#Today's stream had much better pacing! Still a bit slow (again; I cut 5 minutes from this conversation)

[klaus-is-the-real-number-1]

She moves in her own way (Number 5 x reader)

Ask: Could you do a Five x reader where the reader is sarcastic like him, but polar opposites at the same time? Like they are scared to talk in public and prefer tea with milk and sugar, they try to be very kind and sweet to others. They bonded over a book they were reading in a coffee shop and starting talking there, they were super shy, but after a few minutes of conversation Five got them to open up?

A/N: Hope you enjoy this! I changed it up a bit to being in a library first like getting the book then into a coffee shop. i uh posted this then deleted it so this is like version two that might be better but now im just stressin,, this could also be made into a pt 2 tbh

Words: 1559

Books towered high in the dimly lit building, the smell of paper resonating throughout with history dripping from every page. Aimlessly, your fingers skimmed over the spines of the many books, the worn down fabric feeling like a secret code telling all their secrets of every reader. As you walked you waited for a book to call out to you, for you to read every word as if it was the last time you would ever see a book again. Then a calling came, causing you to stop dead in your tracks. Pulling the book from its tightly packed shelf, you peer at the familiar cover; a book that you could recite every word without flaw yet every time you read it you felt like a child opening a toy on christmas. Gently, your thumb ran over the endented title of the book, The Odyssey by Homer.

Book in hand you walked down the stairs, hand running down the wooden banister that leads to the desk, it was a familiar walk down the spiral steps. Your gentle steps echoed throughout the library as you descended, preparing your library card to sign the book out for what must be the near 20th time. Smiling at the familiar receptionist, you slid the book along with your card towards her and watched her scan your card before taking the slip out of the front of the book, just before she scanned it she looked at it to be met with line after line filled with your name from checking it out.

“Hun,” She says as she just puts the slip back into the book. “I’m going to let you keep this book.” Before you could even open your mouth to protest she cut you off. “I insist, hunny, you seem to be the only one who ever signs it out and we can always order another.”

“Thank you so much.” You smile at her, slipping the book, your book, into your bag. She slides your card back over the counter towards you and winked as you picked it up, smiling again, you head towards the doors and onto the busy road. The streets were bursting with life, cars beeping and whizzing past and people loudly talking. It was a contrast to your slow quiet life, keeping out of the way and too yourself as much as possible. Most would see it as a tragedy but the ability to lose yourself into another world is something magical, to shut away all your problems and become someone else.

One drop of rain fell from the ever darkening sky, only to turn into two, to three to be an increasingly heavy stream, your pace quickened as you saw the neon light for the town diner coming into view, offering itself as a safe haven from the ever worsening weather. The bell chimed as you walked in, warm air hitting your face as it snuck out the door behind you before you could close it.

Once you were in you spot an empty table in the corner, out of the way of everyone and pull out The Odyssey, eyes reading the words that you had read over and over again. Your finger danced over the page as you read, getting ready to turn the page.

“Tell me, O Muse,” A boy said as he slid into the seat opposite you. “of the man of many devices-”

“Who wandered full many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of troy.” You finish the sentence and lock eyes with him, only to look back down to your book when his eyes started to linger for too long, making your face turn red. You knew all too well the opening lines to the Odyssey, not even having to think about what came next.

“What can I get you guys today?” The waitress smiled at you both, yet the boys calculating eyes never left yours.

“Please can I get a tea?” You asked softly.

“With sugar and milk?” You just nod at her and smile, watching her return the gesture.

“Coffee,” He says still looking at you before sharply flicking his eyes to the waitress. “black.” Then his eyes landed right back on you.

“Thank you.” You say to the waitress before she walked away, your eyes trail down to your book but become distracted as holes were being burnt into your soul. “You know it’s rude to stare.” A smirk broke across his face at your words, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest.

“I didn’t realise people causally read Homer.” His eyes continued to burn into yours, clearly enjoying your ever reddening cheeks.

“Can one not enjoy a classic piece of literature?” You posed, placing your bookmark into the worn book before setting it down onto the table. Breaking his gaze to look at the waitress as she placed your drinks on the table, you smile at her before gripping your hot mug, letting the warmth seep into your fingers.

“Do you know it in ancient Greek?” He sipped his coffee, seemingly challenging you.

“Not yet but I’m learning, it’s hard to teach yourself a dead language.” You look down at your book, unable to match his stare without making yourself too uncomfortable. He clearly didn’t get the hint from your fidgeting and now crimson face how uncomfortable you had become, or maybe he simply didn’t care.

“I’m fluent,” He shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe I could teach you sometime-”

“Yeah, let me just clear my schedule for a stranger who has been staring at me non-stop and being kind of creepy, seems like a solid plan.” You sarcastically say to him, taking a sip of your tea. For the first time he looked away from you and smiled to himself, being shocked at you sudden sarcastic outburst.

“I’m Five.” He stuck his hand out for you, your eyes flicked from his face to his hand before reaching over and taking it.

“Y/n.”

Five seemed to relax, talking in a softer tone and easing off the staring. He started asking questions about you, mainly your reading and opinions on Homer, as well as opening up about how his father made him learn it in ancient greek from a young age. Five was a very peculiar boy who hid behind a mask, he was a closed book with a lock around it but you were determined to find the key. 

Somehow, you had cracked and agreed to his offer to teach you the dead language of ancient greek but the way his face broke out into a genuine smile made it worth it, as much as you didn’t want to admit it it, Five was growing on you. 

The next day you found yourself sat in the library, legs swinging freely under the chair you were sat in, eyes following Five as he walked up and down the aisle looking for books. Just when you thought he found the right one, he’d sigh and place it back to then walk to the next set of shelves. Eventually he gave up his search, sighing in defeat as he returned to your table. “Come on, I’ve got the books we need at my house.” He pulled you up by your hand and began a fast paced walk with you trailing behind him like a lost puppy. 

Not paying attention to where you were walking, you bump into Five who had stopped dead in his tracks, now facing a large building. Hand still in yours, he stepped forward and pushed the gate open and made his way to the door.

“You live here?” He just smiled at your question before continuing up to the door. His house was like a mansion, it was a mansion, taking up nearly a full block. Silence filled the air once Five closed the door behind you, the large building having no signs of any other life. He gently took your hand again and started walking through the mansion. Dust particles were floating like fairies in the streams of sunlight that beamed through the windows, illuminating the wooden furniture and portraits that looked as if they hadn’t been seen in years, stuck in time until someone would come along and free them. 

Suddenly you found yourself in a brightly lit room, your eyes took a second to adjust before being able to get a good look. You were met with shelves on shelves of books, definitely being able to qualify as a library on its own. Dust caked the books, like it was a room frozen still. “Wow.”

“No one really comes in here anymore.” He says leaning against a large wooden table. 

“If I lived here, I’d be in here all the time.” His eyes followed you as you walked over to one of the shelves, running your finger over all the pristine condition books, each one woven in fabric with a hardback cover. “You’re staring again.” You say as you turn to Five, his eyes locking with yours.

“I just haven’t met anyone like you before.” You smile at his words before walking over to the table and placing your bag down. His eyes lingered for another few seconds before he jumped into life, confidently pulling out books from the shelves like he knew where they were from memory. “Alright, let’s do this.”

