Hanging up my running shoes

Hope the groin is feeling better.

I just finished Stranger Things last week - love it! I grew up in the 80's too, so it's like a fun trip back in time. I don't think their hair is nearly as big as mine was back then though. :D I'm now binging Mad Men.

We have never done the water parks either, but if we go next spring, we definitely want to try one of them, so interested in hearing more about them.
 
Good call on the resting! Hope it heals soon!

We don't really "binge" shows because I just don't have time to sit in front of a TV for hours on end. I did it once, right after our DD was born because what else do you do with a newborn? And I watched all of The Secret Life of the American Teenager in like a week. It was insane. But nowadays we just watch an episode a night when we are both home. ANYWAY. LOVED Stranger Things! Such a great show.

I'm now binging Mad Men.
We loved Mad Men too, until like season 6 then I just got bored. But I LOVE Jon Hamm. *heart eyes*
 
So, question to you guys, has anyone done the water parks? I've read up a bit on them and since my girls are teenagers, it appears that Typhoon Lagoon may be the better choice for older kids. Blizzard Beach seems to have more to offer little kiddos. Chris and I don't especially love water parks (although I do love a lazy river), but the girls do, and for once we know we can count on the weather being HOT, so maybe that would be a nice choice. Shades of Green does have a couple of pools, but they really aren't anything special, so maybe the water park would be fun. They do have some options to rent a large umbrella or cabana ($$$) that would make it more tolerable for me and Chris is we don't want to stay in the water all day.

Anybody done either or both of the water parks? Any recommendations or tips? What about the mini-golf? Anybody done those? Worth it to just do something a little different?
I have only done Typhoon Lagoon and really enjoyed it. They have a great wave pool and lazy river. Blizzard Beach seems to have more thrills. I have never done Mini-golf though.
 
Glad you backed off your training and are thinking through race strategy. Hope things ease up soon.

No experience with either the TV shows or the water parks, but following along as we plan our November trip.
 


I have done both water parks multiply times. When I was a CP attendance was done and they let us get into the water parks for free so we did that a lot. I like both parks, it just depends on what your into. We liked the roller coaster slid at TL and the wave pool, but BB has more water slides. Either one is a good choice. Just get there earlier in the day to make sure you can get seats and the slides have shorter lines then.

Have also done Fantasia Gardens one year. My dad really liked it because it is more challenging than your typical mini-golf. The rest of the family didn't enjoy it as much. One thing I do remember was that we were hot, like really hot on the course so maybe save this for early morning or later in the day.
 
We like Blizzard Beach better than Typhoon Lagoon. There are more water slides and the lazy river is awesome! It's right next to Winter Summerland mini golf so you could do both on the same day if you wanted to. There are two different courses there. I've only ever done the winter one which is Christmas themed.
 
I loved Blizzard Beach when we went there! I was a sophomore in high school. My mom doesn't know how to swim or I would have gone back by now (she is my Disney travel partner).
 


I can't help you with the water parks, but we did the Fantasia Gardens mini-golf and liked it a lot. I thought it was really imaginative, and while some of the holes were hard (mostly because you had to get the ball up a very steep incline for a few holes), it wasnt too difficult.
If you like mini-golf, I definitely recommend it. Super fun.
I've never done the Winter Summerland courses, so I don't know what those are like.

I don't necessarily love mini-golf, but the girls do, so that's good to hear it's a fun course.

We did the water parks as kids and I loved them, but I also love the water and water parks.

If you are looking for relaxation days, however, I don't know that a water park would be. I personally probably wouldn't add them on if this was my trip. On my non-park days, I'd sleep in, hit the pool at SoG, go to Disney Springs (afternoon movie?), and maybe resort hop.

Yeah, it's the whole relaxation thing I'm debating. Chris, surprisingly, is all in for the water park, but that's because he wants us to do a cabana rental which basically negates the cheap add-on benefit of the military tickets. LOL. So, I think for Chris and I it could be relaxing/lazy and the girls could still stay active - because to them relaxing/lazy = boring.

I totally missed your last post because my brain went straight to Stranger Things...

I haven't done the water parks OR mini golf at WDW...I'm not a water park person and I HATE HATE HATE mini golf because I am so bad at it! So I agree with @run.minnie.miles that I personally would use an off-day to resort hop or hit up Disney Springs.

As far as water parks and mini golf, any opinions I have are second-hand. My BFF, who is a local, seems to prefer Winter Summerland and Typhoon Lagoon, FWIW. :confused3

Just to be clear, I'm terrible at mini-golf, but I also don't care enough about it to mind. :D

Hope the groin is feeling better.

I just finished Stranger Things last week - love it! I grew up in the 80's too, so it's like a fun trip back in time. I don't think their hair is nearly as big as mine was back then though. :D I'm now binging Mad Men.

We have never done the water parks either, but if we go next spring, we definitely want to try one of them, so interested in hearing more about them.

