I decided to try a Zumba class today. I have always like to dance (even though I am anything but graceful), so I thought it might be interesting to see what it was like.
So so glad I tried it. It is so much fun! I had such a good time that it didn’t really feel like working out. And it pushed me over my ActiveLink goal, so yay for that too!
Tomorrow is my next weigh in..
3 miles 43:11 14:25 pace
Today was my first run after the half almost 10 days ago. I was in part waiting just to rest my knees and feet, but I was also not really feeling up to running. I don’t know why– I guess my time on my last half really bummed me out even though I had stopped so much for pictures.
But I got out there and ran with friends today. And that is always fun because it really makes the time go by. It was good to see them as it had been a couple of weeks since we had all run together.
Had my weigh in today. Was a little concerned as we just got back from Disney three days ago. While I was pretty active, I also didn’t give too much thought into how much or what I was eating. So I was pleasantly surprised:
down 0.8 lbs. Total loss; 6.8 lbs since joining three weeks ago.
Not a huge amount, but I will take it.
I was pretty tired when the alarm went off at 2:45 AM. But I managed to get dressed and realized that I had forgotten my bodyglide. Uh oh. Quick check of the weather: 0% chance of rain with 100% humidity. Double uh oh. I decided to leave the heart rate monitor in the room to minimize chance of chafing. Grabbed some food and a bottle of water and headed out to catch the monorail to the start line. From the horror stories of how terrible the traffic was, I am very grateful that Disney had the monorail running. It took us about 10 minutes to make it over and to the runner’s area.
This was an anniversary year, so I knew it was going to be crowded; I just wasn’t prepared for how crowded it was going to be.
Once I get past the intial crush of people, I head over to where there were some princesses so I could get my pics. However, the lines were crazy long. We were planning on having breakfast with the princesses, so I figured I would get my pics then. We finally made it to the corralls; I was in D out of H with the goal of completing a half in less than three hours. I have times to show that this is not out of the realm of possiblity for me. With the humidity and temps the way they were, though, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Eventually, corral after corral is sent off, and we slowly make our way to thr front. We get words of encouragement from the Fairy Godmother, see some fireworks and we are off!
The first picture opportunity is Jack Sparrow’s ship, and I decide I will try to get that one on the way back.
Then I see this huge line for the heroes. And what do I do? I go ahead and stand in it. I waited 20 minutes to get that picture, and while it’s cute I am not sure it was worth it. While I am in line, I see corrals E and F passing me. I get done and go back to my 1:1 intervals. There are so many people that it is really hard for me to try to get into a decent groove and pace going. It’s a little frustrating, as is people who literally stop right in front without looking. There were several times I had to abruptly stop so as to not run into someone, and my joints were not happy about that. In fact, I think my knees are still pissed at me.
We finally see the enterance to Magic Kingdom and start heading towards the castle.
As we make our way down Main Street, the crowds again are overwheling. It was so slow going that I pretty much was forced to walk from here until we headed out towards Fronteirland. For comparison’s sake, check out my recap of Tinkerbell half marathon. There is a similar picture of running towards the castle, and the crowds are much thinner!
As we ran towards Tomorrowland, I got some pics of me in front of the castle. And then I also saw Buzz Lightyear. The line was short and i hadn’t seen the balloon ladies so I hopped in line for a pic.
After Buzz, we had towards the back of the castle and there are Princess Minnie and Mickey. Since S was disappointed we weren’t able to get a picture with them the day before, I felt like I needed to get into line. That was a really long line, and as I am standing in it, I am seeing people from G and H corralls passing me. But I still haven’t seen the balloon ladies. So I take the picture and keep going.
We then head into Fronteirland where I saw Tiana, out the back of Magic Kingdom where Aurora was holding court and then we were done with Magic Kingdom. Once we get out of the Magic Kingdom, it felt like the course really narrowed. There was one lane for 20,000+ people. At this point, I was running with the walkers, so there really wasn’t any room to try to even get past people on the roads. So I started passing people on the grass. I saw Mary Poppins and Bert along with two other chimney sweeps. The girls like this movie so I hopped into line. However, the balloon ladies came walking on by, so I had to abandom the picture and book it. I really didn’t want to get swept, and the course was so crowded, I wasn’t sure how much time I would be able to make up.
