Author: Jess Guth

Dr Jess Guth is a Legal Academic. She blogs at jessguth.com She also doesn't really run - reallynotarunner.com

Chasing Minnie – the 10km

Jess Guth1 Comment

MinnieI am sitting in bed getting ready to sleep and be ready for the half marathon tomorrow. The 10km race today was in a way more what I expected. I enjoyed some bits of the run but overall can’t say I loved it but I love having done it. We overdid the walking round the parks yesterday. We did well over 20km over and above the race and we really should have rested. We went to the Pasta in the Park party and it was good for grabbing some food but they were laying the music so loud you couldn’t talk to other runners anyway and we were so tired that we left as soon as we’d eaten and even skipped watching the illuminations from the reserved area. We will try and go back and catch them another time though.

when I woke up this morning I felt nervous and scared. I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was worried. It was raining too so the space blanket thingies they handed out yesterday were really useful to keep the worst of the rain off. We boarded a bus about 3.40 and got to the start. We sat ourselves in one of the tents and stayed dry and warm. We ate our bananas and about 4.45 they opened the way through to the corals. D again for this one. We went to the loo just before we entered the coral and then waited in the rain for the 5.30start. We crossed the start line about 6am.image

The plan was to take it easy but to run the first section to get out of all the major congestion. That worked pretty well and we ran the first 8 minutes or so and then settled into our 2 minute running, 1 minute walking intervals. I was finding it much harder than yesterday. It was much more humid and my legs were tired. The first 3 miles were along roads and there wasn’t much in the way of entertainment or support. I was just about to slip into that negative cycle of finding it hard and the thinking I can’t do this anyway when we ran past a screen showing Diseny cartoons and playing music and I found myself singing along ‘I’ve got a feeling…tonight’s gonna be a good good night..’ And things felt easier. Shortly after the 3 mile mark we entered Epcot and running through Epcot was again enjoyable. I belted out frozen’s ‘Let it Go’ and marvelled at the fact that I could run and sing at the same time. Mile 4 came and we ran along the Boardwalk, an area I hadn’t ever been to before so it was interesting to look at and there was quite a lot of very vocal support and I suddenly got all emotional and jogged along balling my eyes out for about 3 minutes. No idea why but I was just completely overwhelmed for a few minutes. Mile 5 came quickly after that even though my breathing was lol over the place. We decided to run the last mile. After about half a mile though my tummy gave an almighty gurgle and bubbled dangerously away to itself. I asked for a walk break and we took the next 2 as we ran through the final bit of Epcot. A bloke running much faster tried to cut in front, possibly for a photo op with an official photographer but he misjudged the gap and bumped into a woman, slipped and fell on his backside knocking into me in the process. He got up and sped off. The incident had kept my mind off my tummy and running and then suddenly we’d passed the 6 mile marker and then we could see the finish line.

Just as we turned into the straight leading up to it the Star Wars theme tune started playing and it was so so hard to to sprint but just keep it steady. Our official time was 1.20.36 which means we were running well within ourselves and gives me confidence for tomorrow, particularly as we both felt comfortable at that pace with those intervals.

We collected our medals, snack box, water and another space blanket and headed off to get the monorail back to the hotel where we had a breakfast reservation. It turned out that we’d been told the wrong time for the start of the monorail but after a bit of walking backwards and forwards (yeah, thanks for that) we were directed to the monorail and one was started early. We got to our room in time to quickly get changed which was good because my clothes were all soaked through with sweat from me and with rain. No time for a shower though.

imageAfter breakfast I felt much better. We’ve tried to take it easy today. We’ve done some yoga, we also washed and dried some of our running clothes and went to the Magic Kingdom where we went on a few rides and sat and watched one of the parades as well as people from various tea and water stops. We had booked an early tea so were back at the hotel by 7pm. I’ve laid out my half marathon clothes for the morning and packed my bag to take with comfy clothes to change into.

I am tired and will curl up and sleep now (it’s about 8pm). I have again done well over 20k today all in but I feel more rested than I did yesterday and though tired my legs are generally ok. I’m also hopefully going to get a little more sleep so I am looking forward to the half marathon, to seeing what entertainment they have on the course, to running through the Magic Kingdom and Epcot and to getting this thing done!

Running with Pluto – the 5km

Jess Guth5 Comments

Pluto 1So by now you will have read that I was not entirely honest about my marathon running story and have in fact completed the Dopey Challenge. Or at least I hope I have as I am writing this after the 5km race. I loved this run. I had more fun than I ever thought I would running. It was an early start. We left the hotel about 4.10am on a bus that took us to the starting area. It’s impossible to describe how huge the event is. Around 10000 runners were running today. The pictures I tried to take don’t really do it justice and the quality isn’t great because it was dark but floodlight lit. There may be some on the official photos and if there is I will share, or I may have more luck on one of the other days.

