2021 Virtual Princess 5K (at Pop Century!)

With our Disney trip still in the works despite the virtual switch of the Princess Half Marathon weekend,  I knew I still wanted to save some of the races for our time on actual Disney property. Although I'd only initially registered for the Fairy Tale Challenge alone, I added on the 5K after the virtual switch. I'll admit, it was the theme that got me. Prior to this, I didn't own any Little Mermaid runDisney anything!

The night before my run, I took a look at the running route around Pop Century which mostly included the path around Hourglass Lake (roughly 1.3 miles). 

Off we go!

Character "stops" anyone? Well, I found a few! It never dawned on me that I could have taken some of these photos in the Little Mermaid section at Art of Animation. (face palm)

The Skyliner began operating during my run and it was so beautiful and peaceful in the morning! 

Mile 2...almost done!

...and with that, my Disney Princess 5K was done! I'll admit, it was nice not having to wake up at 2:30 a.m., take a bus and sit in a random parking lot for an hour waiting on a race to begin. With that being said though, I really really miss runDisney!!

Throughout this run, I encountered so many runners who were out there doing the same as me...running bibs, costumes, sparkle skirts, and all! Everyone was so encouraging and friendly, and there was even a group out there handing out bananas to runners! Even though it wasn't a "true" runDisney event, these little elements sure made it feel like "home" and it made for an amazing and memorable experience. 

Up next: Our day at EPCOT! 

2021 runDisney Virtual Princess Half Marathon

Hi there! Long time no blog! :) To be honest, I don't have a great reason for that. I feel like my greatest blogging inspiration comes to me when I'm on a run and although I have been running a little lately, it hasn't been as much as my norm. I'm definitely trying to get back into the swing of things, though!

 

When runDisney announced their transition to a virtual option for the Princess Half Marathon this year, we had a couple of options. Since we'd already used a few borrowed points to book our rooms for the trip (we did this right at the beginning of corona last year), I knew we weren't really looking at canceling our trip. (Borrowing DVC points then canceling your trip means you lose the points.) So, since canceling the trip wasn't an option, I decided to go forward with the virtual option and run the Fairy Tale Challenge on my own. I also decided to add the 5K on to the list since it was a Little Mermaid theme and I own zero Ariel runDisney items! 

After going over running options for these races, I decided that maximizing the time I had with my family at Disney was my first priority. So, I made the decision to run the Fairy Tale Challenge out of order by running the half marathon at home the weekend before our trip, then running the 5K and 10K while at Disney. This plan worked perfectly and I'll definitely share more about my time running the 5K and 10K around Hourglass Lake very soon!

The weekend prior to our trip was quite a doozy over here. That big ice/snow storm was rolling through the south and definitely threw a wrench in our plans. Although our trip plans changed, I knew I still needed to get my half marathon in so I decided to go forward with it, even though it was cold, windy, and kind of a nasty day.

The day of my half marathon, I worked until noon. Trying to figure out my eating plan for the morning was a bit challenging, but I went with a banana and some peanut butter crackers about an hour before the run and all went very well!

The route around my place of work is a nice one, but I had to steer well clear of the lake because it was SO windy! Thankfully, I had several options!

The first set of miles felt great and I didn't experience any issues. The only really problem I had was  running towards the wind. It was the weirdest thing - I almost froze when running towards the wind and got incredibly warm when running away from it. 

Around mile 6, I began to get stiff, cold, and I had to turn to a 4:1 run/walk method to keep going. This random leg cramp that I've never experienced before also popped up and all I could think about was my old running coach and how I needed a pack fo salt! Hah! Since there was no salt around, a run/walk ratio had to do.

Somewhere near mile 10, the leg cramp went away and I was able to run the remainder of the race cramp free! Yay!

In the end, I finished with a 10:58 pace and I was 100% ok with that!

Running alone is hard. Running a virtual half is really hard. Running without runDisney is hard. This pandemic is hard. 2020/2021 is hard. Life is hard. Thankfully, I'm still blessed with the gift of running and the ability to "burn off the 2020/2021 crazy" that continues to plague me! Also, I took a little Disney magic along with me by listening to the awesome runDisney Spotify playlists from both Marathon Weekend & the Princess Half Marathon Weekend! 

Throughout this run, I knew a trip to Disney was coming up and that definitely gave me something to look forward to, even though it wasn't the traditional type of runDisney trip we usually take in February!

