​Sunday came early but I was ready to tackle my 5 year runniversary! Ralph was tired but my brother seemed ready to go. We met up with the crew (Devin and Mari) and walked over the race start. It was much busier than the day before so we checked our stuff and used the restroom and met up with one of my grad students I work with, Karen and headed to the corrals! 

Typical corral fodder before it was time to start! I tried to start slow but with the downhill and then turning backstage instead of heading down Katella it was not easy! As soon as we headed backstage, it was insanely narrow and crowded and made it pretty congested. We spent A LOT of time backstage and finally entered the park by the pier. I went potty and then met up with Devin and Jake and we started the pictures! 

​​We ran by the Pier and got a fantastic picture before heading towards the front of the park and got another pic with the signs in front of Carthay. 

​We then made our way into Disneyland and took a picture by the train station, Partners and Naveen and Tiana. At this point, my brother ran ahead to scope characters and report back. With no one else catching his interest (and a lot of the course backstage!) he continued on and I didn't see him until I was back at the hotel! ​

We made our way to the castle and took some fun pics before continuing through tomorrowland, and back towards Small World to meet Captain Hook and Peter Pan. 

We then went to small world and took some of favorite pictures of the whole day! 

We stopped backstage for a pic with the horses as they will be moving when they break down on Star Wars in the Jan and the horse tried to eat my tutu! This horse selfie is HILARIOUS as his nose went under my tutu as soon as I snapped the photo. Too funny!

At this point we were backstage more and eventually came upon a really unique photo pop with Mac from Paint the Night! ​

After that, it was time to head out to the streets. We hit the Ball Road bridge right as the sun was coming up which made it insanely hard to see so we had to slow down. 

We both felt fine as we continued through Anaheim. Before we knew it, we were seeing dancing groups to keep us entertained and got to the miles of old cars, which definitely grows every year!

We got a free sponge from MousePlanet (awesome sauce!!) that I kept for the whole race. From there on out, we got an extra cup of water for use of the sponge! 

At mile 7, we got a donut from Sparkle Athletic, which definitely made my stomach a bit upset but it was worth it. After that, we turned towards the Artic train station and towards the sad Santa Ana trail. The part is always difficult as it is narrow and a bit up and down so it's definitely a slow process.

We soon got to Angel Stadium, got our Clif shot and I had another potty stop as it was a bit humid so I had been drinking a lot of fluids. We made our way into Angel stadium which is always a favorite on this course! It was packed to the brim with Boy And Girl Scouts! Outside of the stadium was marching bands which I also appreciate as a former Band nerd!

One story that really inspired me was a blind runner. We had been running about the same pace as him and he had a whole group that took turns running next to him and yelling -BLIND RUNNER COMING THROUGH! They ended up stopping to get interviewed by the news and I don't remember seeing them finish.

We were both feeling strong but it was getting warmer so we were starting to push the pace a bit. They added a new section of cheering sponsored by new balance around mile 12 which was an awesome pick me up

As we headed into mile 12, we decided to try and run out fastest mile. I wanted training on tired legs and I definitely got it

Our finishing time 2:31:05 running and an official time of 2:58:25 with all of our photo stops. The final mile was 10:34! Woohoo!

Once I finished, the tears started. Happy tears of course! The last few miles I had been counting down towards the end remembering how far I had come with my running. It insane to remember the mind frame I was in during my first race and where I am now! No pain, just happy to be done! And on top of that, the half medal was my 45th rundisney medal!! ​

This race will always be so special to me and this was the furthest up I have been to the front. I did not like the course changes as we entered backstage sooner and it was super congested. There was also more backstage time than usual and I'm expecting it'll get worse as the construction begins in Jan with the rivers of America area all closed.

Overall, this was the best 5 year runniversary I could ask for. I adored every minute however I definitely learned it is much different when someone comes to visit for a race. My legs were definitely more tired than usual and I got less sleep. I need to make sure to keep that in control for the future.

​Did you run the Disneyland Half this year?

Afterwards, we had the typical photo shoot before heading back ​to shower, get ready and head to breakfast. We had reservations at the Paradise Grill at Paradise Pier (and also got to see the end of the race). Basically to make a long story short, it was a HOT MESS! NEVER AGAIN! There was an insane wait (mainly because people made reservations too early after the race so we were showing up 45-90 minutes late) and also there was a 45 person party. they kept telling us-5 min more for about 40 minutes. We finally got seated and the food was good but it just took too long. In the future, we are going to try to just head into the park for some pictures and food and not deal with sit down meals-they are just too crazy. 

