WDW Marathon Relay Jan. 2012

Writing all of these race reports is exhausting! Almost as exhausting as training for a half marathon (if I did silly things like train for half marathons).

Yep, that's about right.

So, anywho, here's my race recap from the WDW Marathon Relay. After taking it pretty slowly the day before, I wasn't nearly as sore as I thought I might be. Both relayers have to be at the start at the same time, so Run On The Sun and I were both on the bus at an insanely early hour for the second day in a row. I had the first leg and T had the second. Sorry, T, that you had to wait around for ETERNITY for your leg of the race!

Starting with the marathoners is a completely different experience from starting with the half marathoners. While all of the Disney races have a lot of excitement, the marathon is more serious. Less costumes and less chatter.

I was actually nervous about being able to finish for the first time since the first half marathon I ran. Having never run two half marathons in one weekend was a little scary. But I still stopped to take a few pictures.

Running into Epcot

Mexico..well, Mexico in Epcot

I took this picture because I started with the back of the pack. Since we waited so long to register, I was in the last corral. I'm slow, but not THIS slow. This is only maybe 5 miles in - I could be wrong about that - and everyone was walking. Although, I do realize most of these people are doing the full 26.2, so they deserves kudos because I can't (yet!) say that I've done that.

I won't lie, it felt really good to be passing everyone...

T was bored in the little prison set up for the second leg runners and sent me pictures from the holding corral.

Kinda cool to see the finish line before anyone was there,

Poor T is freezing. And bored. And apparently making
friends with strangers that don't mind taking her picture.

Bbbbrrrrr!

I stopped to take my traditional mile 10 picture.

Believe it or not, I actually had negative splits! I was still slow, but I managed to actually gain speed, which is pretty cool. So yeah! We totally did it! Back to back half marathons. 26.2 miles in 2 days. I'll admit it: I got teary eyed when I crossed the finish line. There weren't many relay runners, so the finish area for the first leg was very quiet. T and I shared a gear bag that she was able to keep with her until her leg and I was able to pick it up with no wait.

Made some new friends!

All in all, this was a really cool experience. It was great for my self esteem to be able to pull it off. But I also got a wee bit jealous of all of the Goofy medals I saw in the parks during the vacation part of our trip!

How cute is this medal?!

So yeah. Guess who's doing the Goofy Challenge in 2013? Moi. I've also conned Run on the Sun to join me and possible my friend, A. I guess I better stop Google Image searching medals and go train a wee bit.

The Art Behind Run Disney Medals

I love this video. Kinda makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Plus, it's cool. :)

WDW Half Marathon Jan. 2012

Disney races start early. Incredibly early. I actually don't mind the early hour because I prefer not to run in the sun. Living in Arizona, I get about as much sun as possible all year long so starting a race at 5:45am in January allows for a good portion of the race to be run without the glaring sun.

We got ourselves on an early bus, which was smart because the ride to the start is mind numbingly slow due to traffic. It's so much different to race at WDW versus Disneyland where it's easy to plan your stay so that you can walk to the start line.

Run on the Sun (aka T) and I decided to play it smart and run this one as slowly as possible without getting swept. We actually set the pacer on her Garmin so we made sure we weren't too slow. I rarely go to a race alone, but I've never run a half marathon with anyone. Since we were taking it easy for Race #1, we stayed together and had a blast. I highly recommend doing at least one race with a friend and not worrying at all about the time. Disney races are the best for that!

T at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom

We really concentrated on keeping ourselves at a very slow jog. The cool thing about going so slowly is that at the end of the race, I really think I could have done another 5 miles.

Ridiculously fun.

Not sure what happening here, but I do know that this is where
the phone tragedy occurred during the Princess Half last year!

I always take a pic at mile 10, but this time T
was able to take of pic of ME at mile 10. Wheee!

This is T's 13th Half Marathon -
so we needed a mile 13 pic!

I felt great after the Half. T was a little sore because she had recently sprained her ankle. She was a total trooper, though. We behaved ourselves and did not go play at the parks that day. I don't really like that Donald is the mascot of the half marathon. He's not my favorite Disney character and the medal is a little creepy. 2012 is the 15th anniversary of the half, so the medals were in color. (Disney race medals are gold unless it's an anniversary medal.)

But I never turn down race bling, so I'll take it!

Over all, I had a lot of fun. I loved having T with me and having fun and talking through out the entire 13.1 miles. Maybe we'll do it again when we do Goofy in 2013!

I will recap the Relay and the rest of our trip soon!

I'm Going to Disney World!

Once upon a time, there were two girls that wanted to run a race. Yeah, yeah, I know. Lotsa peeps do that...every day. There are about a bazillion blogs that tell me so.

Run On The Sun - also known as T - and I decided we were going to do a sort of trial run this year to see if we could handle The Goofy Challenge 2013. For 2012, we did the WDW Half Marathon on Saturday and the WDW Full Marathon Relay on Sunday.

Now T and I are not the most dedicated of runners. We love racing, it's the training that gets sorta old.



This is the male version of me.

Of course, our epic little journey began with checking into our pirate room! Arrr, matey!



