Who me, run?

Polish Food

2011-10-19T19:49:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we were supposed to go to St. Augustine, but my stomach wasn't agreeing with me so we decided to stay closer to home.

We went up to Sanford to check out the flea market there (Flea World). We weren't really impressed with it, especially the food choices. It looked like all of the food vendors were run by the flea market management and the food didn't look any better than the kind of food you would find at your local country fair (in most cases it looked worse). We made it through the whole market quickly and didn't make any purchases.

Once we started heading home, we kept our eyes open for anything interesting to stop at or any place that looked good. The boyfriend saw a Polish restaurant and we decided to stop by for an early dinner.

We started with an order of potato pancakes. They were delicious and came with sour cream and homemade apple sauce. Yum!

It was tough for me to decide what I wanted, but I ended up getting the golabki platter. I was a bit nervous about ordering it considering the price, but when it came out. I saw that it was definitely worth it. The golabkis were HUGE. They took up most of the plate and made the pile of mashed potatoes look measly in comparison.

I could only finish one of them. Yeah, they were that big. It may have been the potato pancakes and the samples of the boyfriend's meal that slowed me down too...

The boyfriend ordered the Polish Platter. It came with 1 golabki, 2 pierogis, kielbasa and saurkraut. His order came with a lot of options too. Tomato or mushroom sauce on the golabki, potato and cheese or mushroom pierogis, and smoked or fresh kielbasa. Lots of choices. He picked both sauces and one of each pierogi, and, since neither of us have ever had it, the fresh kielbasa.

I was really impressed with the fresh kielbasa and I hope to try it again sometime. And I loved the potato and cheese pierogi so much that I bought 2 dozen more to take home. I really wish this restaurant was closer to me. I would definitely visit it more often. If you find yourself in the area and want to try some authentic Polish food, stop by and give it a try!

runDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Video Recap

2011-10-11T19:15:00.000-04:00

I didn't see myself in this video, but it was a great night. A recap is coming soon!

The Race Registration Bug

2011-09-28T23:15:00.000-04:00

Who has to fight to urge to register for every race that they hear about? Who can't resist free things?

This girl.

A few weeks ago I was reading the most recent edition of Women's Running and I stumbled across an add for a new triathlon series. The HITS Triathlon Series has twelve locations and a National Championship. Each location will have a Sprint, Olympic, Half and Full triathlon. Additionally, each location will have a HITS Open division.

The Open division is there to give newbies a taste of a triathlon. It is a 100 meter swim, 3 mile bike and 1 mile run. Oh yeah, and it's FREE! One of the locations is in Ocala, Florida, only an hour away from Orlando. And it's a month after the Princess Half Marathon. So, yeah, I registered for it.

And that a few days after registering for the tri, I happened to open my email and see an Active Advantage offer for free registration for the Miami Muddy Buddy. I usually miss out on these offers, but since it was a race not too far away, I clicked on the link and saw that I still had 10 minutes before the offer would be released. I hovered over my computer for the next 10 minutes and began clicking offer link as soon as it was active. There were only 10 free offers and I got one of them!

So of course, I promptly went over to the Muddy Buddy site and registered for the individual division. Six miles with obstacles and MUD! I can't wait! Make sure to check out the website to see what it's all about.

Breakfast today was vanilla Chobani, pear, granola and cinnamon:

Lunch was a salad mix. Lettuce, apple, walnuts, cheddar and apple vinagrette. Craisins would have made it awesome!

What new races have you registered for? How is your training going? Who will be in town this weekend for the Wine and Dine Half?

Trek Women's Triathlon

2011-09-27T16:17:00.000-04:00

Sunday of Labor Day weekend I got up at the ~~butt-crack of dawn~~ o'dark thirty to head over the Clermont to cheer on my friend Mel in her second triathlon. Mel was racing in the Trek Women's Triathlon. The race was held at Clermont Waterfront Park. After making the drive out there, I am glad that we made the decision not to look at houses there because it is so far away from the central Florida attractions.

Since my only real exposure to triathlons has been at the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon, I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the this one. For spectators though, it was nice that you were able to see the start and exit for the swim, the transition area, and the finish area. And the run portion passed the transition area an extra time before circling back to the finish.

When I got to the park I was able to find Mel easily because she showed me her new tri suit a few weeks ago. We hung out until it was time for her to go line up. There weren't that many racer relative to the run events I have done in the past. This race had probably about as many people as the Run for Clean Air that I did in Philly back around Earth Day (I know - I failed to give a race report). Mel was in wave 4 and I think there was one more wave after her. According to the website, there were 100 women per wave.

The race started in the water with the racers starting in about calf-deep water. There was a woman in the water getting the racers pumped up. Each wave started about five minutes after the last wave and each wave had "Swim Angels" that went out with them. They swam with noodles so that the racers could take a break if they needed to. I think this is a great idea. This was in addition to the lifeguards that were along the course in the kayaks.

The exit from the water was maybe 100 yards down the beach from the start so after Mel started I went over there and cheered for the people getting out of the water. Once Mel got out of the water I ran with her over to the transition area and cheered her on as she hopped on her bike.

I did come to the conclusion that if I were to ever do a race in Clermont, I will definitely get a few training runs/rides in before the race. The hills there are ridiculous!

I cheered on all of the women who were coming back in. One observation I made was that the earlier (ie, faster) women who used clipless pedals would take off their shoes and leave them in the pedals instead of running in them. Heck, I don't even have toe clips on my bike yet.

I had about an hour before Mel would come back but after about 30 minutes of wandering around, I decided to hang out near the bike finish area. I kept trying to guess if I could see her from where I was standing, but I wasn't spotting her. Finally I saw a woman that I was pretty sure was her. When she made the final turn, she said something to the volunteer and I could hear it all the way at the transition area. Yup, that was her!

Once Mel made it through the transition area, she went out for the 5K along the lake trail and I joined an adorable family while they waited to cheer on their mom. Not long after Mel went out for the run, her husband showed up with the rest of the cheering crew and we waited near the finish line for her to come in. She finished strong after stealing a kiss from her little girl.

One thing that was great about the race was how supportive everyone was. There was an announcer for everyone and they even invited all finishers and spectators into the finisher's chute to create 'tunnel of love' for the last finisher who was racing in her first triathlon.

I do hope to do this race next year. It was really exciting to see everything and even though the race wasn't very big, there was lots of support for all the athletes.

I do have some exciting news about some new races I've registered for, but I'm going to save that for another post.

So Totally Awesome!

2011-09-21T12:56:00.000-04:00

Congratulations!

You are among a select group of qualified applicants who get to enjoy a special opportunity to preview and prepare for the 2011 Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon next Friday (Sept. 30) at 7:00 a.m. (ET) at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

What Have I Been Eating?

2011-09-20T14:22:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to keep my diet healthy with minimal success. Here are some of the yummy things I've had in the past few weeks:

Taco Salad from Pecos Bill's - meh. Bowl made from flour tortilla.

Bamba's Barbeque Wrap from Rainforest Cafe - would be better without cilantro.

Cookie Sandwich cake from Babycake NYC - YUM!!!

Pulled Pork Sandwich from Flame Tree BBQ - an all time fave!

Fritters from Florida's Best Seafood Resataurant

Chef's Choice Appetizer

Shrimp ceviche

Shrimp Fritters


Vanilla Chobani, granola and cinnamon Puffins - just in case you think I only eat out!

Tomato Pie - brought to me all the way from Philadephia!

Creamy chicken tacos - I'll share the recipe in another post

Frozen Chai

So there were some good choices in there. A lot of not-so-good choices too. I definitely eat my healthiest when I prepare my own meals though.

I am looking for some delicious meals that I can take to work.

Does anyone have any healthy meal suggestions for my lunches?

The Greg Warren Band at House of Blues

2011-09-18T14:12:00.000-04:00

I've been busy getting out there and exploring central Florida for the past week. I owe you several updates and I'll get to them starting tomorrow. I just wanted to share some pictures from last night's show at the House of Blues. I went to see The Greg Warren Band which is headed by the former lead singer of Ambertone (love that band!). I had the opportunity to see a few other local performers too, including Jared Blake from The Voice. My friends Michelle and Shelley joined me and were totally awesome because I dragged them up to the front of the floor so we could see the band up close.

Jared Blake - The Voice

Greg Warren

Wordless Weekend

2011-09-10T10:45:00.000-04:00

September Goals

2011-09-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

Sarasota, September 2010

I have been meaning to do this for a while, but always seem to miss the beginning of the month. Here it is though, September 1, and I am getting this post written AND posted!

1. Complete at least 75% of my training runs.

I'm following the Galloway plan for the Goofy Challenge, but in the meantime, I'm also training for the Wine and Dine half marathon. Thankfully, the Galloway plan takes into account the fact that some people may run in Wine and Dine on their way to the Goofy Challenge so the race is on his training plan. Check them out here. I guess that means that I need to figure out a way to get a run in tonight so I don't start out at 0%! (Rain, rain, go away!)

2. Eat 5 small meals per day.

I have a bad tendency to skip meals and over indulge at others. I don't like that about myself and it ~~sometimes~~ usually leads me to make bad food choices. I hope you enjoy seeing food pictures because I am trying to document everything. Of course that won't always happen, but knowing that I am going to share what I am eating with you often has me second guessing what I am eating.

3. Swim 2 times per week.

I love being in the water and knowing that I have access to the awesome pools at the Y makes it that much easier for me to find time to swim. I can't wait to get stronger with my swimming and even if I never get back to the level I was in college, I know that I will still get lots of benefits just by getting some laps in!

4. Bike 2 times per week.

This might be the hardest thing for me to do. Biking is my weakest area (of the three triathlon sports). I really should take a biking course since I really don't know what gears to use when. Luckily, most of Florida is flat. I think most of my bike sessions will be to and from the gym. Once the boyfriend brings my helmet back from Pennsylvania (yeah, somethings didn't make it onto the moving truck).

5. Swim at least 1200 meters in one workout.

I think this is easily done. It's just a matter of me not getting lazy and me also getting to the gym with enough time to complete the workout. This could very well happen tomorrow when I go for my first Masters swim!

6. Figure out a way to pay for training sessions.

I really enjoy having a trainer. I'm not always the best at holding myself accountable or pushing myself when I need to, but the past two sessions I've gotten better workouts with the trainer than I've had in years!

7. Make time for the gym while balancing out my new work schedule and my home life.

Yup! I've taken a seasonal position for the time being. I'm going to pick up as many hours as I can since I won't be making that much per hour, which might mean some 6 am workouts so that I can still get my workouts in.

8. Swim at Lucky's Lake!

I hesitated to put this as a September goal and I may reevaluate it after a few weeks. This is dependent on my reaching my other distance goal for swimming. If I don't make that I may hold off until October for this swim.

What are your goals this month? Any races planned?

My triceps are sore...

2011-08-30T11:46:00.000-04:00

I knew I would be sore today. My legs seem okay, but my triceps seem to have taken one for the team. I keep stretching, but they aren't feeling much better. I will be getting a run in today. 30 minutes for sure! I'll probably wait until about 9 o'clock tonight to get myself out there. Maybe even get the boyfriend out there with me. We'll see though.

Since I have been sharing all the things I love about the Y with you, I wanted to show you how the main pool looks when it is set up for the long course (50 meters). I wish I had known that it would be set up that way when I went to the gym yesterday. I didn't bring my bathing suit with me since I was only planning on working with the trainer.

I also think it is totally awesome that when I refer to the diving well I am referring to an Olympic style diving well. 1-meter boards all the way up to platforms. I'm not afraid of heights, but the last time I tried to dive off a 3-meter springboard, I got nervous and just had to jump. And that was in college, many years ago. I haven't tried again since then. But here is what the diving well looks like at the Y. The four lower boards in this picture at the 3-meter springboards just to give you a little perspective.

Pretty awesome, huh?

Yesterday I did get the opportunity to meet one of the Masters swimming coaches since their practice was just starting as I was done with my session with the trainer. I was planning on going to my first practice with them on Friday (Masters swimming is included with my membership to the Y - woot!), but I just got off the phone with my trainer and he needed to reschedule which leave me free for tomorrow. Maybe I'll be able to get to the practice a few day early instead!

For breakfast, I had a few slices of Colby cheese while I was getting the boyfriend's lunch ready and then had low-fat Nutrigrain waffles with The Bee's Knees, banana, Cranberry Chew low fat granola, chia seeds, and honey. Yum!

I'm not particularly hungry right now, but I know I probably won't eat right if I don't start planning my lunch now. I ate breakfast around 8:45 and should probably eat before 12:30, otherwise I probably won't eat until 2 or 3. I'm thinking a protein drink followed by a ham and cheese sandwich a little bit later.

How far in advance do you plan your meals? What is your favorite lunch?

What a busy workout weekend!

2011-08-29T23:06:00.000-04:00

After a yummy snack on Saturday, I made my way out to my friend Mel's house. We're trying to get in night runs to prepare to the Wine and Dine Half Marathon. Our friend Jen is also training for the race. She signed up for the relay and she will be running the 5 mile portion of the course.

We're not really following a training plan (even though we should be). Mel is doing a triathlon this weekend so she's been focusing on that and I'm just happy every time I am able to get a workout in. We are planning on doing 10 miles two weeks before the race and starting those 10 miles at around 8 pm. That should be fun...

Yesterday the boyfriend and I took a quick bike ride to a resort near us to use one of our restaurant.com gift certificates. It was maybe a mile to the resort. This was actually the first time I rode my bike since I got a tune up for it. It was nice to have more than three working gears. Now I just need to learn how to use them. Had I not just worn my tri shorts I would have worn them on the ride, but since we were biking to lunch, I didn't want to walk into a restaurant in stinky shorts.

We walked around the resort to check out the amenities too and then grabbed trail map and biked around the resort before biking over to the smaller of the two pools in our complex. It was hot out and even though the pool wasn't as cool as the pools at the Y, it felt so refreshing to hot in the water after being out in the sun on the bike.

On thing I forgot to do was put on sunscreen. Pretty stupid of me in central Florida in August, huh? It did cross my mind to put it on. I guess I thought we weren't going far and I would be coming back after lunch. I should know better when the boyfriend gets something in his mind. Needless to say, I got a little color on my shoulders and back. Lots of aloe was called for.

This morning I headed to the Y for my first of three sessions that I get with a trainer. We talked about nutrition. All stuff I actually know, but usually forget to follow. I need to be more careful about what I eat. After our nutrition talk, he walked me through a circuit. My legs recovered quickly, but my arms felt like jello for pretty much the rest of the day.

Lunch was a toasted ham and cheese sandwich follow by a peanut butter chocolate cupcake from the Yum Yum Cupcake truck.

Dinner was BBQ drumsticks, baked plantains and peas. Yummy!

And pistachio almond ice cream!

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!

2011-08-27T18:10:00.000-04:00

After enjoying my trial membership at the Y this month I finally took the plunge and signed up for a full membership. I followed that up with a celebratory 600 meter swim. Have I mentioned how much I love the pools there?

When I was a member at Ballys, I occasionally used the pool there but I really didn't like it because the water was too warm (good for the old folks who wanted to do Aquasize) and the pool just never felt clean. The pools here are kept at 70 (diving well), 74 (main pool) and 84 (swimming lesson pool). So far I've only swam in the diving well and the main pool.

The cool water is really refreshing for doing laps and since the water is cooler, the air is fresher too. It doesn't feel like a sauna when I take a breath. Since I went in the morning yesterday, I also didn't need to contend with the high school teams. That means that I was able to try out the main pool. Of course I loved it. It was nice to have the flags above the lanes so that I knew when to flip for my back stroke. That is of course if I was actually doing flip turns. I feel a little bit out of practice with those.

Check out this yummy snack platter that I shared with the Boyfriend this afternoon. Triscuits, ham and colby cheese with carrot sticks, apples and Dark Chocolate Dreams and The Bee's Knees.

We had a picnic right in the living room (we don't currently have a couch to veg out on) while we were watching the local attractions On Demand show. Lots of cool stuff to do in this area!

I'm heading over to my friend Mel's house now. I don't know how many miles we'll be doing, but we're trying to get in our miles for the Wine and Dine half in the evenings so our bodies don't revolt during the race.

I will eat more fruits and veggies!

2011-08-25T13:32:00.000-04:00

As I'm taking pictures of my meals for this blog, I realize that I really don't have enough fruits and veggies in my diet. It's not that I don't like them. It's just that I'm lazy about it. Today I made an effort to have a lot of fruits and veggies in my lunch. I'm not sure how I'm going to add some in my dinner yet, but I'll make sure that I get something!

Lunch was leftover mac 'n cheese (sorry, I deleted the picture from my phone instead of emailing it to myself!), an apple, carrots and celery with a side of Dark Chocolate Dreams. Have I told you how yummy this stuff is yet? Try it with an apple. I would even have this stuff as my dessert for the day!

Now, I'm seriously off to hunt for a job and head to the gym!

Current August Status

2011-08-25T10:47:00.000-04:00

I stole this idea from my friend Crystal over at Straight On Till Morning. I have lots to write about, but still have lots to take care of around the house (and find a job...). So I decided to share a little bit about myself based on her post the other day.

Current guilty pleasure: Vampires. Well, True Blood and Vampire Diaries at least. Who doesn't love Vampire Eric or the Salvatore brothers? (Ian Somerhalder - yum!)

Current color: Purple. Well, it's always purple. I don't think that will ever change.

Current playlist: Coconut (from the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack), My Disaster (Ambertone- I'm so sad that they broke up, but the band members still have their own things going on so I plan on seeing Greg perform at the House of Blues here in Orlando next month), Fantasmic! soundtrack and Illuminations soundtrack

Current read: Kingdom Keepers IV Power Play

Current drink: Any margarita from La Cava del Tequila (don't worry! Those shots weren't all mine!)

Current food: BBQ anything. I made some delicious country style ribs last night with Sweet Baby Ray's that were finger-licking! (Sorry, I forgot pictures!)

Current favorite show: Charmed. It is bad that this is on at 8 and 9 on TNT (or TBS - I forget)

Current wish list: A job, shorts that fit right, a job.

Current needs: A job!

Current triumphs: Um... I moved to Orlando...

Current bane of my existence: Time. There isn't enough of it in the day.

Current celebrity crush: Ian Somerhalder and Alexander Skarsgard (notice a trend there - the bad boy vampire)

Current indulgence: Menchies frozen yogurt. I've only been there once, but I've been trying to get back ever since.

Current blessing: Family and friends who love and support me. And two kitties who love to boss me around.

Current outfit: Shorts and a tank top. All day, every day.

Current excitement: I'm heading to the gym in a few hours!

Current mood: Relaxed. I keep trying to forget all the things I need to get done in a day.

Current link: SeaWorld - I'm contemplating an annual pass

I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

2011-08-19T15:59:00.000-04:00

There is a chance that by tonight I will have all of my boxes either unpacked or put away. I will be so relieved when I am done with it.

This morning the BF asked for an egg sandwich for breakfast so I decided to make one for myself too. It was pretty filling and held more over for a while.

Wheat biscuit, egg, cheddar cheese, and Virginia ham

Later I had a mid-morning snack of a Lara bar (Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter). Sorry, no pictures! It was only okay. I"m always trying out different flavors of Lara bars and and so far Peanut Butter Cookie and Apple Pie are my favorites.

After spending a good 3 hours unpacking and sorting, I was starving.I had some Athenos Greek yogurt with honey. I topped it with Cranberry Chew Low Fat Granola from Whole Foods, and chia seeds.

I've been reading about how a lot of bloggers have been adding chia seeds to a lot of the food that they eat so when I found them in Whole Foods I decided to pick some up and give them a shot. They seem to be incredibly healthy for you. Supposedly, they help weight loss, help to curb hunger by allowing you to feel full faster, help to reduce blood pressure, and are high in Omega-3. They look interesting, kind of like toast sesame seeds. Thankfully, they don't taste like sesame seed though! You can find out more information here and here.

I'm not sure how I feel about them but I plan on giving them a chance. Maybe I'll make a smoothie later with them in it.

The end result was okay. I might try it again tomorrow with a different flavored granola.

How's your day going? It's time for me to go finish unpacking...

And the unpacking continues...

2011-08-17T15:28:00.000-04:00

I've come to the conclusion that I have way too much stuff. That isn't really a new discovery, but having moved across 8 states, I now wish I had a little bit more time to purge my belongings before bringing them to Florida. Until I find a job, I am trying to go through everything and keep, donate or trash what I can. Unfortunately, the 'keep' pile is still bigger than I would like it to be.

I took a break for lunch and had some leftover tilapia that I had pan fried(?)/blackened the other day with some brown rice.

It is actually a whole fillet of tilapia, but when I put it in the Tupperware the other night, I threw the rice on top of it. Also, I usually don't care if I have lemon with my fish, but this time I think it really would have made the leftovers even more delicious.

I followed it up with a yummy glass of Florida (Publix) OJ.

Yummy Breakfast

2011-08-17T10:07:00.000-04:00

I am trying to eat healthier and I have decided to slightly change the focus of this blog from just running to an overall health and wellness blog. I was supposed to go to the Healthy Living Summit this weekend in Philadelphia, but obviously those plans changed. I do hope to have an opportunity to meet many of the bloggers that will be there in the future since many of them are now local to me.

So today I wanted to share my breakfast with you. Hopefully, it will fill me up until lunch time.

This was low fat Nutrigrain Eggo waffles with Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams, banana, sprinkled with Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola from Whole Foods and drizzled with a little bit of honey.

I think I'm in love with this stuff. It was on sale at Whole Foods and I think I'll need to get back there to buy a few more bottles.

When I can, I will not only include my workouts, but also my meals. Once I start including those, maybe I'll make healthier choices since I will be sharing things with you too!

Getting back in the swing of things...

2011-08-12T10:40:00.000-04:00

I've been incredibly busy for the last few months. Work was having a really negative impact on my mental and physical well being. I am happy to say that I no longer work for the company.

I've even had some bigger life changing events. I've moved approximately 1800 miles away from Philadelphia and I am now living only 15 minutes from my favorite place on earth. I'm slowly adjusting to to heat and humidity here in central Florida, but hopefully that will help me when I run in the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in October.

Unfortunately, because of the move, I was unable to participate in the SheROX triathlon last weekend. And I won't be able to make it out to Disneyland for the half marathon in a few weeks either. It feels a bit weird to have my first DNS (did not start). I know that things will turn out for the best.

I have started training again for my other races and I am currently a member of the local Y and have taken advantage of it's HUGE aquatic center.

Also, the complex that I am living in has a small gym. If you can call it that. It isn't any bigger than the gym at your average hotel and the equipment is pretty disappointing. I will try it again, because the hours at the Y are somewhat limited, but I definitely will be taking advantage of the pools and the fitness center at the Y.

I also go to try out my new Running Skirt finally. I was going to wear it for the Disneyland Half, but I might wear it for the Wine and Dine instead.

What do you think?

Philadelphia International Championship

2011-06-06T23:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I got up early and headed to Main Street in Manayunk to watch the Philadelphia International Championship. In all my years living in Philadelphia I never took the time to head into the city to see the race. It was really exciting to head down there and meet up with my friend Laurie.

I really didn't know what to expect with the crowds, but was surprised to see that the Main Street was not very crowded. At least it was no more crowded during the race than it would be on any Saturday night.

We really didn't know what the details of the course was for the race, except that it went through Manayunk and up the Manayunk Wall a few times before finishing with a few laps down the Ben Franklin Parkway and finishes near the Philadelphia Art Museum. Well, I've since learned the details. The race is 3 1-mile laps near the Art Museum, followed by 10 14.4-mile laps from the Art Museum to Manayunk and ending with 3 laps around a secondary loop that goes through the lemon hill section of Philadelphia.

So we were able to walk down Main Street and we caught the peloton going by a few times.

After grabbing a quick snack on Main Street, we made our way over to Levering Avenue to see what The Wall was all about. I lived in Roxborough, which is the neighbors Manayunk, for four years, but no one could ever tell me if The Wall was Levering or Leverington Avenue. I do realize that I could have Googled it, but where's the fun in that?

For one lap, we positioned ourselves at the bottom of The Wall and caught the racers as they were making their turn to begin the ascent. It was an awesome place to watch because the speed that the racers reached around the turn was amazing.

After all the racers passed, we made our way up the wall in orders to get a few more views of the racers climbing.

The leaders

My favorite support vehicle...

A crash!

After seeing the lap from The Wall, we went back to Main Street to grab another snack and then made our way to the end of Main Street to catch the last lap.

Here's the video I got of the peloton:

It was an amazing place to watch the race from. I'm sure that next year I'll try to make it down there again. Maybe I'll even bike to Manayunk from out in my neck of the woods. I should be in biking shape by then!

Wordless Weekend

2011-05-29T00:53:00.000-04:00

Just last month...

SheROX triathlon

2011-05-22T12:00:00.002-04:00

Yup. I did it. I signed up for my first triathlon. I'll be doing the SheROX here in Philly in August. I would be lying if I said I was wasn't nervous.

I'm nervous about the swim. Not because I'm not a strong swimmer but because it is in one of the rivers here. I'm spoiled. I prefer swimming in a pool. I used to teach swimming lessons in a lake so I can swim in open water but I choose not to.

I'm also nervous about the bike portion. I am not a strong biker. I have never been a fan of biking on hills and I know I'll have to bike up the same hill twice. I made an appointment to get my bike tuned up so that hopefully more than 3 of the gears will work. I also need to get some toe clips for it. Ugh. More expenses.

I found a website for beginner triathletes. I used it to develop a training plan that gets me swimming, biking and running three times per week. I was able to pick the days so I made sure that I kept my run days the same as my days for my Galloway plan for Disneyland.

Today was day one of the plan and I went to the gym for a 35 minutes bike ride and a 11 minute swim. Yup 11 minutes. It could have been a 9.5 mile bike and 550 meter swim. I stuck to the time limit for the bike and ended up going about 13 miles. For the swim I took longer than 11 minutes but I did the distance.

The last time I did any serious swimming was before I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Unfortunately that means that my thyroid is enlarged and it can actually be a bother when I swim. Not so much when I am swimming backstroke (my preferred stroke) but when I swim freestyle I can often feel it. I'm pretty sure there are parts of the swim when I'll probably flip onto my back but more than likely I'll be swimming freestyle for most of the swim. I guess I'll need to strengthen my Tarzan stroke so that I can take it easy and not run into people.

Training for Disneyland Half Starts Today!

2011-05-03T23:53:00.000-04:00

Wow! I can't believe that it time to start training again. According to to Jeff Galloway training program, I've got 18 weeks until the Disneyland half. Wow.

Wow.

Today I did a 30 minute run. I am going to do my best to follow Galloway's training plan to the T. That means another 30 minutes on Thursday and 3 miles on Saturday. I might be joining the team this Saturday, but I also think I'm going to get to try to get to the Race for the Cure on Sunday.

I also still owe you a race report for the 5K Run for Clean Air. I'll try to get that out by this weekend... Hopefully...

Goofy Challenge registration up to 60%

2011-04-26T13:06:00.000-04:00

Just over the weekend, the 2012 Goofy Challenge jumped to 50% registration. As of today, registration is up to 60%. If you were thinking about doing it, it might be time to make up your mind and get registered. Also, prices just went up this weekend and the current prices are good until July 3.

Entry Fees and Deadlines

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon

$140 by April 24, 2011
$150 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011
$160 on or after July 4, 2011

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon Relay (2-person team)

$280 by April 24, 2011
$300 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011
$320 on or after July 4, 2011

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Half Marathon

$140 by April 24, 2011
$150 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011
$160 on or after July 4, 2011

Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge

$310 by April 24, 2011
$330 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011
$350 on or after July 4, 2011

Disney Family Fun Run 5K

$50 per participant
$55 per Stroller division participant

Disney Kids Races

$10 per child

Mickey Mile

$25 per child

Wordless Weekend

2011-04-23T10:04:00.000-04:00

Things I Love Thursday! Sweaty Bands

2011-04-21T23:02:00.000-04:00

And we have a winner! Sorry for the delay in posting this. Life got in the way as usual. The winner of the sweaty band is Meagan (cheercfa07). I'll be sending you an email with information on how to claim your prize. Congratulations!

Wordless Weekend

2011-04-17T21:16:00.000-04:00

100 Day Challenge

2011-04-13T23:03:00.000-04:00

My Twitter friend @Muus posted this morning that she was doing a 100 day challenge. I tweeted back that I wanted to join her. We agreed to share our progress on Twitter and we now even have a Facebook event. Join our event here. This will be an international 100 day challenge!

My first workout was Week 6 Day 1 of C25K. 2.4 miles in 33 minutes!

Getting Registered

2011-04-11T13:49:00.001-04:00

I've been dragging my feet to register for a 5K. Part of the reason is that I have a second job that usually involves me working on Saturday or Sunday. I can usually only register for a race up to two weeks before. The exception is the larger races where I will make sure to request the time off. I really don't like to ask for time off from my second job since I would rather take the time off for an extended vacation.

Well, for this weekend I am scheduled for an on-call shift for Saturday night which leaves my Saturday morning free. So I finally registered for a 5K. I registered for the 5K Run for Clean Air which is run along ~~West River~~ Martin Luther King Drive on Saturday morning. The course is a nice out-and-back along the river. Something I am very familiar with.

I'm not expecting to reach my 5K goal this weekend, but I am hoping for a 5K PR. Granted, I only have done a few 5Ks where I can even give you a time on. I plan on wearing my VFFs for this race too. I'm really excited to try them in a race!

Wordless Weekend

2011-04-10T00:06:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to enter my first Giveaway (for a Sweaty Band)! Read about it here!

Things I Love Thursday! Sweaty Bands

2011-04-07T01:08:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited to not only be doing my first Things I Love Thursday, but also to be hosting my first giveaway!!!

Last year before the Princess Half Marathon I picked up a head band for the race. I visited the one of the booths that advertised their product as "guaranteed not to slip." I decided to give it a shot since I have had problems with head bands slipping in the past. I figured that the worst that could happen would be me losing my $15 investment when the head band slipped off during the race.

Of course the head band stayed on and so I fell in love with Sweaty Bands! I've been lucky to find them in my local running store, but the variety hasn't been very good so I have mostly made my purchases at expos directly from the Sweaty Bands booth.

Sweaty Bands come in three main sizes: 1 1/2", 1" and 5/8". My first two purchases were of the 1 1/2" size and while I love the design of them, they don't work well with the shape of my head. They don't lay flat on my head when my hair is pulled back. They do look nice when I have my hair down though and that is how I wear that size now.

I have since tried the 1" size and I love it. It fits so nicely on my head and of course, it stays in place! I've worn one in almost every race I've done since the 2010 Princess and I can't wait to get more to match my other outfits.

I am a bit surprised that I don't have any decent pictures of me wearing a Sweaty Band. I would love to share one with you so you could see the designs that I have. They have a great variety of styles to choose from, including the basic solid colors or school colors and metallic bands. One of these days I'll pick up a solid color, but I keep finding difference designs that I love and just can't live without.

Now here's the fun part. The great people over at Sweaty Bands have given me a band to give away to one lucky ready! I'll keep this contest open until 11:59pm next Thursday.

To enter, leave a comment telling me which of the size you think you would like the most! (Be sure I have a way to contact you in case you win!) This giveaway is open to USA residents only.

Want some bonus entries? (Must do the mandatory entry above first for these to count! Please leave a separate comment for each entry!)

*Like Sweaty Bands on Facebook for 1 bonus entry.

*Follow Sweaty Bands on Twitter for 1 bonus entry.

