I probably can't do this.

Learning to ride a bike is hard.  My daughter said I looked silly trying and it made me cry.  I think I'm not tough enough to be a triathlete.  Not today, anyway.

I bought a bike!! It just got real up in here!

I've been looking on eBay & Craigslist for bikes and I finally went to look at one I liked today.  It is a nice, if a bit older, bike.  What I like about it is that it has upgraded components and is all carbon.  According to my research, this is awesome!  It's also a limited edition Ironman model, which I thought was cool since a half Ironman is my next goal.

But to get though this first triathlon will be enough of a challenge!

You see, I can tear up a stationary bike at the gym, but riding a real bike is more than a bit different.  I did a test ride wearing flip flops (my bad for not remembering to put on real shoes), and the pedals were some super tiny clipless jobbies so it was hard to feel stable.  The bike fits well, but that seat... Lordy, that may be the first thing I switch out.  NOT COMFORTABLE.  I need to head to the bike shop to get a helmet and some regular pedals.  I think I'll start with those instead of buying shoes and pedals since I am really just learning to ride the darn thing.  I have heard the expression, "It's just like riding a bike..."  and... it's really NOT.

Here's a pic of the new ride:

 

So, that''s my new bike.  I am terrified of look forward to learning to ride it.



So, I signed up for a triathlon... I've lost it, right?

I don't blog very frequently so a lot happens from one post to the next.  In the time since my last post about the Princess Half Marathon, I spent about 3 months sitting on my ass before deciding I needed a new goal.  Because the first full marathon I wanted to do was the WDW Full in January 2014, I thought about what I wanted to do in the meantime.  For some crazy reason, I decided a triathlon was the answer.

September 21, 2013

This was a ridiculous decision in many ways.  First, I don't have a bike and haven't ridden one since I was 10.  Second, I can "swim" in that I don't drown, but I am no one's life guard material.  Running was ok, but I am still sloooooooooooow.  Oh, and I didn't sign up for a Sprint Tri - I signed up for an Olympic Triathlon.  What?  Yes.  That's 1500 meters open water swim in the ocean, 24.5 miles on the bike, and a 10k (6.2 miles) running.  So, now you agree I'm probably crazy, right?

The good news is that it was 16 weeks away and I had some conditioning with the running.  The first thing I did was join the Y.  In addition to the excellent gym, the kids could enjoy the outdoor pool with twisty slide all summer.  I have been plugging away with cycling and running ever since, but I haven't quite started the swimming yet and I've got about 6 weeks left before race day.  In my defense, I did swim for about a week and the kids told me I looked stupid - LOL.  So, I finally called today about getting some private swim lessons and hopefully, I can get on the right path to swim much more frequently in the next 6 weeks.

I am planning on doing some Sprint Tris as soon as I can get a bike - which I am looking to buy in the next week or so.  I'll post race reports and updates as they happen.  In the meantime, I have talked about weight loss on this blog and my struggles so here's some good news on that front.  I am happy to report that in the last year I've lost 40lbs.  The only full body pic I could find was from 2011, but here is what 40lbs looks like on me:

I'd like to lose about 25 lbs more but I've heard differing reports on how training for a half marathon or triathlon helps or hurts weight loss.  I guess time will tell!

As for running, I have 3 other half marathons on the radar for 2013 - The Run Raleigh Half in October, the City Of Oaks, and Wine & Dine at WDW, both in November.  I'll try to blog more often, in case anyone is interested in my triathlon journey.

Oh, yeah... I almost forgot.  Apparently, I am so convinced I am triathlete material that I went ahead and signed up for the Ironman 70.3 Raleigh that will be held next June.  It's like this:  I have to sign up NOW or it will be sold out by the time I convince myself I can do it.  So I'm doing it.  Last June, we did the balloons for the event.  Next June, I will be working my butt off to finish it!

Disney Princess Half Marathon - 2013

I had high expectations for the Princess Half Marathon.  This was THE RACE that made me start running!!  I didn't really know if I was going alone or with family until about 3 weeks before the event.  In the end, my mom and two children flew down with me and my friend Chris came in from California.  We came in Friday night and I had been reading all day Friday on FaceBook what a mess the expo was - three hour waits to get your race shirt and impossibly long lines just to get into the official merchandise area!  I decided to get to the expo ASAP on Saturday morning and was prepared for the worst.  Fortunately, I was able to get my bib, race gear and a few things at the official merch area in about an hour.  I will say that we had to wait in a looooong line just to get in since we got there before it opened.  As we left, that line outside was even longer and the lines inside had gotten crazy long as well.  Compared to the Tinkerbell expo, this WAS a disaster.  I was happy to get in and out so quickly.