#number 5 #number 5 x reader #number 5 fluff #number 5 imagine #number five #number five x reader #number five imagine #number five fluff #five hargreeves #five hargreeves x reader #five hargreeves fluff #five hargreeves imagine

[hotsterfield]

Deep breaths - H.O.

Word Count: 3463

summary: Waking up naked next to you best friend is one thing, but him telling you he loves you changes everything.

Masterlist | Promptlist | 2500 giveaway

A/N: This is very angsty! When i started writing it, i didn’t know it would turn out like this. I wanted to write fluff, but apparently that wasn’t an option, so here you have something just a little darker. I hope you guys enjoy it!

You woke up with a pounding headache, so even though you registered that you were awake, and that you were naked, you kept your eyes closed. As the body behind you moved closer to you, you knew it was Harrison. You could recognise his smell, and the feel of his body anywhere and anytime.

The relationship between you and Harrison was hard to explain. You were close friends, and you even shared an apartment with him. The dynamic between the two of you was something else. You were a natural flirt and you often didn’t realize it. Harrison was always sarcastic, but would always respond to your flirting.

Two someone who didn’t know the relationship between the two of you, you could seem like you hated each other one moment, but the next it seemed like you were inches away from kissing each other.

A few times, you had ended up in bed together, doing something that would pass any friendships boundaries. It wasn’t unusual for you to share a bed, and just cuddle, but the sex only happened when both of you were too drunk to think rationally. Which was the exact reason behind you waking up in his bed naked.

Not ready to deal with your drunk mistake yet, you pretended to still be sleeping, when he gently called out your name. Instead of waking you up, like he did the other times this happened, he placed a gentle kiss on the back of your head.

“You have no idea how much I love you” He whispered. You instantly opened your eyes, and turned around so you were facing him. You never used love like that. You only loved each other as friends, so why did he say it like that? So lovingly?

“What do you mean “I love you”? This is a one time thing, a drunk mistake, nothing else. What with the l-word?” You asked seriously, as he avoided your eyes.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. It just slipped. Just forget about it. It doesn’t matter” He turned his face away from you, something he always did when he lied to you. In your hungover state, you didn’t know what to think or do. You hated the word love, and he knew that.

“Cut the crap. Us sleeping together is one thing, we can pretend it didn’t happen, like we’ve always done. You saying “I love you”, is kind of hard for me to ignore” You said harshly, as he finally looked you directly in the eye. You could see the pain in his eyes, and the mess in your head only got worse. You both knew there was no turning back form this.

“What did you think was going to happen? Several years of you shamelessly flirting with me, more than 5 years of us cuddling. We lived together for 2 years, and how many nights have we spent separate? Not that many. In the past 2 months, we’ve slept together 5 times, and every time you wake up saying “Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen”, but what if I don’t want to do that? What if I don’t think this is a drunk mistake, and what if I’ve been in love with you for the past year?”

“No. We’re not doing this. I don’t want to do this. Do you really want to do this? Do you really want to tell me that you love me, and tell me you mean it, instead of blaming it on the alcohol? This is not how our friendship works Haz” You said, getting up from the bed, needing to get away from him. You heart was pounding and your breathing was getting unsteady. You took a shirt from the floor, not caring who of you it belonged to, as well as your underwear from last night and put it on.

“How can you call this a friendship? I don’t know what the hell we are, but I’m pretty sure we passed friends a long time ago. There’s a lot of stuff that we do, that friends don’t. And yes, I want to do this. Because I can’t keep doing whatever it is we’re doing” He answered, sitting up in the bed, following you with his eyes.

“No. No. No! I’m not. We’re not! I’m not doing this. I can’t do this” You felt the knot in your stomach, and it felt like the air had left your lungs. Your hands started to shake, and you felt the tears starting to form in your eyes. When he opened his mouth to say something, you just shook your head and left his bedroom.

“Y/n! Wait. We can’t just leave it like this. We have to talk about this” You heard his voice behind you, but you just smacked the door closed behind you. You knew what was coming, and you knew it was too late to stop it.

Your legs was shaking, and when you couldn’t hold your own weight anymore, you fell to the floor. At this point, you were gasping for air, hugging your knees tightly as you rocked back and forth. You mind went black, and the only feeling present was the fear. Fear of losing Harrison, fear of screwing up, fear him wanting more than you could give him, fear of the love he felt for you.

“Y/n please. Just talk to me” He said, as he opened the door. You barely heard him. All sounds seemed so far away, and the sound of you pounding heart was the only think you heard. When you felt his hands on you, and pained whimper left your lips, and you instantly pulled away from him.

“Don’t. Touch me” You let out, your voice shaking. You looked up at him with frightened eyes, only to be met by his sad blue ones.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry” He kept repeating as he walked away. He had seen your panic attacks before, but he had never seen one come this fast. Usually, you could stop them before they got really bad, and it had been a while since you had had one. Knowing he was to blame killed Harrison a little. He knew you needed your space, and that you just wanted to be left alone.

He closed your bedroom door, and you let out uncontrolled sobs. He wanted nothing more than to go back in there and hold you till you calmed down, but he knew he was the last person you wanted to be near you right now.

Not many of your panic attacks were the same. For the past few years, you had been okay with Harrison holding you, and it had even helped you calm down. Sometimes it would only make things worse, and he would also feel so helpless. He hated seeing you like this, and knowing he couldn’t help you only made it harder. Knowing it was his fault was the worst.

Listening to your sobs was like torture, but he couldn’t leave. He didn’t get much further than your closed door. He just stood there with tears in his eyes, his head spinning trying to find a way to fix this. He just had to screw things up. He just had to go and confess his feelings, like the idiot he was.

With shaking hands, he called the only other person he knew, that might be able to calm you down, or at least just give you some kind of comfort. How could he be so stupid? He had seen how much it affected you, when some guy you had gone out with, suddenly wanted to get serious. He knew how much the thought of love scared you, and yet he still told you he loved you.

“Hey Haz, what’s up?” Tom’s voice spoke after I couple of rings.

“I fucked up. Tom, I ruined everything. I messed it all up so badly. I can’t fix it” Harrison’s voice was shaking as he spoke, his voice close to breaking.

“What are you talking about? What happened? What’s going on?” Tom asked, worried about his friend.

“It’s bad. I can’t touch her. She doesn’t want me there” Tears were streaming down his face, as he tried his best to keep it just a little bit together. “I gave her a panic attack. I told her I loved her and…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Y/n? Is she okay?” There was worry in Tom’s voice. Both for you and for Harrison.

“No! She’s not. I told her I loved her! I didn’t think, okay?! For a second, I got caught up in that stupid little love bubble, and I thought. I thought… I thought we were getting there. I messed it up. I fucked it up” Harrison said brokenly.

“I’ll be right over”

***

“Haz, where is she?” Tom had never gotten to your apartment faster than he did today. His shoes were left untied and the shirt he was wearing was inside out. He hadn’t even bothered to put on a jacket. Harrison didn’t even say a word, he just pointed at your door.

You had stopped crying, but you were still holding on to your legs for dear life, desperately trying to wrap your head around the situation. There was a light knock on the door, and you heard footsteps approaching.

“Y/n? Are you okay, love? Is it okay if I sit down?” Tom gently asked. You gave a small nod, and he sat down beside you, making sure to keep some distance between the two of you.

“I know this is a lot to ask, but can you look at me? I just need to know how bad it is right now. I just want to help you, you know that, right?” He asked, making sure to keep his voice as calm as possible. Slowly, you lifted your head and looked at him.

