Wife Mother Runner @joespardo Archives

2016 WDW Marathon Half Marathon

January 18, 2016

The second to last race of the Dopey Challenge is the half marathon. Once again I set my alarm for 3:30. For this race I made oatmeal for breakfast to hopefully hold me over. I was so hungry during the 5K and 10K races; even after having a small breakfast before I went to the races.

Diana and I were running this race together. Mandy would be joining us for the full marathon the next day. I arrived to the Epcot parking lot around 4:45 and met Diana down by the corrals. The crowd size doubles from the 5K and 10K to the half and full marathon sizes. The 5K and 10K have around 7,500 people. The half and full have 26,500 people. That does impact your course time when starting in a later corral.

Thankfully it wasn’t raining for this race, but it was extremely foggy. I wore my Donald Duck costume for this race and Donald sent us off at the start.

Diana and I at the corrals

Since we had run this course several time with the previous year’s Dopey challenge and running the Princess Half marathon two years prior, I was very familiar with the course. Not to mention that the full marathon also runs most of the same route for the beginning of the marathon. I am pleased to say that this year the change in character stops made the race more enjoyable.

I listened to Jeff Galloway speak at the Expo on Thursday and he mentioned that for the 5K and 10K it was ok to run; but he said for the half marathon, plan to walk the first few miles, then incorporate your run/walk intervals for a mile, walk a mile, then do intervals again, etc. So I discussed that with Diana and that was the plan. Well when race day comes around, sometimes plans get thrown out the window. We ran most of the first half of the race. Below shows our splits from the half marathon.

The first two miles of the race we made ourselves run slower. There also weren’t character stops at that point; just props to take photos of along the way. Between mile 3 and 4 is where we started to do the character stops for Wreck it Ralph and Oogie Boogie. Mile 5 lead us into the Magic Kingdom and we did stop for some photos and then miles 6-7 are up cone alley. It was VERY congested up cone alley. This year I think the cones were set up differently and weren’t the tall cones that were lined right up against each other because people were hopping over the cones and running in the lane that was dedicated for car traffic. So we just continued to do our walk/run intervals up cone alley as best as we could with the amount of people in that area. I also found Mike Scopa heading into the Magic Kingdom and played some leap-frog with him during the race. I’d stop for a character stop and then he’d pass me. Then I would spot him and I’d tag him and told him he was it. It helped pass some of the miles along the way! I also found Sid Busch out on the course and gave him some encouragement. He is such a celebrity now among the running community.

Miles 8 and 9 didn’t have anything too exciting so we pushed ahead and around mile 10 we decided to walk the rest of the race in to save our legs for the full marathon. We had gone over the overpass of World Drive at that point and saw the crowd still coming up the road and we knew we weren’t in any danger of being swept. At mile 12 we took a photo with Vacation Genie and that was it for character stops in Epcot for us.

It was a good decision to walk at that point. I was starving, though. I definitely did not have enough fuel with me for that race. All I could think about was making an egg sandwich back at the hotel room when the race was over!

After the race was over I drove back to the hotel and made the egg sandwich my mouth was watering for! Then I showered and wanted to hang out at the pool with my family. PK and Katie were going to be there for a little while so I wanted to spend time with them. After visiting with them I got cozy on the poolside chair and next thing I knew I woke up with my mouth hanging open, my sunglasses smashed against my face and drool going down my chin! I had fallen asleep for a long hard 2 hour nap! I looked around and saw my family’s items around but couldn’t find them anywhere! I finally located them and we noticed the dark skies were starting to roll in.

The plan that night was to go to Disney Springs to have dinner at Wolfgang Pucks and then head back to the room for an early night. We were watching the radar and packed our ponchos. Joe Pardo was also going to join us for dinner there. We arrived at Disney Springs around 5:00 but waited a long time for the boats to take us to from the West Side to the Marketplace side.

The balloon was tethered down because of the storms coming.

Half way to the Marketplace side they stop, which I wasn’t aware of. The kids had to go to the bathroom so we got off the boat there, used the restrooms nearby and put on our ponchos. We ended up walked through the pouring rain to Wolfgang Puck Express and met Joe. I had a cranky moment at this point in the day. I was frustrated with the rain, the boats at Disney Springs and I was hungry. So I had a moment of a mini meltdown. Once we had dinner I was better. We ordered the bar-b-que chicken pizza as a good pre-race meal with the protein and the carbs. After dinner my son wasn’t feeling too well. He had been battling a chest cough for several weeks and there were times during the trip where he just felt funky and wanted his mom.

Always my favorite view at night.

It was nice for Joe to meet my family. I talk about them all the time when Joe and I are at races and when we communicate in our every day conversations. After we said goodbye to Joe and boarded the boat to head back to our car I sat with my son on the boat and it cheered him up. I think it was also hard on him that I was going to be early and then not around when he woke up during the races. Once we got back to the hotel it was time for me to lay out my gear for the morning and call it an early night. I was in bed before 10:00 and I wasn’t feeling too anxious about the race. I did have a harder time falling asleep that night; but I blame that on the nap.

Coming up next, the big finale race of the weekend…the full marathon!

Suck It Up and Be Grateful

September 20, 2015

I was having a rough week last week and during the beginning of my week before I started to call it “hell week” I stopped myself and told myself that I was going to stay positive and not let things upset me. I tried very hard to keep that positive attitude. I also told myself that I have it VERY good. Compared to others, my life couldn’t be better! I have a beautiful family, I have a beautiful home, I have a job, a car, my kids are doing well in school and sports, I have a loving husband, I have my health, we are all healthy (well the children are at least).

As the week went on, I tackled my challenges as they came my way. One of the things that I was dreading was my trip to New Jersey. I had to teach a virtual class all day on Wednesday in East Hartford and then I had to drive back home from work; pack up, have dinner with my family, and then drive to New Jersey. I was dreading the drive because it was going to be after 7:00 at night and lately when I was travelling while tired I was having difficulty driving. I was anxious about that. I don’t mind driving places. I enjoy listening to my podcasts and having time to myself. But I was scared to make the drive at night. Especially in an unfamiliar area.

The positive thought I had was that while in New Jersey, I was going to have the chance to visit my friends Joe and Melissa Pardo. So again, I kept trying to make the best of the situation. I drove to NJ, missed an exit and drove around Newark airport and then arrived to my hotel around 10:30 p.m. At that point I was so wired up from the drive that I didn’t get to sleep until close to 1 a.m.

The next day, I arrived to the facility where I was doing the training. The beginning of class was bumpy with technical difficulties and was getting off to a very rough start. I took a deep breath and told myself I was going to get through it. I thought I was teaching 6 people online and 6 people in the class. When I arrived to the small conference room I was annoyed when I learned that there were no students in the class. Then two people arrived, I had at least two people in the room. Ok then it wasn’t so bad. I pulled out some magic and had a good class for the day with a decent class review. Then it was off to dinner with Melissa and Joe.

I had a great night with Melissa and Joe at the Cheesecake factory in Cherry Hill, NJ. We talked and had dinner and spent over 3 hours visiting with each other. I am so grateful for the friends I have gained from runDisney events to be able to hook up with a friend in just about any state to share a meal with someone.

On my way home from dinner I called my family and was told that my husband’s uncle passed away. We knew he was sick and didn’t have much time left; but he passed much faster than expected. I was also told that my mother-in-law was suffering from dementia even worse in the past weeks and my father-in-law was under a lot of stress with her health and the loss of his brother.

The next day during a break from class I took a walk outside and saw a beautiful pond with geese on a sunny, beautiful day and took a few minutes to myself to enjoy the view and to feel grateful. Sure, I wished I was home with my family but I was making the best of the situation.

The drive home was going to take a long time. It was a Friday night driving north through NJ, NY and CT and the GPS was right. It was over a 4 hour drive home. But when I arrived home, I was thankful. I enjoyed some time on the couch with the kids and watched the America’s Got Talent Final episode and we all climbed into bed happy.

This weekend we had the pleasure of attending our nephew Stephen’s wedding to his beautiful wife Shirlie.

We also had the joy of watching our baby girl Adrienne have another win with her softball team. The weather was perfect for both events this weekend.

Then we attended our town’s fundraiser for my son’s good friend Lyla who is battling cancer yet again. It makes me grateful that I have many things to be grateful for and I am more than happy to help out this wonderful family and little girl who has spent time playing with my son since they were in kindergarten.

Suck it up buttercup, Many others don’t have it as good as you, so be grateful for what you have and think twice about complaining about things. It’s something I have been chewing on for a few days now.

Remember That One Word Resolution I Chose For This Year?

April 22, 2015

Well today I was challenged…. Actually, this entire week has been a challenge for me. But I have been very successful in overcoming these challenges. On Monday I had to take action and create my training web sites for 16 students. I was going to postpone the task until Tuesday, but I knew my day Tuesday was going to be busy working at Pratt. I’m glad I listened to my gut. I identified an issue right away that would not allow me to create the 16 sites and I needed to get in touch with Corporate IT to help find a resolution to the problem. If they couldn’t help me then I was going to have to take a process that would only take me an hour to do and then build 16 sites that could take me about 5-6 hours. After my Monday afternoon meeting (unrelated to the issue I identified), I came home and started begging for help from IT via email. I have to admit, I wasn’t too happy about the situation, but I knew I had a way out if I needed one.

Tuesday comes along and I was close to getting a fix to the issue. I still had to be at Pratt for the day; but was working on the fact that I may have to ask them if I can come on a different day while dealing with this emergency. Good news… by 9:15 the guys in IT had my solution in place! I could have kissed them! I met Eric and Fred at a SharePoint Users Group meeting in March, so I am hoping they remembered me! So that crisis was averted. I got the sites create and was able to get to Pratt by 11:00 a.m. The day wasn’t a loss. I also got to spend time with my new co-worker/friend Tammy! She gave me a hug when I arrived and cheered me up! So I had my challenges for Monday and Tuesday, but I worked through them.

I knew I had to teach these training classes on Wednesday and Thursday in Danbury and I was feeling a little pre-race jitters about the class. It happens to me every time for some reason. I never feel like I am 100% prepared; even though I usually do just fine in the class. My plan was to leave my house today between 6:30 and 6:45 to get to Danbury by 8:00. I woke up at 5:15 when my alarm went off and made some tea. Problem #1, I spilled my full cup of tea all over the living room rug when I accidentally kicked it with my foot. BUT, I didn’t get flustered. I was strangely calm. I put a towel over it and tried to absorb as much as I could. I got ready for the day and hit the road before 7:00. The sun was out and it was a pretty morning. I was listening to my friend Joe’s Dreamers Podcast and as I got through Meriden I heard a funny noise as I drove over something. Thirty second later I heard another strange noise like something hit the side of my car. Ten seconds later the tire pressure display on my car showed my tire pressure was rapidly falling on my right front tire – GREAT! I had to get off to the side of the highway because I just blew a tire. I was impressed by my car though. It handled so well and didn’t even feel like I had a flat. If I hadn’t heard that noise I wouldn’t have believed it.

Of course when I was standing outside waiting for my husband to arrive I knew I needed to get some pictures because I should share this on social media and write a blog post about it… Why not?!

Once I pulled over, I called my co-worker Jay on his way to Danbury and dropped a few “F bombs” and told him I may be late depending on how fast roadside assistance can get to me. Then I called my husband and dad and my husband came up to help me. A state trooper pulled up behind me and stayed by me while I was on the phone with roadside assistance. Good thing he was because the roadside assistance people said they can’t come out onto a turnpike to help; but he explained to them that it wasn’t considered a turnpike. Now I need to research what is considered a “turnpike” for future reference. He gave me the phone number for the barracks and said another trooper will be making a loop through this way and will probably stop and check on me. After sitting in the car for a few minutes and feeling it shake from the force of the cars zooming past me I decided to stand outside the car to wait. I didn’t want to be a sitting duck in the car if someone wasn’t paying attention and smashed into my car. I did try to get my spare tire out and loosen up the lug nuts on my tire, but they were on too tight. I moved my boxes and the cart from the back of my car and put them on the back seat so I had everything prepared for when either my husband arrived, or when roadside assistance arrived. I had to make this switch quick so I could keep going on towards Danbury. I knew there was a chance I could still get there on time; but worst case, I’d be there no later than 9:30.

The second trooper drove up and I told him I was going to wait outside because I didn’t want to get hit and that help was on the way and the first trooper had already stopped to check on me. They were so helpful and I admire the dangerous job they have out on the highway with all of those trucks and cars going so fast and the risk of the distracted drivers these days.

My husband arrived and changed my tire quickly and I was off and on the road again by 8:30. I arrived to Danbury by 9:05 and was in the classroom giving my introduction by 9:25! I just went with it and rolled with the punches. When I got into the classroom I wasn’t shaking or flustered, I just made light of the situation and got on with the show. It could have been so much worse. It could have been pouring rain or I could have been in an accident. I don’t know where the sense of calm came from but I was glad I kept my cool.

I mentioned to my students today that I have a blog and that my one word resolution for the year is “Challenge” and one of my students said Challenges Are An Opportunity in Disguise. I’m not sure what today’s opportunity was but it did help me connect with my students right away because they were aware of what I had happen and were sympathetic when I arrived; but I am hoping my calm demeanor helped them feel at ease that I was in control of today’s lecture and they were going to learn new things despite what a nutty start my day had!

My family took me out for dinner tonight since my week had a bumpy start and then my husband put new newly repaired tire back on my car.

Thank you Honey! Love you!

Tag: @joespardo

2016 WDW Marathon Half Marathon

Suck It Up and Be Grateful

Remember That One Word Resolution I Chose For This Year?