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What a month! It's almost Easter and I'm wondering how I missed most of April! Back in the beginning of this month I think I had Scot's birthday, Sun N Fun airshow in Lakeland, the Riverside Dash 15K, and our Magic Behind the Steam Trains tour at the Magic Kingdom to look forward to in the first 7 days of the month, but after all that was over the time just flew by.
The Riverside Dash was put on by EA Sports, which has headquarters here in Maitland. The 15K was in Sanford, along the riverfront (AKA Lake Monroe), from the hospital, down to the zoo, turned back down 17-92 and through historic downtown before ending back at the hospital. It was an easy course and I actually blew away my previous time with a PR of 1:21:31! I was surprised when my Map My Run kept telling me my pace was around 8:44/mi, because I'm usually comfortable at around a 9:30/mi. I was feeling good though, so aside from a 30 second porta potty break, I was able to hold that pace throughout and finished with a jumping heel kick across the finish line! Scot had even managed to find a spot on the side of the road around mile 5 to cheer me on.
Shiny new bling
For the 3 Disney races I've now run, I can admit I'm race-spoiled. Although an easy route, the RD15K was boooooooooring! No music, no entertainment, no nothing along the course. I was left to my own thoughts and Pandora. I can't imagine running a marathon.
More on that in a minute.
Switching gears...or tracks, I can say... I do highly recommend the Steam Trains tour at the MK. It was an insanely early wake-up call for us (5am!), and I had to get us to the Contemporary Resort by 7 to park so we could walk to the Magic Kingdom, as Disney transportation wasn't running that early in the morning. Scot likes his trains so we enjoyed it very much. We got to ride backstage and see the Roundhouse where they keep the trains and monorails and learned so much about the history of trains in the parks and at Walt Disney's own home. A lot of it I couldn't follow, the technical stuff and all, but it was still fun. I got some good photos.
The #1 engine, the Walter E Disney, at the roundhouse
After the birthday and race stuff was over, the next thing looming on my horizon was the Passholder registration for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. I'd always when I started training that I'd wanted to run a half marathon, and no was in hell was I ever interested in running a full one. Then, watching those fools cross the finish line back in January, I started wondering if it was something even I could do. I mean, there were waaaaay less fit people than me doing these races, surely...?
And then I decided if I were to run a marathon, I'd go all the way.
Dopey Challenge.
I've actually been downright anxious about registration day! I knew that when I clicked that "Pay" button on active.com that there was no going back. I was at work just finishing up a flight when registration opened. When I clicked the link to take me to the page and it popped up, my stomach literally sank. I took a deep breath and filled out the information. I took many, many deep breaths and I typed in my credit card number for the $540 registration fee. And then, in an instant, I was signed up for the Dopey Challenge.
What is it? Well, it's this-
I done lost my damn mind.
I was feeling all inspired and shit after I signed up so I got up the next morning and did 13.1 on my own. I'd run 6.2, or 10K, the previous morning so it was like re-doing my Princess Glass Slipper Challenge again. Good news, my butt and legs were a lot less sore afterward this time. Since I'm doing the same deal at Disneyland in August- they call it the Dumbo Double Dare, I figure I better get more comfortable with that combination so I don't, you know, DIE when I have to run a marathon the next morning.
On that note, I think I'll go make myself a mojito. I'm growing mint in a pot in my herb garden for EXACTLY that purpose. True story.