Afterwards, we were going to go to the Angels game but it was just too hot so we went to Disneyland instead. We had to park at the convention center! eek! but we took an uber to the front and had a good time. We met with Mallory and some other friends and enjoyed some celebratory drinks at Flo's and Wine Trattoria and Mad T party. We also got my brother to see Paint the Night and Fireworks (which he loved!) before I had to drive us home. What a weekend! especially because I flew out to Tampa the next night-insane! 

​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.  The topic this week is fun runs so what pretty way to talk about them than to finally recap the Disneyland 10k!

I am finally ready to recap this great race weekend! It looks like the Disney 10ks are getting back on track as this was another fabulous 10k, so much better than last years and even better than the Star Wars 10k.
 
Some back story before we get into this. The theme was unclear until the training plan was released and then  the medal design was released. However it was still unclear if it was Snow White or Villians themed. We came up with a few ideas and settled on a wall-e and Eve costume and I would either be Mary (the lady that helps wall-e with the plant) or the Captain and carry Auto. However carrying Auto did not sound like much fun and I was worried no one would recognize me as the Captain.
 
As we started the conversations, Devin revealed to me that he was thinking about proposing to Brian at the end of the finish line which settled the decision. The ring would go in the shoe (yes we would have a plant!) and we would all help carry it. My job was to take pictures of all of this.
 
The 10k started at the normal time: 5:30. We decided to try a new route for walking from the hotel and it was MUCH shorter and easier. We decided to sleep in a bit later and see how it goes. I got up at 4:00 and we met at 4:30 to walk over. The new walking work well as it was quiet and not crowded and we arrived to the race area within 15 min! We definitely will sleep in another 20-30 min in the future as we just stood around for a bit. I checked my bag, used the porto and we headed to the corrals. I was in corral B as was Brian so Devin moved back to run with us (he was in A).

The pre race thing was pretty typical but I do think they had more room for the corrals than they had in the past which was nice. The coolest thing was since it was villains themed, they had this amazing electric guitarist come out and play the National Anthem ( a la Jimi Hendrix) and it was incredible!

Before we knew it, corral A was off and we were to (about 8 minutes after them). This course starts on a downhill so watch your speed! Also it is run mostly on road so avoid the middle of the road as you may trip over the reflectors (it happens every time-I always see someone fall). 

We headed down West Rd and turned left by the convention center (oh Hall D23 from the Expo!!), ran by that before coming out and turning into Katella. We finally made it back stage around mile 2 behind Carsland. The course seemed a bit crowded but then thin out as we kept going Which was nice! 

This course and the half course seemed to have more time backstage than usual. I even remarked-I AM READY FOR SOME PARK AND CHARACTERS! 

We finally entered the park around Carsland and did a quick potty break before continuing to the pier. There Dr Facilier was speaking so we stopped for a pic, followed by a quick pic at the Pier before continuing to run.

We stopped by toy story because Lotso was out-we only waited about 5 min which is amazing!

We ran around the pier, through Grizzly and over to the front of the park. We took a picture with storytellers before continuing on through Hollywoodland. We stopped for a picture with Hades from Hercules and skipped Lady Tremaine. 

At this point we headed back stage and over to Disneyland. The backstage areas were narrow and very crowded causing us to slow down a lot. We kept going and finally made it to Disneyland!

We ran down Main Street and took a picture by the castle, we ran through tomorrow land and over through fantasyland and stopped for a picture with Captain Hook and Mr Smee! 

We ran through the Castle and through frontier land and stopped for a pic with Brer Fox and Brer Bear and Brer fox tried to step on Hal the cockroach!! 

After this, we headed backstage and through downtown Disney to the finish!  TIME: 1:34:38 (running time: 1:09:23)

now this is where the proposal happened! I was in charge of capturing it on my phone and I am SO happy with the picture I was able to get. You see the joy and happiness on both of their faces and I am so lucky to be able to experience this in person!

