Winning with Wellness 5K Race Recap

Last Saturday I ran the Winning with Wellness 5K. After achieving my 10K PR goal at the Shamrock 10K two weeks prior I knew I had it in me to PR in the 5K distance so I signed up for this race. To say the odds were against me that day would be an understatement. We woke up to temps in the upper 30's with 20 mph wind gusts plus a chance of rain.

For some reason I decided I would get hot running in a jacket (not!) so I wore my light running pants and my wine and dine long sleeve shirt. It ended up being fine once I warmed up, but boy did the wind go right through that outfit! Once we got to the start line I hit the button to start my Garmin and it seemed like a short time later I hear the race director counting down 5-4-3-2-1 GO! I looked down at my Garmin and the location meter had only halfway filled! I wanted to cry. I then told myself, "You never used to run with a watch, you don't need your Garmin for this race. JUST  GO"

We started on the track and when we hit the second straightaway the wind was gusting against us and rain was pelting us in the face. IT. WAS. MISERABLE. I felt like I was carrying 100 extra pounds running against the wind. My mental game went downhill from here. I have never negative talked myself so much in a race before. Definitely not something that I'm proud of. Not even music helped out.

Overall, the course was pretty flat which was nice with the gusting winds. You ran around a building then there were two out and back sections and then you ran around a different building and then finished on the track.

So I was out on the course blindly trying to PR and decided to get as close to Cameron as I could during the race. He started slightly ahead of me and I ended up catching him and pacing off of him at mile 1. Mile 1.5 brought the first out and back section. Cameron went around the cone and I could see him turning to look for me and he couldn't see me because I was right behind him. The look on his face when he turned around to see me there was priceless!

At the second turn around I was able to count the girls in front of me and see how close the next female finisher was. I was currently the 3rd woman overall and there wasn't another female for awhile. I used that as major motivation to push through. Cameron and I started running beside each other at about mile 2 or so. He ran this race the year before so he coached me on what was left. At mile 2.5 I started to push with everything I had and pulled away from Cam. When I came down the last straightaway on the track I could see the timer was under 22 minutes and I wanted to finish before it hit 22 and I did!

As soon as I finished and was able to talk again I asked Cameron, "Did you let me win?" He pinky promised that he didn't which was a relief for some reason haha. Post-race they had water, granola bars, fruit snacks, apples, and Chick-fil-a chicken minis! We stuck around for the awards and I got 3rd female overall. They called Cameron up to get 3rd place male 20-29 and when he got to the table they apologized and said, "We're really sorry you got 4th in that age group." It was sad and hilarious all at the same time.

Official times weren't posted until late afternoon which killed me because I wanted to know my official time. My goal was to be under 22:51 which was my high school PR time (our races were 3 miles, not 5K). I ended up finishing the race in 21:50 (avg pace 7:03) which I am absolutely ecstatic about!

Have you ever surprised yourself when running in less than stellar race conditions?

That's all for now!

Bluemont Shamrock 10K Race Recap

This past Saturday I ran the Inaugural Shamrock 10K in Bluemont, VA. The morning also included a 5K and a kids fun run. There were about 220 people who participated in the 5K and 10K combined. It seemed to be pretty well organized for an inaugural event. It was an early 8 am start time. We picked up our packets the morning of the race, but packet pick-up was also offered in the evenings the five days preceding the race. We had received snow the day before that then melted and made the farm the race started at a mud hole. Luckily, the race took place on paved roads.

Prior to this race I had never really raced a 10K before. I ran the Superhero 10K back in 2013 to get a proof of time for my first half marathon and the Enchanted 10K we ran last month was for fun. About a month ago I added once a week speed work into my training to prepare for my big 10K PR attempt. My dream 10K time is under 50 minutes, but I didn't think I quite had that in me for this race. So my realistic goal was under 55 minutes. My finish time ended up being 51:19 which I was ecstatic about! I also placed first in my age group.

I had to rep my green #TeamSparkle skirt :)

The Course and Swag

It was an out and back course that took place in the country. We were surrounded by beautiful farmland and I was loving every minute of it. I like out and back courses because you get to pass other runners which always motivates me. There were quite a few rolling hills throughout the course, but nothing too terrible. The one downfall to this course was that the roads were FILLED with potholes which increased my amount of weaving. The race director did warn you of this in the email sent out the day prior to the race which was nice. They also had orange cones throughout the course with signs that said, "Potholes ahead." There was a water station that we passed twice during the race. Course crowding was clearly not an issue and most of the time I could only see one or two people ahead of me. I was really enjoying running in the middle of nowhere just listening to my music. 

