Dopey Challenge Accepted! Sort Of..

The runDisney website has finally updated the dates of race weekend for 2015.

It is starting to get real. Unfortunately, so is the decision that I had to make.

I want to put out there that this decision was made solely on my own, however I had the support from my husband, my mom, my sister and my best friend. Throughout the course of the past few months I have been having an internal debate as to whether or not I should do the Dopey Challenge at Disney World. The pro and con list has gone back and forth and it's taken a very long time to make the final decision.

As much as it pains me right now, I know that the mature/adult decision would be to not participate in the Dopey Challenge and so that is what I have decided.

It was difficult, and I'm allowing myself to take a day or two to be sad about the idea of not actually running the race and then I'm going to get over it. In fact, I'm still going to train for it and I still plan on running all four days, all four distances. I'll just be in California running by myself instead of in Florida running with thousands of other runners.

It's not the same, but I know that in the long run it is the smartest decision for myself and for my family. And I know that with the support of my friends and my family I will be able to make it through the mileage with or without a medal at the end.

I've been looking into a training plan and the Jeff Galloway training plan on the runDisney website is the one I am leaning towards. For the most part, the training plan is three days a week. It's manageable and I'm fairly certain I can adjust it slightly in order to fit in my scheduled half marathon races that I'm already signed up for and still be able to run the same weekend as the real race.

I was also able to use mapmyrun to plan out a course for all four races. I tried to make them all a little different so that I won't be running the same course each time, but it's a little difficult when you're running in the same city four days in a row. I think it's going to be okay though. I also like the fact that I am able to be in control of where I'll be running and I know the hills that are a part of the course. In all honesty, now that I know that I am still going to run the distance and I have a visual of where I will be running I'm getting excited about it and less disappointed.

It's going to be a test of my mental and physical abilities. I'm sure I'm going to have to continue to tell myself over and over that this was the correct decision. I know that it is though..

Let the training continue!

Santa to Santa- 13 Races in 13 Months

I had made a goal to run one half marathon or further race a month for the entire 2014 year. A total of 12 races when all is said and done.

For some reason I couldn't shake the feeling that I shouldn't leave out the half marathon I am running this December. 

Santa to the Sea was the first half marathon race that Rachel and I ran together almost two years ago. It's meaningful to me for so many reasons. 

So I decided that I wanted to include it. Since I have decided to make a scrapbook of my racing goal for 2014, I ended up deciding to just add one more month, one more race and 13.1 more miles to the lineup. 

Santa to Santa. December 2013-December 2014. 13 months. 13 races.

December- Santa to the Sea

January- Camarillo Half

February- Seaside Half

March- San Diego Half

April- Hollywood Half 

May- Mountains 2 Beach

June- Mammoth Half

July- Shoreline Half

August- Arroyo Creek Half

September- Ventura Pier 2 Pier Half 

October- Rock N Roll Los Angeles

November- Rock N Roll Las Vegas

December- Santa to the Sea





I've been told this many times, the most recent being yesterday when I was called Nutso, after telling someone that I signed up for my first marathon when my longest distance to that point was only the distance of a 10K. 

I've also heard it from friends, family and coworkers. Especially when I tell them about the Dopey Challenge.

I started to believe them. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I am setting myself up for failure. 

Then I saw this on facebook last night: 

"There is no right or wrong when it comes to your goals. There's believing, deciding, doing, achieving & celebrating. Your goals and dreams are your own- Don't let anyone take them away from you." 

I take pride in my goals. I take pride in being crazy. And I know that I need to push myself to test my boundaries. Maybe one of these days I'll actually take pride and give myself some credit for what I have already accomplished, but until then I'm just going to keep on putting one foot in front of the other.

2014 Running Goals

Since 2013 is almost over and I have my running goal decided for 2015 (Dopey Challenge in January and Dumbo Double Dare in September), I needed something for 2014, other than just training...

So when my sister asked if I was planning on signing up to run the LA Marathon again next year I decided to do it. Along with 11 other races throughout the year.

I decided that my goal for 2014 will be to run one race a month, a distance of 13.1 miles or more.

I have never done this many races in a year and I am really excited to attempt it. Having races lined up keeps me motivated and focused and I am started to get excited again.

