Race Recap: Spartan Beast - Utah

Race: Reebok Spartan Beast

Location: Soldier's Hollow, UT

Race Date: Saturday, June 29, 2013

A little late than never...Well, first off, I survived...that's good isn't it? lol! This was a killer race so here we go with the recap...

Day 1 - Travel Day - Thursday, June 27, 2013

Jeff, my race traveling companion, and I left home at about 5:30am while the hubs stayed with the K9s. The drive which was supposed to be 13 hours turned out to be 14 or so hours due to massive construction on the roads that we were traveling. We went up through Albuquerque, Farmington, thru Canyonlands National Park, Provo, Utah and finally to our final destination, Heber City, UT. The town is small and cute but there's not a whole lot to do here. Once we arrived, we unpacked and headed out for dinner since we had arrived at about 8pm. The first place we ended up at stopped taking patrons for seating at 8:30pm...it was 8:31pm. We ended up just going back to the motel (Swiss Alps Inn...nice place, older furniture but great owner and just nice overall. They do have pet friendly rooms (we were in one) and they don't smell and from what I can tell the rooms are all fairly large. We ended up ordering Domino's and then watched some TV and/or played on the  computers before bed.

Day 2 - Free Day - Friday, June 28, 2013

I woke up early and Jeff slept in so since I wasn't able to get my mile in yesterday for my run streak I had to start over and went to the local high school track to get my mile in. Afterwards I decided to drive up to the venue just to check it out. OMG! Was my first thought was, "It's all f*cking hills and mountains!" Here's some exapmles of the area...

Yup, we were knee deep in that sh*t. See the mountain on the left?
Yeah, we climbed the trail to the top.That was a b*tch

We were on mostly single track trails through this area.

Parking area, view 1.

Parking area, view 2.

We ate breakfast at a bakery/deli called Kneaders, great food! We've had breakfast there 2 days and are planning to go back today (Sunday) for more! We then headed up to Salt Lake City and visited Temple Square which houses the first Latter Day Saints buildings and which is the oldest area of the city.

The Temple from the west entrance.

Jeff in front of the Temple from the west entrance.

As much of the Temple that I could get in one shot.
Granite was quarried from 20 miles away by ox and cart
and took 4 days to transport until they built a railroad
which lowered the time to 4 hours.

Selfie in front of the Temple.

Assembly Hall, the oldest building and first building of worship.
Original pews are still being used.

Fountain in front of the Assembly Hall has plate murals
depicting the trek of the original settlers.

After the visit to Temple Square I made my first visit to a Lululemon store...just to say I've been in one!

We then headed to Gateway Center (shopping) to look around to kill some time. Jeff was looking for new mud shoes and I was trying not to spend any money. We then headed to REI where Jeff finally (we won't say how long this took!) found some shoes but they were out of his size so we waited for a friend of his from Clovis who now lives north of SLC who was going to join us for dinner and some impromptu shopping at the REI in Sandy, UT which had the shoes that Jeff was looking for.

We then headed out to Olive Garden, which luckily was pretty much around the corner and had dinner (I still have leftovers that are probably going in the trash). Megan, Jeff's friend, was a pleasant young lady who obviously had a great relationship with Jeff. After dinner we dropped Megan off at her truck at the SLC REI and headed back "home." We tried to turn in early so that we could be ready for the morning.

Race Day - Saturday, June 29, 2013

We were up by 7am and headed back to Kneaders for breakfast. We then headed out to the venue to get everything necessary for the race AKA packet pickup. We got everything together and found the small group of the Weeple Army that we were going to run with (more on that later). I didn't even think to take any pre-race pics of myself and Jeff but I did get some of the 10am heat at the starting line and of some of the Weeples as we waited in the corral for the 10:15 heat.

10am heat at the starting corral, 200 racers at a time.

Flags marking the start.

Bryce carrying the Weeple flag and wearing his GoPro.

Weeple people.

To the rear of the 10:15am heat.

Dave (our illustrious leader) and Bryce.

Weeple chicks.

Weeples preparing for the start.

To the front of the starting corral.

When the race started of course we were going up hill...and you know how much I love hills...NOT! (Yes,  I know I have to train for them for NWM 26.2!) It was this early point that I fell behind and rather than have them wait for me I just let them go and continued on  my own. I was able to do the race at my pace and asked for help from total strangers at obstacles that I needed it. I met several other women close to my age who I walked with for varying amounts of time  plus a young lady who was a tired of the crap we were dealing with and we were going to go through this together...until she got called to the medical tent for an emergency. So I trudged along and met a few other women and some men that I walked and chatted with throughout the race. One inspiring person was a young man named Lemoni (apparently a name from the Book of Mormon) who had lost a leg and had broken a spring so I let him use my phone (yes, I had it sealed in a ziplock bag) so he could contact his wife to meet him with a new part. I believe he had lost his leg in the war, but I'm not positive. The last time that I passed him, he had met his wife and was fixing the piece but also had to do some gerry rigging with athletic tape so that he could continue on. He passed me again and I saw him at the spear throw doing bupees with his prosthetic off...the man was a freakin' BEAST!! So as I continued on through some mud/water obstacles I worried that I should have taken my FitBit Flex off, but it handled the mud/water like a champ and is still working (only water resistant no proof). It was totally submerged several times for several minutes and it's going great today (Sunday). I also had bought a new waterproof, dustproof, shock proof camera that ended up totally covered in a thick layer of mud but is also working like a champ. Needless to say, I was unable to take any pics with it though.

