Shoes + Disney = AWESOME

Now, I know I've written of my love of shoes before, but I think this bears repeating. I LOVE SHOES. It's usually the first part of someone's outfit I notice. I have shoes in my garage, storage room, front hall closet, spare room closet, linen closet, bedroom closet and in my filing cabinet at work. Obviously, if I could stand it I would always wear 3 inch heels (hey, is only way I don't have stumpy elephant legs, plus it lowers my BMI into the normal range, hahaha!) but I can't last all day even in the comfiest of heels. Oh, plus I run kind of a lot, and with a "heavy footfall", which I think is the running store saleperson's nice way of saying "like a fat kid", but I'll stick with the scientific term, heh. So when I find a good pair of running shoes, it's time to shout it from the rooftops...errr....Internet.

This year, Disney teamed up with New Balance to create a pair of Mickey and Minnie inspired running shoes for their RunDisney program. The men's shoe is based on Mickey in his classic tuxedo and the ladies Minnie shoe draws from Minnie's polka dot dress and yellow heels look of yesteryear. As soon as I discovered they existed, I was smitten! Behold how cute they are!!!

Mickey on the left, Minnie on the right...LOVE THEM!

So it was very scary to further read these babies were limited edition and only available at Run Disney expos. How handy that I was heading to one of those in a few weeks! And even handier that I have giant man feet and might be able to scoop up a pair of men's shoes at a women's run! Never had I been so excited to have big feet...with any luck, there wouldn't be many ogres registered in the run who might also be interested in the size 11 women's shoe because we weren't going to be able to be at the expo when it opened.

Long story short, we waited in line for probably 20 minutes to get a pair to try on as people around us lamented the sizes they were already sold out of. Like the clever princesses we are, we researched the model # of this shoe and tried them on here at home ahead of time so we knew just what size to ask for. I had decided I liked the Mickey ones better for running, but quickly got caught up in the hype at the expo and asked for both gender shoes. We waited with baited breath as they searched....and returned with boxes of shoes!!!! I was able to snag both a Mickey and a Minnie thanks to my big ol' feet, but Christi being the daintier princess was sadly only able to get a pair of Minnie shoes. Nonetheless, we fought off the women desperate to grab our shoes if we didn't want them (seriously, this shoe buying experience was cutthroat! I could NOT let those Minnies go) and gleefully bought our shoes before heading over to....pick up our race packs. That's right, we went for shoes before checking in for the race, we were already hours late! 

Now, the first rule of running a half marathon is don't talk about Fight Club  don't wear new ANYTHING on race day. Not headband, shoes, pants, socks, anything you haven't tested for chafing first. But Christi decided her shoes matched her Snow White dress perfectly and decided to throw caution to the wind and wore her brand new shoes on the race....

In 21K and over 22000 runners, we didn't see a single other person wearing these shoes.

But GUESS WHAT?!

She loved 'em! No problems at all and she looked every bit the princess at the finish line in her gorgeous new shoes!  A few blisters, but she always gets them after a half and these were way less problems than she's had in the past with tried and tested shoes. Don't try this at home folks, it was a Disney Miracle!

The second miracle is that I've now worn my Minnie shoes for a 6K and a 5K this week...both on the treadmill thanks to the dump of snow we got on the weekend, but I also love them! I figured I would use them for crosstraining instead of running, but they matched my outfit better those days. They are comfortable, well fitted and have just the right amount of support I need, which I wasn't sure of the first time I tried them on. Plus anytime I started getting annoyed with the treadmill, I just looked down at my feet and felt all happy again! Thanks Minnie!

One Week Later

OK, so I still feel like I haven't recovered from the Princess on Sunday. I still feel tired and achy...like I fell out of a tree or something. Plus, darn it, I deserve a bit of a break. So I haven't run once since then, or even been to the gym in the past week. That's fine, I think a few days to fully recover is a good idea. So in the meantime, please enjoy our before and after pictures from the race:

Why are we smiling? We're about to run 21K in 25C!

Note we both have a touch of the crazies in

our eyes...we're dazzled by the new bling!



