wine and dine half-half 2015

Yep, I'm pretty sure the Wine & Dine Half Marathon is cursed.

Last year, aka, Splash & Dash, was a wet mess.  This year gave 2014 a run for its money.

It's been unusually warm here in Central Florida this month with some strange low pressure areas and weak fronts that have been causing lots of pop-up storms, but it's been similar to the typical summer pattern, wherein the weather dissipates by nightfall.  Race day predicted a 40-50% chance of rain, which was not unusual.  

I made it to the expo Friday evening after fighting rush hour traffic, picked up my stuff and wandered around for a few minutes.  I didn't have anything in particular on my shopping list but I walked away of course with another SparkleSkirt and some freebies from other vendors.

Lots going on at the Expo!  The crowds are usually too much for me, though

The next day after work, I met up with Scot at ASMovies and we got dinner and some nap time in.  Around 7, we started putting the last bit of our "Lava" costumes together- this involved cracking glow sticks and attaching them inside our bucket headpieces!  I think we looked great though, even if not very many people understood what we were!

 Once we got to the staging area, we hydrated some and then joined the dancing crowd in front of the DJ stage.  One of the RunDisney hosts- the blonde girl, I forget her name, came up to us and asked what we were dressed up as.  We explained the Lava short that came ahead of "Inside Out" in its theatrical release and she was like, uhhhhh....she told us she'd just had a kid and didn't know anything about it.  So, needless to say, we did NOT get chosen to be interviewed on camera!

As we started to head towards the corrals at about 9:15, a cool breeze kicked up all of a sudden.  We could see lightning in the distance and had seen the red areas on the radar earlier.  It looked like the storms might miss us, but after a few minutes of more flashes of lightning, an announcement came over the speaker telling everyone to evacuate into Champion Stadium and the Field House!  15,000+ people filed in a surprisingly orderly manner up towards the main buildings of the Wide World of Sports.  The stadium looked like it was filling up so we headed on towards the Field House, where packet pick-up had been.  We found a seat in the stands to overlook the area as it filled up with people.

The RunDisney staff tried to keep the energy up with music, but there were people outright napping, laid out flat on the floor down there!  Someone up in the stands started the Wave and it worked its way around the crowd a few times.  But most of all, we just sat.  Every now and then, the announcer would tell us to keep waiting- we could see him and some other staffers fixated on what was probably the radar loop on a laptop.  

Start time, 10:00pm, came and went.

Scot and I passed the time fiddling on his phone.  

Around 10:15, a murmur came up through the crowd and people started moving.  Someone somewhere had given the all clear!  As we joined the group inching towards the door, the rumors started circulating... race start 10:45...someone was finding information on Twitter... then we started hearing things about a shortened race course.  Basically, no one knew anything for sure.

We hit up the bathrooms and followed the crowds towards the corrals.  Many people were pushing their way through bushes and crawling over the corral fences and I'm pretty sure there were a lot of folks in the wrong areas.  It seemed though like everyone just wanted to get the show going!  An official announcement was made over the speaker that the course was to be shortened by just over 6 miles.  

I was bummed.  No one knew why, but we'd be skipping Animal Kingdom.  Scot was looking forward to the run through AK the most and I felt bad for him.  I was assigned Corral B but I stepped back to C to run with him.  Eventually, just after 11pm, the wheelchair racers started!

I have to mention this because it made me laugh hysterically.  Apparently, some runners who did not speak English crossed the start with the chairs.  The RunDisney rep with the microphone hollered at them to Stop, come back! but they didn't understand him.  After yelling Stop! a few more times, he blurted out "Por favor mantengse alejado de las puertas!"  You know, from the Monorail.  I about died.

The fireworks burst overhead as the corrals headed out one by one.  I got my watch set up but decided to skip the music because hey, it's a shorter course and there will be plenty to see and do.  Finally, the countdown ended and C was off!  

I wasn't sure where we were going, as we didn't make the turn on to Osceola Parkway as originally planned.  There were some rumors swirling around as to why the course was modified- from wind damage at AK to road closures ending to medical staff timing out but it didn't matter because we had to roll with what we got.  It certainly made for some memorable photos!

Never gonna see 8 miles in 25 minutes ever again!

I think this one was around mile 2ish?  We decided to try to get every single character stop since we didn't give a rat's patootie anymore about finishing too late at night and missing the after party.  We weren't exactly sure how far we were about to run but figured it would be 7ish miles or so.  So we got some good pics!  A few came out blurry (hey, guy at Lilo and Stitch, you can't take a photo while walking towards us at the same time!)

Country bear!  Right after we finished here and were running away, we looked back and saw 2 more bears headed out to the photo area!  Dammit!

There was a line here before the characters showed up.  We got in it and it wasn't very long.  So glad we stopped to wait!

Trying to look Incredible

Of course we missed a lot of characters by not being able to run the full route but I think we did alright!  The lines were minimal and we didn't wait more than a couple minutes for any of them.

Once we got over toward Hollywood Studios the course resumed its usual route through the Disco Car Wash (i.e. the strobe light tunnel) and then through the Osborne Lights!  At this point I started thinking the shortened race was a pretty good idea because HOLY HELL MY HEAD WAS HOT!  The bucket was not the most efficient cooling hat and the damn hair kept getting caught in everything!  