I started the race at 10:15am and finished around 5:30pm, according to Jeff only about 30 minutes after the Weeples finished, if that's true I'm pretty proud of myself! That's a little over 7 hours for a killer race and we had finished a Super in just over 5 hours and that was an 8 mile or so race. I was so tired that I didn't even want to think about taking pics, just wanted to wash all the mud off and get into the pool at the motel! So when we got back to the motel we showered, rinsed out our clothes/shoes some more, sat in the pool and hot tub then went next door to Dairy Keen to have some burgers and a shake (Yummy, thick shakes). We then came back to the room and although we wanted to go to sleep early we ended up finally going to bed at 11pm or so. Ugh.

Day 4 - Travel Day - Sunday, June 30, 2013

Well, I was up at 4:30am so I'm going to have to stock up on some 5 Hour Energy before we leave. Jeff woke up for a few minutes at 5am but is now back asleep. I'm considering another shower or to lay back down in bed. We managed to get on the road around 11am after having been disappointed that Kneaders, our fave breakfast/bakery joint was closed. We ended up eating at a cafe across the street before beginning the 15+ hour drive home. The drive was uneventful other than more frequent stops to stretch, gas up and nature breaks but we did stop to eat 3 times adding on another hour or so to the trip. Note to self...don't have the patty melt at Whataburger, it just didn't sit well with me. We finally made it home at almost 2am exactly. Another Spartan race done. A week of soreness to look forward to!

The Aftermath:
Bruised on every body part except neck and face. Bruises ranged from 10" to variously sized spots. Sore for 5 days after...ran/walked 5K on July 4th and soreness went away the next day.

What I liked about this race...
I finished, it was a bruiser but it can be done by a not so in shape 48 year old female.

What I didn't like about this race...
Hills, steep hills, loose rock...the 100 yard barb wire crawl roll...usually one of my fave obstacles. Didn't like my normal disliked obstacles...traverse wall, monkey bars, rope climb...took burpees for all those.

Would I do this race again?
Yes, just because I am a glutton for punishment and it would give me a reason to eat a Kneaders and have a shake at Dairy Keen.

Recommendations in Heber City, UT (about 10 minutes from Soldier's Hollow venue):
Swiss Alps Inn - Clean, roomy motel w/ pool, hot tub and sauna.
Kneaders Bakery - Great baked goods and breakfasts.
Dairy Keen - Right next door to the Inn, great burgers and shakes.

On Running, Pain and Mental Health

I was just asked by one of my Twitter followers why I keep putting my body through the pain that I encounter from running. I guess that was the impetus I needed to get over a little writers block, even though I should be doing race recaps instead. Some writing is better than no writing, I guess! lol!

I replied that I had two simple reasons for continuing to run...

1) Even though I'm slow, I do enjoy running.

2) The activity helps to control (not stop) the massive depressions that I encounter with my bipolar disorder. I'd rather be in pain from running than suicidal again.

OK, so maybe Lance isn't the role model he once was...
but his words still ring true.

But these really aren't the only reasons that I continue to put my body and mind, because there is a definite mind game going on at times, through the rigors of running. I can go into a Tumblr like image heavy posting here...and I still may...since there are so many quotes out there that can apply as to why I push on.

You see, because I didn't enjoy running as a kid or young adult...other than my days in USAF basic training when we ran in formation...I guess I'm making up for lost time. I used to avoid running by almost any means necessary but now if I go too long without running I really miss it and tend to go stir crazy plus a becoming a bit irritable if not impossible to live with due to a drop in my moods. Running literally gives me the opportunity to keep/control my sanity.

At least for the most part...

That being said, I'm almost 49 years old. I don't know how long I'll be able to run. It may be a few months or many decades, but I want to keep going until I can't run anymore for whatever reason. The challenge is to push  myself as far as I can without going over the proverbial edge. I can tell you that the chances of me becoming an ultra runner (greater than 26.2 miles) is highly unlikely, but I will (technically I have) accomplish(ed) the marathon distance. I may try one or two ultras but that's probably going to be it. I do see some duathlons/triathlons in my future for sure though.

I also run to remember those who can't run anymore. Those fellow veterans who have given of themselves, those individuals who have died in horrific terrorist attacks, those whose lives were taken much too early, those whose ability to run was taken away from them. The two races that I plan to do annually for as long as possible, the Oklahoma City Marathon and the Bataan Memorial Death March, are just part of my way to remember those who have gone before me.

  

Another reason is that I enjoy (usually) a challenge. Having been a non-runner and now being a runner lets me get over hurdles either athletically or mentally that in the past I probably would have simply said, "I can't..." Now I'm willing to try and I'm finding that I enjoy some of these challenges. For instance, I probably never would have tried obstacle course racing. Yes, I totally suck at it but it's fun! I remembered enjoying the obstacle course in basic training but then that was also 30 years before I began running. Thankfully a friend, nearly 30 year my junior, got me wound up to do a Spartan race and even though I'm as slow as some of the mud I've encountered at these races I really do enjoy them along with the cuts, scrapes and bruises that I always get. I'm famously pessimistic, but running has at least cut through some of that pessimism giving me at least an "OK, I'll try it at least once" attitude.

 

Probably one of the biggest reasons I keep running is for the travel. Since I went on full VA disability back in 2011 the options for travel had dwindled due to a significant lack of income, but with running (and some advance planning) I can still travel, see a few sights and basically get out of the house and out of town before getting depressed. We live in a small town and there's not much to do so it's important for my sanity to get away as much as possible. Everything is almost always done on a strict budget and I do a lot of driving since it's cheaper than air travel in most cases. I love to go to new places and even if the trips may be really short, just to be able to say I've gone somewhere I had never been to before is always a bonus. In the two years since I've been running I've gone back home to California several times, Florida twice, driven to and run in 14 states some of which I had never been to before. I've also made some great friends who I never would have met if I hadn't started running.

 

I'm sure there are more reasons that I keep running through the aches and pains but these are the ones that come to mind readily. While I can be...well, in truth I am...just a stubborn old broad I'm not totally stupid. I do rest when I need to, I go see the medical professionals if I can't figure out what's wrong myself (yes, that self diagnosing nurse part of me still exists) and I do try allow for healing when I can although we nurses can be our own worst enemies when doing what we know we should do to take care of ourselves. Am I right? lol!

I guess that really the easiest and most comprehensive answer to the original question would be "Because I can." I'll stop running when I have to, but for now I'll keep on chugging along because I can.

Medication? Who me?

Lithium Capsules...truly a lifesaver for me.

Yeah, I'm still on my bipolar thought process roll. It doesn't usually last so long, but here we go again.

I am a terrible patient/former RN when it comes to my own medication compliance/adherence (adherence is the new "feel good" terminology since it doesn't make a accusation regarding the patient). I am one of those nurses who unfortunately lives by the "Do as I say, not as I do" motto. I've been on and off meds for my bipolar disorder since 1997. When I'm on the, most of the time I'm pretty stable or "normal" by some people's definition. Like I've said before I don't believe in "normal" anymore, I much more prefer "stable."

Anyway, there are times that I stop my meds on my own...and I mean abruptly stop them, something that should not be done with psychotropic meds...just because I'm feeling really good AKA in a hypomanic episode. I don't recommend stopping meds without talking to your psychiatrist, but if you do do so taper them down over a couple of weeks do not ever just suddenly stop them! Like I said I really recommend talking to your doc first...I'm a little dangerous because I have that extra knowledge that lay people don't typically have. During these episodes I really feel more like my old self than ever...except that I tend to overspend, have issues with lack of sleep or not sleeping at all, racing thoughts, etc. but I've never gone into a full blown manic episode that becomes possibly life threatening because there's a lot more risk taking involved. It's not uncommon for those with bipolar disorder to think that they feel good so they don't need their meds when the reverse is actually true. Mood stabilizers will help quell down the overly active/risk taking behaviors and in extreme cases an anti-psychotic may be needed in addition to the mood stabilizers to maintain the moods in check. Typically both these medications will be taken long term.

For depression of course antidepressants are prescribed. The problem is that antidepressants can actually trigger a  hypomania or mania. So it's not uncommon (or it shouldn't be) to only use antidepressants for short term...what I mean by that it 6-12 months. Please remember I was studying and two semesters shy (2 clinical courses and 2 theoretical courses from graduating as a prepared Pysch/Mental Health advance practice nurse or qualified to certify as a PMH-NP) of graduating so that's where a lot of my statements are built from...my educational background. After the prescribed use a trial off the antidepressant should be attempted and if all goes well the patient may be taken off the med...if it doesn't go well they stay on or maybe try a different one.

I digress, so on those occasions when I do stop my meds it can just be a few days simply because I forgot, or weeks & months (I've been off my meds for about a month and a half and just restarted taking them yesterday) simply because I feel "good" and I've even gone years off of them always crashing big time into a long lasting, severe and even suicidal depression. It's stupid. I was an RN for 22+ years, I taught psych/mental health nursing for 4 years and I've been diagnosed for 15+ years. You'd think I'd have my head all together and a grasp on this, but no.

So right now in Spring through the Summer this is when I can almost guarantee that I'll drop into a severe depression. I'm actually surprised that it hasn't happened considering how long I've been off my meds, but it's enough to scare me into starting them up again. To help with this I have a 7 day pill box to set up all my twice daily meds...OK, I have it somewhere but I can't find it but that's what I usually use to keep my meds straight. I've also downloaded an app called MyMedSchedule that has charts you can print out to track your meds and mobile apps for iPhone and Android that can be set up to send you email and SMS reminders to take your meds at whatever setting you determine. Once I got this set up correctly I started getting my reminders...now if only they could send reminders to Twitter/Facebook since I'm always on those and sometimes allow my phone and tablet to die and forget to recharge them.  However, the email can also be seen on your regular email account...as long as you check it regularly or have some sort of pop-up set up for the message when it comes in. Hopefully this will be something hat really helps with my med adherence.