“There you go. Now we need to do something about that breathing, alright? You can do that, right? Just breathe in and out. Like I do. Deep breaths. Slow breaths. In and out. Just in and out” He kept repeating the words, his right hand moving up every time he breathed in and down when he breathed out. He talked slowly, and made sure that your focus was on him.

After some minutes, you started getting control over your breathing again. You were still breathing faster than usually, so Tom kept breathing with you till you were at a more normal pace. When your breathing slowed down, you felt your body relax as well, and your death grip on your legs was loosened.

“See? You’re doing just fine. You’re doing great. Are you okay, love? Feeling a little better?” He asked you, and you just gave him a quick nod. Your body felt tired and a sadness washed over you. You always got upset after a panic attack, and both Tom and Harrison knew that. “Do you want a hug?”

“Yeah” You let out, as you sent him a sad smile. He quickly moved closer to you, and put his arms around you. You knew you weren’t going to cry, you just felt so sad. In a way, you felt empty.

“Do you want to talk about it? We can just stay here if you don’t want to, but I am a little confused to how on earth Harrison made you like this? What happened? You were both fine yesterday” He asked, his voice still calm.

“We ended up together last night. Again. I wanted to just pretend like it didn’t happen, like the last few times it happened. But then he… He told me he loved me. I can’t… I don’t… I freaked out. Like I always do. Why did he do that?” You pulled away, and looked at Tom, hoping he somehow had an answer.

“So you’re telling me that you guys have slept together, several times, and none of you told me about it? I’m find that kind of offending. But I think he told you, because he means it. He is so smitten with you, and it even took me a while to realize it. I didn’t realize it was you, before I noticed the way he looks at you”

“But why? We’re friends. We’re just friends. I would screw it up. What if I get bad again, and it pushes him away? Or that he gets to freaked about it, and decides he can’t do it? You’ve seen me. You know how bad it can get. How can anyone love that?”

“Is that what’s worrying you? That your anxiety and panic attacks are going to drive him away? Because that won’t happen. I can promise you that. I’ve seen him drop everything he had in his hands, just to go and comfort you. One time he left a date behind, because you needed him. He loves you. It’s going to take a lot more than panic attacks to scare him away”

“But what if I can’t give him what I want? What if I’m not enough. I’m not even sure I like him like that, and I can’t. I don’t want to lose him. I can’t love as much as he can” You felt the pressure on your chest starting to come back.

“Relax love. Don’t stress too much about it. Just tell me honestly. What’s scaring you? What the worst that could happen, if you took a chance?” He asked, as he kept a worried eye on you. He knew this conversation was hard for you, because you always hated talking about feelings.

One of the first times Tom and Harrison witnessed one of your panic attacks, you had scared them so badly. You had all been at a party, and you had been shamelessly flirting with a random guy all night. As soon as he started talking to you about feelings, and when he asked you on a date, you had turned pale and you just walked away. It had been a mild attack, but it was enough to make the boys insist you made your way home.

Ever since that night, that had noticed how you always avoided the topic of love. A few times you had gone on a few dates with some guys, but when they started to get more serious, you got scared. You always seemed so confident, and it wasn’t because you were scared to have a one night stand, but as soon as the feelings got involved, you stopped it.

“I could lose him. I could get too attached, and then he would leave me, because it turned out I was too much after all. Or he realizes I wasn’t what he thought I was. What if I can’t love him as much as he loves me? I would always have a suitcase packed, and one foot out of the door, and he would be all in. What if I have to break his heart? I can’t do that. Not to him”

“Aren’t you already attached to him? How often do you share a bed? You spent all of your time with him. When he goes away with me, he keeps talking about you. I took a picture of you two, a long time ago” He said, as he found the picture on his phone. You were asleep in his lap, and Harrison was just looking at you with a little smile.  “See the way he looks at you? He’s like a love drunk idiot, because that’s what he is”

“But we’re just friends. Good friends. I didn’t even know he felt that way” You couldn’t wrap your head around it. You didn’t want it to be true, but at the same time, as growing part of you just wanted the smoking gun. The last proof to convince that he loved you.

“For the past year he has turned every girl who tried to flirt with him, always telling them he had a girl back home. He turned you down, every time you got too drunk, because he knew you weren’t ready. But I guess since you’ve already slept together more than once, which again, none of you told me about, I think you feel some kind of thing for him too. I’ve seen the way you look at him too” Tom smiled at you, and you knew he was right. You did feel some kind of thing, you just couldn’t admit it to yourself.

“It was just so easy to pretend like nothing happened. Then I still got what I wanted, but without the risk” You admitted. You wanted him. You wanted Harrison, but you knew you would be risking your entire friendship, and you didn’t know if you were ready for that.

“But wouldn’t it be great to have him all of the time? Not just when you’re drunk, and able to play it off as a mistake? And if things go wrong, you’ll still have me. I will fly across the world if you need me. I promise” You smiled at the brown eyes boy in front of you. He was right. Tom was always your backup, for when Harrison wasn’t there, so of course he would still be there, if things went wrong.

“But what do I do now? I know that I feel some kind of way about him, but what do I do with that?” You asked, unsure what to do. It wasn’t exactly a situation you had been in before.

“Just go talk to him. I think he’s still outside your door, so just go out there and tell him. I’ll stay in here if you need me, okay?” Tom kept his eyes on you, as you took a couple of deep breaths and left the floor. Hopefully, his work here was done, and hopefully this was going to end well.

When you walked out of the door, you found Harrison sitting against the wall. He looked up at you with red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. You felt the sadness come back, and it was in this moment you realized just how much you actually cared for the boy. You weren’t ready to say you loved him just yet, but the feeling you felt for him was very close to love.

“Y/n, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just. I screwed up. I’m an idiot, and you have every right to hate me right now. I hate me. Seeing you that way, and knowing it’s my fault is killing me. I’m so sorry” He apologized as he stood up in front of you. Fresh tears rolled down his cheeks, and you felt like someone had punched you in the stomach.

“Don’t be. Tom made me realize that. I don’t know how to say this, but I want this. I. I-I want us. I’m so far out of my comfort zone right now, but I think I’m ready. I mean, I’m ready to try, and I want to try with you. I might not be that good at this, but I want to try, no matter how much it scares me” You told him, and your body relaxed when you saw the smile growing on his lips.

“You have no idea how happy that makes me. I really l… “ He stopped himself, and thought for a short moment before starting again. “I really like you. And I have for a while now. I won’t ever do this to you again. If I do, you have my permission to kill me”

“I really like you too, but can we… Take it slow? I don’t want to rush it, because I don’t want to ruin it. I don’t want to have one foot out of the door anymore, so I’m trying to not do that” You asked, looking down at your feet. You were still just wearing his t-shit, and you couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Of course! We’ll do it in your pace. I don’t want to pressure you into anything, so I’m not going to do that. I’m going to let you take the first steps” His hand carefully lifted up your chin, so you were looking at him once again.

“Does that mean you won’t even try to kiss me?” You asked, as playful smile reaching your lips.

“Not unless you want me to” Before he could say more, you connected you lips with his. A feeling of utter happiness took over your body and you realized you had wanted this for longer than you thought. You even had a feeling that he might actually be the one.

