One week from today, many of us runDisney runners will own one or more of these pictured medals! Week 17 is in the books for me. I’ve begun the taper period. So, it was not as intense of a week as others.
In an unintentional way, I didn’t get to the gym workouts. On Wednesday, it was my wife’s birthday. So, we celebrated with a birthday dinner as one of the restaurants that she loves. We enjoyed our meal with one of my wife’s sisters and a couple of other friends. Midweek birthdays are so hard to celebrate well. However, my wife enjoyed her day. Since we went out for food, it took away the time to go to the gym.
I don’t think the missed gym workout hurt me too much. The two training runs I did put in were 4 miles each. I really love this 4 mile path I have found around my apartment! The times were really good ones (in the 11 minute – 11 minute, 30 second per mile range). To be honest, in both my Tuesday and Thursday runs, I could have even been faster if not for those pesky traffic lights. One traffic light stopped me for a minute and a half. That’s a minute and a half where I didn’t go anywhere. I used to get a little bummed if the traffic lights altered my times too much. However, after these 17 weeks, I’ve learned that if the traffic lights are the only thing keeping me from a super great time, I’m fine with it.
On Saturday, my wife and I ran in the Awesome 80’s run here in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl. It was a 5K course which was one loop around the Rose Bowl. On my 9.5 mile run from hades, this route was 3 of those miles. On Saturday, it was a day for fun and earning this awesome medal…
For my wife, it was an opportunity to get out on a 5K course and see how she felt before taking on the Disneyland 10K. She wasn’t so sure how she’d do in this one. So, I made sure to stay with her. I let her pace me. When she ran, I ran. When she walked, I walked. We had fun and she set a new 5K PR for her! We beat our time at the Knott’s Berry Farm Coaster 5K Run by around a minute! Needless to say, I’m one proud husband! She did great and is super excited for the Disneyland 10K!
As for me, I feel ready to take on all 19.3 magical miles! As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so prepared to take on a race than I am for this one! It’s been a 17 week roller coaster ride to get here. However, as I sit here, less than one week from finishing, I feel ready and confident that I can finish the Disneyland Half Marathon at least 20 minutes faster than I did the Tinker Bell Half Marathon back in January. My goal when I set out was to take 30 minutes off that time. So, we will see come September 1st what happens. No matter what the final time reads, I will have fun doing it.
Why I runDisney 
It’s here! It’s finally here! Great job on the 5K! Love that medal! :0)
The Awesome 80’s medal was the whole reason I wanted to do this 5K. I love it! Can’t wait to add some more bling this weekend! You’re right…it’s finally here!
Cheering for you from the other side of the country! You’re going to do awesome!! And knowing your race is just days away is amping my excitement for my own runDisney race in October!! Can’t wait to hear how you do!!! Best of luck!! 🙂
Thanks! Are you doing the Tower of Terror 10 Miler? Keep going on your training. October will be here before you know it!
Yup, doing The Tower of Terror 10 Miler. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit nervous. My shoes were tearing up my feet so I had to take a week or so off to heal and buy new shoes and now I feel so far behind! Tonight I’ll go for my first run n the new shoes with my brand new official running socks! (I’ve never been so pumped for a pair of socks before.) Hoping to get in a good time tonight, trying for 5ish miles! 🙂
Sorry to hear about the injury. I feel very fortunate that I haven’t faced that while preparing for the DL Half. Don’t stress out too much about missed miles. I think that, if you can work up to 8 or 9 miles, you’ll be fine. When you make your 5 tonight, you’re more than half way there!
Those were the best 5 miles ever!! I’m exhausted, but I feel like I could take on the world!! And no new blisters!! I’m back in the game! And thanks for the encouragement!! 😀
Way to go! I love those kinds of runs!
Good luck, maybe see you en route as we’re about the same pace. I’ll be wearing a flouro yellow shirt with WISH team on it – and maybe Mickey ears for the 10km.
If you see me on course, you’ll have to say “hi.” I’m not going to be in any costumes for the half. I’m hoping that an idea I have for the 10K with my wife works out. I’ve had horrible luck with coming up with things to wear. Either shipping of things I needed to order had the channce of arriving after the races or the sizing was off by one size. One thing I do know is that I’ll be wearing the same blue Disney D hat for the half. It’s almost race day! Can you stand the excitement?
Wishing you both the best of luck – as a newbie runner I’ll be excited when I can do 5 Kms!
Keep at it! A lot of runners had the 5K as our first benchmark as well. There are some great “Couch to 5K” programs out there. Good luck!