North Texas Winters : A False Sense of Security

Things I consider safe to assume about winter in North Texas:

• It starts about mid-December and lasts until the first week in March.
• Temps will be lows in the low 30's and highs in the low 50's.
• I can sleep in a little on Saturday mornings and it won't affect my long run.

Things I should never assume about winter in North Texas:

• Anything I stated above.

Yeah....high's in the mid-70's all weekend with bright sunshine are not ideal running conditions when you start mid-morning.  Yikes!  Still managed to have an awesome run, though, after bumping my intervals to R15:W30.

Glitter Stars Galore

You might remember this old post where I wrote about how I like to give myself stars when I finish a planned workout as a motivational tool / reward system.

Monday night as I was putting a star on my calendar after finishing my strength training, I realized that as long as I did Tuesday's planned run, then I would have completed every single workout I had scheduled in January.  Every. Single. One.

Well, there was no way I was going to blow the opportunity to accomplish that, so of course I gladly hopped on the treadmill on Tuesday, and after my 3 miles I gleefully placed my last star of the month on the calendar.  Check out all those stars!

This never happens - I'm great at planning out a training schedule, but some (most) times I'm not so great at following through on the schedule... so it's a HUGE achievement, especially considering I had both work and personal travel throughout the month!!!

I'm so proud of myself that I still haven't flipped the page over to February yet, just so I can glance over and see all those glittery stars.  

2016: The Year in Review

Photo credit: https://www.nraila.org/articles/20161223/2016-nra-ila-year-in-review

So, it's been almost a year since I posted here, talking about New Year's Goals.  I'd like to tell you I met that goal of 500 miles in 2016.  But I know I didn't - I don't even have my total mileage to tell you how close (or how far away) I came.  My year was that...interesting.

I ran two halfs in the spring, and skipped a couple races throughout the year (sometimes DNS is the best decision you can make).  I surprised myself and ran an "official" Disney time (sub-3:30) at the Star Wars Dark Side Half in April after committing to my training plan and taking off almost 20 lbs, so that was awesome.  

I had surgery in May (hello hysterectomy, goodbye uterus & all of your complications!) and despite my best intentions of not letting pounds pile on during recovery....they crept back on, and brought some of their friends with them.  Sigh.  And having to defer a summer race I'd been looking forward to was not awesome, but at least it's giving me something to look forward to next year!

The absolute highlight of my year was the birth of this little dude in early June!  My nephew is the cutest thing EVER, and I'm loving my new role as Aunt Jenny, and the ability to spoil him like crazy (and then give him back, lol)!!!!

The real downer of the year is that my family has been dealing with some pretty serious struggles throughout the fall, and all the stress and associated travel seriously impacted my training (basically non-existent) and all the stress eating packed on even more pounds than before!!!  Insert even bigger sigh here.

After watching/cheering on friends and family struggling through the Marine Corps Marathon in October, I found some new motivation and decided to turn around my own struggles and work towards my personal goals again - I wasn't waiting for New Year's to set them this time around.

I'm glad to say that I'm back down to what, at one point, had been my "all-time-highest-weight-ever" (before I started running and lost weight, then put it all back on), and I've had some really GREAT runs recently.  Which probably means I'm due for a stinker of a run soon, but it's amazing how good you feel when you've been struggling for several years and finally can feel yourself turning a corner.

2017's got some BIG plans coming up: I'm already registered for 5 halfs, and that will mean 4 new states, and lots of fun trips with my running peeps and my family.  So here's hoping I'll be able to maintain the momentum and motivation I've gained the past couple months and translate those into a really great year!

Declare It Day

Based on my races at WDW Marathon Weekend, this NEEDS to happen.  Pictures, chip times, and post-race aches and pains don't lie.  Got to get my rear back in gear and concentrate on getting back in better running shape.

A Little Something New? A Little Bit of Motivation? Let's Hope So.

As can probably be seen in my lack of blogging the last 4 months or so, my motivation has been non-existent lately.  Nothing, not even starting group training again has gotten my excitement for running out of the pits of despair (okay, perhaps it's not quite THAT bad, but I do believe it's at an all-time low)...