I never had good enough hair to really have some big hair, but Mike's mom's hair absolutely cracks me up. It's so big. And then Steve's hair and Dustin's hair at the snow ball was just to hilariously on point. The Farrah Fawcett hairspray stuff was too funny.

Good call on the resting! Hope it heals soon!

We don't really "binge" shows because I just don't have time to sit in front of a TV for hours on end. I did it once, right after our DD was born because what else do you do with a newborn? And I watched all of The Secret Life of the American Teenager in like a week. It was insane. But nowadays we just watch an episode a night when we are both home. ANYWAY. LOVED Stranger Things! Such a great show.


We loved Mad Men too, until like season 6 then I just got bored. But I LOVE Jon Hamm. *heart eyes*

I also started out watching Mad Men when it was running on AMC, but I eventually lost interest in it. I think we only watched the first two or three seasons. But, yeah, Jon Hamm is dreamy.

I have only done Typhoon Lagoon and really enjoyed it. They have a great wave pool and lazy river. Blizzard Beach seems to have more thrills. I have never done Mini-golf though.

Well, if Blizzard Beach has more thrills then maybe the girls would like that more. Although they love a good wave pool too.

Glad you backed off your training and are thinking through race strategy. Hope things ease up soon.

No experience with either the TV shows or the water parks, but following along as we plan our November trip.

I'm getting totally obsessed with planning. I've never really planned a trip this close to going - we are usually planning a year out. :)

I have done both water parks multiply times. When I was a CP attendance was done and they let us get into the water parks for free so we did that a lot. I like both parks, it just depends on what your into. We liked the roller coaster slid at TL and the wave pool, but BB has more water slides. Either one is a good choice. Just get there earlier in the day to make sure you can get seats and the slides have shorter lines then.

Have also done Fantasia Gardens one year. My dad really liked it because it is more challenging than your typical mini-golf. The rest of the family didn't enjoy it as much. One thing I do remember was that we were hot, like really hot on the course so maybe save this for early morning or later in the day.

Good call on the heat of the day and mini-golf. Might be a good after dinner last thing kind of activity.

We like Blizzard Beach better than Typhoon Lagoon. There are more water slides and the lazy river is awesome! It's right next to Winter Summerland mini golf so you could do both on the same day if you wanted to. There are two different courses there. I've only ever done the winter one which is Christmas themed.

Gosh, the votes seem pretty split between BB and TL. Hmmm. I guess that probably means it would be a good choice either way.

I loved Blizzard Beach when we went there! I was a sophomore in high school. My mom doesn't know how to swim or I would have gone back by now (she is my Disney travel partner).

I guess we could potentially do half days at both parks. The ticket has up to 5 days of entry into the water parks. And, luckily, we can make those decisions on the fly likely if we opt for those tickets.

Thanks for the crowd-source responses you guys!
 
Oops, forgot to add regarding training...

I haven't run for a week and I think finally the groin is starting to feel pretty normal again. Still maybe a touch of tenderness there, but mostly normal. Chris is out of town, so I'm going to try and take an easy run tonight on the treadmill and see how it feels in advance of our 15k on Saturday.
 
LET'S DO THE SHAMROX!
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Tomorrow is our 15K race. It's the Local Shamrox race series and includes the 15K, 5K and a Beer Mile. We are doing the 15K as we have the last couple of years. Neither of those races have been especially good for me since one year my training was lacking and last year, I was coming out of an injury. Sigh. I think I'm cursed on this race. Anyway, I've still not run any for the last week, but can say that the groin is much improved, although still not completely without twinges. My original intent was to really try to race this thing using the same intervals I used for our PR half last fall (2:00/:30) with an average pace just a touch over 10:00 mm. Secretly, I was hoping to push it just a bit faster and hit a total time of 1:30 or less. Not sure that is still in the cards though and ultimately, I don't want to aggravate the groin again, so what to do??? Right now, I'm thinking I go ahead with the 2:00/:30 intervals and push the pace a bit, but also stay aware of how my leg is feeling and if it starts bothering me, be willing to pull back and just finish it out as an easy training run with booze at the end of it.

The weather looks ideal with a starting time of 8:00 AM and temps in the upper 40s and climbing to low 50s by race conclusion. That part I AM excited about since the weather has been cold and drizzly the last two years and it it will be nice enough to hang out after the race. There's a big celebration after the race with free beer and then other food and drink for purchase. Local bands and a beer mile run (which is usually over by the time we finish the 15K). So, I hope this year to be able to hang out and enjoy the festivities for awhile as well. Even more importantly, it will be warm enough for me to wear my green plaid Sparkle Skirt. :)
 
