Marathon Weekend’s registration opened today at 10.
It’s well known that the “best” way to get a bib is to have multiple browsers open, over multiple types of devices. You can also get into the queue PRIOR to 10AM.
This is all lies.
When I tried to access the runDisney website this morning at 9:50-ish, the site was already down. Like crash, burn, blue screen of death, website down. I had two browsers going on the work computer and just let them sit. I refreshed when I could, or when I remembered to. After a while, I was set to give up, and then - of course - registration was rumoured to be opening back up at 12:30. I fired up my phone around 12:00 and let it sit. Computer was showing more than an hour wait. Phone had 45 minutes. That 45 minutes flew. I finished my registration around 1, and the races were all sold out by 1:30.
I’ve struggled with the idea of doing Dopey again. I already know I’m not a marathoner. Nope. Those 26.2 miles are going to suck, but if I’m not injured, my only enemy will be my brain. And I can drug that fucker into submission.
At the end of the day, I did register for Dopey. I want to try it again. I need to try it again.
And now I feel guilty for registering.
There are a lot of people who got bounced out of the queue while the website was being worked on. A ton of people who were bounced out when one of the races they registered for was sold out. (So… if you had a Dopey and a 5K registration and the 5K sold out, you’d lose both and have to start over again.) Even more people that had sat in the queue only to find out all the races were sold out by 1:30. The loudest screamers are the ones who got into the queue prior to 10AM and missed out. It’s completely random as to who gets in at what time. I mean, it’s just so weird. Someone who gets online at 12:30 had a better chance to get a bib than someone who sat in Disney hell since 9:45.
I don’t know.
Part of me feels bad that I took a spot from someone who waited for more hours than I did.
Part of me doesn’t care because I just have that kind of shitty luck.(Seriously. I didn’t want there to be any races open by the time I got in. *grin*)
And part of me thinks that I’m insane to want to try this again.
So yeah.
#dopey2021 - It’s going to be a fight to the death between the dwarf and I. I wonder who’s going to win this year?
If we’re not Facebook friends, you have missed my ongoing documentation of the war in Ukraine. (Actually, consider yourself lucky we’re not FB friends… I’m so tired of the endless posts about the war, too, but I can’t not share.) I watch the news constantly for attacks on Lviv. On a small village that has no reason to be attacked. On Odesa. Further attacks on Kyiv.
My friends are in Ukraine.
MY FAMILY is in Ukraine.
This is personal.
But anyhoo… I have dissected and ressected (? go with it) and dissected again, my feelings about this. I have compartmentalised and have given my shrinky dink enough material to write a fucking book. And yet the war continues and I continue to learn new things about myself.
Like that stubbornness? The drive to survive at all costs? The ability to be an absolute asshole to anyone who has hurt me?
I used to think it was a side effect of growing up with my mother…
And maybe it is, but not because of the alcoholism.
I’m starting to think that’s not nuture, but nature.
Like it’s encoded in my DNA, passed on from generation to generation of stubborn, survival focused, Ukrainian assholes.
I saw it firsthand: my grandparents, my mother, even my aunt.
I saw it in the rest of the Ukrainian community around Hartford.
I see it in myself.
And I see it in every single Ukrainian person that shows up in my newsfeed, on the news, or on a postage stamp.
One of the things we had planned prior to Putin being a putz was to see Boombox in Miami on March 8th.
Every time this song gets posted, I almost always share the link.
Because I love Andriy Khlyvnyuk (the lead singer). I absolutely adore him and the clip of him singing never ceases to amaze me.
It never ceases to make me feel proud of my heritage - of one of my favourite bands - when this shows up on my newsfeed. To have people who have never heard of Boombox talk about Andriy’s voice, to search out his music… it kind of gives me chills the same way hearing the Ukrainian anthem sung in a plaza in Lviv did. Or hearing it sung at an OE concert at Madison Square Garden, surrounded by a bunch of American born Ukrainian teenagers who weren’t old enough to know a Ukraine under Soviet rule.
And then, there’s Antytila. Who have also gone viral, thanks to Ed Sheeran.
There are so many clips of lead singer Taras Topolya singing on news shows, just speaking about the war, how his family is somewhere in the West…
But I’m going to end this post with a fun video.
I mean, how many bands can lay claim to having Zelenskyy, the fucking President of their country, in one of their music videos?
And he’s absolutely hysterical in it, but you can decide for yourself:
find you someone who looks at you like Chris looks at Peter
Draft four of my ode to statutory rape is in time out.
I love the idea I have.
I love the way I write my characters.
I love everything except for the fact that Yuri is 15.
I’m not ready to write a draft where I age him up.
SO… because I am a writer and writing is as vital to me as breathing, I am writing.
But not Yuri on Ice!!! fic.
I’m back to writing Teen Wolf fan fic.
But not the version I went three drafts on.
Nope.
Why bother finishing a completely decent story? One that was thisclose to being done?
Because, I suppose, I’m me and I like to do things the hard way.
I started a completely different new fic… with a completely different pairing.
Is it a pairing if it’s an OT3? Whatever.
I’ve decided to write what’s commonly referred to as Stetopher: Stiles / Peter / Chris(topher).
The best part about this fandom is that the Petopher portion practically writes itself.
No. Seriously.
^^^^ LOOK. AT. THAT. UP. THERE. ^^^^
JR Bourne plays Chris Argent and Ian Bohen plays Peter Hale in TW. All you have to do is spend time on instagram to get enough ammunition to fill that ship’s canon. (Ha ha ha! Do you like what I did there?)
Anyhoo… Adding Stiles to the mix makes it that much better.
This happened today and it is still making me giggle.
Thankfully, I do not need to age anyone up this time.
Soooooo… much like my on-and-off again attempts to learn the Ukrainian language, I’m suffering through the same fits and starts with running.
Consistency is not my thing apparently.
I decided to register for Wine and Dine because I want to redeem myself and not end the half marathon in tears, wondering when I’ll get swept. That’s totally public enemy number one, that Disney half marathon.
I have a whopping 107 miles under my belt this year. That is not the training of a serious runner…
I can barely consider myself a walker at this point.
Right now, I’m dealing with the aftershocks of a decision I made last weekend. I’m waffling between pride and stupidity.
I signed up for a half marathon that went three loops through a park. In a “safe” park. In a “safe” town.
I managed two loops because during the first two, my bad touch spidey senses were tingling. There were parts where I was the only person on the course for as far as I could see. There were random guys scattered through the park alone and in groups. There were a few in a playground area that were definitely giving off some bad energy, and I’m not normally given to paranoia, but it is what it is. I got to the split for the finish line and walked off the course, bib in hand. I wasn’t going to cross the finish line… I didn’t want the participant medal. I didn’t want anything but to go home.
I’m on the phone with the husband telling him what a miserable time I had when this dude approaches me. Big guy. He will not leave me alone. Asking me if I want a medal or headphones (what?! Seriously! Do you want some candy, little girl? / Why don’t you get in the back of my van. I’ll drive you to your car. / Hello, Lester the Child Molester). I ended up elbowing him in the gut and running the rest of the way to my car. It was a shame I turned my Garmin off - that was probably a five minute mile.
So. Yeah. Happy I didn’t tempt fate, but upset that I didn’t. Damned if I did, damned because I didn’t.
I’ve decided to rerun all my medals again - surprise! But, I’m doing it a little differently. I’m still tracking the original rerun because I want to earn them all, but I decided to also track my medals earned by distance run. Right now, I have an excel spreadsheet that I’m filling in based on mileage alone. In order. So if I run a 5K, I fill in the very first 5K on the medal list. Regardless of which RTI club it is. On the ‘real’ tracker, I’m trying to run races in a way that allows me to finish challenge medals and then fill in the rest of the blanks. Out of the 107 I have on the year, I’ve only run 74 RTI miles. Technically, that’s about 2 miles a day from here to the end of the year.
But anyhoo, I digress.
Marathon Weekend’s registration opens on April 22nd. I priced out the costs of doing the Wine and Dine races separately (5K, 10K, and Half) and comparing it to what I actually spent for the 5K and the Two Course Challenge. Of course, the Challenge costs more, but it’s minimal. You’re basically paying for the cheap race shirt at that point. Pointless math, except…
I’m not sure if I want to run Marathon Weekend if I’m not attempting the Dopey. It’s a lot of money… and I could technically do a half marathon anywhere, except that park. I was thinking about signing up for the three races and avoiding the marathon completely - or signing up for the Dopey if it’s cheaper and selling my medal on eBay, if I accept it at all this time.
I told myself that if I can run consistently through April 1 - 21, I will register for the Dopey again. If I can’t, I may do the three races… or at very least, the fucking half marathon.
I will beat the balloon ladies even if it kills me.
