Run, Eat, Date, Sleep

The wake-up call came really early at 4:45am. We all got up and put on all of our gear.

My stomach was upset, so I didn’t eat my usual pre-race meal of bread and peanut butter. Instead, I grabbed one of Anne Marie’s bananas.

I think we left around 5:30 and quickly made our way to downtown Tampa, where we had already paid for a parking spot near the convention center.

We met up with some of Bethany’s other friends and headed to the corrals pretty much at the last minute.

As soon as we got to the corrals, the crowds starting moving, and we were off!

The first few miles went by without a hitch. I kept up with 2/1 run/walk intervals for a while. The course was an out and back along the bay, and the first 4.5 miles followed the residential side of the road, which also meant there was some shading.

Mile 1- 12:01

Mile 2- 12:12

Mile 3- 12:29

Mile 4- 12:49

Once we made the turnaround, we were making our way down the bay side of the road, where there was zero shade. The sun was beating down on me, and I’m a huge wimp when it comes to running in the heat. My pace slowed down, and I switched my intervals to :30/:30 run/walk intervals.

I have to say, I loved this course, but the best and worst thing was the view from Mile 5ish.

(source My Fascinating Life)

It was a beautiful sight, but I also knew I still had to make it to those buildings FAR off in the distance.

Mile 5- 12:53

Mile 6- 13:53

It was around Mile 6 when the heat REALLY starting getting to me. I felt a little faint at times, and despite telling myself to listen to my body, I made myself keep going. Luckily, there were plenty of water stops and glorious water misters. The volunteers at the water stops were so great and offered to refill my water bottle I was carrying.

My intervals went from :30/:30s to “whenever you can run, do it.” You can just see the pain, right?

(I had taken out my headphones because I was getting a headache. My yurbuds are those little lumps in my shirt) At least my arm looks all tan glistening in the sun like that.

Mile 7- 15:15

Mile 8- 15:15

Once I could see that the end was near, I picked up the pace just a tad.

Mile 9- 14:05

.41 nubbin- 5:28

I definitely didn’t finish in the time I was shooting for (1:52), but oh well. There’s always next year!

After I crossed the finish line, I made the uphill trek to get my medal and go hang out with some pirates.

I was pleasantly surprised by all of the finish line refreshments. Smoothies for the win!!!

There was also soda, pineapple fruit snacks, fruit cups, bowls of hot black beans, and sports drinks. Disney, take note here.

Anne Marie and Bethany also completed the 5k right after the 15k, so we all met up in the convention center afterwards.

We made our way to the beer party quickly! We each had a Michelob Ultra ticket on our bib good for one free beer. The lines were too long, so we opted for Coronas first.

The scenery was so pretty!

Overall, despite my rocky performance, I loved this race. The course was beautiful, the race was wonderfully organized, the refreshments were tasty and satisfying, and I had a great time with my running buddies. I will definitely be doing this race next year!

If you ran Gasparilla, tell me what you thought and post a link to your recap!

On Friday, after only a little more than an hour, Bethany, Anne Marie, and I arrived in the beautiful city of Tampa for the Gasparilla Distance Classic Expo at the Tampa Convention Center. It was around 11am, and the expo was hardly crowded.

The courses for the 15K and 5K were both being run right along the bay. Both races were being held on Saturday, and the half marathon would be on Sunday.

We quickly made our way to packet pickup upstairs, where the lines were really short.

We made our way around the entire expo and stopped at almost every booth. We made sure to pick up all of the freebies we could get our fingers on! I even got a sample from the Arctic Ease people even though they weren’t really handing them out. I basically praised the whole company right in front of my friends, so the guy handed the stuff over to me! I used it after the Philly Half and LOVED it! It’s a cold wrap, but it’s not as cold as ice pack, which can be pretty painful.

I knew I had to get a picture in front of this sign!

I also got stuck with a fake tattoo on my arm I didn’t really want. The guy just slapped it on there!

(those green, reusable shopping bags were the goody bag. There wasn’t anything in them, but we did get weekly emails from Publix with “virtual goody bag” stuff like coupons and such)

We also received bright green tech tees, which I completely forgot to take a picture of.

We made sure to find our names on the huge list printed on the wall. There I am!

They also had a lot of great merchandise, but nothing really caught my eye enough to justify the expense.