Yes, this is in face my actual printable med schedule/checklist from MyMedSchedule

The printable medication schedule from MyMedSchedule

I've got one and a half days of medication on board and because I am familiar with the intricacies of these meds I know which ones that I can return to a full dose and those which I need to taper up to my normal does over several days. Depending on your meds never go straight back to the dose you were on unless you talk to you psychiatrist!! It can be dangerous to do so...and please don't decide that you're going to catch up on several days of medications all in one go. I know a lady who ended up and the mental health unit with me during my first psych hospitalization because she took  a week's plus of medications when she expected her husband to come back from a business trip!!

So to anyone out there who maybe having to deal with medication adherence issues whether it be psychotripic meds or regular medical medications take a look at MyMedSchedule. It may be of assistance. Good luck to us all!

UPDATE 3/25/13 at 11:55am;
I'm gonna try something a little different in addition to a hard copy checklist. If you look on the right hand sidebar you'll see a new page "Medication Accountability Checklist." this is the same info as on the checklist above but available online. Some people may wonder why I am so public about my meds, it's because I choose to do so. I'm not violating anyone else's HIPPA rights. I choose to try this and see how it goes. Let's see if I can remember to update it daily!

runDisney Dopey Challenge is Official

This post is in follow up to yesterday's post about one of the very recent runDisney rumors...the Dopey Challenge.

Is Dopey the only one nutty enough to do this Challenge?
Or are you too?!

I just woke up from a 3+ hour nap (haven't slept more than 3 hours the past 2 nights) to find out that runDisney had made an official news announcement at 3pm EST. Yes, the Challenge is ON! It will involve the Family 5K, the new Minnie Mouse 10K, the WDW Half Marathon and the WDW Full Marathon. Participants who finish at the races in the allotted time will receive a total of 6 medals...one for each of the races, Goofy Challenge and Dopey Challenge. So much for what I predicted about the medal situation!

Registration opens on Tuesday, April 9th at noon EST. You must register for the Dopey Challenge specifically to get the Dopey Challenge medal.

Register at:
http://www.active.com/running/lake-buena-vista-fl/walt-disney-world%EF%BF%BD-marathon-weekend-2014

runDisney Event page for the WDW Marathon/Goofy/Dumbo Weekend:
http://www.rundisney.com/disneyworld-marathon/

Disney Parks Blog Post about the Dopey Challenge: 
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/03/rundisney-introduces-new-race-new-challenge-new-medals-to-walt-disney-world-marathon-weekend/

runDisney YouTube video about the Dopey Challenge (also on the Disney Parks blog post):
http://youtu.be/E6v0AtMJwnE

I'm just making a wild guess that this will sell out within days if not hours!! Just like the Dumbo Double Dare in Disneyland did...wow, that was a lot of "D's"!! lol!

Now we just have to see if the Disneyland - Paris rumor is true as well...

On Being a CrossFit Newbie

A little over a month ago I completed (barely) my first Spartan Sprint obstacle course race. I knew that I was completely unprepared for it both the running and strength aspects. I hadn't been to the gym in months and had only been using our home gym occasionally. I hadn't been training for my runs or preparing for the Bataan Memorial Death March like I should have been...yet I decided to run the race. After miserably failing (on my own) at the monkey bars, log hop, traverse wall and rope climb I decided that I needed to do something to build up my upper (as well as lower) body strength. I had been thinking about trying CrossFit for a while but had just never gotten around to it. Finally, the Sunday prior to the Bataan Memorial Death March I attended a CrossFit Fundamentals class on base for most of the late morning/early afternoon. 

My Spartan Race partner in crime (SRPIC) and my husband went with me to the fundamentals class so that they could start doing CrossFit as well. Now, mind you, I'll be 49 years old this year and the hubs will be 50...however, my SRPIC is just barely 20 years old! I had read on the Spartan Chicks Facebook page how one girl described her upper body strength as that of a T-Rex...that's me too. Absolutely no upper body strength so I already knew that the day was not going to be any picnic. 

The class was scheduled to be 5 hours but because there were only 6 of us in it we managed to finish in about 4 hours. We got the basic instruction regarding form and safety in: rowing, air squats, front squats, overhead squats, push ups, sit ups, med ball clean, kettle ball swings, box jumps and clean lifts in about 1-1½ hour increments that were broken up by short workout of the days (WODs) that utilized the exercises that we had worked on. By the end of the session we did the final WOD which for us newbies would be considered a "chipper" workout (multiple movements at a high volume...for us anyway). This is what it looked like:

For Time:

• 50 push ups
• 40 box jumps
• 30 AbMat sit ups
• 20 wall ball cleans
• 10 overhead squats
• 10 burpees

Now for someone who has been regularly working out this probably doesn't seem like much for for two people close to 50 who haven't been in the gym regularly in months this was a killer. For me, the push ups were certainly the worst. I'm not even sure I got to 50 because I actually lost count and just kept going until the instructor told me to move on in the workout. Both the hubs and I were the last to finish. I don't even know how long it took us but we just kept going until we finished. I finished a bit before the old man so I went through some of his last exercises with him just to cheer/egg him on. We all got our fundamentals certification making us "legal" to attend the regularly scheduled workouts that the gym offers. 

