2014 Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Re-Cap

 I cannot believe how long it has taken me to get this post up!! I guess, writing my re-cap was just really hard because I just don't want to admit that Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend is over! I loved it that much!!

This was the race that started it all for my sister. If you remember back to April of last year, my sister had never run a race, and she was very "anti-race". I begged her to travel with me to Disneyland to run the Tinkerbell 1/2, and she flat out refused! She wanted nothing to do with racing. So, I devised a plan in which she wouldn't be "racing" at all, but helping me pace myself, and she would run with me. She went for it and we got signed up.

Of course, she needed to actually run a race in order to have a time to submit to RunDisney for corral placement, so her very first 10k was in August. It was at this race that she got CRAZY about racing (and very competitive!!).

Fast forward to January 19, 2014 --

We had just finished running the Neverland 5k and the Tinkerbell 10k the two days before this race, and now we were up at 3am again, to run the Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon!! Only 13.1 more miles stood between me and the amazing Tinkerbell medal!! I was so excited for this race, as it was going to be my first 1/2 marathon that I actually had someone to run with!!! I was very excited!

Anne and I got ready in record time, and made our way to bag check, and on to corral B. Anne had a time good enough to be in corral A, and while I knew it was killing her to fall back and be in B with me, I was overjoyed to be able to run with someone!!

As we waited in the corral to start, I was amazed with how "fresh" my legs felt!! I wasn't tired, or sore!! This was going to be another GREAT race!!

We were right at the front of corral B and it didn't take long for us to be called to the starting line. After the count down we started running!! I know I had tears in my eyes, I was just so excited to have another chance to run in the beautiful weather (55 degrees!!) and through the parks again!

For the first mile, we ran on some roads outside of Disneyland, these included a few small "hills", but I really don't remember too much of this part of the race, it was dark, and I was just trying to settle into a pace that would be happy for both Anne and I. Anne was struggling with her (bought the night before!) RunDisney tutu, and ended up taking it off and throwing it to a very excited spectator! She is not a costume girl!

About 1.5 miles later we entered Disney's California Adventures! Here we stopped for our first character stop, and I noticed that Linzie from @SeeSharpRun was right in front of us!! I took a quick pic with him! The first character line was short, and didn't take us very long to get through. We then devised a plan that Anne would run up to the character line and wait, I would run and catch up to her. This worked for much of our time in the Parks!

This is probably the reason I loved the Tinkerbell races, you actually run through the parks for an extended amount of time! We ran in the parks for just over 4 miles!! It was so much fun!!

Anne and I stopped for just about every photo op during these 4 miles, and it was funny to watch the time on our Garmins tick by! We actually "ran" mile 3 in 25 minutes!! hahaha! I think seeing this time really got to Anne, it got into her brain and she just panicked!

After meeting Cinderella, Rapunzel and Finn Ryder, Anne took off, saying she would wait at the next stop. When I got to the next character, she was nowhere to be found, so I ran to the next character, and again, there was no Anne. I knew, I knew she had left and I wouldn't catch up to her again, so I settled in to run my own race.

For about 2 miles, I was mad, I was really mad. Usually when I run mad, I run fast, but this time I was trying to choke back tears, I had really wanted to cross the finish line with my sister.

As I made my way down the streets of Anaheim, I got over it and just enjoyed the rising sun, and the views!











Some people complain about running on the streets of Anaheim, that it "isn't' Disney", which is true, unlike races at Walt Disney World, which are run all on Disney property, Disneyland is small, and the city of Anaheim hugs Disney on all sides. Disney cannot have their characters outside of their property, so after mile 5.5 there are no more character stops. I didn't know how I would feel about that, but I was shocked by how the city supported this race!! It was really awesome!! There were very few spots without spectators, and there were multiple places set up handing out food -- I ate the best orange slice I think I have ever had, I even thought about turning around to get another one!!

I had a really great time running this part of the race, I didn't worry about character stops messing with my time, and I was just able to run! It felt really good!

I was able to admire the costumes that everyone was wearing, and chat with a few other runners. At around mile 10 I caught up to a woman who was wearing one of those skirts that belly dancers wear, the ones that make noise, you know those? Well, it annoyed me so badly!! I couldn't focus on anything else but the noise her skirt was making, I actually thought about hitting her!! That's when I knew that I had to get this race over with!

At mile 12 we were back on Disney property, backstage of DCA, and the bottom of my right foot started throbbing. I didn't know what to do, it hurt so bad!! I have never had this type of pain before, and it was bad!! It hurt really bad when I ran, and not as much when I walked, so I walked a while. I didn't want to have to walk across the finish line, but I was in so much pain!!! I just wanted to take my shoe off!

I started chatting with a girl who was also walking, she gave me some encouragement, and at about mile 12.5 I high-fived her, and started running towards the finish line.

The crowd was amazing, and it helped me not focus on my foot!! I sprinted through the finish line, as tears streaked across my face! I think I was crying because I was sad that the weekend was over, that this race that I had planned for so long to run, was over, but I was so proud of myself for finishing!

I seriously skipped over to get my medal!! It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love this medal!!

I met up with Anne at the same place we met the day before, and at first I got a little angry with her, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. Her excuse was that she "lost me" but I know she needed to run her own race, and just took off. I'm still sad we didn't get to share the finish together, but I understand.