After about an hour of browsing everything, it was time to check in to the hotel and enjoy some of the weather!

More on our fabulous hotel later!

I’ve been tagged four times to do this meme, so I thought I’d finally get around to posting it.

The Rules:
1. Post the rules
2. Post 11 fun facts about yourself
3. Answer the questions the tagger gave you in their post & then create 11 new questions for the people you tag.
4. Tag 11 people and link them in your post
5. Let them know you’ve "tagged" them

11 Fun Facts About Me:

1. My eyes are three different colors- green, brown, and gray.

2. I have 2 different signatures.

3. My parents were high school sweethearts and are still happily married.

4. My grandparents were penpals during WWII before they ever met. He still carries a picture of her in his shirt pocket every day.

5. I’ve been to two of the Ghost Hunters locations- Bucksteep Manor in Washington, MA, and Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. I was at Bucksteep Manor for a wedding, but I don’t remember feeling creeped out at all. But Eastern State definitely has a very spooky vibe. We were there for the Halloween event, but they had actors there jumping out at you to “scare you.” I would have been more scared if we were left to wander by ourselves and let our imaginations run wild.

6. When I was younger, I was deathly afraid of dogs. All dogs. I was almost attacked by a huge dog when I was 4, and I was bitten by a German Shepherd when I was 19. My fear slowly dwindled as time went on though, and I’m so glad it did. Molly’s my very first dog!

7. My first time on an airplane was when I was 21 and headed to Disney World with my cousin Amy.

8. I took ballet, jazz, and tap for 13 years.

9. I’m severely intrigued by murder mystery shows. I’m almost tempted to go back to school so I can join the FBI.

10. My grandfather owned the town barber shop with his brother for many decades, and he only missed 2 days of work in all of those years, the days he mourned the deaths of his mother and father. Talk about work ethic!

11. I don’t like cake.

Kelly’s Questions and My Answers:

1. Where is the coolest place you have traveled? Utah. I puffy heart love Utah!

2. What is your favorite book? The Lovely Bones. I actually happened to stumble upon the filming of one of the scenes in Exton, PA, when I was living there.

3. What are you most thankful for in your life? My family. Seriously, they are my rocks. They’re my best friends. I call my mom every day. I speak to my brother on AIM every weekday, and I email my dad every day. We all work together, and we’ve somehow managed to maintain our awesome family dynamic.

4. What is the best concert you’ve been to? I’m actually not a fan of concerts… at all. But the best one I’ve ever been to was O.A.R. with Augustana and Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers in 2007.

5. What is your favorite Superbowl party recipe?

Cheese Capers (this is the low-fat version)
Makes 12

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (Kraft 2%)
1/2 cup Hellman’s Reduced Fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp. olive juice (optional)
6 Thomas’s 100 Calorie English muffins
1 T parmesan cheese
Mix above ingredients except parmesan cheese and English muffins.  Spread evenly on muffin halves.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.  Bake 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees.

6. Why did you start blogging? I just wanted to document my weight loss a few years ago, and then as I started running again, I wanted to journal my progress.

7. Did you have any resolutions for 2012? Not exactly. I just want to be happy and healthy.

8. Who is your favorite author? Nicholas Sparks and James Patterson

9.  If you could switch careers and have your dream job, what would it be? I’ve been trying to figure this out for years. Maybe a personal trainer/nutrionist

10. What’s the best movie you’ve seen lately? Return to Oz. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

11. Charlie Sheen or Kim Kardashian? Charlie Sheen. At least he’s famous for actually having some talent.

Carolina’s Questions and My Answers:

1. LOST. The best or bestest show of all time? I kid (not really)! What’s your favorite show of all time? The All New Mickey Mouse Club. You know.. the one with Justin, Britney, Ryan, etc.
2. If you could take your celebrity crush on a date who would it be? Where would you take him/do? JC Chasez, and we’d just hang out his house while he cooks me dinner. We’d end the night with a frisky midnight swim in his pool
3. Favorite ingredient to cook with and why. Tastefully Simple Garlic Infused Olive Oil.. it’s so yummy and gives the dish so much flavor!
4. What song are you most embarrased to have in your iPod? The theme song to Family Ties.
5. If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would you go & why? Home. I miss them
6. What’s your favorite way to work out? Swimming. You thought I was going to say running, didn’t you?

