Get Ready, Get Sweaty!

Some of the worst things about getting back from a week long vacation include:

-the insane credit card bill that even when I go over it closely proves was all me.
-buying/drinking whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. More eyeliner and beer for breakfast? Sure thing!
-trying to reduce calories down from the high school linebacker-style consumption I managed last week. Seriously, one day I hit daily calorific intake before I finished breakfast.
-getting back into a running schedule after a week off...feels like starting over.

But you know what helps offset the post-vacation blues? Coming home to this!!!

Sooooo much better than a bill!

HURRAY! My snappy Lululemon shorts had arrived while I was away!  And how cool is the shipping paper??

When I eagerly tore that off, there was ANOTHER cool pattern underneath on a zippered thing resembling a giant pencil crayon case.

Not sure what to use it for yet, but trust me, it'll be something cool.

OMG so much better than white.

When I opened that, the shorts were revealed in all their stripy glory. Hurray! They look just as good in real life as they did online.  Plus, they fit great!!!

No point of reference, but trust me here, they are TINY.

Wait...let me clarify. They are not too tight or too baggy, and they are comfy as heck. But, let me be clear, they have a TWO INCH INSEAM. You know what that means? Like, what it means with regard to PANTS? Well, the tag for the pants hangs 3 inches below the hem of the shorts. They are so short they require built in underpants. They are so short the underwear I was wearing when I tried them on was actually clearly visible above and below the shorts. I'm no seamstress, but I bet less than half a meter of fabric was used in their construction. And I can assure you they will NEVER see the light of day outside in Calgary. But I AM pretty excited to wear them on runs in other countries...I will be in Jamaica next month, so they won't have to wait too long to see the light of day.

Just in time too...Happy June 3......the Seawheeze Training Program kicks off today! And while I don't have a snappy iphone that I can download their awesome app onto, I am still able to follow along oldskool on the web!  

Day 1 started out with Vancouver-style rain at 5am which seemed fitting since the race will be there too. Undeterred, Princess Chris and I met at 530am and did the 50 minute run on the schedule and cheered as we checked it off on the app. Kind of rough after a few weeks off, plus the rain didn't make it easy to get up and out of the house, but it still beats the treadmill!

Yoga tomorrow...hurray!

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!

Everybody! Socks! Socks! Socks-socks-socks!

So Palm Springs was a complete success!  It was gorgeous and sunny and I managed to get up at 730 on a Sunday to run 5K in the desert before the thermometer hit a billion. It sure was a refreshing change to run beside cactusaii and sand without a coat on, even if my persistent cough slowed us up a little.  Our post-run Jack in the Box breakfast sandwiches never tasted so good!

We also went to the outlet mall and Target, where I got all sorts of deals (on non-running shoes) and a pack of sports socks that have turned out to be totally awesome...padded in the right places, absorbent, and with those little thingies on them that keep them from slipping down into your shoe while ensuring you don't get a funny ankle tan if you run in them all summer. Plus I got a range of colors in the pack---OK, black, white and grey are colors, it just means I don't have to throw white socks in with dark loads all the time...

Came home to back-to-back dumps of snow, so we were forced onto the treadmill a few times. This means we did some speedwork AND hillwork in an effort to not die of boredom. Hey, look at us, we sound like we're training for something!

The Work Song-based on a true story!

OK, it took a few hours, a paring knife, 2 needles, and quite a few pokes in the thumb, but we now have two (hopefully) awesome running tanks with Minnie Mouse sleeves!!!

As the mice would say...

She goes around in circles Till she's very, very dizzy

Still they holler Keep a-busy Cinderelly!

We can do it, we can do it

We can help our Cinderelly

We can make her dress so pretty

There's nothing to it, really

[Gus:]

I'll cut with these scissors!

[Jack:]

And I can do the sewing!

[Girl Mouse:]

Leave the sewing to the women

You go get some trimmin'

And we'll make a lovely dress for

Cinderelly!

(Thanks for not suing Disney!)

Now we just have to wait for the skirts to be ready and we're off to the races!

How to break a seamstress's brain

We have two weeks to go from today!  So yesterday was our last run...we ran around the reservoir to get our 16K in. Gotta say, it sure felt a lot easier than the last time we did it! Not only did we chirp along letting our mouths run the whole time, but when we were done we felt great instead of like curling up in a ball and dying like in January. True, it was 25C warmer and no snow to navigate over, but I think the "less is more" approach we tried this time around actually worked! (that's right, it wasn't laziness, it was a technique!) Plus, when we got to the hill at the very end and were about to give up on our chugging up the hill, a group of strangers we passed starting cheering for us..."eyes on the horizon, head up, chest out ladies, keep that form up, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!" Sure enough, we could! Plus at the end, we thought another 5k would be no problem.

We headed to Christi's for quick showers, then over to the alterationist who would turn our child's size 6 dresses into Awesome Minnie Running Outfits. We thought it would be simple enough...chop the skirt off to make a tutu, and remove the puffy sleeves to make new ruffled sleeves on our black running tanks, an effect that would keep us cool, look awesome and not be too pricey.

As it turns out, we know nothing about sewing. Our Lady fretted and clucked as she stretched what she had to work with and measured our adult Canadian bodies. She was worried the dress would be too short and the top would be too tight, and we were having trouble conveying what we wanted done. At one point, she was going to build us elastic blouses to wear over our tanks, and we started getting nervous about how much this was going to cost. We kept insisting we just wanted to basically baste the sleeves onto our tanks for a one-time wear in a warmer climate and she kept insisting it wouldn't work.

She kept getting more and more agitating as we kept trying to explain they just needed to be worn for 3 hours as we sweated all over them, saying it wasn't going to look good. Now, she knows her stuff and we trust her implicitly, but I think she was trying to make us sturdy lifetime garments instead of cobbling a dress into an adult skirt and sleeves like we wanted. Eventually, after 45 minutes in the shop, we ended up taking the sleeves ourselves and leaving her with just the skirts to make. This afternoon, I'm going to take the sleeves and hand stitch them to the tanks and see if it works like I hope it does...like I said, it doesn't have to be fancy or permanent, just hold up for 3-4 hours around Anaheim!

Oh, Ebay, is there nothing you can't do?!?!

Last week, we RAN TO WORK. Gotta say, it was pretty keen...bright and early the morning after a rainstorm as the sun came up on a cloudless day was pretty great. Plus, since my desk faces downtown, I spent all day gazing at it and thinking "hell ya, I ran from there this morning!!" Much better than out and back, I'd say!  Plus we did our 18k with no problem and felt great all day. We're back in top running form, I'd say! (and not a moment too soon, have you checked our countdown? eeek!)

Like I said, we were starting to panic about our running outfits. We had our headwear and our plan, but that's it. So, last Wednesday I do another desperation fueled search on Ebay for what we were looking for and lo and behold...the company I bought my Belle dress from had another match. This time, for $5.99 I could get a kid's Minnie Mouse dress with matching headband. SOLD! And I mean sold, they even let me buy two so Princess Chris could have the same one. Check it out!

It IS as short at it looks!

So, dresses bought, and after a brief conversation, the rush shipping charge of $22 is paid, to ensure they arrive within 3-5 business days instead of 10-15 days. Totally worth it, since I leave for a week to Mexico and didn't want Christi to have to take care of everything while I was away.  Plus, it keeps our dresses under $20, which I'm guessing is less than we'd have paid for fabric.

Now, I pay my invoice last Thursday, and get a notice Friday that my item is shipped. On Monday night I'm puttering around the house when a truck pulls into my driveway.

It's a DHL truck.

I skyrocket off the couch and down the stairs to the front door, flinging open the door with a shriek to find a cowering DHL lady meekly stating I have a package. I respond by shouting "IS IT FROM HONG KONG!?!??!!" and when she replies yes, jump up and down clapping and then reward her speediness by breaking her electronic signing pen in my haste to snatch the package out of her hands. She's just happy someone is home to sign and drives away as quickly as she can (side note, I notice our stolen tree has been replaced with a new, non-dead tree. HURRAY!)

I rip open the package with my teeth in the front hall and dance around with joy at what a wonderful world I live in where with a click, a $6 dress can come from the other side of the world to my house in less than 2 business days. Amazing!  And the dress exceeds my expectations, it's quite a quality garment!  I am slightly concerned as the dress is stretchy on top and snug on the bottom unlike my princess dress and it will definitely require shorts underneath. But combined with black tanks, we can add the puffy sleeves to make cap running sleeves, plus the skirts will be more like tutus, which is sort of what I was hoping for in the first place.

In short, Best. $22. EVER. And if you're EVER in need of a child's costume, please visit this ebay seller because they are AWESOME. Am already searching for  Halloween costumes for my niece and nephew (and, ok, for self) and will get that started once these outfits are all set!

Test, Test!

This morning Christi and I did a practice run in our dresses (alas, Crystal was trapped in a tower by an evil witch. OK...she had to work late last night. But I bet she had to sweep chimneys or something while she was there). Since we live in Calgary and average temperatures right now are around -10C and our outfits are designed for the 20-30C we'll be running in at Disneyworld, we had to run inside.
We met at 6am at our work gym and spent about 10 minutes prancing and preening in front of the mirrors and giggling...it was the first time we'd seen each other in our princess gear and if we do say so ourselves, we looked fantastic!  When we were finished adjusting tiaras and bows, we headed out and hopped on adjacent treadmills. Before we even started moving, we had a few comments from other people at the gym who were feeling underdressed.  We smiled and did our best princess waves and we were off (well, not off, we were running in place).

We each ran 3K and figured that would be a good test of any outfit fails.  Christi's new top stayed up and didn't run (it was freshly dyed) but she wanted to ruch up the skirt a bit, and I realized immediately that the collar I had pinned on was going to have to be sewn into place. And it took less than 10 minutes before we had both worked up a bit of a sweat. Both valuable lessons that will be easy to fix, and other than that, it was fantastic!  We looked great and felt great, no chafing!  We especially liked running with the satiny skirts swishing around, and considered running in poufy skirts from now on! And even if we felt a bit silly, we brought smiles to everyone else at the (surprisingly busy considering the snow and time) gym.
We tried to get a picture, but we had a camera snafu, so no visual documentation of our awesomeness. So I'll leave you with these instead...click on the link for more lessons!

Lessons from a Disney Princess


if you don’t like how things are going, it’s totally cool to run away.



...especially if you don’t want a man to see you without makeup.

Pifff, I'd never leave a shoe that pretty behind!

Hypothermic Half "Test" Marathon!!

Well here we are, 2 weeks prior to our race and our training schedule this weekend called for our longest run ever, 20kms! It just so happened that this particular weekend was the half marathon that the rest of our Running Room group was actually training for, the Calgary Hypothermic Half Marathon. We figured since we had to run 20kms anyways this weekend, why not join in and just run it? What's 1km more? We didn't register in time so we didn't have an official number on a bib or a chip but we were excited to run the course with other runners and get a taste of that 'race' feeling.

In the days before the race we made sure to 'hydrate, hydrate, hydrate'! And we all enjoyed a BIG meal the night before the race. It was early to bed and thankfully not too early to rise; the race was at 10am. Weather check in the morning and it was calling for a gorgeous day, sunny with a high of +6 degrees. We haven't run in temperatures that warm we almost didn't know what to wear and had to quickly confirm with each other on only 2 layers. Princess Fliss offered to pick Princess Chris and I up in the morning at 9:30 and head over to Eau Claire where the race started. We figured we didn't have to be there that early as there was no race package to pick up, we were just planning on blending into the crowd and hope no one noticed we were ghost running the race. I guess this is common in the running world and the path is still open to anyone to run on, but it was our first 'ghost run' so we felt somewhat like kids sneaking into a concert or an amusement park.

We got ready quickly after parking all with bedazzled tiaras (Thanks Felicity!) and headed to the start only to find it a ghost town! There wasn't a sole there! . We questioned if the race maybe didn't start until 10:30 or 11 but then we noticed the race clock just passing 5 minutes. We were late! We missed the whole start! So instead of taking off right then and there we had to of course get some passerbys to take our picture in front of the big inflatable Running Room start/finish sign. We then headed out at 10:07am onto the running route. We didn't see anyone that looked as if they were part of a race, just your normal Sunday walkers and joggers. Thankfully Fliss had looked up the route online and knew where to go. We had a good laugh at missing the race and were happy with ourselves for just being outside and about to run 21kms.

The run started off like any other, the first km or two feeling terrible as our bodies adjusted and got into a rhythm. We trudged along the river feeling a little disappointed to not be 'in the race' when all of a sudden we passed someone wearing a bib!! Then another, and another!! We were in it! Christi pointed out what looked like a larger group of runners and we could see them! We were catching up! This filled us with joy and accomplishment. We were now in the race and set our minds now on the long steady run ahead of us. As we crossed over the 14th St bridge we saw a familiar face signalling where to turn and it was Karen from our Running Room group. She snapped an action shot of us, we said a quick hello and ran on, finally passing the 5km marker. "Pffft, 5kms, that was easy! Want to do another 5km? Sure! Why not. Then maybe turn around and come back".

Feeling pretty good we slowly but surely passed people. It was an amazing feeling. We noticed lots of people running the other direction looking at us funny then remembered we were wearing tiaras. As we passed some of the race participants, they smiled or laughed and told us how much they liked the tiaras or said "Yay Princesses!". It was extremely uplifting and Felicity decided she is going to wear a tiara every time she runs which we agreed was a great idea. We did at one point get called a Stagette as one of the crowns was silver and the other 2 were pink and our outfits all coincidentally matched.

Christi's friend Anne-Marie had come out to cheer her on and when we made it to her she jogged along with us for a good little while like a natural runner herself! She was kind enough to take all of our gloves for us as it was just way too warm to wear them and we took a moment for a great photo op of us jumping, clearly showing just how excited we were to be there. AND she's the only person to have ever snapped one of our jumping shots on the first take!

As we neared the bridge at Edgeworthy Park we noticed a water station and 2 photographers. Even though we weren't registered we still smiled like Princesses should, hey, you never know! The volunteers cheered for 'The Princesses' and gave us water as we ran by. We began hitting icy patches along the path at which was the only point the shoe grips would have come in handy. No one fell and we kept on trucking along. We were now seeing racers coming back and were cheering them on. As more and more runners began running back the other way, more people cheered and encouraged and we really began to feel the energy of the race and get that 'Runners High' where you feel like you could run forever!

The half way point came, we stopped for a photo op again and heard someone say as we ran off "Love the tiaras Princesses, see you in 2 weeks!". We don't know who it was but it was pretty exciting. We refuelled at this point. The girls had Luna power bars and I tried out a Goo for the first time expecting it to be terrible, but surprisingly it was not bad! Now we were running back and passing people still heading in the direction of the turn around and more encouraging words and compliments on the tiaras pushed us through. I was nervously waiting for the pain in my knee that had almost made me want to cut my 12k run short the weekend before to start but it never did! Christi had lent me a knee brace and I think it worked like a charm.

We made it to the 15km marker, stopped for a picture (yes, we really do need to document as much of these runs as possible) and starred dauntingly at the view of down town Calgary that seemed so far away. It was only 6kms more but we were beginning to feel like muscles were slowly tightening up and our legs getting heavier. My ankle began to hurt and I noticed a cramp in my left shoulder. We shook out our arms and slowed our pace a little. Little by little the city seemed to get closer as we ran along the river.

We passed Karen again as she cheered us on and neared Eau Clair feeling like there must only be 500ms left. At this point we felt the only moment of despair as we were directed to run onto Prince's Island and around back into Eau Claire making it more like another 2kms to the finish. It seemed so close yet so far. I remember thinking at this point that I will never run a marathon because this wouldn't even be half way yet!

We rounded the last bend and corner and all of a sudden the end was in sight! Our plan had been to just veer off and not cross the finish line since we didn't have a chip but we found ourselves now trapped on the path in a chute of spectators cheering loudly for The Princesses! There was no where else for us to go other than the finish line. It felt great to be cheered on but we felt guilty for not being actual race participants especially when they tried to put medals around our necks! But WE DID IT!! We ran an actual half marathon and we all felt amazing! Our time was 2:18 which we were all very happy with considering how many times we stopped.

Back in the car again, into some dry shirts and chugging a 4L carton of chocolate milk like teenagers passing around a bottle in the parking lot of a school dance, we revelled in the afterglow of our accomplishment. Next stop was breakfast at Galaxie Dinner with a giant creamcicle shake and all you can eat hashbrowns! It was one of the best meals I have had in awhile!

I think all of us stayed on that runners high for the rest of the weekend and we all felt great with only mild soreness the next day! It was a good sign, a great day, a good race and just what we needed to know we'll be unstoppable in Orlando!!!

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!

YES to the PRINCESS Dress!!!!

So, last night I get home to discover a large padded envelope had arrived.  FROM HONG KONG, IT'S MY DRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!  After I treat Bryan's broken eardrums incurred from my shrieks of delight, I tear open the package, breathless with anticipation! I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

You can't fake this kind of excitement! It had a Thank You card!

OMG- It looks even better in real life than it did online!

Hold on a sec. I'm not the 7 year old girl this was made for

Stop laughing, it'll fit.

See? I'm halfway in! Am a genius!

I'm not stuck, ummm....I'm thinking about my next move

Hold on...I forgot about two things

Cheap feel, but someone's gotta do it

Serious error in judgement. Am taller than a 7 year old

Yeah, it's on, but that's as far as it goes. You win, dress!

So, it didn't quite fit. I thought I could squeeze into it, but didn't bank on the height of the dress being my downfall...I knew it would be about kneelength instead of a ballgown, but I didn't realize it would be more of an empire waist. The whole bodice is about 6 inches long!  I'm not worried, I should easily be able to cut off the skirt and add a yellow tank top, which would be moisture wicking anyways. And being able to breath is always a great idea, especially on a 21K run.

I did give it one more try later where I just pulled it on as a tube top instead of trying to fit into the arm holes...I think it looked a lot better with the accessories and I can't wait for race day!



A princess always curtsies! Even when her ribcage is collapsing.

Mirror Mirror, on the wall....

So, it's been a rough week for training. Rough in that tonight was my first run in exactly seven days, and it sort of felt like crap. I was so tired and have eaten nothing but junk for the past week and I felt like the week off training (toboganning aside) really showed in my performance...I was tired and whiny and wanted to quit.  But, Christmas is a busy time, so I'm not going to dwell on that and just focus on getting back on track...even though I complained all the way through our 8ks of hills tonight, it sure felt good when it was over and I was proud of myself for even getting off the couch. Even when a run sucks, it's still kind of awesome.  Thanks to my Running Room peeps for the encouragement tonight!

But enough about running, how's the outfit hunt going???

Well, today I bid on and then won a Belle costume from Ebay! 

It was the low, low price of $10, plus $10 for express shipping (from Hong Kong) so for $20, I just might have my awesome running outfit. Now, it is a child's costume, and a size 7 at that, but I did some sizing up this weekend on my 8 year old niece's pretty Christmas dress (abandoned before Christmas dinner in favor of stretchy pants, that's my girl!) which was a size 4. I'm not saying it fit by any means, but I could probably shoehorn myself into it if need be without blowing out all the seams (I would look like a sausage walking upright, but that's not the point here, people. Besides, after 4 days of beer and cookies for breakfast, and averaging 5000 calories a day for most of December I wasn't exactly my leanest).

My thought is that I'll cut the back open and put some yellow elastic in it for increased running comfort and um, to just fit into it. See how pretty??

I hope the fabric absorbs sweat

I figure it will be about knee length on me since I'm not 4 feet tall, which is perfect since I plan to wear shorts under it. I might chop off the underskirt thingie so it looks more like a tutu as well, but we'll see. Plus, since I remembered I don't know how to sew , that modifying an existing dress might be a better option than trying to make one without a pattern or sewing machine.  With any luck, it will be delivered really soon and I can see what I have to work with, and also if I can actually run any distance in it without chafing to death or drowning in my own sweat.  I figure worst case is that I'm only out $20 and my niece will be set for Halloween next year!

Running in a Winter Wonderland

I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I wouldn't be around to do the Sunday long run with the Running Room. Instead, I opted to take part in a Running Room event on Saturday night...Sight Night, an after dark run that benefits vision impaired athletes. Not only is that a great cause, but it was 8K (just one km short of the run I'm supposed to do tomorrow) on a really nice route and I get a cool headlamp! You had me at hello, Sight Night! Crystal had to work (boo) but Christi decides to keep me company (probably so she can sleep in on a Sunday)

Princess Chris meets me at Eau Claire bearing gifts---Fancy grippies for our shoes and head gloves to keep our foreheads, ears, chins and necks warm on a -17C run. Paired with our jazzy new headlamps, we looked like pros! After a few speeches and a quick warm up, we were off! The grippies felt weird in the mall, but were awesome on the snow; nary a slip or skid along the snow covered paths. Running along Memorial with 500 people in headlamps and reflective gear was pretty amazing, and we actually saw a few blind runners being guided along the route, which was pretty neat too. We cheered for all the volunteers along the route---I'm guessing standing around in -17C for an hour is harder than running in -17C for an hour, but they were all cheerful as they pointed us along our way. Unless that clapping we heard was actually teeth chattering. We got quite a few compliments on our snazzy matching head gloves too, which princesses always love to hear.

Product not exactly as shown,
but still totally awesome

We cross the finish line in 52 minutes flat and stay at the finish line for a few minutes cheering runners in until we started freezing. Both our Ipods say we ran 9K, not 8, so we're actually right on track for the long run this week, hurray! We head inside to discover they're handing out hot chocolate WITH AS MANY MARSHMALLOWS AS WE WANT in them along with some of Calgary's best sandwiches, bananas, chips and the biggest oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I've ever seen (full disclosure: I had 2 once I confirmed they weren't raisins). We plop ourselves down on the floor with our bounty, hastily take off every sweaty outer layer (Christi almost has a wardrobe malfunction forgetting which layer was the last one) and devour what is probably the best meal I've had in weeks, picnic style. Neither of us wins a door prize, but the shower I have when I get home is prize enough for me.

I think I've become addicted to entering races. I love the energy of the runners, the volunteers and the people who just want to stand there and cheer. I love the swag, the whole experience start to finish, and the pride I feel at the finish line. And I've loved every new thing I've tried so far---running with other people, running without headphones, running at night, running in the snow and combining all of the above! Now I'm off to follow the Flames on a road trip through New York, New Jersey, Philly and Pittsburgh, so I'm hoping I can get some runs in this week in exotic new destinations...stay tuned!

Yeah, I'm treating it like a temple all right!

Since we have yet to have a nutrition talk at our running clinic, I think I can feign ignorance here...on Sunday we ran our 9K, which at the end we discovered was almost 11K...10.8K including our cooldown. No wonder I felt so tired and sore, I'd done almost 2 extra "fun" kilometers and it wasn't even 10am on a Sunday! Before I left, I ate half a whole wheat bagel and some spoons of yogurt. I think I've decided bagels are pretty much the best running food ever, so that was great, but I ended up regretting the yogurt. Although delicious vanilla sweetened with honey, it kept ummm....repeating on me the second half of the run. No pre-run dairy? Lesson learned, belly!

Anyways, after I got home and had the world's greatest shower (not much feels better after an hour of running in zero C than a shower so hot it melts your skin right off and the steam burns your lungs) I headed out with my fella to our local pub for their $3.99 breakfast.  I was so hungry by the time it arrived, I kept burning my mouth on the molten hash browns while I frantically slathered peanut butter and jam on the toast, then ate it like a gull (right down the hatch, no time to chew!) The bacon and eggs suffered a similar fate of barely grazing my taste buds on their way down.  Three cups of coffee later, we headed out for some Sunday shopping!

Next stop: Fabricland to see if they carry "activewear" fabric if I was going to give making a Disney Princess dress a go instead of buying it.  Advantages: would be wicking fabric, custom and awesome and fit an adult instead of trying to cram into a child's costume.  Disadvantages: fabric was ludicrously priced at $30 a meter and oh, yeah, I don't know how to sew or have a sewing machine. I felt like a failure as a woman wandering the aisles as the other women expertly talked about darts and basting and serging.  So, off for a bit more (less depressing) shopping.  At Toys R Us, I stock up on Christmas presents for munchkins, and a bunch of awesome candy for myself to eat in the car.

We're happy in your belly, Princess Fliss!

After a few more shops (and a few more dollars spent) I was starving again.  I guess running 11K after a week of sleeping off a fever on the couch really works up the 'ol appetite! Off to the very conveniently priced Ikea for hotdogs!  We order 2 hotdogs each, pop, chips and cinnamon buns (that the lady warned me to be careful on as they were freshly iced and hot out of the oven...mmmmm.....) for an early dinner (it was 330) and again, devour like a gull.

At 530pm, was starving again. Time to make more nutritionally sound decisions!  Remembering there were chicken potstickers in the freezer, I fry up a batch and according to the label on the back, eat 3 servings.  Who are these servings actually supposed to satisfy? Not the giant North American who ran 11k this morning, I told myself as I surreptitiously licked the last bits of greasy goodness off my fingers and drank the rest of the dipping sauce.

Without divulging my calorific intake for the day (even attempting the math fills me with remorse), I can say I probably had a weeks worth of sodium in 7 hours. And not a single vegetable.  And ALL the protein and  carbs were either deep fried or covered in icing. It doesn't take an expert to see that I probably didn't refuel properly today, and my diet probably contributed to the increasing pain I'm feeling in the back of my legs.  At least I drank a few gallons of water, even if it was mostly to wash down the Advil.

Madonna who?

I don't wear as many diamonds when I run, but you get the idea

OK, I'm a girl who likes her stuff.  I have to say, part of what I like about running is all the snappy accessories that go with it. In fact, the only reason I bought myself an Ipod  was to try to get myself out and moving more often. I can't believe I fell for it, or then later, that it actually worked!   I've probably logged HUNDREDS of hours on the ipod chugging away. Next, it was my first pair of $175 running shoes. When the Running Room guy saw that I had been running in Target brand sneakers that cost $14.95 and were crusted with blood on the back from repeated blisters, he asked if he could throw them out and wear the new ones right out of the store(I said yes).  I found that my shin splints and chronic foot pain vanished instantly.  Then I decided I could run better in snappy moisture wicking capris than in dirty sweatpants. I don't know if I got faster, but I felt more comfortable and less disgusting after the long runs.  Then I started buying cute Lululemon jackets and funny headbands, and laughing at "Running Shirt Jokes".  Those don't make me faster, but sometimes I just need a good laugh when I'm 30 seconds into an 8 run.  

Accessories are important too.  Today, I received my first ever Avon order.  I feel like such a grown up!  Instead of lipstick though, I bought a water bottle holder and some socks.  Happily and sadly, my old water bottle holder had grown too big and would fall off when I ran unless I tied the velcro strips around my waist instead of strapping them together.  Not cute at all, and actually pretty chafy, so my last few long runs have been thirsty affairs.  It doesn't look quite as comfy as my old one, but the price was right and it comes with a pocket for my Ipod AND my keys. My old belt had such a small pocket, I could barely fit a house key in there, and my car keys didn't fit at all, so I had to run while holding the key, argh.  This pocket looks like it would hold keys, credit card and a snack!  So long, dry mouth and leg cramps, hello hydration! I'm looking forward to giving the new one a whirl tomorrow morning!

It's all about shoes!

I like shoes.  A LOT. Someday, I hope to be like Imelda Marcos (umm, but without the dictatorship, embezzling and exile) and have a whole room just for shoes.  Problem is, I have big feet.  At age 10, I could actually act my age and my shoe size.  I thought I was going to be really tall after hitting 5'5 by 11 years old, but after 2 more inches (that's what she said!) I maxed out.  Hence, my penchant for 3 inch heels; they allow me to be the height I think I should have been.  Thing is, when your feet are as big as mine, shoe shopping can be tricky.  I'll never forget when I was 10 and wanted My Little Pony sneakers.  The salesman took one look at my feet and said "oh, honey, I can sell you the boxes..." which probably ignited a lifelong desire for pretty shoes (that, and as the saying goes "you can never be too fat for a new pair of shoes", heh!) So, now all my pretty shoes come from the States as they have more variety in size Giant. For sports, I usually wear men's shoes.  I don't mind, they tend to be cheaper and don't really look that different, plus they're super comfy!

Where am I going with this, you ask?  Well, I do love me some heels, but I guess I can't wear them 7 days a week.  This week, I wore Franco Sartos heels on Tuesday, Coach mules on Wednesday and Guess pumps on Thursday.  Yeah, my feet looked awesome, but these are also days I ran 4K, 5K and 3K respectively.  By Friday, my feet were so sore that even though I wore sneakers to work I felt like The Little Mermaid---not the Disney one, the Hans Christian Anderson one who in exchange for getting legs, would feel like she was walking on razor blades.  Even watching TV on Friday night (hey there Socialite!) I had my feet elevated in an attempt to make them feel better. Good thing it wasn't a running day.

So, Saturday breaks and I have to run 8K.   Usually my long runs are the day after a rest day, and after the first K, I could already feel it wasn't going to be the best run.  It was another great day at the reservoir, sunny and a perfect 10C for running.  Boy, fall doesn't last long in Calgary, because the lovely yellow leaves I was all excited about last week are GONE, the trees were completely bare.   There were a lot of families out on bikes, and I did find myself continuously dodging small children, but I made it through without accidentally straightarming anyone.  I felt like I finished strong, but was sort of surprised at the end that I was only 2 minutes quicker than last week's 26C run where I thought I was dying.  I guess I was a bit slower overall this week, I did see a few times my pacing was slower than usual, while my feet felt better, but not 100%. I'm not trying to make excuses, because I felt pretty good about the run, but I was still surprised by my time.  Ah, well, I still ran the whole 8K plus I actually got out of bed before noon on a Saturday, so it's still another success in my books!

In closing,  I'll leave you with this video about someone else who loves shoes too!

Princesses

So, why the princess run, you ask? Well, to be honest, we had tried to get into the Nike Women’s run in San Francisco this year. Instead of a medal, you get a specially made Tiffany necklace from a firefighter, so they have to do a random draw for the spots they have because it’s basically the greatest idea ever. Alas, we didn’t get in, but had decided to run a half marathon, so we needed to find something else. I hate to say Disney was runner up, but now that we’re registered, we think it’ll be just as much fun, and a heck of a lot less hills. We get to dress up like princesses for it AND run a race through Disneyworld, which should be a blast!  Seriously, what could be more fun than that? Plus, the medal looks pretty, and it is a race geared more towards women, so the race shirts should be pretty nice too. In order to decide which princess we wanted to be, we took this simple quiz here:

http://toys.about.com/library/quiz/disneyprincess/bldisneyprincessquiz.htm

Now, we realize this quiz is geared for children, especially with answers like “I have to do what my parents tell me to”, but we needed help deciding which princess and a good quiz never lies. As you can see from our profile images, we are going as Belle, Arial and Mulan, so we’re going to need costumes that show off our princessly sides, yet also wick moisture away as we run 21K through Disney World. I’m thinking since none of us can sew, it’ll be along the lines of child size tutus and glitter crowns over our running gear. We’re hoping that with Halloween not too far away, we’ll be able to find suitable accoutrements!

Week 3...almost

Getting to the last day of week 3 tomorrow and was actually on track all week...cross trained on Monday and Friday and ran Tuesday through Thursday, plus strength training.  I think the fact that it rained for 10 days straight in Calgary meant I had nothing to do but stick with it and pound it out on the treadmill. I have to do 6.5K this weekend, and I'm sort of looking forward to it, as I  feel like the whole running thing is slowly starting to come back to me.  Also, in certain lights and at just the right angles, my abs are looking sort of awesome!

Also, I added a new map below.  We thought it would be fun to keep track of the distance of every run and see how close we would actually get to Disneyland on foot during the course of our training.  We're only going to count running distances, not cross training, just to keep it like a half marathon would be.  Since I'm Google Map Illiterate and that simple map took me 45 minutes to figure out, I'm only going to update it on the first of each month, but below you can see our progress up to September 1...halfway to the border, we're currently in Claresholm!  I'm guessing by October first, we could be virtual shopping at the Target in Great Falls and refueling at Fuddruckers.  Check it out!

Lastly, since Halloween is already all over the shelves, I've been checking out the Disney Princess costumes. I'm thinking if I can find a large child's costume, I can hack it up to make a princess running outfit since I have zero sewing skillz.  So far no luck, but I got some laughs tonight at Toys R Us when I tried to cram myself into an "age 3 and up" costume.  I swear, it almost fit.  And the accessories in that aisle are awesome; I might carry a wand for the run.

The price of looking AWESOME!

After work today, I stopped by the mall for some legitimate errands (my Nike plus isn't working and I was hoping to get it fixed or replaced).  Since I was at the mall, I thought I would check out my favorite athleticwear store and see what was new in the running section.  I happen to believe the cuter you look, the faster you run, so I thought I would try on their snappy running pants.  The new ones are all tapered at the bottom and the theory is that tighter fabric is better for muscles and recovery and blah blah blah.  I've tried them on a few times in the store and I can't help but agree, they do feel like there would be less stressful and a faster recovery after a stressful run.  I can't actually test it out on an actual run though, because frankly the tapered legs make my butt look big...ger.  I feel more comfortable in either flared pants or a capri with a flare right below the knee, and um...they have to be snug so my cheeks don't smack together while I run, OK?

Anyway, after being horribly reminded that I have legs that look like ice cream cones, I got all distracted by the tops they had.  Since we are running outside frequently and the days are getting shorter and colder, I thought it would make sense to check out some long sleeved tops in bright colors so I'm easier to see early in the morning...I do have one yellow number that can almost be seen from space, but I can't wear it on consecutive days (yeah, not only do my cheeks slap together when I run but I sweat like a hog on slaughter day.  I need all the pretty outfits I can get to detract from all the scary)  Oh, and safety first! Lulu did not disappoint, they had tops in this great orange that I really liked.  I find out later from their website that the shade is called Alarming, heh. I spent 5 minutes in the change room trying to decide if I looked awesome or stupid in this:

Orange jacket

It's made of a fabric that I have on another shirt that I love and wear a lot, it's a crazy color, has reflectors, a hood and hand protectors, so it would be great for outdoor runs.  Plus, it makes me look all cute and thin and has some interesting lines on it.  But...maybe I don't want a hood flapping around me as I run, and maybe it's just a bit too flashy for me.  After preening for a few minutes, I decide to buy it anyways and get a second opinion since I am largely incapable of making any adult decisions on my own.  On my way to the till, I spot this:

Other orange jacket

I try it on, and I've suddenly lost 20lbs and seem to be some kind of super athlete!  It's the same color as the other jacket so it's good and bright for outdoors, plus it has pockets and a high neck to keep me warm and a zipper for when I get TOO warm (this happens around 3 minutes into a run).  It's not the same fabric as the other one, but it's probably a bit warmer.Plus the guy behind the counter sees me try it on and says "oh, honey, if you were wondering? YES YOU CAN wear that color, it looks great on you!", which totally validates what I was thinking, and made me feel like I was on Sex and the City or something.

I panic.  I ask what their return policy is, and am told I have 2 weeks to decide.  Rather than buy neither and come back after I decide to find they are gone, (this has happened before, I won't let it happen again!) I buy both and leave the store in a haze of excitement and terror at what I have just done. I can't keep them both, since they're the same color, but I don't know what to do, they're both that great. Ahh!!!