A move, a run and a NSV

As you know we are in the middle of moving. We moved most of our stuff this weekend with the help of some awesome people and are now in the process of going back for all of that annoying stuff that gets left behind. You know the stuff that makes you want to pick up the house, turn it upside down and just shake it all out.

I had sort of a meltdown on Sunday morning because I was so worried about being able to get a run in while moving and getting everything done. After losing much sleep Friday night I decided to just run Sunday morning because it would be easier but when I got up Sunday morning I just wasn’t having it. I finally got up and got ready and realized I didn’t have much time at all because I still had to pack up some (a lot of) stuff. I sat on the floor like a big baby for a few minutes wondering when I would run and how I would be ready for the half marathon coming up. I finally said just go after the move is done. So yes, after 2 days of packing and barely sleeping I went for a run at around 1 pm, in South Florida, on a Sunday afternoon. The sun was really hot and I hated myself the whole time because the weather has been a lot nicer here in the mornings.. why couldn’t I have just gotten up earlier to go!?! But I didn’t get out of bed early enough BUT I did run and so that is what we call a win. I found time and got it done. I only did 5 miles which is fine considering it was the weekend before the half but I still have some concerns about the race! Too late now…only 5 days left! dun dun dun

I also haven’t weighed myself in 2 days. Normally the only time I don’t weigh myself is when we are out of town and I don’t have a choice. The scale is sitting in my room in its box waiting to come out but I didn’t feel like worrying about it yesterday and this morning I had a moment of panic when I thought about not weighing myself but it went away and I left the scale alone. I thought hey what if I could go a week without it!!! and then I thought let’s not get crazy and just take this one day at a time. Sadly, I am not ready to let the scale go and despite what others say about it I enjoy weighing myself every day. In fact I am almost worried that 2 days without it (and of course tons of Halloween candy) will mean a 10 pound weight gain.. ha! Lordhelpme! With that being said I was trying on stuff last night as I cleaned out my closet and will leave you with some transformation Tuesday pictures. As much as I love the scale I am also a very big fan of the NSV!!

The picture on the left is from 2009 and the picture on the right is from yesterday

Going on a long run or packing for a vacation?

I decided to buy a camelbak because I thought it would be better than carrying 2 water bottles while I run and having to stop to fill one up towards the end. I got home yesterday and went for a run to try it out. I kept trying to adjust it the first mile and got it to where it was ok to run with but still it was bothering me. I felt like I was running weird and the top part of the bag kept bouncing up and down which I assume will cause chaffing problems on longer runs. I might have to adjust it more or I might have to give up on it but how can I give up on it after one run? I also feel like it causes my back to get even hotter then it usually is and when its 1000 degrees out you don’t need anything extra to make you hot. We will see. I will give it another shot and come back with a real review or I will set it on fire and pretend none of this ever happened.

While I was getting ready for my run yesterday I started thinking about how ridiculous it is to actually get ready for a run. I have to put on the basics—sports bra, capris, tank, socks, sneakers. I have to put my hair up and then put it into a bun because I don’t like my hair touching my neck when I run because it’s too dang hot. I put on a headband, my heart rate monitor strap and garmin. Of course I need something to carry my phone so I grab my armband and throw that on. If I’m going for a long run forget about it. I need to bring my spi belt which will have my ID, atm card, eye drops, extra contacts just in case, 1 or 2 gu’s and whatever else I feel like I might need that morning. Do I have everything I need?? I can’t help but feel like I am packing to go on vacation every time I am preparing for a longer run.
So now here I am trying to add something else, this camelbak, like I really need something else to worry about when I am going for a run!!! Obviously I am hoping to eliminate the carrying of water bottles by adding this accessory and I will probably also eliminate either the armband or the belt. Maybe both. I know I can put my phone in either the belt or the pack on my back but I also don’t want to have to take off the camelbak to get things during a run. All things I will eventually figure out. Getting rid of the armband would be really nice though.
With all of that being said I am just 11 days from my next half. I felt pretty good about the 12 mile run I did 2 weeks ago and very eh about the 8.5 I did on Saturday. Though I felt tired at certain points during both I do not think I was in the right mental state for the 8.5 and I am hoping to get in a good 5-7 this weekend. With this 3 hour time limit I may be the last to finish this half but I WILL finish.

