Monday, January 20, 2014

1/10


So guess what I did yesterday? I woke up at 3:30 to the words, "Ready to make Tink your bitch?!" And then I did. 13.1 miles done! (according to my GPS, and those of the people around me, it was more like 14 with the walk to the starting line and weaving around people though)

We picked up our packets and checked out the Expo the day before. It was super easy to get our bibs, but the Expo was insanely crowded. I managed to find cute compression sleeves (harder than you'd think) and my 13.1 sticker, but I abandoned my search for souvenirs for the kids. If I do it again, I'll go the expo the day before. I heard it was much better.



Test driving our running costumes. Mr. Smee, Hook, and Goofy

The race was so fun. It started at 5:00 am, so we were up and walking to our corral by 4:30. Even then, it was so packed that we got pushed to the next corral down. However, my new friend (on the left) was smart enough to jump up on the curb and we were able to get a thousand or so people between us and the sweeper van. The first corral took off at 4:56, and we anxiously awaited our start. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally at about 5:30 we were surging towards the start line. We ended up logging a half mile before we even began. Totally counts, if you ask me. We also met some other fun people running, including sisters in matching tutus and a woman from Philly who flew out alone and ended up rocking the race in 2 hours 20 minutes. 

Waiting.
We had agreed that we would not try to run together, since we'd never run together before and all had different approaches and paces. D (Goofy) took off right from the start but I (Hook) and I stayed together comfortably for over ten miles! It was so fun running together and I'm thrilled that we have similar paces. We jockeyed with D throughout the race, which was also really fun.

The race went through DisneyLand, California Adventures, and the streets around the parks. Who knew there were houses so close to Disney? The lights were all on when we ran through the parks, and there were a ton of cast members (Disney employees) standing by to cheer us on. I think the cheering is my favorite part of racing. My favorite part inside Disney was running past the carousel, where there were a bunch of men dressed like the Lost Boys riding the horses. They were cheering for all the runners until they saw my friend (Hook) and I. Then they started booing! Outside the park, the Red Hat Ladies had staked a good solid block and had filled it. There were so many women yelling and clapping and cheering. My hand was sore from giving so many high fives. So, so cool. I was grinning and yelling "Thank you!" the whole time. 

It's a Small World
I would say that at least 75% of the runners were in some kind of costume. Lots of wings and tutus, but I also saw princesses, Wall-E, Pinnochio, and two Olafs. I saw an older man run/walking with a sign on his back that said, "There will be days when I will know that I can't run, and that I certainly can't run a half marathon, but I will have a lifetime knowing that I did." Nearly burst into emotional tears on the spot. 
LOVED all the costumes. Especially the really big men in tutus. 

I split off around 10.5 miles, so I finished the race on my own. I started to feel sad that my family hadn't come, but I focused on all the people running with me and cheering from the side. Around mile 11 I hit a wall. My feet hurt and my music sucked and I was tired. I walked along the side and pulled out my phone to switch my music. When I pulled it out, my phone was blown up with text messages from C, my dad, and my brother. They'd been tracking me and had sent texts at ever check point. My brother wrote to say that he was waiting at the finish line. It was just the jolt I needed. 

And then there it was! It was so amazing to run across the finish line. When I set out to do this, I really wasn't sure that I'd see it through. And here I was, finishing strong, and already anxious to plan my next race. 

As it turned out, despite the fact that we split up, we all finished within ten minutes of each other. I and I finished within one second of each other and had no idea! D probably would have been closer except that she got flat-tired at mile 12 and had to put her shoe back on. 

Victors!

So happy my brother made it! Now he wants to run one too :) 

I still think that my ideal distance will be a 10K, but I will definitely do another half. And I'm a tenth of the way to completing my goal of 10 t-shirts.








Saturday, January 18, 2014

I'm here!

Tomorrow is the half! I got into town last night and met up with one of my co-runners (who I'd never met before.) this morning we went to cheer on the 10k runners. My throat is sore and my cheeks hurt from smiling. This is going to be so so fun!



Sunday, January 12, 2014

Nicely Played, Universe

Averson chews on shoes, begs for food, and growls at strangers. I can't help but think its payback for all the times I answered the question, "What are you having?!" with, "A puppy!"

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Just keep running...

Almost a year ago, a friend and I decided to sign up for a half-marathon. A really expensive half-marathon that required travel and planning and so on. We figured it was just the motivation that we needed to get our butts in gear and get back into shape.

OMG. Training for a half-marathon is hard. And it takes a lot of time. I was really into it for awhile. Then, not so much. Then I realized that this race is soon, like very soon, and AHHHHH!!!!! So ass, back in gear.

I had lofty goals of running the whole thing, but I've found that my body and my brain are much happier with the run/walk approach. A part of me wants to feel bad about that but the other part figures that miles are miles are miles. I did almost 9 miles last weekend in under two hours, so I've decided that my approach is absolutely acceptable. Dude. I ran/walked almost 9 miles. All at the same time. I'm shamelessly announcing that to anyone that will listen. And believe it or not, it was fun! I love the technical stuff. I fueled. I preloaded. I tracked my pace and my splits. When I ran back up to the house I felt like I could actually call myself a runner.

The race is in two weeks. There will be three of us running/run/walking and it's going to be super fun. Or not. But probably super fun. A couple of weeks ago I started to get really burnt out on running and kept telling myself that I was never going to do this stupid sport again. Every foot was torture, and I found a lot of excuses to bail. At some point though, it got easier again. Thank God.

I like running. I don't like running to train for a half-marathon, but I love running. There's something very quiet and meditative, and I love that I can literally just walk out my door. So in that spirit of run-loving, I made a New Year's resolution to earn 10 race t-shirts this year. I specifically chose t-shirts because 1) I LOVE "free" t-shirts and 2) you get a t-shirt at every distance (generally only 10K+ get medals). Races are such a good time. Runners are awesome and super nice, there's a ton of swag, and everyone is so happy to be there. It's such a fun way to spend a morning. I chose ten because it feels both doable and affordable, and there's some cushion built in for travel/holidays/not finding a good race in time. I worried that I'd have to scrounge for ten but I've already found two more that I want to do as soon as possible :)

Tomorrow I have to do 5 miles, and then Saturday I have to do 10. God help me. And let me remember to go back and read this post when I want to shuck it all and watch Auction Kings on Prime.