Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend!!! (part 1. half marathon.)

I can't say that I was very excited about this weekend this year.. for a few reasons. This was my third Disney Marathon Weekend and my third Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. I was nervous about it, because I knew that they had changed the marathon course and it would be a little bit different than I was used to. The weather forecast was terrible. (low to mid 80s. not okay for January.) Awful awful awful. Then, there were a few personal things that were hindering my excitement.



This year, my mom, her friend Jennifer, and Katherine all decided to run the marathon portion. (If you remember, faithful readers.. aka my mom, grandma, Kath, and Megi.. hahaha... my mom participated in the Goofy Challenge last year and loved and hated it, but decided not to do it this year.)




Kath and I went to the expo on Thursday after I got out of class. We had to kinda rush over, because we wanted to be sure to have a little bit of time to walk around and look at stuff. We ended up with about an hour and a half to pick up our race stuff and look around the expo. It ended up being just about the right amount of time. We decided that we would have liked to have had a little bit more time, but we were okay. One really cool thing that they had at the expo was the wall of all of the runners' names like the Chicago Marathon had at their expo (I'm not sure if it was just marathoners or not, because everyone in our group was doing the full marathon.). That was really neat. I hope that I can see a wall of names at a lot of my races in the future.

I ended up buying myself some compression socks and a jacket. I really wanted some more 2xU compression socks, since they are my new favorite, but the ones that I got were Zensah, which I also use... and were a little cheaper. Can't go wrong with a good deal. This time, I got purple tie dye compression sleeves, which adds to my collection of one pink and one red pair. I need more colors so I don't look ridiculous with brightly colored compression socks with my non-matching shorts and shirts. hahaha. There is definitely something to be said about trying to look cute when going for a run! (It IS possible. I assure you!)

On Friday, my mom and Jen flew in! I picked them up to the airport, we picked up some groceries, and off to Disney it was! First, we hit up the expo (again for me! can't get enough!), then went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. That was fun. I had some awesome coconut shrimp, which I loved! Everyone's food looked pretty yummy, though. The next thing I knew, it was time to go check into the hotel and go to sleep.. Saturday's wake up call was going to come way too soon!

Saturday. Half Marathon.

After a few hours of restless sleep, my alarm went off... at 3 am. (that's my least favorite part of Run Disney. Good Lord.) Katherine and I got out of bed and slowly got dressed.. I had a traditional half of a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast on the bus as we headed to EPCOT. When we got there, we walked around and talked a little bit, then I went off to the corrals, while Katherine went to her usual spectator spots. The walk to the corrals was REALLY crowded this year for some reason. I don't know if it was because we walked around and talked instead of heading right for them or what. Whatever it was, it was nuts. I finally got to my corral when the fireworks were going off...  (It is also worth mentioning that they played "Bye, Bye, Bye" when Joey Fatone crossed the start line. I was such a middle school girl again during that moment. It was fantastic.)

  The half was more about fun for me. I planned to pace myself well and stop for pictures whenever I felt like it. So that's how it went. I ran at a pretty decent pace until I got to the Magic Kingdom. At that point, I stopped for a lot of pictures in the park, which was fun and definitely worth it. I was not worried about getting picked up by the bus or pushing it too hard that I would end up hurt for the full the next day. I had a ton of fun. I saw Kath at her usual spectating points, which was pretty awesome (though more crowded than usual this year!). It's always nice to see someone that you know out there cheering. Props to her for being awesome and getting up early for so many races that she isn't even running!

After I left the Magic Kingdom, I picked up the pace a little bit. By that point, I was practically halfway back to EPCOT. I didn't really have any qualms about not finishing like I have before. It's crazy how much confidence can build up over a period of time. Last year, I was super anxious about the sweeper bus. This year, I really wasn't worried at all.

I had a ton of fun running the half. I love doing these races. It was a little bit emotional for me, because it brought back a lot of memories of different things and people throughout the last year. It's really good to have that time to think, though. When I'm doing other things, I can avoid really thinking deeply the way that I do when I run.  When I'm running, there really isn't any other option than to get into my head and really think about things. That's really important.. and I'm glad that I have that time.

