Autumn Race Reports
Nov. 5th, 2019 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pshaw_ravenThis past week or so has been a pretty busy one for us. This year we ran in the Wine & Dine races at Disney, completing the "Two Course Challenge" by running the 10k and half marathon. The 5k is a separate thing but that's a long story. Since it was also Fox's birthday we spent some extra time at Disney World just for fun. But, to the races!
The week before, we had the Middleburg 10k. This is part of the Black Creek Bowl, which was a 5k for most of its life, and then last year expanded when a change in course allowed them to loop it around and add a 10k distance. Basically they're doing road construction on part of the old course where we'd run up Blanding Boulevard. Anyway, last year I finished in an hour, one minute, and forty-seven seconds and was determined to do it in under one hour next time. And I did. I ran a 58:18 and came out first in my age group, 11th overall. Actually the lady who was first in my age group was third overall, so while I sorta-kinda was first, I was actually second, which is what my plaque says. Either way I'm really pleased about my time and hope to shave a few more minutes off that and place first for real next year.
So then we went to Orlando and did Disney. My 10k time was more like 1:05 there but I was also not trying to PR. I wanted to run a good time but I wasn't shooting for anything specific. The next day I did the half marathon (13.1 miles) in 2:19:47 which is a personal best. I know these times are nothing to write home about but I'm proud of myself. Considering my first half was 2:53 and I almost quit, this is a good improvement. But I went into this telling myself not to worry about getting a personal record. I was saying it to myself all week. In the corral. At the starting line. As I was running. And my dumb ass still pushed to get the best possible time and boy did I pay for it later. My IT band was all kinds of pissed off, and that evening when we went to the after-race party in Epcot I was in agony. Just walking hurt enough that I wanted to cry. I DID cry on the Skyliner because I'd had a stressful week, was in considerable pain, I'm afraid of flying but kept having to take the stupid gondolas, and to top it off while we were riding, they kept having emergency stops. So, hard stops in midair, with no way of knowing when they'll start again. I kind of lost my cool. And some jackass in an ECV ran over my foot later that night so it was loads of fun.
Anyway, I don't think I'd have been as bad about the Skyliner if I hadn't flipped out on Space Mountain. I'm usually okay with roller coasters, especially if I know what to expect. Normally I'll watch POV vids on YouTube and decide if I want to try one or not. I had no idea what to expect with Space Mountain and it terrified me. Like not fun scared, but traumatic scared. Because of my stupid anxiety brain, EVERYTHING became scary, including the Skyliner and other simple-ass shit around the parks that scares exactly no one except me and infants. So hooray, I suck. Hopefully that will fade as time passes, because I hate being afraid of things so much, but there's only so much I can deal with. Like with the "spoon theory" that folks with chronic illness use, I have so many emotional spoons each day and running out of them can result in a serious meltdown.
I'm making this sound horrible but aside from the last night's Skyliner ride from hell and the Space Mountain incident it was a lot of fun. I got to try the new roasted veggie sandwich at our hotel's cafeteria, which tasted great but was hard to keep together, and would be better from a logistics point of view as a wrap. Like just get a big piece of lavash and make a wrap. Also it had huge slabs of zucchini that kept slipping out. The plant based waffles are also tasty, but buyer beware - they don't have as many dedicated machines, and if the demand for the other waffles is too high, they'll use the plant based machines to catch up. So if you have a milk allergy or something beware that there may be cross-contamination. Or if you wanna make them at home, get yourself Carbon's Golden Malted mix and add water or plant milk or your choice. Seriously - that's what Disney uses. You can buy huge bags of it on Amazon.
So tomorrow I do a short recovery run and see how things feel. Some yoga, walking, and stretching helped my hip a lot, to where today it feels normal. I really must be more diligent about evening yoga. I have a flow that targets my legs and hips and it does wonders when I'm piling up mileage, like I will be soon leading up to the Dopey Challenge this January. Because I'm not just a dumb runner, I'm a Dopey one.
And while I try not to buy a bunch of unnecessary stuff and have been focused on minimalism and reducing my consumption, they did have to come out with a Duchess plush the last day I was there, so now I have another stuffed kitty. I'm pretty good about sticking to my "no buy" guns until Disney dangles Aristocats stuff in front of me.
