Monday, May 18, 2015

Pixie Dust Challenge Weekend - Part 3: Tink Half Marathon

And now it's time for my final blog about all the fun I had at the Pixie Dust Challenge. Who's tired of all the pics? Sorry, there's going to be a few more!

I wasn't planning on racing the Tink Half either. Mostly. I did briefly think about trying for sub 2 again since I JUST missed it at the OC Half the week before. I even talked to my coach Justin about it. But he talked some sense into me. So I wasn't too worried about race prep but I did want to eat before so I would have energy and have fun. This time, since I was home, I had to get up at 2:30.

2:30 am is very early but I got up, ate, and got ready to be out the door by 3:30. I had all my costume packed in a bag hanging on the doorknob so I wouldn't forget it. I'd forgotten my wings for the LA Rock & Roll Half and didn't want that to happen again. I made it down to Disneyland just after 4 and then put my costume on. There is a lot of pinning of tutus and wings so they don't bounce too much or fall off. Who'd have thought I'd have a problem keeping a tutu on my hips? Ha!

After I was ready, I went down to use the rest room and there was already a long line. By the time that was done and I'd dropped off my drop bag it was getting close. So I ran to the corrals to get in corral A (they have a cut off time plus I wanted to see all the fun starting ceremony again).

I made it into the corral and found myself right by the 2 hour pacer. So even though I wasn't supposed to be going for 2 hours, I decided to stay close to her in the corral. Then the festivities started:

And we were off and running! I actually did stick with the 2 hour pacer for the first few miles but once I saw Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater, I let 2 Hours go like it was a hot potato!


I'd missed them during the 10K and no way was I missing them again! Tink wasn't on the course on Saturday, just at the finish, so I also made sure to get a pic with her since that was who I dressed as for Sunday. My tank says "I'm With The Fairies":

And then I auditioned to be a Storm Trooper:

And then saw these quacky characters:

I didn't stop as many times on Sunday since I'd already had my pic taken with all the other fairies. So my splits were actually faster on Sunday then Saturday with my trying to beat others to the photo stops. I did have to wait a bit more on Sunday but still not to bad. 2 or 3 people at the most. I love being in corral A! Being speedy pays off! But once we left the parks, I just ran easy. Still, I was happy when I got to the finish, especially since I got to high five Mickey!

Look! A finish pic where I don't look like I'm dying! LOL!

Then I got my medal for the half and then the medal for Pixie Dust Challenge. I had put my medal from the 10K in my drop bag so I would have all 3:

That's a lot of bling! And heavy! Here are the close-ups of the half and challenge medals:


Love the spinner Tink Half medal! And the challenge medal is pretty cool too.

One of the great things about the day was that my mom came to cheer me on. I think she loves runDisney races almost as much as I do because of the costumes.

My mom and I watched the award ceremony and listened to the band for a while but then we left to go meet my grandpa for brunch.

So that's the end of my weekend of fun. It was really a lot of fun and I really had fun dressing up. Running with wings for 13 miles wasn't annoying at all. I think the trick I learned about pinning them to the shoulders of my tank really helped. I get to do it all again for the Disneyland 10th Anniversary in September! I'm doing the Dumbo Double Dare! Woo!

Thanks for reading!

Pixie Dust Challenge Weekend - Part 2: Tink 10K

In my last post, I blogged about the all the fun I had at the expo, California Adventure, and Disneyland. Today's post is all about the Tink 10K.

The Tink 10K is the first race in the Pixie Dust Challenge and it is run through both parks. I had gotten a hotel room for Friday night so I could stay late at the parks and not have to get up so early for the Tink 10K. Since the race was "only" a 10K and I wasn't planning to race it, I didn't plan to eat before it. My hotel was less than 5 minutes from the start so I was able to sleep in until 4:15.

I woke up and got ready and then looked in the mirror.

And saw A LOT of pink! Which was appropriate, I guess, since I was running as Rosetta for the Tink 10K. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Raw Threads gear? So cute and so perfect for Disney races!

Anyway, after I got ready, I headed over to the race start. Yay for being in corral A! It meant I was right up at the start line and got to see all of the start festivities.

runDisney races are very well organized so we started right on time (5:30 am). I started out fast so I could get inside the parks as quickly as possible. Being in corral A meant the course wasn't too crowded and when I got to the photo opportunities, I didn't have to wait in any lines which totally rocked! All the runDisney races I've done before had long lines by the time I got to the characters so never stopped to take pics, mostly because I was trying to hit a certain time. This time, my only goal was to take pics and have fun. And boy did I!

With Alice and the Mad Hatter (my fave pic of the day):

With Rosetta, my twin:

We totally, look the same, right? ;) Close enough. Here I am with Vidia and Silvermist:

And with Iridessa and at the Castle and California Screamin':

I also stopped and took a few pics of parks. Like It's A Small World:

And Cars Land:

But I did actually do a little running. And despite stopping 9 times to take pics, I managed to finish in 1:01:29 and got my medal:

It's has 5 of the Pixie Hollow fairies on it. (5 fairies, 10 wings for the 10K).
Pretty cool, huh?

So the first part of the Pixie Dust Challenge was done. After the Tink 10K, I stopped for breakfast...in my costume. But I wasn't the only one in there in costume and the restaurant people didn't bat an eye so they must be used to it! Then I went back to the hotel and showered and then headed home. I had to get ready for the Tink Half!

Thanks for reading part 2. Check back soon for part 3!

Friday, May 15, 2015

Pixie Dust Challenge Weekend - Part 1: 46 going on 6!

Last weekend, I did the Pixie Dust Challenge at Disneyland. I ran the 10K on Saturday and the Half Marathon on Sunday. But first, I had a little fun...

May is my birthday month (May 19th!) and I decided to buy myself a So Cal pass for Disneyland/California Adventure for my birthday! I took last Friday off to go to the Tink Expo and then spent the rest of the day at the parks.

The Expo opened at 10 and I got to the parks around 9:30, wandered thru Downtown Disney (bought a hat), and then hit the expo right at 10. I picked up my bib for the Challenge and had my picture taken (so they can verify it was you who completed the challenge) and then headed up to the expo.

I was planning to be a fairy for both races and had the tutus and the capris I was going to wear. I had also brought tops but knew that the Raw Threads booth was there and hoped to pick up some new tanks. I found some cute tanks, some sparkly arm sleeves, and a Pixie Dust Challenge magnet.

(You'll have to wait for the next posts to see the others!) Then I got my pic taken with my wings (and my new hat):

And then I headed out. That may have been the shortest time I've ever spent in an expo but I wanted to get to the fun at the parks!

I went to California Adventure first because I have never been there. Well, I've run through it at the Disneyland, Avengers, and Star Wars Halfs but I have never actually been there to ride/see stuff. It was a lot of fun! I LOVED California Screamin' (rode it twice!) and the Tower of Terror! SO. MUCH. FUN! Thank goodness I survived cancer to get to ride them!


I also met a couple cool people while I was there.

And had a (huge!) corn dog for lunch:

I'd seen Corn Dog Castle every time I ran thru California Adventure and was totally craving one! I had it just before I went on California Screamin' for the second time. Luckily, there were no mishaps. ;) I wandered around a bit more and saw some shows and then left at 4 to check into my hotel.

Next up was Disneyland! Hi Walt! Hi Mickey!

I've been to Disneyland many, many times so decided to do some shopping and eat dinner and then watch the parade:



We don't often see the parade because we'd rather be riding rides but I was in a parade kind of mood. It was a fun parade. However, I HAD to ride my favorite ride - Space Mountain! The wait was about an hour but totally worth it.

After Space Mountain, I ran back to California Adventure to watch World of Color (very cool!) and then headed to the hotel. I had a race to get ready for in the morning!

So day one of my Pixie Dust Challenge was over and it was a lot of fun. I think if you go to the parks expecting the lines and the people and just relax and have fun, it's not bad at all. I love Disneyland! I always have fun there and I'm excited that I'll get to go back many times in the next year to celebrate the 60th Anniversary! Woo!

I hope you'll check back for parts 2 and 3! Thanks for reading!

Monday, May 11, 2015

OC Half Marathon Race Recap

I ran the OC Half Marathon on May 4, 2015. I'm a little late with the recap but I wanted to do one because this was a good race for me.

Going in, my goal was sub 2 hours. I had run 2:06:28 at Surf City and I hadn't tapered for that. With the training I'd done and the good temps predicted, I felt like I could do it.

PRE-RACE
I drove down to the expo on Saturday and picked up my bib and shirt. I had a bit of a panic attach because I couldn't find my confirmation email for registration and then I couldn't find my name in the bib list! I remembered that I had signed up for it at the Surf City Half and filled out a paper form. Well, they had entered my name wrong - Lisa Gonazales! Doh! So I picked up the bib for Lisa Gonazales and then went to Solutions and they fixed my name in the database. Whew.

I was staying in one of the host hotels so drove over there and checked in. The room wasn't quite ready so I went and got a sandwich for dinner and some goodies and then went back to the room. The room was really nice and they had a goodie bag of snacks and water waiting for me. 2 actually, because my friend Sue was supposed to be staying with me but she had to miss out because of an injury. :(

I slept pretty well that night and woke up at 3:30. I ate and then got ready and headed down to the lobby to wait for the shuttle to the start. It was supposed to pick us up at 5:05 so I made sure to get down there by 4:50 so I wouldn't miss it. But 5:05 came and went and no shuttle. :( Then 5:15 came and went and they told us the bus was missing and they couldn't get a hold of the driver! Aaahhh! Finally, one of the shuttle people pulled up in an SUV and took 6 of us to the start. I felt bad for those left behind but I made sure I got in. He couldn't drop us off in the shuttle zone though so we had to walk a little extra.

With the wait and the traffic to the start line, we got there too late for me to use the port-a-potties. And I really needed to go! There was also no time for a warm up as the corrals were filling up. I actually didn't know what corral I was supposed to be in but they didn't have any security on them so I looked for the 2 hour pacer and got in that corral. My intent was to hang with the 2 hour pacers until mile 10 and then see if I could pick it up.

Finally, it was go time. And I was ready!

THE RACE
1...2...3...Go! We were off.

The start was a little crowded but I was able to keep the pacers in my sights. After a while, it felt like we had more breathing room and I settled in with them. The first mile was 9:04 so right in the range I was looking for. I had decided to use the pace group because one of my biggest problems is that I go out too fast and I was hoping they would keep me in line. It definitely worked for the first mile. But then I felt like they were going to fast. The splits for miles 2 & 3 were 8:44 & 8:50. I knew they wanted a little cushion but I also didn't want to blow up. I decided to back off after mile 3 and let them go. I also slowed it down to the 9:05 range for the next 3 miles. I don't know if that was the right decision or not, but I felt like it was best for me.

I had a gel at 4.5 miles and stayed on top of my hydration. I was feeling pretty good. We had a hill in mile 7 and the course narrowed at the top of the hill. I slowed a lot on the hill and then couldn't seem to get back on pace so the next 3-4 miles were slower than I'd hoped. I almost gave up on 2 hours at that point and just cruising in at a 9:30/9:45 pace but gave myself a kick in the butt! Just try!

I did pretty good for the last 3. There was one last hill in mile 11-12 and then after that it was flat to the finish so I ran as hard as I could. The last mile was a balancing act of running hard but also fighting off calf cramps. Then finally there was the finish line and I was done!

2:00:14!

Woo!

I'll admit I was a tiny bit disappointed that I missed sub 2 by 15 seconds but I was pretty proud to hit that time and know that I gave it everything I had. I got my medal...
and immediately looked for a place to sit down because both calves started cramping! And the right leg...the front & back of the calf AND my foot were cramping. Yeah, that's not fun at all! But I sat there and ate pretzels and drank water and was finally able to get up and walk around.

The pic on the right of me coming in to the finish cracks me up but also reminds me that I ran as hard as I could.

I feel like I ran this race smart. I'm sure there are a couple of things I could have done better but my garmin finished at 13.19 so I did pretty good on the tangents. Food/drink was right on target. Maybe I just need more hill work so my legs can recover quicker after a hill? I don't know. But now I am itching to go sub 2! Here's the official splits:
Definitely from 6.2 to mile 10 could have used some improvement but I am proud of that last 5K. :)

Oh yeah, and I celebrated after with a cheeseburger. Yum!

I'm not sure when I'll have another opportunity to try for sub 2. My next scheduled half is the Disneyland Half Marathon in September. I'm not sure that's the place/race to do it. We'll see. I may have to sign up for another one between now and then!

Thanks for reading!