Disney's Dopey Challenge

I ran one marathon, Country Music in 2011, and swore I would never run another one.  I hated it.  It is too far, hideous training, and I am slow enough that it takes me too long to run one that I have to take my lunch along for the journey.  My first marathon I packed Chick Fil A chicken nuggets and french fries.  I ate them on Rosa Parks Boulevard.  

Fast forward to 2013, January.  My running goal for the year was to not run anything over 10 miles at a single time for the year.  Enter: emails about the Disney Race in January.  It is a race on my bucket list.  I decided to sign up for the Marathon because I was a bit concerned that this item on my bucket list would not ever be checked off if I don't proceed with it. Enter:  A Running Buddy and his email asking me to run the Goofy Challenge.  He felt like I could do it and he has a way of making you believe you can run to the moon.  So I signed up.  I became a part of the Dopey Crew even though I was only running the Goofy.

Training went well, was fun, made new friends, felt a sense of being a part of something spectacular, solved some world problems on the road, felt good about myself, proved some things, etc.  

Thanksgiving Day I ran the Turkey Trot and with no explanation as to why or how, I hurt my hip.  One minute I was fine and the next minute I was tossing my leg over my shoulder and hopping the last mile to the finish.  I tried to heal it by resting it for two weeks and no improvement.  Saw a sports medicine doctor who diagnosed me with a severe adductor strain.  He said my injury would take me out of running for 6 weeks.  The problem with this injury is that it gets no relief during the running process.  It is used for every movement in running so it will only get worse if I try to use it.  I followed his instructions to the letter of the law and did not run.  I skipped the Rocket City Marathon that I had registered for.  It killed me.  Disney was more important.  I missed several "crucial" training runs.  My head was feeling like I was a loser and I would not be able to run Disney if I wasn't trained.

Arrival in Disney, the discovery is made that there is an extra Dopey bib amongst the group I was with.  What is another 9.3 miles?  So I took the bib and agreed to run the Dopey.  I did not wear my garmin for the 5K, 10K or half marathon.  I enjoyed those races better than any races I have ever run.  I felt so close to God as I watched the sun rise over the World Showcase in the 5K.

 Since we had to get up at 2am Nashville time every morning to start each race, of course it was dark when we ran.  In each race, I got to watch the sun rise over some part of Disney.  I was humbled to watch it go from dark to light over the World Showcase in Epcot.

 Gorgeous work, Lord!

This is one of my favorite pictures from my trip.  It was a selfie, but captured a moment for me.  I love how the background is blurred with the iconic golf ball in the background as the sun barely began to shine on it.

  In the 10K, I enjoyed the time I ran next to a lady who was pushing her leg in a cart because she was injured.  We talked about how injury stinks and she wept as we talked stating that she just felt blessed to be there moving forward.  I felt blessed from my time running with her.  In the half marathon, my best running buddy and I enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  We stopped and had our pictures made with every character and laughed in between.  We had the worst clock time we ever have had in that race that day.  But we had the best time we have ever had in a race.  We smelled a lot of roses and solved a lot of problems.  On Thursday, 5K day, My buddy and I bought a park hopper pass and went to 3 Disney parks. 

 We agreed that a Mickey Mouse ice cream treat qualified as carb loading!

 We had the best time ever.  Some were concerned that we would suffer come Sunday when it is marathon day since we spent the day going to parks.  It was a truly magical day.  We laughed until our sides hurt.  We had the goal of riding all the roller coasters in the park.  We were successful for the most part.  We learned to read a map and that just because you can see the ride doesn't mean you are heading toward it. We filled our personal fuel tanks full to overflowing my visiting the parks that day.  They are memories I will never forget.

When we got back to the condo, I threw a load of clothes in the washer.  When one comes to run two races and runs 4 races, one needs to wash their running clothes.  I accidentally washed my race bib.  In Disney, you have to wear your same bib for two races.  So Dopey's had two bibs, one for the 5K and 10K and one for the half and full.  My bib was pretty mangled after a bath.  You could barely read my corral number and the wording on the bib.  I looked like Job's Turkey wearing my washed bib.  But I decided I liked washed bibs.  It made me unique.

