Workout Recap - Week 4

Sunday, January 18th – Star Wars Half Marathon with the hubby, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Aunt Beru and Darth Vader FOR THE WIN!

Monday, January 19th – 4 mile (easy pace) run, Foam Rolled & Stretched 

Tuesday, January 20th –  Strength Training (abs, back, arms and legs), Foam Rolled & Stretched 

Wednesday, January 21st –  5 mile (easy pace) run , Foam Rolled & Stretched

Thursday, January 22nd – 19.5 mile bike ride, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Friday, January 23rd – 10 mile (long pace) run 

Saturday, January 24th – REST DAY, Foam Rolled & Stretched

We get dressed up like twice a year, so when it happens, we HAVE to record it!
Ryan and I got to celebrate the marriage of two friends last night!

Now that my runDisney races are out of the way (I ran 5 of them in the first 2.5 weeks of the year), I can really focus on the Phoenix Marathon. And since the Dopey Challenge is over, I don't have to train with back-to-back long runs for a while - WHOOOO HOOOO!!

How were your workouts this past week?  

New Shoes & Amazing Views

I love Fridays! I don't have to work (I have been blessed to be able to work part time, so I have 3 day weekends every week - whoooo hoooo!), so normally I try and get in my long runs Friday mornings that way I can spend more time with the hubby on the weekends when he is off.

This morning I woke up around 7am. I looked at the weather and thought I would rather wait a bit.

How can it be 39* out, but the low is 46*? 

I checked blogs, Instagram, my email, etc and around 8am woke Ryan up so he could get ready for work. Walt was still snooze-y (honestly, though, when isn't he?!), so I decided to crawl back into bed with him for a little bit (we crate him at night, but once I wake up I normally let him out and he runs straight into the bedroom to sleep with Ryan). Oopsy, I ended up falling back asleep until about 9am. Guess my body needed a little extra rest.

After the 8am nap, Walt and I got up, went for a walk, put away some laundry, ate breakfast, and then I got ready to head out for my run. Walt posted up in the sun and decided to wait for my return.

With a face like this, how can anyone say no to extra snuggles?!

I had 10 miles on the calendar, so laced up my sneakers and made my way outside. (I should probably mention that I am breaking in a NEW pair of Brooks Ghost 6. Yes they look the same, but that is only because I have been wearing the same model (in the same color) for the last year. I mean, when you find something that works (and they are on sale), why not stock up? No need to reinvent the wheel if you ask me! Unfortunately this was my last new pair in the closet.)

My Pro Compression Low Trainers work GREAT with my new shoes!

My long run pace is supposed to be about 9:42/ mile. Today's run was a little faster than that (most of my miles ended up being between 9:00-9:30 pace), but my body is still feeling great! Since it was so gorgeous outside, I made sure to snap a couple quick pictures of the amazing views I am blessed to witness every day!

I love running towards the mountains. You are even able to see the snow on
Big Bear on a clear day (not pictured, but it is behind the trees on the left of the picture)

Running the Strand is one of my FAVORITE places to run!

Heading into the Harbor. The water was FLAT today!

They added a Rail Trail in Oceanside so I run on it whenever I can.

I saw this on one of the porches on the Strand and thought it was such a
cute idea I just had to grab a photo. Wonder if they saw it on Pinterest?

I added on an extra .44 miles at the end of my run for RunEMZ. She is tackling another 100 MILE race this weekend (can you say AMAZING?!). I was even able to get the pace at 8:44. #AllThe44s

Wore my HIGH VIS today ;) 

A little toasty by the time I finished, but this is more
my speed than 30s

And with that, I think I am earned a pretty low-key rest day tomorrow! Now it's time to shower and head to a JV basketball game! Have a WONDERFUL Weekend! And try to be the reason someone else smiles today!!

When do you normally get your long runs in?

Insane Inflatable 5K Obstacle Fun Run

I heard a quick blurb about the Insane Inflatable 5K Obstacle Fun Run on the radio last week.

Source

As many of you know, I had 5 races on my calendar within the first two and a half weeks of January, but what you may NOT know is that after the craziness of those races, my calendar was pretty sparse (meaning only FOUR races and those are between now and April)!

