01/07/2010: I’m writing this while waiting for our connecting flight at the Seattle Airport. I don’t seem too nervous but I should be considering that my long run for this race was the Victoria Marathon in October and I’ve totaled about 100 miles since then.
My planned goal for Goofy is under 8 hours but now I will be happy to have three medals around my neck come Sunday evening.
I flew with another Victoria runner doing Goofy. He tells me that there are 7500 Goofy Participants and something in the order of 25000 runners in each of the half and full marathons. ….It would be really embarrassing if I finished last this race!!!
01/08/2010: We’re in wintery Orlando. I overheard the next able saying that we are in store for record low temps. Walking around Disney World won’t be fun. I’m glad that I brought my Jeans and lined jacket.
Went to the Milk House to register at 10:00AM. Amazingly, there were no lineups. The expo was okay but not as good as I would have expected with close to 50,000 runners in the 3 events. Cheryl had her lower back and right foot taped up with “TX Tape”. It worked wonders almost eliminating her foot pain and significantly reducing her lower back pain. I think that we will be buying some to take home.
01/09/2010: 3:00AM comes early. The outside temp is below freezing with wind and ice crystals. It won’t be fun. Cheryl’s back is acting up so I’ll be doing this one by myself. With 25000 runners, t took me 18 minutes to get to the start line. It’s a good thing that they don’t use gun times at this race. This was the first race that I have run where my fleece was done up to my neck right to the last step. It was cold and blustery! Finish Time: 2:27 The highlight of the race was the incredible after race massage given me by Candy, the Director of an Orlando Massage school. I left feeling great. My biggest disappointment: The 1.5hr wait for buses after the race. My body was shaking uncontrollably by the time I got back to the room. I understand that here were a number of entrants that were hauled off to med tent with hypothermia. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow.
01/10/2010: Another 3:00 morning. I’m still cold from yesterday but my body feels great. Orlando set a new record low temperature of 27F or about -4C. There was someplace in Alaska that was warmer at gun time. (And we had been standing in our pens since 4:00AM) The race started off very well. Other than for the cold, my first 15 miles looked like a sub 5hr run. That’s when my calves stated acting up. By the time I hit the finish line they were howling. My knees, on the other hand, felt great. I credit both to the new CWX Tights that I bought. The compression bands over the quads and under the knees were wonderful leaving them feeling fresh at the end of the race. My calves, probably due to the fact that I use them differently as a barefoot runner, caused more pain than I have ever experienced during or after a race. This was the second race that I have run with a fleece done up to under my chin. I was cold, windy and raining. Finish Time: 5:32. My overall goal was 8 hours or under. It is amazing how one’s mind controls one’s outcome. I should have thought a 7:30 time and I probably would have done it! The highlight of the race: I found Candy again and she gave me another wonderful massage. Unfortunately my calves howled for 3 days after, cramping up every time I sat for more than a few minutes.
Overall Race thoughts: If you are thinking about doing the marathon – Do the Goofy. You’ll end up putting more than 13.1 miles on your legs walking around the Disney Parks. And, you’ll have three great medals to brag about at the end of it all.
My promise to myself is to do at least 1 long run before the Vancouver marathon in May. And maybe a few short ones too!
Talk to you all soon;
Bill
Going Goofy, Gone!
BEER MILE DISECTED
Sorry for the delay in getting this out and NO – I’m not just now recovered from the race. A good Saskatchewan boy is always up for a few beers, running or sitting!
I have never enjoyed 11.75 minutes so much. I was surprised at how nervous I was going into the race with expectations of [...]
In Training
I have spent the past week in intense training for the “Dave Smart Beer Mile”. This is the only race where I stand a chance of finishing within sight of Lindz and Pano and I’m looking forward to the opportunity of showing them how an old Beersman downs beer (and runs of course). I undertand [...]
Stewart Mountain Challenge
The name says it all! I have to say that Stewart Mountain was the hardest race that I have ever done. It was only 10 miles but my legs felt like jelly for the next 3 days. I definitely walked away from that day with a renewed respect for those athletes that do trail running.
About [...]
Christmas Blahs
Now that Christmas is nearing, I have a new excuse to defer training… Christmas Parties! I have 3 this week along with a babysitting job looking after our darling grandson Ben. I also have the Stewart Mountain 10 miler on Saturday.
To date I have been averaging about 5 hours of good training per week which [...]
The Pigs didn’t get me!
11/04: It’s hard to write a blog when there is nothing exciting to write about. I’m 2 weeks into my Goofy Training Schedule and I’m 30 or more Km short of my goals already. I guess I could blame a cold but a real athlete would have run through those small problems.
11/9: I’m 3 days [...]
My Training Schedule for Goofy
I’ve decided that I will set up a regular training schedule for the Goofy Challenge. This is something that I haven’t done in years so it will be interesting to see if I’m man enough to live up to my own expectations of myself?
I’m pretty happy with my first week’s training. I managed 4 days [...]
Victoria Marathon
Yahoo – It’s finished!!