Had to make a photo stop here!  Lots of people were just walking through this area appreciating the view.  Understandable, it's the last year for the lights :(

We ran out of HS and along the waterway towards the Boardwalk.  The crowds here were amazing!  I'm always so impressed with the people that choose to spend their valuable sleeping time standing outside with posters and noisemakers cheering for complete strangers running past them.  But I tell you what, no matter how bummed out we were about missing half the race, those spectators made us smile and forget all about it.  

There weren't any more characters after the HS exit but I did see the Sebastian puppet!

We left the boardwalk and entered Epcot through backstage.  We popped out right near the Imagination Pavilion and high-tailed it pretty good all the way to the finish.  The spectators around Spaceship Earth were awesome too!  I guess last year because of the rain, I didn't remember as much crowd support.  This was more like a regular daytime Disney race and I loved it!

Scot and I sprinted to the finish, received our sort-of earned medals, then went to decompress.  I had checked an empty gear bag to put our stuff in- I couldn't pull that headpiece off fast enough!  I de-tangled myself from the hair and the lei and shoved it in to the bag with our drinks, snack boxes, and Scot's hat.  The temperature was juuuust right out!  He got his free beer, I got my nasty-ass wine (not my #1 beverage choice after a run) and we headed to the after party!

We ate some of the things that had become our favorites over our previous 3 Food & Wine Festival days this year, so getting around and finding what we wanted wasn't hard.  We decided to make up for the lack to characters on the run that we'd try for all the photo stops around the World Showcase!

 Meagan had run tonight too, so we met up with her and her husband for a little bit in the UK

Love Remy!  Hate that it's blurry though.  And I handed my camera to the girl all set up for a sideways pic and she still took the photo like this, cutting off half of Remy

Gepetto was in Italy on his own doing pictures but he went on a break right before our turn!  We waited maybe 5-10 minutes and he came back...with Pinocchio!  Yay!

Jasmine and I had a conversation about her sand-kicker shoes...not good for running but great for keeping the sand out

I love Tiana!!!  Girlfriend's from Louisiana and loves to cook- srsly she and I would be great friends.  We got this photo just before she and Naveen went on break and left Louis out there by himself.  Close call!

Another close call!  There was an unusually long line for Mushu, and he went on break with about 5 people in front of us.  5 minutes later, he brought Mulan out!  Yessss!

Donald!  Final stop was Mexico and I was just about ready to crash.

Around 3:30, we headed out to the bus.  We were back at the resort at 4 and as we zombied through the lobby, we saw a family leaving with their luggage.  At 4 am!  Sucks to have an early flight!

We wore our medals to Epcot and HS the next day before heading home.  We had a fun time.  Yes, we were disappointed in the whole distance thing but I understand RunDisney's reasoning and you do NOT mess around with lightning.  It had to be a tough call to make, and I'm glad they didn't cancel the whole thing.  I feel bad for those who were running this as their first half marathon, and those who had traveled a long way.  Still, it was a great time and we made it everything we possibly could given the circumstances.

The official distance was 6.72 miles.  Scot and I finished at 1:15:44.  We weren't worn out, and had lots of breaks with waiting in photo lines.  The race will not be usable for POT for anything since the modified course wasn't certified.  Whatevs.  Next up, Space Coast Half!

epcot food & wine festival 2016

Sparkles, Fedora, and I spent the weekend at Disney and it was a ton of fun!  We stayed in a Royal Princess room at Port Orleans Riverside (where I'd been dying to stay but never could justify the cost until we split it 3 ways) and spent some time exploring the newly-official Disney Springs.  I've got hotel photos, restaurant photos, and some opinions on many of the Food & Wine Festival foods to share today.

First up- the Royal Room!  It was amazing- we had a corner room, so that meant an extra window!  We could see the main lobby/restaurants/boat docks from the front of our building.  It only took about 5 minutes to walk there.  

 The picture over the bed had LED lights in it that made fireworks when you pushed a button!  

All Princess Tiana's friends had their own pictures on the wall.  I even got a special welcome letter from Tiana herself

 It's the magic lamp faucet!!

I missed the view of the carpet- an image of the magic carpet from Aladdin is in the center of the floor!

We took the boat to Disney Springs for some food and shopping, and even got a selfie with Cinderella:

Finally got to visit Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar!!!!  I seriously could have stayed in there all evening and looked around- it wasn't crowded at all, we had zero wait, and for a while there was almost nobody else inside.  We didn't try the food but I got the Cool-Headed Monkey, a rum, tangerine liqueur, lime, watermelon, and pineapple juice concoction.  YUM!!  Fedora got the Hovito Mojito and Sparkles got the sangria.  High marks across the board from everyone.  

 I loved sniffing around and checking out all the aviation memorabilia!

I even found a letter from Indiana Jones!

After a night of food and drinks, we hit up Epcot the next morning for some more!

 We got soooo many compliments on our dresses and mouse ears!

 It's not part of the Passport list, but head into the Girardelli chocolate exhibit inside the Festival Center and get the Rosa Regale and a pot of drinking chocolate.  It's an amazing combo!

So what did we eat and drink?  Here's the list and my thoughts:

SCOTLAND: Seared Sea Scallop with Spinach-Cheddar Gratin (this was our first stop, we were famished since we didn't eat breakfast.  OMG soooooo delicious!!!!)

CHEESE STUDIO: Cheese Fondue with Sourdough Bread (meh.  Skip it unless yourluuuurrrrve fondue.  But if you have a thing for fondue, you probably know there's better fonbdue than this out there somewhere)

CRAFT BEERS: Flight #2 (Fedora got this, I'm not a fan of beer.  She liked 2 of them, one Sparkles drank for her, and the last one was an espresso porter we gave to a group of guys at the next table because GROSS)

DESSERTS & CHAMPAGNE: Strawberry-Basil Champagne "Toast" (It is not a drink, but more of a mousse in a champagne glass.  Sparkles didn't like it but Fedora and I devoured it.  Perfect for a hot day, and the basil taste was next to non-existent)

HAWAII: Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayo, AND Maui Splash Sweet Pineapple Wine (YUM!  And I don't like mayonnaise but it was very light on this.  There was a definite spice though, and the wine pretty much tasted like pineapple juice.  Dangerously good!)

PATAGONIA: Kaiken Torrontes (This was wine.  It had a light floral taste, not unlike Gewurztraminer.  Very good!)

AUSTRALIA: Lamington (This is yellow cake dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut.  There was nothing wrong with it, but it was not spectacular and I could have made it at home with no instructions)

CHINA: Mango Jasmine Tea with Bubbles (I loved this last year and was glad to see it again.  Love me some tapioca chews!)

SOUTH KOREA: Bulgogi BBQ Pork Rib with Steamed Rice and Cucumber Kimchi AND Myungjak Bokbunja Raspberry Wine (The cucumber kimchi was NOT spicy at all, it was actually really good.  Sparkles said it was pickled, but then I'm thinking a pickled cucumber is...a pickle?  The rib was pretty spicy and chewy, but there were 3 of them so we were able to split.  The girls got the wine.  I tasted it, not for me.  It just tasted like Sangria.)

POLAND: Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream (Had this last year, it was just as good!)

BLOCK & HANS: Champagne Enchantee Brut (Hey, it's at an American cart but it's French champagne.  Delicious as usual)

BRAZIL: Pao de Queijo- Brazillian Cheese Bread (We all got our own portions of this- 2 large cheesy buns that were perfectly hot, chewy, and cheesy.  Heaven!)

FRANCE: Croissant aux Escargots AND Boeuf Bourguignon (I wanted to try everything in France but I was getting full!  The escargots this year were cooked in a croissant roll and topped with pesto.  It was alright.  A little too much bread for me, I like my snails in garlic butter.  The short ribs in cabernet were served with mashed potatoes and was almost too much food for the 3 of us to split!  Lots of Boeuf for your buck on that one!)

IRELAND: Lobster and Seafood Fisherman's Pie (Every year I get this and every year I burn my mouth on it.  It takes forever to cool enough to eat safely!  But it's good, and there were a decent amount of chunks of scallop and lobster throughout.)

SHOWCASE COFFEE CART: Frozen Chai Latte with Bailey's (Fedora got this- it's really rich but perfect for a hot day!)

Overall, Day 1 of the festival was a success!  Scot and I are going to go back, maybe on Monday after our 2 wedding appointments: florist and CAKE TASTING!!!!!

As for the running.... well, the festival didn't put a huge dent in my training but I did miss my usual Run Club on Monday night.  I made up for it Wednesday after work with a 25 minute 3 miler.  I carried a good pace of 8:24/mile, the weather finally started to cool off a bit and the humidity was low.  I knocked out 4.6 miles today at a minute slower pace but ran pretty steady.  Next week holds longer back to backs- 7.5 and 17 miles!  I did it once, I can do it again :)

a victory a year in the making

106 days until Day 1 of the Goofy Challenge!

Not that I'm counting or anything.  

Race season is well underway, and I had my second race in as many weekends this month on Sunday.  This one I wrote about a year ago but I'll brief you on the details:

It was the Let's Move Apopka 10K- we ran it in 2014 to get a POT for PHM Weekend earlier this year.
I was the first female finisher with a rather underwhelming 54ish minute finish time but hey, it was the first race I'd ever actually placed, won, whatever, so I was thrilled.
All the winners got little trophies, the age group winners were good but the overall winner trophies were broken so the Polish guy that came in first and I both had to go home empty handed, with the promise of it being fixed and mailed to us.
Around December, I got to thinking how I never heard anything back from the race director and I sent an email checking up on it.  
I never got a response.
I occasionally bitched about not getting my little award, but only with a smile because hey, I know I won!  Secretly I was still a bit disappointed though.  Over this past spring and summer, I actually got 3 more placement awards- 2nd and 3rd place overall female, and 2nd in my age group.  But still, the missing first place award could not join the others.
Finally, toward the end of the summer after the race director posted a Facebook page update on the 2015 race, I queried about last year in a comment.
And then things really picked up!
I got messages, apologies, phone calls, and a free race entry to this year's 10K.  They were very nice about it, and couldn't have been more apologetic.  I was gracious, thanked them for getting back with me on the matter, and took them up on the free entry.

