Turning Things Around!

Another week of training is complete and I'm happy to say it went without a hitch!

11/23/10:  4 miles of speed intervals...Was nervous to test out the foot after a week of rest and stretching.  Jumped on the treadmill and at first just felt achy all in my legs and feet but I think that was just the cobwebs coming loose.  By the time I hit 1 mile, I felt great!  At first started with 2 mins at 5.0 and then 2 mins at 6.5.  After 2.5 miles I was pretty much spent so I dropped the speed intervals down to 1 minute.  With half a mile left I then bumped up the speed to 6.6 but kept the 1 min interval.  Finished in 42:45, yay!

11/25/10:  6 Mile Steady Run (Garmin Data)... Turkey Day! Every Thanksgiving morning the owner of my gym holds an ultimate frisbee game in one of the parks in town.  Pre-burning all of those Thanksgiving calories.  For all of the people that don't play in the game, he has an informal Turkey Trot where you can run or walk around the park at your own pace while they play.  In the past I've played frisbee and it's a GREAT workout but starting last year, since I was training for Disney and didn't want to get injured, I've joined the Turkey Trot gang and got my miles in.  Got there bright and early at 7am and was ready to run!  Apparently though I can't read my training schedule correctly... I was scheduled for 5 miles but insisted that it said I had to do 6.  Nothing wrong with that though!  The park is pretty much .5 miles around...so 12 loops around the park.  *sigh*  I hate running in circles!  But this run wasn't horrible.  Pretty much only me and my best friend Christina (who's running the Disney half with me!) were running so I was able to pass the walking gang a few times and say hello.  Plus I'd watch the frisbee game as I ran by that portion of the park.  Kept a 10:30ish pace and felt good.  Bring on the turkey!

11/26/10:  Post Turkey Day Boot Camp... I actually did something other than run this week, happy dance!  Along with the pre-Thanksgiving calorie burn activities that my gym puts together, the owner has been doing a post-Turkey Day calorie burn too.  A 2-hour butt kicking that easily burns at least 1000-1500 calories.  I wasn't going to go due to my scheduled 18 miles but sucked it up and went anyways.  Woah... it was crazy!  We started off with an indoor circuit.  I picked the 'advanced' workout so I ended up doing 100 pushups, 100 crunches, 2 sets of walking lunges, and 80 shoulder presses.  After everyone was finished, he paired us up with someone with similar running and strength abilities and we hit the streets.  I got paired with my friend who just finished the NYC Marathon so we chatted about training and what to expect.  The outdoor boot camp was 1.5 hours and each team had to run with a 15lb heavy bar.  We would jog for a bit and then stop and do exercises along the way.  We easily ran for over 2 miles and in between did more lunges, shoulder presses, full situps, etc.  It was a SERIOUS workout!

By that night I knew my long run would have to be at least on Sunday because my gluteus maximus was NOT happy with me!  So glad I got the workout in though!

11/28/10:  18 Mile Long Run (Garmin Data)... A big one! I was still kinda sore from the boot camp so I wasn't sure how the whole run would go.  The foot held up well again and didn't give me ANY problems...yay!  Headed to my normal 14-mile loop park and started chugging along.  Like my 16, I did a run 1 mile, walk 1 minute interval and it worked out well.

I brought a few different nutritional items to test out this time around.  Starting at mile 3 or 4 I started eating the Power Bar Energy Blasts and did NOT like them.  They were so tough and rubbery to chew that there's no way I could eat those for a whole race.  Flavor was decent so I did finish the bag though. Since those were a bust I reverted back to my trusty Gu Chomps, MUCH easier to chew!  Had one or two every mile and then around mile 9 or 10 I had a bag of mini pretzels.  Realllly liked chomping on these!  The salt and crunch were a good contrast to all that sugary chewy Gu Chomp stuff.  Did have to wash the last few down with my Gatorade though as they were dry.  But I'll definitely be adding these into the lineup.  

My pace was great going into mile 14 and right where I wanted it to be.  Then it was as if someone started draining all the gas out of the car.  It wasn't horrible but I could definitely feel myself dragging and longing for my Garmin to beep so I could walk for the minute.  My legs and rear were screaming at me from the boot camp and I had to talk myself out of walking for more than a minute and kept telling myself that if I ran, I'd get this over with quicker.  With 1.6 miles left I joined another runner who I had seen throughout the morning.  We just nodded a hello and she inched a bit ahead of me.  No matter what I tried, I could NOT catch up to her, and she wasn't going incredibly faster either.  I just had no more gas! The last mile I did bump up the pace a teeny bit but it was a struggle.

