We flew down Friday morning, and there were definitely some other racers on the flight with us. Flight was delayed slightly, but we still got down & to the Polynesian with no issues. Checked in, dropped our bags & then went to catch the shuttle over to the Expo where I would check-in, get my bib/shirt/goodie bag. This was probably the least-enjoyable part of the RunDisney experience. The shuttle took over a half an hour to show, and the Expo was packed. Plus, I must have gotten the check-in volunteer with the worst eyesight – took him about 5 minutes to look up my number (I was 6th on his list). I will say though, for as many people as they had coming through, it was fairly well organized. Picked up all my gear, looked around the expo for about 5 minutes & then caught the shuttle back to the hotel.

I had made reservations at the Grand Floridian hotel (the property right next to ours) at a place that looked to have a fairly mild menu. I ended up having a glass of wine, along with a fish and veggie dish.

Pre-Race Sleep Aid

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to relax, layout gear & hopefully get a decent night’s sleep. I had been considering wearing shorts, although seeing as I had to be on the monorail no later than 4am, I realized that most of my run was going to be before the sun came up & probably would be fairly cold. In the end, I opted for capri-length pants and a sleeveless running top.

I got a fairly decent night’s sleep, considering that my nerves usually get to me the night before race day. And then at 3:40am, I was up. Got dressed quickly, grabbed all my stuff & walked over to the Transportation Center to catch the monorail over to EPCOT. Once there, it was a lot of follow-the-crowd. It was actually about a mile walk to the starting line, with about 800 port-o-potties along the way. At the end of the walk, I had to hunt down my corral. And then it was over an hour to kill before race time.

The great thing about a Disney race was that most of the people were friendly, so it was easy to find people to talk to while we waited. The waiting wasn’t so bad, although it would have been easier if it was warmer, or if we could here the announcers better. But it passed quickly enough, and soon we were hearing the national anthem. The handcart racers went first, but soon there was a huge explosion sound as fireworks erupted on both sides of me. The elite runners were off!

Since I estimated my time to be fairly slow, I was a ways back, so even though the first corral was starting, I still had some time to wait. This went fairly quickly, as every 6 minutes, another corral was sent off – more fireworks and lots of cheering.

Soon enough, the corral in front of mine was sent off & I shuffled my way up closer to the starting line. A countdown & some more fireworks, and I was off. But not before eating a goo & smiling for the camera man!

Eating a goo & hitting the road!

There were still miles and miles to go, but I’ll end this & continue the update in my next post.

A quick look back on this past summer – there were lots of firsts! My first pool-swim triathlon. My first Olympic-distance tri. And my first triathlon as a member of a team – the Title 9.

Did I train enough? No. Am I working to correct that? Yes I am. I’ve been running 2-3 times a week, and doing some calisthenics on my off days. I’ve got 99 days until the Disney Half, and I’m going to make them count…and hopefully blog more too.

Ladies of Landry's

On June 4th, I completed the Mooseman with that sprint tri as my only training beforehand. It didn’t go great, but it wasn’t miserable either. The swim felt amazing. It was my first tri with a wetsuit, which was odd but considering how cold the water was, it wasn’t really an option. The bike was decent, although hillier than I would have liked. And (as always) the run was miserable. The silver lining there was, I ended up getting caught by one of my Team In Training buddies, and we finished the last half mile or so together. And then I got a massage and free ice cream!

See? I finished!

So yes, I swam a mile, biked 28 miles and did a 10k with no training. I know…I’m a brat. And I don’t say this to rub it in. I say it because it really got me thinking. If I can do that without training, what would happen if I really tried.

No we come to the “Yes, I’ve actually been training” part. I signed up of a half-marathon. Yeah, I don’t really believe it either, especially considering how much I hate running. But I actually really enjoy doing triathlons. So the way I see it, is that I am forcing myself to get better at my weakest sport. I’ve even come up with a new mantra:

“Trying to run…Running to Tri”

So there you have it. I’m about three weeks in to the training plan I’ve devised for myself & its going pretty great. I’m attempting to resist the urge to push myself beyond my training plan (everyone warns you about that one), but the runs feel good so far, so I’ve been adding a bit more distance than I should. Of course, I made the plan up myself (sort of), so I guess I can change it too. Today I just finished a 1.85 mile run & it felt great.

