Town of Celebration Marathon – Walk Into the Future

2024 Town of Celebration Half Marathon

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“No matter how slow you go you are still lapping everyone on the couch”.

(Unknown)

The Walk into the Future blog made it back over to Celebration, Florida for the 2024 Town of Celebration Half Marathon. I ran this race for the first time in 2023 and vowed to make this an annual visit because of the course, community involvement and the outstanding post-race party.

Celebration, Florida may be the friendliest place I have ever visited for a race weekend. The downtown area reminds me of a movie set but it’s 100% real. The town rolls out the red carpet for runners over multiple days and it feels like returning home. Most races put on a good face to attract runners but don’t have a welcoming vibe. Well, Celebration, Florida welcomes runners with open arms and then invites us to hang out with them at the post-race party.

I was able to clock a surprising 2:09:16 in 2023 because of the flat course and cool weather. Didn’t think I would break 2:10 again a month after running my first full marathon but I felt great the entire race and kept moving forward. Told my friend Lauren my goal time was 2:08 but didn’t fully believe I could get close to that time. Funny what happens with a great course and weather conditions. 😊

I entered the 2024 half marathon coming off a 2:15 finish during the 2024 Vero Beach Half Marathon. Not my fastest or slowest time but a steady effort to get up and over the bridges twice. Viewed the Vero Beach Half as a good barometer of fitness and my overall training program. Wanted it to be a springboard for a fast 2024.

The weather at the 2024 Town of Celebration Half Marathon was surprisingly warmer this year. I watched the weather the entire week and race day was projected to be the warmest day of the week with humidity. Most folks know how I feel about humidity on race day but trusted my training would carry me on the course and it did.

I arrived at the race start line about 40 minutes before the race started. This gave me enough time to stretch, get a quick run in and visit the bathroom before toeing the line.

Found a spot towards the middle of the pack with intent to let the fast runners get out. I should have made my way closer to the start line since there were a ton of walkers in front of me. Never understand why walkers and/or slower runners make it to the front for race starts. It is dangerous for them and other runners who must maneuver around them to avoid a crash. This extra traffic takes a lot of energy to get around, but we all have to run our own race.

The course is completely flat, which makes this an ideal place to run a half marathon.

I couldn’t go out too fast due to the extra traffic in front of me. Decided to find a comfortable pace and enjoy the experience.

I was surprisingly consistent throughout the race—each mile split started with a 10. My fastest mile split was 10:05 (Miles 3, 4, 6) and my slowest mile split was 10:52 (Mile 13). Never could find another gear during this race because of the humidity but I am proud of the consistent effort throughout. Crossed the finish line at 2:18 but felt good and smiled as I finished with a kick.

Made my way to the race after party to get my beer, breakfast, and mimosas. Yes, runners drink beer at 9 am and we don’t blink an eye. The local restaurants had tables and gave out food samples to runners and family members. These were small portions, but you can go back as many times as you like. Spent two hours sampling food and drinking beer this year. Already looking forward to the 2025 Town of Celebration Half Marathon. I’m sure the after-party will be epic again next year.

“When your legs get tired, run with your heart”.

(Unknown)

2024 Vero Beach Half Marathon

“I’m not running half of something; I am crushing the whole 13.1”.

(Pinterest)

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I started my half marathon journey back in December 2013 as an agreement with an Orlando friend who was an avid runner. Our agreement was to run the 2013 OUC Half Marathon together and she was going to help me train and guide me through the process. Sounded great but that never materialized.

My friend and her family moved to Dallas, Texas after we both signed up for the OUC Half Marathon. I thought about backing out but decided to press forward and run the race. I had no idea how to prepare or even complete a half marathon but toed the line and grimaced my way around the course. I wanted to quit multiple times but didn’t know the area well enough to walk off the course, so I kept moving forward and completed the half marathon. Everything on my body hurt because I had no idea what I was doing.

Fast forward and 2024 is my 11^th year competing in long distance races. I had no idea signing up for a random half marathon with a friend would become an anticipated part of my daily life. I sign up for half marathons now as part of my training program. I know how to train, hydrate, and recover, which makes my life a lot better once the race is over.

One of my favorite half marathons is the Vero Beach Half Marathon. I have participated in this race three years in a row and envision I will compete every year I’m on the Treasure Coast.

This race has two bridge crossings within the first five miles, but it is completely flat once you get over the bridge the second time. I joke you must survive the first 5 miles of the race and then the course comes back to the runners.

The 2024 Vero Beach Half Marathon started with cooler weather this year which makes completing 13.1 miles a lot easier. This is a smaller race with less than 300 runners in the half marathon. There is not much spectator interactions during this race either. It almost feels like most folks in Vero have no idea why the streets are closed, or why people are running around in shorts. People wave and blow their car horns but no music or cheering spectators to get runners energized—but I still love this race. 😊

I entered this year without a finish time in mind. I wanted to keep progressing towards the 2024 Town of Celebration Half marathon which was my goal race. I took a full 10 days away from running after completing the 2023 Garden of Life Marathon back in December, so this was my first double digit run since the marathon. My physical fitness was still good so wanted to push hard in the first part of the race and then pull back a bit. Didn’t know if the weather would heat up or not but didn’t want to struggle in the heat if it got warmer. Luckily, the weather remained cool throughout the race, and I was able to enjoy the miles on a very nice morning.

Race recap: I run sub 10-minute miles over the first 4 miles and 10:15 per mile after that. My fastest mile was during Mile #6 which was 9:40. I still had a lot left in the tank as I finished in 2:15:04 which was faster than my 2023 time.

Hit the race after-party and had a good local craft beer and snacks. One of my favorite parts of the day is meeting my friend Beth at Mulligan Beach House for brunch. This has become a tradition for us and enjoy spending time catching up and drinking beers at 9 am in the morning.

Already looking forward to next January so I can tackle this race again and then sit at Mulligan’s Beach House with beers on the famed Vero Beach.

What are you looking forward to?

Irie!

Mulligan’s Beach House

2023 Marathon Training update

“Every marathon I ran, I knew I had a faster one in me”.

(Dick Beardsley)

My Walk into the Future allowed me to take the deep dive to sign up, train and complete a full marathon in 2022. The concept of running a full marathon had been with me for a while but I never committed to the process prior to 2022.

The 2022 Palm Beaches Garden of Life Marathon was the targeted race, and I am proud of my training efforts and completing the race. I did not think I would want to run another one but was surprised with my recovery and the impact the marathon had on me completing shorter races. I learned how to manage the pain and continue to press forward during races.

I leveraged an 18-week training program last year and decided this got me prepared for my first marathon and it will be the training program for 2023 as well.

I am currently finishing week 9 of the training program so I am halfway through with a lot more miles to come. I thought all miles were equal and incorporated too many miles on my exercise bike last year. I quickly discovered the error in my thinking and training process during the 2022 Game On Treasure Coast Half Marathon. This race was part of my training, but I did not perform as well as I should have—the miles on the bike did not translate to running in the Florida humidity. I completed the race in decent shape but could not find another gear to go faster which was disappointing.

Fast forward to 2023 and I made a concerted effort to ensure my training miles were outside. This meant I had to set a consistent bedtime so I could get up earlier in the morning to get my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday runs in before work. My bedtime during the week is 8:45 pm with an alarm time of 4:45 am. Never thought I would go to bed this early, but it is necessary for my training program. Getting proper rest is a key component to quality training sessions.

I also invested in my nutrition plan more than I did in 2022. The proper use of carbohydrates and hydration are two of the improvements I’ve made so far. The carbs allow me to perform better during my early morning runs. My increased water intake provides a solid foundation for my training and keeps me fresh. I have increased my form roller use as well to negate muscle soreness throughout the week.

All of this is designed to help me arrive at the 2023 Palm Beaches Garden of Life Marathon ready to perform and run faster than last year. This race is flat and provides an opportunity for runners to go fast—I did not leverage this fact last year and will look to improve my time and enjoyment of the race day atmosphere.

Last year I identified I was excited and terrified to complete a full marathon but now I’m looking forward to each training session and getting closer to race day. Yep, my mindset is completely different this year. LOL.

