Tag Archives: rundisney

Sep3

School has Begun, Motivation is High…How is Dopey Going to Fit in….?

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People who are on here who have not met me in real life may not know I am a high school math teacher. School officially started for students today in most places across Alberta, and many spots in North America. We all know that the start of school brings new beginnings. It brings excitement….motivation….spirit….and for me, it also got me wondering how I am going to manage to do all I strive to do in the classroom & my school, manage my Dopey Challenge Training along with other scheduled races, keep somewhat sane, and not drive my husband completely nuts in the process.

I am a teacher who puts her time in during the summer. I do this so come fall, I can start off with at least some sanity and peacefulness of what is going on. Or at least what I want to go on. A false security that I am prepared maybe! But, even if I plan a whole new unit ahead of time, three units ahead, a whole course…things come up and changes have to be made. Work and lessons often need to be adjusted. I keep telling myself the importance of time management this semester is going to be key, as after my day at school, I need to make sure I am prepared for the following days of class….thing is, I can’t work solely on school work non-stop 24/7. It doesn’t work like that. If anyone did tha, you would turn all types of crazy.I need to head off on my run.

But, here is the thing: I am afraid that at first I will be feeling guilt about these runs. Even though I set myself a 5 pm limit to staying at the school doing school work each night and an 8 pm limit marking papers at home, if I feel like there is something to work on, I may feel guilt about going on that run. But I know eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, once on the run I will realize how much of a release it is. Running has kept me calm and sane through so many tough times. It is the best therapy, even after your hardest day. This Dopey Challenge training may actually help me keep a sane mind during my heavy-loaded semester…

I spent this whole last weekend following everyone and everything in regards to the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. Watching the videos online, looking at the photos of the race itself and all of the sweet bling handed out, reading the blogs, getting in on the discussion via social media… I got excited, pumped up, motivated, spirited….all the same feelings I get for the start of school. Now I just have to make those feelings and emotions in running work with the feelings and emotions of the school year, and most importantly, keep them in balance. So here’s to being motivated for the school year and being motivated to earning some major RunDisney bling!

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Aug17

My Disney “Beat the Bus” Challenge & Spartan Prep

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Today ends my 16 day extravaganza in Walt Disney World. Maureen and I are still friends, even after spending August 1-16 in a small Disney “value resort” room, so that’s what matters. We honestly never got sick of Disney World! Really! We just started to get really, really tired….and really, really wacko. Hence, our decision to have me do a “beat the bus” challenge on August 14th. A little background in this decision first….

The last year my mom, dad and I stayed at Yacht Club while in Disney World (2003) we had the luxury of being able to walk to both EPCOT and Disney Hollywood Studios from the resort. This was a great option instead of having to take the bus everywhere. We would usually walk back from the Studios, but if my mom had her way, we would take the alternate option of the boat. One morning, the boat was not there yet so my dad and I convinced my mom to walk with us, because we could “beat the boat.” She obliged, and since the boat wasn’t even at the Yacht Club dock yet, we felt solid. Well, we got past the hotel docks the boat stops at and the boat was behind us, in our sight. Dad and I couldn’t lose, so we started speed walking, and then to a jog, and then too pretty fast clip.

Mom was not pleased.

But, we did beat the boat. And my dad and I thought it was hysterical. My mom, however, did not.

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So now fast forward to August 2013. It’s hot as hell in Disney World. The humidity is through the roof. It’s your 14th day of vacation. So naturally, you decide to run 2+miles in the early afternoon heat, without a sidewalk, and without running shoes.

I don’t know how it came up, but one of the times we had to wait for a bus at the Studios it was taking longer than the advertised “every 20 minutes.” I must have told Maureen I could run back to Pop Century faster. On that bus ride “home”, we decided that on August 14th, during our “Four Parks, One Day” mess, I would run back to the resort while Maureen casually walked to the bus stop. We routed the distance the Studios main gate to our hotel room using Google Maps, and the distance was only 2.3 miles. I would run the same route as the bus, all in the attempt to beat Maureen and have the glory and recognition that goes with the title…Thus, the challenge was born.

