Disneyland 2014 Race Recap and an Epiphany

 I should first warn you all that this might be a long post and picture heavy. The night before I left for Los Angeles I was feeling a wee nervous about the 3 races ahead of me. Conscious of my terrible training and then analyzing why I let it be so horrible. I arrived on Wednesday August 27th one day in advance of Expo opening is my new strategy.

 This year they introduced the Runner's World Welcome Event, I forked over the cash as the major draw for me was the hour early entry into the Race Expo. Overall I found the event meh. It started with my confusion at wristband pick up and seeing all these people dressed to run. The description had said the only workout part would be active stretching. There were two people from Runner's World that led you through some dynamic stretching and then there was a Q&A with Jeff Galloway, the RunDisney nutritionist, the Runner's World reps and Carissa (one of the race announcer hosts). Again I felt is was meh, didn't learn anything new.

 This was the swag bag from the event, a wrist sweat band....really. I did a fair amount of damage in the expo and picked up everything my little heart desired. There were some issues with the check out. When I got back to my hotel I realized they charged me for two jackets. The great thing it was very easily corrected.

 Friday morning came early and I headed over the Disneyland Family 5K, it was Lilo and Stitch themed this year so the music was beach boys and surfing tunes.

 This is the first time I saw entertainment off the stage, This is Surfer Sarah, she was a hoot, often jumping into people's photos and had a super cute limbo contest with all the kids.

 The 5K is untimed but you still need to maintain the 16 min pace. There are loads of kids and as the whole thing is inside the park there a loads of bottlenecks. I was walking it so didn't really care and just took in all the fun.

 After the 5K I hit the parks, I can't say I'm a huge fan of California Adventure but I ran into my good friend Donald.

 I picked up a Garmin Vivofit at the Expo as I've been on the look out for something wrist based to track my steps. I still love the FitBit One, but what I love about the Vivofit is a red band shows up when you've been sitting too long.

 New Balance was back with their RunDisney shoes, now at Expedition Everest I picked up the Cinderella version, it's a very minimalist shoe. On a whim I signed up for the virtural line on my phone, then I got an email when my time was up. I headed back to the expo and went to where you wait in line when you've been notified. I got a fellow Canadian New Balance person as a helper and soon the Minnie version was mine. These shoes have a bit more cushioning.

 Saturday morning came very early for the Stitch 10K.

 The Disneyland Half weekend by the numbers.

 I was in the last corral but made sure I was up at the front and couldn't believe the number of people behind me.

 My plan was to walk as much as possible saving energy for the half, there were again some super bottlenecky spots. I did it.

 I picked up a pair of Oofos sandals at the Expo, I've reading that they're great recover shoes. I have to agree. They felt super comfortable and like my feet where getting  a bit of a stretch.

Got the 10K wristband at the end of the 10K as I was doing the Dumbo Double Dare so this had to stay on my wrist until I completed the half.

 It was 30C and 90% humidity I was drinking water like it was going out of style to stay hydrated.

 Sunday morning came exceptionally early as being up so early 3 days previously was weighing on me but hey good practice for Dopey.

 The Hawaiian them was gone as it was now the 9th Disneyland Half Marathon.

 Again entertainment among the runner start area, this time those Green Army guys.

 The race itself was rough as it was hot, we had cloud cover at the beginning which was great but the heat arrived quickly. Again I was in the last corral but made sure I was up in the front by going into my corral just after 4 am. The race started at 5:30am, we didn't cross the start line till about 20 minutes later. Going through Angel's Stadium is always a magical experience. I was a wee worried about being swept this time as my chins were killing me so I was walking as fast as I could. At about mile 10 I saw people on bikes and someone yelled out and asked where we were. They said we were 10min ahead of pace. Whoo hoo at that point all thoughts of being swept were out of my head.

 I did it! This wasn't my retribution race after I did Dumbo Doubledare 2013 but that just means I plan to be back to do this one at least another time. Especially as next year is the 60th Anniversary of Disneyland and the 10th Anniversary of the Disneyland Half Marathon. I felt really good after the race and after a wee rest got cleaned up and hit the parks.

 After every RunDisney race I bring back ears and this time it was the Red Queen

So glad I stayed an extra day and didn't go home till Tuesday, normally I'd fly home the Monday after the Sunday Half. Landed back in Calgary and got home at 10:30pm but I was going back to work on Wednesday.

The last few days at work have been chaotic, which I expected as we have a mega project to deliver plus I have another project on top of that. I packed gym clothes and they stayed in my backpack for 3 days. Oh no, I'm not sliding back into bad habits.

It's 28 days to Tower of Terror 5K and 10 miler, 49 days to the Vancouver Rock n Roll Half, 63 days to Wine and Dine 5k and Half, 69 days to the Avengers 5K and Half. Now is the time for Beast Mode.

Dragged myself to weigh in today, I had thought of skipping it but gave myself a talking to. No more hiding my head in the sand. I was up 2 lbs, fine now get back on track.

We talked about small changes you made over the summer that were successful and not one person said anything. My leader asked at the end of the meeting if any of us had aha moments. I piped up and said we now have an opportunity to make those changes for a successful Fall.

The challenge this week is I need to spend a few days in Edmonton but this time I'll bring the gym clothes.

Beast mode is on.

One Sleep!!!!!!!

I'm officially starting to freak out a little.

Tomorrow I leave for Los Angeles and the Dumbo Double Dare. It keeps bringing me back to a year ago when I was still reeling from my Dad's passing and standing at the start line thinking "What the heck am I doing here". My training hit the skids as a grieved and felt unprepared.

But I finished.

Come back to now and my training has been non existent my last run was a while ago. This is not the first time I've been less then prepared. I am a bit annoyed with myself.

I know I'll get caught up in the moment and turn on the focused on the goal mindset.

The races get more frequent starting now so when I get home my focus has to be training for the challenge I've given myself.

I am looking forward to this trip and being reunited with my RunDisney friends and getting caught up in all the excitement.

It's mind of matter and remembering I'm a heck of a lot stronger then I think I am.

Hugs.

4 Days

It's 4 days till I leave for the Dumbo Double Dare.

I'm so not prepared. My last run was quite awhile ago and it's reminding me a lot of the last time I did this run shortly after my Dad died.

I had signed up for it again as a chance to redeem myself. Then I lost my job but found a new one quickly.
The new one is nuts, I went from a very organized company to pure chaos. The hours are long and this week was truly bizarre. My gym is open till 9pm and starting in September till 10:30pm so no reason for excuse of activity pretty much limited to walk to and from the train station every day. The good part I am averaging 10,000 steps.

I know I'll finish even if I have to walk and I don't care if I'm last person across the finish line. I will complete all 3 runs.

People are tense at work as things are slowing down but I wasn't expecting to be pretty much attacked in a meeting on Friday.

I've been given an a huge task with a tight deadline, so I pulled the team together as I know together we'll get it down. After I explained the details and asked for feedback I noticed my co-worker wasn't saying much. So I asked him how he felt about it and whammo. The stuff he said threw me:

He was mad that he wasn't included.
I told him that morning that I went to a meeting that I was a late add to (30 min before it started) expecting to talk about one little thing and got handed this behemoth task.

He was mad decisions were made without him
I didn't make any decisions just got the tasks and he knows that's how our boss works

He said we'd fail at the task and never get it done.

This is what really really hurt

He said I'd get all the credit. In the meeting where I was given these tasks I was quite clear to the room and said I'm no hero this would be done by a team of people. In my meeting I told them if we could get this done I would take them out to celebrate and I believed as a team we could complete the task what I didn't tell them is write an email to our boss about the amazing work the whole team and singling out each person for their contribution. That's how I roll.

Now I know he's been stressed and dare I say paranoid but holy hannah I've never been spoken to like that in a room full of people. I was mad, but thankfully the room realized it was stress talking so that calmed me down.

He walked out of the meeting but we tracked him down and a few us talked to him and we left friends again. However the more I think about it I wonder when the next outburst will happen. He was fortunate that no leads or managers were in the room and we all made a pact to keep it that way. What still bugs me is while he realized he was out of line and blew it way out of proportion and I told him that I was hurt by what he said I never got an apology. Well consider me a wee wiser than yesterday.

Right now I don't think I'll last at this company for a year, this environment is just nuts. I'm not quitter though I will make sure that project is done and that people get credit for the work they do. Ideally I'd like to stick it out for at least a year and I think the gym will help me do that to run out the frustration of the craziness.

After work I picked up a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Yeah not the wisest decision. I had originally planned to go to my Dad's house but after the emotionally draining Friday I realized I wasn't up to it whatsoever.

So I went to weigh in. Shockingly I stayed the same and took that as a sign. I had to pop into work to get something done and I was standing at the train platform it popped into my head that I've felt like a hamster on wheel just going round and round. Not sure if the insanity of yesterday helped but today I realized I see the door to the cage. My focus is me from now on as in focus on being a healthy me, work hard, do my job, go home, no drama, just focus on the task.

The only one taking care of me is me and to never forget all my blessings.

So I'll hopefully blog more and get this train moving.

Long week

These week was long and while I had originally planned to set out to the property this weekend I opted for a relaxing weekend in order to recharge. When I left for work on Monday I saw the "super moon" and one thing I know is when there is a full moon things get interesting.

It started with a bit of a panic about trying to register for the Pixie Dust Challenge on my ipad. I had to be at work that day, normally I'd be parked in front of my computer at home.

In my office I don't have the greatest reception in fact usually only 1 bar. I scoped out the lobby and found a spot with 4 bars. There were a few false starts but I did get registered for the 5K, the challenge, got all the pins and the jacket.

Now when I registered for the Rebel Challenge it sold out in 36 minutes.

This is as of just now on RunDisney.com

Now this is the first time Tinker Bell weekend is in May and more specifically over Mother's Day. Now as I don't have kids or a mother anymore this didn't bother me. Yet to be 5 days later and the challenge, half and 5K are not sold out. Especially as the Pixie Dust is the inaugural challenge well that's just crazy. It actually reminds of time when RunDisney events didn't have such a rabid following.

Then I was off to Edmonton for two days and due to where our office is located I was renting a car for the first time in Edmonton.

On the way to the hotel I took the wrong exit twice. On that day I had 6 hours of sleep, worked a full day and didn't pick up the car till 8pm. They say driving tired is as bad as driving drunk. Well thankfully I got to the hotel in one piece. The trip back to the airport two days was easy peasy.

But boy did I wish I had my Escape instead of the Hyundai Accent, if I need to go again I may actually drive down. Edmonton is a 36 min flight from Calgary.

 Left to a beautiful sunset

I love landing home at night as the lights of the city are awesome, what a surprise to be landing to fireworks.

I went to my regular weigh in today, while I despise the 12:30pm time I love the people in my meeting. On the way I passed this.

It's a block from my house and I thought it was super cool. I looked into it and it's called Little Free Libraries.  I'm currently reading my first Richard Castle book but once I'm done I'm dropping in there and grabbing a different one.

I posted the picture on facebook and one of my friends told me about Book Crossing. So I'm late to the party but find this so incredibly cool. I ordered labels today as whenever I fly I get a paperback and usually only read them once.

I'm also 11 days away from leaving for Los Angeles and the Dumbo Double Dare. My training has been terrible which reminds me of the last time I did this race right after my Dad passed away. I did it then and I'll do it again.

At WI I was down .7 and considering I've worked 13 hrs a day for the past two weeks, tracked nothing and never hit the gym once I thought that was kind of awesome. The other interesting thing was that meeting was much fuller then since we moved. Hmm...fall is coming I suspect as we usually see an uptick in attendance when school starts and of course after new year's.

However I got home and updated my tracking spreadsheet, updated the graph and made it to track the year.