My shins have been acting up recently which is pissing me off. Ain’t nobody got time for that right now!!! Oh yea.. I’m in the middle of moving.. AGAIN.. pack, train, pack (ok I really haven’t done that much packing yet), train, move, run a half, move some more, run another half.. its going to be a busy few weeks folks!

Tower of Terror 10 miler weekend recap

I have been somewhat of a boob about writing this blog. I don’t know why. I have so much more to write about but I refuse to post anything else until this blog is done!

I was going to write a two part recap about the Tower of Terror 10 miler weekend for the expo and the race but the expo was short and sweet so I really don’t think I need a separate blog for it. I also don’t have as good of a mile by mile recap as I wanted so I will just sum it up the best I can.

Sergio and I headed up to Orlando Friday afternoon. We ended up getting to the hotel and checking in around 2:30 or so. We got settled in and waited for Melissa and Mike to come pick us up for the expo. The expo was empty which was lovely. It seemed smaller then the Princess half expo which was fine because honestly I am not into expos. I really just like to get my packet and go. It was nice though because we got to take some pictures and just walk around.

After the expo Sergio and I headed to Epcot to check out the food & wine festival. Just food for me though as I had committed to my “sober til October” campaign at the beginning of September and decided to not drink until after the race.

Saturday morning I woke up pretty early which was annoying since it was a night race and I had plenty of time to kill. We hung out in the hotel until around 12 and then headed over to MK for some lunch and went on a few rides. We went back to the room around 4 or so I believe and I fell asleep for maybe an hour which I felt was a big mistake because I had to force myself to sleep and felt even more tired when I woke up! Oh well! I had a chicken wrap, washed off a little in the shower to help wake myself up and started getting ready. Melissa and Mike got to the hotel a little after 7. The guys were going to head over later so they ended up hanging out in the room. Melissa and I went over to the bus area and got in line. A very short line at that. We got to the park and hung out around the DJ and watched everyone dancing, danced a little ourselves and took pictures. That’s the thing about Disney races. There is a lot of waiting around. It drives me crazy.. We waited in a ridiculously long line for the bathroom and headed to our corral. We had to be in the corrals by 9:15. The only good thing about the corrals this time is that they were letting corrals go every 2-4 minutes I believe so it went by faster. The race started at 10. Our corral went at 10:23ish. We saw Sergio and Mike before we started which was nice.

I never ended up getting nervous for this race. I just went along for the ride. I let Melissa set the pace and just followed her lead. I really didn’t think the course was that great. With all of the space Disney has to work with I thought it could have been better. We went up a lot of hills which is fine but there were also slanted on/off ramps which I thought were horrible and we had to go down a dirt/gravel road which was long and narrow. Once we got through the dirt road my legs were so used to walking they didn’t want to run anymore but they had too! It was not all bad though. They had some fun villains along the course. The weather wasn’t great. It was really hot in the beginning. I was drenched before we even got to mile one but it did end up cooling down a little.

I would have to say my favorite part of the race was right before mile 9 when we were heading into the back of Hollywood Studios. They had music playing and Quad City DJ’s – C’Mon ‘N’ Ride It (The Train), came on and got us going. It sort of gave me a burst of energy and helped me get through that last mile. Melissa and I started dancing and singing which may or may not have gotten us some weird looks. Hey! The race is almost over! Cheer up! We ran through some parts of Hollywood studios and people kept saying only .20 more or something like that but no matter how far we got they kept saying the same thing! That’s the twilight zone for you! Finally we rounded the area of HS by the big Sorcerers hat and we saw Sergio and Mike again. We stopped to take a few pictures and it was off to the home stretch.

Ok I lied.. My favorite part of the race was seeing Melissa’s face after she crossed the finish line. She started tearing up and I am pretty sure she couldn’t believe what just happened. We high fived and I snapped a picture of her and her medal with the ToT in the background.

Unfortunately, after we got our medal, snack box, PowerAde, water, banana and towel thing we had to walk up a hill.. yes, up a hill.. to get back to the front of the park. I was pretty sore but I sure felt bad for all of those people sitting on the side looking miserable. People had ice everywhere, some people were throwing up. It was a hot mess.

We got to the front of the park and waited for Sergio and Mike to come find us. I stretched a little and ate the hummus and chips they gave us! I was pretty excited about those chips! Lol Once the guys found us they handed us our chocolate milks and we talked a little about the race. We never ended up going on rides because by the time we got up to go over to them the lines were getting long. I say long but it was only 40 min for Toy Story Mania which really isn’t that bad but after running 10 miles ain’t nobody got time for that.

