Skip to main content

It's Taper Time

I'm just back from braving the tundra that is upstate New York for my third and final Dopey Challenge simulation run.  I did another 5-7-10-20 over four days.  It's scary how accustomed to the distance your body gets so quickly.  The first 20 miler felt like it was never going to end.  The second one was painful, but I knew what to expect.  Today's run felt almost normal.  It was also the first time that, at the end of the 20 miler, I said to myself, "you know, I probably could run another 10K if I kept going."  That's as good a place to be in for the marathon as you can be.

I'm so excited for the Dopey Challenge.  It'll be the culmination of SIX MONTHS of training.  I've put in the work to rack up the road miles this year.  I've also worked hard on building speed with the goal of getting myself into "A" Corral for the Dopey Challenge.

I'm pleased to report that I got into that corral. I ran hard during the racing season to give myself a chance at it, and I'm so glad that all that hard work paid off.  The McMillian calculator has me as a projected 3:17 marathon based on my fastest half time.  I can tell you now that's not going to happen.  However, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking I've got an outside shot to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

The good news is that runDisney courses are fast and flat with a ton of entertainment.  The bad news is I will have already run a 5K, 10K, and half marathon AND walked around the parks.  So here's the list of Dopey goals for me to think about as I head into the taper.

Goal A: Qualify for the Boston Marathon -While the qualifying time for women in my age bracket is 3:35, you really need to be under this time to actually get into the race.  Goal time: 3:30

Goal B: PR in the Marathon -In order to reach this goal, I will need to run a sub 3:41.  I think that's definitely a possibility depending on Dopey fatigue.

Goal C: If it looks like A and B are not going to happen, have as much fun as possible while completing Dopey -Regardless of my marathon time, completing the Dopey challenge will be an amazing accomplishment that I'll be really proud of.  So if my splits are making it seem that it's not going to be my day, I'll get as many character pictures as possible and maybe finish with a margarita in hand ;)

Are you heading to marathon weekend?  What are your goals for the races?

Comments

  1. Congrats on a Corral A placement! You've definitely worked hard for that honor! I'm in corral D and am looking forward to a fun weekend! Best of luck to you!! :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Date Based Ticketing Coming to Walt Disney World

In a move that had been highly rumored for months, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida introduced date based ticketing today.  Here's what we know: What is Date Based Ticketing?  -Instead of paying one set price to enter any of Walt Disney World's four theme parks, your price will vary depending on when you go.  Busier times of year (think school breaks and the holidays) are more popular times of the year to go to WDW, so those tickets will be more expensive.  If you travel during a less crowded time of year, those tickets will be less expensive.  This is a system that has been in place at Disneyland Resort in California for single-day tickets for some time now. Disneyland Resort already has date-based ticketing What about Multi-Day Tickets? - The date based ticketing will also apply to multi-day tickets.  So your three day park hopper ticket will vary in price depending on the time of year you travel.  You must also select the time-frame in which you plan to use your t

Best of Epcot

It's no secret that Epcot is my favorite park in Walt Disney World.  I love both sections of the park: Future World & World Showcase.  It's also the finish line of most runDisney races and I love running through Epcot, especially during the Walt Disney World Marathon.  It's hard to decide what sets this park apart as top of the list for me.  But here are some of my FAVORITE things about Epcot. 1) Epcot International Food & Wine Festival - Epcot now has four festivals each year: Epcot Festival of the Arts, Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, and Festival of the Holidays.  While I haven't had a chance to make it to all these seasonal events, I'm always sure to make a trip to the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.  This seasonal event, running from August to November, features over 20 international marketplaces featuring snacks and drinks from their native countries.  This festival takes eating and drinking a

Princess 5K

Since today is the Princess 5K in Walt Disney World, I thought I'd share my own experience with the event, two years ago in 2016.  We decided to do RunDisney's Princess Half Marathon weekend as a fun girls trip with my mom, my aunt and cousins.  Ann and I were registered for the 5K, my mom and I for the 10K and Katie and I for the half marathon.  The start time for the 5K was so early, just like all the other RunDisney events.  Ann and I got ready an headed to the buses and boarded the first RunDisney bus leaving Port Orleans French Quarter.  We got to the corral area so early that the characters weren't even out yet! (Now, the buses are better managed and this doesn't happen). So we decided to take a picture with this backdrop: I was Ariel from "Kiss the Girl" and Ann was Rapunzel. As we waited in line for another backdrop, the characters decided to come out.  It turned out we were in line for Sebastian. I was excited because he's super rare.