Disneyland, Et. Al.

Labor day weekend brought on a week's worth of labor - a back-to-back challenge that began at 4:30am on Sunday in Anaheim and came to a close around 1:30pm on Monday.

The highlight of the weekend was the 3rd annual Disneyland Half Marathon that I ran with my friend, Amie. It was her first half marathon, a race she's been training for since June. This race was a unique experience for me, as I have been coaching Amie through the season, and Sunday was the culmination of our efforts.

We'd been training at an 11:30/mile pace, but Amie found something inside of her to speed up along the course. After 13.1 miles of cheerleaders, music, the Anaheim Angels stadium and two trips through Disneyland, we finished in 2:19:50. In split terms, that's about a 10:45/mile pace. To chop of 45 seconds for each mile of the race is pretty impressive and an amazing run for a first-timer!

The bonus for me was that it was my first trip to Disneyland, and since I ran the marathon at their Orlando location in January, I got an extra "Coast to Coast" medal for the effort. Yes, Disney, take my money.

We spent the rest of the day touring the Disneyland park - so much different than the attractions I am used to at the Magic Kingdom. Highlights include the Indiana Jones ride, Space Mountain (which is very different from Orlando), and a great dinner at the Orleans Cafe.

Amie, the champ and her boyfriend, Dan

Thanks to the holiday, Monday was spent in the usual fashion. Back in the Burb' (Burbank, that is), I thought this would be a good opportunity to test my endurance for the upcoming Goofy Challenge. So I ran another 13.1 miles.

I. Am. Sore.

Basically, I've put my body through a marathon weekend. On those occasions, I take off Saturday and run 26.2 on Sunday. This weekend, I took two days and ran 26.62 miles. Very tiring, that's for sure. There is plenty of work for me to do in the upcoming months to prepare for the adventure in January.

Since I've done 13.1 already this week, I think it's a good time to tally a 40 mile week. I think next Sunday's run with Team in Training is around 9 miles, so I've got another 17 or so to complete before then. Saturday's 9-ish and one or two tempo runs should help.

I'm looking forward to doing some more biking this week. Saturday morning's 25 miles went really well - the criteria being that I rode with my clips but did not fall off. And I improved my mph by about 1 mile...a decent amount in biking terms.

So that's about it for now. Tomorrow is a rest day with a little lifting. Wednesday I'm back on the trail.

Until then, consider my upcoming challenge!
Santa Barbara Half Marathon!