than intended and had to purposefully slow myself down to a 7:50 pace for the first mile.

There was a pretty good crowd for the next half mile until we reached the 5K turn around point. The crowd thinned out abruptly and all of a sudden I was running on my own. There were two runners about 100 m ahead of me and several more beyond my sight. Mile 2 was done in 7:58 and I was happy with that. My secondary goal was to finish under 1:20 but safety first!

The rest of the race has kind of blurred together. Since there were very few of us, I wasn’t passing anyone or being passed. I did my best to keep the 2 runners in attacking distance. Mile 3 was 7:58 and mile 4 was 7:55.

By this point, the snow in my eyes was really annoying me. I regretted not bringing my sunglasses. I actually had them in my hand before but decided I wouldn’t need them since the snow meant it would be cloudy .

I was also somewhat surprised that I hadn’t seen the leaders yet but they were quickly approaching. I was curious how many were in front of me since this was my first chance to know who was running the 10 mile. I counted a handful of women but none of them had a red indicator on their bib so I was assuming they were not in my age group.

Soon enough I reached the halfway point with mile 5 clocking in at 7:49. Much to my displeasure, turning around did not keep the snow from my eyes. In fact, I was now running into a headwind! Ugghh. For the remainder of the race, I would need to occasionally wipe the snow from my eyelids because it was building up too much.

I tried to keep going and not let the gap between me and the other 2 runners grow. Despite this, mile 6 was 8:04. Prior to mile 7, I could hear some footsteps approaching and did my best to just hang with the other runner once she passed. She was quite friendly and we both lamented about the snow in our eyes. Then somewhere before mile 8 she abruptly stopped and turned around. I tried to see what happened but it looked like she just wanted to wait and run the rest of the race with someone. Once again I was on my own.

The gap between me and the other 2 runners kept yo-yoing but I wasn’t able to attach myself to them. There were several times when I would get close but then need to back off my pace because there was a slippery stretch. Which probably explains why they had slowed as well. I knew that last mile would be slick so I really needed to get to them before that.

Meanwhile, there was another set of footsteps approaching from behind. I really didn’t want to get caught twice, especially this close to the finish. I kept going and hoped it would be enough to hold off the approaching runner.

Finally, I was back to town and the finish line was near. Unfortunately, the road conditions were not suitable for a sprint to the finish so I held my steady pace and did my best not to slip.



I crossed the line with the clock at 1:20:06, just barely missing my goal of 1:20. I hoped that maybe it had taken me 7 seconds to cross the starting mat but I knew that was unlikely with such a small field. As luck would have it, my chip didn’t register the start so the only time I have is clock time . It’s still my second fastest 10 miler (out of 5 ) and less than 2 min difference from my PR. I was also correct about the color indicators and won my age group (out of 7 ).



While I wish I had better conditions, I’m still happy with the result. I would have loved to PR but the 1:20 still puts me in a good place to go sub 4 in January at WDW. Plus, garmin thinks I spent 24 seconds in that last 0.05 miles, so maybe I (unofficially) finished under 1:20 anyway. Most importantly, I met my goal and didn’t slip or injure myself.

 

[col1]

A fantastic effort in challenging conditions congratulations

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Wow! Congrats on getting through the conditions safely and coming away with a solid time!

 

[nancipants]

Congrats on a great race and sticking it out! Running at WDW will be a breeze after that race.

 

[flav]

Congratulations on adjusting your goals and achieving them (no injury is great!)

 

[DopeyBadger]

Awesome work!

 

[kps7795]

Wow! Great job in your race, but especially in those conditions. You are a true badass!

 

[GollyGadget]

WDW Marathon Training
4 weeks to go and I'm so ready for it

First of all, thank you everyone for your kind words after my race recap! Life has been crazy lately with a never ending to do list. Holiday celebrations, work commitments, and marathon training all converged into a chaotic couple of weeks. I'm ready for a break . I'm also feeling ready for the race itself, but mostly ready to get through this next week or so when things should settle down.

2 Dec - Easy 5
A recent snow turned the sidewalks into ice so I visited the basement treadmill. The Disney Holiday Special was a cute little distraction.

3 Dec - Easy 7
I had to do this before work so it was still icy and also dark. Treadmill again

5 Dec - T 2
Another day on the treadmill, I forget why. Certainly had something to do with the road conditions and limited daylight hours. I was supposed to do 3x2mi @ T but my legs started cramping during the second interval so I called it. Must not have been recovered enough yet from the race the week prior.

6 Dec - Easy 5
Finally back outside!

7 Dec - Easy 8
A busy day meant that I didn't get going until 4pm, leaving me only an hour of daylight. I had to finish the run at a nearby park doing laps, but it was worth it to get outside again. Plus the scenery was quite nice.




8 Dec - M Tempo 11
This run was going fairly well until halfway. I stopped at my car to trade water bottles only to realize that I forgot them at home. I struggled to find my groove after that but I did complete the 15 miles so not a total loss.

