lunarsongbird
Disney Magic is a Must
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2016
It all started with Pokémon... well, that's not quite true.
Even before having our first child, William, I set a goal of walking a half marathon before starting to try for a second child. It seemed like a wonderful motivator to get in great shape and lose all the baby weight from the first pregnancy, before embarking on another. But then we had a baby...who turned into a toddling toddler... and sometimes those dreams get away from you, you know?
And then Pokémon Go came out- and I started to walk again...and walk...and walk. And I remembered how much I absolutely LOVED to walk.
I did a local Grand Prix of "Running" for two years in a row before having William. I even walked a 10K when I was pregnant with William.
But as you know- a baby changes everything.
We were already planning a trip to California for Labor Day and I asked my husband, Andrew, if I could barter that trip for our first family trip to Disneyland so that I could walk the Avengers Half Marathon. He supported me fully, as he knew this was a long-time dream of mine.
So we booked our hotel room at the Howard Johnson (too bad the Paradise Pier was already booked up) and I also got tickets for a fairly reasonable flight. We also invited my 21 year old sister to join us, so that she could participate in the fun that is our awesome son- and so that she could watch him one evening so that we could go to the Carthay Circle.
But this is the running forum... so yes, I started to train, as well. LOL.
I started with the Galloway "Beginning Runners" schedule for the Avengers Goal Date of November 13th. I began at week 5 with 5 miles. We happened to be camping in the mountains of Colorado, so my first 5 miles was pushing a sleeping baby through gravel at 9,760 feet. It felt pretty darn good.
Maybe that fresh mountain air really was exhilarating, because it was lacking on my next 6.5 miles a week later and it just wasn't that enjoyable.
I wish that MapMyWalk captured the temperature, because it was hot. We were back on unpaved surfaces and I might have been a bit dehydrated.
My pace felt horrible - and it kinda was, but at least I was getting the miles in.
There were quite a few 3 mile walks before I did an 8 mile walk after work after labor day, after working 65 hours the previous week. Also not my favorite walk.
And my pace wasn't great- even though I wasn't pushing William. :: sigh :: But I also barely hydrated and didn't bring any fuel, because I was stuck in this mentality that I was JUST walking...I should be able to just walk without any fuel... I mean, I'm not running. This should be easy and not difficult for the body.
So you can only imagine what this type of mentality did for my 9.5 mile walk, pushing William the entire time. I should have been better at checking the weather- when we arrived it was 70 degrees...perfect, but by the time we were mid-way through the walk it was 90 degrees.
And because I was JUST a walker, I did have two bottles of water (in which I only drank one) and I tossed a random kashi granola bar under the stroll that I received a week before from church.
It started out well enough. We were at a very pretty river walk.
Although as we continued to explore the city, it began to get hotter and hotter.
And it was okay- until about 15 minutes after I ate that granola bar and my tummy began to rumble.... and we were no where near a bathroom- and I needed to go urgently.
I made it back to a very nice bathroom on the riverwalk and only had 2.5 miles to go...
We walked for 3 hours and 15 minutes... just 15 minutes less then the Disney course will be open.
I was tired afterwards, but not completely exhausted and after a good lunch- we enjoyed the rest of the day at a local children's museum.
But the next day, I had concerns:
And I received lots of help in the way of a family friend, who used to own a Fleet Feet. She even created a custom training plan for me.
I also started a few threads on the boards here and got great responses:
Training- What did you learn the hard way? What would YOU put in a training program?
Poll: Your Recommended Longest Training Run for a First Half
I also asked the above question to another social networking outlet and got the following responses:
I was happy to see that my training plan aligned with the majority. Also, 12 miles feels like a really good length- and heck- I've already done 9.5 miles....
But I was... (and kinda still am) a bit nervous about my pace. So for my next walk it was supposed to be "effort level 7-8, steady pace. Short sentence talking, some heavy breathing."
A sense of dread sank into my stomach as I tied my running shoes. What if I couldn't manage a 15 minute mile anymore? That was pre-William, after all. I fished around my nightstand and found unopened ear buds that came with my phone... a volume button on the cord. Fancy! I anxiously started down the street and within a few moments I realized that it felt amazing!