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Luck o' the Irish
Shamrox 15K recap!!
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Saturday was our 3rd time running the Shamrox 15k. This race has always been a bit of problem for me the times I've run it with just poor training and then last year a nagging injury. This year was going to be my redemption until I got a groin pull from YOGA a couple of weeks ago. Some rest seems to have mostly fixed that up, but it was less than ideal training leading up to this race. We went to bib pickup the night before and collected our race shirt. This year it was a hoodie for the 15k and I love it. It's super soft!


https://flic.kr/p/24dDLyj
So, my plan had been to run this race with 2:00/:30 intervals and shoot for 10 mm pace (and if all went well slightly faster) with a hope to get to a 1:30 finish. My previous PR on this course was 1:48:38 avg pace of 11:41, so I at least felt confident I could beat that! I will also admit this was our first race event since starting our DopeyBadger training plan, and I was really worried that all those training runs with 12+ mm paces really wouldn't allow me to race 9.3 miles at a 10+ mm pace. Regardless, we were going to give it our best!

We got to the downtown start location about 30 minutes early and met up with several members of our Galloway group. One of the women we ran with a lot last year wanted to run with us although we warned her that we didn't know how well our pace would hold up. We'd decided to stick with 2:00/:30 intervals but to start out a bit slower to test out the groin and then to try and race at a good pace if I felt okay.

Getting ready to start!

https://flic.kr/p/24dDLpG
I'd been hoping for a bit warmer weather, but it was just low 40s at start time. You can't see it here, but I'm wearing my green plaid sparkle skirt but with some added capris underneath. Right at 8:00 we were off. We ran slowly to start and ran through our first few walk intervals until we got comfortable and then settled into our rhythm.
Mile 1 - 10:34
Mile 2 - 10:12
Mile 3 - 10:07

I admit around this point, I was really questioning if I could keep this up for 9.3. I mean, I hadn't run this fast since honestly last October. Could I really do it? Luckily conversation was flowing nicely with the 3 of us and that was helping.

Mile 4 - 10:11
Mile 5 - 9:43


We were warming up some now, so we ran past our friend's house on the route and her husband was outside, so we dropped some hats, gloves (and Chris his sweat pants) and headed back out.

Mile 6 - 10:34
Mile 7 - 9:34

Some time after the mile 7 marker, I was really starting to fatigue and started to slow a bit.

Mile 8 - 10:45


Luckily around this time, Chris told our friend the story of F**k Tired during my half PR and it was enough to spur me on to the finish.

Mile 9 - 10:13

0.3 - 8:57.

Finish time...
1:34:34 average pace 10:11. YAY!!! I was pretty darn happy with that given the challenges leading up to the race. Now, I'll tell you, both mine and Chris' watch, along with our other friends showed the course was a bit short. 9.2 versus 9.3, so I was probably not quite that fast, but hey, an official result is an official result, right? :) And, a new PR for 15k distance!!

We found our other running buddies and collected our reward. A beer glass! No medals for this race unless you place, folks.


https://flic.kr/p/23WdVjc

Participants also get 2 free beers, but we opted for the Bloody Mary bar instead.
https://flic.kr/p/23WdVjc

https://flic.kr/p/24dDLbq

There's also a complementary breakfast buffet, but we chose to just eat our way through our Bloody Mary.

We hung out for awhile visiting with our friends and eventually headed for home.

I was reasonably pleased with my place finish in my age group though. I got 6th place out of 25 runners in my division, so not half bad, right?

So, yeah, I'd say my first race experience following the DB plan worked out pretty well. Wish I'd not hurt myself going into it, but I think we made the most of it.

Now it's on to the training for our half marathon in April and hoping I avoid the injury bug going forward. As for this whole train slow to race fast?




 
That hoodie looks super comfortable!

Congrats on the PR - that's awesome! Especially considering the injury ... I'm really impressed that you were able to keep such a good pace! Congrats!

I think @Chris-Mo may have to get used to telling that "F**k Tired" story during every race ... it seems to be good motivation for you!
 
Great job zelly and Chris!!! I really like the 15k distance. And if I actually liked bloody Mary's I'd imagine olives and pretzels in them would be yummy.

I like that your "F&@! Tired" came back to help you again.

And I really like that you got 6th place...Dang Girl!!!!! Nice job!!!!
 
It was one of those runs that at the start could go either way. But this time it swung the great way. The bloody Mary was very good! It was a very nice mix not too hot. Gisele likes good vodka so she had them put in the good stuff that always helps. Overall, it was a successful race, Gisele did a great job and I know she talked about slowing a bit but she really did not flag much and finished strong at the end!
 
Congratulations on your PR, and great race report!

Now it's on to the training for our half marathon in April and hoping I avoid the injury bug going forward. As for this whole train slow to race fast?



Good luck on your half, and yes, mostly slow running really does help you go fast. I'm definitely a believer myself. I'm currently reading Matt Fitzgerald's "80/20 Running" and there's all sorts of science behind why the "go slow to race fast" approach works. It's an interesting read if you're curious about it. Can't wait to see how the half goes!
 

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