Life Lately

I know I am neglecting my little corner of the internet. Lately, if I sit down the girls swarm me. Plus E has been in a month long training session which means I have been on my own a lot. This has been my life lately:

-Hannah has started lying. Blatantly lying. She is also using logic against me which means I need to step up my game. 4 year olds are tricky!

-Meeghan has entered the terrible twos. Oh, how I forgot about the tantrums and mood swings. When she isn't throwing a tantrum, she is a pretty sweet girl. I can't believe she turns 2 in 11 days. I still need to do some birthday shopping for her.

-And for the fun part of the week, we are heading back to KC for Thanksgiving! My extended family has never met Meeghan. It is a 17 hour drive, but it will be worth it. I will get to see family that I haven't seen in 2 years. There will be food (BBQ!), there will be family and friends, and hopefully there will be some Christmas light displays to start the Christmas season.

Wine and Dine 2014 Recap

This past Saturday evening, I ran Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon. It wasn't my fastest half marathon ever, but it was by far the most fun I have ever had while running. 

Friday I made it to the expo where I picked up this shirt. I wasn't sure if I would like it since it seemed more on the brown side, but I grew to love it. I checked out some merchandise, but I couldn't justify the price so I passed on it. 

I always feel so awkward when I take a picture by myself.

Saturday I agreed to go to Hollywood Studios, but only for the morning. We did most of the shows so I was able to sit a lot and not wear down my legs. I left E and his mom with the kids, and went back to the hotel to eat and rest. I have never run a night race before so I wasn't too sure how to approach it. I decided to eat a larger lunch of pasta, nap, and then eat a bland dinner of a peanut butter sandwich. I think it worked pretty well. I napped too early though. I was awake by 3 and couldn't sleep anymore. The race doesn't start until 10 so I still had a long time to wait. 

After battling traffic I made it to the start area with plenty of time to spare. I wandered a bit until a friend from high school arrived. She was running with some friends of hers, and it was their first half marathon. After talking we realized she runs just a tad slower than me, and since she isn't used to running alone (her friends hadn't trained well and weren't the same speed as her) I offered to run with her. I am not used to running with someone so it was going to be a different experience for me. She didn't submit proof of time so we started in the last corral. It is very different starting in the last corral than starting in my usual corral. Plus we started near the back of the corral so we were some of the last people to cross the start line. We had to do a lot of weaving, and we were squished in the narrow areas. Oh, did I mention it was raining? The entire race it rained. It started about 9 o'clock and it did not stop. I wear glasses so I had a lot of trouble seeing when we came upon bright lights. Despite the rain and the massive amount of people in front of us, we did pretty well. We carried on a conversation the entire time, and the race flew by. Seriously, it was the most fun I have had. I found myself singing and dancing when we passed by music. There is a disco tunnel in Hollywood Studios, and I was definitely showing off my disco moves. Even at the end of the race I was singing and dancing so I know I enjoyed myself. I thought this race had a completely different atmosphere to it than Princess weekend. I am not sure if it is the night start time, or the anticipation of the after party at the Food and Wine Festival. Either way, there was a great energy among the runners and spectators. I was surprised how many people were out cheering us on in the cold rain. It was awesome! I tried to yell thank you every time I could to let them know it was appreciated. My finish time was about 20 minutes over what I had anticipated if I had run on my own. It was a bit weird to look at my watch to see it was 1:30 in the morning as I crossed the finish line. It didn't feel like it. 

After the race, I met up with E and we hit the after party. He had been there since 8 so he had enjoyed the food and rides. I wanted to change out of my wet clothes and then find some food. I told him I wanted to stay for a bit just because it was our date night. If the weather had been nice, I think we would have stayed much later. However, it was still raining and I was freezing. We left about 3am. I knew the girls would be awake around 6 so I was anxious to get some sleep. I managed 2 hours of sleep before they woke me. It was worth it though. 

Cold and rainy night at the France pavilion 

I highly recommend this race to someone who wants to run at Disney World. You run through 3 parks, and you get to eat at the Food and Wine Festival after. Win-win in my book!

It's time for Wine and Dine!

Saturday night I will be running half marathon number three at Disney World. It is the Wine and Dine Half Marathon. It coincides with the final weekend of the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. I love the Food and Wine Festival. Do you want to know the best part about this race? There is an after party at Epcot, and all the food kiosks will be open. Yes! The downside is the race starts at 10pm. I was  asleep by 9:30 last night. Knowing that I will not finish until after midnight is a bit scary, but I keep telling myself there will be delicious food waiting for me at the end. I have heard this is a wonderful race. The course goes through three of the Disney parks, and they have started decorating for Christmas. This one I will be running for fun, and I am not going to worry about time. This has become a glorified training run for me since it falls during a long run weekend for my marathon training.

As for marathon training, let's just say that between other races and holidays, my plan has become a bit of a mess. My last long run was 17 miles, and that was 3 weeks ago. My plan calls for 20 this weekend, but with the race I have decided to push it back another 2 weeks so there will be 5 weeks between my long runs (with one 13 miler thrown in). My original plan called for my final long run to be 26 miles, but I have changed it to 22. I know that is more than enough to prepare me for the marathon, but is scary to know I would still have another 4 miles to run after that. I figure I can always crawl to the finish line if I need to that day.

Halloween

I think the girls enjoyed Halloween this year. Hannah understands how it works, and the fact that she celebrated at school made it even more fun. Meeghan didn't really get it at first, but she knew she needed her pumpkin bucket. Hannah wanted to be Elsa, and I thought Meeghan would make a cute monkey since she loves monkeys. She wanted nothing to do with the costume. We ran to the Disney store and she agreed to an Anna costume so we would have an Elsa and an Anna. Well, E's work had a Halloween party for the kids. Meeghan did not want to wear Anna either. I am sure people thought we were torturing the poor girl as we tried to dress her. Eventually we wrangled the dress on her, but she tried to take it off for the next 15 minutes. Once we made it inside and she realized people gave her candy, she was cool with the dress.

Doesn't she look thrilled?

By Friday, Meeghan understood that people give her candy if she holds out her bucket. She still wouldn't wear either costume, but she agreed to her Belle dress. The girls were pretty happy about their candy so I would say we had a successful Halloween.

It is permanent

E and I discussed our plans for our family shortly before, and then after, Meeghan was born. We both decided that two children were enough for us. He agreed to have a vasectomy done, and started the process about a month after Meeghan was born. However, the Navy changed his plans and he had to delay it...until last Friday. E finally had the procedure done (almost two years later). I was so dang happy. A part of me thought I would be sad knowing that we wouldn't have more kids, but I wasn't. I think that is a pretty good sign that I am content with the family we have. I am also glad that he volunteered to do it. My body hates hormonal birth control so birth control is limited for me. Thankfully, he didn't see it as an end to his manhood and was okay with the procedure (like some other men I know). Now, let's hope it worked so he doesn't have to do it again.

32 seconds

Remember how I thought the race on Saturday would go pretty well? Ha, I was wrong.

Saturday morning I woke up early, took my time getting ready, and left right on time. I made it to teh stadium with about 30 minutes to spare. I hustled to the bathrooms, and waited and waited. As I was waiting, the rain rolled in. That's right, the 20% chance of rain turned into 100% of rain. It wasn't a gentle rain either. It was a freaking downpour that lasted for a good 15 minutes. Thank goodness when it was starting to rain harder I was close to the front of the line. After I hit the bathroom, I sprinted to the overpass for some protection from the rain. However, by that time I was soaked and shivering. The rain stopped just in time for us to line up at the starting line. This meant I didn't warm up at all. I usually jog for a bit to warm up the muscles before I stand at the start. Not this time. I had to start cold with wet socks and shoes. After a canon blast start (it scared the crap out of me), I tried to go slow like I had in training runs. I guess the adrenaline kicked in though because I started faster than I wanted. I was trying so hard to go slow, but my body wanted to go faster. Overall the course was really nice. It went through a neighborhood that I haven't seen much of so it was nice to take in the sights. The last few miles were along the river which was beautiful, but it meant running into the sun. By this time, the sun was up and the temperature was in the 70s. I experienced an odd combination of being hot and shivering. The wind was coming off the water which gave us a nice breeze, but it made me cold. There was also a pedestrian type bridge we had to cross around mile 11. It was steep so I walked all of it, and then the downhill part was a circle ramp. I walked a lot at the end. My body crashed. My mind crashed. I was done. I knew at mile 10 if I wanted to make my B goal I would have to push it, and I just gave up. I am so mad at myself. I gave up. I could have pushed it. Physically I was tired, but I could have done it. In the end, I finished 32 seconds faster than my last half marathon. So technically it was a PR, but I was pretty disappointed. Looking at my splits, I can tell where I started to lose it mentally.

I have no idea what happened, but I struggled. I don't know if it was the cold start, too fast of a start, the fact I had to pee starting at mile 1, or I need to toughen up mentally. I am pretty sure it is the last one. Although I didn't meet my goals, I did finish so I will take it. Half marathon #2 is in the books. #3 is in about 5 weeks when I will run Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon. (Woohoo! So much food to eat.)

Did I mention that the finish line was in a park that had become a mud pit? Good times.

 

Half marathon, here I come!

Tomorrow I have my first race of the season. I will be running in the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon. I am feeling pretty good about it. I haven't had the same nerves like I did with my last half. Actually, this one kind of sneaked up on me since I am so focused on the marathon. I am running with a certain goal time. Most of the time my goal is to finish and have fun. This time I am trying hard to better my last half time so I can (hopefully) move up in the corrals for the marathon in January. The weather is still hot here, but thank goodness a cold front is moving through tonight. It will be in the 50s tomorrow morning. That is so cold! It is glorious to run in, but this girl hasn't had that cold of temperatures in months. I will have to wear some old sweats to the starting line so I can stay warm. Also, the course typically runs over two bridges. We don't have hills in Florida so most elevation changes come in the form of bridges or overpasses (Disney). Due to construction, the bridges have been removed which means this course should be pretty flat. I am so happy! I have tried to find all the hills I can in my neighborhood, but they definitely don't feel like a bridge. I am hoping between the cooler temperatures and the course I will hit my B goal. I decided to do the A, B, and C goal for this race. A is looking out of reach based on training runs, but I think B is doable. Plus B will still move me up in the corrals. This weekend is supposed to be my 15 mile training run so I plan on running an additional 2 miles after I finish.

Now, let's hope the girls cooperate tonight and let me sleep. Thanks to the Navy, E is on a flight until well past midnight today which means I am on my own tonight.