Okay, I’m super excited because runDisney announced the registration dates for the 2022 – 2023 races! I finally know when I need to spend an insane amount of money to runDisney again to accomplish my Dopey 2023 dream!
Here they are! I will be ready on April 19th to register for the 2023 Dopey Challenge! Even though I do not expect the Dopey Challenge to sell out on day 1, other races will. If you want to run the 2023 WDW 5K, you’d better be ready 15 min. prior to the opening of registration to give yourself the best chance of getting in as this will be the race likely to sell out first. The WDW 10K and Kids Races will also likely sell out within an hour or two. The half marathon will be next and could sell out on day 1. If you’re wanting to run the WDW Marathon, the Goofy Challenge, or Dopey Challenge, you will probably be fine waiting a day or two (or even a month or two).
Obviously, there’s more than the WDW Marathon Weekend happening. The first race up in this line-up is the 2022 Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend. Registration opens up on March 22nd! The Wine & Dine used to be a bucket list kind of race for me. Then, they made it a daytime race like the others. I would have loved to run through the Osborn Christmas Lights!
The next race series is the Virtual 5K series for the summer time. No word yet on what the theme will be this summer. Back in 2018, I did these races when the theme was the Incredibles. It was fun to do and it got me out running that summer. Registration opens on April 5th. What is kind of cool is that you can register for 1, 2, or all 3 virtual 5K’s. If you register for all 3, there is usually an extra medal.
On June 21st, the Princess Half Marathon Weekend races will open for registration. Speaking of the Princess weekend, that’s what’s going down this weekend at Walt Disney World. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again…as a guy, this race just doesn’t appeal to me. It’s not because the courses are easier. It’s because the whole theming is rather girly…thus, Princess. So, the medals and characters usually out on the courses are designed to celebrate the inner Princess in the runners. I totally get why so many women love this event. Additionally, I know that there are guys out there running with their wives, fiancee’s, girfriends, etc. Also, there are some guys that just don’t want to miss a Disney race. So, if you are a guy, while you may be in the minority, you will see other guys there as well. Just because this race isn’t for me, doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be for you.
The last race in the calendar is the new Springtime Surprise, which will have its inaugural year this year. The races for next year will open for registration on August 23rd. This new concept to runDisney is interesting. For this year, they’ve brought back a very popular race…the Tower of Terror 10 miler. So, there is no half marathon that weekend. But, it will be interesting to see how people react to running the 10 miler in non-Halloween times. After all, the Tower of Terror Race Weekend used to be in October. If they make one of the 2023 races a Star Wars Half Marathon or an Avengers themed race, it would be tempting to find the money to go back to WDW.
What races are you looking forward to signing up for in the 2022-2023 race year?
For the first time since 2017, I’m on a training plan for a long distance race! It’s exciting…it’s scary… but it’s real. All of those goals I have for 2023 start right now with week 1 of training for the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. Here’s how the week went…
My first training run was supposed to happen last Monday. However, when things don’t go the way they are supposed to go, you decide to switch things up. After all, I only have 3 training runs to complete each week. 2 of them should be on the week nights and 1 weekend long run. So, by Wednesday, I was itching to get out there and run. I am training for a half marathon after all….and I haven’t run that far since the end of 2017. When I started this run, I expected the worst. After all, a cold had sidelined all my pre-RnR San Diego Half Marathon training plans. So, went out just to see how it would go. I must admit that I was happy to see a finish time in under 30 minutes! The route I’ve been running since moving to Arcadia isn’t super easy (or maybe that’s how undertrained I am), but it isn’t super hard either. Most of the first mile is going slightly downhill. So, the last mile is largely going uphill. As expected, my first mile was faster than the last. I was able to keep a run 30 seconds, walk 90 seconds run/walk interval going for almost a mile and a half! The last half mile, I ran for 20 seconds and walked 100 seconds (with one missed run interval). For a first run, I’ll take it!
