Race Weekend Recap

Let me start out by saying the was the MOST WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD.
I figured with all of the hoopla and fineness that Disney is known for that they would pull out all of the stops. I was correct.  
Let me replay day to day as much as I can.


4 January 2016
I start my vacation.  First with an appointment at a nice place in Briar Creek to have my eyebrows done.  It was a little pricey but they came out nicely.  I also had my entire face waxed and bought a little color to fill in my brows from the times with the ladies at the nail shop wax away too much. 
I ran a few more errands and had my car washed and then decided to try to find a place where I could get a massage.  Finally, I was able to walk in to a place on 9th street.  For 75 bucks it was just ok.  She didn't have the head rest placement correct so that my nose became congested. She also did some weird positioning so that at a few points in the massage I was layin on my side.  :/ Overall, I left a little more loose and refreshed.
At 6:30pm I taught my last Zumba class and bid my students fairwell.  A few of them brought me thoughtful gifts and all of them wished me well. 


5 January 2016
I was so happy to finally be leaving I didn't get much rest.  I got up really early and did the early check in on Southwest Airlines.  Harrell dropped me off at the airport without incident.  I arrived in Orlando and quickly put away my down North Face Jacket and wore a short sleeve fitness shirt that Harrell had given me for Christmas.  "we run this city" with a picture of the state of NC on it. With a pair of skinny levy jeans. 
It took a while for my roommate to find me but eventually she did.  She's a cute 20 something dark haired female who had been helping me plan my first Disney experience since about April of 2015.  I found her funny and easy going.  TOTAL SCORE.
She took me to Wal-Mart where we bought a few items for the week and we browsed Disney products at are just as good but much cheaper than buying gifts on property. 
After that she drove us to the rental condo.   Talk about AWESOME!!!  A two bedroom two bath place with a full kitchen and a washer dryer and a view of the parks from the balcony. 
She gave me a few more tips and I got settled quickly.  After which we headed to Epcot!   My very first day in Orlando and before noon we are heading to the park.  
We walked around and took some cute pictures.  They have alcohol but I didn't buy any although I did buy two bottles of wine for my post race celebration. She had a pretty frozen drink that she said was amazing that had grey goose vodka in it.
We saw a few characters and rode a roller coaster and then left for ESPN where the race expos was being held.
This was the biggest race event I've ever attended. They had vendors everywhere.  First we took care of the business by signing our waivers and picking up our race bibs and shirts.  The shirts were awesome..  5 performance fabric long sleeve shirts and one cotton short sleeve shirt for the 5k.  
Next, we went into the run Disney merch section and bought a few things.  I wasn't impressed with the "I did it shirts.  There were a few shirts and hoodies and jackets but I just couldn't with good conscious spend 35.00 on a champion t-shirt just cause it said, "Run Disney" on it.   I did buy a  Run Disney hoodie.. The same one I had seen online, a visor and a car magnet set.  I also bought the New Balance Mickey Race shoes...  Finally, at the last checkout station a cast member asked me if I wanted a very large bag to put everything I'd bought into it..  My instincts said no but before I could blink I'd taken the big bag, put EVERYTHING inside it and was walking to the car with tired legs and a big smile on my face.
We stopped in front of the banners that depicted each race medal and took pictures.  At the last medal we spoke with a man who was also doing the Dopey challenge.  We took his picture for him and turned to grab our things.. Low and behold my bag was GONE! 
LIKE GONE, LIKE MISSING, LIKE OOOOOOOHHHH NOOOO.
It was like something from a terrible chick flick.  Alicia takes off through the parking lot trying to find someone one she probably wouldn't recognized from behind.  After not too long we realize this isn't going to go well.  I believe I have singlehandedly ruined my entire race weekend.  Finally, I set out to find security.  The more time I'm waiting the more the feelings of doom are smothering me.  I report the incident to security and of course they are less than helpful. 
I return to the expos and leave Alicia out by the banners in cause the mystery man returns. 
Inside the expo they are sympathetic to my situation.  I'm assigned a new race number and given new shirts and new race bibs and t-shirts.  At this point, I'm trying to figure out how to handle the rest of the weekend.  I start looking in my phone for the contact info for USAA and b of a.  Alicia has already posted the incident on FB and now my phone is blowing up.  I can't face it right now..  There are soooo many things to do on top of the fact that I have a race tomorrow.  We start to walk slowly towards the parked rental car talking about how quickly my life had changed.  I'm super sorry and apologetic to my little roommate.  I cast my eyes forward and who is walking towards me but my brand new KNIGHT IN KHAKI PANTS.   OH MY JEEEZ-ZUS!  