Since I was going to be doing my first full marathon at the Bataan Memorial Death March the following Sunday, I opted out of attending any workouts the following week but after a 2 day post race recovery my SRPIC and I headed out for our first official workout. He had heard that it was going to be an active recovery day which I was thankful for because my feet, ankles and hips were a bit sore still from the marathon. When the WOD was posted it looked like this:

• 1600 meter row or run (I opted for the row)
• 5 x 5 weighted pull ups
• 100 push ups
• 100 AbMat sit ups
• 100 air squats
• 5-8 minute plank

My first instinct was to run...seriously, this was an active recovery WOD?!?! But I stayed and I did it although I did have to break up the push ups/sit ups/air squats into 10-20 reps a piece to get through them all...like I said, upper body strength of a T-Rex!! The only exercise that I really kinda wimped out on were the pull ups because we hadn't covered them in the fundamentals class so one of the leaders (a friend of my SRPIC) showed us how to do some beginner band assisted pull ups...it was pretty ugly! ;) I'm sure that it'll come with time and practice. 

I was supposed to join my SRPIC for another workout the next day but between being sore in my upper arms/shoulders, 20-50 mph wind gusts (the CombatFit Pad on base is open air...no walls at all) and allergies kicking my butt I wimped out and took a real rest day. I'm taking a second rest day today because we are traveling to do The Color Run 5K tomorrow and I really don't want to be exhausted or in pain since I really want to have some fun...as long as the wind cooperates. 

I'll try to begin doing 2-3 workouts each week for the next couple of weeks just for what little training I can get in before Super Spartan in Nevada on April 6th. I'll struggle through that as much as I need to and possibly through Military Spartan Sprint in Colorado in May, but I'm really hoping that the functional movements in CrossFit will help my upper body strength and coordination for some of the obstacles at Spartan Beast - Utah and Tough Mudder - Tahoe Fall.

So, as someone nearly half a century old just getting into Crossfit how do I feel about it? Well, it is fun! It's hard and I don't have the cleanest of mouths when I get tired, but I do enjoy it. It pushes me to go past what I think are my limits and doing more, something that for some reason this year I've embraced. It's just gonna take me a while to get to the point where I'm totally comfortable with it and to learn all the movements without having to start from the beginning. But I think that once I get the hang of it, I'll be one of the many that get addicted and hopefully I'll remain injury free so that I can continue it on a long term basis past this crazy year of obstacle course racing.

Personalized shirt that I want to have printed for a little fun...
maybe one each for CrossFit, Spartan Race and Tough Mudder...
just change the wording?!? LOL!

runDisney Rumors in Full Force

Well, anyone who is a Disney fanatic or a fan of the runDisney races has probably heard a couple of rumors that are spreading like wildfire across the Disney running community. Now, let me set this straight before I continue...I am not a Disney fanatic! Yes, I do Disney races but just for fun...heck, I'm not a big picture taker or an aficionado of all things Disney. My main reason for doing runDisney races is to go to the parks! You see, I grew up in Northern California and every summer without fail was the family trip to the Southern California theme parks. Back then Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Sea World, Tiajuana (yes, I do consider that place a theme park!), Animal Safari, LA and San Diego Zoos and whatever else I'm forgetting. No...we very rarely went to the beaches and I don't know why. Anyway...my runDisney friends are going to disown me after they realize I'm just not as nutty about Disney as they are! lol! So let's explore these two rumors:

Rumor #1: Dopey Race Challenge

For the past 8 or so years, runDisney has had the Goofy Race Challenge. On Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend those crazy enough to do it would run the half marathon (13.1 miles) on Saturday and the full marathon (26.2 miles) on Sunday. Those that completed both races for a total of 39.3 miles in one weekend got medals for each race plus a third medal for finishing the Goofy Challenge.

2013 Goofy Challenge medals.

In the past year (I don't know about before then because I just started racing in 2012) some have added on the Family 5K onto the Goofy Challenge dubbing the new 42.4 mile weekend distance as an unofficial (non-runDisney sanctioned) Dopey Challenge.

Update 3/21/13 @1:22pm MDT:
I need to make a correction here. It looks like the Dopey Challenge will involve a new 10K race, the half marathon and the full marathon for a total of 45.5 miles in one weekend. I am assuming that the Goofy Challenge will remain as the half marathon and full marathon. So, for those bling collectors out there it's looking like a potential 5 medal weekend: a rubber medallion for the 5K, a 10K medal, a half marathon medal , a full marathon medal, a Goofy medal and a Dopey medal. Now, to be straight...if you register for the Dopey Challenge you are not officially part of the Goofy Challenge (or at least I assume so) so they may/may not provide a Goofy medal. It's kind of like if you did't get into the new Dumbo Double Dare (new 10K race plus the Disneyland Half Marathon) and signed up for each race separately you wouldn't get the DDD medal.