I kept going until about mile 12, and at that point I was so frustrated trying to pass people. I was rapidly adding extra mileage to the 13 miles trying to pass. I knew at this point, I wasn’t going to get swept so I just started walking and going with the flow of the crowd. I was chatting with some very lovely people. There were so many who were doing their first half, and (as dorky as this sounds), it was a lot of fun to be able to encourage them and push them along. I don’t know if it helped them, but it certainly helped me! I see Mrs. Incredible standing there with pretty much no line so I hop on in and get a picture. We pass mile 13 and there was an awesome gospel choir. I jogged the last 0.1 mile and completed this race in 4hours and 3 minutes.
I got my medal and my coast to coast. Took my picture, got my food and drink and headed back to the hotel. Again, I was annoyed that there wasn’t a bag to hold all of the stuff. It’s a lot to carry a bottle of water, powerade, runDisney food box, and banana. I was chafed all under my arms and underneath my sports bra. It was painful and awful. Lesson learned: I will always double check to make sure I don’t forget the bodyglide.
This was my personal worst- by more than 30 minutes and about an hour longer than what I know I can do. I know that the weather had a lot to do with my perception of this race, but I really didn’t love it. And I love Disney. The crowds impacted the overall experience. It became less magical and more trudgery. And, for a company that prides itself on being magical, it was a little disappointing. Having said that, I am still planning on when to do my next runDisney race so it hasn’t deterred me.
S asked me months ago to sign her up for this since I was planning on doing it. I will admit, I had major hesitations about having my 6 year old running the 5k with me. Disney races start really early, and I knew she was still going to be on CST. How was she going to do about getting up at 4:30 am? She had never done a 5K before– how was she going to handle it? And how whiny was she going to get?
The alarm went off at 4, and I hurried up and got dressed. I then woke her up at 4:30; she must have been excited about it because she woke up with no problem. She got dressed and then we were off. We headed down to catch the bus, which already have about 35-40 people on it. There were groups of families with kids which was nice for S to see.
We get dropped off at Epcot and make our way to the runners area to check in our bag. The nice volunteers kept telling me I had to tie the bag with the attached drawstrings but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I felt pretty dumb about that. With that lovely ordeal done, we headed towards the central area. There were lovely stained glass windows at the enterance, so we had our picture taken with one of them. My goal for this race was pretty simple: to completely follow S’s lead on everything.
We took some more pictures before we headed over the corrals. We were in line to see Mickey and Minnie; however, after spending 30 minutes in line, the annoucers told us to head to the corrals, so we were planning on meeting with Mickey and Minnie after the race. We went into corral B, and heard someone playing the national anthem on some instrument ( I think the trumpet, but I honestly cannot remember). It was one of many proud mommy moments of that morning when I look over and see S singing along with her hand over her heart.
Finally, our corral was off. We started running. S tends to like to sprint really fast but can only sustain that for a few seconds. I had been prepping her to take it slow bc three miles wasn’t going to just fly by. We started to do 1:1 intervals and we kept that up for about half of the run. We stopped at every photo stop, where she was tickled pink because so many people commented on her costume. She had a couple of people taking pictures of her. And the characters were awesome! They were all so supportive of her, asking her how old she was and how proud of her they were. Seeing her face so full of pride was the best thing about this trip, I think.
By mile 2.7, though, she was starting to fade a bit. It was so hot and humid which didn’t help matters at all. So the last bit of the run, we ended up walking. When she saw the finish line approaching, she wanted to run. So we ran across the finish line where we heard the annoucers congratulate us , comment on our sparkly skirts and then get excited when they actually saw S.
We got our medals and then picked up the ater, powerade and snack boxes. One thing I loved about Tinkerbell is that they provided us with a bag to place all of our things. It’s really hard to hold onto two people’s worth of food and drink. After picking up our checked bag, we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom to meet the rest of the family.
The 5k was probably the best part of the weekend for me mainly because I got to do something so special with S. Seeing her be so proud of her accomplishment was a great feeling. Even though she was tired, she powered through. She never wanted to quit, and I loved how she pushed through all the way to the end.
I was so excited to do the Princess Half Marathon (PHM) again this year. I ran it back in 2011 for the first time and it’s what started me into running. I was talking with my dad about it in 2010, when I first learned about runDisney, and I mentioned to him it would be something I would like to do. He was equal parts supportive and skeptical ( I am anything but athletic). It was pretty much the last conversation I had with him because he fell two days later, went into a coma and passed away three weeks later. Given that, I had to do this race. I had prepared and trained for 6 months to get to where I could go the 13.1– not fast but I could get it done. I then fell ill with a temp of 102 two days before we were supposed to leave. I pushed through and got it done; It was frankly not a fun experience. So this race will always be about and for my dad, and this one was to my redemption run. I felt good having come off Tinkerbell and then another half the weekend after, so I felt I was prepared to run and also have time for pictures.
We landed in Orlando on Friday. While J and the girls went to Magic Kingdom, I headed over to the expo to pick up bibs and some other things I needed and had also pre-orderded. The expo was moved to Coronado Springs because of the Braves’ preseason. The venue was way too small. Bib pick up went smoothly– I had to go to three separate areas to pick up my 1/2 and 5k bibs and then to pick up S’s 5k bib. Then I had to fight the crowds to go all the way to the other side of the expo to pick up my shirts. And there, again, I had to wait in three separate lines to pick up all of the stuff. I know that this is the most efficient way for runDisney to hand things out, but it was a little frustrating to spend 30 minutes in three lines which were essentially adjacent to each other.
Once the official business was done, it was time to pick up some pre-ordered stuff. I had to fight my way back to the front of the expo just to see the map to figure out where the various vendors were. Once I figured that out, I made a straight shot to the Sparkle Skirts, Raw threads, Sweaty bands and KT booths. I picked up only the stuff I wanted and had pre-ordered and then headed out as fast as I could. It was honestly so crowded and overwhelming that I just had to get out. Guess it’s a good way to save money.
On the way out, I took a picture in front of the mini castle holding the bibs. I was a little bummed not to see the Fairy Godmother or the Royal Guardsmen, as they were both there two years ago.
All in all, the expo took me about 1 1/2 hours to get completed. By this time, it was almost 6 so I headed over to Magic Kingdom with all of my expo stuff to meet J and the girls.
I guess a good way to start off a blog is with my first race report. Since we are planning a trip to WDW for Princess weekend, it made sense to go to California for Tink so I could get my Coast to Coast. It was a quick trip: In Friday evening and out Sunday afternoon.
I got to California Friday afternoon- just in time for rush hour traffic. Quickly checked into the hotel(Holiday Inn resort) and made my way to the expo to pick up my packet for the 5K, half, and for the breakfast. There was a separate line to pick up each of the packets. I think I was really tired from my trip because when I first got there, I had a massive headache and was really annoyed that there were separate lines for each event. Happily, Disney is so well organized with some many great and friendly volunteers that I didn’t have to spend too much time in line and was able to get back to the hotel and crash. The two hour time difference meant I was getting sleepy by 7:30!
Woke up the next morning and got on the ART headed for the 5K. I got onto the first bus and met some very nice people. I was a little worried about traveling alone and not talking to anyone. We got the the park and took some pics with Sleeping Beauty’s castle in the background. By the time that was all done, corral A was full and so I was ushered into corral B. My goal for the 5K was to take as many pictures as possible since I am too slow to stop for pics for the half. There was a cute preshow, filled with banter from the runDisney folks. The best part was watching Tinkerbell fly around the castle and then watching fireworks go off. After that, the air gun went off and Corral A took off. About 5 minutes later, it was our corral’s turn.