So August 14th rolled around. Alarm went off at 5:30 am, as we had an early magic hour morning planned at Animal Kingdom. After Animal Kingdom, we headed to the Studios for a short while. We had already done a lot that morning when 10:30 am rolled around and we slowly started heading out of the park. 10:30 am is early…but in Florida, the heat is already kicked in. Note in the two photos below how “gung-ho” I am to begin this challenge

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As we left the main gate, I bid Maureen ‘Adieu!’ and started bolting out of the lot. Please note—I had not ran since the 10 miles I did on July 31st. Sure, we had been logging 10+ miles of walking each day while in Disney, but I was taking this vacation as the break I probably needed from my running. And because of that, I did not pack my tennis shoes. So, I ran in my Keen’s hiking sandals. Oh, this was going to be good….

I was going at a fast clip out of the lot, mainly because I felt like an idiot running from the park. At my first turn onto the main roadway (Buena Vista Drive) I came in contact with my first “obstacle”—no sidewalk. I was aware this would occur, as I knew what this route entailed, so I dug my Keen-wearing feet onto the soggy Orlando sod and trucked along. This was some resistance training! I came to find out later that Maureen lucked out and caught a bus immediately after going to the bus station, so she passed me at this point, but luckily got a photo of my efforts.

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I kept trucking down Buena Vista Drive and at my first mile, I clocked 7:58! I was racing! It was at this point the sweat poured into my eyes and my shoulders started to burn from the heat. I had no idea myself where Maureen was, so I kept booking it. I turned right at the ESPN Wide World of Sports sign, and then straight ahead I could see my final turn into the resort.
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I cut through the resort exit driveway, through a parking lot, ran to our building and up to our room on the 2nd floor. After digging my room key out of my shorts zipper, I entered the air conditioned room hoping to claim victory!….but Maureen was lying on the bed. Yes….she won this time. But her bus arrival was perfect timing! So I will defend myself and say I COULD have beaten her if the bus even was 8 minutes late, or if someone needing assistance with a wheelchair had needed to get on. The final distance from gate to room—2.3 miles. My time—19 minutes and 30 seconds. Not to shabby, if I do say so myself.

And running in those Keen’s……while i wouldn’t make this a normal occurrence, I had bought them before the Disney trip, and let me say….I recommend them for anyone wanting comfortable sandals who do a lot of walking. I didn’t buy the heavy-duty ones for all-terrain hiking, but these were perfect for trekking through Disney for miles upon miles a day. I even took the liberty of taking a creepy photo of a family wearing coordinating Keen’s while walking around EPCOT….no big deal!
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So now as my flight from Denver approaches Calgary, I reminisce abut the memories from the past 16 days…this “beat the bus challenge” was just one crazy idea we had, and if I were to list all of them here, you would never read my site again. I did joke that this challenge was good “Spartan Race” Preparation, as this Sunday, my husband and I will be participating in our SECOND Spartan Sprint! This one is just a 5 km race and is in Calgary at a bike park. So, the terrain isn’t mountainous like the one we did in Montana…and while I haven’t been running or doing Spartan Specific Workouts of the Day, I have been sweating my ass off daily in Disney world, running in ridiculous conditions, and dragging a backpack around the airport while in layover. I think my backpack did weigh about 30 pounds today, no lie, and I wandered for a good hour in Denver.

So how will I do in the Spartan Race Calgary? Who knows. My mom thinks it will be laughable given I was vacationing and living the good life for the past 16 days. We will see…and I will show her. Remember, I showed her when dad and I beat the boat back 10 years ago!

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Jul31

A Runner’s Thoughts—Potty Training

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You get up to your alarm nice and early…eat breakfast, let your food settle, get ready and go out for a run…and even though you JUST went to the bathroom before locking the door…you have to go again.

Welcome to my demise.

I know, this may be a little TMI, and usually it just happens with nerves on race days. Anyone who has been to any race knows what it’s like at the porta-potties…lines longer than at Disney World. You have to get in line early so you have enough time before start time, but if you go too early, you have to go again. If you go too late, you might miss the start. If you don’t think you have to go, I guarantee by the time the gun goes and your timing chip starts timing, you will have to go.

And you men out there—-you all suck. Completely. I can’t tell you how many times, and I know any female long-distance runner will agree, I have seen men swerve off a marathon course, even at only 1/2 a mile in, into the bushes to let out their schlong.

Not. Even. Fair.

