RunDisney/ Plans for running

Just a quick re-cap with my history of running:
I used to hate it - I was the kid who dreaded the timed mile. And then my sophomore year in high school I tried to start running and I ended up with 2 stress fractures in each leg - one right below the knee and one above the ankle, as well as shin splints. All because I was wearing the completely wrong shoes. But my running career was over before it started, at age 15.

In the summer of 2011 I was back at WW for the upteenth time and they had a challenge to walk a 5k. Since I had small children at the time, getting outside wasn't really an option, so I decided to work up to walking the 3.1 miles on the treadmill and it took forever. Time was so precious and I just wanted to get the 3.1 done as quickly as I could. A friend had done the C25K program so I decided to give it a try. I did it during the fall of 2011 - First on the treadmill until I got to the 20 minute run, and then outside. By then it was late October and I got bronchitis my first time running outside. Even though I couldn't run for a month, I still was able to do my first 5K the day after Thanksgiving. My time was like 38-39 minutes. I did 2 more 5Ks, the 3rd one being on New Year's Day. I last ran on Super Bowl Sunday 2012, the day after we committed to moving. I never thought I would take off 13 months. Moving will do that to you.

March 1, 2013, 3 months after recommitting to WW, at 223 lbs I decided to try C25K again. My friend who had gotten me into running had just had her gallbladder out and wanted to get back outside running slowly (ie my pace!), so even before I was completed I started running with her on a rail trail. By my birthday in August I was up to a 6 miles. In 2014 I ran a ton of races including a PR in the 5K (31:30), my only true 1/2 marathon (2:32:30) and on 1/1/2015 I PRed the 10K (1:07).

In December 2014 I joined a running group because I wanted to get to 400 miles by the end of the year and I couldn't do that just on the weekends and I hated the treadmill and I wasn't going to run by myself in the dark. Since then my running has tanked and I've gained the weight back - The weight gain happened for many reasons, but part of it was lack of sleep - waking up at 4:30 am to run at 5:00 am meant less sleep. And I didn't even like those runs - I didn't feel the runner's high running in the dark. I did run 400 miles again in 2015, many of them with the group. But 2016, 2017 and 2018 my miles have decreased, to a low of 57 in 2018! (I didn't run even 1 mile from early September 2017 until February 2018). So even though I am monetarily part of the running group and I follow them on Facebook, I don't run with them anymore.

I do miss running. I don't just like running for the sake of running and I am pretty particular about where and when I run, but I want to get back into it, hence starting C25K again.

Part of my frustration of running past 2014 was that I had run a 1/2 marathon. I loved all parts of training for it (except the huge blisters I got during my last long run - wrong socks!) but the next time I tried to train for one, I didn't feel the same. Been there, done that, when it came to the long miles. It wasn't new. I planned on running a 1/2 over Memorial Day weekend 2015 but with my dad passing away on 5/4 I knew I couldn't (or wouldn't want to) dedicate the last few weekends to long runs so I ran 13.1 on my own the weekend after he passed away. In 2016 I tried to train again, but this time the weight was just too much - I didn't want to hurt myself. But it has been so long that I feel like I am ready again - That the excitement of doing those distances again would once again by exciting.

I've done 3 runDisney races - 2 5Ks and 1 10K.

I've told myself IF (and it still is an IF) I were to ever run a marathon it would be in Disney. Their marathon is in January which should be ideal (except yesterday, which saw a high of 80 degrees and humidity). My body doesn't like heat. Never has, no matter what my weight. But I don't want to run a marathon on Cape Cod in February! Or raise thousands of dollars to run Boston (and hello, hills!) And I don't want to run a relatively flat marathon in Chicago or Philadelphia in October/November because that means lots of summer miles. The training cycle for the Disney marathon starts mid-late August. Which happens to be my birthday. So IF (and still a big IF) I were to do a marathon it would be Disney, January 2021. I could start training on my 50th birthday. Though I would have to register in April of 2020.

 Then I keep thinking, I've done a runDisney 5K, a 10K and if I were to do a marathon, what about the poor 1/2 marathon? I had planned to go down with my family next February (2020) and run the princess 1/2 then, but I don't want to spend the $ for another family Disney trip. But since I told them all that we weren't going, I still kept thinking....but I could go down? A friend talked me out of Princess based on how it falls for our February vacation. Plus it means a lot of winter miles as training wouldn't start until Christmas time. So if I were to do a 1/2, it would be next January. I would have to sign up in April of this year. And I'd have to be 10K ready (steadily 6-7 mile long runs) by Veteran's Day (which is perfect because that is when the kids' fall sports end).

But for now, I need to be able to run for 30 minutes without stopping (I am just at 5 minutes now!) . While I think I would do the run/walk method for marathon training, I want to get back to non-stop running. I never used to walk, ever, unless it was a huge hill, but I usually avoided those in long runs, or used them as part of a short training run.

Which brings me to my foot. Every time I've tried to run over the last 18 months I feel like I perhaps have the start of a stress fracture. Or it could just be that my feet are too fat right now :) But I worry about it. But I am going to continue with my plan to do C25K - be done with that towards the end of February and starting March 1, start increasing my mileage to get back up to 5-6 miles. No races on the plan, just getting the mileage (with no walking) up. That is my plan :)

Ellie and I - 5K- November 2014

Pre-cruise 10K - April 2016