| |
|
MOONANGEL23's Recent Blog Entries
|
 
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Yup, I'm still here...it's just been a while (a year!) since I made a blog post directly on SP. I have two separate blogs on blogspot that I post on regularly (for the most part) and never remember to put a link here as a blog post.
I am stepping out of the co-leader role on the Spark Fort Lauderdale team...I tried to get things going for the team but never really got a response. It's always been a quiet team but I did try to post some things to help stimulate participation...and got just a handful of responses, plus only one or two others would really make their own threads. I finally stopped posting new things--I had posted there last year that it was getting harder for me to participate as a leader due to personal commitments but had still tried.
Now my personal commitments are about to really expand as I will be starting as an independent agent for a host travel agency this week (primarily Disney travel but also cruises, all-inclusives and packages)...in addition to already working a full-time day job. I am going to need time to devote to my new endeavor to handle planning and booking trips, marketing and developing/maintaining my online presence. And so I made a post on the Ft. Lauderdale team again to ask for other leaders...we'll see what kind of response I get (if any), but regardless I'll be stepping out of the leader position within the next few days. There is a co-leader, but she hasn't posted on the team in over 60 days.
Anyway, I may also take my page private but haven't decided that for sure yet. In the meantime, if I keep forgetting to post a link to my outside blog posts over here, the links for them if you'd like to read them are www.moonangel23.blogspot.com and www.thedisneyworldfiles.blogspot.com .
Fall/winter race training for me starts today. I only have two races I'm registered for right now (Disney's Tower of Terror 10 Miler at the end of September and the Disney FULL Marathon this January) but may add some more local stuff here and there along the way. I have a lot of work to do as I gained a lot of weight back since my first half marathon---about 30 pounds back *SMH* I want to be under 200 before the Disney full in January and I've reached that breaking point where I'm ready to kick my own a** for letting myself slide so far back again.
And so it starts...again........
Monday, July 11, 2011
Upcoming Fall/Winter race schedule:
9/11/11-Firefighter's 5K
10/1/11-Walt Disney World Wine & Dine Half Marathon Relay (leg 2, 8.3 miles)
11/12/11-Key Largo Bridge Run (pending, depends on finances)
1/7/12-WDW Half Marathon
1/8/12-WDW Marathon Relay (13.1 miles)
1/29/12-ING Miami Half Marathon
I'll probably be adding a couple more for the fall, just need to see what will fit in with my training schedule. I also plan on adding the WDW Princess Half Marathon (end of February) and hopefully a local marathon for sometime in March if I can find a good one (read as "generous time limit"). I want to do Goofy January 2013 so I figure one marathon this Spring, another one next Fall, then Goofy. For those who don't know what Goofy is, that's doing the Half Marathon on Saturday and the Full Marathon on Sunday. I figure I'm working up to it-2010 did the Half, 2011 did the Full, 2012 doing the Half and the Marathon Relay (which is a Half), so 2013 would be Goofy, right?
Anyway, today was day one of training, 82 degrees with 73% humidity. 3.28 miles, about a mile of which were 3 minute walk/1 minute run intervals (the middle mile). Burned 406 calories, not too bad. Unfortunately afterward, went upstairs to take a shower and felt totally nauseated. Not sure why, I was hydrated just fine. So now I'm showered and just kicking back before trying to eat dinner. Gotta love training in the summer in South Florida, right?
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Here's the text of my report; if you'd like to see the version with pictures, they are on my blog at moonangel23.blogspot.com/
5.14.2011-Expedition Everest Challenge Race Report
First off, I have to say I LOVED this event. Yes, it’s just a 5K (and one that cost $95 to boot!) but the theming, obstacles and scavenger hunt turned the “just a 5K” into a really fun event that I’ll definitely be going back for again.
