The Running Thread - 2018

-Eat ALL of the food being given out in WWoS - I was so hungry and ate everything those wonderful spectators were handing out!

OMG, YES!!! I was so sick of sweet and/or banana by then that the salty items they had were HEAVEN. I ate everything I could get my hands on. I did skip the Fireball shots that someone was handing out though. :D
 
Will second running without headphones and just soaking it all in!! While I ran by myself, I never felt lonely with 20,000 of Mickey's friends around me.

You guys who can eat all the food and drink all the drinks are rockstars!! I have a sensitive stomach while running. Have found that gatorade, fig newtons, and water are pretty much what I better stick with in order to prevent upset stomach (and otherwise having to run to the bathroom several minutes after ingesting anything else - sorry if TMI). During the marathon, I daydreamed about all the things I wanted to eat and drink at the end...a cold beer, french fries - pretty sure I thought about those for a solid mile?, a Mickey bar! I did end up getting all of these things later that afternoon, not in any particular order. The post marathon Mickey bar was the best tasting Mickey bar of my life. :mickeybar
 
ATTQOTD: This year was my first Marathon experience, but I loved running without headphones. I didn't stop at any bathrooms or characters so I am no help there. 2019 will be about ALL the picture stops though! Especially in WWOS where they are all dressed up in sports uniforms. If anyone in WWOS has Reese's cups and Sprite during the marathon that they are handing out, I will be unable to keep from stopping for it (and potentially taking everything they have).
 
Question:
I clearly need more than one pair of winter tights to run in this year- it was fine for 2x outside a week, but I am hoping to do closer to 4x/week this year. Thus, I am adding them to my black Friday shopping list. I live in MI, how many pair do I need?
Follow up- what else should be on my shopping list?
So, I live in FL... but I own 3 pairs of winter tights. Because when we do get cold weather, it might last 3 hours or 3 days. ;) I have one pair of Serious Winter Tights for temps below 40, and two that are just brushed on the inside and are good for temps in the 40s.
 


Heads up to anyone considering purchasing a new running watch......For Black Friday, Best Buy will be offering the Garmin Vivoactive3 and the Forerunner 235 for $200. The music version of the VA3 will be $250.

This per BFADS net

One of these will be my present to myself for my 60th birthday (along with a few others things!)

I had a Forerunner 235 for 2 years and this summer for Prime day I got myself a VA3. Overall, I like the VA3 much better than the FR 235. Love the touchscreen instead of multiple buttons, and I got the rose gold and white VA3, which definitely looks nicer.

In terms of tracking runs, I would say they are pretty equal in capabilities, EXCEPT the VA3 pretty much just makes up the elevation reading. I do not just mean that the zero-point elevation is offset from reality. I mean that most of the time it gives me plain nonsense. Since I run out-and-back routes or loop routes, there should generally be symmetry and/or repeating elevation patterns in the measurements, and usually it gives nothing of the sort. I also run a lot on the HS track, which is FLAT, and sometimes it will give me substantial gains.

Possibly I've got a bad watch, but I feel like I've heard others complain about this. I've rebooted mine a few times. Every once in a while, I'll get an elevation graph that makes logical sense, but it seems to be maybe 20% of the time. My guess is that the VA3 has fewer or less sensitive GPS receivers and thus typically doesn't lock onto as many satellites as the FR 235 did. The FR 235 was always quite repeatable and consistent for the different routes that I run.

For me, this is a bit frustrating but not enough to want to go back to the FR 235. But I thought I'd mention it in case it's something that may be important to you.
 
QOTD: Since Marathon Weekend is approaching quickly I wanted to ask what are some must does during any of the races. What are the character stops that are a must, places to get a beverage or ride that you can get on during the run. While we are at, bathroom options that are not port o pots... Anything you think that is worth mentioning, lets hear it!
ATTQOTD: I don't have any character must-stops - it just depends on how I'm feeling on any given race day. EXCEPT for Star Wars: Vader and Palpatine are massive MUSTS!

