Operation 2015: A June and July Race Recap

Hey there readers!

Well, aren't I behind. I've run TWO races since we last talked. I'm blaming the grant. I know it seems like I've been blaming the grant for a lot lately, but now, the grant is over (YAY) and I can't blame anything on it anymore. Now I just get to blame things on my dissertation (see what I did there?)

So, in June, I ran the Jalapeno Half. It was the second race of the Four Seasons Challenge. You may remember that the first race, which I had run only a week earlier, went pretty terribly, so I was apprehensive about this. Plus, I'd never run two halves in back to back weeks. The good thing, though, was that I didn't really run the first one...

I drove up on Father's Day morning and someone was watching over me, because there were quite a few clouds. The venue was nice and I was feeling good. And my feelings turned out okay. It wasn't a PR or anything, but it was a much more respectable time than the week before. I had learned a lot from that race and wasn't afraid to make sure I kept my water bottle full at the water stations and take a second cup of water to dump on my head to stay cold. And that definitely helped.

This weekend, I completed my July race. It was a new distance, 15K, but for July in Texas, it was just the right distance. I'd never run a race with this production company, but I'm already registered for another race with them and am considering a third. I was not disappointed. It was a hot one to be sure, but this company were amply prepared to keep the runners cool with water, ice, cold towels and sprinklers. I never felt like I was going to fail. It was slow, to be sure, but it was hot. I ran in the shade and walked in the sun to keep from pushing too hard.

I'm still a little worried about a half in Texas in August, but I know that this production company will do everything they can to keep us safe and cool.

I'm working on getting back into my regular running routine. Here's hoping I can do it!

Operation 2015: A May Race in June and the kindness of strangers.

Well, it's been a while. Mostly because my May race for Operation 2015 happened last night. Yes, I know it's June. Yes I know I said one race per month. But I can't control the weather and my May race was unfortunately postponed due to flooding in Texas. And I made the call that an "Act of God" meant that my May race in June still counted.

Last night was my first ever night race. And it will more than likely be my last*.

To say it didn't go well would be an understatement. 15 minutes prior to start, it started pouring rain. Luckily, it was a passing cloud and the race officials just delayed the start a bit. However, it made the humidity a little terrible. Okay, a lot terrible.

Now, I've been doing better about running regularly since the last time I wrote on here. But, my long runs have been lacking due to time, heat, and feeling sick. So I knew making it 13.1 would be a challenge. But I didn't count on the challenge it actually turned out to be.

After mile 1, the humidity was too much. I had to stop running. I wanted to quit. I wanted to quit so so so so badly. But I couldn't. Because this race was for Sarah.

Now, some of you may remember me talking about Sarah in my March recap. And those of you who know me may have known Sarah too. Long story short, I had a friend named Sarah who got sick earlier this year and died last Monday. She was 25, too young, and the funeral was yesterday. I couldn't make it to Virginia for it, so instead I ran for her.

But after the first mile, I wanted to quit. But I couldn't because I was running for Sarah. So I kept one foot in front of the other and found a group of walkers to hang with. Eventually, their pace was even too much for me and I lost them. For a while I was alone and it was dark and creepy and I wasn't enjoying myself AT ALL.

And that's when I was passed by Emily. I caught up to her and I asked her if she was walking and she said yes. And I asked if she wanted company. And thankfully, she said yes. And she and I kept each other going for the next 7 miles (or more). She was the only reason I finished. Someone made sure we found each other to get each other through.

I like to think that someone was Sarah.

I finished. It was ugly, it was near the time limit, and I was second to last. But I finished without cutting any corners or giving up. And that's what counts right?

I may never night race again*, or at least not in Texas in June. Definitely not a good idea. This week I have to recover as much as possible and get my legs ready for my June race, which is next Sunday. Not ideal, but we'll make it work.

Run on.




*The only exception to me saying this will be if I ever find myself able to run the Wine & Dine at Walt Disney World. I would make that work. 

Operation 2015: When you just want to run away

Hi friends,

It's been a while since I wrote anything on here. I am still on my journey for Operation 2015, but lately, training has been getting harder and harder to find time for in my schedule.

So the last time we talked, I had PR'd my March race.

Well, while I completed my April race, it was a complete disaster. I wound up walking most of it because I have had sporatic training, at best, since Disney. But I finished, so there was that.

This month was supposed to be a 19.3 mile May, but I intentionally skipped a 10K last weekend because when I woke up on race day I didn't feel ready (amongst other things). But I have a half at the end of the month I can't skip. I'm already nervous about it because it's a night race, which is new territory for me, but to think that I'm also going back to being under trained is terrifying.