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The 18-week training plan starts out with lower mileage and slowly builds up each week. Here are my total weekly miles so far this year:

Week #1: 16 miles
Week #2: 20 miles
Week #3: 26 miles
Week #4: 30 miles
Week #5: 29 miles
Week #6: 27 miles
Week #7: 30 miles
Week #8: 18 miles
Week #9: 37 miles

My miles during the work week are completed in my new neighborhood. I have an area in the neighborhood that does not have traffic since construction has not started there yet. This gives me a convenient place to run in the mornings safely. I bring my own water or Gatorade and leave it on my route so I can stop and get fuel during the run. This is a new feature of my running. Last year I utilized a hydration backpack, but it seemed to impact my running because it moved around a lot. Ditched the hydration backpack and decided to place my drinks in strategic spots—seems to be working for me so far.

My long runs are still done on Hutchinson Island—this allows me more options to get double digits miles completed safely.

I am happy with my progress so far and look forward to additional miles on this journey.

My next training update will be the week prior to the marathon.

Thanks for following me on this journey!

Irie!

“The marathon never ceases to be a race of joy, a race of wonder”.

(Hal Higdon)

2023 – 2024 Running Season

My 2022 running season was an aggressive approach for me. Wanted to continue to test myself and see how much I could improve my running performance.

I did not see any personal records (PRs) in 2022 but my conditioning and endurance were on display with each race.

The ultimate challenge was stepping up and competing in my first full marathon. I have been back and forth for years on running one but finally got the courage to sign up, show up and finish one. Super proud of this fact.

Now, I find myself signing up for half marathons as a normal part of my training program. My training focus used to be getting ready for my next half marathon. I’m at the point where I can run one on short notice and still compete well. That’s well and fine but looking for a few PRs in the 2023 – 2024 racing season. LOL.

I want to PR a 5k, 10k, half marathon and the full marathon this season. Aggressive I know but, that’s why we make goals.

Here’s my tentative schedule so far:

8/19/2023	2023 Celebration of Running 5k	Winter Park
9/3/2023	2023 Virginia Beach 10-miler	Virginia Beach, VA
9/16/2023	2023 Out Run Hunger 5k	Fort Pierce
10/8/2023	2023 Hutchinson Island Half Marathon	Fort Pierce
10/22/2023	2023 Cocoa Beach Half Marathon	Cocoa Beach
11/4/2023	2023 Hollywood Half Marathon	Hollywood, FL
12/2/2023	2023 OUC Half Marathon	Orlando
12/10/2023	2023 Garden of Life Marathon	West Palm Beach
1/21/2024	2024 Vero Beach Half Marathon	Vero Beach
1/28/2024	2024 Town of Celebration Half Marathon	Celebration, FL
2/10/2024	2024 Fleet Feet Run for your Heart 10k	Stuart, FL
4/27/2024	2024 Nashville Rock N Roll Half Marathon	Nashville, TN
6/1/2024	2024 San Diego Rock N Roll Half Marathon	San Diego

May add a few additional races to this list but this should keep me training and competing this fall and next spring.

What challenges are you tackling this year?

Irie!

2023 Marathon Decision

“There is magic in misery. Just ask any runner”.

(Dean Karnazes)

I ran the 2022 Palm Beaches Marathon with the intent of being one and done. The training and pain I felt during the marathon was one of the toughest things I’ve ever experienced. The joy I felt when finishing was also a joyous time—I know that sounds weird but finishing the marathon was the culmination of a massive undertaking.

The quote above speaks volumes for what I experienced during the marathon and highlights the mindset of most runners. Yes, it hurts but I need to run this again. May not make sense to most people but runners live this life daily.

The day of the marathon my body hurt—same for the day after and the next five days. I started to feel normal again the week after the race but running this distance again was not a priority for me. I began to deconstruct the race, my training and nutrition the following week to determine if I could do better. The answer came back as yes, but I did not know if I wanted to experience this level of pain again.

I forgot about the marathon and embarked on multiple half marathons (Vero Beach, Town of Celebration, Nashville) and got faster with each race. I attribute this to my marathon training and the ability to manage the pain a lot better. The marathon taught me how to continue to move forward even when the body wanted to slow down or stop. Leveraged this newfound knowledge and fitness to get better when running half marathons.

