We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside this time around, and while it was a beautiful resort, unfortunately its location in relation to Epcot didn’t do us any favors on race morning. Though we were up by 3:30 and out the door a little after 4 (I always rent a car), we sat in RIDICULOUS, bumper-to-bumper traffic the entire way to Epcot. Between the road closures and police officers re-routing people and the zillions of runners trying to merge themselves onto one single-lane ramp to Epcot, what should have taken 10 minutes took almost an hour. UGH!

So by the time we parked and walked allllllllllll the way to the starting line, they were just about to release corral F! Our streak of JUST making it to the starting line of races continues.

Of course, we still made time for a few quick photos along the way, lol

In other news, that morning was HUMID. I mean seriously HUMID. Oh, and foggy…it was actually pretty creepy! It wasn’t sweltering hot or anything (I think it was in the 60s/approaching 70), but there was so much moisture in the air it was ridiculous. Don’t believe me? Here’s what our earliest race photos looked like:

As you know, for this race we decided to go as two of the Three Caballeros, and simply carry our third little duck friend. Well, let’s just say that my stuffed duck was pretty much soaking wet with sweat by mile 2. Groooooooss.

We started the race at a nice, easy pace, and our first official photo stop was Wreck-it-Ralph, who had a pretty huge line. But our plan was to stop for any characters we really liked in the first miles of the half marathon, so that if there were repeat characters in the marathon, we could skip ‘em.

As we got closer and closer to Magic Kingdom, I was feeling pumped to be starting another leg of the Goofy Challenge. Other than the god-awful humidity, I think we were both feeling pretty good.

And then you turn the corner onto Main Street and feel even more AH-MAZ-ING. I’m still waiting for the day when this gets old, and, yet…never does.

We stopped for a couple of character pictures (and a potty break) in the Magic Kingdom. This mile always clocks in on our Garmins as 30+ minutes or more because of all the character silliness.

When we stopped to take some pictures in front of the castle, one of the runDisney marketing folks took us aside and took a bunch of pictures of us since, as he said, “it IS the Donald half marathon…”

Photo credit: runDisney

We made our way through Magic Kingdom (which is STILL all kinds of glorious fun to me, BTW), and one of the more unique photo opps of the morning was in the backstage area: Peter Pan and the gang!

Of course, after you leave the park, the course becomes a crowded, congested mess. We’ve become accustomed to this and either try to run on the grass or simply take unplanned walk breaks when things get out of hand. There’s really not much more you can do; unfortunately, there are still lots of runners who walk in the middle of the path, stop unexpectedly, walk in groups of 3+ across, etc., so I’ve decided not to get agitated by it and just try to go with the flow.

We found a couple more friends along the way, and soon it was back to the boring old highway.

I will say that the marathon course is SOOOOO much better than the half, and the more times I run the marathon, the less I enjoy the half. I know runDisney tries to keep us entertained with the parade performers and the floats and the bands along the way, which I very much appreciate, but at the end of the day you really are just running on highways.

Excited to find Donald!

The goal of this race was to take things sloooooooow. I honestly don’t even know what our pace was at that point, but I did feel that we were running SIGNIFICANTLY slower than usual. I knew Todd was in for a real treat during the marathon the next day, and since he’s not used to the back-to-back race experience, I thought it was best to take the half marathon as easy as possible.

So thats what we did. We walked through water stops and kept our pace steady, and soon enough we were back in Epcot and making our way towards the finish!

We were excited to see more duck friends along the way, and had to stop for a picture with Scrooge!

And, of course, we had to stop for a quick photo with vacation Genie, haha.

Before I knew it, we were leaving Epcot and had reached mile 13! I had met a Twitter friend (hi, Sarah!) earlier in the race, and she happened to be taking pictures at the mile 13 marker…so she was kind enough to take ours.

We crossed the finish line in what was our worst half marathon time for a Disney race (or, you know, in general)…our usual Disney time is right around 3:30 since we stop for photos with practically ever character. (And we obviously couldn’t miss the opportunity to get a finish line photo with Donald, haha.)

But other than some sore feet, we both felt pretty good, so I certainly wasn’t complaining about our finish time.

We hung out in the finisher’s area for a few minutes, and thought it might be a good time to take a picture with another duck.

We also ran into Meranda and Lacey from Fairytales and Fitness! I’ve been reading their blog forever, and we had finally met for the first time at the expo the previous morning…so it was awesome to see them again!

Photo stolen from Fairytales and Fitness: http://fairytalesandfitness.com

After we made our way to the car to freshen up and slip into my magical OOFOs, it was time to hunt for our third caballero. We found him in Mexico. Donald was SUPER excited to see us, haha.

And then I decided it would be just gosh darn hilarious if we rode the Three Caballeros dressed as the Three Caballeros.

Doesn’t get any dorkier than this, folks.

The cast members in the Mexico pavilion went absolutely bananas for our costumes, and insisted on taking pictures with us, LOL.

It was a great ending to that morning’s 13.1 mile journey.

We spent a few hours in Epcot before grabbing an early dinner at ‘Ohana, and then went back to our resort for night-night to prepare for the next day’s marathon!

Walt Disney World Marathon recap…coming soon!

Disney runners…do you always stop for photos with characters along the way?

How do you deal with congested race courses?

Who else loathes Florida humidity as much as I do?! 

But since I’m working on catching up on all of your blogs, I thought I’d offer a quick recap before we go into the *real* reason for this post.

Which is, of course, revealing our costumes for this weekend’s Walt Disney World Marathon!

So, Christmas was good. Lots of holly jolly fun and whatnot. And LOTS of dressing up my four-legged son and making him pose for corny Christmas pictures. Hahaha.

In terms of our training for the Goofy Challenge. Well…let’s just say it didn’t go EXACTLY as planned. Then again, does it ever? After my brief hiatus after the Richmond Marathon (which I STILL owe you guys a recap for, sad to say) we jumped right back into training. My goal was to do a few long runs and at least a handful of shorter runs each week to get myself back in “marathon shape” as quickly as possible. And, of course, complete some few back-to-backs so I could prepare myself for Goofy.

I literally do run on Dunkin’….

Long story short, we only made it up to 16 miles. This is the least prepared I’ve ever been for a marathon, and I don’t like it. I can honestly say we did the best we could given the time constraints. We were also careful not to ramp up so quickly that either of us risked an injury (let’s just say I considered jumping from a 13-miler to an 18-miler because we ran out of time, and Todd put the kibosh on that one, LOL).

After our last long run…and enjoying a new festive (and super sparkly) Christmas gift from Todd.

Do I think we’ll be okay? Yes. All of our runs went quite well, and I’m actually feeling a lot stronger than I thought I would. But I know it’s not going to be pretty, and we’ll probably have to do a fair amount of walking towards the end of the marathon.  I wish we had gotten up to say, 18 miles, but I’m still pretty proud of the fact that we ran two marathons in November and then went immediately into another round of training for Goofy. I’m obviously not there to PR, so I think as long as we run smart, we’ll be fine. It was sort of a last-minute decision to do the marathon in the first place, so time was not on our side…but I know we’re going to earn those medals.

Plus it’s Todd’s first “challenge,” so I’m excited for him to have the experience of “going Goofy.”

Okay, so without further ado, I wanted to share a preview of our (still not entirely finished, lol) costumes for this weekend! Especially since runDisney costumes are such a hot button issue right now thanks to the “new” rules released yesterday…which, to me, seem like common sense. Probably nobody should be running in Jedi robes, no? I do think the timing of the announcement was pretty horrendous and really unfair given that some runners are already IN Florida with their costumes. And they definitely could have been just a teensy bit clearer on their choice of words (now people are thinking SparkleSkirts are forbidden because it’s a skirt “layered” over shorts…).

Fortunately, since I like to focus more on altering actual running clothes to look like a costume, I’m thinking we should be fine. And by “I,” what I actually mean is “Nancy”…because Todd’s mom once again saved our butts and helped us pull together what I think are going to be FABULOUS race costumes at the last minute!

For the half marathon, we will be channeling our favorite parrot and rooster, lol. We’re both obsessed with The Three Caballeros, and since it’s technically the Donald Half Marathon, we figured it was appropriate.

And just in case you were wondering where the third Caballero will be…

Found this bad boy on eBay. And, yes, my crazy ass will be carrying him through 13 miles.

For the marathon, I wanted to go along with our costume theme from last year and go as another one of my favorite princesses — since I don’t think it’s likely I’ll get Todd to run the Princess Half Marathon anytime soon. Guess who…?!?!

I have a few more bits and pieces I’m still pulling together, but I’m beyond excited to head to Florida tomorrow and conquer another Goofy Challenge!

Sooooo…what will you be wearing this weekend?! If you see us, PLEASE do say “hi” — hoping to catch up with some of you this weekend!

Have you ever gone into a race feeling under-trained/unprepared?

This weekend is my birthday, and I’ll be turning the big 3-0. *GASP*

Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen. On Sunday, I will no longer be a twenty-something. I will be 30.

For the past couple of years, the prospect of turning 30 has given me all kinds of anxiety. Truth be told, I’ve been terrified of it. Ever since I turned 25, I’ve had the same thought on my birthday every single year — “okay, I’m only 27, I’m not 30 yet…okay, I’m 28 now, but I’m still 2 whole years away from 30…”

Celebrating my 25th in my favorite place on Earth.

It wasn’t until the last few months that I decided that I’m okay with turning 30. And I’ll tell you why. (Other than the fact that there’s not a whole hell of a lot I can do about it, haha.)

It’s because I am in a better place now than I was at ANY point in my 20s. I am happier, healthier, and more self-confident that I have been EVER. In my whole life. There is absolutely no question about that.

A whole lot of things happened to me in my 20s. Some of those things were good – like, you know, running a marathon. But there was also plenty of not-so-good – like having an 11-year relationship with my high school sweetheart completely fall to pieces, finding myself alone for the first time since I was a teenager, not being able to afford my rent after he moved out of our crappy apartment, and digging myself into all kinds of debt. Good times, right?

But despite all of the typical 20-something drama, I can’t stop thinking about how, in so many ways, I am a completely different person now than I was 10 years ago.

My 21st birthday

I didn’t intend for this post to be all about my weight loss, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that it was, by far, the greatest accomplishment of my 20s. It changed my life forever. I began my 20s weighing well over 260 pounds, and I was MISERABLE.

Though this blog has lately become more of a running blog than anything else, it all started as a weight loss diary to chronicle just how freakin’ hard it is to lose weight…and actually keep it off.

My first progress photo…20 pounds down.

I spent my entire life as an obese person. Not overweight, not chunky, but obese. But when I was 22, I stepped on a scale for the first time in I couldn’t even tell you how many years, and a little lightbulb went off. I realized that if I didn’t change my life, that I could easily be 300 pounds by the time I was 30 – if not sooner.

So, I did it. After countless years of yo-yo dieting and eating my feelings and gaining weight and losing weight and gaining it back again, I promised myself that I was going to do it the right way and keep the weight off once and for all.

My last progress photo…90 pounds down.

I changed my relationship with food and I fell in love with working out (and, eventually, running). And I didn’t just become another weight loss success story. I became an athlete.

Of course, I did some other pretty awesome stuff in my 20s, too.

Like…

I studied abroad in England for a semester in college.

Oh, Wroxton, how I miss you.

And I saw some of the most AMAZINGLY beautiful places.

Ahhh, Venice…

I graduated from college (Fairleigh Dickinson, woot woot).

(Plus, I was a super huge nerd and was the features editor for the campus newspaper and won all kinds of geeky academic awards, haha.)

After a one-year paid insternship at New Jersey Monthly right after graduation, I had (many) unsuccessful attempts at landing a full-time job in the magazine industry. I was stupid enough to work for free as a peon intern at several different magazines for a year or two before I decided to stop kidding myself and follow my dream. I wanted to be a freelance writer.

The idea of going into business for myself was scary as hell, but it’s something I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to do. And, you know what? I actually friggin’ did it. I won’t be on the Fortune 500 list anytime soon, but I love what I do and I love working from home (in my jammies, lol), and I know the possibilities are endless. Meanwhile, I built my piano teaching business from 2 students to 20+ students, so I get to take a break from staring at my computer screen and hang out with kids every afternoon…and teach them how to play Disney songs.

My first byline, for New Jersey Business magazine — still write for them!

I made friends that are still some of my best buds today.

I also made some four-legged friends.

Riley as a puppy!

My little baby, Miles. <3

And I became best friends with my little sister. We pretty much hated each other for most of our young lives, and now I can’t imagine what I’d do without her.

Nothing says sisterly love like a little Frozen.

I earned my bo-black belt in Thai Kickboxing. I remember how intimidating it was at first — even though I had lost the weight, I still saw myself as “the fat girl” who didn’t belong in any sort of fitness class, let alone martial arts! But I faced my fear of being laughed out of the place, I fell in love with it, and I can’t believe how far I’ve come over the past 5 years.

I earned my black belt in Thai Kickboxing (and got to learn how to fight *real* people for the first time, lol).

I decided to give Taekwondo a try, even though I had pretty much convinced myself that I would NEVER be able to do it. And now I’m dangerously close to testing for my black belt.

I faced an entirely different fear and decided to sign up for my first 5K. It was that day that I realized that nobody was going to point and laugh at me and tell me that I should go back to the treadmill. I felt like a “real” runner for the first time.

I ran my first 10K. And almost cried. I couldn’t believe that I ran 6 WHOLE MILES!

I ran my first half marathon. It still amazes me to think of how terrified I was of not finishing. Even after all those months of training, I had no confidence in myself. I was sure I’d never see that finish line.

There are no words…

And then I REALLY did the impossible. Me, this former fat girl, attempting to run a marathon? There are some days I still can’t believe I did it…and as part of the insane Dopey Challenge, no less!

Now I’m training for my sixth marathon. So that I can have this experience again. Running NYCM was a MAJOR highlight of the last decade, that’s for sure.

Last but certainly not least :::drumroll, please::: I met this guy.

Our first race.

A year later, we moved in together. We’ve already had so many adventures over the past two years, and I didn’t even know it was possible to be this happy. <3

The moral of the story? If there’s one lesson I’m taking with me as I say good-bye to my 20s, it’s that I am so, SO much stronger than I ever thought possible. I am a fighter, and I am capable of absolutely anything. I don’t have to be afraid anymore, because no matter what it is…I know I can do it. Period.

It’s incredible to think about where I was — physically and mentally — in my early 20s to where I am now. It’s honestly hard for me to remember what it was like living life as “the old me,” but I know she is always with me. She likes to come back and haunt me when I find myself struggling the most…like, say, that last 10K of a marathon, haha.

I still have my own personal battles with body image, and it’s an ongoing journey to accept my body the way it is now — loose skin, stretch marks, and all — after so many years of abusing it with yo-yo dieting and being completely sedentary. But I’m closer now than I’ve ever been to being truly comfortable in my own skin, and that’s something I never, EVER thought would happen.

Posing for photos in a bathing suit? UNHEARD OF.

Now that I’m (almost!) 30, I have to admit that, despite all of the mistakes I’ve made along the way, I am proud of myself. I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished, and everything I’ve learned along the way. I’m proud that the big thighs I once hated and tried so hard to hide have carried me over countless finish lines and kicked my way through years of intense martial arts training. I’m proud that I managed to break a lifetime of poor eating habits and completely transform my relationship with food.

I’m a runner now, so that means I can lots and lots of pizza.

Most of all, I’m proud that even when things get hard, I know I can count on myself to never, EVER give up.