So, let me know - if you registered for the Princess Half, did you choose the virtual option? If so, where/how did you run your race? 

runDisney Virtual Marathon Weekend Kids Races 2021

Hello hello! Good morning and happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are doing well. I wasn't here on the blog much around the holiday season, but I did continue the tradition of weekend vlogs throughout the holidays. If you missed those, check them out over on YouTube! :) 

A few weeks ago (on what should have been Marathon Weekend), Brayden ran the Virtual Marathon Weekend Kids Races - 100 m dash, from home of course!

Although I'm not a huge fan of the idea of the runDisney virtual races, I do love that they provide everything you need to run your race from home - it's all tucked neatly in your runDisney online account.

I initially signed Brayden up for the kids races for a couple of reasons - first, he's never run a kids race during marathon weekend and I loved the medal. He also loves Chip and Dale so that worked out perfectly! Second, I thought this would give us all a chance to get outside and so something fun...and I was right! Brayden LOVED it!

We printed the start/finish line signs as well as his bib and off we went. For authenticity, we had to crinkle the bib a little bit prior to starting the race. You know how it is!

Along with the start/finish line and bib options, Disney even threw in a virtual Marathon Weekend playlist from spotify. We listened to this while running the race, riding in the car, at home, and I even took it along for my long run that day! 

Before he knew it, the race was over and it was time to celebrate! I'm pretty sure he giggled the entire way! :)

With no Mouse at the finish line to high five at the end, I had to do! Brayden agreed that mom was a pretty good alternative to Mickey!

runDisney even shared Brayden's fun accomplishment to their instagram! 

...and with that, our version of a virtual marathon weekend was over. We had a lot of fun but can't wait to run them in person in the (hopefully) near future!

Did you participate in any virtual marathon weekend festivities? If so, which ones did you do?

runDisney Haunted Mansion Virtual 5K

Hi there, friends! New blog post - who dis? 

Yes, it's been a LONG time, but I have very good reason. If you follow me on instagram, then you know that Hurricane Laura hit my home town of Lake Charles, LA as a category 4 hurricane and wreaked havoc everywhere. My initial intention to run the final leg of the runDisney summer virtual 5K series on my birthday (August 27th) changed as that was the day that Laura hit and pretty much ranks up there as one of the worst days I've had in a very long time. 

After returning home a week later, we spent a good bit of time cleaning up our yard and my parent's yard. We also lived at their house for three weeks with a generator, waiting on our electricity to turn back on. It's been an interesting road and one where I've tried to stay positive, but running has been hard for many reasons. 

So, my well laid plans of running the Haunted Mansion 5K on August 27th were altered and instead, the distance was completed on October 1st. Better late than never, right? 

This has been the first week in a while where I felt like I could truly breathe and had a little bit of extra "free" time in the evenings. Last night, Brayden and I set out on our 5K journey together and I felt like our route was fitting for the "theme" of this race - it was daunting with a hint of eerie mixed in. :)

Our start line began in front of the garage (complete with hurricane damage) and our remaining stash of MRE's - perfectly fitting for the three miles ahead! 

As we ran, we encountered a few doggies (thankfully the were on the smaller side), downed trees on the side of the road, tarped roofs on houses, and several friendly faces outside who waved as we passed. 

Trees like this are everywhere and it always amazes me to see - the root ball of the tree was literally ripped out of the ground! The powerful force of hurricanes completely blows my mind.

We reached mile 3 as the sun began to set, among the various debris lined streets.

At a month out from the storm, things around here are slowly starting to improve. Tree trucks make the rounds daily to pick up roadside tree debris. They haven't even started on the other debris yet (shingles, fencing, siding, etc). Although they are working hard, this is going to be a very slow and gradual process. I told Jason that I'm truly learning how to "chill" because I want everything done like a sprint and this will definitely be like a "marathon" to complete. 

Our finish line landed us right back in my front yard, complete with the remains of my fence I worked so hard to stain back in the spring (yes, I'm bitter about it)! 

...and with that, the three part runDisney Virtual 5K Summer Series turned Fall Series is complete! :)

I plan to return (soon) with more stories from our hurricane "adventures" and the cleanup process. This has been one of the most interesting experiences of my life and one I hope we don't have to go through again for a very very long time. 

Have a great weekend! 

runDisney Space Mountain Virtual 5K

On Wednesday, I ran the Space Mountain Virtaul 5K. This 5K is a part of the summer virtual runDisney race series and I will complete it next month with the final race in the challenge.

Setting out to run this race was interesting because I thought I would be fighting the weather, but I wasn't 100% sure how much time I had. Well, about a mile and a half into my run, my fears were confirmed and what started out as a leisurely 5K (sans kid) quickly switched to a "run this thing as fast as possible because those dark clouds are looming!"

My husband snagged a photo of me with the "start line", and off I went!

"Start line selfie", anyone? :)

By mile 1, I was feeling good and keeping a pretty consistent pace. All was well, I had my podcast in my ears, and life was pretty good. Then, I turned the corner and spotted this....

Super dark clouds looming in the distance! It started to lightly sprinkle which got my mile markers a little wet but I knew the big drops were coming!

So, I pressed on and attempted to keep a pretty consistent pace to beat the rain.

By mile 3, I knew I had it and all would be well! I narrowly missed the rain by 2 minutes. After stepping on my front porch and taking a picture with my watch, the bottom fell out from the sky with giant, heavy raindrops...and a lot of them, too!

After checking my stats, I saw that I managed to run negative splits the entire time, thanks to the threat of rain looming in the distance!

Don't get me wrong...I don't mind a rainy/wet run, but I did not want to get stuck in the kind of storm where it's raining so hard you can't see, there's thunder/lightning, etc. Thankfully, that didn't happen for this one!

I hear people are starting to receive their medals for this race series! If you registered for this, have you received yours yet?

runDisney Mad Tea Party Virtual 5K

Last week, my friend Melissa and I (along with Brayden and Melissa's dog Tink) completed the first leg of the runDisney Summer Virtual 5K series, the Mad Tea Party 5K! 

With the state of the world as it is, I knew another runDisney event wouldn't be in the cards for me this year, so signing up for this race series was perfect!

We decided to complete the first portion of this race series at Melissa's house. This was a new (to me) route, and we had a lot of fun along the way!

Their neighborhood almost makes a 1 mile loop, so mile 1 hit in no time.

Around the end of mile 2, I noticed something in the water of the ditch alongside the road...

Can you see it? It's a water moccasin and it looked like it had just eaten dinner due to its fat belly!

Naturally, our mile 2 stop had to be taken with the (not so friendly) snake! Yikes!

Needless to say, our mile 3 was just a tad bit faster than the previous two! We were ready to be finished!

Melissa's dog Tink came along for our 5K (which Brayden loved) and had a great time!

Before long, our 5K was complete! I'm so glad we decided to do this together. We can't wait for part 2 and part 3, coming in July and August!

The last time I completed the runDisney summer 5K series was the inaugural year (back in 2016) and I've enjoyed this one just as much as the first! Reading back over part 2 from that race series reminded me about the snake I came across in the grass during that run. What is it about the runDisney summer virtual series and snakes? I'm not sure, but I hope it doesn't happen again!

Did you register for the runDisney summer virtual series? If so, how has your running gone so far?

Relay for Life 2020 (Virtual)

Relay for Life 2020.

None of us ever thought we would have to make the decision to turn our family friendly, festival type event into an at-home, virtual one, but we did! When the idea was first pitched to our committee, a few of us were skeptical, but we jumped on the bandwagon and the outcome could not have been any better!

Not long after the idea to turn our event into a virtual one was pitched, I began to formulate a plan on how to fundraise on my own, and that's when the idea to run the Relay for Life "Virtual" Half Marathon was born!

For starters, I'd never run a half marathon in the middle of the day before (apart from the night time Wine & Dine half marathons at Disney), so I had no idea what to expect. Since I had to work on Friday morning, I set off on this half marathon endeavor after I clocked out a little after 1 p.m. 

It was hot, humid, and on the verge of raining the entire time, but I prayed long and hard that I would at least get a good half of the run behind me without any rain. My prayers were answered!

At first, I was going to drive home after work and begin my run from there (like the Star Wars route), but I decided to stick with the area around my work and have a little change of scenery!

I also thought it would be fun to share a few ACS/cancer facts along the way!

I'm not going to lie, this one was tough. My hamstring was bothering me from about mile 6 until the end and it was difficult to breathe through the humidity. It was the thought of cancer patients and all they endure while going through their journey that kept me pressing on.

There really are some beautiful views around my work. This was one of my favorite places to run when our running group was together!

Like the Star Wars half I ran at home, I also adopted a 4:1 run/walk ratio for this half. Although this run wasn't entire pain free, I made it!

Another 13.1 in the books! 

 
I also wanted to share my reason for relaying...

Our virtual event was held live on facebook that evening, and although it wasn't "true" relay food, we make sure to do it justice!

The links you see to the left are boudin. This is a traditional cajun treat and it's seriously delicious! (Casing stuffed with rice and meat)

In fact, the whole family participated in the virtual relay event! What fun!!

By the end of the weekend, I'd not only reached my fundraising goal but I'd exceeded it thanks to so many generous friends and family!

Despite the fact that Relay for Life 2020 looked COMPLETELY different from anything I'd experienced, it was definitely one to remember!