Wine & Dine Training Plan

The past few weeks have been kind of crazy. Between last week's Homecoming extravaganza & straining my calf muscle, running has been on the back burner. It's now time to bring it up to the forefront again.

We are officially 42 days from the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I think it's time I start training. After  attaining a PR of 52:50 at the Pumpkin Classic 10k, I need to adjust my training plan and paces anyway.

This year will be our 3rd time to attend Disney's Wine & Dine Festival without kids. Disney without kids? Oh heck yah. Jeff and I even went to Disney two times before we had kids....well, technically. The 2nd trip I was pregnant with our first child.

Wine & Dine 2009

Our first adults only Wine & Dine weekend  was in 2009 with friends who had never experienced Disney before. I know! SAY WHAT????  As avid Disney fans, we introduced our friends to the ins and outs of EPCOT as well as the Magic Kingdom. It was a whirlwind weekend, but full of fun, food and wine.

When we came home, Disney announced they were establishing a new race: The Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I was beside myself with excitement. Of course, we had to go back in 2010 for the inaugural event! Cheryl & I signed up as soon as registration opened and then had to wait 11 long months for the day to arrive.

Me, Jeff & Cheryl at WDW 2010

Finally, our weekend arrived. We spent Friday & Saturday morning enjoying the various booths around EPCOT sampling lots of food and a few drinks. Jeff's parents, aunt, brother & his wife also joined us, but for some reason I don't understand they didn't want to do the half marathon. Oh well. To each their own.

A few of the samplings from the Wine & Dine Weekend

Disney makes spending your money REALLY easy. We each loaded up a wristlet which works as a debit card and ate our way around the world. Our goal was to try something at each booth. The booths serve food tapas style - a small sampling of the food you desire. Cheryl, Jeff or I would buy a selection of foods and share with each other. We were able to sample many more foods that way. Very rarely did I find something I did not enjoy.

Disney, Running, Food, Wine - A Few of my Favorite Things

The Wine & Dine Half Marathon is a great event. The race begins at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and runs through Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and concludes right outside of EPCOT. Participants get to attend an exclusive after race event. The race begins at 10 pm. With Disney character meet and greets every couple of miles, I wasn't going to worry about my time, but enjoy the event with Cheryl. We stopped and had our picture taken with Woody, Darth Vader, Jessie, Pooh & Mickey. Unfortunately, I wasn't running near enough and the lactic acid took away any enjoyment I could have had at the after party. By the time we got back to our hotel, it was 3 am. I swore I would never do that half marathon again. Trying to sleep with all of that lactic acid in my body was impossible. But a year later I found myself registering again for the half marathon.

Wine & Dine Training Plan

So, now it's time to train again. No more slacking. No more playing around. As always, I need to write out my plan and follow it to a T. Once it's in written format, I rarely stray away from my plan. So here it is in all of it's glory.

It's time to lace up my running shoes and head out to the road for some stinking thinking time. Booyah!