As I write this blog post, I’m a little under the weather. It’s been a crazy busy week again for me and I woke up this morning with a bit of a head cold. For the morning, I honestly felt like I got hit by a big truck. Not fun. I called out sick from work because I felt so bad. Mondays are not a great day to miss at my new position with Disney. We are super busy. I’m feeling better now. So, I thought I’d put out a post to recap last week. It was a really busy but amazing week that I didn’t have time to write about until now. So, let’s get to it…

After the usual Monday rest day, I was out and running on Tuesday morning. As you can see by the time, it was a pretty good run. The temps were a bit cold, which is fine now that I have some running gear to compensate for it…long sleeved running shirts! I was so tired when the alarm went off that this was one of those days where I employed my 20 minute rule…if I’m still not waking up after 20 minutes, I’d skip the run and head back to bed. Almost every time I’ve employed this rule, I’ve found myself running. Because I was feeling tired when I woke up, it surprised me a bit that I was able to run as fast as I did. This was truly a fantastic run!

Later Tuesday, I was at Disney University for part 2 of my Orientation in regards to the new promotion. This time, it was Corporate Orientation.

Gotta love Walt quotes! This orientation was different from what I remember in my first time around nearly 7 years ago. It was fascinating to see the role Corporate functions within the business structure of the Walt Disney Company. This orientation was only 3 hours long. So, I spent about half the day there and half the day working.

Wednesday was another rest day. So, I was bound and determined to make my Thursday run. After all, since the Avengers Half, I hadn’t made two mid week runs. With the Los Angeles Marathon getting closer and closer, I can’t miss any more runs. This run was much more difficult for me. It surprised me that I only gave up 6 seconds per mile. So, at the end, even though it was rough, it was totally worth it! I was honestly equally happy with the finishing result and the fact that I had made it up before work for a second mid-week run! Progress! Now, I need to keep it up!

Friday was another rest day. However, it was also the day that runDisney released their race maps and corral assignments for the Inaugural Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend! When I saw the news in the morning, I was sooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn’t wait to get home and see all the details for myself. Since they released the corrals for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend earlier in the week, I fully expected that this announcement wouldn’t come out until this week. I’m already trying to plan my long run for the weekend after Christmas to go over the new route for the Star Wars Half!

Saturday, I took complete advantage of the unusually cool temps in LA to leave for my long run a little later in the morning than usual. Since the projected high temp was going to be 61 degrees, I knew that it wouldn’t matter too much when I started out. Much like Thursday, I really wanted this run! I had been putting off this 15 mile run for too long. Those 26.2 miles that I’ll be running on March 15, 2015 are looming over my head. So, I really needed to finish this run. You will notice in the picture above that I’ve purchased a new fueling source. I used an Ultimate Direction vest instead of the Fitletic belt. One thing I learned big time in preparing for the Avengers Half Marathon is that when I run longer than 11 miles, I have trouble keeping enough liquid to stay hydrated. So, I needed something where I could carry more. I’ll write a proper review of this vest later. However, let’s just say that this vest was pretty highly rated. It gave the confidence to make the purchase. I’m glad I had this on Saturday.

For my 15 miles, I covered a route I haven’t run since preparing for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon. It’s a more difficult route than some I’ve taken. With the Los Angeles Marathon being a little more hilly than the Walt Disney World Marathon, I know I need the challenge. On this run, I would make my way over to South Pasadena. I really liked running in South Pas.! Early on, I found myself stopped at a lot of red traffic lights. So, I knew that this would not be some sort of record setting run. That was okay. The focus was on finishing ALL 15 miles.The picture above was in the second mile.

Towards the end of the second mile is Menchie’s. I love Menchies Frozen Yogurt! However, there was no time to stop.

The third mile was almost entirely up hill. This picture was taken towards the top of one of the inclines. To say I struggled with the third mile is an understatement. It was towards the end of this mile that I found a different run/walk interval that would carry me the rest of the way. I went from the run 30 seconds/walk 1 minute to a run 30 seconds/walk 1 1/2 minutes. It wasn’t until the 4th mile that I recovered from the efforts in my third mile. However, by the 4.5 mile mark, I was feeling pretty good with this run/walk interval.

Along Orange Grove Blvd., I saw more of these darn red lights. It’s really hard to build momentum when you keep getting stopped at these things!

