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a new run/race/event? what the shit is that? i just keep going back to the same watering hole over and over and over again!
wait, i sound jaded. sorry... moving on.
for spring break, the mm's went down to florida to visit the mm-in-laws. for hte second half of our trip, we went to the house of the mouse, walt disney world, to run the star wars half marathon, as well as the 10k and 5k preceding it. gotta get those extra medals, especially the ones that look like death stars. since minimm is now a 5k runner, who loves all things star wars, we signed him up for the 5k as well.
when we asked minimm about it, i think he joked that we should dress up like storm troopers. i'm not sure whose idea it was, actually. but hte idea was floated about running in some sort of costume. normally, i would hate that. but hey, it's star wars. ultimately, we settled on me running the 5k as han solo - with running-shorts fitted with a correllian blood stripe, mrs.mm dressed as princess leia, and minimm dressed as chewbacca. we'd found a chewie-print running short for him, so he wasn't dressed all in fur for hte heat and humidity normally associated with florida.
minimm had a blast, and did a very good job of maintaining a consistent pace; we had two water stops along the way and also mixed in three short walk breaks. as we started to approach the finish line, with maybe 200m to go, i suggested to minimm that he turn on the jets and run hard to the finish. he complained that he had nothing in the tank. then he looked and saw the finish line, after a few beats realized just how close it was, and took off like a rocket. he crossed the line at about 41:20, and didn't really seem tired. he was very proud of the medal he earned - a nice solid metal one, not rubbery plastic like the disney 5k's of the past - his "first grown-up medal" he called it.
then we walked around the magic kingdom for like 5 miles later that day.
the next morning was earth day. which, as you might recall, was also the march for science. we thought we might as well throw a bone in that direction. and while we didn't dress as star wars characters, we decided to pay homage to two other famous disney-property scientists - dr. bunsen honeydew for mrs.mm, and his faithful assistant, beaker for me. meep meep. let me tell you, that was the last time i shall ever run a race in a lab coat! but no matter, we ran it in 1:15:30 or so, faster than the 5k, but still pretty easy.
then we walked around epcot for like 5 miles later that day.
finally, sunday morning. half marathon day. oh, and also about 70 degrees and humid at the start. at 5:30. yikes. so, considering the weather, our general state of training (not nearly enough nor as focused as it really should be), and the preceding days of running and parking, we figured 2:30 might be a lofty goal. i'm wearing a drath vader-print technical t-shirt, and mrs.mm is a simlarly attired in a stormtrooper technical t-shirt. we ran at what felt like a comfortable pace, stopping for plenty of waters and powerades along the way. as dawn approached, the humidity lifted a smidge, but the temperature hadn't quite risen much, and it felt relatively ok weatherwise. still hot, but not oppressive. we considered our pace at the time, and it projected as a little faster than we'd expected. we decided to let it ride, and get as far and as fast as possible, because it wasn't the mileage or the effort that was going to undo us, but the weather. and once the sun came up, all bets would be off. aside from some bathroom breaks (we were drinking a lot of water just to keep up with our sweat) and a character photo-op, we had settled consistently into the mid-low 10:00 range. as we exited disney's hollywood studios at 11 miles in, we thought briefly, hey, maybe we could get this in at 2:25! it would take a bit of a push, but what the hell, right? fatigue was setting in a bit, but the path from hollywood to epcot runs through the boardwalk hotel area, our favorite spot in the entirety of the rodent's grand universe - a natural energy boost. there was a slight chance that minimm and the µmms would cheer us on, but as it turns out, they were still all in their beds, just barely stirring awake - the lazy bums! so we coast on around the boardwalk, enter into epcot, and then make a turn to go the long way arouind the world showcase. hmm... i was expecting to be a little closer, and to avoid that bridge into paris, but no matter. we hustle our way around the last mile. my phone was running about a half mile long overall - not too bad an error rate - and it claims our mile 13 (approx from mile 11.5-12.5 in the real race) was run at a 9:33 pace. pretty good. it claims that our last 6/10th of a mile (from 12.5 to the finish) came in at about an 8:30 pace. was not expecting that! we finished with a time of approximately 2:26:05. just like a stormtrooper to miss her mark ha! afterwards, we felt surprisingly well. a little tired, of course, but not overly beat up.
then we walked around hollywood studios for like 5 miles.
the next day we flew home, landed around 1:30, got home at 3:30 after stopping off at the doctor's to confirm that µmmR had indeed contracted strep throat for like the billionth time since october, and then at 5:00 i got in the car to pick up a bag of soccer equipment, balls, & uniforms for minimm's soccer team that i will be coaching, and drove 5 hours up to new hampshire for work. a hell of a marathon travel day to follow up the half!
after the race, we both decided that for our next long distance race, we should do a better job of actually training for these things. as much fun as it is being a participant, it much better to feel like an actual competitor. also, my running is so much less efficient a the slower pace, which beats up my feet something fierce.
just need now to figure out what that next race should be....
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