Training Tuesday...Porta Potties

This would be considered a taboo subject by most people.   When you are a runner, bathroom stops can be very important, especially if you are on a long run, or away from your home.  I recently went back to the track after a long hiatus of running my speed workouts on a treadmill.

4 months since my last visit

As it turns out, I hydrated a bit too much while Tom was still in bed and paid for it once I got into my training session at the track.  After a good warm up and then two sets of 800 meters with 90 second breaks I knew I could not make it through the whole set without stopping for a bathroom break.  At this university track near me, there are four little gems, aka porta potties right at the entrance to the field area. I have avoided these each and every time I have worked out here....until now!

Scary

First, I  debated going into the wooded area that surrounds one side of the track, but realized there could be poison ivy, snakes or worse. Now I had to make the inevitable walk to the the porta potties and get it over with!  I held my nose and opened the door preparing for the worst.  The unit was clean and even had a good supply of hand sanitizer and toilet paper.  Score!  I did what I needed to do and quickly got back to my sprints.  Are you ever surprised by things during a run? Have you ever been stuck using a bathroom or porta potties in an unlikely place?

(Pam)

Weekly Roundup: May 19th

We had a good week.  We finally started getting some warmer and sunny weather in VA which was a great pick me up.  It's been a cold and rainy spring and I have been desperate for some better weather.  I've been battling some knee pain, that I believe is the result of a pretty painful bruise on my left knee, just below the knee cap.  I've started using KT Tape to help with my IT band trouble as well as knee issues and have had pretty good luck.  I'm going to rework the knee taping, but IT band seems to be doing just fine.  With two races on the horizon (a 10k next weekend and a half the following weekend), I need to focus on staying healthy and relatively pain free.

And now for our workouts this week...

Sunday, May 12
Pam:  Track speed work, 3x800, 3x400 total 4.75 miles
Christine: 9.9 mi

Monday, May 13
Pam:  Sculpt class, 35 minutes stationary bike, TRX class
Christine:  Boot camp

Tuesday, May 14
Pam:  Ran 3.5 miles 31 minutes, walked/carried 9 holes golf
Christine: 25 min stationary bike, 30 min elliptical, leg weights, abs

Wednesday, May 15
Pam: 30 minutes stationary bike, walked/carried 9 holes golf
Christine: Rest

Thursday, May 16
Pam: 6.1 miles, stretching, rolling
Christine: Speed work - 1 mi warm up, 2x1600 (90 RI), 1x800 (90 RI), 1 mi cool down (4.3 mi total)

Friday, May 17
Pam:  Rest
Christine: Rest

Saturday, May 18
Pam:  2 3/4 mile run, walked 4 miles
Christine: 12.4 mi

How was your week?  Are you ready for summer?
{Christine}

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Super Minnie!

That's right, I am dressing up as Super Minnie for the Superhero 5k race in London, England on May 19th at Regents Park.  Because this is a superhero run and costumes are provided, I decided it would be more fun to bring my own and dress as my favorite mouse!

Minnie can be a super hero too, especially with a fancy cape with her own logo.  So without further ado, I present my costume/racing outfit for my first international race!

Brooks Ravennas spray painted and bows added!

Back of cape

Minnie is running for the charity Health Prom

Sparkle Skirt and accessories

So what do you think?  Ever thought about tailoring a Disney character to suit a race theme?

(Pam)

Five Favorite Things Friday, London Edition!

We arrived in London this morning and since we have visited many times due to a job assignment in England, I thought it would be fun to share a list of favorite things. Since this is a running blog, mainly about Disney, I also wanted to mention that on Sunday morning I will be running a race in Regents Park dressed up as a Disney superhero.  Stay tuned for a full recap and photos!

London at sunset with Big Ben and Westminster Abbey in the distance!

1.  The Tower of London...This is one of the best historic sights to see in the city. It is.a mysterious place that includes not only the Crown Jewels, but also the place where two young princes mysteriously died.  The ravens are another interesting facet of the place, all in all a great spot to tour and enjoy.

2.  Harrod's Department Store  You do not need to shop here to enjoy your visit.  Harrod's has many floors of delightful things to peruse and many restaurants where you can enjoy either a cup of tea and scones, or lunch, or champagne or chocolate......you get the picture.  My favorite place to peruse is the pet department.  I will be visiting there to find a little toy to bring home to Lulu!  Christine is a huge fan of Paris, so her gift will be coming from a special shop on the Champs Elysee!

