Avengers Half Marathon: Race Recap

In honor of early registration for the now re-named Super Heroes Half Marathon, here's my race recap from the inaugural run in 2014. (Apparently I never hit publish!)

The Good, The Bad, and The Windy as Heck: the Avengers Half Marathon

I woke up at 4am the morning of the race feeling very... blah. All I wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep. I had an intense case of the sniffles, a little souvenir from the rainy Wine & Dine. Plus I was running solo, so I knew the motivation for the next 13.1 miles would have to come from me, and me alone. The theme of the race wasn't too exciting for me and the course didn't look that appealing either. Basically, I wasn't amped to run this race.

I threw on my Lilo costume, attached my running buddy, Stitch, and headed to the start.

Ready to run. Stitch doesn't seem too pleased to be up at this hour.

The corral start was different this year. Although there were corrals A-H, corrals A & B went together. C & D did as well. I'm not sure about E-H, as I started in D.

Christmas Carsland!

After the first mile I started to not feel well. I'm not sure if it was the lack of a proper breakfast or the banana I ate too close to the start of the race, but I got really nauseous. Thankfully nothing happened, but it was at this point that I knew I would be taking things slow.

All the mile markers looked the same.

Can't resist the Christmas Decor!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves were on the Carousel

Only the first 3 miles were in the parks, so I jumped in line for Mickey & Minnie.

An important note about the characters: 

Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Captain America were out, but the lines were SOOOO long!!! Even starting in corral D, the lines were at least 50 people long already. I was already taking my time and I wasn't about to risk getting swept.

Once we left the parks, the winds started. This is what most of the mile markers looked like. It was so windy they were falling over- I saw the 10 mile marker attack a poor woman trying to take a selfie with it.

Christ Cathedral. Can you see all those wind swept cups?

Graphics painted along the Santa Ana River Trail

Love the folks that came out to cheer us on! Lots of great costumes!

Through Angels Stadium

Check out these guys! I'm not sure if they're retired military or reenactors, but they were awesome.

Spotted this van just outside Angels Stadium. Definitely not close to the race end.

The winds were so strong and blowing things over, like the tents in the finishers area, so they had folks wait outside of the reunion area. 

An idea of how windy is was- a fountain in Downtown Disney

Finished!

Final time: 2:54.

He asked if I survived the wind. My response: just barely. 

This was the first half that I had run solo- and it wasn't that bad! I much prefer to run with friends (always have more fun with friends), but running solo is no longer holding me back from signing up for races.

Did you run the Avengers half? Do you run solo or with friends?

I Made the Avengers 5k Official runDisney Video!

The costumes I made for the Avengers 5k for my friend and I were one of the biggest sewing projects I've ever attempted. This was the first time I made clothing, but I think they turned out pretty well! We got a lot of compliments along the course and even made the runDisney Facebook page and video! :)

Here are our USO Dancing Girl costumes. Photo from the runDisney Facebook page.

You can find us in the video around 1:29. 

Please excuse my face. The guy filming was using his phone or Go Pro, so I didn't realize that he was an official person. I thought he was just some random guy filming us. Haha. :)

Avengers Half Marathon: Expo Shopping

Today I'm headed down to sunny Southern California for the Avengers Half Marathon Weekend!

I'll be stopping by the expo while I pick up my bib for the 5k and half. Here's a little preview of the official merchandise!

I'm not a huge fan of the shirts, but it is nice that there's a nice variety of designs!

There's a special Dooney that's being released for the event. What do you think?

This is the race shirt for the half. I like this one!

I also heard that the 2015 runDisney New Balance shoes are going to be revealed this weekend. Who's excited?

Facing My Fear of Racing Alone

I've been running and participating in races for about 4 years and for the most part, I have always run with someone. It's mostly been my husband (bless him for being my constant motivator), but I've also run with friends and family.

I've been lucky to have a decent medal collection from all these races. 

So it may surprise you to know that of the races I've run, only one of them I've run by myself. I know it's irrational, but I get really nervous about racing by myself. 

I had to overcome my fear when I ran the Tinker Bell 10k. 

It was strange walking to the corrals by myself, but I met some awesome twitter friends in the corral and they helped to pass the time. Plus I was in Corral A for the first time ever and I was gawking and taking pictures of the "A" corral marker. ;) 

The run itself was great. I loved the freedom of being able to hop in a character photo line or just jump to the side to snap a picture. I could go as quickly or as slowly as I wanted without having to consider someone else's pace.

I got some great photos during the race.

And took my first ever photo with characters during a race! Pretty unique characters for a photo!

But... this was a 10k and I was pretty used to the mileage. I think that's part of what made me feel at ease with running alone. It was only an hour or so and I knew I could easily complete the distance.

 This time around, my solo running comes with a longer distance- the Avengers Half marathon.

I'm really nervous about this race, mostly because I am very under-trained for this race and it's been months since I ran double digit miles (not including Wine & Dine this past weekend). I worry that I won't finish the race or that I'll get swept. Maybe it's a lack of personal motivation to keep moving? Does anyone else get this? The companionship of a running buddy has always been great encouragement, but as nervous as I am, I'm looking forward to running this alone and overcoming my fear of racing alone.

Do you race alone? Have you run with other people? Which do you prefer?

Forget Moving! I'm Going to Disney World!

I finally have some updates! We are moving back to CA- and very soon! My husband got transferred to a new team and with that came an "accelerated schedule" to get out to CA. All in all, from the day we found out, we will be moving in 2 weeks. 

Lucky for us, this move is covered by my husband's work. A moving company is coming to handle everything. At first I was really anxious about moving, probably because my move to Texas was such a train wreck. 

But... it turns out my husband will be handling the move while I am enjoying Disney World and running this:

YAY! It still makes me nervous, but there's nothing I can do, so I'm channeling Elsa and letting it go. *cough* bad joke *cough* I couldn't resist. ;)

I'll meet my husband in CA for a couple days and then it's off to Disneyland for this:

It's going to be one heck of a crazy month, but I am really looking forward to being home in CA and enjoying Thanksgiving with family. 

Avengers Official Race Guide

The Official Race Guide for the Inaugural Avengers Hlaf & 5k Weekend has been released!

You can find the whole guide here.

I've included some of the highlights below.

I'm really looking forward to the 5k. After all the time and effort I put into making our costumes, I can't wait to wear them with my friend. :)

Will you be there for the Avengers weekend? Looking forward to anything in particular?

Official Avengers Half & 5k Courses!

The official courses for the Avengers half marathon and 5k courses have been posted to the runDisney website! 

Avengers 5k

Avengers Half

It'll be nice to run different courses at Disneyland other than the Disneyland races over Labor Day weekend and Tinker Bell in January.

What do you think of these new courses?

Training Tuesday

Training for:

Weekly Recap

Tues: 1 mile

Wed: cross train

Thurs: cross train

Fri: rest

Sat: (out of town)

Sun: (out of town)

Mon: cross train

My motivation to run has faded. And it's my own fault. Last week or so I went for a run right before sunset. It was beautiful, only like 85 degrees and there wasn't any sun beating down on me. For the first time since I moved here, I was able to run and just enjoy it. I was able to run at the speed I used to, and boy did it feel good! But since then, I just get discouraged at the thought of running during the day. I know I could always go in the evening or early in the morning, but spending time with the hubs or sleep always seems to win out.

On the upside, I discovered a new fitness app that I've been using to cross train. It's called FitStar and it's got a ton of great 20-30 min workouts ranging from Boot Camp styles to more relaxing morning wake ups. I try to do one a day or two if I don't run.

Saw this on a giant Jenga piece when we went out.

This weekend we also took a quick (like 30 hrs) trip back home to CA to celebrate the marriage of one of my childhood friends. It was great to see people I haven't seen in a long time. It's probably just me, but I've known these friends since birth. Crazy that we've gone from the playground to weddings! *sniff*

Best Friends since birth!

My goal this week is to just get out there and run. Bite the bullet and get over my dread of running in the heat. I know it has to be done, especially if I want to have any hope of finishing the WDW Marathon!

Do you ever get discouraged about running? How did you overcome it?

Costumes: Tuesdays on the Run Link-up

This is my first time with the Tuesdays on the Run link-up. Let's hope I did it right!
A big shout out to the hosts of this link-up: Patty at My No-Guilt Life, April at Run the Great Wide Somewhere, and Erika at MCM Mama Runs.

This week's topic is Racing in Costume!

When I started my running journey in 2011, I didn't even consider running in costume- I was more focused on finishing! It wasn't until my 3rd runDisney event that I wore a costume, but since then, I've been hooked!

C3PO & R2D2

Disneyland 10k, 2013

As my first costume attempt, I wanted something easy. My husband didn't want to be a prince, though he did suggest we go as Jasmine and Jafar. Haha.

I purchased my R2D2 tank top and hat. I decorated my husband's gold C3PO shirt with a sharpie, some black tech fabric, and some colored elastic cording.

We definitely have the height difference down!

Hipster Disney Princesses Jasmine & Snow White
Neverland 5k, 2014
My friend and I planned to walk the 5k, so we didn't have to worry about it being runner-friendly. She came up with the idea to go as Hipster Disney princesses, complete with signs. Everything was regular clothing, which was helpful in the cold morning!

Tinker Bell
Tinker Bell 10k, 2014
The Tinker Bell 10k was the first race I've run alone. I was a little nervous, so I figured a costume was in order! I went with a super easy version of Tink, mostly because I already had a green running tank. Plus it fit the race theme! I made a skirt from green confetti dot material (same stuff as the Sparkle Athletic skirts) and wore the official white and green runDisney Tink Sweaty Band.

Simple Snow White

Tinker Bell Half Marathon, 2014

Being my 3rd race of the weekend, I kept it simple with a nod to Snow White. I wore a red Sweaty Band, my Team#runDisney shirt, and a yellow Sparkle Athletic skirt.

I don't think I'll ever go back to non-costume running, at least for runDisney events. Even if it's something simple, like my nod to Snow White, it definitely adds to the fun! 

I've got some fun costumes coming up.

 I love me some wine, but I went with a "dine" theme for Wine & Dine.

At the request of my 5k friend (same one who did with Neverland 5k with me),

I'm tackling my most adventurous sewing project for the Avengers 5k! I'm super excited to reveal them in November! :)

I'm still debating what to do for the Avengers Half. Any suggestions?

Do you run in costumes?