One of the hardest things I’ve ever done!

I am so appreciative of my health and my fitness and my career and my relationships, and looking back, I can honestly say I’m happy with the way things have turned out so far. I can’t wait to see what my 30s have in store for me.

Did you freak out/are you freaked out about turning 30?

Soooooo sorry, again, for being such a bad blogger, guys! Things are settling down now so I’ll be back to my normal posting schedule — and I’m catching up on all the goings-on with YOU, I swear! Puppy parenthood has been a fun (but huge!) adjustment, but we’re getting into a normal routine now. Miles is doing great with his training and is especially loving our weekend run/walks in the park. (Thanks for all the tips of doggie-friendly running gear, BTW…I’ve already invested in a couple of your suggestions and it’s working out great!)

Anyway, the Wildwood Half Marathon was intended to be our last “big race” of the season. And, by “big race,” I mean a distance over, say, 6 miles, because I know myself well enough to know that once those temperatures reached 70 degrees, I wouldn’t be doing a whole lot of running. I also knew going into this one that I was NOT attempting a PR, and that depending on the weather conditions/how I felt that day, the plan was to do the best I could. No pressure.

Todd and I drove to Wildwood early on Saturday morning, and made a stop at the Cape May County Zoo along the way. Since apparently it’s sort of our thing to check out the local zoo anytime we go on a race-cation.

Packet pick-up was on the boardwalk, and basically consisted of a couple of tables with bibs and quite possibly some of the ugliest, worst quality race shirts (only available in men’s sizing, no less) that I’ve seen thus far, haha.

We carbed it up on pasta at Little Italy, which was pretty damn good, and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening walking on the boardwalk.

The next morning’s forecast called for rain, which I was COMPLETELY fine with. It was already approaching 70 degrees by the time we were waking to the starting line at the Wildwood Convention Center, and seeing as how I was already sweating from the humidity during our leisurely stroll, I knew I was in for a real treat. As per our usual M.O., we slipped into the starting area within seconds before the race began.

From the very first mile, I knew it wasn’t going to be my day. Although I was very, VERY thankful that it was a little drizzly and overcast, it was still SO HUMID. Plus, I was having some sort of tummy issues that morning and I was hoping that they would just go the hell away so I could run this race (spoiler alert: they didn’t).

Todd and I planned to run our own race this time around. He and I both knew that I wasn’t going to be performing well that morning, and I knew he wanted to see what he could do. We stuck together for the first few miles but then somehow lost each other before we reached the boardwalk.

The course was an out-and-back…it took us through a residential area of Wildwood and onto the boardwalk, through some more residential areas, and then back to the starting area. I liked running on the boardwalk and seeing the ocean, and the course was nice and flat, which is always a plus for me…but, I have to say, I found the race to be a snooze-fest. Though the race itself was very well-organized and there were a lot more volunteers than I would have guessed, there was very little in the way of spectators.

After the first water stop offered only small cups of lukewarm water, I panicked about not having access to enough water (or Gatorade/Powerade) on such a humid morning. So when one of the boardwalk businesses (I think it was a kettle corn joint?) kindly handed out full-size water bottles, I grabbed it and carried it for a couple of miles so I knew that at least I’d have it as a back-up. Luckily, though, the remaining water stops were more plentiful, and included Gatorade, so I ditched the water bottle.

By mile 5, I was already sooooooo over it. Try as I might, I couldn’t push my pace faster than a 10:15/10:30 at any given time, and towards the end, it was getting harder just to keep it under 11. I remembered that it was just a few short weeks ago that I was successfully racing at a 9-minute mile in The Love Run, and here I was plodding along at a pace that was so much slower for me. I knew Todd was doing great, since he’s the type of runner who doesn’t seem to have any trouble holding his usual pace in any weather conditions. We spotted each other after he made the halfway turnaround, so that lifted my spirits a little bit, but I still just wanted to be DONE.

In addition to the humidity and the sheer boredom/frustration I was experiencing that morning, my stomach was also giving me some trouble. No idea why. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say I had to take a mid-race pit-stop, which is something I very rarely do. I was happy that there seemed to be a whole lot more port-a-potties than the New Jersey Marathon, though (which is pretty pathetic, might I add).

In the last couple of miles, my walks through water stops were getting longer and longer. I just didn’t have any oomph. I felt hot and drained and unmotivated and just sick to death of running, and that’s when I knew that signing up for a half marathon so soon after a marathon was definitely a mistake. My body seems to bounce back just fine after a marathon, but mentally, it seems to take WEEKS for me to get back to a point where I genuinely WANT to run.

Finally, we were back on the boardwalk, and even though I felt as though I was trudging through molasses, I kept on going. Mainly because I wanted it to be over with. It had started to rain on-and-off in the second part of the race, and that helped cool me off a bit, but I was just so…bored.

My finish time? Let’s just say I barely broke 2:30. And, again, just weeks prior to this race, I ran a 2:04 in Philadelphia. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, haha.

Todd was waiting for me at the finish line — he managed to finish in 2:04, so he had quite a long wait, haha — and we got our little goodie bag with a “soft” pretzel, cookie, fruit cup, and other assorted snack items.

We sat around to listen to the band that was playing for a few minutes. But then I just wanted to get out of there. Honestly, the highlight of this race for me was that it was my first distance running event wearing my new SparkleSkirt, and since it DID. NOT. BUDGE., it has officially earned my seal of approval! I’m so happy to have found something a little cooler that I can wear to run on these hot, humid days. (I won’t, however, be attempting the Sparkle Athletic/SparkleSkirt combo look again…it was real, real annoying).

Remember how I said the race shirt was disappointing? Well, when I crossed the finish line (finally), I had something else to be disappointed about. While it was a cute design, the medal was practically microscopic compared to what we’re used to. Definitely not worth 2+ hours of mental and physical frustration, I’ll tell you that much!

We took a few pictures, of course, and then headed back to the room to change and check-out. Then we got to do that I REALLY wanted to do that weekend, which was go to the beach.

Of course, it wasn’t all that sunny, and the beach was DESERTED, but we didn’t care!

I had a grand old time reading my puppy training books (we were supposed to pick up Miles the next night!) and relaxing on an empty beach. Later on, we had pizza, chilled on the boardwalk (and had my favorite Polish Water Ice!), and eventually headed home.

Moral of the story? I’m done with running right now. Until New York City Marathon training ramps up next month, I’m focusing on Taekwondo and just keeping some sort of baseline level of running ability with 2-3 short runs a week. I haven’t run longer than 4 miles since Wildwood. I’m just so burnt out…and my body seems to be BEGGING me for a break.

It has been so hot and gross and miserable, and my heart just isn’t in it right now. This has happened before, so instead of panicking about it, I know I just need a mental/physical time-out before I throw myself back into yet another round of marathon training. I plan to take the next few weeks nice and easy and will hopefully be ready and rarin’ to go when it comes time to train for what I consider to be the second most exciting marathon in the world (after Disney, of course).

Have you ever (voluntarily!) taken a hiatus from running?

Do you scale back your training in the summer months (or am I the only whiny baby who can’t stand the heat)?

I know I’ve sucked at blogging lately, but I wanted to drop in with an update on my New Jersey Marathon training.

Because, somehow, it’s only TWO WEEKS AWAY.

How in the world did this happen?! It seems like we just signed up for this race, and next week, I’ll be starting my taper!

But, fortunately, I’m feeling pretty pumped about it. I feel like I’ve done everything I could possibly do to train for this race, which is not something I can honestly say for some of my previous marathons. I’ve been working so hard to get in all of my weekly runs and to push myself to keep a more consistent pace on the long runs.

This time around, I really, REALLY want to perform better than I have in all of my previous marathons. I KNOW I can run a sub-five, and I’m fairly confident that I will be obliterating my New York City Marathon time of 5:15 (still my personal best) this month.