So I'm trying something a little new.  I bought a bike last year to add in some cross training on my non-run days.  Some weeks I use it, some weeks I don't.  However, just having the thing started me thinking about maybe, maybe, maybe doing a duathlon at some point in the future - some far-off, remote, indefinite point in the future.

Then a friend signed up for a local woman's Du, billed as "beginner friendly," that includes a free training plan and group rides/runs.  And the gears started turning...

Before I knew it, and before I could talk myself out of it, I was registered.  Holy Moly!

http://www.espritdeshe.com/page/show/721267-du-dallas#.U_OEmflHB-V

I'm certainly not giving up on running altogether - I completed a half marathon at the beginning of August and I have another one scheduled for mid-September - but I'm hoping that adding in this new aspect of training will kick-start some additional motivation and excitement.

The short course is 2-9-2.  A two mile run, 9 mile bike, and a two mile run, will be held in a nearby town, and is supposed to have a "fast & flat" course.   I contacted the race director and asked about a cutoff time - I'm pretty sure I'll be one of the slowest (if not THE slowest) participant out there.  Turns out the short course has the same time cutoff as the long course, so I have no worries about getting swept.  Whew.

So, I'll just be out there to meet the challenge of adding in a new sport/component, have fun, and get some bling!

This week is the kickoff of the training plan for me.  It's only an 8-week plan, but I'm repeating two weeks due to some scheduling conflicts of a race and out-of-town travel that will impede my weekend training bricks.  Bricks!  I'm going to be doing brick workouts!  That's so foreign to me!  These are things that my triathlon friends talk about and here I will be doing some of my own...craziness!

Looking forward to sharing the journey and hopefully the accomplishment of this new challenge with y'all, and hope I can do a better job of keeping up with the blog this fall.   ;-)

'Thank You' to Those Early Women

Photo credit: Runners World

"40 Years Ago, Six Women Changed Racing Forever"

That was the headline of one of Monday's Runner's World articles.  I was intrigued, clicked on the Facebook link, and began reading.  I only know tiny snippets of the history of women's running - mainly from running documentaries and a few other articles here and there.  I honestly didn't know anything about that early NYC marathon written about in the article and had never seen the picture.  If you haven't read it yet, go read the article, and come back.

As an 80's baby, I grew up with the idea that women are equal to men.  I was born after the ERA.  My mother worked for a large oil company in an executive position throughout my childhood.  I learned of the struggles of the women seeking equality in history class.  At the time, I was pretty sure that I was smarter than a lot of the boys in that same history class - the notion that I would not be equal to them was not even considered.

The same ideals apply to when I started running.  There was no one telling me women shouldn't or couldn't run distances.  No reason to believe that I was unwelcome, as a woman, in any race I signed up for.  I started running just before the women racing running boom really took off in the late 2000's, and never looked back.

I'm not saying we live in a Utopian society.  There are still too many instances of gender inequality and we hear about actions taken and setbacks endured more often than anyone would like.  Life is not fair.  Though I like to think and hope that we are constantly striving to make it more so.

Seeing that picture and reading the story in the article, I am forever grateful to the women who went before me, both in "real life" and in running, that allow me to be the woman, and the runner, that I am today.  

Thank you to those early women.

Follow-Up: Deep Down I'm Still a 13-Yr Old Girl

source: www.spreadshirt.com

It worked!  My mix CD (see this post) was a big hit (well perhaps a kind of one-hit-wonder since I'm the only person that hears it).

It more than got the job done on Saturday morning.  In fact, I may need to tone down my in-car behavior a bit...there were, perhaps, a few too many body and hand movements going on to safely be operating a car at highway speeds.  Thankfully that early on a Saturday morning not many others were around to care, lol.

So, I've got my new pre-long-run tunes all set.  They get my blood pumping and rev my adrenaline.  They make me happy.  

Q4U:  Did anybody else try some new music pre-run this week?  Did it work the same way for you?

Deep Down I'm Still a 13-Yr Old Girl

This is it, the post where it finally becomes apparent that deep down inside I've never matured past being a 13 year old girl.  LOL.  Okay, okay, really that's only (mostly) true when it comes to my taste in music.

Before a long run I like to try to get myself into a happy frame of mind, and music is the best attitude adjuster that I know of.  The best things for me are upbeat songs with a great beat to get me bopping or with lyrics that have me singing along at the top of my lungs to help me get pumped for the journey ahead.  That just makes me happy.  Embarrassingly, the songs that "get me there" the fastest are the teenie-bopper pop hits popular with pre-teens and teens half my age!

Here's my dilemma.  We've started 5am (FIVE. A. M.) Saturday morning long runs to try to beat the heat here in Texas.  And since I've got about a 25 minute drive to where my group meets, that means leaving my house by 4:30.   I'm not super-picky in my music selections, so normally the local mix station more than meets my needs for the minimal amount of time I spend in my car during the week.  However, when the DJ decides to play a slow song that early in the morning - that just doesn't work for me.  Which means I need to create....you got it...a MIX TAPE!!!!  Ok, really it's a mix CD (yes, my car is so old it doesn't have an input jack for playing MP3's - don't judge).

I started wracking my brain for songs.  And I came up empty.  Part of the reason I'm perfectly happy listening to the radio is that I have no idea who sings what songs or what the song titles are...smh.  So what's a girl to do?  Enter Google.  Search for "most overplayed songs of 2013/2012/2011/2010/2009.  I played YouTube clips of songs to figure out what they were and if it was a song that fit the bill then it made the list.  I added a couple of random ones that I actually can identify without help and came up with this list.  Prepare to be amazed/amused/horrified:

1. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepson
2. Party in the U.S.A. - Miley Cyrus
3. Firework - Katy Perry
4. Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga
5. Single Ladies - Beyonce
6. What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction
7. Raise Your Glass - Pink
8. Dynamite - Taio Cruz
9. California Girls - Katy Perry
10. Smile - Uncle Cracker
11. All The Small Things - Blink 182
12. Footloose - Kenny Loggins
13. I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick

So there it is.  Lots of these are songs you'll hear at races - for the same reason that they made my list.  I know, I know. some people are reaaaaaaaalllly tired of these.  But they're exactly what I'm looking for at 4:30 on a Saturday morning - trust me.  Whether my group will appreciate me having me just heard some of these when we start out will be another story... ;-)

Q4U:  Does music help you get revved up for a run?  Do you have any songs that are "must-hear" for you pre-run?  Do you have any suggestions you think I should add to my list?

Don't Worry, They Took Out the Big Hill

The R'n'R Seattle Half is just around the corner - literally - it's this weekend!  Emails are flying around with last-minute race instructions from the race director, and frantic group planning of dinners/meet-ups/etc is going on.

So...maybe it's finally time to really study the course, right?  Now, I will freely admit that I'm not "racing" this one - I'm just there to have fun, enjoy the scenery, and bask in the cooler temperatures of the pacific northwest.  And I'd had a few friends tell me "don't worry - they changed the course and took out the big hill," so that seemed encouraging.  And then I saw this:

And then the math nerd in me took over and needed to crunch some numbers... According to the elevation profile above, that hill just before mile 9 looks like this:

8.69mi = 57ft el.

8.82mi = 270ft el.

213ft el. gain in 0.13mi  = 31% grade

Wowsah!!!

Well, good thing I didn't have any big plans for the course, LOL!  And while that hill may be a bugger, I'm still really looking forward to this race.

As most of you know from reading previous posts, I've purposefully taken a more relaxed approach to racing this spring in order to "find the fun" again.  And I think it's working!

A Walk in the Park

Whoosh.  It's only Tuesday morning and it's already been a crazy week!  Even though the upcoming holiday means having to cram 5 days of work into 4 in order to meet a looming deadline, I just need to get the work done, because I can't wait for this weekend - I get to visit my family for Easter, catch up with some great old friends, and see Disney in Concert: The Magical Music from the Movies! What a great reward for a very stressful week.  Can't wait! 

I love the trail near our house, but I so often associate it with "having to go for a run" that the opportunity to amble along and take in the atmosphere is a very pleasant change when it happens.  Last night I had a chance to go on a walk with a friend and her dog on the path - it wasn't a run, it wasn't even a super fast walk, just a nice meander down the trail, talking about not much of anything, enjoying the cool crisp air, the waning light, and all the animals (other dogs, squirrels, bunnies, birds and other random animals around the creek) we saw along the way.

