Princess Half Marathon Weekend 2014--Part 1 (Arrival and the 5K)

This trip, my runniversary of my first half marathon, was going to be very different than the first year that was for sure. We were making it a whole family trip this time! After we had made reservations but before we had our flights A decided she wanted to run the 5K really bad, we with some work on things, we were able to make it happen. The only issue was we could not get all the nights we needed at Bay Lake Tower (because of lack of points and available 2 bedroom units) so we decided to try another split stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge/Bay Lake.

Our flight down was interesting. It was supposed to be warmer that day but some how it wasn't and it snowed, sleeted and was NASTY that afternoon. We even had ThunderSnow (a thunderstorm but with snow). The drive to the airport was horrible and I was so stressed until we got to the gate only to discover the flight was delayed. Then we found out we had to move to the other end of the airport because our original plane had been hit by lightening and they needed to check it out! After deicing we were on our way.

Of course we were the last drop off from the Magical Express and we were all so hungry. Check in was quick and we got to the room. While I got the kids settled, my mom and Jeff went to get food in the other building (we were at Kidani and the food was at Jambo). A wonderful friend had picked up all our race stuff and dropped it off and while we were downstairs for that, my secret Princess showed up with an amazing bag of stuff for the weekend! Things were off to a great start!

Our room was amazing! We were at the end of the Savannah and the first night we saw a zebra off the balcony and then other animals throughout the weekend. Also, a dedicated two bedroom is so nice, even nicer that a 2 bedroom lock off!!!

We ate fast since we had an early morning and it was off to bed for us.

I was up by about 3am because I was excited and I slowly got up and ready. I got A up at 4am and rushed her through so we could be on the bus at 4:30am, she did awesome and was in a great mood. We made the quick bus ride to Epcot and met up with some friends for fun and pictures. We danced and had a blast before heading to the corrals.

When we were deciding on costumes, we let A pick and she wanted to do Minnie Mouse. With some help from an amazing friend (who made the skirts) we were coordinated and ready to run!

We were in Corral B and we started off good. On the bus over, A had said she wanted to stop for every picture. Well the first stop was the Bugs from Bugs Life and she had NO INTERESTED! We joined up with a running friend at this point who stayed with us for the rest of the race. She has little ones too so she knew what it is like to run with littles. We sprinted, we walked, we ran, we sprinted again. It was just fun.

As we got into the World Showcase, Dopey was in Germany and we had to stop!!! Dopey is never out. A was complaining she wanted to run but she smiled and had fun.

Not a lot further and we were in Morocco and Jasmine was out with the Genie, another must do even though at this point A was ready to go!! We skipped the rest of the stops (I think there were 6 total on the course) but she was OK with posing in front of the ball with me!

It was not a fast race and I did not even wear my watch but it was one of the most fun races I have ever done. To be able to do it with my mom and my amazing daughter made it great. Seeing her get her medal at the end and how happy she was made the extra early morning completely worth it. I hope she continues to love these kind of experiences.



After the race, we went back and got the boys and headed to the Magic Kingdom (where else would we go) for some fun. We had a great time as usual. We kind of missed the old Fastpass system but I will admit the new system was not bad for us and worked out well. By the time we left, A was exhausted and I was glad we had the stroller with us!

After lunch my dad arrived and we met back at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, swam and then had dinner at Cape May. Then we took a trip through Epcot before calling it a night. Tomorrow was the 10K and day one of the Glass Slipper Challenge. Let the fun begin, again!

Tinkerbell Weekend Part 3 (the Half and saying goodbye to Disneyland)

Sunday morning was the half. I convinced my mom and Holly that there was really no reason for them to get up super early and come to the start. After seeing how fun it was and how many people were around they agreed there was no reason. I met my local running buddy at the corner and we went to the start line. Due to crazy work schedules we have not had as much chance to run together as usual so I was totally looking forward to being able to do this race together. Local ones are fun but there is something special about Disney with a friend.

