My Running Belt

What's inside my running belt - 
I found out that they had the runDisney IFitness running belts at Downtown Disney at the team Mickey Store.(Which is closed now)  My friend was at Walt Disney World and I asked her if she wouldn't mind checking to see if she can find this running belt for me. Of course she did and of course she picked it up for me because we're good Disney friends like that and so I was very excited to get my running belt with a cute Mickey Mouse on the front. Not to mention the small 6oz water bottles on either side, since my previous belt did not have any bottles.

In my running belt I usually carry two Kleenex neatly folded in the shape of a rectangle. For that sudden runny nose or heaven forbid a potty break on the side of the road. I also carry my Gatorade chews- strawberry flavored and I usually carry one piece of gum.  My Burts Bees Chapstick, mace, my ID, along with $5. (I've been known to stop at Which Wich after a run! Love Which Wich!) I carry this whether I run 3 miles or a half marathon.

I have "add-ons" from ifitness on my belt - one of them I found at Marshall's and it holds a pair sunglasses but I also thought it would be great for that time of the month when you have any feminine hygiene products that you might need for whatever reason (hate taking her on runs!) and I loved that it also held my body glide along with my sunglasses for my half marathon. When those spots start to rub, you need relief!

At the Tink expo I found the Ifitness booth and they were having a deal on cell phone holders and I do not have a holder that would hold my Iphone 5S so I went ahead and got it. I ended up not using it for that though, I used it for my small Sony camera that I used on the run. It worked perfectly! 

My belt also has 2- 8 ounce small drink holders and I carried my yellow Gatorade. I typically run with yellow and because at the marathon they only had blue Powerade and water and before hand I did not know what flavors they would have, but I prefer yellow so I went ahead and just didn't drink them until I was really needing them and that the very end I preferred that over the blue Powerade that they were serving.

My Ifitness belt also has a place where the hold your number so you're not having to put safety pin holes in your costume  to hold your number. That's one thing I saw lots of newbies doing - putting their number on the back of their shirt! For picture reasons your number has to be on the front because for characters or running down the road, the picture people take a picture of you coming at them not you running away from them so you really won't have very many pictures if your number is on your back it should be on the front. Just a helpful tip! 

RunDisney Kids Races

I wanted my girls to feel like they were included in my running weekend and my husband too for that matter. My husband is getting his masters degree he just like didn't have any time to train or to run nor did he really care to do the 5K. So I think he missed out big time, but maybe next time he will join in after finishing his degree!
I signed each of my girls up for their age bracket for the RunDisney kids races. They were held Saturday at 9:30 AM in the same parking lot as the finish line - Simba lot near PCH hotel. I felt like it was a bit of unorganized mess. Maybe because it's just people who had never done the kids races before, like me or maybe cause we waited around a long time before the kids got to actually run. I will say this - a lot of kids ran this! My 14 month old fell asleep in the line because it was so hot she just got tired. It felt like a long time and she fell asleep. I've said this before - my kids sleep anywhere! Ha! I ended up running the whole thing with her still asleep in the hopes she would get her medal. I turned her around to make sure they could see her number and bib and we just followed sister! In hindsight I wish I had signed my middle child up for the longer race with her older sister because I know that she could do the distance and she would've had a more fun run that was faster! At the time I signed my girls up I didn't know that you could put them in a different age bracket or distance bracket. They started with the big kids runing their runs and then it was the little kids turns.
It was so fun for them -  they enjoyed earning a medal, getting to dress up like Tinkerbell for their run and having a number like mommy. It was their first race and I'm so happy it was at Disneyland. I hope it isn't their last!

The little brown tear off is so you can claim your child. You tear it off before the run and then at the end of the run as you leave the area, they check to make sure you have the correct child. If you don't have the tag they ask you a few security questions such as what hotel you are staying at or the child's birthday. I was happy to see them being so thorough and knowing that they were patrolling who was leaving with who!

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Tinkerbell Half Marathon Recap- My first Half Marathon

Running my first half marathon was a big deal! I've never run before, maybe laps as a kid in gym class, but never any amount of mileage! I trained my behind off since picking up running in May 2013. I really wanted to do my best, but get to have fun too! I told my husband that they only way I would run a half marathon and 13.1 miles was at Disney! When I found out about the Tinkerbell and the Princess and that beautiful pink Coast to Coast medal - I was in! Convincing my hubby was another story. Training for a half marathon with three kids and with him getting his masters was not easy. I ran a 10 miler in October and that was the farthest I ran before the big day.

Wowzers that's early!

Jump ahead to race day! 

We came all the way from Texas to run the Tink Half!

A few people showed up to run 14,000 to be more precise!

