We're all out there chasing our better selves (FredtheDuck chases on)

CONGRATULATIONS GIRL!!! You did a great job with your first half and should be SO proud! :D

Thank you so much! Definitely proud (and relieved, to be honest)!

I'm very proud of you! Congrats on your first half marathon! Sounds like an overall great experience. I feed off crowds so I can certainly understand the lack of them being a bit of a downer.

Honestly don't think I could have done it without your plan. I have an inkling of what I want to do next (not counting these 10ks), and when I have more time to think through it, would love to ask for your help again if you're willing. Re: the crowd support, @MoanasPapa's first half was Pittsburgh, and he said it made for such a different (and better) first race environment. He wished we had done Disney or Philly or some other, bigger race as a first for me, too. Honestly, I think that would have been more exciting, but the flipside is that I had run this entire course in training, and that was a big confidence booster.

I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU SAID THE MOANA LINE!!!!!
(sorry I get over-excited)

Don't apologize for being excited! It was a funny moment in the run - so thanks for the idea!

Super impressed with you. Love the "dedicating miles thing" and may have to borrow it in a few weeks!

First, thank you for saying that. It means a lot. Second, the dedicating miles thing was seriously a great way to make those last, harder miles a little easier. It forces you to mentally take it a mile at a time, and to focus on trying to make each of those miles a mile the person you're dedicating it to would be proud of. Plus you start each new mile off with some warm fuzzies, and that's always good.

I'm doing my first half in November and pretty nervous about it.

I know those nerves (I definitely had a nightmare on Friday night about the race). FWIW, I'll be rooting you on, and hope you'll update as you go along!

This is a pretty scary time limit and you did amazing! I would be freaked about that too and that's not what you needed during the race! But you rocked it!!

Thank you! It just added that much more pressure to the race. My longest training run was 10 miles, so I didn't know what I would feel up to in my last three miles, and that lead to a lot of the anxiety. Compound that with the two stops, and I think it was mentally more stressful than was ideal. But, it is done now and was a success, so all is well that ends well.

YOU DID IT!!! CONGRATS!!!party:

Celebratory pizza is the best way to end a race.

Also, never ask what's next on Disboards. The answer is always that you should do Dopey.

Thank you! And yes, that pizza made me so happy. Re: Dopey... I don't think I have it in me to be a marathoner, and I'm OK with that. But, I would love to do a Disney race in the future, and could maybe see doing one of the other 5k+10k+half (ie Goofy) challenges.
 
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Thank you! And yes, that pizza made me so happy. Re: Dopey... I don't think I have it in me to be a marathoner, and I'm OK with that. But, I would love to do a Disney race in the future, and could maybe see doing one of the other 5k+10k+half (ie Goofy) challenges.
That's totally cool. You have to do what makes you happy! Definitely if you find yourself interested in some of the other challenges try them out. They're a lot of fun.
 
Aww congratulations! :cheer2:A half marathon is such a big deal and you did it in such good time even with the detours!! And that time limit...stress city for sure. :eek:

Thanks for documenting your running journey to this point. I love reading about other people's journals because it encourages me so much in my own running journey. :yay:
 


Re: Dopey... I don't think I have it in me to be a marathoner, and I'm OK with that. But, I would love to do a Disney race in the future, and could maybe see doing one of the other 5k+10k+half (ie Goofy) challenges.

Congratulations on your first half! As for a marathon, it's perfectly OK not to run one; you're no less a "real" runner if you decide 26.2 isn't for you. Don't be intimidated by the distance, though. If it's something you ever want to do, I believe you can do it. I've never known a runner who put in the training and avoided the injury bug who did not finish a full. You're stronger than you seem (to quote Pooh).
 
First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to @FredtheDuck for running a strong half marathon. I was really impressed how you kept a consistent pace (have you posted your mile splits?) overall and how you gutted it out (pun intended) when the stomach bug hit a second time and you had to run another 1/3 to 1/2 mile for a portapotty. I thought the dedicating miles thing was a neat trick both to honor those who support you and to keep your mind off the final miles. And thank you for helping me grind out the last three or so miles -- your encouragement was really helpful.

Second, a huge THANK YOU to @DopeyBadger for your training plan. I felt extremely well-prepared physically and mentally for the race. My only prior half marathon was a slog -- particularly miles 8-12. I literally had to sit down right after the race because I felt like I was going to pass out or topple over. It didn't leave me wanting to do another half, to say the least! But this time, with your plan (and @FredtheDuck's encouragement to actually do the training runs!), I felt awesome. Minus the cramp, I felt like I could have kept running another several miles. My stamina and energy levels were spot on. I am ready to sign up for my next half!