Ryan and I have done a couple obstacle course runs in the past, so I thought "WHY NOT?!". It is super close to home (it is at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum, which is actually just across the street from our church) and who can say no to INSANE FUN?!

The run is on February 7th (for the San Diego race, but check out their website for more locations). They have waves starting at 9am through 1pm, running every 30 minutes. [I am signed up for the 9am slot. I like having the rest of the day to hang out with the hubby, puppy, and take care of business. Also, there tend to be shorter lines at the obstacles in the earlier waves.]

And in case you want to join me (and why wouldn't you?!), I was able to get a 10% off discount for YOU - my friends and followers! Just use "CMCDOT10" during registration and save some green!

PS I checked out the obstacles for a little sneak peak of what I should expect... Ummmmmm HOLY FUN-NESS! I will obviously take them easy as I don't want to hurt myself before the Phoenix Marathon, but man it looks like a BLAST!

Thoughts on Dopey/ Goofy Challenges

Now that I've had a few days to digest what happened about two weeks ago at Walt Disney World, I thought I would do a quick little post of my thoughts on the overall Dopey (and Goofy) Challenges.

Me and my BLING from the weekend!

If you haven't read my recaps of the individual races yet, please check 'em out!

Walt Disney World 5K Race Recap
Walt Disney World 10K Race Recap
Walt Disney World Half Marathon Race Recap
Walt Disney World Full Marathon Race Recap

And just in case you are unaware of what the challenges themselves include:

• The Goofy Challenge is the Walt Disney World Half Marathon on Saturday morning and the Walt Disney World Full Marathon on Sunday morning.
• The Dopey Challenge is the Walt Disney World 5K on Thursday morning, the Walt Disney World 10K on Friday morning, the Walt Disney World Half Marathon on Saturday morning and the Walt Disney World Full Marathon on Sunday morning. (This means that essentially when you are completing the Dopey Challenge you also are completing the Goofy Challenge, plus the 2 shorter distance races the two days prior.)

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So, now that we got the logistics out of the way:

Am I signing up for either of these challenges again?

Would I do it again? HECK-TO-THE-YES (this race "weekend" will be hard to top!)!

Will I do it again? Probably not (although I will never say never).

Mickey approves of my race medals, he told me!

Now obviously this takes some explaining, right? [And a word of warning, this will probably get pretty wordy, so feel free to skim through the post {I won't judge you} or save it to read on a rainy day when you are trying to decide whether or not one of these challenges has YOUR name on it.]

I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST during the Dopey Challenge! I didn't go into any of the races with a goal time in mind, my only objective was to have fun and finish with a smile (and if you are considering either of these challenges I would advise you to do the same)! Each race was completely different but I loved them all for their own reasons.

I did the 5K with my parents (although my dad wanted to run the whole time so left us in his dust). My mom and I did a little running and a little walking (running when she could breath and walking when she couldn't). Whenever you can make running a family affair, DO IT!

My best running friend and her hubby let me tag along with them for the 10K (Ryan was supposed to run this race with me, but when a work photo shoot came up, he had to miss the trip to Orlando. We ended up forfeiting his entry since we figured paying the deferral fee would be silly since we didn't think we would go back to Florida for "just" a 10K). This was the first race I had ever done Jeff Galloway's run/walk intervals {FYI - they are AWESOMESAUCE!}.

I ran the Half Marathon with a friend who I normally "virtually" run with on a weekly basis, but this was the first time actually running together in person. We kept an awesome pace and rocked that race! Going into this race without a plan and having your running partner set the tempo worked GREAT (not to mention we happened to be TWINNING with our Minnie and Mickey outfits without even planning it)!

The full marathon was run with two amazing running friends in a group costume (Huey, Dewey, and Louie). We decided to PR in FUN and definitely managed to do just that! Along with finishing with HUGE smiles on our faces, we made 18 character stops, ran an extra mile (I guess we aren't good at running tangents), and even had a few dance parties along the way! I still smile from ear to ear just thinking of the time spent with these ladies!