It was cold by Florida standards so once in the pre race area we wandered around a bit, ate our bananas, went to the loo, wandered a bit more and then it was time to move into the corals. We were in D for this race. On our way we went to the loo again. Any race organisers could learn a thing or two from Disney here: around 10000 runners and hardly any queues for toilets!

More standing around but bang on 6am coral A set off and about 25 minutes later we crossed the startline. I had said before we started that I would like to run the entire race so I could say that I ran a full Disney race! As we crossed the startline and plodded our way out of the Epcot parking lot and toward the park itself I wondered if it would be possible. I felt good, it wasn’t hot but the air is different, humidity I think, and even though it really isn’t that humid today I felt it. A tiny sliver of doubt crept in. Just for a second there was a really clear voice saying ‘you can’t do this’. Almost at the same time the running got easier, I’d settled into a rhythm and then suddenly we were at Mile 1 and shortly after we entered Epcot through a back lot. image

Running through Epcot today was like nothing I have ever experienced. I turned the corner into the park and was greated with ‘…I just can’t wait to be King…’. We sang along. We were running and singing! Next was the Mary Poppins song which we also sang along to and did a little silly dance and then we were back on Hakuna Matata and had ‘zoomed’ past Mile 2. I honestly loved every minute of that and I didn’t find it hard at all. I was just running steadily and happily along and I couldn’t stop grinning. Pluto 2I made a beeline for a couple of the official photographers striking silly poses as I ran past (who is this woman running in my kit and number?) and then we went past Mile 3, left Epcot through a back door, turned a corner and saw the finish line. We crossed it holding hands grinning more broadly than the Cheshire Cat.

We walked through the finish area, got our medal, runDisney goodie box, bananas and water and then made our way to the Runners World Challenge breakfast area where we had a little nibble of fruit and yoghurt before heading to the Garden Grill in Epcot to enjoy a proper sit down and breakfast. One of the characters at the Grill was Pluto so of course there had to be pictures.image

We spent the rest of the morning at Epcot but around lunchtime realised that we were walking a deceptive amount. It’s about 5pm now and I am on 20km according to my Fitbit! So we came back to the hotel to rest a bit before heading out again for the Pasta in the Park Part back at Epcot which also include viewing of illuminations. Taking it easy at Disney World is quite hard!

So 5km day has been fantastic. I never thought I would have this much fun running. Bring on the 10k!

The Dopiest thing I ever did do!

Jess Guth10 Comments

So I said I would always be honest about running on this blog but I have to come clean. I wasn’t entirely honest about our marathon efforts. We were actually training for the Rundisney Dopey Challenge.Toy story

The challenge includes a 5km, a 10km, a half marathon and a full marathon on 4 consecutive days. Back when we signed up we were so worried that we wouldn’t be able to get a marathon place because the sell out so fast that we took the opportunity to sign up through the Runners world challenge which was the Dopey. We initially thought we would just run the 5km and then the marathon but as training progressed the idea took hold.

Dopey f

Well today we completed that challenge by running the marathon. I am a little sore and very tired so I will leave reflections on Dopey for tomorrow or another day but I did write a blog post each day after each race and I will post them here shortly. I apologise now for any dodgy spelling or formatting – I only have the iPad here. Completing the challenge is bloody huge. I couldn’t run 100metres 12 months ago and now

Dopey e

Food and that

Jess Guth1 Comment

I did something unusual the other day and ordered the paperback version of a book I already have on kindle. The book is the New Year Same You book by Julie Creffield I already mentioned a little while back. I know I keep going on about it but it is such a lovely antidote to all the diet crap that we seem to be bombarded with at this time of year. I ignore most of it but I can’t escape the adverts; new diets and exercise regimes, new ‘get your dream body in 4 weeks’ type of things are everywhere. Now I am in a pretty good place regarding body image etc at the minute but that’s because I am starting 2016 2.5 stone lighter than I started 2015 and I am about to do something with this slightly wibbly wobbly body of mine that just 12 months ago seemed utterly impossible. But even with all that positivity all this diet and getting slim stuff is still getting to me. I have to make a conscious effort to remind myself that I have done pretty well and that being fitter that I ever have been is far more important than getting in a size 12. Goodness, have I ever fitted in a size 12? Doubt it.