Also, a friend sent me this, but I'm thinking it's a pretty good idea....might give this a whirl the next time I'm downtown...DANCE WALK BABY!!

Princess 2.0

Well, it's been over 6 months since my last post. I have no excuse other than sheer laziness....On writing, that is. I have been running. Last year we did the Stampede Half and the Seawheeze. I did them and didn't write about it. I feel like I let myself down there...so let's acknowledge that it happened and move on.

Happy 2013! 

This is gonna be the YEAR I RUN AND WRITE ABOUT IT. 

I like having the record of it to track my progress and setbacks. I'm kinda funny sometimes. And a few pictures too. I'm kinda funny looking ALL the time, heh!

So what has 2013 brought so far? Well, get this. On Sunday, Princess Chris and myself completed the Disney Princess Half Marathon. That's right...the race that got us started on this whole running thing. Nope, we didn't write about the training. Yep, I will post a few pics this week. And I promise to start writing again, even if it's just for me. And I should have something to write about...we are registered for the Seawheeze again in August and the Disneyland Half again in September. We even have a new recruit for the Seawheeze running her first even half marathon! We are also planning on running the Stampede half again this year. And I promise there will be posts and pictures all year long!

Already got the wheezing part...

Check out our Progress! We've registered for the Lululemon Seawheeze, a half marathon in Vancouver that's only 95 days away. It does sound like fun and the route looks like it will be gorgeous. And while it's not an exclusively woman's race, I'm guessing it will be slightly geared towards the ladies, which is the kind of race I prefer….even the most unathletic of boys will probably pass me forever at some point. Plus the swag includes shorty shorts instead of a shirt! We registered too late to get the shorts ahead of time, but I understand they look like this:

Pretty sure I have undies with more coverage.

Yeah, short and white pretty much guarantees I will never wear these out of my house, but I have to admit they are totally cute and I would wear them if I had 32 inch hips. Pajama bottoms if I can even squeeze into the biggest size, I guess?

For the Stampede Half in a couple of weeks, I’m pretty sure our only goal is to finish the race upright (and then eat as many pancakes as possible), but I decided my goal for this race is to try to be 2:20 or under. I think because it won’t have quite as many photo ops as a Disney run and the race is in a sea level city, that this goal is tough, but possible.


Of course, this means I'm not only have to get my butt training, but I'll have to knock about 30 seconds off my typical per km pace in a half marathon. This doesn’t seem like much until you realize just how fast you have to go without breaks…and the breaks you do get have to be SHORT. Sounds like I'm really going to have to bump up the hill training and speedwork! We have had a couple of shriekworthy training runs where I think this pace could be possible…in fact, we did one 7K last week where if we could have maintained that pace, we would have come in UNDER 2 HOURS for a half…yes, it’s unlikely we could have maintained that speed for any longer than we did, but it gave us a good idea of what our pace should be like to set a new PR. I can already feel my legs getting sore....

Running, not w-Riting

OK, OK, while I might not actually be WRITING much about running, I actually AM running. Yes, it has been a while. I went to Vegas in May, where I not only dragged myself out of bed to run, I did it three times. Each run was slower than the day before as the week of gluttony caught up to me. Also, even though I headed out by 8am, it was already over 30C. I took a water bottle even though they were short runs because I was afraid of death by dehydration or of looking like this:

The hours of tanning might contribute too...

And, because I’m me, the first day my run was to Sonic to pick up breakfast sandwiches and French Toast Sticks. I laughed to myself all the way back as I chugged down the sidewalk clutching my greasy brown bag of fast food…I might like to run, but I like to eat more.

Breakfast of Champions...sometimes I AM the best roommate ever!

When I got back from Vegas, we registered for the Stampede Half Marathon which is the first Sunday of Stampede. Because this race is at 7am on a Sunday, this means I will have to be smart on Saturday and drink lots of water and go to bed early instead of partying it up down at the grounds, but hey, maybe I AM growing up a little. Then again, since I’m trying to figure out how to wear a cowboy hat while I run 21K and am far more excited for the post race pancakes than the race itself, maybe not.