Never Tell Me The Odds!: From the Hospital Bed to Club 71

The shroud of 2018 Star Wars The Dark Side race weekend has fallen. Begun the taper has.

As it always does, work becomes insanely intense at the end of March. 12 hour work days 6 days a week leaves very little time to train or sleep. The other day when I woke up very early to go out for my run, I told myself that all the training will be worth it when I run through Walt Disney World in 2 weeks.

Honestly, I've felt burned out on running although I think it has more to do with the stress at work and training appearing to take away from some personal time. I feel like my legs are in a state of constant soreness. But it will pass. And it may be more psychological than actual because it doesn't hurt when I'm running.

3/26/18 3.55 miles

3/28/18 3.45 miles

3/30/18 4.46 miles

March total miles: 73.43

4/3/18 3.12 miles

4/5/18 3.14 miles I don't trust my FitBit to accurately measure my mileage or speed right now. But I've always viewed it as more of a tool to help me get rough data instead of fully accurate data.

4/7/18 8.46 miles. This week was supposed to feature a 5 mile run and a 14 mile run on back to back days. But I simply do not have the time to run those kinds of distances right now. So 8 miles it is. Good enough to help me finish last year. I did play with intervals a little today as a test, but about 40 minutes into the run, I felt a very small twinge in my knee and decided to stop with the intervals and run at my usual slow pace. Two weeks out is not the time to risk injury and I know that current pace is good enough to finish.

I'm looking forward to the taper. 3 more training runs until the attack on the Death Star. Or Starkiller Base if you prefer.
 
So yeah, it's been a while since I've updated this journal. There have been 3 major running related updates since last time. So, here they are in chronological order:

1. I signed up for the 2018 runDisney virtual shorts series. I had been considering this anyways since I love The Incredibles and virtual 5Ks are a different animal than the virtual half I ran for the Kessel Run this year. The free backpack for registering at the Dark Side Expo pushed me over the top. I figure this will work well to keep me running. Historically, I always struggle to start up again after a goal race.

2. I successfully completed the 2018 Star Wars The Dark Side races. I'm threatening to have an actual race report with photos and such later, but I also want to actually finish the Avengers race report I started last year. I'm quite good at starting race reports. Finishing them is a very different matter. I'll at least post brief recaps below.

5K: This marked my very first 5K. Different I know, but here we are. Knowing they didn't time this event helped me to take it slowly. Very, very slowly. I would describe most of my pace as a leisurely walk. But I loved that aspect of it. I love Epcot, so seeing it in the early light of dawn was beautiful. I managed to lose my drivers license and emergency race money at the Emperor's Throne photo stop. This means that the new race belt I purchased and tested for this race failed miserably. It will not be coming back again. Fortunately, runDisney found it and before the race was even over, I saw a message on my phone from the Orlando area code. Sure enough it was runDisney letting me know where to pick it up. Weeks later I also had another notification from the day of the 5K on Facebook from a different runDisney employee telling me where to find the lost and found along with a photo. So, have your cell phone number on items that you don't want to lose if you need to carry them. And check social media accounts even if you rarely do.

As I mentioned earlier, I loved the race itself. I stopped for a lot of photos including some fun ones with very creative costumes from other runners who became their own photo stop and the 501st right after exiting Epcot and heading towards mile 3. I also couldn't pass up the line to get a photo with a stormtrooper in front of Spaceship Earth. How awesome is that?

So I finished in around 90 minutes. After finally confirming the voice mail was about my lost drivers license, I found lost and found, met up with my little sister and headed back to the resort.

10K: I love this distance. It may actually be my favorite because it's long enough to be a challenge, but not so long as to take over the day like a half does. Lots of character photos again. I think the biggest lesson I learned was the importance of not tiring my legs before the race. Before the 5K, I decided the character lines were too long and skipped them. My sister and I headed right for the corral. Standing around in the corral took a toll on my legs. Before the 10K, I decided to get in a line to at least keep moving. Worked like a charm. Note number two about pre race lines. When runDisney starts to tell you that the characters will leave at a set time, this means two things. First, the characters will leave at that time. Second, the line will start to move very quickly. Don't give up hope. You just might make it unless you're very far away from the front of the line. And if you're in a later corral, it's fun to take photos in front of the now characterless backdrops with just you and/or your friends once the characters leave.

