December: 109.9 miles

Nothing left but a week of taper and the Disney Marathon. Let's do this thing.

...and to all a good night.

The kids are in bed and I'm having a glass of wine. Best holiday wishes to you all. Thanks for taking time out of your busy days and lives to read this modest blog or listen to the podcast. I'm thankful for you all.

Now get in bed before Santa gets there!

A great 20

Sunday's 20 went fabulous. This was my last really long run before the marathon on Jan. 11. I now enter the taper, which cannot come a moment too soon. I treated this as a complete dress rehearsal for the marathon, except for getting up at 2:30 AM and wearing my Camelbak. I wore the socks, shoes and shorts that I wear at Disney. The top [can guys say "top" instead of shirt? or am I venturing outside the guy zone?] I plan to wear was covered with outerwear because it was 42 degrees yesterday. All worked out fine.

Let me pause here, men, and tell you about something I discovered about 2 months ago: nipguards. Yes, guys, nipguards. These little beauties look like corn pads your granny might wear but they adhere to that second most sensitive part of a male: the nipples. If you plan a long run of 10 miles or more, you should really think about these things. They don't sweat off like bandaids. They stick to the bitter end [pun intended] and if you don't remove them properly, well, they hurt. But since wearing them I haven't suffered a bit from RNS (Raw Nipple Syndrome). Nipguard people, if you actually read this, I am ready to endorse your product. And tell the geeks at Garmin to send me a forerunner, dang it!

[Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.]

Fueling: For breakfast I had a PBJ sandwich with water. During the run I consumed 3 gels, one power bar of protein, lots of water/Gatorade combo, and 7 Hammer endurolyte capsules. This seems to be a successful set-up for food. I might add a banana before the WDW marathon and perhaps a small cup of coffee, since I'll be waiting around a lot. But this lineup works. I had no energy issues related to under-fueling on this 20.

The first 10 miles felt great. I kept a nice pace of between 12 and 13 min. miles. At mile 12 I refilled my camelbak and ate half of my powerbar, while popping another set of endurolytes.

At mile 15 I started giving myself a walk break of 1 minute each mile. This worked well, as I was able to maintain a sub-12 minute mile for the last 5 miles. I plan to give Jeff Galloway a big kiss on his bald head if I ever see him. (He is the guy who came up with the run-walk stuff, right? I don't want to kiss him for nothing.)

As I finished mile 20, I concluded that in the Disney marathon atmosphere, I could go an extra 6 miles easy. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, and my body questioned my brain for getting it into this stuff, but I had the stamina and fuel that would have allowed me to go farther. This was everything I wanted out of my last 20 miler. I couldn't be happier.

While I ran, I listened to a bunch of podcasts, catching up on Confessions of a Runner by Jodi (http://www.confessionsofarunner.com). I listened to the podcast where she finished her first 20 miler and the enthusiasm and relief and happiness she expressed. I couldn't help but get emotional. Knowing what it feels like to run farther than you ever thought you could, allows me to sympathize with her when she failed on her first attempt and cheer with her when she succeeded on the second. Listening to her joy lead me to visualize crossing the finish line and seeing my family. I almost lost it. Hers is an excellent podcast and I recommend it highly.

I'm trying to get a short podcast out before Christmas, so stay tuned. I am now on twitter (disneyrunner) and plan to tweet during the marathon.

Dress Rehearsal

My last long run before the taper will take place this coming Sunday (Dec 21). I plan to use this run as a full dress rehearsal: from clothes to gels to shoes, from timing to wake-up time to start-time, etc. Weather permitting, I will wear what I plan to wear at Disney (if it is at all possible to predict what the weather will do).

I skipped today's 5 mile run, to give myself 2 days rest, just like I have planned for the marathon. I plan on going shopping for a few hours on Saturday to mimic what I will do at Disney--as I plan to join the family in the Disney Parks for half a day on Saturday then head back to the hotel. I am excited about the next few weeks. The nagging injuries I have suffered over the past few months have disappeared, my shoes are breaking in nice. [By the way, I took the insole from my Beasts and put it in my Mizuno Renegades. Brooks has a superior insole, while the Mizunos feel better on my feet during long runs. The result = nice! Feels much better.]