Where am I going with this? No where really, but just lamenting a common runner problem, and a deeper problem for women. Today I had a 10 mile training run to do, and I needed to do it early. See, I headed up to Calgary this afternoon to stay at a friend’s place, because my early morning flight to DISNEY WORLD is tomorrow! So yes, I have had excited jitters all day. All week really. And I think I actually went to the bathroom three times from when I woke up, to when I went on my run…all between 7:30 and 9:00 am. But, of course, I start running down my street and I got to pee. Maybe the two cups of coffee did something, or maybe all the red wine from last night did, but I digress…I refuse to turn around and go back home so I tailor my run through Copperwood neighborhood, over to The Crossings and the new high school and library—after three miles I arrive at my pit stop: the public library.

After this 3 mile stop, I was fine the final 7 miles, but I made sure to loop past public areas where restrooms were available—Tim Horton’s on the Westside and the public bathrooms at Nicholas Sheran Park. As I ran those first three miles, though, I remembered three races that bathroom stops and mental blocks absolutely ruined me-Calgary full 2009 and Edmonton Derby half 2011. When you gotta go, you gotta go. It just sucks when it happens at a race. And even most recently, at the Millarville half in June 2013, I got in the porta-potty line too late. There goes being able to focus on my run.

So, as I head off to the wonderful world of Disney tomorrow, I will be thinking lots about my upcoming RunDisney events—Wine & Dine Half Marathon and the Dopey Challenge. And I will be reminding myself how I don’t want to ruin the race experience for myself and that getting in line to go pee before the race, even more than once, is a key factor to having a magical race!

Jul14

Mom, Can You Do Me A Favor?

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I have indirectly noted in my past few posts that my mom is here in town for the month. She got in on June 29th and is visiting basically all July. We are heading for a mini getaway to gorgeous Banff, Alberta, where tears may shed as we see Lake Louise! It’s been a great visit so far—lots of Disney talk and lots of talk about my Disney marathon weekend.

I asked my mom on Wednesday if she would be so inclined to write a blog entry for me this week. She could choose the topic. So, here is her contribution to the page! Enjoy!

Mom, can you do me a favor? When that comes from my daughter Andrea, I’m never too sure what to expect. In this case, she asked me to do a guest post for her blog this week. She said I could cover any or all of her topics–running, Disney World and her Dad. Except for the fact that I will be doing the 5K with Andrea and her husband Dan this January as part of the WDW Marathon, I have no input on running. Therefore, I will touch on Disney World and her Dad–my late husband Andy.

Andy passed away about one month before our 23rd wedding anniversary. Even though it was more than two years’ away, I had been thinking about how I wanted to celebrate our 25th. A lot of couples go to tropical islands, renew their wedding vows, or have a party. I knew I wanted none of those. So when Andy asked what I thought I’d like to do, I was ready with my answer. I wanted to go to Walt Disney World and stay at the Grand Floridian. It had been a dream of mine to stay in that gorgeous resort, and I figured 25 years of marriage would offer the perfect reason to fulfill that dream. That dream, along with countless others, was shattered when he passed away. For a time I thought I still wanted to stay there on one of my visits, but I realized I just couldn’t do it–at least not yet. I’ve eaten at two of their fine restaurants–Narcoossee’s with my dear friend Denise and Victoria & Albert’s with Andrea. Walking into the elegant lobby and exploring the grounds, along with dining at those restaurants, is enough for me now.

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Many new memories have been added with my four visits since 2004, but the memories of visits with Andy are still the most special. I’m not ready to add a very, very special one that was supposed to include him as of yet. Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind one day. Otherwise I’ll just take my dream “to infinity and beyond!”

Jul11

180 Day Countdown!!!..Fundraising Update and more….

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Today was the 180 day away mark for my RunDisney Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend and the Dopey Challenge! I know this because you can make Disney dining reservations up to 180 days in advance of your resort arrival—-so guess what I did at 5 am Mountain time…?!??

After going back to sleep at 5:17 am, i woke up groggy at 10:30 am. Had my coffee, and did my morning ritual of going on Facebook, Twitter and Buzzfeed. Below is a link that @TheHSF put up on Twitter today. It is a great link of positive research findings and thoughts from the Heart & Stroke Foundation in Canada:

The Good News About “Bad Genes”

You can donate to the Heart & Stroke Foundation or to the American Heart Association by following the Charities tab up above. I have set up personal fundraisers with both organizations, so the money collected goes towards my fundraising total.

I am very close to my goals of $1000 to each organization!