Jealous?

The next morning, we braved the expo. Since we managed to get to the expo early, it wasn't packed, yet. I love the idea of expos, but once I'm there, I just sort of want to get the hell out!



Cool free picture from HP!

Two races = two shirts

It always bugs me that Run Disney doesn't offer men's and women's sized tech shirts. Don't get me wrong, I adore Disney races and plan to run many more, but c'mon. Disney races are really expensive. They should offer women's shirts. These always fit HORRIBLY.

We decided to take it easy since we had a race in the morning, but we managed to spend some time in at Hollywood Studios and take it easy.

Of course, we had to carb load the night before. I think french fries are completely appropriate as pre-race fuel.



Thanks for the pic warning. I look amazing, as usual.

We went to bed early because our alarm was going to go off at 3:30am. Yikes!

Stay tuned! I planned on writing more, but my computer is being difficult.

Love mah medalz

January is over and 3 half marathons are already on the books for 2012. I need to do my race recaps for the WDW half marathon and full marathon relay along with the recap for the Tinkerbell Half from last weekend, but alas, life has been busy, busy, busy (that's code for "I'm lazy, lazy, lazy").
Anyhoo, I thought I would give my blogger app a test run from my phone with this in depth post. And show off my January medals. I shamelessly stole this pic from T.

Las Vegas Half Marathon Dec 2011

Whew! Last race recap from Ghosts of Races Past and then I can finally do current posts like a normal person!

I did the Las Vegas Half Marathon last year and had a great time. This year...not so much.

The Competitor Group held the third annual Rock 'n' Las Vegas Marathon/Half Marathon at night, which in theory, sounds like a great idea. Running the strip in the morning is a little boring, so when it was announced that the race would be run at night in 2011, I was totally stoked!

The race sold out this year with 44,000 competitors. It was incredibly crowded, not enough course support (although, it was obvious that the volunteers tried very hard to keep up with aid station demands).

This race was ridiculously crowded. I'm not sure how to fix the problem - maybe more corrals? - but we were definitely crammed on the course like sardines. It was also quite cold and the resources post race were scarce.



Boy, they look happy!

My biggest gripe? Trying to get through Mandalay Bay, which was the host hotel/casino. It was so packed, that conditions were dangerous. If there had been an emergency, it would have turned ugly quite fast.
To be fair, I doubt the folks at the Competitor Group could have foreseen the mess in Mandalay. Last year's race was well run so my guess is simply the number of competitors. I don't know if I will do this race again next year. I may stick around home and do the Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon. I've heard it's a good race and I won't have to travel!

One major bonus for this race: Getting to finally meet up with a "pen-pal" friend of mine, A. That was really cool. Hopefully, she and I will be able to run another race one of these days.

I didn't take any race pictures this run because I was freezing, but I took a few touristy type pictures.




Driving into a winter storm between Arizona and Nevada.



Actual snow in the desert!!!

I should note that T and I have become obsessed with picture editor apps on our phones. We spent an embarrassing about of time nerding it up with the pictures:



Road trip!

Christmas - Phone App Vegas Style

Nerd Alert!



My niece always send me a good luck picture!



Pre race



Cool medal that...



....glows in the dark!
(Okay, so that is definitely cool)

We also got a sneak preview of the Disney World Relay medal at the expo! (oh, crap, that's next weekend! I better go run somewhere!)




We love our bling...and that is perfect for a relay medal!

Well, that sums up all of my race recaps. My blog is now up to date. I plan on being more interesting in posts to come. Happy New Year!



Started with $2, played for an hour. I'm a WINNER!

Long Beach Half Marathon October 2011

I adore the Disney races, but this year, my favorite race for 2011 was the Long Beach Marathon (well, I only did the half...).

I think Run Disney and The Competitor Group could learn a thing or two from the folks at Run Racing.



First of all, the expo is extremely well organized and all of the volunteers and staff were very nice and helpful. I also really liked all of the Long Beach gear available for purchase. I picked up a really cool visor and a long sleeve tee shirt.

One of the best things about this race is that it's a great choice for serious runners AND people like me that just enjoy the experience.



Um, yeah, this is me...

After the expo, we walked down the street to the The Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a fun, relaxing way to spend the afternoon before the race the next morning. And we got to see Sexy Shrimp! Who knew such a thing even existed!





Sunrise before the start of the race

The course is really scenic. I'm one of those people that has a really hard time running 13.1 miles without some cool scenery (hence why I love Disney races..). I also love that this course changes direction and winds around. I hate running in a straight line for miles, and miles and miles...





Cruise ships



I love this picture! Isn't the scenery great?

Very friendly pirate..Arrr!



More lighthouse



How cool is this?



I always take a picture of mile 10, but I really liked this one.



And here's my usual mile 10 pic..

The finish line area was well organized, too. Everyone got a bag of food and plenty of drinks. Did I mention how much I loved this race? No? Well, I loved this race. Oh, I almost forgot! The race swag was good, too. I got a women's tech shirt, a nice gear bag and a cool medal! All for much cheaper than most of the races I did this year. Thank you, Run Racing! I will be back!