3.  Wimbledon  This blog may be about running, but I am also a huge tennis fan.  Back in the early 1990's, I played alot of competitive tennis while living in Texas.  While tennis is not part of my exercise routine at the moment, there is nothing better than visiting Wimbledon and seeing a match or two.

Brits dress up for tennis!

4.  Buckingham Palace   The shiny golden gates and beefeaters who guard the palace give this place such a regal air.  It is always fun to see the changing of the guard and if you go during summer hours, you can get tickets for a tour of the building (be aware though, only certain parts are open to the public)

Typical gray skies in the background!

5.  Babylon  There are roof top gardens on Kensington High Street at a place called Babylon.  This is an amazing restaurant that has fabulous views and a wonderful atmosphere for a special meal.  We will be dining here for a late lunch after my race on Sunday!

Have you been to London?  What is your favorite thing to do or see?
(Pam)

Girls on the Run Spring 5k Recap

A few months ago a colleague asked if I would be interested in being a running buddy for the spring Girls on the Run South Hampton Roads 5k.  I immediately told her I was in.  I had participated in the fall race and had a blast with the girls and vowed that I would be back.  My colleague asked that I come out to the school for a practice before the race to meet my buddy, H.  So last Friday I was able to get out there when the girls ran their practice 5k.  I learned that H is one of the fastest girls in the school, clocking a 7:15 mile in her physical education...whoa!  She's 9!  Pretty impressive.

Ok, back to the race...I arrived at Town Point Park in Norfolk to a sea of pink, which was fabulous.  Knowing the girls would be rocking their pink GOTR shirts, I decided on my pink Team Sparkle skirt and a purple top, to appease my eight year old self.

This race was much more organized than the last one, partly due to the fact that the park provides loads of open space and easy navigation between areas.  I found the packet pick-up area and got my bib (loved the flowers) and t-shirt.  I headed over to find my school and found the girls giggling, doing cartwheels and marveling over their freshly spray-painted hair.  (Goody is one of the sponsors so they have a booth where the girls can get their hair sprayed and whatnot.)

 I found H and met her Dad and Grandfather who had come out to spectate.  Her Dad informed me that "she's really focused this morning and she really wants to run for time."  Ok, time to get my own game face on!  Soon enough, a local hospital led the group in some stretches and we headed to the starting line.  It was a little tough staying together since pretty much everyone was in the pink t-shirts but we were able to get back together with most of the group for starting line chatter.

Before we knew it, the race was starting.  I told H to go in front of me in the beginning, knowing we would be doing a lot of weaving.  Luckily she stayed pretty close and I was easily able to see her.  The first part of the race took us down Waterside Drive past the Spirit of Norfolk and towards Harbor Park where our AAA baseball team, The Tides, play.  At this point, I was mostly focused on not losing H and trying to chat with her a bit.  We spotted her friend K and caught up with she and her dad for a while.  We hit mile 1 in about 9:30 and passed the first water stop where I grabbed a cup for H.  We walked a bit so we could both get a quick drink and then made the turn back into downtown.

Loved their shirts!

For the next stretch of the race, we were running on a path right on the water and the winds were really strong.  There were lots of spectators during this stretch which I can only assume was a mental boost for Hannah.  And when the crowd wasn't cheering as loudly as I'd like, I started yelling "go Girls on the Run" and that seemed to get them going hehe!  I even saw the coach from the last school I ran with so I gave her a high five as we turned towards Nauticus.  I could tell H was getting a little tired so I focused more on keeping our pace steady and encouraged her to focus on easy breathing.

Source

After running past Nauticus (the Naval history museum) and the Wisconsin battleship, we went through the Pagoda Garden which was beautiful!  I think it was in here that Hannah twisted her ankle, as the ground was a bit unsteady.  She was a total trooper and kept going after a bit of a walk break!  Out of the garden we turned onto Boush street to head toward the finish line.  We saw H's Dad and Grandfather cheering for us and crossed the finish line in 30:42 - very speedy!

Source

The finisher chute was well-equipped with water, bananas and bagels.  As soon as we got through, we headed back to the area for our school where H was excited to congratulate her friends.  They had a medal ceremony and each girl seemed pretty pleased with their medal.  As I was leaving, I was able to find the school I worked with last December and chatted briefly with the coach about the team.  The girls did amazing and I saw one of my former running buddies.  Awesome, simply awesome.

All in all it was a great day and I had a blast, as always!  If you have an opportunity to get involved in this organization, do it.  I promise it will be time well spent.