“So how’s it going out here? Oh… I guess I’ll just. Leave then. I don’t think you need me anymore”

TAGLIST

@rock-n-roll-queens @m-sterre @exclusively-inclusive@rock-n-roll-queens @exclusively-inclusive @behxndthemask@stephie-senpai @gaiasambuci @ilvermornyqueen @waywardswain @maretxe

#harrison osterfield #harrison osterfield imagine #harrison osterfield x reader #tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #spiderman #spider man #spiderman imagine #spider man imagine #spiderman x reader #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine

[myneighborhood-thelake]

Henry Coe Park Adventure Race Training - January 1999

Another Epic Fun Adventure - today I feel great about the experience, but at the time there was no way in [ahem] that I would use the word "fun" when describing this event.....   I tried to cut as much as possible from this report, but since I mainly use these as a way to evaluate my performance I like to remember as much detail as possible.  Also I have not proofread this, so be kind to me for any serious grammatical or content problems.  I just want to get it done.

Henry Coe State Park - just outside of Morgan Hill, California, and by just outside I mean 10 miles up a winding, one lane, unkept road.

Start time - midnight - which should give us newbies a slight intro into racing with sleep deprivation.

Run/Hike - about 10 miles (we made it 12 miles) with two checkpoints.

Mountain Bike - about 24 miles (we made it 25+ miles) with two checkpoints.

Event Organizer - Rich B. - who will be both feted for putting together an event of this magnitude - just because he wanted to put it together and who will also be burned in effigy - for putting together an event of this magnitude - just because he wanted to put it together - but more on that later.

Our Team - Craig Benson (founder of the BAAR list), Paul Allman and Ron Renwick  -  Team What the Heck It's Friday at Midnight and We Have Nothing Better To Do With Our Lives  (OK, OK, we do not really have a team name).

We caravanned down to the park which is about a little over a one hour drive from our houses.  We are just getting started in Adventure Racing, so we were still found it more than a little amusing that we were leaving our warm homes in order to do a workout at midnight.

"Are we really doing this?" "Uhhh, I guess that we are." "Does this make any sense?" "Actually it scares me to say that yes, this makes a lot of sense.  We need to practice night navigation." "Ok, let's do it."

Arriving at the Coe Park Headquarters (HQ) was pretty amazing.  We had expected maybe 5 or 10 people to show, but here it was pitch dark on a Friday night and there were 20 people ready to go!  There was a mixture of experience represented - from our team are just getting started in AR to  two Raid Galiouses and Eco-Challenge veterans whom we promptly named "the Raid guy" and "the Eco guy."  Everyone was very friendly and seemed to be glad to be out on such a frigid night.

At midnight Rich handed out the park maps and course instructions.  We were to plot the checkpoints using UTM coordinates.  Our team was very happy that this was a 'training' exercise because we had no idea what a "UTM coordinate" was or how it was used.  This would be our first stumbling block.  Actually it only took us about a minute to figure out how to plot the coordinates, but at first glance we were a little confused.

As we plotted Rich was nice enough to clue us in on the location of the Checkpoints i.e. - "it's right at the trail intersection" or "it's at the top of the hill you can't miss it."  Let me tell you Checkpoint Two was unmistakable.  There was an option to use a park trail map as opposed to the normal topographic map, but we chose to stick to the topo version.  It made for great training on using a map, compass and altimeter.  The course was basically two "Out and Backs."  One out-and-back on the hike and one on the run.

******************     THE HIKE  *******************

We left Coe HQ at about 12:20 am and started a moderate paced walk up a hill with 3 other teams.  Two other teams had already started their hikes.  As we crested the first hill the lead team in our pack set off at a run and soon left us behind.  We picked up the pace and cruised to the bottom of the hill.  CP 1 was at the two mile mark, but a minor navigation error cost us about 15 minutes and a couple hundred extra yards.  We were the fourth team into the checkpoint.  We had quickly learned that navigation is a crucial factor in AR.

Off to CP 2.  Our course kept us directly on a fairly wide fireroad.  I shut off my headlamp and we cruised along with the light of Paul's headlamp and the moon.  We tried to keep hydrated and fueled as we moved steadily.  At a trail intersection we debated.  Was this the turn marked on our map?  We veered right as it looked on our map (maybe).  After about 1/2 mile we came to an intersection that was not on our map.  Hmmmmmm.  After proceeding forward and checking out the trail we chose to turn around and head back to the road.  We were a little confused.  Which way is the right way?  We chose to proceed along the fire road and we felt that the terrain on the topo map matched our surroundings.  At least as best as we could tell with only headlamps to light our way.  Sooner than we expected we hit Deer Horn Springs (?) and we realized that we were both: on the right path and much farther along than we had expected.  This enlightened us on a couple of points: 1 - try to keep track of distance covered (maybe by pacing), 2 - we need to develop confidence in our navigation skills.  The turn that we made along the wrong trail was caused by our lack of skill.

We did notice that we were descending, but we were so happy to be on the right path that we did not notice how rapidly we were descending.  Soon we heard the creek cutting through the bottom of the canyon.  As we approached the stream the temperature dropped remarkably.  It is amazing how in the distance of a few hundred yards the climate can change considerably.  We crossed the stream and looked at the trail going up, up, up and up some more.  Per Craig's altimeter we were at about 1300 feet (if I remember correctly), and we had to get to 3000 feet in about two miles of hiking.  This would be a grind.  We started out and just kept moving forward.  with the light of the moon we could see the hills and vallies surrounding us.  Even at 2:00 am it was a beautiful place to be.

About 2/3 of the way up we saw headlamps approaching us on the way down.  Soon a caravan of about 10 people shot by us.  We met  the other two teams on the way up.  It was a little disheartening to know that we had lost ground due to our navigation error.  It was even more disheartening when we met Raid-guy and Eco-guy on their way down.  They were holding a conversation like it was a simple walk in the park.  Hmmmm, maybe there is something to John Howard's philosopy of "start slow and taper."

We made it to the top of Mt. Sizer, gathered our token (a nickel with "Team #2" written on it), and we headed back down.  The downhill was far tougher for me than the uphill.  My knees have suffered from too much abuse over the years and my patella tendons were screaming as we made our way down the steep slope.  I had to stop occasionally and massage my knees to loosen them up.  I am not sure what to do, but I need to work on improving my knees if I want to continue on this sport.

Pretty soon we could hear the creek again and it was a very welcome sound - the hill would be over.  After we crossed the creek my feelings immediately changed.  I no longer wanted to hear the rushing water.  I wanted the silence that meant we were far away from the creek and on our way back to HQ.  A good warning sign for me is annoyance.  If I get annoyed during a workout is usually means that I need to eat, so I started pushing down another Harvest Bar.  It was a good choice as I started feeling better immediately.

Amazingly we actually saw some headlamps above us on the trail.  We were catching up to another team.  We picked up our pace in order to put one team between us and last place.  We kept hiking along and soon saw even more headlamps.  Unbelievable!  Could we actually catch two teams?  The answer was yes, but Craig wisely suggested that we slow down a bit and maintain some energy.  We slowly crept up on those in front of us while we ate, drank and kept walking.  We walked with the other team for a while.  It turns out that they had missed the first checkpoint.

Them:     "was CP 1 right next to the outhouse?" Us:  "ummm, it was next to the red cabin, is that what you mean?" Them:     "no, it was one of the fiberglass porta-potties." Us:  "I think that you were in the wrong spot." Them:     "Hey guys, we were not even close to the CP."

