Walt Disney World marathon weekend here we come

Only about 3 1/2 weeks until the 2012 WDW marathon weekend. I am only running the 1/2 in 2012. I had originally signed up for the full, but I have had some foot issues so I dropped the full and moved to the 1/2. Oh yeah, I am running the 5K alos. Can't go to marathon weekend and only run one race right?

My training for the 1/2 has gone very well, and quite frankly I am tired of training and ready to race. Pam is walking her first WDW 1/2 in 2012 after completing 2 Disneyland 1/2 marathons. In 2012 she wants to go Coast to Coast. It has been a good year running for me. I set a PR for the 5K (23:53), the 1/2 marathon (1:52:58) and the full marathon (4:55:51). Pleased with those times and it gives me new goals to shoot for.

Til next time run strong and enjoy the moment.

Long time no post

Wow it has been months since I posted anything here. Much as happened since the last post. I ran the Goofy challeneg in January, ran my first sub 2 half marathon in early April & ran a second sub 2 half in late April. Currently I am running 30 miles a week building my base miles.

My next scheduled race is the Disneyland 1/2 in September. Pam is going to run/walk it again this year as well. In June I am joining 11 other runners in St. Louis to run the Mojo StLoco. It is a 50 mile run with friends. We are running just for the fun of it and getting to spend time together.

In July Pam & I are cruising on the Disney Dream for a five night cruise. We are both really excited and looking forward to it. Hoping to take a short Xmas trip to WDW in December. We love the world at Xmas time.

In April we had a new addition to our family. Our grandson Elias came into the world on April 26th. He was a little early, but doing just fine. We know have Elli & Eli as our grandchildren. All I can say is this it is very cool to be a grandparent.

I will try to post more often than I have in the past, I promise.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

Disneyland 1/2 marathon

On Sunday Sept 5th I ran the Disneyland 1/2 marathon. It was the second time I have run this race. We flew to California on the 1st. We wanted time to hang out in the parks before the race. We stayed at the Grand Californian. Wow, what a fabulous hotel. Spent lots of time in Disneyland & California Adventure.


On Saturday the 4th we attended a Team AllEars meetup at the the Paradise Pier hotel. Got to meet and talk with Deb Wills, the founder of AllEars.net and some other team AllEars teammates.

Race day we got up at 4:30AM got dressed & ate some breakfast. Once we were ready to go we walked from the hotel to the starting corrals. There were runners & walkers every where. I went to my corral & Pam went to her corral. The race started at 6am. By about 6:15 I was crossing the start line. First couple of miles I ran at an easy warm up pace as we ran through backstage California adventure. One we crossed over to Disneyland I was good and loose and picked up my speed some. My goal was to run miles 3 through 9 at 9:00 to 9:30 pace.

Miles 1 through 4 took you through both theme parks and then it was on to the streets of Anaheim. We ran through the industrial area of the city. At mile 8 we ran by the Honda center (where the Mighty Ducks play) and then on to the Sana Anna trail headed towards the big "A" where the Angels play. It was a blast getting to run in the ballpark. Once out of the ballpark, we got to mile 10. I wanted to run the last 4 miles sub 9:00. Near the finish we went ran back into the California adventure (backstage) headed for the finish line. We left DCA, ran around the Paradise Pier hotel turned up Disneyland drive and I could see the finish line. I crossed the line with a time of 2:02:39. This was a 12 minute PR for me. I was pretty jazzed & pumped up over how well the run went. I crossed the line got my medal & then found the Coast to Coast medal stop, picked that up and went back to the finish area to wait for Pam to complete her first 1/2 marathon.

It was real neat seeing her come aroound the corner after she finished knowing she had completed the race with time to spare. We walked to the medal stop & Pam got her medal.

We got in line to have our picture taken together with our medals and then headed for the food line. We found a spot where we could take our pictures with the 5th anniversary backdrop and snapped a couple of pictures with our bling.

This is the 2nd time I have gone to Disneyland for the Coast to Coast medal. Will I do it a 3rd time, absolutely. We had just as much fun this year as last and we are already looking forward to doing it again next year.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment

California here we come

We are less than a week away from the Disneyland 1/2 marathon. Our training is just about over & it's time to go run!!! During this past training cycle I have done a variety of different types of training runs. Everything from easy runs, tempo runs, progression runs, heart rate training & of course hill work. My goal is to set a PR. If it happens that would be great, but if not that's OK also. After all we are running at The Happiest Place on Earth.

I am most of all excited for Pam, who will be doing her very first 1/2 marathon. She is going to walk it. Let me tell ya, she has worked every bit as hard as me in her training. She is a little nervous & anxious. I have told her that is normal. I still get that way myself.

More than anything we are ready for a vacation. We have not been anywhere this summer. What we have done, is work on the house all summer. We are both very excited to "just get out of town" and relax at Disneyland. We are flying to So Cal on Wednesday, that gives us four days to just hang out before the race on Sunday morning. We have made a couple of dining reservations, but other than that just going to wing it.

Can't wait to see Pam cross that finish line and have that medal hung around her neck. Hope to get a picture of the two of us with our medals. Oh yeah, I'm going after another Coast to Coast medal. After this race, Wine & Dine is next up & then the Goofy challenge in January.

Well, all that is left to do is go ruuunnnn!!!

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment

2 weeks to go

Two weeks from today is the Disneyland 1/2 marathon. I believe I am ready. I have most certainly put in the training miles. I have done progression runs, tempo runs, hill work & lots of HR zone training runs. You know, a PR would be nice, but I really just want to have fun running through the parks.

Last year I stopped and took some pictures. I had decided I was not going to do that this year & try to PR. The more I think about it, I don't really care much about a PR and I think I will carry a camera and stop and take pictures again this year. Hey it's Disneyland & I only get there once a year, so I want to soak it all in and just have a great time running the race.

Pam is doing her first 1/2 marathon this year. I am excited for her. She has put in all of the training also. Yesterday she walked an amazing 11 miles. I think that will be her longest walk prior to the race. She has told me she is anxious, nervous & excited about doing the race. I have told her that all of those emotions are normal. I still get that way before a race. Can't wait to see the 5th anniversary medal hanging around her neck.

In October we are going to WDW to participate in the first annual Wine & Dine 1/2 marathon. We are going to do the relay. Pam will walk/run the first 4.8 miles & I am going to run the last 8.3 miles. This race starts at 10pm & finishes in Epcot with a party for the race finishers. I do think it will be really cool to run the parks at night with all the lights on.

Next race after this one is the big one, the Goofy challenge in January. This race is the reason I have worked so hard this year putting in the miles. Once we get done with Wine & Dine it will be time to start marathon training again. I am averaging over 100 miles per month right now in running alone. In addition I am cycling about 15 to 20 miles per week. It has been super hot & humid this summer making it tough sometimes to get the runs done. It should be a lot cooler when I start the marathon training again after Wine & Dine.

My goal was to run a 1000 miles this year. As I write this I am sittinig at 802. Looks like I will reach and exceed my goal if an can stay healthy and injury free. Speaking of health, my doctor has allowed me to go off BP meds. I went to see him 6 weeks ago and we talked about going off the meds. This past Monday I went back to see him and my BP was right where it should have been, so no more meds for me. I was pretty excited about this. Now the goal is stay off them forever. Looks like tthe running, cycling & healthier eating is paying off.

As the blog title says, I run because I can. This is something I want to be able to do for many many years to come.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong & enjoy the moment.

Been Awhile

Yup, it has been awhile since I posted. Just been doing maintenance running logging base miles. I have only run one race since the Illinois marathon on May 1st. On June 12th I ran a 5K. It was the State Farm Live Well Be Well 5K. The race started at 8am. The temp was 75F & the humidity was 96%. I did manage to PR in 24:51. First time I can remember running a sub 25 5K. I was pretty excited with the time & also wondered what I could have done if the humidity had been lower.

We decided to not go on a vacation this summer in lieu of working on some remodeling projects. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow though. On September 5th Pam & I both are going to run the Disneyland 1/2 in California. 6 days at Disneyland, can't wait. Then less than a month later we are going to run the inaugural Wine & Dine 1/2 marathon relay on Oct 2nd at WDW. Wow, 2 trips to Disney parks in a month's time, I will be in Disney heaven.

Today registration opened for the Princess 1/2 marathon. Do I dare ask Pam if she wants to run it? I am registered for the Dopey challenge (all 3 races) during marathon weekend in January.

I am currently averaging 25 to 30 miles per week. I wanted to keep the fitness level up after the marathon, so I just kept running. I am hoping by doing this, it won't take as long to get trained up for marathon weekend.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong & enjoy the moment.
Goofy 57 runner signing off

Catchin Up

Been over a month since my last post. Thought it was time to catch up a little. Doing mostly maintenance running right now. Still keeping the mileage up some, don't want to lose the fitness I had for the marathon.

Just got back a week ago from the annual fishing trip to Canada with Dad & friends. As usual we had a great time and brought home our limit in Walleye. We had to work to catch the fish this, they were biting slooowww.

Have a 5K next Saturday morning. Going to try and set a PR in it. My current best is 26:16. Not really shooting for a specific time, just something lower than 26:16.

All of the reservations are made for Disneyland in September. Both Pam & I are running there. Looking forward to it.

Our big news is we are going to do the Wine & Dine 1/2 marathon relay in October at WDW. Pam will run/walk the 1st 4.8 miles & I will run the final 8.3 miles. This will be a blast. This is the inaugural Wine & Dine race and coincides with the Food & Wine festival at Epcot. The race starts at 10pm in the WWOS and finishes in world showcase with a post race party. We have attended food & wine a couple of times before and had lots of fun. October is a great time of the year to be at the world.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong & enjoy the moment.