Me with my sash and tiara at the expo.

We spent Saturday at Animal Kingdom - trying to take it easy, but it was still more heat and walking than I probably should have done.  We did leave at closing, so I was in bed by 9pm.  I set my alarm for two times - the first was 2:15am so I could get up and get ready.  The second was for 3:15am, which is when I needed to meet Chris and get to the buses.  I was dressing up as Merida from Brave in her royal dress, complete with giant, puffy, ridiculous wig.  I was a little self-conscious about the wig and didn't want to look like a dork, but I was going to figure that out in the morning and ditch the wig if I didn't feel good in it.  The weather was calling for 70 degrees and 100% humidity at race start, so ditching the wig as definitely on the table.

So, I sleep peacefully and the alarm goes off.  I had built in a 9 minute snooze to the plan, so I hit snooze and let myself wake up slowly.  But then my text message goes off.  It's a text from Chris asking if I'm ready to go.  What?  It's 2:15, right?  NOPE!  My 2:15am alarm was set to WEEKDAYS ONLY, so the alarm that just went off was the 3:15 one.  I absolutely FREAKED OUT.  I had come all this way and had such big expectations and I wasn't even going to make it to the bus!!  I had thankfully laid out all my race gear the night before and threw it on like a crazy person.  I put on the wig and some quick make-up, but not the original eye rhinestones I had planned, and was out the door by 3:40am.  I also had no time to debate the ridiculousness of the wig, so on it went and my dorkiness factor just shot through the roof!

Annnnd ready to go in 20 minutes!  This photo has no indication of the STRESS I was feeling!!

We caught the second bus from All Star Music and after what seemed like a long bus ride, got dropped off at the staging area.  My adrenalin was still pumping through the roof but I did manage to calm down on the walk to the corrals.  It seems like people were already walking toward them when I arrived so I followed the herd.  The corrals were pretty damn far away.  I waited in Corral C for about 45 minutes before they started letting the earlier corrals go.  At Tink, it seemed more like people wanted to socialize, but no one around me really seemed too talkative or friendly, so I just watched the big screens where they interviewed the gal that came in last at Tink and Sean Astin. We got nice fireworks each time a corral was let go and finally it was our turn!

You know how they say not to run too fast the first few miles of a race?  Well, no problem because it was literally elbow to elbow people.  I started my run/walk and had a terrible time trying to navigate through the walkers, and meanwhile was getting bumped pretty badly by the runners behind me.  It certainly wasn't ideal racing conditions.  The first 4 miles were kinda miserable.  It was warm and humid.  I couldn't get a good groove with run/walk due to the crowded conditions.  I was not really having fun.  I don't even remember much in the way of entertainment along those first few miles.  I never thought I wasn't going to make it to the finish line, but I was a little sad that this experience was going to be something to "get through" and not really ENJOY.  I was basically walking at this point because I just couldn't make running intervals work.  I was discouraged at my pace and sweating my beetonk off in that wig.  I just wanted to keep it on until the castle and then I was seriously thinking of taking it off and tying it to my quiver.  And then, like Disney magic, we were entering Magic Kingdom and I started getting emotional.  How many times when I trained, did I think about this moment?  Running down Main Street!!  It was happening!!  And I did get to run because suddenly, it seemed everyone started running too. 

Running down Main Street was the highlight of the race!

We passed lots of photo ops before the castle - Buzz Lightyear, Alice & the Mad Hatter, Gaston, Belle, Minnie & Mickey at the back of the castle - but the lines were simply INSANE.  I mean, like 40 people deep.  Knowing my pace was a little slower, I just didn't see any photo op that was worth the wait.  Especially when I had just done so many at the Tink.  So I ran through the castle (and I did get to run again - I heard many people had congestion through the castle, but my trip through was smooth) and stopped for a photo out in front.

Yay!  Now I can take the wig off, right??