Summer almost gone

August is here which means the summer will be ending soon.  I vow to take advantage and cherish every warm weather run that I can. 
I began the month with a 12 mile run.   I was scheduled to do a Zumba jam and probably should have run only about 8 or 10 miles but I wanted to get a jump on a few people on my nike plus friend list.  Sunday I left at around 7am and set my run for 10 miles.  At the 6 mile mark I felt pretty good so I decided to keep on going.   I had a good run, came in and took a nap.  Turns out by the time I got to the jam I really didn't feel too much like jamming.   I learned as much of the routines as I could and then went home.  I stopped at Chipotle and got a rice bowl for Harrell and I.   He attempted to engage me intimately but I wasn't feelin it by a long shot so for him it was another date with his girlfriend "handy" I ate and then went to bed.  I really need to do better at fluid replacement.  My Matra for August should be," Coke Zero is not the best choice. 

Training in July

I don't even know how to type this...  I stopped drinking.  Just like that! The weekend of 30 June I went to the store and bought multiple bottles of wine for the weekend like I've been doing for years.   I even put a few of them in the refrigerator.  But this time I didn't open them. 
I'm not sure fully why.  Partially because I have a cruise coming up and it's getting harder and harder to see my abdominal muscles under this coating of Pinot Grigio.  The other reason is because well, I'm training for a marathon.  How many marathon runners also drink as often and as heavily as I do?  Doesn't that actually defeat the purpose of becoming an athlete? I'm not sure the answer but the solution for me was to stop. Cold turkey and that's what I did.  
It was hard at first.  Especially during the 4th of July holiday but that day came and went and so did the next and then next and before I knew it weeks had gone by.  
The next thing I did was start to work on my diet.  I stopped buying 25.00 worth of sushi on Thursdays and I cut back on Chipotle too.  
I'm not sure the exact date but it came to my attention that one of the travel agents had a bib for sale for the Goofy Challenge.  This was the Challenge I wanted to do but it was sold out by the time I registered.  It took a little finagling but I did it!  I swapped my Goofy bib for a Dopey.  So now instead of running a half and a full I'll be like a bunch of other crazy people.  5k on Thur. 10k on Friday. 1/2 marathon on Saturday and a full Marathon on Sunday for a grand total of 48.60 miles....     Shit just got real! 
Turns out I did too.  For the first time ever I logged more than 100 miles of running in one month. 

Training begins

30 June marks the beginning of the Galloway marathon training program.  I print the schedule and put it up on the fridge.  According to the beginning of the program we're supposed to run two short runs during the week and one long run on the weekend.  I talk to Kosta my boss at Snap Fitness and he says that he thinks I need to add cross training for strength and injury prevention.  He also says I don't need to practice running since I already know how but should use the bike for endurance.  It kind of makes sense but I decide to cross check this statement with Brian Beatty my physical therapist at Pro-axis in Chapel Hill.  Mid May, the gang and I went to Virginia and ran a half marathon.  I didn't PR but felt good about the run.  According to Gallaway we were to begin with running 45 minutes twice a week and then do 3 miles on the weekend.  I made the decision to keep my long runs between 8-12 miles until after my last half marathon of the year Run Carolina Beach where I have in my mind that I will PR my best time of 2:03. 