Last weekend, Todd and I tackled our 18-miler in some pretty strong winds.

It was sunny and gorgeous and COOL in the 40s/50s, but good lord was it windy. It almost reminded me of a certain day last fall when I had to run against headwinds that felt strong enough to, oh, I don’t know, blow me off a bridge or something…

Unfortunately, we struggled quite a bit. The 16-miler felt like a breeze (no pun intended, ha), but then with this one, I knew by mile 6 or 7 that it was going to be tough to compete against the wind. The last 10K, in particular, was pretty brutal. I felt strong stamina-wise and everything, but my legs have just HAD. IT., and no matter how hard we tried, it always felt like the wind was pushing against us and making an already difficult task that much harder. I didn’t even know if it was so much physical as it was mental…I HATED the feeling of having this force against me the entire time as we fought our way through 18 freakin’ miles.

Meanwhile, between pushing myself to attempt to PR during the previous weekend’s half marathon and knocking out 3 weekly training runs of 3, 5 or 6, and 7 or 8 miles, and all the Taekwondo I’ve been doing lately, I’m surprised my legs haven’t just fallen off by now. So I guess I can’t be too surprised when they feel so heavy and sore and stiff when I attempt to run for 3+ hours, right?

However, given the fact that our legs are pretty much dead from training and we were fighting at least 25+ mph winds the entire time, I was thrilled with my finish time. I’ve been gunning for roughly 10-minute miles on long runs, so I was perfectly happy with how it turned out.

This Sunday, we take on THE long run of this training cycle: 20 miles. After the disaster that was last week’s long run, I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. But on the other hand, I’m super excited (and RELIEVED) that this is the LAST long run we’ll be doing for awhile.

We may or may not have gone ahead and officially signed up for the Wildwood Half next month, so after the marathon, we really only have one long-distance race on the calendar in the near future. Not gonna lie, it was mainly because I want an excuse to do a beach weekend before the room rates skyrocket after Memorial Day.

But if the conditions are right (i.e. it isn’t too HOT), I know the course is flat enough that I might even be able to pull off a PR. But if we’re not feeling fully recovered from the marathon, we plan to run it as a “just for fun” kind of thing. We shall see what happens.

Photo credit: www.runwildwoods.com

Still, it’s kind of nice to think that I won’t have to pull myself out of bed on the weekend to run for 2-4 hours for a couple of months. Until New York City Marathon training part two kicks in, of course. But for that, I already know that the agonizing long runs will be so, SO worth it.

What’s your BIG race this spring?

Does anyone else struggle as much as I do in windy conditions?

Todd and I spent the day Saturday visiting some attractions in South Jersey that I’ve never been to — the Adventure Aquarium and the Battleship New Jersey — before making our way into Philly in the mid-afternoon for CGI Racing’s The Love Run expo.

The expo was held at Citizens Bank Park, and I should probably tell you that it was a pretty freakin’ COLD day. The temperatures were in the 40s, and it was super windy.

It was even cold for these guys!

That being said, allow me to paint you this little picture: though there were a handful of vendors inside, and our mug and bib pick-up was indoors, the main expo area continued outside by the baseball field…where several vendors were attempting to sell their wares in the blustery cold.

As I’m sure you can imagine, people weren’t doing a whole lot of shopping. I knew the expo would be small — which it was — but the fact that it was also held outside on a chilly day meant that there weren’t many runners lingering around. We were there to get our race shirts and get the hell back inside.

Well, okay, fine…I also grabbed a “Love Run” Bondiband and FINALLY broke down and invested in a Running Skirt (50 percent off!). I’ve been dying to try them, and their booth is always mobbed…so I felt this was my chance to get some one-on-one time with the skirts, try it on, and take it home to see if it works for me (it is one of my great missions in life to find a running skirt with shorts that do NOT ride up).

We stayed outside of Philly this time around to save some moolah, so we had an early dinner at the Cherry Hill Mall (gotta love California Pizza Kitchen) and got to bed early, since the race would start at 8am the next morning and we’d have to drive into the city.

Well, despite the fact that I got plenty of sleep, my foot hadn’t been bothering me much for the last couple of days, and I was actually feeling quite confident about the race, I woke up feeling…well…not quite right.

Little did I know that my monthly visitor would decide to make its grand appearance a few days early. I was scheduled to run 13.1 miles in an hour and a half, and here I was suddenly and unexpectedly hit with a wave of cramps and bloating and, let’s be honest…RAGE.

UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I apologize in advance for the all of two male readers I probably have, but I have to tell you that I was PISSED AS HELL because I can never, ever run on the first day of my period. I trained so hard for this race, and here was something I couldn’t control being thrown in the mix to make it even harder for me. I knew I was in for a morning of agony, and that if it got bad enough, that I could might have to kiss my race goal good-bye. I popped a couple of pain killers because I was desperate — something I also never do before running — and hoped that maybe the cramping would subside.

I grumpily got dressed in my race outfit and soon it was time for us make the drive into Philly to get to the starting line, so we parked in our usual parking garage that charges about $9,000 per hour, wrapped ourselves up in some handy dandy throwaway blankets ($2.88 at Wal-mart…SCORE!), and walked to the starting line…but not without making a quick potty stop to use the “real” bathrooms at a Sheraton, of course!

As per our usual race-day M.O, we JUST. MADE. IT., and just a minute or two after squeezing into the starting area, it was time to go!

As you all know, this was my BIG HALF MARATHON for this season. After well over a year of struggling to finish a half in anything under 2:20, I really hoped that the last two months of pushing myself big time would pay off on the course that morning. I desperately wanted a good finish time to submit for corral placement for Wine & Dine, since my ridiculously old PR from TWO YEARS AGO of 2:03 finally expired…and beyond that, I really wanted to prove to myself that I was still capable of running the times I used to when I first started. You know, before I got all slow and tired from my incessant bouts of marathon training.

My ultimate goal? I wanted ANYTHING under a 2:05. That used to be my old “standard” half marathon time, and now that well over a year as passed since I’ve run anything even close to a 2:05 (or, hell, a 2:10 or 2:15), I really, really wanted it.

As you also probably know, my plan was also to *ATTEMPT* to negative split. I still had yet to successfully do it in a race, but with all of my recent practice on training runs, I thought I might just be able to pull it off. Todd and I had already agreed that we would both run our own race, so I immediately went out at a comfortable 9:30/mile pace, and made it my personal mission to stay there until the second half of the race, where I felt pretty confident that I could pick it up.

Photo credit: chessiephoto.com

Well, the first few miles went swimmingly. The Advil I popped that morning seemed to be working, and physically, I felt pretty strong. There was lots of spectator support and even though there were some 10,000 runners, I felt I had ample room to run. It was fun running through the city and passing so many historical landmarks, and even thought I knew running by the Schuylkill River might not be quite as exciting, it was still pretty scenic.

It was a sunny, gorgeous day, and with temperatures hovering in the 30s, it was my PERFECT running weather. I was mostly on my own, because Todd goes out more conservatively than I do…I knew he was behind me, but I just wasn’t sure how far back at any given time.

I felt I had a 2:05 in the bag. In fact, I thought I might even be able to break 2:03 and PR. For a moment, I remember feeling REALLY ambitious and wondering if I might even have a sub-2 in me that morning.

Photo credit: chessiephoto.com

I knew from reading fellow blogger recaps that there would be a hilly section of the course around mile 5, so I basically spent the first four miles being nervous about it. And I apparently had good reason to be…because the hill pretty much ate me alive. I had a feeling Todd would catch up with me on that hill — he did! — and unfortunately, it ended up costing me a little more time than I hoped it would. I had a tough time recovering afterwards, and since we still weren’t even halfway, that’s when I started to feel my usual negativity start to creep in. You know, of the “I can’t do this” variety.