  

The marathon had it's own set of challenges just because of the length of the mileage.  I had a firm plan for success.  I would run 3/1 splits, not pay attention to mileage or pace, but simply focus on running for 3 minutes.  I can do that.  I had already taken a lot of pictures so decided that there was no character that would make me want to stop any more.  I would start the marathon and do my splits and not stop until I got to the finish line paying no attention to miles or how far I still have to go.  I did not imagine that a roller coaster would be open.  At mile 12.5, I noticed while running through Animal Kingdom that Expedition Everest was running.  It was the one roller coaster that Caroline and I did not get to ride when we went to the parks.  When I got to the entrance to Everest, I asked the cast member if I could ride.  They said, "Of Course!  Hop in the fast pass lane!"  It was a no brainer for me.  I HAD to ride.  I ran all the way up the cue line so as not to lose any more  time on my marathon. I rode the ride and had the most EPIC ride ever!

This is a selfie I took on the roller coaster ride!!

  It was groovy to be able to distract myself with a little roller coaster reward for running hard for the first half. After the roller coaster ride, I ate my lunch that I had packed.  For this marathon I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chips. It was yummy and fueled my for the second half of my race.  I finished strong in my marathon, Did not stop again until I saw the finish line.  It was the most epic marathon experience ever.  I got a PR in the marathon by 11 minutes even with the extra time it took to ride the roller coaster at the half way mark.  I would not trade my experience for anything.  It was the best day of my life.  

The marathon was the best as far as scenery.  You got to run through all 4 parks as well as on the Disney track for the Richard Petty Experience, and through the ESPN Wide World of Sports where the Braves have their spring training.  We got to run on the Braves field(around the perimeter of the grass).  It was incredibly entertaining scenery, very flat course, and fun around every corner.

After the race, I shopped at the Disney Running Merchandise booth at the finish line and then returned to the car.  The others of course, were already there and were laid out from tiredness of running.  I bounced up and said, "I have been shopping and I rode a roller coaster in the middle of the marathon and still got a PR!!"  They all just looked at me.  I thought they all would have ridden the ride but they didn't even see it.

 This is my group of friends that I was in Florida with.

I rapidly realized that I ran a different race.  I OWNED my marathon.  I made it all mine.  Riding a roller coaster in the middle of a marathon is totally me.  Since I washed my bib, the writing was faded badly and my bib said the Nopey Challenge rather than the Dopey Challenge.  Thus, the ride was open and no one else saw it, and the OWNING of my marathon.  Jennifer Anglin-Queen of the Nopey Challenge!

I will be washing my bibs from now on.  

Overcoming injury, healed by God Himself, smelling roses, going to 3 parks, running 4 races, riding roller coasters, laughing till my abs hurt, washing bibs-THIS is Jennifer Anglin. 

Never Say Never-A Story of Training for a Marathon

I registered for The Goofy's Race and a Half back in the spring.  It is a race in January.  Goofy's race is at Disney World and involves running a half marathon on Saturday and running a full marathon on Sunday-back to back long races.  I registered because I believed I could do it.  In the mean time I registered for another full marathon on December 14th so I could get a "real" PR since at Disney I felt like it wouldn't be a true PR because I would be stopping along the way to take pictures.  So I wanted a real symbol of my hard work by getting a PR in my marathon in December.  The race is 3 weeks from today.

If you need a reminder of what I said about marathons after I ran my first and only then follow the link to read my blog post Journey to 26.2.  http://funthoughtsonlife.blogspot.com/2013/04/journey-to-262.html

Here is the main part of what I wanted to highlight from the previous blog post:

Not everyone is cut out to run a marathon regularly.  I personally have decided that I am a bit of a "Wham" type marathoner.  The one hit wonder.  It was on my bucket list.  Something I wanted to accomplish before I kicked the bucket.  My friend pointed out to me that the general population that has run a marathon is .5%.  I am proud to say that she and I are both in that small percentage, but I don't plan to become a regular there.  My reasoning to only do one is multifaceted.  The training was rough.  I trained by myself, not because I didn't know anyone who was training for a marathon when I was training, but because no one that was training was my pace or anywhere near it.  I had planned to run my marathon by the Jeff Galloway method which involved intervals and no one I knew at that time was interested in my methods.  So, training for 18 weeks and running for hours at a time by yourself was difficult.  I will never forget the day that I had on my running clothes when the kids got on the bus and was about to get in the shower when they got home and my son asked me, "Mom have you been running the whole time I was at school?"  The answer was yes, but I began to scratch my head and wonder what in the world I was doing.  That was plain stupid, running the entire time my kids were in school.  The fact was that 2 years ago I was slow enough that it took me that long to get my long training runs in when I got up into the 20+ miles.  But I was registered, and I am not a quitter.  So I persevered and finished my training and ran my marathon.  I ran the Country Music Marathon 2011.  I finished. 