Finished the race. People were very terrified of the balloon ladies as the balloon ladies ran through Epcot, but at that point, runners were safe from the sweeper. So I remind people once again. You will be warned if you are in danger of being swept. You can finish the race "behind" the time so long as you finish before the actual sweep time. So while my chip time was over 1 hour and 40 minutes, I was far enough ahead of the actual sweep point that I was never in any danger. If you're close to being swept they will tell you. Don't expend your energy fearing that unless you need to. For obvious reasons, that time will do me no good for corral placement. But that's not why I run Disney races.

Half: As much as I love the 10K, I really love the Disney half races. The energy is different and there are more photo stops. Even if I don't stop for them all, I love seeing them. This year I had a specific goal in mind. I was going to skip photo stops I had done before including previous years in order to "save" that time up for new photo stops. While I broke that rule almost immediately for the Emperor's Throne, it had an extremely short line and I felt like I needed a brief break. So that worked well. This new strategy resulted in me getting a photo with the Ewoks and I decided to stop for Darth Vader with snow troopers just outside Animal Kingdom because this was from my favorite Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back. Somewhere between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, I noticed I was consistently with the 6:15 Galloway pace group. I decided to start running with them for as long as I wanted to as a test. I wasn't concerned about keeping that pace up, but rather I wanted to learn how running with a pace group felt like for reasons related to the marathon. I used this race weekend as a test of sorts for marathon weekend next year. How do I fare after 3 consecutive races? What's it like running with a pace group? I wanted to try that in case I need to run with a pace group during the marathon. This also allowed me to ask a few questions of the lady leading the pace group about the marathon. All in all, this worked well.

I left the pace group for the Kylo Ren and Rey photo shortly after entering Hollywood Studios. I tried to see if I could catch back up with them, but when my knee began to bother me, I decided caution was the better part of valor and resumed my pace. After all, they will tell me if I'm in any danger of being swept. I saw one runner badly injured after entering Epcot. His friends were actually helping hold him up. I do not know if they were waiting to reach a medical tent or if they were going to support him all the way to the finish line. I could tell that the situation was under control so I moved on. I also passed a girl in tears. I could tell she was in pain and made sure she was all right. She told me that it was just a blister, and while it hurt badly, it would not prevent her from finishing. Sometimes I wonder if I should have offered to help make sure she finished, but I didn't. Should I have? Would it have been awkward since I'm a guy? Maybe I'm overthinking it.

At any rate, I continued on my way. At least until exiting Epcot. That's when I saw the line. The really long line for the Empire. So I got in it. And waited for a very long time. And that's okay. When else am I going to get a picture with Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, the Royal Guard, stormtroopers and Imperial officers? I suspect that the girl with blisters probably finished well before I did. But that's okay. My official time was 3:37. It would have been much faster, but for that Imperial photo stop right before the finish line. But by that point, I knew I was safe. I wasn't getting swept. And they would warn me if I was risking it.

After the race, I collected my medals and got in line for Darth Vader. My little sister joined me. I also got a picture with Boba Fett, Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma, and BB-8. These lines tend to shrink down a lot near the end. Keep that in mind.

3. I felt surprisingly strong after the half and on Monday. Strong enough that later that week, I took the plunge and upgraded to an annual pass. Why would I do that? Well, there's a little thing called marathon weekend 2019. And I'm at least partially committed to it. Today I put a deposit down on a room reservation. All that's left now is to actually register for the marathon. I'm very committed to the marathon itself and am leaning towards at least Goofy, if not Dopey. While this will be my first marathon, I've run 9 half marathons. I know it's possible. I just have to prepare for it.

April miles update: 41.6. This number only includes running. It does not include any other miles accumulated while visiting Walt Disney World before and after the races.

May miles update: 6.86. This number reflects 2 self imposed weeks off after race weekend and 5 days afterwards in Walt Disney World. It also got adjusted because the week I would have returned to running instead saw me head down to Disneyland with my nephews. I also took in the Disneyland After Dark Star Wars Nite while down there. That may be one of the best times I've ever spent in Disneyland. Being a Jedi in Disneyland is incredible. If I follow through on my intent to write full race reports, Disneyland After Dark has to show up too.
 
Yeah I really enjoy Dopey even though the four mornings in a row isn’t the best. I’m still thinking about goofy just to save some costs and see what it’s like to just run the two big ones.
So this got me to thinking and I decided to work through my thoughts and feelings about my marathon weekend decisions.

