Good Riddance 2012!

2012...I'm happy to see you go. It was a difficult year to get through.  There were some good parts though.

-We sailed on the Maiden Voyage of the Disney Fantasy.  This was a fantastic trip that we got to experience with friends of ours as well.  Dee and Andy and Chuck and Janice made this voyage fantastic.  The trip would have been great no matter what but this made it even better.We hit Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Costa Maya.  I also got to meet John Lasseter!

Our dining companions for the Fantasy Maiden Voyage

Disney Fantasy in Costa Maya

Meeting John Lassater!

ATV excursion in Costa Maya

Sail Away for the Fantasy Maiden Voyage

-In June we got to experience a dinner in the Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios!  This was an event put on by Tables in Wonderland and thankfully we got selected to do it this year.  We walked through the opening rooms and had hor d'oeuvres and cocktails in the Gangster scene and then entrees in the Western scene.  We then walked through the rest of the ride and had deserts in the Wizard Of Oz scene.

Drinking during Prohibition

Our dinner table, right in front of John Wayne!

Ripley, Don't shoot!!

Snakes!  Why did it have to be snakes!

Glinda

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

-In May we started running.  We used a Couch to 5K program to get started.  At first I could barely go 30 seconds, but I grew to like running and I think it will be a lifetime activity now

-In August we hosted the annual BBQ for our group of friends from around the world who we affectionately call the "Fools".  We had more than 40 people at our house from all over the USA, Canada and even the Isle of Man.  The event also included attending a Tampa Bay Rays game.

Some of the attendees at the Fools BBQ

-In August I ran in my first race.  It was a 5k, and I struggled but I was happy to finish it.  For the year I ran in 8 5K races, 2 10K races and 1 Half-Marathon.

-In November I completed my first Half Marathon and had a great time.  I beat my personal goal by 13 minutes and cannot wait to run another Half Marathon.

My first Half Marathon!

-In December I was lucky enough to see an Eddie Vedder concert in Clearwater.  It was a great show and now I can't wait until all of Pearl Jam tours again.

-In December we also were able to take my Mother on her first cruise when we took a 3 day Disney Cruise to Nassau.

Looking ahead to 2013 I am hopeful for a great year.  I have a few personal goals for the year:

-I want to run at least 800 miles in 2013

-I want to run at least 7 Half Marathons in 2013.  I already have signed up for 3.

-I want to continue to get in better shape.

-I want to continue to enjoy running and hopefully get to do it with friends.

-I want to always take time to be with those that I love.

Here's to a great 2013!

Castaway Cay 5k

Jenny and I recently took a cruise on the Disney Dream.  It was our first cruise on the Dream so it allowed us to have cruised on all of the Disney ships because we were on the Maiden voyage of the Fantasy this spring!  One of the things we really wanted to do on this cruise was to run the Castaway Cay 5k.  We were hoping for a nice cool December morning in the Bahamas to run this.

On Saturday December 8th we met up with the people running the 5k on the ship and then began the walk onto the island.  Unfortunately we got separated from the rest of the group so when we got ashore we didn't see anyone else.  we walked over the the bike rental location where we were told the race would start but nobody was there.  We decided to wait to see if anyone would show up.  After about 15 minutes the rest of the group arrived.  Apparently we missed getting into a group picture.

Once everyone arrived we started the race.  The nice cool weather we were hoping for was definitly not happening.  It was in the 70s at 9AM and the humidity was high.  I started out running way too fast and after a mile I was feeling the heat.  I backed off and stopped at the water stop for a quick drink.  I kept running, but the heat and all the food we were eating caught up to me and I actually had to walk at about 2 miles into the run.  I ran the last half mile, but the distance was well under a 5k and my time was not great at 32:11.  It was fun though and it was a free race with a nice bib!

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend adds 10k race

Jenny and I were already planning on running the Disneyland Half Marathon over Labor Day weekend, but now they announced a new 10K race for the same weekend.  In addition they created the Dumbo DoubleDare for the races which means if you complete both races you get 3 shirts and 3 medals!  I'm so in!!!

More Details available here:
http://www.rundisney.com/disneyland-half-marathon/#10k

Santa's Twilight 5k

We found out about the Santa's Twilight 5k on Thanksgiving morning after running the Turkey Trot.  We debated running it because we were also running the Say No to Drugs race the same morning, but we decided it could be a lot of fun!