Since it was an out-and-back course we hiked right by CP 1 on the way in.  We directed them to the checkpoint and continued heading back to camp.  The last downhill section into the HQ was really painful for me, but it was soon over.

The Hike:  about 12 miles, a little over 4 hours , the incredible pace of 20 minutes per mile !!!!!

***************************     THE TRANSITION  ***********************

Since we are new to this adventure racing game we were totally unorganized for the transition.  We all changed clothes, and digging through gear bags at 4:30 am can be time consuming.  Craig and Paul dissected the mountain bike course while refueling.  I changed clothing, but could not bring myself to eat very much.  I really need to work on refueling.  After a small rest we grouped up to head out on the bikes.  According to Rich the Raid and Eco-guys took only about 3 minutes to head back out on the bikes.  We took at least 35 minutes.

The two teams that had come in behind us on the hike were now regrouping to head out on the bike.  A couple of guys could not continue, so the teams were adjusted.  Paul, Craig and I stayed together, and we were about to set out on the first night mountain bike ride that any of us had ridden.

********************    THE MOUNTAIN BIKE   ********************

The first part in 'heading out' is finding the right trail.  We grouped up at the park entrance and started speculating as to where to go.  It was still dark so we could not clearly make out where the trailheads were.  In addition the two teams that had come off of the hike behind

"I think it's up there." "But we need to go South-West not North-East" "Maybe it's over here" "No, maybe it's over there."

At this point I got a little snippy and said something like "let's just look at the da#$ map!" which was a good idea as a quick look at the map clearly showed the trail head.  The entire pack set off.

The first hundred yards was uphill, but a gradual downhill soon followed.  Since there were about 9 of us in the pack Craig, Paul and I soon were dispersed throughout the paceline.  At the first trail junction, Paul and Craig's map skills really played out.  The team in front stopped to check their map and BOOM! Paul veered left and we blasted by the other team.

At this point I need to clarify something about equipment.  While most people have some type of suspension on their mountain bikes, Paul and I were the only two present who have decade old - rigid frame mountain bikes.  To be honest, both of our bikes were not even "Top of the Line" quality when we purchased them, so we are riding rigid frame bikes with low level components.

Back on the trail, the other team caught and passed us - at least until the next trail junction.  Once again, they stopped to consult their map as Paul cut left and kept moving.  Very soon it was Paul, me, and Craig with the other teams somewhere behind us.  With the limited light provided by our headlamps we did not realize exactly how steep of a trail we were descending.  On our return trip we would be pushing our bikes up this hill - very slowly - as it was at least a 12% grade.

As the temperature was sitting close to 24 degrees, we had to stop often in order to warm our hands.  Craig could barely feel his brake levers which can be very unsettling on such a steep hill - actually it strikes terror in your heart!

Even with our frequent stops we were clearly ahead of the pack.  I was more than a little surprised that the two guys with antique mountain bikes were opening a gap on the better equipped pack behind us.  There is probably a good explanation for us being faster that relates to someone in the other teams being injured or not having adequate lighting, but it sure made me feel good to open a gap no matter what the reason was.  We soon reached and crossed through a nice flat section aptly named Poverty Flats.  The clue for CP 3 mentioned "after you pass through Poverty Flats."  Little did we know that meant that we had to get out of Poverty Flats and then some before we reached CP 3.

Leaving Poverty Flats was a harbinger of the rest of the ride.  The hill started out smoothly and ramped up.  We were soon in our smallest gears and the hill kept going up.  We had to get off of our bikes and push.  This would not be the last time that we would be pushing our bikes today.  At the top of the hill we mounted up and rode forward.  Of course there would never be a "flat" section.  This was an up and down course.  My front derailleur was not working properly, so I was not able to shift out of my little chain ring.  This was fine for the uphill sections, but it prevented me from picking up much speed on the downhill segments.

We had been riding for over an hour and we had still not made it the 5.4 miles to CP 3.  I think that our average speed was about 3 miles per hour...  At this point Craig's altimeter watch proved it's usefulness.  Per Paul's reckoning if we were not at CP 3 yet then we should be at about 1600 +/- feet of elevation.  Per Craig's super watch we were at 1670 feet - which meant that we had even further to go to get to CP 3.  We kept riding until we hit the trail intersection with the "new trail marker" and easily found CP 3.

As you can imagine at this point the path away from CP 3 was almost straight downhill.  This was a dicey decent that ended in a creek crossing.  We had moved quickly away from the checkpoint to keep our lights from being used as a beacon to the following teams.  Our strategy was sound, but did not come to much as it was very difficult to find the continuation of the trail after we had crossed the creek.  We fanned out to find our path which took us several minutes.  As soon as we were back on track the following team came to the creek crossing - which meant that they could use our headlamps as a guide for finding the trail.  After a short push uphill we mounted our bike for a very steep decent.

All three of us had brake problems on the way down the decent.  I had to bail off of my bike twice before I lost total control.  I can only assume that wafter rolling our bikes through the creek some water had frozen on our rims while we looked for the trail.  After a few minutes of the downhill (and the bail-offs) my brakes finally started holding.  We crossed another creek at the foot of the downhill and started moving upward once again.  Soon we were walking our bikes again.

This was a very low point for us.  Our average speed was incredibly low, and we had another very large hill directly in front of us.  I wondered about the usefulness of this training.  Craig mentioned something about eviscerating Rich (the event organizer).  Paul and I rapidly agreed with Craig post-event plans - heck I just got a new Spyderco knife for Christmas and I needed to find a use for it.  In all honesty we were really hurting, and it showed in our black moods.  No matter how dark our mood we kept moving forward either by pushing or riding.  Rich had said that the mountain bike portion should take 3 1/2 hours total.  We were nearing the 2 1/2 hour mark and we were still a few miles away from the turnaround at CP 4 (Kelly Lake).  We kept moving forward.  After about another 45 minutes we met Raid-guy and Eco-guy who were heading back.  We were on about a 3% uphill, so we were moving steadily but slowly.  They were on the corresponding downhill and it looked like they were flying.  At least they were exceeding the 3 1/2 hour projected time too ;-).

Some time later we also met the second place team.  Again we were on an uphill and they were on a downhill - next time I want to meet somebody when I have gravity on my side!!!

I was feeling very sleepy, and then we made our biggest navigation error.  At a T-intersection the trail to the right was marked "Kelly Lake 2.0 miles."  Paul took the right and charged forward.  I did not remember discussing this trail intersection, but I had not studied the map.  After about 1.7 miles Craig checked his odometer, and realized that we should be at the checkpoint by now.  I was falling asleep on my handlebars, so I suggested that Craig and Paul go ahead to the checkpoint while I took a nap.  As he rolled away Craig yelled, "eat something before you got to sleep."  I sucked down a Gu just to get some calories inside me.  Some time later I woke up to the sound of Craig and Paul approaching.  They had not found the checkpoint.  The rested while I woke up, and we turned around to head back to HQ.  When we came to the T-intersection we found our mistake.

On the right side of the trail was a marker "Kelly Lake 2.0 miles - to the right," and on the left side of the trail was another marker that we had missed "Kelley Lake 1.7 miles - straight ahead."  We did not pay attention and we had paid.  Craig and I were ready to head home, but Paul wanted that darn checkpoint.  Somehow we convinced Paul that we had done enough, and decided to skip CP 4.  As we were resting at the T-intersection I finally got hungry again, and I wolfed down the stack of Fig Newtons that I had been carrying since midnight.  Wow, they tasted great.  A couple of mountain bikers that I had met in Santa Cruz came by and asked us about the trail.  We talked for a bit, but at first they did not believe that we had actually started our workout at midnight on the previous night.  It is a good feeling to look at someone who is riding well and know that you have been on the trail since before they even went to bed.

The sun was up now and the ride back was incredible.  The hills and vallies provide for some incredible views, and our rest stops were very scenic.  The ride back was basically uneventful and we kept to the time schedule that we had projected when we had turned around.  The Paul ran out of water.  I offered him a drink from my camelback, but it was empty too.  Craig was also out of water.  I had not brought any water purification supplies, so the last hour was without water.

Crossing Poverty Flats was no problem, but the big downhill that we enjoyed on the way out was now a big uphill obstacle.  It was tough enough to push our bikes, but it was even harder to have no fluids to drink.  Oh well, this is the home stretch.  Finally we were about 1 1/2 miles from HQ and we met Rich.  All three of us were surprised that Rich was still around.  We were also glad to know that he had chosen to stay until everyone was back in.  Rich offered to push our bikes and I gladly accepted.  Rich's first comment was priceless "man, your bike is heavy!"  Tell me about it - I have been fighting that thing for over seven hours now.

We made it back to HQ.  We did not eviscerate Rich.  We actually thanked Rich for going through all the trouble of organizing the event.  I am sure that it took a lot of work to plot the CP's, pre-run the course, create the clues, and then wait for all of us to return.  We really appreciated Rich's effort although we were emphatic about wanting to actually RIDE our mountiain bikes at the next event.  Not so much pushing next time please.

Total time on the Bike Leg:  about 8 hours which equates to a 3.125 mph average!!!

Paul, Craig and I changed and packed our gear.  The drive home was pretty hard because we had all been awake for over 24 hours now.  I drove pretty well until the last mile before our exit where it became incredibly difficult to keep my eyes open.  We made it safely home.

Looking at the event from today's perspective I am very happy.  We learned a lot about 'what we need to learn' in a low-key noncompetitive environment, and best of all it was free!!!!

Thanks for putting this together Rich.

[twentysomethinginorlando]

Star Wars Half Marathon Episode II: The 10K

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Star Wars Half Marathon Episode II: The 10K

2 o’clock occurs once a day and it is not in the morning, unless I’m running a RunDisney race. Then that’s usually when my alarm goes off. I was horrified at the Expo when I realized this morning would be even a little earlier since I had to factor a bus ride into my plan for the 10K.

A Challenge consists of two races, a 10K on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday for a total of 19.3 miles. Today was the Star Wars 10K. The plot of this year’s Star Wars Half Marathon – the Dark Side is that everyone is trying out to join Captain Phasma’s Stormtrooper forces. I didn’t know we needed a plot for a race but character integrity and what not. Both races are on brand new courses that start at Ticket and Transport Center (Magic Kingdom‘s parking lot, the TTC) and end at Epcot. I have personally never seen a race start at the TTC, but I’ve only been doing RunDisney since 2014 and they’ve been doing these races for almost twenty-five years. This meant I had to park at Epcot and get on a bus to the TTC. After my experience at the Wine and Dine Half, I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time so I left around 2:20 am. That was the time same I set my alarm for my first ever half marathon, but at least today didn’t involve waking anyone up for emergency costume modifications.

On the bus!

I applaud the poor Cast Members working these events. I can only imagine what time they had to get up. I was slightly miffed they didn’t give the parking attendants lightsabers to use instead of their normal wands, but the guy pretending to use the Force to park the cars in the correct spots more than made up for it. I was unable to find the actual row number for where I parked but I tried to note I was in the third or fourth row. I was really early! They actually were not letting us in yet, we were held at the bag check tables for about five minutes before the Cast Members started letting us through. Volunteers were inside handing out red glow stick “lightsabers” to everyone. I was on the second of the charter buses, and my efficiency training made me sit go all the way in the back instead of the front like everyone else but it worked out since it got me a seat to myself.

I got off the bus at the TTC about 3:45 am. I had already been up almost two hours and the race wasn’t even starting until 5:30! At least it gave me plenty of time to meet characters. The first line I came to was BB-8 and I haven’t made it to his new meet and greet at Disney’s Hollywood Studios yet, so he was my immediate priority. His line moved fairly quickly and I only waited ten minutes. Then I moved onto the Jabba the Hutt line, which was a little longer. Jabba was more of a backdrop than a character, but he’s also the only one you can’t really find in the parks.

BB-8!

Jabba the Hutt.

Well, you can’t meet Boba Fett, but I’ve met him before. Thank you, Star Wars Weekends. I’m so glad I was exposed to them when I had the chance. My last stop was the backdrop that is apparently from Cloud City. I just thought it made for a neat photo and the rest of the lines had gotten to the point I didn’t think I’d get through them before they pulled the characters. They had Captain Phasma, Kylo Ren, Darth Vader and Boba Fett in addition to Jabba and BB-8.

DJ Elliot.

This little girl is going to grow up to be awesome.

After I got that shot I wandered over the stage to watch DJ Elliot and a guy from the Disney Parks Blog (I have no idea what his name is even though they said it like four times, but I’ve seen him on live streams) give away prizes to people who correctly answered trivia questions. My personal favorite was a ten year old girl dressed as Rey who managed to finish a ridiculously hard quote. It’s the scene in the Millennium Falcon where they’re flying through the asteroid field and we thought it was going to cut off after C-3P0 so she could yell, “NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!”, but instead it cut off as C-3P0 says, “The odds are-”

So this adorable little girl responds, “Three thousand… seven hundred… and twenty?” SHE GOT IT RIGHT! Let me tell you how I would not have gotten that, and they gave her like three prizes. Adults answered easier questions incorrectly. I hung out there until they said it was time to head for the start corrals. I made a stop on the way at my longest line of the day, for the bathroom.

This is my least favorite part of any race I have ever run, standing in the starting corral waiting for it to start. It’s usually staring at my phone except nothing much is happening at 5 am for me to read and no one is awake to talk to. I had several friends running but they all had their own groups, and I didn’t even know for sure what corrals they were in. I wound up behind a group of Tie-Fighters. They had the wings tied to their arms, and while it looked amazing I don’t know how you’d make it through the more narrow parts of the course without knocking someone out. I applaud their construction though: foam core and duck tape. Simple, cheap and lightweight! They screened The Last Jedi trailer which was awesome, but I was too far back to see it very well. I did hear a guy yell, “QUITTER!” After Luke’s line about the Jedi needing to end.

Corral D.

Waiting to start.

The final bit before they sent the wheelchair racers off involved two Stormtroopers scaring the announcers off stage and giving everyone an intro about their tryouts to serve Captain Phasma. I was just disappointed it wasn’t the two Stormtroopers from the Star Wars Weekend intros and Hyperspace Hoopla. It lacked the genuine hilarity and playing off each other, and the voice actors weren’t the same. I think all park Stormtroopers should always be them, and I want them to get their own TV show. Seriously. Get on that, Mouse.

They were trying something new in sending each corral off in three “mini waves”, which best as I can tell reduced the number of fences they had to put up but still sent people off in the same quantities as usual. I wasn’t watching the time very closely to see what time I actually started but according to my runner tracking it was 5:52 am. I was itching to get going by then and was so relieved when the fireworks for Corral D finally went off.

I did no training for this race. I always mean to and yet I never do. Ever since I infamously ran a marathon once without training for it, it makes it even harder to convince myself to put the time in that I should. I can run one race without training, but I usually limp for a few days afterwards. (I stayed in bed for like three days after the marathon.) On the last Challenge I ran, Lumiere’s Two Course Challenge, I overdid it on the 10K and had nothing left in the tank for the Half. In order to prevent that from happening again, my plan was to walk as much of this race as possible so I could run tomorrow instead.

I crossed the starting line at a run but I held it only about as half as long as I normally do. Even when I do train, I’m lousy at intervals. I kept it at a fast walk from there for most of the race, which honestly I was still keeping pace with a lot of runners around me. We passed a high school marching band that was playing a medley of Star Wars music.

The first character I came to was R2-D2 probably three-quarters of a mile from the starting line. I didn’t stop for him and I wish I had, but his line was pretty long. For someone who doesn’t train, I end up worrying about time a lot. I passed the characters from Star Wars Rebels somewhere around mile two, and had I known who they were that might have been more tempting.

This is hands down my least favorite RunDisney course I’ve ever run. We had an almost three mile straight away between the TTC and the ramp to Hollywood Studios with only two character stops and a whole lot of nothing. There were a couple screens just playing the different movie clips. They had Vader’s chair for a photo op at the start of the ramp, and that is a LONG ramp. Even if I hadn’t been walking most of the race, I would have had to walk that. My bad knee does not like it when we run on uneven ground like that. Maybe it was because I was purposely going slow or the lack of volunteers cheering, but it just seemed to take forever to get to Hollywood Studios. (I would like to clarify there were lots of volunteers handing out water and I am grateful, but there seemed to be less than I have seen at other races.)

My first genuine moment of encouragement came from a security guard as we made the turn into the backstage area of Hollywood Studios. Darth Maul was right around the turn, but his line was HUGE. I kept going and found myself backstage between Tower of Terror and the “Fantasmic” stadium. The 501st was out in full force inside the stadium with tons of random characters, main and minor, from the series. For those who aren’t familiar, the 501st Rebel Legion is a group of dedicated Star Wars fans with screen accurate costumes. They had a big event at Star Wars Celebration last weekend and they have been present at every nerd event I’ve ever been to in my life, (MegaCon, Tampa Bay Comic Con, Star Wars Weekends, etc.). Coming out of the stadium I saw Boba Fett and Jango Fett, and they were so good I honestly can’t tell you if they were 501st or Disney.

There were several bellhops out in front of Tower of Terror before I got to Sunset Boulevard, but I decided it was better to just take a selfie. There was a set of two Stormtroopers that I passed, followed by another set. Had I realized I would be out of Hollywood Studios in the next few minutes, I probably would have stopped. My fault for not studying the course more carefully. I ran through most of the park since I was hyped up and there were Photopass photographers everywhere. Ever since my mom got worried by me walking in a previous race’s photos, I refuse to be caught walking on camera.

The run between Hollywood Studios and Epcot through the Boardwalk is a very tight one. It’s a sidewalk, a literal sidewalk, and it’s not wide enough to accommodate many people at once. There’s a lot of bumping and unintentional shoving. I’m also not a fan of running on the Boardwalk. It wasn’t wet this morning but it’s been wet previous races, and I watched a guy wipe out super hard taking a turn too fast during the Wine and Dine.

However, I did see one of my favorite shirts during this stretch! Anyone who’s not super familiar with RunDisney probably doesn’t know who the Balloon Ladies are, and I actually had to Google them before I ever encountered them. They are a group of lovely ladies that cross the starting line last and run at exactly sixteen minutes per mile, the longest average time you can maintain without getting pulled from the course. They run just in front of the bikes that do the actual sweeping. They don’t work for Disney, they are volunteers and their goal is to give people the encouragement they need to stay ahead of the sweepers. Naturally, there are some people who are afraid of encountering them and there’s gotten to be quite a few running jokes about them. Like this shirt! The only time I’ve seen the Balloon Ladies I’m proud to say was during the 2016 Walt Disney World Marathon, they were coming into ESPN Wide World of Sports as I was heading out.

Walk around the grass. IT IS NOT THAT FAR.

Chewbacca!

Coming around the turn from the Boardwalk into the World Showcase entrance to Epcot, I spotted Chewbacca. Since I knew I was getting close to the finish line, I figured I could stop. I also seized the opportunity to get a Pokestop and catch a Magikarp. There was a Cast Member directing runners to go around the patch of grass in the median due to the pot holes in it. As I waited in line, the people behind me kept loudly complaining about her and the other Cast Members enforcing the rules. I had to bite my tongue in order not to say anything as one girl yelled in protest as they made her friend go around instead of going through the grass. All it takes is one person not paying attention, charging through and hurting themselves, and Disney has a lawsuit on their hands. Then the Cast Member that failed to stop you is in trouble and probably unemployed. I really, REALLY don’t like it when people give Cast Members crap for doing their jobs.

That is a strange looking Deathstar.

I ran through most of Epcot from World Showcase to Spaceship Earth. They had Stormtroopers standing on the stage next to the fountains looking menacing. People were taking pictures with them, but then I saw the Cast Members telling the next person who stopped no, so I kept going until I hit Guest Relations for another selfie.

I entered the backstage area that lead to the finish line to find more of the 501st waiting. I saw two more Mandalorian Bounty Hunters, including a female one with purple-blue armor. The last two characters were Rey and Tarfful off to the side, but I kept going. I’m not stopping for any Rey that isn’t an official Disney Rey or Daisy Ridley or herself. There was a sign stating these characters were fans and not official representations of Disney or LucasFilm.

I rounded the corner and broke into a full run until I hit the finish line, and had to pull up short because so many people were stopped just past it. I made my way down to the medals and was once again handed my medal instead of being presented it. I really don’t like that. The volunteer next to one I was in front of was putting them around peoples’ necks but I couldn’t get to her without cutting someone else off, so I just put it on myself. Not nearly as fun. The drink stations were next, just past first aid. I headed straight to the end for the blue powerade. I passed the photo booths and moved into the snack station and kept going all the way to the main area with the characters.

It took me a few tries to find Boba Fett’s line. I just wanted to get one photo with the medal and head out. He seemed to take forever but it was probably only half an hour. I was very surprised to learn he talks now! He didn’t do that the last time I met him!

My very last stop before the struggle to find my car was to ask a group in line behind me if I could take their photos. Absolutely best costumes I saw all day: Legends of the Jedi Temple. I couldn’t tell what the exact teams were but they had four different ones represented. They were also super cool about me asking them if I could take their picture. One of the girls just yelled at the rest of them, “GUYS! Photo time!”

Now I am sitting around in my pajamas and I’ve already watched Episode I and all of the Hyperspace Hoopla videos. BRING THAT BACK DISNEY!!! I’m trying to wait until at least 7 pm to try to go to bed so I sleep straight through to my alarm. Assuming I make it to the finish line, I’ll have that report up tomorrow.