We went through Frontierland, again passing long lines and no one I really wanted to wait for.  In truth, I wanted two photo ops: Stitch and Merida.  I never saw Merida (I later found out she as in the Race Retreat only), but I knew Stitch had to be along at some point.  So we exited Magic Kingdom and went back to the long, boring roads.  At the half-way point, they played that dreary Alicia Keys song about being on fire.  I don't care for that song and it's not particularly a good running song, IMO, but it was nice to know I was half-way.  I was having more fun since going through MK and now I was looking for Stitch with a comfortable amount of time to wait in line.  It was still pretty crowded, but I was able to run/walk a little more and I was happy about that.  Then, after Mile 7, I saw Stitch!!  I got in a 3 minute line and was one away from my turn when Stitch left in a golf cart?  WHAT??  I must have made some kind of noise that indicated I was crushed, because the Cast Member said Stitch would be back in 10 minutes and I could wait.  So I did.  I watched at least 1000 people run by, but I was getting this photo!!  When Stitch came back, they let me go first since I had been waiting (another lady waited too) and I was pretty excited about my photo op with Lilo & Stitch!

The photo op responsible for a 26 minute mile!

By this point, I was having fun and forgot my wig was hot.  Since I had a Bondi Band on underneath it, sweat wasn't running into my face at all, so I decided to leave it on to the end.  I also decided I was far enough ahead of the sweepers, that I was going to stop at every photo op on the last half of the course.  Which I did!  It was a lot of people that weren't at the Tink, so I was jazzed about that.  I got pics with the Princes, Cap't Jack (He was at Tink, but I didn't stop), Pocahontas, Mulan, Mrs. Incredible, the Genie from Aladdin, and Princess Atta - as well as a giant banner with Princesses (but no Merida).  The last half of the Half flew by!  I was looking for this "hill" that everyone talks about and I was confused to see the Army Man because I thought he was part of it.  I then looked back and realized the "hill" was so gradual that I didn't know I was going up.  The hills in Raleigh definitely prepared me for this!!  I laughed to myself and when I got to the top of the "hill", I could see the Epcot ball not too very far away.  I could also see at least 1000 runners (or more) behind me.  I got the best surprise at Mile 12 - my family was there!!  I ran over and hugged them - immediately starting to cry, because seeing the people that mean the most to you when you are physically and mentally exhausted is just the best feeling ever.  That gave me the energy to push on to the end, for sure!  I heard the gospel choir and I cried again!  It was another one of those moments I'd envisioned during training and here it was!!  I saw the finish line with Minnie & Mickey on either side right before you cross.  I was closer to Minnie, so I stopped for one last pic.

The clock time was 4:16, but my chip time was 4:00:11.

I was pretty unhappy with my time, but due to the humidity and heat, I'm going to give myself a pass.  I wanted to check my average moving time, but for some reason, my Garmin didn't save my run.  At Tink, it was 3:19 with cool temps and no humidity.  I can only imagine that it was a little longer this time.

Did the Princess live up to the hype?  Well, the beginning was a nightmare because I woke up late and had no time to mentally prepare myself.  The middle part with Main Street and the Castle was everything I wanted it to be - just absolutely magical.  The last half was a blast!  And the best part was that I got my Coast To Coast medal and completed a goal I had set for myself more than a year before, as I sat on the couch.  For those reasons, I'm going to give the Princess a thumbs up.  Yes, the expo was kinda a mess and yes, there were too many people on the course, but as an experience I had dreamed about, it was all I wanted it to be.  Even in my big dorky wig, I felt like a fierce princess!



Me with my three medals!!  Yay!!  Goal completed!!
 

2013 Tinkerbell Half Marathon - Disneyland, CA

I am leaving tomorrow for the Princess Half Marathon and I realize that I haven't written a report on the fabulous Tinkerbell Half Marathon that I ran last month.  So here it is!

This was my first RunDisney race and I had heard mixed reviews about the Tink.  The main complaint for most people was that the time in the parks was early on and only for a few miles, with the last 7 miles or so on the street of Anaheim.  But, I had an open mind and I had an absolute blast!

But we'll start in the days before the race when, to my horror, my Tinkerbell dress I ordered in early December still hadn't arrived.  It actually came while we were in California, in a cruel twist of fate.  This left me with no outfit to wear during the race - and dressing up is like 85% of why I run!!  Mom and I went shopping the night before we left for CA and found a lime green tek shirt and a child's Tinkerbell costume that I could take the wings off of.  I was hoping to buy a Sparkle Skirt at the expo to round out my outfit.  Oh! And I had big puffy white loofah balls for my shoes to look like Tink's shoe pom-poms!