American Heart Association: $885

Heart & Stroke Foundation: $805

I wanted to reach this goal by the time I run the Dopey Challenge in Walt Disney World in January 2014, but I am positive I can reach this goal before summers’ end, and then shoot for possibly $1500 or more for each!

Thank you everyone! Have a magical day!

Jul7

Disney Scrapbook 2003

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With my mom here in town, I have been lucky enough to have someone at my disposal who is willing to talk about Disney World pretty much non-stop. I have been addicted to watching any videos I can find to do with RunDisney events—official RunDisney videos and fan’s unofficial race recaps. I have made my mom watch the WDW Planning DVD in anticipation of my 16 day bonanza with one of my best friends, Maureen, which starts on August 1st. She is back in Wisconsin, and we talk daily about our craziness we have planned. She makes video clips like the ones below (full of our inside jokes that stem back from our first trip in 2008) which make me almost pee myself with laughter:
Disney Preview #16Days

Whenever my mom comes and visits me in Canada, I always get sentimental and reflect of past trips to WDW with her and my dad. Our last trip in Spring 2003 was one with so many great memories. I know I will touch on this trip lots over the course of this year, but what I wanted to talk about today is a scrapbook I made from this trip. My senior year in high school was 2002-2003, and I was fortunate enough to get into the highly sought-after photography class. It was not a digital photography class, but a “SLR camera then develop your own film in a darkroom” class. I am assuming that by now my alma mater has revamped this course and sadly made it in to just digital—-being able to develop black and white film in the dark room in the science hall was fantastic! Our final project for the course was anything we wanted it to be, and since my family was going to WDW during Spring Break, I got approval for my project to consist of a scrapbook of our trip. I purchased black and white film for my point-and-shoot camera, loaded it up, and off to WDW we went.

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Before the trip, I was lucky enough to find an unused scrapbook from the 1930s in my parents basement. It was with all the old Stengel family photos, and even had the little black corner pieces to hold the photos. I decided to make my theme of the project to be old-fashioned, and I ran with the whole black-and-white theme.

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The pages in the scrapbook consisted of things outside the parks (hotel, Downtown Disney) and details within each park. In looking through this scrapbook, I only have one photo with my parents, and the others are either landscape and surroundings, or myself in front of iconic pieces. Here is the intro picture of myself and my parents:

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Each section that focused on a Disney theme park had a header page with the icon for the park. I decorated the area around it in a white ink design.

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I also had pre-planned three photos to do as “flashbacks”, where I would reenact a pose in the Magic Kingdom from our first family trip in 1991. I put the colored photo from 1991 side-by-side with the black-and-white photo from 2003.

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That is the gist of the scrapbook! There are many more photos and entries in each section, but I thought I would just show the highlights and cover pages. I want to do a form of a scrapbook for my RunDisney Dopey Challenge in January 2014—-just not really sure what direction I plan on going with it! If you have suggestions or ideas for scrapbooks, let me know!

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Jul1

RunDisney Costume Prep & My First Run Since Surgery

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I apologize for not having a post out yesterday like usual—-my mom came in from Wisconsin on Saturday night. We stayed up until 2 am, didn’t sleep in, went to the horse races, and were exhausted! She didn’t think it would be possible to fall asleep when it was still light out at 9:30 PM up here in Alberta, but she proved that wrong!

We were up until 2 am on Saturday night/Sunday morning 1.) because we were wide awake after getting back from the train station and 2.) I was making my mom watch RunDisney videos on YouTube. My husband was out of town golfing until later today, so I wanted to get all this Disney talk out before he came back—-he is a Disney beginner and doesn’t care to humor me when I want to show him pictures, talk about my races down there, show him other peoples’ videos, etc. Also, I was rather pumped because since my mom had just arrived and unpacked, she had “gifts” for me, and a few we’re RunDisney related!

My first RunDisney race is this November 9th when I run the Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Walt Disney World. My friend Teresa and I are running it together, along with her boyfriend and her sister-in-law. Teresa and I already discussed we want to wear costumes. She said even if hers just amounts to a giant tutu and Mickey ears, she will be rocking something ridiculous. I decided already I want to have a character costume, and the character I set my eyes in is the under-advertised but awesomely important Mary Poppins. I love, love, love Mary Poppins—she is the one character I will always wait in a line for to get my picture with in WDW! Love the movie, love the songs……dislike the lack of merchandise….but I knew I had to be her for my half.

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I decided I would replicate Mary Poppins when she is dressed in her “nanny” clothes. I opted for this outfit versus the white dress in the Jolly Holiday scenes because I thought it would be most runner friendly. First thing I knew I needed was a sparkly blue skirt to wear over some spandex shorts. There is a demand for running skirts like these in the women’s running world, and yes, you can order them online. But that costs around $30 plus shipping—-and shipping to Canada is never cheap. That is where my mom came in! She found a $0.99 pattern, listened to my ideas, and made me a Mary Poppins approved skirt for about $7 total!

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Another costume piece that has been completed is the hat. Now, I didn’t really want to be wearing a full fledge hat for 13.1 miles, so I improvised. I went to Michaels and bought blue pipe cleaners, fake daisies and berries, and got to work. if you were wondering what I did for 2+ hours one of the days in my medical leave, this is the answer

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So far I have the skirt, a top, a bow tie and a hat. I am planning on getting some white compression socks so they can act as white tights, and I am also going to go a bit over the top and make a green parrot head over to it on the bottom of an umbrella! I figure if I buy a cheap black dollar store umbrella and make some tighter backpack-style arm holes to attach to it, I can carry it on my back. Mary Poppins needs an umbrella!

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I will be making other outfits for the races in the Dopey Challenge in January. I plan on being Mary Poppins for the half portion of that race also, but the 5km, 10km and full will have different pieces put together. As I train for these races and get myself pumped up, I now have my new RunDisney “In Training” hat to wear! I bought this online two months ago, had it sent to my mom’s house in the states, and she brought it up to me this trip. I wore this today as I set out on my first run since my septoplasty surgery!

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I was planning on doing a mile run very slow today. I have made a very slow and easy “get back into training” schedule for this month, as when I get back from my two-week WDW trip in August, official Dopey Challenge training will start. I hadn’t ran in two weeks and it was ridiculously hot even by 9 am. I set out on my route to the LDS church by Sunridge, but I am apparently an idiot because when I got there and my watch beeped for the mile, I didn’t realize I then had to turn around and run another mile back. I had only planned on doing a single mile today! Oops—must have just been anxious!

Thanks for reading today, and to all my Canadian readers—-Happy Canada Day! And to the American readers—-Happy early Independence Day!!

May25

I May Be a Runner, but Maybe I Always Have Been a Fish Out of Water?…

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I am the first to admit—I am not a swimmer. Not even close. I can swim to save my life, but if I swim a length of a pool now, I feel like an athletic pile of crap. So triathlons are sadly not in my near future. But growing up, I was often oddly enough around water. The very first trip my family ever went on was to Perdido Key, Florida, in the Gulf Coast. I was a beach baby at a young age! (my mom also thinks my ridiculous accent comes from the fact that I learned to speak when we would be down in Alabama during this time at Grandpa and Grandma Lammers’ house. I have the weirdest Milwaukee accent ever—must have a bit of ‘Bama twang in it!)

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If there was a hotel pool on our family getaways, my dad and I loved to dork around in it. We never swam, per say (he would do some laps), but he would throw me in the air, let me ride on his back like he was a dolphin, and we would play games where I would dive for various random found objects at the bottom of the pool. My enjoyment of “pool-foolery” also may have stemmed from the fact that Wisconsin happens to have this gem we call Wisconsin Dells. This ridiculous tourist stop two hours from Milwaukee has every tourist junket you could possibly imagine, but has boasted having America’s Largest Waterpark, Noah’s Ark. Any real Wisconsin family has spent numerous weekend getaways up in the Dells, playing mini golf, going go-karting, buying crappy souvenirs, and going to the water parks.

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When our family started going to Disney World in 1991, having a hotel with a proper pool was a necessity. My mom often says in the early years of our Disney vacations she would often get ticked off at my dad and I because we would want to leave the parks rather early in the morning and go back to the pool. My mom is even less than a swimmer than me…she just sits on a chair poolside or floats in a tube! At our first WDW resort, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, we had what I thought to be (at the time) one of the coolest water areas ever!

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The next two trips to WDW brought us to Disney’s Port Orleans Resort. This resort is now formally referred to as the French Quarter section of Port Orleans. It was brand new in 1993 when we first stayed here, and I loved the Mardi Gras theme of the pool!

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In our early WDW trips, we also would frequent the Disney Waterparks. These were not like Noah’s Ark in Wisconsin Dells at all! The theming was impeccable and the slides were a bit more tame—-my dad could enjoy most of them with me! (He was a thrill seeker wuss). We use to go to only Typhoon Lagoon, but once Blizzard Brach was built, we would visit both.

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Our last family WDW trips brought us to Disney’s Yacht & Beach Resort. We first fell in love with this resort because of the pool area, Stormalong Bay. In 1995, we had gone to Beach Club for a character breakfast—-when my dad saw the “pool” he immediately knew we had to stay here. Use this term pool loosely, as Stormalong Bay is over an acre of winding waterways, complete with a sand bottom!

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This resort had the perfect pool combination for our family, because as I got older, the playing in the water started to slow. I became the poolside lounger like my mom, and we opted to stay in the parks longer than come back for pool time. We came back for pool time more so because my dad still longed for it. I now rarely play in the water like I use to, and when I am at a pool, I am usually in a lounge chair with a margarita. But, whenever I see a waterfall at a resort pool, I think of my dad, and I remember all the years I spent being a non-swimmer with him on vacation.

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Apr9

Instead of being “Goofy” I am going to be “Dopey!”

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When I started this website, I talked about how my culminating race would be in January 2014, in Walt Disney World. WDW has been our family’s place and has extreme importance to me—-it was our favorite family trip. Running a RunDisney event has been on my mental bucket list for years. So, deciding to do it this year with this website and also raise money for American Heart Association and Heart & Stroke Foundation was the right thing to do. I had been set on registering for the Goofy Race & a Half, where I would be doing a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday! Totally Goofy! But then, RunDisney came out with the craziest idea, the Dopey Challenge which takes Goofy to the next level—-a 5 kilometer race on Thursday, a 10 kilometer race Friday, a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. This is a total of 48.6 miles in four days!

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I had to register for it—-I mean, I was meant for this! Even at age 7 in 1991 I was meant to be “Dopey”. A race like this can only happen in WDW, and this is a once in a lifetime experience. The amount of tears I will be shedding all week is going to crazy—-maybe I should start a betting line on it—-and I will get to share the week with my mom, who also registered for the 5 km, and my husband, who will be doing the 5 km and 10 km!

My dad would tell me I am a crazy idiot for doing this. But he would be at every race down there bright and early to cheer me on. He would want to be at Magic Kingdom as early as possible to see me run down Main Street. And he would be smiling. And I know he still will be this January when I do it.

January 9-12, 2014. To Infinity & Beyond!

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Please take the time to read my PURPOSE and CHARITIES links above to find out more about my goals and motivation for this year

Apr7

Race Recap—There’s No Place Like Home! The Trailbreaker Half Marathon

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Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The land of my family, beer, cheese, the Brewers, and the Fonz. Why wouldn’t I want to spend Spring Break 2013 here? And hey!-a half marathon is happening in neighboring Waukesha? I’ll do that!….

On Saturday, April 6th, I competed in The Trailbreaker Half Marathon in Waukesha, Wisconsin. No, I did not fly back home solely for this race. I was actually home on my own for Spring Break visiting friends and family and I was suppose to be leaving in the morning of April 6th. Air Canada, however, got rid of the morning flight from Milwaukee to Toronto shoutout to the MKE to YYZ!. I don’t blame them for removing this flight, as it is hardly ever 1/2 full during the week and is usually just business travelers. So when they changed my flight, I got moved to the evening 7:15 pm flight, thus allowing me to register for a race! It worked out in the end anyway!

As hard as it is to believe, this would actually be the first race of mine that my mom would be witnessing. Since my high school track days at least! Before this race, I had completed 13 full and half marathons, about 3 ten kilometer races, and handfuls of 5 kilometers. . I did not hold a grudge against my mom for not coming to these races—I knew it would involve travel (she hates driving) and would be boring for her. But with the spirit of this year, I was very happy to be able to register and complete a race with her watching! (She will be down in Disney during marathon weekend with me, so this was a very mini-preview!)

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The race started at 9:30 am in downtown Waukesha at the Schuetze Recreation Center. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous the days leading up to the race. When I go home to Wisconsin for a week, I eat and drink like a stereotypical Wisconsinite. This means my pre-week training regime was a two mile and a five mile run, plus plethoras of Bloody Mary’s, craft beer, cheese, rich food, and fried food. I did eat some solid salads through the week, but I did not quite know what to expect come race day.

