50 States Challenge: Year 3 Recap

Since we just passed my half birthday, I figured it was a good time to get my recap for Year 3 of my 50 States Challenge. Better late, then never, right?!?

Year 3 was a good year for the challenge - I got 5 states completed! Those 5 states were:

- North Carolina: Rock n Roll Raleigh
- Wisconsin: Madison Half Marathon
- Washington: Rock n Roll Seattle
- Maine: Shipyard Old Port Half Marathon
- Oklahoma: Route 66 Marathon

These 5 states put me at a total of 24 states - so close to being half way there (47%)!

In 2016, I won't be able to complete as many states. I knew I'd be having surgery at some point during the spring and I didn't know what the recovery time would be. I didn't want to register for too much until I knew how long recovery would be.

I am currently registered for 2 states and I have a 3rd I am planning on. The two I am registered for are:

- Michigan: Detroit Half Marathon
- Nevada: Rock n Roll Las Vegas

I am also planning on doing the Rehoboth Beach Half Marathon in December, which will check Delaware off the list.

I am already starting to think about 2017 states, I'm hoping to get 5 done again in 2017.

I've updated my completion map as well. Still a lot of blue on that map (orange means I've done the state).

As I think about 2017 races, any race you'd recommend? A great race in your state that I shouldn't miss? Let me know in the comments!

runDisney Star Wars Dark Side Course Changes

This past spring I ran the Inaugural Star Wars Dark Side Challenge (10K + Half).

My race recaps are still coming, but as I said in my post from April, there were definitely some things that needed to be improved - number 1 being transportation after the race. Getting to the race was easy - it was Epcot so same as usual. But after, getting out of ESPN World Wide of Sports was another story... The area for buses was so small, only a few buses could load at a time. I didn't have issues after the 10K, but after the half I waited close to 1.5 hours to get on a bus to my resort. It was hot and humid, and just not ideal. In addition to the small loading area, the buses kept getting stuck in the mud (they were basically on a muddy field). Not good all around. We actually spoke briefly (as we were waiting at the front of the line to board) to the director of transportation for the event and he was super annoyed at the whole situation. He told us that when they shared the course with him, he said this (the bus situation) was going to be a problem, but they assured him it would be fine. Guess who was right?

Also, because WWOS is in a different county, they couldn't sell beer in the post race area like they do at Epcot (county regulations prohibit selling alcohol before 11a or noon). I personally always like to have a beer while hanging out after the races (and I think other people do too, as I heard lots of people complaining). This might not have bothered some people, but it definitely changes the post race atmosphere. Plus I have to image they loss some money from not having beer sales.

Even with the issues, I am doing the Challenge again in 2017. And my sister-in-law wants to do the half (her first!). I'm so excited for her and it should be a good time! I personally didn't notice this on the runDisney website, but some eagle eyed folks on some of the Facebook groups I'm in did: they've changed the start/end dates for both course. I repeat, they learned from their mistakes and changed the courses.

Both races now list the start as Floridian Way and the finish at Epcot (yay for post race beer!). We don't have official course maps yet, but Floridian Way is near the monorail resorts outside the Magic Kingdom.

For the 10K, I am guessing it will be similar to either the second half of the WDW/Princess Half courses or a modified version of part of the marathon course? Should be interesting to see.

For the half, I am wondering if they are using the original Princess half course. When they first announced Princess and the course, it started outside of the Magic Kingdom and ran towards Hollywood Studios, finishing at Epcot. It did not go through MK or the Castle. People freaked out. I mean, I understand not wanting to repeat the same course, but I also want the Princess race to go through the castle. So they changed it to be the same as the WDW Half in January. My guess for this, is they are finally going to use that course.

I'm excited that they learned from the problems this year and are making changes.

Anyone else planning on running Star Wars Dark Side this year? What to you think of the changes?

2 on Tuesday

It's my favorite time of every two years - the Olympics! I've talked about it a little before, but I love the Olympics. I grew up loving the Olympics and still do. Going to the Athens games was (without a doubt) some of the best weeks of my life. Yes, there are some issues with the system (athlete pay/support, issues with sponsors/non-sponsors), but I still love watching them and supporting the athletes. Oiselle has 3 athletes going to the games, including the awesome Kate Grace who won the 800M at the trials. So excited to cheer for everyone starting on Friday!

This weekend, I got to go to one of my favorite New York things - Shakespeare in the Park. I say one of my favorite things, except 11 years in NYC and this is only my third time going. In case you don't know what it is, it's a summer program The Public Theater puts on at an outdoor stage in Central Park. It's almost always Shakespeare, although occasionally they do non-Shakespeare (Hair made it's debut here years ago before moving to Broadway). Tickets are free and distributed day of to people who wait in line (from about 7am until noon when they give out the tickets).

Luckily, a vendor we work with is a sponsor and they have some tickets to distribute. So I got to go this past Saturday. The show was Troilus and Cressida. I had honestly never heard of it before, but it was so good. We brought some wine (you can bring in alcohol as long as its not in glass) and snacks and settled in to watch it. In the rain. Did I mention it was raining? It started light, but got so heavy they had to take a 20 minute break. But they came back and finished the show. And it really was so good. The staging was modern (modern clothing and furniture), but even in Shakespearean language, it still made sense. This also might qualify as one of the few times I have ever been to a show where the actors applauded the audience for sticking around in the rain.

Training recap week of 7/25

Oh, another 4 weeks without a post. Ugh, sorry. It's much harder then I expected it to be to get back into a regular swing. I really am trying, I promise.

I've been running regularly-ish. I have races I am working towards (see below), but since I'm not following a specific schedule, I am kinda just running on how I feel (the scheduled runs I list below are based on what I wanted to run that day). I am fully healed and running, but I'm trying to be kind to my body.

I have to admit, it's taking longer then I would have expected for my fitness to come back. I want to be back to were I was pre-surgery, but I am not yet. Like I said, I am trying to be kind to my body. I don't want to push too soon and risk an injury. It's hard though, I want to be doing more. Even so, this was my highest mileage week post surgery!

Also, as I mentioned, I do have some races coming up. I used to list whichever race I was currently training for and the current training week in the title of each training recap. Moving forward, I am just going to include the next 3 races on my schedule.

Currently training for:

• Disneyland Half Marathon
• Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon
• Detroit Half Marathon

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 4 miles
Actual: 4.02 mi, 41:09, 10:14 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Thursday 
Scheduled: 4 miles
Actual: 4.34 mi, 42:32, 9:47 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 9-10 mile long run
Actual: 9.01 mi, 1:31:15, 10:08 pace

I really wanted to do 10 this week (my previous long run was 8), but it was ungodly hot out and I stopped at 9. Like I said, trying to be kind to my body and not overdue. 9 is still my longest run post surgery, so I am good with that!

Sunday
Scheduled: 3 miles
Actual: 3.25 mi, 33:41, 10:22 pace

Total Miles: 20.62
Total July Miles: 78.28
Miles to Goal (1,000): 561.65