And then I started freaking out.

I HAD to win again!  It would be the only way I could make up for not having recognition for my first place 2014 win!

I didn't sleep well in the 2 nights leading up to the race.  My stomach was in knots and I was under so much pressure I could barely even focus on anything.  I got to the 7th Day Adventist church in Apopka in time to pick up my packet and try to calm down.  I posted about my significantly elevated stress level in the Team #rundisney page and everyone's words of encouragement and support really helped me and gave me a good distraction before the race kicked off.  

The course was the same as the year before- around an elementary school and eventually down and back a bike trail.  Back again was this awful pedestrian bridge with a steep zig zag path to go over a busy highway.  

I'll spare the details because it's not super interesting- I started out at the gun in about 4th place overall for the women before eventually moving up to 2nd and then falling back into 4th.  I never had a chance.  The first place woman ended up finishing in like 48 minutes, and I've never run a sub-50 minute 10K before.  I was watchful of the women I passed, and then even more so of the women who ended up passing me after about 4 miles.  I'd already decided there was no way I was going to win so I focused on at least winning my age group.  One woman who passed me was much older- closer to 50 than 30-34.  The other girl who passed me later on looked almost my age but could have been younger.  I crossed my fingers and hoped she was in her 20s and just kept moving along.  

I held on to 4th place for the women but that didn't mean a thing.  I finished in 53:01, grabbed my banana, and headed back to my car for some Powerade.  I felt ok, not exausted, not excited, just... neutral.  What I really wanted was to find the overall men's finisher, Fredison Costa.  Fredison was the winner of the Walt Disney World Marathon this year and actually showed up to race this little 10K in Apopka!  He finished the race with a 6 minute mile and get this- he took a wrong turn while he was in a far off lead and made an extra lap around another couple blocks before finding the rest of us.  He cranked it into higher gear and STILL WON.  He probably would have been 3 or 4 minutes faster if he hadn't done that but holy crap!

I found him, btw!

See what I'm holding there?  I won first place in my age group!  Yay!!!  Vindication!

As I was fixing to leave, I stopped to say hello and thank you to the church pastor, Andrew Moreno.  He'd called me in regards to last year's award and was super nice about it and for arranging my free entry this year.  We chatted for a bit, I was all smiles with my age group win when he told me to wait one second, he would be right back...

WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT!!!  The 7th Day Adventist folks had gone and had a little plaque made for me (he had 2 boxes, one was the other for the Polish guy winner as well) to make up for last year's broken trophy debacle.  I was shocked, grateful, and amazed.  I told him I'd been also speaking to Cayce, she worked the race as well and had been instrumental in getting things set right.  He introduced us, it turned out she'd been the one to take the photo above of Fredison and myself!  We chatted for a bit but then I had to head out.  I walked away feeling validated, happy, grateful for such a good group of people, and most of all- relieved!  There was always a little part of my race history that felt incomplete and now everything is as it should be!  

a remarkable run

Sunday was the final race in the Remarkable River Run series- I missed out on signing up for the whole thing (didn't know about it in time to do the 5K back in the spring) so this was my second run.  The first was the 10K back in June where I snagged up that 2nd place age group medal...and then went and got engaged at Epcot that afternoon.

This was my 3rd trip up to Port Orange- it was the same route and location as the 10K as well as the triathlon I did last month.  I'd had a couple good training runs the past few weeks- either I'd adapted to the summer heat or it wasn't affecting me as much but my speed had been consistently improving!  I wasn't back down to that 8:15 min/mi for 13.1 yet (like I was in February) but I didn't feel like the lost cause I used to feel like in July when I was slogging along barely able to hold a 10m/m.  I decided I was going to try to place in this race!  An age group award didn't seem that impossible again.

The 15K race started at 7am.  I hung out near the front- there were a few hundred people in this one- not a bad group.  The course headed south along the river past some large homes on the other side.  The stately properties abruptly turned in to a trailer park, then quick-changed into a typical neighborhood setting after that.  I liked this area-  Miles 2 and 3 were pretty shaded.  The route wound through a neighborhood before doubling back on itself and heading back north along the river with the trailer park and manor homes coming up again.  I was feeling pretty good- for a few minutes at the start I was in the #1 female position.  It didn't take long for a woman to pass me though, in a pack of who I found out later were a group of Ironman guys.  Another woman passed me shortly after and I managed to keep pace right behind her, but she fell back after about 2 miles.  I was in second now.

I skipped the walk intervals on my watch- I was feeling good and comfortable at about an 8:20 pace.  There were plenty of water stops on this course, and the also had a lemon lime Spark drink that was actually pretty tasty.  I took a swig here and there and decided to save my Gu pack for mile 6 or 7.  

Just after the 4 mile mark, I got passed again!  I knew this other woman was behind me for the past few miles and I tried to keep ahead but she cranked it up and pulled into 2nd place.  If I could only stay in 3rd now...

