Hanging up my running shoes

[Ariel484]

Sounds like a good week overall! So glad your knee is feeling better - and look at you sticking to that circuit training!!

Aren't windy conditions the worst when running?! Hate it!!

CUTE picture of your girls and the pups!! And your flowers are soooo pretty - so spring-y!

You've totally got this race - better to go in undertrained than with a sore knee. And you'v done the half marathon distance so many times by now that you know you can do it!!

 

[ZellyB]

Sounds like a good week overall! So glad your knee is feeling better - and look at you sticking to that circuit training!!

Aren't windy conditions the worst when running?! Hate it!!

CUTE picture of your girls and the pups!! And your flowers are soooo pretty - so spring-y!

You've totally got this race - better to go in undertrained than with a sore knee. And you'v done the half marathon distance so many times by now that you know you can do it!!

Thanks, Shannon. I'm so impressed with myself on sticking with the circuit training. I usually crash and burn after a week. LOL I've done it for 4 weeks solid now, so maybe I'm actually going to manage to establish a habit.

The girls are enjoying having Bitsy around. We'll see how that lasts after the novelty of a new dog there wears off.

 

[roxymama]

Totally have to comment how spooky this is. But we both ran our long runs I think on the same day. And yours was 6 miles and mine was 5 miles BUT both at 11:03 avg pace....ummmmmmmmm...spooooooooooky! If you tell me you were out between 8:30-9:30ish am central time zone I will fall off my chair.

Also I have no idea about Dr. Who other than it involves phone booths and evil R2D2 looking things. But I do like those skirts a lot. They remind me of the old astronomy contraptions on display at our planetarium.

 

[ZellyB]

Totally have to comment how spooky this is. But we both ran our long runs I think on the same day. And yours was 6 miles and mine was 5 miles BUT both at 11:03 avg pace....ummmmmmmmm...spooooooooooky! If you tell me you were out between 8:30-9:30ish am central time zone I will fall off my chair.

Also I have no idea about Dr. Who other than it involves phone booths and evil R2D2 looking things. But I do like those skirts a lot. They remind me of the old astronomy contraptions on display at our planetarium.

That is spooky!!! We were out a bit earlier than you though (6:30), so no need to fall out of your chair.

You are totally right about old astronomy contraptions. I hadn't made that connection but they do look a bit like that. I still haven't run in either one yet since it's still been a bit cool here, but can't wait for the chance to try them out.

 

[pxefig]

Oooh! I don't think I commented on the Dr. Who skirts! I haven't ever seen the show, but several people I know who like the stuff I do RAVE about it so I feel like it would be up my alley. I'm going to be a total enabler and say keep both skirts if the decision hasn't been made. They seem so unique and so very cool for a fan but not like billboard advertisement levels of nerd-dom that I think they are perfect and if you get rid of one you are probably going to wish you hadn't down that road. That's just me

 

[ZellyB]

Oooh! I don't think I commented on the Dr. Who skirts! I haven't ever seen the show, but several people I know who like the stuff I do RAVE about it so I feel like it would be up my alley. I'm going to be a total enabler and say keep both skirts if the decision hasn't been made. They seem so unique and so very cool for a fan but not like billboard advertisement levels of nerd-dom that I think they are perfect and if you get rid of one you are probably going to wish you hadn't down that road. That's just me

Well, guessing from some of your posts I've seen about Star Wars and the like, I'm guessing you would enjoy it. I only started watching a few years ago when I was home on sick leave and BBC America was playing a marathon of them. I was hooked. I haven't watched all the episodes going back to the 60s, but I've watched all the "new Who" shows when it was rebooted in 2005. The shows can be kind of erratic as far as the content and how good any given episode may be, but overall it's an enjoyable bit of TV.