In the past several days online chatter has been discussing how people are thinking that as of 2014 runDisney will officially sanction the Dopey Challenge. This seems to be coming to fruition because on the sports registration site Active.com that runDisney uses for race registrations the following information for the 2014 WDW Marathon Weekend has been posted:

• Runner's World Challenge Registration Fees
• Dopey Challenge - $999.00
• Goofy's Race & a Half Challenge - $749.00
• Walt Disney World® Marathon - $479.00
• Walt Disney World® Half Marathon - $479.00
• For more information on what Runner's World Challenge participants will receive, please see Runner's World Challenge
• Dopey Challenge Registration Fees
• $495.00 on or before June 18, 2013
• $550.00 between June 19, 2013 – August 13, 2013
• $580.00 on or after August 14, 2013
• Goofy's Race & a Half Challenge Registration Fees
• $340.00 on or before June 18, 2013
• $370.00 between June 19, 2013 – August 13, 2013
• $400.00 on or after August 14, 2013
• Walt Disney World® Marathon
• $160.00 on or before June 18, 2013 
• $175.00 between June 19, 2013 – August 13, 2013 
• $190.00 on or after August 14, 2013 
• Walt Disney World® Half Marathon
• $160.00 on or before June 18, 2013
• $175.00 between June 19, 2013 – August 13, 2013
• $190.00 on or after August 14, 2013
• Walt Disney World® 10K
• $160.00 on or before June 18, 2013
• UPDATE: Price dropped the afternoon of 3/21/13 to $95
• $175.00 between June 19, 2013 – August 13, 2013
• UPDATE: Price dropped the afternoon of 3/21/13 to $110
• $190.00 on or after August 14, 2013
• UPDATE: Price dropped the afternoon of 3/21/13 to $125
• Family Fun Run 5K
• $60 per participant
• runDisney Kids Races Registration Fee
• $15.00 per Kids Dash participant
• $30.00 per 1-Mile Run participant

Now, unless you're familiar with the Goofy and Dopey Challenges you may not know what they mean because no explanation of the Challenges are provided in the information on the page. No information about Dopey is included on the 2014 WDW Marathon Weekend page on the runDisney website either. So, it's only those of us in the know who understand what the Dopey Challenge is.

Am I crazy enough to do this if it happens? Yes, not in 2014, but I have been planning to do Goofy in 2015 when they celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Goofy Challenge. So, either way I'll be doing Goofy or Dopey in 2015. It'll probably be the only time that I actually do the Challenge because of the cost involved, but it will likely be my last runDisney Coast to Coast medal (running one race at Disneyland and one race at WDW in a calendar year) unless they come up with some new races in the future.

Would you be crazy enough to spend the dough, travel expense and complete 42.4 miles in a single weekend? And by the way...if Dopey does happen...it'll probably sell out in a flash!

UPDATE on 3/22/13 @ 4:52pm MST: The Dopey Challenge has been officially announced by runDisney. Follow up blog post is here.

Rumor #2: Disneyland - Paris Race

Yes...Paris...as in Paris, France! After the Princess Half Marathon in February some participants started receiving post race surveys and some included questions about interest in a race, likely a half marathon, at Disneyland - Paris. Unfortunately my survey didn't ask me about it.  :-/

Disneyland - Paris sign.

Now, runDisney runners are a lot of Disney fanatics...so did Disney really think that they'd say, "No, not interested?" Almost everyone is excited about this race which is rumored to happen in fall 2014 if it does actually happen. I've read some posts by other bloggers saying that the registration cost of the race would be around $70 with packages including lodging topping off at around $1,100. But then you have to also calculate in air fare on top of that.

For me this would be a one time race. The first year and that would be it. Just to say that I did it. The draw, again not being a real Disney fanatic is to finally go to Disneyland - Paris which was on the drawing boards but never came to fruition while the hubs and I were stationed in England. I want to be able to say that I've been there at least once. I also happen to love Paris having been there twice in my life. Just walking around the city is a grand experience...did that the first time when I was 14 years old on a European study tour. My friend and I were the youngest in the group with everyone else as soon to be seniors or seniors who had just graduated...we were barely entering high school! Oh, but I digress...wait, let me digress once more...second time was with the hubs after the birth of our first born. My mother came to England to see her first grandchild, handed us some cash and said to go to Paris so she could spend time with the baby alone. We left within hours, no hotel reservations, no plan of attack and one hellaciously rough ferry ride (spent most of it puking my guts out) to spend an unplanned weekend in the City of Lights at the ages of 21 & 22. Wow. OK...back on track now...

Paris, France at the top of Notre Dame Cathedral.
December 1985, 3 wks post-partum.

The other part of the draw for this race for me would be the opportunity to cross the Channel again (hopefully not in rough seas) and visit England...a place that I totally love and if I had to live in a different country it would either be in England or Australia (haven't been there yet though). I'd love to go through our old stomping grounds in the area of Banbury and RAF Upper Heyford do some repeat sightseeing in London and just cruise the countryside driving on the opposite side of the road. I used to get a little crazy in the roundabouts when we lived there! lol!

Of course being able to run in France, not necessarily Paris since Disneyland is about 20 miles outside of town, would be an experience. I don't think that I'd ever go and run the Paris Marathon or anything but to be able to say I've hit the European Disneyland, get back to England and do my first continent outside of North America would be too cool! And I would imagine that Disney would come up with a trans-continent medal much like the Coast to Coast medal if they do make this happen.

So yes, I'd be in if this happens. At least once...probably only once. Would you be willing to make the trans-continental trip just to run this race?

By the way...Hey, runDisney...How about a race at Disneyland - Tokyo?? I'd be totally in for that as well...but again, only once!

Race Recap: Spartan Sprint - Arizona

Race Day: Saturday, February 9, 2013
Location: McDowell Mt. Regional Park, Ft. McDowell, AZ (Venue change)

Race Day -1 (Friday, Feb 8, 2013)

I've driven to Arizona on my own and with the old man several times, but this time was the first time I've driven for a race. And it wasn't just for any race...this was Spartan Sprint my first obstacle course since USAF basic training some 30 odd years ago! My nerves were already on edge wondering why the hell I actually chose to do this on my own...no coercing from anyone. If anything, I coerced my team mates to do it with me! lol! So I picked up my friend, Jeff who I met at the YMCA a little over a year ago and who is less than half my age, to make what I had thought would be an 11-12 hour drive to Phoenix. Instead we made it in about 10 hours through the hellacious wind of eastern Arizona along I-40, the beautiful melting snow and mountains of northeastern Arizona and the beautiful desert of the Phoenix area. I simply love Phoenix and wouldn't mind living here if it wasn't for the blasted guaranteed triple digits in the summer! Some 20+ years ago we could've been assigned to Luke AFB here, but it never came to pass and we ended up in New Mexico instead...just not the same. The trip went smoothly with just a couple of stops for breakfast and gassing up. Jeff had pulled one of those "young people" all nighters...I do the "old people" version, lol! So he slept almost the whole trip.

Clear roads in the Arizona mountains.

What a view! What are those green things?
And those tall things in the background?

We arrived in Phoenix at about 4:30pm, checked into the hotel and since we hadn't had lunch I promptly took him to Ono Hawaiian BBQ for a mini meal...one of my must do places to eat anywhere...any kind of Hawaiian BBQ joint. We then headed over to my son's place (the only reason I'd drive 10 hours for a short, supposedly 5K race...to visit family/friends) sat around for a bit and then headed to dinner at Buca de Beppo's within 2 hours of having our last meal.

After a meal of lasagna and baked rigattoni we indulged in a super sized hot fudge brownie sundae...3 scoops of chocolate, 3 scoops of vanilla, 12 brownie pieces, hot fudge and plenty of whipped cream and sprinkles. Yum!! Out of the five of us eating 4 of us had lactose intolerance issues so it was a good thing that I had plenty of generic Lactaid in my purse! It would not have been pretty otherwise, lol!

I was forced to participate in the infamous phone stack. :(

 

Really, we ALL shared this...

Way too full after dinner!

To kill time and not rest before what was sure to be a grueling race the next day we headed over to Dave & Busters at Tempe Marketplace. This was a first time venture for myself, Noemi and Jeff. I felt like I was back in junior high/high school hanging out at the local video arcade or with my kids at Chuck E. Cheese's. We played for about 1-2 hours and instead of keeping the tickets from the games I gave them to Jeff as did Noemi. It's been so long since I've played any video games (I think the last console we had at home was an old Nintendo that actually belonged to the son) in over a decade...if not two. It was really fun to get back into that frame of mind and not have any worries for a few minutes.

Happy winner!

End of the night...

I think we finally called it a night about midnight and headed out to drop everyone off at the apartment to make final plans for the next day and finally Jeff and I headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Race Day

I didn't sleep well as usual getting only about 3-4 hours of sleep waking up at around 4:30 am. I did my usual hotel routine when I have a roomie of playing on the computer/phone/tablet and watching Pitch Perfect until it was a decent time to start getting ready. I did take off for a few to head to Target to look for some energy snacks for the race and maybe a small backpack or waist pack to carry some stuff during the race. That plan pretty much fell through but I did manage to get a couple of packs of Shotz Bloks and a quart of chocolate milk for my post race drink.

My race gear.

By the time I got back to the hotel it was time to start getting ready so that we could go grab some breakfast before heading out to the race. Just about the time I had finished getting dressed the son called and recommended just eating locally instead of going out for dim sum since the race venue had been changed to a location north of Pheonix instead of in Chandler. We ended up at a little sandwich shop not too far from the apartment and then headed out to the race around noon-ish.

The weather wasn't all that great...and it only got worse. It was cold, windy, overcast and just blah. The line to get on the shuttle didn't take too long (parking was a few miles away from the venue) and it was kind of surreal watching all the people who had already finished in various states of wet, muddiness. Some looked like they had even barely gotten wet or muddy while others were just totally
drenched/filthy. By the time we got checked in, numbers marked on our bodies and gear turned in we had about 20 minutes to kill before our heat started. We did some weak attempts at warming up, I was acting like an idiot trying to get the others hyped up but mostly we were just freezing our butts off.

Cold, windy and totally oblivious to what's in store!