The best part of the run?  The stretch after!  My whole body was tight and stretching made me feel a million times better.  I easily sat by the lake and stretched for a good 20 mins.   


Next weekend I'm scheduled for my 20...yikes!! I'm debating putting in a shorter run and doing 20 in 2 weeks but then that screws up my taper and stuff.  We'll see how I feel towards the end of the week.  I don't feel too bad today so I'll try to push through the 20.  I just REALLY would like to find a new route...I'm really getting bored of my park!  And next week I definitely have to take a camera with me, maybe that will help distract me some. :)

Here's a pic from the park last year around this time, wish I had some better ones to show!

 

Happy Running Everyone! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to come over here and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Was able to get out this morning and get a nice 6 miles in with no foot pain, yay!

Hope you guys have a great day!

2011 Marathon Weekend Race Program Posted!

Just received an email from the runDisney folks talking about some things for the January Marathon Weekend. And to my surprise, they included a link to the Race Program!!

Usually we're chomping at the bit to get the program a few weeks prior to the race but they jumped the gun and gave it to us a full 7 weeks prior...impressive guys, thanks! :)

In case some of you didn't get the email...here's the link to the 2011 Marathon Weekend Race Program! Enjoy!

Feeding My Camera Addiction

In addition to Disney and running, a few of you know that I LOVE taking photos. Some of you have asked what kind of camera I use for all the pics on the blog and if I could, I could talk cameras for hours!

For at least the past year I've been eying the Canon 7D but always pushed the thought aside since I wasn't really willing to succumb to the price tag. Currently I have the Canon Rebel xTi and I do love it, but I wanted something with a few more features. The 7D has pretty much everything I wanted that the xTi doesn't have: Higher ISO capabilities, 8 frame per second burst mode, and oh...did I mention it also shoots HD video? (There's also a few other fun stuff that comes along with the 7D but I'll save you guys the technical mumbojumbo)

A few weeks ago, the itch to get the 7D hit me again and I started researching a LOT. I asked around and talked with a bunch of my friends on twitter (Hi Gene & Scott!) and someone had asked me if I had heard about the Canon Loyalty Program.

Apparently with the Loyalty Program, you can send any broken Canon digital camera, including those much cheaper point & shoots, back to Canon. In return, you can purchase any refurbished camera that they have in stock for much cheaper than you can buy the refurbed camera direct from their site. Make sense? So I decided to call Canon and ask about prices since I had a broken Powershot S400 lying around...

The result? :)

Normal MSRP for a new Canon 7D: $1700
Price for a refurbed Canon 7D: $1400
Price using the Loyalty Program?: $1119

Taxes are extra but there's free 2-Day shipping...how could I pass that up?

So yeah, I sucked it up and am considering this an early holiday gift to myself. I mean, I obviously need some time to play with it and get used to it before Christmas and Marathon Week, right? I also have been debating on a flash to buy so that's probably going to purchased by weeks end.

And what's a new camera without a new camera bag? I spent most of the day today researching bags. I need one that can fit most of my camera gear that I want to carry around the parks...the 7D Camera body, 4 camera lenses, a flash, and a few other extras. I decided on the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home bag. I looked up reviews and youtube videos and this baby can hold a LOT! It's probably more than I need right now but it'll allow me to grow into it.

I'll be sure to post some test shots after the new toy gets here!! :) Squeeee!!!! I'm so excited!!! :)

Training Schedule...Version 2

Update on the foot?  So far it doesn't hurt!  But...I haven't ran on it all week.  I did go to Fleet Feet and bought different Superfeet inserts.  These are slightly more padded and they seem to be making a slight difference.  I've also been stretching, icing, massaging the tendon in my foot.  We'll see.  I attempted to wake up this morning and run but that didn't work so I'll have to definitely make sure I wake up early tomorrow and head out for my 4 miles.

Since I took a week off, I had to adjust everything, which makes me nervous.  Now I don't have a week in between each really long run and I have to have 2 long runs in back to back weeks.  Not sure if I'll do 18 this week and 20 the next or do what's listed below. 

I can't believe it's only 7 weeks away!!! OMG!

	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3
Week 7, Nov 22-28	4 (Interval)	5 (Steady)	18 (Long)
Week 6, Nov 29-Dec 5	4 (Interval)	6 (Steady)	10 (Long)
Week 5, Dec 6-12	6 (Hill)	6 (Negative)	20 (Long)
Week 4, Dec 13-19	5 (Interval)	10 (Steady)	22 (Long)
Week 3, Dec 20-26	5 (Hill)	8 (Steady)	12-15 (Long)
Week 2, Dec 27-Jan 2	4 (Steady)	6 (Steady)	12 (Easy)
Week 1,  Jan 3-9	4 (Easy)	3 (Easy)	26.2 (Race Day!)

• Hill: usually do hill intervals on a treadmill.  At the higher distances later, I'll need to go out and find hills in my area.  1 min hills / 2 min recovery (for now).
• Interval:  speed intervals... 1 min fast / 2 min recovery jog
• Negative: where the first half of your run is slower than your second half

How's everyone's training going? I've been trying to keep up with the blogs!

Here's Where Training Starts Going Downhill....

Warning...I might whine and rant and complain for a few minutes, please bare with me.  

*sigh*  It was inevitable I guess... Happened around the same time last year when I was training for my first half....

 Remember when I was THRILLED to pieces when I did my first 16 miler, and felt great? Yeah well...I'm cursing that 16 miles right now.  My feet were sore after but that's normal for me when I go into uncharted territory. Usually the soreness goes away by the next day. This time the soreness didn't go away and every once in awhile I would feel some minor pain and discomfort around my big toe and front of my arch. I waited a few extra days to do my shorter weekday run and finished 3 miles on the TM. I definitely felt discomfort but it wasn't pain. I decided to skip my 2nd weekday run to rest up for my 10 miler Sunday. The minute I started running, I could feel the discomfort in my arch/big toe area. I still didn't feel any serious pain, except maybe 10 total steps during the whole run that I felt a slight stabbing pain when I apparently stepped incorrectly. For the remainder of the day after the run though, my foot hurt. It hurt Monday as well. Slight throbbing when sitting or laying down, and walking was slightly uncomfortable but not horribly painful. I could still walk on it and sometimes didn't feel anything but certain steps I felt the pain.

I iced and took Advil and it MIGHT have made a difference but not much.

Started googling and came to the conclusion that it could be the start tendinitis, Sesamoiditis, or hopefully not, a stress fracture.  Before totally losing my mind I headed to the gym to talk to the owner, who's certified in all of this fun stuff.  He poked and prodded at my foot, pulled out all of his anatomy books, and we came to the conclusion that it's most likely an inflamed/irritated/tight flexor hallucis longus muscle that runs from under my big toe, by my arch, and up my shin.  Sounds fancy, right? 

As of right now we're treating it as if it was plantar fasciitis, another fabulously painful running ailment.  Stretching, massaging, icing, advil, all that fun stuff.  I'm also taking the rest of this week off from running to see if it feels any better.  Wearing sneakers every day to work isn't ideal but I'm doing it and no one has said anything to me yet.  At least I have a good excuse!

I'm going to try putting the anxiety aside for now.  Before I talked to my trainer, I was having a slight mental breakdown that I wouldn't be able to run for a few weeks/months.   I would tear up just thinking about possibly not being able to run.  I then talked to my Running of the Ears gang and they reassured me that God forbid I am forced to stop running until the race, that some of them have done the same thing in the past and have crossed that finish line.  It might not have been pretty but they did finish the race.  That reassurance helped me as well. 

So that's my past week in a nutshell.  Hoping next week is better!  Cross your fingers for me!

Disney Store Times Square D23 & Press Event Recap...

Whew! I felt like this post would never get written!  It's been crazy busy over here with school, running, family visiting from Greece, work, etc, etc...

The past Sunday and Monday have been complete Disney Store overload, and I loved every minute of it!

I told you guys earlier that this past Sunday Dan and I were going to the exclusive D23 Sneak Peek event that they held for members.  I won't give too many specific details since I think there are 5 million recaps already on the interwebs, but I'll overload you with a ton of pics and a few highlights.  If you want to read Dan's recap of the event, check out his post on The Disney Blog!

Getting into the city bright and early, I pretty much had over an hour before the event was scheduled to start.  They've been working on the George Washington Bridge for what seems like forever so you never know if you're going to hit hour long traffic at 3am, 6am, or normal rush hour.  Luckily this time I didn't hit any and I was out my front door and parking by Times Square in under 15 minutes! 

My early arrival did allow me to take some semi-empty photos of the outside facade of the store.  And as I was taking pics, Dan arrived!

The store is definitely beautiful and you can tell that the Disney Store gang kept up with the Disney standards in terms of detail. The first thing to catch your eye is the beautiful New York theme right as you walk in. The first floor consists of a mix of the ever popular Vinylmations (which everyone at the D23 event ATTACKED!), exclusive NYC merchandise, Disney Broadway items, adult clothing, holiday items, edible sweets, and a long wall of plush characters.































