MelRhoads said:
This sounds like a great plan to me, but sadly the stale plastic wrapped muffins at the end of the disney races would not be enough to get me to walk a mile!!! I must say there was no magic as far as the post-race food was concerned!!!! I've done 5k's that had a breakfast buffet at the end, but disney's food stunk!!!! The last marathon i did had chicken and dumplings, unlimited fresh fruit and yogurt. That's good stuff!
MelR: That sounds similar to my first 5K, a homecoming race. They had biscuits, eggs, sausage, grits, fruit, donuts, juice, etc. but somehow they managed to forget water...
Amy: 
get to feeling better
MickeySP said:
Claire - Hey my son is older than you, he's just turned 21! He's a single baseball player and movie production student here in Boston. HMM maybe I'll bring him along in January

My heart melts for any guy who loves Disney
keenercam said:
lilouisianagal -- I'm with Tiff! Demonstrate facility with a knife and fork and you can sit at the grownups' table. Oh, and I totally agree with you about the food as fuel thing. It is a lesson I still haven't perfected! I don't think my body will cooperate if I feed it cakes and cookies.

Yay! I'm an adult now! oh wait...is that a good thing??? And the cookies, etc certain tasted good while they lasted but now I'm gonna be good

for Howard tomorrow
Dana:
Papa Deuce:

You can do it! Most of the really tough part is mental and that's why you now have this great team to cheer you on.
Tiger Lily 03 said:
Claire, I love that you are so young and so in tune with yourself. You have the idea about the smart eating choices being part of a successful training. Seems to me you have earned a spot with the adults, if space is an issue I'll trade places with ya!
Yes I have the idea ...now I've just gotta stick with it. And thats sad that the eagles left, but at least you got to see them
keenercam said:
Welcome, Papa! SO glad to see you here. This group comprise some of the best/nicest/most generous people you will ever meet. And I do not say that lightly. Here you will find encouragement and celebration and advice as we all share this awesome journey.

gee Cam you're so sweet. And btw you are such an inspiration to me. I can't wait to meet everyone at the Marathon. ...10 months *looks at watch impatiently*
Colleen:: Wow thats a great time in my book! Congrats.
And those red oranges at the end of the race were GOOD!
Sooo instead of a rest day today I got to do my 5K. I ended up finishing in 35:40, which is slower than I wanted (and than I have running in training before) but still within my goal. The course started out going uphill rather steeply before turning and heading toward the capitol building. It had that odd forced perspective look that the castle had, so naturally that got me thinking about WDW

. Then the course turned and when downhill steeply. My thought here was, "oh crud that means that there is an uphill further on"

I ran the first mile in just a tick over 10 min which was dead on what I had planned. It was nasty hot and humid so I walked the water station (I still ended up with more water on me than in me, but I was rather happy about that hehe). The second mile was rather flat but it was in the sun and all of a sudden there was NO breeze. It was nastiness. Then the course took an extra little turn toward the river that I was SOO not expecting. Mentally this kicked my bum. I ended up walking for approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the second mile. I had just gotten up the energy to jog down the train hill (I had just walked up it) and had a nice little pace going when I got to the next water station. Now I'm a college student, and as such it is instinctual for me to accept anything that is free, so of course I just had to walk and splash down some more water. This was at the 2 mile mark and I reached it at 23 minutes. A bit slower than I would have liked (and I could have done without that walk), but okay. Then the course goes back uphill (told you so

). I found a nice jog pace just after the water station so it was all good. By this point we had finally sorted out into pretty steady groups. There was one guy who was dead on the same pace as me. We went around the bend and started up a series of "gentle" hills. So we had a nice conversation about the hills and the breezes. It was really nice to have someone to talk to. The course takes the final turn and starts down a nice shady Downhill road. There was a cop at the turn cheering us on and telling us it was the last turn. I swear I could have hugged him! I kicked up the pace a little here and started running with two other people. We had a nice little rejoicing over the downhill. There was one final lovely DOWN hill to the finish. I love whoever thought that out. I ran down that hill and into the chutes. I know I finished top 1000. They handed us "ice water" (a bottle of room temp water). There were tents with a little free food (Sun Chips, Yogurt, Cereal). Man, I miss the Mouse's treatment. I decided to grab a bottle of water and catch my friends who were still walking the 5K. Overall it kicked my bum. The heat, humidity, and hills were not good. But I was talking to my friend who had planned to run it in 19min (and he certainly can and has run 5K in that time) and he also found it a tough course (he ended up with something over 20min, 22 or 23?).
And I finally picked up a copy of Marathoning for Morals! I can't wait to soak in a nice hot bath and read up.