9 Dec - Easy 4
Had a spell of a few nice weather days and made sure to make the most of them. Took a little detour to see the town tree

10 Dec - Easy 7
It was a bit colder with wind chills in the 20s but I was quite surprised how nice it felt. I guess I'm officially cold acclimated just in time to start heat acclimation

12 Dec - I 5x3min + R 4x1min
I planned to do the warm up outside but the roads were icy so I did the whole thing on the treadmill. Pretty proud of myself for that. 14 miles in total. I was on there for so long that the dogs kept checking on me


13 Dec - Easy 5
The trails were clear again so I was excited to go outside. I stopped to take a photo of this motivational message someone put in the snow and then giggled about the irony of stopping for it



14 Dec - Easy 9
We had freezing rain Friday night through Saturday morning so back on the treadmill for me. Turns out 9 miles is nearly the perfect length of time for watching Home Alone.

15 Dec - Easy 8
This was meant to be a 15 miler with two sets of 2.5 miles at T. I had to be at the airport at 1pm so I delayed this as late as I could to hope for clear trails. Around 8:30am I headed to my usual long run loop to discover the bridges were icy death traps. I adjusted my plan and headed to a different park with some long loops on the road. The roads were in good condition for my drive so I thought this was a safe bet. It wasn't. They didn't treat the park road at all. Instead they just shut the gates and declared it closed for inclement weather. I tried one last park, hoping its trails were treated. It looked promising as I parked, but I found some black ice within 100 meters and headed back to my car and home for the treadmill.

When I arrived home in defeat, my partner suggested delaying the run for a day. I don't know why I didn't think of that. I'm traveling for work and most folks aren't arriving until late Monday afternoon so I have most of the morning to do as I please. So I did Tuesday's run on the treadmill. I'll do Monday's run on Tuesday and tomorrow I'll do today's run . At least there shouldn't be ice since I'll be in Orlando. Just need to find a decent route near the airport.

These last two weeks have been hectic, but I'm feeling much better about training now. I was worried that I had peaked too early but I believe I've turned that corner. One more tough week, and I'm sure it will be extra grueling with the flipped days and travel, but then it's time to taper and just stay healthy until January 12th.

Happy running y'all.

 

[nancipants]

Not sure where you’ll be in relation to the airport, but Lake Nona should have some nice running areas.

 

[GollyGadget]

Not sure where you’ll be in relation to the airport, but Lake Nona should have some nice running areas.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm in one of the many hotels just north of mco. Right now I'm leaning towards Lake Baldwin. I looked at Lake Nona but I'm worried it'd get lost without a defined loop.

 

[GollyGadget]

WDW Marathon Training
Less than three weeks to go! Weeeee!

Merry Christmas y'all! All I want this year is a successful marathon taper . I'm currently en route to my mom's house where I hope she still has loads of Christmas cookies for carb loading . I guess it might be a bit early for that just yet, but I'll still enjoy them.

16 Dec - T 2.5 x 2
I started off the week with a bang with this one. I couldn't hit the pace (what else is new?) but felt like I was giving a good effort. It was also T+D of 137 and like 90% humidity. Welcome to Orlando! I did in fact get lost and miss a turn as I looped around the lake so I'm glad I stuck to a simple route. I was also very appreciative of park potties that don't close for winter.


Anyway, I celebrated my long run with a skillet from Whispering Canyon. I ate there after the marathon in January and was kind of sad I wouldn't do it again in 2025 so this was a nice substitute. My plan was to eat my weight in biscuits & gravy but I couldn't even make it through the first round.




17 Dec - Easy 5
My ride to training left at 7 so I waited until after work to run in the daylight. Unfortunately, we didn't get back until 5 so I only fit in 2 miles before switching to the hotel treadmill. My body felt good but my word was the humidity strong, even indoors.

19 Dec - I 3min x 5
I woke up around 5 am to fit in what I could before another all day training session. I had to cut out some of the easy miles for time but I did all the intervals and still made it 10.5 miles overall. I don't know how folks with less flexible schedules find time for marathon training in the winter. Kudos to all of you waking up early and/or running in the dark!

21 Dec - Easy 9
I didn't sleep well my entire time in Orlando, so I skipped the Friday recovery session. My body was exhausted. Unfortunately, Wisconsin greeted me with single digit temps and several inches of snow so I did this on the basement treadmill. For someone who doesn't like running on the treadmill, I sure am grateful for it. Also really hoping that's the last time I see it for several months

22 Dec - Easy 13
Fortunately it warmed up pretty close to 30 so I felt comfortable going outside. The trails were still quite snowy in spots and especially treacherous at the road crossings. I tried to keep a decent easy pace on the clear spots but still averaged a couple minutes slower per mile so I decided to cap this at 2.5 hours. The scenery was quite a bit different than earlier the week.


I ended the week just shy of 53 miles, my highest mpw for the last two years. I feel no worse for the wear, so now it's all about managing the taper. We've got this!

Happy running y'all.