 

Around the end of the 4th mile, I came up to the Tournament of Roses House. This is where the folks that run the Rose Parade work. There was some sort of thing going on with the Boy Scouts from what I could see. Running along Orange Grove Blvd. is really fun. I love the scenery and getting to see the Tournament of Roses House is a highlight for this stretch! By the time I got here, I was grooving with my new run/walk intervals.

They are busy setting up the bleachers for the Rose Parade!

 

This is the corner that seems to get covered best on the parade route. The bleachers are all set up! Part of the reason I wanted to run this way was to see how much has already been set up. The Rose Parade route is a little more than 5 miles long. So, there are a lot of bleachers to set up. This section, Orange Grove Blvd. and Colorado Blvd., is where most f the television cameras will be. It’s towards the beginning of the parade route.

Eventually, I would wind my way to the Rose Bowl to run on the Rose Bowl loop. The plan was to run this loop twice. Each loop is 3 miles. So, I’d take care of 6 miles at the Rose Bowl. It almost worked as I had hoped. I thought it was 6 miles to get to the loop. Then, I’d do 6 miles at the Rose Bowl. Following that, I should be around 3 miles back to the apartment. I was so close. I started the Rose Bowl loop at 5.3 miles. After two loops, I left the Rose Bowl at 11.5 miles. So, I was about a half mile off. Running the Rose Bowl is another thing I haven’t done in a while. It was fun to run around the stadium again. There are always so many people out running, walking, cycling, walking the dogs, etc. that’s a place where I can feel like I’m running with others…even though I’m running by myself. The two laps of the Rose Bowl were pretty successful. I had no problems finishing all of my intervals and left feeling pretty confident.

Leaving the Rose Bowl brought up my next set of climbs. I opted to walk up this half mile climb up to Orange Grove Blvd. and then to Colorado Blvd. It slowed my time down a bit. However, I needed the break. I was feeling pretty tired as I climbed up. I thought that, if I had tried and failed on a run interval, that might have torpedoed my efforts. So, I opted for a safer plan. Walk the climb and then get back to running.

Getting back to Colorado Blvd., brought more traffic lights…more red lights. Oh well. By the time I got here, I was knew I’d finish all 15 miles! I ran the half marathon distance in a respectable time of just over 3 hours. For most of my run, I was sort of targeting finishing 15 miles in 3.5 hours. That goal was totally in reach at the end of 13.1 miles. Unfortunately, my body had enough and rebelled on me in the final 2 miles.

So, I followed this advice. I ran as much as I could…walked when I needed to…however, I didn’t need to crawl to finish all 15 miles! As a matter of fact, I surprised myself and held to my intervals for the entire last half mile!

When it was over, I was sooooooo happy! 15 miles in the books!

It might have been slower than I would have liked. However, it was the longest distance I’ve covered since running the Walt Disney World Marathon back in January. So, no matter how slow, I was pretty darn happy to finish. It makes me feel like I’m actually training for a full marathon now!

I got back from my run, took an cold bath (they seem to work pretty well for me…so I’m not going full blown ice bath until I need it), showered, got an hour nap. Then, Brooke and I headed off to see my mom perform in her church Christmas musical! Good times! My uncle even made it out to see her!

After that, we were off to the OC to see our friends for dinner and some Christmas lights. The pic above is of this house…

I love the Mickey Snow Man! However, it was only second favorite house of the night…

This house is like Santa threw up all over it!

After a busy Saturday, Sunday started off with chores. We had some friends over for dinner before heading off to see more Christmas lights.

The Hastings Ranch area of Pasadena is AMAZING! Here are some of the highlights!

 

 

Yoda Santa!

From there, we went off to “Christmas Tree Lane.” Again…AMAZING! The trees over you were all decorated.

Last, we headed off to another Christmas Tree Lane of sorts that’s a little closer to Brooke and myself. Both of these roads were spectacular!

As you might imagine, by the time we got home, both Brooke and I were wiped out. So, I wasn’t able to have the time to put up a proper blog post recapping the week. Also, I missed out on a gym workout on Sunday because the day was too busy with other things. This was a good week, though, with getting 3 training runs in and one of those being for 15 miles. LA Marathon training finally feels like it’s happening. I’m hoping the predicted rain for Tuesday will hold off long enough for me to get in my 3 miles. We shall see. Have a great week everyone!