I took a very brief walk break through one of the next water stops and my legs felt a little better. My pace picked back up to around a 9:20, and I willed myself to stop being a baby, get my head in the game, and to think positively. I passed the halfway mark and found myself feeling pretty good. That’s where Todd caught up to me again and told me he was going to “step on the gas now” which made me a little mad because I a little bit thought that I might actually beat him in this race. For the first time ever. Hahaha, silly me.

We’re fortunate in that I’m only slightly slower than him, and our paces are so close that we can successfully train together…but even though I typically finish our long runs a little faster (and in better physical shape than he is, lol) he somehow ALWAYS manages to crush me during the actual race. I don’t know how he does it!

He took off and I felt jealous that races seem to come so easy to him and I hated the fact that I was a woman and had to deal with periods and that he was having a fine and dandy time that morning and could just magically pick up the pace whenever he wanted. Needless to say, I was grumpy again. So I gave myself a lecture about how it was important to run my own race and, once again, to stop being a little baby.

In mile 8, I discovered a bit more hilliness that I was NOT expecting. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I heard they may have changed the course a little bit from last year’s inaugural race…and, much to my dismay, it wasn’t as flat as I thought it would be. By mile 9, I found myself getting discouraged because my legs were a little tired from the rolling hills, even thought I was still feeling pretty comfortable in my pacing. I tried to push it just a little bit more, and hovered closer to 9:15 for awhile. My hope was that I’d break 9-minute miles in the last 5K, which is something I can typically do on shorter runs.

Then mile 11 came, and my pre-race womanly issues came back and hit me like a ton of bricks. Suddenly, my stomach really, really hurt, and that was on top of the fact that I was getting tired and my legs were heavy. I was THISCLOSE to packing it in. I wanted to walk until the cramping stopped. But I knew if I did, I’d NEVER recover, and I could kiss that 2:05 good-bye.

So I made a decision that maybe I wouldn’t be able to run as fast as I planned to for the rest of the race, but that I would still go as fast as I could. I fought through it and managed to drop to around a 9:05 by mile 12. With just one more mile to go, I wanted the agony to be over as quickly as possible, so I went as fast as my legs would carry me as we made our way back into the city. I knew there would be spectators and excitement and the glorious finish line to greet me, and I couldn’t wait.

As soon as I saw the finish line in the distance, I saw that the clock already read 2:05. I felt crushed and defeated, even though I couldn’t actually remember just how much time had passed before I crossed the starting line. Seeing my goal slip away, I pushed as hard as I could — just in case I still had a chance — and finally crossed the finish line.

…with a chip time of 2:04:15!!!!!!!

Photo credit: Chessiephoto.com

I felt like crap afterwards, so I couldn’t properly bask in my accomplishment. It still frustrates me that I KNOW I could have performed even better and probably even PRed if I wasn’t menstrual, even despite the slightly hillier second half of the course. Also, I didn’t exactly negative split — my results clearly indicate a pretty solid 9:28 pace — but I’ll bet if the course was a little flatter I would have!

Photo credit: chessiephoto.com

On the other hand, I am overjoyed to know that I can still perform at the level I once did, even despite all the time that has passed and the fact that I had pretty much convinced myself that if I wanted to run marathons, then I could never be “fast” again. It was clearly a load of malarkey and an excuse I was telling myself to ignore the fact that I wasn’t training properly.

So, now I KNOW I have a PR in my (VERY) near future, and I KNOW that a sub-2 is within my reach. I also know there is a lot I need to work on, but I figure I have to be doing something right to go from running 2:20ish half marathons last year to running closer to 2:00 again!

Todd found me a couple of seconds after I crossed the finish line. He did AWESOME, by the way — 2:01:53 — and even though I still hate him a little bit for it (kidding!), I’m also super proud of him. Actually, I’m proud of both of us! We made quite a comeback from our performances in races as of late. I know we stopped for a lot of pictures and all, but it took us seven hours to run the Walt Disney World Marathon just two months ago! It’s exciting to know that all of your hard work is paying off.

Anyway, after we munched on whatever was in the post-race goodie bags (a “soft” pretzel that was harder than a rock, and a particularly yummy PB&J uncrustable), we spent the rest of the afternoon perusing some Philly landmarks.

And, of course, there was no way I was leaving without a picture in front of the Love sign!

 Overall, I would put this race in the “win” column. I did have to deal with some unpleasant issues that morning, but despite all of that, I still somehow managed to reach my sub 2:05 goal. Apparently, runDisney corral placement is a big motivator for me, haha.

Have you ever run a race just to try to improve your corral placement for a future race?

Has sickness/womanly issues ever affected your race performance?

We’ll be heading back to Philadelphia for The Love Run this weekend, and this is going to be my goal half marathon for the spring. It’s supposed to be a nice, flat course…so I’m hoping to use it as my official Wine & Dine Half Marathon corral placement race.

Our most recent trip to Philly for Todd’s 2nd marathon!

Plus, since it’s STILL not feeling very spring-like around these parts, the weather is still producing optimal racing temperatures for me (the cooler, the better)! In fact, my 7-miler on the first day of spring was completed IN THE FRIGGIN’ SNOW! (But at least I got my free “first day of spring” iced coffee!)

I literally run on Dunkin’.

As I’ve mentioned many times here, my previous PR (and runDisney corral) was a 2:03…from a race about a thousand years ago (April 2013). The closest I’ve come since then was a 2:04 race in September of 2013.

Since then, my half times have been all over the map — anything from a 2:07 to a 2:14 to a 2:25. As marathon training consumed my entire life, all other race distances, my speedwork, etc. took a backseat…and I’ve allowed myself to use the “I have marathon legs!” excuse for far too long.

Honestly, I haven’t run anything under 2:10 in quite some time. So, needless to say, I’m EXTREMELY motivated this time around to correct the many (MANY) mistakes I’ve made in my training and see what I can really do.

I will be happier than a pig in you-know-what with anything under 2:05 this weekend. I know it’s a lofty goal, but I’ve been busting my butt these last two months to reclaim my “old” pace…and maybe even set a new PR. Hey, you never know, right?! My 1:34 in a recent 10-mile race gives me hope that I might just be able to pull it off.

And then, of course, there’s training for marathon #5. The New Jersey Marathon is really sneaking up on me now, and I gotta say, I think this has been my second best round of marathon training yet (after the Dopey Challenge, of course). I’ve been a lot more consistent in terms of logging ALL of my runs, and I’m pushing myself to run significantly faster on shorter distances (which, for me, is anything under a 9:30/pace). But it seems to be paying off on my long runs.

In fact…this Sunday’s 16-miler was among the most successful long runs I’ve ever had. That’s right…EVER!

Todd and I went to our local park, and I FORCED myself to keep my pace in check in the early miles. I’ve been doing lots of experimenting with that whole “negative split” concept lately; up until now, I had pretty much decided that it was something I was physically incapable of doing. Whether it’s a long run or a race, I am NOTORIOUS for going out too fast and then crashing and burning in the last few miles. And since that strategy hasn’t exactly been paying off for me as of late, I thought it was time to try something new.

So, this Sunday, I FORCED myself to simmer down and not go out like a bat out of hell. I maintained a comfy 10-10:30/pace in the early miles, and I just kept having to tell myself to SLOW. DOWN. when I’d get overzealous and feel that urge to run faster. I’m SO tired of dragging my lifeless body through the final agonizing miles of a long run, and I wanted to prove to myself that I CAN hold back a little bit and still have enough gas in the tank to push it at the end.

The first 10 miles flew by pretty quickly, and in that final 10K, I started to feel a little sore and hungry and, let’s face it, bored…but I also somehow felt just as strong as I did in the beginning of the run. SAYWHAT?!?!?!?!

In the last leg of the run, I allowed myself to go for it…and Todd and I both managed to pull out a 9:30-9:40 pace for the final 5K. Todd was having a little bit of a hard time that morning, but at our 10-mile fuel break, I fed him one of my Honey Stingers “Ginsting” gels with caffeine…and, for some reason, he claims it magically “gave him a boost.” Gee, I wonder why…?

As a coffee addict, I don’t think I really notice the caffeine in the gels all that much…but he doesn’t drink coffee AT ALL, and he said he really felt it. Ah, it will be so fun to get him hooked on legal stimulants.

Anyway, I somehow managed to end up with EXACTLY the 10-minute/mile pace I wanted for my 16-miler! I have NEVER been able to pull off such a consistent pace for a long run, and I honestly have never felt so strong in the last miles. I’m not saying I wasn’t sore and tired, but I didn’t feel like dropping dead like I usually do. It was a HUGE difference.

Why it says “8:06″ is beyond me…in my freakin’ dreams!

In other news, I’ve been having an ongoing issue with my right foot. It’s a pain on the bottom of the foot, but a little closer to the outer edge than the middle. I basically spent the entire day on Saturday trying to diagnose myself, because this has been going on for weeks now and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It was particularly bad on Saturday (more of a stabbing pain than the usual soreness). And since I had high hopes for Sunday’s long run, I didn’t want a stupid bum foot to ruin my efforts.

So, based upon my self-diagnosis — it sounds an awful lot like plantar fasciitis, a.k.a. one of the most common running injuries of all time — I tried all of the numerous tips and tricks that Google had to offer.

How I spend a Saturday…party time!

My efforts included: rolling it on one of my dog’s tennis balls (which I have been doing for weeks), freezing a bottle of water to try ice massage (which felt surprisingly good), wrapping an ice pack around my foot (and securing it with a hair tie, haha), pulling my toes back and massaging the tendons on the bottom of my feet, and doing lots and lots of stretching for my calves…hence the belt and my arch nemesis, The Stick.

Of course, I paid a little visit to the KT Tape website for a handy demonstration on taping my foot for this particular issue prior to Sunday’s run. (I’d share a photo, but I have the nastiest, most calloused runner/martial artist feet in all the land…and I don’t want to make anyone lose their lunch).

And I spent the rest of the day on Sunday and Monday walking around in my Gone For a Run “recovery sandals.” I felt like a little bit of an idiot trying to pull off the socks and sandals look in public, but, HEY…you gotta go what you gotta do.

Fortunately, it DOES feel better. During the run, I felt just a little bit of a twinge/tenderness…but nothing like I’ve felt on previous runs. And today, I don’t feel anything when I walk on it.

It’s a pain that seems to come and go — and I’m 99 percent sure it all started when I failed to replace my running sneakers in a timely fashion. I’m hoping that it will at least hold on and not get any worse until the marathon is over next month…at which time I promise I will do the one thing I know I’m supposed to do: REST IT.

Do you tend to negative or positive split in long runs/races?

Have you ever dealt with a foot pain/injury?

If you haven’t already entered, today is the LAST DAY for my PRO Compression marathon socks giveaway! You can check out my review and enter the drawing HERE, and I’ll announce the winner tomorrow!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! In the spirit of the holiday, I thought it would be a perfect time to share my recap from this weekend’s 10-mile race: the St. Paddy’s Day 10-Miler.

The race is hosted by the Freehold Area Running Club, and I ran it two years ago as one of my first longer distance races. I remembered it being pretty hilly, so I honestly didn’t go in with huge expectations. Because I suck on hills. Like, REALLY suck.

However, I also knew that if I planned to sign up for this year’s Wine and Dine Half Marathon (spoiler alert…I am already in, and as of a few minutes before 12pm this afternoon, so is Todd!), that I was going to need a new time to submit for corral placement…since my old PR has officially expired in the eyes of runDisney. I’m hoping that this month’s Love Run will give me a shiny new PR to submit, but you never know what can happen…I know that there are all kinds of variables that can affect my performance that day.

So, I figured I’d use this race as a test run to gauge how well all of my recent “speedwork” has been working out for me, and to use as a “back-up” time to submit just in case my upcoming half marathons don’t go as planned. Plus, it was a cool and windy morning — it was in the 40′s, but when the wind would gust, it felt pretty frigid. Which made for FANTASTIC running temperatures, if you ask me!

It’s held at a park in Freehold, and packet pick-up was easy and well organized. This year’s shirt was cotton and long-sleeved, so my original idea to wear the race shirts over our tech shirts to match went out the window. So we used their handy dandy bag check for our race shirt and the few goodies they gave out so we didn’t have to make another trip to the car, which was a nice perk.

However, this particular club is known for being a little on the stricter side — i.e. all of their race materials threaten that you will basically be tarred and feathered in a public square if you so much as dare run with headphones or a stroller or a canine or, of course, a costume. So a volunteer gave me sort of a snarky comment as I was picking up my packet; it was something along the lines of, “you may have trouble running today, young lady, because our race director is very strict.” Uhhh…since when is a plastic necklace and a headband a “costume?” Everything else is legitimate running attire. So, I didn’t really care for that.

There was some debate on our “strategy” for this race. Todd and I have two completely different approaches — he always starts conservatively and has no problem negative splitting, whereas I have really NEVER done that. I always go out like a bat out of hell when the gun goes off, and then when my pace inevitably slows in the later miles, I rest assured knowing I have some time “in the bank,” if you will. But I told him I was really going to try it his way this time, especially since I haven’t been running so fast lately and I couldn’t necessarily count on holding my faster pace for any significant length of time before running out of steam.

When the race started, I went out way too fast for a few seconds before coming to my senses and letting Todd catch up. I then forced myself to find a “comfortable” pace and fall into a steady rhythm, which was somewhere around a 9:20-9:30 pace.

“Gee, maybe I should slow down a little…?” Photo credit: FARCNJ.org

The race takes you through lots of residential areas, parks, and, of course, over plenty of rolling hills…so I knew I’d have to conserve some energy in order to make it to the finish line. Plus, I felt really unsure of myself because I honestly have been running at paces at least a solid minute-per-mile slower in all of my recent races. In a matter of a year, I managed to go from averaging a sub 2:10 half marathon to being lucky to finish under 2:25. I’ve had the hardest time balancing my CONSTANT marathon training with the ability to train (and race!) at my “old” pace, which used to be somewhere in the realm of a 9:15/minute mile.

And, sure enough, it was within the first couple of miles that I felt just how dead my legs were. The previous week’s workouts consisted of my 14-mile long run, a 5-mile run, a 6-mile run, a 3-mile run, and two Taekwondo classes, and good lord, was I FEELING it. I was still maintaining my ideal pace, but I was struggling to do so…not because I was sucking wind or anything (which was a pleasant surprise!) but because my legs just felt so freakin’ heavy. And then we started approaching the first of several rolling hills, and I worried about coming anywhere close to what I would consider a “good” time.

But I figured I’d give it my absolute best shot. The course is pretty boring, and there really is no spectator support whatsoever, which really made me appreciate just how important they are! It kind of felt like running our usual long run with about 250 of our closest friends. I was feeling grumpy by the halfway mark because even though the clock time said 47:30 — which is exactly what I could have hoped for — I felt my legs were getting even heavier and I was nervous about this whole “negative split” concept. There were only a handful of water stops, so I took my Honey Stinger at mile 4 and tossed some water down my throat at the others, only stopping to stretch my legs once for a few seconds…and, as of late, I’ve been walking through water stops, so it was kind of new for me to not have any sort of break.

Moral of the story? I quickly fell victim to my usual pattern of self-doubt and frustration and the assumption that there was no WAY I’d be able to pick up the pace in the second half of the race. I’m a real hoot during a race, let me tell you (just ask Todd, lol).

