Tower of Terror 10-Miler Update

Hello friends! Yes, I'm still here. I know, I know another blog hiatus again, but life gets hectic for a busy bee like me! With Tower of Terror 10-Miler training in full swing (more on that below), plus a very active August with lots of events on tap and the transition from summer to fall, blogging has taken a bit of a backseat. School is back in session as well and since my job focuses a lot on working with area school systems, work has been quite active too. Between running and working, I pretty much come home in the evenings, eat and go to sleep at what is likely a toddler's bedtime. Eventually I want to bring back some weekly review wrap-ups and I have so many ideas for other future posts, but now I just need to get my busy bee schedule in order and go from there. I salute you awesome bloggers that manage to post at least once (if not more) a day! You all are rockstars!

Me regarding the ToT 10-Miler!

So, enough basic chit chat, let's talk the upcoming Run Disney event, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler! It will take place October 4, which is very exciting since that day is just around the corner! This Run Disney race takes place at Walt Disney World at night and features a villain-themed course, which starts and finishes at Hollywood Studios, my favorite Disney Park. To be fair I love all the Disney parks almost equally, but as a lover of movies, this park gets the slight edge for my number one. Plus it has some of my favorite rides and attractions, including the Tower of Terror of course! In addition, the race runs through Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Like other Run Disney events, characters will be at various points on the course for photo opportunities. After the finish, race participants get free entry into Hollywood Studios for the Villain's Bash after party! The party lasts until 3:30 a.m. and runners (as well as spectators who paid to attend) get to enjoy some of the park's rides as well as get pictures with more characters. 

Tower of Terror 10-Miler Course Map!

I couldn't be more excited for this race, y'all! Did I just say "y'all?" YES, I sure did because seriously I am so pumped! This will be my first time doing the Tower of Terror 10-Miler, my first race at the distance of 10 miles (automatic PR right?!), my first night race and my first time running through both Hollywood Studios and the Wide World of Sports! Not to mention, the race coming up so soon means that my Disney vacation is almost here. Walt Disney World is basically my second home and I can't wait to return and be with "my people" who understand my love of all things Disney. Also, my busy bee self is really looking forward to a nice vacation, so what better way to get things started by showing my Disney Side with a race through my favorite place?!

Magic Band arrival means Disney is SO CLOSE!

Run Disney recently released corral assignments for the Tower of Terror 10-Miler, which again shows just how close this race is! Following the recent Run Disney tradition, there are more corrals as in year's past. The husband and I will be in corral D. D is for "Definitely Awesome!" If you are in this corral give me a shout! 

Having attended the Run Disney Marathon Weekend as well as the Princess Half Weekend, I've only experienced the half marathon course, which is the same for both the WDW Half and Princess Half, and the Enchanted 10K course. I am very excited to try a new Run Disney course. I've also read that the course has a small trail portion included, and while I've seen some complaints regarding this, the former cross country runner in me is PUMPED! I love running on trail type surfaces. Hopefully this part will be as fun as it sounds! I am sure this could all change depending on how I feel during the race, but the 10 mile distance also intrigues me. It's an unusual distance that you don't see many races set at, and I kind of dig it. Hopefully I still "dig it" as I'm sweating like a hot mess during the race lol! 

Training for the Tower of Terror 10-Miler has been more enjoyable than training for my last Run Disney event, the Glass Slipper Challenge. For the Glass Slipper Challenge I mainly trained solo and due to the polar vortex of a winter we had, I was confined to a treadmill for the majority of my runs, including long runs. While it has been a hot and humid summer of training, which has ended up providing some not so awesome feeling runs, it's been better overall. Since the husband is doing the race with me it's been more motivating and made the training runs, specifically long runs, much more enjoyable. Having a running partner always helps! It's also been nice to do long runs outside again (even with the hot weather) after doing so many on the treadmill over the winter. Reading past race recaps and knowing the Florida weather for early October, the race will likely be hot and humid as well. Since that's what the majority of our training has been like weather-wise, hopefully we will at least be semi-prepared. 

As for training plans, with the 10 mile distance we've basically just stuck to how we would train for a half marathon. We've gradually upped our long run distance each weekend over the past couple months. After a particularly brutal 9-miler, we noticed we were feeling a bit drained and took a weekend during our training to just do a regular maintenance run in place of a long run. I've read many plans that recommend runners take at least one long run break during their training, and I can say that it did help both of us. We bounced back the following weekend and had a much better long run! The long runs as usual haven't been easy, but we've pushed through. I'm proud that we've stuck to our plan! Often I find myself having to deviate from my set-out training plan, so I'm very glad that we've motivated each other to stay on task. This weekend starts our taper cycle since again the race is THAT close, so we plan to still do a long run but back off the distance.

Mickey pancakes with chocolate milk in a Cinderella mug is a great way to refuel while training!

For other Tower of Terror 10-Milers, how has your training gone? I am sure a lot of you, like me, are now in your taper phase as well. Let me know if you are planning to join me for this race! I'd love to know what you are looking forward to when it comes to running into the Twilight Zone! If you aren't doing this race, but are training for other fall races, I'd love to hear how that's going as well. I plan to do our costume reveal for the race (because Run Disney races are just so much more fun in costume), so stay tuned!