WE DID IT!!!!!!!

Another successful Disney run DONE! And finally, some pictures to go with the blog...

We arrived in Anaheim last week and since our hotel wasn't ready for check-in, we went straight to the expo to pick up our race packs. We were delighted to find the unisex shirts were actually quite nice, bought some cool new headbands guaranteed to keep sweat out of our eyes, and won Angels ballcaps.  After the expo, we headed to Jack in the Box and Target to stock up on delicious food and buy bottled water and cute new clothes.

And they'rrrrrrre OFF!...to the Expo

After a false start, we end up in the right line and pick up our bibs!

On Saturday, we headed to Disneyland for a half day...checked out the new Star Tours (awesome) and went on a bunch of rides before heading back to the hotel to relax by the pool, then head to Cheesecake Factory for a pre-race dinner of pasta and...cheesecake.  We also decided that CF would be always our new pre-race dinner since it's worked so well for us the past 2 times.  Since we had to get up at 430, it was lights out at 8pm...

I photoshopped out the beer and cheesecake, suckers!

RACE DAY!!!!!!!!

We jumped out of bed and dressed quickly, shrieking over how cute we looked in our outfits. We headed over to the starting line, where after some confusion, we got into the correct corral and....waited.....to....start....after the anthem and some fireworks, and the first 3 corrals, we were OFF!!!  We managed to snag pictures at EVERY mile marker too! Here are some of the best pictures from our run...

Feeling good...for 5am

Minnie Mice at the Castle

Does this make out butts look FAST?

We're only smiling because it's almost over...

I can't move out of the finish chute quickly, I need a picture.
And some aspirin please

COAST TO COAST BLING!!!

Final time was 2:35:32, which means we were 12 seconds faster than Disneyworld and proves that when I say I only have one running speed, I ain't kidding. I am nothing if not consistent. Plus, since we had run a race at each park, we received the Coast to Coast medal, so we had very satisfying clinking noises as the two medals clanged together on the walk back to the hotel.

Post race, we had a quick soak in the hottub before heading to the Angels game for hotdogs, beer and relaxing in the sun. Angels win, and we head back to the park until midnight...then the next day we were at the park from 8am-midnight. Squeezed out every drop of fun, but maybe was a bit too much...I was so sore on the flight home the next day, I had to take the Folkswagon from the gate to customs because I didn't think I could handle the 6 minute walk...




Post race beer and chili cheese dogs at the Angels game...Angels win!



Actually, yes, we DID plan the outfits--Twins game, get it??

Fairy Godmother flies coast to coast too!

Best. Day. EVER!!!!!

We had an awesome time, the weather was great, and all the new stuff at Disney was amazing (World of Color, Star Tours, Little Mermaid, Captain EO coming back) and the race was great.

Our New Years resolution was to complete four half marathons in 2011, so we have one to go...

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Disney we go!

It's the glamour life for me...I returned home from Mexico late last night and today I'm doing laundry and repacking my bag for Disney leaving tomorrow morning, HURRAY! Am already checked in and since half my travel stuff was already packed, I basically have to just swap out beach coverups for running shoes and make sure I remember to pack painkillers and bodyglide (which isn't as creepy as it sounds).

Just don't call me Dopey!

In case you're wondering, I did not get to enjoy any sunrise running along the beach on this trip to Mexico. But the schedule did call for "tapering", easily the best part of training for a long race. Tapering means total rest for your legs, no running at all for the week before a race because the rest will get your body all ready for a long run. And, oh, how I tapered in Mexico! Now, I don't think the athletic community means "sit your Hawaiian Tropic bottom down on a lounger for 8 hours a day while sucking back any blended drink that wanders by" and ending every day with room service club sandwich with fries please regardless of whether you were actually hungry or not. But I think every athlete is unique and requires slight modifications to best suit their lifestyle and this was definitely mine! Hopefully my diligence pays off on Sunday!

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!