Team 'Ohana--No One Left Behind: The Continuing Adventures

[deekaypee]

Sorry gang, I'm having one of those weeks - but I wanted to make sure I came in here and said a few things!

1) Congrats to everyone who did the Princess! I'm so proud of you all and saw on Facebook the great time that so many of you had. I'd love to hear stories from you all - including Maria who is able to keep away from the time sink that is FB.

JenB: Your run with George (and the fundraising/WISH green skirt) sounds delightful! An April Fools Day half - that sounds like fun.

George: Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! You'll fit right in here!

2) I'm dying to see a pic of Corinna's hair!

3) Richard - how's the training going?

4) Julie, Maria. I may be going to Boston in April.

5) Beth, I'm so sorry to hear you're under the weather. I do, however, envy you the incentive to run. The Fantasy looks beautiful!

We're a bit crunched for time here, because we're still looking for new digs (same area, tight market, tight deadline). We may not make it and have to settle in for a long search. Blech.

I'm working a bit on running, but it's going to be a longer recovery until I'm feeling 100%. That said, I'm getting in the groove with the XT. And I think of Mel and Richard, in particular, every time I do. Not that the rest of you don't XT - you're much better than I am - but for some reason they stick in my mind.

In social news, I've been reading Elvis Cole mysteries - light froth, with tons of Disney references.

And a question that reveals how well my "diet" is coming. I'm looking for a new chocolate to try - a good one. It's not for me but for a gift - that's the story I tell myself, anyway.

 

[chimera]

Disney trips are always too brief...

+1

I had a patient one time who stayed at Ft Wilderness for 3 months. She wouldn't adopt me either

Debra...I like Dagoba and Vosges, though the chocolate bacon bar continues to be weird for me. I am part-time in a lot of things right now...free clinic, newsletter for my old school and just got asked to work on pharmacology curriculum for the physical therapy students at Elon. I won't be full-time until Sept unless I can train up enough to get to Masters elite and make racing a full-time career

George...it was a pleasure meeting you and congrats on your first half experience! There is a small ritual to begin your Ohana membership...we have questions!

Name:
Day Job:
Family:
Location:
Favorite race you ever ran:
Best recovery food or beverage:
TV Shows you watch or have loved:
Races Planned this year:
Meaning of DIS screen name:

If you look back around the first couple pages, you'll see many of our answers and some the most recent few pages also.

Maria...it was exciting to see you! Are you coming back next year?

Richard...good luck this weekend!

Beth...that's really cool! What great running scenery!

AFM: Princess was great. Not the pace I wanted, but I felt I ran a strong race. If I can keep up the training, I think the pace will come. My biggest problem since we moved is there are SO many races within about 8 hrs of here. I am trying to pick between 3 in May and can't decide

 

[GeorgeAndDiana]

Debra: Thanks for the warm welcome!

Mel: My pleasure. Here goes:

Name: George Huang
Day Job: IT Security Consultant
Family: Wife of 17.5 years, no kids yet
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Favorite race you ever ran: Easy.. the 2012 Princess Half. The only one, but how can you beat your first?
Best recovery food or beverage: Keep it simple right now, with powerade or gatorade, any flavor. During race? Vanilla Bean GU. (Thanks JenB)
TV Shows you watch or have loved: Big Bang Theory and Friends. We also watch a lot of sci-fi shows. Loved Alias back in the day.
Races Planned this year: The public answer is I'm one and done! Truthfully, I'm not registered for any more this year (perhaps Oddyssey?), but if I still feel this high on running in April, I think I'm going to consider the 2013 Marathon weekend full.. God help me
Meaning of DIS screen name: My wife and me. I made the screen name a long time ago when I rented some extra DVC points.

 

[Rose&Mike]

How is everyone!

We got back Tuesday night--just in time for the storms yesterday. The worst of it stayed south of us, so that's good.

It was really great to see Jen, Mel, Maria, and George.

George--I didn't know you are in Ohio. We are in Louisville. You could come down and do the KDF 1/2 in April.