But then by mile 7, something pretty awesome happened. I realized that despite slowing down a little bit on a few hills, I was still maintaining an average 9:20ish pace, and I thought that maybe — just MAYBE — I could actually pull this off. So I tried my very best to speed up just a little in that last 5K, and Todd did, too…so I did whatever I could to keep up with him. My Garmin showed that we were right around a 9:05-9:10 pace by miles 8 and 9, and I somehow managed to push it to an 8:55 in mile 10. Todd was a few strides ahead of me, so when I saw the finish line in the distance, I started sprinting to keep up with him so we could cross together.

For some strange reason, he took that to mean that I wanted to “race” him, so he sped up, too…and he ended up beating me by a freakin’ second. The handful of spectators and volunteers at the finish line really seemed to enjoy our action-packed finish, LOL.

Photo credit: FARCNJ.ORG

Plus, I saw that the clock was approaching 1:34…which was downright shocking to me because I knew that meant that I had, IN FACT, successfully negative split…and that I wasn’t too far off from my last results at this race, which was a clock time of 1:33.

Our official finish time was 1:33:53, which given the not-so-flat course and the fact that I was running on dead marathon training legs was about the best I could have imagined. And I was downright shocked that I came SO close to my previous finish time on this course.

So we celebrated by guzzling some Gatorade and going to check out the post-race goodies. And much to our delight, they had HOT DOGS. I’m not a huge fan of hot dogs in general, and I’ve never had them after a race before…but for some reason, it was the most DELICIOUS hot dog I’ve ever had in my life. Even now, days later, Todd is STILL talking about that damn hot dog. I think we’ve found our new favorite post-race food, haha.

Plus, they had hot soup, which tasted heavenly as my body temperature began to plummet, in addition to the usual fare like bagels and bananas. They also had beer (but neither of us drink it).

So we stuffed our faces for a little while, took some pictures, and watched part of the awards ceremony, where they handed out little shamrock plaques and gnome statues, haha.

Overall, I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised and quite proud of my performance. It was an awesome feeling to know that all of my hard efforts on training runs these past two months have been paying off, and I now know that a sub-2:05 half marathon (and, someday, maybe even a sub-2!) is something that is well within my reach once again. I don’t have to be happy to just “finish” a race any more, and I NEED to learn how to develop even just an ounce of confidence in my abilities when it comes to setting and reaching time goals.

It has been a long time that I’ve felt truly proud and excited by that finish time on the clock, and this race helped give me a big chunk of my confidence back. I’m hoping that with a bit more rest (and maybe a skipped karate class or two) in the days leading up to my next half marathon later this month — which is supposed to be a nice, FLAT course! — that I might just surprise myself even more. It was definitely the hardest I’ve pushed myself in a while, and the fact that I didn’t die (or really struggle beyond my usual leg fatigue) means that I have to be doing something right!

 Have you ever run a race for St. Patrick’s Day?

Have you ever performed significantly better than your expectations in a race?

Back in 2013 (which seems SO long ago), Princess was my very first half marathon. And there are no words that could ever even begin to describe the feeling of crossing that finish line.

It really was the race that started at all. Dozens of half marathons and four full marathons later, who knows where I’d be right now if I hadn’t had the courage to randomly sign up for a 13.1-mile race in 2012. It was one of the first times in my life that I had taken such a giant leap of faith…and good lord was I TERRIFIED that I wouldn’t be able to do it! Seems crazy to think about now.

This race will always hold a special place in my heart. But in honor of my fellow princesses, I thought I’d share some other reasons why I think this particular race weekend ROCKS! And if you’re running this weekend…have a magical race!

The Girlishness

The Princess Half Marathon may share the same course as, say, the Walt Disney World Half Marathon…but, to me, the experience feels completely different.

It starts from the moment you walk into the “Fit for a Princess” expo and see nothing but rows and rows of sparkly skirts and headbands and jewelry and all sorts of other girly things.

Then there’s the middle of the race, when you see countless mothers and daughters, sisters, and friends running together, many in matching sparkly costumes.

Afterwards, you hear nothing but “congratulations” all day from your fellow runner ladies in the parks — most of whom are still wearing their tiaras and tutus, just like you.

It’s just…a special race. I don’t know how else to say it.

The Costumes

Of course, you’ll see people in costume for any of the runDisney races. But I find it especially cool that so many women channel their favorite princess during this race experience.

All weekend, everyone is decked out in flouncy tutus and sparkly tiaras, and racing in costumes inspired by the female heroines from classics like Cinderella all the way up to Disney’s newest princesses.

The Royal Treatment

At the Princess Half Marathon, you really are made to feel like royalty. You might even be escorted into the expo by these fine gentlemen.

Everyone calls you “princess” all weekend long. Plus, it’s kind of hard not to feel royal when you’re wearing a tiara.

The Photo Opps

Again, all runDisney races have the BEST photo opportunities. But where else can you get a picture with a group of these handsome fellows?

The Princess Half Marathon shares a lot of the same characters as the other races, but it’s the only race weekend when you’re likely to score a picture with the Fairy Godmother, or Mickey and Minnie in their royal costumes.

Plus, if you’re dressed as your favorite princess, you might just spot her after the finish line! (Totally worth the 45+ minute wait.)

The Medals

Need I say more?

What girl doesn’t like a little extra *BLING*?

 The Girl Power

Yeah, so, it may be cheesy to say…but I LOVE how this race weekend really is the perfect opportunity for women to prove that we can be girly and feminine but also strong and athletic. You can’t help but feel like a total badass…yes, even in costume.

It’s always especially fun to see so many women taking on their first 5K, 10K, or half marathon during the Princess…and kicking ass on the race course.

If anyone is running this weekend and interested in checking out some recaps from 2013 and 2014, here are mine!

Glass Slipper Challenge 2014

Enchanted 10K 2014

“Fit for a Princess” Expo 2014

Princess Half Marathon 2013 (part one, part two)

“Fit for a Princess” Expo 2013

 My First Half Marathon

Have you/would you run the Princess Half Marathon?

What was your first half marathon?

What’s your favorite runDisney race?

Better late than never, right?

I usually spend the majority of January prepping for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend (half recap HERE, full recap HERE, in case you missed ‘em!) and the following weeks basking in all the post-Disney happiness.

WDW Marathon Weekend = A SUCCESS
(P.S. Anyone else heartbroken that the hat is almost completely gone?!)

It’s always nice to kick off a new year with a marathon, but now that January is over, I thought it was time to get serious about the rest of my goals for this year.

And I am happy to announce that I am officially registered for yet another marathon.

Marathon #5 will be…

::::::::::::::::::::drumroll, please::::::::::::::::::::

www.thenewjerseymarathon.com

(And, just for the record, this was all Todd’s idea…so if anything goes horribly wrong, it’s my full intention to blame him.)

Honestly, I wasn’t planning to run another marathon this soon. I figured I’d take a little bit of a breather, maybe do some half marathons, and gear up for another bout of marathon training in the late summer/fall.

But I’ve already done the New York Marathon…might as well run one that takes place literally 20 minutes from our house.

One of my first half marathons was the Long Branch Half Marathon back in 2013, which is part of the New Jersey Marathon — so it’ll be kind of cool to return and “go all the way” this time. And to be honest, I have a hard time finding the motivation to get out there and run if I don’t have a goal, so I think a spring marathon is probably the best way to keep my momentum going!

2013 Long Branch Half…seems SO long ago.

Also? I want a sub-five. BAD.

I KNOW I could have done better in New York. I KNOW I could have pushed harder in my training…and I definitely KNOW that I wasn’t properly prepared for the course/conditions. I am positive that I can do better, and seeing how this course is supposedly pretty pancake-like (and it will hopefully still be fairly cool in April), I’m hoping I can finally see a “4″ in front of my marathon time!

But in addition to training for a marathon — AGAIN — I’ve also set my sights on some other health/fitness/running goals I hope to accomplish this year. And what better way to stay accountable than to announce them to the world?