Like I have said before (and probably will continue saying), for me, races aren't about the medals or the time on the clock, but about the time you enjoy on the course (and especially the people you spend it with!)!! [Don't get me wrong, I love a PR as much as the next runner, but I want to be able to enjoy EVERY step while I am moving!]

Onto the nitty-gritty.

Early mornings. For me, this wasn't too crazy. Sure, the 5K starts at 6am and the 10K, Half and Full start at 5:30am, which means I was setting my alarm for anywhere from 2:45am (for the full) to 3:30am (for the 5K). Oh yeah, and don't forget that I was coming from the West Coast, which meant when you translate the times to PST I was up before people at home were even going to bed THE PREVIOUS DAY! But for me, I don't tend to sleep much/well anyway... My fibromyalgia doesn't really allow it. It was a little rough trying to lay down to go to bed at 8pm (which is 5pm PST), but you can make it work. If you are someone who needs 8 hours of sleep to function properly, you may want to really consider how the early mornings may effect your mood, running, and ability to enjoy the races.

Training. I am a Type A personality. If I have a list, I NEED to cross things off of it. I work much better off of a plan so I knew I needed a detailed calendar for my training. I decided to start working with a coach when I signed up for the Dopey Challenge. I didn't necessarily need someone to keep me accountable, but I did need someone to help lay out a schedule for me (including all of the other races already on my calendar at that point). Krissy has been AMAZING (by the way, she is now accepting new clients that want to work with her for the Disneyland Half/ Dumbo Double Dare - check out her post about it here). With that being said, it is still A LOT of training! You have to train with back-to-back runs. You will have to train over the holidays and during the winter (SoCal doesn't really have seasons, but it is something you should consider depending on where you live). These challenges are serious business and it is important (both physically and mentally) to make sure you take the time and put in the sweat equity to adequately prepare.

The cost. Alright, if you know me, you know I am cheap frugal. I have a hard time buying items from Target at full price (I mean, doesn't everything eventually go on sale anyway?!). The price tag associated with the races is HIGH, not to mention the travel arrangements, living expenses, etc. Thankfully my family decided that instead of us going back to Michigan for the holidays this year, we would actually meet in Orlando to celebrate Christmas - this meant our plane ticket was about a quarter of the amount we normally would have spent on a Christmas flight. Also, my parents have a timeshare, so we were able to stay in a condo for the first few days (but did have to move to a hotel for the last two nights due to the way the weeks are split up with their timeshare) which cut down on our cost. If you are coming from outside of the Orlando area, tallying up the costs for the races, room and board, etc and looking at it realistically compared to your budget is a MUST. (Being fiscally fit is important too!)

Travel. Signing up for Disneyland races are a no brainer for us me. We live about 45 minutes away from DL, we have annual passes (so we can sign up earlier than the masses and avoid the mad rush before the race sells out), and normally we can be home to Oceanside and showered by about 10am after the half marathons (just one of the many perks of an early morning race). The logistics of a WDW race take a little more planning. runDisney recently changed their policy on bib pick-up. Now YOU have to be the one to pick up YOUR bib. This means for the Dopey Challenge, which begins Thursday morning, you need to be in Orlando by Wednesday to hit up the Expo (you also may want to arrive a day or two early to allow your body to adjust to the time difference {if you live in another time zone} as well as have some wiggle room for weather delays since it will be the beginning of January {particularly if you will be flying}). I learned my lesson after my first full marathon (we jumped in the car for 8 HOURS and drove home, which led to tight muscles and a sad Carlee), so this time we made sure to have at least one buffer day after the last race before making my way home - meaning staying until at least Monday. Thankfully my work is good about me taking time off (if I don't work, I don't get paid, so it is really whatever I can afford while taking care of my responsibilities), but this might be something to keep in mind if you have limited PTO/ vacation (remember these races are close to the holidays, so you may already be taking off time around then).