We will see what this weekend brings!
Even before having our first child, William, I set a goal of walking a half marathon before starting to try for a second child. It seemed like a wonderful motivator to get in great shape and lose all the baby weight from the first pregnancy, before embarking on another. But then we had a baby...who turned into a toddling toddler... and sometimes those dreams get away from you, you know?
And then Pokémon Go came out- and I started to walk again...and walk...and walk. And I remembered how much I absolutely LOVED to walk.
I did a local Grand Prix of "Running" for two years in a row before having William. I even walked a 10K when I was pregnant with William.
But as you know- a baby changes everything.
We were already planning a trip to California for Labor Day and I asked my husband, Andrew, if I could barter that trip for our first family trip to Disneyland so that I could walk the Avengers Half Marathon. He supported me fully, as he knew this was a long-time dream of mine.
So we booked our hotel room at the Howard Johnson (too bad the Paradise Pier was already booked up) and I also got tickets for a fairly reasonable flight. We also invited my 21 year old sister to join us, so that she could participate in the fun that is our awesome son- and so that she could watch him one evening so that we could go to the Carthay Circle.
But this is the running forum... so yes, I started to train, as well. LOL.
I started with the Galloway "Beginning Runners" schedule for the Avengers Goal Date of November 13th. I began at week 5 with 5 miles. We happened to be camping in the mountains of Colorado, so my first 5 miles was pushing a sleeping baby through gravel at 9,760 feet. It felt pretty darn good.
Maybe that fresh mountain air really was exhilarating, because it was lacking on my next 6.5 miles a week later and it just wasn't that enjoyable.
I wish that MapMyWalk captured the temperature, because it was hot. We were back on unpaved surfaces and I might have been a bit dehydrated.
My pace felt horrible - and it kinda was, but at least I was getting the miles in.
There were quite a few 3 mile walks before I did an 8 mile walk after work after labor day, after working 65 hours the previous week. Also not my favorite walk.
And my pace wasn't great- even though I wasn't pushing William. :: sigh :: But I also barely hydrated and didn't bring any fuel, because I was stuck in this mentality that I was JUST walking...I should be able to just walk without any fuel... I mean, I'm not running. This should be easy and not difficult for the body.
So you can only imagine what this type of mentality did for my 9.5 mile walk, pushing William the entire time. I should have been better at checking the weather- when we arrived it was 70 degrees...perfect, but by the time we were mid-way through the walk it was 90 degrees.
And because I was JUST a walker, I did have two bottles of water (in which I only drank one) and I tossed a random kashi granola bar under the stroll that I received a week before from church.
It started out well enough. We were at a very pretty river walk.
Although as we continued to explore the city, it began to get hotter and hotter.
And it was okay- until about 15 minutes after I ate that granola bar and my tummy began to rumble.... and we were no where near a bathroom- and I needed to go urgently.
I made it back to a very nice bathroom on the riverwalk and only had 2.5 miles to go...
We walked for 3 hours and 15 minutes... just 15 minutes less then the Disney course will be open.
I was tired afterwards, but not completely exhausted and after a good lunch- we enjoyed the rest of the day at a local children's museum.
But the next day, I had concerns:
And I received lots of help in the way of a family friend, who used to own a Fleet Feet. She even created a custom training plan for me.
I also started a few threads on the boards here and got great responses:
Training- What did you learn the hard way? What would YOU put in a training program?
Poll: Your Recommended Longest Training Run for a First Half
I also asked the above question to another social networking outlet and got the following responses:
I was happy to see that my training plan aligned with the majority. Also, 12 miles feels like a really good length- and heck- I've already done 9.5 miles....
But I was... (and kinda still am) a bit nervous about my pace. So for my next walk it was supposed to be "effort level 7-8, steady pace. Short sentence talking, some heavy breathing."
A sense of dread sank into my stomach as I tied my running shoes. What if I couldn't manage a 15 minute mile anymore? That was pre-William, after all. I fished around my nightstand and found unopened ear buds that came with my phone... a volume button on the cord. Fancy! I anxiously started down the street and within a few moments I realized that it felt amazing!
We will see what this weekend brings!
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