End of Week 1 - Long Run

Today marked the end of my first week of the 10 week plan I am following leading up to the Bank of America Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon on March 28. The run today was a 7-miler and overall I felt really good. It took 2 miles just to warm up with a slight breeze and the temperature at 32 degrees. Once I got warm, I was feeling great! Averaged 10:45 per mile with an overall time of 1:17.

Disney Half Marathon Scrapbook Layout

My wife created a 2-page spread for me with several of the pictures I took during the 2009 Disney Half Marathon. She is a big time scrapbooker and I love how she created this cool memory for me. As you will see from a prior post, she has created another 2-page layout for me on the City of Oaks half marathon I completed in 2008. Great way to display my Disney Half Marathon memories.

Snow, Snow, Snow

Well, we have snow here in Raleigh, NC! Now, Raleigh has seen snow before, but most times it is a dusting. Yesterday we received 6 inches of the white stuff. A nice little winter wonderland. Now that puts a wrinkle in training runs around here because the roads are not treated as the DOT lets mother nature take care of them. The silver lining is it will be close to 60 degrees on Friday and this will all be gone.

Scrapbook Page

My wife is a huge scrapbooker and she took the time to scrapbook on of my half marathons. She did an outstanding job with the layout and utilizing the colors on the pages to match what I was wearing for the race. The event she scrapbooked was the City of Oaks Half Marathon from November 2, 2008. She even created a sleeve on one of the pages that holds the race program and my bib. You can see my wife's blog located at http://www.myscrappyjourney.blogspot.com/ to read her post regarding the half marathon scrapbook page and many more. Here is a picture of the 2-page layout she created.

First Day of Training

Today began my first day of training since the Disney half marathon on January 10. I am now training for my next half marathon which will be the Bank of America Raleigh Rocks (March 28). It was a perfect day for the run with temps in the mid-40s. I completed 4.2 miles in 41:20. I pushed the pace for my first run and I felt really good. It was good to take the week off from running after the race. It makes a huge difference having the rest.

Post Half Marathon at the Magic Kingdom.

Following the finish of the Disney Half Marathon, I made my way back to my hotel to get cleaned up and rest. After resting, I headed to the Magic Kingdom for the remainder of the day. I was wearing my half marathon shirt and Donald finisher medal. As I entered the gate, one of the cast members wanted to know what I got for winning the race. I got a good laugh out of that and informed her that I did not win and that I simply finished. Made me feel good there for a few moments.

It was great day with not a single cloud in the sky. I took several pictures throughout the park with medal. Here are a few of them.

The day ended with the spectactular fireworks display called Wishes! What a great way to end the Disney Marathon Weekend.

Post Half Marathon Recovery

A week ago today I competed my 3rd half marathon at Disney World. As the race was concluding I was feeling the normal pains you would expect after running 13.1 miles. I could feel my legs getting tight and the bottom of my left foot was hurting. The first few days after the race I still had the pains, but as each day passed, I felt better. I am now ready to begin an 11-week training plan leading up to the Raleigh Rocks half marathon on March 28.

Walt Disney World Half Marathon

On Saturday, January 9, 2009 I completed my first Disney half marathon. This was an absolutely amazing experience!

The day started very early with a wake-up call at 2:00am. By 3:00am I was waiting for the bus at Pop Century to take me to the start located in the parking lot at Epcot. It was definitely a cool morning for Florida with temps in the 40's. I was amazed at how many people, the lights and the music playing for 3:30am.

As I arrived I proceeded to the R reunion tent to meet up with fellow http://www.disneyrunning.com/ members. Wait....let me get that right. I met up with them at the "Arrrrrr" tent! It was great getting to meet and talk with the members. The excitement was starting to build for the race. At 4:30am they made an announcement to make our way to the staging area. Once in the staging area you quickly realized it was porta potty heaven. I took everyone's advice and got in line. Soon after, we started to head to the starting line. I was walking over there with a fellow Disney Running member and it seemed as though we walked at least a mile to get to the starting corrals.

I was in Corral B and I was able to get right to the front. The 80's music was blarring and it was amazing to see all of the costumes people were wearing. Plenty of fairy costumes and one guy I saw dressed as Peter Pan. The anticpation for the start was definitely there. I could not wait for the countdown. The last song I remember them play was Dancing Queen from Abba. Talk about a song to have in your head for a race.

As Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy counted down from 10 to 1, I started to get goose bumps knowing the time had finally arrived. As the start arrived fireworks were shot into the air and a roar went up for the crowd.

The first few miles seemed to just fly by. Everyone was just getting themselves into a grove and looking to finally warm up. As we made our way down World Drive the monorail zoomed by taking spectators from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom.

The crowds at the Transportation and Ticket Center were amazing. There were people 4-5 deep on both sides. That was definitely an adrenaline boost!

As we made our way to the Contemporary results we came upon the steepest hill on the course, which was just before mile 5. Supprising there were no backups on the hill as everyone was running. At this point I was running with the 2:15 pace group.

No we are approaching the highlight of the entire course. Even though it was still dark out, Space Mountain and Cinderella's Castle never looked better. We entered the Magic Kingdom via the cast member entrance which is on the backside of Main Street. At this point I was now able to see the lights on the buildings as we entered Main Street. Making the right-hand turn on Main Street was simple awesome. Hearing the crowd and then seeing the castle was awesome. My mother was going to try and find a place on Main Street so I began to scan the crowd to find her. Just before making the right-hand turn towards Tommorow Land I spotted her. She was able to get a quick photo of me as I passed.

Once in Tomorrow Land we made a left-hand turn towards Fantasy Land. Here I was able to stop and take a picture with the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland.

It was now time to head towards the highlight of race - running through the castle. Approaching the castle the trumpets were playing and everyone was cheering loudly. The photographers were all over the place. It seemed to go by so quickly as I was in Frontier Land before I knew it.

Prior to the water stop near mile 7, I stopped and took a picture with Captain Jack Sparrow and his mates. Amazing how much Jack looked and sounded like Johnny Depp.

As we made our towards the Grand Floridian, the crowds were sparse. Right around the entrance to the Floridian, there were plenty of spectators. Did not matter who you were or what pace you were running, they were cheering you on.

Things were calm from this point until making the final turn to head towards the parking lots at Epcot. Just over a mile to go when I entered the Epcot lots. Plenty of crowd support just past the 12 mile marker sign.

As we entered Epcot I remembered taking a video and saying I was 12.4 miles into the race. I was passing Spaceship Earth at the time heading towards the Seven Seas Lagoon for the turnaround point. After making the turn and heading away from Spaceship Earth you arrive at Disney's last surpirse with a gospel choir singing.

You are now in the last tenth of a mile and you see the grandstand and the finish line. The final kick of adrenaline sets in and pushes you to the finish.

I had a PR of 2:23:35 and I could not have been happier. What a great experience. Here is to the 2010 event.