So what happened? Well, to be honest, I think it was the combination of several things. The first is that Princess Weekend was what I started running to accomplish. It was the BIG GOAL. And now I have no BIG GOAL. I mean, yes, I have races for the rest of the year I'm registered for, but they're not as exciting or BIG as Princess was. And another Disney race just isn't in the cards right now.

The second is that from the moment I got back from Orlando (and I mean the moment...I was fielding phone calls in the airport), all heck has broken loose at school. My labmates tried to run samples while I was gone and they did it wrong, which made the bosses mad. Then when I helped them straighten everything out, we accidentally contaminated the samples. Which made the bosses mad. Then I went back to my project and all my samples were contaminated in a different way. Which made the bosses mad. That happened the FIRST weekend in March. And since then, I've been trying to find the source of this contamination and get rid of it.

And it. Has. Been. TERRIBLE.

When I've needed the run the most, I haven't been able to take it, because grad school guilt is a very real thing and how can I take an hour to go for a run when I could spend that hour in the lab trying to make this better and make my deadlines.

Which has proven a terrible decision. Because not only is the run important for all these financial commitments I've made, it has proven important to my sanity. The stress of everything I've been dealing with has been almost more than I could bear with no outlet for this frustration in my science. I've wanted to run away for the past few days.

So now I'm trying to get back in it. I've gotten a weekday running buddy again, so hopefully the accountability will be helpful. I also have started a reward system for my training runs. I collect Disney Tsums and completing a certain number of runs every month lets me buy the ones I want from the new monthly collection the following month. I've also started using the Nike app to challenge my friends to a monthly mileage goal. Hopefully at least one of these things helps.


13.1 mile May is going to happen. Then we have another 13.1 mile June. And in July, a 15K and a new kind of training I'll talk about later. Just know I'm going to hopefully push myself a little further to meet a new goal I've made for myself.

Until then, keep running. I know I'm going to try to.

Star Wars Teaser Trailer #2 Analysis (Because I'm a Geek!)

Hey there Geeks! Are you geeking out over the new Star Wars trailer as much as I am? I hope so. After the first teaser trailer came out, I was hesitant to let myself get too excited, but this one…I couldn’t convince myself to not get excited. So let’s look at this thing shot by shot so that maybe you can understand why my geek meter is spiking at off the chart levels, shall we?

Maybe it was the atmosphere in which it was introduced…presented in the context of all the new info we got at the Force Awakens panel, but something about this was amped up. So we open on a desert planet we learned is not Tatooine. It is Jakuu (I may be misspelling that).

 And as the camera pans across the desert we see a downed X-wing, which I admittedly missed first time watching.

But behind that X-wing there is a downed Star Destroyer. Which begins to make me wonder what this universe is like 30 years post-fall of the Empire. There was an interesting question to JJ Abrams during the panel about what the world was going to be like. What the mix between the shiny world pre-Empire we saw in the prequel trilogy and the dusty dirty Rebellion world we saw in the original trilogy. The rubble still there 30 years later suggests to me that things may not be better.

Luke is doing voice over at this point (at least we assume it’s Luke…I think it does sound an awful lot like Mark Hamill) talking about how “the Force runs strong” in his family. His father has it. 

Now I think this is a very interesting choice of words. I don’t know what they mean. But he says has. Not Had. Has. Perhaps they were just trying to stay with the original wording of this line (Luke says the exact same thing to Leia in Return of the Jedi when he reveals that they are brother and sister). But I don’t think JJ Abrams does anything on accident. I believe that Anakin is dead. But it is still odd to me that Luke would say has, not had, when he father has been dead for 30 years and he burned his remains. (Unless of course they’re taking from the Hand of Thrawn books and have cloned him…wouldn’t that be something).

 “I have it.” Luke continues and we are met with a shot of a hooded figure we assume is Luke based on the robot hand, which looks like it’s a little worse for the wear, missing the flesh covering it had in Return of the Jedi and looking more like the mechanical arm Anakin received at the end of Attack of the Clones. But the presence of R2-D2 makes me believe that this is Luke. At first watch, they want you to believe that this is a volcanic planet, but I actually think it’s more of a campfire. Either Luke is living on Jakuu or he has returned to Tatooine and is living the life Old Ben used to live.