This is a great time for me to make this goal for many reasons. I have paid off the rest of my debt and Patrick is finishing up with his. Once we are both out of debt we will focus more on saving for a house, but that is still a ways off. Secondly, the races are still far enough away that I am paying the least expensive price. Races tend to raise their prices the closer you get to race day, so as long as I am paying attention to sign up dates, I won't be paying an arm and a leg.

I'm really excited to run in a longer distance race again. The spectators, the race day experience and of course the bling are so worth it, in my opinion. Plus I have to go out with a bang!

I don't plan to stop running or stop racing entirely, but after Dopey, it would be financially wise for me to cut back to 1-3 races per year. It only makes sense to run all the races now and make it through Dopey while I can afford it. You know, before we buy a house and we're putting all of our money towards that.

I decided a while ago that I needed some running goals. Something I could work towards, train for, reach. I always work harder physically when I have a goal in mind.

So I decided to run 12 half marathon (or longer distance) races in the 2014 calendar year. I chose this goal so that I would constantly be training for something year round and as an attempt to not lose the running bug. So far the decision has proven to be positive as I am so excited to start training and so excited to see what limits I can push myself to.

I immediately began signing up for races for 2014, or at least for the months that were available. I planned out the races I knew I wanted to participate in, even if the registration was not open yet and as a way to plan out my year. I have been periodically checking active.com and other sources for updated racing dates and times for next year so that I will know when to register and what will be needed for those races (registration costs, traveling, support, training, etc.)

While searching for my next open month (May 2014), I came across an interesting race. Mountains 2 Beach. They have both the half marathon distance and full marathon distance available. It took me a little while to decide on what to do.

On one hand I knew that I may not want to run a marathon two months after finishing LA. On the other, I probably would.

That was the worst feeling ever. To run a marathon and to continue to walk for over a mile before finally being able to sit.

My dad jokes that running 26 miles is easy that it's the 0.2 miles that will get you. I have always and will always disagree and say that it's the walk back to your car.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to yell. I wanted to sit on the curb and protest walking. I wanted someone to pick me up and carry me. I wanted to never, ever run a marathon again. And that is exactly what I told Patrick when I finally made it to them. "I am done. I don't ever want to do this again."

I think there's something called Runners Amnesia. It's best defined here.

"Runner’s Amnesia:  a condition in which a runner’s memory is lost. In specified cases, the horrible mental and physical agony experienced from racing began to fade, and the endorphins from running seemed to morph those memories into fond, happy experiences in which the runner had very little to no recollection of the pain and negative experiences that occurred. In the most severe cases, this also resulted in the runner signing up for more, sometimes even harder events."

I relate it to child birth. Granted, I never physically had to give birth, but I did go through 9 hours of labor without any pain medication and with the nurse ever so kindly continuously upping my dose of pitocin as often as she could. It hurt, there's no question about it, but as soon as I could hear the cry of my daughter in the operating room nothing else existed. The pain was gone, the fear was gone, there was nothing to think about but that little girl. And I have been wanting another child for a while now.. Amnesia.

It only took about 5 days to decide that I wanted to keep running and that I most likely would run the LA Marathon again in 2014. And now here I am doing the full marathon for Mountains 2 Beach in May of 2014.

Hopefully the amnesia will kick in as quickly as it did last year.

And hopefully I don't get burnt out. I know that it's a lot and I know that I am going to be exercising and running and training like a crazy person, but you have to be pretty crazy to run a marathon and half crazy for the 13.1 distance. I found my passion and I'm going to crazy it up for as long as I can!

Like I told my best friend the other day while we were out walking... I don't want to get to a point in my life where I can't run anymore and think "You know what I wish I would have done..." Instead I am going to run while I can and enter races while I can and enjoy the experiences.

Not everyone understands the need to pay to run. I don't pay to run, I pay for an experience and I have yet to regret these decisions. Each race is different and completely worth it and as long as I'm not putting it on my credit card and am paying my bills on time then I don't see the need to justify it. And I can tell you that I intend to continue to race until at least September of 2015, but it may be past then. Who knows at this point.

And then something else happened that changed my racing plans. I had been waiting and waiting for the registration to open for the Mammoth Mountain Half. I finally received notice of when the race will be, which helped because now I can plan my trip.

