There's A New Blog In Town!

There are a lot of runners already thinking about Disney in 2011. We have decided to document the journey over the next 17 months on a new blog: Goofy Running

The first post:

Can you believe that we are already talking about Goofy 2011? It's true!

I have found that one of the greatest rewards of running a marathon, other than the race itself, is the amazing people I have met along the way. To date I have run four marathons and at each and everyone I have met up with other bloggers who share the love of running.

The 2008 Chicago Marathon Dream Team: Bill, Melisa, Charlie, Maddy, Stone(who cannot stay away from a camera) and Petra

A lot of great running bloggers,and twitter runners are already making plans to spend the second weekend in January 2011 at Walt Disney World for the marathon weekend. If you are planning on participating in any of the distances, the 5K, the Half Marathon, the Full Marathon, the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge or the unofficial Dopey Challenge, please leave a comment and we will invite you to contribute to this blog.

Are you goofy enough to join in this challenge?

My Support Crew

Last week a twitter discussion was underway about having children. The question was about having children in general, and it was posed by a runner, my friend Nicole - A.K.A Running Bebe As the conversation continued Nicole asked about training with kids and how that worked out.

Because it takes more than 140 characters to talk about it, I agreed to write a blog post about it.

For those just tuning in, I was an off and on runner from the time I was a teenager until 2005, which was my triumphant return and there has been no looking back since. When my kids were baby, babies I was in the "off" phase and wasn't running much if at all.

I would like to nominate Susan to write a post about training with a baby.

If you are running and training for a race, regardless of the distance, and you are not single, it is very helpful if your family is supportive of your endeavors. And while my family is extremely supportive, I also try to be as flexible as I can with my runs. Sometimes it means getting up early and getting my run done before the plans for the day get underway.

Best. Support. Crew. Ever.

My family has only ever been to a few races. Races start early in the morning. We live just far enough outside Orlando that it doesn't make sense for me to wake them up and drag them out so they can stand on the side of the road to watch me run past. However, the first question I get when I walk in the door is always "How was your race?" I know they're proud of me. I also know it can be boring to stand there to watch someone run by.

My runs are my alone time. Time to think, time to decompress. I enjoy that time alone. And it helps me to focus more on my family when the run is done.

As I write this, I realize why running with a family works for me:

I get a lot of support from my husband with a commitment to watch the kids while I run.

I'm flexible, I can move things around and leave early so my runs don't dominate the entire day.

My kids are proud of me. And really, could you ask for anything more?