(my high school swim team)

7. Favorite nail polish color. Go! Essie “After Sex”

8. Best movie you’ve seen this year? Ides of March. That was this year, wasn’t it?

9. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry & why? My pearl necklace. My grandmother gave it to me when I turned 13. I wear it for almost every important, fancy event.

10. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? This is kind of awkward because I don’t want to forget anything amazing that someone has given me, so I’ll go with Molly. She was a gift to myself

11. If you could do the same thing every day what would you do? lay in a hammock in a tropical, shaded place

12. What’s the first blog you started reading? From 5K to Marathon. Danielle and I had been online friends for years, and I wanted to read about her progress as she trained for her first marathon.

Mindy’s Questions and My Answers:

[one]  If you were doing a destination wedding, where would it be? Hands down it would be Colorado. (And if you’re familiar with my “story”, no, this isn’t because of a certain ex. It’s just a really beautiful state!)

[two]  What was the first movie you saw? Snow White

[three]  What book do you think everyone should read? I think all young girls should read “Pretty Me”. It taught me a lot of valuable information about how to be a poised, savvy, and gracious young adult.

[four]  What’s the best joke you’ve ever heard? There was a man who had a wooden eye, and he dated a woman with big teeth. When he got down on one knee and asked “Mary, will you be my wife?”, she excitedly exclaimed “would I?” His response was “big teeth!”

[five]  What’s your favorite pizza topping? Green peppers and onions

[six]  What was your favorite subject in high school? Math

[seven]  Do you prefer the summer or winter olympics? Summer! I used to tape all of the swimming events.

[eight]  What’s your favorite dessert? cherry pie

[nine]  Would you rather watch the SuperBowl or World Series? World Series. I’m sooo not a pro football fan.

[ten]  What concert is on your bucket list? Like I said, I’m not a concert person.

[eleven] If you had to live in another country for a year, where would you live? Ireland in a little cottage somewhere.

Hemarie’s Questions and my Answers:

1. What’s your favorite childhood memory? Picnicing with my brother in the woods behind our house.
2. Are you a morning or night person? Night.
3. If you HAD to change your first name, what would you change it to? This is hard! I’d go with Jane. It’s so simple, but yet so classic.
4. Do you have any tattoos? Not a one.
5. Which movie, if playing on TV, are you unable to walk away from? Sound of Music
6. What was the last thing you had to drink? Coffee
7. If you could take a year off an go travelling, where would it be? Europe- Ireland, London, Paris, Venice
8. What goal have you recently accomplished? Made it to ONEderland, meaning my weight is finally under 200 pounds.
9. Name one thing you worry about running out of. Toilet paper.
10. What top 5 blogs do you visit weekly? I visit A LOT, but here are a few: Running in Pink Project, Eat:Watch:Run, Meals and Miles, Crazy Running Legs, MomJovi (and all of these bloggers who tagged me)
11. What was your childhood nickname? My brother called me Dreenie. Actually, he still calls me that.
12. If you had to sing karaoke, which song would you choose? “River”

My Questions for You:

1. What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

2. What has been the best date you’ve ever been on?

3. If the President was coming over to your house (and assuming you like him), what would you cook for him?

4. If you could have Bob, Dolvett, or Jillian as your trainer, who would choose?

5. What gets you out of bed every morning?

6. What would you say is your best trait?

7. What would you say is your worst trait?

8. Which one habit would you like to break?

9. What is your next fitness goal?

10. Tell me one thing that’s on your wish list right now.

11. What do you like to do on a rainy day?

Who I’m Tagging:

1. Sara at Running in Pink Project

2. Paula at Eat:Watch:Run

3. Alison at Peacock Diaries

4. Courtney at Run, Courtney, Run

5. Faith at For the Health of It

6. Lauren at Team Giles

7. Sonja at Running in Pearls

8. Sana at Super Sana

9. Heather at Then Heather Said

10. Jenn at Eat, Sleep, Run Disney

11. Leslie at And Her Little Dog Too

Shew! That was a LONG one!

RECAP:

Activity:

Due to foot pain, I only ran once. I rested, massaged, and iced my foot the rest of the week.

Sunday- Princess Half Marathon (ran/walked 13.1 miles)

Food:

Still not tracking. I’m clearly lacking in self-discipline. But I am keeping my tracker right in front of my computer keyboard now, so I’m constantly reminded to track. Doing better in Week 9 with this!