I could sense there was another woman maybe 20 yards behind me, but I wasn't going to relax!

The 10K mark was back at the finish area- the first 6.2 miles were exactly the same as they were in June, however this time I had to pass the turn into the finish line and head over that goddamn bridge.

The very same bridge that stole my dignity on the triathlon.

The bridge where I was forced to walk my bicycle up the westbound side. 

I could see it looming in the distance- it looked about a mile high and straight up.

Fuuuuuuudge.  In other words.

6.5 miles, I hit the base.  And I chugged up that bridge.  It was soooo hard!  I will be eternally grateful for the overcast skies that day- a light rain would sprinkle down every now and then and provide some relief.  My ponytail by this time was extra curly!

I wasn't too far behind the woman in 2nd- not close enough to catch her but I could still see.  As I pulled myself up the bridge, one foot in front of the other...I couldn't do it anymore.  I had to stop and walk.  Just for 20 seconds.  

The woman behind me passed me.  Dammit.

I made it to the top of the bridge, pretty sure I was getting altitude sickness, and let gravity take over on the way down the other side.  7 minute mile, anybody?  Hell, yeah!  I pulled ahead back into 3rd and sailed down the bridge.  On my way down, I noticed the Ironman guys coming BACK UP AND OVER the bridge.  WTF is this?  We have to do this shit TWICE???  I guess there really was only one way back but.....whyyyyyyyy?

Ugh.  So I followed the course down and around an area that I'd biked in the tri back in August before.  The rain was really starting to come down now.  A good, steady rainfall felt great!  I didn't notice how heavy it had gotten until my hat started dripping.  The trip back up and over the bridge was equally hard as the first time.  I started doing run/walk intervals with the diagonal white stripes in the shoulder area between the road and the bike lane.  FINALLY, made it over the hill and cranked out the last half mile toward the finish.  I was just a few seconds ahead of the woman behind me and I actually felt like I was racing.  As I turned the corner to the finish line, a woman WALKED RIGHT ACROSS THE FUCKING COURSE 20 feet from the timing mat!  I yelled at her to get out of the way and accidentally/on purpose kicked her leg as I tore past her.  The clock read 1:19:18.  I'd set a new PR.

Oh I was excited!  I did a little jumping around and a happy dance before taking my medal and a bottle of water.  I was 99% sure I finished 3rd but needed to see the results for myself.

Results took a looooong time!  I wandered around the sponsor booths a bit.  Aunt Catfish's always does a breakfast but my stomach didn't want sausage links and eggs.  I found the woman who'd chased me and thanked her for pushing me.  She thanked me back- she was glad to try to keep up with me because she earned a PR, too!  

When the results were finally posted I felt a little torn-
1. YES, I came in 3rd overall female- that is awesome and I felt amazing
2. The 2nd overall woman was in the same age group as myself, she beat me by a couple minutes.  If there were no overall awards, I'd have gotten 2nd in my age group.  
3. If I'd known #2's age, I could have hung back, let #4 pass me, I wouldn't have placed in the top 3 but would have been #1 in my age group
4.  The award medals were all the same regardless of overall winners or age group, so I could have had a 1st place medal instead of a 3rd place medal.
5.  But, I might not have set a PR and even though my medal says "3rd Place" I KNOW that it's a better one than the "1st Place" age group win.  

Does that make sense?

Anyhoo, I'm happy with it!  It rained on and off throughout the morning while I was waiting for the results and awards. Eventually, they posted placements (of those who had finished so far) on a tv screen that I took a photo of.  I was tired and wet after waiting over an hour so I just went up to the tent where the awards were, showed them the photo, got my medal, and went home. It was another half hour I found out before they did the little award ceremony.  That was fine by me, I needed a shower!

I was 18th overall, not sure how many finishers there were, as I left before everyone was done and as of today the results are not posted online
Chip time: 1:19:16 (8:39/mi)
Gender place: 3rd/unknown total
Age group place: technically 2nd (the 2nd place overall female and I were in the same age group but did not get awards for that)

I added my new hardware to the rack on the wall- it's getting full!  Next up- more wedding stuff and the WINE & DINE HALF!!!!  We've got excellent costumes (once I figure out how to make them.  It involved glow sticks.)... stay tuned.

port orange triathlon- i did it!!

I DID IT!  I survived my first triathlon, it was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again!!!!!

I had no idea of course what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this.  I found out just over a week before the big day that the swim was 500 meters, not the 400 I originally thought.  Uh oh.  I'd been focusing mostly on the bike-to-run transition that the swimming had kind of gotten pushed aside.  The only time I had to go to an actual pool (read- natural spring) to attempt swimming was on my one day off and we ran into so many road blocks between weather and wedding venue visiting that I didn't really get to do any open water swimming until 6 days before the race.

The experience was less than encouraging.

I drove out to Clermont on a rainy Sunday afternoon to swim in a lake with Steph as my guide/advice giver.  The water got to around 10 feet deep and was the color of Coca Cola.  Once she convinced me it WAS actually safe to put my face in it, I couldn't see a blessed thing.  I flailed around a bit and managed to swim/side kick/doggie paddle/backstoke about 250 meters before I'd had enough.  No way I could handle twice that distance!