Oh, and did I mention we got some spiffy free mouse ears?

We headed upstairs for the main portion of the festivities...breakfast and then listening and meeting the two headliners...President of Disney Stores Worldwide, Jim Fielding, and the voice of the Little Mermaid, Jodi Benson.

Jim was introduced to the crowd and welcomed everyone to the event. He gave us a quick recap of what it took to get the store up and running, the 24-hour store shifts, among other tidbits. He then opened up the floor for some Q&A time with the guests. He was very open about everything and joked around with some of the questions.



















Jodi Benson took the stage next and said a few words before starting to sign autographs with the limited edition D23 canvas paintings that were available for purchase.













After Jodi finished talking, Dan and I continued to wander around and take in the rest of the highlights of the store.  We possibly went up and down that escalator eight times, EASILY!  :)  After finally getting our fill of the new store and realizing we had been in the store for well over 3 hours, we headed out into the fresh air.  The NYC Marathon was also taking place that day so what better way to close out the day than go and cheer on those amazing runners?  (I'll post some of those photos later in a new post if I can)

The very next day I found myself heading back into the city to attend the press event that was being held the day prior to the grand opening celebration.  I was lucky enough to be asked to cover the event for The Disney Blog and instead of repeating myself on here, you can get the full recap direct from their site!  I had a great time at the event and learned much more than what we were told at the D23 event.  Not to mention I got some fun swag to top off the day... a huge Disney Store bag that is officially my new airline carry-on and a cute Cast Member Mickey plush!

From here on out, I hope you guys are ready for the photo overload....Did I mention this place is beautiful? :)

It was a great few days and both days were impressive.  I'm hoping that the great turnout for the D23 event will prove to the D23 gang that they need to schedule a lot more events in the NYC area.  It was great meeting all of my fun Disney twitter gang and hoping we can all get together again before the holidays!

I'm also hoping to get back to the Times Square Disney Store again in the next few weeks. They had already ran out of a t-shirt size that I wanted so I need to go back and see if they're in stock yet! I'll keep you guys updated if anything changes! :)

How Awesome Will This Medal Look Around My Neck!?

The Disney Parks Blog just posted a quick blog post about the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend and front and center was this fabulous photo:

Photo Courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

The brand new medal for the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon!  A few months ago guests were invited to vote for one of three possible medal choices, the winner then became the official medal of the race.  While I will miss having the traditional Mickey that I saw in previous years, I do have admit that this one is pretty fabulous as well. 

Just seeing the medal gets me even more excited about the marathon!

Because, as a lot of runners say..."It's All About the Bling!"

What do you guys think?  Do you like the new medal?  Better than last years?

Photo from mikewas

Did I Really Enjoy a 16 Mile Run??

Yes, you read that correctly...I somehow, freakishly, semi-enjoyed my first 16-mile run this past weekend!  More on that in a little bit though.

It was pretty cold and crappy during the week so both of the weekday runs ended up on the treadmill.  Wasn't a huge fan but they weren't as torturous as past treadmill runs have been.

11/2/10:  4 miles of speed intervals...Had the speedy portions up to 6.5mph and recovered at 5.0mph.  Started out doing 2 mins of speed, 2 mins of recovery but then started feeling my body tiring out so dropped it to 1 min speed, 2 mins recovery.  Still felt good when done though.  Next time I have to force myself to stick to the 2min/2min rotation.  Overall time was 44:20, or an 11:04 pace. 

11/4/10:  5 miles steady pace...Another uneventful treadmill run.  Honestly not much to report about!! Just wanted to get it over with, I haven't run on a treadmill for that long in years!  I have to make sure NOT to make a habit of it.  Overall time was 54:30, or a 10:53 pace.

11/6/10:  16 mile long run (Garmin Data)... I went to bed the night before hoping to get out in the park fairly early.  Guess who forgot to charge their Garmin though?  When I realized it I quickly plugged it in but it bumped back my run by at least an hour.  There was NO way I was attempting 16 miles without my trusty Garmin!!  Since my 14 miles two weeks prior was pretty horrendous, I wasn't expecting much better for this run.

Decided to not pick a slower pace starting out and just played it by ear.  Trying something new this time around, I ran the first mile completely and then decided on a modified Galloway program where I would walk for one full minute every time my Garmin beeped at each mile.  That gave me time to drink my Gatorade/water mix and eat my Gu Chomps all while saving some energy.  It would also help simulate water stops along the course, as well as the obligatory character photos that are needed in every Disney race. :)

At mile 4 I started eating the Gu Chomps, one Chomp at each walk break.  This kept up for the majority of the run and I had no complaints whatsoever.  I also ran with 40oz of Gatorade/water.  It sounds like a LOT of liquid but they say you should drink 2-4oz of water each mile.  I did have some left over after my run but I'd rather have too much liquid than not enough.