*Visit Sweaty Bands's website and tell me something you learned. (1 bonus entry)

*Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect (1 Bonus Entry)

*Like my blog on Facebook (1 bonus entry)

*Share this contest on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to mention me (@mla1977) on Twitter or Who Me, Run? on Facebook when sharing the contest. (1 bonus entry each)

Entries must be received by 11:59 PM on April 14, 2011! I'll e-mail the winner, they have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen!

Jillian Michaels kicked my...

2011-04-05T10:53:00.000-04:00

I didn't make it to the gym yesterday, but I didn't skip my workout either. When I got home, I checked to see what was available on Exercise TV and saw that level on of the 30 Day Shred was available. Score!

I know that is a tough workout. I haven't done it in maybe a year, but I decided to give it a try since I knew that my friend Jill was starting it again. I couldn't let her suffer alone could I?

Doing this workout I definitely felt it in my calves (during the jumping rope portion of the cardio) and in my arms. Wow! Did I feel it in my arms! Doing the last set of arms, I wasn't sure I would be able to finish it. And I was only working out with 5 lb weights.

I let everyone know on Twitter that I was doing the workout (after the fact). I let Jill know that my arms felt like Jello too. I think at least 2 other friends who have not done this workout before will be picking up the DVDs this week so that they can give it a shot. I'm not certain how I wil fit this into my workouts, but I'm thinking that on the days when I don't go for a run or get to the gym, I will try to get in at least one of these workouts. They are only 20 minutes!

One other thing...

Did you know that I have a fan page on Facebook now? Go here or search for "Who me, Run?" on Facebook and Like the blog there. Trust me, this will come in handy later...

Motivation Monday

2011-04-04T15:11:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling a bit tired today and that got me to thinking...

How do you keep yourself motivated to workout during the week?

I'd like to think that the hundreds of dollars that I put out for race registrations is motivation enough, but it doesn't always work out that way. I did get up really early Saturday morning and managed to get a few miles in before I had to get home and showered for work. This time instead of doing one of the C25K sessions or a dedicated run workout, I ended up walking. In my Vibrams.

I don't think that walking in them is the best idea for me. I was walking at a pace that rivals my pace for races (my walking pace, not my run/walk pace). It felt like there was more wear and tear on my body after doing that then there had been in any of the runs that I've done since I got the VFFs. Of course, going to the store and standing for 4 hours afterwards didn't help me any. I guess it's a good thing that I am more corfortable running in the VFFs than I am walking. That will only force me to get faster.

Now if only I can get up the desire to get to the gym tonight...

Wordless Weekend

2011-04-03T23:34:00.000-04:00

Super Seven

2011-03-28T15:41:00.000-04:00

Since I didn't get called into work yesterday, I was able to get out for a 7 mile run with Rachel. As I was laying there in bed, I was trying to come up with excuses to not head out for the run, but I sucked it up and gave Rachel a call to let her know I was free. She was so excited that I couldn't let her down.

We met over at Valley Forge and headed across the river to stay on the flat River trail. Rachel is training again for the Broad Street Run and, while training on hills would make both of us stronger, Broad Street is a mostly flat/downhill course so it made sense to stay on the flat trail. This was also going to be my longest run with the Vibrams on and Rachel had just purchased a new pair for herself the day before.

We started around 11:30 which sounds late, but it was still pretty cold outside so it didn't bother us that much. Once we walked over to the river trail, we set out to run and we ran the whole first mile. It wasn't fast, but we were running. After finishing the first mile, we took a walk break for about 1/4 mile and then ran for about 1 1/4 mile. We kept up approximately the same rate, not sticking to a time interval. There were a few times when I wanted to take a break and Rachel encouraged me to keep going.

It was awesome to get out there and run with her again. It's been way too long. We have plans to get out there and run again next weekend. Eight miles this time. In the meantime, this week I will be continuing C25K during the week. Tonight I hope to throw in a Pilates and/or Yoga workout at home. We'll see what is on Exercise TV on On Demand when I get home!

Wordless Weekend

2011-03-26T20:31:00.000-04:00

Follow Friday - Run Court Run

2011-03-25T21:31:00.000-04:00

I did get my workout in yesterday, but I wanted to start my Follow Friday series today so I won't be writing about how awesome I felt yesterday.

I know that I have made many references to my friend Courtney over at Run Court Run in this blog. Courtney is a great friend who is also a fellow Team in Training alum. Her blog is always a good read. She posts consistently throughout the week (I know, something I am working on myself) and I am always looking forward to reading what else she has to say. Though I usually read her blog through my RSS feed, I am always impressed with the design of her page.

I've also had the opportunity to hang out with Courtney in Walt Disney World a few times and she is just as much fun in person as she is on her blog. Stop by her blog and say hi! And don't forget to follow her on Twitter too!

Workout Wednesday

2011-03-24T11:12:00.000-04:00

So this Workout Wednesday is coming to you on Thursday. Whoops!

My back is not feeling right today. It was bothering me yesterday too. I think it just needs to be cracked, so we'll see how it feels tomorrow.

I planned on getting to the gym and taking on week 5, day 1 of C25K. Well, that didn't happen. I got out of work much later than I planned and I had to run errands. After dinner, I did a gut busting ab workout instead.

I didn't use a video or any other planned workout. I went back to my swimming days and did the same routine that we used to to before every practice. I plan on doing this more often and sometimes after I run, I throw in some of these workouts already. I know that working out your core is essential to overall fitness and very important to runners who run long distances. I would also like to be comfortable in fitted clothing. I don't like wearing baggy clothes, but I'm not always happy with how I look in fitted clothes. This should put me on track!

What are your favorite core workouts? I'm always interested in trying new workouts (even if I don't stick with them too long).

Quiet Weekend for me!

2011-03-22T12:19:00.000-04:00

Well, at least on the fitness front. I worked late on Friday at the office and I was at the store on Saturday before driving to Baltimore to visit my friends for the night. I can't say that I made the best food and drink choices for myself, but at least I had fun and I'm back on track now. I also worked at the store on Sunday night. Monday was not the best day for me, so I took it easy last night. I'm working again tonight, so tomorrow I will be back on track and I plan on heading to the gym so I can resume C25K. I'm on week 5 I think? (yay for the app for keeping track of these things!)

Tomorrow will be my first Workout Wednesday post!

Things I Love Thursday!

2011-03-17T16:30:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to write about things I love today. I'll try to start that next week. I just wanted to share some of my ideas for what I'll be doing with this blog. A lot of other blogs that I read have themes for the difference days of the week. I already introduced one of my themes this past weekend - Wordless Weekend. Here's some of the other themes that I'm going to start using:

Workout Wednesday

Things I Love Thursday

Follow Friday

So what do you think? I'm not sure if I want to come up with specific themes for Monday and Tuesday, but we'll see where this takes us. I might not post every day of the week, but I think this will keep me focused and also help me come up with ideas when I can't think of anything else exciting to write about. I hope you guys like this plan!

2011 Princess Half Marathon Race Report - Part 3

2011-03-16T22:47:00.000-04:00

We needed to weave our way around people to get down the ramp from the Castle, but then we were in the clear and made our way into Liberty Square and Frontierland. Once we left the Magic Kingdom and headed out to Floridian Way we were set for the long stretch back to Epcot.

It can get pretty boring out behind the Magic Kingdom. That might be why Reedy Creek put some of the hotter EMTs out there. Of course, Mel knew a lot of them, including the hot single one! Too bad we didn't have time to stop so I could meet him.

Somewhere around mile 8 both of us got serious. Since I hadn't done ~~much~~ any running since the marathon, I was feeling the 8 miles already. Mel had managed to get in some training since the half in Janua ry, but she hadn't gone farther than 8 miles, so she was starting to feel it too. I grabbed a mocha Clif Shot and started to eat some of it. Last summer I came to the conclusion that I didn't like Clif Shots or other gels in the heat. I guess it was getting to be pretty warm because I couldn't eat much of it before I had to throw it away. Thankfully between me and Mel we had a lot of Sport Beans that would get us through the race.

We were doing a good job of keeping up our intervals even at this late point in the race. Unfortunately, we were slowing down all together. Thankfully, we made it to mile 10 and then got the the on ramp from hell. In January, Mel had stayed on the outside of the curve in the grass and she felt that her knees handled the hill much better, so that is what we did this time. Taking that approach make a huge difference in how we felt. For the next mile we walked up the hills and ran down them.

If memory serves me right, we saw Mel's husband and baby and our friend Jen just before we entered Epcot. It's always good to see a friendly face on the course! In our last mile, we ran from Spaceship Earth to the World Showcase Lagoon. Then we walked from there out to mile 13. We did get to see my friend Kirsty who had run the Princess with us last year. She was near the area where we exit Epcot.

Once we got outside of Epcot, we kept trying to decide how close we wanted to be before we ran all the way to the finish. We finally agreed on a point and when we reached it we both took off. I got a few steps ahead of Mel when all of a sudden she started to pass me! I shouted "You're not gonna beat me!" and both of us sprinted to the finish. I guess you could call it a photo finish. When we checked the official time, I beat Mel by 1/100 of a second.

Alyssa caught these pictures of use just after we crossed the finish line:

Three tired Princesses!

Of course I plan on doing this race again! I love this race and hope that one day I will be able finish it in under three hours.

If you took part in the race, let me know your experiences. What was your favorite part? As evidenced by the lack of pictures, we were too focused on finishing to get too many pictures in the second half of the race. Share your pictures with me and I'll post them here!

WDW Marathon, Half Marathon and Goofy Challenge Registration opens today!

2011-03-15T11:52:00.001-04:00

Who's registering today? If you ran the Princess Half or the races in January, you should have received a discount code in you email in the last few days. If you are a Disney Visa card holder, you should have also received a discount link through the Disney Visa website.

Here's the pricing information from the runDisney website:

Entry Fees and Deadlines

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon

$140 by April 24, 2011

$150 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011

$160 on or after July 4, 2011

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon Relay (2-person team)

$280 by April 24, 2011

$300 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011

$320 on or after July 4, 2011

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Half Marathon

$140 by April 24, 2011

$150 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011

$160 on or after July 4, 2011

Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge

$310 by April 24, 2011

$330 between April 25, 2011 and July 3, 2011

$350 on or after July 4, 2011

Disney Family Fun Run 5K

$50 per participant

$55 per Stroller division participant

Disney Kids Races

$10 per child

Mickey Mile

$25 per child

Cancellation Policy

Entry fees for Marathon Weekend events are non-refundable.

Eligibility

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon and Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge To compete you must be 18 years of age or older.

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon Relay and WALT DISNEY WORLD® Half Marathon

To compete you must be 14 years of age or older.

Disney Family Fun Run 5K

All ages are welcome to compete. Each participant must be able to complete the 5K on their own unless they have registered for the Stroller division of the 5K.

Disney Kids' Races

Children 13 and under can participate in the Mickey Mile and other race distances are determined by age group.

Pacing Requirements

All athletes entering the WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon, Marathon Relay, Half Marathon or 5K must maintain a 16-minute per mile pace throughout the race. Anyone not able to maintain the respective paces may be picked up and transported to the finish. You may be picked up at any point along the course and transported for not maintaining pace. It is suggested that you train at a 15-minute per mile pace.

Proof of Time

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon, Half Marathon and Goofy Challenge If you believe you will finish the Half Marathon in less than 2:45 hours or the Marathon in less than 5:00 hours, proof of time is required for start corral placement.

WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon 2-Person Relay

If the person running the first leg in your relay will finish their Half Marathon leg in less than 2:45 hours, proof of time is required for start corral placement.

Please provide proof of time at the point of registration.

Proof of time should include name of race, year, distance and time finished (i.e. 2011 WALT DISNEY WORLD® Marathon - 3:35 OR 2009 DISNEYLAND® Half Marathon - 2:25). If you do not have a proof of time to submit, list “N/A” at the point of registration. Proof of time must be provided from a race 10K or longer. All forms of proof of time must be from a race after July 1, 2009. If you do not provide proof of time you will be placed in the last start corral.

If you do not provide proof of time at the point of registration or acquire it after you have registered, then email this information to disneysports@trackshack.com before November 1, 2011. After November 1, 2011 you will need to bring proof of your estimated finish time to the Runner Relations booth at the Expo if you wish to have your start corral placement changed. If you listed a race result as proof of time when registering online, then you do not have to do anything further.

Dates, times and prices subject to change. All races are subject to capacity limits and may close at any time.

2011 Princess Half Marathon Race Report - Part 2

2011-03-14T23:47:00.000-04:00

Once we crossed the starting line, Mel, her sister-in-law and I jogged for a bit. Maybe as much as a quarter mile just to get out of the crowds. Once Mel and I started walking, her sister-in-law joined us for a few minutes before deciding that she wanted to run more.

Mel and I quickly settled into our intervals. I snapped pictures along the way. I swear that one of these days I will be a fast enough runner to stop and take lots of pictures during this race. Before I knew it, we were at the Magic Kingdom gates. We were noticing that there were some changes in the placement of the "attractions" along the way. Not major changes, just simple things like the race car at the Speedway being in a different spot.

I told Mel how I hoped that the drummers from Japan would be out since they were not out for the marathon. Once we got into the Magic Kingdom parking lot, I thought I heard the drums, but then I started doubting myself thinking that I must be hearing the drums from a high school band. I was quickly distracted from my thoughts when we approached mile four and found Elvis Stitch!

I wish I got a picture of Stitch, but there was no time to be wasted. Once we rounded the corner, we found what I had been looking for... The Japanese drummers! That made me smile. We even saw that they had some of the younger children taking part in the performance. So cute!

During Mel's training, she was fortunate to be able to come over to the Contemporary and run the hill under the water bridge. I guess that is how she can compensate for the hill that I train on in Valley Forge. I honestly don't get intimidated by this hill anymore. It might be a little bit steep, but it is short and there is a huge reward on the other side!

We kept following the timer on my watch until we got up the hill. The course gets really narrow making the turn backstage though and even though it was time to run, we decided to walk. We had already agreed that we wanted to run, actually run, down Main Street. And that's what we did!!!

As soon as we came around the corner and we could see the Castle, we started running. I stayed towards the side of the course that the spectators were on, watching for Alyssa to make sure that she saw me. We ran all the way to the Hub and that's when we finally saw Alyssa and she started cheering and snapping away. We gave big smiles and waved hello before turning into Tomorrowland.

When we made it to Fantasyland, Mel saw a Cast Member that she knew and she ran over to give him a big hug. I jogged to catch up with her so that we could head through the Castle together. We had been hoping to be able to run through the castle together, but there was way too much congestion and people were stopping in the middle of the ramp to get pictures. Sheesh! I can understand the excitement of getting your picture in front of the Castle, but there is just common courtesy to not block the course.

Well, it's getting late, so I will continue this later... I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Wordless Weekend 1

2011-03-14T00:14:00.000-04:00

This will be my only Wordless Weekend with an explanation. Others might include a followup post later in the week, but no words in the post itself. I know a lot of blogs do a Wordless Wednesday, but I'd rather do something different. This way if I have time to write on the weekend, I'll be able to save that post for later in the week, but if I don't, then I can still find some time to post a picture. Here we go!

******************

Finding the Time

2011-03-10T23:19:00.000-05:00

Today was a long day at work, but I still managed to get to the gym. Of course since I didn't start my workout until a little bit before 7, all I really got in was my C25K run. My distance was the same as Monday's run. I guess at least I am consistent!

I was going to do an abs workout after my run but there weren't many open areas to workout today. And one area that looked promising ended up being under a leaky window. Oh well. I'm going to do some abs when I get up in the morning instead.

So what do you do when you don't have a lot of time? If I hadn't made it to the gym tonight, I probably wouldn't have gotten in a workout before Saturday.

2011 Princess Half Marathon Race Report - Part 1

2011-03-09T23:56:00.000-05:00

Since I have something of a posting streak going, I'm going to post my Princess Half race report in segments. Here's part one...