About the leg cramp, to assuage anyone's fears (especially @KathyM2 -- good luck by the way, you're going to be great!): I'm pretty sure it was self-inflicted and happened in the days before the race. Basically, I have occasional IT band tightness, which leads to outer knee pain and tightness/pain along the outside of the quad up to the hip. It usually happens after I play Ultimate Frisbee, which has a lot of quick lateral movements and sudden bursts of speed. If I'm not careful to use a foam roller after Ultimate, it can tighten up and get inflamed. The night before the race, I felt tightness in my leg but didn't think to roll it out or anything. (I'd played Ultimate earlier in the week). Well, around mile 2, I started to feel the tell-tale outer knee tightness/pain. I mentally tried to relax the IT band and run looser, which worked until about mile 9. There, after some steep up and down hills, my whole quad/thigh got super tense and painful. I took a quick break to stretch it out, but it dogged me the rest of the race. Fortunately, I had lots of great stamina from a great training plan and encouragement from a great running buddy to get me through.
 
Second, a huge THANK YOU to @DopeyBadger for your training plan. I felt extremely well-prepared physically and mentally for the race. My only prior half marathon was a slog -- particularly miles 8-12. I literally had to sit down right after the race because I felt like I was going to pass out or topple over. It didn't leave me wanting to do another half, to say the least! But this time, with your plan (and @FredtheDuck's encouragement to actually do the training runs!), I felt awesome. Minus the cramp, I felt like I could have kept running another several miles. My stamina and energy levels were spot on. I am ready to sign up for my next half!

Happy to hear you enjoyed the plan! I'm at your disposal if you need more help!
 
I'm planning to get back to running today! I actually felt ok on Tuesday afternoon and debating doing a little kickout that night or yesterday, but didn't want to push it. I'll probably just do a couple of miles on the treadmill today, but it'll be nice to feel less like a blob. I'm thinking I'll do a "long run" of around 5 miles on Saturday, but we'll see.

We've been talking about our race goals for 2018. We considered:

Spring races:
- Pittsburgh - Decided to hold off since @MoanasPapa has already run it.
- Rock 'n' Roll DC - It's so early in March (3/10) that I'd worry about the weather - it was frigid last year.
- Flying Pig (Cincinnati): Would have to fly, and need to limit flying trips (see Chicago in the fall for why)
- Publix Atlanta: Same thing with the flying, though we do have friends there we want to visit. Maybe next year.
- Cleveland - The guy that got @MoanasPapa in to running lives there now, and our families try to get together once a year. OK. Great. Spring race sorted.

Fall Races:
- Parks again: Nah. @MoanasPapa wants to do ones that would be more festive (crowd support, new cities, etc.).
- Chicago: Bucket list run for me. Plus, we have a lot family there, and could see his parents coming out to see that family and watch our kid during the race. Perfect! But... wait... that would be a lot of travel cost. Family is far enough out that we'd need to do a hotel, and flights for three of us, and we'd want to stay several days because we love it there. We'd rather use that money for... WDW 2019 Half in January! YEAH!!!! (bonus: we decided to aim for Chicago 2019, which will be right around our 10th wedding anniversary, so a great way to celebrate).
- Philadelphia: Later in the year than I might like, but it's an easy drive from here, and we could either get my dad to come with us to help with our kiddo (he likes Philly), or if he doesn't want to do that, he'd be happy to watch her for an overnight. Great. Settled.

So here's a rough outline of what's next, then:
- Marine Corps 10k - 10/22/2017
- Turkey Chase Charity 10k - 11/23/2017
- Cherry Blossom 10-miler (if I get a lottery spot... most of my friends did last year) - 4/8/2018
- RiteAid Cleveland Half - 5/20/2018
- Philadelphia Half - 11/2018 (date TBA)
- WDW Half - 1/2019
- Chicago Half - 9/2019

Will probably sprinkle in several 5ks and 10ks, too, and I'm sure some of the late 2018-2019 stuff could change... they're still so far off.

@DopeyBadger - If you're willing, I'd love your help training plans for these halves. I'm figuring we can use the 10ks to figure out where my fitness is now. Now that I know that I can cover the distance, my goal would be to run Cleveland at tempo (btw, moving pace for Parks was 11:36... so not quite tempo but not bad!). There's a lot of time between now and Cleveland, so no rush. I would, however, love to get your thoughts on what I should be doing in this off-cycle to maintain a good base before training in earnest again, if you have any advice!
 
I'm trying to get caught up on everything from being away for the weekend...

Congratulations on your race! Sound like you had a great race even with some unplanned bathroom stops. I'm so happy that you did the "I AM MOANA" Just awesome. You killed it as I was sure that you would. Now on to Dopey right? ;)
 
HEHE yes!! So I'm going to have to put/keep Philly 2018 on my list too! I believe they have an 8K, a half, and a marathon, so there's lots of options. :)
 
I'm planning to get back to running today! I actually felt ok on Tuesday afternoon and debating doing a little kickout that night or yesterday, but didn't want to push it. I'll probably just do a couple of miles on the treadmill today, but it'll be nice to feel less like a blob. I'm thinking I'll do a "long run" of around 5 miles on Saturday, but we'll see.

It would actually be my advice to take an entire week off from running after an "A" race half marathon. I usually recommend one day off/easy for every 3k of racing. A HM is 21k, thus 7 days off. This will allow your body to fully recover from the damage you caused. I know you feel fine, but there's still some stuff going on in the background.

