Marathon Weekend 2022

[Jillfo]

SAFD: I'm Jill. I grew up in Michigan (Go State!) but have lived in suburban Atlanta since graduating many years ago. I do development consulting for hotels (market studies, appraisals, etc.). My interests include travel, reading, running and (since discovering them during lockdown) following British ex-pats renovating French chateaus on YouTube.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Name: Melissa
Where I’m From: Naples, FL
What I Do: Mechanical Engineer by degree turned Civil Engineer
Family: My husband (Mr. Dis_Yoda) & 3 Dogs (13 year old Cocker Spaniel, 3 Year Old Ridgeless Rhodesian Ridgeback (Gantu), almost 2 Year Old Rhodesian Ridgeback (Qi'ra)
Interests & Hobbies: Personally, my running is more at 5K/10K distances nowadays unless my legacy race (Star Wars Disneyland) comes back. I've done 7 half marathons and 13 10ks. My husband is the main runner nowadays and has 3 Marathons under his belt, one of those being a Dopey Weekend and the other being a Goofy Weekend, 15 half marathons and I've lost count of the 10ks and 5ks at this point.

My current main hobby is training and competing with our Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Gantu is currently training in Agility/Competitive Obedience, has titled in Advanced Tricks & Urban/Advanced Canine Good Citizens and will be competing soon in Barn Hunt, Fast CATs (100 yard coursing) along with eventually being a therapy dog. Qi'ra shows in Conformation & has both her majors. We're working on her last few singles now. She also is training in Rally Obedience. I'm keeping her away from too much instinct sports until she earns her Championship because I need to keep her handler focused. Both of them will also be trained for our breed's endurance trial which is a 12 mile run at 10 minute mile pace. Personally, I will be on a bike for that trial while my husband will probably run with one of our two.



We also enjoy alcohol, I love passing our beer and jell-o shots to people in the races and sometimes the comments that go along with it.

I also build large lego sets and do hard puzzles from time to time.

 

[drummerwife]

SAFD:
Name: Janice
Where I’m From: Portland, Or (born and raised) currently living 40 miles from D.C.
What I Do: Retired travel agent
Family: DH (married 38 years) retired Army 1st Sgt, DS junior at GMU, and 2 perfectly wonderful cats.
Interests & Hobbies: Reading, walking, playing games, LEGOs and researching my family’s ancestry.

 

[Benisa]

SAFD:

Name: Stefanie
Where I'm From: Germany
What I Do: PA at a lawyers' firm
Family: Happily single, but sharing my home with 3 cats and 1 dog
Interest & Hobbies: Reading, crocheting, LEGO, Diamond Painting

 

[meye1099]

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[softball chick]

SAFD:

Name: Kelly
Where I’m From: Wisconsin
What I Do: High School Math Teacher
Family: Not married yet, no kids
Interests & Hobbies: Seeing Live Theatre, Reading, Walking/Running, Cheering on the Milwaukee Brewers or Marquette Men's Basketball teams, and Starting to Get Into Baking (I blame Great British Bake Off)

 

[jmasgat]

SAFD: I'm Maura, a 62 yr old retired dislocated "Mass-hole" (from North Shore of MA) currently living in SE Michigan. Married for 36+ yrs with 2 adult kids and a 14-1/2 yr old mutt. Hobbies include running (of course), yoga, baking, travel, reading, doing crossword and KenKen puzzles and watching all sorts of sports.

I'm Brandi from Louisiana ....I enjoy ......fencing.

It's rare to find anyone else who fences. I used to in college and pre-kids. Foil and Saber.

Since the pandemic I've also enjoyed .......whiskey cocktails.

You know, I have developed a fondness for a well-made (yet simple) whiskey sour, and over the holidays was quite fond of a Fairytale of New York (from Smitten Kitchen). And I do like a good Bourbon or Rye, and all that they offer. Hmmm, now I'm thirsty.

 

[mrebuck]

Name: Melissa
Where I’m From: Naples, FL
What I Do: Mechanical Engineer by degree turned Civil Engineer
Family: My husband (Mr. Dis_Yoda) & 3 Dogs (13 year old Cocker Spaniel, 3 Year Old Ridgeless Rhodesian Ridgeback (Gantu), almost 2 Year Old Rhodesian Ridgeback (Qi'ra)
Interests & Hobbies: Personally, my running is more at 5K/10K distances nowadays unless my legacy race (Star Wars Disneyland) comes back. I've done 7 half marathons and 13 10ks. My husband is the main runner nowadays and has 3 Marathons under his belt, one of those being a Dopey Weekend and the other being a Goofy Weekend, 15 half marathons and I've lost count of the 10ks and 5ks at this point.

My current main hobby is training and competing with our Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Gantu is currently training in Agility/Competitive Obedience, has titled in Advanced Tricks & Urban/Advanced Canine Good Citizens and will be competing soon in Barn Hunt, Fast CATs (100 yard coursing) along with eventually being a therapy dog. Qi'ra shows in Conformation & has both her majors. We're working on her last few singles now. She also is training in Rally Obedience. I'm keeping her away from too much instinct sports until she earns her Championship because I need to keep her handler focused. Both of them will also be trained for our breed's endurance trial which is a 12 mile run at 10 minute mile pace. Personally, I will be on a bike for that trial while my husband will probably run with one of our two.

View attachment 550920View attachment 550921

We also enjoy alcohol, I love passing our beer and jell-o shots to people in the races and sometimes the comments that go along with it.

I also build large lego sets and do hard puzzles from time to time.

Your Ridgebacks are gorgeous! I have a 2 year old, Nala, but she's definitely not a show dog. She likes to sleep and cuddle way too much! We've tried fast cat, which she liked, but the longer lure coursing was definitely not for her. We also took an agility for fun class. She enjoyed most of it, but really disliked the weave poles and the seesaw. Do you run with your pups? I was hoping Nala would be a good long-run running partner, but she caps out around a 5K.

 

[garneska]

SAFD:

Name: Kris
Location: Atlanta now, originally from NW suburbs of Chicago
Family: Married 21 years, DH is Bert he does run with me but prefers the half marathon distance. One dog at the moment Mallory (not sure how long she will be with us but i have been saying that for all of 2020).
Employment: IT so I am working from home for now
Interests: Like everyone running, disney, hiking, travel when i can.



this pic is from 2018 she looks so good here. the more recent pics are not as good. My time is short.

 

[happ]

SAFD:
I'm Heidi from MA. I have two kids, DS17 and DS19. My days consist of homeschooling, running, writing, gardening, caring for our two dogs and four chickens and everything else, and reading disboards. I'm looking forward to publishing my first book this year.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Your Ridgebacks are gorgeous! I have a 2 year old, Nala, but she's definitely not a show dog. She likes to sleep and cuddle way too much! We've tried fast cat, which she liked, but the longer lure coursing was definitely not for her. We also took an agility for fun class. She enjoyed most of it, but really disliked the weave poles and the seesaw. Do you run with your pups? I was hoping Nala would be a good long-run running partner, but she caps out around a 5K.

Nala looks happy, loved and a great pet. I love those beautiful ridgeback eyes! I'm glad she enjoyed FCATs as those are nice and easy events. My male actually isn't allowed to do lure coursing as he's ridgeless so FCATs only for him. We'll try the longer ones with Qi'ra eventually as she's super agile and has some Ibizan friends to show her the ropes.

For agility, I'm doing private 30 minute lessons once a week with a trainer that has MACH titled in non-popular agility breeds as there is definitely different methods of introduction of equipment that will either make or break the dog, especially sensitive ones like our ridgebacks! We just started the teeter last week with the table method and a seesaw holder so its only moving downwards like 6" at the moment so he can learn oh this moves and I need to balance. I got back tonight. Weaves - with our trick training I did a lot of cone work so this transferred over as treats got the job done and made it more a game or well motivated by string cheese and frozen meatballs. I just love keeping them active and engaged and seeing their minds work.

We only run longer distances with Gantu at the moment. He's done up to 5 miles between my husband and I but we haven't pushed for more yet as they need conditioning just like humans do usually. Qi'ra isn't 2 yet so her running on leash and sidewalk with us only started in December and we've capped it at a mile as we don't want to do distance until after 2 because of growth plates.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

In my typical self-deprecating fashion, I was thinking SAFD had run its course, people were getting bored and I would put it on hiatus for a bit, if not outright retire it. Some folks have been answering the same or similar questions for about three years now and I don't want it to become tedious.

If there's still interest, I'll still do it. I'd also like to call on you all to help my crowd source this a bit so we could have some fresh questions.

FWIW, it makes me feel really good that folks are even asking about it.

Even if some questions repeat themselves, I don't know that it gets tedious. For one thing, answers will change as new things are introduced to the parks. Secondly, I think there will always be new people to join in the thread because they are signed up for marathon weekend for the first time or are new to this runDisney community. I think SAFD helps keep this thread active which can then help new runners work through their own process.

Please keep SAFD going. I’m happy to help with questions. I think SAFD is fun for all of us, and allows us to share great memories and get to know each other better. I don’t think any of us who are Disney people mind talking about topics more than once, especially to other like-minded Disney folks! Thank you for taking it on. You do an amazing job, and we on this thread really appreciate it!

I second this. While training for my first marathon, I had a string of consecutive difficult runs. I felt really discouraged, even to the point of actually contemplating scrapping the entire Dopey Challenge that I had already paid for and just eating the cost. It was a dark time in my running life. But in large part because of the time I had spent in this community, I knew that I could share my frustrations openly. It was a matter of hours before people had given me encouragement and helpful responses to remind me that even a series of consecutive bad training runs do not define a race.

 

[MATTERHORN]

SAFD:


Hello all! I am Andrea! Been on the DIS a long time, was mostly on the Disneyland boards back in the day! It's the best place on Earth!

I was born in Detroit, grew up out west between AZ and NV, and moved to Florida 10 years ago! Was the best thing I ever did, I'm about 20 minutes from the mouse!

I was originally an accountant/bookkeeper, but have been a SAHM since moving to Florida! I have 3 kids, 20, 17, and 15.

Interests include travel, scrapbooking, and of course, Disney! I'm a bit of a clean freak!

I love volunteering at the races and I volunteer quite a bit here at Give Kids the World!

 

[pluto377]

SAFD

Name: Valarie
Family: DH, DS (9), DS (7), DS (4)- there are too many boys in my house!
What I Do: Librarian at a public library
Where I Live: Long Island (I've also lived in Manhattan and the MD/DC/VA for a few years)
Interests: Running, reading, napping, sitting in silence

Looking forward to counting down to 2022 with everyone! My fingers and toes are all crossed that it's a live event.

 

[SarahDisney]

So, moving on to this week's Sundays are for Disney ... introductions! Tell us a little bit about yourself: your name and where you're from (if you feel comfortable), occupation, interests and hobbies, etc. Don't take a deep dive on your Disney and running stuff just yet, we'll tackle those in subsequent SAFDs.

Wow, starting with a hard one.
Hi, I'm Sarah! NYC born-and-bred (with a very brief stopover in the Boston area). Software engineer (which is career #4? for me).
Do I have any hobbies or interests? That's a good question. I like sports, mostly watch baseball (Yankees) and hockey (Rangers), with a little football (Jets) thrown in here and there. I theoretically like reading but these days am mostly reading my work book club books (although maybe in 2021 I should try to read more because books are awesome). During the stay-at-home pandemic period I have developed online shopping habits, which is really super great (although grocery delivery is actually great because I don't have to set aside a morning to go to the supermarket).

 

[PCFriar80]

Wow, starting with a hard one.
Hi, I'm Sarah! NYC born-and-bred (with a very brief stopover in the Boston area). Software engineer (which is career #4? for me).
Do I have any hobbies or interests? That's a good question. I like sports, mostly watch baseball (Yankees) and hockey (Rangers), with a little football (Jets) thrown in here and there. I theoretically like reading but these days am mostly reading my work book club books (although maybe in 2021 I should try to read more because books are awesome). During the stay-at-home pandemic period I have developed online shopping habits, which is really super great (although grocery delivery is actually great because I don't have to set aside a morning to go to the supermarket).

So true in bold! I may request an aisle seat next time I fly over Iowa just so I don't have to wave!
Just kidding @lhermiston! Go Rangers and Jets Smaller font for obvious reasons. Thanks for all of the dog pictures everyone. Here is Jassie aka "Princess Jasmine". She'll be 12 next week!

 

[michigandergirl]

SAFD:

My name is Sharon and I'm from Grand Rapids, MI. I am a married mom of three teenagers DS (17), DS (15), DD (13) and one fur child, a rescue pittie named Winnie. I have a rather mundane desk job at a local government agency, but I love my coworkers, so it balances out nicely. My hobbies include road & trail running, yoga, reading, camping, travel, gardening and planning my next Disney trip.

 

[nekonekoneko]

Hi, my name is Alex, and I'm an alcoholic... Wait a minute.

I live outside of Philadelphia.

I like to say that I sell recreational psychoactive drugs legally in a competitive environment. In reality, I manage a little take-out restaurant that serves way too much alcohol. Somehow, this was considered an essential position, and I've been open for the last year. Though sales have been down. Ironically, I don't actually drink.

I have 3 adult daughters, and one granddaughter. One of them loves Disney, one hates Disney, one doesn't care, and my granddaughter is still a DGD0? I will be bringing her for MW2023.

Outside of Disney, a lot of reading (a lot more this past year), and I love theatre, and I miss going to them!

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

Lurker checking in:
SAFD:

Name: David
Where I'm From: A small town near Pittsburgh, PA. Army brat, so moved around: Ft. Hood, TX. Ft. Benning, GA, Columbus, GA, Bradenton, FL. I currently reside near Gainesville, GA, in the country.
What I Do: Retired software developer. Most of my career was at BellSouth/AT&T. My new career is 'fixer of broken things'.
Family: DW of 30 years. An un-officially adopted daugher and SIL. 3 cats: 2 rescues and 1 stray. This is our second cat family after 2 strays that lived long and happy lives.
Interest & Hobbies: Reading, yoga, LEGO, model building, gardening, home improvement projects (OK, this is love/hate).

 

[iamsarahpotts]

SAFD:
Name: Sarah
Where I’m From: Indianapolis, IN
What I Do: Wet Chemistry Lab Manager at an environmental lab and wife/unpaid assistant of an ice cream man
Family: Husband (who says he doesn’t care about Disney - but I have photos of him hugging Sully that suggest otherwise) and our cat Goose
Interests & Hobbies: Reading, crafting (been making a LOT of masks), eating and watching too much TV (thanks quarantine)

Im very excited to have joined this thread right as SAFD is starting up again! I’m really hoping to participate in marathon weekend 2022 as a walker. It would be awesome to get to know some people who will be there and maybe see some friendly faces as I’ll most likely be racing alone!