Walt Disney World Half Marathon … Dopey Day 3

The night of the 10K, the bottoms of my feet were starting to hurt! I used some Icy Hot type patches on them while I slept, and woke up the morning of the Half with a little less pain. I was exhausted, though, and it was really hot and humid out. All plans to stop at some characters flew out the window and we decided to just stop at the Castle during the race!
We made our way to the start, after only a short wait for the bus. We decided to stop at the Potties, where we once again ran into Jennifer (and Todd) from The Final Forty. Still cracks me up that two Jersey girls who run a lot of the same races only manage to meet up when we leave the state!
We got to our corral just as the anthem was being sung. Why? It's over a mile from the bus drop off, and we got stuck in a bottleneck! We tried to circumvent the craziness and ended up going several corrals in the wrong direction! Ugh! We had plenty of time for a starting line selfie though!

These are not our fireworks. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you! We were in corral K. As we walked up to our start, we lost sound for a while, and then we had no fireworks. Denied! Luckily, I took a pic when J started!

 We were off! The first half mile, we were covered in sweat and dying already. This was gonna get ugly! We decided right away that we would walk for a minute after every mile. We didn't want to wear ourselves out! The first several miles were very dull, they had some characters, but we were not really interested. We also lost a few minutes at a potty break, because the lines were insane. Luckily, the men started using the tree line, which certainly helped move the line along!
During the half, you ran past the Speedway, but you didn't go inside. Good deal, I am not a fan of the Speedway, and I was more than happy to zip on by. We had our tunes on, and I started singing out loud at this point. You know, because I can. Colleen even started singing along, even though she couldn't hear the music! This is why I love her. The song? Bruises. Because that's how I roll.
I do believe Compass came on around that time as well. I love me my Country Music!
We stopped to try and take a selfie at the gate to the Magic Kingdom and some nice soul offered to take our picture. It is still dark! And again, I must point out that we did NOT coordinate outfits before we got to Florida. All coincidence, all the time! But don't we both look cute in our green outfits? Yeah, we do!

We were hot, grumpy, and tired, but there is something about entering the Magic Kingdom that perks you right up. The crowds were cheering, and we got very teary eyed! We jumped up to run on the sidewalk a bit, and had a Volunteer take our pic. We look so awesome!

 We looped around and approached the castle, and that just never gets old! I LOVE running through there, and knowing that we would do it twice was even better! We jumped out of the path to get our castle pic, but we knew we would not be jumping in the air this year! We were so worn out already, and we were not even halfway there yet! We couldn't resist posing though!

 As we were joining the rest of the runners, we spotted this fabulous lady! My daughter told me I HAD to get my pic with Peter Pan, and here was my chance! What a great sport she was! Spectators are the bomb!

 We continued on through the park, and as we approached the Train, we were saying how we didn't get the appeal of the photo op. Last year, people were just posing with the conductor as we went by. This year, people were laying on the tracks screaming for help. OOOOHHHHH, now I get it! Oh well, we just giggled as we passed by instead!
After we left the park, it got a little dull. Around mile 9, my knee started to ache. Not good. It hurt to run, and Colleen's foot ached when she walked. We were not a good pair after that! We worked it out as best we could, and managed to gimp along the next couple miles. When we crossed the overpass at around mile 10, we could see the end of the runners, at about the 8 mile mark. We knew we had at least a 2 mile head start which was nice! I did not want to see those balloon ladies up close!
At around mile 11, Colleen stopped to use the bathroom and I discovered Biofreeze.

How did I never know about this amazing gel??? I rubbed it on my knee and my aching legs, and I was miraculously revived! Oh my heck! I want to buy this stuff by the gallon!
We really enjoyed the last 2 miles, I must say. The crowds were amazing, kids were calling out to me (by my costume name, Mike, lol) and people were giving us Twizzlers. It truly is all about the candy! For real.
Entering EPCOT was just amazing! This was territory I knew from previous races, and I knew exactly where the Finish would be. I did not like that we had to run to the lake and then turn back, though. I was afraid I would see those dreaded balloon ladies, but again, nowhere in sight! Whew! A few of the park visitors seemed a little perturbed that they had to wait for us, but the volunteers handled it like champs! Soon we were approaching the final stretch!
We couldn't resist a Gospel Choir selfie, they were truly amazing, and just what we needed at the end of a tough race!

