I think this clip sums up week 13 of my 2014 Dumbo Double Dare training pretty well. When I wrote last week, I had not idea that my week would end up like it did. This was the most unexpected week in a long, long time for me. Let’s look at the week.

The chart above doesn’t really capture this week because I managed to fit 4 workouts into 3 days this week. As we go through the week, you’ll see what I mean. However, the workouts only tell part of the story.

Monday was the usual rest day. Nothing too spectacular to report from Monday.

Tuesday was scheduled to be a day for a 3 mile run around the Rose Bowl. What started off as a regular Tuesday changed in the afternoon. Around 3pm, the VP of Intellectual Property at Disney came to my desk and asked if I had 5 minutes to speak with her. Now, Corporate Legal has been going through some changes as of late and re-organizing. So, when I was asked, I feared that I might get told that I no longer had a job. After all, in re-orgs for corporations, jobs sometimes get cut. When we got in her office, she told me that one of the legal secretaries is moving to a different position and wanted to know if I’d like to take her position. It’s a completely lateral move. So, no promotion involved. I asked what the department does and the VP suggested I talk to the head of that department. Well, as luck would have it, around 5 minutes after getting back to my desk, that guy was leaving a meeting in an office close to mine. So, we were able to get together and talk about what his group does and what my role would be.

After chatting with my potential new boss, it seemed like a cool group to work for. My only concern was that it was a lateral move. Is that what I wanted? About 15 minutes after getting back from that meeting, my boss’s boss returned from the gym and had found out that the news was out. So, she took me into her office to explain the genesis of this job offer. She wanted me to know that I wasn’t being kicked out of my current position. With the re-organization, she wanted to see if there was anything that could be done to help me move up in my career with Disney. This was the solution that came out. While it is a lateral move, it would move me into a part of Corporate Legal that is a little more high-profile. The job, in Copyright Administration touches so many different parts of the company that it could a real benefit just to make those connections. Also, with the acquisitions of Marvel and LucasFilm, the department I’d be moving to have a lot of potential for growth and maybe an added junior paralegal position.

As you might expect, my head was spinning as I left work on Tuesday. My boss’s boss had let me leave a little early. Due to all the meetings, I never did get my dinner before leaving work like I had planned. So, the combination of an unexpected job offer combined with not getting dinner before leaving work lead to a missed run. To be honest, I was so caught up in talking with friends and family about this possible new job, that I needed the night to figure out what would be the best decision.

Wednesday was supposed to be a gym day. After missing my run on Tuesday, I had thought about making up for that missed run on Wednesday. Before I could get to that, I should mention that on Wednesday, I accepted the new position! So, on August 4th (one week from today), I’ll be the legal secretary for the Copyright Administration group at the Walt Disney Company! The positives outweighed the negatives. So, with the support of family and friends, I accepted the position. That lead to a couple of hours of training on Wednesday. The entertainment industry works fast. Now, I’m still in my legal secretary position for the Rights Administration group until then. However, it’s a transitional time for my career. I’m excited and a little nervous about taking on a new role here at the Mouse House!

On my way home from work, there were massive delays due to the Los Angeles Galaxy’s match with Manchester United at the Rose Bowl. To make matters worse, half way home the air conditioning in my car decided to not blow cool air. After an hour and fifteen minute drive home (a new record), I was overheated and just wanted to be inside. So, it was skipped workout number 2 out of 2 that were scheduled for the week. It was not looking good for my week 13 of Dumbo Double Dare preparations. At this point, I felt like there was no way of making up for what I skipped out on.

Thursday I finally got back out and ran 3 miles at the Rose Bowl! It was total mind over matter for me.

My wife and I arrived at the Rose Bowl shortly after 7pm and the temperature gauge in the car read 91 degrees! Yikes! So, I went out with my hydration belt for a 3 mile run when I normally don’t. The first mile went by alright. I was a little slower than my previous trip around the Rose Bowl. However, I was fine with that. I took in some water on my first walk break of mile 2 and continued going. After a mile and a half, I could fee the effects of the heat and slowed down. By the end of mile 2, I felt gassed. As a still pretty new runner, I’ve got a lot to learn about running in heat. Last year, I probably would have just taken this run to the treadmill. However, last year, it was so hot at the Disneyland Half Marathon. So, I figured that I need to learn how to deal with it. Even though, I won’t be starting that race with temps of 90 degrees or higher, from a mental standpoint, I need to know I will survive in really hot temps and how to do so.