I'm so excited to say that I have completed my third Princess Half Marathon! It was a nice long vacation for me too. I am so happy that I am perfectly princess and I hope that I can maintain this streak. Now onto the race...

As usual, Alyssa and I had to get up ridiculously early. Since we was staying off property I tried to give myself plenty of extra time to get to Epcot. The only other times I had stayed off property for a race I was not the driver. I guess I left early enough though because I had absolutely no problems getting into the parking lot and we were parked not very far from the entrance. I had to run back to my car at least twice to grab things that I forgot, but it was close enough that I didn't feel like I was wasting energy with each trip.

Once I entered the holding area, I gave my friend Mel a call to see where she was. She was still about 20 minutes away so we wandered about a bit then found an area where I could sit down and stretch. And people watch. There are definitely a lot more costumes during this race than I saw in January. I loved all the princess costumes, but seeing what some of the men were wearing made the early morning start much more entertaining.

Once Mel get there, we said our goodbyes to Alyssa and made our way to the corrals. We were in Corral E. Not as good as our Corral C placement last year, but there were about 4000 more runners this time so we couldn't really complain. Mel's sister-in-law joined us in our corral too. She had been given a higher corral than us, but she wanted to start the race with us and then go ahead if she felt like running faster. We knew she wouldn't be hanging out with us for too long.

When they asked everyone to stand for the national anthem, I saw Courtney just ahead of us. As soon as the national anthem was finished, we snuck our way up to her and she got a picture of the two of us. We were able to hang out for a few minutes, but eventually go separated as our corral started moving towards the start line.

Before we knew it, the fireworks were going off and it was time to start!

ABCs of me

2011-03-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

I saw this over on Courtney's blog and thought I'd give it a shot!

(Tonight's planned workout it some pilates and yoga at home.)

(A) Age: 30-something

(B) Bed Size: King

(C) Chore You Really Dislike: Folding clothes (well, putting away clothes actually)

(D) Dance: I love dancing. My favorite is tap.

(E) Essential Start To Your Day: Brushing my teeth. I really don't feel like the day has started if I haven't brushed my teeth yet.
(F) Favorite Color: PURPLE

(G) Gold or Silver: um, Platinum (note to any future suitors)

(H) Height: 5'4"

(I) Instruments You Play: Piano. I haven't practiced in years though.

(J) Job Title: Team Leader

(K) Kids: Not yet.

(L) Live: Philadelphia suburbs

(M) Mom's Name: Janet

(N) Nicknames: Meg, Megs

(O) Overnight Hospital Stays: 2 nights for my tonsils

(P) Pet Peeve: When people break their promises

(Q) Quote From A Movie: "My @ss is twitching. You people make my @ss twitch." (French Kiss)

(R) Right or Left Handed: Right

(S) Siblings: none

(T) Time You Wake Up: Anytime between 6 and 9. Usually around 7:30

(U) Underwear: I have some comfy ones that I got a Victoria's Secret recently...

(V) Vegetable You Dislike: mushrooms

(W) What Makes You Run Late: My cats. Senorita loves to snuggle in the morning and I find it hard to resist her!

(X) X-Rays: When I was younger I had a tendency a getting sprains a lot. Most recently I've only had my feet x-rayed.

(Y) Yummy Food You Make: Lasagna, beef stew, pulled pork

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: Dolphins (love em enough to get them tattooed on my back!)

I did it! (or restarting C25K)

2011-03-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

I do feel like I have a lot to be excited about. I actually got to the gym tonight. And I actually ran. I did week 3 day one of C25K, I felt pretty good about it too. I was able to comfortably run during each of the run intervals and during the 3 minute intervals, I was actually surprised to hear the signal for walking. It seemed like 3 minutes went by very quickly.

I also took some time to get in a little bit of ab work. Just some crunches. I'm not particularly happy with the shape I'm in. There used to be a time when I would do 500 crunches in a day. And that was a slow day. I think if I can not be lazy and manage to get in some sort of ab workout on a daily basis, I would at least be able to be more tone.

On a side note, I think I'm going to get a pair of Vibram 5 Fingers this weekend. I'll be in the city for the Flower Show and may make my way over to the running store that sells them. I hope that I will be able to find a pair that fit me properly and that I can actually wear for training. I'll keep you updated!

New training plan starts tomorrow!

2011-03-06T22:11:00.001-05:00

I can't believe that so far this year I have completed a marathon and a half marathon. As I've said before. I'm going to take a few months off from log distance training. My plan is to do nothing more than a 10k until I start training for the Disneyland half marathon.

Oh, did I not tell you that yet? Yeah, before I left for the Princess Half Marathon I signed up for the Disneyland half marathon. My friend Holly will be out there for the Coast to Coast medal too. She just completed her second half marathon by finishing the Princess last weekend too.

So here is my plan for the next few weeks...

I am going to restart the Couch to 5K program. I figure I'm good to start in week 3. I can comfortably do the intervals that are required for that week. I've already said that my goal it to get faster with a 5K and to finish one in less than my age. Well, here I go! I'm going to sign up for the Race for the Cure (tomorrow hopefully) and maybe for the 5K for Clean Air. We'll see what I have time for.

I am now also seriously considering signing up for a sprint triathlon too. My running buddy Mel is talking about doing her first Tri on Mother's Day. Well, you know I can't let her do something I haven't done! I wouldn't be able to travel to Florida for Mother's Day, but Philadelphia has its own Tri in June. There is a sprint distance on Saturday and Olympic distance on Sunday. I think I can easily do the sprint distance. I'll let you know if I decide to sign up!

Later this week, expect an update on the training and my Princess Half race report.

My Running Goals for 2011

2011-02-16T10:15:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that I haven't been running much (at all) since the Marathon. I really want to get out there and run more but my heart isn't really in it. I'm heading back to WDW on Sunday to take part in the Princess Half Marathon the following Sunday. I'm not registered for anything after that until the Savannah RnR Half in November. I thought I put down my goals for the rest of the year in writing to see how much I can actually accomplish.

Run... actually run an entire 5K. I think I'll do the Race for the Cure again this year. (I should probably look up the date... Okay, it's May 8, 2011). That doesn't give me a lot of time to get up to running the whole thing, but spring is coming and the days are getting longer so I may get out of the office while it is still daylight. If I can't run the entire 5K during that race, then I will sign up for another one.

Complete the Coast to Coast Challenge. I will hopefully be signing up for the Disneyland Half Marathon soon. I've been keeping my eye on the registration level and I will be signing by the Princess expo, if not sooner if the registration levels jump significantly. I will also have a free Southwest Air flight after this next trip to WDW so I will be using that to get out there. I'm not sure yet where I will be staying, but I'm working on that too.

Run the Wine & Dine half marathon. With a better time then last year. That shouldn't be too difficult since it was my worst half time ever, but I still plan on being well trained for that one.

Train for the WDW 2012 Half Marathon. I haven't completely ruled out the idea of a the Goofy Challenge, but since registration hasn't opened yet. I don't need to address it right now.

Complete a 5K in less than my age. Yup, I said it. I won't say my age, but I will say that if I accomplish this goal, it will be my fastest 5K ever. EVER.

My non-running goals include:

Biking to work. There is a nice bike/jogging trail that basically goes from my house to my office. I plan on taking advantage of it and riding my bike to the office. My boyfriend rode his bike most days last year, so I will be able to join him for the first half of his ride. I just need to get a tune up for my bike...

Practice pilates. I love pilates. I loved pilates before pilates was popular. I have VHS and DVD workouts that I can do at home and there is a class offered at my gym. I have plenty of opportunities available, I just need to take advantage of them.

Lift weights. Well, duh. If I can build up my lean muscle then I can increase my overall fitness and health.

Watch what I eat. I signed up for Weight Watchers, but I haven't even stepped on the scale since I signed up. And I already fell off the wagon last week. It was hectic, really hectic, at work and I found myself eating more junk than I had been the previous weeks. I will ~~make an effort to~~ stick the the plan!

So what do you think about my goals. I'll probably add more in future posts as I meet these goals, or as I think of new ones. I'll definitely be revisiting this post throughout the year though!

Blogging opportunities...

2011-02-15T13:23:00.000-05:00

I recently read a post on She's a Fit Chick about blogging opportunities. I signed up with Business 2 Blogger, did the email verification and promptly forgot about it. I saw an email or 2 come through and today I opened up the email to see what opportunities there are out there for me.

Nothing. Not yet at least. I'm trying to spend more time blogging, exercising, and, of course, spending time with my boyfriend (and less time watching TV and other unhealthy habits that I have). The email included some excellent opportunities for bloggers and I'm hoping that ones in the future will include opportunities that I can share with you here. I'll keep you updated, and of course, I'll let you know if any reviews I write are "sponsored" by the product I'm reviewing.

In the meantime, be sure to check out my posts on the Disney Driven Life. I'm the new fitness blogger over there and I've had 3 posts go up so far!

WDW Marathon: A Race Report Part 2

2011-02-10T00:36:00.000-05:00

For a shorter version of my race report with pictures, please visit my post over at The Disney Driven Life.

There is a long stretch of road after leaving the backstage area. It can be really boring for some people since there aren’t any spectators for about a half mile. There were plenty of TNT coaches along this part though. They were cheering on all of us.

Once we got near the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian, the crowds grew again. There were characters on the golf course in their Argyle sweaters. And not too much further was the the half way mark!!!

Around the time I was reaching the halfway point, a coach from the Maryland TNT chapter hopped out on the course with me to check how I was doing. I was feeling okay, but I was starting to get really hungry. Nothing I was carrying on me would be enough to satisfy me either. What I was really craving was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but that would have to wait til the finish line. The coach told me that food wasn’t too far ahead and she wished me luck before sending me on my way.

Just around mile 14 was the food I was promised. They were handing out whole bananas. I was worried that it wouldn’t settle well with my stomach, but as soon as I took my first bite I knew I would be okay. I ate about ⅔ of the banana and tossed the rest.

During the long trek from the Magic Kingdom to the Animal Kingdom, Disney provided lots of entertainment. There were a lot of characters, the tacky tourists, and “Vladimir” from the Hollywood Studios. He even recognized me from our meeting in the parks earlier in the weeks! When I say the trek between these two parks was long, I mean it really felt like it was taking forever. It was really only about two miles from when you leave the monorail resort area. There are no spectators on this portion of the course though, so you start to feel pretty lonely out there.

I was very thankful when the Cast Members welcomed me to Animal Kingdom. I had just passed mile 16 when we officially entered the backstage area. We entered Animal Kingdom at the back of the park between Africa and Asia and turned towards Expedition Everest. Then we headed through Dinoland and out of the park behind the Dino Institute. We weren’t in the park for too long, but knowing how warm the park can get, I was thankful that we were our of there quickly. I loved that I was doing this part of the course during the day. I had just done it during the Wine & Dine half and it was a lot more fun this time around.

As soon as we left Animal Kingdom, we reached another water stop and this time they gave us some soaked sponges. That was very refreshing to be able to wipe off my face and neck. It was starting to get warm enough so I took off my running jacket and tied it around my waist. I love wearing this jacket because it doesn’t slip around when I tie around my waist unlike some other jackets I could wear.

The course turned to go passed the gates of Animal Kingdom where there were tons of cheering spectators again, including some friends who had Twizzlers. I grabbed one to snack on. Thankfully nothing seemed to be disagreeing with my stomach during this race. In the parking lot at Animal Kingdom, there was a high school band and cheerleaders and there were some grave diggers out there. Digging a grave of course.

Before long we were on Osceola Parkway and on our way to the Studios. I think this part of the course was even more boring than the part between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. For about 2 miles, you head east. There were some performers along the course, included some people on a trampoline and a few DJs.

Just after mile 20, the course jumps over to the westbound side of the road and you start the long out-and-back portion of the course. My coach, Elizabeth, joined me here and told me she was with me until the end. At this point in time, I looked at the clock and at how much time I had left and how many more miles I had to complete and for the first time during the race, I felt confident that I could finish! I knew I could comfortably complete 6 mile in the more than 90 minutes I had left. With that in mind, the out-and-back portion of the course was a piece of cake.

For a brief few minutes, I was back on World Drive before heading onto another exit ramp for the turn into Hollywood Studios. There was a nice surprise in the backstage area of the Studios. Chocolate!!! I grabbed one from a volunteer and when I saw that it was a Krackle bar, I professed my undying love and devotion to the volunteer.

Compared to the Wind & Dine half, the course in the Studios was nice and easy. You head through the costuming tunnel from the Backlot Tour, and then turn out onto the Streets of America. After heading down the New York Streets, you go in front of the ABC Commissary and passed the Hat. A quick jaunt down Hollywood Boulevard and suddenly I was outside of the park and heading towards the Boardwalk Resort.

I love this portion of the course. Even when I am not staying at an Epcot area resort, I always find myself in this area. There were lots of fans along this portion of the course. Probably the most memorable moment here was seeing a woman in a wheelchair who was holding a sign that “I don’t know you stranger, but I am PROUD of you.”

You enter Epcot near the International Gateway. Once I made it into the UK, one of my other coaches, Aram, joined us and he said he was sticking with me too! He had already finished, but he came back into the park and waited for me. His wife and my roommate were waiting for me just before the finish line.

This was the moment I had been dreaming about. The World Showcase. Whenever I would get bored on a treadmill, or frustrated during a run, I would visualize this moment. People cheering me on while I was in my last mile of the marathon. It was just like I thought it would be. Well, except I had wasn’t running. I had given up on running when I knew that I was going to make it. I wasn’t trying to get a great time during this race. I was just trying to finish. And at this point I was soaking in every moment. Aram even offered to get me a beer for the finish line (and don’t think I didn’t consider the offer)!

When I passed Mexico and made the turn towards Spaceship Earth I started to get teary again. I couldn’t believe I was almost finished! I saw Todd, Cheryl, John and Shalon one more time and Todd snapped a few more pictures of me. And then I saw my Mom! She had made the trip just so she could see me do the race. It was so exciting to see her there. She was waiting in almost the exact same place when she saw me during my first half marathon almost 2 years earlier. she was cheering and even though I couldn’t see, I’m pretty sure she was crying. (I get that from her!) Aram went with her to help her find me near the finish line and Elizabeth and I headed backstage for the last .2 miles.

The Gospel choir was there singing and the crowds were loud. It was great! Elizabeth told me to go ahead and run to the finish. I somehow summoned the energy for my legs and managed to run across the finish line. I headed towards the medals and even though one of the volunteers tried to give me my medal, I knew that Chris L. (NDU#8) was waiting to give me my medal. I found him and he put the medal around my neck before giving me a huge hug. We both started crying of course! Once he let me go, I turned around to find Mel there to give me a hug too! I cried some more and she made me promise not to ever leave her to do something crazy like a marathon again. I agreed! She made sure to let me know that her husband and the baby had come to see me too. It felt so great to have so many friends there to support me during the race.

After the race, I couldn’t stop moving and made my way to get my snack bag and my checked bag. I made my way over to the TNT tent to check in and waited for everyone to make their way to me. I was certainly done moving!

To this day, I can’t believe that I finished the race. I have my 26.2 pin from TNT and my Mickey medal! What really hit home was when I went into my Twitter profile and changed it from “wannabe marathoner” to “marathoner.” I haven’t completely ruled out another marathon, but to say that I have completed one makes me incredibly happy!

WDW Marathon: A Race Report Part 1

2011-02-08T16:18:00.001-05:00

Today and tomorrow I will be sharing the "unabridged" version of my race report. For a shorter version with pictures, please visit my post over at The Disney Driven Life.

The alarm went off way too early on the morning of January 9, 2011. Luckily, I had gone to bed early the night before and had managed to wake up a few minutes before the alarm went off. Though, it was still a struggle to get out of bed.

Once I managed to get myself out of bed, I quickly freshened up and put on all my clothes and gear that I had laid out the night before. I made sure that I had my iPhone, water, and snacks. I pulled on the extra sweatshirt that my mother had picked up for me the day before. I asked her to pick up the ugliest sweatshirt she could find so that I wouldn’t be tempted to keep it.