”My Sister has it. You have that power too.” Luke continues and this is one of the most interesting shots in the trailer for me. Because they want you to believe this is Leia. But unless this is a flashback…the hands on the right are not old enough to be Carrie Fisher’s hands. But I do believe the hands on the left to be Daisy Ridley, whose character Rey we learned during the panel is an independent woman who is a scavenger on Jakuu. I’m still holding out hope that she is also a Skywalker (well, Leia’s daughter). She looks enough like Natalie Portman that I will be terribly disappointed if she isn’t.

Next shot. We are treated to some footage of the new X-wings and Poe Dameron as pilot. It was said in the panel that a certain princess has sent him on a mission. I suppose it is possible he is the Skywalker child. But given the backstory we had on Daisy Ridley’s character, she just seems the more likely candidate in this typical story.

Again we see the world’s most ridiculous lightsabre design.

 And then Rey and Finn are running away from something exploding. I think this actually comes after a later shot in the trailer. In the panel they said that Rey meeting Finn on Jakuu is what kind of kickstarts her story.

Also, I couldn’t help but think of another Star Wars outfit when I saw this full shot of Rey’s costume:

I still say this is Adam Driver’s character. Because the only other cast members are ladies. And it doesn’t look like a lady’s body to me. Maybe I’m wrong. I wouldn’t mind being wrong (GIRL POWER).

This is an interesting shot I didn’t notice in detail when I was first watching. This appears to be the Empire. I mean, I know it’s the Empire, storm troopers, but look at the stage. There are still ranks amongst the Empire. The Empire isn’t dead. But I also don’t think the Empire is necessarily beaten down. And are they based on Hoth?

Tell me she doesn’t resemble Natalie Portman. Do it. I dare you.

The shots before this one are actually pretty interesting. It appears that TIE fighters are firing on other TIE fighters. And right before Finn removed his helmet, there was a bloody handprint on it. If I had to hazard a guess, Finn is about to defect. Wind up on Jakuu. Meet Rey. Set things in motion.

Yeah the Empire isn’t dead.

 Now is this the same baddie we saw before with a ridiculous lightsabre? Or do we have more than one?

BB-8!!!! I want one.

 This is the scene I was referring to earlier. I think Finn takes Rey’s hand and then they run away from explosions.

The Millennium Falcon is alive and well and flying through the bowels of another crash landed ship?

Hey there boys. Yeah you’re home.

So what did you think? What am I wrong on? Watch it yourself and Sound off in the comments below!

Operation 2015: Like Running in the Rain (or A PR, a Dedication, and a 13.1 mile March)

Good morning readers!

Well, I'm another month closer to completing Operation 2015!!!

In case you missed them, in January I did a 16.2 mile race weekend running a 5K Saturday and then a half marathon on Sunday. It was my first ever 5K (so automatic PR) and a new PR for my half.

In February , I ran all three races in the runDisney Princess Half Marathon weekend for a total of 22.4 miles. It was my first ever Disney event, but will not be my last.

Now, for March, I ran a half marathon yesterday.

Flat Addie

I had so much fun running in the really simple sparkly skirts that I made for Disney and they had little to no impact on my performance, so I've decided to take some of the RawThreads tees I've purchased in the past couple of months and pair them with skirts for all my races for Operation 2015. This race, I chose to be Mulan, mostly because of the "Warrior" shirt. I needed the strength of a warrior since I had been sporadically training since Disney and because I was dedicating this run to a friend who is very sick. She is a warrior.

This was another race with firsts for me, as it was the first time I had run in the rain, really. I usually don't train if the conditions aren't ideal as far as weather goes, which is probably a mistake, but this race was to start and occur in the rain.

But despite the rain, we were off before we knew it (almost literally, the gun went off with little to no warning from the race officials. It was very disconcerting, but I tried not to let it affect my game. I made it out of the start and was actually moving at a fairly good pace for me for the first few miles.

My book group ladies braved the rain to cheer me on, first at mile 4. It was still raining then, but I was determined to keep going...just being mindful of slick spots and puddles.

I'm in red behind the full gear Army guys...if they could do it, so could I, I said!

Around mile 5, the hills kicked in. No matter how many local races I run, I never am ready for the hills. Hopefully some crosstraining in the next few months will give me the strength to be able to tackle them a little more capably. To give you an idea of the hills I was contending with, once again, my phone said I had climbed 10 flights of stairs at the end of the race!

I saw my book club ladies again at mile 9. Unlike races past, I could still see people in front of and behind me, which was comforting. It helped me know I was still following the right path and that I wasn't going to be swept. As I approached mile 10, I reached familiar paths and I knew the finish line was only a 5K away. I was going to finish. For myself and for Sarah.