But then I started thinking about The Challenge. I found out about The Challenge for the first time last year at the LA Marathon expo. It was the first year and I was very interested in it. Unfortunately, the race in San Diego was the same month as the LA Marathon. I decided to just focused on signing up for the Mammoth half in 2014.

I didn't even think about it. I just decided that I would be running the LA Marathon again in March and then running the Mammoth half for my June race. No question. I went with what I knew.

But then I started thinking about it a little more.

And I talked to Lorien and Patrick about it.

And I thought some more.

It didn't take long to decide that I will be taking The Challenge in 2014. I decided on this because it is new and it is exciting and there is an extra medal that I will receive for completing it when I cross the finish line in June in Mammoth.

I made this decision and immediately purchased the package for both races. And then I had a slight panic filled, anxiety driven few minutes where I called Patrick to calm me down. I needed him to tell me that I made the right decision.

He did what he does best and listened to me while I had my irrational breakdown and came to my own conclusions on how I felt about it. The conclusion? I can’t wait to do both half marathons! Yes, it's slightly disappointing to not run two marathons next year, but I don't just get bling bling for these two races, I'll be getting some bling bling bling!

As of now this is my racing schedule for 2014. Once registration opens for the end of the year I will be signing up for those months. I may add in some 5Ks and 10Ks if they are nearby and not too expensive.

1/5/14- Camarillo Half
2/23/14- Seaside Half
3/9/14- San Diego Half
4/6/14- Hollywood Half
5/25/14- Mountains 2 Beach Marathon
6/22/14- Mammoth Mountain Half

7/13/14- Shoreline Half Marathon
8/10/14- Arroyo Creek Half

Defining the Dopey Challenge

According to The Free Dictionary, dopey is defined as:

 

dop·ey also dop·y

adj. dop·i·er, dop·i·est

1. Dazed or lethargic, as if drugged.

2. Stupid; doltish

3. Silly; foolish

According to the most magical place on earth, dopey is defined as:

An ultimate endurance challenge.

A four day, 48.6 mile race.

Participants will run the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon

and if you complete all four races within the pacing requirements

you will be awarded the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge medal

and the brand new Dopey Challenge finisher medal

for a total of six pieces of "bling."

 

According to me, dopey is defined as:

wanting nothing more than to complete the dopey challenge

planning on spending a lot of money on four races, hotel and flight

being over prepared for a race in 2015

having a slight obsession/extreme dedication to making this happen



image from Disney Wikia



This is the first year the Dopey Challenge has been introduced as part of the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. Meaning this particular race sold out really fast. 

 

This is only one of a few reasons as to why I'm not running this race until 2015.
It's also only one of many reasons as to why I plan on running this race in 2015. It must be amazing if that many people want to put themselves through 48.6 miles in four days.

LA Marathon- Race Recap



This was the second year that we participated in the event. And at the end of the race I said it would be the last time I plan on running in a marathon. I said that I intend on completing half marathons from this point on because, as they say, I'm only half crazy.

Last year's race was a lot different than this year for many reasons. I feel like I was better prepared last year than this year. Training this year did not go as well as had hoped because I'm stubborn and cheap and refused to be fitted properly for shoes. The last long training run ended for me 3 miles short, in tears, declaring that I was not going to do the marathon. I eventually went to get fitted (about 12 days before the marathon) and did end up getting new shoes (thanks mom & dad).

Another thing that was different was the time we got to the starting line. Last year we signed up for the 4:30 am shuttle in Santa Monica that brings you up to Dodger Stadium. This means that I spent the night at Rachel's and woke up at 2:30 am in order to be awake and ready to drive to Santa Monica to catch the bus. Then we sat around the parking lot of Dodger Stadium for a few hours freezing. This year Rachel's husband, Shawn, drove us. They picked me up at 5am and he dropped us off right at Dodger Stadium. Since they'd be at the finish line we'd have a ride home. I am forever grateful to Shawn for being willing to do this. It made a HUGE difference not having to sit around waiting.

The weather was different this year as well. Last year it was really cold and at the end of the course the winds were so strong that it was just awkward and very uncomfortable. This year it was much warmer. There was only one part that I was uncomfortable and it was near Santa Monica. There was a lot of fog (which was wonderful because it blocked the sun) and it got a little chilly and slightly windy. Nothing like last year and I am so thankful that it was a beautiful day.

