Training Log - Tuesday, January 4, 2011 (Lake Buena Vista, Florida)

My first training log of the new year is not about an impressive run but rather about location, location, location. About six months ago my better half decided to train for her first half marathon and when we thought about a great race to target, the Disney World Half Marathon came up. Couple that goal with my desire to finally take my son on his first trip to Disney World and our decision was made.

Since my mom had mentioned years ago that she would like to be there when he went to Disney for the first time, I decided to fly her in from Germany for the occasion. Once I decided to pace my fiancee in her attempt, I figured I'd sign up for the marathon as well to attempt the "Goofy Challenge". This would be a great way to do "back to back" long runs in preparation of my 100 mile attempt in February.

I decided to only do one or two really short runs during my taper. Fun fact: The average Disney World visitor walks between 10-12 miles per park visit per day. Multiply that with 4 days preceding the half marathon and you get 40-48 miles of walking which should qualify as 'sufficient' training.

We are staying at the Pop Century Disney Resort and Anya figured out a 3/4 mile stretch of paved trail along the lake near our 70s resort building. If you check out www.disneyrunning.com you actually see this trail listed as "Memory Lane". It has some cool info about events during the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s displayed on signs along the trail. There was even mention of the first New York City Marathon, in 1973 I think? I was too busy running. We ended up running it a couple of times out and back for a quick 2.5 miles. We kept an easy pace to stay loose and because we both have some foot issues (ankle for her, achilles tendon for me) we are trying to nurse.

I can't wait to check out the huge expo at ESPN Wide World Of Sports at Disney during race registration. The expo starts Thursday. People who know me know that I am a sucker for running gear, especially tech gear and I am sure they'll have tons of it there. This weekend is gonna be crazy, 45000 or so runners making their way through a fairy tale castle along many other unusual sights. Quite a different type of race compared to my usual fare of technical trail ultras with very small crowds of racers.
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