Friday, March 28, 2014

Blogging Hiatus

Sooo my hard drive died last Saturday.  Booo!  So I'm taking a little hiatus until its fixed again.  Hopefully by the end of next week!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Orlando Yelp Event- The Thirsty Topher

Our first Yelp event of the year was at The Thirsty Topher.


It was a dive-ish type bar off the beaten path and was pretty neat.  Here's a shot of what it looks like before everyone filed in.


I am not a big beer drinker.  The only beer I really drink is Bud Light (I know, I know.)  I told the very nice bartender this and that I liked sweet things.  He brought over a sample of banana bread beer.  It wasn't bad.  He also told me about this beer called a Radler that was mixed with Grapefruit soda.  That sounded more up my alley so I decided to try it.  And it was so good!  It didn't taste like beer at all.  I could easily imagine myself drinking it sitting by a pool.

 

When we had arrived, we were given a raffle ticket where we could get Avocado Fries from the Sushi and Seoul food truck.  Yum!


But the main reason for the event was to get to know our new Orlando Community Manager, Andi P.  She was so nice!  We will miss Colleen, but I think we're going to be in great hands.  Andi started the year off on a bang!


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Weekly Recap- March 10-16, 2014

I ran the Gate River run this past weekend.  I was worried about it since I was injured and under Doctor's orders of no running for 8 weeks.  Plus I'd only run 3 times since December 30th and all 3 times were races.  And there were two bridges in the race--1 of them huge.  I told myself not to push it.  Just enjoy it.  And I ended up PRing my 15k time by 11 seconds!

Saturday--Gate River Run 15k--9.5 miles in 1:41:31 (Mile 1: 9:3, Mile 2: 10:21, Mile 3: 10:21, Mile 4: 10:12, Mile 5: 10:31, Mile 6: 11:24, Mile 7: 11:12, Mile 8: 11:48, Mile 9: 11:10, Mile 9-9.5: 10:28, average pace: 10:42)

Total miles this week: 9.5
Total miles in 2014: 56.09
Total miles: 1124.08

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Race # 45- Enchanted 10k

Cori and I woke up early Saturday morning and headed to Epcot for the Enchanted 10k.  It was my first 10k at WDW and I was excited to try out the new course.  We met up with Kristin (A Mom on the Run) and Cori ran into one of her friends from back home. 





We chatted for a while and then started to head to our corral since they had announced it was time a few minutes before.  Kristin and Cori's friend headed to the A corral and we headed to the B.  Right before we went in, Cori headed to the bathroom--which stressed me out (remember from earlier how I don't like being late) but I took the opportunity to snap another pic.




  Well just as it was her turn, our corral started walking so I wasn't too happy about that and about being in the back of the corral.  Oh well.

This corral start was interesting.  I'm not sure how to describe it but it started different than normal.  The A corral went off at 5:30.  I thought that the 10k would be like the half with only 2-3 minutes in between but it seemed like it was forever until we started.  My Runkeeper app said 5:41 so 11 minutes between starts.  Too long in my opinion.  Anyways, like always, I love the fireworks start!






Soon we were off.  I was nervous again for this race because I didn't know how I would feel.  I hadn't run at all in 6 weeks, and I wasn't supposed to be running this race (or for another 6 weeks after).  Luckily, I was never in any pain!

Towards the beginning of the run, we saw Elsa up on one of the overpasses and it was "snowing".  Pretty cool!


And that was pretty much all of the entertainment for the first half of the race (or longer).  It was honestly pretty boring for a Disney run.  Even the 5ks are more entertaining.  There is plenty of spaces for there to be more entertainment.  I decided I prefer half marathons over 10k at WDW and 10ks over half marathons at DL.   Hopefully runDisney will step up their 10ks at WDW! 

It was definitely a gross morning.  Very foggy and hot.  We don't normally stop at water stations during 10ks but it was so humid, we knew we needed to.  But at the first stop, there was no Gatorade (and I don't drink water).  Nor was there any at the next one, or the one after that.  When I asked runDisney about it afterwards, the guy said they only have Gatorade for half marathons or longer.  Ugh.  Not cool for those of us who don't like water and it was hot enough that I'm sure there were plenty of people who needed electrolytes!

Anyways, we came into Epcot and started our run through the park.



 
 


Then we ran out and through the Boardwalk and Yacht and Beach area.


Back through Epcot





Yes I'm a big dork but I love this picture






 Before we knew it, we were done!





Definitely not my favorite runDisney race, but I'll try to do it for as long as I can so I can get Legacy! 