Go! Loved that the announcers tried to pump you up before the start!

Moving up to the starting point!

We walked to the corrals together

I had a girlfriend and her friend who is from California both sign up to also run the Tinkerbell half. We met up at 4:10am before the race in front of my hotel, took a quick bathroom break and walked to the start line. That is one thing that I know will be significantly different from the princess! Transportation to the start line. It was literally a 5 minute walk to the start and the corrals. At WDW there are buses and then walking and I hear to give yourself an hour to get to the corral. All that = less sleep! I really wasn't nervous before the start, but I had set all my clothes out the night before and didn't go to bed til 10:30. I was worried that my calves might not be happy with me since I had been walking the parks for 3 days already. But I used TheStick the night before to rub down my calves and neck and I used it the morning of with just a few small stretches in the room and I was ready to go! I'm not a big stretch before you run girl. I really do think TheStick helped.
We walked to the corral area took a few pics and then parted ways to our corrals. I was in D and they started in E. I wanted to stop to take character pics and they did not want to stop, so it worked out great that at mile 7 I texted them and found out that they were literally not even two blocks behind me. So I waited for them and we finished together which was a huge moral booster. I don't mind running solo, but boy those miles seem to fly by when you have friends or someone to talk with.
I trained hard to get a proof time for a better corral than just the last corral. So finding out I was only a few corrals from the back was nerve racking when it came to deciding if I should stop for pics with certain characters. I knew I wanted some, but how many, how often? I had no idea since this was my first RunDisney half marathon and first RunDisney event. I knew I wanted that iconic castle and World of Color pic, but I had no idea who would be along the route to take pics with or how many stops there would be. I was deathly afraid to get "swept" from being too slow. So I knew ahead of time that A) I wasn't stopping every time, it really depended on how many people were in line  B) I wanted to use a regular bathroom not a portapotty! C) I wanted to enjoy myself and this was for me! I did run with my small handheld camera and I'm glad I did! The people who take your professional photo along the race are not Disney photopass people, they are an outside photo company who charge you $80 to get your photos digitally downloaded or $20 if you want just one! I got plenty of good, almost not blurry photos that cast members along the route took for me. They were so nice and willing to take photos in front of the castle, characters, etc. So all in all I ended up taking 6 pictures with characters, 2 of just the characters - Darth and Hook. Photo ops I skipped - Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan w/Wendy, Lightning McQueen with Mater, The Lost Boys, Monsters University characters, maybe one more I can't remember.

 I also stopped for a few landmark pictures! Love those! I did do Instagram along the way and that fed my Twitter feed too. I used my Nike+ watch to track my run to save my battery life of my phone. That method worked well! Although when I uploaded my watch to Nike+ it logged my run for 2013, not 2014!

 If you have family at the finish or even at home that want to track your progress - sign them up for runner tracker! It was nice to know that my hubby knew where I was in mileage and an estimated arrival time. He also was able to tell me my pace along the way since I had no clue since my watch was factoring in all my stops! Runner Tracker is available for the half marathon a few weeks before the run. I signed up my mom, husband and my dad. I should have signed myself up for it so I would know my stats too! 

Overall I would definitely do this race again. Being that it was my first race it was splendid! I did have some shoe issues and I didn't heed the advice of nothing new on race day and I think that attributed to my problems. I ended up removing one pair of my socks at mile 6 since I felt like three toes had hot spots from the socks rubbing in my shoe. I also stopped twice to retie my shoe tighter. I loved the course, the encouraging people that came out to cheer us on and the other runners. It was a memory that will stay with me. My first run of 13.1 miles - something I would have never in a million years thought I would do in my lifetime! It just shows that if you put your mind to something and train hard - your efforts will pay off. You can achieve your goals and dreams! As corny as that seems.  

 

So thankful that my hubby got up early and got all three girls to the finish line to see me pass. They were troopers to wait over an hour and a half, with no snacks and they were sooo hungry! (Although they did have snack in the backpack in the stroller the whole time...daddy forgot that mommy told him that!) Ha! If you are on the fence on whether or not you should do one of these Disney runs, sign up! Start running or walking and make those dreams come true!

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Disney's new movie Frozen soundtrack review

I am a Disney nerd, I am Disney lover. I truly love most all things Disney and the new Disney movie Frozen is no exception! I grew up on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc. I know these movies and the songs word for word pretty much and I see Frozen as a strong contender to those. The soundtrack is excellent! My girls were already in love with the characters and the movie storyline before the movie even came out since we had the book.