The rest of the day was typical (minus celebrating an engagement!)! Went back to the room to wake up my brother and Ralph and we got dressed and headed to Flos for breakfast (and a stop at Starbucks!!). We went on a hunt for Pluto as it was his birthday (and it turns out-Oswald too! We didn't know!) Ralph and my brother went to USC to tailgate (yes they are insane) while we hung out in the park and tried to stay cool before dinner. 

We met up with Mari and had a fab dinner at Carthay (they made me a gluten free pasta with smoke roasted carrots and it was AMAZING!!) 

I got back to the room and ended up watching some of Teen Beach 2 before e going to bed later than I would have liked. Ralph and my brother got back at like 10 and woke me up and were being too loud! But I was able to go back to sleep. An early morning awaited us!! 

I usually don't do these things but on Saturday it will be exactly 5 years since my first race which is crazy! I wrote a whole recap of it here and I learned A LOT. I was overtrained (I did a 13 mile training run the week before my race-so dumb!), wore cotton shorts and did not know about fueling (first time I had ever had fuel was during the race in the form of Clif shots that I got for free at the Expo and I am still a Clif girl). I suffered from IT band syndrome and had to walk so much of the race at the end and ended up with ice on both knees (that I had cut out of the picture to send my family so they would not freak out). 

Now I am about to tackle the same race after 5 years with so many more races under my belt. I remember finishing that race and thinking-I could NEVER do a marathon and now I have done 3 of them and am in the middle of training for my 4th. 

I thought the idea of Goofy challenge and running races back to back was crazy (those people that did a 5k and half were crazy!) but yet I have a Goofy challenge as part of Dopey, along with about to complete my 3rd Dumbo Double Dare, 2 Glass Slipper challenges, 1 Pixie Dust Challenge, 1 Rebel challenge, and own 5 coast to coast medals! I am currently signed up for Infinity Gauntlet, Rebel Challenge, Pixie Dust challenge and will sign up for the Dark Side challenge and that is just the Disney challenge, not counting the 5k/10k for the Turkey Trot and the New Years Challenge. 

When I finish the Disneyland half (the 10th anniversary), it will be my 40th rundisney medal ever and I can't think of a better race to celebrate that milestone. It will be my 27th rundisney race and my 48th race ever (52nd if you count my virtual runs!). INSANE!!! 

But you know what this means? I HAVE to stick with my tradition of doing the 5th year and 10th year of every race and go from there. I have run the 5th anniversary of: DL half, Princess half, wine and dine half, and will run tink half (couldn't do the others). I will have now run the 10th DL half and 10th goofy challenge. LOVE anniversary medals! 

Overall, I am so excited to run and celebrate this weekend. So many friends are running with me, including my brother flying out to race, and it should be a good celebration. There will probably be some happy tears shed because if you had ever told me I would have done all I have 5 years ago, I would have thought you were crazy. It truly is amazing what an be accomplished! 

What was your first race? When is your runiversary? 

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? 

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 can't believe it is almost here! Less than a month I will be celebrating my 5 year runniversary at the race that started it all. 

Waivers and corrals are posted. Go type in your information here to print your waiver. From there, take the bib number (located at the bottom) and match it up with the corrals. Sorry 10kers-no corrals posted and this seems to be the norm now-boo! 

I am excited because I am corral B for Dumbo which should put me in corral A for the 10k! Yay for getting good pictures! 

They also have the course maps which basically look the same as past years. 

Want more information? Don't forget to check out the Event Guide! 

and I cannot forget my favorite thing. The igiftbag! It includes: 
free drawstring backpack from Cigna
Bookmark from Lasting Commeratives
New Balance Tips
Tips from Florida Hospital
Clif shot 
and more! 

Anyone else getting excited for the DL half weekend? My brother is flying out for it (his first half!) and I am so pumped for the whole weekend. 

The medals are finally here! YAY! I love them all. 

Here are my thoughts: 

• The 5k is ADORABLE!! It is so cute and I love that mickey and minnie are in Diamond outfits
  
• I can't tell what the ribbon is for the 10k but hopefully they will have a lot more characters out than last time. 
  
• I think the Disneyland half medal does not photograph that well but it is easy to tell it is a diamond inside of the diamond and it spins! 
  
• Dumbo is the same as previous years and I like the red and yellow ribbon
  
• the kid races are the fairies!! so adorable.
  