Packing. Okay, I know this may sound silly, but it was one of the most dreaded parts for me. Packing for a week in Orlando AND four races is a lot to wrap your head around. On top of that, I needed to pack for any type of weather on race day (thank goodness I packed my running tights that I thought I would NEVER need in Florida!) - so at least two race outfits (a warm weather and a cold weather) per day. I brought 3 pairs of running shoes with me (you never know how your feet will feel, if they will get wet or gross, and let's be honest, they had to match my outfits). I NEVER check luggage (I think the only time I have in my adult life was when I packed up two suitcases and moved out to San Diego from Michigan 4 days after graduating college), so imagine fitting all of the goodies I needed (including my fuel, electronics, foam rollers, chargers, life essentials, etc) into two carry-ons... STRESSFUL! A quick word of advice: Gallon Ziploc bags can be your BEST FRIENDS, but they won't do the packing for you :) But honestly, even if you do plan on checking some of your luggage, make sure to pack your race gear in your carry-on so in case the airlines misplaces any of your stuff you won't be in a bind for the races!

Racecation. If you are heading to Walt Disney World for the races, you may be tempted to also want to head to the parks to enjoy the Disney magic. If this is you, more power to you (but also make sure to add in those costs when tallying up your budget for the trip). Although I trained and trained, I still wasn't 100% sure how my body would feel after all of the mileage, so for me and my family, we took it easy while we were in Orlando. We didn't go to the parks (I know, GASP!). Since it was technically our Christmas together we wanted to make sure we got to spend as much time together as possible (I hadn't seen my dad since the previous Christmas and it had been about 6 months since I had seen my mom!). We laid low and enjoyed each other's company. If you are planning on living it up and park hoping while at WDW, make sure to take into account the time you will be spending on your feet during the races and make sure to rest up! You wouldn't want to be too tired to be able to enjoy the reason you are there in the first place - THE RACES!

I am sure there are MANY other things to take into account when deciding whether or not you will be signing up for the Dopey/ Goofy Challenges, but those were some of the main points I had to deal with. Like I said, I LOVED every minute of my Dopey adventure, but for me, once might be enough (I mean, there are so many other amazing races in the world that I would love to run, I don't know that I personally "need" to go back and do this set again, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't!).

The participant shirt and medal for the Goofy Challenge
(You also get the Half Marathon & Full Marathon medals while completing this challenge)

The 10 year anniversary medal had a spinning Goofy medallion 

The participant shirt and medal for the Dopey Challenge
(You also get the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Full Marathon & Goofy
medals while completing this challenge)

48.6 miles of racing over 4 days deserves an extra medal, #AmIRightOrAmIRight?

And if you stuck through this post all the way until the end - YOU ROCK! No seriously, THANK YOU! Sorry I don't have some type of prize to give you, but hopefully the points I mentioned will at least get the wheels turning in your head when you are figuring out if YOU will be Dopey or Goofy in the future!

Have you ever done a back-to-back racing challenge before? Would you sign up for one?

Star Wars Half Marathon Race Recap

So we left off yesterday with some of the fun that was had leading up to the race itself. If you missed that post, check it out here (it includes a TweetUp with AWESOME folks, Expo shenanigans, and a sneak peak at the creation of my costume).

We were going to meet up with some friends for dinner Saturday night, but plans feel through, so Ryan and I decided to head to The Pizza Press to grab some scum-didily-umptious-ness and bring it back to the room. (I found this place during Dumbo Double Dare last year and may have been dreaming of it since ;) )

Build Your Own Pizza - Light red sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, extra
mushrooms, garlic, fresh basil, and a light drizzle of house made ranch dressing!

After we stuffed out faces with #AllThePizza ate and watched some TV, it was time for bed. Not sure if you are aware, but runDisney wake-up calls come EARLY! This race started at 5:30am, so I had my alarm set for 3:30am so I could get ready and we could meet up with some friends before making our way to the corrals.

As always, I woke up before my alarm and decided to finally roll out of bed around 3:20am. My costume wasn't too intense for this race (sure I was planning on running in a jean jacket, but I mean there weren't a large number of pieces or anything like that), so I didn't have to spend too much time getting ready... That was, until I got to THE HAIR!

I am not sure I succeeded, but at least it was a little
more true to character than my normal ponytail

Like I mentioned yesterday, if I was going to go for the Aunt Beru look, I was going to go ALL THE WAY! And since she had short hair, I was going to do my darndest to try and make it look like I had a bob and bangs... I may or may not have slightly freaked out Ryan when I woke him up with my new do ;)

A little side-by-side to see what I was trying to look like!

