Happy Leap Day!

According to a study conducted by Harvard in the late  70's, new graduates who wrote down their goals and plans to accomplish them were something like a bazillion times richer and more successful than those who did not. I'm starting to think that this is true. If I write something down I am WAY more likely to stick to it than just saying or thinking it. So here goes my LEAP!!

In 2012, I am going to run FOUR Half Marathons. We've been searching for suitable options and here are a few of the really fun looking ones...

-Calgary or Edmonton Half Marathon (TBD)
-Kelowna Half Marathon (TBD)
-Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon
-Lululemon's SeaWheeze
-Nike Women's Half Marathon (TBD)
-Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon

We're trying to space them out every couple of months which should hopefully keep us in shape and motivated all year long. We're also trying to find a balance between "fun" and "affordable"...I recently figured out I spent over $500 on race fees last year, to say nothing of the trips I took to get there! But I just can't say no to those awesome Disney races!

Any suggestions?

Even though it's nearly March, this is like a New Year's Resolutions list of sorts.

1. Start blogging about running again (check!)

2. Pick a few runs to do this year to keep us motivated (check!)

3. Start running.....*crickets, crickets*

Yes, it's been months since any updates, and the truth is, there hasn't really been any. Pretty much a full stop on running, and I for one have filled that void with pizza. Needless to say, taking up running again won't be easy....but I'm happy to report Princess Chris and I went for our first run together this year yesterday at the Reservoir in spite of -5C, snow and howling winds. While it might not have been the most pleasant run ever, it sure felt good to be back on track and getting some running goals together for the year. Yes, it was a very difficult 5K as we gasped along the icy trail, but we DID IT. And we have concrete plans to run twice so far this week. And compared to so far this year, that's a pretty good start.

Back for real. No, really this time!



This morning the three princesses went for our first run together since...well...our Princess Half Marathon. We've each had the odd run here and there, but it's been a while since we were a trio! It was really great to run with the ladies again, I've missed it.

What's up, you ask?



My toes look prettier, but the idea is the same

-Princess Fliss and Princess Chris have registered for the Disneyland Half Marathon in September, which means we get Coast to Coast medals for extra blingy glory on race day!

-Princess Crys wasn't able to commit to the race before it sold out (back in March, guess we aren't the only ones who want the Coast to Coast) but has promised to keep up the race training with us

-Nobody's running pants fit quite as nicely as they did when we were running 30-40K a week.

So, we have a PLAN and we're sticking to it! Disney was kind enough to even make one for us and while we're starting a few weeks behind, I think this one will work nicely. We have the basics under our (stretched out, in my case) belts and hopefully the flexibility of this plan will help us stick to it.  We were a bit slower today that we used to be, but I think everyone felt good about the run.

As for our paths, the airport construction is in full swing but they've been kind enough to add an actual running route back in for us that's a near perfect 5K, thanks YYC!  Plus, if we run after 7am, the mosquitos are so thick out there they keep us running away from them.

Princess Expo

OK, we're working on a slide show so you don't get overwhelmed by giant posts...that's why there's no pictures to go with the story below...but we're working on it, stay tuned!

Every Princess needs a show, right? Well, the day before our race, we headed over to the ESPN Sports Zone at DisneyWorld to pick up our race packs. We got there before it started, and it was already so busy we had to park on the grass and pack sandwiches for the hike into the expo.  The line looked huge, but it was mostly because they weren't letting anyone in yet.

While we waited in line, we were able to hop into Guest Services and pick up our park passes, (big time saver the next day) and chatted with the ladies around us in line. We were in a perfect spot to see the Fairy Godmother make a speech and with a burst of streamers, the expo had begun!  We could choose the "express entrance" and go straight in, or opt to wait for a photo  with the Fairy Godmother herself. Since we were all practically crying with excitement, we naturally chose to wait and say hello to the FG. She called us all her darlings and with a smile and wave of her wand, we got some pictures with her and the footmen before heading into the expo itself...

Just inside the door were greeters with magic wands to sprinkle us with Pixie Dust!  Bibbity Bobbidy Boo...may all your race day wishes come true!  With a wave of the wand, we were all showered with green glitter (good luck which would serve us all well over the next 3 days). After all getting dusted up (and the shrieks of excitement had died down), we headed down to pick up our bibs.  Since we had registered minutes apart and they were organized by bib number, we were all in the same line, yay! Bibs were colored by the princess we had chosen during signup and all labeled with our Princess names.  Pretty sweet!  We were also pretty excited to see were were in Corral D, not F (the last one) like we had assumed, so we would be leaving 15 minutes earlier than we thought.  We walked across the marker that activated our race chip and head over to pick up our swag bags.  The bags were awesome lime green drawstring mesh backpacks and the race shirts were adorable!