Spoke with my friend Lauren Apgar about possibly running the marathon again. Casual conversations all the way up to the 2023 Nashville Rock N Roll Half Marathon. I was able to handle the Nashville hills and warm weather much better than I did last year. Again, this was because of the amount of training I put into the marathon process.

The concept of running another marathon kept coming back up so decided to explore what it would take for me to toe the 26.2 start line again.

The course needs to be flat. I prefer the race to be close to me so I would not have a huge travel commitment. The race needed to provide a fun environment and an opportunity to become a running tourist again. The Palm Beaches Marathon checked all these parameters, and I am familiar with the race. It does not have the greatest EXPO experience, but the course support was great, and it allows me to redeem myself and improve on my 2022 race time.

I’m not trying to qualify for Boston or the New York City marathons. Just want to get back to my training program and improve my marathon time. My competitive nature drives the need for improvement, and I know areas I can improve my training. I leveraged my exercise bike a bit too much during training and know these miles are great for cardio but do not translate to the road work needed to run the best marathon time. I will use the exercise bike only when the weather is bad and running outside is not an option. I make a point to train at different times of the day—this allows me to acclimate to the South Florida heat. The heat at mile marker 20 got the best of me so will not let this happen again this year.

I plan to leverage the 18-week training plan again this year with emphasis on building my mileage base slowly and mastering the long weekend runs.

Excited to embark on this marathon journey again. I’m sure I will generate training articles again to allow my readers to follow my pain! 😊

Irie!

Race Medals

Medal Rack

“Racing is the fun part; it’s the reward for all the hard work”.

(Kara Goucher)

Runners sign up for races for multiple reasons. Some are there for the competition, others are chasing a specific time, and then you have the running tourists who are looking to see new places while testing their mental and physical stamina during the race.

There are other reasons to toe the start line and cross another finish line but we all happily collect race medals when it is all said and done. Larger races have bigger budgets to invest in the hardware they provide to runners, but each race looks to create a unique medal experience for runners.

My medal collection continues to grow as I enlarge my running tourist program as I add more yearly races. Extremely proud to have crossed the threshold to become a full marathoner.

Decided to highlight a few of my most recent medals in this post and provide a better view on the design of each of them. Please note, I plan to run these races again next year so will collect a new medal design and will share those in the future. 😊

Palm Beaches Marathon

Medal Palm Beach

Ran the 2022 Palm Beaches Marathon in December 2022 and chronicled my training that led up to the race. This is my favorite medal in the collection since it is the first and only full marathon medal I have collected to date. I have already signed up for the 2023 Palm Beaches Marathon and begin my training cycle again the first week in August.

OUC

Medal OUC

My first half marathon was the 2013 OUC Half Marathon. This race launched my running program and got me invested in distance running. I planned to run one half marathon just to say I did it but have not stopped competing yet. Running has become a huge part of my daily life and I can’t imagine what I would be doing without my running program (training and racing). The 2022 OUC Half Marathon was used as a training run to gauge my progress for the Palm Beaches Marathon—enjoyed the race and happy with my efforts. The OUC medals are always colorful and depict the Lake Eola area in downtown Orlando.

Vero Beach

Medal Vero

The Vero Beach Half Marathon is a small race with only about 250 runners. The race takes runners through multiple neighborhoods and the famed beach. The medal highlights the beach and turtles which gives it a unique look and feel. Lots of color and surprisingly heavy.

Town of Celebration

Medal Celebration

Ran the Town of Celebration Half Marathon for the first time in January. I ran the fastest time in the past 3 years during this race. The town of Celebration really comes out to welcome runners, and they throw a great after race party with lots of food and drinks. I plan to run this race yearly since I enjoyed the entire experience so much. The medal is a homage to the movies with the 2023 theme: Take 10. This was the tenth running of this half marathon so next year will be Take 11—get it? 😊

Nashville

Medal Nashville

The 2023 Nashville Rock N Roll Half Marathon medal continues the trend of highlighting the great music in Nashville. The Honky Tonk Wings were a new addition to the Nashville medal and provide a fantastic back drop for this medal. I love Nashville and will run this race every year until they tell me to stop coming—won’t be anytime soon.

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Can’t wait to collect more medals in 2023 and beyond.

Which one is your favorite?

Irie!

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