“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.” - Walt Disney

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Where to Begin?

I have so many things I'm excited about right now, I don't even know where to begin!

First, RunDisney revealed the new 20th Anniversary WDW Marathon medal today!  It's in color, it spins, and it has two great Walt Disney quotes etched into it.  I CANNOT wait to get my hands on this thing!  I'm already anticipating bawling like a baby when I cross the finish line and receive the medal.  So many of my ROTE friends are running Mickey this year, too, so we're basically planning one big rolling party at the "back of the pack."  It's going to be epic.  Only 152 days to go!
 As an additional bonus, they also updated the RunDisney website - go check it out!  The new pages are much better organized and intuitive, with all the info you could want/need within a few easy clicks!


Second, Marine Corps is now only 75 days away.  10 weeks from this Sunday.  I have to admit that my excitement over this one is definitely heightened by fear.  The time requirement is still scaring the bejeezus out of me...  But when I start freaking out about it, I try to calm myself down by repeating the mantra of the marines "Earned Never Given."  And I know that if I can stand in front of a marine at that finish line then that will be a defining moment in my life.  That knowledge makes me excited for a weekend that also terrifies me - oxymoronic, I know, but hey - that's pretty typical me.


Third, my online running group, Running of the Ears, just made a "gear" order, and I bought a new tech shirt, a tech tank, and a logo Tshirt.  They look so great!  I took the new tech shirt on a 9 mile test run on Saturday and it felt comfortable and wicked wonderfully!  Looking forward to being part of the "sea of red" that ROTE promises to be at all the Disney races this year! 

Lastly, I still have a little bit of a "happy hangover" from San Francisco.  Rather than hanging up my two half medals and the "Half It All Challenge" medal on my medal rack, they are still sitting out on my kitchen counter, where I can see them and smile every day.  I'll even pick up the challenge medal and spin it a bit and it gives me the warm fuzzies.  Can't believe it's been two and a half weeks already!  And yes, I know I still need to do a race report - I'm using waiting on pics from my mom as an excuse.


And, oh yeah!  Training's still going well.  Nine miles last Saturday morning (should've been 8.5 per the map, but we missed a turn and had to backtrack a bit...ooops).  Last week I got in 3 bootcamp strength training sessions, my two short runs, and my long run.  This week I seem to be on track for another successful completion of my weekday training plan.  And...Saturday has a 19-20 miler on tap.  Whew.  That'll be a big hurdle to get over!