When we did finally take off the guys basically left Noemi and I in the dust. So we just hung together and walked/jogged until we started hitting the obstacles. Now, I'm not going to do a play by play of the obstacles so here's a quick breakdown of what I can remember:

• Upright walls x3 ...5-6' high
• Monkey bars...fail (too far apart for my short arms, instead carried each other across touching each rung as we went) no burpees for punishement
• Upright walls...8' high used "cheater" steps (2 tiny 2x4 strips) and worked as a team to get over by giving a hand/shoulder to step on and a push on the backside
• Weight carry ~15-20# for females + 5 burpees and carry weight back to starting pt
• Crawl under barbed wire fences x 2 or 3
• Rock drag...up hill and back down
• Wall bouldering going sideways...worked as a team to support each other so we wouldn't fall
• Sandbag carry...up/down hill
• Javelin throw...fail (severe rt calf cramping...ended up on ground in pain had to stretch for about 5 minutes and kept going still cramping) = 30 punishment burpees
• Rope climb ~20' w/ water pit underneath...fail = 30 punishment burpees
• Barb wire mud crawl ~100-150' FAVORITE OBSTACLE!! Lost bib, went back to find it!
• Mud hills/pits x 5 - Slid down the mud hills on my rear...fastest way down
• Rope net climb up and over
• Angled wall/rope climb (3rd favorite)
• Fire pit jump

Numerous steep uphill and downhill climbs, single track trail/washouts primarily and plenty of cacti...just seriously hardcore! I'm not a trail runner so I ended up walking most of the race which was just fine with me. All I wanted to do was finish with minimal injuries and get the bling!

The aftermath!

Jeff came in first on the team in something like 1:21, Darryl was at 2:05 or so, Noemi at 2:23 or so and I came in at 2:39.01 which actually included me walking up and down the length of the barb wire crawl looking for my lost bib for about 10 minutes. Most of us weren't fast, but we all finished...in a standing position even!

Finisher's medal and my bibs...

We hung around a little bit to take pictures and grab gear but for the most part we just headed back to the shuttles to get back to a warm heater in the car. A quick stop at In-n-Out to pick up some burgers for lunch and then we dropped the others off at the apartment while Jeff and I went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We were supposed to get together again in the evening to head out to City Center to go to the Mardi Gras Festival, but by the time I was cleaned up I was way too tired to do anything else. I arranged for Jeff to hang out with the others while I played the old fogie roll and stayed at the hotel to wash the race gear and go to sleep early. I was so tired that I didn't even have the energy to eat the burger that we had brought for lunch and just barely managed to stay awake to run the gear through the wash cycle a couple of times and through the dryer. In order to stay awake during that time I relied on watching Pitch Perfect (go figure) and starting this write up while conversing on Facebook and Twitter. I'm pretty sure that as soon as my head finally hit the pillow I was out like a light. I don't even remember when Jeff got back to the room and I'm usually a very light sleeper...Yup, I guess I was freakin' tired! lol!

Race Day +1

Well, the original plan had been to be on the road home by about 8am but even though I woke up at 6am I was just not in the mood to be driving that early because I was so sore. Instead we had homemade Eggs Benedict that my son made at about 10am and then we headed out to C-Fu Gourmet to pick up some dim sum to celebrate Chinese New Year when I got home (hubs and I love dim sum and we can't get any decent dim sum here in New Mexico). After waiting close to an hour for the food (the place was packed because of it being Chinese New Year) we were finally on our way back home.

Offering for Year of the Snake

Not quite San Francisco Chinatown, but close enough for now.

As we hit the mountains there was a pretty significant amount of snow that hadn't been there on the drive in. The higher the more heavy the snowfall got. We finally hit Heber -Odegaard where the snow almost stopped and the drive became pretty easy again. Just before the AZ-NM border the weather changed and there was a point around Gallup that I really thought that we'd have to pull over and hunker down for the night because the snow was starting to come down pretty heavy. Luckily, after about 75 miles the snow cleared up and it was smooth sailing again.

Um, yeah...there was very little snow here on the trip up to Phoenix.

Snow on I-40 west of Gallup...and this wasn't the worst of it!

We stopped for dinner and gas in Albuqerque originally planning to eat at a Japanese place on Central Ave that I had been to once, but they were close so we ended up at Fuddrucker's instead. A quick stop in a book store and to gas up and we were back on the road or the last leg of the trip home. A little over 3 hours later we arrived back in town just before midnight and the quick and somewhat painful weekend trip was over. Goal of completing Spartan Sprint accomplished, new bling, plans to move up the Spartan Race ladder to the next level...Super Spartan, an 8+ mile mud/obstacle course, is now in the planning. A weekend of good food, fun, new/old friends and family and a bunch of  "firsts" for Jeff (Spartan race, trip to Pheonix, In-n-Out meal, etc.)...all in all it was a resounding success.

What did I like about this race?
The main thing is that this race was a serious challenge. The last time I even did anything resembling it was the obstacle course in USAF basic training which was only 1.5 miles long and actually quite easy. This race really put me up against a wall to see how well I could push myself to reach the goal I wanted. I succeeded so it's all good.

What did I not like about this race?
I am not a fan of trail running, in fact I hate it. So I trail walked/hiked instead for most of the race. If only it could be a nicely packed wide trail without the loose rocks, steep hills and such I probably would have been a very happy camper! lol.

Would I do this race again?
Ummmm...YES!! In fact, I just signed the husband and I up for the 2014 race this afternoon, so I definitely WILL be doing it again! The big difference will be that I will train for it next time! lol.