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s run brings!

Well, on Friday night, I got an email back from the club president with some information about the club, and she asked if I was competing in a local sprint tri that Sunday morning. Now keep in mind I’ve barely done any training recently, but I took this as an initiation challenge. If I didn’t go, they wouldn’t want me in their club!

I set my alarm on Saturday night, but still wasn’t convinced. I was on the fence all the way up until I got dressed Sunday morning. But I got up & just went for it. Being a day-of registrant in a staggered start (because it was a pool swim), I was the second last person to start. On top of that, they gave all us day-of people a 5 minute buffer so as not to overlap with the slowest of the swimmers.

The swim felt great, but it was definitely hard to stay motivated during the bike & the run when I barely saw anyone on course. And while I was definitely not ‘race ready’, I was able to finish without too much trouble. And while I’m not thrilled with my time, I have to remember this: “You came in before everyone who doesn’t start.”

And I’m fitting in a run today!

No time for apologies though (plus, I imagine they get pretty boring to read over & over, every time I do come to post). On to progress! How have on been doing? I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I’ve definitely been doing WAY better on the fundraising than the actual training. I’m just shy of the $3k mark. The minimum for Team In Training for this race was $2700. I still have a goal of $5000, but very happy to have made the minimum so early.

As far as the actual training goes – cue the sad trombone sound clip. It’s been pretty much non-existant. There are really only two things that worry me about this triathlon – the open-water swim and the 10k. Swimming in general doesn’t bother me, and even an open-water swim is fine, but I would love to have more practice under my belt. Right now, there is nothing to be done about that, since it’s way too cold to try any outdoor swimming here yet. The 10k on the other hand is something I could already be working on, and I just haven’t done enough yet. I have no good reason why, I just haven’t. I’ve done a few treadmill runs, but not enough.

So starting tomorrow, I’m going to be starting a 7 week 10k training program. It’s not really even this distance that makes me nervous, it’s the endurance. I hate running & even at my fastest, a 10k is an hour of straight running. Bleech! How miserable. But it’s for a good cause (really two good causes – because I need to lose this belly weight!)

Til next time!! (Hopefully not as long)

This past weekend, Team in Training had their kickoff event. I got to meet some of my teammates, coaches and mentors, along with people doing some of the other events. I won a hat for my fundraising efforts (thanks to you guys!). They had two cancer survivors share their stories, and of course I teared up a bit.

Overall, I’m really excited about doing this event. I have less than $1000 to go before I hit the fundraising minimum, which is fantastic. My next goal is to find a place to go swimming. Any suggestions?

On the training front, I’ve had email communications from one of my trainers, and I will meet them both on February 5th. All I know right now is that we have team training twice a week.

I have some (hopefully) great fundraising plans in the works, and some cool thank you ideas too. Stay tuned!!

I am going to be doing the event with Team in Training. TNT is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society‘s endurance sports training program.  I getting to raise money for an awesome cause, and in exchange TNT provides a coach, a personal fundraising web site along with a fundraising mentor, and total support system along the way & at the event. LLS uses at least 74 cents of every dollar raised for cancer programs, funding research to find cures to leukemia, Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and myeloma – the blood cancers – as well as assistance with the often overwhelming burdens faced by patients and their families currently fighting blood cancers.

This is a huge challenge, but I am up for it! And I hope, dear readers, that you’ll consider a donation to LLS (you can donate on my page, right here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/moosetri11/rdente (And yes, you’ll see that a lot for the next 168 days)

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. While I took a season off because of the wedding, I am really hoping to compete in at least one or two tris this year, documenting along the way.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

See you on the course!

-Becka