Been A Long Time

Hey guys! 

So it's been a long time since I've blogged. I totally lost track of time. New Years resolution will be to blog more! Now that 2015 is almost over, here is a recap of the last year plus, not necessarily in chronological order (with lots of pictures):

-I attended Salt Lake Comic Con

-I ran my very first half marathon

-I started dating a guy I super liked

-I went to Disneyland several times

-I turned 27

-I had my heart broken, twice

-I became an aunt - my niece is my favorite thing in the world

-I kissed 4 guys** (seriously, that's a lot in one year for me)

-I ran my very second half marathon - improved my time by 10 minutes!

-Saw Garth Brooks

-GISHWHESed again - best week ever

-Got mono - it wasn't that bad, couldn't even tell I had it.

-Went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!!!

-Went to Disney World - saw my old store and got super nostalgic

-Wore lots of bright lipstick

-Made friends, had fights, broke up, made up, been dumped, made out, hiked, swam, drove aimlessly, danced fearlessly...

Basically this last year I lived life more fully than in all my previous years. I have a few stories I'd like to tell here in the next days and weeks, and hopefully I'll have even more as I continue to find new adventures. Honestly, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, this year was about dating for me. Dating and Disney. I've never really made dating a priority and now that I'm freaking old (for a Utah gal) I thought I'd make it one. Luckily for me, most of my dates have been good ones. But none have translated into long lasting ones. Yet! Here's to a spectacular 2016 and more adventures in life, love, and awesomeness.

À bientôt!!

**NOTE: I did not kiss Jensen Ackles, unfortunately 😉😉

 

Motivation - Or the Lack Thereof

Guys, I have a really hard time getting up in the morning to go for a run. I think I've talked about this beforehand it remains the case to this day. 

But I have learned a couple tips that helps me, and maybe they will help you too! 

1) Set out your running/walking/yoga/exercise clothes the night before. Yes, just like you are your mom the night before the first day of kindergarten.

This really helps be because I wake up a little groggy early in the AM. Also, something about doing this really helps me psychologically, like I've been preparing to go for hours instead of just when I woke up. PS- I almost always run in nerd shirts and Bondi Bands. They are my fav!

2) Wake up to something fun!

As most of you probably know, I am obsessed with the show Supernatural right now. So my alarm song is "Carry On Wayward Son." I dare you to watch Supernatural and not love that song.

And 3) Go to bed on time. Seriously. I know how fun it is to stay up all hours of the night with your fun roommates. Trust me, my roomies are awesome. But I cannot get up with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I just can't. So I save my late nights for weekends and non-running eves.

I hope you all have a good week! I'm so excited for Salt Lake Comic Con this weekend! Tomorrow after work will be a total prep day! 

Question of the Day: Do you have any "tricks" for your brain to help you do an unwanted task?

Disneyland 5k

Hey all!

Sorry, I meant to blog yesterday while we were driving back to Utah, but instead I fell asleep for awhile, and got caught in the audiobook for the rest. So here is the race recap!

The start line/stage!

I woke up at 4am to get ready for the race. My whole family, apart from my dad who had to work, was running it! 

Pre-Race Selfie with my mom and sisters

First we had to walk a really, really long way to get to the start line. My mom said it was a little over a mile. And then we waited for the start. There were only 3 corrals for this race and we were in the third and largest corral. This caused a little bit of congestion throughout the race. 

First park sighting of the race. Carsland!

As I was running this one race, I couldn't help but compare it to the 5k from the Tinkerbell Weekend. And I have to say I liked the Tink course better. Because in that race we started and finished in the parks. In this one it felt like we were just briefly in both parks. 

Main Street USA!

And let's face it, the really reason we pay as much as we do for the Disney events is to be in the parks while we run. Not to say that this race was not fun, just that I would have liked to be in the parks a little more. 

Finish line! Almost there!

Now, Disney does treat you the best after a race.  They make you feel like you really accomplished something. And you just finished a race so you did! There are thousands and thousands of people who didn't or wouldn't finish even just a 5k. 

Post Race Selfie with my Mom!

I don't have a very accurate time for how long it took us because my mom's app didn't really start when we did. But it wasn't very fast because we were stuck in lots of traffic and my legs were just so not feeling it this time! 

Race Goodies

Well, there's my thoughts on the race. Did anyone else run it? What did you think?

I wish I was still there!

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend

Hi all! So I'm sorry I've been so MIA. I've just got in a couple bad habits and not blogging is one of them.  

But right at this very moment I'm on my way to Disneyland to run the Family 5k for Half Marathon weekend. The original plan was to run the 10k this weekend but it was sold out by the time I got on the computer that day so I could only get into the 5k.

I'm going to try and blog everyday for this trip. Tomorrow is the Expo and I'm really looking forward to package pickup and looking at the New Balance runDisney shoes! In case you haven't seen them here is what they look like!

