Road to runDisney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon

So the last time I posted I told you I had big plans. Well, here is my official announcement! I have started training for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon to be held at Walt Disney World, Florida, November 9th, 2013.

Here - have a glimpse at the 2012 event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xou-qiN_rWM

So, let's be clear. I'm doing this for two reasons.

#1. The bling. Yup, that medal is super-cool and I can't wait to have one of those.
#2. The party. True to form, I can't wait to hobble from the finish line to the beer table, grab me a cold one and begin the coolest post-race party ever: at Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival, until the wee hours of the morning.

What's the breakdown? Race time is 10pm Orlando time. I hope to finish in the upright position before 2am. And then party until 4!

We've got our accomodations all booked for this magical weekend of pain and bling:

Disney's Boardwalk Villas! I love this place, have wanted to stay here for years but it's quite expensive. I got a lead on a deal though and our long weekend accommodations at this Disney Deluxe Resort are really reasonably priced. And the best part about the Boardwalk is that it is a short walk from Epcot so when we run out of steam at the after-party we can just hobble back to the hotel.

Did I mention the bling?

So I've been training since November, after I found those heel lifts and solved my sore leg issues. Made it back to 5k distance pretty quickly. But I wasn't happy with my time...or, to be more specific, at that speed the pace car would definitely be picking me up before the end of the race....SOOOO I have begun training to improve my 5k time using the Jeff Galloway Easy 5k app.

So far I am liking this app. It uses my music, let's me set the run/walk ratio that I want to use, and tells me when to run and when to walk. It changes up the speed of the music to match the pace I should be moving at, and I like to run to the beat so I find it keeps my feet moving longer than they might otherwise move.

I started the program last week and finished week 1 on Saturday with a 45 minute outing that nearly killed me. Everything seemed very hard on Saturday. Today I did the first day of week 2, and because of a program malfunction (that's fancy talk for "Wanda screwed up and restarted the program about 9 minutes in") I ended up doing 42 minutes. And today it seemed much easier. No muscle fatigue. Not nearly so much difficulty breathing. Of course, I was inside on the track today and not outside in minus 10 degree Celsius weather, so that may have helped too.

I think I am going to make 2013 the year of the medal. I've already got two:

New Year's Rock and Run 2013

Movie Madness 5k 2013

And I have a few more targeted in my hunt for thirteen medals in 2013. There's the Love on the Run Virtual 5k, Run Rock Shamrock Virtual 5k, Too Hop to Trot Virtual 5k, Mother Knows Best Virtual 5k, and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home Virtual 5k. These are all through Muffins to Marathons at http://www.muffinstomarathons.com/virtual-races.php and will see me through until running season gets underway here in Nova Scotia.

I've got a couple of races targeted here in Nova Scotia too! More to come on that next time. Have a great week and don't forget, February is Heart Month and that means it is a great time to start YOUR exercise program!