Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend

Hey guys! I am literally in the car on the way home from Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland.

I did the Rebel Challenge this year, which meant I ran the 10k yesterday and the half today. Good times. 

Unfortunately I didn't take many pics because pretty much all my concentration goes to not dying and not stopping. I admire all of those people who have the will power to stop and take a photo, or stretch, or go to the bathroom...but I just know that if I ever stop, there's a chance I might not get going again.

So I got to Disneyland on Friday...and was super disappointed to find that the expo didn't open for a couple hours. I really wanted to check out the exclusive merch from runDisney and New Balance. 

But I went and played in the park with my family. The new Star Wars themed Hyperspace Mountain was super cool. And The Force Awakens updated Star Tours was great also!

The good news is, I did get to the expo and did get the new Dooney & Bourke Star Wars Half Marathon bag and the 2016 Ariel New Balances! Score. 

The 10k was great. That is really my favorite distance and will probably be my go to Disney race from now on. (Apart from halves I haven't done...) I felt strong and ended with a pace 40s faster than the 10k in November and almost a full minute quicker than what I told Disney I expected. (I am not fast...I walk a lot and jog slowly) I'd definitely recommend this 10k to anyone. You spend almost the entire 6.2 in the parks or in backstage areas. It might be my favorite course yet! I ran this race alone, as my sister really wanted to see how fast she could go. And it was just fine. I actually enjoyed setting my own pace and not worrying that I was too slow/fast (ha) for my race buddy. 

Today was the half. Ugh, at this moment I don't know that I could ever do it again. (That idea will change as soon as I decide I want to try a new race!) I felt pretty good for most of the whole race. We slowed way down during the back half, and I, Brittney, had to be the strong one for Aubrey. She was in a lot of pain (never wear Sketchers as your half shoes...). I wanted to quit around mile 9, as per usual. But this time I had to paste a smile on my face and tell the sister that we could do it. I literally had a litany of "You Can Do This. You Got This." playing in my head through mile 11. At 12, Aub almost had a melt down, but we pushed and finished!

This course was not my fave. We spent a lot of time...around 4-5 miles on Harbor. And I find that much time on one street boring. But there was a bunch of park time, and the local 501st legion nailed the cosplay. Over all, I'd maybe do this race again if someone twisted my arm, but I'd rather do the Avengers. 

The medals are freakin' sweet! Super excited to add these to my collection. 

As a side note...it's not the greatest feeling ever to get in a car and drive for 6 hours directly after a half marathon. I can feel myself getting stiffer every moment!

Thanks for reading people! Let me know if you need any advice on how to slowly run a half or anything Disney race related!

Grateful in January

Every first week in November my facebook feed fills up with people's gratitude. It's pretty cool to see the things that are important to everyone. But somehow it always tapers off. Now, I'm not one to get on anyone's case about losing track of time (see 2015, the year of 0 posts), but I am not sure I've seen anyone be thankful the entire 30 days of Turkeymonth.

And I think during the holidays it can be easy to be grateful. (also it can be easy to be not grateful and depressed too, but for the purpose of this post we're going to go with the easy route) You have lots of people expressing their love for you in the way of parties and gifts and SO MUCH FOOD.

But during January I have a hard time remembering to be grateful. I always want to complain about the cold and the icky snow (before Christmas, snow is magical. After Christmas it sucks), about work and school and the lack of time-off holidays, and on and on...It's hard to remember that just a few weeks ago I was all aglow with love of humanity. So here is a list (after that long and rambly into) of some things I'm grateful for today, on this snowy January day.

NOTE: Not my car...though I'm sure it has a remote start too

1. The remote start on my car. Sure, sometimes it's not fun to think about the reason it is on my car. (SHORT STORY: An ex put it on my car for Valentine's last year. So I refused to use it for a while after we broke up) But honestly, starting it from my bedroom while I'm still getting ready so that it's warm and snow free when I leave is the best.

2. Cozy sweatshirts. Nuff said.

Brooke was still at BT when we took this.

 

3. Great roommates. Living with people can be hard. But I'm lucky to have some great roommate friends! And the fact that we can call our place Nerd HQ because we all have similar interests is the best.

4. Amazing friends. From the people I've known practically all my life to more recent ones of a few years or months, I am incredibly amazed at the wonderful friends that have found me over the years.