1. From the moment I started training for my very first half, I said if I ever run a full it will be at Walt Disney World. In fact to this day I've never run any organized race outside of Disneyland or Disney World. As a 3+hour half marathoner, I feel at home in the runDisney experience.

2. As I began to run more races and spend more time in this community, I began to think maybe some day I'll actually run a full. At some point I went from believing that I could never run a full to believing that I could if I trained for it. But every single time I reached the double digit runs in my training, I began to question if I actually wanted to run a full. And then Avengers 2017 happened. After the 2018-2019 west coast races were canceled, I convinced myself that they were never coming back. I always wanted to run Avengers anyways since the superhero theme appeals to me. After finally deciding that if west coast runDisney was never returning, I wanted to be there for the last one. If it does return, then great. But if it doesn't I ran the finale. There was only one little problem with my plan. Namely, I had just 3 weeks to train for the race. I had not ran much more than 3 miles since Dark Side in April 2017 and it had been 6 weeks since I had ran at all. So I found a 4 week training plan, modified it to fit with the 3 weeks I actually had, and hoped/trusted that muscle memory and adrenaline would carry me across the finish line in 3 weeks time.

3. This particular training plan was weirdly nostalgic. As it could well be the final runDisney west coast race, I found myself thinking a lot about my very first race and how far I had come since then. I never actually believed I would finish that first race until about mile 12.5 at which point I figured that I could actually crawl across the finish line and still not get swept. I remember seeing some Goofy runners the next day with their marathon weekend medals, Disneyland Half medal, and Coast to Coast medal and thinking how I could never do that. And now 6 years later, I found myself training for 8th half ever, 3rd in one year, and having run 3 back to back race challenge weekends. In short 2011 me never dreamed that in 2018 I would be doing this and have confidence.

4. Training for a race in just 3 weeks can destroy a lot of myths one might have about what is possible in running. Now the marathon seemed possible. I also found that running every day was not was awful as I once believed. At one point, I actually looked into upgrading to the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge. As it turned out, the challenge had sold out some time between registering 2 weeks ago and that day. But this worked out for the better because soon I wound up registering for Dark Side 2018. And a few weeks later added the 5K to the First Order Challenge I had already registered for. In 2012, successfully finishing the Wine & Dine Half after a normal week of touring in Disney World and coming off a cold, I decided that multi race weekends were possible and would not destroy me physically for the half. This of course lead to the Star Wars Rebel Challenge events and 2017 Dark Side Challenge as part of Kessel Run. And now here I was again. Only with no 2019 Star Wars Half at Disneyland and the 2019 Star Wars race at Disney World happening on a no way could I ever get the time off work for that weekend, marathon weekend began to loom as a possibility. And so when I did not feel completely exhausted the evening after the half and felt great Monday morning, I knew that marathon weekend could actually happen.

5. But here's the thing. If I'm going to run a marathon, why not run just the marathon for my first one? I won't argue that it's the sensible way to approach such a task. In the end, it comes down to timing, namely the at least currently planned return of runDisney west coast. I do not know when they want to bring it back. I just know that if they bring Star Wars back on the same race weekend as they always held it, I will never choose marathon weekend over Star Wars. Which leads me to my second point. If I enjoy the experience so much that I want to attempt Goofy some day, why not just do it now? Again, if someday never comes because other things arise then in doing Goofy now, I can say I did it. If the marathon is not for me, it's not for me.

But why then consider Dopey if I really only want to run Goofy? Part of it is fear of missing out, but part of it is also logistical. For starters my little sister is coming with and she wants to run Dopey. This would also be her first full and second challenge weekend since she joined me for Dark Side 2018. Now, if she runs Dopey, then Dopey automatically defaults to my race weekend because I would certainly get up to cheer her on in the 5K and 10K races. Now, since I'm already getting up early for the 5K and 10K and since I'm already training for Goofy, what's another 2 races especially since the 5K only needs to be finished and I truly don't mind hanging out with the balloon ladies for the 10K/Half/Full. I don't fear the balloon ladies. But I know what they represent. And as long as I'm running with them I'm on pace to finish.

I also came to realize that if my sister does not come, then it still might make sense to register for Dopey. Goofy would only really change one day of my planned visit. Arrival day on a west coast red eye flight means that day is an early bed time. That would leave only the day of the 5K as a full day in the parks since the day before the half means an early bedtime and the day before the full means an early bedtime. This will be my 3rd visit to Disney World in an 18 month period so Toy Story Land will be the only new thing I really want to see since Galaxy's Edge will not be open yet. So I've made my peace with reduced park time. Plus if this is a one time only chance and I pull it off, then I know I did it.
 
In running I've come to learn that I run best, which is to say that I run at all, when I have some sort of external motivator to keep me focused. A race of some sort gives me a motivational kick in the pants.

So this time around, I actually resumed running 3 weeks into May instead of late June/early July. Once again there have been starts and stops. The Incredibles virtual series provided more motivation to get going. But even then, 5 days of running a week morphed into 2. I tell myself this is good to find my groove again before officially committing to marathon weekend. But this week I found a new motivator.

I'm a San Francisco Giants fan. This is their 60th anniversary season in San Francisco. As part of that celebration, the Giant Race is doing a 60 miles for 60 years virtual run. Sign up, run 60 miles for 60 years before July 13th, record your miles on Strava, and they'll send you a huge medal with the 60th anniversary logo on it which features the Golden Gate Bridge. With about a month before the deadline, I signed up. I knew I could do it, but it would require a more consistent commitment out of me.

After signing up on Tuesday, I started my runs. Due to yesterday's Incredibles double feature, I opted to skip the run since I really didn't want to wake up early. When I run, I get more than enough miles to cover my daily necessity to hit 60 miles before July 13th. But the trick is that if I make excuses again, 2.5 miles per day quickly becomes 4 miles per day. Or more. I also realized that I have a 4 day work seminar the end of the month where I may not be able to run at all. I ran the numbers and I'm still fine, but consistency will be key. Well, today provided a major challenge. Namely, a splitting headache all afternoon at work. It just wouldn't go away no matter what I tried. Nevertheless, I decided to go out for my run anyways. Worst case scenario, I would cut it short if necessary. Only I didn't. I pushed myself and made it the whole 45 minutes of running.
 


So this got me to thinking and I decided to work through my thoughts and feelings about my marathon weekend decisions...

My 2 cents: I did my first marathon as part of the Goofy. It was actually probably my funnest (not fastest) marathon. If you take it slow, especially during the half, where your 'marathon engine' wants to race, you will be fine.

I vote for Dopey, and here's why: as you presented your thoughts, you really seem to be making the case for Dopey. Like this:

So I've made my peace with reduced park time. Plus if this is a one time only chance and I pull it off, then I know I did it.

The 4 early wake-ups are going to be tough on a west-coaster, but you can sleep when you get home. Go for it!

Full disclosure: I've done Goofy 4 times, signed up for 2018 Dopey, but ended up 'only' doing Goofy.
 
My 2 cents: I did my first marathon as part of the Goofy. It was actually probably my funnest (not fastest) marathon. If you take it slow, especially during the half, where your 'marathon engine' wants to race, you will be fine.

I vote for Dopey, and here's why: as you presented your thoughts, you really seem to be making the case for Dopey. Like this:



The 4 early wake-ups are going to be tough on a west-coaster, but you can sleep when you get home. Go for it!

Full disclosure: I've done Goofy 4 times, signed up for 2018 Dopey, but ended up 'only' doing Goofy.
Thank you. I always appreciate hearing from other runners who did their first full as part of a multi race challenge. I know the marathon is a different animal. I know it requires commitment and serious training. I understand why people warn about the marathon or Goofy/Dopey. Nevertheless, the encouragement and experience of other runners is invaluable. I've come a long ways from not believing other runners who told me I could do it because I thought they were just being nice.

I'm hoping to get a red eye from the west coast. I did it for the 2017 and 2018 Dark Side races and it works perfectly. I arrive in Orlando, spend the day exhausted and tired, go to bed early and I'm good to go the next day.

One thing I want to do with the full is to not repeat my first half. Between fear and nerves, I started way too fast and nearly derailed the entire experience. I took no photos. No character stops. So this time around, I'd like to get some photos and stop for some characters provided the line is reasonable. My current thinking for the half, especially if I can get faster in training this time is to get in with the 3:15 or 3:30 pace group and just stick with them.

I stayed with the 3:15 pace group for a few minutes at Dark Side this year as a test of how I liked running with a pace group. The only reason I did not stay with them is because I stopped for photos and when I went to see if I could catch up with them again, experienced knee pain so decided to maintain my pace. I no longer fear the balloon ladies. I respect them, but do not fear them. Experience in races has taught me that they will tell me where if I'm in any danger of being removed from the course. This has the benefit of freeing me up to enjoy the experience.
 