We had the usual fun at the staging area and had our group picture. Then we headed to the start. I love how Disney starts races. Each corral was a different fairy and it was just so fun. Since we were in B, it seemed to be so quick and we were ready to start. It chilly at the start so I was glad I had a jacket

The Tinkerbell course was really fun. The entire first part is in the parks and there are just so many fun things to see and experience. It was not too crowded and we even had fun running behind some guys who were wearing SparkleSkirts they had bought the day before!! We had talked before we started and Jennifer and I had decided we were going to stop and take a ton of pictures. We did have some we skipped but not many. Because of how the course is set up, the character stops are at the beginning of the course so seeing our 5K/10K splits, we were SO SLOW but it was SO MUCH FUN!!! As we ran through Downtown Disney we got to see my mom and Holly waiting for us! I was also able to hand off my jacket so it survived 2 races without getting tossed!!

We had really been looking forward to some of the pictures. As you can see, the Monsters Inc group was the #1 stop we knew we had to get. There are also some at Disneyland that are just so special. The picture in front of the World of Color area is just so pretty. That area is all lit up and the music is playing. I think out of all the places at Disney (both World and Land) this one is one of my favorites. In some ways, it is even better than Cinderella's castle since it is not as busy!!!





I will admit once we got out into the streets of Anaheim it was a little harder than with the Disneyland Half. We ran through some neighborhoods and they had the cutest signs up reminding up to be quiet that people were sleeping. It was just a cute Disney thing.

We also went through what I think is more their downtown. It was a nice course. The Disneyland one takes you a different way so you go through Angels Stadium which is special but this was more peaceful.  Now, I made a rookie mistake, for the 10K I had worn a new pair of shoes. Not only a new pair but a new style. I love them but they were not something I was used to. I had switched to my old ones for this race. I think that was a mistake because by mile 9 or so my foot felt bruised. It was OK but annoying.

Now I had a brilliant idea that I was going to do a leap before the end of the race. I did one about mile 5 and then another at 12.5. Not as spectacular as some but it was fun and I am surprised I could even go it.

Once we got back to Disney it was a quick bit to the finish. The end was awesome. First we saw my mom and Holly and then not far away, we saw Scott.

I have to admit, I LOVED getting the space blankets at the end of the race. It was so nice and super helpful

After the half marathon we had met up with my mom and Holly and Jennifer's fiancée before heading back to the hotel. We had brunch reservations and we had to make sure we packed a lot into the few hours we had left. 

We had brunch at the Plaza Inn. Overall, it was another very disappointing Disney meal. I had fun with the people and they had a LOT of characters but it was just OK, nothing special and probably one of the worst Disney buffets I have experienced. Oh well. The characters were great!!!

We made sure to stop and get some castle pictures though I will admit the castle down not have the same backdrop as it does at Disneyworld.

 It was fun to get to show off my medal here and Merida made a fuss over seeing it!

At this point I think the 2 early days, a cross country flight and 19.3 miles had caught up with me. I left my mom and Holly and I headed back to the hotel for a short nap. I was really exhausted and just tell asleep for 30 minutes. It was exactly what I needed before heading back to meet them.

Our last stop before leaving was to watch the Mickey show and pose in the teacups.






It was so hard to believe this was such a fast trip. I mean we were on the ground in California for 52 hours. I think that hardest thing about getting on the plane was knowing that when we landed I was heading right into work. Oh well, made for an amazing girls weekend with some of the most important people in my life.

I really am so lucky to have such great friends and such a wonderful mom!

TinkerBell Weekend Recap--Part 1

Looking back I realize I have been doing a horrible job of keeping up on my races and the fun. Tonight I looked back at my Princess Recap from last year and I was reminded of so many wonderful things I had forgotten. This has motivated me to make sure to record the TinkerBell Weekend experience.

Who could resist this?

I knew last summer I was going to do Coast to Coast again in 2014 when runDisney announced the new Pink Coast to Coast medal that was going to be offered for people who completed both of the women focused races in 2014.

I made sure to sign up as soon as I was able to. As luck would have it, I was able to register for Tinker Bell at the same time as I registered for the new Glass Slipper Challenge during Princess weekend. Since I was registered, I was committed right?

I knew Jeff really did not want to do another super quick west coast trip so when I first started planning things I was planning to go by myself. I was going to fly out Friday night and then come back on the Red Eye on Sunday night for PD on Monday. Well, as planning continued my mom decided she wanted to come with me (awesome, girls weekend) and then I got the amazing news that Holly had a flight credit and was going to come too!!!

