We are now less than two weeks away from these medals! This past weekend was the final big run weekend before the races. Week 16 of training went a lot like week 15. There were no mid-week training activities to report. I had hoped leaving work a half hour early would solve the problem. However, it didn’t work out this week. So, I’m going to be trying something new this week and it’s something I’ve been dreading ever since I started running…morning runs. I am not a morning person at all. So the thought of doing this scares me. So, we’ll see how it works out.

On Wednesday, my wife and I took our niece to see the Angels play the Philadelphia Phillies at the Big A.

We had some pretty nice seats for the game. I got the tickets at 50% off because I voted for Garrett Richards to be the last player added to the All Star team back in July.

I can’t wait to run in the stadium soon. We’ll enter right under the State Farm sign!

The Philly Fanatic came out to the Big A for the game as well. Here he is playing dueling banjo’s in between the top and bottom of the 5th innings.

The Halos were down 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Then they loaded the bases…

Howie Kendrick came through with a clutch single that put the Angels up for good and the crow went wild!

The Angels brought in their closer for the top of the ninth…

And the Angels finished off the victory….

Halos won 4-3! It was a fun game with a great outcome. Additionally, it was fun having our niece with us at the game. They handed out baby rally monkey bobble head dolls to the kiddos. So, our niece got a free souvenir.

On Saturday, I decided to have this weekend be the dress rehearsal for the Dumbo Double Dare. So, that meant running 6.20 miles instead of the scheduled 5. Why the change? Well, I’ve missed so many runs in this training cycle that I needed to do a Dumbo Double Dare practice to give me some confidence heading into the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend.

For this run, I decided to alter my run/walk interval from 1 minute run/ 1 minute walk to a 30 second run/1 minute walk. On my 11 miles at Santa Monica, going to this interval proved to be pretty good. So, I thought I’d try it out and see what happens. I got up early to beat the heat as much as possible. The 6 mile loop around my apartment was my choice for where I’d run. I would have preferred running at the Rose Bowl. However, there was a 5K/10K race happening.  So, I chose the 6 mile loop and would add 0.2 to the end of it.

My new running intervals worked out pretty well for this run. Don’t let my finish time say too much about how I felt. In miles 4 and 5, I was stopped at quite a few stop lights. This 6 mile loop is one I’ve run a few times before and have been largely unsuccessful. The thing about this loop is that the first 2 miles are largely downhill or flat. Mile 3 is where you start going back up. This is the mile that has tripped me up many times in the past. So, when I made it through pretty well, I knew this was going to be a good run. I took the above picture in front of Pasadena City College towards the end of mile 4.  This mile is pretty flat, but mile 5 had a lot of up hills to it. Then, mile 6 is largely downhill or flat. So, it’s a pretty cool loop. In the 6th mile, I ran by fellow run blogger Juliana. I felt pretty good in that last mile. Unlike the last time I ran by her when I was feeling miserable. In the last half mile, I switched up my intervals to my regular 1 minute run/ 1 minute walk. It felt great to know I could make the switch.

On Sunday, for the half marathon portion of my Dumbo Double Dare dress rehearsal, I went back to Santa Monica. This time, I switched up my usual route. Normally, I’ve headed from Santa Monica towards Venice. This time, I headed the opposite way. This part of the path is my least favorite because we have to go on a narrow trail that is shared with cyclists. I thought putting it at the start would make it easier to deal with and I was right. I enjoyed running this portion better on Sunday than usual! I up this direction for 1.75 miles and headed back. The reason is that I knew how far going towards Venice and back was. This is what worked best.

I was clicking along much quicker than Saturday over the first 6.2 miles. The intervals were working pretty well. The problem with this run is how much sun I was facing. When the breeze was not present, it felt very warm.  Here’s what I noticed on both Saturday and Sunday about my new intervals. I had no problems actually finishing the 30 seconds of running. At some point in the runs, I would feel pretty tired at the end of them and contemplate walking a little more just for one or two cycles of intervals. However, by the time the one minute walk break was over, I’d start running again.

The eighth mile was where the problems started. I started cracking in my focus and missed a few run intervals. I was also feeling the need for more water. At the point where this picture was taken, I ran out of water. That was at 8.5 miles. I tried running in the intervals for the rest of the 9th mile. However, by the end of that mile, I really needed water. Since I didn’t want to overdo anything, I opted to just walk until I could get more water. Unfortunately for me, that point didn’t happen until 10.5 miles in. By then, I lost a lot of momentum and the times I was in the sun was playing games with me. I was glad, however, that I always carry cash, my credit card, and ID with me for emergencies just like this. It took me a while to get back to being okay running. I didn’t get back into any rhythm until the last half of the 13th mile. It was a really rough stretch.

I was not a happy camper with my finish time. I was happy that I finished out the full 13.1 miles and that I was able to get back to my intervals in the end. The running out of water played a role in my demise on Sunday. Fortunately, the folks at runDisney will have plenty of water and Gator Aide at the races. So, there is some worry due to how things panned out this weekend. However, it’s going to be what it’s going to be. I know that I’ll finish both races in the Dumbo Double Dare. After all, I did just that this weekend. Unfortunately, I enter these races with a lot of uncertainty about finish times.

Yep. It was quite the weekend. After finishing the run, I stopped by McDonald’s on the way back to my car for some chocolate milk. Best Milk Ever! I’m so glad that the back to back long run weeks are over! As of now, I have no plans to replicate this kind of training when I get ready for the Star Wars Rebel Challenge in January. For now, I’m happy to have completed a second unofficial Dumbo Double Dare! In two weeks, it will be time for the real Dumbo Double Dare. I can’t wait to get that Dumbo medal this year (and my first Coast to Coast medal)! Bring on Week 17!