Tuesday, March 26, 2013
RunDisney
During my recovery time from NZ, I started thinking about the next race I would do. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to really start from scratch. I had injured myself pretty bad and chose to run through those injuries in order to finish the race in NZ, but I knew I could do better and FEEL better while I was doing it.
In doing some research I found the RunDinsey series and every review I read about the Disney Marathon was incredible. So, on April 6th of last year, I signed up for the 2013 Disney World Marathon, which was really the turning point of my running life.
Training started slow. Since I had 10 months to prepare I didn't want to rush and get injured again. Lots of 5k distances to get my legs and lungs back in working condition. Once May came around, I was feeling good and wasn't having the continuous problems with my IT band that I was having before. I had to switched over to gravel and concrete, rather than solid trail running. To this day, I believe the only reason I finished in NZ was because it was trail. When June hit, I started having some issues with shin splints so I lowered the miles per week again and then July gave me an unexpected turn.
Insert: Heart Arrhythmia and a randomly Fluttering Atria
When you work your body to its' limits, you start to find its' breaking point. Add a bunch of stress from school and you get my Heart Arrhythmia. After a month of being wired and monitored, I was cleared to continue training. The Arrhythmia was considered 'non-threatening' and though it does have a some affect on my activity, it is more of an annoyance than a hindrance, but I still run with my dog in case I pass out...
I like to tell people that running any distance is more mental than physical. If you convince yourself you can finish, and you're stubborn like me, there is almost nothing that can stop you.
Needless to say, between my new position at school as the Head Tennis Coach and the multitude of classes I was in to teach myself how to be the head Tennis Coach, I didn't get much training started until after the Fall Tennis Season was over. I got a few runs in every now and then, but nothing significant. I completed two 10 mile runs, but nothing more. I was depressed and frustrated with myself and also in a state of denial. I had been so excited about the Disney Marathon and now I needed to decide whether I should even go.
So, here I am, completely unprepared, again, thinking I am the worst example of someone who wants to run a marathon-ever-and what does stubborn me do?...book hotel and airfare....no turning back now.
What's that Kelly Clarkson song..What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger?
Lessons of a Traveling Newbie
When I went to New Zealand, it was the first time I had been out of the country since I was about 10(when we went to Canada...does that even count?) I did this trip by myself and learned so much during my adventure down under.
Pre-Lesson: Never trust the Cell Phone people...
Upon arrival in Auckland I was kind of in a daze from the 17 hours of travel. I forgot to get money at the airport, but figured I would be able to pick some up in the town I was staying in. My phone had no service, and I would soon find out it would never have service because AT&T people didn't quite tell me everything I needed to know about the International Phone Plan...go figure.
Lesson 1: Always get money from the Airport...
My shuttle took me to the car rental place and I got my car with no issues. My nerves were high, not only because of my first marathon looming less than 24 hours ahead, but also the whole driving on the opposite side of the road thing. I was so focused on not being on the wrong side of the road and just getting to my destination that I completely forgot about money...food...bathrooms...I got on the road and didn't stop until I arrived in Colville.
Lesson 2: Do research on how Small a town really is...
I mean, I knew the town was small....but this took small to a whole new level. One store, one school(for all ages), and that is really it. It's the way New Zealand is outside the city, and it's beautiful, but it definitely made things a little more difficult for this travel newbie.
Lesson 3: Those Chemistry Conversions Are Actually Useful!
After finding my place of stay for the weekend, I ran back over to the store for a few dinner items. As a runner is concerned, I was looking for a certain number of calories to consume, so the first thing I do is turn the package around and look at how many calories it had...to bad I had forgotten that when we switch over to the metric system, not only does our maeasurement of temp, distance, volume and mass change, but so does the measurement for energy....Know your Joules to Calories Concersion!!! Oops. As a Chemistry Teacher, I should have known this...but I had forgotten what it was...when you can't be exact, just stuff as much food into your face as you can.
Lesson 4: Just because you flew 7,000 miles to a far away land to run some random marathon, doesn't mean you are the only one...
The marathon I ran only had 20 people participating. It was the inaugural year for the full 42.2k distance and before it started we had a small welcome meeting, letting us know the conditions of the trail, and other useful information. They also introduced me and welcomed me to New Zealand, which was so kind and afterwards an older gentleman in a Marathon Maniac shirt, trotted up to me and said, 'Where in Texas are you from?! I'm from Houston!' Small world! :-D ... but, travel wise, I still won, because he was living there for business.
Traveling alone definitely had its perks. The race crew, a very close knit family, invited me back to their cabin to celebrate the end of the race. It was nice to relax and chill out with them. They reminded me of all my college friends back at A&M. Just a wonderful group of people.
Lesson 5: When you know you're going to be Exhausted, Triple read your Itinerary BEFORE you run and set alarms and reminders....and also rent a GPS with the car...
Yeah...rookie mistake...completely thought my plane departed at 5:30pm...after getting lost in Auckland on the way back, I finally got to the car rental place and pulled out my itinerary...Arrival in Syndey, AUS: 5:30pm Depart Auckland, NZ 3:30pm...it was 2:50....and I wasn't even to the airport yet.
Lesson 6: The people of New Zealand and Quantas Airlines are AMAZING
Miracle Makers... they made it happen...and help a plane for this silly little American. I will always be grateful.
Pre-Lesson: Never trust the Cell Phone people...