My second run was on Thursday. Can’t remember the last time I ran on back to back days. However, given my schedule of this week, it was needed. Just like the previous night, this run turned out to be better than expected. I was just over a minute faster! I could tell right from the first run interval that I was going to be okay. Everything felt fine as I went along. By the end of the first mile, I knew I was going a little quicker. That was both cool and scary. If you can’t tell, I’m still so unsure of myself right now. Since the last half of the out and back is tougher than the first half, I’m always scared of completely flaming out in the back half of the run. This run proved to be something where I didn’t need to worry. By the time I got into the last half mile, I really wanted to beat my time from the day before and wondered where I’d land. As it turns out, I was just over a minute faster! I’ve got to admit that it felt fantastic to be under a 14 minute per mile average pace again!
For my third 2 miles on the schedule, I decided to take it to the track. I had been toying with the idea of running a Magic Mile for my first mile on the track. I had really wanted to run one of these on the weekend before starting my formal training plan to see where I’m at. As I drove to the track, I decided to just make it two miles on the track. The reason for this is (1) I haven’t run in the morning in forever and felt extremely unsure about how that was going to go and (2) it wasn’t part of the plan I’m following. So, it’s really unnecessary. My training runs will give me an indication of any progress/regression I may be experiencing. By the time I get to that first Magic Mile, I will put out what I think will happen beforehand to see if I’m tracking accurately. Running on the track again was super challenging. After all, the track is flat. So, there are no declines to help you recover and/or go faster. Likewise, there is no incline to worry about. After walking a lap to warm up, the Garmin GPS finally kicked in and found me (had tried to get Garmin to track me on the first two runs with no success). Then, as I went to the Nike app to track me again, it gave me issues. So, Garmin was the winner this time. As I got into my first lap of tracking, I could feel some of the nerves falling off. I was actually pretty happy with my first mile on the track. By the end of mile 1, I realized that Garmin was not on point. The end of my 4th lap had my Garmin watch reading 1.10 miles. The second mile is where the mental games began with me. By the seventh lap, I started having problems running the full 30 seconds. So, I took a run interval off in that lap. However, I wasn’t liking my time. So, I only ended up taking one full run interval off. The rest were in the 20 to 25 second range. I would have loved to have finished in the time that I was at when my Garmin put me at 2 miles. However, I knew I hadn’t finished that last lap. So, to keep everything honest, I did finish all 8 laps. Garmin records this as 2.25 miles.
On top of the runs, I’m also tracking weight loss. I haven’t got my focus where I want it to be quite yet. So, I was thrilled to learn that I’ve lost 2 lbs since January 16th! I guess I haven’t weighed myself in the following weeks. So, I did get on the scale to see where I’m at currently. Still working on the plan for this. However, I do want to track this. I’m losely hoping to lose 50lbs by the time I get to run Dopey. We shall see if it all works out. For now, I’m happy to see a couple pounds lost!
Final thoughts and observations in week 1…
First off, please don’t be confused by the graphics that talk about the Road to Dopey 2023. My road to Dopey 2023 starts with the road to the 2022 Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. After this race, you’ll see me mention a week 1 again (end of June/beginning of July). That will be the OFFICIAL Dopey Training as this second training cycle will take me all the way to Dopey. I’ve got everything calendared and planned. I’ve got to admit it’s kind of scary to see those weeks in October, November, and December. But, I do remind myself that I’m just starting up again. The goal in this first training cycle is to get myself back into a fitness level of someone running half marathons. Once I get there, it will be all about the marathon!
One thing I realized this week is that I may not get the kind of result I’d like to get at the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. So, I do have plan to add the Long Beach Half Marathon to my schedule in October. As any runDisney runner knows, placement is everything! Right now, it’s way too early to predict my finish time at Rock n Roll San Diego. I don’t want that finish time to stress me out too much and make the focus simply getting back in half marathon shape. By realizing that I can add the Long Beach Half Marathon to my schedule, I hope it will take the pressure off Rock n Roll San Diego to get a certain time. I really want to run that race with the mindset of seeing where I’m at on race day. If I get a good enough result (like between 3 hours and 3:15:00) there will be no need to an extra half. However, if my training for Dopey is going really well and I think I can finish in under 3 hours, I might add that race anyways.