The Next morning we ate breakfast at Whispering Canyon with Melissa and Mike and then went back to the room to watch the Giants game. Once that was over we headed back to Epcot for some more Food & Wine action where I had my first drink in over 30 days! We had a good time Sunday night. I wish we could have stayed longer but I will be back in 4 months and 1 week for the Princess Half Marathon weekend! I cannot wait!

I will leave you with a progress picture of Melissa and I. Same place for breakfast 2 years later. Can’t wait to take one with Mickey in February!

ToT race recap coming soon.. maybe.. but until then

I wanted to write a recap of the race this weekened but I can’t. I am struggling. Actually a lot of it is written but I am not sure I want to publish it as is so I am going to sit on it for a few days and see if my attitude about it changes. I really don’t know what my deal is.

In the meantime! I am pretty excited (mostly nervous) about my next half. That will be my 3rd half. I can’t believe it is only 26 days away. I also can’t believe my 4th half is the weekend after that. So whats that?? 30 something days. Its crazy. I hope I am ready but ready or not here they come!

I guess I better get moving with my training. I am not even sure how many miles I am going to do this weekend or the weekend after but those are the only weekends I have left to get in long runs as I will need to lower my milage the weekend before the race. SWEETBABYJESUS! Where does the time go??

This also means I will have at least 5 half marathon medals after Princess half marathon weekend in Febraury of 2014. I am thinking of adding in maybe 1 more or maybe 2 but I kind of like the sound of 5 for some reason. Lets not get crazy though. From 0-5 in one year would be amazing for me.

I can’t believe its almost Thanksgiving. Those holidays sneak up every year. Fat people holidays as I like to call them. If you can lose weight during the holidays good for you but I love me some Thanksgiving dinner. Don’t even get me started on Christmas cookies and egg nog. Hopefully all of this running will help balance it all out!

I haven’t talked about my weight for a while because there hasn’t been much to say. I am tired of talking about the same 10 pounds. I am almost back to pre Princess half marathon weight, or at least I was before I went to Orlando for a nice 4 day weekend and ate everything in site, but still that’s exciting for me. Right before the princess half was the lowest I had gotten during this journey. I am so thankful that while I haven’t been losing weight I have been fighting to not gain it all back. 10 pounds is still a lot but it could be worse. There is still a long road ahead of me and I do not need to keep making U-turns. Maybe by the end of this month I will finally be back to were I was in Febraury and can continue to move forward towards my goal. I’m coming for you 70 pound mark! I haven’t forgotten about you!!

The Tower of Terror is in 2 days!.. And some other nonsense

Here we are. Just 2 days away from the Tower of Terror 10 miler. Everyone keeps asking me if I am excited and my general answer starts with, “If this week doesn’t kill me..” I feel like I wait so long for these things I burn myself out with excitement long before the race even happens. What I am really excited about is having the day off tomorrow! Yeah buddy!
I am not nervous at all, at least not yet, but I don’t think I will be. This is Melissa’s first big race so I will hand the reigns of nerves over to her (You are very welcome). I am more upset that this will be my last race with my first ever pair of running shoes. I will have a little retirement ceremony for them next week. No, seriously I am just too much lately. I am sitting here listening to Pandora and it’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday by Boyz II Men comes on and I start thinking about my shoes! Really?? Yes, really.

“How do I say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh
Outweigh the bad.

I thought we’d get to see forever
But forever’s gone away
It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

I don’t know where this road
Is going to lead
All I know is where we’ve been
And what we’ve been through.”

Oh, you don’t dedicate songs to your running shoes? I didn’t sleep well last night! Don’t judge me!
So yea.. Tomorrow we will head up to Orlando and at some point over to the expo to get pick up the race packet. I will probably wait for Melissa to do all of that because it’s just part of the fun to do it together. We also have to pick up the after party tickets for Mike and Sergio. I will of course be back next week with a post about the weekend and tons of pictures! I know you can hardly wait! Just hold on for a few more days guys! You can do it!!
Tuesday I went for a run and compared my time to a year ago when I first started running and training for the Princess half marathon. I did the same distance but cut 3 minutes off my time. I am proud of how far I have come and I look forward to accomplishing more goals and hopefully crushing my training which WILL lead to some PRs in the future.
Well I’d love to stay and ramble some more but I have to get home and start packing. Last minute doer of everything right here!
Good luck to everyone running this week! See you all there