Cleared Waivers!

We got our race waivers this morning!!!!

....Which means we now know our bib numbers too... apparently we were the 9702, 9715 and 9719th ladies to register in this race. In reviewing the waiver, I see Disney has really covered their butts on this one...I just signed away the rights to my images from the race through ALL media, including stuff that hasn't been invented yet AND this is "throughout the universe in perpetuity". Does this mean they could laser beam my face onto the moon if they wanted to in 20 years? Bring it, Disney!

This + Moon = Awesome!

Also, if you want to track our progress on race day (you know, if you're up at 5am on a Sunday) you can do so by clicking here and signing up to follow us online!

Tomorrow we're doing a "practice" half marathon...we need to run 20K, so we're going to follow the route of the Calgary Hypothermic Half.  The weather is supposed to be nice, so we probably won't actually get hypothermia.  I bought waterproof mascara and eyeliner today, so I'm going to give those a whirl tomorrow and see if my face melts off like the Wicked Witch of the West or if I can finish the Calgary run actually looking like a princess!

Packed my bags last night, pre-flight!



Looking good ladies! See you soon!



We're getting close.

Like, really, REALLY close.

Last night was our last running clinic with the Running Room(which ended with an excellent potluck, which in retrospect was something we really should have done every week!) Most of our run buddies will be doing their half this weekend, but we still have a bit further to go.  Two weeks from tonight we'll be packing our bags and checking in for our flight since we'll be leaving Thursday night! I'm already looking forward to choosing which three 100ml bottles of liquids I can't travel without. And which shirts to pack. And which bag to pack them in. And how many pairs of shoes is too many for a 4 night stay again?

On one hand, it feels like we've been training forever and we'd never make it Florida, and on the other hand, it's starting to feel like this race is coming up way too fast...I mean, we have to run 20K on Saturday and won't even get a medal at the end of it!   Unless pannenkoeks count as a medal (I'd take them over metal anytime, since they come with a side of sour cream!) And while I've pinpointed the nearest cupcake store to our hotel (BabyCakes in Downtown Disney, yum!), I have no idea where the closest premium outlet is.

And we need to watch our princess movies to get us all prepped for race day. I mean, what if at Mile 7 I realize I can't remember ALL the lyrics to Little Town or Something There or just how many eggs Gaston ate every morning to help him get large? This kind of training is important too, we have to be prepared!

Well as we get closer and closer to our goal it seems pretty important that we keep to our training schedule. As of late this has been more and more apparent in the ways we’ve been making these runs happen. One of the things we’ve been doing is running before work instead of after.. one big reason is that the wind seems to be less at this time of day, there are people who can join you PLUS you are finished for the day and don’t have to worry about the next run until tomorrow.

Run #1 - Princess Crys and I decided a couple of weeks ago to do our weekly 8km run in the morning and invited a fellow WestJetter and runner Alex to come join us. As per usual before the run, our running attire was discussed (ignored) and we were on our way.

Thank goodness for my new running gloves as no sooner than 10m into our run I hit an ice patch and went down in a surprisingly smooth fashion but with enough of a yelp to literally awaken a mouse from hibernation and create a few yelps from my fellow runners when it ran out on the sidewalk beside us. So now we have 3 heart attacks in 3seconds into our run and we must continue.

The temperature was great for running but as mentioned we dressed for the wind chill and all ended up being more than a little warm. Our route took us from Campus up to the Barlow running path I had used for my 18km to work, so I knew it was clear-ish. The problem was that the wind the night before had caused some pretty high snowdrifts on the path and with our best efforts we made our way knee deep through them and on occasion off the path until our turn around point then made our way back the same route to campus.

Run #2 – Let’s call this run, the ‘wet’ one. Princess Crys had worked the night before so Alex and I wrangled up Jason with jabs of him not getting up early enough to join .. and we all know how boys are when they are told they can’t do something. So Jason met us at the back doors.. and by meeting us, I mean he got there first, then when Alex arrived we started out.

Same 8km route but the weather was a balmy +7 with the wind being half of what it was the week before. Now this turned out to be a blessing and a curse.

Good times though.. we had just gotten to the intersection when a car came up behind us and honked, besides scaring the .. well you know out of us, I made a few ‘gestures’, no not those ones, just letting the car know there was plenty of room to pass us. Well we soon found out the car had honked to try to get our attention to find the Canadian North Hangar.. stunned silence. No idea, we replied and continued our run.