This year I made a goal for myself, so I feel like I was focused on the time and I think that pushed me a little more.

My main goal this year was my pace and I had a time goal of finishing in under 6 hours. To be completely honest, I didn't think I was going to make it and doubted myself from the moment I made it. But I still had to try! I actually made 3 goals for myself so that I could at least reach one of them: 1. Finish 2. PR and finish faster than last years time of 6:15 and 3. Finish under 6 hours.

I achieved all three, by finishing with a time of 5:53:04. I am so excited and I cannot begin to explain the emotions that went along with crossing that finish line and reaching my goal. But I'll try.

While standing in line for the porter potties I was telling Rachel that I didn't really feel excited or nervous about the marathon. It just was something that I was doing. No big deal. In fact, the feeling I was experiencing was what I anticipated feeling at the end. I didn't like that because I still had to put in the work to actually feel what I was feeling.

Rachel and I started out strong.. A little too strong. We had some very fast paced miles. At mile 10 Rachel said she needed an extra walk break and encouraged me to keep going with our intervals. I will tell you that I felt guilty leaving her, but I knew that I needed to focus on my goal this year and I kept going. I ended up only skipping a few running intervals during the entire marathon. A couple during each of the hills, one during a water station because I wanted the water and gatorade to go in my mouth instead of all over my hand or down the front of my shirt. I have yet to perfect the water drinking while running..

I hit a mental wall around 16. I couldn't get my breathing under control, I felt slightly dizzy and I could tell my heart rate was up. I ended up texting my mom and she responded with "NO NONE OF THAT KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK" and "U CAN DO THIS." It definitely helped and I kept on going. Then I got behind a woman who's shirt read "The voices in your head are all liars." That was all it took to take me the rest of the way. I kept telling those voices to shut up and focused on the interval I was in, not the next or the one after that. Just the one I was in. It did help that I put music on around mile 14. I've been training without music, so it gave a little extra something to keep my feet in beat with the music.

The longest I've run without finishing by walking is 22 miles, so I kept telling myself to make it to that point and we can re-evaluate at that point. But then 22 miles was so close to 23 and after 23 it's just over a 5K and I could do that. And then I told myself I could walk mile 25-26 so that I could run the last .2 miles, but I felt like if I stopped running then I wouldn't start again. So I just kept going.

I was keeping track of my time by checking my interval print out. I was consistently around 6 minutes ahead of schedule so I kept trying to do the math toward the end to see how slow I technically could go, just in case. But I didn't need to. And there are no words to explain the pride I felt for myself.

I text the family when I turned onto Ocean Avenue and could see them around the 26 mile mark. I immediately welled up and showed them my watch as I ran by saying "I'm going to do it!"

I crossed the finish line with a distance on my watch .28 over that of a marathon distance. I knew this was going to happen early on since my watch would ding before the mile marker, so I took a picture of my time at the marathon distance and my time when I crossed the finish line.

The only complaint I have about the marathon is the finish area. I understand why, but it's very frustrating to have gates lining the street for half a mile to a mile after the finish line, forcing the finishers to continue to walk to the end of the area before they can get onto the side walk, turn around and walk that distance back to find their families. I just finished a 26.2 mile run, you really want me to walk 1-3 more miles after? I saw Rachel finishing as I was walking back and high fived her as she ran by. As soon as I got back to where my family was standing I burst into tears. I hugged Patrick and thanked him for everything he's done while I train for these insane events. I thanked my parents too. Then I laid down on the grass while Rachel made her way to us, eventually putting on a sweatshirt because I always get really cold and shiver after a marathon.

I reached my goal and I did say at that point in time that I did not plan on running any more marathons. But, that only lasted about a week. Once the pain went away 3-4 days after I knew that I would eventually do another one.