What do you think? Will you be running any of these races to earn these beauties?? 

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 about Challenge races: running races back to back. 


Challenge races are my BRF (Best Running Friend)! No really- Challenges are close to my heart especially the rundisney ones. I love the challenge of them and most importantly: the BLING!! I have been in since the first Dumbo was announced in 2013. 

Since then I have run:

• 3 Dumbos and signed up for a 4th (2012,2013,2014)
  
• 2 Glass Slipper Challenges (2014,2015)
  
• 1 Dopey/Goofy
  
• 1 Rebel Challenge and signed up for another (2016)
  
• 1 Pixie Dust Challenge and will sign up for another
  
• Signed up for the unofficial challenge of running the wine and dine 5k in the morning and half at night
• Signed up for 1 Infinity Gauntlet challenge
  
• Did the LA Turkey trot 5k/10k (back to back) and signed up to do it again 
• signed up for the 2016 New Years race (non-rundisney and it will be a 10k followed by a half an hour later)
• signed up for the 2016 All Day Carlsbad 20k where I will run 4 5ks back to back (Master's Men, Master's Women, under 29, 30-39)

So 10 total with 6 currently signed up for and 1 more I will sign up for next month (Pixie Dust!!!). 


I LOVE challenges and enjoy training for them (yes, I'm a weirdo). Since 2013, I have learned A LOT about challenges and how best to prepare so you can enjoy yourself. 

WHAT I PERSONALLY DO
In all of my race recaps, I do a full recap of what I did the day before and after. This is important for me to go back and read after the fact to see what I can tweak for next time. I also have a running journal where I write out my plan before, during and after and make notes right after for what I learned/ can improve upon. 

BALANCE 
One of the main things I have a hard time balancing is being at Disney for challenge races. For me, this is much easier at Disneyland as I live 40 min away and can go whenever. For WDW, this can be harder but that is why I like to plan a few vacation days after the race to help with recovery and also get more park time in. You can't burn the candles at both ends-you will end up miserable and tired. 

PLAN MEALS 
Personally, I plan all of my meals first. I start with dinners. I like to have dinner around 5 preferably at a sit down location so that its reserved and will allow me to hopefully get back to my hotel room by 7. 

BEDTIME ROUTINE
From there, I double check I have everything I need set out, double check my alarm and plan for the morning and try to get in bed by 8.

SLEEP
For DL races, that will allow me close to 8 hours before I have to get up. For WDW, that will allow me 7 hours before I need to get up. I don't believe it is just luck that the races I've gotten the most sleep before (Tink 2014 and 2015) are the races I've felt very strong at. 

DURING THE RACE
During the race, I like to hold back for the first race (or series of races). The important thing is to get through the longest race well. The best way to do that is to hold back and take your time in the first ones. This is easier said than done because people FLY at the start. Stick to your plan and you will be fine. 

FUELING 
Make sure you are fueling properly during the race. I usually increase my fueling to include more shots or bloks before I will need it (yes, you have seen me taking clif shots during a 5k and 10k-gotta restock that sugar and glycogen). You are trying to hold glycogen in your muscles so the sooner you restock the sugars lost, the better. 

EAT EAT EAT 
After the race, you need to eat immediately to restock carbs. I always eat the box of food given at the finish and try and have a recovery meal within an hour. I usually head straight to food whether it is a meal or a food court stop. 

REST AND STRETCH AND ROLL
Once in the hotel, I shower, stretch and roll and relax. I want to give my muscles a chance to recharge. I also lay out all of my clothes, accessories and food I need for the next day and charge all electronics. 

I try not to rest more than an hour and usually don't nap. I head back out to the parks and grab lunch or a large snack around noon. 

PARK TIME 
Walking around the parks is great recovery. It keeps the lactic acid at bay but keep it easy. You will want to stretch when you can and keep moving and hydrating. 

HYDRATE
Water is the key. You want to drink as much water as possible so you are well hydrated. I always carry a water bottle with me. 

AGAIN AGAIN 
Like I said, dinner is early and then back to repeat the cycle! After the final race, I do like a quick nap (an hour or so) before heading out to celebrate. 

Oh and make sure to wear your medals around the park!


That should do it for tips. As always, check out my recaps from past races and feel free to contact me if you ever need help with training for challenges! 


Anyone else like challenges as much as I do? 

