Tag: races

To Stay On Property Or Not To Stay On Property (for Dopey Challenge), That is the Question

June 2, 2014

I was using David’s DVC Rentals to get prices to stay on property for The Dopey Challenge in January.  They have great prices to stay in a studio as you rent DVC points.  However, I didn’t realize that when you pay the deposit to get the prices obtained and a quote put together, you then have to book and pay the full price for the reservation with 24 hours.  I thought his program is great and I understand the need to square away the reservation right away, but having just got back from vacation, we aren’t ready to pay for another one!

I was researching into the cost of a stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the first part of the challenge, and then a studio at the Boardwalk for the post race vacation with my family.  Last week I was trying to book the Floridian after viewing the rooms there and was blown away by the exquisite rooms!  But I waited a few days too long and lost my chance to stay there for a few nights.

So here’s my dilemma.  I also know that the WorldQuest Orlando Resort is a great place to stay!  My friend Amanda stayed there for Tower of Terror last year and I went to see her at her room and the place was gorgeous!  She wrote about it in her blog www.disneyeveryday.com.  Basically, you get a condo all to yourself.  They offer 2 and 3 bedrooms with 2 or 3 bathrooms, the Master bedrooms have king size beds and whirlpool tubs in their large suites (that sells me over right there).  Full kitchen, living room, eat in dining room, continental breakfast and also the resort amenities.  Like I did last January, I plan on arriving prior to my family, getting groceries and going to bed early for the Dopey challenge races.

whirlpool

So why the dilemma?  Because it is “off property”.  It’s not the Boardwalk or Animal Kingdom.  Will that matter?  I need help deciding. I did plan on driving from Animal Kingdom to at least 3 of the races.  If my family wants to watch me on marathon Sunday they will need to use the hotel’s transportation to get to Epcot at least.

worldquest

So what do you think?  Will it really make a difference if we stay off property for this big weekend?  Help me decide!

My Garmin Debacle

May 12, 2014

So I was running the Simsbury River Race a few weeks ago and prior to the race I was sitting in Kim’s car with her discussing my race strategy.  She asked me what my current running pace was.  I pulled out my phone and starting to look at my stats and she told me, “Girl, you need to get a Garmin!  It’s time to get away from all that phone crap.”  (Well maybe not word for word, but that’s what she was trying to say).  So I decided to use the birthday money my mom gave me towards a Garmin watch.

As soon as the race was over, I came home and pulled up the Garmin site and amazon.com and did some research.  There were two specific things that I had to consider when purchasing a watch, battery life and interval training.

Well, I should have done more research because the first watch I ordered, The Garmin Forerunner 210 could only do interval training in increments of 10 seconds.  It’s a nice watch, but I wasn’t really sure if it was going to suit my training needs.

forerunner210

So I ordered another Garmin, the Forerunner  310XT and when it arrive it was the size of a laptop on my arm!  I wasn’t too happy about the size of that watch, but it had a lot of features I was interested in like the lap pace and other data on the larger screen while doing the interval training.  So I figured worst case, I can wear it on my fitness belt and look at the data as I am running.

forerunner310

The other mistake I made was testing out the watch very little prior to my marathon. I had an epic fail on race morning because I charged the Garmin Forerunner 310, but didn’t put it in power save mode overnight.  So when Gail and I got to the lobby on race morning it was dead!  So we ran upstairs, she grabbed her watch, I grabbed my Forerunner 210 and we went back downstairs.  I used it during the race with the 20/20 intervals, but when we hit 99 reps of intervals it stopped and I didn’t know what to do!  I thought I lost all of my data.  Come to find out, the data is still in the watch, but I have no idea how to restart the intervals.  I did restart the timer but I assumed I was starting at mile 0 again and starting all new stats.  We used Gail’s watch at this point in the race, but I was trying to capture as much data as I could because I like to review the numbers after my races.

My most recent purchase is the Garmin Forerunner 220 and so far I love it so much that I wore it as my every day watch.

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It is simple to use, the battery life is great and I like the screen and information it provides me during my run.  I like that I can select intervals for my own specific times for run and rest, and I came across a walk/run timer built into it today.  I am still learning the watch, but it is very easy to use and some time on YouTube will really teach me a lot about it.

garminscreen

 

The watch is very light weight and is comfortable on my arm.  When I first started running with a watch I hated the feeling on my arm.  It really irritated me.  Ironically, when I was running the Providence marathon with it on, it didn’t even bother me.  I charged it when I received it last week and used it twice for running, and as a watch for time and it hasn’t required a charge yet.

The Garmin 220 is a keeper for sure.  I already returned the other two watches and have no regrets.  The Garmin Forerunner 210 is a nice watch, but when comparing the 210 to the 220 I’m all about the 220.  Easy to read screen, cute colors and very light weight.

2014 Race Calendar

March 17, 2014

While it is already the middle of March, I sat down with my pencil and race calendar to map out what races I am planning on attending for the upcoming year.  This needs to align with the training plan Jeff Galloway has set up for me for this spring and then what we will plan for the summer months.

racecalendarOne of the races that I didn’t plan on doing but decided to last minute is the Harvard Pilgrim Middletown Half & Legends 4-Miler.  The reason why I wasn’t planning on doing it was because I am doing a 23 mile run days prior to the event so I can’t do the half marathon.  However, I realized there is a 4-mile run with the event so I can do that as my shake off run.

I also chose to do this run because like the name of it says, there are Legends attending this run, and one of those legends is my trainer, Jeff Galloway.  Amby Burfoot and Bill Rodgers will also be attending this event.  Once I heard Jeff was going to be there I HAD to register!

I am looking forward to seeing Jeff again, meeting Amby and Bill, and looking forward to this inaugural race!

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