It's a Wonderful Life 5k

It was the most picture perfect day for the It's a Wonderful Life 5k... large snow flakes and a snow covered slush/snow street (just like in the movie).  I started the day by getting out the Christmas decorations.  Cinder Ella helped by swatting at me as I pulled her "hiding place" from the basement.

 My mom picked me up with Pal Karen and we headed to Bedford falls for the day.  First stop was the post office to get her holiday cards stamped with the special postmark for this weekend only.

 Next we wandered around the little town ducking into just about every little shop there was to get out of the cold.  We are talking frigid, single digit temps and snow.

 Race time was at 4:40pm and we were told to wear our reflective gear to the start on the bridge that George Bailey jumped off to be saved by Clarence.  I followed the memo well about being "lit up" for cars to see you.

 I had on my head lamp, arm bands, a Christmas light necklace and Prep and Landing tree flashlights plus my homemade tree skirt (it was made of three real tree skirts stitched together and elasticized).

 Despite the extremely cold temps there were a lot of runners.  When I finished I had little icicles on my eyelashes and chunks of ice on my cheeks.  Mom forgot to take a picture of that since we went into the local gym to warm up.

They had hot chocolate, coffee and cookies for us after we finished plus the usual water and bagels.  The gym was cute too with the decorations for the swing dance that evening.  I highly recommend this race to anyone that happens to be close by or wants to make a special weekend trip for the event.  Throughout the weekend they have different happenings in the town.  

Oh, and despite the slick conditions and all that I still ran the race in under 25 minutes.  Not a PR but definitely awesome for what is my coldest race ever.  Can't believe only 3 weeks left until Dopey!

Weekly Training Roundup Week 13 & 14

Running on a cruise ship is hard.  Not only physically but mentally.  Despite the challenge or running small laps or dodging wind barriers and lounge chairs I survived the week long Caribbean cruise that Manfriend and I went on.  I did not get in any workouts and just focused on hitting the miles as best I could due to the circumstances.  I tried the treadmill one day and that was a huge failure.  I couldn't even walk on the stinkin' thing without people thinking I was drunk--the ship is rocking one way, you're looking out a window with the waves going every which way and I just couldn't visually handle it and look coordinated.

Our first full day on the ship was my "weekly long run" and to be honest it wasn't my favorite despite the giant grin on my face.  I made Manfriend sit on the deck with my water bottle and help me keep track of laps.  The wind decided to blow my hat off (although I did catch it) so I spent the rest of the run semi-squinting.  It was hot and humid every time I ran (and I did run at 10pm a few times).

 Yup, they closed the "larger lap" deck on me every single time for cleaning and such forcing me to go on the short, jogging track.  Large lap Lanai deck was 2.5 laps per mile and the jogging track was 7 laps to the mile.

 Week 13:
Sunday     10 long
Monday    7 easy
Tuesday    5 easy (I was also quite seasick for the first 3 days)
Wednesday  off
Thursday   7 in 65 min (I tried to go faster but that's a small twisty lap)
Friday        6 easy
Saturday    7 easy
Weekly Total (all ship miles too!):  42 miles

Week 14  we arrived at Disney late Saturday afternoon to check out the holiday decorations.  Although it wasn't on a cruise ship I had a 1.25 mile course mapped out at the hotel and used that.  Sunrises at Disney are Magical and I highly recommend them.  Then we came back to reality and winter decided to arrive with real feel temps in the single digits.

Sunday      16 long (around the Generation Gap pond) 2:01 (might be closer to 15 miles or 15.5)
Monday     5 easy
Tuesday    workout of 2x3 mile that I converted to 1x3 mile and 1x1.25mile with 1 mile between due to heat and humidity   total for the day 8.5
Wednesday  off
Thursday   9 elliptical (icy and snowy yuck out)
Friday        4 easy (busted out the extreme gear and yak traxs)
Saturday    3 medium (the wonderful life 5k snowy and very cold)
Weekly Total:  35.5 miles

Weekly Training Round up Week 12

What a crazy week in terms of weather.  It has been downright frigid most days and lots of snow/ice this week.  So my training was a little "off" the norm and scheduled but I am proud of myself for getting in the miles (although not in their intended form).