I thought we were all set and then runDisney released the 10K medal for Tinker Bell weekend. I knew that even without that challenge that weekend I wanted to do it. Somehow I convinced my mom to run it with me and the weekend just got more interesting.

All went according to plan and we arrived in LA and got the rental car, got to the hotel and checked in. We stayed at the Anabella and I was really impressed with the room. We had a king bed and a full bed in a little alcove area. I had an amazing friend who got our race stuff so we got everything ready and went to bed pretty much right away since it had been a long day and the next morning it was RACE time.

Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5K on Belle Isle

Last weekend I decided to take a training run and use this new race as a place to get in my miles. I am SO GLAD I did.

First, the communication by the race were the best of any race I have done. They made sure everything was completely clear and they send out many email updates and posted to their Facebook page all the time. I really helped me to get excited for the race (well more excited).

The expo was help downtown at the Hilton Garden Inn. It was OK, but I think if the race grows at ALL it will need a different layout or venue for it. My favorite part of the entire expo was the Spa. Since it was a Women's race it really catered to women. Inside the spa were students from Aveda doing nails, neck/hand massage and hair braiding. There was also a local PT/therapy place offering stretching which was nice!

The expo also had some of my favorite vendors and the Blick Art store had the BEST EVER poster making station there. Plus they gave out a coupon. Because of their station I have to have the SUPER big markers they had there, they were perfect for posters!!

Race morning was a perfect Michigan fall morning. It was a little cool at 57 but it was clear and nice. We headed down to Belle Isle early so we did not have to worry. Just as promised, parking was a breeze. Tons of spots and super easy. Standing around it was a little chilly but not bad. It was just mom, my godmother and myself and they planned to meet up with Pattie. I missed seeing her due to a last minute run back to the car for my inhaler!!


For an inaugural race, it was amazing (heck, it was amazing for any race I have done). They had pacers at all levels (wearing the cutest matching skirts/tops). I ran into a long time friend before and got to say hi. She was planning for a much faster  I got in with a Princess friend, Janie (we matched) and kind of planned for a 2:45 or so finish. I was using this as a training run and honestly my times lately had not been breaking any records, actually as my miles increased my times did too. I went off and felt great. The sun was coming up over the river and Belle Isle looked so nice. The course actually went backwards from the marathon course which was a little confusing for me since I went the other way 3 weeks ago (and I am easily confused on directions).

There were so many cool things on the course. There were inspirational signs everywhere with the best quotes. I really wish I had been able to get a picture of all of them. Also, tons of water stops, 3 fuel locations and 2 chocolate stops with Sanders chocolate caramel candies!!! They also had course support, the best being what I think was probably a high school group. They were awesome to run past! Also the view was so nice!!!

 I did not like the energy drink they had by Hammer but I loved the Hammer fuel stuff. I stuck with water. Now, I have been trying to limit how much I drink on the course and 9 water stops were a lot BUT with the wind my mouth was dry and I am so glad they were there.

Belle Isle really is a wonderful place. We made the loop of the island 2.25 times. The worst spot was at the end near the Coast Guard post because the wind was brutal. Someone said it was over 20 mph which I believe but I don't know for sure.

So, as for my race....I just went with a comfortable pace in the beginning. At about 5 miles I realized I had the 2:20 pace in my sights which was not good. I knew I was going too fast. At the 10K mark I checked my watch and I had run my fast 10K ever! I kept saying I needed to slow down but I felt awesome. At 10 miles I knew I could beat my Niagara Falls time so I decided to see what I could do. I came in at 2:26 which was a PR by 3 minutes!!! I also felt great.


I got my medal (this was the only odd thing, it was the same medal for the half marathon and the 5K). I do love the medal. Then we realized both my mom and my godmother had placed in their age groups so we waited for them to get their wine prize and get a picture on the podium!!!


A few observations. First, most races are not like Disney races (I know, I was shocked). In this I mean times. At 2:26, I would be placed in the top 20% at Disney since there are a lot of new runners. Here, I was in the bottom half of finishers so I was on the slow side. Also, while many people wore skirts (it was a women's race after all) there were very few tutus or costumes!!

Either way, I will do this race again for sure! It was nice to have something so amazing in the D! And according to them, Women Run The D!

