Let the Taper begin!

On Saturday, I had my last long run leading up to the 20th Anniversary Disney Marathon. Lately, I have switched my running to the Neuse River Greenway and I am so glad that I did. We have a 6.5 mil stretch from the CASL Soccer Complex to the Falls Dam. Soon other stretches of the greenway will be opening.

For this run I decided to park at the soccer complex and run to the end of the greenway at Falls Dam and back. That would give me a 13 mile run. It was a cold morning so a stocking cap, gloves and an extra layer would be needed. Took about 1-2 miles to finally warm up, but it was not that bad. There many people out running and ran into (well not literally) my friend Jon as I crossed under Capital Blvd. He was close to finishing his 8 mile run.

Overall I was feeling good on my way to the turnaround at Falls Dam. I was in a good rhythm around a 10 min/mi pace. The second half of the run is where it started to become more difficult. Right at the 8 mi mark I started to get some significant pain in my left knee. At first it was on the outside of the knee and then worked its way to the knee cap area. I slowed my pace and shortened my stride length to take it easy. The pain was not getting any better. I had to revert to walking at that point. For the remaining 5 miles, my run turned into a painful run/walk. I ended up with a 10:45 min/mi pace which is not all that bad for me over that distance. Those last 5 miles were really tough. I had to keep giving myself encouragement to get through because of the pain. I knew not to push it.

At this point, I am glad I have reached the taper phase of the training. Knowing that it is just 3 weeks from the marathon, I did not want to make this worse. My knee can use some rest and I am even contemplating not running until the race. I may revert to rides on the trainer instead.

Submit a comment if you have any suggestions or feedback on this thought of riding instead of running.

Regardless of the knee pain, I am still looking forward to the race. It is going to be an awesome experience on January 13! My last time at the Disney marathon was 2010 where there was record cold temperatures. Hopefully we will mot have those temps again, but you never know. All eyes will be on the weather as the race date draws closer and closer.

There is so much excitement for a runDisney race and with this being the 20th anniversary just adds to the excitement. I can just picture all of the things that go on from my past experiences at marathon weekend and I cannot wait to see what the 2013 edition has to offer.

Until then, enjoy your taper time!

1st Long Marathon Training Run

Hard to believe that we are almost to December. For everyone that is training for the Disney marathon that means you are probably at the long run point in your training. That is most certainly the case for me.

Training has been going well. So far, I have run more miles than ever before in a calendar year. Due to other commitments, I had to adjust my training schedule by a week. A week ago I did my first long training run. My daughter had a swim meet at NC State University and the plan was that I would run home from the swim meet when it was over. I know, it sounds ridiculous to drive to the meet and then say bye to my family as I run home. It is crazy, but these long training runs are important. The long runs are a perfect time to work on your race day plan from pace to nutrition.

I was blessed to have a friend offer to run with me. My good friend Ken joined me at the pool and we were on our way. One of the odd aspects of running the route we did was we have taken this route before. Why did I say it was odd, well we did this riding bikes before, never imagined I would run it one day.

It was a challenging route with many hills on the second half, but there is no way to avoid hills where I live. Regardless, it was great to get the run in and thank you Ken for your encouragement.

Once back home I started the recovery process with chocolate milk. I have not found anything better than chocolate milk. It makes a huge difference!

I have a couple of long runs to go prior to January, but looking forward to the race. It is going to be a fantastic time celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Disney marathon.

See ya real soon!

Ironman in Training

When you think of the ultimate challenge when it comes to endurance, Ironman is what comes to mind. Anytime there is an Ironman race, I try to follow the event online or via Twitter. It does not matter whether if it is through the hills of Kentucky or the lava fields of Hawaii. I love watching Ironman.

Just a couple of weeks ago my friend Butch competed in Ironman Louisville. I was checking his status online as he crossed the time check points throughout the day. Another friend, Ken, was there in Louisville serving as a volunteer. I was providing updates via text to Ken letting him know where Butch was and his predicted finishing time. I felt like I was right there in Louisville with them. At 11:38 pm, it was amazing to watch the live finish line camera online and see Butch become an Ironman. Amazing and inspiring!

It is so inspiring that I will attempt my first Ironman next August in Louisville! Both Ken and I will be competing in this ultimate challenge and I look forward to sharing this experience with you.

I plan on sharing my experiences in the training leading up to this event and other events I have planned in 2013. In January I will be running in the 20th edition of the Disney Marathon and then in June competing in the innagural Ironman Raleigh 70.3.

As you can see, 2013 will be a big endurance year and I look forward to the challenge. Through it all, the glory all goes to God as He is the one who will guide me and provide the strength needed to complete the challenges of the Ironman.

WDW Marathon Weekend

As the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend arrives, I can't help but think about how much fun this event is. I am excited for the 60,000 + runners who are competing in the half, full or are just plain Goofy!

If this is the first time running any of these races, you are in for a treat. This is a first class event from the expo, the volunteers, the crowd support and the race directors. It has to be if it is at the happiest place on earth, right?

Personally, I am not running this year. I wish all of my Running of the Ears (ROTE) friends all the best and have a great time. I will be thinking of you guys this weekend.

For Chris and Kiki Gillespie of Team 413. I pray that God is glorified by each and every person who comes in contact with Team 413, whether this is by coming to the booth at the Expo or seeing a shirt this weekend during the races.

It seems that the weather forecast is much better than it was for the 2010 race. Temps are projected to be in the 60-70's for daytime highs with lows in the 40-50's. I will never forget last year when heading to the starting corrals for the half marathon and looking up into the lights and seeing snow fall. Definitely a rare occurrence for Orlando. Then on marathon Sunday it was even colder and I never shed any extra clothing I was wearing that day. I had 3 layers on with a pack of hot hands inside of the 2 pairs of gloves I was wearing.

I wanted to share a few if the memories from the 2010 race weekend. Once again good luck to everyone this coming weekend.

Remember, you will finish with more "character" than you started with.

I'm Offically Goofy Now!

Last week I posted pictures of my Disney Marathon Weekend shadow box. A friend of mine contacted me with a tremendous offer. She and her husband also ran both the half and full marathons at Disney as part of the Goofy challenge and received Goofy Medals. I had ran both the half and full marathons, but was not officially part of the Goofy challenge. Therefore, I did not receive a Goofy Medal.

She was contacting me to offer me one of their Goofy medals. I was absolutely blown away by her generosity! She let me know that her husband actually surprised her by purchasing a frame while they were at the expo during the Disney Marathon Weekend. This frame included medals from all 3 races. Since they now had 3 Goofy medals, she offered the extra one to me.

I want to take the opportunity to say thank you Steve and Melissa.

Here is the updated marathon shadow box which now includes the Goofy Medal.



Here is a close-up of the Goofy medal.

Marathon Shadow Box

I was finally able to get around to putting my medals from the Disney Marathon Weekend in to a shadow box. I decided to go with a simple approach to what is displayed.

As you can see, both the half marathon and full marathon medals are the main focus. In the center is a copy of my finisher's certificate from the marathon. After downloading the certificate, instead of printing it as 8 1/2" x 11", I printed it at 5" x 7".

Surrounding the medals are the smaller version pins I purchased from the expo.

Runner Ornament

I wanted to share a runner ornament that I made out of wood. This is a silhouette of a runner that my wife (My Scrappy Journey) made for my Disney Marathon scrapbook pages shown in my previous post. What makes this ornament so unique is how creative my wife was by adding Mickey Ears to the runner. Based on the shape of the silhouette, it was the perfect size to create a wood ornament.

This first picture is a close-up view of the silhouette.



This second picture gives you and idea of the size of the ornament as I am holding it by the string. Overall the ornament is 4" tall and 4" wide at the stride of the runner.



By having the silhouette painted in all black allows for easy personalization using a paint marker.

2010 Disney Marathon Scrapbook Pages

I am able to relive the excitment from the 2010 Disney Marathon Weekend back in January all over again. My wonderful wife made these two scrapbook pages. It is funny to look at the photos and see how bundled up we were because of the weather. There were actually snow flurries falling as we made our way to the starting line for the Half Marathon. The snow flurries turned in to rain which did not help.

Then on Sunday, the wind chill was in the teens as we work up. The temp did not get much better throughout the day, but no need to complain. As one of the pages is titled, I was "Getting Goofy"!

This first page is the overall 2-page spread called "Getting Goofy". The page contains the course map for both the half and full marathon. At the expo, there was a both that had some 12x12 paper with the Goofy logo which added to the page. I am also an ambassador with Team 413. This is a running ministry dedicating to spreading the Gospel to all. I heard comments all throughout the weekend as I was running the races showing encouragement for spreading God's word. Several fellow runners took the time to tell me what an inspiration the shirt gave them as they read the verse on the back....I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...Phillippians 4:13.



Here is the left side of the Gettin' Goofy page.



Here is the right side of the Gettin' Goofy page.



The second page is a great layout showing my accomplishment of completing my first full marathon. Hard to believe that I actually did it, but as the Disney finisher certificate states, "Congratulations on completing the most magical 26.2 miles!" I really like how this one shows my bib from the race and incorporates all of the character stops along the way where I had pictures taken. My wife added a few silhouettes of running that she slightly altered using her Gypsy. Notice anything special on top of the runner's head? The runner has his very own set of Mickey ears! That is a really cool touch.



Here is the left side of the Marathon page.



Here is the right side of the Marathon page.

Marathon Week

It has finally arrived! Hard to believe marathon week is upon us. I am heading to WDW on Friday and when I arrived, I will be going to the expo to pick up my packet and check out all the merchandise.

On Saturday, I will probably watch the half marathon and root on my fellow ROTErs and other friends.

Then the big day is Sunday!

Mickey Medal

As the Disney Marathon slogan states, "finish with more character than when you started". Here is the marathon medal that will be waiting for all finishers. Great looking medal! I will wear this medal proudly after earning it for completing the marathon.