With our registration fee we got a blue short sleeved tech shirt. I got a small which was miniature in length, but it fit everywhere else. Maybe I have a long torso? For the age group prizes we got pint glasses from a local brewery. 

Goofballs

Overall, this was a fun race with a nice course.

That's all for now!

2015 Walt Disney World Marathon Recap

Warning: This is going to be a long post, bear with me!

Sunday January 11, the long anticipated day had arrived. I was about to run a marathon and complete the Goofy Challenge. I was a ball of emotion pretty much the entire day. All of my hard work and determination was about to culminate in a 26.2 mile victory lap. I trained for six months and ran 439 miles during training.

I wrote 439 KC on my hand and welled up with tears as I was doing it. KC are initials of a person who died way too young and loved Disney and runDisney as much, if not more than I do.

I didn't realize that I had taken the picture at 4:39 until I posted the photo on social media, so crazy!

We were a little more slow moving when the alarm sounded at 3:30 am for the second day in a row. I put on my Minnie Mouse outfit, stashed all my fuel and was ready to run. We were pleasantly surprised that it was warmer outside and decided to walk to the TTC to take the monorail to Epcot. It was already 4:30 by the time we got to the TTC. I was a little nervous about not being able to start with the correct corral, but we made it in plenty of time. 

When we crossed the start line it was surreal that we were running a marathon. The first 8 miles of the course are the same as the half. I really enjoyed getting to run through Magic Kingdom with Cameron, huge highlight of the race. The crowds energy level seemed even greater than the day before. 

When we left the Magic Kingdom we ran past the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian. Somewhere between miles 7-8 they had this sign that said, "I'm running a Marathon! This is the Best Day of My Life!" and the song "Best Day of My Life" was playing. Cue the emotions, this one really got me!

The Walt Disney World Speedway is where the course took us next. I was excited to see what the speedway had in store for us. I was not expecting the steady decline that was immediately followed up by a steady incline to get onto the speedway. Overall, the speedway wasn't bad. I had no idea just how huge it would be from the inside!

Miles 9-12 lead us to Animal Kingdom. There were some characters along this road as well as adorable animals (that had signs and bibs on) with their handlers outside of Animal Kingdom. I regret not getting a picture with the adorable sheep, donkey or goats. What I distinctly remember is Mile 11 brought the smelliness of the water treatment plant on Disney property. I found it hilarious that they had signs with fun facts all along the road where the treatment plant was.  I guess they thought it would occupy our minds from the smell. I stopped at the medical tent at mile 12 to get some lube which did the trick. My left armpit was chafing and it was getting quite painful. I also snagged a banana from the food station here. We had a short jaunt through Animal Kingdom that kept our energy levels up. The crowd outside of Animal Kingdom was awesome! Next thing I knew we were jogging across the 13.1 mile split and then headed to ESPN Wide World of Sports. Halfway done!

Everest was still closed when we went by, but it was pretty in the morning light. 

Miles 14-17 is run along a highway that leads you to ESPN. Around mile 16 there was a DJ blasting the best songs at the top of a slight hill. Cameron and I loved this part of the race! We were bobbing our heads and lip syncing. I had to stop for more lube at the mile 16.5 medical tent. Somewhere in this stretch we saw Phineas and Ferb with no line. Cameron teaches third grade and his kids love Phineas and Ferb, so we had to stop. P.S. I've never even watched this show haha!

ESPN was pretty boring, which I had already mentally prepared myself for. It's basically 3 miles filled with lots of turns. I did enjoy running on the track because it felt so bouncy compared to the asphalt we had been running on for 18 miles. We did a lap around Champion Stadium and there were a lot of spectators and two marching bands playing which was awesome.

There was another banana station at ESPN and the thought of choking one down made me want to vomit so I passed it up. At Mile 20 I started to struggle. I'm not sure if I "hit the wall" or what, but I was not feeling well. I just kept plugging along hoping that the feeling would pass. I took some extra fuel hoping that would help to get me through and it did. Mile 21-22 had a weird uphill/slant to the road that killed my right knee and hip. 

We finally got to Hollywood Studios. I kept telling myself that when I got there I was on the home stretch and I had finally gotten to that point. The candy station was in a backstage area of Hollywood Studios and the mini Hershey bar tasted so delicious at this point in the race. There weren't too many people in the park cheering, but the ones that were there were great cheerleaders. We ran through the "disco tunnel" and there were flashing lights, but no music which was a let down. As we exited the park there were tons of people outside the park which was incredible. They were so loud and so encouraging! From this point to the finish line the spectators and course were awesome. 

I loved running on the boardwalk past the Swan, Dolphin, Beach and Yacht clubs. Such a beautiful area of Disney property. Right by the hill that takes you into Epcot there were two girls from #TeamSparkle cheering. I was wearing my Minnie sparkle athletic skirt (which is probably the most comfortable thing I've ever worn) and they started cheering so loudly, "Go Team Sparkle!!!" and gave me a high five. This is exactly what I needed to get me through the last mile. They also took my favorite picture from the race. I had a good laugh when Cameron turned to me and said, "What is team sparkle?" hahaha, I said, "I am, my skirt is a Team Sparkle skirt."

From the Sparkle Athletic Facebook Page

We then entered Epcot and did a lap around World Showcase. When we hit the mile 25 sign I told Cameron I just wanted to run the rest of the way. It felt like it took forever to run that last mile. I was just in a daze running through world showcase. We headed into Future World and past Spaceship Earth towards the finish line. As soon as we passed the gospel choir I welled up with tears and had to hold it in until the finish line because I knew if I started crying now I wouldn't be able to breathe.

All of the pictures of me coming towards the finish line are of me on the verge of tears. They look ridiculous lol. We crossed the finish line and all of the built up emotion hit me and I broke down. It was an incredible moment that I will never forget. It's hard to even put into words. 

All of the bling!

Goofy was so happy that we all ran his race! 

If you made it to this point, thank you so much for reading! This race has a special place in my heart and I hope you enjoyed reading the recap as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

Later I'll have another post about the Goofy Challenge overall. 

If you've run a marathon, how did you feel after your first one?

That's all for now!

Walt Disney World Half Marathon 2015 Recap

Well, it has taken me absolutely forever to write my recap of the Goofy Challenge races! We had a great trip to Florida filled with running and lots of Disney eats. The weather was the only bummer of the trip. When we left from DC the temperature was 11 degrees and when we arrived in Florida it was in the low 40's. So we still had to wear jeans and long sleeves, boo!

We arrived at the Polynesian on Thursday and headed straight for the expo. There was nobody at packet pick-up and we walked right up and got everything we needed.

We headed over to the expo and began browsing the official merchandise. I ended up getting the Goofy Challenge and marathon "I Did it!" shirts and a marathon tank top. I loved the official shirts that we got with registration this year.

I love the maps on the back of the I Did It shirts

Official Shirts

We checked out some of the vendors and I picked up my Sparkle Athletic Minnie Mouse skirt that I was going to wear for the marathon. I spotted Bart Yasso at the Runner's World booth and stopped to say Hi and take a picture. Such a cool guy!

We stopped for the obligatory picture with the sign of the race you are running and headed back to the Poly. 

Saturday morning rolled around and we had our 3:30 am wake up call. Since we were using the monorail as transportation we felt like we could sleep in a little. We learned last year after getting on the monorail at 3:30 that we could have gotten to the race much later haha. We left the room around 4:10 and decided to ride the monorail around the loop instead of walking to the TTC because it was cold out! I was planning on wearing my blue #teamsparkle skirt with my striped shirt and dress as Mr. Smee, but I had to add capris and long sleeves to the outfit so I didn't exactly look like him. It was comfortable and kept me warm. 

We got to Epcot and stop to use the bathroom then started the cattle crawl to get to the corrals. The National Anthem started playing as we got to the corral entrance. I dropped back to corral M so that I could run the half with Em. The wind was bitter cold and I couldn't stop shivering. I just wanted to run! I knew as soon as we started I would warm up, but waiting took forever. So after 45-50 minutes it was finally time for us to start! Our plan was to take it easy during the half and save our legs for the full the next day.