I'm going to try and get those cute blue Cinderella ones, even though she is not my most favorite princess. I just love that shoe!

I'm going to be running as Rapunzel on Friday. I'll post a picture later because my skirt is packed. But here is a picture of the shirt I made for my brother. Bet you can't guess who he's dressing up as.

Ok well I'll be back tomorrow with an expo review! 

And here is a picture of some lightning we saw on the drive last night! Scary cool! I loved it!

Question of the day: Have you ever worn a costume while running/walking?

The First Mile

The first mile of my run is always, ALWAYS, the worst. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost quit, or have quit, before I’ve even finished the first mile.

Just this morning in fact. My feet hurt (spoiler: my feet always hurt the first mile) and my right calf ached (my sister, who is way more of an athlete than me and studying sports medicine, has since told me it is a shin splint…lovely). I’d made my one loop around the blocks near my apartment which equals .9 of a mile. I was literally walking into my complex thinking “Well I did very nearly one mile, that’s better than nothing.”

And it’s true, one mile is better than nothing. But I knew I could do more. Plus I am training for a freakin’ half marathon. So I paused for a few seconds stretched out my calf and my feet and I gave myself permission to slow down.

I think that is the key. Give yourself permission to go slow. If one mile is better than nothing, then two slow miles is just wonderful. I actually read this tip on a blog somewhere (see my first post on scouring the internet…I really have been doing that). The girl was training for some sort of big race, so during a smaller race she said, “I gave myself permission to go slow.”

I can see that some people might be leery of this Go Slow philosophy. Can it get you into a trap of never going fast or not really giving your runs all you’ve got? Undoubtedly. But, so can staying in your cozy bed at 6am instead of getting out there and pounding the pavement.

I know that I can do this. My mom (Hi Mom!) always gives me great advice. And one thing that she says to me frequently, that I am passing on to you, is “You Can Do Hard Things.”

And, just so you know, after I went slow for a few minutes I was able to go faster than before.

So keep going. Keep moving. Keep having fun with it. You Can Do Hard Things.

Question of the Day: What is something that keeps you motivated through hard things?

Brilliance of the Day: A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work. – Colin Powell

Research You Say?

So once upon a time, I thought running long distances was crazy. I thought running any distance was crazy.

I have friends who have done the Goofy Challenge and Dopey Challenge in Walt Disney World. (For those of you who don't know, that means running a half marathon on one day and a full marathon the next...oh and the Dopey has you run a 5k and a 10k on the two days before that...)

Wait, I still think this is all crazy.

In fact, I think that running 13.1 miles sounds crazy. Today I did a walk/run of less than 3 miles and I just don't know about that 10 more miles. 

So, as I mentioned in the last post, I've been searching the internet quite faithfully for beginning runner help. Luckily for me, and now for you fair readers, runDisney has a great training program put together by Jeff Galloway. Other runners swear by this program. Podcasts swear by it. Come November I will tell you how I feel about it.

However, I am going to combine the Galloway program with the c25k program. I feel like these can go hand in hand quite nicely because for the Galloway program you do 2 normal runs during the week and your long run on Saturday. So for the "normal" runs I'll be following the c25k but sticking to the days from the Galloway program. 

Look at all that bling those Dopey people get!

After my "run" today I was super motivated to spend money on work out things. I'm going to show you my haul and in 2 weeks I'll let you know what I think. And without further ado...

These are super cute and look like they are made out of a sweater!

So these Nikes are the ones I've been using for a couple of months. They are usually comfortable but I have weird, wide, big feet so sometimes they hurt the sides of my feet. So when my mom (Hi Mom!) took me birthday shopping for new running shoes at the Nike Outlet I chose these...

Aren't they cute?

I really like these. The color is super cute. The tongue is attached to the shoe and made out of a neoprene-like material that makes it feel like the shoe has a built in brace. The bottoms are flexible and they are so light! But then when I was out shopping today I found these...

The bottoms/soles are my favorite.

Aren't they adorbs? One of my very good friends, Alexandra, who happens to be running the Avenger's Half with me, keeps touting the Asics brand. So when I found these on sale, in my size, they decided to come home with me.

Bright colors!

Running socks. And here I thought running was a relatively inexpensive, low tech sport. Boy was I wrong.

What is it? Any guesses?

Some of the podcasters I listen to are always talking about their Spi belts. I decided to try this cheaper version first to see if I could stand to run with a belt on. And then finally...

One of these things is not like the other.

Running mags. I usually find that I am most inspired to do something if I am absolutely immersed in the thing. One even talks about a Couch to Half Marathon program. I will peruse these at my leisure. Oh and the Geek magazine, that's because I am a huge geek...have to get my nerd news some where. 

I know you guys are super interested in my every move every day, but for convenience I'm going to do a weekly workout update. Feel free to comment with your successes, challenges, and goals. Happy training everyone!

Question of the Day: What is the craziest thing you have attempted? Was it a success?

Brilliance of the Day: "All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney