Thursday, April 27, 2017

Episode 3: Return of the Blog

I'm a glutton for punishment.

Disney Half Marathon Run


Running and I are still not friends. But the Princess Half Marathon is on my bucket list, and next year is the 10th anniversary of the race, which means it's going to be a pretty big deal. It's also the 5th anniversary of the Fairy Tale Challenge. I can never sign up for just one race knowing doing two in a row gets you an awesome third medal.

I'm still mad at Running, though. Waiting for my apology. You've got a little time to think it over, Running, because the race isn't until next February. But you should know that this means I'm going to do whatever is in my power to also register for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon at Disneyland next May so that I can get the pink Coast to Coast challenge medal. So... you better start kissing up to me real fast.

Not a lot has happened since I shut down in January. My new project didn't take off the way I had hoped it might, although I did win a short story contest last week which gave me renewed hope in my writing ability. There's skill there when I really want there to be. But I have no expectation of Running this half marathon in under two hours. I've been sick for most of the month of April. Not like confined-to-bed sick, just lousy enough that it ruins any motivation I have to workout. Once my current cold clears up, I will still train as if I am aiming for sub-two, but there's a decent shot I'll be Running the Princess Half with a few friends of varied ability. I'll know more on Tuesday when general registration opens for the race.

Oh, I got to register early because I have a Walt Disney World Annual Pass. /bragging. But man, the process was super stressful today. The Annual Passholder site wasn't linking correctly to the registration page. And there is only a limited number of early registration slots, so when it didn't work, I got really agitated and immediately called runDisney. They tried to walk me through different options for 45 minutes (clear cookies, try typing in this URL, are you SURE you logged into your MyDisneyExperience account, etc.). I tried it on three different computers - my work laptop, my personal laptop, and my husband's laptop - to no avail. Finally, the customer service associate was informed that the link was broken (thank you, Captain Obvious), and asked me to try to register again in 30 minutes.

A brief moment of clarity came over me when I hung up the phone and I remembered I had bookmarked the early registration website after I had registered for the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge last year. My bookmark worked! Registration complete. Thank goodness, because as of 2 hours after registration opened, the Passholder website still wasn't updated, and the early registration slots for the Fairy Tale Challenge appeared to be sold out. After perusing the runDisney Facebook page, I saw the rumor that the early registration sites were up for Disneyland Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members, which is quite the scandal for Disney if this is true. Disney's gain from blocking out WDW Passholders: Disneyland Passholders will have to spend more money for park tickets and hotels, and DVC members have already promised their first borns to Disney to pay for their membership. And it's not like anybody at the call center was telling callers what the actual registration link was - they were just redirecting us back to the site with the broken link. Whether this was intentional or not, a lot of WDW Passholders were left out of registration, and are really unhappy. I would hope they'd offer another shot to their most loyal customers, but more than likely, they'll have to register on Tuesday with everyone else. And it's going to be tough... this is Disney's most popular race, and to be the 10th anniversary makes it even a bigger draw!

But I've got my spot and I'm committed. So it's time to change the rules to ensure I've got a better shot at improving - no more backsliding. After all, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results = insanity. Here are my new rules:

  • I eat what I want. (Granted, what I usually want has changed very recently.)
  • I exercise how I want. (This includes walking, jogging, speedwork, crossfit, and spin class.)
  • I write when I want. (No more compulsive daily posts.)  

Sound good? Good.

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