The path was a little slick in parts but mostly just wet in general. Luckily we had the headlights from cars coming up from behind us to let us know what was a puddle and what was just black asphalt. The new traffic circle was a little harder to maneuver with construction ongoing, puddles, and curbs but we managed to get to the turn around post (which I almost took out with our usual grab the post and do the gravity weeeee squeal)

Now the real problem was the return route .. with the headlights now incoming and the path not really that easy to see we managed to run close enough to each other that we all ended up dropping deep into the first puddle thus starting the sopping run back. This pattern continued through the traffic circle with sounds of running shoes being dumped into puddles and then the voice close behind it yelling “noooooo”!!

Make it back in good time considering it felt like an off trail run that we had just completed.

Run #3 – With Princess Crys on the injured reserve, Jason not wanting to mess up his workout regime and Alex willing, our third 8km in 3 weeks started and finished with little trouble. I had worn the coveted headlamp from Princess Felic and my Sight Night run and this turned out to be a fantastic help while trying to maneuver the puddles and construction. We finished the run 3miuntes faster than the last one and I’m sure our shoes were much appreciative of the lack of water intake compared to the last run!

Three weeks to go!

23 more sleeps, Mickey!!!

It seems like only yesterday we were 200 days away from our race, but this time three weeks from now, we'll be arriving in Florida!   We still have one more week of running clinic, we have a 20K to get through in training, and I need to find some sweatproof mascara and eyeliner, but I've been compusively checking our flights, the weather, where the cupcake shops are and even had my first "Disneymare" last night...I dreamt we went for lunch in Toronto during our layover and missed our connecting flight.  Yes, I woke up in a sweaty panic today, but I guess if I'm still not too worried about the run itself, then we're doing OK!

Damsel in Distress...again.

OK, there was no Snidely Whiplash,
I brought this on myself...

Hey, remember when I got lost in Central Park? Well, apparently this feat isn't limited to other countries, but can just as easily be done in my hometown! For my 8K run last week, I was trying to figure out where I could fit it in. Since we were going to the Flames game and the weather had been fantastic, I joked I should just run to the Dome, but checking the route, I saw our house to the nearby Glencoe (where Bryan was going to be anyways) was 8.2k...PERFECT!

Thinking ahead, I packed a change of clothes (including jersey, of course) in Bryan's car the night before and planned to meet him around 7:15 so I could freshen up and we could get to the game for 8pm puck drop. At home, I packed my cash, ID (and yes, I DID get carded for beer later, HURRAY!), phone and keys into my Coach wristlet, put that into a plastic ziplock (am not going to get lovely bag all stinky, thank you!) and then tucked it into my pocket. My first run with a Coach bag, am so fashionable! I headed off and since the whole way is a gentle incline, the kilometers flew by as gravity helped me on my way.

I was wearing my headlamp, so no fears of slipping on the last remaining bits of ice.  I learned the hard way that sometimes I couldn't tell the difference between "ice" and "6 inches of icy water" so my feet were soaked by the time I got to 14th st. Undaunted, I pressed on, I was nearly there and I knew exactly where I was! I was so proud of myself for being all organized and fun for doing this, and had even added a new song to my running playlist. (Turns out, I REALLY liked running to this song, and maybe ended up listening to it 9 times in a row?) Anyways, I get to the traffic circle as expected right around the 7.5K mark and sped up a bit, excited at how smoothly the run had gone and how very on time I was going to be.

A few minutes later I came to a steep hill with no sidewalk. Hmm...I don't remember a hill around here?  Fearful of being smushed by a car, I sprinted up the hill and turned left into what I thought (and was now really hoping) was the Glencoe...no such luck. I was in a cul-de-sac overlooking...something. Maybe Elbow? I'm not sure. I fire off a quick "I'm not lost" text and backtrack, confident I was only slightly off course. I run another half kilometer and still no Glencoe. I stop to squint at street signs that don't help me.  I run another half kilometer and realize I'm not sure if I should be running to bigger street numbers or smaller. Looking around, I realize I no longer know which direction downtown is, let alone East or West.  I'm so lost, I don't even know which direction to head to figure out where to go. Defeated, I call Bryan. He asks where I am. I walk to the nearest street sign and read them out. He starts laughing and says not to move and he'll be there in 5 minutes.

I take the opportunity to do some post run stretches and feel sheepish...when Bryan does pull up, he is still laughing. He continues laughing as he drives for nearly 5 minutes to get back near the Glencoe, at which point I'm laughing pretty hard myself. Apparently at the traffic circle, instead of going straight, I had made a hard left and been heading due South for over a kilometer...

In case you're wondering, Bryan =2, Felicity =0 and I will always carry a phone on any run I go on by myself from now on. Also, because of this lengthy delay, I had to change in the car on a side street before hoofing it to the Dome. I felt sorry for the people sitting in front of me who had to smell my stinky feet the whole game. But I tell you what, the hot dog and pint of beer I had at the game were great!