2013 Tinker Bell Half Marathon

2:45 am.....it's early, but so worth it.  Our Team was supposed to meet in the hotel lobby at 3:15 am to walk over to the start corrals.  I was walking with Edna and Michelle- we were all in corral C, so we dropped our stuff off and then made a surprisingly quick stop at the porta potties and then made our way to our corral.  It was a little chilly waiting, but I had my sweatshirt and gloves and I was pretty comfortable while waiting for the start time.   Before we knew it the national anthem was being sung and shortly after that corral A was on their way and then corral B and then it was our turn!

My plan was to follow at 2 min run/1 min walk ratio for this race.  I started off down the road and then turned to enter California Adventure and made our way through the park and got to see parts of the new Cars Land (which was so much fun to visit later that day!) and they had the the colorful fountains from the World of Color show on for us as we ran by, and I stopped to take a quick picture.  When it was time to leave California Adventure, I received my first update text from runDisney about my 5k split. I realized that the timing was off for that split, so I sent a quick text to my husband to let him know that during one of my walk breaks.  That split said my pace was 17:54 and I knew that was not possible.  I had been checking my pace every now and then and the pace on my watch was showing an average of 13:11.  I felt good, I was not too worried about falling off my pace, though I did feel like I may be going a little too fast, but I didn't intentionally slow down.            

Next up was Disneyland!  It was really nice to run through the park since I wasn't planning on visiting the park during this trip.  I love seeing the parks at night, and since it was still dark out, I was able to see the castle all lit up.  Again, I happened to be at a walk break right at the castle, so I stopped to take a quick picture before moving along.

After leaving Disneyland, the course took us through Downtown Disney and then we rounded the corner near the Disneyland Hotel and there were the Red Hat ladies!  These by far, these ladies are the best cheering section of the race.  Possibly even the best cheering section of any race.  Shortly after that,  I got my 10k split text from runDisney saying that my 10k time was 1:25:03, with my pace being 13:41.  Definitely an improvement over the 5k split (they must have fixed whatever the original timing was).  I was still feeling great, and I was surprised to see how quickly this race seemed to be going by.  

I kept up with my 2:1 ratio plan and it was going great.  Most of this race is through the city after finishing with the parks.  runDisney does a great job of lining up schools to have groups out on the course to cheer us on, so going through the city isn't that bad.  Plus, there are some mountains out in the distance that are really pretty to look at along the way.  

Soon I received my 15k split (time 2:07:07, pace 13:38).  Still really feeling good.  I was really surprised to find that I was not hitting that wall that I usually do around mile 8-10.  It was also then that I was surprised to find out that finishing this half marathon under 3 hours was a real possibility.  I decided then that I was going to make it under 3 hours, and I knew if I stuck with my plan, I would be able to do just that.  

Many times along the way, I was met with TNT coaches that checked in on me, most yelling "go Team!" and me giving the thumbs up in response.  A couple coaches caught me on a walk break and I was able to talk with them and tell them that I was doing fine.  I met up with one around mile 12 and she asked how I was doing and my response was "great, this should be my fastest time yet!"  She congratulated me and I went along my way.  I crossed the finish line with an official time of 2:58:29- my newest PR- by 16 minutes!  And that is also a 31 minute improvement over last years time!

Immediately after crossing the finish line, my phone rang.  It was my husband calling to congratulate me.  It was so great to hear from him and all of my monkeys cheering me on from home.   I got my medal, water and my snack box and then went over to check in with my TNT Flex team.  I stayed for a couple minutes, checked in with a couple people and then I decided to head back to my room.  It was a great way to cool down from this race and I don't think anyone could wipe the smile off my face.  

Here are my unofficial mile splits from my watch:

Mile 1:  12:55

Mile 2:  13:30

Mile 3:  12:55

Mile 4:  13:16

Mile 5:  13:56

Mile 6:  13:29

Mile 7:  13:25

Mile 8:  13:40

Mile 9:  13:35

Mile 10:  13:18

Mile 11:  13:38

Mile 12:  13:18

Mile 13:  13:28

I was so pleasantly surprised to see that most of my miles were in the 13s and two of them were 12:55! I can't wait to see what comes next :)

Slow Cooker Black Bean Chicken Tacos

This meal was maybe the biggest hit so far.  It was super easy and full of flavor.  I didn't even start the crock pot until 2:30 and dinner was still ready by 6.  The rotel and black beans were combined and put on the bottom of the crock pot and the chicken seasoned and laid on top of the beans and rotel.  It cooks up very quickly, then you shred the chicken and add it back in for a little longer.  While we were at gymnastics, my husband made some brown rice and broccoli that was ready for us when we got home. The kids had their meal taco style in whole wheat tortillas with a little cheese and avocado.  They had rice and broccoli on the side- everyone cleaned their plates- and two of the four even had a second taco!  My husband liked it even more than the soup we had last week.  I had mine minus the tortilla- so rice, chicken, a little cheese and avocado.  Very yummy and will definitely go on our list to have again.

Today was a little different.  My plan today was to get up early and run because my littlest had a doctor appointment.  The problem with that always is that I don't want to wake anyone up any earlier than they need to be woken up.  So, after some thought, I decided to wait until after her appointment- I thought I'd have plenty of time between the appointment and when it was time to pick up our monkey from preschool.  Well, the appointment took a lot longer than I thought it would and as I was driving home, I was really having a mind battle- trying to talk myself out of doing the run.  I did have about an hour and a half so I did have enough time to do it, I really think I just didn't really have the desire to do it.  I hate when my mind gets in the way like that.  But, despite that, when we got home, I got the littlest settled in with a show and some milk and got on the treadmill.  I had a 45 minuted run scheduled for today, still following the 2 min run:1 min walk ratio and ended up averaging a 12:20 pace- very exciting!  So, my time is improving, and I'm anxious to see what my time looks like at the Tinker Bell half next weekend.

After tucking the kiddos in bed this evening, I also did JMBR workout 4.  Lots of squats and lunges in that one....always fun after putting my legs through that run just a few hours earlier....

Baked Chicken Parmesan Review

This was my first time trying out this meal and it turned out great.  It was very easy to put together and took less than 45 minutes from start to finish.  I love easy meals- it makes my life so much easier.  We had the chicken parmesan with a small serving of fettuccine and some sautéed yellow squash and zucchini.  While the kiddos were more than happy to finish off the chicken and noodles, they were hesitant on the veggies.  One of my kiddos even said "Mommy, where did you get the squash- I thought your plants were dead?"  He's referring to the squash and zucchini that we grew over the summer- I thought he'd be over the amount of squash he ate over the summer :)

This morning I ran intervals and cadence drills and then did a couple more miles.  I am still working off the Half Marathon with Jeff Galloway app for my phone.  That gives me 3 runs per week and then I am just adding in another run or two to make up the extra miles to complete my moon jogger miles for the week.

I have been wanting to get back to the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution for a while, but timing has not really worked out until now.  Tonight my husband joined me and we did our first workout in a while.  We had finished weeks 1 and 2 several weeks ago, so we decided to start with workout 3.  I forgot how tough that workout was.  Thankfully I do remember that the odd numbered workouts are harder than the even numbered workouts, so tomorrow should be easier :)

Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon

This was a great race!  I was really unsure of how I would feel about a night time race, and I know that my nerves showed in the earlier part of the day.  I tried to sleep in, but it didn't happen.  My husband and I had planned on taking it easy on Saturday, had some breakfast and then headed over to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping.  We were also meeting up with my brother in law and his girlfriend who were driving in on Saturday.  We met up with them and had lunch, after that we all decided to head back to our hotel rooms to rest a little before taking the bus over to the start line.

The race start time was 10:00 pm.  About 7:00 we got on the bus to go over to ESPN Wide World of Sports where we checked our bag for after the race and then basically just hung out until it was time to go to the start corrals.  The really nice thing about the start line for this race was that it was so much closer to the drop off than for the princess half.  My husband and I were in corral C, so when it was time, we headed that way to wait.

Once again we were planning on a 3:1 run:walk ratio.  And for the first 8 miles that worked out great.  I  will say one thing, we went over a couple over passes and it seemed that every time we were at a walk break we were going downhill and every run was uphill.  I know that's not really possible, but it sure seemed that way.  I am not sure if it was because of those overpasses or not, but about mile 8 my back was starting to hurt.  I have a bad habit of tensing up my shoulders when I run, but this was a lower back thing that definitely felt different.  We kept pushing through, ended up walking a little more at the end than I liked, but we finished, that's all that really matters in the end!  And for me it was a new PR for a half marathon- official time of 3:14:26, my watch time was 3:10:41.

After the race we met back up with my brother in law and his girlfriend and started enjoying the after party.  This was one great thing about this race- included in your race fee was admission to EPCOT and their food and wine festival.  We stopped at several of the food booths and just hung out until it was time to catch the bus back to our hotel.  I remember thinking that there was no way I'd be able to stay up and actually take advantage of the after party, but I remember at one time looking down at my watch and realizing it was 3:30 am.  We caught the bus back to our hotel about 4 and said our good byes.

Overall, I loved this race.  I'm already trying to convince my husband that we should do it again, but given the choice, he wants to try out the Tower of Terror 10 miler.  So we are still in discussion over which one we'd like to do if we are fortunate enough to do another one.....

Wicked 10k ~ 2012

This was my first run with my husband since last year's Wicked 10k.  We talked about it before the run and I told him that I was going to follow a run:walk ratio of 3:1.  I've only done one other 10k and that was the Wicked last year.  Last year my time was 1:45, so my goal was to beat that time.  

With the help of my husband pushing me along, I was able to beat that time....by 23 minutes!  We had much better weather for this race, even with impending tropical storm Sandy.  We kept with the plan from start to finish.  This was the first race I've really ran from start to finish with someone.  I'm usually the slow one of the group and I tend to start with a group and then we all run our own pace.  The first miles went by fairly quickly to me, I was enjoying the run:walk.

I guess I'm not a very happy runner, around mile 2.5, my husband looks over at me and says "I think I'll run ahead, I feel like I'm bothering you."  I told him he was actually helping me, and he agreed to stick with me as long as I'd smile a little.  So I did try to smile every now and then.  

We continued on over the next several miles and managed to cross the finish line at 1:22:05, average pace of 13:05, my best pace for a race to date.  I'm looking forward to finding another 10k to do sometime in 2013 to try for a new 10k PR :)