I got to experience a few other things this weekend so I decided to update this post and link up with another Magical Mickey with John at run.geek.rundisney and Katie from Adventures by Katie     


see below! 


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 weeks topic is Free Friday so I'm going to write about the greatness of new things at Disneyland. It is less than 100 days away until the next rundisney race: the 10th anniversary of the Disneyland half marathon weekend! That race weekend will also by my 5th runiversary. As people are preparing, here are some of the great things they can expect.

I went to Disneyland for the 24 hour party on Friday as well as going back on Sunday and Monday! Let me just preface this as saying, I'm not surprised that the parks hit capacity and turned into a complete mess on Friday.  I am surprised that there was a complete breakdown of communication. The fact that people paid for parking and then we're stuck and couldn't get into either park is not cool. I think parking, ticket sales and a system for disseminating information was the key to Friday and Disney blew it. As people were leaving, they should have been told they would not be let back in and just consistent information about if dining reservations would be allowed back in. 

I also think it was silly to offer all of the 60th anniversary offerings on the same day as the 24 hour party. I think they should have opened it earlier in early May to allow for some practice with crowd control. Just my two cents but I had a great time but would have had an even better time if I had been able to actually get into Disneyland! 

Now onto the offerings! 

1. Merchandise
It's all so cute!!! Here and here are some Disney Parks Blog posts about some of it. I ended up getting: an ornament, new shirt, a sweatshirt, a new pair of shoes, new blanket and two mugs. Overall, the merchandise is adorable and I will most likely be buying more soon. 

Another Tuesday on the Run hosted by: April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Erika from MCM Mama Runs, and Patty from No-Guilt Life. This week's topic is Reviewing the Year in Pictures. 

It's that time of year again, to review the greatness of the year! Instead of having a very long post like last year, I will put the slideshows on the bottom of here and divide them into 4 slideshows-2-3 months long each so one will not be too long. 

Top things:

• Traveled to WDW 3 times
  
• ran my first full marathon!
  
• ran 7 rundisney races for 11 medals
  
• got a sub-3 5k, sub 1:00 10k and sub 2:15 half marathon
  
• traveled twice for work (Fort Worth and Denver)
  
• got my appendix out
  
• started a new job
• started a doctoral program 

2014 Dumbo Double Dare Recap:

CARBLOADING
EXPO
10K
LILO COSTUME
HALF
FINAL THOUGHTS


Oops-I amnot sure how I slipped getting this out but better late than never!!!

This race is very close to my heart. It was my first Half in 2010 and I love that it is in the summer as it forces me to keep up my running (even though it’s CRAZY HOT). I love challenges and the Dumbo Challenge is great. However, it is a tough race. It is usually Labor Day weekend which is also the first week of school, close to my birthday and this year right before a work conference. To say I was busy the week of is an underestimate. I was swamped and it made me very tired. Next year, this shouldn’t be a problem as Labor Day is late (9/7) so it should space everything out a bit better.

The 10k is my favorite course as I stated before, but I really hope they fix the character issues. I know there were issues the year before with people getting swept from getting too many pics but you have to pick and choose.

I think the solution is with rundisney. In 2012, they posted a list of the course with what characters would be where. My friends and I were able to see this and also

The half is a great course (running through Angels stadium is seriously amazing and gives me chills), I just wish there was a bit more park time as we are on the streets of Anaheim a lot.

The corral issue has got to be fixed! I think the solution is not have a path to cross. It would add more space to the corrals. They could make it to where you just divide and then they recheck bibs getting into the corral itself. Having the walkway split in front of the corral was a nightmare.

Also, they need to work on their corrals themselves. To have the front corrals go off at the same (A and B together), they might as well be 1 corral. I think it is better to have smaller corrals go off every 2-3 minutes (like at WDW) then group and pass them 7-10 minutes apart. Also, corral G was too large and H was WAY TOO LARGE. Those need to be divided up.

Overall, I love this race. There is no doubt in my mind I will run it next year (10 year anniversary and my personal 5 year running anniversary). Yes, it sucks to train in the summer but I love that it all pays off in the end. It looks like the 10k will keep changing themes which means I will have to change my 10k costume every year. I loved the dumbo costume and plan on keeping it for every year!

So does anyone else think they will run 2015 Dumbo Dare?