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 theme is Favorite Indoor Workouts. 

Living in California, I do not have to deal with real winter weather. My favorite time to run is winter because it is usually in the 40s (sometimes even the 30s!) when I go for an early morning run. However it has been raining more lately (we need the rain!) so sometimes my workouts have to be inside. Anyways, I usually only get outside to run 3 days a week so a majority of my workouts are inside. 

Here are how I usually do: 

1.     stretching and rolling-I try and do this every day for 5-10 min in the morning and 5-10 min at night and the more the week of a race.

2.     Core work-I have slowly gotten back into this! For about 5 min a day, I will do just core work (crunches, planks, Russian twists, etc). The more I stick with this, the stronger my core feels and the less issues I have with my hip flexors

3.     Yoga-I try and do a runner’s yoga or flexibility yoga 1 time a week. I have the DVD or follow along on a streaming episode. Easy and it feels so good!

4.     PiYo-I have raved about this set of workout DVDs and I can’t get enough of them!! Short in time but great in workout intensity! I am hoping to keep this out to keep helping with my speed

5.     Biggest Loser weight workout DVD-I used to do this 2 times a week but with Piyo I have cut it down to once every other week. It is another short workout but packs a large punch. It requires handweights but that’s really all. 

What are some of your favorite indoor workouts? 

I was contacted by the Dollar Shave Club to write a fun post about what I would do with an extra 100 dollars. They deliver high quality razors starting at 3 dollars a month which in turn can save you up to 100 dollars a month. I was not compensated for this post. 

What would you do with an extra 100 dollars? Well the possibilities are endless so I will have to divide it into categories

FOOD
As we know, I love to eat eat eat!!! 100 dollars will buy some good food:

• 200 tacos at Jack in the Box (if you don't include tax)
  
• 21.32 all-natural burgers at Carl's Jr
  
• About a 3-4 weeks of groceries of groceries-sometimes you gotta be practical! 
  
• 25 of my beloved Pumpkin Spice ice cream macaroon sandwiches in Epcot (since I had 2 in the span of 10 min last year, that would last me approximately one day)
  
• 20 servings of my favorite butterbeer ice cream or the other awesome flavors from Diagon Alley
  
• 20 cups of my all-time favorite hot beverage-hot butterbeer 
  
• 12.5 Flamin' Moes at Moes's Tavern (I swear a complete review of Universal is coming because it was EPIC)
  

FUN

• movies-that will buy you about 12.51 movie tickets if you go before noon (sadly if you go in the evening, it will only get you 7.6). You can also buy 11 tubs of popcorn while there too! 
  
• a mini shopping spree-maybe a few new pairs of shoes? 
  
• 2.5 tanks of gas for my car!! You can take a mini road trip

RACES
But let's be real. For me, I would definitely spend it on more races-gotta love the bling and shirts.
For disney races:

• It can buy you almost 2 Disney 5ks
  
• almost a full 10k
  
• half of a half or full
  
• 1/3 of a challenge
  
• almost 1/5 of Dopey challenge
  

Other races: 

• Half of a rock n roll 3-pack tour pass
  
• 3 local 5ks or 10ks
  

If you had an extra 100 dollars, what would you do with it? 

It's here! It's here! It's like Christmas!

CORRALS
To find out your corral, you will need your bib number. To find your bib number, go here to pick up your waiver, and your bib number will be in the bottom right corner. Remember to print your waiver as you will need it at the Expo. 

Now to the Corrals!!

Sadly, they have not released or posted the 10k corrals or 5k corrals so we may have to wait to the Expo to get those. 

I will be in Corral E! I was lucky to run a 10k PR right before the submission at the LA Turkey Trot and updated my time so my estimated finish time was 2:10 if I remember correctly which definitely moved me up a corral. 

EVENT GUIDE
You can find the Event Guide here.  As you can tell, it is frozen themed! It is pretty standard stuff but here are a few of the highlights. 

Expo hours:
Thurs 9:00-8:00
Fri 9:00-7:00
Sat 9:00-5:00

5k time start time: 6:15 (need to be on bus/monorail by 5:00)
10k start time: 5:30 (need to be on bus/monorail by 4:00)
Half start time: 5:30 (need to be on bus/monorail by 4:00)

For Glass Slipper: It claims they will send you to a tent to check your results for the 10k however the event guide for Dopey and Rebel Challenge said the same thing but it did not happen. Just follow instructions. But don't forget to take your picture when you pick up your bib!!

COURSES
Below are the course maps. They are identical to the 5k, 10k and half courses from Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. Click on the links to read my recaps of those. They are slightly modified from last years courses. Here are my recaps for the Princess 10k and the Princess Half last year.

I GIFTBAG
As you may know, I am obsessed with the Igiftbag as it always has some fun things. Here is the link to it and here is a summary of what is in it:

• Good Sense- 20% off on Amazon and FactoryOTC
  
• Fit2Run-print coupon to get drawstring backpack or go in with your medal
• Dr. Cool- buy 2 get 1 free offer
• Downtown Disney-list of everything on sale and discounted during the Cool Down Party
• Oikos-SAME RECIPES (they need new ones!) Greek Key Lime Pie, Blue Cheese Avocado Dip, Greek-Style Nachos
• Champion- free shipping on Championusa.com
• Celebration Health- video training tips and 20% off Athletic Performance Assessment
• Apex- tips and coupon
• Coupons- 26 dollars off FMG, free sticker with raw threads expo pickup orders, coupon for free bookmark from Lasting Commeratives, 10% off Diva Half run series, Save 4 dollars off 2 Coppertone products
• New Balance-tips and tricks
• Luna- make a cheer card and show it off on Twitter and Instagram using #LUNAcheers and be entered to win a complimentary entry to the 2016 Princess Half marathon and a 6-month supply of Luna bars
• IHOP- get a free stack of pancakes on March 3rd

that should be it! Princess Half marathon races start 3 weeks from tomorrow-crazy crazy! Overall, this release of information gets me so excited and pumped!

Are you participating in the Princess Half Marathon festivities next month? If you had done it in the past, what are some of your tips for newbies? 

I realized I never wrote on this but I joined Half Fanatics in November after completing LA Rock n Roll, Wine and Dine and Avengers in less than 90 days to qualify for Neptune level and paid to be a lifetime member. 

I'm Half Fanatic #9808! 

Here are the qualifications for joining:

• minimum of Neptune (2 races in 16 days or 3 races in 90 days)
  
• as you go through the moons, things get more and intense depending on the number runs you have completed, what state and what country
  
• The highest level is Sun where you run 52 halves in 365 days or 30 halves in 30 states in 365 days or 20 countries in 365 days
  

As well as a few of the perks: 

• Membership benefits
  
• Online database to record and track your races and moon count
  
• Add and track your upcoming races to your personal profile
  
• Members only Bulletin Board
  
• Race Discounts
  
• Monthly Newsletter
  
• Monthly Eflash
  
• Member socials at half marathons everywhere
  
• Instant friends at the races
  

I have not gotten to explore much that has been offered but I love having a database to enter all of my half marathons. I have 16 total so far! 

I went to update my races yesterday and found out I've actually leveled up to Uranus by completely 8 halves in a 12 month span!

Here's the races I did to qualify (gotta love that Star Wars was 1 day earlier this year!):

• 2014 Tinkerbell half
• 2014 Princess half
• 2014 Disneyland Half
• 2014 LA Rock n Roll Half Marathon (new PR-2:13:43)
• 2014 Wine and Dine Half Marathon 
• 2014 Inaugural Avengers Half  (new Disney PR- 2:43:38) 
• 2015 WDW Half
• 2015 Star Wars Half (recap coming soon!)

Anyone else a Half fanatic? 

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 My Worst Race and what it taught me. 

My worst race for sure was the Disneyland Half 2012, I finished but not well. I had just come off a strong Inaugural tink race, which was my first half marathon with intervals. I had bought an interval timer and even printed out the Galloway training plan. However as my training started in May, I took the time off between the races and decided to work on cardio by doing Insanity 3-4 days a week. Once training started, I ended up with shin splints from needing new shoes. I bought new shoes over 4th of July weekend and they were my favorite shoes (I just retired them a few months ago-they took me through 2 tink halves, 2 princess halves, 2 DL halves (including 2 Dumbos!) and my first marathon. I couldn’t donate them because they mean the world to me so I have them in my closet for a mud run) but my shins still hurt and my training was off for sure.

My other issue was it was my first summer in Pasadena which is amazing in the winter (it actually gets cold!) but brutal in the summer. Those 80s and 90s come early and I was miserable. I didn’t work Fridays so I tried to do runs on Fridays and they always ended miserable because I would start around 9am and it was already too late. I ended up doing a final 14 mile training run 2 weeks before the race and ended the training run crying because I was so worried the whole time that I would never be able to finish even though I did finish. 

I ran the race with my friend Mari and still felt undertrained. We finished in 3:09:16 and took great pics but I did not feel strong. I promised myself to remember this feeling and to never feel that way again. I have stuck with my training for every race since then.

LEARNED:
·       Training is vip and I will never slack again-for real. I actually have a Minnie calendar that just has important events and my miles are in it (1 dollar in the dollar section at Target!)
·       Training in Pasadena is cray cray in the summer-runs need to start before 6 am and I do this now
·       Rotate through shoes-I just bought 2 new pairs I am rotating in and 2 pairs of racing shoes (1 to break in and 1 to save for later). I will start to rotate in my old racing shoes as well.
·       Get new shoes before the pain starts. If I feel shin pain, time for new shoes
·       I do most of my long runs at the rose bowl, will occasionally go down to the beach to make sure I can do the miles and there are restrooms and water fountains. Trying to run around my neighborhood got very boring

What have you learned from bad runs? 

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 5 things about me. So here you go!

1. I'm the oldest of 5 kids
My moms bday is Monday and my little bro and sis is the following Monday but I am the oldest of 5! I'm 28, my bro is 22, sis is 7 and bro and sis are almost 4. 

2. I've been to Walt Disney World 22 times since 1996 with 3 more trips planned for the end of the year!
My favorite place ever and with all of the races-I'm there a lot! We're going with my family for 10 days in June and I will do a quick 2-3 day trip in sept after a business trip and also another trip for wine and dine (booked my hotel today!!) 

Now for Disneyland-well since I live here and have for 6 years, it's a lot. Probably close to 200 times?

3. I now have a Universal AP
I haven't written much about it yet (gotta get through race recaps and then I promise it's coming!) but Diagon Alley is amazing and you need to go immediately! I'm trying to figure out how to get to Universal on my next trips.

4. I'm highly allergic to mushrooms
I have to avoid shittake mushrooms and actually am allergic to uncooked ones as there's a chemical I can't handle. I'm nervous it'll happen with regular mushrooms so I avoid them all. 

5. My Christmas tree is still up
I haven't had time to take it down! Maybe this weekend? It needs to happen soon! All the other decorations are down though.

It's been very crazy since getting back from Dopey on the 13th and wrapping up Star Wars and dealing with work and school. But it's at the top of my priority list for the weekend.  

Very random list but I love being random. What is a random fact about yourself? 

3rd day-the waking up early and standing around in the cold is getting really old!

We got up at 3 and headed to the bus at 345. We realize yesterday that our food court was open so I went and got hot water for my tea and heated up my hot cereal. Devin went to get in line and it was much longer than the day before. We finally got on a bus at 410. Well we were in the worst traffic I've ever seen-we would sit still for 5 min at a time. Idk what happened but all of a sudden a cop car showed up and we moved. In that long time, we both used the bathroom on the bus. We got off the bus at 505-almost an hour later. We walked over, checked our bags and started the long hike to the corrals in the cold. We used the port a potties while the national anthem was playing and got in our corral just as the first corral left. We met up with Dave and chatted and we were soon off at 5:53!

Devin was corral G and I was corral H so he moved back to start with me (I missed corral G by literally 150 or so people). The corrals were let go about 2-3 min apart. I love the smaller corrals as we never had bad course crowding which is really nice. 

We kept it easy again and it was hard. Dave was looking strong so we sent him on his way. (Spoiler alert: he got a PR!)

The course is the same as the Princess Half course so you can check out my recap for more details. We head out from Epcot on roads (there is a few points where it really narrows going over hills so be careful!). We found it easier to run on the side of the road and then move to the grass to walk-we stayed out of everyone's way.  

We then finally reached The MK gates and then passed the speedway and through TTC to Magic Kingdom. The first few miles are a bit boring but the energy definitely picks up around TTC. 

Through TTC we saw Vanellope and Wreck it Ralph and we hopped in line to have them both leave! Eek! Off we went and we stumbled upon jack and sally: my favorites. We were able to get a pic with about a 10 min wait. I was so excited to finally meet them. 

Before we knew it, we were entering magic kingdom!! Christmas tree and castle! This feeling will never get old: running down Main St. After our great pics on Main Street, we headed to tomorrow land and we're going to use the bathrooms but the ladies line was out the door so we opted to run over to the tomorrow land bathrooms. Yes it took longer but there was no line!

Rounded the corner (also great bathrooms to use by Alice) and saw the White Rabbit and came around Mad T party and saw Ulf from Rapunzel! So random and we loved it. 

We saw Louie from princess in the frog and liver lips in frontier land and took a pic. 

We headed out towards the backlot and sleeping beauty and prince Philip were out just like at princess. We passed as the line was long. After that we had a water stop and med stop before heading to the halfway point and passed the hotels on the backside. We also heard our halfway song: Shake it off! 

We passed Mary poppins, penguins and Bert, the male wedding singers, genie, goofy and Mickey and didn't stop because all of the lines were long. The golf course is really pretty! We kept going and got to the clif shot!!! My favorite. We started the course back through the MK gates (another med stop) back to Epcot. 

At this point we were both feeling strong and it was hard to keep a slow pace to save energy for tomorrow. We saw our favorite green army man and could see the Epcot ball!

With one last med stop, I peed again. I was taking in lots of liquid so I wasn't surprised I had to go again and it only took a minute. We saw more music videos like in the 10k and headed into Epcot!

Entering Epcot is so awesome, as we continued through the back into the park, I saw phineas and Ferb!! I got to see 2 Disney boyfriends of mine: Jack and Ferb! 

We looped around, grabbed a pic with spaceship earth and headed towards the finish. We saw the gospel  choir and then the finish line! We took a pic with the mile 13 sign and off we went. All done! 3 down and 1 to go!

We both honestly felt amazing after. We took a 5 min stretch break and figured we had time before our Kona reservation. Well we hopped in line and it took 15 min for the next bus to come! Crazy!

However the highlight of being in line was meeting Lacey and Merenda from Fairytales and Fitness! So random they ended up in line behind us. 

We went to Kona cafe, and back to the hotel to shower and stretch. I went over to the Contemporary for Lacey and Merenda's meetup which was fantastic! I've never done a blogger meet up but I'm obsessed. I loved meeting people and they had great giveaways. 

Afterwards, i headed to Animal Kingdom to ride Everest and Dinosaur but dinosaur broke! We did get a great pic with Donald though. 

We headed to dinner at Art of Animation and it was awesome (review coming soon! I promise). I had butter chicken with rice, potatoes and squash. 

We walked back to our room and got ready for bed. The granddaddy of them all is in the morning! 

Characters seen:

• Jack sparrow
• Wreck it Ralph and vanellope 
• Jack and sally
• Buzz
• White rabbit
• ulf 
• Anna, Elsa, Kristoff 
• Louis
• Liver lips 
• Mary poppins, Bert, penguins
• Singers
• Golf goofy and Mickey 
• Phineas and Ferb
• Finish line Minnie and Pluto 
  

What were your thoughts on the WDW Half? 

Remember last week when I said that I was going to go to the gym for the first time today? Well I did and it was great!

I got up at 5:50 and lagged it getting out of the door by 6:15. I hit a bit of traffic but made it to my office at 6:55 and was off to the gym by 7:05. I made a pit stop to see the Zamperini memorial as I have been wanting to see it since finishing Unbroken over Christmas break.

Got into the gym at 7:15 and did one mile on the bike for a warmup and then hit the weight machines. I did biceps, triceps, quads, hamstrings, chest press, abs in about 35 min. It was a bit challenging but I think I will see good results.

I had to rent a towel for 50 cents and then took a quick shower and got ready. I will be back in my office by 8:20!

Learned:

I need to bring a towel since it will cost 50 cents

I need to bring a lock so I can use the day lockers and not have to carry my stuff around

I need to pack some perfume and a bit more makeup and some hair product

I may need a bigger bag to carry my stuff but we will see.

Overall-I think it was a definite success! Next week my goal is to leave the house by 6:05 and try and get to the gym a bit earlier as it was starting to get crowded when I left.

Anyone else work out at a gym at work or school?

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 in the Dark.

Rarely do I run in the dark just because most races I do are in the morning (minus my beloved Wine and Dine). I have run at night exactly 2 times-once for a training run for wine and dine and actual wine and dine.

I did a 15 mile run in the dark at the Rose Bowl. It is very well lit but there were a few dark parts so I just took out of my cell phone. Next time, I would run with a headlight (I bought one!). Here are some of the safety tips I follow: 

·       Run with others-my boyfriend did part of a run with me and when he was done, there were lot of people out so I felt safe
·       Run with your phone-I don’t always do this as I am close to home and close ot people but it is important while running in the dark
·       Have one headphone out-I personally don’t like doing this but safety always comes first. It makes it a bit hard to concentrate for me but it helps with hearing things around you. Or run with no music at all!
·       Take the day easy-I ended up doing schoolwork all day which is physically easy but mentally exhausting so I don’t recommend it! Make sure to rest and relax before your run
·       Fuel-make sure you eat correctly all day to help fuel your run. You don’t want to hit a wall!
·       When done, shower, roll and get ready for bed-I went to bed within 2-3 hours of finishing my run. I had to make sure I did my typical recovery so I wouldn’t wake up sore the next day.

What are your tips for running in the dark?

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 2015 Resolutions. 

I am currently enjoying my time at Universal Studios Orlando before heading to WDW later this morning-so exciting for Marathon weekend to finally be here!

I wrote a post last week wrapping up my 2014 resolutions and feel I did pretty well. Now to go over my 2015 Resolutions in Detail!

HEALTH RELATED
1. Become more gluten free- I have gone gluten free and love it but i want to get better at it. I hate being a bother about it and in turn that leads to many stomach aches and feeling like crap. I really want to step it up and really become gluten free. 
2. Limit social drinking to 1-2 times/month- This has not really been a problem but I would like to limit my drinking to mostly wine (mainly because many spirits are made with wheat and contain gluten) but also make sure I am being social and going out with my friends.
3. Examine food scripts-I want to start blogging about this and how it is important to look at what I consider a food script (something such as having a burger and fries or something like that) and I want to make sure I am making the healthiest choices I can make. 
4.  Get my blog out there-apply for some ambassadorships- I want to get my blog out there and meet more people and also pick up my readership. I am going to be applying to ambassadorships (Girls Gone Sporty and Sweat Pink first) with a goal of working up my readership to be able to apply for FitFluential. 
5. Consistently Cross-train 3x a week, core and stretch every day- I have been off and on with this for awhile but I want to get better at it. When I stretch every day, I just feel better! I need to be consistent especially with cross training with PIyo and weights. I want to make my mini-core routine a routine as I know it will help greatly with my running

RUNNING RELATED
1. finish all of my races healthy/work on Chi Running techniques
I have gone back and re-read both my Chi Running books and I want to get more into it and post about it. Expect these to start popping up soon on here! 
2. increase my interval to a strong 3 minutes running/30 sec walking
Before Dopey training took over, I was starting to work on a 2:45 running/:30 sec walking but it was tough. I want to really work on getting to a strong interval of 3 min running/30 sec walking
3. time goals: sub 5:00 marathon, sub 2:10 half, sub :58 10k, sub 28 min 5k, run a 5k straight
Sub 5:00 marathon-shooting for the LA Marathon-I am ready for redemption!
Sub 2:10 half-I am shooting for the Sunset Strip Half I just signed up for in April! It was my boyfriend's idea and I could not turn down a new chance to race where it is 60 bucks and local. I think the course will be hilly so this time goal may not happen but I want to try for it. 
sub :58 10k-so close at the Christmas run! I am not running a 10k for awhile so this may have to wait until Nov or Dec but I will get it!
sub 28 5k- I think I can definitely achieve this especially with my increase in speedwork I have planned. 
run a 5k straight-I know my time will be faster if I take walk breaks but I want to challenge myself and do this. I have 2 5ks back to back (Santa Anita and then Angels). I am thinking Santa Anita may be my chance to try this but have other 5ks I am looking at throughout the year
4. run more local races 
I am well on my way to this goal already signed up for 2 local 5ks, and a half. I have a few more local races planned as well. 
5. travel for a race that is not Disney related
I know-crazy right? But I want to start traveling 1-2 times a year for a race and a vacation. Right now, I am on the Fall marathon train. I originally wrote here about how my plan was to do the MCM lottery, then Chicago and hold off on NYC and now I don't know! I am going to wait to see when the NYC reveal date will be and then make a final decision. I would love to be able to go to Wine and Dine again next year but that is also still up in the air. Decisions, decisions!
6. 15 races in 2015
I have already written about that here but I have a very packed race plan for 2015 and will definitely meet this goal! Maybe a new goal should be 30 in 2015? only time will tell! More on this next week! :)

What are your goals for 2015?