When I was ready, I quietly left my room since my roommate was still asleep and I met up with my teammates before heading to El Centro. The coaches had declared a 2:45 am meet up time. We didn’t actually leave our rooms until then, but we weren’t worried because the buses didn’t start running until 3 am. Of course, El Centro was packed with runners. Coronado Springs was a popular resort for the runners, but I imagine that the lobby of every resort looked as busy as this one.

Once all of my teammate arrived, we gathered for a team picture, some encouraging words from our coordinators, and then we headed out to the buses to get to Epcot.

The holding area was packed, but we managed to find our usual waiting place and hung out there for about 20 minutes. Shortly before it was time to head to the corrals I dropped my bag off at bag check. Unlike last year there was no line for the “A” group for bag check. It was nice to get through the area quickly before we had to make the long, slow trudge with the masses. The corrals and the start line are easily a 20 minute walk from the holding area. And of course once you’re in your corral you have a good 20-30 minute wait before the race starts and anywhere from 5-45 minutes before you actually cross the start line.

During the pre-race festivities, I got a little bit nervous. Okay, a lot bit nervous. And emotional. I started tearing up. I always do during the national anthem, but this time, in addition to hearing the national anthem, I started thinking about how far I had come. All the training and the years of dreaming had led me to that moment. I glanced over at one of my teammates and she was tearing up too! We both laughed at ourselves.

I checked my phone one more time and saw that I had a text from my friend Mel cheering me on. She was working with in the medical tent at the finish line so I planned on seeing her later. I responded with “OMG OMG OMG!” Then just after the fireworks went off for my corral Mel gave me a call and gave me some encouraging words. Before I knew it, I had crossed the start line and I was on my way! And I had to go to the bathroom. Ugh!

I tried to maintain my run/walk intervals during the first few miles, but I really had to go. I didn’t want to wait in line at any of the porta-potties that I was passing, and I definitely want to run over to the side of the road. Being a part veteran, I thankfully knew where the restrooms were once I got into Epcot. Of course the ones across from Spaceship Earth had a line out the door and the ones at the Odyssey were too far off course, but the ones in Norway were perfect. Once I took care of business I was back on the course feeling like a new woman and making my way out of Epcot. The course brought us under Test Track and back out onto Epcot Center drive, but this time on the other side of the road.

We then made our way up World Drive, past the Speedway and through the Magic Kingdom parking lot. The crowds cheering us on at the Ticket and Transportation Center were amazing! It was still pretty early in the morning but they were all there and full of energy. The two staff members from my Team in Training office who traveled with us were there waiting for me. When they saw me they started shouting my name and cheering loudly for me. I was never more happy to see them! I started to tear up for a second, but I cheered them on for waiting for me and made my way towards the Contemporary.

The road by the Contemporary was nice and familiar to me. I was mentally prepared for the hill at the water bridge and it didn’t bother me this time! Before I knew it I was entering the Magic Kingdom and turning up Main Street.

I saw the WDW Radio signs and was about to run up to say hi to Lou, when some of the runners from the WDW Radio team ran passed me and went straight to him. Oh well, I guess I wasn’t going to be seeing him during this race. I started to move on when I suddenly heard her someone shouting my name. I looked over and there was JL and Todd right there on Main Street! Todd managed to get this picture of me. I was still smiling at mile 10 ½. I can’t even say that I have been smiling at that mile for every half marathon I’ve done. There have been half marathons that I felt like crying by this point in time. I was feeling remarkably good and I was certain that, if nothing else, I would be able to reach the half way point.

I love the course through the Magic Kingdom. I love going up Main Street and seeing the castle before the park is even open to the public. I love how all the Cast Members are cheering you on while you run up Main Street and when you make the turn into Tomorrowland, they are the only other people you see on the course. Despite the early hour, they are there with a smile on their face. Of course, after the few minutes in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, you suddenly find yourself being greeted by trumpeters as you make your way through the castle to look down Main Street one last time. It’s then time to weave your way through Liberty Square and Frontierland before you head back stage and make your way out of the Magic Kingdom area.

To be continued...

Check out my first post over at The Disney Drive Life!

2011-02-01T13:07:00.000-05:00

You can read it here!

And the winner is...

2011-01-03T09:27:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the delay in the announcement! I got called into work on Saturday and Sunday! I just did the drawing and with no further ado, the winner of a 4-night DVC resort stay is...

Alyssa!!!!!

Congratulations Alyssa! I'll be contacting you with the details about booking your stay.

Last chance to enter! Donate today!

2010-12-31T12:45:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it is the last day of 2010! I also can't believe that I have a marathon in 9 days. Holy crap! Nine days!

Really,

Nine Days!!!!

And I still have $500 to go in my fundraising.

Today is your last chance to donate and be entered in a chance to win a 4-night stay in a Disney Vacation Club resort. Please take a few minutes at the end of the year to make a tax deductible donation on my Team in Training page.

The details of what you can win are on my Team in Training page and also in my last post here.

I'll be back here tomorrow to announce the winner. If I can figure out how to use my new video camera, I may even record the drawing live and post it here.

Thank you for all of your support this year and I look forward to many new running adventures with you in 2011!

Donate for a chance to win a 4-night stay at a Walt Disney World Disney Vacation Club Resort

2010-11-30T23:36:00.000-05:00

I'm sure everyone know that I am running my first marathon at Walt Disney World in January with Team in Training. I've been fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This year I've been struggling more with the fundraising aspect of the program. The other week when I was at the LLS office for an event I came to the realization that I have another awesome prize that I can give away! So here it is...

For every $25 donation I receive between December 1 and December 31, the donor will receive one entry for a chance to win a 4-night stay at a Disney Vacation Club resort. Please see the rules below for more details. To make a donation please go to my TNT home page. When you make the donation, leave a comment that you want to be entered for a chance to win the stay. The drawing will be held on January 1 and the winner will be announced on this blog, my Disney blog, my TNT page and my Facebook page.

The make a donation go here: My TNT page

Here are the rules:

1) Each $25 donation is good for one (1) entry for a chance to win a 4-night stay at a Walt Disney World Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resort (Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, Disney's Beach Club Villas, Disney's Bay Lake Tower, Disney's Boardwalk Villas, Disney's Old Key West Resort, Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, or Disney's Villas at the Wilderness Lodge).
2) There is no limit to the number of donations that can be made.
3) The winner will receive 4 nights in a DVC studio room (maximum occupancy of 4 people)
4) Stay is good for 4 consecutive nights Sunday through Thursday.
5) Resort choice is limited to available resorts at time of booking with DVC Member Services.
6) Travel must be booked by June 1, 2011.
7) Travel must be completed by November 30, 2011.
8) Reservation DOES NOT include Park Admission.
9) Reservation DOES NOT include airfare.
10) Winner is responsible for any charges made to the room by the winner or the winner's guest during the stay.

Disney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon

2010-11-04T21:44:00.000-04:00

I was fortunate to take part in the Inaugural Wine & Dine Half Marathon on October 2, 2010. I was looking forward this race since it was announced last year. I had always wanted to take part in the Race for the Taste 10K but that was discontinued last year. I was also looking forward to Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival which started the same weekend as the race.

The race started at 10pm. I had tried to adjust to a nighttime lifestyle, but it seemed like my body was just working against me since I just kept falling asleep early every night since the Philly RnR half. I tried to stay up late and my body was just working against me. On race day I was only able to sleep until 9 am. Not the 10 or 11 that I wanted to sleep until.

I hung out with with my friend, playing with his daughter (and trying to keep her from using my phone as a teething ring). We had a light lunch of pasta and watched Shaun of the Dead. I then decided to run over to Animal Kingdom to catch a showing of the Festival of the Lion King. After that and a quick trip to Downtown Disney to pick up some souvenirs, I headed back with the intention of resting for about an hour before getting ready for the race.

Well, it didn't quite happen that way. I didn't get to rest. Before I knew it, we were getting dressed and we were on our way to Epcot to catch the buses over to the starting line.

I wasn't too thrilled with the start line festivities. The line to check your bag was ridiculously long and instead of being divided up by last name or bib number there was just a single line for everyone hoping to check their bag.

I was placed in Corral C, but my friends were placed in Corral D so I went with them to the front of their Corral. Rather than having a waved start, a few minutes before the race started, they dropped the ropes between the corrals and everyone started moving forward to wait for the gun for one start.

The start went off pretty nicely and we crossed the starting line about 8 minutes into the race. The first 3 miles was pretty boring. There were some cast members along the course cheering and some musical performers. There were also some of the stilt walkers from the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade. But the course wasn't really that exciting until we got to the gates at Animal Kingdom.

When we got to the gates, we were greeted by some of the parade puppets and then entered the park through giant glowing red tusks. Somewhere around mile 3 my friend had twisted her ankle and we had slowed down. She told her husband to go on without us. We tried to run through Animal Kingdom, but it was way too crowded in the narrow paths so we just walked. We hung together past mile 5 and past the relay exchange. She then told me to go ahead because she didn't want me to get swept because of her.

I tried to make up some time, but my body was fighting me the whole way. It kept shouting at me, telling me it was bed time not time to keep moving. There was one part of the course that I wasn't happy with. The out-and-back portion near mile 8. This part was easily a half mile of road where you got to see all the people who were ahead of you, followed by a lot of people who were behind you. I guess in the full marathon course it is even worse. I'm not looking forward to that part.

They had food around mile 9. This time instead of giving use Clif Shot gels, we were given Clif Shot blocks. Some of the packages weren't open even. I use these and they are not easy to open in the middle of the day when you have all your wits about you, let alone after running for 9 miles at 12:30 at night! Thankfully one of the volunteers had some open packs. And thankfully, the flavor that they were giving out was the flavor I was used to training with. Cran-Razz. Yum. It definitely helped me at that point in time.

I then made the turn onto an especially dark part of the course before we turned into the Disney's Hollywood Studios. For the next two miles I wandered around the Studios and was surprised by what they had for us there! There were tons of race photographers, but more importantly, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights was lit up. Of course I had to pull out my camera and film it for a few seconds!

Once I got out of the studios I was so relieved! I only had about a mile left!!! Not only was it only a mile, but it was a mile that I had walked more than once in the past year (and in varying states of sobriety - but that's another story). Probably hardest part about that last mile was the short, but relatively steep hill right at mile 13. I knew that right over the hill would be my friends waiting to cheer me to the finish though!

I've never had such a large group cheering me on at my races. There have been lots of people cheering at finish lines, but never have there been so many people there just to cheer for me! It was amazing and the fact that all these people had stayed up til 2 in the morning and left the party in Epcot just so they could cheer me on at the finish line made me feel warm and fuzzy all over.

I waved to them, blew them kisses and made the turn for the finish line!

I finished the race in 3:35. That was my slowest half marathon time ever and almost 6 minutes slower than the race that I did two weeks before. I wasn't happy with my time at all, but I was happy that I finished. My friend's husband was at the finish line. He was about 5 minutes ahead of me and my friend came in 7 minutes behind me. She managed to do the whole course on a twisted ankle! I'm so proud of her!

I will be back to do this race again in future years, I hope that they consider having an earlier start time. 9pm would be much nicer and allow people to enjoy the after party a little bit more. I wasn't too thrilled with the food that they gave at the finish line. Water, a granola bar, a muffin and a banana (probably sports drink too). Maybe Disney thought that people would use their food and drink vouchers for the food in the party to supplement their post race meal. I won't go into the post race party because I'm sure you can read about it on more than one blog (and maybe I'll cover it on my Disney blog).

Apparently there were also lots of problems with the bag pick up are and for people who were just trying to make their way through into Epcot. I didn't experience any of these problems since I was so far to the back of the pack. Hopefully with all of the complaints that they had there will be some major changes for next year's race.

Were you at the race? Share your experience with me!

Fabulous 14!

2010-10-31T23:18:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I did my longest run ever. EVAH! Until last weekend I had only ever done a half marathon. This time I was doing 14 miles. Wowza! I was a bit nervous about it but I knew that my coach Laurie would be with me so she would tough it out with me.

I met the team at Valley Green near Forbidden Drive. Coach Glen told us what the plan was and I was a bit surprised that he wanted the people doing 14 miles to run out 5, then come back to the meeting spot, then run out 2 and come back. I wasn't really happy to do that and I was hoping that I could talk Laurie into doing something different. As soon as we started out, Laurie told me we were going to go out to 6 (where the other water stop was supposed to be) and then head back. The we would head out for one mile and back. I was much happier with that plan.

This was one of the nicest days that we've had at Valley Green. It was relatively dry and not too cold. Many of the practices that we had there last fall were right after or during the rain. It was also nice being on a dirt trail instead of pavement.

We reached our first water stop at 2.5 miles and the mentor had some extra small water bottles for everyone who was planning on heading to the next water stop, which was apparently supposed to be in 4 miles. We were doing a good job maintaining our intervals and I was feeling amazing!

Just after 5 miles we ran out of the dirt trail and we were on a paved trail that followed the creek. It was a really pretty trail! We figured we had about 15 minutes before we hit the next water stop. Well, after about 20 minutes we still hadn't reached the water stop. It turns out that the water stop was around mile 6.75. We went another 1/4 mile out and then turned back.

It was then that I remembered that I had my phone and it was time to start memorializing this run for my blog! So here you go!

I think this picture was near mile 7.5.

See how beautiful this trail is? It's amazing to think that this is in the middle of one of the largest cities in the country. Valley Green is part of the Fairmount Park System in Philly. There are parts where you could easily get lost and not see civilization for days (or at least a few hours)!

Heading back up the lower portion of the train was a bit more challenging because it was a bit hilly, but nothing like the hills in Valley Forge. Since we were maintaining our walk/run intervals, we had several up hill runs. Boo! But we survived!

I was very thankful to see this sight and to be back on the dirt trail again. It also meant that we only had that much left to do!

I couldn't believe how amazing I was feeling still. I mean, we were almost at 9 miles and I still feeling good, like I had, well, at least another 4 miles in me!

There are a few small inclines on the dirt trail, but before I knew it we were hitting the bridge and then we saw the 4 mile marker!

That called for another celebratory picture!

Yup! Still smiling!

After this, we hit the water stop one more time and Laurie's sister was there waiting for us. She stayed with us for about a mile and then ran on to finish her miles.

In the last 2 miles, the intervals were getting harder, but Laurie kept me from skipping them and I was able to finish strong!

My thoughts? It was great to reach a new high mileage. I can't wait to see how my body reacts to doing 16 next week.

I am a bit nervous. My ankle starting bothering me this week and I had trouble finishing my 12 miles this weekend. I made sure to put ice on it when I got home and when I described the symptoms to my best friend, she said it sounded like tendonitis and suggested that I treat it with an anti-inflammatory and see how it feels. So I started treating it with Aleve today and it is already starting to feel better.

I know not to take Aleve on the days of my long runs so I'll need to take Tylenol on those days, but hopefully this will be all it needs and it won't get any worse!

Anyways! Next week is the Sweet Sixteen!

Spooky Virtual 5K/10K/whateverK Race

2010-10-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

I'm excited to announce my Spooky Virtual Races! I'm busy rushing around and trying to get my fundraising in order and train and work and still find time for my friends and family.

I'm inviting everyone to join me in running a virtual race during Halloween weekend. I just checked my training schedule and I am *only* running 12 miles that day. Yup! Not even a half marathon!

Here's the plan:

1. Go to my TNT website here and make a donation in the amount of the distance that you plan to run (5K=$5, 10K=$10, etc)

2. Comment on my blog that you've made the donation and what distance you plan to run

3. Share the race on your own blog and invite people to join us in the race

On Halloween weekend (October 30 and 31) run your race and report back here what your time is. I'll have prizes for the best 5K, 10K, and Half marathon times. If you are one of the crazies who are running the Marine Corps Marathon (or some other race that weekend), I'll even have prizes for people running a marathon that weekend.