Anyway, the book. I ordered the paperback because I suddenly realised I was thinking about it alot and I wanted to go back to it and highlight and write little notes to myself and also work on some of the tasks Julie suggests and that is all just easier with an actual book. Just having the book won’t change anything at all. Doing stuff with it and engaging with the suggestions in it might well help me get to grips with some of the things I find difficult about this new ‘running feature enabled’ version of me. I’m waiting for the paperback to come but I was looking at the chapter about food again because of all the diet crap that’s around and because I had a not so nice conversation with someone about food recently.

I was asked about my weightloss and the other person simply would not accept that I had not been completely utterly disciplined about food and that my eating habits would change dramatically post marathon. Kath had a similar conversation with someone who refused to believe that she hadn’t been on a diet of some kind. I have done Slimming World in the past and it did work for me for a bit but there was just too much there that I diagreed with fundamentally (like diet/lite drinks to name just one). Julie’s focus on understanding our relationship with food and about making conscious food choices really resonated, as did the idea of disordered eating.

So here are my thoughts on food: I eat very little processed food. I like fruit and veggies  – all of them really apart from leeks. I don’t like leeks. I eat meat, possibly too much but where it comes from is important to me – local and most definitly free range – not necessarily organic – that’s a whole other story… Food miles are evil. I love eating stuff we’ve grown but I am also lazy and not that competent in garden or kitchen. We eat out a lot (see my lazy and competence point) and there are things I could cut out to be really ‘good’ (I don’t really like being ‘good’ though – just the idea of having to be a good girl makes me want to misbehave) but I don’t want to be miserable. I like chocolate, I like a beer and with that a packet of crisps and I like a glass of prosecco here and there. I like cheese and bread and crackers and sometimes only a cup of tea and a ginger nut biscuit will do. So shoot me.

How I eat has changed with running though but it is the running that came first. I didn’t change my eating to lose weight, I changed my eating, and not by much, because I listen to what my body wants. I rarely now eat something for the sake of it – I said rarely, not never. What I want to eat has changed. I crave broccoli, I adore salmon or tuna on quinoa and grains and you can’t beat avocado on toast… I can also eat a jar of peanut butter with a spoon in one sitting.

Reading the chapter about food in Julie’s book made me think about the messages and (mis)information we get fed (pun intended obviously) every day of our lives. No wonder most people are totally confused as to what we should and shouldn’t be eating! As for food labels – don’t get me started, they can make a mars bar look healthier than a piece of fruit. Even adverts I thought were quite funny, like the maltesers adverts about being naughty, assign moral value to food; we talk about ‘being good’ with food; good people have a salad, bad people have the burger and fries… but you can be pretty sure that neither of them will actually sit and enjoy the food. We eat on the run, while doing something else, at our desks (oh that’s me!), while watching TV. Julie’s chapter made me stop and think a bit. I tend to be quite arrogant about food. A bit ‘I know what I’m doing and I am fully aware of what choices I am making…’ But am I? I suspect not. We do food plan our weeks but we tend to just plan main meals. I think we would do well to plan breakfast and snacks etc too. And in the same way that we plan what to eat we should also plan the when and where much more. Julie’s chapter made me think about how to make more time for just enjoying food and the togetherness it could bring. We could cook together, we always enjoy it and yet so rarely do it. Why?

Anyway, one of the The Fat Girl’s Guide To Running running vests says ‘don’t judge just run’ and I really do think we need to take the don’t judge theme into the food arena too. Food and eating are loaded with moral baggage and guilt and pleasure and the complex relationships we have with it and we all need to figure it out for ourselves. So don’t judge, and don’t allow yourself to be judged but do think about what you are putting into your body and why. I do, and will continue to, reach for the biscuits when I feel a bit crap but I know that’s what I am doing and I choose to do it and I no longer ‘accidentally’ eat the whole packet. That has nothing to do with self control or discipline. I am not denying myself anything. I just have what I want as long as I am really sure that I want it.

Anyway, I am sure there will be more musings on specific aspects of Julie’s book but if you’re not quite where you want to be and all the diet stuff around at the minute is getting you down – or you are thinking of going on a diet, I really do think the book might help make sense of it all.

So that’s it then

Jess Guth4 Comments

Training done. We went for our last training run earlier today. Just over 6 miles and then we walked the 3 miles ish back home after having coffee at the Bingley 5 Rise Locks Cafe with our friend.

I feel a bit lost. The next time I lace up those trainers I will be running Disney! I’ve got a couple of posts lined up for while I’m away  – a couple of review type posts – but the next time I blog and post immediately will be after the marathon on 10th January.

See you on the other side!