1.) Get Fast Again. Okay, so I was never really “fast,” per se’. But ever since I started focusing on marathons, my average pace has climbed from somewhere in the 9:15 area to more like a 10:30. My half marathon times have jumped from around a 2:05 to a 2:25. And for the past several months, I’ve felt nothing but discouraged and sluggish. It’s hard to feel motivated to run when you feel like you’re running through molasses all the time. My legs are always tired, and I couldn’t/wouldn’t find the energy to do any sort of speedwork.

I want my “old” paces back, and I want them back NOW.

Here’s the thing, though…I kinda sorta have no flippin’ clue how to go about this. I used to just naturally run a 10ish-minute/mile, and my pace just improved with consistency alone. And that was that. I have to be honest and say I haven’t done a whole lot of speedwork. And definitely not in conjunction with training for a marathon.

This past weekend, I thought I’d push myself a little harder on some shorter distances, just to see what I could do…and what it would feel like to try to run faster again. And for the first time in forever (*cue Frozen song*) I managed to run a 3-miler in 30 minutes, and then the next day, I challenged myself a little harder to run 4 miles in under 40 minutes.

I was right around a 9:10 for the first mile, then a 9:20, then a 9:30, and a 9:40. I haven’t seen those kinds of paces in probably a year. Granted, it was not easy…those paces used to feel completely comfortable to me, and this time, I was sucking some serious wind. But I surprised myself. I CAN do it. It’s not going to be easy, but I hope that if I start pushing myself a little harder again, I can get back to where I was.

2.) Set a New Half PR. So, I have a confession. My half marathon PR? It’s 2:03, and it’s from my very first half marathon (I’m not counting the Princess Half, because I did NOT run that one for time). It was way back in April 2013.

And that is just SAD.

“Runapalooza” in Asbury Park: my half marathon PR. TWO YEARS AGO.

Since then, I’ve come close (that year I ran a bunch of halfs in 2:04, 2:07, 2:10…) but never actually beat it. This infuriates me to no end because you’d think that with all the finish lines I’ve crossed since then, I should have seen some improvement from my first race EVER, right?!

You know how I said I wanted a sub-five marathon? Well, I want a sub-two half marathon just as badly.

Clearly, I’m not training properly — and I will be the FIRST to admit that — and that’s something that needs to change pronto. I’m proud of all of my accomplishments, don’t get me wrong…but at the same time, I’m tired of “just” being happy to finish. I want to get better. I want to know that all the hours I pour into running are actually paying off.

In other news, I just realized that my half PR will no longer be useable when I apply for corral placement in Disney races. We *MAY* be running the Wine & Dine Half Marathon this year, and proof of time has to be from a race after November 2013. And I really don’t have any times from last year that are even remotely close to 2 hours. *Insert panic here.* You know I don’t run Disney race for time, but I DO want the best corral placement I can have…mainly so I can get to the characters (and the post-race PARTAY) a little faster.

Which means I have no choice but to stop resting on my laurels and actually get out there and RACE again. The plan is to take this month to start slowly building up some mileage (I’m using a beginner marathon plan for now), but mainly focus on speed for the shorter runs and trying to improve my longer run performance (more consistent paces, etc.). I hope to run a race or two in March to see what I can do…since I’m going to need the flattest course possible and cooler temperatures if I have any hopes of performing well.

Getting our marathon training started…on snow and ice. Gotta love it.

We’re thinking of possibly doing The Love Run in Philadelphia, and there’s also a local 10-miler for St. Patrick’s Day (which I’ve also done in the past) but I recall it being nothing but hills…which is no bueno for me.

I’m realistic enough to know that my next half isn’t going to be a PR, but I’d like to get a little bit closer to 2:00. That way, I can take most of March and April to continue training for the marathon…and then maybe try another half or two (any of you New Jerseyans ever run the Wildwood Half?!) afterwards.

3.) Tackle a Tri. I’ve been talking about this one for, like, ever. I’d love to see what I can do in a multi-sport race. I love cycling, but between running and karate, I never feel like I can squeeze it into my weekly training regimen. And because of my fear of the swimming portion — I CAN swim, but I’m definitely not the strongest swimmer — I keep putting it off.

But I looked into a few local triathlons, like the Jersey Girl Triathlon, which seems perfect for a beginner like me. It’s a 3-mile run, 11-mile bike ride, and 300-yard swim. I haven’t signed up yet, so nothing is official. But I figure I’d already be well trained to take on a 3-mile run (duh), and whenever I do cycle it’s always for at least 10 miles, so I’d just have to become a little more consistent.

As for the swimming…well…I figure it’s a great form of cross-training, and I won’t be racing in the late spring/early summer (TOO HOT), so I can focus on improving my performance in the water.

4.) Drop a Few Lbs. I haven’t really written about this here yet. But I’m sure ya’ll can see that I don’t look quite the same as the picture in my blog header, which was taken two years ago. Ever since I started running marathons, I’ve watched my body change. I’m still wearing the same size and everything, but jeans that used to be loose just fit me now, some of my old running shorts are a little too tight for comfort, and some of my dresses are showing a bit more in my mid-section than I’d care to see. I’ve watched my legs and arms continue to get a little bulkier, which I do attribute partially to the Thai/Taekwondo and running — and that’s fine — but I find myself feeling self-conscious about my body again. And I hate it.

I had finally reached a point where I felt good about my body. Then I become more physically active than I’ve ever been, run a couple of marathons…and start to put weight back on? Where’s the fairness in THAT?!

I’ve been struggling to strike the balance between eating what my body needs to fuel my running — particularly for marathon training — and yet not overdoing it. I struggle with the “rungries” constantly, and that assumption that because I ran for 2 or 3 or 4 hours on a Sunday, that I can eat whatever I want. I haven’t weighed myself in more than 2 years, nor do I even a little bit care what my current weight is. I spent my entire life chained to that scale, and allowed a stupid little plastic box to crush my self-esteem time and time again.

All I care about is feeling comfortable in my own skin again, so my goal for this year is to get back to where I was, mentally speaking. I don’t plan to go back to counting POINTs again, but I know enough about portion sizes and how much I was eating when I lost the weight to simply tighten things up a bit and be more careful about what I’m putting into my body.

5.) Cook More. To that end, we’ve been making a more serious effort to cook in this house. Both of us pretty much suck at it, and I have absolutely no patience whatsoever in the kitchen. Truth be told, I really don’t enjoy cooking AT ALL. I know how to read nutrition labels, so I’ve always tried to pick the healthiest, most “natural” stuff to stock the kitchen…but we’ve been relying on frozen conveniences just a tad too often.

So I’ve turned back to Weight Watchers, so to speak, and we’re making an effort to try at least 2-3 new recipes a week from their database (my mom still has an active membership, so I just log-in under her name…shhhhhhh). I like it because the recipes are genuinely good (and good-for-you!) and you can filter them by prep time, difficulty level, etc…and there’s no shortage of main meal options that even an idiot like me can put together. And I’ve ordered a few cookbooks from Amazon. So, we’ll see what happens.

20 minutes ’til dinner? That’s what I’m talkin’ about…

6.) Become a brown belt. I’m still plugging away at Taekwondo. Now that I’m no longer considered a beginner, the higher belt level classes tend to be a little later in the evening — which means I can squeeze more of them into my weekly schedule.

I’m still way behind the other adults I joined with (who can make several classes per week), and that can be discouraging sometimes. And as much as I love martial arts, I know the wear-and-tear it puts on my legs isn’t always ideal for marathon training! But I’m doing the best I can to make it to class and work on mastering my curriculum for each belt…so, hopefully, I’ll be testing for my red belt soon, and maybe even my brown belt by the end of 2015! Patience is a virtue, right?

How are you doing on your 2015 goals?

Who has tips on speedwork for me?!

Northeast peeps…what are some of your favorite local half marathons?