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?
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?
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?
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:
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?
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?
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?
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?
So, yes. It is about two and a half months late but who's counting? Today I am finally giving my Disneyland Half Marathon race recap! This race was the most fun race I think I will ever encounter in life. The joy that Disneyland brings truly lifts your spirits even though you're running 13.1 miles.
The day started at 4 AM. Fun.... I had set out my race outfit the night before that way I wouldn't have to rush in the morning. As my alarm clock went off that morning, I went into race mode. I'm pretty sure I was half asleep while throwing my hair up in a ponytail thinking "Wait, why did I do this again? Am I really about to run 13.1 miles?" Besides the fact of my thoughts, I kept getting ready. I went out into the living room area of our hotel room and opened the fridge. I had purchased a peanut butter strawberry granola type breakfast from the Jamba Juice in Downtown Disney the night before. I tried to eat a few bites and then me and my brothers were out the door!
Our hotel was about 10-15 minutes walking distance from the start line. But that morning it truly only felt like a three minute walk. I was so nervous! They were rushing people into corrals so we followed the sign to corral E and got there smoothly.
Our corral was on the free-way part. As the time got closer and closer, our corral kept scooching forward. Soon enough, corral A was off! I think after this happened, that was the worst part. It truly meant that this was happening. But the waiting and waiting for each corral to start was killing me and my brothers! Can we just start already?
Once it was corral E's turn, we went up to the starting line. Butterflies were going crazy in my stomach right about now. We were actually near the very front of our corral so we were right next to Mickey! As quickly as we got there, we were gone! It happened so fast. It was time to run...
Mile one felt like it took forever! I wanted to get into the parks already. As we were in the backlots behind Cars Land, we hit mile marker 1. One road took you to mile 2 and another road (which was blocked off ta the time) took you to mile 12! Me and Brad started laughing and each wished that we were at that point. we had lost AJ right before this point. He went ahead, but we could still see him. We were dodging runners and then all of a sudden we turned a corner and we were in California Adventure!
After passing Tower of Terror, awful cramps came to my side. These same cramps had come only a week prior to the race every time I ran. I prayed before the race that they would not come, but sadly they did. While exiting CA Adventure, I wanted to walk so bad! It was killing me, and I could hardly breath! I told Brad to leave me because I wanted to walk but he wouldn't let me. He gave me a few encouraging words and told me to run it out. So, basically crying and wincing with pain in every breath, I continued to run. Tons of people were in the area between CA Adventure and Disneyland. If I were in a better mood, I might've high-fived some of them or given them a smile, but instead I was crying.
As you can see, I was trying to put pressure on the cramps...it didn't help. I must've prayed about a thousand times while running through Disneyland. At one point I even said a quick prayer out loud! Brad promised me that if I still had pain, we would walk at mile 3. Well, as we were going by Adventureland, my cramps vanished. This had never happened in my training. I had always had to walk it off and rest. I thanked God a thousand more times and kept praying that the cramps wouldn't come back. When we reached mile 3, Brad asked me if I wanted to stop. Uhhh no!! I was feeling awesome!
Soon after, we ran through the castle and it was so awesome! I will never forget that moment. We then went on to Tomorrowland and then into Toontown. This is where we went into another backlot to exit the park. This backlot was soooooo cool. Did you know that Disneyland has a full on farm back there? Ya. They had horses, goats, and even a mini horse on display for us to see. It was awesome.
Next, we were onto the streets of Anaheim. Brad tripped on the overpass. Ha. We walked a little bit throughout mile 7. Then we got to mile 8 which was all of the cool, old cars. After that, we headed onto a trail and then into Angel Stadium! I was kind of lagging behind Brad every once and a while, so a few steps before the trail I told him he could go ahead.
After the trail, I was in Angel Stadium! The crowd was so awesome and crazy! My mom and Lex were screaming at me, but I had my headphones in so I didn't even see them. In the video you can actually hear them yelling my name. Lol.
After Angel Stadium was the hardest part for me. Mile 10 felt like it lasted 30 minutes. It took forever. I just wanted to get back to the Disney areas and be done at this point. Miles 10-13 were rough and involved lots of water stops and pain in my legs. Finally I saw the mile 13 sign and I was ready to be done! I ran through the finish line, grabbed my medal, snack box, and water and powerade. I downed that powerade like no other. It's all I wanted in that moment.
After searching for my family for the next 45 minutes, I finally found them and we took many pictures before heading back to the hotel.
One of my favorite pictures.
My precious
After we got back to the hotel, we showered and took a very, very long nap. We headed into the parks that night and I wore my medal! I tried to take a good castle/medal picture but the lighting didn't work out.
Crazy eyes from the flash
My first dole whip!
It was really nice to go into the parks and have everyone congratulate you! Every single Disney cast member told me congrats! I felt awesome. Thank you runDisney for putting on such an amazing event. I will definitely return.... :)
Hey guys. So I have been pretty M.I.A for the past few months. Yikes. And sorry. I never even did my Disneyland Half marathon recap!!! So much shame right now. I will definitely be coming at you with new things every few days so stay awhile :):)
I want to start using this blog more often to keep me accountable for my fitness/nutrition life. But I also want to share about things in my life or random tidbits happening. So look out for recipes, workouts, or random things like that coming soon.
Thanks for reading and I hope I can follow through this time ;)
Our second day at Disneyland was Saturday.Since we didn't hit up California Adventure the day before, we started there first.