If you're out there with a group and get dressed up for your run, send me your pictures and I'll share them here. I'm pretty sure that I'll be out there in some kind of a costume with TNT that weekend.

I hope lots of people get involved so that we can have some good competition!

Thanks for all your support!

Philadelphia ING Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon

2010-10-13T21:26:00.000-04:00

On September 19, 2010, I ran my fifth half marathon. I use run in the losest sense of the term. I guess I should just say that I completed my fifth half marathon.

Over Labor Day weekend I went camping in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It has been a tradition of ours for the last few years and we always get the same awesome campsite. I guess the combination of the cooler nights and the extended period of time outdoors did a number on me. I've had a cough since that weekend. I swear to this day that it is all allergy related and not a cold. I don't feel sick, but I've got a tickle in my throat and on and off congestion.

Keeping that in mind, my only plan with this race was to start. I was hoping that, as has been the case in the past, I would not have a coughing fit once I got out there and started moving. I wasn't trying to set a PR during this race and I wasn't even sure that I would finish.

On race day I donned my TNT singlet since I was doing this race as a non-fundraising mentor and we headed out to Center City to get parking and get me to the start line. I made it over to the TNT tent to check in with everyone and then rushed over to the Art Museum steps to meet my WISH buddies who were doing the race. It was great to see them. I sometime run into Jen on Kelly Drive, but I only see them at races the rest of the year. We hung out for a bit before I went back to the TNT tent and then made my way to the corrals with some of my teammates.

Last year when I was in Corral 18 it was the last corral of the race. I was a bit disappointed to find that I was in that corral again, but then I was relieved to learn that there were 4 more corrals after it. The start went off without a hitch and I crossed the start line about 20 or so minutes into the race. I gave my boyfriend a copy of the course and I was hoping to see him several times throughout the race.

We made our way down the Ben Franklin Parkway and then turned south for a block before heading back west along JFK Street. I do like running in all of the familiar streets when I do the races in Philly. After a few more blocks we headed south again and then east on Market Street. I love the view there. City Hall is such an awesome sight! We continued around City Hall and down Market until we reached the Independence Hall area, then we headed north and back west through Chinatown.

I saw my boyfriend right at the 5K mark. He's always cheering me on during these events! After we left Chinatown we made our way back towards the Art Museum and then down Kelly Drive. I was feeling surprisingly good at this point. Unfortunately that feeling didn't last too long. Around mile 7 my right hamstring started tightening up. I tried to stretch it and relax, but not much helped. I just kept moving.

I was thankful to see my coach Leigh Anne along Kelly Drive. I was also surprised to see that the race had actual salt packets out on the course. I've never trained with just salt packets. I will often have pretzels while I train and that is usually enough salt for me. I did grab one and have a few licks, but I didn't eat a whole packet. That's just gross (but I might need to have one in my future training to give it a shot).

I was very happy when I reached the Falls Bridge and made my turn back towards the finish line. Of course this was only around mile 9. I did have one thing to look forward to. My friend Laurie was the captain of the final water stop. I knew she would be there waiting for me.

I can't begin to explain how happy I was to see mile 10. That meant only a 5K left! I tried to run more, but the tightness in my hamstring had progressed up to my glutes. I wish that would mean that everything was getting firmer, but it really just meant that I was in more pain. A coach from the Lehigh or Scranton chapter of TNT joined me for about a half mile and then Laurie's water stop was in sight!

Once I got near I wave my arms around and Laurie ran back to me and walked through the water stop with me. She asked how I was doing. My response: "My @$$ hurts!" Yup! I said that nice and loud too. (Hey I was in pain.) She gave me some encouraging words and then I was off on my own.

Just before mile 13, I saw the fall head coach Brian and he joined me for a little bit and then my coach from Broad Street, Tara joined us. It was then that I realized that I hadn't seen my boyfriend since the 5K mark. One of the coaches (or maybe me, but I'm pretty sure it was Brian) suggested that I hit him for not being on the course cheering me on. Brian ran back to check on the rest of the team and Tara walked me as far a she could before the course officials made her turn around.

Having that last .1 miles be up hill was just cruel, but when I made it to the top of the hill, the finish line was in sight. I kicked it into high gear and passed a few people in their last few yards. I almost always find an extr bit of energy to run across the finish line.

After collecting my medal and goodies, I went to the TNT tent to check back in and then headed over to hear the band at the Finish Line stage. I called my boyfriend and found out that he had gone to dim sum in Chinatown. (!!!) He said he would make his way back to me and then we could head home. Slippery When Wet, Bon Jovi tribute band, was performing and I caught their last song.

Overall I was happy with my performance considering that I wasn't feeling 100% in the weeks leading up to the race. It wasn't my best time, but it wasn't my worst either. Before the race I told everyone that I thought this might be my last time doing this particular race, but I'm thinking that maybe I can be convinced to do this race again. We'll see what the next year brings!

As a reminder, I'm training for the Walt Disney World Marathon with Team in Training. Please consider making a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society on my behalf here.

Stay tuned this week for details on my Virtual 5k/10k/whateverK challenge!

Some days you just don't want to run...

2010-08-31T23:35:00.000-04:00

I got in a 50 minute run yesterday. Not bad at all. I felt pretty good. My Nike+ failed me though. I've used it before with my Nano and tracking a timed workout. For some reason, with my iPhone, the timed feature tracked my time and told me when I ran my 50 minutes, but it didn't record a distance. And it didn't save the workout. What's up with that? I guess I'll just use the Basic workout for now and time myself on my watch for my timed runs.

Of course then there was my workout today. I didn't get to the gym until 7:30. Wait, let me start again... I didn't get up when my alarm went off to go to the gym before work. Then I didn't get to the gym until 7:30. I was supposed to run for 60 minutes today. As I was getting changed I was seriously considering just packing up and heading home. Then I reminded myself that I am training for a marathon and I need to get these early season workouts done. I compromised with myself and decided to hit the elliptical.

I did a pretty aggressive workout on the elliptical. Only 35 minutes. By the time I was done with it, I was ready to head home. At least when I got home I didn't sit down and pig out. I got my ab workout in and did some stretching. It's amazing how quickly my body tightens up when I don't stretch every day. I need to make it a habit.

My goal for tomorrow: AM Yoga. Fingers crossed that I can get up in time for it!

Water Stops and...

2010-08-29T18:54:00.000-04:00

When I signed up to be a mentor, I knew that one of my responsibilities was to run a few of the water stops during the season. And I'm not complaining about running the water stop. It was nice and relaxing. The only thing I miss was getting out there with the team and getting my run in.

I had to get up this morning and get my run in this morning. It wasn't fun. As much water as I drank yesterday, I think that I was still underhydrated. I froze two bottles of water to bring with me. One that I would leave in my car and one that I would take with me on a belt. I don't usually wear a belt any more so that was a bit of a challenge. In fact, the last time I wore this belt was during the Broad Street Run. I've been carrying a hand-held Fuel Belt bottle. Of course that is in the dishwasher.

Wearing the belt felt like it added 5-10 pounds to me. It wasn't what I needed. I also slept in and didn't start my run until 9:15. All of that combined to make my time out in Valley Forge one of my worst runs yet. Oh yeah, and the fact that it was Valley Forge. Hills and all. I do remember saying something about being excited about Valley Forge earlier this year. This morning reminded me of why I'd rather be driving the Encampment Tour than running it.

I'll survive it though. I need to get all of my runs in this week. My next half marathon is only 3 weeks away!!!

Back at Practice

2010-08-22T22:58:00.000-04:00

After my vacation last weekend, I really needed to get to my practice this week. We're starting at 7 am for the month of August. That means a really early Sunday morning for me.

On tap for today was a 9 mile run. I didn't have the healthiest diet over the weekend, but I woke up and found a flurry of tweets from friends that were wishing me well on my run. I wasn't feeling really good, but seeing all those people cheering me on just for a practice got me moving and got me to my practice.

Practice this morning was a combination workout/sauna/shower. I didn't check the weather, but we had some rain to contend with. It wasn't really the cooling rain I've been hoping for though. I'm thankful that my longer runs while training for my full will be in cooler weather.

Starting tomorrow I am really going to focus on my diet. I'm going to search for a diet for runners who want to lose weight. I am thankful that have been maintaining my weight, but I really want to lose weight and I think that I will be able to run better once I get my weight down. Any diet recommendations are welcome!

Oh, and I think I'm going to join Courtney in her 100 day challenge. I need to head back over to her blog to look at the details again, but I'll get back to you to let you know how I'm doing!

Winter Season started today!

2010-08-08T16:30:00.000-04:00

Sounds crazy doesn't it? Team in Training names their seasons by when the events actually take place. Today was our first practice for those of us who are doing the Philadelphia half, Disney full or half (or in the case of my mentor, the Goofy challenge), or the P.F. Changs Arizona full or half.

I also had my practice for the fall season. For the month of August, we are starting our practices at 7am instead of 8 am. So I got up really early (like, 6:15, early) and made my way over to the fall practice. After our warm up I did a 30 minute walk/run with the team and made it back to the parking lot to meet with the winter team. This was the only practice I plan on doing that for. I'll be on vacation next week so I will be on my own for my 9 mile run, but I'll be back with the team in two weeks. Of course, work has been a little bit crazy with the volume of work and having to train several new people, so I haven't been able to make it to the gym. That will change tomorrow though!

All that being said, I only got in 4 miles today. I did get in 8 miles last week though, so hopefully the run next week won't be too bad.

It's HOT!

2010-07-07T10:12:00.000-04:00

Did you know that? It is really hot in the Northeast. Really, surface of the sun hot! So hot that you just want to lay on a float in the pool (hoping that someone flips you over) hot.

One advantage that I have in this heat is that I have my membership to Ballys. And my Ballys has an indoor track. So yesterday when Philly was hitting records highs, I was able to get in my 45 minute run. I felt good about it too. I even brought my bathing suit with me so that I could head back to the gym tonight and maybe swim 1000 yards. I need to do SOMETHING to get myself in shape by the time that the winter TNT season starts.

I did try something a little bit different with my run last night. My first 25 minutes I followed the C25K program (Week 4) and for my last 20 minutes, I did walk/run intervals. BUT within my runs, I actually did run intervals. I was reminded of it when I saw a guy at the gym doing intervals before I started (yes GUY, I saw you! The signs at the gym say NO SPRINTING on the track. And what you were doing came pretty darn close to that!)

But I digress... My run intervals were somethign similar to what I did in high school: sprint the straightaways/jog the corners. I know, I just chastised the guy at the gym for sprinting. Take note though, my sprinting is nothing like the sprinting that the gym would have problems with. My sprinting is about the speed of my goal running speed. If I could maintain that speed for 13.1 miles (or *gasp* 26.2 miles), I would be in excellent shape for finishing at a decent time.

I think I'll try to do that more often!

Philly Triathlon

2010-07-05T21:37:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I volunteered with TNT at the Philly Tri. I had lots of fun, but the race was pretty low key. Unfortunately during the sprint event on Saturday, a swimmer never made it out of the water. At the time that we were meeting with the race officials to head to the bottle exchange, they had officially announced it and had also officially changed the race to a duathlon. That did make it tougher for some people because it was a really hot day.

We worked the bottle exchange. I had never done that before so I was nervous about the process of handing off the bottles to the bikers. After a few dropped bottles I figured out the procedure. (Hand-eye coordination, not my strongest attribute, but somewhere between 5-10 bottles in row dropped, managed to get most of them in the hands of the bikers.)

I was really inspired by the athletes though. I will do a triathlon in the future. I already planned on doing one with TNT so I could get my Triple Crown, but now I'm thinking I might get involved in more than just that one. What do you think? I am already a strong swimmer (technically, but I am out of shape - something that just takes exercise) and I know I can do a 10K walk/run. The biking part has me scared, but I think in the next few weeks I will start riding my bike to work. It shouldn't be too bad since it is a fairly flat route. I might just wait til the temperature is below 95 degrees before I start...

Versatile Blogger Award

2010-06-28T22:40:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged by Amanda at Alone in Walt Disney World? for the Versatile Blogger Award. The rules are simple - list seven random facts about yourself and tag seven other bloggers to do the same and pass it along.

1. I'm an only child. There are instances when I wish I had siblings, but I've had great relationships with my parents and I have such a large extended family and so many great friends that I really don't feel like I missed out on anything. (I do *sometimes* have a problem with sharing)

2. I'm a lawyer. Going through college I was adament that I would not become a lawyer despite studying political science, but life eventually led me to law school and to my current job that I love.

3. I started running just so that I had an excuse to travel to WDW more often. I know, I said that way back when I started this blog, but I thought it needed to be repeated.

4. I was "That Girl" in high school. Not the "It" girl, but I was the type of girl who was involved in everything. Captain of cheerleading, class officer, president of the spirit club, on yearbook, track and field and volleyball, in the school musical, and color guard.

5. I love to read. I do, really, I just don't have tons of time to do it. I miss being able to read on the train to work. I am currently reading Kingdom Keepers 3: Disney in Shadows which will be followed by Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Yeah, I have some pretty diverse tastes.

6. I love to laugh. I've always known that and I've always loved watching the stand up comedy specials on TV, but only recently started going to local comedy shows. I hope to see more improv shows too.

7. I want to do a triathlon. Since I started training for races I knew this was something that I would eventually do, but after this weekend and seeing all the amazing triathletes competing the Philly Tri, I know this is something I must do.

Now to tag some Versatile Bloggers:

1. Courtney at Run, Courtney, Run

2. Alyssa at Off the Beaten Path

3. Crystal at Straight On Til Morning

4. Stevie at WDWStevieB's Onederland

5. Mary at Literary Defarge

6. Kim at LuxuryTravelGirl

7. Gordon at Running to Disney

Virtual 5K

2010-06-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

I completed the 5K yesterday. My timing was about what I expected and not that bad considering how hot it was at 8:30 in the morning.

On such a short distance in Valley Forge, you run mostly up hill for the first half. Unless you are running less than 8 minute miles, you have to turn around for the 45 minute run that we were doing. So we ran mostly up hill, past the arch that they have in the park and then turned around and ran mostly downhill. I love running downhill. I know it is bad for me. I don't try to sprint or run any faster down hills. I try to maintain control. I just pick my feet a little bit more and let gravity help me along.

Okay, I'll wait for the lectures.

Anyways, I finished in 45 minutes. Not bad. I'll get faster, but I miss having Rachel with me at practices. :(

Virtual Race This Weekend

2010-06-04T09:34:00.000-04:00

My Twitter friend and fellow TNT mentor Courtney (@runcourtrun) is hosting a virtual race this weekend. Everyone who is participating has made a donation to TNT as she trains for the Nike Women's Marathon (marathon? Really, Court? Awesome!). People are either doing a 5K or a 10K and giving her their times.

Based on my training schedule for the week, I'm doing a 5K. I don't expect to win any prizes, but participating in virtual races is always a fun way to share the running love. This will be the second one that I will "officially" take part in. My first was with the WISH group from the Disboards when we did our Turkey Trot Virtual 10K.

I wonder if the other participants will have to run the hills like I will be running in Valley Forge this weekend... (I know in my last post I hinted at some uncertainty in my last post, but I am 99% certain that we will be running the hills instead of running the river trail). I'll post my results here, but head over to Courtney's blog to see how everyone else is doing and to read about her training. Her blog is updated much more frequently than mine is, and it's lots of fun to read. And she's a Disney fan just like the rest of us!

June, wow!

2010-06-02T17:51:00.000-04:00

Yup! It's June already. I'll try to get out to the track or run around the school near me tonight. Another TNT practice for me this Saturday too. We'll be at Valley Forge doing 45 minutes. I think. And hills too. Definitely hills. I think.

Well, probably hills because I'm sure they want to get the people who are doing the Nike Women's race in shape. I'm still thinking about doing that race. We'll have to see what my finances are like when I need to register for it (through TNT since I know that the race is already sold out to the public).