After Ryan threw on his Darth Vader shirt, we were ready to make our way to the race. (He originally had grand ideas of costumes, but life happens and he didn't get around to it, so the tech Vader shirt would have to do.)

The Dark Side calls for a RUDE face?

We made our way over to bag check (which let me just give you a word of warning - bag check was where it has been for past races, but the corrals were different, so I would say the bag check was a good .75-1 mile away from the corrals. For me, this was fine, since I never check any gear, but if the weather was crappy or you wanted to wear some of your outerwear until closer to the race start time, it wouldn't really have worked out that great) and hung out with friends for a bit. I was pretty bad about grabbing any pictures (mostly because we had this creepy MarathonFoto guy that kept coming by and taking our photo, so I think since we had to pose for him so many times we just didn't get any of our own...).

Ivie's new toy came in handy with some group selifes ;)

Who doesn't love a picture with port-o-potties in the background?!

Of course we were TWINNING with our Pro Compression
black-on-black socks! Even if we were on different sides!

Ryan and I said our good-byes to our friends and started our trek to the corrals. We made a brief pitstop at the port-o-potties and then kept on keeping on. We got to Corral B (I was in A, but moved back to B so I could run with Ryan) probably about 20 minutes before the race. I have never had this happen to me, but by the time we got to the corral, it was already full... We ended up having to wait next to the corral until they released A and started moving B up to make more room in the back of the corral. I don't know if the issue was the corrals were smaller, there were more runners per corral, or maybe people just weren't really making space for other runners to get in.

Before the race Ryan and I chatted a bit about our game plan. Since this would be his third half marathon in three months (and he had already PR'ed in both previous races), we decided this would be a "fun run". We would stop for characters if the lines weren't outrageous, take our time, and just enjoy the course.

Runners.... SET.... GO!! (It was like deja vu ;) I had heard Rudy send me off four times in the previous ten days that way!)

The first mile and a half were on the streets around Disneyland. Nothing too exciting, and actually it seemed pretty dark, but we made our way.

It seemed like miles 1.5-4 or so were all in the parks which was GREAT! Compared to the other Disneyland races I've done (I have done TinkerBell in 2013, Disneyland Half in 2012, 2013, and 2014, Disneyland 10K in 2013 and 2014, Avengers in 2014 and now Star Wars in 2015), there was a lot of park time for the half marathon distance.

I was warned from folks who did the 10K the day before that the lines for the characters were pretty cray-cray. Although I didn't see the lines myself the previous day, the lines during the half marathon didn't disappoint... They were LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG! We actually ran by Star Tours (where Dani from Weight Off My Shoulders yelled HELLO to Ryan and I) and the line to take a picture with Darth Vader looked LONGER than for the actual RIDE! Like they literally were standing in the queue (if only they had fast passes...). And we were only in corral B... I would have hated to see how long they got as more and more runners were on the course!

Ryan and I ended up stopping for a picture with Boba Fett, as well as some Storm Troopers in California Adventure. (One of the draw backs of the early corrals is it is still dark when you are in the parks, which means my pictures always tend to turn out craptastically.)

Darth and Boba Fett got along great!

Aunt Beru was a little freaked out by the presence of the dark side!

The sun started coming out once we were back on the streets of Anaheim and MAN was it a GORGEOUS sunrise. I honestly couldn't stop mentioning how amazing it was! At one point I told Ryan it looked like we were on Tatooine because it looked like it could have been a dessert sunrise (nerdy, I know, but he loved it).

And this is just a crappy quality picture that I snapped
WHILE I WAS RUNNING, with NO FILTER ADDED!
Like I said, BREATHTAKING!

Around mile 5 we saw the AMAZING Ken, president and CEO of Superhero Events! He was dressed as Chewbacca and as always, giving out FREE HUGS! Since the line was too line for Chewie in the parks and because I am a sucker for a hug, we HAD to stop!

Who can pass up a FREE HUG?! 