I had no idea how much we would truly love not only the storyline and characters, but also the music! Today the TV stayed off for a good part of the day since we were listening to the soundtrack. We love every song, but there are a couple songs that are our favorite. We love the "Let It Go" Idina version of the song. We almost know it word for word. The next favorite is the "Do Want to Build a Snowman?" - I can't help but cry every time I hear it! When you see the movie you will see why. I love the words and the rhymes, but knowing what happens in that last segment of the song tears at my heartstrings everytime! I cannot help crying everytime, everytime! It's so annoying! My husband is like "what's wrong with you?" Ha! If you haven't bought the soundtrack off iTunes or at a local store - go get it! I also love running to it and thinking about the movie as I run. When we went and saw the movie for the 2nd time it was really hard not to sing out loud! So excited that they are starting a sing a long version at the end of this month! 

Be a Fairy Godmother! Grant a wish by voting for us!

Have you ever thought about giving a Disney trip to someone, tell me I'm not the only Disney nerd who has thought about this! Let's say you can choose 3 friends who have never been. Never walked through those Walt Disney World Gates and experienced the magic of Cinderella castle. Maybe they have seen the Sleeping Beauty castle of their childhood visits, but have never laid eyes on the Tree of Life, the Tower of Terror or Spaceship Earth. Who would you choose?
I had the opportunity to choose 3 friends and do just that! RunDisney and Zappos are giving away a trip to Walt Disney World to 4 teams of women! That's 16 ladies. I chose 3 of my running buddies who weren't already signed up for the Princess Half, since me and two other friends were, and quickly texted them to see if they were even game for the idea! They all were and we are on a fast paced journey to Fantasyland, Adventureland and ready to run through that castle! Please vote for us and see who we are
My Team -
The first person I chose is one of my best friends, Brandy who I have known for about 8 years.

We taught together in school and stayed home as moms the same year. I decided to ask her to do something crazy with me, like do the Tinkerbell Half Marathon and she said yes! She's from that area and already had plans to head home that week/weekend so it worked out great! I love that we are both training for something that neither of us has done! She wasn't a runner before all this and neither was I! She has run 382 miles logged in her app so far this year and that's not all of her runs! She has worked so hard to train for the Tink and I would love to see her earn her Coast to Coast by completing this run too! She's a great friend and mommy to her two sweet boys Dylan and Brody.
My next teammate comes from faraway, ok, maybe not - she's my next door neighbor. Courtney and I have become closer friends in the last couple of years even though we've lived next door to each other for 5 or so years.

Courtney is my spur of the moment and nighttime running buddy. I love our conversations when we run and she has helped me a lot when I first started running in June of this year. She walked when I needed it and let me set the pace which I so needed at the beginning! She is so talented too - she has a crafty/art flair to her that I do not have! She can draw like an artist and has an eye for those type things, she is not a stay at home mom, but rather a hard working mom who spends every moment she can with her sweet girl. Working weekends and nights so her sweet girl Griffin, doesn't have to go to daycare. I love spending time with her and would so love to take her on her first trip to Disney!

My third teammate is Krissi. I met Krissi just this past year, almost a year ago. 

We joined the same mommy group at church and we had lots in common. From attending the same private school in elementary school to knowing a large group of mutual friends. We trained a lot together for our Ten for Texas 10 miler run together. She also has never been to Walt Disney World, so this would be her first half marathon and trip to Walt Disney World! She is such a sweet person and great mommy to her sweet little girl Rin.
About me: 
I am a Disney nerd, geek, slightly obsessed about all things Disney. I am signed up for the Tink and Princess in 2014, so I am more so trying to win this for my running mates. I have been running since June of 2013 and that was when I decided to sign up for Tink and got in! I've run 200 miles on my Nike app, which I didn't use from the get go, so I've probably logged over that by a little. I am not your typical athletic girl who played sports growing up, but rather your bookworm and musically inclined person. I love Disney and told my husband years ago that if I ever ran a half marathon it would be for a Disney run only! I can't wait to run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in January and then the Princess Half Marathon in February. I am training hard to give myself time to take pics along the way with Mickey and friends! I love that I have these great sisterchicks to run with!
A SISTERCHICK (n.): A friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you're being a brat.(I love Robin Jones Gunn)

Why we Run: 

 For our future princes and princesses

As a mom you understand the need to have alone time now and again. Going to the bathroom by yourself, grocery shopping alone or having an occasional girls night out. Everything we do all is for these guys! We do the long hours and all the hard work to make their lives happy, fun and to show them that with hard work and training you can reach your goals and dreams! We would love as moms to have this trip as a moms weekend out running trip of a lifetime! Please vote for our team and help some "Mommas running for the Crown" win big!
Thanks for Sharing the Disney Love!


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