I desparately need to focus on overall fitness too and not just running/walking. I need to lose weight and I know that will help me with all of the other events that I plan to take part in. I'll start blogging more about that too... I think.

Wine and Dine Half Marathon

2010-05-27T17:55:00.000-04:00

So I was just listening to the most recent Running to Disney podcast and the caller was commenting on the fact that he wouldn't be able to run in the Wine and Dine half marathon at Disney World for at least a few years because he has a 5 year old. I can totally get that a race starting at 10pm would not work very well for you if you wanted your kids to be able to see you run the race. I'm not really sure that I got what he was trying to say. I almost think that he was complaining about that the fact that the half was at night.

Okay, so before I continued, I actually went back and listened to the caller. I get his stance. He is "irate" that the race is being held at night. Really? Irate? So because you have a small child you are irate that one race out of the 5 races that Disney hosts is at night. Well, I personally don't like having to get up at 2:30 or 3 in the morning to run in the other Disney races, but I do it and don't *usually* complain about it. I get up at that time because I love being able to run through my favorite place in the world!

Obviously, I don't agree with this caller. I don't think that he has really considered his options. You want to run the relay with your wife? Why not take an adults-only trip? It is the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. Drop kiddo off with the grandparents or his cool aunt and get away for the weekend with your wife. You might miss your kid, but enjoy the time as a couple.

Why not bring a grandparent with you so you have someone who can watch the kid while you two do the relay together? What about hiring a sitter for the night? What about one of you not doing the race and staying in the room with the kid? That would save you money on the sitter and on race registration.

I guess I just don't get it. I know Disney is a family destination, but there are plenty of adults who travel there without children. I'm sure if I had kids, my mother would be thrilled to watch them for the weekend if I wanted to run this race.

What are your thoughts? Is it right that Disney is having this race at night? Does this caller being "irate" even make sense to you?

As far as I'm concerned, I'll see you at the Tree of Life!

Fall TNT training starts tomorrow!

2010-05-21T14:27:00.000-04:00

I can't wait for the new season to start tomorrow! Okay, well it technically started last week. We had our kick off party last Thursday and I got to meet some of the new teammates. I've talked with some of my mentees and hopefully I will be able to meet some of them in person.

This season they are trying something a little bit different for the first 8 or so weeks of practice. Rather than have a set mileage for the first several weeks of practive, we have a set time instead. The time is supposed to be for people who are not used to being on their feet for an extended period of time. Tomorrow is a 35 minute workout. I am going to try to run the whole thing and see how far I can get. It will be different running without Rachel, so I may try to convince Tara (our Broad Street coach) to run with me. She is perfectly willing to run at my pace (and maybe push me a little bit). I really hope to be able to run the whole Philly Rock & Roll half in September.

Oh yeah! I also signed up for the Wine & Dine half in Disney on October 2! It is a nighttime race which starts at 10 pm. Yikes! The course sounds to be similar to the second half of the WDW marathon. I can't wait! (I use too many exclamation points. I need to work on that...)

Broad Street Run May 2, 2010

2010-05-05T22:04:00.000-04:00

Some of the Team before the race!

My teammate from Disney, Lanie!

Wow! That race was just brutal! I had a good time for my first 5K but shortly after that I felt like I wanted to die! I was having serious doubts that I would be able to finish at all. I walked a good portion of mile 4 and then jogged REALLY slowly for most of the rest of the race. I told Rachel to go on without me and that I would try to catch up. I didn't see her again until the end of the race.

Since I was so far back, lots of the volunteers weren't concerned about saving water for the runners behind me and when I asked they would throw a cup or two on me. I didn't go through the first few hydrants, but when I felt like I was going to over heat I just went through them and hoped that my feet wouldn't get too wet and blister. I'm glad I put sunsceen on before I left the house too. I had 15 on my legs, 30 on my arms and 50 on my face and neck. Viturally no color with that type of coverage!

I did see my friend Jen briefly at the start and again at the finish too. I had a TNT coach with me for about the last block up until the signs before the finish line. I was able to pick up my legs just enough so that I looked like I ran through the finish line too!

Is it already time for another race?

2010-04-27T12:50:00.000-04:00

Wow! I can't believe that the Broad Street Run is only a few days away. I am feeling good about it. Rachel and I did the practice with the run 3/walk 6 intervals. We actually did really good with it. We weren't able to meet up during the following week, but when we got to practice for our 10 mile run, I turned to her and told her I thought we could run. She said she was having the same thoughts (both of us admitting we were crazy). It was then that we decided to try and run... all 10 miles.

We actually ended up running about 90% of the long run. It was good. The last 3 miles or so hurt, and I was sore the next day, but we kept up with it. This past Sunday we ran our 5 miles. It was slow, but we really felt like we were warming up in our last mile. For the 5 mile run, we ran to a mile marker and then walked for a few minutes, then ran to the next mile marker and so on. It felt great! Currently we are planning on doing 4 miles this afternoon, 3 miles tomorrow and then meeting up at the expo on Friday before I head to the Phillies game.

Race Day is Sunday!

check out this new blog with a Running skirts giveaway!

2010-04-16T12:15:00.000-04:00

My Reason to Run

8 miles

2010-04-04T22:07:00.000-04:00

Yup, we're already up to 8 miles! The race is only 4 weeks away!

Yesterday we did 8 miles in Valley Forge. Because the Broad Street Run is kept to a strict 15 minute per mile pace, the coaches timed us for the first 4 miles. In addition to that, me and my training partner were pushing ourselves a little more than we have been. For the first 4 miles, we maintained a run 3, walk 7 pace. We discussed changing that up to a run 3 walk 6 pace. It was something that we planned on working on during the week so that we could try it for our next long run.

We were right on pace for our first 4 miles. For the next 3 miles, we switched our intervals to 3:30 run/6:30 walk. I think that was good for us too. We really need to train like this more. I think for both of us, the first couple intervals were really good, but after that, it was harder for us to keep the longer running time. I also think that our walking was slowing down because of the longer running interval. If we switch to the 3/6 intervals, I think we may be able to get faster and build up our endurance.

We are also planning on getting together during the week. We'll probably meet halfway, but we'll determine that later this week. I'll update during the week on any runs that we get in together.

7 miles in Valley Green!

2010-03-28T12:35:00.000-04:00

I had another great run yesterday in Valley Green. We did 7 miles. I love training in Valley Green, at least when it is not raining. We were supposed to be there two weeks ago, but with the heavy rain that we had, our coach moved us over to Kelly Drive. So, this was my first time at Valley Green since the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was beautiful and the trail was relatively dry.

My training partner and I had a great time. We made sure that during our running segments we were still able to talk. There were a couple times that we ran faster than we should have and we could feel it. There is a really long section of trail that is a hill. Going up it isn't really that noticeable, but we took advantage of it on the return and jogged from the top of the hill until we got back to the Inn. I'm not sure of the distance, but it was probably a lot more than a quarter mile. We kept reminding ourselves that there were jelly beans and gummy bears at the water stop.

I want to get faster still so I'm trying to to Couch to 5K during the week. I also may actually have some product reviews. I picked up some items that I've since been able try and I want to be able to share my thoughts on them. Those will be coming in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Going through the Magic Kingdom - wait didn't I just write this?

2010-03-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

Well, sort of. You can find my trip report for the January races on my Disney Blog.

I will try to get you all the way to the finish on this entry. I have no more pictures from the race so you'll have to bear with me and my story telling.

So when I left you, we had just passed Mel's husband at the TTC. This area was a real bottleneck so running was difficult. We tried to run when my watch would beep at the intervals, but wouldn't get too far.

We went under the water bridge. This is a tough hill. Probably the steepest on Disney property. But it's nice and short. There is a hill in Valley Forge NP that is just as steep and much longer. I did feel the burn in my glutes by the time I reached the top of the hill though. We then saw my "home" at the Contemporary Resort right before we turned into the Magic Kingdom backstage area.

We came out into the park beside Tony's Town Square. This was my second trip where my first visit to the Magic Kingdom was on race day. I need to plan that better in the future, but it does make the run down Main Street a little more exciting.

And that's exactly what we did. For the first time in a Disney race, I ran down Main Street! We ran the whole way. We stopped when we turned to go into Tomorrowland. I believe we saw Goofy in Tomorrowland and then made our way to Fantasyland. We saw Cinderella and Prince Charming and then heard the trumpeters. We decided to run through the castle and stay to the right to avoid the people who were getting their pictures taken. Well, there were also photographers on the left side of the ramp so even though we didn't stop for them, we got our pictures taken!

We then made our way into Liberty Square and through Frontierland. Mel was just talking about how Splash Mountain was still closed for rehab. They were taking advantage of the colder weather to do some additional painting apparently. Well, just as I started pouting that I wouldn't be able to ride it, I looked up at the mountain and they turned the water on. Woohoo! I knew what I would be doing before I went home.

Once we went over the train tracks and into the backstage area, we grabbed more water and made the turn to start heading back! We were about half way done!

The next few miles were pretty uneventful. We had the same problem with crowds until we got up near the Polynesian. This was when we saw Mel's husband again. She waved hello. He may have gotten a picture of us (I'll have to ask him). The next few miles are a bit of a blur. I remember getting gel (Clif Mocha, my favorite) and then having to walk much farther than I should have for the water to wash it down. It had to be at least a quarter mile or closer to a half mile before we had more water on the course. Somewhere between Miles 9 and 10 we passed the first aid tent and I took a few seconds to grab two tylenol and then we were on our way again.

Once we got to the On-Ramp from Hell, we made sure to stay to the left. This was my third time on the ramp and the first two times, I had stayed to the right. That is the inside of the curve and therefore the shorter distance. Unfortunately, this is also the side with the banking. It really does a number on your knees, ankles and hips. Somewhere (I think it was the Running to Disney podcast) I heard that you want to stay to the left here.

So that's what we did! For the first time, this hill did not hurt! I felt great going up the hill and the climb didn't wear me out. Kirsty and Mel seemed to handle it pretty well too. Once we got over the bridge we ran down the hill a little bit. We kept up with our walk-run combination. Somewhere around mile 11 Mel told us to go ahead. Her knee was bugging her so she was going to hold back on the running.

Kirsty and I kept going and at hill #3, the last overpass before Epcot, I tried to stay on the flattest part of the hill. This was really the first time that I really started to hurt. I almost wish that we ran up the hill in order to justify the pain I was then feeling. We were still on pace to beat my January time and hopefully my Philly Distance Run time too. It was such a relief to see Mile 12! Unfortunately, someone around there was also smoking. Yuck! Right near the course too. I couldn't believe someone would do that.

Once we got into Epcot, Kirsty stuck with me and let me walk until we got out to the lagoon and started heading back (I think that's how it happened at least, maybe she can correct me). I do remember running at some point over the bridge and then taking a break before we exited the park. As soon as we exited the park, I knew I was good on time and I told Kirsty to go ahead and finish the race. I was going to run as soon as I got the to last mile marker.

I saw the sign for Mile 13, walked for maybe another 20-30 feet and then summoned up all of my energy to finish strong. I pushed that last tenth of a mile like I was in high school again. I ran as hard as I could and made it to the finish line. I honestly felt like I was going to be sick, but I was 99% certain that I had set a personal record.

I got my medal, grabbed water and snacks and made my way to get my picture taken. I left a message for Mel's husband to see if she had finished and a few minutes later, I got a call from her. We got our picture together with our medals and then grabbed my bag, and found Kirsty.

We found everyone and got pictures together with a few other friends. Kirsty and I made our way to the buses and headed back to our resort.

In the end, I finished in 3:20:43. I was so excited to have a good time. I was a little bit achy and really tired, but I felt great! Of course I'll do it again! See you next year!

6 miles on Kelly Drive.

2010-03-21T14:14:00.001-04:00

We had week 4 of our Broad Street training this morning. I am so excited to have a teammate who is the same pace as me. She did the Philly tri last year and has said the she's worried about doing 10 miles. She did a 10k as part of the tri. I don't know my exact time, but I'm pretty sure that it was my fastest 6 miles yet. I will need to recalibrate my Nike+ this week since it didn't show the full 6 miles. I do know that about the time that a coach came back to us we had a half mile to go and her Garmin said she'd been running for 1:09. I know I can do a half mile in well less than 21 minutes! I'll be back soon to finish my race report! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Princess Half Marathon 2010

2010-03-18T23:23:00.000-04:00

My friend Kirsty drove in on Saturday afternoon to do the race with me. She stayed with me so that she didn't have to get up early and drive 90 minutes before the race.

We got up a little bit before 3 to get ready. Our plan was to walk over to the buses by 3:30. After waiting so long for the race in January, neither of us wanted to be waiting outside for too long. Once we were ready, we made our way to the buses only to find a long line. It turns out that we were sharing a bus with the Old Key West Resort. Once a bus got to Saratoga Springs it was already at least half full so only about 20 people were getting onto each bus. Thankfully, we only needed to wait for about 3 buses before we were on our way.

I snapped a few pictures of us on the bus, effectively blinding us for a few minutes. Here is the good one!

When we got to the Epcot parking lot and walked over towards the W tent to meet our WISH buddies, but they had already made their way to the corrals. I gave my friend Mel a call to find out where she was (still on World Drive in traffic) so we waited for a few minute and then decided to get in line for the bag check.

After getting through bag check, we saw that the porta potties near the tents did not have long lines so we stopped to use them. I then got a call from Mel. She had made it there and passed us while we were waiting in the line. We found her over near the old trams. If you haven't seen these trams, they are some of the old cars from the Backlot Tour. I don't know how long they've been there, but they are certainly rusty and not in the best shape.

Once we found Mel, we made our way to the corrals with another stop at the porta potties. We saw some of Mel's other friends who were doing the race (people I actually follow on Twitter even though I had never met them in person). They were in different corrals though so we went our separate ways.

We were in Corral C. It was so much nicer to be in the middle of the pack instead of in the last corral like I was in January. It was also nice to know that if anything went wrong I had at least a 14 minute buffer between myself and sweepers. We inched as far forward as we could and waited. They had the wheelchairs go off and then Corrals A and B started with fireworks for each corral. Then it was our turn!

I wish I had gotten a better picture, but I was just happy to have fireworks. Kirsty started her Garmin and I started my Nike+ when we crossed the Start line. Kirsty is a much faster runner than I am and she was planning on doing the race with me to help me break 3:15. She was keeping track of our pace on her Garmin to try to keep me on track.

The first mile felt like it went by really fast. Just as we were about to hit the mile marker, we heard the guns go off for the last corral. The race was really on now! This course was the same as the January race and after mile one we made our way onto World Drive. We could hear the pirates theme and not too far down the road we saw their ship!

Yet another bad picture:

We were doing really good on our pace and my legs were finally starting to warm up. We were all still bundled up though. I can't remember where I tossed my poncho, but I was keeping my jacket on to keep warm. After a few more minutes, we saw this:

I was so happy to see this site! And this picture actually came out good!

I was really hoping to see the Japanese drummers. They had been out in the 2009 Princess, but in January, they weren't there. Before we made it to the Ticket and Transportation Center, there they were!

After seeing them, we started looking for Mel's husband and daughter who we found right at the TTC. We waved hi to them but since the baby was sleeping, we kept moving!

Up next, we enter the Magic Kingdom!

(sorry this is not my best writing! I'll try to be more entertaining going over the rest of the race!)

Princess half

2010-03-16T11:32:00.000-04:00

I've been back for a week now and I know that I need to write about the race. I most certainly want to relive the race (especially after freezing my rear off in January). I'll try to hop online tonight and update.

I got in a 5-mile training run this past Saturday on a very windy and rainy Kelly Drive. I was squeezing water out of my sleeves every five minutes, but my sneakers didn't start to feel squishy until after 4.5 miles. I hope this weekend is better!

Heading back to where it all began

2010-02-17T18:00:00.000-05:00

I registered for the 2010 Princess Half Marathon. I was debating doing this race again just because I didn't know if I would be able to manage the finances for the trip. But, I'm heading back!