I wasn’t sure what my time would be so I decided to do the early (6:30 AM) start. This is the second early start that I’ve done and I found them both very enjoyable because every runner knows that they won’t be qualifying for Boston or winning an age group so they [...]
Mind the Knees Please!
Here I sit, suffering from a bad case of “old man” knees, due in most part to my lack of consistent training. I did my 30K / 3hr long run for the Victoria Marathon last Sunday and I’m now suffering with some sort of ligament problems around my right knee. (It’s at times like this [...]
Something to brag about!!!
A couple of weekends ago my baby won her first Xcountry race – the 13km Frosty Mountain Trail Race at Manning Park. Lindz not only finished first in the women’s division, but finished 3rd overall. She has been working through a number of running injuries over the past year and now seems to be on [...]
“A” students don’t cram!!!
As I suffered greatly climbing the Otter Point Road hill on Sunday, I remembered what an old principal (Allan Krahn) once said to me; “Bill, a good student never crams for an exam” He went on to say “Bill, you’re a smart young fellow – just remember this, if you keep you studies up, all [...]
Cramming for the Final
John Dumonceaux, a friend and former coach of my brother Ed and myself, was introducing Ed and commented that “Ed and his brother Bill were the only two people that he knew that crammed for a marathon”. I was thinking about that this morning when I was out for my 3rd run this week in [...]
Countdown to a cool (snowy?) Sunday
OOPS FORGOT TO POST THIS ONE! – Written March/2009
Tara just sent me an email letting me know that snow is forecast for Sunday. I can’t imagine running barefoot from the pool to the transition area and then trying to get dressed outside. As I write this, I wondering why I would spend $100.00 on a [...]
The Vancouver Half Ironman
So much for my promise to write every day; my excuse this time is that my brother-in-law was in town and I had to spend time showing him around. I may not have done much training but if walking counts, I did get in miles and miles and miles.
My scales were lying to me again [...]
Great White North Half Iron, Stony Plain Alberta
Binge Athlete, Binge Eater, Binge Wino, and once again, binge writer. Wow! three days in a row! I often wonder what life is like for people that plan and organize their way through life. I imagine that it must be boring – knowing exactly what will be happening each day. Well, never mind, I [...]
New Balance Elk Lake Half Ironman
Hi Again;
Before I talk about the New Balance Elk Lake Half (June 22/09) I have to mention my swim last evening. This is my second swim since 07/12 in Vancouver and it was my fastest training swim to date (1500M in 36 min.) I’m not sure if I had been overtraining my old body earlier [...]
Remember Me?? I’m back !!!
Hi Again;
It has been a while since we last talked. I’ll blame it on writers block but it was most likely a bad case of laziness!
If you remember my last blog, I was getting ready to do the UBC Olympic. (I used weather as an excuse not to do it.) I did do the Y [...]
New high for the year!
I turned up the jets last week and got in just under 8 hours of quality training. With 13 days until the UBC Olympic Tri, I have been concentrating on my swimming. I hit the pool for 5 training sessions last week and logged around 10Km, 25 metres at a time. Coach John gave me [...]
A Good Week
It’s been a good week of training. A little over 5 hours of swimming, biking and running with 3 days to go.
Swimming has been going particularly well. I’m not sure what I’m doing differently but I’m now gliding 7 to 8 metres when I push off the wall. 2 weeks ago I was having difficulty [...]
3 weeks til UBC Tri
It’s hard to believe that there is only 27 days till the UBC Tri and I haven’t taken my bike outside yet. It’s also hard to believe that an old prairie boy like me would think that +8C was too cold to bike or run out doors. 5 years ago I was part of a [...]
It’s been a while!
Hi every one. I’ve been hiding in the weeds since Arizona Ironman. Just sitting around, eating more than my share and hogging all the wine. After gaining two notches in my belt and walking around with my pants undone after many of the meals, I thought that it might be a good time to get [...]
I’m developing a Foot Fetish!!!
Swimming, especially over a longer distance can be quite boring so I usually spend my time thinking about some odd thing or another. My thoughts for this race were about feet, something that I had never noticed in the past, probably because I always spent my time at the back of the pack. But this [...]
13 hours to go!!
Just a quick note before an early dinner and quiet evening.
The day went well (for me). I blew the wad and invested in a pair of Newton shoes for the race. They seem to be a good median between regular runners and Vibrams. They are cushioning my sore left foot and that is the most [...]
2 Days to GO!
I went for an early swim this morning. Guess what – They have 2 foot swells (and chop) in an Arizona Canal! There were times when the swell raised my body out of the water to the waist. After more mouth-fulls of “brown” water than I care to think about, I started to unilateral [...]
Woulda, Coulda and SHOULDA!
7 sleeps till showtime in Arizona! I’m starting to worry and thought that a blog to my tri friends would take my mind off all of the training that I didn’t do. I did a quick calculation today – On average, I have trained 5 hours per week since IMC. I did complete the Victoria [...]