Been a while, too long really, since I posted mileage here.

4/10/18 2.19 miles
4/12/28 2.29 miles

4/20/18 3.1 miles Dark Side 5K
4/21/18 6.2 miles Dark Side 10K
4/22/18 13.1 miles Dark Side Half

Total April miles 41.6

5/24/18 3.55 miles
5/28/18 3.31 miles

Total May miles 6.86 Low because the first half of the month entailed recovery time after Dark Side and a visit to Disneyland at the end of that recovery period. Then, as I always tend to do, I start and stop my way back in to running.

As noted earlier, the aforementioned San Francisco Giants 60 Miles For 60 Years Virtual Challenge is helping push me in June.

6/1/18 3.31 miles
6/2/18 3.3 miles
6/5/18 3.29 miles
6/7/18 3.3 miles
6/12/18 3.55 miles
6/14/18 4.09 miles
6/15/18 2.35 miles
6/16/18 4.22 miles
 


The 4 early wake-ups are going to be tough on a west-coaster
Hey now. Us west-coasters are resilient. We don't need no stinking sleep.

I did a red-eye for Wine and Dine and survived. Bonus: I can sleep pretty easily on a plane.

Great job getting out there this month. Motivators are super helpful! Did you go see Incredibles 2 yet?
 
Hey now. Us west-coasters are resilient. We don't need no stinking sleep.

I did a red-eye for Wine and Dine and survived. Bonus: I can sleep pretty easily on a plane.

Great job getting out there this month. Motivators are super helpful! Did you go see Incredibles 2 yet?
I can't sleep on a plane. But I've done the red eye flight two years in a row now and did just fine. I'm actually contemplating taking a more expensive flight to Orlando because it's a red eye for Dopey.

As for Incredibles 2, I will say this. I like most superhero movies. Even the ones that most everyone else seems to hate. I think Incredibles 2 is the best superhero movie since 2012. I think it's The Empire Strikes Back level good in that it rivals the original film which I believe is one of the greatest superhero movies ever. It's a lot of fun. I'm not at all surprised that it's cleaning up at the box office.
 
Thank you. I always appreciate hearing from other runners who did their first full as part of a multi race challenge. I know the marathon is a different animal. I know it requires commitment and serious training. I understand why people warn about the marathon or Goofy/Dopey. Nevertheless, the encouragement and experience of other runners is invaluable. I've come a long ways from not believing other runners who told me I could do it because I thought they were just being nice.

I encourage you to give the full marathon a shot, and doing it at Disney is an excellent way to do it. I also want to say you can definitely do it. I'm not just saying that to be nice (although I'm also trying to be nice!) but because I've literally not known a runner who decided to run a marathon and properly prepared for it who did not succeed. Crossing that finish line after running 26.2 is an amazing feeling which, to me, never gets old (or I would not have done 20+ fulls!). If you want to run a full, and you're willing to put in the work to run a full, you can definitely do it, and it can even be such a positive experience you may want to do it again! Best of luck to you in whatever you decide to do.
 
I encourage you to give the full marathon a shot, and doing it at Disney is an excellent way to do it. I also want to say you can definitely do it. I'm not just saying that to be nice (although I'm also trying to be nice!) but because I've literally not known a runner who decided to run a marathon and properly prepared for it who did not succeed. Crossing that finish line after running 26.2 is an amazing feeling which, to me, never gets old (or I would not have done 20+ fulls!). If you want to run a full, and you're willing to put in the work to run a full, you can definitely do it, and it can even be such a positive experience you may want to do it again! Best of luck to you in whatever you decide to do.
Thank you so much. One thing I'm looking to work on before heading into marathon weekend is my mental game. I know there will be nerves. But I want to head into marathon weekend with the confidence that because I've properly prepared for it, I can do it.

I've shared this before, but the day before my very first half, I met a couple at Disneyland who were wearing their marathon weekend shirts. I wished them luck and we conversed from there. When they told me I was going to finish, i truly thought they were just being polite. For in my head, I did not actually believe them. Training had not gone perfectly. I was hit and miss for about the first 4-6 weeks of training. I had to take a few days off to recover from severe muscle pain in August. But I was terrified to tell anyone else my fears. I was afraid they would confirm my fears and tell me I was going to fail. As fate would have it, around mile 12 the next day who should I see the course, but the very same couple who had been so encouraging the day before. Yes, they were right. I was going to finish. Just the day before, I refused to buy the I Did It shirt because I did not actually believe I could. Yet, here I was.

I have since done things as a runner that I did not think I was capable of before. I used to think it might be fun to run the 5K the day before the half, but I never signed up because I did not want the 5K to destroy my legs for the half. Then I registered for the Light Side Challenge. I used to be grateful that Disneyland Half weekend training started in May because that meant I would not have to worry about training during the busiest time of the year at work. And then Dark Side and Kessel Run were announced and I had to train during the busiest of the year at work without a race to run just to see what training and very long work days would demand of me. And now the last 2 years, I've run Dark Side mere days after that busy season of work ended.
 
As for Incredibles 2, I will say this. I like most superhero movies. Even the ones that most everyone else seems to hate. I think Incredibles 2 is the best superhero movie since 2012. I think it's The Empire Strikes Back level good in that it rivals the original film which I believe is one of the greatest superhero movies ever. It's a lot of fun. I'm not at all surprised that it's cleaning up at the box office.
Truth be told, I only watched about half of the first Incredibles before taking my DD to see Incredibles 2 this weekend. I didn't feel as lost as I thought I was going to be. It was good, it made me laugh, plot was good, graphics were pretty solid (I did not see the 3-D version), but man I cannot stand Holly Hunter's voice. And I felt a really big girl power theme through most of the beginning, but WHY did they still insist on making Elastic Girl's body look so dis-proportioned?! Little things like that bugged me. I haven't seen a lot of super hero movies and I haven't seen any Star Wars (sorry!) so I don't have a say on that, but I totally appreciate your thoughts on it being the best superhero movie since 2012. Makes me feel like I'm not missing out on much. Haha.
 
Truth be told, I only watched about half of the first Incredibles before taking my DD to see Incredibles 2 this weekend. I didn't feel as lost as I thought I was going to be. It was good, it made me laugh, plot was good, graphics were pretty solid (I did not see the 3-D version), but man I cannot stand Holly Hunter's voice. And I felt a really big girl power theme through most of the beginning, but WHY did they still insist on making Elastic Girl's body look so dis-proportioned?! Little things like that bugged me. I haven't seen a lot of super hero movies and I haven't seen any Star Wars (sorry!) so I don't have a say on that, but I totally appreciate your thoughts on it being the best superhero movie since 2012. Makes me feel like I'm not missing out on much. Haha.
As someone who is very tired of the angry nerd culture of "you do not share my opinion on politics/movies/TV shows, et all, therefore you are an idiot or evil" you will get no judgment from me on having not seen Star Wars or very many superhero movies. If you like them, you like them. If they don't appeal to you, they don't appeal to you. I'm happy to share my opinion when asked, but I'm long past worrying about whether or not someone shares all the exact same interests and opinions as I do.

One of the things I love about The Incredibles is the "real story." It's not a story about superheroes. The first film is a story about a father very bored in his job, missing the glory days, and having a very serious midlife crisis. Over the course of the story, he realizes that his family is the most important thing in the world to them. Sometimes that story gets obscured by all the fun superpowers, etc. Incredibles 2 continues that story as the family tries to adjust to the changes that happened in their lives (the supers may be able to come out of hiding), but is still very much a story about family. That's what I appreciate about it. Plus, I love the idea of the superhero powers. The father is strong and believes that how he protects and provides for his family, the mother can stretch because she's all over the place holding the family together, the teenage daughter is trying to figure out who she is and sometimes wants to be invisible and at other times wants to put a force field up around her, the 10 year old boy is confident and a never ending source of energy, and the baby is full of potential and just beginning to figure out what he can do.

I believe these are the reasons why I love The Incredibles franchise so much. There's some reality to the characters even in the trimmings of fun superpowers.
 
Plus, I love the idea of the superhero powers. The father is strong and believes that how he protects and provides for his family, the mother can stretch because she's all over the place holding the family together, the teenage daughter is trying to figure out who she is and sometimes wants to be invisible and at other times wants to put a force field up around her, the 10 year old boy is confident and a never ending source of energy, and the baby is full of potential and just beginning to figure out what he can do.
I love this break down SO MUCH. :love:
 
I love this break down SO MUCH. :love:
It's really clever on the part of the creators. It was their idea to imbue each family member with those traits that also reflected where they were at in that stage of life. When you see it, which I don't think I did until I read it, it deepens your appreciation for what they're doing in the story.
 