I'll have a full report after the Sunday run.

I have signed up for a free phone-in line (the number is listed on the right hand column) and plan to call in along the marathon route as a way of recording parts of the race for the podcast. I also can call "twitterphone" to give updates on twitter.

I hope you are all having a great Holiday season. I wish it would snow here in Alabama. Some of my friends in the northwest and northeast, as well as the midwest, have had more snow than they want, I am afraid. Send a few inches my way, if you please.

Does one ever "feel" ready for a marathon?

I am one week away from my taper. I run 20 on this coming Sunday (12/21) and then start the process of resting and recuperating for the race in January. I have these intermittent fits of panic and calm. one day I feel ready, the next I feel panicky. Is it possible for one to actually feel "ready" for a marathon? Or is are we subject to a series of days that alternate between confidence and self-doubt? And why am I nervous about running a distance I have run almost three times in the past? What is wrong with me? A good friend once described our relationship with running as "Love/HATE." Is this true for the rest of you?

By the way I am now on twitter. For those of you desiring to see just how dull I am follow disneyrunner on twitter.

Why I run, Why I love Disney.

I still cry when I see this. 2006 Disney trip.

This is my son, then 3 (now 7) at Disney.

Chief Ladiga Half-Marathon + 5

I was scheduled to run 22 miles this week. But I also wanted to run in a local Half Marathon that runs along my normal Sunday long-run trail. So, after consulting friend and coach, Lisa, I decided to run 3 miles before the race, then run the race, and then do a 3 mile warm down.

The weather was dadgum cold: 27 degrees when i did my warm up. The three miles went smooth, no issues there. I had been feeling a little something in my right achilles during long runs, but I chalked it up to general wear and tear of al the miles. The feeling never stayed with me for more than a few hours and actually appeared late in runs, contrary to what achilles issues often do, which is appear early then disappear as the leg warms up. There has been no swelling, so I am not very concerned about it.

Lisa was, though and our plan was to play it by ear and see how I felt. Since the warm up went fine, I went into the half with confidence. the problem is that this half is a point-to-point race and each year it swaps start and finish lines. This year it started in Piedmont and ended in my hometown of Jacksonville (AL). So after the warm up, I had to check in, then wait for a shuttle bus to take us to the start line, then wait for the race to start, which it did 15 minutes late. So my wan up had cooled down.

The race was fine, if you enjoy ill-equipped water stops, water stops that run out of cups, and water stops that shut own in mid-race. This was a flat race and knowing that I had to run farther after the race, I held back, but it wasn't easy. Since it was so cold, few casual runners showed up for this event. Most of the people were seasoned runners and kids on local High School track teams and the University's track team. So they left me in a hurry!

I got a little water and Gatorade at mile 3, but the water stop at mile 6 had water but no cups! There couldn't have been more than 100 people in the race. How do you run out of cups with a field so small? The water stop at mile 9 was shut down by the time I got there. So I had no water for 10.1 miles! No water, no gels, no energy. I was irate. Here's a tip, if you want to pick up your pace in bad circumstances and feeling the early effects of pre-dehydration, run angry. The only thing that fueled me for 6 miles at the end of the race was my anger at the race organizers.


No water at mile 9. Bummer

I got across the finish line in 2:48, shaving 11 minutes off my old Half-Marathon time. Trouble was this course is not certified and was actually a little long. My watch was off a bit, but a reader of this blog who was in the race had a Garmin and said it ran slightly long. I doubt I'll run this event again. There has to be better organization at water stops. There were a couple of kids behind me and I can only imagine how they felt.

I only mustered about 1.5 miles for the cool down run and called it a day. Ran about 18 miles in all. One more long run of 21 in two weeks, then the taper.

November: 111.1 Miles