Tomorrow I need to grocery shop then I'm heading out for a run. I need to keep moving until I leave just to work out the kinks.

Visualization

Well Hello,
I can't believe it's been two weeks since I blogged. My work life just exploded and I've been working an average of 11 hrs per day, yesterday closer to 13hrs.

I'm involved in whack of projects that while interesting involve being highly patient as I wait for other to give me info I need. In other words it's very hurry up and wait.

Last night I was in the office till 7:30pm and for the last two hours the building decided to test the fire alarms....good times. I was in the zone and had my iphone playing my classical playlist.

Today I finally took the Escape to somewhere other than Walmart. Now I would describe myself as a country driver so venturing into another quadrant in search of a different Weight Watchers meeting took me out of my comfort driver. Keep in my mind I bought my first car at 41 years of age.

I went to the meeting in the NW, they have a 7 am meeting that intrigues but today I was going to the 9:30 am in hopes of meeting up with a friend. I plugged the address into mySync and it took me to the right area and wrong shopping centre. Well I did find it and only missed 5 min of the meeting.

They talked about visualization which sparked a thought in me. I have done that before but certainly haven't lately

The leader was young and the group on the older side. I do find my regular meeting as a wider range of ages but the 12:30 time just sucks.

My crazy work schedule also resulted in 0 trips to the gym, 0 runs and no tracking. Did I mention that I'm roughly 18 days away from Dumbo Double Dare. Now the last time I did this was after my Dad passed away and my training sucked for that. I did it and have no doubt I can do this.

Next week is bananas as well as I'm home for 2 days then off to a different city for 3 days. What I've already determined is that there are gyms close to the hotel so my plan is get a few day passes. The hotel has a treadmill which in my experience means good luck getting on it unless you want to work out in the middle of the night. Plus I'm betting they have strict open and closed hours.

After all that my life should calm down to get to Disneyland and then continue or more restart my training for Tower of Terror as that's 3 months away, followed by Wine & Dine on month after, then Avengers one weekend after, then Star Wars 2 months after and then Princess 1 months later. On the 12th I will attempt to register for Tinkerbell which is in May this year.

I have to work that day so this will be the first time I attempt to register via iPad. Hey if it's meant to be it will be. Of course RunDisney finally announced a challenge for Tinkerbell called the Pixie Dust Challenge consisting of the 10K and Half.

Then after all that I'll set my sights on the Dopey in 2016.

In the meantime it's trying to drink more water, eat better and focus on quality rest while my work life is insane.

The other thing I did today was go see Guardians of the Galaxy which I loved. Met my friend L for brunch and we wandered around a bit then I saw the journal above in Chapters and had to own it. It's called Vader's little Princess Journal. I will find a use for this get a hold of the a few pages inside it.

How adorable is that. Thinking it might be the training journal. I think it will help my visualization - focus on The Force :)

Alright that's all I got just wanted you to know I'm still here.

What can be done in 90 days?

Day 1

I was waiting for the C-Train home one day this week and saw this. I had to capture it. The sayings often change but this one resonated with me.

This week has been a bit nuts. I have a huge amount of stuff on my plate as my boss seems to be considering me the go to person. While good, it's also a wee stressful and run training severely suffered this week.

Before I headed to weigh in today I got caught up on the last episode of Extreme Weight Loss, this one was with Georgana who was 44 at the beginning of the episode. It wasn't so much her story that struck me it was more on what Chris Powell said during the episode. What can you accomplish in 90 days?. On the show 90 days is the first phase of their one year weight loss experience on the show. Now factoring in most of us are not spending it in a fitness facility for 24 hours a day it's still an interesting question.

I've battled weight for pretty much my entire life up this point, with successes and setbacks and bouncing. Yet you'd think that if I really wanted to do it I'd overcome the bouncing between the same few pounds. That's where I think I'm snuggling with my demons.

Which is interesting because a few months ago I went to a yoga practice that was focused on your inner voice and we were asked to draw it. Mine looked liked a rather ominous snuggly.

I headed to weigh in where I was up .8lb but I decided to buy a new 3 month tracker (90 days). In the meeting itself my leader quoted something I said in the last meeting about going back to basics. Hmm if people are going to quote me perhaps I should be better at walking the talk.

So today is back to basics with concentrated effort for 90 days. What does that mean?

Well:
Track everything - every single day
Go to a meeting every single week (which I have been doing but I've got travel coming up where I'll need to find an alternate meeting).
Get back on track with water - minimum 6 cups per day, the big goal 9 cups a day
Get back on track for training - 3 run days, 2 days strength training, 2 days yoga
Journal each day, either on here or in my paper/pen journal or both

Bring on Day 2

Beastmode

I have officially adopted the mantra beastmode, not sure why but it resonates with me. I even created a version of that word using all things demanded for safe passwords on my work and home computer.

Today I did workout 2 of my strength routine, yes it was a few days later then I planned as workout 1 was on Monday but going forward it will be every 2 days interspersed with run/walk days. I also decided to do strength days at home. My plan pretty much just needs some dumbbells and a stability ball.

It's now less than 40 days to Dumbo Doubledare. What I have lacked in my training plan for my other runs was strength training so I'm hoping by the time I need to do Wine & Dine then Avengers the following weekend in November I'll be in the right shape to pull that off.

Today I did a massive grocery shop so breakfasts will be fueled, lunches packed and dinner options easy and fast.

At WI I was down 1.2 which was awesome and a bit of a surprise after my 15 hour day on Thursday and most of it stuck in a car.

This Wednesday I must go back to Edmonton for the day but it's just me this time so I think I'll fly and get a rental as opposed to driving for 6 hours in one day.

I also finally installed medal rack #2

At the rate I'm going I will most likely need a 3rd rack perhaps even a 4th.

Though in my last post I was questioning my RunDisney future past Tinkerbell in May 2015 and I did decide to tackle one I haven't done yet and that is the Dopey Challenge in 2016. I figure it's also wise to keep my focus on that one after Tink.

Hey my goal was to do every single RunDisney race at least once. Though I'm repeating Dumbo Doubledare, Glass Slipper Challenge twice and Tink would be the 3rd time.

My big focus is beastmode which is tracking and following Weightwatchers, following my strength training plan and following my run training plan.

Today was a foodapalooza battle simply due to that time of month, I'm glad I recognized it so I can deal with it.

Alas that's all I got for today.

Hope all of you are well.

Are my RunDisney days coming to an end?

Registration for the Princess Half Marathon weekend opened this morning and it was mass chaos.

I got registered for the Glass Slipper Challenge but then the active.com site started having issues like freezing and kicking you out - multiple times.

I logged in at 10am MST and was finally registered for the GSC, 5K, Race Retreat and pre bought the jacket by 11:04. It has never taken me an hour to register ever before.

Facebook and Twitter were alight with people having the same freezing issues. GSC was sold out by in 1hr and 45min, mind you the Rebel Challenge sold out in 36min.

The GSC, half and 10K are sold out, and as of this moment the 5k is 52%

My heart was racing through all that process and I started think that this race and Tinkerbell in May might be last RunDisney events....well until they launch a new one of course but no more repeats. This will be my second GSC and if I get into Tink it will be my 3rd Tink.

My other thought is even just stick to the Disneyland ones as it's closer but definitely not cheaper as I prefer to stay in a Disney hotel but again there are 3 races in total at the moment.

Beast mode is in full effect, I did weights yesterday and tonight was 45min on the indoor track. I already put a post it note up where I'll see it the moment I walk in the door tomorrow to remind me to do strength workout 2.

Thursday is a full day in Edmonton with includes 6 hrs of driving, I've called the back seat as 3 of us are heading up for the day. I'm thinking yoga when I get home.

I'm changing all my computer passwords to a form of beast mode as well to keep me even more focused :)

Beast mode and Stampede

I can't believe so much time has passed since I last blogged.

Does anyone else feel like time is speeding up?

Well last Friday, Saturday and Sunday I headed down to the Stampede grounds. I'm not so interested in the midway rides anymore nor trying to win a stuffed animal. Instead I took in some free events inside the park.

 For the first time ever I took in the World Championship Stock Dog competition, no sheep where injured. This dog got a mouth full of wool, the sheep were confronting the dog which I'm told is highly unusual. The single focusedness of the dogs were amazing. There was one where a sheep actually rammed him but he just rolled over and ignored him.

 Of course there are horses everywhere. This one was funny, he was standoffish until I pulled out my phone then he posed for the camera.

 I love these guys, they are the Calgary Stampede Outriders, made up of previous members of the Calgary Stampede Showband and other local musicians. I particularly enjoyed when the played the Star Wars theme and had mock battle with flutes.

 The front gate of the Stampede grounds.

 Picked up some Stampede bling as the downtown core does dress western during Stampede.

 Moving the sheep around prior to the next day of Stock Dog competition

 Went to see a few other demonstration like one on light horses like this Stallion

 The Stock Dog and ducks demo was awesome, this dog was amazing including weaving in and out of people to keep those ducks in the show area.

 The incredibly beautiful and strong Clydesdale

 Walked through the barns while these horses were having a shower.

 Came across an adorable mini donkey

Witnessed Extreme Cowboy Racing and Cowboy Up

The final night of Stock Dog competition and one dog finally got the 3 sheep into the pen, he didn't win thought. 

On Thursday I got to help give a few training sessions at a site up north, that brought back memories but it was a ridiculously long day. Left my house at 4am and didn't get home till 10pm. Of course on Friday I started fading by 3pm. 

Went to weigh in today and was actually down a pound. We actually had a bit of mix up with meeting topics and wound up doing last week today where we talked all about bouncing back. 

I am heading back to the grounds after I finish writing as my co-worker won Grandstand tickets but can't go so gave them to me. One last night of Stampeding then it's bring on Beast Mode. 

No more distractions. 

Hugs!

Stampede begins

I added two figurines to my Pop figurine collection that represents upcoming races. The new additions are the Black Widow from Avengers and Darth Vader. The only one missing is Wine & Dine Half but that's ok. They sit on a bookcase that is directly opposite my desk at work so I can look at them all day.

Today is Stampede Parade Friday, in fact the parade just ended and now I'm tuned into the Germany - France World Cup game - Go Germany!

My office is closed due to parade day as about 250,000 people come downtown and line the parade route so getting to work is a huge pain. Lots of downtown workers have today off actually.

I'm still in my PJs. My Parade day tradition is to watch the parade on tv and make myself pancakes. Today it was buttermilk pancakes and turkey bacon.

I had thought about weighing in today but now that pancakes have been consumed that won't happen. I'll stick with tomorrow.

Now later this afternoon I'm off to the Stampede grounds to meet up with friends for the Super Dog show. I love this show and of course I love dogs. I suspect mini donuts will be in my future as dinner and that is my go to Stampede treat. While they are available outside of Stampede it's not the same and I only have them during Stampede.

I hit the gym on Monday & Wednesday, in fact on Tuesday I took measurements and came up with a plan for July. Yesterday was to be strength and yoga but I wound up working till 7pm and then helped a neighbour out and I was wiped. Still averaging over 10K steps per day though.

Today will be walking all over the place thanks to walks to train stations and walking around the grounds. I'm thinking about heading out for a run/walk tomorrow before weigh in but my only concern is I still like to avoid eating that much before weigh in but if I keep the run to 30 min that should be ok. I do miss when I weighed in first thing in the morning but now that it's 12:30pm it's a bit more complicated.

Again it is Stampede week so if I see a gain this week it is what it is and not the end of the world. It's all in moderation.

I leave you today with the genius advertising campaign of the yellow pages, this sign is at one of the C-Train stations I pass on my way to work.

Happy Friday!