Results:

Because I was out of town on Friday (my usual WW meeting day) traveling to Tampa for the Gasparilla 15K, I had to miss my meeting. But my scale usually reads the same as the scale at the meeting. According to my scale, I lost 0.2 pounds for a total of 6.8 pounds. Apparently one loses slowly when not tracking (wink). I will fix this!

Photo From the Week:

WARNING: This isn’t going to be the race recap you would expect from someone who loves Disney and running.

When the alarm went off at 2:30, I was already awake. I had woken up at 1:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I suppose I was just too excited to sleep! I quickly threw on my running gear, took Molly for a walk, and ate my usual race morning breakfast of toast with peanut butter.

I left my house at 3:30 and arrived at the starting line in Epcot before 4am. Since I wasn’t meeting any fellow runners that morning, I made my way to the corrals. However, they stopped us on the way there, and we all just stood there by the port-a-potties until after 5am before they let us move to the corrals.

Luckily, because I got there as early as I did, I was one of the first people in Corral E. Therefore, I was able to stand in the very front. While we waited in our corrals, three speakers greeted and encouraged us. I found out after the race that one of them was a blogger I follow. I think she did a fantastic job, but one of the guys with her kept making jokes and calling himself lazy. Ummm.. being lazy isn’t funny. I have to say, though, that they improved the sound system since 2010. That year, I wasn’t able to hear or see anything happening at the start line. This year, they had a screen up showing the speakers, and I was able to hear everything.

As each corral was set off on their merry way, a magical display of fireworks was set off!

My corral passed the starting line exactly at 6:09am. The first few miles flew by, and I felt really strong. I was keeping a really good pace of around 12:03. I needed to keep my pace under 12:16 to PR. Yes, I was running Princess with a goal to PR. I know it’s not the right race to try and PR, but I was determined. I had put in the training, and I was ready for it.

Unfortunately, due to the following, I was not able to PR:

• The extreme slowness right by Cinderella’s Castle. These tutu-wearing ladies just had no idea what to do. They were scrambling to get the best picture in front of the castle. I think it’s awesome to run Disney races for fun, but the ones running for fun act like they have no idea that others are running it a bit more seriously.
• I’m a run/walker, so I strongly support walking. But please, please, please, can we all learn some etiquette and move to the right instead of stopping in the middle of the road?
• Participants were stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures. I had to put my hands up a few times to catch myself from falling.
• The roads were too narrow, and there were far too many participants… 19,000 this year compared to 13,000 in 2010.

I mean, seriously, does a race need to be THIS crowded at Mile 5?

I mean, that is a cool picture with all of the colors and costumes. But really? I think Disney should stop being so worried about making a profit and start worrying about the safety of their runners.

I tried my best to make up for lost time, but my legs were stuck in a slower mode. My foot was hurting a little from the plantar fasciitis I’ve been dealing with, but I pushed forward.

My splits…

I finished this race about 4 minutes faster than my 2010 Princess Half Marathon.

Even though I was 6 minutes off of my PR, I’m proud of my time. I felt strong throughout the entire race. I never wanted to quit. And I stuck with the 2/1 run/walk intervals during the entire race.

Some other random things of note:

• I will no longer be doing Disney races as “serious races”. If I sign up for another one, it’s all for fun (except for the full marathon).
• The food provided at the end was just odd. We got a really nice “lunch box”, but it was filled with really odd stuff like edamame and a packet of hummus. I applaud them for accommodating gluten-free participants, but I missed the usual… bagels, cans of soda, etc.
• I will not be driving myself to anymore Disney races because getting out of the Epcot parking lot was a nightmare. I sat in the same spot for about 45 minutes. I was cramping up and starting to get VERY hungry. I tried nibbling on the crackers provided in the lunch box, but they smelled like dog food.
• Don’t even try to provide “negative” feedback to the Run Disney team via their Facebook wall. It will get deleted.

Ok, no more whining. I swear. I think the Princess Half Marathon is a great first half marathon, but I’ve learned from running other races that it can be done better.

I’d like to thank the volunteers for their support, the veteran who shook my hand in Epcot, my friends who participated in the ChEAR Squad and were there to cheer me on in Magic Kingdom and at the finish line, and my friends and family for their ongoing support!