[the full marathon post will come this weekend!]


2013


Miles run: 50.65/1000
Miles biked: 0
Meters swum: 0

Halloween Halfathon Race Recap

Yesterday, I ran the Halloween Halfathon in St. Petersburg. I went into the race hoping for a PR, but not being too excited about it. Actually, I've  been a little jaded lately and not too excited about very much of anything. Anyways, my friend Alyssa suggested that I go run with her and her cousin, so I decided to drag Katherine with me.

We decided to dress up for the race. Kath made tutus for both of us, which was really fun. I was Cruella (scariest villan ever) and she went as a "dark fairy/butterfly". Alyssa was Tinkerbell and her cousin, Bria, ran as Ariel. Though I had a lot of trouble getting really excited for the race, I was excited about the costumes.

Yesterday, we arrived at the race JUST in time for it to start. No joke. I put my chip on my shoe and then we started. It was intense. I felt sluggish from the start. I don't know if it was my lack of sleep (but I never sleep well before a race), not eating the same way as I normally do pre-race, or just my overall exhaustion lately. I was REALLY worried that I wasn't going to PR. I pushed it pretty hard for the first three miles, knowing that I ran at least 6 miles of ToT AND Chicago before a walk break. I really slowed down and walked at three... but still walk/ran and was under the pace that I needed to smash my PR. I was hanging in there.

At about mile 4.5, I thought I saw Katherine walking toward me. I was super confused. She's never come back to me before and was gunning for a PR this race, too. I was glad to see her, because I was really struggling.. a lot. She said that she had been lonely and knew she wouldn't get her PR, so she turned around. Even though I was in a terrible mood, I'm grateful that she did turn around.

Major complaint: there were not enough water stops during this race. I am used to a water stop every 1.5 miles... in almost every race that I have ever participated in. Not this time. They were 3-4 miles apart. I was REALLY thirsty each time we got to a water stop and had to grab at least two cups each time. When I got to the stop at mile 9, they were completely out of both Gatorade and water. That was my breaking point. I walked for the next two miles and cried. I felt like I couldn't finish and I was upset. I've never had a meltdown during a race before. I was frustrated with myself for being too slow, for having an awful race. I've run SO many halfs before that I was confident that the distance wasn't too tough.. that I would easily surpass my PR. I felt more fit than I had a year ago when I raced my 2:50 that is my current personal record. I just couldn't do it.

I finished in 3:08. I still don't feel okay with it.

I don't know what happened. I don't know why I felt so terrible or why everything fell apart. I'm still frustrated and unhappy.

Goal: 1000 miles/366 days

So far: 707.31 miles/303 days
To go: 292.69 miles/63 days

**okay. I guess that I'm a little excited that I hit 700 miles. I didn't think I'd get there this month. It's been really tough. 

Race Recap: Disney's Princess Half Marathon and 5k

So, I ran a couple of races this weekend. Now, I'm exhausted, but it was well worth all of it.

Disney's Royal Family 5k (Saturday)

I ran on Saturday with Paula, a friend from work. The race started at 7, which was much better than the Disney 5k that I ran back in January. As usual, I made Katherine come with me to spectate... and in typical Disney Race fashion, we got there way earlier than we had to be there, but it wasn't too bad. We had some spontaneous dance party time, so it was worth it. Soon, Paula got there, and then eventually, it was time to get in our 'chutes' (since there were no official corrals).

Paula and I decided to run together. It was her first ever race and I was excited to be there for it. We made decent time, doing a walk/run combination to the finish. We stopped for a picture with Snow White and Dopey, then made our way to the finish.

After we were done, we hung out at EPCOT until Paula had to go to work. (poor girl, I would have been exhausted.) Kath and I played in the parks until we we close to collapse from exhaustion.

Overall, it was a great race and lots of fun. I really enjoy doing the 5ks, because so many people are so cheerful during the whole thing. Disney does it right. 

Disney's Princess Half Marathon (Sunday)

I was so nervous about the half marathon, because last year, I almost got picked up by the sweeper. I was terrified and I felt like I had to prove something to myself by not getting picked up. I started in an earlier corral this year than last, so I was excited about that...  but still nervous. Katherine came again as my favorite spectator (what a trooper!). 

The walk to the corrals was backed up for some reason- I think too many people stopped at the port-a-potties that were halfway down the trail, which caused a lot of congestion. I didn't get to my actual corral until during the National Anthem, which made me nervous initially, but there was still a lot of time until the start. I talked to a lady who said that she had run the Goofy Challenge in 2011 (I was wearing my shirt) and was wondering what other races we had done together. Then it was time! I was actually starting to feel a little excited about it. 

When our corral started, I decided to run it out and not take walking breaks until the crowd thinned out a little. Then my shoe came untied. (ugh!!!) So I had to stop before I even got to the first mile, when the crowd was extremely thick, just to tie my shoe. I heard Katherine yelling for me in the dark, but I couldn't see her, so I waved and kept going. When I just passed the marker for mile 2, I passed paramedics and a poor lady who had gone down on the route. :( So sad. 

I stopped for a picture right before the Magic Kingdom with all of the heroes, just like I did last year. This year, it was still dark out when I got there, so I took that as a good sign! haha. When I was waiting there, the winner passed by on the next street. She had a 3-4 minute lead and looked like she wasn't slowing down at all. Amazing.

I was starting to feel some cramps in my abdomen for a few miles when I got to the TTC, so I was glad to see Katherine waiting for me. I stopped and got some ibuprofen from her and kept going... after a quick port-a-potty stop. I knew I had to make good time, because I wanted to stop for pictures, but I also wanted to keep a 14-something minute pace. The bathroom stop and the intense crowding in some areas kept me in the low 15-minute pace time, but that was alright. 

Running through the Magic Kingdom was fun as it always is! I stopped for some of the pictures, but none with extremely long lines.. just because I didn't want to cut it too closely. Usually the stretch behind the Magic Kingdom (mile 7-8) has been pretty mentally tough for me, but it went okay that time. I used a few Gu gels that I brought with me, which helped propel me along the route. 

Kath was waiting in front of the Polynesian and she ran with me for a minute or so and it was good to see her. It helped get me through the rest of the race. 

When I got to mile 10 and then ran up the exit ramp toward mile 11, I knew that I had redeemed myself from last year. I couldn't even see the end of the line of people behind me. I had stopped for pictures and for a bathroom break and I was still at a 15:15 pace, which, naturally, is much slower than my typical pace, but decent for a Disney race, where I care less about time and more about pictures and fun. At that point, I knew I could do it.

It started pouring when I was at mile 11-12, which was rough, because the rain was so cold. I just sped up in order to push through and finish, because I was almost there. I was a little disappointed,  because I knew that Mrs. Incredible was up ahead of me, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stop and see her. She went back in the trailer due to the rain. I was definitely disappointed.

Then I saw my favorite spectator (well second favorite, considering Kath's been to almost every race that I've run that she hasn't run to spectate)... the lady in the power wheelchair with the sign that says "hey stranger, I'm proud of you!" That definitely got me to speed up for the last mile of the race. 

I finished with a "Disney PR", just meaning that I ran faster than I've run for any of the other Disney races- even though my time is about 30 minutes slower than my real PR, it's okay. I love Disney races for the entertainment and the pictures. Amazing. 

Time to start training for my next challenge!

Goal: 1000 miles/366 days

So far: 149.2 miles/58 days

To go: 850.8 miles/308 days

Disney Marathon Weekend Day Two: Half Marathon

I had a request to put up part two of my three part series, so I'm back. haha. :)

Day Two was nicknamed: "Am I seriously up this early in the damn morning to run a half marathon?"

The half marathon day was VERY exciting, as all four of us were participating: my mom, my sister, my best friend, and myself. It was to e my sister's first half marathon at fourteen, which was something to look forward to. She seemed pretty anxious about it, but didn't really feel too forthcoming about her feelings. She is fourteen after all.

I do have to say that three in the morning is overwhelmingly early to get ready to go run a half marathon. Gracious. I've run eight half marathons now, and Disney definitely does it early. It's pretty clear why, but still, it was tough getting up. Anyways, we all got ready and I called my grandma to say good morning/good night. She's the only person I know who can be counted on to be awake at that time regularly. We had breakfast (peanut butter sandwiches! yum!). Then we went off to the bus stop. Again, like Friday, it was cold in the morning. Fortunately, the bus was sitting there when we got there and we got right on. Last year, I remember taking a nap on the bus ride to EPCOT,  but this year I was anticipating the race and I wasn't quite AS tired. I was mostly excited.

We got to EPCOT and all got off of the bus and walked part of the way to the corrals, then had a spontaneous dance party! And by "we all", I mean that the spontaneous dance party included everyone but my sister, who was pretending that she wasn't ecstatic to be racing soon! One awesome thing about runDisney is the incredible entertainment. From the minute you get off of the bus until after the last person crosses the finish line, each race is like a gigantic party. The DJ was playing lots of fun music that we could dance to, which was super fun. Then we started the long walk to our corrals.

I was a little bit disappointed in my starting corral this year. Last year Goofy Challengers got two separate bibs, so I was in a much faster corral for the half marathon and a slower for the full. This year, it was one bib and I was in one of the slower corrals. I didn't like starting after most of the other people and I felt like I was playing catch up for a lot of the race. It was a little bit distracting. I really need to work on my time, I guess, so that I can get into a corral that I'd rather be in and feel more comfortable in my run. I didn't like constantly going in the grass around people who were walking. Not that I'm super fast, but I'm just saying.....

So, the first corral started at 5:30 or so, if I remember correctly. The goal for this race was to take it fairly easy, to have fun, but to pace myself decently. I ended up running with Katherine and she slowed down her pace to run with me. We ran the first three and a half(ish) miles before we slowed down to a walk for a little bit. I normally do a run/walk combination and she generally prefers to just flat out run straight through. I was feeling pretty awesome for the majority of the beginning and then it started getting a little rough at mile four and a half or five. I was having some major intestine issues, so I had to take a bathroom break, and then there was a giant hill in front of the Contemporary, right before the Magic Kingdom. My mom ended up passing us when I was in the port-a-potty, but we caught up backstage Magic Kingdom, right before we went down Main Street. That was kind of fun, because we got to take a picture together in front of the castle. I was super worried about being behind on my pace and getting picked up by the sweepers, so I didn't stop for many pictures before that point.

(The main reason I was so worried about the sweeper was that last year at Disney's Princess Half Marathon, I had a freshly sprained ankle and was EXTREMELY close to getting picked up by the bus. There were probably less than 100 people behind me at the end. I think I was traumatized.)

The Magic Kingdom really made me feel a lot more positive and helped me gain more energy to get through the rest of the race. There's something magical about running through the parks. A lot of people talk about how exciting it is to run through the castle. That's not even it for me. It's most of the crowds and the excitement of running down Main Street and through the parade route that gets me. It's fun to hear the cheering and everyone so excited for you. I also really enjoy stopping for character pictures and seeing all of the entertainment.

When we left Magic Kingdom, we had to run in the grass for a while to get around some of the ridiculous crowding on the path. That's one problem with races that have such a high volume of participants, especially people who haven't raced before. They don't seem to understand to walk on one side and let other people run on the other side of the road. Frustrating.

At mile 8, we noticed that Mickey and Goofy were meeting with runners for pictures. I didn't want to stop because the line was really long, BUT my baby sister was in line! She started in a corral ahead of us, so we hadn't seen her in a few hours. Of course, we got in line with her and waited to meet Mickey and Goofy. Then my mom joined us! It was awesome to get a picture of all four of us with the characters and super neat that we all got there at about the same time.

