Race Review: The Tinkerbell Half Marathon

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It's done. I feel like I've been talking about Tinkerbell for forever, but really it was only June that we originally formulated the plan. The Tiggerific Twosome (our mother/daughter team that consisted of myself and my mother-in-law, Cindy) have completed our first Disney race! It was quite the experience. I awoke on schedule at 3:30am after less than 4 hours of sleep I apprehensively dressed up in my tutu and tigger ears and quietly snuck out of our hotel room as to not wake Griffin and Cody. I stopped in the lobby to eat my oatmeal raisin cliff bar and admire my tutu:

I met Cindy at our pre designated spot and we headed into corral "A" which gave us a great view of the start line and a couple pictures.

Before I knew it we were off and running, well sort of, we didn't get out of the mass of runners until after the 1st mile. We split up after the 2nd mile, we had decided beforehand that it was better to run at our own paces then we'd have the fastest combined time and perhaps a chance at making it into the top 3 mother/daughter teams. It was then that I realized I had forgotten to start my watch, darn! The first couple of miles were run in the outside of the park on the Anaheim streets, my excitement began to build as we headed into the back lot of the park, I knew the next few miles would be the most exciting part of the race besides the finish line. It was really neat running through the empty parks and seeing all the rides that were all running but of course with no riders on board. I stopped for a few photo ops and completely missed or ran past other ones:

I was disappointed there weren't more characters, I was really looking forward to seeing Tigger, but I never did. My 5k split was slower than the rest of my race because of the photo stops, 32:40.

By mile 5 we were back out of the park, through downtown disney, and onto the streets of Anaheim, this is when things got dicey. The excitement of the park was behind us and we still had the majority of the race to go. I ran along, wondering how those stops for photos was really going to affect my time. They had several cheer stations consisting of high school students and other various groups but I was missing the characters, I thought they'd have more disney related things even outside of the park because the park was such a small part of the actual race. But still, on I went in the dark through the unfamiliar streets, soon I realized we'd have to be turning in the other direction because we'd run straight away from the park in a straight line for quite awhile. We rounded a corner with a large cheerleading section and one of the many water stations (I barely used my fuel belt, there were so many) and then I knew we were finally on our way back and mentally that gave me a boost, the sun was beginning to rise and we'd be finished soon. At mile 11 I hit the last water station, the streets were beginning to look familiar, one was called "Disney Way" so I knew we had to be getting closer. The last two miles seemed much longer than the rest, no surprise there, and it wasn't the most scenic area, we were basically running behind the park and through a tunnel. I started to hear the cheering and caught my first glimpse of the finish and began to sprint. Then, I suddenly realized that we were going to take a sharp left and had another little loop before returning to the finish, I slowed down to my regular pace to save it for the end. When we reached the final stretch I once again began sprinting looking up into the stands for Griff and Cody, I never spotted them though because they were right beside the finish line and not in the stands. Apparently I could have grabbed Griffin and crossed with him, I would have loved that :(, maybe next time?

Because I started my watch late I wasn't really sure what my time was. About 10 or 15 minutes after receiving my medal and sitting down and stretching I asked Cody about my time, he couldn't exactly recall, said 2:19:00 or something like that. Or something like that?! That was pretty close to my last PR, he told me that I should check FaceBook because the results were being posted there live throughout the race (I had forgotten that I had set this up the week before). Frantically I grabbed my phone, 02:18:30! What if I hadn't stopped for those photos? No seriously I'm glad I did, I experienced a Disney race for what it was and it was definitely fun, no regrets. I'm debating whether or not to buy the photos taken by RunDisney photographers, $40 for one photo digital download... seriously?! If I do, I will post them here. Also, running in costume was pretty great, the tutu didn't bug me I think the last minute adjustments before I left (cutting it shorter and tightening the waistband) were a good plan because I never had to fix it or move it around much. If you want to know where to get an awesome tutu we found ours at Little Lily Belle. I bought a team sparkle skirt for a future race costume at the expo.

And in case you were wondering, our team didn't make it into the top 3, we were #10 so not bad, I'm proud of us. My #1 goal is always to finish the race and we definitely did that.

If you've been keeping up with the Disney posts, I added the photos from my camera tonight, so check the updates here:

Disneyland Day 1: Expo & What I forgot

Disneyland Day 2: 7 hours and counting...

After a quick shower we headed into the parks for a day of fun and celebration. I proudly wore my sparkle skirt and medal and the cast members in the park were all congratulating the runners and giving us high fives etc. Here is a photo we stood in line for 20 minutes to get:

Shortly after this I realized we had to get out of the park as it was getting to the point of ridiculous, I'm not sure I've ever seen so many people and such long lines in my life. Later we found out that people stood in line for 4.5hours+ for rides, no thank you! We headed back to the hotel for a rest and decided to hit downtown disney later, we didn't fare much better, a holiday weekend and a big event are not a good combination at Disneyland. I was just looking at the Run Disney race calendar and it seems that most of the races are on holiday weekends, something to consider for the future, at the very least maybe a reason not to buy park tickets in advance. Now it's time to pack up and go home. Two races for 13in2013 done and the realization that I am going to do a full marathon in my future maybe sooner rather than later... January has been a big month. 

(photo courtesy of the RunDisney FaceBook page)

Disneyland Day 2: 7 hours and counting....

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So I'm obviously from Canada and was unaware that it is a long weekend here in California (Martin Luther King Day) that is until this afternoon when I became aware, very aware. There are SO many people here...

This morning we headed through the throngs of people over to the Run Disney Kids Races so Griffin could run his 100m dash... What a disaster! They literally locked us in this gated area, stroller and all for 20 minutes before the kids got to start. Right before we began, a cast member came up to me to tell us the stroller was not allowed, I looked around at about 30 other strollers (but I'm not allowed?!) and decided if I stayed I'd be trapped at the back with our contraption of a stroller and I would miss the whole thing so we lifted the stroller along with all the stuff hanging off of it over the gate... That very same moment they let the kids start and since we were so near the front Griffin and Cody were off. Griffin immediately flipped right out, looked at me on the other side of the gate "ummmmmm, ummmm," (thats what he calls me). With all the tears spewing from my little boy I was back over the gate in seconds and Cody and I traded places. He refused to walk/run/crawl and instead clung to me for dear life screaming his head off. He stopped briefly as Mickey gave him a high five and he spotted Grandpa in the audience.

Thankfully the rest of the day went better. We visited the California adventure park (picture below) and Griffin loved the rides...

Until they were over, then we had to find a distraction or he would run back and try to get on again. I felt very hungry come lunchtime and it was hot and there were lineups a mile long everywhere. We stopped at the first place and got into the queue. It took about 20 minutes and $23 for one entree that Cody and I split and a kids meal, the food was decent and semi-satisfying (I was hungry about an hour later but leery about paying for more over priced food).

We went on a little mermaid ride and decided we better head back for Griffins nap, thankfully our hotel wasn't very far. Fast forward to after the parade this evening, it's 6:15pm and we need to eat dinner, I didn't plan this part well. There's so many people here that we couldn't get into any restaurant, trust me, I TRIED. So we returned to the room and ordered room service, we didn't get our food until about 8:00pm. It arrived and it wasn't really up to par for a pre-race meal but still a million times better than last weeks. I get very cranky when I don't eat regularly, I'll admit it. I was very grouchy today, I am sorry. I will do better, BE better, I will bring snacks. I've posted a photo regarding my mood below that I saw on How to be a Dad earlier this week.


Here I am awake, I need to be up in about 5.5 hours but I cannot sleep... I NEED sleep I know that, but I'm just not ready yet. I thought I'd be more excited about this, but I'm just not, not yet anyway. This will be my 8th half marathon, 8, that should feel like a bigger number, but it doesn't. Hmm. I'm just going to say it: I'm going to run a marathon, a FULL one. The whole 26.2 miles (42.2 km). Not tomorrow, probably not even this year, but I'm going to do it. A half is a challenge, it's not easy, it hurts, but at some point I realize it's just not going to be enough. So tomorrow when I cross that finish line, I know at some point that's only going to be half way.

I am ready Tinkerbell.

Half, this is only half... Oh my...

Disneyland Day 1: Expo & What I Forgot

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We have arrived at the mouse's house! I was pretty stressed today about getting here, checking in, and picking up our bibs. All in all it didn't go too badly, we were late feeding the Griffster dinner but he was a trooper and was only mildly perturbed. We are staying at a Disneyland resort hotel, and I have to say that even though the price was shocking we had a great experience checking in even though it was very busy. The second we walked through the doors you could tell that it is a family-oriented hotel, in the lobby they have a "story time" area with mini lounger chairs for the children. We were immediately directed to the desk by the staff members with iPads at the front door, the lady at the desk offered Griffin a colouring book right away and had us all checked in in less than 5 minutes with personalized room keys for each of us (including Griffin lol). We then made our way up to our room, it's nothing super fancy, but it is very clean and comfortable and kid proof of course, well so far... I also noticed that if you have older children you can get a room with bunk beds, cool!

After settling in we were off towards the expo. The closer we got the more runners I could pick out of the crowd carrying bibs and other Tinkerbell merchandise. Though I got flustered it actually was a very well organized packet pickup and it didn't take long to locate our bibs. It was more the fact that we had to also pick up our discounted theme park tickets, "ChEAR squad" packets, and Griffins kids race packet so we visited almost every booth. We then had to test our chip, they're the ones that go on your bib so that's great, and they had volunteers cheer you across the test line which was kinda funny! Also because we booked our hotel through the travel organization "Get Travel" associated with the "Run Disney" races we received an awesome run Disney rolling duffel bag with wheels for free!

So next it was on to the actual expo and to see the official race merchandise. I stopped at a couple notable booths. "Team Sparkle" was there so I couldn't pass up that opportunity and bought a silver skirt for some of my future races this year. Hmm, maybe a costume for New York! We also stopped at a booth that had all these light up arm bands, shoe laces, and rings. Nikki from Slow is the New Fast asked me to grab some more of the rings for her (she saw them last weekend at WDW for the Goofy Challenge). Since we were there anyway I grabbed some orange and black flashing arm bands to add to our costume. There was lots of other great running products that I didn't really take the time to look at because I wanted to check out the official merch before buying anything else. I left a little disappointed, they had a kids shirt that said "My Mom ran the Tinkerbell Half" but it was very girly so I couldn't buy it for Griff. I settled on a tank top and a hat for summer. I've got my eye on a Coast to Coast sweatshirt for November though. In case I haven't mentioned it, the coast-to-coast challenge is part of Run Disney; basically if you run two races, one at Disneyland and one in Disneyworld in the same calendar year, you receive a special medal. We are aiming for the Disneyworld Wine & Dine Half Marathon in November. If I can swing it that may also be race #13 for the 13in2013 challenge.

So here we are, ready to settle in for the night, I was unpacking some of my running things and I noticed once again that I've forgotten something very important. The charger for my Garmin watch, not the wall part but the cord that connects to the USB charger, and if you have a Garmin you will know how odd it is. There was a Garmin booth at the expo though so I hope I can buy the cord there tomorrow. On the bright side maybe I can look at some more stuff that I frantically ran past today.

Well better tuck myself in, we will be up bright and early to prepare Griff for his 100m dash (a Run Disney Kids Race)!

P.S. sorry about any missing links, I'll have to add them next week, I have limited functionality on the iPad. And don't worry I didn't buy the crazy Tinkerbell ears...

Race Review: Running from an Angel Half Marathon

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I was nervous about this one, it wasn't until we arrived just outside of Boulder city at the Hacienda Hotel that I had my first glimpse of what I was in for the following morning. It was then that I had a hunch that I may have misunderstood the course description. The fiasco of realizing I didn't bring my running pants and racing to Target when I should have been sleeping only added to my pre race nerves. I went to bed shortly after we returned from Target ready for what I thought would be just another half marathon.

I awoke as planned at 7:00am, we planned to leave the hotel at 7:30am as we weren't exactly sure where we were going and how to enter Lake Mead National Park. Off we went (check out the beautiful wallpaper/carpet combo in our hotel, eww!):

We arrived pretty early and chose to sit in the car until the last possible second as it was freezing out, actually below zero in the desert... Then it was time. As I approached the starting line I got my first good look at Lake Mead, though freezing and windy, it sure was beautiful out:

Before I knew it we were off and running! No matter how big or small the race (this one being less than 500 people) I always find the starting line very exciting and the adrenaline usually pushes me through the first few kilometers with a smile on my face. However as we started off I gradually noticed the "rolling hills" mentioned in the course description, but after the first mile marker, there was no rolling... it was just up...

up...

and more up...

Every time I rounded a corner thinking we must be almost done with this hill, it kept going. The further I got into it, I wasn't sure how my time was going to be, I decided I better abandon all hopes for a PR and focus on finishing. I quit doing 10 and 1's which normally improves my time (10mins run/1min walk) and knew that I had to run when I could and walk when I needed. It felt like we went straight uphill for 11km. Having now looked at the elevation chart I know there were some dips, which then became hills after the turnaround. When we reached the top of the incline, we were at 1539ft: 

At this point there was a short bit of downhill and another very steep incline up to the turnaround, which of course I had to repeat backwards once I turned around. The rest of the race definitely went smoother. I knew the majority was on a downhill and there was a chance I could still finish with a decent time. At about the 10th mile marker I reached a point at the top of a hill where I could actually see the finish area, very far off in the distance, but I could see it. It looked like an oasis in the desert, sparkling water and palm trees... I got a short lived burst of energy and made it to kilometer 19, from then on we were in the "rolling hills" from the beginning, but after all that uphill/downhill my knee was done. I pushed and I pushed, I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, but I did:

I crossed that finish line and left every last ounce of energy behind me. I was so happy to see Cody and get out of there. This was by far the MOST difficult course mentally and physically for me. I generally always find hills challenging, but usually in hill training its only a kilometer at a time or so and then you get a short break, this was so constant, it really got to me. On the other hand this was also one of the most beautiful courses I've ever run, the combination of the stark desert against that crystal blue lake water was breathtaking and I know I will never forget it. So the first race of my 13 in 2013 is now complete! 

Chip Time: 02:26:33

After a quick shower and checking out of our hotel we were on our way to LAS VEGAS, it was a great reward having just completed that challenge! The first stop: In n' Out

Las Vegas was a great way to relax and let off some steam after the race, but it was only a short trip. Today we drove back to Palm Springs, 4.5 hours through the desert, a lot of which I spent reflecting on this past race and the ones coming up. I also couldn't wait to get back and see my little boy, this was our longest time apart since he was born. Here are some pictures from our drive:

Now its time to prepare for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon on Sunday. I'm excited about this race, as it will be my first with my mother-in-law, Cindy, it will also be her very first half marathon! My son Griffin will be taking part in his very own 100m race on Saturday. So now it's back to eating properly and getting those last training runs in. Training and running while traveling is a completely different experience then being at home, exhausting but fun! Except for perhaps the ton of laundry and repacking I have left to do before our departure to Disneyland...

Half Fanatics Membership & Packing Procrastination

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Aha! I've finally gotten something for all these races I've done, I've been accepted into the Half Fanatics! Okay it's actually not that big of a deal and I'm only at the "Neptune" level which I achieved for running 3 half marathons in 22 days back in November. Anyways, I've put a widget right here on my blog so click on the Half Fanatics logo or here and check it out!

One week from now I'll be having my pre race dinner in Boulder City getting ready to run around Lake Mead. And two weeks from now we will be checking into our Disneyland hotel, exciting stuff ahead! 

I'm looking forward to the trip but I'm starting to get nervous about packing and my last week of training. Basically I'll be packing for 3 separate climates (Palm Springs, Las Vegas/Boulder City, Anaheim). How is one supposed to accomplish that and fit all your running gear, husbands clothing, toddler clothes, and other child related gear into two suitcases?! This may be more of a challenge than the actual marathon...

Here's what I've accomplished so far arrrghh:

Two runs are planned for this weekend, both are 10kms, I'm so looking forward to tapering, the last few weeks have all been pretty much half marathon distances. Now is the time to "sit back and relax"? Wait that doesn't sound right... Okay but I'm only doing two 10km runs, that's not so bad. 

Well here's hoping running at 7:30am tomorrow isn't as chilly as last week:

Stay tuned for a book review on "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb hopefully tomorrow. I'd also like to get a baking post in before I leave but I'm not making any promises!

Resolution? The beginning? What shall I call this?

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I'm hesitant to call it a New Year's resolution because I sort of despise the idea of a New Year's resolutions but anyway this year I've decided to revive my blog with a new name:
Read. Bake. Run. Repeat.

Welcome!

Even though I've been back at running since April of 2012, I'm declaring today a new beginning! I need some new inspiration to run, thus the blog. I'm going to hold myself accountable to run those extra km's. I think 21.1km isn't as challenging as it was say 6 months ago or even two and a half years ago when I ran my very first half marathon so the luster of running is beginning to fade. I'm vowing to record my running results here on this blog. I'm also going to write about the books I'm reading and the things I'm baking because since becoming a Mom my memory is horrible and I think it would be a great place to record all my successes and failures, maybe if I write them down I won't fail again... maybe...
Maybe someone else will read my blog and learn from my mistakes. I've also been reading a lot of Blogs lately so why shouldn't I have my own?

(Hear are a few of my favorite blogs that I try to keep track of such as "Slow is the New Fast"written by my very inspirational and motivated friend Nikki, I also enjoy "Baby Rabies" and "How to be a Dad". There are others but those are definitely my favorite.)

So, coming up are two really BIG races for me. January 12th I will be in Boulder City Nevada to take on the "Running from an Angel Half Marathon"! And then on January 20th the "Tinkerbell Half Marathon" in Disneyland! So stay tuned for pictures and reviews of those races and quite possibly some posts regarding packing and pre race jitters...