I always crave a Pepsi late-marathon and am lucky to have spectating friends willing to have one ready for me. A champagne from the France bakery in EP has become a must for races that go by it. I've done beer in the marathon.

I try hard to get jumping pics in each race, preferably in front of park icons.

Always in-park restrooms over porta-potties! No particular spots, just whatever doesn't have a line. The benefit of being local-ish to WDW is knowing where they all are. ;)

ETA: re: ear buds/headphones - for folks like me who can feel anxious and overwhelmed with too much auditory stimulation, ear buds can be a HUGE help. I don't always play music through them, but the muffling effect really helps me manage the loudness of rD races.
 


ATTQOTD:For Dopey this year.....
No headphones
Stopping for any character with short lines
Stopping at grave diggers for sure
Stopping if we see Jiminy Cricket
Planning to stop for a beer in Germany
I always seem to make a pitstop in DinoLand and also as soon as you enter DHS
I will also need to stop at porto somewhere as soon as race starts.....always happens....without fail
 
Nice! I really wanted to do this race, but chose RnRLV instead because it's closer to me and my parents live there so it's cheaper in the long run. Can't wait to hear all about it and hopefully I'll do to next year.

@jennamfeo,
Running the strip at night is so much fun! Crowd support was awesome last year--it was the first big event in Las Vegas after the shooting :-(
I think you'll really enjoy RnR Las Vegas! Hope you like listening to Elvis music... I heard a lot on that run!
 
Congrats to all our runners this weekend!

@Wendy98, sorry I missed you, but I was still on my bag check shift when you finished (I was tracking you the whole time and was super excited when you finished!). I took the poncho exit out after my shift, though ... that's a long walk. I feel bad for everyone having to make that long trek (or the bag check trek ... that one was also long).
It sounds like you had a pretty good race, minus all the up hills and the chaos at the start ... does that mean you might be back next year???

Longest walk to get out of a race, anywhere! But it forces everyone to keep moving and not sit down which is good. I would love to come back. I am trying to figure out my fall 2019. I don't think I want to do another marathon double like this year (Chicago & NYC), although @cburnett11 might go for a triple.


I saw you around Mile 4 and you looked AWESOME!!!!!
. I felt awesome at mile 4! Not quite the same story at mile 24...

NYC Marathon Race Report

I flew back late last night after spending Friday through Monday in NYC. The short summary... the NYC marathon was a spectacular event, but I got my butt kicked a little bit! The longer and probably boring story follows…

Some quick background. I ran Chicago 4 weeks ago and PR'd. It wasn't my intention to do both this year, but I was extremely fortunate in the drawings so what's a guy to do? I registered for Chicago last year when a number of people on here were planning to do that as a bit of a race meet. I was successful and got in. Then earlier this year, I told my wife that I'd love to run NYC at some point in my life. AND so I better start applying for it so that I can go ahead and get several rejections before finally getting selected. Welp... beginners luck I guess. I got my notification that I'd be doing NYC too. I was extremely excited and decided that Chicago would be my "A" race (unless something terrible happened with the weather) and NYC would be the fun race. Leading up to Chicago I had a tad of hip pain on my last long runs and it resurfaced again (more-so) after getting back from Chicago. So most of the time between Chicago and NY was spent in PT (learning to stretch and do some simple strength exercises which I hope to continue/increase moving forward) with much less running than normal. I just wanted to make sure that I felt good enough to do another marathon that quickly and that I wouldn’t do anything to cause a longer-term injury. Anyways, my hip was a non-issue my last 2-3 runs and felt perfect the entire marathon. So maybe stretching, strengthening, and stuff like that is a good thing... lol.

My wife and I landed pretty early on Friday and got to our hotel at 57th and Lexington around 9:15. After we dropped off our luggage, we decided we'd just start walking towards the Expo and decide whether we wanted to catch an Uber or other mode of transportation. It was a nice day so we ended up walking. Getting my bib was pretty easy and the expo was good. We took our time there but did not buy anything. I had already ordered a jacket but would not allow myself to wear it until Sunday after the race. At noon we took a bus tour that covered the course. It was pretty good, but with all the traffic the tour was really slow in some parts and I was ready for it to end when it did. Our bus started at the expo, but it did have to drive all the way to Staten Island to properly start. There was an NYRR guide on our bus that told us about different points of the course and provided some tips. I mostly chose to do this because I'd never been anywhere but midtown/lower Manhattan so it was good for me to see other areas, PLUS it was nice for my wife to get to see where all I'd be running. We were able to get off the bus at the finish line and chose to do that instead of riding back to the expo. Then we grabbed an early dinner and decided to check out the Parade of Nations Opening Ceremony at the finish line. Runners marched down a small stretch of the finish area with their flags, costumes, music, etc. At the end, there were fireworks. It was fun, and I'd recommend anyone doing the marathon to consider watching this. It really made me feel like I was part of something huge. The forecasted rain held off, and it was a nice way to kick-off the weekend.

Late Saturday morning, my wife and I went out to see where she could EASILY get to watch me on Sunday. We figured out she could get to the hairpin turn off of the Queensboro Bridge (~mile 16) and then again when I exited Central Park (5th & 59th) in the final mile. Afterwards we both did a little run in Central Park. Wow! What an amazing place to run. The energy on Saturday morning with so many people there doing shakeouts was fantastic. My wife (hoping to do her first marathon in January at WDW) commented that she felt like she could run forever there.

After eating a late breakfast, we decided to do some exploring. It probably wasn’t the best use of my legs, but I was in NY for the experience too. We walked down to the Empire State building checking out Grand Central along the way. We walked back up through Times Square and eventually made it our early dinner at Patsy’s for some pasta. I think we ended up hanging out a bit more in Central Park and probably stayed out later than normal looking at things, but with the late race time of NYC and the “fall back” time change I kept telling myself that I was still going to be off my feet plenty of hours before the gun… lol.

Slept like a baby Saturday night and then did a little jog/walk to the buses (I was 6am) at the Library that take the midtown runners to the start. The bus ride was long, but warm and relaxing. The staging area at Fort Wadsworth was pretty well organized and they had free water, Gatorade, coffee, bagels, Dunkin Donut beanies, etc. It was a fairly comfortable morning to wait around in that area. I was in Wave 2 so my start time was some time around 10:15.

The course and crowd support were fantastic. Btw, @Keels I wish I would’ve known where you’d be so I could’ve at least waved. Anyways as part of the Orange group, I got to run on the the upper level of the Verrazano Bridge and on the left side going across… so I had amazing views of NYC. In fact, I veered over and basically ran along the rail so that I could have unobstructed views even though there was a healthy crosswind on the bridge. I just couldn’t resist. The crowds in Brooklyn were great. Since I was in the Orange group, I was on the west side of fourth street, so I was running in the sun. I’m guessing a large number on the east side of the street (running in the shadows of the buildings in Bayridge, etc. wished they’d been in the sun too. However, I really like running “cold” so even though it was a beautiful 50F, I would’ve preferred to be on that side. It probably sucked a bit of energy out of me, but it was hard to slow down and the vibe was just great in Brooklyn. Signs, cheering spectators, musicians, etc. It was awesome.

Finally, we got to the point where all 3 groups converged, and it did get a bit tight. I recall one water stop in an area of maybe only 2 lanes and it was pretty bad. Basically, everyone stopped running, except for a handful of people who just charged through everyone knocking people. That’s really the only place it was unbearable for me crowd-wise. The water/Gatorade stops were frequent (every mile from 3 to finish), but they weren’t nearly as large or organized as Chicago. Chicago’s tables seem to run forever. New York’s varied in size and sometimes they seemed a bit too small. That’s really my only small criticism of the race. Otherwise the event is magical.

You don’t spend much time in Queens and then it was the very long Queensboro Bridge over to Manhattan. I think @Wendy98 commented that his bridge went on forever and I’d agree. It was also the place my GPS went the most wonky. By this time, I’d already determined that I’d have to start feeling better quickly if I was going to run under 4 hours. I went through the halfway point in under 2, but I knew my effort was more than I liked so I started to slow some to see if I could get to feeling stronger. Oh… and it was during this stretch that I gave up on trying to pair my earbuds. Even though this race had tons of support, I like to have them on and occasionally get some music going to zone in. I needed to on Sunday (especially through Queens and over that Bridge) to see if I could settle in to comfortable pace, but later realized I accidentally brought an older pair of the same model that no longer worked. Makes sense now why they didn’t pair and gives me one more thing to check closer before my next race. I saw my wife coming off the bridge and then tossed her the ear buds and my Spibelt that I no longer wanted.

From this point on I did my best to keep feeling as good as possible. It became apparent to me somewhere on First Avenue that breaking 4 wasn’t going to happen. I think after mile 18, I started to walk at water stops. I really wish I had paced better early on because I could’ve enjoyed miles 16-24 much more. First and Fifth Avenues were really loud. I wanted to enjoy it more, but my head was probably hanging a bit. Just another reminder for me about how important pacing is.

Anyways, the short walk breaks felt pretty good, so I took an even longer walk across the bridge into the Bronx. This allowed me to recover a bit for Fifth Avenue. By this time, I decided that I’d like to 1) not walk any in Central Park, and 2) finish under 4:10. So I took my last little walk before the park and then I knew I just needed to power through the rest of the way. I had heard a lot about the rolling hills there late in the race (in the park too), but I honestly felt like there was more downhill than up late in the race. Maybe it was just me being a bit refreshed, determined, and overwhelmed by all the spectators encouraging everyone.

I got to see my wife again right when I exited the park and I knew I had much less than a mile to go so I started surging as much as I could. Finishing felt great. The finish line is a big production and it felt awesome to be a part of such an event. I came across in 4:07:53 and I was thrilled.

After the long march to receive my medal, nice heavy bag of snacks/recovery stuff, and post-race poncho, I finally met up with my wife and we made the trek back to the hotel. I quickly cleaned up and was able to hit a nearby pool to help my muscles recover a bit. Then we grabbed a quick early dinner and decided to head back to the finish line to watch the celebration for the final finishers. We stayed at least 2 hours. Apparently, the organizers make it a point to stick around at the finish line to let all the finishers get the hoopla they’ve earned. So even though the course is no longer “closed”, if you can find your way to the finish line you’ll be greeted with fans, announcers, a DJ, and plenty of festivities. It was very emotional and inspirational to watch the celebration of others crossing the finish line. Several elites had come to be a part of it too and I got to meet Meb. It was an awesome way to end the day for us. Between the Parade of Nations, my own race experience, and watching others crossing the line Sunday night, the NYC marathon was just an overall awesome experience. I highly recommend it to everyone.

You win the best race recap award. I don't know why I didn't think to meet up with you in the Athlete's Village area. My bus time was 6 am, but I didn't get on a bus until 6:50--I hate waiting around there any longer than I have to. Did you get a Dunkin Donuts hat? I wanted one for my dd who is Dunkin obsessed, but didn't want to carry it for 26.2 miles. We ate at Patsy's before heading to the airport on Sunday--so good.

Huge thanks to @SarahDisney and anyone else who's been a race volunteer! These events we love could not happen without people like you, so thanks for all you do!

Congratulations to @cburnett11, @Wendy98, and anyone else who finished the NYC Marathon this past weekend. That's definitely a bucket list race for me! @cburnett11, I need to shake your hand to get some of that good luck! Getting a NYC lottery entry on the first try?!? So jealous!! :D Congratulations on your good fortune.

Speaking of World Marathon Majors, I found out over the weekend I got an entry for the Berlin Marathon for 2019, so I'm excited about that. Also, on the same day I received the email about Berlin, I saw at the Wine & Dine Expo that the Disneyland Paris Half is the weekend before, so if I'm going to be in Europe anyway . . . We'll see if I can schedule both, but I'd sure like to try!

Berlin is definitely on my horizon for 2019 if I can get my ducks in a row. Anyone been to Oktoberfest and have any helpful hints?

QOTD: Since Marathon Weekend is approaching quickly I wanted to ask what are some must does during any of the races. What are the character stops that are a must, places to get a beverage or ride that you can get on during the run. While we are at, bathroom options that are not port o pots... Anything you think that is worth mentioning, lets hear it!

I said 2 years ago that I wouldn't stop for characters or anything else since I run for time, but did swing 2 character stops (there wasn't anyone else there). I doubt I would stop for characters this year. I will just get the ones at the finish line area. In 22 marathons (and countless other races), I have NEVER had to use a bathroom mid-race. In every day life, I have mental volumes on my favorite bathrooms everywhere. My goal will be to finish WDW marathon as quickly as I can and then celebrate. I have a brunch reservation at California Grill that I am too excited about. I just hope I don't have horrible belly problems that might make that a bad choice. I need to run fast so I have time to shower and get to brunch! This trip is just dh and I and we are hitting more adult restaurants (and drinking establishments).

I make a terrible post marathon recoverer. I have ran twice this week already even though I swore I wouldn't for 2 weeks. It has been a very easy pace although I am a bit creaky. I haven't had much downtime to get caught up on rest--my kids have been running me ragged. Now I am transitioning to vacation prep mode b/c we leave for WDW in 9 days!
 
ATTQOTD:
Dress up in a costume and have fun with it.
Stop for as many character pictures as you can.
Get Selfies with the Choir, the person who gives you your medal and maybe some cast members
Chocolate in Studios.
Carry a roll of toilet paper for the first 15 or 20 miles ( I have no idea why we decided to do that this year but it was a lot of fun)
 
I don't think I want to do another marathon double like this year (Chicago & NYC), although @cburnett11 might go for a triple.

Not gonna happen. I have the WDW in January and then I have no plans. MCM is a possibility as a destination race next year. Part of me would like to try and get faster at some point so I can try to get under 3:35 for whenever the math works out for me to use the 55 yo age group for Boston. But getting faster just seems hard, lol.


You win the best race recap award. I don't know why I didn't think to meet up with you in the Athlete's Village area. My bus time was 6 am, but I didn't get on a bus until 6:50--I hate waiting around there any longer than I have to. Did you get a Dunkin Donuts hat? I wanted one for my dd who is Dunkin obsessed, but didn't want to carry it for 26.2 miles. We ate at Patsy's before heading to the airport on Sunday--so good.

I got on a bus at 6am. The village area wasn't bad, I was wearing plenty of throwaways so was very comfortable. I actually walked around and sorta looked for you, but couldn't remember if you were green or blue... just knew you weren't orange. I got a DD hat, but threw it away when I headed off to my corral. In hindsight, I should've kept it as carrying it wouldn't have made me feel any worse than I did during the second half of the race. Yeah we had Patsy's italian on Saturday night and then Patsy's pizza (unrelated) post-race.
 
Carry a roll of toilet paper for the first 15 or 20 miles ( I have no idea why we decided to do that this year but it was a lot of fun)

But why?!?!?!?! Was it for the intended purpose of TP or just to do something different. How did you keep it dry while running? So many other questions... Did anyone ask to use some? Is there a YouTube video of this?
 
NATTQOTD (non-ATTQOTD):

I try to honor Newton's First Law of Motion: An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion..., so no character, ride, beer stops for me. I salute those that do!

The best real bathroom stop seems to be not well know. It took me 6+ races to discover it. Convenient location and never a line. And I am greedily not disclosing the location.
 
I have a question! I just did the W&D half and followed the training plan from RunDisney. I'm also signed up for the Princess Half...how should I continue my training? Should I start the plan over or jump in at longer distances? Should I not follow a plan at all and just do "long runs"? :confused3
Presuming sufficient training, you should maintain your long distance ability for about 3 weeks after the initial race. When I was using Galloway plans for races where the plans had some overlap such as both my coast to coast years, I ignored the plan for the 2nd race altogether and then transitioned to it after completing the first race. I adjusted where necessary such as if plan 2 called for a long run 1 week after the first race, I would simply cancel that long run and tweak as needed.

QOTD: Since Marathon Weekend is approaching quickly I wanted to ask what are some must does during any of the races. What are the character stops that are a must, places to get a beverage or ride that you can get on during the run. While we are at, bathroom options that are not port o pots... Anything you think that is worth mentioning, lets hear it!

ATTQOTD: I've only run the race once so far and I did not stop for anything other than water towards the end. I have heard a lot of great things, but I am interested in hearing of exact experiences from yall.
My very first half involved no photo stops over fear that they could cost me the precious seconds I might need to avoid being swept. I didn't even bring a camera. As a result, I missed out on a lot of great photo opportunities with very short lines. And sure enough some of these photo ops did not return in subsequent races.

Since I want to more properly enjoy the Disney aspect of my first marathon, I will be getting photos during the race. I like character photos during the race, but I'm not going to wait very long for them given my anticipated finishing time. Fortunately for me, the character photos that are most important to me are characters that will be in the parks after the race so if the line is too long for my tastes, I can move on. If one of my favorite characters has a short enough line, I'll stop.

I will stop for cool photos with minimal waits as many times as I want to. I've learned that seconds won't cost me that goal of finishing, but too many minutes added together could be a problem. I want to stop for one photo in each park especially in front of Cinderella Castle specifically and the Magic Kingdom in general since it's the only U.S. Disney park I have yet to run through.

I considered a ride, but decided that even the possibility that the ride could break down and leave me stuck for even 5 minutes is a risk I'm not willing to take given my speed. For me there are plenty of other unique Disney race experiences to make up for me not wanting to take the risk.

I hope to stop for some kind of real food in World Showcase, but we'll see how I feel when that time comes.

OMG, YES!!! I was so sick of sweet and/or banana by then that the salty items they had were HEAVEN. I ate everything I could get my hands on.
I think the best pretzels I've ever tasted came out of a bag around shortly after leaving Animal Kingdom during this year's Dark Side Half. I love those food stops because I reach a point where anything that isn't water or powerade or a gel tastes amazing. Which is why I really want to stop for food in World Showcase.
 
ATTQOTD: I think everyone has covered things pretty well. I'll often plan on using the Adventureland/Frontierland restrooms as they are large enough to accommodate a pretty large number of people and come late enough in MK that many runners have already opted for other in-park restrooms beforehand. It seems to come at a good point in the race for me as well. Character stops depend on lines and importance/relevance of the character to me(if it's Disney Afternoon,any line is OK). I'd really like to hit ToT and/or RnRC, but I'm usually well beyond ready to finish at that point and chicken out.
 
But why?!?!?!?! Was it for the intended purpose of TP or just to do something different. How did you keep it dry while running? So many other questions... Did anyone ask to use some? Is there a YouTube video of this?

I think one of the guys I was running with brought it in case he needed to blow his nose in the corral. He kept it in its hotel wrapped paper. He kept it and we just tossed it back and forth for a while and then it we were having too much fun with it to put it down.

NATTQOTD (non-ATTQOTD):


The best real bathroom stop seems to be not well know. It took me 6+ races to discover it. Convenient location and never a line. And I am greedily not disclosing the location.

Hmmm trying to guess..
backside of TTC, between Frontierland and Adventureland, AK, Corner in Studios by the fountain??

Coach Charles had posted the route info with every bathroom along the route for the old marathon.
 

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