Disney Princess

Well, my friends.... it has certainly been awhile, hasn't it?

So much has happened in the past few months- I did a lot of training and feel I am becoming a MUCH stronger runner. Multiple times I managed to run 3 miles without having to stop and walk- that's a major achievement!

As you may or may not have known- a few weeks ago, I took an 11 day vacation to Orlando. My boyfriend and I spent two days at Disney's All Star Music resort, then hopped on the Disney Dream cruise ship for 5 days! It was amazing! I was still in training for the Disny Princess Half marathon so the first thing I did was check out the spa area where the fitness center was. I was super excited to do a run on the treadmills overlooking the ocean. But, when I went the next day all the treadmills were taken! So, I went to my back up plan which was the out door running deck on level 4 of the ship. It's 2.5 laps for one mile- so I did 5 quick laps and called it a day. I enjoyed the rest of the cruise- the relaxation, the Aqua duck water coaster, Castaway Cay island, Pirate night and fireworks! If you ever get the chance, I definitely recommend a Disney cruise- they're phenomenal (even if you don't have kids)!

After we returned from the cruise, we headed to Disney's Caribbean Beach resort. Absolutely stunning resort (plus a pirate themed pool)! I did my last run before the race at the resort. The humidity knocked me for a loop and slowed me down, but I powered through it. I have to say, that was my only issue with my training for this race. I did my runs in the New England winter, mostly cold days and lots of trips to the gym to go on the treadmill because of the 3.5 feet of snow and ice outside. My body wasn't truly ready for the Florida humidity. Live and learn though, right?

On race day, we got up at 2:30am to catch the shuttle to the race area. I made my boyfriend go with me even though he wasn't running- he did cheer me on throughout the course though. The race officially started at 5:30am and my corral took off at 6:27am. By mile 1, I was already a disgusting sweaty mess, but I kept up with my 3 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking ratios. Soon, the miles were flying by and I was having fun looking at everyone's costumes (some pieces of which littered the race course).

I have to say, Disney definitely is the best race I have ever done. They had water and Powerade at every mile marker. And every few miles they had medic tents with gallon pump bottles of BioFreeze. My legs held up pretty well, I only stopped around mile 10 to slather some BioFreeze onto my calves. I managed to keep trotting along, all the way across the finish line! My official time was 3:34:45. Not as good as I had hoped, but I finished and that was my main goal. If I do do another Disney race, I will try and start one corral up from where I was. I was having difficulty doing my jogging portions every now and again because I had to continuously weave in and out of all the walkers. Don't get me wrong, I definitely had many times when I walked, but I made sure I went to one edge or the other of the course. I was slightly disappointed about being able to run through the castle. I was really looking forward to doing that but once I hit the back of the castle, I came to a dead stop because there were SO many people going through the castle at the same time (a total of 26,000 runners!). We kind of herded our way through and then once we got past the castle a bit I was able to run again.

All in all, it was the BEST race ever! The 13.1 miles went by pretty fast compared to my last half marathon. Perhaps I was in a better mindset because I stuck with my training and felt stronger overall? Maybe it was just being swept up in the Disney magic? I don't know but I loved it!

My boyfriend and I after the race with some pretty sweet Disney bling!

There is another part to this story though! It turns out that my Princess medal is not the only shiny and sparkly thing I came home with! While on the cruise, my boyfriend proposed to me (on the grand staircase, in front of tons of people!) and I, happily, said yes!

 February 18, 2013

We haven't set a date yet. In fact, we are planning on at least a 2 year engagement in order to save up money. In lieu of all of this amazingness, I have decided to step up my healthy eating and living. I have come SO far in my weight loss, but I still have a ways to go in order to be where I want to be. I am challenging myself to lose another 50 pounds in the next two years so I am ready for my wedding and honeymoon (I would really like to be able to wear a bikini and not feel self conscious on my honeymoon). My goal is to get back into blogging. I am starting off slow, because it is the most hectic time of the year at work, and aiming to post twice a week. I still plan on running 2 times a week, and am going to add in 3 times a week of 30 Day Shred. I am begging you to please keep me honest with this. I often get overwhelmed by work and life in general, but this is a totally do-able weekly goal! I may just need a kick in the pants every now and again!

What do you say? Who has their kicking boots on?

Frustrated

Ok... I admit it... you caught me...

I may have given in a little bit... 

But I promise it's the last time until Saturday!

I'm supposed to be enjoying my rest week, but the stagnation of not doing any exercise is killing me. So, I met my friend Tina at the gym this morning and did an hour walk on the treadmill. I kept the pace real low so I didn't over exert my legs, but it felt so nice to be doing something.

This leads me to my emotion of the day:

Frustrated [fruhs-trey-tid] adjective:

1. having feelings of dissatisfaction or lack of fulfillment

My frustration is with more than just the lack of exercise. Part of me feels like I didn't train hard enough or well enough. It's not something that I can't go back and change, I mean, I can't fix all of the random things that got in the way of my runs. And I know it's my first half marathon and that I've only been running for a year, but I was hoping I would be slightly faster or that my endurance would have increased more. (In retrospect though, considering I couldn't run more than 0.25miles before stopping before, my endurance has increased a lot- but I'm still averaging a 15min/mile at my best.) 

These are normal concerns right? I'm not just losing my mind or over-worrying am I? I'm trying to maintain my positive feelings, but I felt I wouldn't be being honest if I didn't include this emotion today as it is VERY much present in my mind. 

On a happier note, my Sparkle Skirt from Amy @Pumpkin to Princess came in today!! Expect photos soon!

Anticipation

Today's emotion of the day is Antici.....

...........pation!

(See what I did there? Made you anticipate the end of the word. Genius, right? Bonus points if you can catch the musical movie reference I stole that from)

Source

*Ahem*  Moving right along....

Anticipation [an-tis-uh-pey-shuhn]: Noun.  

1. Realization in advance; foretaste, 2. expectation or hope.

I am FULL of anticipation about this race. I keep wondering about weather conditions, the race course, the fans on the side, what the medal is going to look like, if I can keep up with one of the pace coaches or if I should just go my own, how my stomach is going to do, if I can make it up the hills, will I need a medic, will I be the last one to finish, can I actually DO this? Ahhh! So many things to think about! But, despite any negative thoughts that sometimes pop into my head, I also anticipate crossing the finish line and having an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. My finish goal is 4 hours. I know a lot of people who finish in 3 hours or so... I don't care. I'm aiming for 4 hours. If it takes less time, power to me, but I want to set a reachable goal for myself. 

I'm also trying to decide if I should run with or without a watch on. Sometimes I feel like having the watch on is helpful because I can work a pace and time how long my walk/run breaks are, but then other times I feel like I'm utterly chained to my watch and timing myself. Double -edged sword I guess. Any thoughts on that? I know you're not supposed to change anything up for race day, but it's a thought I'm playing around with for right now. 

Going back to my emotion of the day- my feeling of anticipation seems to be a positive emotion as well. I picture myself crossing the finish line, and beating my 4 hour goal. I just have to hold onto this feeling and not let fear/doubt/anxiety creep in come race day.

Oh! And in answer to Kurt's question on my last post, yes, I will be running with music on. I will only have one headphone bud in, but I want to have my own music because I've learned what songs pump me up the most. Maybe in another year or so I can learn to run sans music, but for right now, I feel it's a good option for me.

Enthralled

I've decided that this week, I'm going to post about my emotions leading up to my first half.

I can assure you that various emotions are making their way through me right now, but I'm going to try and isolate one per day and see how they change as the half gets closer. (Don't worry, it's not going to be a complete vocabulary lesson- there's some actual substance to my posts, I promise!)

The first emotion I choose to acknowledge is: 

Enthral [en-thrawl]:  verb (used with object) 1. to captivate or charm.

Similar words: absorb, charm, enchant, engage, enslave, fascinate, hook, intrigue, preoccupy, spellbind

I am indeed enthralled, captivated, fascinated, intrigued and preoccupied by this race. And, as we can all well see from my blog, I'm completely absorbed with it also. I've been prepping and training for this race since the beginning of the year- it has literally taken over my life (which is awesome because when things are difficult for me to do, I usually end up giving up). I've worked very hard on increasing my endurance and making sure that I'm not going to completely maim or kill myself when I do walk/run the 13.1 miles. At looking at my Dailymile, I've run 232.14 miles since January 1st of this year. Considering I've NEVER run before in my life, I find that to be a stupendous achievement (and testament to how enthralled I actually have become with this sport). I've also worked hard on learning to enjoy my running. Yes, the distance will be long and the route will be grueling, but as long as I have some awesome music on and keep myself in a positive mindset, I know I can totally rock this race!

I've even become somewhat preoccupied with what I'm going to wear on race day. Taking it a little bit further, setting up a plan on what to eat/drink before I go, what time to wake up that morning so I can be warmed up when I get to the race, making sure I have everything I'm going to need for post-run recovery (protein, electrolytes, ice, an ambulance, margarita in an IV) has taken over a large portion of my waking thoughts.  But, none of this is in a bad way- I'm not resentful of these thoughts, they actually make me excitement level kick up a notch.

So, the first of my many emotions is a positive, energetic emotion. That's always nice to see, right? Let's hope it continues on that way. 

What are some emotions you felt/do feel leading up to a big race?

 

First Race Jitters Part 1.

As it stands now my first ever half marathon is about 2 weeks away. 

Source

AHHHH!!

I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm starting to freak out. I feel like I'm just not prepared enough. I mean, I've been running my behind off.... almost literally.... but a part of me is convinced that I didn't train hard enough. I'm still only averaging a 15 min/mile or so for anything over 4 miles. Ugh. I was hoping to finish as close to 3 hours as possible, but I think my PR is going to be finishing under 4 hours. Blah.

I know, I know... I shouldn't be so hard on myself. It's my first big race, I've trained hard, I know I can run/walk the distance and it's supposed to be fun. But it's so hard to squash the competitive part of me that wants to be perfect. I realize it's going to take me a good couple of years before I increase my endurance and speed to a point that is anywhere near most people, but I'm impatient. I want to run fast now! *pout*

Ok... I'm done venting for the evening. I need to go to bed so I can start my7 hell of a long week, which includes, but is not limited to: working two jobs, applying for other jobs, rehearsing, performing, zumba, training, occasionally sleeping and eating. Woot! Bring it on world, I'm ready to tackle it all!