Total Miles: 11
Wednesday: 40 min bike
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 5
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Star Wars Darkside Half Marathon
Ellen and I ran the Star Wars Darkside Half Marathon at Disney World on Sunday.
I was signed up for the "First Order Challenge" which includes a 10k on Saturday in addition to the Half Marathon, but given the injuries, I decided it was the better part of valor to skip the 10k. This turned out to be a good move, especially given all the time I spent on my feet at Animal Kingdom on Saturday. By race time I was just hoping to finish.
Ellen and I made a fine pair, me with my injuries and Ellen with a bad cold. We agreed to to walk through the water stops (at every mile) and any other time we felt necessary. We also ran a slow pace, over 11:00 miles.
Compared to Marathon Weekend, the Darkside Half has a cozy feel. The start is at the Magic Kingdom parking lot (as opposed to the Marathon Weekend races that start at Epcot). About 15,000 runners participated (compared to 20,000 for the Marathon Weekend races). The starting corrals are right there in the parking lot - no half mile walk to the start like at Marathon Weekend. There were giant screens set up showing snippets of Star Wars movies and the usual fireworks at the start.
Up to now I've only run the January races, so I hadn't experienced a race in Florida April weather. The start temp was the high 60's and it was very humid. Even without the injuries this would not have been a fast race. The most interesting feature of the race in the first four miles is running through a dark forested area with a simulated Ewok battle going on either side of the road. Disney placed simulated blaster flashes and flaming flash pods in the woods, along with loudspeakers blaring sounds of Ewoks in a big fight. It was actually pretty cool. Not much to take a picture of, though.
I noticed as the race went along that there was no part of the course that was bereft of something Star Wars related. Either Star Wars music could be heard or there was a giant screen with a Star Wars movie playing, or there were Star Wars characters available for pictures. The January Half and Full Marathons both have sections of the course where nothing is going on and, except that it is in Disney, you wouldn't know that you were in a Disney race. The Star Wars race is also entirely Star Wars themed - there are no non-Star Wars Disney characters out, or marching bands or other groups along the way like in January. I think they really made an attempt for a full out Star Wars immersion and succeeded pretty well at it.
The course takes you from the Magic Kingdom parking lot down to Animal Kingdom, then up to Hollywood Studios (no ESPN) and through EPCOT. Quite a bit of time is spent in Animal Kingdom, including running through the new Pandora Area. I got a picture with Obi Wan just after exiting AK:
About this time my knee started to hurt and I swallowed more ibuprofen - I had taken a couple just before the start of the race. It got gradually worse over the next two miles and I knew that if it continued that way I'd have to stop. My other injuries - strains in my right leg - were not that bad and I didn't think they would cause a problem. But the knee could be a showstopper.
Taking walk breaks at the water stops helped and, fortunately, the knee settled in to a manageable ache at around mile 8. By mile 10 I knew I was going to finish and my mood improved considerably.
Something I was pleasantly surprised about was that I didn't have any endurance issues towards the end of the race. My longest run since December has been 8 miles, and I only managed one of those a few weeks ago. Maybe that lack of training would manifest itself in some hard labor the last few miles, especially given the weather. By mile 10 it was near 80 degrees and still humid. But this was one place where things went my way - I had no endurance issues at all and, the injuries not withstanding, cruised easily to the finish.
So I managed to finish. As always, I find the Disney races a lot of fun - especially running with Ellen - even when I run them injured. I think it would have been a total blast to run the First Order Challenge healthy. Maybe some other time... in some galaxy far, far, away...
I was signed up for the "First Order Challenge" which includes a 10k on Saturday in addition to the Half Marathon, but given the injuries, I decided it was the better part of valor to skip the 10k. This turned out to be a good move, especially given all the time I spent on my feet at Animal Kingdom on Saturday. By race time I was just hoping to finish.
Ellen and I made a fine pair, me with my injuries and Ellen with a bad cold. We agreed to to walk through the water stops (at every mile) and any other time we felt necessary. We also ran a slow pace, over 11:00 miles.
Compared to Marathon Weekend, the Darkside Half has a cozy feel. The start is at the Magic Kingdom parking lot (as opposed to the Marathon Weekend races that start at Epcot). About 15,000 runners participated (compared to 20,000 for the Marathon Weekend races). The starting corrals are right there in the parking lot - no half mile walk to the start like at Marathon Weekend. There were giant screens set up showing snippets of Star Wars movies and the usual fireworks at the start.
Up to now I've only run the January races, so I hadn't experienced a race in Florida April weather. The start temp was the high 60's and it was very humid. Even without the injuries this would not have been a fast race. The most interesting feature of the race in the first four miles is running through a dark forested area with a simulated Ewok battle going on either side of the road. Disney placed simulated blaster flashes and flaming flash pods in the woods, along with loudspeakers blaring sounds of Ewoks in a big fight. It was actually pretty cool. Not much to take a picture of, though.
I noticed as the race went along that there was no part of the course that was bereft of something Star Wars related. Either Star Wars music could be heard or there was a giant screen with a Star Wars movie playing, or there were Star Wars characters available for pictures. The January Half and Full Marathons both have sections of the course where nothing is going on and, except that it is in Disney, you wouldn't know that you were in a Disney race. The Star Wars race is also entirely Star Wars themed - there are no non-Star Wars Disney characters out, or marching bands or other groups along the way like in January. I think they really made an attempt for a full out Star Wars immersion and succeeded pretty well at it.
The course takes you from the Magic Kingdom parking lot down to Animal Kingdom, then up to Hollywood Studios (no ESPN) and through EPCOT. Quite a bit of time is spent in Animal Kingdom, including running through the new Pandora Area. I got a picture with Obi Wan just after exiting AK:
About this time my knee started to hurt and I swallowed more ibuprofen - I had taken a couple just before the start of the race. It got gradually worse over the next two miles and I knew that if it continued that way I'd have to stop. My other injuries - strains in my right leg - were not that bad and I didn't think they would cause a problem. But the knee could be a showstopper.
Taking walk breaks at the water stops helped and, fortunately, the knee settled in to a manageable ache at around mile 8. By mile 10 I knew I was going to finish and my mood improved considerably.
Something I was pleasantly surprised about was that I didn't have any endurance issues towards the end of the race. My longest run since December has been 8 miles, and I only managed one of those a few weeks ago. Maybe that lack of training would manifest itself in some hard labor the last few miles, especially given the weather. By mile 10 it was near 80 degrees and still humid. But this was one place where things went my way - I had no endurance issues at all and, the injuries not withstanding, cruised easily to the finish.
So I managed to finish. As always, I find the Disney races a lot of fun - especially running with Ellen - even when I run them injured. I think it would have been a total blast to run the First Order Challenge healthy. Maybe some other time... in some galaxy far, far, away...
Sunday, April 15, 2018
This Week in Running 4/15/17
Total Miles: 22
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 7
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 7
Sunday, April 8, 2018
This Week in Running 4/8/18
Total Miles: 23
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 8
Ellen ran the Fool's Dual Half Marathon today and PR'd with a 2:04.
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 8
Ellen ran the Fool's Dual Half Marathon today and PR'd with a 2:04.
Sunday, April 1, 2018
This Week in Running 4/1/18
Total Miles: 20
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 6
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 6
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