We went straight to California Screamin' because it was only a 10 minute wait (what?!?). And it wasn't even a 10 minute wait! We basically walked on. It was great. All of us kids went on the ride the first time but my mom and Lex sat it out the second time.
A.J. decided to be funny...thanks.
Round 2
After only being in the parks for about 45ish minutes, my mom, Alexandra, and A.J. wanted to head back to the hotel and rest/do homework. Brad and I did not have to run a 5k that morning so we were feeling pretty awake. We stayed in the parks while they went back.
First, we went on Tower of Terror. For some reason this ride always makes me nervous and scared, every single time. I truly don't know how it does it. This is one of my absolute favorite rides in all of Disneyland and Disney World. I rode this for the first time in Disney World and I have to admit, the Disney World version is way scarier.
We went on Tower of Terror later that night also.
Brad and I also explored ToonTown.
The rest of the fam joined us for dinner at Naples (sooo good) and then we all headed back into CA Adventure. This is when we went on Tower of Terror for the second time. We also hit up Soarin' Over California. A.J. wanted some Ghirardelli so we headed there next!
Brad and I didn't think dessert the night before a race was that smart, so we stuck to our pasta. A.J. on the other hand got a full on sundae the night before the race! He was pretty brave.
After Ghirardelli, it was time to head back to the hotel and go to bed! I was so nervous going to bed that night. Post about the morning is coming soon :) Overall is was a very fun day 2 in Disneyland.
I am going a little bit our of order from my last post about spectating the 5k on Saturday. Our first actual day in Disneyland was Friday. Since we went to the expo and couldn't check into our hotel till three, we didn't end up getting to the parks until about five. That meant getting amazing sunset pictures of the castle!
As we were finding a place to have dinner, we went through the Fantasy Faire. This is a new addition to Fantasyland and I had never been to it before. I loved Rapunzel's little tower and the Flynn Rider wanted signs!
After we ate, it was time to go on some rides! We let Alexandra and my mom choose the first ride since they would have to head back early for the 5k. They decided to go on....Splash Mountain! The line was pretty long, but it was so hot and extremely humid that the line was worth it. It almost felt like we were in Disney World with all of the humidity throughout the weekend. It was pretty bad.
My pose was supposed to be a spellout of the number 13 since that's how many miles I was going to run. I totally failed. I even tried it on California Screamin' and Space Mountain and it failed on those rides as well. But you get what I was going for right...?
Next, we went back to Main Street and got some dessert. We found these amazing cake pops that were HUGE! They put Starbucks cake pops to shame. My mom and Brad got chocolate cake covered in chocolate. I didn't think I could take that much chocolate so I got white cake covered in chocolate with white chocolate drizzle. So yum!
Definitely getting this on my next trip.So good.
Mom and Lex headed back after dessert while me and Brad hit up a couple more rides including Space Mountain, Pirates, Matterhorn, and TeaCups.
Yup. There it is again. The failed 13.
We were exhausted ourselves and headed back a little bit before the park closed. We did a lot for only being in the park for a few hours. It was such a fun evening :)
QOTD: Have you ever been to Disneyland for just the night?
On Saturday, August 31, runDisney held a family fun run 5k that my mom and sister participated in! I was so excited for them because my mom worked really hard for this. She is not a runner and she really challenged herself by doing this race. I was so proud of her. My sister has Addison's disease which causes her to not be able to run long distances. Originally, her doctor told her to walk it, but she pushed herself and ran the whole thing! Dang girl.
Snapped this pic as I was exiting Downtown Disney the night before the race.
Anywho, while their alarms were set for 3 am, my alarm was set for 5:30ish. I was going to wake up, then wake up my brother and we would walk near the finish line and wait for them to cross. Well, plans don't always go through do they? In this case, I slept through every single one of my alarms I had set. Ahh!!! Somehow, my brain triggered the idea that I was supposed to be somewhere and it decided to wake me up at 5:50. I jumped out of bed and started brushing my teeth immediately. Next I through on jeans and a sweatshirt (bad idea) and tried to wake up Brad. I tried a couple times...and a couple more. By then I was so worried that I would miss them crossing the finish line that I ditched Brad. Sorry!
I was late for this very important date.
I was so, so scared that I was going to miss Lex and my mom and then they would be mad that no one was there to support them. So at this point I had no choice but to run. I ran down the very long street all the way to Downtown Disney. And it was hot. And I mean hot, humid, the whole deal. Keep in mind that I did this in jeans and a sweatshirt. Once I hit the stoplight that leads to the Disneyland Hotel it was time to walk through a sea of people. There were spectators every for the 10k along with all of the 10k runners moving in the opposite direction as me, trying to get to their corrals. It was a mess and a lot of "excuse me's".
I finally reached a pretty good spot of the finish line and stood my ground! I probably looked like I had just finished the 5k by how tired and sweaty I was. I ended up waiting their for about 20 minutes before Alexandra crossed the finish line. At first she didn't see me, but then she found me and we waited for Mom.
Alexandra celebrating her victory.
About 20 minutes after Lex had finished, Mom came through the finish line and saw us. She was so happy to see us! Next they both got their medals and I may or may not have sneaked into the runners area where they got food, water, and a goodie box.
Happy to get some food and water!
We headed into the family reunion area and took some photos with the medal.
So proud!
Ended the morning with a beautiful sunrise!
I was so glad that I actually got to see them cross the finish line despite my alarms not waking me up. I had so much fun supporting them! Great job Alexandra and Mom.