The short story--I am pooped! Did not sleep much. The race was hard for me. Started out good. But I had some tightness early on, and a big old itbs flareup around mile 9. Uggh! So back to the physical therapist on Friday. The good news--the foot did really well.

I don't think we will stay at Kidani again. It was beautiful, but the drumming, and drumming and drumming...... Mike said the drums really needed to use their inside voices!

I think we have decided that we will probably not do marathon weekend--for lots of reasons. But we are looking at w&d. We just do better not getting up so early. And if I am ever 100% (or even 90%) healthy again, maybe Princess next year.

 

[jmasgat]

Hey Deb.....popped in to check on the Ohana family and saw your query about chocolate. I don't know if you mean chocolate bars or "filled" chocolates, but for bars, I really like Valrhona and Scharfen Berger's single origin bars. The Ampamakia bar from Valrhona was one of my favorites. Actually--I like most of Valrhona's bars!

If you do end up in Boston, and can get one town over to Somerville, then you could try an entirely different tack with Taza. They do Mexican stone ground chocolate in their tiny "factory". Their process doesn't conch,so the chocolate has a more gritty taste. It is an acquired taste, for sure. Interesting contrast though to more regular bars (or pucks in their case).

If you like blends of unique things, then Vosges is worth trying. I can get in the mood occasionally for those (and generally do on my Birthday and Mother's Day and other occasions since I get chocolate as my gift)

Might be TMI, but you asked!

Maura

 

[tiberius]

Rose - Glad to hear you made it around those storms. Sorry to hear about the itb but good to hear the foot was holding up well.

George - Pleased to meet ya! A sci-fi fan? You'll do well here!

Mel - Did you hear what Debra said? We must be setting a good example of cross-training, or something? Congrats on running a strong race at Princess! I think that shows your training is improving. Also, glad to hear you have so many races nearby, that is one of my problems.....I say you should try to do them all!!!!

Debra - The training? So far it has been great, I'm definitely ahead of last year at this point. Maybe you should ask me again after Saturday's race ... er ... training run. I've given up sweets for Lent, so I am afraid I have no good chocolate information for you.

Jen - I'll be doing a half on April 1 also. It's the race I really, really, really, really want to nail this time around! It is also the 5th anniversary of my first half marathon that propelled me into all "this". How appropriate of an anniversary date is that? and the experience lived up to the date as well!

Beth - Awesome on seeing the Fantasy!

AFM - I'm hoping to get off work early tomorrow to avoid too much rush at the expo before my race this Saturday. It's a first year race in my local community (or at least the first race after a long hiatus!) so I couldn't really pass it up. After this I only have my half iron on 4/1 between now and IM Texas #2 on May 19. I've also been reworking my basic nutrition planning and discovering that I am (OK, I found this hard to believe) not typically eating enough calories on most days. I've started trying to eat about 700 calories more per day and am feeling better and not gaining any weight (I'm down 3 lbs so far.). We'll just have to see how this goes.

 

[bunnyfoo]

Did someone say chocolate ...

My favourite chocolate is called Berger. It's from Austria (I believe). I've never had dark chocolate that was so smooth - it didn't have an aftertaste. I found it while I was nosing through a specialty grocery store. It's not cheap but oh so good!

http://www.confiserie-berger.at/

You could always make your own truffles, they're not that difficult

 

[chimera]

http://www.chocosphere.com



Richard...I did. Oddly enough, this was posted on Facebook today:
http://www.adventuresbydaddy.com/20...r-vonda-wright-running-is-a-total-body-sport/

For anyone who doesn't know Dave, he is MouseSkywalker around here.

 

[tiberius]

http://www.chocosphere.com

That's like throwing gasoline on a fire around here! Love it, Mel! Also thanks for the article of cross-training, I missed that yesterday. I really do credit so much of my improvement and lack of injury to effective cross training.

