Unknown terrain

RunDisney's Wine and Dine half marathon is coming up soon. Although it holds my worst half marathon record to date, it also holds a few positive milestones:

• My first Disney race: I knew I was hooked because I was actually sad when this half marathon ended. (At the end of other half marathons I've done, I've had to practically crawl across the finish line, wondering how the race could be 'half' of anything).
• My husband's first half marathon: He hates running and didn't think he could do it. He then did the Star Wars Rebel Challenge with me earlier this year, and is signed up to do the Dark Side Challenge with me next year.
• My friend's first half marathon: Her crazy work schedule left her thinking there would be no way she could ever train for a half. She sailed through it, and has run a few half marathons since.

Of course, now that the Wine and Dine half is coming up again in Twitter feeds and appearing in signage all over Disney World, I do feel the need to analyze what went wrong to see if there's anything I can do better for next time. I mostly blamed my lack of training...

...but there were a few other factors that came into play:

• Time of day...er, night: Every race I've done has started at about 7am or 8am (Star Wars Rebel Challenge started at 5:30 am PT - lucky for me, that's 8:30 ET!), but the Wine and Dine didn't start until 10pm. I had already been through a full day and was ready for bed. (Of course, one of the best things about this race is that you get free access to Epcot in the middle of the night after it's over - so the three of us sat on Test Track and got to ride it a few times in a row without having to get back in line on tired feet).
• Hills: Florida isn't known for its hills, but the Disney race routes take you through the parks and also on the highways in between the parks. This means overpasses. Every other half marathon I've run has been generally flat. 
• Music: I left my iPhone behind as I figured there would be so much external stimuli provided by Disney that I wouldn't need my own motivational music. Big mistake - there were a lot of stretches on overpasses and in between parks that didn't offer much in the way of entertainment.

How can I better prepare for April's race? As I mentioned yesterday, one thing that could help would be to get in the habit now of getting my workouts done first thing in the morning rather than in the evenings as I typically do. There aren't too many hills where I live for me to practice on, but I could try bumping up the incline a bit when I'm on the treadmill once I start hitting a pace I like.


The iPhone is an easy solve. Setting it now to get  up bright and early for a pre-work run.




192 days left.



Today's Exercise: Rest day

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
Too much coffee	Chef Salad	N/A	Left over chef salad 1 glass wine 1 glass cider