#disney #rundisney #running #star wars #Adventure Report #Running

[graemeruns]

Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris

I had never considered running the Paris Marathon until I was fortunate enough to win a free place, courtesy of Running Heroes, a running community that is free to join and has regular competitions that you can enter just by doing a bit of running. As it happened, the race fell in the school holidays, so it provided the perfect opportunity to have a short break with the family and enjoy the many sights that Paris has to offer. We travelled out by Eurostar on Wednesday, spent Thursday morning climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and surveying the views below (the left hand road is Avenue Foch where you can see the marathon baggage tents already erected at the finish),

before heading along the Champs Elysées, taking in the art at the Musée d'Orsay, and finally travelling by Metro to Paris Expo Porte de Versailles to pick up my race number (here’s me looking like a cardboard cut-out before the count-down clock):

On a wall the organisers had printed every one of the 57,000 entrants’ names, and it was a task to find mine despite it being in alphabetical order:

On Friday we spent the day in the Louvre, and Saturday at the Eiffel Tower, which really is quite tall! 

In those 3 days I had done my research of where the race start was, where the baggage tents were, how to get to the start (our studio apartment was only 15 minutes walk away, which was good) and worked out when I wanted to leave. So, after a somewhat poor night’s sleep (as is quite usual for me before a marathon) I was up at 6:15am for my usual breakfast of porridge and bread and jam, dressed, packed my bag and headed out the door dressed warmly. It soon became apparent that I didn’t need to be dressed for spring; although it was cool in the shade, there was already warmth in the sun, and the forecast had been for beautiful blue skies, so I was starting to anticipate a rather hot run.

All of my previous marathons have been run in the UK, and I have to say we are rather good, whatever the size of the event, at organising these sorts of things with military precision. Not quite the same in France! I had been led to expect signage in English as well as French, and thought the baggage drop would be clearly marked, but it wasn’t and I had no clue what I was doing, so just followed the long stream of runners right the way to the far end of Avenue Foch, where we then went through security and I had to work out which tent my baggage needed to be stowed following some code on my baggage label. That had taken 20 minutes, so it was already 7:50 before I started heading all the way back the way I’d come, past the Arc de Triomphe (no road closure here, there were still cars trying to weave their way through hundreds of runners, sometimes aided by a policeman’s whistle), now jogging a little because my pen, the 3 hour group, was due to leave at 8:22. Then I hit a bottle-neck where those trying to get to the 3:00 and 3:15 pens were merging with those trying to get into the 3:30 pen, and a proper London tube crush ensued. Emerging through that, like a cork out of a champagne bottle, I eventually found my start with just 10 minutes to go. You can never give yourself enough time, but the 45 minutes recommended by the marathon guide is clearly not enough. 

At 8:13 the wheelchair racers started the marathon off, followed by the elite and championship runners at 8:20. My group was next, but it was started in two stages: the left hand side of the Champs Elysées before the right hand side, so being on the right side I spent 2 minutes longer waiting for the klaxon. That meant there were already lots of runners in front of me, and although it didn’t matter in the end to me, if you are a 2:45 - 2:55 runner you would be wise to make sure you line up on the left side of the road.

Just before the start I was wished good luck by a West 4 Harriers runner, and during the race came across a few other local clubs, although I can only remember a Wimbledon Hercules runner now. Considering there were supposed to be 7500+ runners from the UK participating, I saw very few.

And off we went. The first few kilometres were fairly slow, with a fair bit of accelerating and decelerating as I either got blocked or passed people. By 5k I was already down on my anticipated time by about a minute, so I started to realise that this was what my pace was going to be today, as my heart rate was already higher than I’d have liked. Then both my calves started to tighten up; I’ve had this before in training runs and have not managed to put my finger on why it happens: maybe not enough warm-up (none today!), maybe the fact I hadn’t run all week and should of had a light run on Saturday, I really don’t know. Anyway, it wasn’t helping!

By 5 miles I felt like I had already run 15. My legs just felt heavy, and my usual marathon pace where my heart rate is around 150 was feeling very hard and remained at 4:22/km - about 12s/km slower than it should have been. I can only put this down to the heat. There was a little respite at 6 miles where we entered the Bois de Vincennes, the largest park in the city which appeared to have its own micro-climate, and was cool and damp. But the Paris route is not flat; it gradually rises and falls by small amounts quite a deal, and this was another factor that was causing me some mental anguish: all of a sudden I could be feeling great and in the groove because of a slight downhill, but every small incline was a struggle and my heart rate shot up. And I was only at mile 8!

Up until this point we’d been heading out to the east, but now the course turned back towards Paris. I wasn’t really taking much notice of anything other than the fact I was only 1/3rd of the way in and was not feeling any better. My watch was still saying 4:22/km, so I was keeping a steady pace, but I felt so rubbish that the thought of a DNF started to invade my mind. In my pocket was a Metro ticket and 10 Euros, so it would be easy to step off at the next Metro station and head back to the baggage area and just collect my bag. What did keep me going, though, was the thought of my wife, Yasmin, and daughter, Chloe, waiting for me at the 30km point. It was a target, and although 42.2km sounded a long way off, 30km seemed possible, so if I can get to there I can decide whether to give up or not.

I reached half way in around 1:32:15, so still keeping to 4.22/km, and would have been a reasonable time if I wasn’t already shattered. I hung onto that pace for a bit longer and then I started to drop a few seconds here and there. I completely missed Notre Dame, which is annoying because it was one of the attractions we hadn’t visited during our sight-seeing and was on my list of must-sees. The route soon started to go through a number of underpasses, which was a descent and ascent that I didn’t need but at least shielded me from the sun for a little while. By the time I reached the Eiffel Tower, and started looking around for my supporters, my pace had slowed to 4:40/km. Amazingly, I did spot Yasmin and Chloe among the crowds, and was mighty pleased to see them for that brief time. I even managed a smile!

I didn’t step off the road at 30k and give up but it was all a bit downhill from there on. My pace had dropped to 4.55/km, which I would have been happy to finish with, but whereas my heart rate at that pace is usually a very comfortable 125 bpm, it was currently hovering around 160 bpm, which is what it usually is during a half-marathon race at 3:56/km! So I started to take walking breaks to bring it down; I was actually a little worried it was so high (I am getting on a bit after all!). The walking breaks worked, and I was able to run 1-1.5km before I had to stop and walk again. The walking probably lost me 3 or 4 minutes overall, so it was no big deal, but I’ve never walked in a road marathon before so I was pretty unhappy about that!

In the last mile I was passed by the 3:15 pacer which was a kick in the teeth, so the finish line was a welcome sight when it arrived. From somewhere I still managed to up the pace for the last 400m, but it was a little late. I finished in 3:16:50. You can see my race and analyse it here on Strava.

At the finish I received a medal, t-shirt, and mystery object. I wore the t-shirt on the way home and one of the security guards at the Eurostar applauded me with a ‘Bravo!’ and asked me how I’d got on. The mystery object, I discovered later on at home, was ironically a waterproof poncho, one-size-fits-all!

All in all, my 4 nights in Paris with the family were excellent, and not something that would have been high on my list of destinations to visit without the marathon entry. The marathon itself was not one I enjoyed at any point; then again, I don’t usually enjoy the distance, so that’s not new! I know the reason why I run them is to test myself, but maybe I will need to start to question if it is the right distance for me. I rather like half marathons, and tend to be quite good at those. I’m entered for the London Marathon in 2 weeks time, and I will compete in it if I have recovered sufficiently and the weather looks favourable. After that, I need to re-evaluate my running goals and see if marathons still fits with them. 

Au revoir Paris, tu vas me manquer.