Also, I was beyond my own expectations with my marathon yesterday! I went out to do my best and see what would happen, knowing a big PR was likely. For the newer cousins, I have not done many marathons (6:11 San Antonio 2008, 6:15 Disney 2009, 5:30 Disney 2012) so I knew my improvement in fitness and the lack of Disney photo ops would mean I should easily beat my time from January. However, even I never saw a 4:06:30 coming. I still don't entirely believe it other than I know I did it. My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your continuing support and encouragement over the recent years.

 

[jbucci]

Congrats Richard

You are an inspiration. I hope to follow in your speedy footsteps and break 4:30 within this year (my time from Philia in Nov 2011 was 4:42). Watching you makes this all seem possible (if I put in the hard work I know you have been doing).

 

[Rose&Mike]

Richard-- Congratulations! That's wonderful! I am really excited for you! What a great time!

****
We got lucky and the tornadoes on Friday stayed about 20 miles north of us. What a mess! They were monster storms. Very, very scary. I think it's going to be a chaotic spring around here.

I went back to pt--and she thinks only 5 or 6 visits this time. I am trying some new stuff for the itbs--a tennis ball instead of the foam roller--holy cannoli does that hurt! And they did dry needling on the i-t band on my right leg. That didn't feel so good either. But I was able to run 4 pain free miles yesterday.

Hope everyone is well!

 

[Dug720]

Congratulations on the PR Richard! That is HUGE!!!!

I hope everyone else is having a great weekend!

I had Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K today ~ my first race since the marathon. It wasn't quite a PR, but I feel really good about how I finished - one heck of a kick where I got up to (down to?) a pace of 4:35! I can't run fast for long, but I can run fast for short!

 

[Kira G.]

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been AWOL here. I've been back from vacation for more than a week but I've had a hard time getting in the swing of things at home. NOLA was awesome, and Mardi Gras was something to see! I highly recommend it (even for families - we were there with kids from 11-20).

I did gain about 6 pounds in just 4 days there - the food is truly great! Beignets are heaven in a bag, and we had a couple of dinners that rank among the best meals of my life. I have been able to get it all off again since I've been home, but consider yourself warned!

Richard - Amazing! You really are an inspiration. And a belated congrats to all the Princess runners! I was following everyone who is on Facebook, and it looks like it was a really great time.

Rose - I'm so glad the tornadoes stayed away from you. Incredibly scary storms! Stay safe!

I continue to move forward with my training. I have had some really great runs in the last week or so, and I am getting excited for Broad Street in just 2 months. It feels good to be back in the groove!

Kira

 

[tiberius]

Kira, Beth, Rose, Jen - Thanks for the super kind words of encouragement, also thanks to those who left their words of support on my Facebook page as well. Reading each and every comment of support is a joy! Jen, I can easily see that you could break 4:30 and better. Best of luck there!

For anyone interested my (yet another) race blog post is here

A question for the several of you who have done MCM....it looks like I will be doing MCM this year, what helpful advice can you offer on travel, lodging, anything? The race filled very quickly yesterday. Fortunately, my local running club has a number of spots reserved for a travel group. Although, as near and dear as the idea of this race is to me, I'm thinking of letting that spot go and doing this one for one of the charitable groups, specifically the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. I guess I will need to decide that one quickly.

 

[GeorgeAndDiana]

That's a rocking time, Richard! (Unimaginable at this point to me!) CONGRATULATIONS!!

A question for those of you who run regular races year 'round.. do you ever break from training? I've heard you're supposed to allow some time to "heal" after long races, but I didn't do so after my long training runs or the Princess. Wondering if I should, or if it even matters. I was almost going through withdrawal after only a week, so I had to start up again. Yes, I have issues.

George

 

[tiberius]

That's a rocking time, Richard! (Unimaginable at this point to me!) CONGRATULATIONS!!

The thing is, George, that is wasn't that long ago that a finish time like that was unimaginable to me as well (2 months enarlier my marathon PR was 6:11 from a race 2 years prior).
I get a lot of built in rest with a nearly continuous cross training program that has so far allowed my body to get by with other short term breaks in training. When my training was run-specific, which has admittedly been a few years, I had more issues with minor injuries. I credit cross training for most of this. I may seek an aggressive fall marathon goal, and IF I do that, then we can see how my body holds up to that..

