Disneyland Half Marathon Registration

Today is the day! If you want to run through the Happiest Place on Earth in the Happiest Race on Earth, then you better sign up for the Disneyland Half Marathon taking place during Labor Day weekend. This course takes you through Disneyland and California Adventure Parks and on the streets of Anaheim. One of the highlights is running through Angel Stadium at about mile 9. It is truly a wonderful course! 

I am unable to run this year due to financial issues and scheduling, but I hope to run it next year or the year after! But, because I was feeling sad, I clicked on the link to sign up anyway. Registration has gone up a whole $20!! I don't know about you, but I think that's a lot for only a year. I remember $175 being way too much, but $195?! That seems like way too much money for a race. Rundisney should really consider lowering their costs (but that will likely never happen!). 

In conclusion, you should sign up because it's a super fun race! But hurry, registration was 99% full the last time I checked. Yikes! Rundisney races are so popular. 

QOTD: Will you be signing up for the Disneyland Half Marathon? How do you feel about the price increase? 

Weekly Workout Recap

This definitely wasn't my best week of working out, but I still got a few workouts in! A busy weekend/week means no time for fitness. But starting this week, no more excuses! I start training for the OC Half a few days before Valentine's Day so I really need to start kicking it into gear. Let's take a look at my workouts this past week: 

Monday: Ran .85 miles (stopped because of cramps)

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: NTC Sweat and Shape, walked dogs

Friday: 3 mile run

Saturday: Rest

Not too proud of this week, but that only means that I can be better for this next week! 

And remember to follow me on Instagram @runningemily1

QOTD: How do you stay positive after a disappointing workout week? 

Fitness Friday: Running

I'm going to start a new weekly post on my blog called Fitness Friday. Basically I will be introducing a new way to work out every week. I will list the pros and cons of each that way you can decide if you want to try it out. It seemed like a fun way to find out about a variety of ways to work out! 

Now, let's get started with our first Fitness Friday! It's my favorite form of exercise...running! 

Pros:

-Relieves Stress: Running is one of the top forms of exercise that relieves the most stress. Running gets rid of the stress-causing compounds in your body. It's also a great time to get outside and clear your head. This is truly one of my number one stress relievers. 

-Helps Prevent Heart Disease: Dr. Peter Schnohr says that running increases oxygen intake that improves cardiac function. It also lowers your blood pressure. Plus, Schnohr and his team calculated that runners live up to 5-7 years longer than non runners do. If that doesn't get you out the door, I don't know what will!!! 

-Helps With Weight Loss: Many cardio exercises help with weight loss, but running seems to be the one that hits a home run. The increase of activity just burns and burns all of those calories. Depending on your speed and weight, you could burn about 100 calories per mile. During my half marathon, I burned more than 1,200 calories! Running can be used for weight loss or just to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Either way, it's a great calorie burner. 

Cons:

-Joint Problems: Osteoarthritis can be caused by running, but recent research shows that the number of people getting Osteoarthritis has gone down. Usually, joint problems come from running if you've already had a pre-existing condition. 

-Injury: Running can cause injuries out of nowhere. You could be having the best run of your life and them BAM! you pull something or get a cramp. It's awful and it happens sometimes. But this doesn't mean that you should stop running forever. The benefits of running are too great to think about getting hurt ;) 

-Time: Depending on your distance, running can take a huge chunk of time out of your day. Especially if your training for a long distance such as a half marathon or full marathon. Those 11 mile runs take lots of time and energy out of your day. But it also feels so good afterwards right?!

I hope that you guys enjoyed this first Fitness Friday post. Now why don't you go out there and try to go for a run? As Hercules says, "I know every mile will be worth my while." And it will! So get out there this weekend and rake in those miles. Have a great weekend :) 

*Remember to follow me on Instagram @runningemily1 

QOTD: Have you ever tried running? What are your pros and cons for the sport? 

Updates For TinkerBell Half Marathon 2015

I'm a little late to the party, but I just found out that runDisney's TinkerBell Half Marathon Weekend will have different dates in the year of 2015. Instead of being in its usual January time frame, women will be earning their wings Mother's Day weekend, May 7-10th. Check out the announcement video below:

http://youtu.be/NbdzfD0yJ8s

Rumor has it that they are moving TinkerBell to make room for another runDisney race on the west coast. That would be sooo great! WDW has so many different races whereas Disneyland only has two. It would be nice to have a fresh, new (maybe even themed) race for us west coasters! 

I'm hoping that someday I can run Tinkerbell and earn my wings! A women's-focused race sounds lots of fun :) 

QOTD: Does the date change of Tinkerbell affect you and why? 

I'm Frozen!

It's official, I finally saw Frozen. After all of the talk (all of it good), I just had to see what everyone was talking about. I listen to Disney pandora sometimes and I had loved the music that they played from the Frozen soundtrack. I found myself humming along during the movie :) 

It was such a CUTE movie! The storyline was great and the music was even better. And it won a Golden Globe?! This animated, Walt Disney film is the real deal. It's also nominated for 2 Oscars! 

Elsa was my favorite :) 

I also saw many pictures of people dressing as the characters during Disney World's Marathon weekend and TinkerBell Half Marathon weekend. The Olaf costumes were cute :) 

And did anyone spot Rapunzel and Flynn Rider? I know I did. 

I was also surprised by how much I liked Olaf. I found him annoying during the many previews I saw, but during the movie he was so funny and cute!

Overall, it was a great movie. 

QOTD: Have you seen Frozen? What was your favorite part? 

Running Cramps

So lately when I've been running I've gotten these really bad running cramps. They are extremely bad like I can barely breathe, I can barely run let alone walk. I literally just have to stop where I am in my run and try and walk home as I am wincing with pain. 

And so my runs are looking like this...

No fun! 

I'm wondering if I should see a doctor or just try and run it out. During the Disneyland Half, the cramps lasted for about a mile but I kept running and they went away. But mind you I was crying. So, I'm not sure what I should do. Any ideas? 

QOTD: Have you ever had running cramps? What did you do to help? 

TinkerBell Half Marathon 2015?

The third annual TinkerBell half marathon took place today at Disneyland Resort. I've had so much fun looking through all of the pictures on Instagram today! It looks like such a fun race. 

For those of that don't know, this race is a women's focused race that runs through both Disneyland and California Adventure parks. The course features many different fun things such as running through Cars Land and having character stops. The famous show World of Color is also playing as you run. Sleeping Beauty's castle and Main Street USA are lit up as you run down them in the wee hours of the morning. The race finishes in Downtown Disney and you get to have this out around your neck!

So cute! I want this bling so bad! So now the question remains, TinkerBell 2015? This would be such a fun girls weekend to do with a mom or best friend. Registration is usually in early July. Will you be signing up? 

QOTD: Have you ever ran TinkerBell? Would you like to?