And there I am coming down the bridge and across the finish line. At the crest of that hill, I stopped walking and started running (I'd been walking exclusively since between  miles 10-11). I looked at Sarah's picture on my bib and I told her this was for her and I ran toward the finish and the clock that was showing 2 minutes less than my PR. "I have to make it there before it hits 3:19" I told myself. I needed that PR. 

And I did. I finished. I dedicated it to Sarah. And I ran a new PR.

Operation 2015 will bring a 10-miler in April. Hopefully with some consistent running and cross-training, it will be a great race!

How Addie Got Her Groove Back (We're Hoping)

So, following the PHM weekend, I didn't really run. My normal run days are Tues/Thurs/Sat (or Sun), and Tuesday of that following week, I was traveling and Thursday and Saturday/Sunday, I was trying to control the fires that had been started in my absence. (Figurative fires, not literal ones). And well, all of that served to be the old man from The Emporer's New Groove (with me as Kuzco).

Unfortunately, I couldn't throw my work out the window. Much as I REEEEEALLY wanted to. So the following week, Tuesday I was still working through work fires and then that Thursday, it had iced overnight and, even though school was delayed for three hours, I still had to get to school for a meeting and wound up slipping and falling on my way to school. And I landed on my knee. I could barely walk, let alone run and it caused me to defer one of my two March races. It was disappointing because even though I hadn't run, I wanted to run it. I was hoping it would give me my groove back. And get me back to running. 

But it turned out to be for the best, because I would have driven 2 hours away to run in a cold rain for 3 hours. I probably would have caught pneumonia. Not that I'm happy I banged up my knee trying to get to work in ice, but it may have been for the best. Except now I'm registered for a race a year from now, and having plans that far out in advance is very difficult right now. Especially since this time next year, I'm hoping to defend and be job searching and trying to graduate. 

So I didn't run The Color Half, I deferred the start of the Four Seasons Challenge, and I didn't run the following Tuesday as my knee was still a little sore. But then last Friday, I finally went out and hit the pavement. And while my knee felt fine, my breathing could not get under control. I could barely maintain my 3:1 run/walk intervals. So I think I've lost some speed. 

Sunday, I was going to go again. But when I woke up Sunday morning, my body just didn't want to put in the 4 miles. So I stayed home instead. And I began to worry a little bit, because I'm registered for another half this coming weekend. I talked to my online princesses and found that a lot of us are feeling the same way after running Disney, one of the women even likening to Olympic athletes who get depressed after the Olympics because they train so hard for so long for what is a small amount of time in the grand scheme of things. And I really think that might be part of it. 

Even though I'm registered for a plethora of other races, as part of Operation 2015, I began running specifically for Operation Sparkle. And now that it's over and done, part of me is over and done. I've decided to listen to my body though. I know that with school/work, I can quickly get burnt out, so getting burnt out with running is not something I want to have happen. 

Instead of looking back at the runs I've missed since Disney, I'm focusing on the runs I have ahead of me. I want to run Tuesday and Thursday in preparation for Saturday. And I've decided to have some fun with all of my races this year, and "RunDisney-bound", as I'm calling it. 

I got some RawThreads shirts in mystery packs this month and last month, and I've decided to run in them for my races this year and make little coordinating skirts to go with them. Nothing nearly as fancy as the costumes from PHM weekend, but still cute. The skirts were so easy to run in and so lightweight and fun, I figured I might as well feel fabulous as I run. 

So now, I'm just looking forward to this weekend (and weather watching like hawk, hoping the rain forecast for Friday and Saturday changes). And hopefully, it will give me my groove back. 

Operation Sparkle Recap: The Princess Half Marathon!

Sunday morning had come and once again 3 am came way too early, despite the fact that we'd gone to bed reasonably early. Once again, laying out our clothes the night before helped out immensely. We headed out to wait for a bus, which was a first, because the buses had usually been there waiting. But on this day, the buses had started running earlier and we had decided that a little extra sleep would be better than waiting at the start line. But it wasn't bad to wait for the bus because it was finally warm-ish!!

We got to Epcot and we didn't really wait around like we had in mornings past. I started to make my way to the corrals, which were in a different location than they had been for the 5K and 10K (about a mile or so walk), and Mom made her way to the monorail (I'm going to do a whole separate blog on the spectating).

