Team AllEars® Running Blog

Note from Michelle and Mike: From time to time we will be highlighting the stories of members of Team All Ears, a wonderful group of individuals, who have agreed to raise money for Deb Wills' Avon Breast Cancer Fund by running Disney races in January 2010.

I have a bit of a Disney addiction. I had visited Walt Disney World every few years throughout my childhood. The addiction did not really start to get serious until 1992 when I met my (now) wife Cindy and her family, who were annual visitors to Walt Disney World. I got to visit annually, as well. As a 40+ trip veteran and DVC Member, I looked for any reason or excuse to get to Walt Disney World. My past reasons have included attending Food and Wine, Baseballs' Spring Training, Star Wars Weekends, my brother-in-law’s wedding at the Wedding Pavilion. I was looking for a new reason to visit when I began hearing about the Walt Disney World Half Marathon.

13.1 miles? I could probably run 13.1 miles! My only problem was that I had not done anything athletic and physical since playing lacrosse in college 17 years ago.

I ran and completed my first half marathon this past January, running the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. I began January 1, 2008 with the New Year’s resolution of getting off of the couch, losing weight, and reducing my work related stress, while sneaking in another trip to WDW. After registering for the half, my wife Cindy threatened me that I had to complete this or else. I had registered several years ago not training seriously and never actually ran the race. After registering, I never actually ran --- period!

At the age of 39, now 35 pounds lighter, in shape, more relaxed, and a confident athlete, I am addicted to running. I get up at 4:00 am six days a week to workout and run, whether, I am training for a race or just keeping in shape. There is no better feeling and accomplishment then starting the day off with doing something most won't do, running miles at a time. I also completed my 2nd and 3rd half marathons this year, running the Suntrust Half Marathon through Washington, DC in March and the Harrisburg Half Marathon in September. I ran several 5Ks and the Disney Race for the Taste 10K. I am running the Harrisburg Marathon in several weeks, which will be my first full marathon. Needless to say running has become a significant part of my life. Living in chilly PA, I only ran in-doors for 2 weeks this past year. Outdoors is where I belong. As motivation for myself and hopefully others, I post my runs and times daily on Facebook and Twitter and am motivated by other runners doing the same.

Crossing the finish line in January was one of my greatest individual accomplishments. Joining the All Ears Running Team and the thought of motivating others and running for a cause was even more reason to pursue my new passion. I ran by myself for the past 21 months. The thought of letting other runners know that they have support and are not alone is something I enjoy being a part of.

My wife Cindy and I have been regular contributors to Deb's annual Avon walk for the past several years. I donate in memory of my grandmother Naomi Klevans, who lost the battle with breast cancer at the young age of 85 after having been diagnosed with breast cancer in her latter years. My grandmother was a very important influence in my life and taught me to work hard, set goals, and keep a positive attitude, no matter what life throws at you. Even facing such a significant diagnosis, I was awed by her positive outlook and how she took the diagnosis in stride. She waged a tough battle, but ultimately lost her battle with cancer a few years later. It is in her honor and memory that I run this coming year and why this cause and team is so important to me.

I will be competing in and completing the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge this January as I run in memory of my grandmother. My wonderful wife Cindy and my 5 1/2 year old daughter Julia will be there to support me during marathon weekend. This will be Julia's 18th trip to Walt Disney World, but her first time running as she participates in the 200M Kids race. I hope Julia catches the running bug, I sure have!

Note from Michelle and Mike: From time to time we will be highlighting the stories of members of Team All Ears, a wonderful group of individuals, who have agreed to raise money for Deb Wills' Avon Breast Cancer Fund by running Disney races in January 2010.

Hi, My name is Amanda McKittrick Gonzales and I am proud to be a member of the All Ears Net running team.

I am running the Half-Marathon in January of 2010 and have aspirations to run the full marathon in 2011 and perhaps the Goofy in 2012!

I am a life-long Disney enthusiast and have been a fan of Deb Wills and follower of AllEars.net for many years. I am also a mother of four young children under 8 years old.

The past nine years have been extremely busy and I, unfortunately allowed my health and caring for myself slip away. This past April, I finally looked in the mirror and did not recognize the person staring back at me. As a former college athlete, I had always been in excellent shape, I was a pixie, but suddenly, my heart sank as I realized I had turned into a heffalump. I stepped on the scale, consulted my doctor and learned that I was 100 pounds overweight. I qualified as morbidly obese.

My children and my family are the most important things in my life, but I realized that I needed to take drastic measures to change my habits so that I could have the best chance of living a long life. I want to be alive to watch my children and, hopefully grandchildren grow.

I decided to register for the Disney Half-Marathon. Disney would motivate me to accomplish this task. What better place to accomplish this dream than in Disney World the place where dreams do come true! I joined weight watchers, consulted my doctors and began changing my nutrition and exercise habits.

I joined Team AllEars to help raise money for Breast Cancer research because several people in my community whom I am friends with are battling this horrific disease. I also lost my father to Cancer and I want to decrease my chances of developing the disease some day.

It has not been easy, but I am proud to say that with the support of my teammates and some hard work, I have lost 25 pounds and am up to 8 miles on my running mileage. I am proud to be a Team AllEars member ad consider it a privilege and and honor to be raising money for Breast Cancer research, changing my health in a positive way and running the half marathon in Disney!

Note from Michelle and Mike: From time to time we will be highlighting the stories of members of Team All Ears, a wonderful group of individuals, who have agreed to raise money for Deb Wills' Avon Breast Cancer Fund by running Disney races in January 2010.

This week we are pleased to introduce Jamison Reynolds.

Why I Am Team AllEars

We all have our reasons. Some look for the health benefits. Some love the rush of breaking through the wall. Some love the pain. Just as we all have our reasons, another truth is that reasons change. I fall into that group.

When my son Patrick was born in 2005 I put on what some may call "sympathy weight". I actually grew into a very unhealthy 225 lbs on a 5'11 frame. That's a BMI (Body Mass Index) of over 31 which is technically obese. In January 2006 I decided to get into shape and began a weight loss regimen. Part of the routine was cardio. I HATED RUNNING. But as the pounds came off I decided I wanted a challenge. Could I overcome my hate of running and run a half-marathon?

I think at this point I should identify myself as "Disney Obsessive". What better race to prove that I had accomplished my goal then the Walt Disney World Half-Marathon? Well it was sold out and I was not about to commit to a full marathon So thought I would wait... but life, trips and various other distractions kept me from following through.

In January 2009 my youngest son was born and I decided once and for all I was gonna run. I registered in March for the Walt Disney World Half-Marathon right before a trip down to Orlando with the family. While we were down in Florida we noticed a rash on Benjamin, our baby. When we returned from our trip we scheduled an appointment for a routine check the next day.

Within 24 hours of returning from Walt Disney World we were at Ruby Memorial Children's Hospital in Morgantown, WV awaiting a bone marrow biopsy on our little boy because the blood work from the day before showed what looked like acute leukemia.

After the scariest day of our lives, we learned he did not have cancer, but a rare autoimmune disease called "Evan's Syndrome"; a condition where his body could attack his platelets and/or his white cells and/or his hemoglobin at any time. This is a condition that he will have for the rest of his life, can trigger at any moment and can be fatal.

He spent two weeks in the hospital with blood work twice a day and heavy steroid treatment once a day. After he was released he received weekly chemotherapy for a month. Although it was not cancer, the theory was that the chemo would wipe out ALL of his antibodies and when they began to regenerate after treatment was concluded that his antibodies would "course correct". My little boy spent his first Easter in the hospital, IV sticking out of his head, wiped out from chemo and steroids. He was three months old.

Benjamin is now eight months old and healthy as a horse... a horse that cruised for the first time an hour before I wrote this. We still get monthly blood work, but so far his numbers have been well above normal. We thank God every day.

I no longer run for me. I run for my children. I run to stay healthy so I can take care of them, not the other way around. I run because I plan to stay active in their lives. I run to set a good example; so they see physical activity is a norm and NOT an exception. I run to keep my BMI below 25 so my kids have a healthy Dad. I run because Wii Fit is only so much fun. I run because I can.

I am Team AllEars.

by Mike Scopa

Regardless as to how long in your life you have been running, if you’ve basically gone no further than 10K (6.2 miles) or a mile or two further, then the thought of running 30,016 inches becomes rather intimidating. Oh sorry…I meant 69, 168 feet….uhhh….23,056 yards…I’m talking 13.1 miles which is the official the distance for a Half-Marathon.

It does seem rather overwhelming of course…even for me who some four years ago was training for my first half-marathon and wondering if I could cover that distance in the required time.

I had been running for almost 40 years so I had a good running base but I was used to six and seven mile distances and a rare occasional eight mile run. The thought of being out there running for 13.1 miles was a bit overwhelming to me at first and I wondered if preparing myself mentally for this race would be the bigger challenge than that of getting ready for it physically.

As I trained for this race I tried to figure out how I would approach the day of the race and for the most part my training took on a special focus.

Most of my training involved stamina. I figured I was 50% there because I knew I could run six or seven miles but now I had to figure out if I could cover double that distance.

So how did I figure out how to approach the race? It came down to basically the kind of approach that we all should probably use when we are faced with a large task ahead of us…I call it “chunking.”

I decided that I would chunk the WDW Half-Marathon into three even parts and approach the race as being three mini-races of 4.5 miles apiece Heck when you’re training for 13.1 miles 4.5 miles is a piece of cake…in fact I know for myself it takes me about 4 miles just to warm up.

So as I approached the eight and nine mile distances during my training I began to imagine that when I ran eight miles it was really two four miles runs and when I covered nine miles it was actually two 4.5 mile runs. By doing this not only was I able to approach the training this way but also begin to train my mind to how it would work on the day of the race.

So why am I telling you this?

Well I would imagine that some of you out there reading my words are looking at your first half-marathon and are saying to yourself, “How am I going to cover 13.1 miles?”

Try not to think of the total distance…chunk it up.

It certainly helped me get ready for my first half-marathon.

Now, four years later, I find myself using this same approach while training for yet another WDW Half-Marathon.

I know I don’t have to run 13 miles in any of my training runs…for those of you wondering if you should…I personally don’t think you have to.

I shoot for that 9-10 mile threshold. If I can cover that distance then I know I can cover 13.1 miles.

So for my training I “chunk” it up into three 3.0-3.5 mile distances.

As the weeks and months go by I build towards the first chunk and that tells me I’m one third of the way towards being ready for the race. As I hit the 6-7 mile mark I know I will be 2/3 of the way in my conditioning and once I hit the 9-10 mile mark I am ready for the race.

That works for me.

So if you find yourself a bit concerned about the distance then “chunk” it up and see what that does for you.

And for the record…I am 36% ready for the 2010 WDW Half-Marathon

* * * * * *

OH BY THE WAY…..

….earlier this year we announced the formation of the ALL-Ears Running Team for the 2010 WDW Half-Marathon.

At the time of the announcement we had limited the participation to 50 members because of the logistics of communicating with everyone. Unfortunately early on because of our concerns we had to sadly inform some of you that we had reached our capacity.

Well…NO MORE.

We feel we can open up membership again so if you are still interested in becoming a member of the AllEars Running team then please send an email to either Michelle at Michelle@allEars.net or me at MikeScopa@allEars.net and we will get back to you with information on how you can become a member of the team and join us at the WDW Marathon Weekend.

Please keep in mind that in order to participate you must be registered for the 2010 Walt Disney World Half-Marathon, Full Marathon, or Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge.

Music and sports have always had a close relationship for me. For years I did step aerobics and the beat of a good song pushed me to go a bit further or to challenge myself to go faster. A carefully constructed playlist for walking or running also has the same effect…it helps you pick up your pace and can motivate you to do a little bit more.

Another interesting aspect of the music and sports connection is the way people adopt “anthems.” I’m sure you’ve been to a sports event where Queen’s We Will Rock You has had you jump out of your seat, clapping with thousands of other fans. At a Red Sox game, singing Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline with 32,000 of your closest friends is a cultural phenomenon not to be missed (unless you're a Yankees fan, of course).

People have their own personal sports anthems, as well. These are those songs that have personal meaning, whose words motivate you to go on when your legs are tired, when you feel that you’ve given all you have.

Team AllEars has adopted the Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow as a team anthem. It started when I heard my co-captain, Mike Scopa, singing this song that I had put onto his playlist. I got quite a chuckle (as Mike tends to be more of a Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé type of fellow), shared it with the group, and before we knew it, we were all loading the song onto our MP3 players and greeting each other with an enthusiastic “Boom Boom Pow!” It’s become sort of our secret handshake (not so secret any more!).

My personal anthem lately is a song from the wonderful Mary J. Blige: Work That. This song speaks to me and when it pops into my iPod, I just want to do a little more.

Runners come in many shapes and sizes and have many ability levels. When I was lucky enough to be on the grandstand at the finish line of the Boston Marathon a few years ago, I was astounded by the variety of people crossing the line. There were the elite athletes, of course, but there were skinny runners, roundish sort of runners, young runners, old runners, runners pushing others in wheel chairs, runners helping others to the finish, runners in many types of clothing, from different countries around the world. It occurred to me for the first time that runners come in all shapes and sizes….but one similarity was, in the words of Mary J., workin’ what they got!

I hear these words….

Work your thing out
‘Cause so many you girls, I hear you been running
From the beautiful queen that you can be becoming
You can look in my palm and see the storm coming
Just because the length of your hair ain't long
And they often criticize you for your skin tone
Wanna hold your head high, ‘cause you’re a pretty woman
Get your runway stride home and keep it going

…and it reminds me that I don’t necessarily have a runner’s body, that I can’t always fit the running in when I want to, that I can’t always go as fast as I want to or for as long as I want to. The lyrics remind me of my TeamAllears running mates: we’re not perfect, we’re not professional runners, but we’re out there, and doing the best we can every day.

I just wanna be myself
Don't sweat, girl, be yourself
Follow me, follow me, follow me
Guess what, I'll be myself
(And I grew to love it)

I think of the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet this year. People who are adding training to their busy schedule to be prepared to run the Disney races in January... people who are different shapes and sizes, ability levels. These are special people who are running for a great cause… breast cancer research.

So to my teammates -- and to everyone else who is training for Disney races -- I say it doesn’t matter how you do it. You need to do it your way. Go out and Work That.