We ran the first mile straight in hopes that the crowds would thin out a little bit. The crowds didn't really thin the entire race which made for a lot of weaving and running in the grass to get around people. We ran the rest of the race using 4:1 run-walk intervals. 

The first "entertainment" we came upon were the stilts guys from one of the Magic Kingdom parades. They were cheering and "Pumpin' Up the Party" was playing (I find that song so catchy haha!). They were also on the course again towards the end. 

My favorite part of the half marathon is miles 4-7. You go under the Magic Kingdom sign and then through the transportation and ticket center. The energy level of the spectators there was incredible! Definitely a highlight from the races on both Saturday and Sunday. People had some hilarious signs at the TTC that also kept me chuckling. I gave out lots of high fives here.

Then we then came up on the tunnel that takes you past the Contemporary. The DJ on top of the bridge is pretty awesome and keeps your energy level up. Then before I knew it we entered a backstage area and were headed towards Main Street USA! I couldn't believe everything was still decorated for Christmas!

I love making the right hand turn and looking down at all of the incredible spectators cheering on Main Street. Running towards the castle is the cherry on top. We stopped for a picture with the castle and Em saw a group of girls taking a picture with the castle and said, "Isn't that Liz?!" I was so excited to find one of my high school friends in the middle of Magic Kingdom. She was running her first half and doing an awesome job! We saw her several others times throughout the race too. Side note: She is now hooked on distance running and runDisney (it just happens!). 

Liz Selfie!

We ran through Tommorrowland and Fantasyland. There were quite a few characters out. I snapped a picture of some random people with the Mime from Tangled. 

 The crowds were ok until we got to the castle where we had to walk because there were so many people. So took the opportunity to take a picture looking down Main Street from the castle. We ran through Liberty Square and Frontierland and then headed out of the park.

We headed past the Grand Floridian and Polynesian and back down World Drive. Genie and Abu were somewhere on World Drive. I took another picture of random people with them. I thought Abu was really creepy looking haha.

I really enjoyed the music that they were blasting between miles 11-12 prior to entering Epcot. They had a large screen with cartoons on it that kind of went with the music.

Right before entering Epcot there was a DJ blasting “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston and that gave me a huge burst of energy and I was ready to finish strong! We dashed through Epcot in what seemed like a few seconds, passed the Gospel Choir and there it was – the finish line! We finished in 2:59:32 and were feeling great! One third of the Goofy Challenge was now complete. After lots of stretching we headed back to the Poly to relax for the rest of the day. 

Cameron ran his own race during the half and was sweaty and cold at the end of the race so he went back to the Poly when he was done. He ran a 1:51:08, less than 2 minutes from his half PR! He was crazy and definitely feeling it the next day.  

I love this half marathon! I think it is near and dear to me because I ran this course as my very first half marathon last year. 

Check back for my Marathon recap in the next few days!

That's all for now!

2014 Turkey Trot 5K Race Recap

On Thanksgiving Day I ran our local Turkey Trot 5K. I had run this in 2010 and 2011, but haven't run it since, because I had to work the past two Thanksgiving's. In 2010 it was my first race back since 2007. It was a cold morning, but not windy so in my eyes great conditions. I actually prefer cold temps to hot ones. 

The course had some rolling hills, but nothing too crazy. I started out at what felt like a comfortably fast pace and just tried to maintain it. My mile times were all under 7:50 which I was really happy about. Miles 1 and 2 came and went pretty quickly. At about mile 2.7 or so I was still feeling good and decided to pick up the pace and push it all the way to the finish. Since I've been running much longer distances lately this race went by in the blink of an eye! It felt great to push the pace and run fast.

Race Stats:

Finish time: 23:15 (13 second PR!)

Avg pace: 7:30

Overall place: 85/702

Female 20-29: 11/90

After I crossed the finish line I had turned around to see some others finish and I saw Lindsey from Run Freckles Run. I knew she lived in the area, but didn't know she'd be running this race. This was the first blogger I've ever met in person. To say I was excited was an understatement haha. She wore a GoPro during the race so it's a good view of the course. Her recap can be found here. We're both running at Marathon Weekend in Disney this January too. It was so nice meeting you Lindsey!

Even Walter did the Turkey Trot

With my Uncle Tim and Aunt Lisa and their dog Tucker (Lisa had a PR this race, woo!!)

Overall, it was a great way to finish out the 2014 race year.

Did you run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving?

