October is a good month

Marathon training continues. I’ve been able to get outside more the last few weeks, which is always good. I’ve also started eating better again and I’ve lost 7 pounds since early August. Not great, but a steady loss is best for me so I don’t feel deprived and end up snacking or slipping backwards into bad eating habits. I have found I have gained speed (not much, but still an improvement) and I seem to be enjoying my training again. For a while it was not fun to run, but a duty, a chore to check off the to-do list. Now I get excited about running outside, even in the drizzle like last Saturday morning.

Next week we’ll be in WDW and I plan on running at least twice, if not three times, while we are down there. We’re staying at Pop Century and I’ve run there several times before. If you run around the outside of the resort, which is a loop of Memory Lane (the back walkway by Hourglass Lake), the outside of the parking lots and part of Century Drive, and then along the bus stop side of Classic Hall, it’s about 3.5 miles. I’ll do that loop twice two days we’re there and possibly once one other day. I’ll walk around the parks enough to be able to indulge a bit at the Food and Wine Festival booths at Epcot, so I’m not too worried about that. We’ll have a great time as usual.

And now, it’s September?!?!

Boy, I’m glad I’m not getting paid to do this! I’d never make any money if I was supposed to be timely. For those that read this blog, thank you. I hope to be more consistent in posting now that my training for the 2010 Walt Disney World Marathon will officially begin on Monday (Labor Day). I spent much of August in recovery from the Urban Wildland Half-Marathon (see last post) and maintenance running to keep some semblance of a base. I intend to post on my training here as I prepare for the marathon in January, but with a bit of a difference. I’m planning on posting pictures (finally!) of the running routes I have. I think it is very interesting to see where people run because it helps me visualize what other people face during their training. I figure that if people are willing to read this blog, I could at least break up the text with photos now and then.

I am having a bit of a mental crisis, though, concerning my participation with Team AllEars. I am really excited about the team and the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than my running at WDW, especially when the group is raising money for such an important cause in fighting breast cancer. I am committed to raising the money that team members are asked to raise, although in all honesty, asking for donations is outside my comfort zone. That is one reason why I asked to be a part of the team . My whole life as been spent in or around my comfort zone, something I freely admit. Last year’s months of unemployment certainly took me out of that zone and I learned much about myself that made me proud and, at times, made me sad. Finding a new job in a role I never imagined, in an industry I never thought I’d work, and without help from a network of contacts showed me that I can step up to challenges that really test my belief in myself.

How does that thought translate to Team AllEars and raising money? Asking folks to help me has never been a strong suit of mine (ask my wife, who’s been with me for 22 years). I have a plan to raise money, which I think will work, but the back-up plan is to move outside the comfort zone. The help I am now asking for is advice. What has worked for you to overcome doing something outside your comfort zone or new to you? I’m very interested in hearing any ideas anyone has and I appreciate the time you take to read my blog and follow my progress as I work toward another marathon.

Wow, August already?

So much for timely blogging! Although, to be fair, not much has happened since the last post in late June. I ran the Urban Wildland Half-Marathon in Richfield this past Saturday. My training was a bit unusual for me in that most of the days I ran, I did it on the elliptical. I have yet to figure out how to get a run done at work, either before or after work. This means that I get up early-ish during the week and go downstairs to the elliptical and do my miles or splits. On the weekends, I get my long runs done outside, but it is not the same as last year when I was outside almost every day I trained (of course I was unemployed most of last year). I’d really like to get a routine figured out to run outside more during the week, especially since I’ll be starting my training for the 2010 Walt Disney World Marathon on Labor Day.

To go back to the Urban Wildland Half-Marathon, the race itself was fine. I finished in 2:30, which is about what I expected. I felt good for almost the whole race, although I did walk a good chunk of the last couple of miles. The course is fairly flat and goes through Wood Lake Nature Center, as well as several parks in Richfield. There were about 1100 runners who finished the race, so a small-ish race, but the widely-scattered spectators kept us pumped up and excited. The water stops usually feature area schoolkids as volunteers, which is always fun. I like seeing the kids get into shouting “Water! Water!” and “Good job!” I always thank each one I take water from and hope that they feel like they helped me finish.

