As Mickey says towards the end of this clip…We’ve got Speed! This has been one of my fastest weeks of running I’ve had in an awfully long time!

Before we get to the training, I should mention that on Tuesday, this happened. I swore that I wouldn’t run the Disneyland Half Marathon this year. However, the lure of that 10th Anniversary medal proved too much for me to resist. Since I was planning on running the Disneyland 10K anyways, it only made sense for me to register for the Dumbo Double Dare. After all, why run both races (10K and Half Marathon) and NOT get that extra medal? Right? Argh, runDisney! You’ve just got a hold on me. It’s an addiction. While I’m not looking forward to those long runs in the summer months, I am looking forward to that 10th Anniversary medal! I am looking forward to another run through Angel Stadium and all those that are there cheering us runners along (even the back of the packers like myself).  For the third straight year, I’ll be running the Disneyland Half Marathon and Disneyland 10K. For the second straight year, I’ll be officially a Dumbo Double Dare runner. I can’t wait!

Wednesday, I got out and made up for my missed Tuesday morning run. In the spirit of the Dumbo Double Dare registration frenzy, I went out in my @ChampionUSA Dumbo Double Dare shirt from last year. I think Dumbo helped me fly through those three miles. I finished in 33 minutes, 28 seconds! I’m loving seeing the 33 in the minutes column! What’s funny is that the first mile felt slow. So, I wasn’t expecting much. However, I did a really good second mile that lead me to push through the third mile and see how it would end. As you can see, it ended really well!

So, Thursday morning, I didn’t expect much. I didn’t want to get out of bed. If not for my 20 minute rule, I would have cancelled this run. So glad I didn’t! I thought Dumbo helped me fly on Wednesday. I wore my @ChampionUSA 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon shirt on a Throwback Thursday that was also about the present and the future. I was remembering how great it felt to finish the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon and thinking about my upcoming Los Angeles Marathon, while running great in the present. On Thursday, I finished the 3 miles in 32 minutes, 50 seconds! How awesome does it feel to see a 10 in the average minutes per mile part of my stats???? Over the moon ecstatic!  Everything about this run felt amazing! When I saw that I had a chance to finish in under 33 minutes, I ran even harder!

As if the mid-week runs were not amazing enough, the good times and fast times continued on Saturday. There was 7 miles on the calendar. So, I took it to the Rose Bowl again. I finished the 7 miles in 1 hour, 21 minutes, 32 seconds. It felt so amazing that I honestly thought it was my fastest 7 miles ever! Well, when I got home, I found out that I’ve run several faster 7 mile training runs in the past. This was my fastest 7 miles since the Saturday after the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon. So, it’s been over a year since I held a pace like this for this long!

When I started this run, my legs felt like bricks. The wife and I had dinner the night before with some friends and were out too late. So, I didn’t get the kind of sleep I should have. However, in spite of how I felt, I kept going on my run/walk intervals of 30 seconds run/1 minute walk. Everything loosened up by the end of the first mile. I was really happy with my time in the first mile (just over 11 minutes which is amazing for me on the Rose Bowl loop!). I focused on hitting every run interval on this run and tried not get too ahead of myself. By the end of the second mile, I was still under a 12 minute per mile pace! The fast times continued through the third mile (the easy one of loop). I crossed the end of the 3rd mile at 34 minutes and change! Of the times I’ve run the Rose Bowl loop, this was a fantastic time! It’s slower than I do on the week days. However, on the week days, I’m also ending at 3 miles. So, I switch my run/walk intervals up in the last mile to see how much time I can make up. With 4 miles to go after this mile, I didn’t want to push myself to a bad place and risk not finishing or watching my average minute per mile drop drastically.

I knew that the last full loop would be more challenging. After all, I just finished 3 miles. The 4th mile, like the first mile, is the most difficult mile I would face. This is where, in the past, I’ve gone over the 12 minute per mile pace. So, I just focused on hitting all my run intervals and let the time be what it was going to be. I was thrilled to still be almost 2 minutes faster than I needed to be for a 12 minute per mile pace at the end of the mile! I was so determined not to let the 5th mile beat me! Throughout that mile, I kept telling myself how much I wanted to finish in under an hour. I worked hard for it, too! I crossed the end of the 5th mile at around 57 minutes, 30 seconds! I haven’t been this fast is so long!

All I could think was….I wonder how fast my 10K training PR is. It’s been so long since I’ve been this fast that I didn’t have a clue. Mile 6 was all about continuing the good roll I was on through 5 miles. This was the easy mile of the 2nd loop. I finished the 6th mile in around an hour and 9 minutes! Keep it going for 1 more mile is all I could think in that last mile. It’s been so long since I’ve been this fast for this long! This was one thrilling run for me! At the end, I felt AMAZING! I felt like a champion! I finished 7 miles with a pace that was under a 12 minute per mile pace for the first time in forever! The speed is coming back!

Sunday was a challenge. I was tired right from the start of the day. I didn’t know if I would get that gym workout in to complete my week. Even though I felt tired, I headed off to the gym. Again, so glad I did! I think part of the reason I dreaded this trip to the gym is that I knew that I was going to up my game on the treadmill. This day was the day I would attempt to run 1 mile on the treadmill without any walk breaks. Yikes! I got on the treadmill and told myself that I needed to give my very best effort and see what would happen. You know what? I DID IT! I ran an entire mile without a walk break! Then, I walked a quarter-mile and ran another quarter-mile before cooling down with a quarter-mile to finish with 2 miles. I ran the mile with a setting of 6mph on the treadmill at 0 incline. Not only did I run my first mile without a walk break in probably more than a year or two, but I finished out the rest of the workout as planned!

This came out on Sunday. By the time this post goes live, it will be 27 days until the Los Angeles Marathon! I watched friends of mine this week going 20+ mile training runs for the LA Marathon. The marathon is calling. I can feeling pulling me to the finish. What a difference it makes to be someone who has completed 20 miles vs. someone who hasn’t. Since finishing 20 miles, I feel so much more excited about the LA Marathon! It’s coming up fast! I’ve got one more long run coming up this weekend before hitting taper town. So, this is the last really hard training week before the Los Angeles Marathon. Wish me luck. By the way, the LA Marathon is counting down the days until the marathon with postings featuring all 29 previous Los Angeles Marathon finisher medals. What kind of sucks about this is that we won’t get the reveal of the 30th Anniversary medal until either the day of the race or the day before.

Have a fantastic week everyone!