{Christine}

Tales from the Gym

If you follow me on my personal account on Twitter (@imperfectcak), you've probably noticed I often have some commentary on my gym trips.  Mostly this is about interesting outfits or strange behavior.  In these cases, I use the hashtag #gymetiquette.  With all of my training and my renewed focus on strength training, I've been a bit of a gym rat.  I figured I would share with you some of the best things I've seen/witnessed.

1. Pizza crust in trash can...no, not the trash can by the trainers station, the one in the weight room area.  What the heck?!

2. Wearing a sports bra on the outside of your top.  What support does that provide exactly?

3. Jorts.  One word: chafing. Ouch!

4. Skinny jeans.  How can you move in those things?

5. Sandals. Seriously?

6. Listening to music on iphone...boombox style.  Thanks for sharing with the rest of us, but I'd prefer my own workout mix, thankyouverymuch.

7. A man wearing very tight white/silver basketball shorts.  It wasn't pretty.

8. A family sitting Indian style in a circle in the free weight/stretching area (taking up the entire space)....not doing ANYTHING!

What grinds your gears at the gym?

{Christine}

Expedition Everest Recap from Guest Blogger Kim

We were lucky enough to have Kim share her experiences with us from Expedition Everest - thank you, Kim!!!

My name is Kim and I am from Long Island, New York.  In September I decided that I wanted to run a 5K and made the one at the Disney World Marathon Weekend my goal.  I got hooked after that and signed up to run in the Expedition Everest Challenge in May.  I am now signed up for the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon and the 2014 Marathon Weekend 5K, 10K and 1/2 marathon – all at Disney.  I’m sure I will do some other runs in between as well.  I am honored to be a guest blogger on my experiences at the 2013 Expedition Everest Challenge.

Kim conquered the Yeti!!!

On Friday, I went over to ESPN Wide World of Sports to pick up my registration packet and go through the exhibition area.  Registration was as smooth as I would expect for a Disney event.  You picked up your packet and then got your t-shirt.  The exhibition area seemed small to me, but I only had Marathon Weekend to compare it to where the exhibition area was huge.  runDisney had a store with shirts for Expedition Everest Challenge and some “in training” gear.  Otherwise, I would say there were no more than 10 exhibitors.

Saturday morning, they held the Family Edition and Kids Races associated with the event at ESPN Wide World of Sports.  The Challenge itself was held at night at Animal Kingdom.  As with any Disney event, they held to the theme.  Buses started running from the resorts at 7:30pm and you were dropped off at “base camp.”  You had the opportunity to sign a poster and take pictures with the Yeti and at other base camp items.  The challenge kicked off at 10pm with the first wave of runners going and another wave going every 7 minutes.  Once you started, you ran the 5K race with three obstacles spread throughout the course that took you through Animal Kingdom.  The first obstacle was to jump over bales of hay.  The second obstacle was a tire run and the final obstacle was to crawl under netting.  You could choose not to do the obstacles if you wanted to and there were plenty of volunteers to ensure safety.  

At the end of the 5K, you were handed your first clue for the scavenger hunt.  The scavenger hunt took you back into the park and sent you to specified locations.  At each location, you had to tell the volunteer the answer to the clue, which had to do with a direction and then they would give you the next clue.  The volunteers were great, showing you how to get the answer if you were unable to solve it yourself.  Once you had the 4^th clue, you needed to use the clue cards to solve the final clue, which was one of the symbols on your race bib.  This was probably the most difficult part.  Again, the volunteers were willing to help get you started on solving the final clue.  Once you knew the final clue, you could go on to the finish line and point to the correct symbol in order to be given your medal – a cool compass.  As in any Disney race, you could stop along the way to get pictures with some characters as well.  Unlike my race in January, when I did not stop for pictures, I stopped at every opportunity this time around.  Throughout the entire race course, there were volunteers and cast members cheering you one and encouraging you.

Safari Donald!

Once you completed the race, you were able to go back into Animal Kingdom for a post race party.  The party was based in Dino-land.  There were open rides throughout the park, a DJ and photo opportunities with characters.  There was food and beverages available for purchase.  Everyone was having a good time at the party and enjoying the camaraderie of their fellow racers and friends.

The Expedition Everest Challenge was a great race!  Besides the 5K, we probably did another 2 miles in order to complete the scavenger hunt.  I enjoyed doing the race but not sure that this is a race that I would repeat.

Did you run EE?  What did you think?