After the race, I realized that in the roughly 12 month period from the 2009 to 2010 WDW Marathon Weekends, I will have run 2 marathons, 3 half-marathons, a 10k and a 5k, in addition to training. Sometimes the elliptical doesn’t look too bad!

October can’t arrive soon enough!

So, we have our reservations for October and for January, too. I’m excited to go, although I’m a bit sad that we going down the day of the Race for the Taste 10K. It will be nice to be at WDW without trying to get a race packet, arrange to get to the race, or do anything racing-related. Plus, the Food and Wine Festival will be underway at Epcot. I’ve been at WDW during Food and Wine several times and I love it. It is a great opportunity to experience food you may not have a chance to try at any other time.

We may also go to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party while we’re down there. Our son will be 4 by the time we go. He went to MNSSHP when he was 2 and seemed to enjoy it, but he was very young. I’d like to see if he would go again, as we’ve always had a good time when we gone in the past. Just can’t wait!!

Team AllEars on Running to Disney podcast

My good friend Gordon at Running to Disney interviewed Michelle Scribner-McLean and Mike Scopa, the co-captains of Team AllEars on episode 23 of the Running to Disney Podcast. He mentions me a few times, which is really nice and very generous of him, as other listeners of his great podcast are also team members (and I can’t wait to meet them!). The team is really supportive and a great group to be associated with as I get ready for the 2010 Marathon. As a reminder, I (and the rest of the team) are raising money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Please support us as we help this cause at a great event. I’m honored to be a part of the team and to have friends like Gordon help out by publicizing our efforts.

My family and I will be back down at WDW in October. Usually, I would try to finagle an entry into the Race for the Taste 10K, but I decided that a trip to WDW without a race would not be a bad thing (this time!). We’ll just miss the race, but that’s okay, since we’ll be back down in January. We’re really looking forward to this trip, which will be my son’s 7th time. He turns 4 in September, so he is a seasoned veteran already! Also, Food & Wine will be going on while we’re there, which is always a good thing!

My wife and I will both be training while we’re down there in October, which is fine. I’ve been in WDW while training for races before and it is a good chance to get used to the weather you may face on race day. Currently, we’re staying at Pop Century, but we may be moving to a DVC resort (not sure which one yet) instead. So, depending on where we stay, I may get to run a familiar route or create a new one. It’s all good if you’re running at Disney!

If you would consider helping out, I’d appreciate it

A quick note here – I have joined the Team AllEars running team for the 2010 WDW Marathon weekend. Part of our goal is to help raise money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Please consider helping out this fantastic cause and supporting Team AllEars as we train for our half-marathons, full-marathons, and Goofy Challenges. I’ll have more information on the team as I continue to train. Thanks!!!

Running is. . .

. . .going okay, although I’d like to get outside more than once a week. I’m trying figure out how to be able to run at work, at the end of the day more than likely. I really need to lose some weight and I’m not sure why I’m having so much trouble getting back into the right mindset to eat better.

WDW in October – no Race for the Taste, but I think we can go to MNSSHP (I should probably mention it to my wife!).

Got the second issue of twenty-three, the Disney D23 quarterly magazine. It is good so far, but I still need a really good reason to join D23. Haven’t gotten it yet.

Training again

So, since I registered for the 2010 WDW Marathon, I’ve gotten more serious about my training. I’m running a 10K next Saturday, a half-marathon May 31, and another one August 1. After a bit of a break, I’ll start training for the marathon. Since I got my Garmin, I’ve enjoyed getting outside (well, that and spring finally arriving). This morning I ran 9 miles and felt really good. I finished only 8 minutes slower than the 8 miles I ran last week. I think that given the two half-marathons I’ll run this year, I may be able to get a little quicker. I’d like to finish the marathon in under five hours, so I’ll have to do some quality training. If the winter is not bad during training, then I should be in good shape for the race.