 
 

Our official time was 1:16:29.  Definitely not our best time but it was hot and we hadn't run in a while.  I was 2613th out of 8969 so top third.  For gender, I was 2178 out of 7979 so top third again and 377 for age and gender (not sure out of how many.)




After the race, we got our medals engraved and headed out to Cori's car.  Which wouldn't start.  We had to get the nice security guards to help us.  They couldn't figure out what was wrong so they called the car help place that's over by MK and the guy pretty much got it started right away!



Poor Cori felt bad but I didn't mind.  It made for a good story!!

Friday, March 7, 2014

Princess Half Marathon Weekend--Fit for a Princess Expo (and other fun race weekend activities)

I freely admit it.  I LOVE the runDisney expos and spend way too much money there.  And I knew Princess weekend would be the worst.  We took the day off from work so we could head to the expo first thing and help out the Raw Threads booth.  We were fortunate to get everything we wanted!

And like marathon weekend, starting the day before the expo, Cori and I were there every. single. day.  It just can't be helped!

On Wednesday night, we stopped by because we were going to see if Sweatybands  needed help.  They were good, but we did pick up their newest Disney-inspired Sweatybands.  Oh how I love these!


We also took advantage of the fact that no one else was around.



We headed back to the expo early on Thursday morning to help Raw Threads set up.  We grabbed one of their cute new designs to wear (they had some great new things!)
 
 
 
Then we headed around the Expo to grab the things we knew we wanted.



 My wedding was Cinderella's Carriage, Glass Slipper, and Castle themed so I love these items!

The Dooney and Burke purse ( I love the design but not so happy that they didn't make any wristlets this year)


We got our Minnie shoes (we had signed up as soon as registrations opened earlier in the morning)


as well as the New Balance tee that I had seen after the Marathon weekend expo and wanted


Once inside the runDisney merchandise booth, we got:

These cute tees

We always have to get an I Did It shirt.  I also got a window cling (since magnets don't work on my new car--boo) and a wine glass


 
 
The necklace for the Glass Slipper along with the medal for the runDisney Vinylmation and some Sweatybands


Then we headed back to the Raw Threads booth to help out for the day.  It was so much fun to talk to all the runners!

Later that afternoon, we headed to packet pickup and got our tech shirts


Then I headed to a DisBroads meetup at the Wave restaurant at the Contemporary.  It was fun to hang out with Ashley (The Pavement Princess) and her hubby and meet lots of running fans I talk to on Twitter.

Then when I got home that night, I realized that none of the items for the Princess Team that I signed us up for where in the bag.  I had a moment of panic.  I was sure I signed us up!  I checked my emails and saw that I did.  So I sent a quick inquiry out into the Twitterverse and Facebook world to find out that we were supposed to be told to go to another desk in the area where we got our packets to get our Team goodies.  Grr.  Looked like we were heading back the next day.

On Friday, right after school, I went to the #runnerslove meetup at the Poly.  This was another great meetup and I won some KT tape!


Then Cori and I headed back to the expo for a brief stop to get our Team goodies.  We were going right before dinner with our hubbies.  We thought the Expo was open until 8 again but it was only open til 7.  We got there at 6:55.  All of the cast members were yelling that we had 5 minutes.  We hauled booty but honestly, I probably would have said something if we were stopped since we were supposed to be told about the items the day before but weren't. 

Anyways, we got our goodies for Team Tangled Feet



Honestly--$15 for those two things wasn't really worth it.  We didn't wear either item during the races.  Oh well.

We also stopped for another photo opp.




After dinner, I headed home to get my outfit together for the Enchanted 10k

 
On Saturday, after the 10k, Cori wanted to head back to the Expo to go to the KT tape booth to tape her knee.  Admittedly, we did get there pretty close to closing time (about 2 hours before).  But the KT tape booth was completely out of KT tape and were only taping if you brought some from home.  Grr!  I would have brought mine if I knew that!  Before they always had plenty (even at marathon weekend!!)  so we made a couple of laps around the expo to see if we could find some at another vendor.  No dice.  Cori was also looking for a purple shirt or tank to match her costume for the following morning since the one she had made wasn't tech material and it was going to be too hot to wear.  She found her shirt...and we also found more goodies:
 
Another New Balance tee we had seen during marathon weekend and wasn't out the first day of the expo and an Asics shirt.  I loved this shirt but decided not to buy it at first.  We went back right at the end and I was debating when they announced it was 50% off.  Yeah, I was sold.
 

We also saw these cute Cheer signs so I grabbed a few (I wanted them all but they only let me take 3)


Then I headed back home and got my outfit ready for the Princess Half Marathon!