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About 600 people competed in the half marathon. The day started out cloudy and overcast with a slight breeze. The breeze was nothing to me, as I am used to Lethbridge-style winds! While it is not summer, there is a greater humidity down in Wisconsin than what I am used to in Alberta. With the overcast day and on-and-off sprinkles, I think I fared well considering my concern of weather variants. One huge plus that aided me in doing well (despite my Wisconsin diet regime the week prior) was the drastic change in elevation! The elevation in Lethbridge, according to Wikipedia, is 2,990 ft. I know some spots in the coulees increases and decreases this approximately +/- 200 feet. In Waukesha, however, the elevation is 873 ft! Big difference here! Hopefully my higher elevation running the past 4 years will make a difference….

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Since the course was an out-and-back number, I was not going to make my mom drive and park along the way to find me. That would have stressed her out. What stressed me out is when I tell her a ballpark time to be near the finish. It puts pressure on me not to suck! Well, I started off strong! Too strong!. At the end of this entry, I will put my split times that I got from my Nike+ SportWatch because I need some advice on how to get more consistent. This has been an issue of mine since doing road races after high school. I go out way to fast, and half the time, I hit a wall at some point. The other half is a mixture of being inconsistent the whole race or somehow miraculously mustering through. But anyone who has done a road race of any distance knows how hard it is to NOT go out too fast! Your adrenaline is pumping and you feel invincible

Mile 6 & 7 was where my dramatic increase to my splits occurred, adding +0’25” and +0’12”, respectively. This was on a part of the Glacial Drumlins Trail and people had begun to become more spread out. I did not have anyone directly in front of me within catchable distance. I started to sluff off.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I don’t listen to music when I run. This race was nothing different. It is times like these, when I notice my lag occurring, that I begin talking to myself in my head, and calculating my pace requirements for the remainder of the race so I can finish where I needed to be. In my head, I knew I wanted to be under 2 hours. With my over-consumption of Milwaukee beer all week (oh, Milwaukee Brewing Company, you did me in, I figured this was a good goal. Under 1:55 would have been great, and beating my PR of 1:54:19 from May 2010 would have been spectacular.

I knew I’d I made it to mile 10 under my PR pace time, I could actually get that goal. At mile 10, I was still in good shape, and I had to just keep it up. Thankfully, the last two miles of the course looped back downtown Waukesha and past more supporters in general. People started to get bunched up more, and the adrenaline got going again. My legs were feeling pretty heavy, but I kept my short stumps trucking. At mile 12, a guy who had been running with his friend came up to me and asked how I was feeling. I told him I was on pace to break my PR, but my legs were starting to give. He literally screamed with excitement at me that I totally had this and to just keep pushing. . Thank you unnamed man in the visor and orange/grey shirt, because I kept looking ahead where I could faintly see the finish line and pushed on.

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I wore my bright orange Lulu Lemon jacket so my mom could see me—she was able to snap those photos as I pushed across to the finish line!. I had done it! I actually beat my old PR from almost 3 years ago! And my mom got to witness it! She told me after that at the start of the race she started crying when the gun went off. Needless to say, she is going to be a mess of tears come Disney Marathon Weekend!

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Above is my unofficial time which I was so happy to see! But, the official time gave me 1 second off, so I will take that! 1:52:53 it is!

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I actually did not feel too horrendous after the race, though the strain on my face may say otherwise! It felt great to run back home in Wisconsin! And in true Wisconsin fashion, Miller Lite was served after the race (might as well continue my beer consumption huh?)

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I am very glad my mom was able to come see me at this race—I know it had to be a bit tough to watch, as this is the first running event of mine she has witnessed without my dad. He was the one with binoculars at the track meets in high school–he loved it all. Yes, I ran my best half marathon time today to date, but what I am more happy about is that not only my mom got to see me run today back in the homeland, but my dad watched me with her as well.

Race Splits
Mile 1—7:38
Mile 2—8:18
Mile 3—8:23
Mile 4—8:29
Mile 5—8:23
Mile 6—8:48
Mile 7—9:00
Mile 8—8:46
Mile 9—8:42
Mile 10—9:03
Mile 11—8:34
Mile 12—9:14
Mile 13—9:03