I honestly think the walk breaks helped a LOT.  Not sure if it was just a mental thing or if it really did help conserve my energy but by mile 13, I was still feeling pretty decent.  Up until mile 11 I was completing my miles in under 11 mins, which is my goal in the race.  By 13.1 I had put up my third best half marathon time and still had some gas left in the tank!  The last 3 miles were definitely slower than the first 13 but to me it's still uncharted territory so I'm completely OK with it.

Also wore my IT Band wraps this time around and had NO problems at all, which I'm thrilled about!  The CW-X running tights I wore, which are similar to compression tights, might have also helped my legs.  Who knows? But either way I'm happy!


So overall, this past week of training went pretty well although I will admit I'm glad another very long run is behind me.  That means only 3 (omg!) super long runs remain and then the tapering begins...yikes!!!

Taking Over Times Square

When Disney announced awhile back that they were closing down the World of Disney store in NYC, I was slightly heartbroken.  I had only been able to make it to the store once or twice and was upset I wouldn't be able to go anymore.  Then I heard that they were going to reopen the store with a whole new twist, cutting edge technology, and all that pixie dust that Disney is known for so I've been following the progress and news pretty closely.

In what I thought would be unrelated news, I'm a Charter Member of D23 as well.  I had actually been considering NOT renewing my membership since so many of the events were only in the CA area and nothing much for the NY members.  I know, I'm a horrible fan... :)  A few weeks ago though, the NY/NJ contingency of D23 members started twittering about a Sneak Peek of the new Times Square store just for us.  Sure enough, when I went to go look, there was all the info!  November 7th...D23 Sneak Peak event!  I marked my calendar, set a few alarms for when tickets were going on sale, and crossed my fingers. 

According to the D23 website...

Start spreading the news! The Times Square Disney Store is about to open its doors, and D23 Members have the chance to be among the first to explore this incredible location.

Guests will be treated to a delicious complimentary continental breakfast inside the breathtaking new venue, located in the heart of New York City. Jim Fielding, President of Disney Stores Worldwide, will share behind-the-scenes stories of the design, development, inspiration and evolution of this unique retail design. And Disney Store cast members will be on hand to show off the store's interactive exhibits.

Five exclusive Grand Opening limited-edition stretch canvas pieces inspired by five Disney princesses — Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Tiana and Cinderella — have been created to commemorate this D23 event. As a special treat, Jodi Benson, voice of Ariel, will be on hand to sign the Ariel print Certificate of Authenticities. 100 of the Ariel Prints will be available, and only 10 each of the other four Princess Prints have been created. These stunning works of art will be available exclusively at this special event. Each canvas retails for $129.50.

As a special bonus, every guest will receive a discount card good for 20% off any purchases made that day!

Since each D23 member is allowed to bring one guest, my friend Dan and I agreed that if I was able to get tickets, he would be my +1.  Some of you know Dan as @danielwanderman on Twitter and a few other guest blog appearances in the Disney community.  If you're not following him yet... I suggest you do.  :)

Anyways...Fast forward to ticket day.  I had heard that the D23 ticket process was slightly 'unorganized/chaotic' so I tried not to get my hopes up.  I will agree that at 1pm, it was a slight headache trying to get the ticket website to work correctly.  It didn't start to work until at least 1:02 and I originally received an error when I clicked submit.  But sure enough, if you guys saw on Twitter, I was actually one of the lucky ones that was able to snag tickets!  I'm not sure how many tickets they had available, but rumor is less than 100.  Tickets apparently sold out in less than 2 minutes...CRAZY!!!

I'm SO looking forward to this event, you have no idea.  I've been following Jim Fielding (@DisneyStorePrez) on Twitter and he's getting us all excited.  He seems genuinely excited to have the position he does, and that's what the Disney magic is all about.  Hopefully we'll get an opportunity to meet him at the event! 

Oh...and you guys might have noticed?  I'm slightly camera crazy.  But, guess what?  Dan is too! So, if they allow us, you should expect to see a few hundred thousand photos between the two of us.  Give or take a few. 

This youtube video of the huge digital billboard that Disney already has up in Times Square has been making it's rounds through the Disney twitter/online community....can't wait to see it in person!  I was in the city for Halloween but never got a chance to get to midtown to take a look.