To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[WillRunForPizza]

Congratulations on a great race!

 

[avondale]

Congrats! Fantastic HM!

 

[nancipants]

Congrats!!!

 

[striker1064]

Congrats on your race! That's so cool!

 

[Naomeri]

Great job!!

 

[GollyGadget]

Congrats on finishing your spring season on a high note!

 

[flav]

Great Spring race season! Congratulations to you and your supporters

 

[dobball23]

2023 Non-Cancelled HM: Finale of the 2023 Spring Training Cycle
The 2023 Non-Cancelled HM served as the finale for my 2023 Spring Training cycle. The goal of this training cycle was different than most of the training cycles I've done since 2015. Instead of focusing on a single "A" race, and on occasion having a single "B" race, this time around I stacked the schedule with lots of "B" races. Less time for training and more time for racing. I was hoping to spread out my chances with the hope that one race would have great racing weather. Princess was warmer than hoped, Shamrock 10k was good, First Call was good other than the snow/ice on course, Parkinson's was hot, and then there was the 2023 Non-Cancelled HM. The forecast looked cold enough, with a chance for rain. So let's see how race day played out.

I woke up at 4:45am. Took a shower, drank Liquid IV, ate PB sandwich, ate banana, and then got dressed. I packed the car with two sets of shoes (Next%2 and Next%3). I planned on wearing the Next%3 if the rain looked like it would hold off, and then 2s if it was going to rain. Before long, all of us loaded into the car and we were off at about 6:05am. It was raining when we left home, but when we arrived in Oconomowoc around 6:45am there wasn't any rain there yet. The rain was moving west to east, and there was barely any rain. So the storm moved really slowly.

Left the car and headed to the bathrooms. Since the race was at a park, there were real bathrooms available. Thankfully they were open too! Got inside and the men's bathroom had two stalls but only one with toilet paper (and barely any of it). Glad I arrived really early.

I headed over on the short walk to bib pickup at around 7:05am. Got my bib without issues, and then headed back over to the car. G and Steph had been playing on the playground and were now using the adult workout equipment. G and I made our way back to the car, and then I did my dynamic stretches near a park bench. I used the restroom again (some complaints about the lack of toilet paper), and then got my running stuff on. The rain had just started. I decided to go with the Next%2 because of the rain. They've got quite a few miles on them for race shoes, but they're tried and true. I know how they'll respond to rain. Better the safe decision, than sorry.

At about 7:30am, I headed out for a very short warmup. The Next%2 felt a little flatter than I'd want in a race day shoe. But I didn't let that bother me. Roll with the punches. The WU was easy. Did about 8 min of slow running, and then did three strides with picking up the pace. Used the real restrooms for one last time, and then made my way back to the car where Steph and G were hanging out. Drank my Maurten 320 around 7:45am. Got all my stuff together and then said bye to the family. Took a water bottle out to the course and left it along the path at about the 6.2 mile mark. Then I made my way over to the start line. Most other runners were wearing rain jackets and pants. But you know me, I'm in shorts and a tank. And to be honest, I wasn't event the least bit cold. This was my jam, maybe minus the light rain. But honestly, I'd rather have a light rain than the sun eight days a week when it comes to racing. As I walked up they started the national anthem, we lined up at the start. Had a short chat with an older male runner who offered for me to stand next to him when toeing the line. He said he was also doing the HM and also aiming for a 7 min/mile. And then we got our countdown and we were off.

Conditions - 🌧 Moderate rain, Wind 7mph to 19mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 45°F + 37°F; FL - 41°F
End: Temp+Dew = 44°F + 35°F; FL - 41°F

*I'll disagree with the 19mph wind and say I'm not sure I ever felt the wind as an impediment to my progress. Additionally, the rain was present, but it was hardly moderate. Not a drizzle, not a downpour. A nice light noticeable rain. My singlet was soaked after about 3 miles or so to give a perspective.

Mile 1 - 6:59 - GAP 6:59

The goal at the start of the race was two-fold.

1) Don't go out too fast
2) See #1

I was aiming for a 7 min/mile. Additionally, I set a HR alert on my watch for 150 bpm. Based on a recent analysis my HM HR tends to be about 147-149 bpm regardless of conditions. So unlike the last two spring races, I wanted to keep myself in check from a pace standpoint and a HR standpoint. So for the first mile I set the HR at 10 bpm to 149 bpm, then for every mile after that I set the goal range to be 144 bpm to 149 bpm.

The race started and I was going way too fast. That other guy doing a 7 min/mile was running way faster than a 7 min/mile. So I ended up doing 6:40s for the first minute and then reigned myself in. As I reigned myself in I was passed by a few other runners. Older in black (also doing a 7 min/mile HM), purple who went blazing by, grey who went blazing by, the two Chicago guys, another purple guy, and then another older guy in black. So right from the first 0.5 mile or so I was in about 8th or so place. The 8:00am start was HM/M, so it was tough to know who was doing what until the end of the race. Since the course is a double out/back that means when the Marathoners go on their third loop is the indication that they weren't a HM runner. So at this point, I treated everyone like they were a HM runner.

Somewhere during the first mile a marathoner in grey pulled up next to me. He told me he was doing the marathon and aiming for a 3:05 finish (around 7 min/mile). I told him I was doing the HM and aiming for a 1:30-1:33 finish (also around a 7 min/mile). He was going for a BQ with some wiggle room. While it was unspoken, it was at that moment that the two of us kind of latched onto each other. We started running side by side.


Mile 2 - 7:00 - GAP 6:56

Every time my HR exceeded 149 bpm I'd get a voice in my headphones saying, "hey buddy, cool your jets". For the most part though there was never any effort adjustment and the audio would inform me that I was back within zone. So I knew I was riding the line, but staying under the limit. Marathon grey and I were still together and running well. I think it was around this time that we passed the "other" older guy in black (didn't know what race he was doing). He told me post-race that he overheard us taking about marathon vs HM, and thought he had heard we were both doing the M. So when we passed him he momentarily felt bad about himself because we were passing him and going twice the distance. But thankfully he said that mental moment was fleeting and he just kept trying to keep us in view for the remainder of the race. We had a street crossing (the whole race was on a bike path and sidewalk), and there was a woman in glasses there cheering us on.


Mile 3 - 7:00 - GAP 6:58
Happy with how the race was playing out. I was sticking with the 7 min/mile pace goal, and the HR was staying in zone other than a few fleeting moments. While it was still raining, and still cold, it didn't bother me in the least. I was enjoying the experience and me and the grey marathoner were still in lock step. We came up to the second aid station table at about Mile 2.1-2.3. I grabbed a cup of water, and my co-runner had his own water bottle. So he kept moving and I slowed a touch to drink, but I was still running while drinking using the pinch method. We didn't really lose contact too much and were running side by side after a quarter mile or so. The whole time I wasn't really paying attention to the pace too much. I was focusing on staying in lock with grey marathoner and using the HR limit as a gauge to keep me from overreaching.


Mile 4 - 7:00 - GAP 7:01
We made our way to the turnaround point and could get our first look at the other runners. Fast purple was in the lead, then grey, then beard and other purple, then two chicago guys, then older HM in black. We were still running in 8th and 9th place at that point. Felt good on the turn. There were some runners here and there behind us. Seemed like the lead female was about 2-3 min behind us in terms of where she would finish. Her and 2nd place weren't too far apart from each other. As we hit the 3.5 mile mark and turned westward is when we saw all the other runners behind us. Additionally about 10 min after the HM/M start was the 5k/10k start. So some of these runners were in the 10k as well. Things got a lot busier on the bike path and so myself and grey ended up going 1-2 instead of running side by side.


Mile 5 - 6:54 - GAP 6:55

Body was still feeling pretty good. I was putting in a good effort, and was staying around that 7:00 goal and 144-149 bpm goal. Around this point is when something unexpected started happening. I started to get alerts from my HR that it was going below 144. So every time I got one of those alerts I tried to dig in a little bit more and run a little harder. HR says I can, so let's try. And then I'd get it back up in the zone. Where I was getting more alerts for high HR early on, the pendulum definitely swung and for most of the middle of the race I was getting alerts for being lower than zone. I think this is when grey got a bottle switch from a female runner (wife/sister?). He was a touch ahead of me, but I shouted him so kudos for a smooth handoff. I also saw the woman in glasses cheering again. Because of the workout, I wasn't seeing my completed splits pop up on my screen after each mile and instead it was prompting me with the goal HR zone. So I was kind of blind on pace, but I knew since grey marathoner was around that we were still doing something close to 7s.


Mile 6 - 6:57 - GAP 6:57

Grey and I made our turn up north on the path. The people on the other side of the path were thinning out as we were hitting the back end of the 10k/HM/M runners. So we were running side by side again. I think it was sometime during this mile that I had my first drink from the concentrated Tailwind. I also hit up another aid station, and drank the water while running. I didn't lose much contact with grey. We didn't have much to chase though as the other runners had a sizeable gap on us, and there wasn't much behind us either. We just kept making our way through the middle of the pack 10k runners now.


Mile 7 - 7:07 - GAP 7:07

At this point I was putting in a pretty good effort. I had left my water bottle on the path. Since the route was really straight for a good bit, I could see that Steph and G weren't waiting there to pass me the bottle. I don't blame them either because it was still light raining. So I tried to keep a good pace and then ducked down to grab the bottle and then keep moving. I didn't lose much contact with grey doing this either. We saw the other HM/M runners coming back at us. Purple was still leading, grey was further behind now but still moving well, then other purple was by himself, then double Chicagos, then beard (who had slipped in position now), and then older in black (doing the HM in 7s, but a touch faster than 7s). I saw the lady in glasses again and gave her a shoutout. She said she's cheered at some big races and is used to moving quick. Then grey and I hit the turnaround 1 by 1. Unlike 2021, I didn't step off the sidewalk and tweak everything in my body. I took the sharp turn real slow and eased back into running again. Looks like we hit the turn at 46:06 per my Garmin. I was pleased with this as it meant I was around a 1:32. It meant we were both on pace for our goals. I kept drinking from my water bottle, but honestly it was getting a bit unpleasant to try and drink that much water that quickly when running that pace. Almost felt like I was going to hurl, but thankfully that feeling dissipated. I never did see this split (or much of any of them) so I had no idea that pace had slipped a touch, but that's explainable by the turnaround we did and reaching for my bottle. So it didn't bother me, because I had no idea. But I knew I was doing well because grey was still within contact. I tossed my bottle back at my spot, and then it was time to attack the remainder of the race.


Mile 8 - 6:58 - GAP 6:57

Grey and I were making our way through the other runners. We now had middle pack 10kers, and almost all the other HM/Ms to work through on the other side. A lot less runners on our side. That meant we were 1 by 1 again. Some time around the halfway mark of this mile is when I wished grey marathoner well and started off on my own. It was time to start kicking and seeing what I had. Since I had gotten so many alerts I was below HR zone, I wanted to see what at HR zone looked like. Well within seconds I was getting alerted I was too high, so that didn't last long. But I was a little ahead of grey now. Looks like I was doing high 6:40s momentarily. I was aiming to catch the man in black ahead of me. But now that I'm typing this, I think the other man in black passed us at some moment earlier in the race. It's possible this was the moment we collectively passed him and it got to him mentally. I don't quite remember at this point, but I do remember passing other man in black around the Mile 7.8-8.2 mark.


Mile 9 - 7:02 - GAP 6:59
I think it was around this time that I had my Maurten gel. It was non-caff because I didn't have any more caff gels at home. I was putting in a good effort at this point. I had elevated how hard I was running, but could also tell I hadn't put much of a gap on grey. So I was probably still around 7 pace despite the increase in effort. I saw woman in glasses again and asked her if she had a portal. How was she possible zooming back and forth so quick! I don't remember much else from this mile. I didn't have anyone to chase in view at this point, grey was still hot on my trail, and the other runners weren't headed back towards me yet.


Mile 10 - 7:08 - GAP 7:07
Breathe... relax... one foot in front of the other. Things were getting hard. I was getting less and less alerts about the HR being too low at this point and I was really grinding. Somewhere just after the Mile 9 mark is when the lead runner passed me going the other way. He was a little over a mile ahead of me at this point. So the order remained the same as at the turnaround. It was purple, grey, purple, Chicagos, beard, and man in black. Man in black had a gap on me of probably about 2 min based on where we were when we passed each other. I hit the 9.83 turn at 1:09:08. Grey was hot behind me, and other man in black not too far behind that.


Mile 11 - 7:05 - GAP 7:06

Dig... dig... DIGGGG!!! I was putting in a really high effort at this point. I wasn't pulling away from grey, but I was at least holding position. It's hard to remember, but I think I had another drink of concentrated Tailwind during this mile. Somewhere during the tail end of this mile is when grey marathoner passed me. I tried to stick with him as best I could.


Mile 12 - 6:55 - GAP 6:56
I made my final move. I dropped the hammer and tried to separate myself from grey. It was to be everything I had left for the last two miles. Per Garmin, I had an explosion in pace. I was doing 6:20-6:30s for about a minute. But it wasn't sustainable. I just kept pressing as much as I could as this point. Breathe... relax... one foot in front of the other. Quick steps. The floor is lava. I didn't look back for the remainder of the race.


Mile 13 - 7:03 - GAP 7:03
I was coming upon the back end HM/M runners at this point now. Weaving in and out when needed. I was just trying to make it to the finish. When I hit the 12.11 mark I peaked at my watch and saw something like high 1:24s. So I knew I was on track for a 1:32-ish finish. I saw fast purple headed back out for another lap, so that meant he was a marathoner. So too was other purple and the two Chicagos. So I figured that put me in 4th place behind grey, beard, and other man in black from the start line. I saw Steph and G at 12.9 mark, and saw grey's wife/sister hand him a bottle (so she must have been doing the 10k since she was finished).


Mile 13.17 - 7:00 - GAP 7:00 - 1:12

Saw the lady in glasses again, and then made the final turn to the finish. Saw the other man in black as he was circling back from his finish, and then it was my turn. Exhausted, I crossed the finish line.

View attachment 757072

View attachment 757071

Finish - 1:32:25 *3rd fastest HM behind 2019 Madison and 2018 Disney
Overall - 4/74 (5.4%) *8th best performance in all races except Disney
Gender - 4/38 (10.5%)
AG - 1/4 (WIN!) *3rd AG win in all races

After the race, Steph and G gave me some congrats. I saw grey turnaround for the continuation of his marathon. I congrats a few other runners. Woman in glasses was cheering on her husband who was going for a NYM AG Q time (he got it!). Spent some time chatting with other runners as they compiled the HM results. I sent G and Steph back to the car instead of continuing to wait in the rain with me. Eventually after 20 min or so the results were in and I got my 1st place AG award. Looks like it was a given since 2nd in my AG ran in 2:07. Compare that to Parkinson's which had a similar overall finisher number and I came in 8th AG place. It really was a competitive race. Made my way back to the car, and then we headed home.

View attachment 757073

The 1st place AG medal is a nice piece of wood working. The finisher medal is huge.

Summary

I'm really happy with the race I ran. I ran composed and within myself. It wasn't a negative split, but I didn't fade. I was able to run strong at the end and be competitive. Being the passer instead of the passee. All of the split were within 7 seconds of the average pace. Combine that with a 3rd best HM in the 24 I've done, and it was a pretty good day. Splits wise, I ran the first half in 46:06 and the second half in 46:19. My 5k splits were 21:44, 21:38, 21:54, 21:53. Happy with everything overall. I did well on the pacing, the HR zone alerts helped, and having someone else with the same goal pace helped.

ETA - Looks like grey marathon finished in 3:09:38 based on there being a woman sharing the same last name, and his splits align with my own. His BQ would be a 3:10:00 so he just squeaked in!

******

The 2023 Spring Season Prediction Contest: Finale
Original Post

Since we had blind guesses in the final round, let's see what everyone put down:

1:29:28 - @eminemilie
1:30:30 - Me
1:31:00 - G
1:32:10 - @Jules76126
1:32:47 - @Naomeri
1:32:57 - @azrivest
1:33:33 - @flav
1:34:19 - @JAMIESMITH
1:34:31 - @MissLiss279
1:34:42 - @FFigawi
1:35:00 - @bovie
1:37:00 - @kps7795

And drum roll........

View attachment 757091

View attachment 757092

G is the winner! She was very excited to win and to take home her prize! Shout to myself in 2nd place and to @JAMIESMITH in 3rd place. Also a great rally by @Naomeri late to finish in 4th place. Thanks to all that played!


So what's next?

The goal for the summer is to get back to hitting the weights. I'm hoping to go through the full sessions of LIIFT4, and try to get the necessary equipment to embrace LIIFT More. This means I'll probably pull back on running a bit and drop to something like 3-4 days per week during the summer. Then come winter, I'm planning on doing another series of races aiming towards a finale at Disneyland in Jan 2024. Then the plan at the moment is to turn to a Spring marathon training cycle aiming for the 2024 Non-Cancelled Marathon.

Thanks for reading!

Great job on the race!

I've seen you mention taking a Liquid IV prior to your races this spring. Can you share how that got added to your pre-race strategy and how it is beneficial? I've used your fueling strategy for half marathons and marathons and wonder if I should add that to my routine.

 

[azrivest]

Congratulations

I am always impressed you manage to remember so many details from your races about each mile and about fellow racers.

 

[garneska]

Congrats! those splits were awesome, really even with no fade but nothing held back.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

Congratulations!

 

[NYC_MW]

Awesome job!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congratulations on a great race!

Thanks!

Congrats! Fantastic HM!

Thanks!

Congrats!!!

Thanks!

Congrats on your race! That's so cool!

Thanks!

Great job!!

Thanks!

Congrats on finishing your spring season on a high note!

Thanks!

Great Spring race season! Congratulations to you and your supporters

Thanks!

Great job on the race!

I've seen you mention taking a Liquid IV prior to your races this spring. Can you share how that got added to your pre-race strategy and how it is beneficial? I've used your fueling strategy for half marathons and marathons and wonder if I should add that to my routine.

Thanks!

Can't remember exactly when I added it to the routine, but it has felt like a few years now. I added it as a means to increase my intake of sodium and potassium pre-race.

Congratulations

I am always impressed you manage to remember so many details from your races about each mile and about fellow racers.

Thanks! I just relive the race in my head when I'm writing the recap. It's also easier to remember about the fellow racers when there are only a couple of people to keep track of. There's less of that in a race like Disney which have a lot more other runners. Also an out/back makes it easier too because you see the other runners several times. Easier to remember then.

Congrats! those splits were awesome, really even with no fade but nothing held back.

Thanks! Pretty happy with the evenness of the splits after Parkinson's. T+D played a significant role there.

Congratulations!

Thanks!

Awesome job!

Thanks!

 

[kps7795]

Congratulations on a really great race. You crushed it!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congratulations on a really great race. You crushed it!

Thanks!

 

[DopeyBadger]

2022 Winter and 2023 Spring - Princess and several 10k/HM races - Training Cycle Review
-Training Plan
-Spring Racing Prediction Game Start
-2023 Princess Weekend Trip Report and Race Recaps
-2023 Shamrock Shuffle 10k
-2023 First Call HM
-2023 Parkinson's HM
-2023 Non-Cancelled HM

The 2023 Non-Cancelled HM this past Saturday brought the 2022/2023 Winter/Spring training cycle to a close. In totality (including the recovery from the Madison M) this training cycle was 24 weeks long and started in mid-November. The actual pace work started in late December and that portion of the plan lasted 18 weeks. This training cycle was different than my normal routine because instead of having a single "A" race to focus on, instead I went with several "B" races in the latter portion of the training plan. Additionally, unlike in 2022 when I made the Princess Weekend the "A" focus and end of the plan, this time around Princess served as the start of the race season. I made this particular change in this cycle to allow me to race more with the hopes of getting a good weather race day unlike the normal training plan that puts all the chips on a single day. The potential downside to this method is that with lots of race in the latter half of the training plan, it means there is less time to train because you're either recovering from the last race or tapering for the next one. So you might be in good shape, but you're unlikely to make a ton of gains from one race to the next, or during the whole training plan together. But for someone like myself who seems to have very clearly hit their plateau, there's not many more gains to squeeze out of one training plan to the next. So with that, how did the training plan go?

