Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

(Less Than) 2 Weeks Out: A Marathon Weekend Trip Plans Update

After many teases, it's finally here! My trip plans! (Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I'm too lazy to track down anything)
Without further ado, here we go:
*Note: pretty much everything here is subject to change.

Wednesday, January 9th
Early flight from LGA (ugh) ... probably gotta leave the apartment around 5ish, maybe even earlier. Much coffee will be needed once I arrive at the airport. Land then DME to the Beach Club! Should probably get there around 11ish, maybe a drop earlier. Checked luggage will go straight to the room from the airport. If my room is ready when I get there, dump my carry-on in the room, otherwise dump it with luggage services. Then head to the...

EXPO! This will be my first time going to the expo so early. I have some mild claustrophobia and crowd anxiety, so I hope it's not too crowded. If it is, then I'll just grab my bibs and shirts and come back to browse later. If not, I definitely want to browse a little and check out the vendors. No specific purchases in mind, but we'll see if anything strikes my fancy. Once I finish at the expo, I'll head back to the hotel to dump my stuff, then it's off to...

Magic Kingdom!
Current FP+:
  • 3:40 PM - 4:40 PM - Splash Mountain
  • 5:20 PM - 6:20 PM - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • 6:20 PM - 7:20 PM - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Other than that, I'll do whatever seems to have a decent line and/or I can get later FP+ for. Would like to see Happily Ever After because I never have, but we'll see. MK has EMH until 10pm (I think), and I'd like to be in the park until 9ish.

Thursday, January 10th
5K and then (Beth's :( and) my traditional post-5K park: DHS!
Current FP+:
  • 9:25 AM - 10:25 AM - Star Tours (my first time!)
  • 11:50 AM - 12:50 PM - Alien Swirling Saucers
  • 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
Will definitely wait in the long standby line for Slinky Dog Dash. Probably will do the Frozen Sing Along (wanna join me, @jennamfeo? :rotfl:). Other than that ... all the character medal pictures. Will probably end the night with Fantasmic!, but we'll see how tired I am.

Friday, January 11th
10K then AK.
Current FP+:
  • 9:50 AM - 10:50 AM - Kilimanjaro Safaris
  • 10:55 AM - 11:55 AM - Expedition Everest
  • 3:20 PM - 4:20 PM - Avatar Flight of Passage
I wasn't originally planning to be in the park that late, so we'll see if I end up blowing off the FoP FP+
Then Sabbath-ing ... Sabbath starts at 5:30ish, I think (I gotta look that up...). Will light some candles (gotta track down my matches and/or lighter), eat a sad lonely meal (I say this from experience eating Friday night meals solo in my apartment), drink some wine, and then maybe read a little before hitting the sack early.

Saturday, January 12th
Still chilling in my room Sabbath-ing.
Sabbath ends at 6:30ish, and I'll head to DHS after that for an hour or so.
Current FP+:
  • 5:50 PM - 6:50 PM - Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (I may miss this one)
  • 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM - Slinky Dog Dash
Will possibly also eat dinner at DHS, but I may not. I'll probably play that by ear.

Sunday, January 13th
Marathon! Not really sure what I'm doing post-race, but my FP+ are for MK:
  • 12:55 PM - 1:55 PM - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (probably gonna miss this one)
  • 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater
  • 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM - Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Original plan for the day was Mickey in all four parks. If I'm feeling up to it, I would like to do that, but we'll see how I feel.
There's EMH at DHS, so I'd like to end my night there.

Monday, January 14th
May start the day off at AK for EMH, but we'll see. If I do head to AK, I'll probably be out of there by 9:30-10ish

I was originally considering joining DATW, so I made my FP+ for Epcot. That's no longer in the plans (I'll probably get to that more if I do an end-of-year recap, but in case I don't, the short version is: I haven't been feeling super comfortable here lately, so I've decided to take a step back from the runDisney section of the boards and focus more on other running communities where I feel more comfortable). So if I end up unexpectedly doing Epcot earlier in the trip, I'll probably change to a different park. But for now, here are my FP+:
  • 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM - Spaceship Earth
  • 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM - Living with the Land
  • 11:50 AM - 12:50 AM - Frozen Ever After
Tuesday, January 15th
This is the day I check out of Beach Club and check into Cabana Bay. Original plan was to hop over to Universal first thing in the morning (will probably Uber/Lyft), but I may have made an early Slinky Dog Dash FP+. I may or may not run into DHS for my SDD FP+ before checking out and making my way over to Universal.

I haven't really planned my Universal stuff much, but I think I'm going to start my day at Diagon Alley, take the train over to Hogsmeade, and then spend the rest of the day at Islands of Adventure. Not sure what the story is with bringing food in, so I may have to take a mid-day break at the hotel. We shall see. Night will be spent doing any Harry Potter night shows that may exist (I should probably find out if there is one...) and exploring CityWalk. Unlike the one in California, there's no Coffee Bean, so I automatically don't like it.

Wednesday, January 16th
Departure Day :(
Plan is the opposite of Tuesday - start in Hogsmeade, then Hogwarts Express over to Diagon Alley, then spend the day in Universal Studios. Undecided if I will attempt Rip Ride Rockit.
I haven't figured out how I'm getting to the airport yet, but I think my flight is at like 7:45ish, so I'd probably head to the airport around 6ish.

So ... those are the not-at-all-detailed plans. If you're gonna be in the same park as me at any point in time, please let me know and I will try to track you down. Even though I'm skipping the meetups, I still want to see people!! And since I'm solo and have an AP (aka I can park hop), I can be super flexible!
 


Sounds like a solid plan!

We basically have no parks the same! We’ll be at DHS on Sunday, so if you do head there, let me know! Or maybe the prerace meet up on marathon morning?
 
We will be at AK on the same day! My FP for the safari is 10:30-11:30 if you want to have a quick hello then be on your way :)
 


Sounds like a solid plan!

We basically have no parks the same! We’ll be at DHS on Sunday, so if you do head there, let me know! Or maybe the prerace meet up on marathon morning?

Thanks! I will definitely let you know if I make it to DHS ... I'm really hoping I do. That's definitely the plan.
Race morning meetups will depend on character lines - if I can meet Mickey (or whoever is out there) pre-race and still make it to the meetup, I will be there!

Sounds like some solid plans. Hope your races go great and maybe we get a chance to meet.

Thanks! I really hope I get a chance to meet you and Chris at some point during the trip!

We will be at AK on the same day! My FP for the safari is 10:30-11:30 if you want to have a quick hello then be on your way :)

YESS!!!!! Let's definitely plan to meet around there somewhere!
Or, if you're up for experiencing the safari with a random internet stranger ... if I ride towards the end of my FP+ window and you ride towards the beginning of your window, we can safari together! (If not we can still do a quick hello - I really want to meet you!)
 
YESS!!!!! Let's definitely plan to meet around there somewhere!
Or, if you're up for experiencing the safari with a random internet stranger ... if I ride towards the end of my FP+ window and you ride towards the beginning of your window, we can safari together! (If not we can still do a quick hello - I really want to meet you!)

Yes! We can definitely safari together!
 
Running 2018: A Year in Review

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Like a many other areas of my life, running was a mix of highs and lows last year (that was kinda my 2018 theme … that and change).

The Highs:
756 miles! That’s a record by over 50 miles. My goal for the year was 700. So … crushed it!

84.6 miles in December. That’s a monthly mileage record by about 15 miles. I’d never broken 70 before, and then I broke 80. It was pretty crazy, especially if you consider my December slump. (NOTE: I think GPS issues came into play here and that number is artificially inflated, but I do think that I definitely broke 80)

9+1/4-of-6. I qualified for guaranteed entry into all the NYC things. That was cool. Already claimed my guaranteed entry for the NYC Half. Whether or not I use my NYC marathon guaranteed entry is TBD.

PRs:
  • 4 Mile – 39:35 (Japan Run, 5/13)
  • 7 Mile – 1:29:36 (Manhattan 7 Mile, 8/5)
  • 10 Mile – 1:56:28 (New Balance Bronx 10 Mile, 9/30)
  • Half – 2:27:50 (United Airlines NYC Half, 3/18)
The Lows:
Bronx 10 Mile – I was ready for this race. I felt good going into it. And it all fell apart. I still hate thinking about it. It was a huge blow to my confidence to feel so prepared and have such a bad race. It still haunts me. I don’t think I’ll be getting over this one any time soon.

Rangerstown 5K – This one haunts me a little less just because overall, I really love the race atmosphere and experience. I got high fives from Brett Howden and Neal Pionk right before I crossed the finish line. How cool is that??? But still, despite the overall fun experience, I know I should have been able to run a sub-30 that day, and I hate that I didn’t put myself in a good position to do it.

The Slump/The End? – There’s always a point in the year (usually in December) when I really struggle with running and just want to quit. This year it happened many times, and not just in December. There were moments where I hated running but knew I had to keep doing it. And then there were the moments where I knew my running journey was over. I had a lot of those moments this year, and I honestly think that 2019 might be my last running year. I don’t know if it’s fun for me anymore. And having that doubt makes it hard to go out there and run. I still feel like I have some unfinished business and some races I still want to run, but I think I’m going to have to be okay with it staying that way. I don’t think I have another year like 2018 in me.

Looking To the Future:
So, what will 2019 bring?
The year is going to start off big with the WDW 5K, 10K, and Marathon. I’ve already done the 5K and 10K and I expect those to be good races. The marathon is the big question mark. We’ll see how that goes.

Once I get back from Florida, the lottery for the NYC marathon will be open, and I’ll have to decide if I want to claim my guaranteed entry. There are four questions I need to think about:
  1. Did I finish the WDW marathon?
  2. Did I enjoy the WDW marathon?
  3. Do I think I could enjoy running a different marathon?
  4. Do I have time to train for the NYC marathon?
All four of these questions are important for different reasons. But they’re all important, and I need to take some time to sit down, think about the answers, and decide what I want to do. It’s tough. I think a few people are expecting me to do the marathon because I have the guaranteed entry, but I'm not so sure that's gonna happen. I don't think I have another training cycle like this one in me.

The only other race that’s officially on my calendar is the United Airlines NYC Half in March. We’ll see if I end up doing anything else. I really think that my overloaded race calendar this year was a big part of why things went so badly for me.

So ... that was 2018. It was definitely a mixed bag, and I'm a little nervous about what 2019 will bring. But whatever happens, I know that one thing I need to focus on is being okay with wherever the journey takes me.
 
So ... I just realized today that I don't have anything to wear to Universal. A quick trip to Target was no help. Kohl's usually has stuff, but I don't have time to trek out to Queens. If I try to order anything online, shipping will cost more than the shirt.
Sigh.
 
So ... I just realized today that I don't have anything to wear to Universal. A quick trip to Target was no help. Kohl's usually has stuff, but I don't have time to trek out to Queens. If I try to order anything online, shipping will cost more than the shirt.
Sigh.

Find something on amazon prime and have it sent to your hotel!
 
Find something on amazon prime and have it sent to your hotel!

This is a good idea for the future (I ended up ordering stuff that will come the day before I leave ... hopefully. I may have to nag my doorman to make sure I get the package before I go). Thanks!

Just stopping by to wish you well this week! Enjoy your races and good luck! You will do great!

Thank you!!! I really appreciate all of your support over the time I've had this journal!

If you want to have something Amazon Prime'd to my house in Orlando, I'll bring it to you.

Thank you so much for this offer!! It really means the world to me. I was about to take you up on it ... and then I started looking at stuff and found some shirts I like that would get to me before I leave. So I had stuff ordered here. But thank you so much! If I think of anything else I forgot, I may reach out to you to see if getting it sent to you is still an option. Thanks! (Have I said "thanks" enough yet?)
 

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