Upon arrival in Auckland I was kind of in a daze from the 17 hours of travel. I forgot to get money at the airport, but figured I would be able to pick some up in the town I was staying in. My phone had no service, and I would soon find out it would never have service because AT&T people didn't quite tell me everything I needed to know about the International Phone Plan...go figure.
Lesson 1: Always get money from the Airport...
My shuttle took me to the car rental place and I got my car with no issues. My nerves were high, not only because of my first marathon looming less than 24 hours ahead, but also the whole driving on the opposite side of the road thing. I was so focused on not being on the wrong side of the road and just getting to my destination that I completely forgot about money...food...bathrooms...I got on the road and didn't stop until I arrived in Colville.
Lesson 2: Do research on how Small a town really is...
I mean, I knew the town was small....but this took small to a whole new level. One store, one school(for all ages), and that is really it. It's the way New Zealand is outside the city, and it's beautiful, but it definitely made things a little more difficult for this travel newbie.
Lesson 3: Those Chemistry Conversions Are Actually Useful!
After finding my place of stay for the weekend, I ran back over to the store for a few dinner items. As a runner is concerned, I was looking for a certain number of calories to consume, so the first thing I do is turn the package around and look at how many calories it had...to bad I had forgotten that when we switch over to the metric system, not only does our maeasurement of temp, distance, volume and mass change, but so does the measurement for energy....Know your Joules to Calories Concersion!!! Oops. As a Chemistry Teacher, I should have known this...but I had forgotten what it was...when you can't be exact, just stuff as much food into your face as you can.
Lesson 4: Just because you flew 7,000 miles to a far away land to run some random marathon, doesn't mean you are the only one...
The marathon I ran only had 20 people participating. It was the inaugural year for the full 42.2k distance and before it started we had a small welcome meeting, letting us know the conditions of the trail, and other useful information. They also introduced me and welcomed me to New Zealand, which was so kind and afterwards an older gentleman in a Marathon Maniac shirt, trotted up to me and said, 'Where in Texas are you from?! I'm from Houston!' Small world! :-D ... but, travel wise, I still won, because he was living there for business.
Traveling alone definitely had its perks. The race crew, a very close knit family, invited me back to their cabin to celebrate the end of the race. It was nice to relax and chill out with them. They reminded me of all my college friends back at A&M. Just a wonderful group of people.
Lesson 5: When you know you're going to be Exhausted, Triple read your Itinerary BEFORE you run and set alarms and reminders....and also rent a GPS with the car...
Yeah...rookie mistake...completely thought my plane departed at 5:30pm...after getting lost in Auckland on the way back, I finally got to the car rental place and pulled out my itinerary...Arrival in Syndey, AUS: 5:30pm Depart Auckland, NZ 3:30pm...it was 2:50....and I wasn't even to the airport yet.
Lesson 6: The people of New Zealand and Quantas Airlines are AMAZING
Miracle Makers... they made it happen...and help a plane for this silly little American. I will always be grateful.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Where the Tale Began
In November of 2011, I decided to start training for my first marathon. Originally, I was going to enter the New Orleans Rock n Roll Marathon. The week after I was planning on taking my ultimate bucket list trip to Sydney, Australia over my school's spring break.
After calculating costs of travel, and doing some research, I realized it would be very similar, expense wise, to stop in New Zealand and complete a marathon which was scheduled during the first weekend of spring break. So began, 'The Road to New Zealand.' If you have any interest in following my 18 weeks of injury and self doubt, you can read through www.runnewzealand.blogspot.com
If you ever have the chance to do a run with Total Sports, based out of Aukland, New Zealand, I highly recommend it. The organizers are fantastic and the race was just amazing. I'll never forget it. If you are highly dependent on aid stations, then I would not recommend it. This was an extremely rugged, trail run and most of the race was inaccessible to vehicles which made for very few aid stations, four to be exact. But, I carried my own water and did just fine. Only 20 of us ran it, and all of us finished.
From that point forward, I decided to use running as an excuse to travel, but it has become so much more. I do these adventures on my own and I have really discovered more of what I am capable of in the last year and a half than I had since I began college back in 2004. I have shed tears, I have ran through injuries, I've had so much self-doubt, but in the end I always find the will to succeed and finish.
To Finish is to Win.
These are my tales, my adventures and my life.
A view of the town the race started and finished in. Colville, New Zealand
Views from the run. Sea Level, 200M and 400M
After calculating costs of travel, and doing some research, I realized it would be very similar, expense wise, to stop in New Zealand and complete a marathon which was scheduled during the first weekend of spring break. So began, 'The Road to New Zealand.' If you have any interest in following my 18 weeks of injury and self doubt, you can read through www.runnewzealand.blogspot.com
If you ever have the chance to do a run with Total Sports, based out of Aukland, New Zealand, I highly recommend it. The organizers are fantastic and the race was just amazing. I'll never forget it. If you are highly dependent on aid stations, then I would not recommend it. This was an extremely rugged, trail run and most of the race was inaccessible to vehicles which made for very few aid stations, four to be exact. But, I carried my own water and did just fine. Only 20 of us ran it, and all of us finished.
From that point forward, I decided to use running as an excuse to travel, but it has become so much more. I do these adventures on my own and I have really discovered more of what I am capable of in the last year and a half than I had since I began college back in 2004. I have shed tears, I have ran through injuries, I've had so much self-doubt, but in the end I always find the will to succeed and finish.
To Finish is to Win.
These are my tales, my adventures and my life.
A view of the town the race started and finished in. Colville, New Zealand
Views from the run. Sea Level, 200M and 400M
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