I'd say for the most part, the training plan was well followed up through Princess Weekend. The base phase went as planned. The second phase was the Daniels 5k/10k training run staples of R, some I, and some T paced workouts. During the majority of these training runs I felt like I was getting my legs underneath me and putting in some good work. The Princess races went well, but not as well as last year. The 5k was a blast. The 10k was better paced than 2022, but slower. The HM was slower, but I took a lot of pictures.

The training plan took a real hit after I returned from Disney with COVID. This forced me off for 10 days, and then I returned to running. The return to running wasn't terribly different than a normal period of time off. However, this break in time really disrupted my desire to continue to do the LIIFT4 workouts on Sat/Sun. So after Disney that part of the training fell off. The third phase of the training plan was aimed at trying to balance being race ready and recovering from the prior race. I'd say on a zoomed out scale, I actually recovered quite well from each of the four races I did during the third phase. I never felt overly wiped out for days like I have after some "A" race experiences. This wasn't for a lack of effort either. And in some cases, my body actually felt better post race. Almost like it was demanding more. But that isn't terribly surprising since my volume stayed lower during this phase. During the 2nd phase (9 weeks), my low for weekly mileage was 44 miles. During the 3rd "racing" phase (8 weeks), I was under 44 miles in six of those weeks. Some of that was COVID recovery, but most of it was because it's hard to do a lot of training with races every other week. So my body was actually happy after most of the races. Which probably means I balanced most everything well.

As for the races themselves:

2/24/23 - Princess 5k w/ G - 2:05:00
2/25/23 - Princess 10k - 42:53 (official 5th fastest of twelve 10ks)
2/26/23 - Princess HM - 1:40:21
3/11/23 - Shamrock Shuffle 10k - 42:42 (official 4th fastest of twelve 10ks)
3/26/23 - First Call HM - 1:33:55 (official 5th fastest of twenty-four HMs)
4/15/23 - Parkinson's HM - 1:36:36 (official 10th fastest of twenty-four HMs)
4/29/23 - Non-Cancelled HM - 1:32:25 (official 3rd fastest of twenty-four HMs)

So to summarize, I ran my 4th and 5th fastest 10ks. I also ran my 3rd, 5th, and 10th fastest HMs. So what I may have lacked in top end quality, I made up for with several high end results. The Non-Cancelled HM was the top VDOT race of the season at 49.4. I've done 63 total races/time trials, and the Non-Cancelled HM VDOT ranks as the 7th best performance of my life. The other six races occurred in 2017-2020. The Non-Cancelled HM was the best performance since the May 2020 one mile time trial with Christian. So I'm pretty proud of that. While the training may not have been everything I had planned it to be in the beginning, I was still able to pull out some good performances along the way.



So despite the hiccups in the plan, I would call this training cycle a success. I successfully was able to race multiple "B" races, and was able to get a great weather day for the Non-Cancelled HM. Given the success of this training cycle, I'm aiming to do a similar one for the Fall/Winter 2023 training cycle leading into the Disneyland HM.

 

[dis_or_dat]

Wow awesome job!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Wow awesome job!

Thanks!

 

[DopeyBadger]

2024 Disneyland 5k Costume

We're about 6 months away from Halloween and 8 months away from the Disneyland 5k. So as it gets closer, it's time to get started on costumes. However, before I can get started on the costumes, we had to come to a decision on what we were going to wear. So, to start, let's go through some ideas we tossed around.

1) Hat Box Ghost and Constance Hatchaway

I'll be honest, this was my first choice. G and I had decided that we wouldn't discuss Disneyland 5k costumes until after the 2023 Princess 5k was over. But about a month before the 5k, I had a flurry of inspiration in making Constance and the Hat Box Ghost. It also tied into the fact that the new movie comes out later this summer. So it has some recency relevancy, and this was also G and my first trip to Disneyland either ever or in 30 years. I had grand plans for a "show" for the whole thing including a programmed light show and an idea on how to pull off the moving of the head from above the neck to inside the box (involved lights and an iPad). We told the idea to our VIP guide back in February and he additionally challenged us to come up with a method to making Constance's hatchet appear and disappear into her chest. Maybe we'll revisit this one, but this ended up not being the direction we went with.

2) Love and Thunder

Great MCU combo of Thor (Thunder) and Gorr's daughter (Love) from the end of the Thor: Love and Thunder movie. This one didn't get much attention from G because she didn't really connect with the character.

3) Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

This one went a little further in the thought process, but ultimately didn't get chosen. I'm not sure exactly how I'd pull off the dinosaur.

4) Ironman and Ironheart

G got super excited while at the 2023 Princess 5k because @QueenFernando's husband mentioned that he had never seen anyone dress in fully mechanized Ironman and Ironheart outfits. Well G's eyes got bigger than the sun when that was mentioned and was totally on board. But honestly, without a legit 3-D printer, this one would be too difficult to pull off. So this is a definite back burner idea.

5) Mike and Marty Wazowski

And the winning idea ended up being Mike and Marty Wazowski. Gigi wants to take the Monster's Laugh Floor on the road. She wants to perform stand up comedy before, during, and after the race. So here's where we are preliminarily.





We want to create a full size representation of the costume. Including a green man suit (or orange man suit) to cover our skin (but not the head). We want the eye of both to be a "googly eye" so that it can move around when we run. But it'll also have an invisible barrier to keep the eye from always looking down. We're still workshopping a hat idea (either normal baseball cap, a baseball cap the appropriate size for Mike/Marty, a hardhat, or a hat that goes over our head but doesn't cover our faces). She wants a 3-D mouth as well. So this costume is going to add a new layer to my adventure. I'm going to learn how to sew. The family bought me a Brother sewing machine for my birthday. So expectations are high on my shoulders for learning this new skill. I've purchased two Simplicity sewing patterns which I think will be helpful in making these costumes. Simplicity 7415 has an adult tomato costume that looks to be about Mike and Marty's shape. I like how the costume goes past the waistline because then it makes our arms and legs look more proportional to the character. I'm thinking of adding some additional foam to the shoulder area to raise up the arm location on the character.




Simplicity 7527 has a 3-D mouth from the Killer Tomato costume

I'll have to edit the mouth a bit since Mike/Marty's teeth are irregular pentagons instead of the above shapes. But the gist of the pattern will get me 90% of the way there. The horns will be made with EVA foam. Maybe some covers over the shoes to make it look like clawed feet. A sock on the back of the costume is a must.

G will have a microphone and along the way will perform a comedy routine to anyone that participates. But then we had a great idea. What if we built a working laugh canister. She wanted lights. But she also wanted sound! So dad got hard to work on how we could make a Mobile Laugh Collection Canister with lights and sound.



I sketched it out. While things can change, the idea is to build it out of three pieces of PVC pipe. The top and bottom PVC pieces will contain the components necessary for the lights and for the sound. The PVC will be wrapped in EVA foam, and then painted to look like a worn canister. I'll also attach a handle to it to make it easier to carry. The collection indicating light will be on two sides of the canister, and the top PVC pipe will have the appearance of a speaker mesh.




I was disappointed in the EL wire's brightness in the Princess 5k race. So we're going with a stronger LED Adafruit's Flexible LED strip with 352 LEDs in a meter (about 120 LEDs in a foot). Compared to the EL wire, it is much much brighter. So this should really show off the collection meter. G wants it to actually be a changing % based on a button, but I told her that part might get a bit too complicated for this build. So for now, we're planning on a static meter at about 75% full.

In addition to the lights though, she wanted the canister to make sound. So I read some tutorials and found a simple setup for having the canister make sound. The plan will be to put a button on the handle that when pushed will make a comedy rimshot sound effect (ba-dum-tss) when she makes a joke, and then possibly a few other sounds we're toying around with adding in as well.

We've also started to discuss a dialogue routine, but there's a lot of time to refine that. The benefit of using this costume at Halloween prior to the race is we'll get to test out some of the routine on the locals (although they're less likely to know the Monster's Inc. references). But I told G from the start, the only way this costume works is if she'll be willing to approach random runners and strike up the conversations with them. She's on board, so we're 100% moving ahead on this one. So I look forward to our next cosplay adventure as we add sewing and the use of a sound board for sound effects in our prop.

Next - Laugh Canister Part 1 - Construction

 

[nancipants]

That is a HILARIOUS idea.

My son was recently in a huge Monsters Inc. phase so if you need suggestions, hit me up. Also check out the Monsters at Work show on Disney Plus!