I sat on the ground for a while, in an effort to save my legs, heard the Paris announcement that I figured was coming sooner or later based on the leaked promo pics they shot a few months back, and before I knew it, the race was starting for the upper corrals and my corral was moving up, up, up, until it was my turn!

 I was making pretty good time from the start to mile 1 to mile 2 and the sun was slowly rising. We cheered the wheelchair runner and the woman who won as they passed us by on the other side of the road, and then I could see it...my first magical site of the day.

Don't under estimate the magic of a Disney race or the emotion that comes upon seeing this sign. It's one thing to drive through it on your way to a magical day in the Magic Kingdom, but I can now tell you from experience, it's another experience entirely to run through it, surrounded by your fellow princesses with the Monorail driving by and honking "hello" at you. It made all the costs incurred worth it.

I continued on my way and soon I was greeted with more familiar sites, like the Contemporary and a pretty famous mountain.

 We didn't go through the front gates of Magic Kingdom, so while I knew I was tantalizingly close to being in the Magic Kingdom, I wasn't quite sure where I was. And then we were kind of funneled through a barricade and then there it was...MAIN STREET USA.

The emotion was overwhelming. And it was compounded by the sheer number of people there cheering you on. I've run a couple halfs now, and there are parts of the course where I am all alone with nothing but my thoughts, hoping I've followed the right chalk line on the road and I'm not lost. Disney was a COMPLETELY different experience. There was never a place where I was alone and there was rarely a part of the course where there wasn't someone clapping and cheering and telling me and my fellow princesses that we could keep going. That we had this. I found Mom up near the castle, where, with the help of my friend Hannah, we'd worked out she would be, and I waved "hi!" as I made the turn into Tomorrowland.

 I made my first stop of the race in Tomorrowland because these were the first real bathrooms since I'd left my hotel that morning. The line was a little long, but it was worth it to not use a Port-o-Potty. I wound around past the Teacups and the Carousel and the rather new Princess Fairytale Hall. And around the back of the castle was Anna, Elsa and Kristoff...AGAIN! Man those guys are EVERYWHERE!! And then it was time to do the thing that I had wanted to do since I first signed up for this race...RUN. THROUGH. THE. CASTLE.

 And more importantly, ALL MY PICTURES OF ME DOING IT CAME OUT. Oh my gosh, running through the castle was everything I'd built it up to be in my head and more. I saw Mom again, which was great, and then it was off through Frontierland and out the back, which was a pretty cool experience, because Parade floats behind the scenes!

 I made it out of the Magic Kingdom, told it I'd see it real soon, because we were heading there that day, and then began my run by the Grand Floridian and Golf Courses. I made my second to last picture stop because there was a very short line, and who can say no to Mary...

And then it was just a matter of mind over matter. I was pretty proud of myself this half. Even though it wasn't a PR for me, it was the furthest I've ever gotten without having to just walk the entire time. I made it to mile 10 or 11 before I had to just start walking. And that was nice.

 Between mile 10 and 11, I saw one of my favorite race signs ever and stopped really quick for a picture and then it was back to it. I was texting Mom at this point, who had made it back to Epcot, and she was encouraging me to keep one foot in front of the other because I was going to finish.

And soon I was back in Epcot and there was Spaceship Earth! I was going to finish. And before I knew it, I was passing the fabled Gospel Choir at the finish, and there was the sign for mile 13, and it was time for the longest 0.1 mile of the whole half.

I pushed through the pain in my feet to do what I always have to do during halfs: As soon as I can see the finish, I start running again. I always have to finish running. And this was no exception. I searched for mom in the crowd, didn't find her (because she wasn't there, she was past the finish line) and then lifted my arms high, because I had done it! I had finished 22.4 miles in 3 days.

 Then it was back on the bus for a shower and a rest, and off to the Magic Kingdom!

 We dealt with some return trip drama (my flight had been cancelled and I had to stay an extra day), but we didn't let it diminish the fun! Disney was very accomodating about the whole thing. And I got to meet Gaston, Belle, Anna and Elsa, got to ride Mine Train, and then we scoped a spot for the nighttime festivities.

 The Electrical Parade, Celebrate the Magic and Wishes didn't disappoint as always.

 We then went to Be Our Guest for dessert, which was a reservation I had been lucky enough to score and was very excited for, since it's the only way to meet the Beast in Disney World now. I tried the Grey Stuff...it was delicious, and I didn't even have to ask the dishes their opinion.

 And thus ended our half marathon day. We headed back to the resort to go to bed...and not wake up at 3 am!!!

to be continued...