Go ahead and throw tomatoes - A very special 5k race giveaway!

When I first saw the sponsored post on Facebook about the upcoming Tomato Dodge 5K in Nashville, I was semi skeptical. I've come to be used to seeing a hot new specialty theme race announced every other day - everything from ass kicking mud and obstacle races to paint and glow fests. But one where the participants would be pelted with squishy fruit?

Inspired by the La Tomatina Festival in the Valenician town of Buñol, the Tomato Dodge combines history and fitness into a unique event.

From the La Tomatina Wiki page:

La Tomatina (Spanish pronunciation: [la tomaˈtina]) is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located 30 km from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol.

"Purely for fun" - no further description needed for me, I love fun! With a tomato pit to jump in and ambush zones to race through all while throwing the red bombs at other racers, this race is sure to meet the organizer's objective of "giving people a reason to get outside, get moving, and have a blast."

So my last question was, "won't they hurt?"

A simple answer is no, they "soak and squish these tomatoes so that they're soft on impact." To see more about the action packed race in the Tomato Dodge Presents: Run, Throw, Dodge video.

After seeing me comment on Twitter about the craziness of what they were doing the Tomato Dodge marketing team handed over a free race entry and TWO of my Nashville readers.

So, I've signed up to run this crazy race on August 17th. Do you want to join me? I'm giving away TWO free race entries right now!

All you have to do is comment below by Monday, July 22nd at 11:59 pm CST and I will draw 2 winners at random to be notified on Tuesday morning. the winner will receive a free entry to the race on August 17th in Nashville good for use by 7/24. Travel to Nashville and/or lodging is not included.

Disclosure: The nifty people at Tomato Dodge supplied me with a code for a free race entry for myself and two race entries to give away. All opinions are entirely my own. I’m pumped to do another theme race!

Long awaited Cedars of Lebanon Sprint Triathlon Recap

It's only taken me nearly 3 weeks but here it is...finally...the recap of the sprint triathlon I wasn't even sure I was going to do.

I decided that I couldn't just skip something I had signed up for. For me, that would signify that I'm a quitter. A quitter in many senses of the word. It would have not only been me skipping the race, but me throwing up my hands and saying, "I give up, this period of weight re-gain wins."

So I had to fight.

Surprisingly, I wasn't too nervous on race morning. I just approached it as leisurely as I could. I was just participating and hoping to finish, not "racing" anyone or myself. So it took the pressure off.

My typical race morning routine was off. I had spent the 2 weeks leading up to the race house/dog sitting so I had been out of my element for approximately 11 days. The night before the race was the first night I had spent in my own bed in over a week. My race tradition is I have a whole grain bagel from Brueggers with peanut butter and a banana, but I forgot to get a bagel from Brueggers on Friday. So I stopped at a gas station and got a Peanut Crunch Clif Bar on the way out to the park. I ate that on the way and ended up having my banana around 7:30 once I got settled in transition.

One thing that made me nervous race morning was that it had been raining the day before and morning of, which meant wet and possibly slick roads. I overheard some guys at the swim line-up mention that the first stretch out on the bike was downhill that goes into a sharpe right turn. Took mental note of that one.

Another thing that caused a bit of anxiety was the pool swim. Silly I know. Usually people get nervous about open water swims. Chalk it up to the fact I've been swimming and water skiing in murky water since I was 6 months old, but OWS don't phase me. When contemplating how I was going to tackle the swim, I wasn't sure how it would go - darting under ropes and with so many people in the pool at once. I didn't practice going under the ropes, but I should have.

Source: Team Magic Multisport

 

 

If you click to enlarge the above photo of the swim start, you can see me waiting in the blue swimcap (in the yellow circle).

I was in the middle of the pack on starting time, so my number was 625. I waited a good while and was able to see how the "pros" were tackling it. Touch wall, push off wall underwater, go diagonally into the next lane. Simple?

I should have been further up in the swim time. I passed people, and had trouble passing people I could have passed because of congestion. It was much worse on congestion than the OWS last summer at Wet Dog. I think I estimated my swim time around 6 minutes, and I finished in 4:55.

I walked the whole way to T1. I worked hard on the swim and I knew the bike would be rough so I wanted to save energy. I'm sure I looked silly and it certainly didn't help my T1 time (5:05), but once I got to my bike, I was quick. Baby powder in the socks helped this time!

Bike started out ok. My legs are always cold when I start on the bike in a race. I need to warm them up better - which I intended to do this time - but I didn't have time before they closed transition. The bike course was a two-loop 4.3 mile course. Easy enough right? It had been described as FLAT, which I was silly to even believe because, hello this is Tennessee. It was not flat. A lot of it was flat. But those 3-4 rolling hills (mostly at the end of the loop, back-to-back) killed me. If I was trained better I'm sure it wouldn't have been a big deal. But I wasn't trained so alas a lot of people passed me (some twice, I'm sure). But I didn't have to walk my bike and I finished without any incident. It took me 52:26 though.

I started the run out easy and my legs quickly acclimated and I was able to keep a pretty steady 3/1 run/walk pace. The run course is mentally tricky because you have to go left out of the transition area, go about 0.2 miles and then loop back past the transition area. The run course overall is pretty flat except for one hill at the end right before you run into finish.

My run time was 29:20, which I can't be mad about because the weekend before I ran 2 miles on their own and my time was right around 28. So not bad for swimming 200 yards ad biking 9.6 miles before running 2 miles.

I finished. I was glad I was done and also that I did it. I didn't use any nutrition on the course besides water and a little powerade. So I ate my honey stingers right after finishing in the transition area and packed my stuff up to go home.

Overall time: 1:32:55

Thoughts: I'm just glad I did it and I was able to finish. I would have had a lot of guilt and self-hate if I had decided not to do the race. So it was just good for me mentally to get out there and do it. My original plan for this season was to do an Olympic distance in September, but it's clear that isn't going to happen. My travel schedule at work ruined any focus I would be able to have on training for one. And two, personal travel has ruined my focus on saving for a road bike and I really don't think I can ride 25 miles on my current bike. It's too heavy - about 50 lbs! It certainly isn't a goal I've given up on, it just won't happen this season. I do hope to do one more sprint triathlon in August or September before the season is over. I'm continuing to run (joining a local C25K program) and swim. Biking has been neglected, but the summer is still young!

Have you ever done a race you weren't properly trained for? If so, how did it go? Did you surprise yourself?

First Triathlon Recap: Wet Dog Triathlon

Remember that triathlon I was getting ready for?  Wonder what happened? Oh yeah, I killed it. (Of course "killing it" is in relative terms to my own self.)

The epic less-than-24-hour whirlwind time-span leading up to, actual, and post event was, well, epic. It started Friday night with my bike racked for it's first trip out of Nashville (and first time using the bike rack for a long car ride) and a pre-getting on the road stop at Mirko for some carb loading.

Amazing pre-race support from office mate.

Whole wheat penne with meat sauce and meat balls...so yummy.

We arrived in Decatur around 8:30 pm and we checked into the Best Western of Decatur. High class accomodations in Decatur going on! After messing with what we thought was a broken AC, I finally settled into bed and fell asleep around 10:30 or 11.

Alarm was set for 4:45 am for a 5:15 depart time. I got up and did my normal pre-race routine - coffee made, getting dressed, teeth brushed, peanut butter and bagel prepared, and gear gathered. It felt weird leaving for a race not with my running shoes on, but with flip flops. Loved that feeling actually.

Got to the race site right around 5:35 or 5:40 and I went directly to pick up my race packet. There were no lines and it was in and out. They handed me 2 bibs and my timing chip. It felt so official. I had no idea what the 2nd bib was for. So I asked. I thought the volunteer said "one goes on your front, and one goes on your back" but clearly the 2nd race number went on my BIKE, which thankfully I figured out in the transition area before embarrassing myself. :)

Pit Crew Member KG and I got my transition area set up. At this race the transition area was first come, first served so I choose the 2nd rack on the side closest to the bike exit. After racking my bike and laying everything out we found our way over the the body marking area.

Arriving to the race site.

Before shot with the bike.

Body marking fun

Transition all set up (that's my green and pink flamingo towel, naturally).

The thing I found about this race was even though it was tagged as a "beginner" race there was limited signage/direction so figuring things out was generally just taking your best guess or following the groups of people. Luckily, I had been researching triathlons for months leading up to my race and had volunteered at a race back in May so I was familiar with the general layout of a triathlon and tasks to take care of before the race start.

Around 6:15 I headed down to the beach area to check out the water. They hadn't gotten the buoys out yet so they weren't quite ready to let people in the water to warm up yet, but I hung around the water and chatted with some other racers. The water seemed calm to me and eventually they got the buoys out to let us in to warm up.

I wasn't really nervous before the start of the race until I visually saw how far out the buoys went. The swim course was an out and back 400 meter swim. I quickly squashed the fears down and tried to focus on just getting out there to warm up. I swam half way out and waded around a little, but that's pretty much it.

The finally called for racers to line up according to their race number (lower numbers were the first starters and fastest swimmers). At this point they were running late, but I'm not sure how late it was since I didn't have a watch on. I lined up in my general number range and started chatting with a fellow first-time racer, Sheila (hey there!). She was doing this race in preparation for a triathlon she's doing with her cousin next month in Erie, PA. Go Sheila!

Proud of my body markings.

Meet Conehead Emily

In the swim line waiting to start.

After a short wait, which I have no idea how long it was, into the water I went. The. swim. was. awesome. I felt really strong and since I overestimated my swim time by 7 minutes or so, I passed a lot of people that seemed to just be out there doggy paddling it (not hating - way to get it done!) I had to do my normal self talk of not rushing out of the gate too fast, but by time I got to the turn-around I was actually surprised in how short it felt.

Coming out of the water you had to run from the beach through the park entrance to the transition area. This probably added about a minute to my swim time, which was 11:19.

Off to the swim

That's me in the swim (middle, closest yellow cap in picture)

Coming out of the swim.

In transition number 1, I attempted to dry off a little, rinsed the sand off my feet and dry them to put on my socks and shoes, pulled on some athletic shorts and threw my helmet on. I assure you although it is quick to read about all the steps I took, I was sloooooooooooow in T1. It took me 4:03.

The first mile and a half on the bike was a little rough. In hindsight, I should have warmed up my legs up. It was a hard start, and I felt like I was really working to not go at a very fast pace. Early on I decided to save my legs for the run and just do the bike at a leisurely pace. So all those people I passed on the swim? They got right back on me during the bike. Another issue I had during the bike was the fact I didn't think through my hydration system. I had frozen some water and Gatorade bottles, but I didn't think how I would unscrew them while on the bike. Also, since I don't have a double bottle rack I borrowed KG's bottle holder that straps onto the handle bars. But it took two hands basically to get the bottle in and out. After the turn around I dropped my still half full bottle of water. Ooops #1.

The bike did go quicker than I though, but it was a very flat course. KG later informed me on my way back into transition, I didn't dismount at the right point, essentially entering transition ON my bike. Oops #2. Because this wasn't a USAT sanctioned race, they didn't do anything about it, but it's definitely something to keep in mind for future races. My bike time was 42:52. Actually a little faster than I estimated for myself.

T1

Bike start

Bike finish

Transition number 2 was kind of weird. Since I bike and run in my running shoes I didn't have any clothing changes so I just racked my bike, took off my helmet and downed some water and stood there for a second. I definitely could have done it faster, but it ended up taking me 1:24.

Despite drinking in transition and the water stop outside of transition at the beginning of the run, I felt THIRSTY starting the run. I had set my Garmin to 3/1 minute run/walk intervals and I knew I was going out fast, but I was able to keep to my 3/1s. The run was along the river and on a gravel trail with well marked roots. It was also primarily flat. The nice part was that there were about 4 water stations during the 3.1 mile course. This was really nice for me, who felt really underhydrated. I plowed along, but it really didn't feel that bad. Mostly, it was mentally difficult because the course twisted and turned so just when you thought it was time to turn around, you were really just going around a corner. There was a lot of fellow racer support during the run, which I appreciated. Since I had no idea what time I started, I had no idea how long the race had taken me at that point.

Starting the run.

Although I certainly wasn't last, I was in the back of the pack, but there were still a few people cheering runners in at the finish. Including Pit Crew Member KG. I was all smiles as I crossed that finishline. I was a triathlete.

Still smiling as I round the finish.

Crossing the finish line.

So excited to be a triathlete!

During races where I am particularly pushing myself to earn a new accolade (a PR, first time finish, etc.) I always think int he middle of the race I may cry at the finish line because I am so grateful to be at this point in my life that I can do exercise for 1, 2, or even 3 hours at a time and ENJOY it. However, the finishes always seem anticlimactic for some reason. Either way, I was glad to be done and to still have a smile on my face!

Of course, every race finish deserves an epic post race meal. And this one deserved a happy shopping trip to H&M in Huntsville.

Po Boy Factory - Crawfish Po Boy, Jambalaya, Fries (two kinds), and Fried Pickles.

So, I'm officially a triathlete. Yes! Where to from here? Of course in the days immediately following completing the race I begin to have thoughts of...well maybe I could do that race in September? What about doing an International (Olympic) distance next year? Could I do a half-Ironman in 2014? Will I ever be crazy enough to do an Ironman?

Slow. Your. Roll. Emily.

Honestly, in the first 7 months of this year I've completed 3 half-marathons and a triathlon. I could do that sprint tri in September, but I think I honestly need a break from endurance racing. I'm not signed up for any long distance events until December, and I think I am content in keeping it that way. My bank account and body need a break from the cardio fest it's been having. I want to learn how to focus on strength training. Also, I think if I back off of a strenuous training schedule maybe I can focus on losing these last 45 pounds I want to get rid of from my body. These two things can only make me stronger when I DO return to racing this winter and triathlons next season.

But honestly, I couldn't have done it without the support and encouragement of friends and family. This wasn't a solo journey in the least. Friend Jenne went on my first swim with me and taught me how to breathe in the pool (yes, really I had to learn to breathe), plus accompanied me on a-many-more swims. Of course KG took time out of her weekend last week to go to Decatur with me, help carry equipment and took all the pictures in the post (she took a total of 92 pictures!) not to mention spotting me on my first OWS before race day. And my long-distance coach, Heather, who I got to ask crazy triathlon related questions to and she always happily answered and gave me advice. I can't even begin to list everyone that gave me encouragement, good luck wishes, congratulations wishes, etc. You all SERIOUSLY rock.

In the end, it was an amazing experience and I am hooked. If you have ever thought about doing a triathlon I highly recommend you to find a beginner race you are comfortable with and start training today. (I'm no doctor though, so make sure everything is A-OK before beginning any exercise program.)

Triathlon, I'll see you next year!

After shot with the bike.

Country Music Half Marathon Race Recap

Team Super Stove before the race

I've put off writing this recap for a couple days now. I guess I just don't know what to say about the experience other than I went, I ran, I conquered.

Obviously, I couldn't be happier with my performance. If you had told me in February 2011 I'd go from not ever wanting to do a half-marathon again, to doing my 2nd one in 3:35 to finishing this one in under 3 hours, I probably would have rolled my eyes and told you to get out of my face.

KG likes to constantly remind me that not oh so long ago I told her, "Karen, not everyone is made to be a runner!"

But now, I am a runner.

The morning started out with a 3:45 AM wake-up call. Considering my corral didn't leave the gate until 7:43, a 4 hour lead time seems sort of ridiculous looking back. But I heard from a co-worker the interstate was backed up from downtown all the way to the airport by 4:30 AM. Traffic is not your friend on race day. We didn't take the interstate.

We parked at the finish line and took the shuttle to the start line. We basically walked right up and got on the shuttle and we were at Centennial Park by around 5 AM - it was still dark outside.

I should have taken a picture of my breakfast, but I had a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter in the car. I have eaten this (bagel + peanut butter) my last 2 races. It's sort of tradition now. I also had coffee on the way.

Since I knew we had so much time to kill before even starting the race, I brought a banana along with me.

I made the decision to not wear my camelbak for hydration. I thought I'd be fine with the hydration provided on the course, but I regretted this decision by mile 2. I trained every week with my camelbak. I should have just worn it. I carried my phone, ID, and honey stingers in a SpiBelt instead.

After the mandatory port-a-potty visit, we meandered around towards the start line. By this time, the first gun was well past. It was probably about 7:20 when I went into the corral. Just so we're clear, the corrals were a clusterf*ck. I was originally assigned to 32, but I got moved up at the expo to corral 28. I was doubting my abilities so I thought I might go in more at 29, but the back corrals were missing for some reason and when I went back a little farther in the line, I found the end of it. Knowing I was way faster than where the walkers would be at the end of the line, I went back up to find corral 28. There was 27 and 29, but no 28. I ended up getting in just behind the 2:45 pacer. Sure, that was a pipe dream, but I figured it was better than having to run around people.

Well, I still had to. I'm not sure what the heck happened in the back corrals, but even though I started up early enough to be with a 2:45 pacer I had to consistently weave in and out of people who were walking the first few miles and pretty much the whole race. It kind of pissed me off. Don't get me wrong, I am all for people walking these races. Hell, I walked my first one and it took me over 4 hours to do it. But, I also was courteous enough to know to start in the back corrals and not with a 2:45 pacer. Corrals is where Disney has it right. They have volunteers checking your bib before you can enter a particular corral. Why have corrals if no one is going to hold people to them?

This with the fact that because there was no corral 28; twice the amount of people began during my start. Apparently this happened at least one other time during the start as my co-worker who was closer up in corral 17 also had two corrals go at the same time and experienced the same over crowding.

I know I took this part too seriously for what my pace actual is. I mean, I am no where near more "serious" runners, but I was dead set on killing this race and with every person I had to weave around or slow down for, I expended energy.

Energy that couldn't afford to be expended since it was HOT. I can't believe it's taken me this long to complain about the heat. I guess I expected it, but it was as sunny as can be and in the 70s, which feels like 90 when you are running. Since I didn't start until 7:45, I was hot before we even started. This is where I complain that they don't have enough water stops on the course and complain that most of the water stops were running out of water by time I got there. I mean what did the walkers do? If you are hell-bent on having a race in Nashville at the end of April, please have enough water. This complaint has come withe me all the way from CMM 2009. That's all I'll say about that since I know it's beating a dead horse. So note if you plan on ever doing this race: carry your own water.

Now that my two major complaints are out of the way, I'll say the first 6 miles were pretty much great as far as how I felt. I felt strong and pretty much kept to my intervals. At the 10K mark, you turn to go back towards downtown. The next 2 miles of the course are shitty. There's no other way to put it. there are about 5 BIG rolling hills along this stretch and it was by far the part of the race I was most angry about. All I wanted to do is get back to the Music Row area of the course. That stretch was a nice relief until I hit kind of a wall at mile 9. The one thing I will give this race is the amount of spectators. I never felt bored because it was fun to people watch the sidelines and every mile or so there was something at least interesting to look at even though I know the city like the back of my hand. Mile 10 I got a little bit of a 2nd wind because in my head I thought, "oh there is only 5K left. 5K is nothing, I'm basically done." Of course you forget the last 3 miles are certainly the worst.

I was unfamiliar with the course at the 10/11 mile mark. They've changed it since 2009, which is fine but when I kept thinking we were going to go straight there would be another turn. Then the stupidest part of the race happened. You come out of the Nashville Farmer's Market/Bicentennial Mall area and get back on what I think is James Robertson Parkway. You turn left to go away from downtown (the finish is just across the river from downtown at Titan's stadium). So you turn right and you have to go up what is probably only a few hundred feet just to turn around a median to go the right way towards the finish. S-T-U-P-I-D. This is at about mile 12, so I am pretty much done at this point anyway, but really they couldn't find somewhere else to make up this couple hundred feet?

Between mile 12 and the finish you wind back through downtown a little and I swear there are like 5 or 6 turns. Not the best mentally when you know you just have to make it over a bridge and the finish will be RIGHT. THERE.

The last two miles I really had to talk myself into finishing strong. I knew I had to average a 13:40 pace to finish in 2:59. My Garmin was at about 13:25 with 2 miles to go. I knew I couldn't slow down and in fact needed to speed up a little to not miss my ultimate goal. I made myself stick to running the last two miles of preset intervals of half-mile run, quarter-mile speed walk.

I ended up running the last 0.7 mile to the finish line at a strong 12:30 minute pace. As I came over the bridge to the finish, I felt chilled and slightly fuzzy. I knew I was about to take a turn for the worst if I didn't get some hydration soon. As soon as I crossed the finish, I grabbed 2 bottles of water, a Gatorade and a bag of pretzels (along with the cold wet towels they were giving out - great idea!) and found a place with no crowd to contend with and recovered.

I was done and I knew I conquered it.

Although I had a victorious race with a strong finish, I have no desire to do the Country Music race again. I'm not sure if it is an issue with Competitor (we'll see in Seattle, I suppose) or if the Nashville stop has just gotten too big for them to handle without extra logistics planned for. The course is painfully hilly, and the timing of the race (late April) is way too hot for Nashville standards. I didn't enjoy the process of this race as much as I did at Mercedes and Disney (but of course, how do you beat Disney).

Post race meal was Sonic, followed by dinner and margarita's that night with the whole Super Stove crew. Of course my post-race eating habits bled over to Sunday as well. :)

There is no shortage of fitness related goals here, but first I am planning on taking this week off from at the very least running. My ankle has been a bit sore since the race and although it's already improving I'm concerned there may be an issue with it from overuse since I've been training for half-marathons for 8 months straight.

I still love races, so as mentioned, I am planning on doing the Seattle Rock n Roll half-marathon while I'm there for a conference in June and I was already planning to do St. Jude in Memphis since I love a good winter race. St. Louis Rock n Roll and Disney Princess 2013 are on my radar too. Amongst all this, I am also planning on doing my first sprint triathlon in July. I will start training for that next week while I also try to keep up my endurance for Seattle.

Whew...

Random Hump Day Thoughts

One of the bloggers I follow - In this wonderful life... - does a "Midweek Randoms" post every Wednesday. I always have a lot of random thoughts that I think "oh I should post that to the blog" but I never get around to it, or they aren't really important enough thoughts for a whole post. We'll try this and see where it goes.

I just got this email for WDW Marathon Weekend 2013 registration. I want to go back. Badly. Every time I see one of those Disney Vacation commercials, I get a little giddy and a lot nostalgic. Marathon weekend doesn't work with my schedule this year, but I'm hoping the Princess half might?


I'm still 90% sure I'll be doing the Seattle Rock n Roll half on June 23rd. I'll already be there through Friday for a conference, so why not? Who says I'm addicted to racing?

Speaking of races, we are exactly 11 days out from the Country Music half. This is the point in the taper where I start to be a worry wart about hurting myself. I don't try any new activities and I've always convince myself that I am going to fall down and break something making me unable to race. I keep feeling like I have a twinge of a pain in my right ankle. Am I imagining this because of my worry wartness? I'm trying to take it easy and have slowed down my pace on my last few runs. Hopefully it's nothing.

Oh and here's the weather forecast for the day before the race. All I can hope is that Saturday is cloudy. 83 degrees? I might die. Again.

On a happier note, my scale said 235 this morning. Wooo-freaking-hooo!

I still haven't started officially training for the Tri yet. I don't know what my problem is, but I need to establish a new schedule to incorporate swim and biking. Oh, and I still haven't found a swimsuit. I think my new business venture is going to be designing swimwear for long torso-ed plus size girls that don't want to show off their back fat in a criss-cross backed swimsuit. thanksfornothing SPEEDO! Sigh.

Still trying to trudge through my '5 Things' list each day. Monday was a pretty good success. But I'd give yesterday an F. Perhaps today I can get myself back to average with a C.

That's enough randomness for today - off to get some of those items checked off my '5 Things' list!

Finally.....2012 Disney World Half Marathon Recap

What a terrible blogger I am...I have barely written anything in weeks and I've been saying for two weeks that I would recap the Disney World half marathon. I'm going to try to keep it short and sweet with just posting some pictures and captions.

The two days before the race we spent walking around Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios - I thought my feet were going to be toast for the race, but we left the parks early on Friday afternoon and had a low key dinner at the hotel. I think I was asleep by 8:30 the night before the race!

My race bib

THEN - We woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 2:30 AM - yes, you read that right - Two-freaking-thirty in the MORNING. The race started at 5:30. Painful.

On the shuttle to the race

The shuttle dropped us off, we porta-pottied, Vaselined (me), posed, and hydrated.

Pre-race picture

After using the porta-potties twice (nervous peeing), we hearded ourselves to the start line. It was about a half mile walk that took the better part of 20 minutes. It was kind of annoying, but at least we had given ourselves plenty of time! We still had over an hour before our corral started by this point.

Hearding the cattle...er...runners

Finally at the start line - they had the corrals so spread out from the actual start line - they had big screens to show the back what was going up at the start line. Crazy!


This guy was in full Jack Sparrow garb. How was he going to run in that? I'm still wondering...



Then we were off! They actually do full fireworks when the first corral takes off - pretty cool!

The race starts out on the streets around Epcot and heads in the direction of Magic Kingdom. It wasn't even daylight out before we entered the gates outside the parking lot of Magic Kingdom!

Can you find the little vegan aka Sarah?

It was pretty much awesome running through Magic Kingdom and right under the Castle (where we had dinner, two nights before). Then as you exit from the Castle, they have professional photographers ready to take your photo.



All business...



After exiting Magic Kingdom you follow the streets back toward Epcot. This is about mile 11 or 12 as we're making our way towards Epcot.


You run about a mile through Epcot (maybe a little less), then you exit back into the parking lot. I made the girls stop and take a picture at mile 13 :)



Right before we crossed the finish line...



The coolest medal ever - even cooler than Mercedes!



They gave us special buttons the next day at the Polynesian :)



We finished!

Official time: 3:33:45 - an 11 minute PR

As expected the race - and the trip - were amazing! Maybe it was the magic of Disney. Or spending 5 days with great friends watching them crush their first half marathon, but I seriously had so much fun that I would consider making this an annual trip. Even though we walked about 20 miles Wed-Fri, I felt strong pretty much the whole race. True, my feet hurt really bad the last 1-2 miles, but compared to my other half it was nothing. I didn't feel like I trained very hard for this race, but it proved me wrong. I was more than ready. So ready, in fact, I'm considering doing the Nashville Rock n Roll race in April. JUST CONSIDERING....so far.

I also caught myself thinking about a marathon while I was racing two weeks ago. I thought to myself, "Disney is the ONLY place I would consider doing a marathon." Then I quickly realized that I have never had any desire to do a marathon up until this point. Scary.

Of course since the race I've only ran twice...haha...post-race laziness is ensuing. I'm going to try and do 6 this weekend. It may be rough...

Warrior Dash - Alive, but Maybe not Well

Back in January, I decided to sign up for Warrior Dash. A 3.1 mile obstacle course race dubbed as the "Craziest frickin' day of your life." Yesterday was the day of truth. I competed in the Warrior Dash race in Manchester, TN.

I was lucky enough to have Miss Lynn who was doing the race with me and our awesome Super Stove friend, KG spectating for us. So we got quite a lot of good pictures. (Pictures at the end of this post.) We had an afternoon start time (3 pm) and in the hottest part of the day, the 78 degree temperature felt quite warmer due to the high sun bearing down on the course.

The course was actually on the grounds of the Bonnaroo Festival, which I actually enjoyed because they actually have several "fixtures" set up year-round (like the "Bonnaroo arch").

The race was a lot of good people watching with people in costumes. Our course was primarily flat on gravel and dirt paths that wound throughout the Bonnaroo grounds.

After jogging a good portion a the beginning, we came to the "Hay Fever" obstacle, which at one time was a high stack of hay bales, but at the point we got to it, it was some broken down bales of hay and we easily ran up and over it.

The obstacles weren't evenly distributed along the course. There was a lot of time between the start of the race and the first obstacle and again between the first and second obstacle. While we were walking between the first and second obstacle, we saw a guy SMOKING on the course. I mean, seriously? If you can't go 45 minutes - hour without smoking maybe you should just consider NOT DOING THE RACE. The worst thing to smell while running is smoke. People are so inconsiderate.

The second obstacle was the "Road Rage" obstacle. Junk yard cards sandwiched between two sets of old tires. This was another easy obstacle even though I did walk slowly through the tires to protect my ankles.

Soon after, we hit the "Barricade Breakdown". You had to climb over a waist high wall and then under barbed wire. There were 3 sets of these and I got caught on the barbed wire where I got a minor scratch and bled. At this point, with blood on my arm, I felt like a true warrior!

Another easy obstacle was next - the "Blackout". It was a dark tunnel set up you had to crawl through on hands and knees. It was dirty but easy.

At this point I knew my nemesis was coming up - the "Great Warrior Wall." We rounded the corner and my stomach dropped. Straight ahead was a 10 foot+ wall with ropes on one side to use to climb up and then once over the top you climbed down ladder style. Now, only those who suffer from the same fear of heights and plummeting to your death will understand the anxiety that hit me at this moment.

I'm not sure where my fear of heights and falling come from; however, I did fall off a blow up obstacle course and end up in the ER on my high school graduation night as I was racing my good friend Sarah. Maybe this has something to do with it? I don't know...

Miss Lynn insisted I could do it so up I went. At the top I had a slight moment of panic as I straddled the top of this wall, which was at least 10 feet off the ground. At any moment I could slip and fall. And be hurt very badly. Thankfully, the volunteer working this station saw my pause and climbed up to the top, with Miss Lynn not far behind him, and talked me through my panic. They got me down safely and although I was shaking we continued the course.

After jogging a little more, we came to the "Chaotic Crossover" - cargo nets you climb across, set up about 5 feet off the ground. Fairly easy, but I got held up behind some people, which made it harder.

Next, was the turning point of the race. We came to the "Giant Cliffhanger." Another 10 ft wall, this time sloped on one side and no traction. After watching one woman get half way up and then come back down, I started my climb. With no traction for my feet to grab onto, I got to the top and slipped. For a brief moment I hung from the top of the wall with both of my arms holding me there. Eventually, I knew all was lost and all I could do is fall/slide down the wall back to the ground and in the process I got a huge friction burn on my stomach, and a small one on my leg.

OUCH!

After this defeat, I had to take a moment to breathe. I already wasn't feeling great at this point and sliding down the 10 ft wall only made that worse. I essentially was done with the race at this point. I told my partner in crime I wasn't planning on running any more of the race. I also I didn't know if I could do any more walls. There were 3 left in the distance and I dreaded them.

The other thing was the obstacles were so close together at this point in the race. They were pretty much one right after each other. The next one was another wall you climbed up on side (there were like ladder steps built in) and then on the other side was a straight drop down. I got to the top of the first side and I couldn't bring myself to jump off the other side, so I just climbed back down the same side. All I can say is at least I tried it.

The next one was an easier wall with steps up and then a pole to slide down. I got through that one OK and immediately after was the "Cargo Climb." Another wall with cargo nets on either side. I really wanted to skip it, but I also didn't want to say I didn't try every obstacle, so up I went. It was a scarier obstacle for me in a lot of ways because since they were cargo nets you could feel everyone else's movements. And you went up really high. I got over it fine though and we were on the last part of the course (finally).

Miss Lynn and I walked up to final two obstacles - "Warrior Roast" and "Muddy Mayhem." We jumped over two lines of fire and then I reluctantly walked into the mud pit. Honestly, I could have just wadded through this calf deep and stepped over the barbed wire, but in the spirit of what the race was about I got down on all fours and crawled through the mud under the 3 lines of barbed wire. And then I crawled out of the mud pit.

WE WERE DONE

They handed us a Dixie cup of water and a banana, which immediately just got muddy. After pictures and a few moments of confusion, we went to hose down the best we could before trekking back to the car.

I'm glad to have done the race. It definitely pushed me physically, and I was beat by the end. I have plenty of scrapes, burns and bruises to prove my Warrior-ness. However, I am also the most sore I've ever been in my life and I don't really see myself ever doing one of these races again. One in my lifetime is enough, I say.

Overall the race set up was pretty well. If you are planning on doing a Warrior Dash I have a few suggestions for survival:

• Plan for parking to take 30 - 45 minutes. We sat in traffic for a good part of 30 minutes and had to park a fair walk away from the actual race area.

• Bring your own water / sports drinks. They only had 1 water stop and the water was hot from sitting in the sun all day. They also didn't have bottles of water or sports drinks at the end of the race for participants. They expect you to buy it at the concession stand. This was actually a huge issue for me because I was hugely dehydrated and borderline sick by time we got to dinner.

• Bring a change of clothes, a towel AND baby wipes. They have a few hoses at the finish line but 2 hoses and a lot of people didn't really help too much.