These weekly recaps seem to come later and later and with less and less substance. I’m sorry! You can skip them if you want. They’re just for documenting my progress.

RECAP:

Activity:

Wednesday 2/15- ran/walked 4 miles

Monday 2/20- ran/walked 11 miles

Food:

Still not tracking, but I am snacking on more fresh fruits during the day. I’m LOVING the freshly cut pineapple at Publix!

I didn’t go to Sweet Tomatoes at all this week. I was having a problem going there and severely overeating.

Results:

Lost 0.4 pounds for a total loss of 6.4.

The Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend has finally arrived! First stop- the expo!

They let me park my carriage right there on the sidewalk.

Once at the Wide World of Sports, I made my way to packet pickup. Little did I know that the usual spot for packet pickup was being used for another event, so Run Disney had to set up a much smaller venue outside in a white tent, which made the line insanely long.

Luckily, it looked worse than it was. After 20 minutes, I was through the line with bib in hand.

I truly believe the Disney expos are some of the most frustrating and irritating of expos. I mean, just look how packed it is.

Add a bunch of lost women with a shopping problem, and you’ve got one irritated Andrea. They all just look around like this is their first time out in public. MOVE! Thankfully, I knew to go straight to the back to get my shirt and “goody bag”. Umm, Disney, there were NO goodies in my goody bag!!! You do know other races actually give their runners stuff, right?

I was passing right by the stage as the next speaker was about to start. Jeff Galloway!

He’s the man behind producing the run/walk method, my saving grace!

After that, I had my fill of the expo, so I went on in to get something to eat at the ESPN Grill, formerly the All Star Cafe (where I worked!). I even ran in to some friends who were there for the expo.

After the expo, Molly and I spent some quality time at the dog park. We’re all settled in now, and I’m getting ready to lay out my clothes and gear for tomorrow morning.

Have you run any races at Disney? If so, which one has been your favorite?

After reading several blog posts from other bloggers about Fleet Peeples Park, I knew I had to take Little Miss Molly there for her very first dog park visit ever. Well, I’m assuming that based on the story they told me at the rescue about Molly being part of a hunting group and not someone’s pet. I was so excited to show her the park and let her roam leash-free!

We got there around 4:30, and there were a ton of other doggies there enjoying the weather, the water, and the sand between their toes.

When I first let Molly off her leash, I felt like a mom dropping her kid off at her first day of school. I was nervous about Molly meeting other dogs, and I wouldn’t be able to control her if something went wrong. Luckily, she kept to my side for the first few minutes and then started going right up to other dogs to get a good face sniff.

I was really excited to see her go near the lake, but she never did put her feet in. I wanted to see her swim, but maybe next time.

She then started to wander over to the heavily wooded area, and I got really nervous. She quickly got away from me, and then just like that, I couldn’t see her anymore. Other doggie parents told me to just call for her, but poor little Molly is about 90% deaf. I did hear her nervously bark several times as if she knew she got too far from me.

I eventually saw her come right out, and she quickly ran over to a pile of mud to play around. She did keep going back in the woods, but I figured out where all of the trails were and was able to find her easily. She even befriended some other dogs and followed them.

The park was enormous! A lot of the area was shaded with Spanish Moss trees.

The park is situated right on Lake Baldwin. I imagine this looks really beautiful at sunset.

The park is also really clean, and I never felt like I might step in a pile of poo. The park also has doggie water fountains, a few pavilions for meet-ups or reunions, and a bathing station.

I was really excited to see Molly playing with other beagles. It was so cute!

Unfortunately, I had no idea how dirty Molly would get, and I didn’t even think to bring a towel. And I also didn’t even think to wear older pants and shoes. Whoops!

I definitely have plans to take Molly there at least once a week. We both had so much fun!

RECAP:

Activity:

Friday- Ran/walked 5 miles (12:07 pace)

Sunday- Ran/walked 10 miles (12:17 pace)

Wednesday- Ran/walked 4 miles (11:29 pace woah!)

53 Activity Points earned

Food:

Still not tracking, but I did buy a 3-month tracking journal.

Results:

Gained 0.2 for a total loss of 6.2.

Things to Note:

1. I know I need to drink more water and eat more fruits and veggies.
2. Must track. This is not an option!

Forgot to take a picture this week.