Dumbo Double Dare--Part 1 The Expo

Since I had to work on Thursday AND we were flying with a companion certificate, we were very limited in the flight choices we had. We were supposed to leave DTW before 8pm and get into LAX about 10pm. We were delayed about 30 minutes but they were able to make the time up during the flight. We landed a little after 10pm PST. Now at this point we had to get the luggage and get to Avis to get the rental car. Overall it was not a bad experience but LAX is under construction was so it was not the most pleasant experience and the traffic at the airport and getting to Avis was a little bit much so late at night.

We did have a funny. I was assigned our car, a white Kia. We got the bags in and were just getting into the car when another group walked up. Seems they were assigned the same car. Well, we were in it and we just left.

We got to Anaheim in about 35 minutes and overall not bad. We checked into Paradise Pier. We had to wait a few minutes. It was late and the person working seemed distracted but he was pleasant enough. Our room was on the 12th floor and near the elevator which was nice later in the weekend. I have to give a huge shout out to Leigh from the Mousekeplanners. She did great getting us into the room block here.

The room was super cute. It had 2 queen beds and a sofa. The beds had the cutest beach ball pillows on them (only $65 if you chose to take it home with you). We had a view of the parking lot BUT it turns out it was also the last 1/2 mile of the half marathon!!

We both crashed because we were so tired.

Friday I was up kind of early since I was still on our time. I was ready and headed to the expo about 9:40am. I had not planned to camp in line but I knew I wanted official merchandise. Jeff decided he would run to CVS with the car and get water, Gatorade and pop for the weekend which was SO NICE to have.

I got to the expo and I was in complete shock. There were people EVERYWHERE. runDisney had put green tape on the group to keep people in lines. There were lines for getting your packet and another for the expo. I jumped into the back of the expo line figuring I could get my race stuff later since we were so close. Once the line started moving shortly after 10am it was a mad house. I got lucky and a nice girl in line worked with me so we both got the things we wanted. I managed to get a Dumbo zip up, a Disneyland Half jacket, a Coast to Coast shirt, 2 straw cups, a Dumbo magnet and 2 sweatybands. Then I got into line. WOW, it was a line. It went to the back wall of the expo. After about 30 minutes I was so thirsty and still did not have my bib. I was happy since at one point I was right near Jeff Galloway as he was speaking!! It was so neat. Jeff came over to the expo and stood in line to pay for me while I went to get our park tickets and my race stuff.

It was at this time I started to see posts that the expo had been shut down for overcrowding which was completely understandable. I got in line outside and waited for about 20 minutes in the sun before I gave up. I was hungry and defeated. I asked at information how I could get my park tickets and she told me how to get into the basement area where the tickets and bibs were without standing in line. I followed her directions and there was NO LINE for park tickets or for bibs. The entire hold up was the t-shirts that had to be picked up in the expo. It was out of control. I got my tickets and my bib and joined Jeff in line. At this point he was almost to the front after over 90 minutes. I was so excited to find out a running friend was in line behind him so I got to meet her in person and her delightful daughter.

I finally got my official merchandise and we had park tickets. We went back to the room, grabbed a drink and it was time for the parks!!

Running with a GPS in the Big City--A race recap of the RnR Chicago Half

Yesterday I completed my 4th half marathon. This one was the Chicago Rock n Roll Half Marathon. This is a race series that has races around the country. Chicago happens to be the closest but it is also in the middle of the summer!

To start off with, I was really unsure of this race and how it would go. The weather had been super hot for about 10 days before with high humidity. Also, I had had some off training because of long runs, weather, laziness, and life. Finally, we ended up walking almost 8 miles around the city the day before, oops.

Race morning I was up before my alarm and I was ready to go. I got dressed and headed to the lobby to meet to amazing Princesses from my running group! We were supposed to meet 2 more ladies so we headed out. Well, when we got there we realized we could not get to where we were meeting for a picture so the 3 of us took our pictures and got ready to run.


BIG plus for RnR, they had prerace stuff out for runners. They had small bottles of water, bananas and bagels. It was a really nice touch.

They also so a bunch of smaller corrals, unlike runDisney that seems to do fewer LARGE corrals. There were 28 starting groups that started about 1 minute apart. It was a long wait to corral 24. Now, I had put an estimated finish time of 2:30 and it ended me up almost in the back which is odd since even with runDisney that would be more like midway but whatever, I do wish I had started earlier but I could not control that. No one was checking the corrals so I could have gone up but I did not. **Funny story, a guy walking by was complaining about finding the right coral to start in. All I could think of was being in an under the sea race.

I started off strong and decided to run the first mile. I felt great. My pace on my Garmin seemed crazy but sometimes it takes time to get it right and I was not really watching. At mile 1, my Garmin said 1.10 which is not too weird and I was about at a 10 mm pace which again was too fast, which is always my problem.

I got to mile 2 and my Garmin said 2.3 and an 8:30 pace which was impossible. Then I remembered all I had read about GPS. One of the biggest issues is that if it cannot get a good satellite signal, it throws everything off. Sure enough, with all the tall buildings my GPS was all off. Crap. The time was the only thing correct. I was really lucky though, I had put on a Westin pace bracelet so I knew I was on pace. Just to give an idea, my Garmin logged the course as 13.96 miles and my final pace at 11:16 which is not even possible!

I stayed on pace until Mile 5 when there was a HUGE backup for water/Gatorade, it was horrible. It was my fault because there were other tables but I could not see them because of all the people. It completely threw me off.

I was only about 3 minutes off pace but I was annoyed. I could not check my pace, my Garmin was saying I was over a 1/2 mile further. It was so off. Finally I got to Mile 7 which is where my mom and the kids were in front of the hotel waiting! It was so awesome to see them. The next 3 miles were nice, not too bad but it was getting hotter and we were out of the downtown building area so the shade was gone. Mile 10-12 were hard. I was trying really hard but it was just off. A lot of nice people were around but a lot of people were walking in HUGE groups and I kept getting boxed in. At mile 10 I actually ended up cutting someone off and I still feel so guilty for it. I spent almost a mile thinking about it.

Another plus for RnR was the cold water sponges at Mile 11. So cool in many ways! It was weird seeing all these sponges on the ground and kind of neat

At this point I ran into another Princess who I identified from her SparkleSkirt. We talked for a few minutes before splitting up and heading under McCormick Place. This was weird. It was so sunny and then we went into the dark where they had colored lights and glow stuff and then we came back out into the sun!

I finished about 10 minutes off where I wanted to be but I did finish. I got my medal and headed through the stuff. I ran into my mom and the kids without even looking for them! It was awesome but Abby was heartbroken. They had headed to the finish area and she could not see over the barriers. She was so sad. I felt horrible for her. She was better after we took pictures together like we do at the end of the races! I love her and love that she enjoys coming to see me. It means the world.

Highlights--Lots of crowd support, great signs, fun and nice people and awesome course support. From the medical people who just showed up out of no where when someone stopped to the sponges and the volunteers.

Cons--Chicago is a LOT hillier than I ever imagined. Big City running means not being able to depend on my Garmin which was hard. It was my hottest half ever and it was rougher than I had thought it would be!

I wish they did more fun races in Detroit!

Visiting Walt DisneyWorld now that I have runDisney!!!

We just got back from our family trip to WDW. Yes, we are one of "those" families who love Disney and vacation there whenever possible. Right now it is the perfect escape for all of us and we love it. When we told Abby we might not be back for 2 years she broke down saying it wasn't far (we used all our points for this amazing whole family trip so we need to take a year off to get back on cycle). We will have to see if we can really not go next year!

Now how does a family trip in June have anything to do with runDisney? First, I met up with some amazing ladies I met while training. We all did the Princess Half Marathon together in 2013. We have stayed together and are still there for one another. Go Princess Posse!!! We met at the Tea Room at the Grand Floridian and had a wonderful time!!

Another fun thing was at the Beach Club we were having dinner at Cape May and I ran into a guy wearing a runDisney Marathon shirt and I commented. We ended up talking about Dopey, Marathon weekend, Coast to Coast and the Glass Slipper Challenge!!! It was fun!

Finally on my last day, I was wearing my pink I DID IT T-Shirt from Princess and while checking out at the Emporium the lady checking me out said she was doing the Glass Slipper Challenge and was trying to work out how to do Tinkerbell!

I know it sounds cheesy but it was almost like a club. I loved being down there, seeing the race route and dreaming ahead to next year!

I cannot wait.