I left Friday morning before the sun came up (trying to miss all those icky lovebugs that like to get smushed all over the car this time of year) and so I arrived early enough to check in to my room and grab a snack before heading over to packet pickup when it opened. No fancy expo...even the outdoor tents they had set up had to be taken down as a storm was rolling in so they moved the tables into the stadium breezeways at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. There was a big board set up before you went inside where you could check for your bib #...now, I knew I was going to be in wave 1 since I was doing the race as an individual and we got to start before the teams...but I didn’t know I’d be bib #95. My number was even lower than my (MUCH) faster ROTE friends that were there...so I got a kick out of that, ‘cause you know for a normal Disney race with normal corrals I’m never going to have that low of a number-let alone be in the first wave of runners LOL. Pickup was quick and after I went back to my room for a nap while the storm passed, then met a ROTEr over a Epcot to wander around and watch Illuminations (thanks Dan!).
Saturday I decided to sleep in, then had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the pool for a couple of hours of relaxation. Met up with Dan and Tricia (with her cute twin sons) for a late lunch/early dinner over at Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom. Afterward, Dan and I headed over to the race staging area to hang out and look out for other ROTErs. We finally found Megan who was there with her family and then Steve. Eventually it was time to line up so we headed for the front of the corral where I took a picture of the start sign with the “wave 1” sign for posterity (HA!). In the corral we met Monica, then Dan left us to move up closer to the front-since ya know he was going to be a heck of a lot faster ;-) and then we were off. And I of course went out too fast and had to walk a bit more than I wanted to during the first mile. Our first obstacle were lines of hay bales (maybe 3 or 4 sets) that we had to jump over like hurdles. I must have looked a sight doing that as I could feel my legs flying out to the sides as I jumped. At least the pic they got of me during that part looked mostly normal.
We went back through the park and out through a backstage area to a turnaround point after which came our second obstacle-rows of tires on the ground (again 3 or 4 rows) that we had to navigate through (though some people were just hurdling over them like the hay bales). Made it through, saw only one person fall. Back in the park for a bit, then backstage to our way back out where the last obstacle was. For the last one, we had a choice--go up and over one of those rope net tent-shaped climbing things, crawl under a rope net that was about a foot above the ground...or you could go around both. I was not about to do the crawl one-it was through a ton of loose dirt and I could see the kids that were doing it were coming out filthy (no thanks, that’ll be me if I ever agree to a mud run). I was going to do the climb one, but it was filled with people and I would have had to wait to take a turn...and so I just went around...which was hard to run through since it was all loose dirt too so I just walked as fast as I could through it. Right after that was the finish to the 5K portion.
As we finished through there were volunteers handing out our first clue, a small flashlight and mini-marker to write our answers on the clue cards. On the cards was listed the location where we were to show our answers, so since mine said Oasis-Palms, I headed for The Oasis which is the first set of animals after you get in the park. But I couldn’t find where to go. After wasting about 15-20 minutes going back and forth between the entrance and almost to the big tree, I found out the station was BEFORE you went in the park. Nice. So I went back out, found my area, and tried to figure out my clue...finally got it with some help from the volunteer who then gave me my next clue.
Off to Camp Minnie-Mickey I went...with another really hard clue that I couldn’t figure out how to start...turned out to be a substitution code to figure out the answer (again got help from the volunteer). Got my next card which sent me to Africa...easy clue this time, just elongated letters and had to figure out what the word said. Quickly got my next clue and ran all the way to Asia with it, another really easy one. Got my final clue which stumped me at first but with a little hint from a volunteer (who was enthusiastically going from person to person trying to help as many people out as he could) got it done and raced over to the finish.
After navigating the medal line (crush of people, not enough space for the crowds that were coming through at the same time I was) and getting snacks (Powerade, bananas, Clif bars and huge liter-sized bottles of water), met up with Steve and we walked over to Dinoland USA where we met up with Dan and eventually Becky. Found out that Becky finished second in the individual female category and Dan finished fourth for individual males---Congratulations!! Got a picture with Mickey and Minnie-line moved pretty quickly, only had to wait maybe five minutes, then we headed over to ride Expedition Everest (WAY cool to ride in the dark!). After that I was pretty tired so headed back to my room.
I was not last...I finished 183 out of 193 for the individual female women. Would have been a lot better if I’d known where to go to turn in that first clue. My 5K time was 47:17, about average for me right now for a 5K but considering there were obstacles as well, even better I guess (I’m actually better on pace for longer races, go figure) and my scavenger hunt time was 53:30 for a total of 1:40:46. Which I’m fine with since this was my first time and I wasn’t sure how everything would be set up. Now I know to keep an eye out for clue stations right away and not assume they’ll all be in the park itself (*kicking myself for that one*) and I have a better idea of what to expect...because I will certainly be returning to do this again, whether by myself or teamed up with someone. I really enjoyed this event and would definitely recommend it to others. Plus getting to hang out in Animal Kingdom after dark when the park normally closes around sunset was a nice perk.
Next up, Weston Memorial Day 5K...another walk-to-the-start-line-from-my-house race.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
I haven't done any races since the WDW Marathon in January. I wasn't sure how I'd be feeling afterward so I didn't sign up for anything else until May. Well, I did do a charity walk but that doesn't really count as I wasn't running at all, we just did a brisk walk pace. So, next up will be Disney's Expedition Everest Challenge on May 7th.
It is a 5K with obstacle course along the way...nothing too hard of course, this is a Disney race after all...and once completed, a scavenger hunt through Animal Kingdom following clues from one point to another until you complete the whole challenge. And of course an after party in the DinoLand USA area of the park. I've heard a ton of good things about this event so I'm excited to be participating this year, it sounds like a lot of fun.
Since during the fall and winter I had dropped back to a 30 second run/90 second walk interval since the one and two minute runs were just too much after taking most of last summer off, I've restarted the Couch to 5K program to try and acclimate myself to the one minute running intervals again. I'm not concerned with completing the whole program, right now I'm just trying to slowly build my running times back up again. So I'll probably be doing week 1 of the program (1 min run/90 sec walk X 8) for 3 or 4 weeks before moving on to week 2...I don't want to just go jumping from week 1 to 2 to 3 and so on as I know my body can't take that yet. I get out of breath too quickly, a combination of the extra weight and my allergies during the "very high pollen level" counts we're having (when are we not down here?).
So in three weeks for the race I will most likely be doing the 1 minute run/90 second walk intervals as well, slightly modified to accommodate the obstacles they'll have set up within the 5K course.
Can't wait for the race and of course being back at WDW for the weekend again!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
So last night I went out to dinner with my best friend, her DH and my 7 year old godson. After, we decided to walk across the shopping plaza to Cold Stone for a dessert treat...but it was pretty chilly out (for South Florida, 55 with a breeze and dropping) so I said to my godson, let's run to Cold Stone, it'll make you warmer and we'll get inside to the warm store faster. So we ran to the store...once there, I told him, "you should join me tomorrow for my 3-miler" (post-marathon recovery "long" run #2). He was like "yeah, sure, that sounds like fun". Then it was time for ice cream (a small one of course, trying to get back into my normal routine this week) and there was no more talk about running.
This morning, I'm sleeping in for a change since I knew whatever time I got up the temps would be nice and cool all day and my BF calls me and says, "so he keeps asking what time you're coming to get him cause he says he's doing two miles with you today."  Okey-dokey then...so up I got, picked him up and off we went! Now, being that he's only 7 and he's never done this before, I told him we could go as fast or slow as he wanted. We actually wound up doing 6 or 7 running intervals, the last two being close to the house so I told him to run as fast as he could---and I couldn't keep up 
Now he says every day he doesn't have school he wants to come walk/run with me. Of course I told him sure thing...we'll see if he actually wants to follow through, I'd love to see him actually do it. I know he cant go too far or fast for a while, but I can always do my "real" miles before or after I go out with him. Maybe he can nudge his mom and dad to come on out too
Now if I could just get DH to join me...
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Last Page
|
|
Get An Email Alert Each Time MOONANGEL23 Posts
|
|
Member Comments About This Blog Post:
