Friday, June 26, 2015

Is runDisney becoming less popular?

Last year when I signed up for the Star Wars Half Marathon, it sold out in less than an hour. I remember taking my lunch break at 9:00 in the morning so I could sign myself up for the half and two of my friends for the 10K.


My current favorite race
This year, I knew the regular (non AP holders, etc) registration opened while I was going to be on a cruise and that there was pretty much no way I was going to be able to register without incurring some obscene wifi bill on the boat.
My current favorite race
I decided that was fine because I really can not spend the money to go in January nor can I really afford to use PTO because I have a major trip happening next spring not to mention horse shows, etc.
My current favorite race

It didn't even really occur to be to check whether the race had sold out because I just assumed that it had. They always do, right? Wrong.

Gorgeous weather

Star Wars Half was at 90% on Tuesday and still at 90% today. That's crazy to me!

 

I was somewhat surprised when Avengers didn't sell out, but not shocked because a lot of people weren't too impressed with it. As of a few minutes ago, it's less full than Star Wars, yet opened quite a bit earlier.

I'm honestly shocked that Star Wars Half still has slots. That is currently my new favorite runDisney event. The weather is perfect in Anaheim in January and the theme was just so fun. The course is good and the spectators were amazing and hilarious.

 

I'm wondering what is keeping this race from being full. Some have said it's because there's so many events on. Everyone I talked to loved this race weekend so I can't imagine how it is still open.

It appears that the runDisney events on the west coast are becoming less popular. The Disneyland Half events sold out immediately, so I'm wondering what's up with Star Wars. It's actually a more fun event, better weather and not during Labor Day weekend, which makes Disneyland a complete zoo.

I felt pretty good about my decision not to do this race because I convinced myself since there was no way I could get myself registered in time, I'll just skip it. BUT IT IS STILL OPEN AND MOCKING ME WITH ITS OPENESS!!!

So far, I've remained strong, but I make no promises as to what I will do when registration shows 98%. Sometimes I make bad life choices...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Wild Frontier

I've been totally MIA from bloggerville because I was conquering the wild frontier.

This outfit screams, "frontier woman" right?


When I say I was 'conquering the wild frontier' I actually mean I was staring at it from the comfort of my cruise ship balcony while sipping on Prosecco. I'm not what you would call, "outdoorsy".



I spent last week aboard the Norwegian Jewel on an Alaskan Cruise and it was awesomely awesome. I'll bore you guys to death with cruise recaps later (unless I get lazy, which is highly possible).

Because there is food everywhere on a cruise ship, I feel fairly certainly that I have gained 10 pounds in a week, but I'm not brave enough to step on the scale to find out. I pretty much lived in running pants for this entire trip, so I didn't have to battle my pants being tight while I gorged myself like a veal calf.



I actually did go running, though, for the first time since the Star Wars Half marathon in January. I even went running twice!

At least I think it was the first time I've been running. I can't remember, but let's just assume that I haven't because it certainly wasn't consistent.



I don't know if you can read the sign, but 5.5 laps equals one mile. I couldn't really keep track, but I was up there for an hour and 15 minutes, so I'm guessing I plodded along for 4 miles.

Brrrr! Super chilly up there.

I felt surprisingly good for not having done any running. And my back held up pretty well, too. I'm glad I took a running break because it actually felt really good to get back at it, even though it was seriously freezing up on the 14th deck. And the wind was horrible. But you can't beat the views!

I'll be back with more pictures of Alaska that will make you want to immediately book a cruise. Maybe I'll even keep running.














Thursday, June 4, 2015

Throwing My Back Out Thursday

See what I did there? Throwback Thursday? Get it?

Annnnnnyyywaaayy. As you can probably tell from the title, I hurt myself. I was so gung ho and excited to get back into running since running and I have been on a break in our relationship.

 

I joined a really nice gym with wifi, conned my dad out of his Showtime login so I could binge on Homeland, and was all set to rekindle my relationship with running. I even was looking forward to running outside with views like this while sweating my ass off in the Arizona summer heat.

Wishing for beautiful sunset views.

 

Then I injured a disc in my lower back. Severely. I was stuck on my couch for days, unable to work or ride my horse, or do anything at all besides take repeated trips to the chiropractor.

Instead of sunsets, this was my constant view:

 

I think he's judging me.

I followed every instruction my chiropractor gave me and somehow made very rapid improvement. In fact, the chiro said, "you went from full blown disc syndrome to something much more minor."

So that's a huge relief. I'm back to riding with minimal trouble, but I'm scared to run. I don't have any real pain anymore, but my back is so ridiculously tight. I think I'm going to try using my foam roller on my hamstrings and glutes to see if that helps loosen up my lower back.

Plus, I'd like to sign up for the 100 Miles of Summer challenge at Jost Running as a motivator.

 

How fun is this medal?

I'm leaving on an Alaskan cruise in a week and a half and I'm hoping to spend some time on the treadmill to off set the amount of food I'll be eating! I googled the fitness center on the ship we will be on and it looks gorgeous.

This view could motivate even the laziest runner.

There's also a walking/jogging track. Since I won't be able to use my Garmin (I'm guessing, I won't, anyway) or the runkeeper app on my phone, I like that you can at least keep track of your miles.

 

Has anyone tried to run with a back issue? I could use any input y'all might have!