The day of my marathon in 2011 the weather was mild then got hot for the second half.  The first 11 miles ticked away like nobody's business.  They went by so fast because I was running with the group who was running for my friend's sister with cancer.  They were a super fun group to run with and we laughed and talked and enjoyed the atmosphere so much.  Then we got to the split and on the CMM course, it goes from feast to famine.  In the first half, there is tons of crowd support, lots of bands, entertainment, distraction, you name it. As soon as you get to the split, there is nothing.  The crowd support drops off, much less bands, less entertainment, less distraction.  Some of the course is through the projects and I was a bit scared in parts of it.  It was long and lonely.  My wonderful husband met me at mile 17 and ran the rest of the race with me.  I was never so glad to see him in my life.  However, I was in so much pain and so tired that I could hardly walk, much less run.  I remember at mile 23 I stopped to use the port o potty and I literally thought I would not be able to get back up, I was stiffening up that fast.  I was able to finish that race and I was so "DONE" that I immediately turned around and went to the car after I crossed the line and got my medal.  I was beyond exhausted.  I told my husband when I got in the car that I was not going to do that again.  But no one can ever take away from me the fact that I DID run a marathon.  I am in that .5% and always will be.

Back to today, I had a 23 mile training run.  I was a nervous wreck about the run.  Let's face it, who really wants to run for 4+ hours?  It's really stupid.  Anyone who is running a marathon is doing it for reasons besides health.  It may be purging demons from your psyche, it may be for the social hour, it may be because running is cheaper than therapy.  There are many reasons people run marathons besides just these.  As you read from a previous blog post, I said I would never do another one because it wasn't fun.  

Here are some things that are different now than they were for me in 2011 with my running.  First I am a much stronger runner.  I am much faster, better, stronger.  My endurance is better, and I have been incorporating more core work and crosstraining into my regimen.  I am more relaxed.  If I miss a training run, I don't sweat it.  And I am not killing myself during the week.  So today's run was much needed as a confidence booster that I can, indeed, do it and finish strong unlike my first marathon experience.  Training with a buddy or group is totally key.  For example, I made the statement at mile something, "I am NOT having fun."  My running buddy who was next to me said nothing, but ran ahead to catch up to our other buddy who was just ahead of us.  Along the way she shouted, "Hey Mr. Motivation, we have one not having fun back here."  He immediately dropped back and started talking.  He told me that I have to take my mind off what we are doing, think about something else.  I don't remember all that he said because I was in some bad spot mentally when he was talking.  However, the point is that I scraped myself up and ran the next leg very strong.

  Something else that we discussed along the way today is that everyone feels like crap when they are running this long.  We just push through it.  For some reason this was a revelation for me.  I was delighted to know that I was not alone.  That I was supposed to feel bad after running so long.

I would have totally walked the last few miles of today's run but I didn't.  My slave driving buddies wouldn't let me.  They said I had to prove to myself that I could finish strong. 

That this part was all mind, not body.  Yes the body is tired, but I have trained hard and my body can do this.  My mind wants to stop.  At one point I was told, "Your legs and feet will not fall off during this run.  You may feel like it, but they won't."  Interestingly enough, I am resting comfortably on my couch now, I have all my limbs attached and I can actually walk just fine.  Yes I am tired, but I should be.  I ran 23.1 miles today.  No one can take the pride of my accomplishment away from me.  Now I know in 3 weeks that I can finish strong at my marathon, my legs are not going to fall off, everyone out there with me feels the same way, and I can rest later.  For now, I will be a rock star.  I can totally do this.

Now, here is a great tidbit of marathon advice:  Peanut Butter and Jelly Uncrustables are the best race fuel ever!  Try it.  We had one with about 7 miles to go and it was like salve to a tired soul.  Amen.

Never say never.  I said I would never run another marathon after my first.  I am about to run my second and third within a 4 week period.  I will gladly eat my humble pie because I am proud of myself.  


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Have a great rest of the day!
Jennifer