Time to Plan

Ok, so I've committed to running. A half and a full.  The half I know I can do without problem.  I figure it could be a little cold but other than that I should be ok.  The idea of facing a full marathon 24 hours later is a little daunting so I decide to get some tips and inspiration from folks that are in the same boat; facebook.   I proceed to join a slew of FB groups.   Rundisney, First time Marathon, Goofy for Disney, Disney Singles over 40, Mentor group for Run Disney Run, Running/race costumes.  You name it I joined. This was a great idea!  within the day I found a young woman that was running the Dopey Challenge and looking for a roommate.  This idea was much more appealing than riding in a car to Orlando with friends that aren't running.  And riding home in a car after running a marathon puts a passenger at risk for DVT.  Plus I hate road trips.  Now things are starting to look positive.  The goofy challenge is two races so I start to brainstorm costuming ideas.   I spend a few weekends watching Disney movies and doing character research.  My final choice ends up being Goofy and Animal from the Muppets.  I have it in my head that I will create my own costumes.  I also decide that I had better train.  and I mean really train for this.  I remember the terrible knee pain I felt for 3 months following my last marathon.  I try to picture teaching Zumba 4 classes a week with that type of pain and I just don't think I can.  So the only way to get around that would be to be prepared for the race.  The folks in my running group recommend using Jeff Galloways marathon training program.  He even wrote one for Disney races.  I down load the program and take a look at it.   

Regret sets in

The first thing I do after registering is send a message to Delisa.  I'm thinking she'll be happy for me and surprised that I was able to register.  Well, she's not too keen on what I'd do at ALL!  She says, "Sheila, what have you done? Where are you going to stay? Who are you going with?  You don't know anything about running Disney?  I thought you hated the marathon?  Now dread starts to set in.. I've already dropped 400.00 and now I've committed to running a marathon.  I don't know a thing about run Disney. In fact, I've never even been to Disneyworld.  I don't have a roommate, I haven't run more than 13.1 miles in a decade AND did I mention I just spent 400.00.  The first thing that comes to mind is try to get a refund.   Maybe I can get my money back and then sit down and plan a Disney race like a normal person would.   I check this idea out with Delisa.  Nope, Disney doesn't give refunds..
Plan B. just stop!  If I stop right now, I will only be out of 400.00 instead of potentially a thousand or more.  I toss this idea around with my neighbor Shantell who must've been sitting by the computer when I posted that I was going to Disney to run.  She thought the idea of wasting that kind of money was ridiculous and volunteered to drive me and her children to Disney.  They would visit family and I would have a place to stay, food and be able to run the race on a budget.  That idea sounded ok and so I agreed.  I still had regrets but so far the Plan B. had potiential and I began the next step which was to wrap my brain around the task at hand.

What have I done?

It all started with lunch after the Carolina Beach 1/2 Marathon.  Delisa and Jill were telling us about runs that they had done or wanted to do.  They mentioned Run Disney as a fun race with really nice medals.  On that day the seed was planted. 
After my runners high subsided a bit and I had successfully gotten my team to commit to running the Flying Pirate 1/2 marathon I set my sights on Disneyworld. 
From what I gathered Disney races sell out at records pace.  I also learned that you could pay to run more than one race during the same weekend.  They called these little adventures a "challenge" And that all of the races are very expensive. The next race to go on sale was the Disney Wine and Dine.  I checked the day the tickets went on sale. It was sold out.   No problem,  I got on the email list so that race notifications would be sent via e-mail.   I set Disney on the back burner.   A few weeks later, I get an alert that Run Disney was having a Marathon weekend January 2016.  I would like to state firmly that I do not like marathons.   I know because I have run two.  After the second one I swore them off and decided that the 1/2 marathon distance was my distance of choice and that I would never be interested in running 26.2 miles EVER again. 
The day that registration for the Disney Marathon opened I was home from work for some reason.  I got a message from Delisa that the run Disney site had "crashed".  Up until that point I wasn't even thinking about this race or anything Disney for that matter.  But, I went downstairs and grabbed my laptop to look at the site.  After all, I'd never seen a crashed site before and was interested in what it might look like. 
The site looked ok to me.  I pointed and clicked and noticed an increase in my pulse rate.  What was happening?  The next few minutes were a blurr but the next thing I know I had registered for the Goofy Challenge.   That's a 1/2 marathon on Saturday and a Full Marathon on Sunday. Hu????  What????   WHAT HAVE I DONE???