That's all for now!

Wine and Dine Half Race Recap

This recap is long overdue! It's been 3 weeks since I ran the Wine and Dine Half Marathon at Walt Disney World. In a nut shell it is probably my favorite race that I've ever run! We went to the expo on Friday at 10:15, which was a huge mistake. I'll never go to a Disney expo within the first few hours of opening. It was chaos! We had to wait in one line to get our 5K packets and then in a separate line to get our half marathon packets. I actually got really lucky, neither of the lines I had to wait in were long. The lines Em had to wait in were insanely long. We looked at official merchandise. but saved our money and didn't buy anything. Then browsed the rest of the vendors and bought just a few things, including my new favorite running accessory: Sparkly Soul Headbands! More on those in another post.

The picture on the right is us in the middle of the madness.

Saturday morning we ran the Jingle Jungle 5K, in case you missed it the recap is here. We then ate a solid breakfast at our resort and napped for close to 3 hours. The rest of the day we just hung out at this hotel and relaxed. We snacked about every 2 hours and were sure to drink a lot of water throughout the day. Old Key West wasn't a host resort so my MIL dropped us off at Saratoga Springs to catch a bus to ESPN WWOS. We arrived at about 7:20 and didn't board a bus until 8:10. It was insane the number of people that were in line. The transportation lady said that traffic on property was awful and the buses were taking awhile to get back. While in line we talked with a pair of sisters from NY who were earning their coast to coast that night!

Start Line from the bus

The race course

I  almost fell asleep on the bus, and knew this was not a good start to a half marathon. I normally go to bed pretty early so this was out of my element. Once we got off of our bus we got in the bathroom line and then headed to our corral. The nice thing about this race was that we didn't have to do the cattle crawl like we did at Marathon Weekend. Once in our corrals we had an hour until the first corral started. About 45 minutes before we started the rain started to fall. Luckily, we had ponchos to put on while we waited.

I had planned to wear a costume, but once I saw the forecast I decided to wear normal running clothes. During the first four miles there wasn't much entertainment and it was only exacerbating my tiredness. I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it to the finish. We then came to Animal Kingdom and there was quite a bit going on in that park which helped to wake me up. We then ran back down the highway towards Hollywood Studios. We were in and around Hollywood Studios for quite awhile. I actually ran in my poncho for 9 miles and it kept me comfortably warm. I ditched it prior to Hollywood Studios because I knew I wanted a picture in Osbourne Lights without a poncho on haha.

We ran through the disco tunnel which was pretty awesome. They were playing, "Shake Your Groove Thing" and "September." We then came to my absolute favorite part of the race and the one I had been anticipating the most. It was all I imagined it would be and more...The Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights! I could have spent a long time just meandering the semi-empty street. 

We then left Hollywood Studios and headed to the Boardwalk area and into Epcot. The path that lead to the Boardwalk was very narrow and was the only part of the course that was crowded. When we entered Epcot I knew we were close to the finish. Right before the finish line you ran through a lit up area with The William Tell Overture playing. 

Our goal for this race was to feel good at the end so that we could enjoy the after party. Well we accomplished that! I have never had so much energy at the end of a race let alone at a little after 1 am. Our time was 2:42:59. I immediately grabbed a Mylar blanket because I was pretty cold and those things are amazing at warming you up!

Finishers!

We grabbed our bag of dry clothes and headed for a bathroom towards the back of Epcot to get out of our soaking wet clothes. After changing we hung out in the Craft Beer area for awhile to relax, warm up and stretch a little. Then we put our ponchos back on and braved the weather to enjoy the Food and Wine Festival After Party. It ended up not raining too hard and was such a fun time. There was hardly anyone out, I'm guessing because of the weather. They had great music playing and had quite a few characters out. The food satisfied my appetite. It was good that we went to the festival on Thursday because we knew what we liked and didn't like from the different countries. We ended up staying until about 3:40 am!

Remy and Emile!

Before I wrap up I want to talk about the INCREDIBLE volunteers that were out on the course! They were out in the pouring down rain and acted as if it didn't phase them. Their energy levels were high and you couldn't even tell we were having bad weather. I took every opportunity I had to thank them for being out there. Thank you to everyone who volunteered at Wine and Dine, the race wouldn't have been possible without you!!

Have you ever run Wine and Dine Half?

That's all for now!