And although Ryan and I didn't make the video, I can't help but watch it and be overjoyed by how much LOVE is spread by a FREE HUG on a race course!!

Seeing as this was the inaugural race, the course was new as well. Although I wasn't too thrilled when I saw the course in the race guide (I mean, what sort of excitement does Garden Grove hold when the biggest landmark is a High School), I was pleasantly surprised!

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This was the first time I remember there being an out and back portion on a DL half course. When we were running from Mile 4.5-5.5 or so, you could see the runners coming at you around Mile 11-12 or so. I know some people don't like being able to see the other runners (a little runner envy, seeing where they are vs. where you are), but I love being able to cheer other runners on, look at costumes, etc. And when we were running by we saw the elites all making their way towards us (YES, they were about 7 MILES ahead of us... CRAZY, huh?!).

I have to say, one of my favorite things on the course (outside of the parks of course) were all of the cosplay folks. Their costumes were AMAZING!! (It was one of my favorite parts about the Avengers Half too - I am thrilled that Disney puts the word out and gets folks to come and participate like this!) I wish I would have grabbed a picture of all of them, but Ryan decided he wanted his picture with Lando.

Darth and Lando

After the cosplay folks, we saw one of my Twitter friends. We didn't realize we were friends until AFTER the race, but still... A guy ran by us and we noticed he was a BLUE MILK DELIVERY MAN! He saw my sign and chuckled and then I tipped my milk jug to him and he just had to slam on the brakes for a picture. I mean, HOW PERFECT?!

Thanks for stopping Patrick (and for the picture)!!

We also saw a spectator (I believe they were with one of the local bands) that had a BIG (non-inflatable like we saw on the course) Tauntaun. It was pretty sweet! Other than that, I have to be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the costumes. Sure, men dressed as "Slave Leia" were funny, but there weren't too many spectacular costumes. (Maybe I missed all the awesome ones in the shorter races, but I was still expecting more than what we saw.)

Around Mile 12.5 we saw Kelly of Sparkle Athletic with her light saber of donuts and I had to stop and grab a donut hole! I mean, when else can you run the last half mile of a half marathon chomping on a donut?! (After the race we went back for a picture and also stayed there to cheer on runners for a bit)

Team Sparkle ROCKS MY SOCKS!

Shortly after I finished my donut hole we were making our way to the finish line and race #5 of 2015 was coming to an end. Rudy gave me a shout out and told me he was proud of me (I love when you get recognized by the announcers!) and then we crossed the finish!

Can you believe it?! My hair helmet stayed the WHOLE race!

Finishers!

Ryan really liked the signs in the Family Reunion area, so I made sure to take a couple pictures of them for him.

Luke and Hans

They were playing the live feed of the finish line in the reunion area

Chewie and Princess Leia 

And before we left I had to find Carrie and Elise to see how they managed the course! (And yes, Elise did run the half marathon 2 weeks before her due date - she is a ROCKSTAR!) I can't wait to ROCK the SoCal Ragnar ULTRA STYLE with these ladies in a couple months!

Team Sparkle is AMAZING!!

All-in-all it was a very successful race! We kept a decent pace (especially since I had run close to 50 miles of race the week previously), had a donut while running, took some fun character pictures, saw lots of friends (new and old), smiled a ton, took candy from strangers, and ran TOGETHER (my favorite part!)!

2:27 isn't a bad finishing time AT ALL! 

The participant shirt and finisher medal!

And on the way back to the hotel we even saw Jabba the Hutt!

He may or may not remind me of a giant piece of poo... 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Since I did a race at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland in the same calendar year (over 10 miles), I walked away with my Coast to Coast medal as well (and within the first 2.5 weeks of January - not too shabby!)!

Isn't it PRETTY?!

If hubby wanted to do this one again, I would TOTALLY sign up for it (but honestly, I don't think there would be a race that I would turn down if Ryan wanted to do it with me... except maybe a Tough Mudder since I am a weakling)! Don't they say something like "Happy Hubby, Happy Life"? With Star Wars being a favorite of Ryan's, I am sure we will be back again in the future!

Do you sign up for inaugural races or wait until they are established and have worked out all the kinks?