What a great way to clear my mind of the stresses of the day and the upcoming week - I was able to put some things behind me and stopped obsessing over my work project for a while - all while getting a little (not a lot) bit of exercise, and taking in some fresh air.  It was a much needed change of pace after my hectic day!

Finishing Last is Not the Worst!

You may remember the post I did back in January about RunDisney celebrating everyone.  Turns out they're not the only race that does it, and they are by far not the only race that does it with a certain amount of pomp and circumstance!

My friend David (who some of you might remember meeting in my blog post about my very first Marathon - at DisneyWorld) ran the Rome Marathon last weekend.  He just happened to have finished last. But he was greeted and treated like the winner!  And they have it all on video!  Check out this quick clip of his finish and short interview after.  Complete and total awesomeness.  Plus, the video's gone a bit viral online - how cool is that?

credit: http://video.ilmessaggero.it/index.jsp?videoId=5322&sectionId=13&t=l-ultimo-attleta-che-taglia-il-traguardo

Not-So-Lean and Kinda-Mean Fifteen (K)

Saturday morning started with an almost "Disney early" wake-up at 4:15 am, and then my friends Lindsey and Jennifer and I headed down to Fair Park for the Dallas Hot Chocolate 15K at 5:15am.  Lindsey really wanted to run this race, and since she and I are running the Princess Half together in two weeks, the 15K fit perfectly into our taper plan of 8-10 miles this weekend.  Jennifer is a fairly new runner who had never gone as far as 15K before, but Lindsey convinced her to run with us, so together we were quite the motley crew.

The race had a 15 min/mi maximum pace requirement, which, to be truthful, I was kinda nervous about.  I've been concentrating so much the last 18 months on distance and endurance for my marathon training that my speed has suffered.  Even on our most recent "long" runs (fewer than 10 miles) we've only been averaging 14:30-15 min/miles.  Because of that I already had some pre-race jitters going, it turns out that we were in the LAST corral, and it certainly didn't help that we had to wait about 2.5 hours before our race started to add to the freak-out factor.

I had quite a few other friends that were running the 5K, and another friend running the 15K.  Somehow we missed meeting up with ALL of them!!!  Craziness.  Finally at 8:30 we were in our corral and taking off.  I wanted to start us off with a good pace to build in a bit of a buffer, knowing that we'd have to walk up a couple of the hills that Lindsey said she saw on the elevation plan (I really had not been paying attention to the race - I just signed up and showed up), and that we'd probably slow down towards the end of the race.

Our first few miles we averaged a 13:20 pace, and were feeling good - and then the hills hit.  I still don't think of Dallas as being particularly hilly, but man oh man, I think they found every one in the vicinity of Fair Park and made us run up it.  Fortunately they were in the middle miles of the race, and Lindsey knew that once we finally finished with the hills it was mostly either flat or downhill the rest of the way.  So we slogged on through those hard hilly miles, and at the end of the hills I did some quick math, and amazingly we were still well under a 14 min/mi pace!  Wow!  It was a great feeling to know that even if we slowed down significantly we still should be under the 15 min pace requirement.

And after that 6 mile mark, every step took Jennifer further than she'd ever gone before, so that was a huge motivator for all three of us.  After pushing ourselves at that pace for the early miles, we were all getting tired, but just kept going.  We just kept up the intervals and ticked off the miles.

As we hit the 8 mile marker and had Fair Park in sight, we were ... not struggling ... but flagging, definitely.  I just kept pushing us, though, and if looks could kill I'm pretty sure the ones I was getting from Lindsey's direction would've had me falling dead right there on the course, lol.  The 9 mile marker we'd seen earlier that morning while walking from the car was a very welcome sight - just 0.3 miles to go, which meant only 4 or 5 more run intervals - wuhoo!  And then we saw the 3 mile marker for the 5K - just 0.1 miles!  We came up with our game plan for crossing the finish line - hands clasped together and raised over our heads.  Right after we crossed, I checked my Garmin - and it showed a 13:43 average pace!!!  AWESOME!!!

Our official time was 2:08:08, for an average pace of 13:45.  I was so excited that we did that great and Lindsey and Jennifer were equally as happy!

Post-race euphoria!

So after a quick pic it was time for the post-race goodies.  I'm not a big chocolate fan, but I did enjoy dipping the pretzels and marshmallows in the chocolate fondue (unfortunately they'd run out of bananas), and since it was cool and windy the cup of hot chocolate was wonderfully warm and pleasantly yummy!  