So what do you do for a nighttime holiday race to make it really fun, especially if the race has a costume contest?  Of course the answer is to create an Awesome costume!  Jenny decided she wanted to go as an elf, but I wasn't sure I wanted to dress up.  I finally decided a couple of weeks before the race that I wanted to go as a Christmas tree.  Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to make a costume.  e were going on a cruise, we had my mother in town and we were going to spend a day with friends at Disney World, so I wasn't sure we could get it made.  Jenny was confident that she could make the costume the night before the race, so we bought the supplies and on Friday night Jenny started putting the costume together.  We made the basic shape and confirmed it fit.

On Saturday we ran the Say No to Drugs race (this will be detailed in another post) and then we went ot the packet pickup for the Santa race.  Once the bib was on the costume we put lights, garland and ornaments on it and made the star topper and it looked awesome.  Jenny did an awesome job.  Now it was time to go to the race.

We got to the race on Honeymoon Island about 45 minutes before it started and it was already pitch black.  We got our costumes on and lit up just so we could see enough to walk to the starting area.  While waiting at the start we were watching for other costumed people, but we didn't see too many.  I had people coming up to me to take photos of me and photos of me with them.  We then had the costume contest judges come up to us looking for my bib number.  Always a good sign!

We knew the course was going to be dark because it was only lit by luminaries so people were joking that they were just going to follow me!  Jenny and I had already decided before the race that we were going to run for fun and not time so I would run with her the entire time.  When the starting gun went off it was definitely anticlimactic but we started down the dark path.  Thankfully runners were given glow necklaces because otherwise you could not see them and it would be really easy to run into someone and get hurt.  Of course I was quite visible!

The run was fun and there were many volunteers helping to keep people on course.  We finished in 42:33 so we ran somewhat slowly, but we had fun.  After the race there was cookies, water and hot chocolate so we filled up on those while we waited.  There apparently was some kind of mix up with the finisher medals and they were on there way.  They finally announced the winners of the costume contest and I won!  I won a designer beach bag, which was nice.  I think Jenny should have won fer her costume too, but since she made mine she is the real winner anyway!

They finally showed up with the finisher medals at about 8:45 so we got our medals.  They are actually hand decorated sand dollars.  We have to decide if these are Christmas ornaments or if they are going on our medal rack.  All in all it was a fun race.  The organizers will need to make the course a little more lit because it was scary running where you can't see.  I'm not quite sure how they can do this in the State Park though.  We'll almost certainly run this again next year if it is available and I'll have an even better costume!

mi	Pace (min/mi)	Elevation (ft)
1	13:50	-1
2	13:59	2
3	13:43	-1
4	10:41	-3

Phinley's Holiday 10k Run

On December 1st I ran in the Phinley's Holiday 10k run.  This was my first 10k and it was only 6 days after my first half marathon.  It was also my first evening race, which had me worried.  My legs were not feeling quite as strong as they had been before the half marathon either.  The race was run on the same course I do my training runs on, so I knew the course well and that gave me some confidence though.
There were about 110 runners in the 10k and about 100 in the 5k race, so it was a very small race.  I tried to keep my pace down, but with such a small group it was difficult!  My first mile I jumped out at a 9:08 pace which I knew was too fast for me that evening.  I then worked to back my pace down somewhat to a more reasonable pace for my body's condition.
About halfway through the run I felt like I was hitting the wall, but I took a few seconds to regroup and kept pushing.  I made it through the rest of the course pretty well.  I was trying to complete the run in less than an hour, but just missed it finishing in 1:10:08.

mi	Pace (min/mi)	Elevation (ft)
1	9:08	18
2	9:28	6
3	10:00	-17
4	10:34	17
5	10:28	-5
6	10:27	-12
7	9:42	1

November Recap

November was a busy month, even though my mileage was a little lower than expected.
In November I ran four races.

-Blue Moon 5k
-Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k
-Clearwater Turkey Trot 5k
-Space Coast Half Marathon.

I finally broke 30 minutes on a 5k and also ran my first Half Marathon so it was an eventful month.

November mileage - 71.9 miles