Here is my last-minute running outfit.  I ran in this, minus the arm-warmers.

Ok, so onto to the big day!  I got up at 2:30am and put my hair in a Tinkerbell bun and shellacked about 6 tons of makeup on, because looking good is half the battle, right?  My friend, Chris, drove down from Santa Cruz to watch me run and he generously got up before dawn to take me to the Starting Line.  I found my corral (Corral C) and started to hand out some lime green glow bracelets I brought.  Here's me at the Starting Line with a friend I made:

Me & Colleen - both running solo in Corral C

It was chilly, but not too frigid and I was not uncomfortable while waiting the HOUR or so before we got going.  Chatting with Colleen really made the time fly!  Finally, it was time to start!!  My first mile was outside the perimeter of the park on the streets.  I ran it at 13:36, which is pretty fast for me.  I know the biggest piece of advice runners give is DON'T START OFF THE RACE TOO FAST.  But, I kinda did!  We got into the park during mile 2 and I started seeing characters.  I skipped the first few and finally did Phineas & Ferb since I didn't want to skip all of them.  Next was Darth Vader, who was my MUST HAVE photo op.  Colleen didn't want to wait in the line (which was about 7 minutes long) so she went on ahead.

Vader choking me with the Force!

I stopped for a few other pics while in California Adventure and Disneyland:

California Adventure at the World Of Color water light show.  It was AMAZING!

I had to stop and see Merida!!  She's my favorite Princess!!

Ok, time to run through Sleeping Beauty's Castle!!  I expected something more dramatic, but it wasn't that powerful of a moment.  I think I am jaded, being a WDW girl and loving Cindy's bigger castle.  It was still cool and I stopped to see Aurora and her Prince on the other side:

I'm the one in green.

Shortly after this, we left the parks and the next 7 miles were on the streets of Anaheim.  I have photos of this, but they are pretty boring.  There were several sets of cheerleaders and a few scattered spectators.  It was a pleasant run, but not as visually exciting as inside the parks.  I swear, the big mile markers made it go so much faster.  I stopped at every mile marker to take my picture!

Here's me at mile 13!  Almost there!!

I saw my cheer squad at the finish line and I ran in to a time of 3:46.  My actual running time was 3:19, so I spent 27 minutes on photos.  I will admit that I walked most of the last half because my leg was kinda bothering me and I didn't want to risk a bigger hurt that would take me out.  My walking pace is 15 mm so I knew I was way ahead of the sweepers.

Yay me!

I finished and got my medal.  So many people were coming through when I finished that volunteers were handing people medals inside the plastic instead of putting it around their necks.  I got one unwrapped and placed around my neck though, thankfully.  Just handing it to you in plastic seems like a bit of a let down.  I ate a banana and got a box of foodstuff and went to find my people.  We spent the rest of the day at California Adventure and I walked all day with no problem.  I think taking it relatively easy made for a great recovery.

In all, this was so much fun to run!  I would definitely do it again!!  For the Princess, I want to get more photos of the spectator signs - some were hilarious, and it really added to the experience.  I also had time for more pics (since clearly, I'm not setting a PR with a Disney race!) so that is good info for the upcoming Princess race.  I'd love to go back to Disneyland for the Tink again, or possibly the DL Half over Labor Day.  Maybe next year!

2013 - Ready to go!

For 2013, I joined a group called the Moon Joggers where we are accruing enough miles to run to the moon!  Each person pledges 1000 or 2013 miles to run in 2013.  I pledged 1000 because I have never tracked before and 2013 seemed a little ambitious!  I am super excited to begin!

I also am a little less than 3 weeks from the Tinkerbell Half Marathon at DisneyLand!!  I am a little nervous because I have to admit, my training has been pretty sparse over the holidays.  I am trying to get back on it and I hope it will be enough to get me through.  Full report after the race!!

Raleigh City Of Oaks/Rex Healthcare Half Marathon - November 2012

I have completed my first half marathon! 

It is also now 58 days until my next one: the Tinkerbell Half at Disneyland in California.  I am also registered for the Princess Half in February.  So, in short, I need to get off my ass and start seriously committing to some mid-week runs.  It all started two weeks before the COO when I had to travel.  I teach balloon decor and travel usually once to twice a month, depending on the month.  No complaints - I love what I do... it's just hard to maintain a running schedule when traveling.  I'm also on Weight Watchers and I don't have to tell you how hard it is to maintain points while eating at restaurants 3 nights out of 7.  Anyway, on to the COO!

