Adventureland Princess

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Balloon Ladies - another Disney myth??? My recap of Tinkerbell 10K.

Wow- What a weekend! Tinkerbell Half Marathon Race Weekend was full of fun, friends and for me, a PR!! That's personal record for those non-running folks. The weekend started off with a slight detour to Las Vegas. That's the joy of flying stand-by. You never know how you are going to get to your final destination. We got to Anaheim late Friday night. Knowing we had a weekend of early alarm clocks we went straight to bed. Sure enough, the alarm rang bright and early. A mere 4 hours after we had set it. I jumped out of bed and headed to Downtown Disney with a spring in my step and a bib on my chest. First race for me - the Tinkerbell 10K.

The plan for Tinkerbell 10K was slow and steady. I am not really supposed to be running because of an ankle injury. But, I am too hardheaded to stop sooooo..... Tape up that bad boy and hit the road.

I started at the back end of corral D. I was thinking that there was going to be an E corral so I didn't think anything about it until I lined up. There was only a small handful of people behind me. I made my way up to the middle to give myself some cushion. After what seemed like an eternity we finally started the march to the starting line. Walk, shuffle, stop, walk, shuffle, stop. It was quite a way to the start line. When we finally got to speaker range of the PA system, I heard the announcer say that this was a huge corral. I thought he was talking about C but I found out later it was corral D he was talking about. They stop us and did another corral start (the second one for the insanely huge D corral). I got out of the gridlock and did a great first mile pace. Rounding the corner to ToonTown, Daisy and Clarice the Chipmunk! I have never seen Clarice and I vowed that I was going to take this race easy so I stopped.

I got back to the race with plenty of people behind me so I didn't think anything about it. Not to much farther the entire course stopped. The mile 1 sign was at a bottleneck. There was a line to take a picture with the mile 1 sign and there was not a big area to run though. Strange. Thought's of Meet the Robinson's flooded my mind..
Bowler Hat Guy: Now my slave, seize the boy!
[the T-rex chases after Lewis and repeatedly hits head into wall]
Bowler Hat Guy: What's going on? Why aren't you seizing the boy?
T-Rex: 'Cause I have a big head and little arms, and I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through.
[pause in which Bowler Hat Guy stares angrily into handheld mind control device]
T-Rex: [cute face] Master?

Bowler Hat Guy: Now my slave, seize the boy!
[the T-rex chases after Lewis and repeatedly hits head into wall]
Bowler Hat Guy: What's going on? Why aren't you seizing the boy?
T-Rex: 'Cause I have a big head and little arms, and I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through.
[pause in which Bowler Hat Guy stares angrily into handheld mind control device]
T-Rex: [cute face] Master?

'Cause I have a big head and little arms, and I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through.... Master?" - T Rex (Meet The Robinsons)
Bowler Hat Guy: Now my slave, seize the boy!
[the T-rex chases after Lewis and repeatedly hits head into wall]
Bowler Hat Guy: What's going on? Why aren't you seizing the boy?
T-Rex: 'Cause I have a big head and little arms, and I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through.
[pause in which Bowler Hat Guy stares angrily into handheld mind control device]
T-Rex: [cute face] Master?

LOL.

Anyhoo...after that roadblock, we ran though (ran - I use that term loosely....) backstage. I love that part of runDisney races. It is so cool to see the behind the magic! We made it back to the park and to New Orleans square to Haunted Mansion. Another character opportunity I couldn't miss.

We discussed the balloon ladies while we were in line. It dawned on me that I hadn't seen a single balloon. Oh well. Picture taken and off I went. At this time, I was alone. All by myself. No one around me. What to do? I skipped. Of course. If you are ever alone in Disneyland - rule #1 - skip. My ankle did not like that rule one bit and it takes a lot of energy to skip. So I didn't do it long. I finally made it to mile 2. This was right around Dumbo. The ladies then told me I was 2 minutes behind pace. Wait, what?!?! I didn't see no stinking balloon ladies. Oh well, I upped my pace and headed towards Tomorrowland. Low and behold, the bike people were yelling that I was 6 minutes behind pace. I'm not sure how that happened. I don't think they knew either. Keep Moving Forward. I made it to California Adventure and took the mandatory selfie..

(sorry, I look horrible when I run)

Then I decided to kick it up a little notch. I didn't want to get swept. Had I realized I would have gotten a medal anyway, I might have reconsidered. I passed up Mater and Monster photo ops.

And the annoying bike people were yelling nonstop, "We are going to sweep you, go faster, you have to make it to mile 4 soon!" Well, that got my blood going and my ankle was starting to yell at me. Again, the war in my head, should I get swept or keep going. Swept or run, swept or run. Well, I made it to mile 4 during this internal dialogue and the answer was run by process of elimination. Still no balloon ladies. Where are the blasted balloon ladies??? I was starting to think the balloon ladies were a myth. A huge, viscous lie to keep poor,injured runners on their toes.

Miles 4 to finish. Nothing remarkable. I just enjoyed the run. That is what it is all about. The finish line appeared out of nowhere for me. I guess that is the benefit of running a 10K after a marathon. Haha.

I got my medal and found my friend. Off to buy shoes!! We divided and conquered. I ran the 10K and my friend, V, waited in line for runDisney shoes. It worked perfectly!

My times: 5K split - 58:20 Final - 1:41:17 - not great, but I was taking it easy!

So I heard after the race that 1.) a ton of people got swept (and their medals) and 2.) there were no balloon ladies for the 10K. Well, that explains it...

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon weekend - Just 13 short days!

Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon starts in just 13 more days. That is how many miles I will be running/walking come next Sunday. I am super excited to be running in my second Disney half marathon. I'll tell you a little story about how I started this running thing.

I started running last year about this time. My sister ran a full marathon - that's 26.2 miles folks, on foot, in San Antonio. Talk about inspiring. Well, HE-double hockey sticks, if she can do it, I can too. I am not sure which part of my brain thought THAT was a good idea. My sister has no kiddos, my sister has a "regular job"- translation: a 9-5 job with weekends off. My sister is still her high school weight. My sister does not live in the land of ice and snow and my sister has a running group to help her get her booty on the road. Let's see how many things I have going for me....kids, three of them, job - 12 hour shifts, seven days on with seven days off, weight - a little north of my high school weight. Okay fine, a lot more than my high school weight. Climate- ice, snow and darkness half of the year. Running group - nope. Not even a dog.

This should be easy? Right?? (insert maniacal laugh here)

Living in Alaska - it is easy to say "I'll run tomorrow, it is too cold today". However, I stuffed that voice into a little corner and strapped on my running shoes. The first time I went out for a run, the temperature was -20 degrees. I believe the wind-chill was something crazy (it is always windy in the tundra). My first mile took me 21 mins to complete. I thought 3 miles was a marathon in itself. Yikes!! Gradually, my mile got faster, the temperature got warmer and my first race was coming at me like a brick wall. I really wish I could say I trained so great that I broke land speed records with my first half. That did not happen. I ran throughout the summer - my record mile had gotten to 11:24. (side note, that is when I really started to like running, I was seeing great improvement every week! On a side note, that is pretty easy to do when you start slower than a slug) My longest run was 10 miles and I was feeling good. My average pace was a 13 min mile. But, I wasn't running like I should have. I would barely squeeze in one or two 30 mins sessions on during the week and forget about my long run on the weekend. That hardly ever happened. So you forgive yourself and set a new goal. It happens. I would be a big fat liar if I said I did every run I was supposed to.

Then the great race day came. And that, my friends, is a story for another day.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Adventureland Princess - let's start this thing...

Hey Y'all. My name is the Adventureland Princess. I am a crazy Disney nut who loves adventures, can't stay at home without going a little crazy, is learning to run and can't enough Disney in any form!

This is from one of my most recent adventures aboard the Disney Wonder. I am in love with Disney Cruise Line. Where else in the world do you get Disney's top notch service, entertainment and character's coupled with fun destinations?

My next adventure is a runDisney race at Disneyland Resort. The Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon is coming up soon - which means I gotta get ready. One of the great things about runDisney is the costumes. The goal: Find a great Disney character to dress as but remain comfy, cozy during a very warm 13.1 miles. Ideas - Anna from Frozen, Winnie-the-Pooh or a winter fairy (cause I live in Alaska - home of many winter fairies). I will be thinking of ways to pull on of those characters off.