Post-race goodies.

We got home, and after Lindsey and Jennifer left and I showered, I was still feeling so great.  It felt a little silly to be proud of a time that was "normal" for me just a couple years ago, but still - I felt GREAT!  And, as an added bonus, it turns out that my finish time was a default PR because (who'd've guessed) I'd never run a 15K before!  YAY!

I feel like this shines a giant ray of hope on my secondary goal for the year - which is to get faster as a result of "finding the fun" and concentrating on shorter distances.  I'm loving that old feeling of working hard and pushing myself for this kind of breakthrough, and as a result I am looking even more forward to running Princess in a couple weeks than I already was!

Q4U:  What was your most recent fitness breakthrough/revelation?  Have you had a great success recently? Is there a "moment"/goal that you're still trying to reach?

When Racing to the Castle, Remember, The Turtle Won!

I haven't done a race recap yet for Disney Marathon Weekend because I just haven't figured out what I want to say about it.  There were so many highs and lows all packed into just a few days!  But I'll get around to putting together a few posts sometime soon (hopefully before I forget too many of the details). Before I go down that road, though, I want to do a post about another experience I had during Marathon Weekend that had nothing to do with me (well, other than being an amazed and inspired bystander).  So here goes:

Mickey @Kids Race (© RKP)

Looking back, one thing stands out as probably the highlight of the whole weekend for me: watching two of my friends' kids run the Kid's Races on Friday.  The general consensus within our group is that ROTE kids are awesome - and my friends Andi and Gina's kids proved to be spectacular on Marathon Weekend.  One thing you should know about Andi's kids is that they are truly special.  And not because "special" is the label society has placed on differently-abled individuals, but because of who they are inside.  (Please take a minute to visit Andi's blog Bringing the Sunshine, where she beautifully chronicles her family's challenges and accomplishments (warning -  have tissues nearby!).)  Gina's kids are not labeled as "special" because of their abilities, but they are just as special all the same.  So where am I going with this?

Sarah Kate & Lauren (© Gina)

Andi's daughter, Sarah Kate, has cerebral palsy (really, if you didn't go look at Andi's blog before, do it. Now. You need to.).  In the weeks before WDW Marathon Weekend, Gina's youngest daughter, Lauren, asked Sarah Kate if she would run the 400M Dash Kid's Race with her.  Sarah Kate said yes, and the two families feverishly started planning out their race day, including acquiring matching "Race You to the Castle" shirts for all the girls.  I had never attended the Kid's Races before, but had already been planning to go watch after we finished the 5K (Andi & her kids, by the way, had stationed themselves at the 5K finish line to chEAR - how awesome is that?).  Sadly, because of a traffic jam, I missed seeing Andi's son, Nathan, run his race, but arrived at the track just in time to meet up with my friend Katie in the bleachers near the finish line and hear them announce the last heat of the 400M.  Then, before I knew it, they were off and running (forgive the pun)!

Katie and I stood on our tiptoes on the bleachers trying to spot Andi & Gina on the other side of the track - knowing they'd be just behind the kids, and easier to spot.  Quickly the main herd arrived at the finish line, and watching all the kids finish the race was pretty cool - we cheered on the girl & boy winners, and the middle-of-the-pack-ers, and the stragglers, all the while waiting for Sarah Kate and Lauren to round the bend.  We knew they'd be last, and we knew they were still coming, but many of the spectators (and even the race announcers) didn't, so they started allowing people to cross the track, thinking the race was over.  Even the MarathonFoto photographer stationed on the track in front of us stood up!  NO!!!!  We had moved down to ground level at this point, so we got his attention and told him there were still two more coming in and he scrambled back into his spot - whew.  Finally, the race announcers realized that Sarah Kate and Lauren were still running their race and got the track cleared just in time for the two of them to enter the straightaway.