I was nervous and excited as the big day approached.  I knew I could do the distance, as my Galloway training had prepared me for this.  I just worried about the pace.  I wanted to finish a sub-three-hour time and so I thought I would start with the 2:30 pace group and then I had some wiggle room.  HA!  This is hilarious in retrospect.

Here's the starting line - you can see the arches waaaay in the distance.  I started pretty far back because I was not the fastest gal on the track.  I ran into Danielle, another Galloway runner, and we were excited to have found a friend to run with.  This lasted until the end of mile 2.  She was just too fast for me.  I think I ran a 12 minute & 13 minute mile those first two.  I just couldn't keep that up for 13 miles.  And I was cursing myself for the rest of the race for not doing my mid-week runs and not pushing myself harder during training.  I ran with the 13 mm pace group, but we always run at 15mm or slower and I never pushed myself harder than that.

After I sent Danielle ahead with all my well-wishes, and got passed by the 3 hr pace group (::cries::), I just decided to finish and do what I could with what I had.  We ran past the capitol building and I stopped to get a pic:

Notice how few runners were in front of me.  There were actually quite a few behind me, so I didn't feel too badly.  So, after the capitol, it got hilly through some residential areas.  As you know, hills are NOT my friends and I was getting tired and discouraged.  The only thing keeping me moving forward was knowing I was going to see my family at mile 6.2.  I had never been so tired and unhappy by mile 4 since I started running!  But I kept going - through the awful hills - and kept moving towards my kids waiting at Cameron Village.

Here's me hugging my daughter.  I have never been so happy to see these people EVER.  I had been struggling for about 4 miles all alone and up in my head, and seeing my kids, mom, and my ex-husband (yes! He was there to support me too! Yay!) was the best, most emotional thing I have felt in a long time.  It, more than finishing or getting a medal, was the highlight of the race for me.

My son took this photo of me as a ran away from the hugs, and I am posting it because I have lost 25 pounds through running and WW and I hope it serves as inspiration to lose more:

Ok, I was half way through and my next goal was to get to my friend Emma, who was volunteering at the race.  A few words about Emma - She is amazing!  So outgoing and friendly in this super easy way to talk to.  She befriends everyone and is just someone you want to be around.  She is also so encouraging and I knew she would fill up my motivational reserves when I made it to her.  It was about three more miles before I got to her and then I got to see her twice since she was at the juncture of an out-and-back road.  I kept thinking I was ALMOST DONE because I was close to Hillsborough Street where the finish line was, but NOOOOOOOOO, I was still about 4 miles out.  It's kinda cruel actually, because just when you reach Hillsborough, you have to do three out-and-backs before you can run down Hillborough to the finish line.  The first two were not bad, but the last one was all the way to Western Boulevard before turning back.  I was way ahead of the street sweepers and there were still lots of people behind me, so I knew I was doing ok.  I did start walking quite a bit more and usually just running on the downhills.  This is something else I want to improve before the next half - I have got to keep my intervals going!  About mile 10, my leg starting hurting - can't remember if it as my knee or my calf now, but I was crampy and slowed down a bit.  I ran past my Galloway friends Sue and Margaret and that helped me keep going.  Only about 1.5 miles left!

As I got close to the finish line, I saw my family again and I wanted to stop but I was so close and they actually ran along side me (behind the fences) to the finish line!  They were so proud and that was a nice feeling.  I was glad it was over and HUNGRY. LOL

Here's me with my medal:

So - yay!  I didn't feel as life-changed as I thought I would, but now, weeks later, I can say it was a pretty great thing.  I don't plan and work towards a goal as a general rule and this was something I really followed through with. 

I am going to try to blog more - only because I think it helps keep me accountable.  My next races should be fun with lots of photos.  I do plan to dress up for both the Tink & the Princess (and truth be told, that the whole reason I wanted to start running - LOL).  Oh!  My official time for the COO was 3:14:27 with a pace of 14:50 mm.  My Garmin had it a little different: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/240138965#.UK-ZNh_kFxt.email

And I also got a new charm for my bracelet:

 

Many lessons learned!  Now I just need to apply them...