Here goes my crazy week:
Sunday was to be a long run but with single digit temps and the windchill I opted for the elliptical for 13 miles.  I did maintain a 7min mile pace on the thing though so that counts for something.  Plus I watched a cheesy chic flick so it wasn't that bad but it really made me appreciate my running that much more

Monday 10 miles broken up into what was my best estimate of the workout scheduled for Tuesday since the track was an icy mess.  I got in 4 hard miles, about 3 medium paced miles and the other 3 miles of the day were easy and avoiding slush.  I also was told by an old man outside scraping ice from his driveway that I was really lit up, where did I stash the batteries.  (A headlamp, blinking arm band and hand held light as well plus reflective jacket).

Tuesday I was supposed to work a half day but ended up subbing for the whole day.  By the time I exited school there was a mini-blizzard in the works and it was just not a safe to be running situation even though the temp was decent.  Big fat 0 for the day

Wednesday was an easy 8 spent slopping around slush and avoiding ice

Thursday  was 9 easy due to icy patches and lumpy sidewalks.  I ran on side streets as much as I could to get traction and avoid the sidewalks.

Friday  10 with my high school friend Kelly.  Decent pace and not that far off weekly miles at this point since I added a few miles here and there when I could.

Saturday  8 easy

Weekly Total:  45 out of what was scheduled to be 53

Weekly Training Roundup Week 11 Dopey

So far so good.  However looking ahead at week 12 there will likely be some major changes to the workouts and mileage due to the weather (hello single digits, lake effect snow and wind chills).  Anyways, I survived this week with some rain and blustery weather with chilly temps.  I guess the length of the run is the bigger factor for me with weather and exposure (my cheeks turn bright red and my face feels like it's on fire so we will try to avoid that as much as possible).

Sunday     10 long miles in 1hour 23 min so about 8:31 pace
Monday      5 easy
Tuesday    10 total including 6x1mile repeats with 400 between.  Miles were 7:25, 7:30, 7:33, 7:33, 7:35, 7:28
Wednesday  off
Thursday   5 easy (was supposed to be a tempo but it was dark when I got home)
Friday       6 easy (was going to do my tempo but it was raining buckets
Saturday    8 easy (prep for long run Sunday...and I should have done long run this am).

After my run on Saturday morning the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped followed by the lovely 4 letter word that starts with s.  Icky snow.

Weekly Training Roundup Week 9 of Dopey

This week went rather well although I am quite sure that I am getting a cold (but that is going around this time of year).  It was tough for me to breathe the other day on my tempo run and I figured it was just because it was so windy but then it was hard again on Friday with me waking up Saturday morning with a few sniffles and a slight cough.  Hopefully we kick it out of my system before I get any worse.

Sunday     15 long in 2hours 20 min.  Felt ok but strong head wind first half and second half temp dropped severely and rained just as I finished
Monday    7 easy
Tuesday    4x1200 with 400 between.  Hit my pace 4:20, 4:27, 4:27, 4:22 perfectly for the middle two
Wednesday  off
Thursday   5 mile tempo in 43 minutes, again strong head wind (dropped off to do a straight-ish line)
Friday        5 easy
Saturday    7 easy
Weekly Total:  48

it's a wonderful life 5k

It's a Wonderful Life is one of those holiday classic movies that you fall in love with.  Living not that far away from the inspiration for Bedford Falls I have always wanted to go for their weekend festival to see the various pieces of the movie.  Their festival also includes a 5k that follows the route that George Bailey followed from the bridge, where he met Clarence the angel to see what life would be like without him in it, back to his house where Mary and his children were waiting.  

photo from the event website

Manfriend was busy researching something online and agreed to go for the day and handed over my registration fee without hesitation.  Now to plan a costume for the event that is classic holiday but I don't look like an elf (although that would be fun).  Here is the link to the page for this year:

http://www.TheRealBedfordFalls.com/

Magic Bands

Manfriend and I were sent a letter from Disney asking if we would be willing to help with testing their new MagicBand.  Of course I was all for it and went online right away to pick our colors and start selecting some fastpasses.

 

 We had about 3 days to customize our bands before the deadline for them to be our "colors."  I am amazed that they arrived almost the day after they were "due."  They came in this cute box featuring the incredibles.

 Inside the lid were instructions on how to wear your band and how to make it smaller for children or extremely petite people.  Bands come in your color with grey on the edge.  If you did not select a color it would be a dark gray/black with the gray outsides.

 On the back of the band is your name and band id.  Very smart since I am sure there are families where everyone will want the same color and you want to make sure you have "your band."

 Here is a picture of the side of the band.  You can "pull" it apart so that it is all green for smaller wrists or leave the grey extension on for larger wrists.  I am not sure if some of the gray will stay if you separate it to make the band smaller.  I am still deciding if I should make mine smaller or leave it (will depend on where I want to wear the band with my watch or without).

 Very excited to test this out and see if I like it.  I know Disney is still offering the option of having a credit card style room key/park pass that you use to "tap" Mickey to Mickey for access.  Hooray for Disney continuing to find new ways to keep you excited as you count down the days 'til vacation.

Weekly Training Roundup Week 9 of Dopey

Week 9 went well and the weather turned cold and we saw a few little flakes on Friday.  Brr.  I swapped two days due to daylight savings time and knowing I was going to be working and doing the Girls On the Run program.  There is a reason I was scheduled to have a day off.  I felt sluggishly slow the next day and slogged through some miles.  Lesson learned and next time I just turn into a day-glow ornament with my headlamp, reflective gear and red blinking arm band.

Sunday      10 long in 1h30m so 9 min mile pace
Monday     5 easy
Tuesday     5x1000 with 400 recovery, supposed to be in 4:30 but nailed all in 4:15-4:22  6 miles
Wednesday  supposed to be off but did 7 easy
Thursday   supposed to be a workout but swapped for off and ended up doing just over 1 mile
Friday        6 easy
Saturday    5 easy

Weekly total:  38 miles

from the Sparkle Skirts website

And the sparkle mail fairy came and brought me Lucky Charm.  It is more lime green in real life (it looks more yellow from their photo).  My Manfriend loves me very much and knew that it would help my hard training workouts and long runs much more enjoyable for me.  A happy me is a happy Manfriend.  He's the best.   Can't wait til Dopey Challenge where I just might pick up some extra sparkle for my wardrobe.

Weekly Training Roundup Week 8 of Dopey

Here we are at week 8 out of 18 of training.  Going well so far although the workouts are tough but they make me feel great when I am done and proud of what I accomplished instead of just slogging through miles.

Sunday     10 long at pace (little fast but will work on it)
Monday     5 easy
Tuesday    7 that included 6x800 in about 3:34 with 400 between
Wednesday  Rest
Thursday   7 with a 5 mile tempo at 8:20 mile pace
Friday       5 elliptical due to strong winds and power outages all over
Saturday   6 easy

Loving wearing my sparkle skirts on my Sunday long runs to hold my phone and a little snack.
Happy training and tell the snow to stay away.  I saw a few wet flakes the past few days.

Sparkle Mail

I love getting sparkle mail.   Sparkle mail is what I (and other sparkle fans) refer to when we get our running skirts in the mail.  The company Sparkle Skirts is based out of Florida and they make the most amazing running skirts.  When you get your package it comes with glitter tissue paper wrapped around your skirt and a quick note from the people that work there (usually a good luck with your upcoming race or happy running around town).  They respond to e-mails really fast too!

 This was my first Sparkle Skirt (pixie dust).  It is lime green with sparkley sequins all over it.  The best part is the spandex shorts underneath that have large pockets for carrying gels and such (a must for long runs and races).  I was hooked after this and bought their mud busters (just the shorts) for under other running costumes.

 I was going to order a whole new skirt for running but since I really love the zipper pocket in the waistband for my phone and with the cold weather requiring a jacket for my gels I got these two "commando" skirts instead.  They don't have the built in shorts so you can wear leggings or shorts of your own under.  Autumn and Purple Passion are great and really make me feel special on my weekly long runs.

This is me after my Sunday long run with purple passion.  I can pop my mud busters under it and have some extra carrying capacity and keep warm with double "coverage" on my legs in the chilly months ahead.

Weekly Training Round Up week 7

This past week I hit most of the training miles and definitely the paces for my workouts.  I also got some sparkle mail.  If you don't know what that is check in later this week to find out what I'm talking about.  Anyways, here is the weeks worth of training:

Sunday     long run just under 11 miles in 1 hour 35 minutes
Monday   3 easy
Tuesday   8x600 with 400 recovery.  Nailed the pace of about 2:39 for each 600 (7 total)
Wednesday  rest
Thursday  3 mile tempo at 8:45 pace plus warm up and cool down (5 total)
Friday      4 easy
Saturday  6 easy

Weekly Total:  36 and a bunch of quality in there.

Weekly Training Roundup Dopey Week 5 & 6

Sorry about missing my weekly training info for last week.  I went up to Vermont for a few days to be a leaf peeper even though we have gorgeous leaves here.  Then I had a smidge of a cold and it just was snooze mode for me for a while there.

Week 5
Sunday     6 medium pace (not easy but not hard)
Monday    4 easy and it was raining buckets
Tuesday    6 easy but my right calf bothering me a lot, very tight
Wednesday  6 easy but calf really bad
Thursday    0
Friday        0
Saturday    0
Week total:  16 and hoping the rest makes my calf magically better

Week 6
Sunday      7 on the track (scared of back country roads... people zing on those corners) calf a bit tight
Monday     0 this is the day I got whammoed with a cold.  head pounding, nauseous
Tuesday     5  supposed to do a track workout and swapped it with 3 miles of fartleck doing step counts
Wednesday  3.5 elliptical miles very easy
Thursday    5 miles with a tempo for 3ish miles in 24:45
Friday         4 easy
Saturday     7 easy
Total:  28

Motivation

I am volunteering with Girls on the Run.  It is a great national program but I am not going to put all the details here.  Anyways, the girls I get to work with are so positive and I wanted to share the poster they made the other day at practice.  All the things that are positive in their lives... they could have added to this for hours.  So when you are thinking those negative things just remember that there are lots of little positive things that you love and you can get through it.

Weekly Training Roundup Week 4 of Dopey

Unusually hot temperatures for this time of year were happening in Upstate NY.  Not that I'm complaining about it but I do love me some crisp fall air to go with the changing leaves and to make me feel great on my runs (heat and humidity are hard).
Sunday     big fat 0 goes here (we were in Buffalo visiting hubby's family)
Monday    1  I just felt horrible with a headache that didn't want to go away even after asprin
Tuesday    6 easy but my right calf was bothering me and foot
Wednesday  5 easy and wore my old shoes
Thursday   7 medium-ish pace (not hard or easy) and wore old shoes, foot/calf almost all better
Friday       3 easy and perfectly fine
Saturday    5 easy
Total for the week was 27 miles

I had been wearing my Newtons prior to middle of this week.  They weren't comfortable but they weren't uncomfortable either.  I think they are just a half size too big but I had to go with that based on what info I was given when I bough having been new to the brand.  I am not writing the shoes off completely, but just for now as I need to start kicking up the pace and miles the next few weeks/months as I get ready to be Dopey.

Spartan Sprint

It was a beautiful fall day in Vermont a few weekends ago.  My best friend Dani and I lucked out because the day before was a bit chilly and the day after our race was cold and rainy.  Dani had asked me about the race about a month before it took place and I agreed quite quickly.  Guess I should have read the website a bit better since it was tougher than a Tough Mudder or Warrior Dash (their claim and I am not sure since I've not done either).

The race started with us having to tackle our first obstacle before even getting to the starting line.  We had to basically hop a barricade into the starting corral.  After that the race started and we jogged across the slight uphill at the base of the mountain through a smoke making item.  Shortly into the race we had a few more barricades to go over or crawl under before making our way up the blue ski slope followed by the black slope.

 I was feeling pretty good climbing the mountain.  It wasn't that bad.  Many people were stopping to rest and we figured there was no way we'd have to go all the way to the top, that was for the crazy people in the Beast race (8+ miles instead of our measly 4+ miles).  We were wrong.  The sprint went all the way to the top of the mountain and then immediately most of the way down.  It was so steep we basically had to crab crawl a good portion down.  Then we were slowed by a single trail through a small wooded area that was pretty gnarly.

I cannot remember the exact order of the rest of our obstacles but we had more than enough walls to climb over.  I helped Dani over most and then was able to get over them by myself.  One of the walls slanted back so you were almost upside down and had to get over the top.  I was so sick of the walls at this point.  Next up was a 5 gallon bucket filled with what we were told was 50 pounds of cement.  We had to use a pulley to get it to the top of a contraption and then lower it back down.  If you "gave up" you had burpees to do.  Later we had to drag a hunk of concrete down a small hill and back up.  The concrete was oddly shaped and was ready to take out some ankles.  We encountered monkey bars that were "up and down."  Reminded me of being a kid on the playground.

At some point I got super excited and started to sprint towards the rolling mud obstacle.  The people around us groaned loudly at my, "that look like so much fun."  It was a short, steep set of hills (3 or 4) in a row with a mud puddle at the bottom that was chest deep.  Dani and I had a blast jumping from the top of the little hills into the water pit and sprinting back out.  Then came torture.  Torture started out fun and quickly became not so much fun.  We had to basically army crawl under a barbed wire for 150 meters.  Fun until they decided to fill the mud pit with oversize rocks so you really couldn't "slide."

I was quite excited to finally be out of the barbed wire pit only to be frustrated quickly by our next obstacles.  We were given one chance to throw a spear into a bale of hay.  We both failed so we had to do 30 burpees.  That sucked a lot and I thought my arms would fall off.  Basically they had us do a squat thrust with a push up in the middle.  Ouch.  We finished our burpees and turned the corner where I saw a series of walls and verbalized my disapproval to the woman volunteer about how we should be allowed to skip it since I've gone over enough walls and I am not going to make it over since my arms are about to fall off from burpees.  Fortunately we only had to rock climb across (traverse) to the bell at the far end.  If we fell off it was burpee land for 30 of those evil little buggers.  I did not fail but Dani did since she is short and the "rocks" for traversing were really far apart.

We jogged through some more trail in the woods before seeing the finish line.  Before we could sprint for it was had to enter another chest deep mud pit with barbed wire over our heads and pull ourselves out with a rope onto a slippery and slanted slope (over the top and down the ladder).  And then we had to jump over some hot coals/fire pit.

We had a lot of fun and it will probably go down as the slowest 4+ miles that I ever run.  Not sure exactly how far it really was but I learned that I am stronger than I thought I was.  I figured I would have been pulled off the course or struggled terribly with all the strength activities on the course.  I survived and had a great time with my best friend.  We are event talking about doing another one together.

Weekly Training Roundup Week 3 Dopey

This week went pretty well.  We've had those wonderful, crisp Fall mornings that warm up nicely in the afternoons.  I am loving my pumpkin coffee and basically pumpkin anything right now.  The smells of fall are the best here in upstate NY.  After the Spartan Sprint my legs just felt like dead weight running for a few days.  I felt great but my legs were having none of it (thanks mountain).  Anyways, here is what my training looked like this past week:
Sunday      0 sore from the Sprint (you would be too after hiking a mountain and 30 burpees and obstacles)
Monday    4 very easy
Tuesday    4 easy
Wednesday  3 easy--felt just awful
Thursday     5 easy
Friday        0 I just didn't want to run despite the gorgeous weather
Saturday    5 and felt great- my legs are back :)

This was one of those weeks where I listened to my body and did a lot of walk/jog and easy days (even though those were what are scheduled anyhow).  I am hoping to get a few faster runs in the week coming up.

Weekly Training Roundup week 2 of Dopey

So week #2 of the Dopey training looked like this for me:
Sunday      5 easy and mow the lawn
Monday     3 elliptical miles with cold rain outside all day
Tuesday     5 easy
Wednesday 5 easy
Thursday    5 elliptical and mow the lawn
Friday        3 easy
Saturday death by burpees

Actually Saturday was challenging but I survived.  My friend Dani decided it was a good idea to do a Spartan Sprint.  I agreed a month ago to this and didn't train for it.  I ignored the workout of the days from them (ha, run a few laps and then do burpees.  I'll just run).  Should have done some stinkin' burpees to get ready for this since we hauled it up to the top of a mountain and back down plus some crazy obstacles and if you "failed" you did burpees.  After one failed obstacle I was not going to fail anymore since my arms were shot (30 burpess will do that to me).  Will post more and photos when they are available to me from the race.   Another tip if you consider a Spartan race... (it is fun) make sure you pick a non-championship event one since I believe it may be easier, but only slightly.

Cold Weather Long Run Must Have(s)

With fall in the air it is time to start thinking about those oldies but goodies that have been tucked away since late spring when most were no longer a blip on my radar.  

 My Brooks reflective windbreaker/jacket.  I love that it is light weight and makes me very visible to cars.  If I get warm I unzip and can leave it or take it completely off and tie around my waist.  Basically everything I own (shirt wise) that I run in is this color or hot pink.  I very seldom run in any other color.  Safety is most important.

 Baby oil gel is nice to have in the chilly and winter months.  I put it on my ankles since they always get so dry and red.  I love it better than lotion since it lasts longer and really gives me that layer of protection.  I even slather it on my face when it is really cold out to help with windburn.  Put a little in the ends of my hair as well so help with those dry ends since the cold just pulls moisture.  Another must is protecting my lips with some good old fashioned Vasoline.  It stays on longer than chapstick and doesn't melt off (well, it is cold out).

 Baby powder is a go to for many things.  This is for my medium length runs (up to about 8 miles).  Helps with chafing.  We've got those layers and it's cold while we are sweating.  It happens but most of us just don't talk about it.  Speaking of longer than 8 miles I discovered this wonderful item thanks to my sister having a baby.  Amazing and lasts for a long, long time to protect from chafing.

Of course if you are going to run for a long time you need to have some energy.  I've found that I love the orange blossom Honey Stingers the best.  They are not red so that is what works for me.  Taste great and are easy to chew/swallow.  It is like carrying fruit snacks.  The package keeps them fresh and not making a mess everywhere.  Even in the cold they stay a soft chewy unlike starbursts that I've tried in the past that get very hard and tough to chew.  

What are some of your go to winter/late fall running must haves?  I must have some Pumpkin anything for it to be fall (coffee, pie...)

Weekly Training Roundup

After Disneyland I took a few days off from running and then did a few easy miles for the rest of the first week.  I've been wearing my Newton running shoes and am adjusting to them but still not so sure of them.  I think I'd like them better with 5 lugs instead of 4 but I've adjusted the laces and that is helping a lot with the comfort.  I am starting my "Dopey" training now and it really won't be much different from my regular training.
9/8 Sunday    4 easy
      Monday   0 (I mowed the lawn)
      Tuesday   8 Hot and Humid, plus I only planned on 5 but a trail closure had me backtrack my loop
      Wednesday  3 elliptical miles with outdoor temps in the 90's
      Thursday  3 easy
      Friday       0 (painted at family members house, plus chilly rain)
      Saturday   4 easy
TOTAL:  19 miles

I also spent 7 hours on Saturday at a GOTR training and CPR/AED training.  My upcoming weekly mileage isn't much different but a few longer easy runs.

Half Marathon Disneyland 2013

After the 10K we headed to the parks to check them out with our last day of our passes.  I had a headache and felt pretty awful (we ended up leaving the parks-gasp in horror).  You know me and I do not like to leave Disney, ever!  We did catch the Play Parade (thanks momma for holding a spot for us while I sat in the shade and fan area from lunch with a bag of ice on my face thanks to a slight allergic reaction to the heat and sun block.

 My headache was not going away despite eating and drinking.  We ended up at the First Aid center for some asprin but that did very little in making me feel better.  The heat really got to me after the 10K.  Would I be doomed for the half the next day?

 Those Mickey beignets were delicious and I really wanted a Dole Whip but just wanted to lay down and not feel so icky.  We headed back to our room and I slept through until the next morning when we had to get up for the half marathon.  Bed for me was about 6:30 that night and I planned on getting up for the fireworks to watch from the hotel but that didn't happen.

 I felt great the morning of the half other than the hot weather.  It wasn't as humid as the day before so I just figured I'd still take it easy since I do not tolerate heat well.  (Sorry, no pictures since they are on my mom's camera).  I ran very well all things considered and had a great race.   I felt good most of the race.  Also, my first race using music to run with.  I made the decision knowing the course wasn't through parks and I would need a distraction from the weather.

 The music was great and provided me the inspiration I needed right on cue as luck would have it.  As I was starting to feel like ugh, 3 miles to go I heard Ever, Ever After... which reminded me of Luke and how he proposed to me at the finish line 3 years before so I pushed through.  The back area of California Adventure had a "techno" version of I Wanna Be Like You playing and I heard the words, "hit it Papa Bear," and thought of my dad (my papa bear).  Piece of cake after that.

 My very precious Dumbo Medal that I held so it wouldn't clang or get scratched.  Of course I hung my new medals ASAP on my wall.  There isn't much room left so good thing there is only 2 more Goofy's til I have 10 on there (but that Dopey might put the medals over the edge).

Disneyland 10K

So I am going to skip talking about the expo.  It was crowded, I was cranky (what, me cranky at Disneyland?).  Mom waited in line about 2 hours or more to purchase some Dumbo Double Dare items for me and there were just so many people it kind of just bugged me beyond belief.  Moving on to happier memories.