Going strong! (© Gina)

At this point, Katie and I were chEARing our hearts out for the girls as they steadily approached us - with Sarah Kate's slightly lilting gait proclaiming for anyone watching that there was something just the tiniest bit different about what these two were accomplishing.  And then, just as surely, the crowd picked up on it, and everyone started chEARing and clapping.  Truly the sidelines exploded with cheers of excitement and encouragement for "our" girls.  As they passed us, I screamed at the top of my lungs "GO SARAH KATE!  GO LAUREN!  Y'ALL ARE AWESOME!!!"  (I must digress for a moment and point out that Sarah Kate had never met me in person before, so at that moment, she turned her head and looked right at me with a very confused look on her face - trying to figure out who that crazy person was, I'm sure...lol.  I just waved and kept right on screaming...)  At this point, they were just yards away from the finish line, and as I looked right, I could see that Mickey had also figured out what was going on, and was waiting for them at the finish - just the two of them.

Sarah Kate had done it!  She'd pushed through those 400M on legs not as strong as the other kids', but with an inner strength and more heart and drive than you'd ever imagine in someone her size.  Andi told us later that she'd had to slow to a walk at one point, and she'd fallen several times on the back side of the loop, but she'd picked herself up and started running again with Lauren beside her. RUNNING again!  How great is that?  And there she was, literally feet from finishing a track race!  There wasn't a dry eye among the ROTE group, and I know for a fact that some of the other spectators - complete strangers - had tears on their cheeks.  It was an incredible moment to watch and experience.

At the Finish! (© RKP)

Now, just when you were thinking this couldn't get better, and that Sarah Kate's the lone heroine of the story, here's where things get really awesome.  Lauren had kept pace with Sarah Kate the whole race, slowing down when she did, stopping when she stumbled, and holding her hand for stability when needed.  But there, at that very last moment, Lauren let go of Sarah Kate's hand, slowed down even

Mickey Love! (© RKP)

more, and let Sarah Kate cross the finish line ahead of her, with arms raised above her head in triumph and ready to high-five Mickey Mouse.  Now, I don't know about you, but I'd say a decent percentage of kids her age would have shot forward there at the end to "win" and get some Mickey time, but not Lauren - she knew this was Sarah Kate's accomplishment and let her revel in it.  (Not that Lauren didn't get a little Mickey love, too, when she crossed a few seconds later.)  Talk about heart and intuition - what a great kid.

(I hope you read Andi's blog post about the race - she's got even more of the great post-finish pics there.)

Sarah Kate and Lauren finished dead last, and in true Disney fashion (as mentioned in the last post) they were treated with just as much - if not more - flourish and fanfare as the winning kids.  I love it.  I am so proud of both these wonderful girls (and love their parents even more for raising them to be who they are now) - and I can't wait to see what they will accomplish in the future.

Sarah Kate (© RKP)

All the girls (© Gina)

FINISHERS!     _____

At this point, I have no idea if either of the two girls realize just what kind of impact their race had on me, as well as, I'm sure, many others.  I don't know which of the two kids I'm more impressed and inspired by, and honestly, I'm not spending a lot of time trying to figure it out.  Both of them have such spirit and drive, as well as character and compassion.  They pushed themselves and each other to keep going and never give up.  That's a lesson we can all use to re-learn occasionally.

My own race that Sunday was a tough one, but with perseverance and the presence of friends - not unlike the example set by Sarah Kate and Lauren two days earlier - I finished.  I carried their spirit with me through all 26.2 of those hard miles - mostly subconsciously at the time, I'll admit, but looking back - I know they were there, pushing me to keep going, leading me to know I could lean on others when I needed to, and being there for others when they needed someone.  What more could a person ask for?  Though I wasn't dead last like Sarah Kate and Lauren, I wasn't far from it, but I still crossed that finish line with friends, proud of my accomplishment, and with my arms raised over my head in triumph, just like they did.

How RunDisney Celebrates Everyone

There are a few small things that can sometimes annoy me about RunDisney races, but they are far outnumbered by the overwhelming "warm fuzzies" that participating in a Disney race gives me.  I'm working on another post that's proving more difficult than I imagined to write (which is also why there hasn't been anything new recently) that deals with this topic as well.  But it'll probably be another few days before that one is published, so until then, so I'd like to share a Disney Parks Blog post about finishing last:

Finishing Last is Finishing First at a Disney Race

posted on January 23rd, 2013 by Robert Hitchcock, PR Manager/Content Producer, runDisney

If I am not running in a runDisney event you will find me at my second favorite place – the finish line. It’s there I find inspiration and a reminder of why I run. Of course it’s exciting to see the winners glide across the finish line with ease, and admire faster runners setting personal records, but for me the thrill is seeing the smiles, laughter, cheers and tears of runners finishing in the middle and at end of the pack. Whether they are doing it for themselves, for a specific cause or in honor of someone who can’t run, they set a goal, achieve it and make their dreams come true. Winners train to win – these runners train to finish.