5. The crap-ton of
 amazing movies out lately. Seriously, I'm gonna go broke.

6. Working cell phone. Everyone's been there...your phone dies, you screen shatters, you accidentally overheat your phone while running a half marathon and it dies...the usual. I am so happy that this baby has lasted me a while (a year...that's like 10 in cells phone years!)

Marvel cozy sweatshirt!

7. Netflix. I can sit here in my bed...blog on my phone to episodes of Friends or Gilmore Girls or Jessica Jones (side note: Jessica Jones is AMAZING)

I could list more things because I have so many wonderful opportunities and people in my life. But we'll end at lucky number 7. So, gentle reader, how do you remember to be grateful during the cold and unpleasant weeks after the holidays?

Thanks for reading! Love you all!

New Year's Resolutions - Geek Girl Style

Look at this, blogging on the first day of the year? Amazing! EDIT: I started this post on Jan. 1st...it is now Jan. 5th...still not too shabby.

My very favorite New Year's Wish

1. Blog More. Check

But in all seriousness, I do have a few resolutions. They are standard but I think I can give them a geeky twist.

Already got my swag for FanX 2016

2. Save More Money.

This one doesn't really need explanation. I'd someday like to not rent an apartment and actually own a home. But in a more realistic for right now issue...FanX is coming up in March and I'm gonna want to do a ton of nerd shopping. My goal is to put between $50-100 a paycheck into savings. Not a ton, but it's something.

3. Get in better shape.

Duh, everyone has this resolution. But hey, I'm going to Hawaii in April...there's some real motivation with a hard core end date. Also I think I'd like to get into cosplay a little bit so I'd like to be in a little better shape for that. (DISCLAIMER: I fully support the "it doesn't matter what you look like/your gender/your height/etc...just cosplay the character you love" movement. I personally feel as though I'd be more confident if I was a little more toned....but please don't let your looks stop you from cosplaying the character you love!!!)

NOTE: My thumb is blue from hair dye...not from actual dying

I can't get enough of these medals. So rad.

4. Improve Half Marathon Time.

So, I run a half in around 3.5 hours. That's slow AF. So I'd like to shave 30 minutes off that, but a more realistic goal would be 15 minutes faster. And this should help with goal the third.





5. Take Classes.

I very much want to take both sewing (COSPLAY!!!) and cooking classes. I super missed the boat in school when I didn't take these classes.


6. Take More Road Trips.

Yellowstone. Moab. Zions. St. George. Las Vegas. I just want to visit many places this year, some that I visit frequently, some that I haven't seen in forever...I'd love to load up with a bunch of friends for a weekend and go. Who's with me?!?

7. Date.

Going hand in hand with last week's post...2016 is going to be the year of Brittney and Dating. I'm gonna focus on me...but I'm gonna go out and have fun too! And I'd like to do a periodic #DudesOfTheInternet review...I'm saving some screen caps just for this. I think it might be fun to have reader submissions too! So get your internet dating (or regular dating) horror stories out and let's laugh with each other!

                                                             

 8. Experiment with Style.

New haircut? New make-up? New shoes/clothes/glasses? I want to try all the above this year. Is this just an excuse to buy new things...maybe? (keep in mind resolution 2 Brittney...) but I really would like to project a more polished image at my job and really in life period. YouTube make-up videos...I'm looking for your help this year!

Happy New Year everybody! Leave your resolutions in the comments if you'd like! Love you!

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 😉😉

 

Salt Lake Comic Con

Hi Everybody! (Be honest, what voice did you read that in?) I hope you are all having a great week so far. Sorry I was gone all last week. I was just getting caught up on stuff after Comic Con. Also, Supernatural season 9 came out on DVD so...yeah I have to finish that before season 10 starts!

So here it is, my great comic con review!

Loki Kitty had to come home with me!

Day One: I met my comic con group (there were 10 of us all together!) at the train station. (NOTE: Always take the train. Yes, you do have to pay for it. But then you save gas and parking. And you get to chill out and talk with all your friends, instead of someone having to pay attention to, you know, driving.)

Train station selfie. Also, random people we don't know.
Like the girl in the steampunk hat up front, and those tiny heads in back.

Once we got to the Salt Palace, we separated into lines. (VIPs get in early AND have a special line; always go VIP.) I only had to wait about 45 minutes to get in, but that was because we'd arrived before it opened. Day 1 was a shopping day, as we had no photo ops planned and only a couple panels that we wanted to get to.