 

[FFigawi]

A question for the several of you who have done MCM....it looks like I will be doing MCM this year, what helpful advice can you offer on travel, lodging, anything?

We stayed at the Virginian Suites in Arlington last year. It's right at the top of the hill near the finish line, making it an easy walk to both the finish and the start. I'd try to stay some place close like that so you can avoid the crush of people on the Metro or at the parking shuttles in Crystal City. It's also a short walk to the Rosslyn Metro station, making it easy to go sightsee in DC, get to the expo, etc.

For travel, there's not much difference between National and Dulles except for the type of plane you'll be on. For some reason, Continental flies the regional jets into Dulles and 737s into National. Go figure.

It's one of the best races I've done, and I know you'll really enjoy it too.

 

[Dug720]

A question for those of you who run regular races year 'round.. do you ever break from training? I've heard you're supposed to allow some time to "heal" after long races, but I didn't do so after my long training runs or the Princess. Wondering if I should, or if it even matters. I was almost going through withdrawal after only a week, so I had to start up again. Yes, I have issues.

George

Hey George! This is my first year where I'm not doing a TON of races (last year I was trying to get my 9 NYRR races in for guaranteed entry into the NYC Marathon - which I'm not running because it's too ridiculously expensive for a race where I don't even get a vacation out of it), but in the month or so between the end of my WDW Marathon plan (the recovery bit) and the beginning of my HM training plan I'm using for Broad Street (yes, only 10 miles...I figure I'll be extra prepared) I found that I slacked off a LOT more, even taking two weeks totally off. So I'm trying to figure out what to do between Broad Street and when my training for ToT (which will fishtail into WDW Marathon) starts. I'm thinking I'll use the first few weeks of my current plan just to keep things up. Maybe not worry as much about pace, but just keeping the foot time up. Or maybe I'll do hill repeats or something different to change it up. Good luck!!

 

[Dug720]

We stayed at the Virginian Suites in Arlington last year. It's right at the top of the hill near the finish line, making it an easy walk to both the finish and the start. I'd try to stay some place close like that so you can avoid the crush of people on the Metro or at the parking shuttles in Crystal City. It's also a short walk to the Rosslyn Metro station, making it easy to go sightsee in DC, get to the expo, etc.

For travel, there's not much difference between National and Dulles except for the type of plane you'll be on. For some reason, Continental flies the regional jets into Dulles and 737s into National. Go figure.

It's one of the best races I've done, and I know you'll really enjoy it too.

Well, National is on the Metro line, so that can mean you don't have to rent a car or take a cab if you're staying close to a Metro line.

 

[MouseDogMom]

A question for the several of you who have done MCM....it looks like I will be doing MCM this year, what helpful advice can you offer on travel, lodging, anything? The race filled very quickly yesterday. Fortunately, my local running club has a number of spots reserved for a travel group. Although, as near and dear as the idea of this race is to me, I'm thinking of letting that spot go and doing this one for one of the charitable groups, specifically the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. I guess I will need to decide that one quickly.

I think John and I were just a couple of blocks from each other - we just couldn't manage to end up in the same place at the same time.

We stayed at the Hyatt Arlington Key Bridge. It's also right at the finish line, and across the street from the Rosslyn Metro station. We took the metro to the start, although we probably could have walked. We were a block from the UPS trucks that had the baggage check, so once we picked up our bags, we could actually see our hotel. They also offered several buffets for runners, although we didn't take advantage of any of them.

If you stay anywhere other than right at the finish, you have to take the metro or the shuttle to leave the finish area. Both years that I've done MCM, the wait for both transports has been an hour and a half. A friend of mine last year walked to the next metro station to avoid the line, but that's not exactly fun after running 26 miles either. We waited in that line the first year, and I was willing to pay any rate last year to be close. Book NOW, even if you book a couple of different rooms while you're deciding.

And you can get anywhere you want to go in the area via metro. We bought our fare card online ahead of time, and then just added money as we needed it.

Jackie