After the photo, we all split up. I was still nervous about being picked up, even though I knew were were way ahead of pace, so Kath and I still ran more, while my mom and Kailey decided to walk a lot of the rest of the race. After that was mostly highway miles, which was a mixture of boooring and kind of fun at the same time. I ended up having some more intestinal issues which made it sort of painful to run, but I really didn't want to stop at the bathroom again. It's not that fun to stop during a race. I decided to try to keep going and finish it out. That's what we did. We walk/jogged the rest of the race and ended up mostly walking the last couple of miles, which was okay.

Towards the end, we went up an exit ramp and ended up on an overpass looking over runners who were still going. It was incredible to see all of those thousands of people behind who were still going. We also saw my little sister still trucking along down there. I almost cried. That's one thing about endurance events. They are so emotional and such a mental game. There have been many near-tears moments in my two year and three month long career in road races. There still will be more, I'm almost certain of it. There was also a lady in front of us with a shirt that said "I'm 80. I'm hot. I'm ahead of you." What an awesome woman. (I actually think that I met her later in the day, but she wasn't still wearing that shirt and I didn't ask. lol)



Hands down, the most inspiring thing I saw on Saturday was a group of about 10 people who were all walking together. One man in the group had a prosthetic leg. We passed them at mile 10 or 11, if I remember correctly, and I noticed that it seemed like he was really having a hard time keeping it going. Later, after we had finished and were waiting in line for some character meet and greets, we noticed that Mickey and Donald were still waiting on the last finisher at the finish line. They had a giant television display of the finish line near the character meet and greets so we continued to watch, waiting for the last place person to come across. That group of people, still all together, came walking toward the finish line, all following behind the young man with the prosthetic leg. It was inspiring to watch him finish the race, the confetti everywhere. What a great thing to see. Last place finishers deserve as much attention as first place finishers. These people show dedication and mental strength that is impossible to describe.

The finish took us through EPCOT again, a loop around Spaceship Earth, a quick run through backstage EPCOT and into the parking lot. Finishing Disney races are amazing. The fanfare is incredible. Characters greet runners at the finish line. The announcers are so awesome. (although finishing 2011's Fort4Fitness was pretty awesome too, finishing at the Tincaps baseball field and hearing them personally welcome "Alicia visiting from Orlando".)

Overall, the race was super fun. I'm so glad that I got to participate. Maybe next time I won't be so freaking anxious about finishing the race.

Ending Epilepsy Awareness Month

I've been doing a terrible job of being a regular blogger. That's embarassing. Sorry to all my loyal blog readers.

In my defense, I've been overwhelmingly busy with school, work, and life. I've been trying my best to become as fit as is possible. It definitely has not been the most easy thing that I've ever done. Every time that I go to the gym, I push beyond some barrier that I have had. I am continually impressing myself, even though I don't talk about it much. It's really hard for me to see physical changes in my body when I look in the mirror, but I can tell that things have changed when I continually have more endurace and strength at the gym or in a run.

The most intense struggle is still food for me. I do feel like I have been improving on the eating front. I'm definitely not at the point that I should be... and I know that if I spent more time focused on what I was eating and eating correctly, I'd be much closer to my weight goal than I am right now. I have noticed that when I am stressed out and overwhelmed, I turn to food that I know is terrible. For instance, for the last week and a half or so I've been really stressed out with school and work.. and instead of making healthy food choices, I've been eating an immense amount of greasy, high calorie, disgusting foods... food options that don't really even taste that good. Clearly, I'm still an emotional eater.

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Anyways, that wasn't the purpose of this post. As some of you know, I am a person living with epilepsy... not only that, but I'm a person with epilepsy whose father passed away unexpectedly from a seizure. As not many of you probably know, November is Epilepsy Awareness Month.

As someone with epilepsy, I wanted to do something big this month. I wanted to raise lots of money to donate to the Epilepsy Foundation of America... but I didn't. I wanted to have some event in which everyone in my community would learn about epilepsy and understand what it is like. I didn't do that either. I mostly just talked about it in facebook posts, with my roommate, with my family members... and tried to learn as much new information as I could.