That's it for now! Tl:dr - I'm an idiot, but I'm a pretty fast idiot, and I like plushies.
The week before, we had the Middleburg 10k. This is part of the Black Creek Bowl, which was a 5k for most of its life, and then last year expanded when a change in course allowed them to loop it around and add a 10k distance. Basically they're doing road construction on part of the old course where we'd run up Blanding Boulevard. Anyway, last year I finished in an hour, one minute, and forty-seven seconds and was determined to do it in under one hour next time. And I did. I ran a 58:18 and came out first in my age group, 11th overall. Actually the lady who was first in my age group was third overall, so while I sorta-kinda was first, I was actually second, which is what my plaque says. Either way I'm really pleased about my time and hope to shave a few more minutes off that and place first for real next year.
So then we went to Orlando and did Disney. My 10k time was more like 1:05 there but I was also not trying to PR. I wanted to run a good time but I wasn't shooting for anything specific. The next day I did the half marathon (13.1 miles) in 2:19:47 which is a personal best. I know these times are nothing to write home about but I'm proud of myself. Considering my first half was 2:53 and I almost quit, this is a good improvement. But I went into this telling myself not to worry about getting a personal record. I was saying it to myself all week. In the corral. At the starting line. As I was running. And my dumb ass still pushed to get the best possible time and boy did I pay for it later. My IT band was all kinds of pissed off, and that evening when we went to the after-race party in Epcot I was in agony. Just walking hurt enough that I wanted to cry. I DID cry on the Skyliner because I'd had a stressful week, was in considerable pain, I'm afraid of flying but kept having to take the stupid gondolas, and to top it off while we were riding, they kept having emergency stops. So, hard stops in midair, with no way of knowing when they'll start again. I kind of lost my cool. And some jackass in an ECV ran over my foot later that night so it was loads of fun.
Anyway, I don't think I'd have been as bad about the Skyliner if I hadn't flipped out on Space Mountain. I'm usually okay with roller coasters, especially if I know what to expect. Normally I'll watch POV vids on YouTube and decide if I want to try one or not. I had no idea what to expect with Space Mountain and it terrified me. Like not fun scared, but traumatic scared. Because of my stupid anxiety brain, EVERYTHING became scary, including the Skyliner and other simple-ass shit around the parks that scares exactly no one except me and infants. So hooray, I suck. Hopefully that will fade as time passes, because I hate being afraid of things so much, but there's only so much I can deal with. Like with the "spoon theory" that folks with chronic illness use, I have so many emotional spoons each day and running out of them can result in a serious meltdown.
I'm making this sound horrible but aside from the last night's Skyliner ride from hell and the Space Mountain incident it was a lot of fun. I got to try the new roasted veggie sandwich at our hotel's cafeteria, which tasted great but was hard to keep together, and would be better from a logistics point of view as a wrap. Like just get a big piece of lavash and make a wrap. Also it had huge slabs of zucchini that kept slipping out. The plant based waffles are also tasty, but buyer beware - they don't have as many dedicated machines, and if the demand for the other waffles is too high, they'll use the plant based machines to catch up. So if you have a milk allergy or something beware that there may be cross-contamination. Or if you wanna make them at home, get yourself Carbon's Golden Malted mix and add water or plant milk or your choice. Seriously - that's what Disney uses. You can buy huge bags of it on Amazon.
So tomorrow I do a short recovery run and see how things feel. Some yoga, walking, and stretching helped my hip a lot, to where today it feels normal. I really must be more diligent about evening yoga. I have a flow that targets my legs and hips and it does wonders when I'm piling up mileage, like I will be soon leading up to the Dopey Challenge this January. Because I'm not just a dumb runner, I'm a Dopey one.
And while I try not to buy a bunch of unnecessary stuff and have been focused on minimalism and reducing my consumption, they did have to come out with a Duchess plush the last day I was there, so now I have another stuffed kitty. I'm pretty good about sticking to my "no buy" guns until Disney dangles Aristocats stuff in front of me.
That's it for now! Tl:dr - I'm an idiot, but I'm a pretty fast idiot, and I like plushies.