My last mile was the slowest. As disappointed as I could have been for finishing in over 36 minutes again, I thought I did rather well considering how hot it was. Running in these kinds of temperatures is not fun. However, I got out there and finished all 3 miles. I didn’t injure myself nor did I throw up. So, I can’t complain too much.

Friday was a planned off day. I secretly hoped to put in a gym workout after work. However, after the craziness of the week and with the temps being so hot, I really needed the night to relax. So, that’s what I did.

On Saturday, my wife and I headed back to the Rose Bowl. I had 4 miles to finish. She just wanted to do one lap around the Rose Bowl (but ended up doing 4 miles as well). It was already 75 degrees when we started at around 8am. The predictions were not looking good. However, we got out there and saw what would happen. Much to my surprise, I had the best first mile I’ve had around the bowl! Unfortunately, that mile took a lot out of me as well. I stopped for a drink of water after the first mile. After all, you’ve got to stay hydrated. Much like Thursday, I slowed a little on the second mile and even more on the third mile. The heat does play games with your mind. The end of the third mile and almost the entire first half of the fourth was completely in the sun. I can’t tell you how many times, I wanted to just quit. However, there were 4 miles to finish and I had already missed a 3 mile run from Tuesday. So, I needed these miles. I walked a lot in the 4th mile.

Not my best 4 miles. However, it was faster than the 4 miles I completed two weeks prior. Again, taking into account the extra heat (it was in the low 80’s by the time we finished), this wasn’t too awful.

Sunday was a gym workout. After skipping my gym workouts in week 12, I really wanted to hit them in week 13. This workout turned into two. It was a fantastic workout for me. I finished my 27 minutes on the elliptical machine…

It was one of my best performances yet on the elliptical machine! Then, I made it through those assisted chin ups/dips exactly as I had previously. No stops needed! On the crunch machine, I increased the weighted resistance and did the same with the leg press machine! A full regular gym workout complete!

My wife still had some time left on the stationary bicycle. So, I climbed on the treadmill to see how much of my missed three miles from Tuesday I could make up while waiting for her to finish. I put in 36 minutes initially and was so close to the full 3 miles….

So, even though my wife had finished, I asked if it would be alright for me to finish the three miles and she agreed. So, there you have it…2 workouts in 1. I finished my regular gym workout plus a 3 mile run on the treadmill. I will say that the first mile and a half were brutally hard. After the full gym workout, my legs felt really heavy. Honestly, if my wife were not still needing the extra time, I would have quit. However, because she was still going, I kept going. By the second half of the second mile, I started feeling loose again. My time was slow. However, I did finish all 3 miles. I also finished all 10 miles that were on my training plan for the week!

At the end we were both sweaty and tired. However, we were both really happy to have finished what we set out to accomplish. Not only did I get offered a job I didn’t know was open this week (and accept it), but I was able to get all 10 miles of running and a gym workout in for a week that I only worked out for 3 days. As Forrest Gump said…Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

I’m hoping that this week of transition at work won’t be as crazy as last week. However, the temps are going to remain high. So, I’m in for some more training runs in hot temps. In Pasadena the projected highs are in the mid 90’s all week long. On Sunday, when I’m running in Anaheim and around the Disneyland Resort over part of the Disneyland Half Marathon course, the high is projected to be 89. It’s time to learn about running in hot weather.

The Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend kicks off one month from TODAY! If you haven’t done so yet, click here to get your waivers for the Disneyland Half Marathon races. Just input your last name and birthday, click on “search” and you’ll be brought to web page where you can click on a link to download your waiver. In the signature area, you’ll see your bib number. Corrals have not been posted as of this writing. However, they will be up soon.  ***Update – the Corrals are up. You can find the corral seedings for the Dumbo Double Dare, here. Disneyland Half Marathon corrals can be found here*** To those of you running in any of the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend races….we’re in the home stretch. There are only 2 more back to back long run weekends before the races. Good luck to all of you as you enter these final weeks. Make these your strongest weeks yet!