Tag: goofy challenge

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You Find a New Dream

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Captured a PR in the 2015 Baltimore Marathon
Captured a PR in the 2015 Baltimore Marathon

I’ve really been struggling with finding the right words to say to recap my experiences at the 2015 Baltimore and Marine Corps Marathons. Usually, after a race, I like to write my most honest opinion about the race itself. What was the expo like? The swag? The atmosphere? The course? I intend to write those posts, because frankly both races are absolutely worth their while and deserve a review, but I trained for both of these races together so it’s hard to separate the emotions I have about them. The only other time I felt even a fraction of how I feel now is after finishing the 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon– my second one– as part of the Goofy Challenge because I literally had no idea that I could do it. This is different because instead of leaving it to chance, I actually worked for it. As in, I trained instead of following a training plan that I hoped would work on race day. I’ve always worked hard in training, but I found out there is a difference between owning your training and being owned by your training. Continue reading “You Find a New Dream”

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Baltimore Marathon 2015 Training, Dopey Challenge 2016 Training, Marine Corps Marathon 2015 TrainingLeave a comment

Week Thirteen/Twelve: Baltimore and Marine Corps Marathon Training

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Fundraising Update: I’m at 32% of my goal with $196 raised for Team TAPS! Make a donation today and help the families of our nation’s fallen heroes. Check out my post about why I am running for TAPS. Thank you to all who have contributed! I can’t do this without your generosity and support.

This week, I started out with a feeling of being ready to re-commit to training. I have to remind myself that no one is making me do this– it’s all my idea and my desire that has put me in this spot. But life happens during marathon-training, whether it’s something big or it’s the compounding of daily life that stacks and builds up. This week wasn’t a great one for me, but so it goes.

Haha, maybe not, but some days....
Haha, maybe not, but some days….

My Planned Training Schedule: September 7 – 13

  • Monday: 4 easy pace miles (Goal Pace: 10:37 – 11:00)
  • Tuesday: 7 medium effort miles (Goal Pace: 9:07 – 9:37)
  • Wednesday: 4 easy pace miles (Goal Pace: 10:37 – 11:00)
  • Thursday: 4 easy pace miles (Goal Pace: 10:37 – 11:00)
  • Friday: Rest
  • Saturday: 20 long run miles (Goal Pace: 9:36 – 10:36)
  • Sunday: 6 race pace miles (Goal Pace: 9:06)
  • Total Weekly Mileage: 45 miles

This week was a little on the high mileage side, but I tried to cut down where I could since I was looking at one beast of a weekend long run. I haven’t run 20 miles in over three years. In 2013, I trained for the Run for the Ranch Marathon up to 18 miles (during which I turned around at mile 9 on a day that was somewhere in the negative wind chill range) and in 2014, I also only trained up to 18 miles for the Chicago Marathon (having just come off an injury). There is always one glorious 20-miler that I ran back in the fall of 2012, when I was training for the Goofy Challenge, that I remember well. Very well. I ran it with an average 9:56 pace and a sinus infection. When I stopped, I remembered that I just wanted to keep going. That’s how I wanted to feel after this run. That’s the kind of runner I want to be again. I would LOVE to have another 20-mile run like that one. Continue reading “Week Thirteen/Twelve: Baltimore and Marine Corps Marathon Training”

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Cheering On the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

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At mile 6 of the Disney World Donald Duck Half-Marathon, Orlando, Florida, January 2013
At mile 6 of the Disney World Donald Duck Half-Marathon, Orlando, Florida, January 2013

Last year, after losing one of the most epic battles between my rational self and my friend Telisa who suggested we run the Walt Disney World Goofy Race and a Half Challenge, I crossed the finish line of the Mickey Marathon at Epcot Center, immediately burst into joyful tears of disbelief while hunched over and successfully convincing a volunteer medic that I was about to have a coronary, and was then crowned with two beautiful medals that clanked together with joyful annoyance every step I hobbled. I had started out that race without any idea how it was going to end. Waking up at 2AM was BRUTAL and honestly, the thought of laying in bed for a little bit more sleep was almost more appealing than the thought of earning two medals that were prettier than the one I had earned only 24 hours earlier. Telisa and I barely spoke that morning because we were so exhausted, and starting the race, I caught myself wondering if this was the beginning of the last marathon I would ever run. I just didn’t know what was going to happen in between the 26.2 miles that lay ahead of me. Hearing the song “Go the Distance” from the Disney movie “Hercules” as just what I needed to feel like I was about to conquer something amazing if I had the guts to go after it.

My friend Telisa and me around mile 23 of the Disney World Mickey Marathon and Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge, Orlando, FL, January 2013
My friend Telisa and me around mile 23 of the Disney World Mickey Marathon and Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge, Orlando, FL, January 2013

As it turns out, that race was one of the most fun marathons I have done (ya know, of the four I have done!) Continue reading “Cheering On the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend”