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

The Donald Part 1

My wife and & got up at 3am on Thursday the 7th so we could be at the airport by shortly after 4 for a 5:50am flight. When we got up there was already 6 to 7 inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing. So we shoveled lots of snow before leaving for the airport. Why do I tell you all of this, because I thought there was no way the flight to Orlando would leave on time. We did board on time, pushed back from the gate and sat for an hour. During that hour the plane was de-iced not once, not twice but three times. We did eventually take off and fly to Atlanta where we had to make a connecting flight to Orlando. There were probably fifteen to twenty people on the flight who had the same connecting flight to Orlando as we did. We left Bloomington one hour late, so obviously that meant we would miss the connector in Atlanta. Not so, Air Tran held our connecting flight in Atlanta. When we got to Atlanta we walked off the plane walked down a couple of gates and walked right on the connecting flight. We arrived in Orlando about 20 minutes late from our original arrival time. I don't think that is too bad considering the way the weather was that morning.

Once we arrived in Orlando we took Disney's magical express to our hotel, Port Orleans french quarter. We got checked in, our rooms were ready, so we took the luggage to the rooms and then headed to the Expo for bib number & goody bag pickup. We went to the milk house first to turn in our waivers and pick up our bibs. I also picked up my wife's goody bag for the chEAR squad.

Next stop was the expo in the Jostens center. We picked up our goody bags & shirts and started shopping. I bought several Disney related running shirts, one of them being a training for the 2011 Goofy challenge shirt. I also bought a waist strap for my bib, some Balega running socks and some gel packs for the race. We spent several hours at the expo. By the time we were finished giving Disney more money we were really hungry, so we went next door to the All Star Cafe for a late lunch.

After lunch I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow runner from Minnesota in person. I had spoken with Dom via email and through Twitter but not in person so it was really cool to get to chat in person. We probaly visited for 30 to 40 minutes. Dom is running the Goofy in 2011 as is another online friend Gordon from Run to Disney, so I will have company. You can read Dom's blog at themouseandmore.blogspot.com.

Stay tuned for part 2. Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong & enjoy the moment.

Happy New Year & looking ahead

Happy New Year to all!!! I hope the coming year is good to you in your personal & running life. Looking back to 2009, I had a great year running. I ran and completed my 1st three 1/2 marathons. I ran a total of 840 miles. Along the way I picked up a Coast to Coast medal. I have some new running goals for 2010:

WDW Marathon weekend 2010: Run the Donald again. Complete it with a better time than 2009.

Kentucky Derby mini marathon in April: Run the mini again.

Illinois marathon in May: Run and complete my 1st marathon on May 1st.

Disneyland half marathon in September: Complete my 2nd 1/2 at Disneyland and pick up another Coast to Coast medal.

Throw in some 5k's for good measure.

Run over 1,000 miles for the year.

My ultimate goal is the BIG one. Run and complete the GOOFY during marathon weekend at WDW in 2011.

I am really looking forward to what this year holds for me with my running. I know it will not be easy training and preparing for running a marathon, but I know I CAN DO IT. My goal is to have run a marathon before I run the GOOFY in 2011.

I hope everyone succeeds in achieving their running goals for 2010.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong @ enjoy the moment.