Not long after, we approached the Finish Line of Day 3!!! A very very very cute guy gave Colleen her medal, and we remembered him from the day before. What a smile on that face! We stopped for ice before we hit the Finisher Photo area, doesn't it look fabulous on my knee? It was a great help, even if it did drip down my leg almost immediately.

The smarted thing we have ever done happened next. We.got.massages. They had a tent where you could get a massage for $1 a minute. I treated Colleen to a whopping 10 minute massage, because I am generous like that, and because I only brought a twenty with me! Our awesome sports masseurs gave us twenty minutes! OMG It was heavenly. That portly man made my whole race. I walked away as if I was never in any pain! It was a true miracle!
We decided that we would take it easy for the rest of the day. I needed to hit the LEGO store, so we went to Downtown Disney for lunch, and had some yummy food at the Earl of Sandwich. Of course, we had to take pics in front of the LEGO Dopey!

Ahhhh the wristbands. While Colleen made a quick phone call, I snapped this shot. I couldn't wait to take them off, I was beginning to feel ridiculous, but as we walked the parks, I found myself checking people's wrists to see if they were part of the club. You know, the total idiots Dopey club.

After lunch, we realized we didn't have that much time before dinner! We had reservations at Be Our Guest, so we took the bus to the Polynesian. We ran into our good friend and fellow PbRC member Mel, who tried to convince us to come to a get together before we went to dinner. We had absolutely no time, so we walked in with him, and parted ways so we could catch the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Our good friends, the Polans, were also eating there, so we merged our reservations and had a blast talking about our race that day.
Dinner was amazing, and I had this divine Lemon Meringue cake for dessert. Colleen had the Grey Stuff. It was delicious. Don't believe me? ask the dishes!

This is the room where you can have lunch! We stopped in for a quick peek on our way to greet our host.

Our host:

On our way out of the park, we stopped to meet a few friends:

And then it was time for another early night. We met this little guy on our way back to the hotel. He hopped along side us for a little bit, but he was too slow for us, and we lost him eventually!

Once again, I know I left some things out!
There was one woman that day who left a huge impression on me. At least, I think it was that day. It could have been marathon day, but I am not sure.
As we approached the Fire Company, and were just about to cross under the Truck Ladder, a woman came through. We had been walking at the time, it was at about the halfway mark, on a boring stretch, just before the Inspirational Music was played. Right around mile 7, I think.
She came barreling through and yelled out in a very rude voice, "WALKERS, MOVE OVER!" It was so ugly. There were no 'excuse me's" first, just that huge brash voice. So many of us commented about how rude it was. And so unnecessary.
Later, we passed her.
She was walking.
Being the mature human being that I am, I pointed out, rather loudly myself, that she was the one who had been so rude earlier. Was this appropriate? Probably not. BUT. I couldn't help it. So many of the people she passed were having a hard time, probably thinking of quitting, and her rudeness may have pushed some of them over the edge, It was ugly and hateful, and I just don't understand the point!
Anyway,
Overall I really enjoyed the Half. If the weather had been better, we would have breezed right through, but that heat and humidity changed everything! It was 10* out when we left Jersey, what a turnaround! I think we handled it beautifully, though, and were as prepared as we could be for the main event!
I hope to get to the Marathon recap on Monday or Tuesday! My cold is back, though, so no promises! I am so tired!

What do you do when a runner is rude? Do you just let it go, or do you speak up? 

Walt Disney World Inaugural Minnie Mouse 10K….. Dopey Day 2

I know it has been a few days since I posted about the 5K, but life is just a crazy thing, getting in the way, ya know?
After the 5K, Colleen and I went to Hollywood Studios, and walked around. A lot. We had dinner at Kona, which was SO good, and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed early. Ish. We tried anyway! It got easier after each race, buy the first couple of nights were harder.
We rolled out of bed entirely too early Friday morning, got dressed, and headed out. It was crazy humid and a little warm out. We waited a bit for the bus, but not long, and made our way back to the scene of the crime.

 The theme of the day was Toy Story, and I dressed as the Etch a Sketch. We made it for the PbRC group photo, and I fangirled a bit, privately, that I was standing very close to Pam, from We Run Disney. Sad but true. Not that you can tell, lol. It was dark. And damp.

There was a whole group dressed as Toy Story characters, it was quite hysterical. We went over to hang for a bit, and I found my one and only twin! Of course, a pic was gonna happen!

We went to our corral, and prepped for day two. Strategy didn't change: take our time, but not too much time, and enjoy the day.

Our corral was called, and we ran through the arch for the second time! That never gets old, in case you wonder. Disney does it right, let me tell ya! The 10K course was very similar to the 5K course, but you ran through a whole lot of nothing before you hit EPCOT. For real. Over three miles of nothing, to be exact. When we finally hit EPCOT, there was lots of cheering and yelling, and the Cast Members were fabulous as always!
It.was.humid.
Like crazy crazy humid. My costume was just that. A costume. And it wasn't breathing. I had to pull it down for a good portion of the race!
We stopped at mile 1.25 to pee and the line was 16 minutes long. For real. I got a good shot of Peter Pan while we waited though. Woot. Sorry random strangers, but I was not standing on that line!

After we entered EPCOT, we stopped so Colleen could use an actual bathroom! The line here was only a few minutes and we took advantage of the stop for a pic. See? Costume pulled down! Totally forgot to pull it up for the pic! Blogger FAIL!

After EPCOT you ran around the Boardwalk which was a fun diversion! They even had a Goofy who was totally dressed in a GIANTS uniform! For real. The line was, of course, too long, so we stopped for a random shot and moved on.

 

See? GIANTS colors! Go Goofy!!!
Back into EPCOT we ran, and to the Finish line! It took us nearly 2 hours, but since at least 20 minutes were bathroom stops, we were super happy with our time!

 I swear, we do not plan these costumes together, but day 2 of our colors matching? Craziness!
Bracelet #2 collected, medal collected, food collected, and yes! I totally ate the Skittles first! The pic of the Garmin is Colleen's watch, it pauses when we do, so our official time was 1:33. Not too shabby!

 We showered, dressed, and ran right to the Magic Kingdom to run rampantly through the park. Who needs to rest? It's not like we still have a Half AND a Full to run! OOOPS!

 Gaston was so worth the line we waited on! Colleen tried to pick him up, but he insisted he was getting married that night. You know, to Belle. Poor sucker. He did point out that is muscle made my medal look small. We laughed for like 10 minutes while we held up the line taking all kinds of pictures.

 After we flirted and giggled with Gaston, we dashed over to Minnie Mouse. It was her race, after all! Our guy was not good with the camera! Poor Colleen is a little blurry, but she was sporting her Raw Threads Minnie shirt, and her cute Hidden Mickey skirt from Sparkle Skirts! I, of course, am decked out in my Vintage Swirlgear!

Whew! We rode some rides, and had some crazy fun, hit Tony's for dinner (no bread! They don't serve bread before your meal! HOW am I supposed to carb load people?!?!) and then back to the hotel for another night of early bed time!
I just know that I left all kinds of stuff out, but all the pain and suffering  fun is starting to fade! I should have taken notes!
I was thrilled to be part of an Inaugural race. Funny story, the word Inaugural is misspelled on the 10K bibs, but we had Dopey bibs, so we missed out on that fun! The course was fun once you got through those first 3.5 miles, which is not great since it is only 6.2 miles! The crowds were amazing, the Cast Members and volunteers were fantastic!
They had some great Characters, which we didn't stop at due to long bathroom lines.
The rude racers started at the 10K, and continued throughout the rest of the weekend, although only a few were memorable, which is good! Definitely a little bit of pushing, nudging, and body checking started during this race, which was frustrating, but obviously not Disney's fault!
Overall, we had a great time, and other than needing more fun during those first 3.5 miles or so, Disney did a great job, as usual!
The food box doesn't change. Ever. Some variety would be nice, especially since we only ate maybe 1/3 of what they gave us!
Like I said, I am sure I am leaving things out, but I guess that happens!
Race Goggles are on now, so a lot of the things I was bothered by then, have faded away now!!

What are you doing to keep your body moving this weekend?

The Color Run 2014 Kaleidoscope Tour

****I received 2 free entries in exchange for this post. As always, all opinions are my own!****
Have you ever done The Color Run?

I have done 3, each one with one of my kids (2 with the Teenie, 1 with the Boy). They are SO much fun! If you don't already know what The Color Run is, let me tell you!

A 5K, where everyone starts out wearing white, and ends up looking like a rainbow! At each K, a different color is thrown at you, in the form of perfectly harmless cornstarch, dyed in different colors. The color is thrown by volunteers, and it is all super safe. People even bring their toddlers in strollers!

MOST of the dye will wash out. Eventually. I doubt it even lasted 3 days, most of it washed out the first shower. I was kinda bummed, actually.

It washes out of your clothes, too, for the most part, but don't wear anything you love. Just in case.

Interested yet? You can check any of the links above to see if The Color Run is coming to a city near you! Use the code below for $5 off!

It really is one of the best races I have taken my kids to. It is not timed, just a lot of fun! At the end, you get to haver a crazy dye party, with the dye packet they give you, or you can use it during the race. SO much fun! I have done it in 3 locations: Brooklyn, Central Jersey, and Lehigh Valley. Lehigh was definitely the most scenic, but they were all equally fun!

 The Color Run has some awesome new swag this year:

How amazing is this? I will leave you with some before and after shots of the first The Color Run I ever did:

What are you waiting for? Register today, or sign up for a notification for when your city opens for registration! Still not sure? Check out their Facebook page for photos of all the fun!

Have you ever done The Color Run?

Almost Wordless Wednesday..... Digital Running Edition

While I was in Disney, running the Dopey Challenge, I was also taking part in another challenge, the Grand Slam Challenge, with Digital Running. All you need to do, at any point in 2014, is run a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Full Marathon. Luckily for me, Dopey took care of that all in one weekend! It  is currently $25 to register, and you will also get the Hat Trick Challenge medal! BONUS!

The Hat Trick is for taking on any 3 of the 4 distances in 2014!

You can register for the Hat Trick right now for $25, just in case you plan on running 3 of the 4 distances this year.

Stay tuned for other Digital Running Challenges this year, there is the Interstate Challenge available (currently $29, for running a Half and/or a full in 2 different states in 2014), and a surprise challenge in the works as well…….

Walt Disney World Expo and 5k Recap

I know I posted some pictures already, but it is time to get down to the nitty gritty!

Colleen and I arrived at the Expo at around 2:00 and headed right for the Dooneys! Priorities after all! We got our bags and then made our way to the bib pickup. On our way, we were sidetracked by the RunDisney Instagram booth, and couldn't resist a quick stop!

 Nooooo, we did not plan the matching shirts! 

Really!

We went down to get our bibs and tees. The line for bibs was so short that we were done in minutes, and got out tech shirts just as quickly! I needed to trade up, they were women's cut, so I wanted a large instead of a medium. This was also super speedy!

There was a merch tent in the room, and we dashed inside to buy Dopey gear. Yeahhhhhhh, there wasn't any. I think I scored a decal for the car, and we got our Mickey figurine and a 2014 necklace. They totally missed the mark here. They should have made necklaces for Goofy and Dopey at the very least, but they only had the one choice. FAIL. 

Next we headed to the Josten Center to get our 5k tee and to shop. The line for the tee was short, and we went right to the merch tent to get Dopey gear. Yeahhhhhhh another fail. The women's tech was only available in small so we ended up with a blue shirt, men's cut. I found my Dopey medal pin for my lanyard, but there wasn't much else left. Major disappointment!

We shopped at Running Skirts, the Medal display store, and Raw Threads. This is where I finally scored a shirt that says 48.6! It is purple and soooooo super comfy! I couldn't wait to earn it!

On our way out we took pics in front of the banners and then headed out for dinner and then fireworks at EPCOT. 

Oh yeah, and we met this guy!

The morning of the 5k we got up bright and early so that we could catch the bus to the start. I munched on some BelVita cookies while we looked for our friends from the PbRC. The costumes were all
amazing!

Off to the corrals! Even though are submitted times were only about 4 minutes apart, I was one corral ahead of Colleen so I bumped back one. After a lot of waiting it was finally our turn!