 Here's my actual pace:
Mile 1: 13:20
Mile 2: 12:55
Mile 3: 13:06
Mile 4: 12:51
Mile 5: 14:00
Mile 6: 13:35
Mile 7: 12:52
Mile 8: 12:37
Mile 9: 12:39
Mile 10: 12:48
Mile 11: 12:19
Mile 12: 12:55
Mile 13: 13:12
Mile 14: 13:34
Mile 15: 13:30
Mile 16: 13:21
Mile 17: 13:44
Mile 18: 13:48
Mile 19: 13:53
Mile 20: 13:59
Mile 21: 14:05
Mile 22: 14:10
Mile 23: 13:43
Mile 24: 13:44
Mile 25: 13:33
Mile 26: 12:48
Mile 0.48: 5:48

Pre Race photo



Start line

Chinatown

Downtown

Entertainment

Seeing my family

"I'm gonna make it!"

Marathon distance finishing time

LA Marathon finishing time

My finish photo

Rachel's finish photo

Finishers medals



Isabel and me after I finished.



26 Angel Run- Race Recap

26 Angel Run

26 Miles for 26 Angels

Come and participate in a "26 Angel" run,

bike or walk. 26 miles for all 26 of the people

that were shot and killed at Sandy Elementary

in CT. It will be on Saturday January 26th,

2013. Spread the word & please come join us.

Each mile marker will have an angel at the end of it with the name of an individual who died.

We are also accepting donations for the families.

You may Run/Bike/Walk however many miles you would like.

*(Please note: This is not a sanctioned event; therefore, there will

be no police, ambulance, water stations or t-shirts, etc… Participants will need to bring their own water and supplements.)

Time: 6:00am

I found out about the 26 Angel Run in the above message by email on January 9th. It didn't give me much time to prepare or to fund raise, but it was something that I knew I had to do.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it the full 26 miles because I hadn't been training, but I had to try.

I ended up raising more than I had planned. My goal was $260 since I didn't have much time, but I ended up making well over $300 and am so grateful to my friends and family who donated to this cause. I also ended up making it the whole way with plenty of help from Patrick, my sister and her husband and my parents. It was something that meant something to me to do, to get a picture of every angel.

After posting the pictures to facebook I received a message from a friend about the angel at mile 21:
"I shared this photo with my cousin. She is very close to the parents of Emilie. Her daughter and Emilie went to school together mere months before the Parker's moved to Connecticut. Thanks for sharing, this photo has been passed along to Emilie's parents graciously."

I didn't do this run to be praised. I didn't do it other than for the fact that we wanted to be a light of hope, of good in people. This message meant something to me. Made me feel like what we did had a purpose other than donating money. It's not enough to make up for what they lost. Nothing will ever be good enough. But it's hopefully something.

LA Marathon Race Recap

30 weeks of training for the LA Marathon and it was all over in 6 hours 15 minutes and 11 seconds. My first marathon complete and it all seems like a blur. A painful, emotional blur.

I never would have made it to this point if it wasn't for my sister, her crazy goal and her amazing support. As much as I thought I was joining the training group for her, to keep her motivated and to provide her with support and company, I realized early on that she was there just as much for me too. I would not have made it through 30 full weeks of training including early Saturday morning runs, spending money on running gear and races and sore muscles after long runs without her right there next to me. The one constant thing was having someone there to talk to and laugh with along the way, someone to make the time go by just a little bit faster.

For pushing me to join my first 5K two years ago to including me for the 10K Mud Run (including my first pair of knee high socks) to completing our first half marathon and now to be proud finishers of a full marathon I owe everything involving running to my sister. I will always be grateful to her for sparking my interest and in keeping me going when I wanted to stop. Through injuries and tears we crossed the finish line together and I couldn't be more proud of us. I just want to say thank you to her before I talk about race day. So for everything Rachel, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

The 10 day weather report showed rain for March 18th, race day. My first thought was, "It can't possibly rain on race day two years in a row." My second thought was, "We never had a training run in the rain, how are we possibly going to do this." My third thought was, "No one is going to be at the finish line to celebrate with us and take our picture as we cross the finish line." My fourth thought was, "I'm not running this race for anyone else, I'm running it for me and no matter what happens that day, it's going to be great." I made peace with the weather, then changed my mentality to positive thoughts to get me through the 26 miles.

Friday night (2 days before the marathon) was filled with carbs. Yummy delicious Olive Garden pasta and breadstick carbs. I love carbs...