I leave in 2 weeks and in approximately 2 weeks from when I am writing this I will be somewhere having dinner in WDW. No reservations for my arrival day, so I will probably be eating in DTD. Something healthy of course.

I'll post a training update within the next few days!

Managed to avoid the rain. Yippee!

2009-12-07T15:25:00.002-05:00

I got just under 12 miles in on Saturday. It was really chilly out. I bundled up pretty good. I had on a long sleeve shirt, long sleeve fleece and a fleece vest. And I had on capris underneath warmup pants. Oh yeah, I had a fleece headband and gloves on too, but after about a mile I took the gloves off. It was a fun, but tough run. The park we were at (Tyler State Park) is fairly hilly and we did 4 loops on the route that we take. That means doing the big hill 2 times. We did the loop in reverse twice. In the other direction the hill isn't that bad because it is a slower incline. I found that I was able to fit more running into each 10-minute period. Instead of running for 1.5-2 minutes and walking out the rest of the 10 minutes, I was able to run 3-4 minutes (except on the steep hill) and then walk the rest of the 10 minutes. I plan on training more and more at that pace so that I can hopefully finish with a PR AND get some pictures along the way. I also bought myself a new camera on Black Friday, so I plan on learning how to use that in the next few weeks for some good shots during the race!

Why does it need to rain every weekend?!?

2009-12-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

I did 5 miles last night after work. I was in the gym. Most of the time I have been doing my workouts outside so being inside in the warm air was a bit of a shock for me. I wanted to stop after 1 mile and after 3 miles I started craving pretzels (Since with my training we have water stops and we usually have pretzels at them). I forced myself to finish though. Saturday is a 12 mile run for me! I can't wait for it. It will be the longest I've done since the PDR. The weather is supposed to be horrible though. High of 39 with 80% chance of precipitation throughout the day. Ugh! I will need to bundle up this time! I will also need to take a parka with me this time. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Just a fundraising update...

2009-11-30T15:01:00.001-05:00

If anyone is able to help, it would be much appreciated. I have a lot of fundraising to go!

Keep on swim, er, running

2009-11-23T15:45:00.002-05:00

Yup, I'm still training. I'm still here. I just relized that I do have my phone set up to post to this blog via text message. I just need to use it. So, yes, I will be updating more often. I'm doing a virtual 10K with my Disney friends on Thanksgiving day. I'll try to post pictures of wherever I end up running for the day.

Feeling good after yesterday's run!

2009-11-09T11:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a great day at Kelly Drive. It was a bit chilly at the start, but it was sunny and clear. I felt really sluggish at the beginning and my ankles and calves were tight. My legs didn't feel good until after the first two miles. I have to remember to get a good warm up before the race. I also have to be careful about what I eat the day or two before the race. I had leftovers from Friday's happy hour for dinner on Saturday. Fatty, fried food and a long run are not a good combination. I have to stick to pasta and other healthy food and avoid the fats in the future.

Life gets in the way of so many things!

2009-11-04T22:19:00.003-05:00

I truely hate it when life (ie, work) gets in the way of the things that I really want to do. Thankfully for the past 3 weeks I've been able to get my exercise time in, but I haven't been able to find time to blog. I'll try to update everyone though. Here's a picture of me at the end of my last race: I had a great time at the Philadelphia Distance Run and I'm already signed up for next year! So, in the past 3 weeks I did 8 miles in the freezing cold, pouring rain, 10.6 miles on a cool and sunny day in Valley Forge and 8 miles in a misty, drizzly day in Valley Green. I really love the areas that we use for our group runs for Team in Training. One major decision that I made this week was to switch from the full to the half marathon. It took a lot of soul searching and some discussions with my coaches but I realize at this point in my training weight loss, it makes more sense to me to focus on improving my half time and aiming for a PR in Disney. I do feel a little bit guilty since I have been fundraising and telling people that I will be competing in my first marathon. I figure most people will still be impressed with 13.1 miles though. A few other things I've realized with training: 1) As much as I love snacking on Twizzlers during the day at work, they do not agree with me when I am running. They are usually at our water stops during training and I grabbed some during a group run. My stomach was hurting as soon as I started running again. 2) Pretzles are GOOD. At least in the middle of a long run. I don't usually snack on pretzles, but they seem to hit the spot after having gone 6-7 miles. 3) Finally, all sports drinks are not vile and disgusting. Apparently, my body has learned to accept when it needs the stuff that a sports drink can provide. I still try to avoid the drinks that have red dye in them so that I don't get sick, but the yellow stuff is acceptable. My favorite is Powerade's Artic Blast (or something like that). I have made it to my tae kwon do classes too and today one of the 2nd degree black belts started teaching me my black belt form! Yay! I will earn my black belt one of these days!

Disney's New Fall Half Marathon

2009-10-15T16:37:00.002-04:00

From Disney's Endurance Series Website: "Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend The Inaugural Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon will be run at night on a brand new half marathon course at the Walt Disney World Resort! This race experience will be the ultimate "Runner's Night Out". The course will wind through theme parks and new entertainment and finish inside Epcot® for an exclusive after hours Epcot International Food & Wine Festival experience for runners, friends and family. Mark your race calendars now for the race weekend with a party you don't want to miss - October 1-2, 2010! Registration Opens November 16, 2009 at disneywinedinerun.com! Weekend events will include: Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon - 2 person Relay option Mickey's Halloween Family Fun Run 5K 2-day Health & Fitness Expo Disney's Kids' Races Exclusive After Hours Party at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival More details will be posted as they become available." I guess I will be booking my BLT room ASAP so that I have a place to stay there. I would love to hear more about the relay option too. My only concern is the fact that it is a nighttime race. I wonder what time they will have it start. I am really looking forward to this.

So it's been a little while...

2009-10-14T22:47:00.002-04:00

I'm still training, but I also find myself stuck at work many nights. Here's what I've been up to: I successfully completed the Philadelphia Distance Run. I finished 8 minutes faster than my previous half marathon which I consider a great accomplishment. I was still hoping for a faster time overall, but any improvement makes me happy. This past Saturday was a tough day of training. I didn't get nearly as much sleep as I needed (stayed up too late and the Princess kitty woke me up too early). I also am still recovering from the cold and I haven't been getting in as many miles as I should be during the week. I got to Valley Green early and found the team. I was able to get some stretching in and talk to some of the team members. We followed the riding trail along the river past Valley Green Inn which was being set up for a wedding. We had a water stop there. I caught up with my teammate, Stormie, and we did run/walk intervals together for the next several miles. She is also running in Disney for the the half marathon. Around mile 7, (when I was really struggling) one of the walker caught up with me and convinced me to follow her intervals. I would walk with her and run when she was ready. Around mile 8, one of the walk coaches came back and she helped me finish the course. I talked to her about switching to the walk/run approach. My biggest concern with doing a full martathon, especially at Disney, is not meeting the pacing requirements. At Disney, you must maintain a 16 mile per minute pace or risk being swept (picked up by the party bus). While I have finished 2 half marathons and maintained that pace, I am not sure if I can keep up with it for twice the distance. So starting with my next long run, I will be working with Linda to see if we can get me moving faster while running less and maintaining a consistence pace throughout. I will be completing 14 mile this week! I also made it back to my karate classes finally! I went to two classes this week and I am really surprised how much my body remembers. I may not remember my forms very well, but I do remember my techniques. It was very nice to feel so missed and welcome back at the school. I really want to finally get my black belt!

Here's a link to my Team in Training page!

2009-09-17T13:06:00.001-04:00

I got this in my lastest email from Disney!

2009-09-12T11:37:00.001-04:00

EXCITING 2010 RACE CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT Tune into DisneyEnduranceSeries.com on October 15, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. EDT for the announcement of the 2010 Disney Race Calendar. We're counting down to the excitement, are you? I must be patient...

A real update!

2009-09-09T22:41:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry for the delay with my updates. The past few weeks have been a difficult time for me and my family. My grandmother was diagnosed with liver cancer at the beginning of August and she was discharged to hospice care and only given 3-6 weeks. Unfortunately, she passed away after only 3 short weeks. I am fortunate that I was able to spend a lot of time with her in those last weeks, but the pain of the loss is still fresh. I have found a new sense of release in my training. Being able to run, no matter what the distance has allowed me to clear my mind a few times per week. During my runs, I focus only on what my training goal is for the day and what my long term goals are with Team in Training. I was able to attend my first group training session on August 30. I did 6.5 miles on Kelly Drive here in Philadelphia. I felt really good completing that. Since then, I got in 3 more workouts, including one in Hershey, PA (which only partially made up for the chocolate I ate while there). I have another 4 mile workout planned for tomorrow and then my second group run on Sunday in Valley Forge. I have the Philadelphia Distance Run in 11 days too! I can't wait for that and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for nice weather! Please visit my Team in Training page to check out my fundraising efforts! http://pages.teamintraining.org/epa/wdw10/mannunziat

2009-09-06T09:50:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I got in a hot 4.5 miles here in Hershey. They have a nice path that goes by the medical center. There isn't a lot of shade on the trail though. There are some young trees that will hopefully provide so good shade in the future though. I'll be writing more in the next week when I am back on my computer.

I got another run in!

2009-08-27T00:09:00.002-04:00

Everytime I am able to squeeze in a run I am happy. I got in another 2.10 miles. I felt good but my quads are pretty sore. Today was a rest day. I thought I might do yoga, but I'm trying to get to bed soon so I can MAYBE do a morning run. I've also updated the Team in Training blog. Check it out! Team in Training

Got a run in today!

2009-08-24T23:10:00.002-04:00

I got home early enough to get a run in today. My Team in Training schedule suggested 0-3 miles for those of us training for the WDW Marathon. My goal was 3 miles, but since I ended up working out at home, I used my Podcasts for Running C25K for week 5. That gave me a 5 minute warm up and then alternated 5 minutes runs with 3 minute walks. That was close to what I really wanted to do with 6 min run/4 min walks. I need to get myself a new Timex Ironman watch so that I can actually see the screen and set the interval timer. I also checked the price for rooms at the Race for the Taste. A room at All Star Sports for 3 nights with my AP discount is around $230. Now I just need to get my boyfriend to agree to it. His brother's birthday is the same weekend so I was trying to convince him to take this trip before Disney announced that this was the last year for the Race. I guess I'll be checking for plane tickets too! Tomorrow is supposed to be a 4 mile run for me. I may do that at the gym so that I can use the timer on the treadmill until I got my new watch. I'll post again after that run!

Breaking News: This is the final year for Tower of Terror 13k and Race for the Taste!

2009-08-23T17:34:00.001-04:00

Disney has announced that this is the last year for both races. The text of their email follows: "October 2009 is your last chance to run Disney's Race for the Taste 10K & 3K andThe Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ 13K and 5K! These races will not be returning in 2010. That means it's the last chance to earn medals for these events before they head into the Disney Race medal vault! Run both the 10K and 13K, and you will also be awarded the Fall Race Challenge medal!Experience the taste and terror of Disney's Endurance Series this fall and take home limited edition finisher medals and lasting memories! Specially priced hotel rooms and theme park tickets are available for race participants, but you must book by September 10 to receive the special race rates. Visit Travel Details atdisneyraceforthetaste.com andtowerofterror13K.com for more information. This fall, look for an upcoming announcement on future Disney races!" It looks like I am going to try to make another trip very quickly so I can do the Race for the Taste

Heading to WDW in 9 hours!

2009-08-14T22:35:00.002-04:00

I'm heading to bed soon because at 4 am, I'm heading to Disney World! I've changed by mobile updates to my Disney blog, so follow me over there to see my up to date status! Have a nice week everyone!

2009-08-12T13:29:00.001-04:00

Here's the update that I put on my Team in Training fundraising site: "I went to the TnT kick off party on Thursday, August 6. It was a great time. I got to meet my TnT coordinator, my mentor and one of our survivors and Heros. The survior got up and told us about his history. He was diagnosed in 2000 and was given 3-5 years to live. He went through chemotherapy for 6 months and they decided that it was not working for him. He took the next year to get his affairs in order. When he learned about a drug that was being tested that could help him, he tried to get into the tests but they were closed. He then had to wait for the drug to be approved and come onto the market. Once the drug was approved he started taking it and was quickly on the road to recovery. He then wanted to thank everyone involved with the drug and that brough him to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It is now almost 10 years since he was diagnosed and he is able to see his children grow and spend time with his family. It is for people like this that I am doing this event for. It could have been easy for me to sign up for the race, train on my own and take the trip by myself, but I wanted to take this opportunity in my life to give back. I need everyone's support with this though. My fundraising goal is not something that is going to be easy to meet without the support of my friends and family. "

Its been a tough week

2009-08-12T08:06:00.002-04:00

I haven't been able to exercise nearly as much as I want to in the last week. My Grandma is sick and she was put on hospice care on Sunday. I intended on getting a run in on Sunday morning, but it didn't happen. Hopefully I'll get some exercise tonight, even if it is just yoga or pilates at home. My niece is with me. Originally my mom was supposed to drive down on Thursday with her, but since I went home to spend time with Grandma it made more sense to bring her back with me. Our trip to Disney is still planned for Saturday and Grandma was talking about how much fun she had during our Princess half trip. She told my niece how much fun she is going to have during her trip. I'm going to switch my mobile updates to my Disney blog before I leave so you can follow me over there if you're interested. I had my Team in Training Kick Off party last week. I'll try to update tonight with details from that. I will miss at least the first week of training with the team because of my Disney trip, but I plan on attempting a run in the Florida heat on Sunday morning. I'll let everyone know how that goes!

Who me, run?

Polish Food

runDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Video Recap

The Race Registration Bug

Trek Women's Triathlon

So Totally Awesome!

What Have I Been Eating?

The Greg Warren Band at House of Blues

Wordless Weekend

September Goals

My triceps are sore...

What a busy workout weekend!

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!

I will eat more fruits and veggies!

Current August Status

I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

And the unpacking continues...

Yummy Breakfast

Getting back in the swing of things...

Philadelphia International Championship

Wordless Weekend

SheROX triathlon

Training for Disneyland Half Starts Today!

Goofy Challenge registration up to 60%

Wordless Weekend

Things I Love Thursday! *Sweaty Bands*

Wordless Weekend

100 Day Challenge

Getting Registered

Wordless Weekend

Things I Love Thursday! *Sweaty Bands*

Jillian Michaels kicked my...

Motivation Monday

Wordless Weekend

Super Seven

Wordless Weekend

Follow Friday - Run Court Run

Workout Wednesday

Quiet Weekend for me!

Things I Love Thursday!

2011 Princess Half Marathon Race Report - Part 3

WDW Marathon, Half Marathon and Goofy Challenge Registration opens today!

2011 Princess Half Marathon Race Report - Part 2

Wordless Weekend 1

Finding the Time

2011 Princess Half Marathon Race Report - Part 1

ABCs of me

I did it! (or restarting C25K)

New training plan starts tomorrow!

My Running Goals for 2011

Blogging opportunities...

WDW Marathon: A Race Report Part 2

WDW Marathon: A Race Report Part 1

Check out my first post over at The Disney Drive Life!

And the winner is...

Last chance to enter! Donate today!

Donate for a chance to win a 4-night stay at a Walt Disney World Disney Vacation Club Resort

Disney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon

Fabulous 14!

Spooky Virtual 5K/10K/whateverK Race

Philadelphia ING Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon

Some days you just don't want to run...

Water Stops and...

Back at Practice

Winter Season started today!

It's HOT!

Philly Triathlon

Versatile Blogger Award

Virtual 5K

Virtual Race This Weekend

June, wow!

Wine and Dine Half Marathon

Fall TNT training starts tomorrow!

Broad Street Run May 2, 2010

Is it already time for another race?

check out this new blog with a Running skirts giveaway!

8 miles

7 miles in Valley Green!

Going through the Magic Kingdom - wait didn't I just write this?

6 miles on Kelly Drive.

Things I Love Thursday! Sweaty Bands

Things I Love Thursday! Sweaty Bands