Disney's Princess Half Marathon

A view from the flight

Yesterday was the day we've all been waiting for!  Well, I have been waiting for it, anyway.  You might not have been.  Or maybe you were.  Either way, yesterday was the Disney's Princess Half Marathon!!  Mr. Marathon and I headed out for the airport on Friday (which was also my birthday!  and George Washington's birthday!) and flew into sunny Orlando.  We checked into the All Star Sports Resort at Disney World, then headed to the Race Expo for packet pickup.  It.  Was.  CRAZY.  Seriously, I have never seen that many people in one place in my life.  But, there was a lot going on and a lot to see.  On Saturday, we woke up bright and early (so we thought) and headed to the parks.  We spent the day at Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom having fun, riding rides, eating deliciously unhealthy food, and seeing everything we could possibly see.  At the end of a long day of fun, we returned to our room and hit the hay because we knew what time we would have to wake up in order for me to make it to the starting line on time for Sunday's race.  First of all, let me say that the race was scheduled to start at 5:35 AM.  Ridiculously early right?  That's earlier than I wake up to go work on a regular weekday.  Ew.  So now let's work backwards to discover the time we had to actually wake up, shall we?

Post-race: I know I look a mess

5:35 Corral A start
5:00 Recommended time to be in starting corral and ready to go
4:15 We allowed 45 minutes for walking, waiting in line for the shuttle, riding the shuttle, and navigating the starting area
3:15 I need at least an hour to get up and going, because of course I had to look beautiful.
3:00 In case I decide I need 15 minutes of extra sleep, I need to wake up 15 minutes earlier than I think.

So, I was awake at 3 AM.  Seriously.  But anyway, I got everywhere mostly ok, then the race began with singing and fireworks and all that other magical stuff, and I ran my very first half-marathon, mostly successfully.  I may not have finished in my goal time, but I did finish still running.  In the interest of keeping my posts here fairly short and sweet, I will end this one right here.  I will, however, post about something else I got from this experience, besides plenty of souvenirs and a blingin' medal.  Stay tuned, it's coming super soon.  Promise!

A collage of memories from the weekend

And the Rockets GREEN GLARE!

The first half of this post is not for those readers who are faint of heart.  It is probably TMI, but I'm sure you'll find it humorous.  Or disgusting.  Or hopefully a little bit of both.  Earlier this week, I had a great run.  I decided to just do 4 miles, and I ended up running it in a time that was a personal best for me!  I was so excited.  But that was not the only triumph.  I also conquered a fear of mine.  I'm kind of a priss sometimes, and if I am caught with a runny nose without a tissue, LORD HAVE MERCY.  Well during my run, I did not have any tissues and my nose started running faster than me after one mile.  So I swallowed my pride (and NOT my boogers) and let it rip.  Yes, I blew a snot rocket.  Here is a text message exchange between me and my father following the incident (for the record, I do call the Dick and Willie trail where we run the "Wick and Dillie" because I say it that way on accident so often.  It's not a typo).  I shared this info with him because since he has been a runner for so long, he's pretty much a pro at snot rockets.  I just knew it would make him proud!  For those of you who are unaware of the definition of the phrase "snot rocket," here is a definition, courtesy of Urban Dictionary:

1.	snot rocket
	When you plug one nostril with your finger, and blow out of the other nostril with everything you have, sending a snot projectile out of the nose

On another note of pride, today we tackled an 8 miler with the assistance of a furry friend.  Mr. Marathon and I are dogsitting this weekend so we had to bring our weekend dog along with us.  He was totally showing off, but the only reason that dog ran better than me was because he had two extra legs.  Totally rude.  So today our running group consisted of me, Mr. Marathon, our four-legged companion, and my dad.  I am SO PROUD that my dad joined us today.  He's pretty much one of my main inspirations for running.  He's been running for so long, and I hope that I can stay as committed to running as he has, although he'll totally try to tell you otherwise (he's so modest!).  So my training is going well and my half marathon is only 12 days away!  SO CLOSE!!!!!!  AND Mr. Marathon's costume is finally complete as well.  We're ready!

So, It's February? When Did That Happen?

Our Post-Run Shoe Pose (I made them do this...)

January has come and gone faster than I realized. So now February is here and rolling right along. My half-marathon is later this month and I am freaking out!!!! So this month my training kicks into high gear.

Last month, I ran a grand total of 23 miles.  Not too impressive, I know.  Regardless, the weather has been crazy and unpredictable for the past few weeks, so it has been really difficult to make a plan (and stick to it....).

This past weekend, we decided just commit and go for a training run (finally).  We did a nice 6 mile run at the Dick and Willie, despite the super cold temperatures and the threat of snow (see weather forecast from last week).  Mr. Marathon, my dad, and I set off despite these factors and made good time.  So, we decided that this upcoming weekend, we will kick it up a notch and do an 8 mile training run.  As of right now, the weather looks promising, but we'll see about that.