Another observation is how much different it is to be re-starting my running life from when I initially began. I’m probably in worse shape than I was back then. However, I have enough experience to not stress out about things I would have stressed out in the first go around. On the downside, I still have certain expectations in my head from pre 2017 NYC Marathon that I’m fighting with. It creates so much uncertainty with each run. This week, I had back to back training runs and my first morning run in forever. I seriously hated the uncertainty and what low expectations I’m giving myself. I look forward to when I get a month or two into this training to see if that uncertainty persists. I do expect it persist in the increase of distance. But, I’m hoping that I will mellow out a little bit more on the mid week training runs as I do more of them.
Last observation is this… running in the sun is so much different than night runs. Yikes! My Sunday run, the temp increased nearly 10 degrees from start to finish. Boy was I feeling it!
One more thing to share to close this post out…I’m planning on putting our a weekly update on Monday or Tuesday every week because I plan on having training runs to report. Beyond that, at this point, I’m thinking that I’d love to put out other content as well. So, I am hoping to do some quick posts to the Facebook group. If I can do more blog posts in the week, I will. But, my schedule right now is too busy to commit to that. It feels amazing to be on the journey towards a half marathon again! I have truly missed this over the past few years. I can’t wait to see what happens along the way! See you next week!
I keep hoping to get back to more regular blogging and life keeps getting in the way. Additionally, I keep hoping to get back to running consistently and life keeps getting in the way.
For example, I signed up for the Virtual Walt Disney World 10K and intended to complete this virtual 10K on Saturday (1 day after the actual WDW 10K). Even though I haven’t really trained all that much for this 10K, I was still planning on doing it. However, last Thursday, we found out that my son was exposed to a child that had tested positive for COVID-19 at his after school program. Since COVID isn’t something that is always detectable, the whole family was on lock down for the weekend. The good news is that my son tested negative for COVID on Friday and Monday! Additionally, my wife and I also tested negative! So, life is in the process of returning to normal. Right now, the plan is for me to head out to the Rose Bowl Loop to run my Virtual Walt Disney World 10K. I have extremely low expectations. But, I really want to do this and see where I’m at.
Once I get the virtual 10K done, the plan is to run 2 miles for 2 or 3 times next week. I say 2 or 3 times because I’m getting my COVID Booster Shot on Friday, January 21st and have no idea what that is going to do to me for the weekend. That second vaccination wiped me out for a little more than 24 hours. But, the first vaccination didn’t do that much to me. Among my friends, I’ve received mixed reviews of the booster shot. So, if I’m out of it for the weekend, there will be no running…and that will be okay.
The following week, I plan to up my running to 3 miles on all three runs. If I can, I plan on hitting up Arcadia High School on January 29th for a Jeff Galloway Magic Mile. I’m wanting to do this to give me realistic expectations as I head into my first half marathon training cycle since 2017. Yikes!
I’m all registered for the 2022 Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon for the first weekend of June. Hopefully, by the time this posts, I’ll be booked for the hotel we’ll be staying at for the race weekend and for the hotel we’re going to stay at for the two nights after. Since the race weekend is right after my son’s last day of kindergarten, we’re planning on making this trip to San Diego extra special by heading to Legoland on the way home! This will be my son’s first ever stay at a hotel. So, we’re hoping all goes well with that!
As for the race…I’m excited and totally freaked by it. With the way the new strain of COVID is behaving, I’m hoping there will be an in person race. I can’t wait to be running in a race again! I’m also looking forward to seeing how well it goes. Obviously, it’s way too early to know right now. This is a race I’ve seriously got to go with what my body tells me in training. It’s been a long time since I ran a half marathon. So, I have no idea how it will go. My main goal in this race is to give me a finish time to use with Disney.
After watching so many of my running friends run their races at Walt Disney World over the weekend, I can’t wait to join them next year. I’ve gone over the finances and logistics. All looks good for me to say that I’m going to run my one and only Dopey Challenge at the beginning of January 2023! We should have the money for my wife and boy to join me in Orlando. The only obstacle for them joining will be whether my son’s school district will allow him to miss the days of school.
Now that I’ve got some scary distance races on the plans, I’m hoping that this will be the year I finally get back to training. Depending on how the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon works out, I’ve got a few other races I have my eye on. After all, if I can improve my seeding at Disney, I will do what I have to. Additionally, since my running plans include some rather huge challenges for 2023, I’m thinking of adding the 2022 Santa Monica Classic to the calendar along with the 2023 Pasadena Half Marathon. There’s a special medal that comes with finishing those races and the 2023 Los Angeles Marathon.