It’s because of that determination, beating the odds, that I find myself cheering louder for the last place finishers than I do for the first place winner. On Sunday at the Tinker Bell Half Marathon at Disneyland Resort, after the bleachers cleared and confetti from the winners blew around on the ground, I got to cheer on my newest runDisney hero, Jenna Boyd from Wisconsin. Fighting the clock and turning down offers for rides by race staff, she fought her way to the finish line and was greeted with a welcome fit for a champion. You see at a runDisney event, finishing last is just as special as finishing first.

Please allow me to introduce you to my hero Jenna Boyd.

Congratulations, Jenna!

Isn't Jenna's story a great one, and don't you love that RunDisney celebrates the last finisher with as much excitement and emotion as the first finisher?  Just one of the many reasons I love a Disney race.

Keep an eye out for the next post, which will also discuss finishing last, including it's benefits and inspirations.  Can't wait to share this awesome and inspiring story with y'all.

Running Resolutions: A Month-By-Month Guide

Runner's World - January 2013

As I said in my last post, 2013 is going to be about finding the fun again in my running.  Boy oh boy is that a big, fat, huge goal that needs to be better defined.  Which is why I love the idea of breaking down a large yearly goal into more manageable monthly ones, like in the article in the January 2013 Runner's World magazine entitled "A Month-By-Month Guide to a Fitter, Faster You."  

Although a "fitter, faster me" is not my actual running goal for 2013, I certainly wouldn't mind if it happens to be a by-product of finding the fun again.  And small, mini-goals can help me get to my "fun" goal.  Therefore I plan to use the monthly guide as a go-by for my upcoming year, because I like the concepts presented in it a lot (make sure you read the whole article):

January: Plan Your Race Year
February: Commit to Cooking
March: Build an Injury-Proof Body
April: Spring Clean Your Gear
May: Sneak in Speed
June: Strengthen Your Brain
July: Overcome Aches and Pains
August: Rediscover Your Mojo
September: Master the Long Run
October: Go Gadget-Free
November: Stay Fit Through the Holidays
December: Share the Love

See?  It's all logical, simple stuff that when spread out across the year should be manageable.

So there they are, in black and white.  My 2013 New Year's Running Resolution(s).

What have you committed to for 2013?

Don't forget that TriandTrue and Running Halfway Around The World are co-hosting a new January Challenge!  Get a jump start on the New Year! Pledge to log at least one running or walking mile every day in January - yes, every day!

Join the Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/JanuaryJumpStartChallenge/

Revolutions Lead to Resolutions

365 earthly revolutions make a year and we're nearing the end of this one.  Which means it's time for ... resolutions!  The start of a new year gives us a clean slate with a bright shiny new beginning.

2012 taught me that I can run marathons, but that I prefer halfs.  That I can go the distance, but that I don't need to.  And, sadly, that I sacrificed  the fun in the pursuit of a few big goals.  Running stopped being enjoyable this training season, and I want that fun and enjoyment back.  Don't get me wrong, there were some fun times to be had while running this year.  But running itself was not fun anymore.

While I'm not normally a huge fan of New Year's Resolutions, I do like the idea of a new plan and a new goal for a new year.  And for me, that means my goal for 2013 will be a goal that's not centered around a particular length of race or even a certain number or type of race.  

2013 for me will be about finding the fun in running again.  

Which is a very broad and sweeping resolution, I know.  So I do need to commit to some smaller and more concrete goals for the year.  While reading an article in Runner's World on the plane ride home to visit my family a couple weeks ago I came across the perfect way to do this.  Anyone else read the January issue and already know what I'm talking about?

Well, I'm leaving you with a cliffhanger here, and I'll follow up in my next (non-Challenge-related) post.  In the meantime, I've got a couple questions for you:

• Reflecting back on your 2012, did you have running triumphs? Running regrets?
• What are you looking to change next year?
• Have you started thinking about your 2013 New Year's Resolutions yet?