We’re thinking about going down to WDW in October. Normally, I’d angle for the weekend of the Race for the Taste, but I’m not going to worry about it this year. It would be a shorter trip, since we’d like to take a longer trip in January. I really enjoy going down to WDW in October and maybe we’ll try to go to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party again. Our son would be older and may enjoy it more than the last time, when he was barely 2 years old. He’d be 4 this trip and since he’s been to WDW 6 times since he was 6 months old, I really enjoys it. He talks about Disney a lot and he plays with his Cars cars quite a bit. The Disney Channel is on pretty much every day, much of the day (not that Daddy minds too much). We’ll see if we can get down there, and what we’ll do when we go.

Why, yes, it has been a while

Couple of things. . .I’d like to post more, but it’s been difficult. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things better now that I’ve settled into the new job. This post will have a couple of items and then hopefully back to more regularly scheduled programming.

I did register for the 2010 WDW Marathon. My wife is doing the Half Marathon (her first). We’ll both be getting the Race Retreat, I think. I might be persuaded not to if I know of enough people doing the marathon to keep me company before the race. Or if people I know who are running the marathon also get the Race Retreat. It is definitely worth it, but I would rather have someone to talk with before the race. This year, when I did the Goofy Challenge and bought the Race Retreat for both days, I knew people running the Half that I chatted with a bit. I didn’t know anyone running the full marathon that also bought the retreat, though, so I chatted with Gordon from Running to Disney for a while before retreating (no pun intended) to the Race Retreat tent. I was able to chat with someone in there, but having people I know with me would be much more fun. We’ll see as we get closer to the race who’s running and who might want to get the retreat package. It is well-worth it.

I’m still doing the Goofy in 2011, but I am apparently addicted to the WDW Marathon and will run it if I am going to be anywhere near WDW during Marathon Weekend. Maybe I’ll do the Dopey in 2011 and add the 5k race, too.

On a non-running related Disney item, although a bit late to the table with this observation – I believe that Disney’s announcement of D23 is much ado about very little. I see it this way: Join or don’t. If you join, good for you. If you don’t good for you, too. I’m not sure what the big deal is that has gotten so many people in an uproar over D23, pro or con. I get being passionate about Disney and what it means to you personally, but does the rest of the world really need to know what you think about the club? Opinions are great, I believe in being able to express yourself, whether you’re for or against the concept Disney has created. But between the podcasts, blog posts, and forum posts about D23, you’d think Disney fans were debating the dissolution of the company and the closing of the parks. Seriously, if you want to join, more power to you. If you don’t want to join, great. But let it go, people. It’s a club, not a mandatory requirement in order to be a Disney fan. (Full disclosure-I haven’t joined yet, but only because I don’t feel the need to drop everything and rush online to do so. I’ll get to it eventually)

Wild Chicken Little Meets the Robinsons

I haven’t disappeared, just have been really busy at work (even after a month, it’s still cool to say that!). I’m going to try to get back into a rhythm of posting in the next couple of weeks. Since I’m probably not doing the WDW marathon next year (although my wife did register for the half-marathon), I don’t think I’ll be posting training updates. If I decide to do the marathon, then I will. Otherwise, I’ll try to post Disney-related content as I think of it. Like this:

My son has discovered the unsung Walt Disney Animation Studios films The Wild, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons. He’s watched them a lot lately. Wall-E, too. Cars and Toy Story (1 & 2), have taken a back seat to the new movies. We did have a Monsters, Inc. phase, which he has not outgrown, but his portfolio is slowly growing, so we have a large rotation right now. I’m going to get him into the classic animated movies, but I haven’t figured out a good starting point. I’m open to ideas.