I’m finally in 2022! It’s time to get back to some serious running again.
This week hasn’t been the week I was hoping for a week ago. However, there were some good things to report and a change to my plan for getting to Dopey in 2023 to share.
First off, I’m excited to report that I did register for the 2022 Virtual Walt Disney World 10K race! I’m super excited to be registered for a race again. While it’s not exactly the same as registering for an in-person race, the Virtual WDW 10K is something I believe I need in order to get myself off the couch and running again. From what I’ve read, I will get a 2022 WDW 10K shirt and finisher’s medal. Not sure if it will be the same one given to those who are running the race at Walt Disney World. That part doesn’t matter that much to me. The point is that I will get a race shirt and finisher’s medal, just like if I were at Walt Disney World. What I won’t get is the experience of running around EPCOT and the EPCOT resorts. I won’t get to run with thousands of other runners and experience the energy that comes from having such a gathering of runners. I won’t get the DJ and Race MC’s hyping me up. Truth be told, I’m not planning on running this race on the exact same day as the 10K will be run at Walt Disney World because running on Saturday makes more sense. It is my goal, however, to be ready to race this 10K on the same weekend as the WDW races so I can join in the social media fun.
One race that I had talked about last week was running the 2021 Aquarium of the Pacific 5K. While I do have the money to register for this race, I don’t have the Saturday morning off to be able to run this race. Why? This Fall, I’m going to be coaching my son’s AYSO soccer team. That means, my Saturday mornings in the fall are already booked. So, I can’t do the race. It’s okay, though. I will save the race entry fee. Also, for the first time in forever, I can train for a 10K race! I don’t think I’ve even looked for a 10K training plan since my first year of racing (2012). So, I’m looking forward to using the Jeff Galloway 10K training plan as I get ready for the 2022 Virtual WDW 10K. The plan starts on September 13th. All running before this will help. However, skipped runs won’t kill my 2023 Dopey Challenge dreams either.
Speaking of running, I finally did get out and do a run this week! That’s the good news. The bad news? It was only ONE run. However, it was good to get out and run with my son again. He’s convinced that he’s training for a marathon. It will be a sad day when he realizes that my distances are going to get to the point where he doesn’t want to run. This week, we got to run a full two miles. Of course, running with the boy meant that we had quite a few walk breaks and outright stop and rest breaks. For the first half mile, we did the run/walk/run with daddy’s intervals of run 30 seconds, walk 90 seconds, and repeat. After a half mile, we took our first stop. I tried to get him to keep going. But, by 0.60 miles, he didn’t want to run anymore. So, we continued toward the 1 mile point just walking. My boy is starting kindergarten in about 10 days! His school is divided in two campuses that are very close together. In our last run, we went to the campus he will be at from 2nd – 5th grades. This week, we went further to get to the campus he will be at for the next two years! It was kind of exciting to get there.
The downside, though, is that the play equipment were pretty much open to the public. So, instead of heading home, Colton needed some time to check out the new play equipment. So, I stopped the clock for a while. On the way home, I was totally expecting to walk the entire way. However, after about a quarter mile, Colton took over our run intervals. I didn’t time them. So, I have no idea how long each lasted. Each run came whenever he was inspired to run. So, that was fun.
While it’s been great to get out and run once, I know that my goals will require more than that. If you’ve watched the Olympics over the past week, you’ve probably heard all the talk surrounding Simone Biles. My opinion is that she did the right thing by withdrawing from competition. When you listen to the elite gymnasts talk about it, something that becomes incredibly evident is how important it is to be on point mentally. As a person who has attempted runs where I wasn’t there mentally, I can vouch that this isn’t only true of gymnastics, but other areas of life as well. This comeback for me is quite frustrating because of how many runs have already been missed. Since I’m not doing that 5K in October, my focus has changed. Between now and September 13th, I’m looking to merely build momentum. If I can get myself running 3 miles 3 times a week…AWESOME! If not, it’s okay. The training plan takes me from a first weekend “long run” of 1.5 miles to a max of 6.5 miles in December. I’m not chasing any finishing times with this virtual 10K. I just want to get my body to the point where I can do it again.