We headed out into the EPCOT parking lot, and eventually entered the park after about 1.5 miles of running. The staff was amazing, cheering, making jokes. We ran through the countries and then made our way towards the finish.
I know, not very exciting. There were a few Character stops. One was Dopey. During the 5K. He was in Germany, and the line stretched through 2 countries. For real. We just ran right by. We took a few pics, one very cool selfie, and then continued on.

Even though we ran almost the whole race, it still took almost 45 minutes to finish. We took it very slow and steady, and stopped to take a few pics.

Overall, the race was quick and fun. Only about half went through the park, but this is not news, since I did this race last year! They had Flik and Atta, and they had Remy as well as Dopey, not very thrilling I must say. I will leave you with these two final pics, the end of race #1 out of 4!

#OneChange with Vega One

****As a Sweat Pink Ambassador, I was given a box of Chocolate Shake Mix from Vega One in exchange for this post. I was not compensated in any way, and as always, all opinions are my own!****
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this picture the other day:

This is me. At around 2:00 every afternoon, I start snacking and I cannot seem to stop. Dinner rolls around, and I am barely hungry for the real food. That is where Vega  comes in. Just #OneChange can make all the difference in the world!
Vega shakes are Plant Based,  and they contain 50% of your daily intake of vitamins and minerals. Fifty. They are dairy free, gluten free, soy free, and there is no sugar added.
My daughter and I made a delicious peanut butter and chocolate smoothie. She took the pics. And then she went to school. For real, not even able to get to her phone to text them to me.
Blogger Fail.
When she gets home tonight, I will post them!
Let me just say, this shake was amazing! There is no chalky aftertaste, no aftertaste at all. It went down so smoothly, and it is chock full of vitamins, that when the teenie asked if she could make some for her rehearsals, I couldn't say no!
I am looking forward to making these shakes my #OneChange. No more mindless snacking at 2 pm! Instead, I will make a delicious shake, and include peanut butter or fruit, to hold me over until dinner!
Are you a Serial Snacker?

• Serial Snacker: Yes, you can snack and feel good about giving in. Your stomach talks to you all day (it never shuts up!) Your bag or desk drawer is strategically stocked with a wide assortment of get-me-through-to-the-next-meal morsels. You struggle to turn down a slice of office birthday cake—hungry or not. And the 3 PM growlies can lead to pre-dinner nachos or a midnight snack over the kitchen sink.

If this is you, then you need Vega shakes! They also come in Vanilla, Berry, and Natural! They also make bars! OMG in Chocolate Almond, Double Chocolate, and Chocolate Cherry!

What are you waiting for? Check them out! 

What flavor shake will you try first?

New Year and New Goals #Giveaway Hop

I love giveaways. Even better, blog hop giveaways! It's a great way for a group of awesome bloggers to share the love!
Kristy from Runaway Bridal Planner, a fellow Girls Gone Sporty and Sweat Pink Ambassador, was kind enough to put this together, along with Divas Run for Bling!
What is a blog hop, you might ask? A group of bloggers get together, and link up, so that all the reader has to do is click on link after link, each one taking you to another blog in the group. In this case, each blog is hosting a giveaway! A wonderful way to visit some new blogs, make some new friends, and maybe even score some goodies!


I thought and thought about what I would like to give away! I have done some recently, and wanted to give away something new!
After running through Disney last weekend, and completing so many miles with only one blister, it suddenly hit me!

I need to give away some Feetures socks!

I LOVE these socks, they are all I wear, and with the exception of marathon day (and I am pretty sure it was from getting my feet wet when the awesome volunteers were refilling our water bottles!) I had no blisters! In the 2.5 years I have been running, that is the only blister I have ever gotten! (NOOOO Feetures does not pay me, or give me free stuff, I just really like their socks!)
SO, I will be giving away a pair of these awesome socks, in the color of your choice (click on the link for color choices, there are many!)
The winner will be chosen by random draw on January 30th.

What do you need to do to win?
Simply comment below and let me know what your favorite sock is! SO easy!
For an extra entry, you can tweet about my giveaway, once per day. Maximum number of entries is 10, so if you Tweet more than that, I will love you to death, but you will only get 9 bonus entries for tweeting.
I want to win a pair of @Feetures socks from @BarkingMadRun at http://www.barkingmadaboutrunning.blogspot.com #newyearnewgoals #giveaway 

So tell me!
What are your favorite running socks?