The air gun blared, paper streamers shot through the air, and we were off! I was in no hurry to run or even run/walk this 5K. I wasn’t sure how my legs would do running the 5K and then again the half the next day. Since I had heard that the 16 min/mile wasn’t as emphasized for the 5K, I just wanted to relax and enjoy the 5K. I stopped for every picture– and each one was at least a 5 minute wait. Since I was traveling alone, I tried to get myself in some of the pictures– some results are better than others. It was a little lonely, though, doing the 5K alone. Walking slowly meant I had more time to think and watch other friends and family chat with each other. In the end, though, there was a really nice mother/daughter team I ended up walking with as we kept getting in lines together for photo ops. It has made me excited for when S and I do the 5K at Princess next month.
My finishing time for the 5k was… I really have no idea. I just know it was the slowest 5K I have ever done. I think it was about 80 minutes? I was so slow that they cut off the line to take the last pic– with Pirate Mickey and Minnie.
I still got my adorable 5K medal, my box of food and then headed over to the Disneyland hotel for the Tinkerbell breakfast.
I wanted to do the breakfast because the description stated there would be characters there. Since I am so slow and wasn’t going to the parks, I wanted to maximize my character time. So I spent $70 for breakfast- and it was pretty disappointing. It was cereal, pastries, waffles and pancakes. I just did a 5K and was doing a half the next day! Some protein would have been appreciated. I sat with a brother and sister who also agreed. The waffles were Mickey Mouse shaped- super cute. And they did have mimosas, so that was something.
As for the characters, that was also disappointing. It was Capn Hook, Smee, and Wendy. I had gotten their pics at the 5k so I didn’t get those done either. All in all, the breakfast was a bit of a disappointment. I would have been better off eating at one of the character meals. Lesson learned.
After the breakfast, I headed over to the expo. I was helping out at the Sparkle Skirts booth later that afternoon. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel just for a few hours, so I sat there listening to the nutritionist give some pre and post rate nutrition tips. It was pretty helpful, actually. Since I was alone, I was also able to wander around the expo and explore it a bit which was fun. Everthing was nicely spread out and there was plenty of room to stoll around. While there were tons of people, it didn’t feel crowded.
I went over to the Sparkle skirts booth and did my stint, which was a lot of fun. It’s easy to help sell something that you love. And I do love me some Sparkle Skirts!
By the time I was back to my hotel, it was close to 7pm. I grabbed some dinner from the hotel, took a shower, and then crashed into bed to get ready for the next day!
Three miles this morning. Neither my brain nor my knee was feeling it today. I think I am still trying to recover from back to back half marathons.
3.05 miles in 45:39 min; 14:59 pace
I was totally ready for this half– I had everything laid out the night before, my pre-race nutrition set up. The alarm was set to go off at 2:30 so I could catch the first bus at 3am. Alarm clock goes off at 2:30 as scheduled and I get up and get dressed. I am feeling good and have a few minutes so I figured I would turn the tv on to get an idea of the weather outside. The TV clock says 1:45. 1:45?? I check my phone– also 1:45. Apparently, I hit something on the alarm clock and changed the time. So I was up an hour earlier than I needed to be. And since I had so much adrenaline running through me at that point, I wasn’t able to get back to sleep initially.
I get to the start line with 12,000 other people. I initially felt a little wierd about not knowing anyone, but overall people were really nice and friendly and it made the time pass by pretty quickly.
I was in Corral D, out of E. Which gives you an idea of how slow I am. But even being in that corral meant I had a little bit of a cushion in front of the sweepers. Corral by corrall, waves of runners are sent off. Finally it is out turn. Minnie and Daisy are on stage along with the runDisney folks. A digital Tinkerbell sprinkles some digital pixie dust, and we are off!
One of my biggest problems is letting the excitement of race day get to me. I tend to start out too fast and not doing my 1:1 intervals. I made a conscious effort this time to stick with both, and it was hard because I was getting passed like crazy. I had already decided I wasn’t going to stop for any pictures when I came across Sully from Monsters Inc. I quickly took a picture and carried on. Until I got to Phineas and Ferb and the Fireside girls. My girls love this show (as do we). I had to take a pic, and the line didn’t seem to too long so I hopped into line. This was a situation were appearances could be deceiving because that line took me about 4 minutes, but I love the picture.
I continued with my 1:1 intervals as we ran through the park. As we were in Tomorrowland ( I think), I saw this huge line for Darth Vader and two storm troopers. I am not a huge Star Wars, but J is. So I hopped in the line– this one took about 10 minutes and I was getting worried. I was starting to see people with Corral E bibs pass on by, and I had no idea where the sweepers were. My garmin told me I was still at less than the 16min/mile requirement, so I figured I was ok.
Picture taken, I dashed off again until I saw Merida. Stood in line for about 4 minutes and got a pic taken. I was annoyed because the CM who took this picture with my camera totally messed up– it just looks like a big blur. So now if i want the pic, I am going to have to buy the overpriced one.
As we are running along, I see the castle approaching. It’s all algow in pink and so so pretty. I run through the castle and see Aurora and Prince Philip to the side. Get into line and get that picture taken. This ends up being the only castle picture I got. I think there were so many people and not many photorgraphers, so there is no picture of me running through the castle which was really disappointing.
As I continued on, at this point (mile 5 maybe), someone yells out that we are 13 minutes ahead of the pacers. I feel a little tension leave because I know I will be able to keep ahead of them. My fear of getting swept has diminshed. We leave the parks with the Red Hat Ladies cheering us on. They were awesome! I wish I had gotten a picture of them. I was feeling really good, keeping with my intervals and not tiring out. I remember distinctly thinking how much I was enjoying this run and reminding myself to pay attention to the details. It felt like a breathrough for me– that I had gotten to a point where I felt my body could handle this and i could just enjoy myself. If it makes sense that running 13.1 miles would be enjoying, lol.
From here until the finish, it was running through Anaheim which I thought was pretty. People were sitting on their front porches cheering us on. There were a lot of high school bands and dance troops. I was doing well with my 1:1 until mile 8. And then I felt my right thigh muscle cramp up. It hurt to run, it hurt to walk. I hopped on the sidewalk and massaged it out some and tried to stretch it. It felt better and I tried walking again. But before hitting mile 9, it happened again. I was diligent about taking a GU every 4 miles, drinking plently of water and powerade on the course. I don’t know what happened,but it hurt! After that, I was running 1 minute and walking 2-3 minutes, after walking the entire next mile. I was pretty disappointed because I really wanted to do the 1:1 thing the whole race and see what kind of time I could get.
Finally, I see mile 12, and I know I am close. I try to start running and am able to without any pain. So I keep up the 1:1 intervals. I was in a pretty good place so I didn’t get the mile 13 sign. Nor did I take pictures with Mickey, Minnie etc at the finish line. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get back moving!
I crossed the finish line in 3:29 minutes. Which techinically is a PR for me. I was pretty proud of myself, esp since I spent about 20 minutes in line.
After crossing the finish line, there was a mass of people crowding around to get their medal. This part was a little frustrating. It seemed like there were only 3 or 4 volunteers handing out medals. Of course, there could have been more and I was too tired to notice. After getting my medal, I got another box of food, a mylar blanket (which was really helpful because I was starting to get cold fast). Then we stood in line to get out official pictures taken and then sent off.
It was a long long way from the finish line at the back of the parks to the front where the buses were. And everyone- runners, spectators, and park goers had to stand in line to get bags checked. Once I made it through there, it was to the hotel. I had time for a quick shower and to throw my stuff in my suitcase before the van came to take me back to the airport.
All in all, it was a fun race and I am really glad I did it. I was so happy with how I did , physically and mentally, that I am sure Princess next month with be just as good, if not better.
Chai and Chocolates 