The Dick and Willie Passage:
where all our running magic happens

With only 15 days until race day, we have to have a pretty intense training schedule, so whether it's raining, snowing, cold, hot (this is unlikely, but I won't rule it out), or windy, we gotta just RUN.  Wish us luck... because.... we will need it, quite frankly.  But we can totally do it!

Mr. Couch Potato and Mrs. Snow Princess

So, we're really not changing our names from Mr. and Mrs. Marathon, it's just a figure of speech.  However, we have a lot to update on.   Neither Mr. Marathon nor I have been running really, due to cold weather.  I have included the weather forecast from over the weekend to demonstrate how cold it was.  It has been cold, snowy, icy, and windy.  Ew.



Well anyway, in addition to the cold weather, I have been busy babysitting.  Babysitting Mr. Marathon, that is.  He was playing soccer last Sunday, and he was the goalie.  He went to dive to block the ball, landed on his arm funny, and BOOM: dislocated shoulder.  He managed to wiggle it back into place, but then he went to his mother so she could give him a therapeutic massage because, obviously, it HURT.  Well, she was massaging, then BOOM.  It popped out again.  She put it back like it was supposed to be and continued rubbing then BOOM.  One more time it was dislocated.  Strike three, it was OUT.  It was not wiggling back into place this time.  Because he knew it was not going to pop back into the socket, we hurried to the hospital, and after about an hour of waiting, the doctor popped it into place in seriously 30 seconds.  Then we had wait an additional hour or so before he could be released.  His shoulder still hurts and it has been one week since he hurt it.  Oh, and he gets to wear a SHOULDER IMMOBILIZER (aka, a sling) for 14 days.  Which totally stinks because he can't do Insanity or run or pretty much do anything.

But that's not stopping me!  Today, despite chilly temperatures of 38 degrees and leftover snow and ice on the ground, I set off with my dad for a delicious 5.4 mile run.  Then this evening, I rocked out some Insanity. I'm pretty much a beast.  While Mr. Marathon is being a couch potato.

P. S. 25 days til my Disney Half Marathon!  My mom also helped me make my Jasmine tutu yesterday.  My costume is complete!

INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE!!

Mr. Marathon and I went totally INSANE last week. We successfully completed Week 1 of our Insanity workout.  For the first full week of the year, we decided to kick it up a notch and run AND do our daily Insanity workouts.  We have kept up pretty well with everything, but that was only the first week.  Let's see if we can keep that up for the whole 60 days...  So anyway, for the month of January here are our mileage totals thus far:

Mr. Marathon: 28.9
Mrs. Marathon: 17.6


Today we began Week 2 of Insanity.  We hope to see improvements soon!  On Day 1 we took the "fit test" to see where we were starting.  During the course of the program, the fit test is scheduled to track progress.  We will take the fit test again next week so we'll see if our INSANE work is paying off yet.

And by the way, I have received my Princess Jasmine aqua sports bra and gold shorts for the Disney Princess Half Marathon (38 days!!).  Now I have all the pieces!  I just have to make my tutu and headband and I'll be juuuuust about ready!  I just have to conquer a 13-miler.... DUM DUM DUMM.  Mr. Marathon has to get his Aladdin costume together, too.  And buy me a pet monkey.  And a magic carpet.  And a genie that comes from a magic lamp.  He'd better get busy.... slacker!

What's up Doc?

Or maybe Bugs Bunny meant what's up NEXT! Mr. Marathon here, with a weekend update. So Mrs. marathon and I, took off on a 3 mile run yesterday, yes I said 3 miles. since her half marathon is coming up in   approximately 45 days all my focus is on her, I want her to start her mileage low and increase it as she feels sure and comfortable of herself.  And she has proven that she can run the distance (as we know from her 10 mile run!) now comes the easy part: getting consistent.  She's got the skills, she's got the talent, and she got the confidence! Now it's time to take our training to a next level! We, as in I, had a long break and it's time to get running, and we have decided we may need some extra cardio work out to achieve that! So that's why Mr. and Mrs. Marathon have decided to take the INSANITY challenge in addition to our running! Our INSANITY DVD's are expected to arrive tomorrow, which is perfect to get it started on a Monday.  Wish us luck, because from what we've heard, we will need it...

Starting the year off on the right foot, then the left, then the right, left, right, etc....

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Mr. Marathon and I decided to start our new year off right, thanks to my dad.  My dad told me about his new year tradition of a New Year's run and we thought that was a wonderful idea, especially since we have been slacking on the running lately.  And by we, I really mean Mr. Marathon.  Okay, so me too.  Whatever.  Anyway, we woke up and hit the trail at 10 AM yesterday and took off before the rain started.  We ended up doing four miles, which was more than I anticipated doing, but it was fun and a great way to start off our new year.  So, here we are, looking hard-core but still adorably stylish after our run.

Also, FYI: my total mileage for the month of December was 26.264 miles.  For January, I don't have a total mileage goal set like last month, but I would like to do another long run (hopefully at least 13 miles) to prepare me for my half-marathon that is only 50 days away!  So excited!