Update Time:

6/20/18 4.48
6/21/18 2.64
6/22/18 4.27
6/23/18 2.2
6/25/18 4.45
6/27/18 1.62
6/28/18 1.55
6/29/18 1.58

June miles: 56.83 or a substantial improvement over May which was part Dark Side Half recovery, but mostly just laziness on my part.

All distances of roughly 2 miles or less are ultimately leisurely walks as part of the San Francisco Giants 60 Miles for 60 Years Virtual Challenge. But they provided motivation to get me exercising 5-6 days a week instead of 3-4 days a week so I like that. Since my medal arrived today, I reviewed the rules to determine what I needed to actually do to earn it. I wondered if it was 60 miles from the date I registered or 60 miles over a certain period of time in 2018. I never received a clear answer beyond 60 miles in 2018 before the All Star Break. So if I go by miles logged during the Major League Baseball season, I accomplished this goal in early June. If I go by miles logged since I registered, I'm still about 18 miles short, but since I already received the medal, I'll go by miles ran during the Major League Baseball season. Mostly so I can take the elliptical for a spin on cross training days to see how I like that compared to 50 minute walks or so.

Today also brought a monumental new goal for me. As of now, I am registered for my first ever non runDisney event, namely the 2018 San Francisco Giant Race which finishes on the field at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The course looks to be a beautiful course along the San Francisco waterfront and into the Presidio which may include a view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the morning. I love running through Angels Stadium as part of some of the Disneyland races, but since the Giants are my favorite baseball team, I'm really looking forward to this finish line.

The race offers a 5K or a 10K or a Half. Honestly, as much as I love the 10K distance, I chose the half as a test for marathon weekend. Since I suspect there will be a lot fewer race stops for me on account of not seeing Disney and/or Star Wars characters on the course, this will help me better determine what I'm really capable of heading into marathon weekend. Plus, if all goes well, maybe I can get a better proof of time than my current 3:06 from Light Side 2017.

As it's an end of June update, let's review 2018 goals:

Goal 1: Finish all 3 races at Star Wars Dark Side. Check.

Goal 2: runDisney The Incredibles Virtual Shorts Summer Series. June completed. Today's run is greater than 3.1 miles, so I could count it for July if I want to. Maybe I can get faster though.

Goal 3: 60 miles for 60 years of San Francisco Giants baseball. As noted above, done.

Goal 4: *BRAND NEW* Finish the 2018 San Francisco Giant Race on September 9th. Registered today, so I'm now in training for this goal. Since runners always love to hear about race swag, here are the details for the Giant Race. All runners receive a San Francisco Giants race shirt, a Bruce Bochy runner bobblehead (Bochy is the Giants manager who led them to all 3 of their San Francisco World Series championships), and the finishers medal, which for 2018 looks like it's a Giants baseball jersey. All in all, if you're a Giants fan like me, it's awesome. If you're a baseball fan in general, but maybe not a diehard Giants fan, then you get to run through one of the most beautiful cities in the world, finish in one of the most beautiful baseball parks in the world, and get a bobblehead of a Hall of Fame manager.

I would love to use this as a goal race in the hopes of improving my corral for marathon weekend. But ultimately, getting to run through AT&T Park will be amazing and the highlight of the race. Hoping to use a @DopeyBadger custom plan as a method of trying out something new and comparing it to what I'm already comfortable with. While this may just be delaying my debate about what plan to use to train for marathon weekend, I view it as a good opportunity to test out a different kind of plan.

Goal 5: Register for Goofy or Dopey. Waiting on runDisney.
 
I'll get around to a mileage update some day. Suffice it to say, goal 5 is now accomplished and has shifted to train injury free for Dopey.

Here's a list of stuff I preordered for Dopey.

1. Dopey logo pin bundle. I like having a pin for each race.

2. AP pin. Maybe the only time I will be a Walt Disney World pass holder, so why not?

3. Marathon weekend jacket. I will return the jacket if I don't like it, but after Dark Side had no jackets available this year on afternoon one of the Expo unless you preordered, better safe than sorry. I would prefer not to have to preorder, but here we are.

4. Race retreat. Honestly, more than I would have liked. Maybe even overpriced for what it is. So why did I do it? I'm slow. Barring a sudden change into something resembling a much faster runner, I anticipate a 6 to 7 hour marathon. So from my perspective, two days of being able to sit down for at least part of 2 of the mornings can only help preserve my legs. And if that helps me finish, it was worth it.

Also a slight change to the plans for the week. I didn't like the red eye choices currently available for cost/arrival time reasons and didn't want to wait on Frontier for a possible red eye. I also believe that given the weather that can arise in January, it's best to take a non stop from the west coast to Orlando to minimize weather delays. So instead I'm flying in on Tuesday and will arrive Tuesday evening. While I'll have to deal with jet lag, I also hope that the only night it will really be a problem will be before the 5K. I figure the early mornings of Dopey will make it easy to fall asleep before the other races. I'm still flying out the Wednesday after the race. I want to enjoy the post race time before being locked in the office for months.

I always debate about ADRs. Do I want to try something new or should I stick to the tried and true that I love, but always seem to eat at? For this time, I went more for the tried and true. For my first marathon, I figure it's better to stick with what has proven successful in the past.

Tiffins on Thursday afternoon after the 5K. I love this too much to skip it, but want to spend most of my post marathon celebration in the other 3 parks, so I decided Tiffins would be best for the 5K day.

Skipper Canteen on Friday evening before the half. I dined here the night before the 2017 Dark Side 10K and it worked perfectly. A fun choice again.

Mama Melrose on Saturday afternoon before the full. Probable light dinner before the full. I haven't eaten here since 2012, but I liked it quite a bit and figure it just sound good before the full.

Spice Road Table evening of the full for Illuminations to celebrate. While this is brand new, I heard many good reviews. I love the idea of seating for Illuminations and the food sounded good and perhaps most importantly, a wide variety of choices depending on what I feel like.

Be Our Guest Monday evening. Waiting for reviews on the new menu, but I like it here so I can always cancel if the reviews come back really bad.

Le Cellier Tuesday afternoon. This is my official post marathon celebration meal, but I moved it to Tuesday after dining here the night of the 2017 Dark Side half taught me that I enjoy it more when I'm not immediately recovering from the physical stress of a race.

I also want to do a dessert party. Tentative plan is to choose the Star Wars dessert party again since I love Star Wars, but I may change it to one of the Happily Ever After options pending more research.
 
Running gear update: Between adding one more long race to marathon weekend and the possible cold weather in Florida, I've been wondering about getting another cold weather running shirt and acknowledging that I may need to spend a lot to get the brand I fit I like. And then this morning I learned that my alma mater's bookstore is having a Christmas in July sale. And guess what's under $20? Yep, a Nike thermafit long sleeve tech shirt. And a different style from the one I already had. Also picked up another Nike hypercool running shirt for $15. These are prices I might find at the clearance outlet for non team branded Nike apparel if I'm lucky. To find them for my team at these prices? Excitement.
 
Wait, what's this? An actual update to my Avengers 2017 Race Report? The crazy thing is, it's true, all of it. I last left off the Friday night before the race. After a relaxing Saturday in the parks with lots of time spent off my feet to preserve them for the race, soon race morning fell.

If anyone cares to go back, the first photos from this trip show up on page 4 of this training journal. It's a collection of mostly Star Wars medal photos with Star Wars characters and a few shots in front of Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle.

Pre race special photo in the Disneyland AP race tent. Just this photo op and a nice towel, which I have since unfortunately lost.



Running through Carsland in the very early morning.



I really loved the mostly very short photo lines during Avengers. I'd gotten used to the 15-20 minute photo lines in Star Wars races at Disneyland so some 3-5 minute waits were very welcome.

Trapped in the Tivan Collection. This was fun because it felt right out of the new Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout! attraction at Disney California Adventure



I am really going to miss this view running through California Adventure in the early morning.



Doctor Strange said to me "I see you've been trained in the mystical arts." This is true. I learned from a crazy old wizard on Tatooine and an even crazier old hermit who lived in a swamp on Dagobah.



Over by Splash Mountain, Nick Fury noticed that Yoda is watching my back. Don't worry as Yoda will make better appearances later.

 
July miles: 54.5 I realized that I didn't post any miles at all in July and decided that I don't feel like breaking down how many miles I ran on each day. Also, some of these miles are walking miles on cross training days, but I don't feel like taking the time to separate those miles.

This week begins week 2 of my @DopeyBadger training plan for the San Francisco Giant Race in September. It feels strange to not have the long runs that I was used to under the Galloway plan. But I also think it's really just getting me ready for Dopey training. I just need to trust the training.
 

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