Depending on how my times look on the 10K day, I’ll evaluate what kinds of goals I want to pursue for the 2022 Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. Since there are 3 weeks between the Virtual 10K and when I need to start training for the Rock N Roll San Diego Half Marathon, I’m planning on taking the weekend before my RnR San Diego training to do one of those Jeff Galloway Magic Miles to help me with my goal setting. After all, it is likely that my time at the RnR San Diego Half Marathon will be my proof of time for the 2023 Dopey. Since the goal of Dopey is merely to finish and show myself that I can do really hard things again, my finish time at RnR San Diego ultimately doesn’t matter too much. I mean, I’d love to avoid the last corral for those Dopey Challenge races. My secondary goal for Dopey is see where my physical condition is as I get ready for the 2023 Los Angeles Marathon. There ‘s a part of me that wants the LA Marathon to be the one where I finally have a sub 6 hour race.
While I didn’t get in all the running I had hoped for this week, I did manage to have some fun. Swimming with my boy is always fun!
Also, Colton is really interested in baseball right now. So, we went to the park and worked on his throwing and catching the ball.
I hope that you’re all doing well and getting out there to pursue your dreams (whatever they may be). Let’s make this coming week LEGENDARY!
I’m writing this post on Sunday afternoon for a Monday morning post. However, I feel like I’m finally in the right place to get going on all these running goals. Actually, I feel like life is finally starting to move in the right direction again!
For starters, last Friday was the last day of the probation period for my job. Guess what? I’m still working! Getting past the probation means a raise and the addition of healthcare benefits. That alone is worthy of being excited about. Since getting fired by Disney on my birthday last year, my family has had MediCal Insurance. The great part is that this insurance didn’t cost us anything. The bad part is that we got what we paid for. While having any insurance is a good thing, you don’t always get quality service. That was our experience with MediCal. The service was awful. So, getting back to higher cost healthcare is a good thing. Plus, if I read my employer’s information correctly, it looks like my wife will get to go back to her doctors and my boy will get to go back to his. I’m the only one who has to find someone new. So, that’s pretty cool!
The part about getting to keep my job that means the most, though, is proving to myself that I do have it within me to be a paralegal. I do know my work product enough to know that I’ve got a lot of room to grow. Fortunately, my boss knew this going into hiring me. Obviously, my performance must not have been too disappointing or I’d be looking for a new job right now. Last week was a little emotional for me because it told me that I’m better at my job than my previous boss let me believe. I do miss working at Disney. It was my dream company to work for. But, I now have a boss that understands where I’m at and sees potential in me to grow. Now that these 90 days are over, I can settle into the job and just focus on getting better. It’s a nice place to be!
Now that the job situation is settled, I can feel the mental shift happening to where I can start working on other parts of life. A benefit of having a job is finding the ability to plan again. Just today, the wife and I worked out our plans for our 12th Wedding Anniversary (happening August 8th)! We also worked out what to do on my birthday (August 28th). What are we doing???
We’re going to Disneyland!!!!!!!!!! I’m beyond excited to return to my favorite place on the planet! Aaaaaaaaand, I’m getting to use comp tickets I earned while working for Disney to get in! Even better! I went online to see what was available and my birthday was open for Disneyland. I put in the comp ticket numbers and they were accepted. So, for the first time since January 2020, I’ll be heading to the original Disney theme park and my happy place! I can’t wait!
The other plan that will be put into action this week is that I plan on signing up for the 2022 WDW Virtual 10K on July 30th! While it’s not as exciting as getting to run through the parks, it’s a start. Also, it gives me incentive to get out and run again this week. In addition to that, either this week or next week, I’m planning on signing up for the Aquarium of the Pacific 5K, which is part of the Long Beach Marathon Weekend. Hopefully, training for these races will set me up nicely for the training I’ll need to complete for the 2022 Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. Then, around a month after that, training will begin for the 2023 Dopey Challenge. So, the dominoes are starting to align.
All that’s left is get out and run. Next week, I believe that I’ll finally have some training runs to report on. Wish me luck! It’s time.
Why I runDisney 