 This post is long and full of lots of pictures.  I carried my camera for the 10K but not the half marathon since I knew most of the course would be "off" Disney property and honestly there wasn't much I'd have wanted to stop for a photo of.

 The start of the race was a disaster to put it mildly.  They had the 5K start 45 minutes before us in 5 minute waves.  We weren't allowed to enter our corrals until they finished the waves and that was about 15 minutes before we started.  A lot of runners very nervous about making it to the start and panic.  Um, I was there for fun but still was concerned since if I didn't get in the 10K I wasn't going to get the coveted Dumbo medal (he's my absolute favorite and I would have had an honest to goodness melt down temper tantrum with uncontrollable sobbing).  Fortunately for Disney this did not happen.  Probably even better for my Momma for not having to deal with that.

 Right away we headed into Cars Land through Route 66.  It was a hot and humid morning with temps already in the mid 70's and probably about 70% humidity.  Hot but not hotter than I have handled in a race before.  I figured stop, take lots of photos and be ready for the half the next day.

 Selfie with World of Color in the background.  Much more beautiful the next morning while it was still dark out.  With any back to back race the strategy is to survive to see the next day.  If you feel good and conditions are favorable bust a move on that second day (or third).

 The 10K theme was Wonderland so they had all sorts of Alice in Wonderland characters out and about for the day.  Characters that you would not normally see so of course I had to stop.

 Perhaps the cutest flowers I will ever see and they weren't scary.  I like this kind of flower.  Or the one from Bambi (also known as a skunk).

 My time already starting to shape up into "meh."  Don't worry, it got slower as I went through Disneyland due to waiting to see characters.

 While waiting to see characters I take a look back at what I have run and check out the other runners costumes and such.  I also get some pretty unique photos at the same time.

 Apparently people run with their iphones so when faced with a real camera for photos people seem to have a tough time.  Hence the weird walking and awkwardness of some of the photos.  They think it's taken the photo and tell me, OK when it's clearly not.

 Joey Fatone!  I also saw him at the Goofy Challenge both days I was there.  Did not see him for the half but he did finish it alongside his lovely wife.  Both are so nice and humble to all the runners who want to stop for photos.  They don't care that they are all sweaty, which is nice cause we all know we aren't looking our best in a race.

 This guy totally reminded me of my Papa Bear.  He picked up the course cone and was using it as a mega phone.  Way to be super awesome.  At least he was cheering which is a lot more than I can say for many of the other cast members.

 Halloween parade floats since they are getting those ready for special performances very soon.  Made me excited to visit a different time of year than my usual.  Hint Hint handsome Manfriend of mine.

 They did a great job of having items and characters along the course for us to be entertained.  These characters were great but I was annoyed at a girl running at this part of the course.  She jumps in front of the line and says she isn't cutting.  Obviously a Cast Member and starts talking to the guy taking the photos and the characters start interacting with her for a few minutes while the rest of us wait in line for our chance to photo and continue.  After this she is in line for characters to have photos and same thing happens.  GRRR!  Take the photo and keep moving, that's what the rest of us do and expect of you.

Sticking with the Wonderland theme we've had the Flowers, Cards and now Mad Hatter and Alice, Queen of Hearts and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (and as Mr. Gallagher said Tweedle Dumber pointing to himself).  

 That was it for the characters.  Meanwhile my mom was at the finish line having her own kind of fun and frustrations.  They didn't put the start of the 10K on the big screen but rather continued to show the people finishing the 5K (right in front of her) on the screen.

She snaps a photo of the first male and female finisher and the confetti burst.  Then tells me that the clean up crew is trying to sweep around runners to clean it up rather than leaving it to take care of at the conclusion of the event.  Also some unfortunate issue with not having the finishers tape up for some runner that was the top runner (or was that half day?).  Anyways, they have some issues to work out.

 The strange curve of the finish did not provide much room for her to "spot" me coming into the finish. Probably didn't help that she was really looking for my bright green Tink outfit.  Hi mom.  I finished and I see you!

 On my way to get my medal and get another wristband to identify that I earn a Dumbo tomorrow.  So now I've got two wrist bands and feel like a ridiculous teenage girl with a coast to coast band, Dumbo band and watch taking up half my arm.

Tomorrow I will be earning my Dumbo medal and I am beyond excited.