Saturday (the day before the marathon) was the expo at Dodger Stadium where Rachel and I picked up our race shirts and bibs. It rained almost all day, including a downpour in the morning. However, as soon as we made it to the expo it stopped, and it didn't start again until we left. I think my favorite things about the expo included seeing our names on the lead cars and seeing the medals from the Disney races, including the three medals you can earn after completing The Goofy Challenge.

I spent the night at my sisters house in order to be up and ready to leave by 3:40am. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for multiple reasons, including pre-race excitement and spending a night away from Patrick for the first time since moving in together. But I fell asleep rather quickly and when the alarm went off at 3am I was up and ready to go.

In order to stay warm we sat in Dodger Stadium with trash bags on. It was rather cold, but there was no rain and as time passed the sun began to rise. The wheel chairs and hand bikes started, followed by the elite female runners. The National Anthem was sung (quite beautifully) and the race began. By the time we passed the starting line we had heard Randy Newman's "I Love LA" at least four times. We started our GPS watches as we crossed the start line, a whole 13 minutes after the race officially began and in quite perfect weather considering what we were expecting.



Trying to stay warm inside Dodger Stadium.



Waiting for the race to begin.



A sea of runners.



Just one of thousands of awesome supporters.
We weren't almost there.. In fact this was probably about 0.2 miles into the race.


There were a few emotional moments on the course. The first was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, and we were only at mile 6. I just couldn't believe that we were out there actually doing what we set out to do. Since we had registered for the race early, we were lucky enough to have our names printed on our bibs. It really does help to hear complete strangers shout out "Way to go Tracy! You're doing great! Keep it up!"



China town.

Downtown LA.

 



Hollywood Tower Hotel



Chateau Marmont



Hollywood & Vine



El Capitan




Laugh Factory



Rodeo Drive

  

Santa Monica Pier



 Mile 17 was another water work moment. The marathon provided family members a place to send messages and videos which would show up on this big screen as you ran over a mat at miles 6 and 17. We didn't receive any at 6 (I think we were in a group of too many people) but my sisters message to me appeared as we crossed the mat at mile 17. It was a picture of us from our most recent half marathon (The Rose Bowl Half) and a message. I immediately side hugged her and told her that there was no one I would rather be running with.

Around mile 19/20 we started walking a lot more than running. At one walk break I got this really weird, really painful twinge from my right hip down to my knee. It happened twice and thankfully went away, but at that moment I got a quick flash of doubt that I wouldn't be able to finish. I'm stubborn though and just kept on putting one foot in front of the other.

We started to get a little frustrated at the mileage we had on our GPS watches compared to the race markers. Rachel's GPS was .25 miles ahead of mine and my GPS was .25 ahead of the marker. It's frustrating to think you're at mile 26 when you're still .25-.50 miles away.

We turned on to Ocean Avenue right before mile 26 and it was a stretch of road filled with tears, relief and 50 mph wind. We were almost done and I can't even describe the feelings that come along with completing something like this. It's a very emotionally and physically draining event and I absolutely knew that I wanted to do another one.


Crossing the finish line.



After receiving our medals.



Our practice run of 26.2 miles, which we completed 3 weeks before race day was at the beach on a fairly flat course. We completed this in 6 hours 25 minutes, 5 minutes under our original goal of 6 hours 30 minutes for race day. They say you're not supposed to have a time goal for your first marathon, but Rachel and I planned on doing better than consistent 15 minute miles, so we were confident in our goal. Once we beat our original goal by 5 minutes on our practice run we changed our time goal to be under 6 hours 25 minutes so that we could beat our practice time and "PR". We crossed the finish line and stopped our watches with a finishing time of 6 hours 15 minutes 11 seconds. We passed our original time goal by 15 minutes!

The support that we received from our training group and our family and friends is almost as overwhelming as completing the race itself. Without each and every one of them, we would not have been mentally or physically prepared to do this, so I want to say thank you to them. You know who you are, the pace group leaders who were up on those early mornings running the distances with us, the parents who were willing to watch children while we were out running, the husband and fiance (at the time) who were patient with the amount of time we spent away as well as being understanding with us while we spent money on races, gear, etc., the children who are learning to love to run and signing up for races, and to everyone else who provided positive encouragement.

My dad tells my sister and I that it's not the 26 miles that will get you, it's the .2... In all honesty, it's the walk back to the car that hurts the most.