Post-Christmas Blues ... and Another Challenge?

Post Christmas Blues are here...  The day after Christmas means back to work and "normalcy," and that it's time to start thinking about putting away Christmas decorations.  Boo.

However, that does mean that New Year's is next week and WDW Marathon Weekend is right around the corner!  Wuhoo!!!

With the new year, my friend Kim (check out her blog here) and I are going to host a joint mile-a-day challenge for January!  Stay tuned for more details...

Be CHEERful: A Follow-Up Post

You may remember my rather tongue-in-cheek post last month titled What To Do When You're NOT Running a Race That All Your Friends Are?.  It was about your options for dealing with FOMO when all your friends are running a race that you're not, which, in this instance, was all my ROTE friends participating in the runDisney Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler.  This is just a quick and funny follow-up to that post.

In response to that post, my friend Megan (check out her great running blog here: Elbowglitter) tweeted me the following pic of her cat, Pippin, telling me I needed to convince the cats to cheer with me:

Megan's cat, Pippin, "cheering on" our friends Katie & Kim from afar.

Which, of course, sparked an idea...what if I could come up with some funny signs for the cats that I could then text/tweet to my friends as they were running?  And, what if I could convince others to join me???  That's when another friend, Kim (check out her great running blog here: TriAndTrue) stepped up, volunteered her dog, Flynn, and helped me start planning.  Here's what we came up with:

My cat, Junebug, "cheering."

My cat, Emma, "cheering."

Kim couldn't get Flynn to keep his signs on long enough to snap a picture, so we "doctored" a few old pics of him to send.

Overall, I think we did a pretty good job of virtually cheering!  Kim and I worked out a schedule where we alternated sending our pet cheering pics to our friends throughout the night, and from their responses, I'd say we were a success!

It just goes to show that FOMO can turn into something fun, funny, and helpful.  Even though I wasn't running the race, I still had a good time that night tracking and cheering!

• Have you ever virtually cheered on friends/family when they run out-of-town/state/country?
• Do you take any of your pets along when you are physically there to spectate/cheer a race?

21...and Done!

Saturday morning was my last truly long run before MCM.  21 Miles.  Wowsah.  While I was not exactly looking forward to a run that long, I knew I could do it, with 20 and 16 milers under my belt in the last 6 weeks.

So, in the 5am darkness on a muggy, rainy, morning, my group and I took off.  Although the humidity was brutal, the first loop around the lake was no big deal.  Then we turned off the lake and went up into the neighborhoods and hit the hills.  (And this particular area has a set of hills known as "The Dolly's" in reference to Dolly Parton's rather generous...curves...ahem.  LOL.)  Still, we persevered and made it back down to the lake at mile 12.  We took a quick bathroom and re-fueling break, then headed back out for one more loop of the lake...and yes, it was still raining.

I hit a really rough spot mentally around mile 18, and I found myself fighting back tears.  I was tired, soaking wet, cranky, and seriously doubting my ability to run the first 20 miles of MCM at the needed "beat the bridge" pace.  However, my awesome group got me through it and we continued on, finally getting back to our cars and post-run golden oreos (yum!).

3 of my group members & me post-run...and dripping wet (even though it doesn't look like it in the pic)!

Photo proof!  21 done!

I got home, examined my new blisters (even with tons of lube, with all that rain, blisters were inevitable), took an ice bath, and put on my recovery/compression gear.  We opened the doors to the now rain-cooled temperatures and let the cats explore the backyard a bit while I relaxed on the couch.  I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a couple movies and the Longhorn football game, virtually "cheering" on a bunch of my friends running the Disney Tower of Terror 10 Miler, and finally I crashed hard around 11pm and got some sleep.

So, now those super-long runs are done for this particular training cycle!  It's taper, taper, taper from here on out!  The next 3 weekends call for 12, 10, and 8 milers, respectively.  Thank goodness - those are going to be some very full weekends anyway, even without trying to squeeze long runs in!

• Do y'all ever have trouble mentally pushing through a run when you know your body can do it?
• How do you deal with race-related fears?
• Any helpful ideas for coping with the stress I'm feeling worrying about pace for MCM?