 The gross looking lake in Clermont

The same photo, after Instagram!  Amazing!  I wish it looked like this for real

I didn't swim at all the rest of the week.  I figured there was no point- I wasn't going to be able to magically pull off this swim in the Intercoastal waterway so I figured eh what the hell, why bother.  I biked and ran, I'm much better at that.  I just figured I'd be the last one out of the water and deal with it then.

So my parents got in to town on Friday night to help us with some wedding stuff over the week so they came up to watch me in the race.  Saturday morning we drove up to Port Orange (about a 40 minute drive) and I picked up my packet at 6am, got inked with a sharpie, and set up my gear.  

My race number was 787, like the airplane.  I thought that was pretty cool.

 Me and little pink mountain bike are ready!  Still dark out

 You can see the timing chip on my ankle here

Standard-issue yellow swim cap for ladies!  The guys had blue ones.

I had a velcro timing chip that wrapped around my ankle and fastened- this is what would activate every time I crossed the timing mat in and out of the transition area and across the final finish line.  The transition area was a parking lot at the boat ramp just prior to the VERY STEEP bridge over the river.  There was a long mat laid out going in to the water to protect us from the oyster shell beds planted there as grip for the boat trailers.  I was glad to see that!  I did what Steph told me and untied my shoes, put my GPS watch and socks inside them, turned my bike helmet upside down, and set my water bottle for washing my feet off nearby.  I turned on my bluetooth earbuds too (but that didn't do any good because they shut off automatically since I didn't have music playing).  My parents had my phone and car keys, and I laid out my towel under my bike.  The transition area was very tight- barely enough room for 2 people to get ready side by side!

The men's swim started at 7am.  After the national anthem, I started wading into the water- thank goodness it wasn't cold!  It wasn't noticeably warm; it really just felt the same as the air temperature.  Very comfortable.  The air horn went off and the men started their swim.  The ladies were due out at 7:03.  I made my way to the start area- just below chest deep.  The guy who was there posing at the start line (with his arms out, like we had to be really held back) briefed us again on where to go.  I could see the water churning up ahead with all the men headed toward the inflatable pylon buoy where they would make a u-turn and head back toward us.  The air horn went off again and I looked over and more than half the women were still wading in to the water!  I dove forward and started swimming.  

Steph was right when she told me swimming in a group is a whole different ballgame.  Good lord it was crazy.  As soon as I put my face in the water I tasted the saltiness.  Face up, spit. Face back down.  Swim.  

I mean, it was crowded but the women were actually very polite.  There were a lot of "I'm sorry"s and "Excuse me"s as we pushed forward.  After about 15 seconds I was done with regular swimming.  I started side stroking, doggie paddling, anything to just keep going forward.  It's hard to breathe as much as you have to when swimming!  About 100 meters in, I looked over at a woman who appeared to be moving through the water with quick, easy, relaxed strokes.  Then I noticed she wasn't kicking.  Then I lowered my leg and realized something.

DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS I CAN TOUCH THE BOTTOM!

I made eye contact with the walk/swim lady and smiled.  She gave me a knowing smile back.  I got my feet to the sandy river bottom and was able to sort of leap-swim-stroke at a faster pace with much less effort.  Our secret was discovered by a few other women around us and there were some quiet cheers as about a half dozen of us swim/walked toward the buoy.  When we got there, no joke, we all stood up, walked around the buoy, and then resumed our routine.  It was like a weird water ballet.

The water got a bit deeper as we headed back but by then I had rested and was able to swim respectably toward the shore area.  The crowd was pretty thick as a whole herd of people tried to exit the water at once.  As soon as I got to waist deep, I stood and ripped off my cap and goggles.  I got in line and everyone filed up the mat back into the transition area.  I had survived the swim.  The rest was going to be easy!

I was a hot mess in my transitions

I'll admit it first- my transitions sucked.  I'd practiced it exactly zero times during my training.  I poured my water bottle on my feet, chugged and spat from the same bottle as my folks came over to see me from the other side of the fence.  I had some PowerAde, had to re-do my velro timing chip around my ankle because it came unwrapped, and got a little distracted fiddling with my earbuds.  I couldn't get them to turn on.  Eh, whatever.  I started up my biking app and popped it and my water bottle into my pockets, walked my bike out of the transition area and headed out.  

The morning was still pretty overcast, there was a nice breeze, so I wasn't afraid to push it a bit on the bike.  The first mile included that goddamn bridge but I made it over okay.  I coasted down the other side and passed 2 people at the bottom.  After that, it was a normal bike ride for me.  I cruised along at just over 4 minutes a mile, passing people left and right.  I was starting to get weirded out- it was like no one was even trying!  I didn't think I was going that hard- certainly not like the pros who zoom along at 20 mph!  I just decided to mind my own business and ride my bike the way I ride my bike.  Again, I kept passing tons of people!  The ride was nice though, all along a neighborhood road into Ponce Inlet and then back north along beachfront property.  I could look between the houses on the street and see ocean.  It was a nice change from my neighborhood route that I was already getting sick of, for sure.  

And then the bridge showed up again.

I tried to pedal faster to get up some momentum but as I hit that bridge it was like I was hitting a wall.  I swear it goes straight up.  I mean, the westbound side has got to definitely be steeper than the eastbound side in the beginning of the race.  I put my bike in 1st gear, stood up on the pedals, and crawled up the hill.

And then I thought to myself... This?  This is bullshit.  And a waste of energy I'm going to need in a few minutes.

So I got off my bike and ran it up the rest of the hill!

Cars were coming over the bridge but I didn't care.  There were people on bikes at the base of the bridge behind me-let them get wore out, I'm not going to play that game.  I was faster on foot so who cares?  At the top, I hopped back on and coasted down, under the bridge and back into the transition area.  My parents were there waiting for me.  I racked my bike, took some water and PowerAde again, stretched out my legs, and then headed out on the run.  4 miles to go!

The jelly legs weren't so bad this time- I actually got off to a pretty good start.  My first mile was under 9 minutes.  I did my 4 min run/30 second walk intervals and got to mile 1 as I turned down Halifax Drive.  The timer was at 1 hour 17 minutes at this point because I saw it as I ran past the finish line toward mile 2.  I could see a few freaks of nature zipping along into the finish area, and I told myself 3 more miles and I'll be there!

The run was hot.  My clothes were still wet and felt heavy.  They don't breathe as well as my regular running gear.  I still hadn't gotten my earbuds to work so I had my phone turned up louder in my pocket so I could have some sort of music to listen to.  

Too bad it was shit music.  

The thing with Pandora is that you can have a station that's really good and then it'll play a string of songs that you're sick of and you can't do anything about it because you're out of skips.

This is how i wound up listening to goddamn Blues Traveler.  I was hoping no one else could hear it as I passed people on the road.  For the love of all things holy, why isn't Gin Blossoms Radio playing any effing Gin Blossoms?

So I was kind of irritated on the run.

Counting Crows?  Really, is there a worse song to try to get a good beat and run to than Long December?

Argh.

So I pushed through the run with the goal of finishing quicker so I could turn that shit off.  

It was hot, the sun was starting to beat down and I was pretty sure I was steaming.

I kicked it into higher gear as I approached the finish line.  Oh!  Let me tell you my uh, strategy, that I invented...sort of:  So we got our race numbers marked on our arms and our ages marked in Sharpie on the back of our calves.  Why?  Beats me.  But I used it to check out the ages of women I came up behind in the run.  If she wasn't in my age group, I wasn't going to waste my energy trying to pass her.  Heh.

I saw my parents at the finish line and I crossed in under 2 hours, which was my unspoken goal (the goal I gave to people who asked was to just finish alive).  I got my medal and a bottle of water and met my folks as they walked into the finish area.  This was the same finish line and post race area from the 10K back in June so I was familiar with it (and the parking area and all that).  The reason I chose this particular race was that they advertised breakfast would be served afterwards so as soon as I got my breath and cooled off a minute, I helped myself to grits and sausage and apple cobbler.  Yum.

 Selfie with mom

The race results were posted- I'd come in 4th in my age group!  Awesome!  Then I found out they were doing awards for the top 3 in each age group and that bummed me out hard.  So close!  Then I looked again at the time and I was like 6 minutes behind the girl in 3rd place so I didn't feel too bad after that.  I guess I wasn't close after all.  Anyway, I loved it all and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Here's my stats:

4th place in age group

61st overall

Swim 500m: 9:23

T1: 3:32 (need to work on this part!)

Bike 12 mi: 50:57

T2: 2:12

Run 4 mi: 37:02

Finish: 1:43:08

suck it up buttercup 10k, etc

If you asked me what day it is, I honestly wouldn't be able to begin to hazard a guess.

Running has been keeping me from completely losing my ever-lovin' mind these past few weeks.  I've finally got a massage scheduled for this evening after work- between the triathlon training and now- oh joy!- wedding planning, I'm the textbook definition of wrung out and stressed.  

I ran the Suck It Up Buttercup 10K on Sunday.  I didn't really do any additional training towards it.  It's been so damn HOT here that I haven't been running more than like 4 miles at a time.  Rick and Emily were there (Emily of course taking the job of photographer for us!), and Meagan and her other friend Lindsey made it as well.  Meagan and I actually managed to stick together and finish about 10 seconds apart- it was good to have someone to push through those hills with!  Who knew Florida was so hilly?!?  The race started down at Gemini springs in a field near the parking lot.  It was a super-unofficial looking start line.  We were just behind a mass of people that started oozing forward when the air horn went off, somewhere on the ground was a timing mat, and people fumbled along next to ditches and up on to sidewalks for the first mile or so until the crowd thinned out.  It was the longest 10K of my life!  Thank goodness they had Gatorade at the halfway point, I don't think we would have made it.  We ran mostly, with some longer walk breaks towards the back half.  At one hill we just said "Ef this nonsense, we do not have to waste our precious little energy on a Florida mountain." I finally finished it in 55:32, 7th in my age group and 53rd overall.  There were 378 runners in the 10K so I think that's pretty good.  I felt so gross afterwards though!  The humidity was a killer!  We had to wait a half hour before taking pictures so we could dry off and look halfway presentable.

 Not my worst race photo ever!

Cute little medal!

I spent the rest of the day lounging in the pool before the afternoon thunderstorms kicked up.  I've done some more triathlon work- the hardest part for me now is the transition from biking to running.  Jell-o legs still persist but I'm better at adjusting to it.  Doesn't mean I'm used to it or that I have to like it!  I've been stuck swimming in the backyard pool for the past few weeks, we haven't had time to get back out to the springs.  I've got a date with a lake out in Clermont with Stephanie a week before the race though.  Pushing it much?  As long as I don't drown, I'm good!  My goal is to just finish!  I think my weight training is helping a bit.  I'm not doing anything heavy, just some 5 lb hand weights with old Les Mills BodyPump-type routines.  It's better than nothing!  My main thing is to work on hip strength so that my knees don't give out on my longer distance runs.  Lefty hasn't been bothering me as much lately so I'm crossing my fingers that it's working!

*Stop here if you don't give a rat's patootie about wedding stuff.

Otherwise...carry on.

Scot and I spent another day off touring more venues.  We saw 2 last Monday and 3 this week.  I think we're (I'm) finally getting a vision on what we want.  Elegant.  Brunch.  Disney-ish.  Affordable.  We've narrowed it down to 2, we'll have a decision after my parents come in to visit.

And we FINALLY got to go to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto at the Polynesian!  I'd heard so much about it but had no idea what we were getting in to.  We arrived 5 minutes before it opened to a line down the hallway!  We had to get a buzzer and were paged in shortly after they opened the doors.  The bar is small, dark, and has a kooky tiki theme.  Like a combination of the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Rainforest Cafe without the animatronic critters.  Except for that octopus thing that totally freaked my out.  The servers have a lot of fun- they get the patrons all involved in the craziness and interacting with one another.  We shared a table with 2 girls from NM on their honeymoon.  We drank.  We did shots.  We ordered a drink that came to the table ON FIRE.  We spent waaaay more money than we'd planned, and then we went to the Magic Kingdom completely hammered.  Walk normal, try to be cool.  Smile at the purse-checking guy.  Hi, how are you?  We had managed to get a FP+ for the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, which is also fun to ride when you're inebriated.  

I'd been so stressed over the idea of having to plan the perfect wedding even/vacation for our guests that I finally just decided to say "Screw it all" and not think about it anymore.  I can look at bridal magazines and know that I don't have to have or do any of that shit they've got in there.  Let's have some cake, let me wear what I want (and it ain't no thousand-dollar dress!), and I'll be able to relax.  

That 6pm massage can't come soon enough.

  

Tri- minus 5 weeks

The countdown is on to August 8th!

We went back to Blue Spring Monday for me to get some swimming and biking in.  Like last time, I had to swim upstream for, oh, forever, then turned around to come back.  

I'm really hoping the swim in the river is downstream!

After the swim, I did 12 miles on my bike in just under an hour.  There's so many hills out there!  We ride out of the park and onto the Beresford Trail- out and around and back is just enough distance.  On a whim, I decided to try running after I finished the bike ride.

Oh.  No.

A typical Florida thunderstorm hit just as we finished riding so I ran around the parking lot in the rain.  100 yards.  And I felt like I was about to die!  That run was harder than a 4 1/2 hour marathon!  WTF was going on?  My legs felt like jell-o and I felt like I was moving in slow motion.  I lumbered around the parking lot before collapsing back into the car, dazed and confused.

What was going on with me?  Am I broken?

So, I did what any concerned athlete would do- I asked the Internets.  More specifically, the Run Disney Facebook group people.  Why are my legs not working?  Several people told me that it was perfectly normal, that I'd have to "run it out" and my body would adjust after a mile or so.  But I wanted to know WHY, so I did a bike ride followed by a run (these are called "bricks," back-to-back training events...I learned that in my triathlon packet I printed off the Internets).  I did a 7 mile ride, then stretched for a minute while my GPS watch looked for a signal, then attempted to run a 5k.  Again, I felt like I was moving in slow motion and I realized that- uh, yeah I was!  Technically.  I mean, I'd just got done doing 12 MPH on a bicycle, and now my legs are doing pretty much the same movement at half that speed!

Ohhhhh.....

It was totally all in my head because my pace wasn't any slower than normal (considering a hot and humid Florida morning!), I just felt like I was crawling compared to the bike speed!

Whew.

I ran my miles, did my intervals, and felt perfectly normal after about 10 minutes.  Nice.  I think I'll get back in the pool this week- with all the rain and the heat we've been having, it turned a lovely shade of nuclear-green this week so we've put so much chemicals in there the whole backyard smells like the indoor pool at the Y.  I'm afraid to get in it at the moment.  My hair might fall out.

Oh!  Once more piece of good news/obligatory wedding info: My mom is coming in August to look at our venue (once we pick it) and to talk to caterers and planners.  Which means... she'll be here for my triathlon!  Scot has to work that day so I was gonna be up there on my own originally, but this will be better!