My diagnosis came more than two and a half years ago. I first started having complex partial seizures in the late fall of 2008, but I didn't know what they were. I thought I was having some kind of a schizophrenic attack (thank you for the paranoia, psychology degree), so I didn't tell anybody. Eventually, I was having complex partial seizures every day... at least once. It was so overwhelming to think that I had such terrible schizophrenia.

I had my first grad mal seizure in February of 2009. I was at work in an on campus food court, chopping lettuce, when I started to feel one of the "attacks" that I had been accustomed to. My vision started to fade and the last thing that I remember seeing was the lettuce starting to turn spotty in front of me. The feeling was absolutely overwhelming. After that, I felt like I was dreaming. I was floating through clouds and the feeling was absolutely peaceful. Then I woke up, looked around, and saw a half dozen people standing around me in a circle. I had no idea what had just happened. Everything after that is a little bit of a blur. I know that lots of people were asking me questions. I know that someone gave me orange juice (and I was worried that they'd charge me for it, because I didn't have any money on me that day). I know that someone got a chair for me from the  managers' office... and I know someone asked me about epilepsy and seizures.

From that moment forward, I was convinced that I had epilepsy. I researched it and everything fit. However, lots of testing came first... I had an EEG, an MRI, I wore a heart monitor for a day.. I had an ultrasound of my heart. Everything came back fairly normal. (Can I just tell you that EEGs are the strangest tests that exist? I literally had wires glued to my scalp.) I was told that I probably had an episode of syncope. Basically, regardless of everything that I said, I was told that I only fainted and to not worry about it. Something about how I didn't have enough breakfast, although I had a bagel that day and most of the time, I didn't eat anything.

I continued to have complex partial seizures frequently. Sometimes they were so horrible that I would vomit afterward. It was such a tough experience for me, because I knew that something was very wrong, but I was feeling as though nobody was interested in hearing about it from me.

Fast forward a few months to June of 2009, I had a second grand mal seizure in my sleep. I woke up my roommate with a horrible scream noise when my seizure began and she wrote down everything that she saw. She was well aware of my frustrations with going through a medical challenge with no real answer. I called my mom, who drove me to a different hospital than I had visited the first time. I saw a doctor who quickly diagnosed me with complex partial temporal epilepsy. When I heard that, I was relieved. An answer. Finally. (yes, I didn't know what the hell "complex partial temporal meant", but it was something.)

Since then, I have learned a lot about epilepsy, about seizures, and have felt a great connection to a group of people who also live with epilepsy. I've begun to feel very driven to help other people who are struggling with seizures on a daily basis... and those who have yet to be diagnosed. I mean, I thought I had schizophrenia, a friend of mine thought she had a brain tumor... the fact that we don't talk about epilepsy definitely says something awful. We need to talk about it. The world needs to know what seizure are, what epilepsy is, and what to do if someone has a seizure.

People die from seizures every day. My dad did. He was one of my heroes as a child (along with Abe Lincoln and Laura Ingalls Wilder). The world needs to know how prevalent epilepsy and SUDEP (sudden unexpected death from epilepsy) is. Three million people live with epilepsy... in the United States alone. Something needs to be done.

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Last Thursday, on Thanksgiving, I ran a half marathon in memory of my dad. I wore a purple shirt for Epilepsy Awareness with a photograph of my dad on the back.

I wanted to PR in the race, I wanted to do really well... I wanted lots of people to see my shirt and feel like they wanted to learn more about epilepsy.

I ended up getting the PR that I wanted. I finished the race in 2:50.34 which is SIX minutes faster than my previous best time. People commented on my shirt along the way. I was beyond pleased with the race, with my time, with everything.

I ran the race for my dad, for epilepsy awareness... and I felt like my dad was with me the entire time.

November is ending, yes. However, we still must be aware. We have to talk about epilepsy... to learn about it, care about it. It is imperative.

I will continue to advocate for those with epilepsy, for myself. I don't want anyone else to die from a seizure. I don't want anybody to lose a parent at a young age as I did. I don't want people to be afraid of strange feelings, thinking they are something other than what they are. I want everyone to talk about epilepsy, to understand it... it will save so much struggle in the end.

My epilepsy awareness race shirt: