Another Tuesday, another Tuesday on the Run hosted by our favorites: 
April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Erika from MCM Mama Runs, and Patty from No-Guilt Life.  This week's topic is Hydration Tips. Now even though I live in Southern California, it has been a HOT summer! When I stepped off the train at 4:30 on Friday, it was 100 degrees still! Hopefully the super hot weather will stay away for Dumbo this weekend! I have been trying to focus on drinking more water in hopes that it will keep my hydrated (sadly, wine does not count!)

One of the ways I do this is to track all my hydration in my Fitbit app. They added a place to add your water. This is crucial for me to take in a lot of water. When it was hot the first time in July, I used it to track and was drinking upwards of 100 oz per day! It is actually my self-care goal at work this week to track my water leading up to Dumbo to help with hydration. 

I also hydrate at work using my 32 oz mug I got from 24 hour DIsneyland day. I often fill it with tea and take it to all my meetings. My goal is to drink 2 of them a day. 

I also have water cups at home (Disney themed of course) where I try to drink 2 of them before I go to work and at least 2-3 after work. 

How about you? How do you stay hydrated? 

Time for some weekly accountability! I will recapping how I have done on the 4 Well Rules over the last week: Eat Well, Sleep Well, Exercise Well and Be Well. 


EAT WELL
I ate much better last week than the week before. I of course indulged since it was my birthday week and I was feeling a bit bloated from it. I plan on sticking with low carb until about Wednesday when I will slowly start to add carbs to my meal before going full on carbload on Friday and Saturday. yay running! 


SLEEP WELL
I still have yet to be able to reach my 8 hour sleep goal but I feel I am sleeping more soundly than I have been. Now that the craziness of classes starting should calm down, I am hoping to get more sleep than before. My main issue is I have switched my wakeup time from 6:35 to 6:15 to allow for me to get up and check all of my emails and be a bit relaxed while getting ready. I really do enjoy that extra 20 minutes but that means I will need to be asleep by 10:15 which is not going to happen, especially when I don't get out of class until 9:50 on Wednesdays. 


EXERCISE WELL
LAST WEEK:
M: Rest Day
T: rest Day-my legs were sore
W: 8 min abs and 15 min you got this from Cize
R: 2.2 miles
F: Crazy 8's and 8 min abs form Cize
SA: rest day/walking around Disneyland
S: 4 miles


THIS WEEK: 
M: 8 min abs and yoga
T: 3 miles
W: 8 min abs and another workout from Cize
R: 3 miles
F: 8 min abs and stretching
SA: Disneyland 10k
S: Disneyland Half 

BE WELL
My birthday celebrations went great and I feel so loved and blessed. They had a surprise party for me at work and I enjoyed my housewarming/bday party. Disneyland was great even though it was hot and Sunday was mostly spent packing for my next 2 weekends, cleaning the house and doing homework. 


This week will be settling into my routine and getting ready for my 5 year runniversary! woo-hoo!


How did you week go? Any big plans for Labor Day weekend? 

It is Monday so we are linking up with another Magical Mickey with John at run.geek.rundisney and Katie from Adventures by Katie. I want to review the merchandise I get to look at this weekend!! 

One thing of note is they have a 5k and 10k: I did it shirt which I think is great! For some people, that is a huge accomplishment and they should celebrate too. 

Personally, I think a lot of the merchandise looks a bit busy (like the weekend themed shirts) but I do love the Dumbo magnet and the Dumbo jacket. I am a bit weary on getting the jacket since the tink ones ripped so quickly but if they still have a Medium when I go down on Friday, I may get it! 

What are your thoughts on the merchandise? 

Hi all! Linkup Friday!! Thanks to our amazing hostesses: the DC Trifecta Bloggers (Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC, Mar from Mar on the Run, and Cynthia from You Signed Up For What?!). This week's topic is on 5 things we have done this summer but I will have a specific focus as TODAY (Friday, August 28th) IS MY BIRTHDAY!! Happy 29th birthday to me! 

So here are 5 ways I will be celebrating: 
1. A house warming/birthday party
We invited our closest friends to come over and see our new apartment (I will put up pics of the place soon), have some drinks (Angry orchards, french 75s, moscow mules, etc) and just hang out for a bit. 

2. Disneyland! 
We will going to Disneyland all day on Saturday to celebrate. I haven't been to the park since July 4th which is WAY too long for me! So we plan on making the most of it! I can't wait to get my birthday button! 

3. Lunch at Blue Bayou
I have not eaten at Blue Bayou in at least 3 years and have not eaten there since they redid the menu. That will me and my boyfriend's celebration of my birthday! I think I already know what I want to order as well! :)

4. Celebratory Drinks 
There will also be some drinks had either at Mad T Party, Carthay, Napa Rose, etc because it is my birthday celebration! 

5. Brunch
Sunday I will need to get homework done but we may also go to a Sunday Funday brunch where we can get an entree, side/dessert and bottomless drinks for 25 bucks! As long as we can get a reservation, we are in! 

BONUS: My brother coming to visit, running Dumbo/Disneyland half with all my closest friends (my brother's first half!), heading to Orlando for harry potter for a few hours, signing up for star wars: dark side, being in Tampa with my work conference friends, short Walt Disney World trip (from Sept 12-14). Definitely counts right?!!? 

How did you celebrate your last birthday? 

I can't believe this past week was my highest mileage week since FEBRUARY (not including races) and not only that, I feel fantastic! I maxed out at 30 miles which seems about right for some Dumbo tapering and Marathon training.  I originally wanted to do somewhere between 17-19 miles but decided to cut back as I was already doing 6 miles on Saturday to help with a Dumbo simulation to aim for 15 miles. 

I decided to do my Sunday run with my friend that is also doing the DL half as she wanted to do 12 miles. I ran to her house (we live 3 miles apart), we ran over to the Rose Bowl and back. She said she could drive me home. However I realized when I left for the run, I was feeling good and strong. I was going slow and steady but was not my usual tired self. I decided to go the 3 miles home which became a hybrid running and long cool down. 

I think it has something to do with this website I discovered. I cracked my neck earlier on Saturday and felt instant relief but then it turned to pain in my neck and shoulder. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling awful and worried my run would not happen so I turned to Google. Google never fails because I stumbled onto this crazy named website: do it yourself joint pain relief. Strange name but I figured why not? 

Well this website was a miracle worker. I was able to do the stretches in the 3 parts recommended and my pain went from about a 7 to 3 and I knew I would be able to get back to sleep. I also decided to peruse the website and stumbled on links for Achilles pain: my achilles has been tight so I tried those as well. I did some stretches for my butt, hip, and shin and of course achilles tendon. The soreness in my calves and shins were GONE almost immediately. In the morning, I did all of the same stretches and even though my neck was still sore, it was the best I have felt during a run in a long time. My calves did not hurt (well just when I would go up hills after mile 14) and my shin pain was minimal in my calf sleeves. 

Basically, I plan on continuing these stretches. It is crazy to think about how interconnected all of the muscles and nerves are in our body. All the stretches do is concentrate on sensitive areas and loosening the muscles around it. 

When was your last successful long run? 

The avengers medals were announced today but surprisingly the Infinity Gauntlet challenge is not there.

The 10k looks how I thought it would look with Captain Americas shield. The half medal is the same design as last year. Hopefully the wind will hold up this year.

I think the kids medal is ADORABLE!! Yay for ant man making an appearance (do you think we could potentially see him on the course?!)

What do you think of the medals?

We all knew this was coming but I was thinking they would wait until Dumbo but I was in for a surprise around 10AM yesterday and because the race I was banking on my coast to coast next year will be a reality!!

APRIL 14-17, 2016! DARK SIDE!

Here is the official website but I will summarize most of the information: 
RACES: 5k, 10k, Half, Kids Races, Special Dark Side race challenge as well as special Kessel run coast to coast medal if you run both DL and WDW star wars half marathons

5K: Epcot course 6:00 AM start
10k: starts at Epcot will end at WWoS (yay for a new course!) 5:30 AM start
Half: start at Epcot, end at WWoS (I am guessing a backwards wine and dine course) 5:00 AM start
Kids races: at WWoS

Sign ups will be Sept 22nd with rumored AP sign up Sept 8th. 

Looking at my training calendar today, I will be signing up for all 3 races as I was supposed to do a taper for Tinkerbell that included a 3 mile, 6 mile,14 mile run so I can just do the races at SW:DS and have an extended Taper. I will also be tapering for this race weekend but doing the Carlsbad all day 20k which should be fun! 

I have already put in a request for a room rate and right now have a tentative plan of flying out on a redeye on Wednesday night, Expo thursday and rest, 5k on Friday, 10k on Saturday, Half on Sunday, sleep in and watch the Boston Marathon on Monday before drinking at Epcot and exploring flower and garden and then flying home tues morning (which will also give me the afternoon to get any homework done that I will miss). 

Costumes have even been discussed! 3 potential ones (have not lined them up yet)
mickey darth vader complete with light saber
Kylo Ren (Adam driver's new character) with the cross light saber
slave leia when jabba the hut has her captured 

Who else is excited for this race? 

Another Tuesday, another Tuesday on the Run hosted by our favorites: 
April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Erika from MCM Mama Runs, and Patty from No-Guilt Life.  This week's topic is Running Bras. 

I don't have much to secure but it does make running much easier when I am in a sports bra! For so long I hated wearing sports bra because they did not feel comfortable on and felt even worse coming off. Now that I have found ones that I like, it is so much easier!  When it comes to which ones to wear, I am pretty basic. All of the ones I own, I have either bough at Target or Kohl's on clearance. My favorites ones are the C9 brand. They are very affordable, feel great and easy to wear. 


My favorite one looks like this one here (only 9.99!) it is easy to get on and off and feels great. I wore it during the marathon at Dopey and never had any chafing issues and it felt great.  

How about you? What sports bras do you wear while running? 

Time for some weekly accountability! I will recapping how I have done on the 4 Well Rules over the last week: Eat Well, Sleep Well, Exercise Well and Be Well. 


I didnt recap last week so this will be a reflection of the past 2 weeks as well as looking forward. 


EAT WELL
No words can describe how bad I have been-ugh. Eating a convention messed me up (I basically lived on Kind bars and cashews during the day and then ate whatever after) and we had training this week and I definitely indulged a bit too much. i feel bloated and just blah. My goal for this week is to not eat out and make sure to limit my sweets and processed/salty foods (easier said than done-it is my birthday week!)


SLEEP WELL
I started off well but D23 really messed me up and it took most of last week to get readjusted! I have only had 1 night where I have actually slept 8 hours in the past 3 weeks. I really need to focus on this! I am hoping to keep sleeping 7-8 hours a night as this week will be very busy too. 

EXERCISE WELL


I am honestly still in shock I was able to do 18 miles yesterday. I had 15 on the docket but felt good so continued on (I had originally wanted to do 18 but was worried with the 6 before it would be too much. I will write more about later this week). 

LAST WEEKS: 
MONDAY: core
TUESDAY: 3 miles
WEDNESDAY: weights
THURSDAY: 3 miles
FRIDAY: OFF-D23
SATURDAY: OFF-D23
SUNDAY:  OFF-D23


MONDAY: off-recovering from D23
TUESDAY: 3 miles
WEDNESDAY: 20 min weight routine before work
THURSDAY: 3 miles
FRIDAY: off
SATURDAY: 6 miles
SUNDAY: 18 miles

THIS WEEK: 
MONDAY: hiking +core
TUESDAY: 3 miles
WEDNESDAY:weights
THURSDAY: 3 miles
FRIDAY: OFF because it's my bday! :) 
SATURDAY: Disneyland!
SUNDAY: 7 miles

BE WELL
I loved the D23 and everything that happened there!
This is definitely been our hellish period at work. Training for student workers, students moving in and just getting the office ready for school to start today. I also start school on Wednesday so I am trying to work ahead already (I have some crazy assignments due week 2 and 3 already!). 
IT IS MY BIRTHDAY WEEK! My birthday is on Friday and I can't wait to celebrate with all of my friends in a joint apartment warming party/birthday party. 

How about you? How was your week? 

It is Monday so we are linking up with another Magical Mickey with John at run.geek.rundisney and Katie from Adventures by Katie. This week I will be talking about the new Disneyland official app. Disneyland has hinted at the fact they will be adapting some of the MyMagic/Fastpass+ from WDW. It started last year with being able to make dining reservations online and has continued with the launch of the official app. 

Overall, this app seems great. It allows you to look at a map and see wait times at both DL and DCA very easily. I have yet to use it in the park, but will definitely use it this weekend when I head down to celebrate for my birthday. It also is free which is great. 

One of the coolest features is you can add your Annual Pass so that it can just be scanned at the gate (you will still need the physical card for discounts and parking privileges). You can also buy tickets through the app as well!

Now the things that need to be added:

• Dining reservations need to be integrated (it now takes you to a website link)
  
• Fastpass wait times need to be included
  
• It needs to be updated to allow for functionality with the Premiere pass (we are always the last ones to get looped in!)
  
  But honestly considered it was just launched, it is a fantastic start! 
  
  Has anyone used the Disneyland app in the park yet? What did you think of it?