Look who I found! Bloody Dean, a Con Exclusive! PS I LOVE pop figures...

The one panel that I, and most of the group, really wanted to go to today was the 2 Doctors panel. We got there early to get in line but they let us sneak into the Cary Elwes panel. I'm glad we got there because he was awesome and funny!

Cary Elwes, AKA Westley

Because we were in the room early we got awesome seats for the 2 Doctors panel. They had the 6th (Colin Baker) and 8th (Paul McGann) doctors from Doctor Who. Both men were sweet and British and interesting. Colin Baker was a tad crotchety which made him all the more funny! And it doesn't hurt that Paul McGann is a total babe.

I mean, just look at him! So cute!

After this I shopped a little more and ate an $11 burrito for dinner. (Oh con food, why are you so expensive, and so not amazing?) We headed home shortly after.

Day Two: Shopping again! Look at this cute cosplayer I found!

Toothless!

Also we spent a lot of time at the Weta and Evermore exhibits. They were so cool! This Smaug opened his eyes and looked around!

Oh, you're a scary little dragon aren't you?

And, man, I am so excited for Evermore Park! Please open up soon! I tried to take more pictures of this "booth" but it was always so dang crowded! I did get to trade a bronze sharpie for an Evermore coin that will be good for a VIP perk or something when the park opens.

That scary creature moved!

We were on the upper level of Evermore, do you see Smaug in the background?

Some of my friends had a photo op with Alan Tudyk, but I decided I would rather watch his panel. And I am so glad I did! He was so entertaining! I wish I would have gone up to ask a question because he was giving out random stuff.

Wash! Please come back!

We had our photo op with John Barrowman today. He was so fun! He came out and spoke to the line about their pictures and stuff first. I was lucky to be at the front so I could hear him really well! Yay!

He squeezed us really tight! Yay

We ended the night with a Supernatural panel. Man I love that show. And I love talking about it with people who also love that show. I wish the panelists (authors) had made it more of a conversation and less of an opportunity to pimp their books...but it was still fun. Some girls in line for the panel had this awesome art!

Awesome SPN fanart. Adventure of acquiring it below.

Day Three: Day of panels! We were lucky (read: had a VIP pass so we got in early!) to get really good seats and keep them for all 3 panels we wanted to see! First up was Simon Helberg.

He's on the right, if you can't tell.

He was sweet and stuff, but he wasn't as funny as I had hoped. But I guess we has sick so maybe that had something to do with it. Then, the moment I was really waiting for, Stephen Amell panel!

Look at him! He is so dreamy!

Now, this is a man who can hold the attention of a crowd. He was hilarious, exciting, and proved that he had some serious nerd cred. I was impressed with his entire personality. I didn't think anything could upstage him, but then... John Barrowman.

Cute. Cute. Cute.

Mr. Barrowman is dazzling. He was hysterical, sweet, naughty, flamboyant, and just plain great. I think I lost my voice from how often I screamed and yelled and shouted with him! Then, to top it all off, he sang to us! So cool!

After sitting in the same chairs for 3 plus hours I really wanted to walk around. And we had a mission. That Supernatural art I already showed you, well we really wanted to find it. And the girl from the panel the night before gave us specific directions really vague meandering areas to look through. We practically ran through Artist Alley looking for anything like it. After an hour of solid looking, we almost gave us as it was about time for the Stephen Amell photo op. But then my friend Alexandra spotted one last artist that we hadn't checked out. And lo and behold, there it was! Wahoo!

He was really, really tall. And yummy! If you don't watch Arrow, do it! Now! I'll wait!

After the photo, we left the con. It is really sad knowing you won't be back the next day. I wish my real life was as magical and colorful and comic con!

Best Part of the Con: Stephen Amell...John Barrowman...Stephen Amell...John Barrowman...uhh it's too hard to decide!

Worst Part of the Con: Um...my experience was pretty good. I heard there were really bad lines on Thursday but I didn't have them. I guess, Saturday was a little uncomfortably crowded; I could hardly walk through the isles. And the food is over priced. But it was mostly a fun time!

Pro Tip: PRE-REGISTER! I don't care if you live far away, do it anyway. Have a friend help you. Come in really early the day of, just do it! And go VIP. Or don't, less VIPs for me to compete with! Also, wear comfortable shoes!

The other art I got! Such pretty men!