After we picked up our shirts, we searched for water to begin the pre-race hydration process...only to find that in addition to bottles of water and Powerade, the Expo was kind enough to have FROSTY MILLER LITE BEER FOR $3 a pint!!!!!  YES PLEASE DISNEY!?!  We drank our 1030am beers as we wandered the expo and felt as gleeful as frat boys in Vegas!  We checked out the medals, the merchandise, and entered draws and grabbed freebees like pace bracelets and fridge magnets before heading back out into the sunshine.

We spent the afternoon relaxing- tanning and hanging out at the awesome pool at our condo, resting up before the big race while drinking plenty of water.  The weather throughout the trip was unseasonably warm, so we were treated to glorious blue skies with fluffy clouds and perfect 30C temperatures.

For dinner, we headed out early to the Cheesecake Factory, confident their giant portions would carb load us up before our race.  Naturally, it did not disappoint, in fact, the servings were so huge we ended up bringing home most of what we had ordered (even though it was all delicious) and we all took our cheesecakes (2 red velvets, a chocolate mousse and a peanut butter cup, mmmmm!) to go.

We were home around 830, spent a bit of time getting ourselves all organized, and it was lights out around 9pm for the Princesses....I think we had 4 alarms set for our 3am wakeup...

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!

Ladies, start your engines…

Yes, I've used this before, but he's just so darn cute!

Big news! We finally got around to setting up our trip! We all had our vacation days approved last week, so we thought we really ought to get started. Since Christi started a new role, we were all able to take an extra few days off, so our original plan of "fly in on redeye, run, fly home next day" will now be a couple of days where we can hit the Magic Kingdom, the Outlet Malls and of course, our beloved Target. HURRAY!

Our rental car is booked, we found an amazingly low deal plus were able to get a car that seats "5 adults and 4 large suitcases" so our shopping will have a home. Plus, since we had to pay in full, we'll have accrued the cost before we get there, which will make it feel like it was free!!!

And we found what looks like an amazing place to stay---located 5 miles from Disneyworld, it's actually a 3 bedroom condo in the adorably named "Villas at Seven Dwarfs Lane". For an incredible price, we get 1400 square feet of snazzy renos with our own bedrooms (I called dibs on the bunk bed room right off the bat), ensuite jacuzzi and access to the giant pool outside, free parking and more flat screen TVs than we can shake a stick at! It'll also has a full kitchen, which will be great to be able to store pre-and-post race food and drink, even though I plan to eat most of my meals at the conveniently located Cheesecake Factory down the street or at the park.  It will be paid in full by the time we get there too, so we'll have lots of money to spend at the malls (or at least, that's what it'll feel like).

Now we have car and hotel booked and are firmly in our training...all that's left to do now is to start working on our awesome princess outfits for race day and we're set!

Synchronicity abounds!

We're 8 weeks into our training and we've decided to kick our training up a notch.  We've been sticking to our program  and having the support of our fellow princesses has been invaluable to our success so far, but we registered for one of the Running Rooms clinics that ends just 2 weeks before our Princess run.  Haha, we thought, this clinic is to prepare for the Hypothermic Half, but Orlando is gonna be SO much better!  Plus, now we'll have more motivation for those darn long runs.The nerves started as soon as we registered...I'm gonna suck, everyone's going to be RUNNERS there and I won't be able to keep  up...but right in the registration package it said not to worry about those butterflies in our stomach, it was going to be fun!  So, we show up at 630 tonight at the location nearest to all our houses and meet the other 12 or so people who will be running with us for the next 17 weeks.  There, we learn we have a fellow princess training for the same run, and she even works at the same place as us! And hey, so does the instructor!  And...we found out as we were leaving that one of the two gentleman in our clinic works there too!  I mean, what are the odds that HALF THE PEOPLE IN THIS CLINIC work at the same place which is possibly the furthest point from work while still being in the same city? Seriously, I just checked it on Mapquest and the airport is 30km away from our clinic, Vegas probably wouldn't even take those odds.

