Saturday, April 3, 2010

Finishing in record time?

So, I finally make it out of the Magic Kingdom.  Somewhere within the next mile I see the same TnT coach.  I was trying to speed up since that mile through the park had really slowed me down.  I was thinking about having my Clif Shot but I thought that they would be distributing them soon so I tried to hold off.

I kept moving forward and maintaining my walk/run pattern.  I was expecting to see my coach around mile 7, but she wasn't there.  

 
She wasn't there at mile 8 either.  I knew I would be seeing her eventually though.  I did get to the food.  Unfortunately, the only flavors left were vanilla and raspberry.  Yuck.  I really only like mocha.  At least I had a mocha with me so I finally gave in and ate that.  Somewhere in this mile I saw one of my teammates.  I encouraged her to keep moving and went on my way.


Finally, just before mile 9 I saw all of the coaches.  They were waiting there for all of us.  My coach got out on the road with me.  That's her arm in the picture pointing out the time (and probably saying "Only 4 more miles!").  She still had on her poncho and had a towel wrapped around her legs like a skirt.  She helped me stay focused on maintaining my intervals.  I was certainly hurting by now.

I missed the picture of the 10 mile marker, but soon I was seeing a fellow WISHer, Thunder Matt!
I managed to get a good picture of him this time!

We made our way up the entrance ramp, on the right side (see my Princess Half report coming soon for that issue).  About half way up, my coach decided to finally drop her towel.  I didn't blame her.  She had been up and down the course several times and standing in the rain, I'm sure that towel was pretty heavy.


I snapped a picture of the people behind me who hadn't gotten to the ramp.


We made it to mile 11 and I then told my coach my goal of beating my time from the Philly Distance Run.  Once I told her about that, she had me pick up the pace.


I finally saw Spaceship Earth!

 
We got to mile 12 and then made our way into Epcot.  My coach had me run through the last water stop.  I was thirsty, but I had water on me to drink at the end.  We ran from the water stop all the way to the Christmas tree at the lagoon.  Once we got around the tree, I was able to walk.  I ran a little more in the downhill sections as we were leaving the park.


When we got the the mile 13 marker, my coach told me to run again.  We took off.  I ran as fast as I could to reach that finish line.  I managed to finish the race in 3:22:52.  50 seconds off of my time for the PDR.  I guess that wasn't to bad considering the horrible conditions that we were running in.  And, I got my picture in front of the castle finally!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

We take a break from this trip report...

I just wanted to share some of the Disney-related blogs that I follow, including some that I've appeared in recently...

One of my favorites is The Disney Driven Life.  I guess you could say I'm a founding member of this page.  I met J.L., the original Neurotic Disney Mom (or NDM#1), on the Disboards when I was reading her trip report.  I became a Neurotic Disney Auntie (NDA#1 to be exact) before she even created her website/blog.  Stay tuned to this blog and I have requested that she create an NDP challenge for me.

I am also a huge fan of Jonathan Dichter's blog Voice of Mouse Tunes.  He is one of the main reasons I started running.  I am a huge fan of his podcast (All About the Mouse) and I am also an All About the Mouseketeer.  He writes regularly about his trials and tribulations while training to run in Disney races and lead a healthier life for his lovely baby daughter, Elizabeth.

Another blog associated with a podcast is Running to Disney.  Gordon is a 40-something guy who has discovered a love for running, Disney and his family.  He usually takes you along with him on his runs.  His blog includes show notes and updates on his training, weight-loss, and recipes.

A blog that I recently started following after meeting the writer on my last trip is The DVC Life.  Katie is a great resource for all things DVC.  She has some very useful posts on DVC whether it be about points, resorts, or the newest incentives being offered.

The last blog I will refer you to today is the one on the Touring Plans website.  The Touring Plans Blog features a variety of writers.  The current post actually includes a picture of me since I was with Kristen and friends Drinking Around the World the day after the Princess Half Marathon this March.

I will update in the future about other Disney blogs that I read, but I really wanted to share these ones with you today!