Texas Visit #2

You may have noticed I've been absent from the blogosphere for a bit- I was in Texas visiting my husband and just never got around to posting. In any case, I had a great time. I could actually see myself living there. I know, I know, living in another state?! That's definitely something this California girl thought she would never say! 

My husband's apartment complex is massive. It's broken up into about 10 different "neighborhoods" where each one has a different focus. His is centered around a few little lakes. It's got this great jogging path, but running in Texas humidity is no joke! I was panting and sweating a lot sooner than normal! 

There are these adorable duckies! I really had to resist the urge to pet one of the little ones. 

I may have the ocean, but this view is gorgeous.

I spent some time at the pool as well. 

We also spent time hanging out with his friends. One (the guy in the middle) is a competitive eater and we watched his latest competition. They were eating burgers, but instead of a bun, it was sandwiched in between two grilled cheese sandwiches. And it had two onion rings in addition to the typical lettuce, tomatoes, etc. My husband's friend won (he ate 4 in 10 mins, the other guys barely finished 2).

We also went on a coffee date. I love that there is so much outdoor seating!

My last night there I cooked and made tacos. :) This was probably the first home cooked meal either of us had in a while.

Hopefully now that I'm back I can get back to a regular rhythm of blogging. :)

How was your weekend?

WDW Marathon Weekend: I Registered For...

After much debate, I finally pulled the trigger and registered for the WDW marathon- my first full marathon! I spent a lot of hours talking it over with my hubby and slept on the idea before deciding. Even then, when I was registering, I stared at the "pay now" button on Active.com for a good 5 minutes before clicking it. And even after, I had a moment of "Oh my gosh! What did I just sign up for?"

Today is also my birthday and this WDW marathon trip is a birthday gift of sorts. :) While I'm sad I'm turning another year older, I'm excited for what the future has in store. Running a marathon has been on my bucket list for a while and I figured we should do it now while we're still DINKs (double income no kids) and have the time. With a baby it wouldn't be impossible, but it would be a lot harder to train/travel for the race. Kudos to all you running mamas out there! The thought of running for 5 hours still freaks me out, but I'm excited to take on the challenge.

My husband and I are debating whom is whom here...

Now that I've committed to the full, I'm starting to look at training plans. We've got about 37 weeks to go (yup, I counted) so I know I have time to build up to it. I usually like to run the full distance of the race I'm training for, just to know I can complete it, but for the full, I highly doubt I will. I'm thinking 22-24 miles max. 

I've never been to WDW, so it'll be exciting to run through all 4 parks!

As far as visiting WDW goes, I'm most excited to see Epcot. After running 26.2 miles, I can eat whatever I want, right?

Did you register for any of the races during the WDW Marathon Weekend? Do you have a favorite post-race place to eat?

WDW Marathon Weekend Registration Opens Today!

Quick note: if you haven't already, check out my post on a special Mary Blair art exhibit PLUS a giveaway!

Registration opens today at 9am PST/12 noon EST for the WDW Marathon Weekend events!

Register here!

Race Events

Thursday, January 8th - Family Fun Run 5k - 6:15am

Friday, January 9th - WDW 10k - 5:30am

Saturday, January 10th - WDW Half Marathon - 5:30am

Sunday, January 11th - WDW Marathon - 5:30am

Saturday & Sunday - Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge

Thursday to Sunday - Dopey Challenge

Thursday to Saturday - Kid's Races - 11am (Kid's dashes) & 12:30p (Mickey Mile)

Sneak peek of the Goofy medal!

Registration Fees 

(I'm only posting the current fees because let's face it, the races won't last long enough to get to the price increase!)

Dopey Challenge

$530

Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge

$360

Walt Disney World Marathon

$170

Walt Disney World Half Marathon

$170

Walt Disney World 10k

$105

Disney Family Fun Run 5k

$60

runDisney Kids Races

$15

Mickey Mile 

$30

A little fun for you- the cost per mile for each event.* 

Surprised at the results? 

Dopey Challenge  $10.91/mile

Goofy Challenge  $9.16/mile

Full Marathon  $6.49/mile

Half Marathon  $12.98/mile

10k  $16.94/mile

5k  $19.35/mile

*The cost/mile doesn't include challenge extras like the extra medals or shirts, or the fact that you're completing back-to-back runs, which you can't really put a price on.

Do you have dreams of running any of these races?

Walt Disney Family Museum: Mary Blair Exhibit & Giveaway

A couple weeks ago, I went to see the special Mary Blair exhibit at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.

This post is very photo heavy, but if you make it all the way to the end, there's a giveaway surprise for you! :)

Mary Blair worked on a number of different Disney animated films, including Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. Next up- many of her illustrations from the development of the films.

Peter Pan

Cinderella

Alice in Wonderland

Mosaic tiles from the Contemporary Hotel at WDW

Images from one of Mary Blair's children's books

Mary Blair designed handkerchief 

The exhibit itself was so colorful

Mary Blair greeting cards

I know Mary Blair best for her designs in it's a small world.

Mosaic diagram of it's a small world

Illustrations representing different countries

Animatronic prototype

This is a finished mural for the children's hospital Mary designed.

The bottom of the floor of the museum is Mary Blair inspired.

And now for the giveaway I promised! 

I'll be sending one lucky winner a little swag from The Walt Disney Family Museum- a pin, a Mary Blair inspired tile coaster, and a magnet.

Enter below! You can tweet about the giveaway to enter everyday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Race Recap : Santa Cruz Half Marathon

Santa Cruz Half Marathon Race Recap

This past weekend I ran the Santa Cruz half marathon. The race takes place in my local town and captures all the natural beauty of the little California coastal town. The course for the race is actually my usual long-distance path, so it was nice to be on familiar ground. I ran with 3 other friends, all of them running their first half. One was running with a medical condition, so our main goal was just to finish.

The morning started out nice and over cast, perfect for a race, in my opinion!

The start line is right along the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. From there it's an out and back kind of course. We started by running up a steep hill (something I was really dreading) and then on the street along the coast. From there were entered a state park and headed towards back towards the coast.

I only have pictures starting from about half way through the run- I completed forgot about taking pictures!

Running the coastal trail around the half way point.

Heading back along the residential street back to the Boardwalk. The crowd was pretty thin by then- we were definitely taking our time. :)

If you look closely towards the left, you can see the white tents of the finishers area on the beach.

The sun was breaking through as we neared finish.

Something unique about the finish of this race- the last 20 feet or so are on the beach. Leading up to the finish, we run down the same big hill that was at the beginning of the race. It's great momentum for the finish, but a little scary since you're literally flying and then BAM! sand! 

We finished in 2:39.

Another great thing about this race weekend- my husband came to visit and he also ran the race. This is the race that he runs for a PR, but he was really nervous about even finishing it since he hadn't run longer distances than 5 miles in a few months. His PR last year was 1:51. This year, with little to no training, he finished in 1:57. WTH?!

I felt bad that he had to wait 40 minutes for me to finish, but he said he enjoyed the post-race bagels (all 4 of them).

Huge improvement on the medal this year! 

2013 (left) vs 2014 (right)

We hung out on the beach after just chatting and enjoying the sun.