Did you hear?

So I must ask you all to take a listen to The WDW Radio Show episode #91. Lou has a very special guest this week.

I did my long run for the week last night. I had planned to be at the recreation center by 8:00 and run 8 miles. Plans went awry...but not in a bad way. I didn't get out the door until 8:00. Then I ran my 8 miles and felt great, so I plussed the plan and did a 10 mile run. It took about 103 minutes. I am hoping to be under a 10 minute pace for the half marathon, and this was about 10:18. I was pacing rather slow (for me) from the start, though. I typically pace between 8:30 and 9:10 for most of my runs. But I was pacing between 9:40 and 10:00 for most laps in the first 8 miles. Miles 9 and 10 were better with most laps pacing under 9:30. I walked 6 of the 100 laps around the track during the course of the evening (which is how my average got pushed above 10 minutes). I actually considered trying to leg out a full 13.1 miles, but two things held me back. 1) It was already after 10:00 pm when I finished the 10 miles and 2) I don't want to overstress my body and hurt myself.

Overall I felt great. No leg pain, breathing was fine through the whole thing. I was, however, very stiff when I finished, and am still a bit stiff today. And I got chafed...bad. It has never happened to me before. My inner thighs and underarms are on fire. I wore the same clothing as normal. I have run several 8-9 miles runs and never had even slight chafing...so I don't know what made this 10 mile run so bad. Plan is to do a shorter run tomorrow, but I may push it back if the chafing hasn't healed some.

Kristin has been on a short break. Knee pain has kept her off the road for the past five or six days. I think she plans to get back out today and test it out.

Georgia (and a trip update)

Hello Georgia. Sixty-five more miles and we are in Florida!

Thought I'd put up some of the details for our trip.

We arrive on Saturday, January 3, staying at Caribbean Beach for 11 nights. Plan for the first day is to stop at the Magic Kingdom and visit Splash Mountain. It goes into refurb on the 4th. Sunday morning is breakfast at Kona. Can't wait to try the Tonga Toast! The only other definite park plan we have for the first couple days is to see the Osbourne Lights -- last day is Sunday the 4th.

Tuesday is our anniversary, and we will be having dinner at Jiko. Thursday my friends Kyle and Carly are getting married at the wedding pavillion at noon, with reception to follow at the Grand Floridian. I think they were planning a bridal party get together after the reception, so we will probably be partying all day.

Friday is relax day. Likely do some resort hopping and just taking it easy. Also have packet pick up that day.

Saturday morning, up bright (um...dark???) and early for the race. We have a 2:50 reservation at Le Cellier for an early dinner. And later on we will be meeting up with Team Voice for Illuminations. Saturday we will be at the Team Voice Dole Whip gathering. Maybe we can do Dole Runners???

Monday we have Yak & Yeti ressies. Tuesday will be our last day in the parks. We fly home Wednesday.

Sixty-seven days and counting!

Lonesome Ghosts

I just finished the October virtual race -- Disney's Lonesome Ghosts. My time 1:14:45 for a 13k run. It was a very rough race. I was tight through the whole thing, likely because I haven't run since last weekend, aside from frisbee last night. Kristin's work schedule prevents her from running today. She'll put a time up early next week.

I was in New Orleans for work this past week. I've never been there before. It was a lot of fun. There was tons to do in the evening (dining, Bourbon St., music, casino), so I kept staying out late and then didn't have the motivation to get up early to run. Monday night was watching the Browns stick it to the Giants on Monday Night Football, followed by the casino. Tuesday was dinner on Bourbon St. then just wandering around the tourist shops and poking our head in some bars. Wednesday was dinner at Emeril's then out to a bar with a 70's and 80's band playing.

So now I've got to make up my miles this weekend. Having the 13k scheduled this weekend worked out well since I needed to get a long run in anyway. Four more miles left tomorrow, and I will have reached my goal for the week.

Where we are at now, we need to finish out the year with Kristin averaging about 13 miles per week and myself averaging about 14 miles per week. That will get us to our goal of Running to Disney!

Three Months Left

So we are down to three months of training left before the race. Kristin and I are less than one mile away from 700 total. Our hotel and airfare are booked. And I am getting excited for the trip.

I just got back from Cincinnati today. I had to go down for work. It turned out that Sarah Palin was at our hotel. We caught a quick glimpse of her last night as she exited to get on the campaign bus. It is the first time I have randomly seen a celebrity. The place was crawling with secret service guys with their little earbuds. And I've never seen so many police and state troopers in a single block.

I leave Monday to go to New Orleans (another work trip), and I will be back late Thursday night. So it looks like more treadmill miles next week. The last time I was on a treadmill was back in April and it killed my knee. I did it today and yesterday without issue, though. Hopefully nothing springs up next week.

Akron Marathon

Yesterday was the Akron Marathon. Kristin ran on a 5 person relay team. She had the finishing 12.2k leg. She finished her leg in 1:28:54. The team time was 4:36:39.

I must give a shoutout to a couple other friends. My buddy Flash (yes that is his real name...one of his three middle names) finished the marathon in 4:53:15. It was his first marathon. His girlfriend Kelly, who will be running the full marathon at Disney World in January, finished the half in 2:00:16. There were also at least three teams from Smucker's that ran, but I don't know their team names and can't look up their times. Great job goes out to all the runners!

Today was Kristin's rest day. I went out planning for a nine mile run. I ended up at 7.5 miles. I had some pain in my left shin that wouldn't go away, so I stopped a bit short. I'll be icing it as soon as dinner is done.

Sore

I typed up my last post right after running my longest run ever - 15k. As soon as I stood up, I realized that I had blisters on the arches of both my feet. I was fatigued the rest of the day, but not too bad.

I got a call that evening about an ultimate frisbee tournament at the university on Sunday, and I had to join. We got the best players from our Friday game for our team, and named ourselves The Elderly 7. Most of us were in the 25-30 year old range, and we were playing against a bunch of college kids. Needless to say, most of our opponents were in better shape than us. But we held our own and got third place out of six teams. Not too shabby.

After frisbee, it was off to the bar to watch the Browns game. The Steelers were playing at the same time, but were not televised in the area, so there ended up being more Steelers fans at the bar than Browns fans so that they could watch their game on satellite. Browns got blown out, but it was still fun: the Steelers lost!

My legs were screaming at me on Monday for running Sunday after the long one Saturday. I took it easy yesterday, but had to run tonight because I will be in Cincinnati the next to days and likely won't have time to run. Today's run didn't go so well. My calf muscles have never been so tight. They never loosened up through the 4.5 miles. Oh well...two days of rest ahead. It is definitely needed.

I'll be up bright and early tomorrow. Wheels up on the jet at 6:30...so I'll probably leave home around 5:45. The forecast calls for two long days of meetings, learning about Folger's current business processes so we can begin to develop plans to get them up on our processes and systems.

My next update likely won't be until the weekend. At that time, we'll have results of Kristin's relay team.

Michigan Apple Fun Run

Today was the Michigan Apple Fun Run virtual race organized by Deb from Michigan. I ran the 15k, and Kristin opted for the non-advertised 12k course.

I finished my run at 1:29:51. Kristin ran hers in 1:17:00.

She chose 12k because it is about the distance she will be running next Saturday in the Akron Marathon relay. The relay is a five person team - two 5k, two 10k, and one 12.5k. She was chosen by her team for the long leg since she was the most experienced runner.

Quick Update

Kristin has done great with miles so far this month. It is the 18th, and she is past 30. She will most likely set a personal best.

We both ran tonight, and we were stopped by the dark. My run was the best I've had lately as far as stamina, breathing, and just plain feeling good. Had darkness not set in, I probably would have gone another mile or two beyond the five I had planned.

Michigan Apple Fun Run is this Saturday. I plan to attempt the 15k. I've never gone past 7 miles, so I don't know if I'll be able to run the whole thing. But I will go as far as I can. I believe Kristin plans to do the 10k.

Race for the Cure

Kristin and I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure today. It was not great weather for a race, but we made it through. It was pouring on the drive up to Cleveland, and there was a steady sprinkle/rain the whole time pre-, during-, and post-race. The course was largely the same as last year, but they modified it slightly and made the end even worse than last year. Last year, the last couple tenths were a fairly steep uphill. This year, they routed it so that you had an even steeper uphill just before the one we had last year. I think it was almost a full half-mile of uphill to end the race. The one thing better this year is that they had a water stop half way through. But still no mile markers or people yelling times.

For the most part it went well. I had a bit less stamina than normal, but I think I paced a touch too fast at the start. I typically start fast to get past the crowd, then get into my pace. I think I took longer than normal before settling in to a steady run today. I was able to maintain a decent pace for the rest of the race, but it took a lot of mental toughness to keep going. At about two miles, I really wanted to take a quick walk break...but I didn't give in. With less than a mile left, I had to stop to tie my shoe. Makes me mad, because I could have come in under 26 minutes had I not done that...instead, I finished at 26:01.

Kristin said she was not feeling well through the whole race. She went and immediately sat down when she was done, which is not characteristic of her...especially since she had some friends waiting toward the finish line that she wanted to go meet. She crossed the finish right at 36 minutes.

Last year was cold; this year was rain. We'll have to wait and see what Race for the Cure has in store for us next year.

On the road again

Running recommenced on Friday at ultimate frisbee. I ran about 3/4 mile before the game and it felt really good. Then frisbee for about 2 hours. I felt great through most of it. There was some stiffness in my right hip, but never any pain or anything that slowed me down.

I ran three miles yesterday. Overall the run went well. It was obvious, however, that I had lost some of my stamina during my two week hiatus. I had more stiffness in the right hip during and after the run. As of this point, it is nothing I would consider pain but I'm definitely concerned that there is a hitch in the hip that was causing problems before. We'll ride it out for a few more runs and see if it stays or goes. At this point, I'm a bit concerned that this will turn back into pain and I'll be visiting the doctor soon. We'll just have to wait and see.

We are scheduled for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5k in Cleveland this Saturday. It was a great event last year, and should be again this year. Assuming we can avoid rain, the weather should be great for a race.

Bring in the third string...

I am currently out of commission. I have been complaining of pain since late July and it got worse last week. I could usually run through it, but my stride would be totally off and the stiffness and pain wouldn't ease until about two miles into my runs.

Two clues it wasn't just something little... 1) I was limping while walking and didn't realize it. Two people at work noticed and asked about it, which is how I found out. 2) I quit half way through ultimate frisbee last Friday. I wasn't willing to run for a game that I love to play.

Kristin and I had a chat about this Saturday and determined I need to see a doctor. My thought, though, is that I don't want to go the doctor route until I have properly tried to rest it. So I have decided to take two weeks off. I took off one when this pain first started, and it obviously wasn't enough. So I'm taking two, and if there is any pain at all when I try to start back up then I am going to the doctor.

This is totally going to throw off my mileage. I am going to be struggling to hit my mileage goal for the year after this hiatus. It will be a steeper hill to climb, but definitely not impossible. If I can stay healthy, then I can do it. I will just have to work harder than I thought I would.

To make matters worse, Kristin was out on a run Friday and ended at the frisbee field. By this time, I was already sitting out, so we stayed and watched everyone finish their games. We started to walk home afterwards, but a friend that was meeting us at our house drove by. So I hopped in the car, and Kristin elected to run the rest of the way home. Just before she got home, she ended up stepping on a rock that was in the middle of the road and she slipped and hit the pavement. She hurt her foot in the process.

She was limping around that day and for the next couple days, but decided not to go to the doctor. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I would diagnose her as having a mild sprain.

She wanted to try a run on Tuesday, and she did well. But her foot was hurting worse on Wednesday. I'm not sure at this point what her plans are to rest it further. I haven't updated our mileage on the site recently, but when I put it up you will see that she has been doing great lately. I hope her injury doesn't slow her down too far.

We are both signed up for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k in Cleveland on September 13. And Kristin is signed up for the 12.5k leg of the Akron Marathon relay on September 27.

The Plan

The burn is getting better. There is still a bit of pain at times, but it never got as bad as I had expected. After Sunday's post, I realized that even the tops of my feet were burnt. The only other time this happened was at Nassau when I was on a Disney Cruise. Too bad I wasn't in the Bahamas this past weekend. That would have been much more fun than swimming in Ohio.

I devised a plan to get to 60 miles this month. I needed about 34 miles and I had between Aug 19 and Aug 31 to complete them. This is more than I have ever run in this short a time frame, and I figured it would be less stress on my body to keep the runs shorter and throw in a couple extras than to just make all of my runs longer. I realize I should be increasing mileage, but to meet my goal this month, I am going to hold mileage increases for September.

I have 13 days available, two of which I know I won't "run" because we'll be playing ultimate frisbee. That game is constant sprints mostly ranging from 10-30 yards. I usually credit myself with 1-1.5 miles for a full evening of play (I won't bore you with that calculation unless someone asks) plus the .5 mile round trip run to the field. So let's say that ends up being three miles for the two nights. That leaves me needing 31 miles in 11 days.

The rest of the plan involves eight 4-mile runs and three days of rest. It is a busier schedule than I am accustomed to with only three rest days mixed with 10 running days, but it's what I need to do. Also, if I mess up somewhere, I can always make one of the runs longer.

The plan was to start last night, but that didn't go to plan (I know what you're thinking...but don't worry). We got our last delivery of dirt, so we spent about two hours after dinner shoveling and moving four yards of top soil. It was nearly dark when we finished and I was very tired from the work. I was ready to get in for the night, but decided that I could manage a short run. So I went out for a quick 1.5 mile spin around the block.

I think rather than losing a rest day, I will just up some of my runs to 4.5 miles to make up for the couple miles I missed last night. So with that in mind, I've still got three days I can rest until the end of the month. Tonight will not be one of them.

If it isn't one thing...

I'm still on my goal of reaching 60 miles this month, but it's not going well. I feel like I'm entering excuse mode, but I'm trying to avoid it. I got through the major leg pain, though I am still having minor problems with pain. Mostly better, though, and usually eases after I get warmed up.

I ran 14.7 miles through the 9th, so I would need to average just over 15 miles per week for the balance of the month to meet my goal. This week started good. The plan was runs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Tuesday's run went well. I planned 6 miles, but went off of my regular courses. I realized that I ended up at 5.65 after I got home and mapped my path. Thursday's run didn't happen. I had a buddy over helping set up for a party this weekend...and long story short he needed someone to talk to. Not wanting to kick him out, he ended up not leaving until it was nearly my bed time. So no run. I couldn't make up the miles Friday because of existing plans right after work that didn't get me home until about 11:00.

Saturday, I ran as long as I could given what still needed to be done with the party. 4.5 miles. Not too bad. That left me needing about five miles for the week. The plan was to just throw in the extra run today.

After we cleaned up from the party this morning, we went swimming. I had promised Kristin about a month ago that I would take her swimming one weekend, and this is the one that worked out. We spent about three hours at a local watering hole. I burn easy, so I sunscreened twice. But after I got home, it was obvious that we missed a couple spots. First was the back of my arms. My back and shoulders are fine, but the tricep area is burnt. And my legs are burnt for about six inches above my knee caps. I didn't put sunscreen there as it is covered by the swim shorts, but when we were sitting out of the water, apparently the shorts pulled up a bit and exposed that skin.

I tried to run today, but the sunburn is killing me. I was fine to start, but the further I got, the more the clothes rubbing on the burnt skin was causing the pain to intensify. I just couldn't go any further. This may have been a willpower issue that I could have worked through, but all I kept thinking was how this was probably just going to make things hurt worse tomorrow.

So now here I am needing to average about 17 miles each week through the end of the month. I don't plan to run again until Tuesday. Hopefully at that point the sunburn pain is manageable during a run. If not, then I will cancel my golf plans for Wednesday and get a good run in then. I missed my mileage goal last month, I really don't want that to happen again this month.

Kristin is out running as we speak. She said her plans were for six miles. I wish her well. It is insanely humid out compared to what we have had the past few weeks.

Cornfest!

Jeff from the Snowy Tundra had the brilliant idea of having a virtual race today, Cornfest...both 5k and 10k distances. I celebrated the event by signing up for the Green YMCA Caribbean 10k. This was my first 10k and I am glad to say that I did a bit better than I expected.

The course was mostly flat. It was a 2.5k out and back track. The 5k racers ran it once, and the 10k racers did it twice. My only complaint about the whole thing is that they didn't do a good job of yelling times through the course. The only time I heard was at mile 1 -- 8:32.

I did a great job pacing myself from the start. I ran past the 5k finish line at about 26:30. After that, I thought I felt myself slowing down. At approx mile 4 and mile 5 I slowed to a walk for about 30 seconds as I grabbed water, but that was the only slow down I had. Final time: 53:37 -- a pace of 8:38 per mile.

I was hoping for under an hour, and expected my final time to be closer to 56 minutes based on my time for the first half and that I thought my pace was slowing. I feel great knowing that I was able to maintain a very steady pace through the whole race.

Weather was great. It was in the upper 60s at race time with partly cloudy skies. The course was almost completely flat. I heard someone say that they didn't like the course because you went through the same scenery four times. I think it helped for pacing. Mile 1 was marked, and then on the second time through the course, mile 5 had been marked. In the few races I have been in, it has been rare to see mile markers. So knowing where that single marker was on the first lap and then being familiar with the course really helped you to know approximately how far you were at any point in time.

I have been having leg issues the last couple weeks. I am mostly better, but still have some pain in my hip. I was dying to play ultimate frisbee last night since I didn't play last week and won't be able to next week. But I erred on the side of caution and only played three games...we normally play 8-10. My hip was hurting when I finished playing, so I was worried about today, but it felt great through the whole race.

Also, with my run today, we are past 500 miles on the year, into South Carolina, and only a couple miles away from the half-way point to WDW!

Congratulations to everyone who has finished Cornfest, and good luck to those of you still waiting for your time to start.

Better...

But not great.

My leg is much better now, though I do have some stiffness/mild pain in my hip while I run. It was not as bad yesterday as it had been on Sunday. I think I am going to sign up for a 10k for this Saturday.

Painting is moving along. The den is done. We need one more coat in the dining room. The hallway still isn't started, but it won't be nearly as big of a project.

Kristin has put in two 6 mile runs so far this week. She is off to a great start to the month. My goal this month is 60 miles. I plan a short run tomorrow if I finish painting in time and then the 10k on Saturday. That will put me at 15 miles in nine days...which is a 50 mile pace for the month. I'll need to make sure I get at least one long run in per week moving forward. And hope that my leg doesn't act up again.

Back in the Saddle

Timeline of the last week...
Sunday: 4 mile run. Felt great.
Monday: General pain/soreness in my right leg from my hip to my calf. Definitely different from the left joint pain I had had in the past.
Tuesday: Blog post complaining about pain, though it wasn't as bad as Monday. Tried to run, but I was hobbling after only going about two blocks. I stopped to stretch some more, then picked it back up. The pain just got worse. I ended with only 2/3 of a mile for the day.
Wednesday: Limping all day. Very bad pain.
Thursday: Still a decent amount of pain; limping gone.
Friday: Just a bit of tightness.
Saturday: Leg felt great.
Sunday: Leg felt great. Ran 2.9 miles. Leg feels good in general, though a lot of tightness in that hip and in my lower back on that side. We'll see how tomorrow feels.

I'm tired of my body playing games with me. It makes me feel old.

On the home front, we've started painting. We are doing our den, dining room, and a hallway. I've never done actual painting like this before. It amazed me how long all the prep work took...moving things out, taking everything off the walls, taping, etc. We did the prep and bought paint yesterday. Today we worked on the den. Two coats on the ceiling, the primer, and we got as far as doing trim work with the paint. We couldn't devote all day because Kristin had a bridal shower to go to and I had to do some office work at home in order to meet deadlines we have at right now at Smucker's. It has been terribly busy at work, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

The old days are new again

My body has been playing games with me lately. I feel like I have been transported to last summer when we just started running after years of sitting around on our butts. It seems lately that every time I run I am very sore for at least one day after, if not two. It doesn't matter how far I run, and I always make sure to stretch. It started about three weeks ago. I was hoping it was just a bit of fatigue and that it would pass.

But here were are now with the same problem. I ran four miles on Sunday, and I still have some soreness in my right thigh today. Every time I stand up, it takes a couple steps before I can find a comfortable stride. It is not soreness in the same spot every time which doesn't lead me to believe that something specific is wrong. It seems like general muscle fatigue.

Oh well...better than the terrible pain I was having in my knee.

I am a bit behind where I wanted to be this month. I wanted to finish over 50 miles for the month, but I will need two good runs today and Thursday in order to pull that off. I am at just under 40 now.

Did you play?

We are back from Magic Meets and back to the grind with work...well, almost. The meet was great. I met everyone I had hoped, plus many more great people. I will post some more details later when I can get to the pictures (my camera battery is dead).

Did anyone play the Adventureland Challenge over at WDW radio? I logged on to play right at 8:00 on Monday, but the web servers couldn't handle the load they were getting. It was after 10:30 before I could get the pages to load in order to answer all the questions. I submitted at about 10:45.

We are headed to Cedar Point tomorrow...taking my niece and nephew for their birthdays. Weather looks great. I'm excited to go back.

I ran yesterday and today. I haven't done two in a row in a while. My legs were incredible tight. I just couldn't keep them moving. It was a rough three miles. Kristin is still out on the streets somewhere.

I ain't got no...

MOTIVATION!

Where has motivation gone? Lately I have become very lax with everything...updating blogs, remembering birthdays, RUNNING!?!?!?

I'm not sure what's going on. Part of it I think is that I haven't been able to sleep well the last few weeks. I either get busy with something and don't go to bed on time or I go to bed on time then lay there for hours (sometimes more than three) trying to fall asleep. So I've been dragging lately. I just crashed last night while practicing piano. I literally just quit mid-song and put my head down on the keyboard.

Blogging...As you've noticed, this site hasn't been updated much lately. I haven't really done anything except for a couple a Boston posts in the last three weeks. Earning My Ears is at a standstill. I don't quite like what I've done with it, so I am on a hiatus as I try to figure out how to change the direction into something that I can write more naturally about. I just can't seem to find a comfortable voice with the posts I've done so far.

Birthdays...I have three friends that have July 16 birthdays. I never even gave it a thought that day. I even exchanged e-mails with one of them. Then early on the 17th it hit me, and I made three apologetic calls that day.

Running...Other than July 4, I haven't had any motivation. That day I did six miles, was feeling great and planned to run further, but didn't have time before our family picnic. I was already running late. Since then, I have had to really push myself to get out. And while I'm out, I have to push hard not to take a bunch of walk breaks. We are going away this weekend, and most likely won't be running. So by the time we get back, I will be about 10 miles short for the first three weeks of the month. I need at least 12 miles per week for the rest of the year in order to meet our goal, and I am only at 26 miles so far in July.

We leave tonight for Magic Meets. We were going to go the appetizer party this evening, but someone volunteered Kristin for a committee at work that had a mandatory meeting today. So we can't leave until after she gets off at 4:00, and it is a five hour drive. So hopefully we'll make it by 10:00. Maybe some of the guys will be down in the bar so we can at least hang out a bit tonight. Saturday is the main meet, then Sunday is Hershey Park day. Weather is calling for 96 degrees on Saturday and 93 on Sunday. It looks like we'll have Orlando weather in PA. We plan to drive home on Monday.

We've never been to Hershey, so I am looking forward to it. I really enjoy going to new amusement parks. I'll update when we get back.

And to Jeff and family, our thoughts are with you.

North Carolina!

We are home from our trip and right back to forgetting to blog. OK, OK. I didn't forget. Things have just been hectic since we returned...but I won't bore you with the details.

Our trip was a blast. I will do a trip report in a few days with some pictures of the things we did.

We have officially exited Virginia, and we are now in NC. Running this week has not been that great due to the excessive business I referred to earlier. We also didn't have time to run in Boston...but we definitely burned a lot of calories with all the walking we did and the 294 step climb to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. I wish we'd have had one more day there to get in everything we wanted to do.

I've had some knee problems since the last day of Boston. It was starting to act up, and then the big stair climb was the end of it. That slowed me down for the rest of the day. I also had some pain after my run yesterday. I am really beginning to worry about the race in January. We will be at Disney World a full week before the race, and we all know how much walking goes on there. The last two big mileage walking outings I have done (Cedar Point and Boston) have taken a toll on my knee. I'm afraid to see what a week at Disney will do. We are planning a slow day on Friday before the race...maybe do a tour that day. And Thursday is wedding day, so there won't be much going walking then. So hopefully having two low mileage walking days before the race will help. But I'm still worried.