@DopeyBadger - If you're willing, I'd love your help training plans for these halves. I'm figuring we can use the 10ks to figure out where my fitness is now. Now that I know that I can cover the distance, my goal would be to run Cleveland at tempo (btw, moving pace for Parks was 11:36... so not quite tempo but not bad!). There's a lot of time between now and Cleveland, so no rush. I would, however, love to get your thoughts on what I should be doing in this off-cycle to maintain a good base before training in earnest again, if you have any advice!

I can certainly help. Plan on taking the rest of the week off and then the next two weeks should be just easy running (no gains will be made by pushing this too much). That would mean you'd actually start training again on October 2nd. I should be able to get something to you by then. I'd keep the training paces the same for now since your HM was an underperformance, but your training suggested we were on target. Then we could re-evaluate after the 10ks (like you said). The HM training wouldn't start until January/February, but the question I can already see is would you be willing to treat the 10 miler as a training run? I usually try and aim to have only one "A" race per cycle.
 
Just keep running whatever your "Happy" is (see what I did there?)

Still kind of funny to me that running actually MAKES me happy. I used to hate it.

That's totally cool. You have to do what makes you happy! Definitely if you find yourself interested in some of the other challenges try them out. They're a lot of fun.

I'm excited for WDW 2019 because I'm thinking I'll be a more confident runner by then, and it seems like a good excuse to try for a challenge (if you gotta run a lotta miles, you may as well do them there...). That said, I have no intention "racing" those... I want to take it easy and enjoy the course/character stops!

As for what's next: I'm happy to continue to try and get you to sign up for a race near Philly!!

2018 WHOOOO

Thanks for documenting your running journey to this point. I love reading about other people's journals because it encourages me so much in my own running journey

Very sweet of you to say. I've really enjoyed it so far, and am thinking that I'll keep it up! I'm lurking on yours as well and excited to see what you do : )

Congratulations on your first half! As for a marathon, it's perfectly OK not to run one; you're no less a "real" runner if you decide 26.2 isn't for you. Don't be intimidated by the distance, though. If it's something you ever want to do, I believe you can do it.

Thank you for both the congrats and the vote of confidence! I feel like at this point I don't have the physical stamina OR the time, but maybe as I do this for longer and my daughter gets older... Never say never, right?

Congratulations on your first half!! I love the idea of dedicating miles!

Thanks so much! And the dedicating miles was a great mental tool for me personally... Worth a shot!

Congratulations. So glad that your hard work paid off.

Thank you so much, and good luck in your training - you'll rock it!

Congratulations on your race! Sound like you had a great race even with some unplanned bathroom stops. I'm so happy that you did the "I AM MOANA" Just awesome. You killed it as I was sure that you would. Now on to Dopey right? ;)

Thanks so much! And really, thanks so much for all of your cheering during this training cycle - it was a big booster! I may be more Goofy than Dopey come 2019, but I'll take it (and hope to see some DISers there!).

YES! Philly 2018!!!

DIS MEET UP?!?!?!?!

HEHE yes!! So I'm going to have to put/keep Philly 2018 on my list too!

Like I said... DIS MEET UP?!?!?!?! YESSSSSS.

It would actually be my advice to take an entire week off from running after an "A" race half marathon. I usually recommend one day off/easy for every 3k of racing. A HM is 21k, thus 7 days off. This will allow your body to fully recover from the damage you caused. I know you feel fine, but there's still some stuff going on in the background.

Well now I feel less bad that my plan for today got totally derailed by meetings and deadlines... Woot. It will be weird not to run this weekend though.

I'd keep the training paces the same for now since your HM was an underperformance, but your training suggested we were on target. Then we could re-evaluate after the 10ks (like you said). The HM training wouldn't start until January/February, but the question I can already see is would you be willing to treat the 10 miler as a training run? I usually try and aim to have only one "A" race per cycle.

HOORAY! Another DB training plan!!! I think keeping the paces the same sounds good for now. I think I left a little in the tank because it was my first time at that distance, but not much. So more practice and building of endurance will be good for me. If I finish CLE at my current tempo, I'd be totally happy. Re: the 10-miler - yeah, training run is totally fine. There's a 2:20 time limit on the course, but I think that would still work with my current paces.

I'm excited!
 
Thank you for both the congrats and the vote of confidence! I feel like at this point I don't have the physical stamina OR the time, but maybe as I do this for longer and my daughter gets older...

You don't have the stamina right this moment, but you can definitely get there. My wife and I visited the Grand Canyon for our 20th anniversary in August, and it was an amazing sight, seeing what water and wind had formed over a vast period of time. Training for a marathon is a similar process - effort patiently and persistently applied over time can lead to amazing things. You're going to surprise yourself with what you can do.

Never say never, right?

Absolutely! :thumbsup2
 
Huge congrats, you did great! I always love post-race pizza, it is the perfect meal :) And emotions...yes! That finish chute gets me every time
 

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