Yeah, I'm probably keeping both skirts.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Hi there! I hope it's OK if I join in and follow along on your running journey to Goofy! First of all, I have to tell you that I loved loved loved your past TRs! When I finally made the decision to commit to a 2016 runDisney race, it was after reading your 2015 Goofy TR! I have noticed in your comments on the running thread and on @Ariel484 's training journal Anyway, I have been surprised how motivating it has been, getting into this running Dis community! I hope your knee continues to feel better. You sure know how to rock those intervals, girl!!

 

[ZellyB]

Hi there! I hope it's OK if I join in and follow along on your running journey to Goofy! First of all, I have to tell you that I loved loved loved your past TRs! When I finally made the decision to commit to a 2016 runDisney race, it was after reading your 2015 Goofy TR! I have noticed in your comments on the running thread and on @Ariel484 's training journal Anyway, I have been surprised how motivating it has been, getting into this running Dis community! I hope your knee continues to feel better. You sure know how to rock those intervals, girl!!

Welcome!

That's so nice of you to say that about my TRs. The same was true for me when I read one of Shannon's ( @Ariel484 ) TRs. I knew I wanted to run the marathon, but after reading about her experiences, I was so excited to do it, so it's nice to hear mine was helpful too. I love the Dis running community as well. It's so motivating and I learn a lot from people. I'm completely hooked on the running thread. Thank you too about my knee. It's steadily improving.

 

[Ariel484]

 

[ZellyB]

It's Almost Race Day​

This weekend is our first half marathon of the year, the Bentonville Half. This race holds a special place for me since it was after watching my sister-in-law and brother-in-law finish together that I started seriously thinking about trying to run a race with my husband. The rest is, as they like to say, history.

Weather for the race isn't too bad but a bit chillier than I was hoping for. At start time it should be mid to upper 30s and in the mid 40s or so by finish. I prefer running in the upper 40s to mid 50s, but this will be okay. It has caused me to think about my outfit for the race though, so I've had to make some adjustments to my initial plan.

I recently ordered a new shirt from InknBurn that I finally received a couple of days ago. I really do love InB stuff, but it seems like their shipping takes forever. Amazon Prime has ruined me forever on my patience when it comes to shipping. Anyway, here's my new Year of the Monkey shirt.

I love it!!! My original plan when I was hoping for warmer temps was to layer a long sleeve tech under this and wear it with my black linen sparkle skirt. Now I think it will be too cool for that, so I'm going to stick with layer the long sleeve shirt and wear this with my Healing Mandala tights.

I think they work together pretty well.

We are planning on our standard :90/:30 intervals and taking the run as it comes. My knee is feeling much better and nearly back to normal. I've mentioned that roughly the last 2 miles or so of this race is uphill with the last mile being a very steep climb, so I'm not going to worry too much about overall finish time although ideally I like to manage it below 2:30, but it'll be fine whatever happens.

With my knee improving so much, we've been discussing maybe trying to go ahead and hit the Rock the Parkway half up in Kansas City next weekend again and get that Fanatic status. So, I'm torn on what to do about signing up. Our race is on 4/2, but the fee for the KC race goes up after 4/1. So, do I sign up now and get the cheaper price or wait until after the Bentonville race to see how the knee is feeling? The jump is just $10 per person, so it's probably smarter to just wait and see how I feel. I'm a little worried about the race selling out since the website claims it sells out every year although it looks like there are still plenty of openings. Chris and I will probably talk about it more tonight and make a final call on it while we are packing up for Bentonville.

We are heading down Friday night and meeting up with our friends for a nice dinner out and then planning to spend some time in the area Saturday afternoon after the race before heading home. Should be a great weekend.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Good luck on your race! I love the leggings and shirt combo-- looks great!

 

[Ariel484]

Monkey Mandala!

So glad your knee is feeling better. You're gonna kick butt!!

 

[CherieFran]

Joining along for your Goofy journey. Good luck with your half marathon this weekend! Hope the knee holds up okay!

 

[Chris-Mo]

Good luck Saturday I hope your run goes well!

 

[ZellyB]

Good luck on your race! I love the leggings and shirt combo-- looks great!

Thank you!!

Monkey Mandala!

So glad your knee is feeling better. You're gonna kick butt!!

LOL Monkey Mandala indeed. Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Joining along for your Goofy journey. Good luck with your half marathon this weekend! Hope the knee holds up okay!

Welcome and glad to have you here! I feel pretty good about the knee, so hoping all goes well.

Good luck Saturday I hope your run goes well!

Hey, thanks! Yours too.

 

[pxefig]

The Money shirt looks great! I think the cost of a race fee not used is more than $10 of making sure you are 100% for it, so good call there! Best of luck!

 

[ZellyB]

The Money shirt looks great! I think the cost of a race fee not used is more than $10 of making sure you are 100% for it, so good call there! Best of luck!

Thank you! Definitely decided it was the smarter choice to wait.

 

[ZellyB]

BENTONVILLE HALF MARATHON REPORT
​

We had a spectacular trip down to NE Arkansas to run the Bentonville half marathon this weekend. We headed out from work on Friday afternoon and managed the 2 hour drive easily. We had some tunes playing and Chris and I were singing our way down south. Some other friends of ours were also going for the weekend down to Bentonville and were planning to meet us for dinner, so we were texting them back and forth with videos of each other singing our way down the highway. It made the 2 hour drive fly by.

Once we got to Bentonville, we met up with our friends who live there and went out for a delicious dinner and then a couple of drinks after at a trendy bar in the area. Managed to get home and in bed not much worse for wear by around 10:30 or so.

We got up around 5:30 and ate some quick breakfast and headed for the downtown square for the 7:00 AM start of the race. I think they have around 2000 for the half and then additional participants for a 5K. It was mid-30s at start time, so I was in my Monkey Mandala outfit with some gloves and a sweatshirt to start. We were running our standard :90/:30 intervals and managed quite well. The route goes right by the neighborhood where our friends live, so around mile 1-2 we saw Brenda. I was warmed up already, so I gave her my sweatshirt and gloves at that point.

The route in the beginning is pretty flat with a few rolling hills. We were keeping a pretty steady pace around a 10:55 mm pace. We saw Brenda again at mile 8 where she had some fresh cut oranges for us to munch on. DELICIOUS. I was a bit fatigued here, but still feeling pretty good. Shortly after that is the best part of the course...a long gradual downhill that goes for about a mile. It's a great way to get a break and get ready for the last few miles of the course, which is basically uphill. Bentonville's catch phrase is "I conquered the hill" Here's a shot of the race elevation...

Yikes!! I did really well with our intervals and pace (around 10:55) until we hit mile 11 where the hill just gets ridiculously steep. We walked most of that portion with a few run intervals thrown in when the hill let up a bit. Once we finally got to the top, there's around a quarter of a mile to the finish that we managed to run out and we had a finish time of 2:27:18. My original goal was a sub 2:30, so I was super happy about that given all the stupid knee issues I've been fighting and just generally feeling undertrained.

We got our insanely big medal...

And also a long-sleeved tech shirt that has "I Conquered the Hill" in obnoxiously big letters across the back. I actually really like the shirt otherwise, so I wish they hadn't put that on there, but oh well.

We got a quick photo of the hill-conquering heroes before heading back to the house to get cleaned up and eat some breakfast

We spent the rest of the day wandering around downtown Bentonville and doing a bit of shopping before a fantastic dinner with our friends and the drive home.

All in all today I'm feeling pretty good all things considered. The knee held up well and other than some sore legs, I feel good. We'll probably make a final decision on running another half next weekend later today. Stay tuned ...

 

[girliea]

You conquered the Hill! What a great time and great paces!!

Love the outfit, really looks good together! But I think my favorite part of your outfit is your neon yellow shoestrings....awesome!
I so love your TRs!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Way to go! Holy smokes that is a really legit hill (more like a mountain!?!?).