Anyway, we get our welcome packs and a brief overview of how the weekly schedule is going to go, and then head out for our first group run!  We run just under 4k as a group and it felt just fine!  It was a new route, it was COLD out and I think the group stayed reasonably close together during the run, so I think our running levels are pretty comparable.  Oh, and I found out during the run that one of the other girls is not only in the same soccer division as me, but that our teams play each other THIS SUNDAY?!?!?!  Seriously, it was a weird night for me, I should pick up a lottery ticket on my way to work tomorrow.

If we had really been thinking, we would have taken a picture to commemorate the occasion, but no luck. Just imagine the "Hurray for Disney" photo to the right has no sun, long pants, wind breakers over jackets, mittens and headbands, and red noses with sweaty foreheads. Oh, and matching shirts, as soon as they come in, they didn't have any left since we registered mere hours before the clinic started.  I think we're going to have fun at this and learn a few new things along the way. Plus, a lot of the people seemed like fun, so we might even find some new running buddies.  Now all we need is to psyche ourselves up to make it for the 830am Sunday runs.  Our instructor did suggest we all go for breakfast after these long runs at such an ungodly hour, so she knows how to motivate me for sure!

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!

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!!!

Do You Know the Way to San Jose...I mean Chachis?

So the very first post on our blog was July 29, 2010. It’s now 33 days later and quite a few degrees colder outside and we have finally today began to follow our training schedule for the pre-marathon 10k race in Phoenix. And what better way to begin training than to decide to run to the airport and reward ourselves with Chachi’s sandwiches, chilled dill pickles and cheesy, gooey mac & cheese?!! Bizarre idea you say? No way! It was fabulous and well worth the 2.72kms to the airport, Christi keeping a close watch on the killer hawk that now gives her daymares at work and Felicity and I trying to be brave and show no fear to this bird with the 9ft wing span! Well, that’s at least how big it looks in the shadow circling our heads.

We mapped it as 2 separate runs because we stopped in the middle. Also, because we can do basic math!

Never the less, we arrived safely at the airport and Christi and I built perfect sandwiches (Fliss was eager to get back to her amazing Sunterra lasagna) and we were on our way again. Now you would assume we brought a bag or small backpack to put said sandwiches, pickles and Mac & Cheese in, but no, we football carried the subs in one hand and held the Mac & Cheese and Dill Pickles in the other. I’d be lying if I said it made the run easier. It really messed up our stride! And to make matters worse, pickle juice was running all down my arm and then the Hawk was back again, hovering, just waiting to grab one of us by the ponytail and fly off into oblivion with us and our tasty lunches!!

Running for our lives! I mean lunches!

Clearly since I am writing this, we did make it back the remaining 2.31kms unscathed and Chachi’s sandwiches never tasted so good! All finished off with 100 calorie oreo cookie ice cream treats and I would call this first day of actually training a success! Princesses 1 : Hawk 0!

I’m starting to notice a pattern here in these blogs; less about running, and more about food!! Nom, Nom, Nom!!

PS...Fliss here...if Crystal's shorts look familiar, it's because they're Christi's! Hahaha!

DAY 2 - PrincessCrys

So yesterday we had a meeting amongst the Princesses to chat about training, the blog, getting to and from Orlando, where we’re going to stay, where we’re going to eat after the race and most importantly how far the nearest Target is from Disney World! There was little talk of training and more of how pretty our blog will be and what delicious food we can find for after the race! Training Schmaining!! We talked about important stuff!! ;)

Alright, so about today! I got off to a GREAT start. I slept in. Didn’t make it to the gym in time to do the usual 30 min of cardio before our workout. Sleeping is important right?? But I think Dan the Man’s new workout kicked my Abs into high gear and now no one is allowed to say anything funny to me today. It hurts to laugh. Tomorrow I will make it to the gym by 6am and on that dreadmill. I mean treadmill.

AND THEY'RRRRE OFFFFFFF!

Just in time to catch the early bird reduced fee, we've all officially registered for the Disney Princess Half Marathon as of today! Since it's 100% non-refundable and non-transferable, I guess this means in 29 weeks we're all flying thousands of kilometers to run 21K at the Happiest Place on Earth!  Guess it's time to strap on our shoes and start running...and planning the perfect princess outfit!

Getting Started!

We're running the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February 2011 at DisneyWorld in Orlando, FL.  You can read about our progress and training right here!