With that said, she only finished 8 minutes before me…..so……

Oh well. I'm over it!

We collected our checked bag, in which we had put our other medals from the weekend, and we got a few pictures taken with all of our medals on!

My sister also had a special surprise for the at the end of the race. All week she had told me that she had something and that it would probably make me cry. She was right! She gave me a vintage (1950's) Tinkerbell charm that she had put on a Alex and Ani bracelet. The charm was very much like the one my mom got as a child in Disneyland. It melted my heart, and if I had had the energy to, I would have bawled. I held it together though. This bracelet means the world to me, for so many reasons!!

Even with all the post-race excitement, I couldn't forget about my foot, it was still throbbing in my shoe, so we made our way back to the hotel, had some breakfast, showered and got ready for our last day in the parks! Once I released my foot from my shoe, it was better…..thank goodness!!

We spent the rest of the day at both Disneyland and DCA, it was super crowded, and we actually had 2 rides shut down just before we got on them (after waiting over an hour in line!!).

It definitely wasn't our favorite day in the parks, but we made the best of it!!

My final thought about Disneyland's Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend are simple, it was a magical experience! And even though I have only run 2 RunDisney races (PHM and Tink), I am declaring Tinkerbell as the winner (although I am going to let PHM weekend impress me if it would like to!).

Tinkerbell is great because:

1.  time spent in the parks during the run (the 5k is completely in the parks - start and finish!)
2. getting to the corrals is much easier than at WDW, less walking
3. it is a smaller race, not so crazy
4. the weather!! No HUMIDITY!!
5. smaller parks mean less time spent on your feet in between races!
6. everything is much closer: expo, hotels, parks, etc.
7. the great people of Anaheim who come out to cheer on and support the runners
8. the medals!! They are HUGE!! and BEAUTIFUL
9. California!! I love California!!

I seriously have to run this race weekend again! I know many people had issues with parts of this race weekend, I did not experience any of these issues, and I overall had an amazing time that I will never forget!! It was amazing to travel with my sister, and experience Disneyland for the first time with her. I am so glad she decided to run this race "with" me!! I hope we can do it again in the future!!

Now, it is time to focus on Princess 1/2 Marathon weekend, and earning my coast-to-coast medal!!

A Weekend of Ups and Downs!

What a fun and very full weekend!! I cannot believe how many ups and downs this weekend held for me!


Friday night was date night with my boyfriend. We kept it simple and went to our local Rib Fest. It is held in a fairy new park in Mankato, and it was the first time we had been to the Rib Fest since it moved to this location. It was fun to sample different Ribs from Pit Master from across the country. There was live music and lots of people watching (one of our favorite past times!).  I tried to watch what I ate, but I very rarely eat meat, and the ribs were so delicious that I ended up eating more than I have planned on! We ended our evening early, since I had to be up early to volunteer at the Hy-Vee Iron Kids Triathlon in the morning!

It was an early Saturday morning for me! I was headed to the Hy-Vee Iron Kids Triathlon to work at the finish line, and I was super excited! I heard about this event in early July and heard that they were in need of volunteers, it was a no brainer for me to volunteer! I just wanted to be on the "other-side" of a race, and get excited for the kids who were racing!






The whole event was a lot of fun to watch! Those kids are amazing, and looked totally professional! Even the youngest (and smallest) girl at 6 years old looked like a pro crossing the finish line!

I have to say that the event, however, was not the most organized in relationship to the volunteers! When I arrived, there was no one checking in volunteers, there was just a pile of volunteer t-shirts, and no one around! I found a shirt, threw it on and headed over to the finish line. At the finish area, there were about 20 volunteers looking confused. After some introductions, it was pretty clear that no one really was in-charge, and I took control (not really wanting to, but no one had ever been to a race or seen a finish line set up before!!), and we got the entire finish area set up. There was so many different food and drink options for the kids!!

I explained some of the different jobs that we needed, such as people to give out medals, others to take timing chips off the kids, and others to hand out food and water, and a couple to drop the finisher ribbon/banner for each child.

Finally, after we pretty much had everything ready to go, someone in-charge came over to us and pretty much went through the same info! Lol!

Soon the kids were off and we were anxiously waiting for the first finisher! My first job was to hand out medals! It was so much fun to watch the kids running to the finish with HUGE smiles on their faces! It really gave me so much joy to be watching a race -- for once!!

During the second and third wave, I got to drop the finisher banner! Iron Kids wants each child to feel special at the finish line, so we were asked to try to have every child "hit" the banner! It was great cheering on the little kids coming in! I teared up a couple of times, just because the kids were glowing with pride and joy as the crossed!! It was so inspiring!

At the end of the second wave the Minnesota Vikings' Cheerleaders showed up and took over "my job" for awhile. It was pretty funny watching the two cheerleaders try to figure out how to drop the banner, and quickly get it ready for the next child! They quickly got frustrated and turned the job back over to me and the other volunteer!

Cheerleaders taking over the finish line! Pompoms and all!

The last wave was the youngest kids, and it was so cute watching them run in! We had to hold the finisher banner so low!!

After the race finished, I helped set up the awards area, cleaned and helped take apart the bike racks in the transition area. It was a great morning! Truly inspiring and uplifting! My throat was sore from cheering and my heart was full of joy!

After a quick shower, Ryan and I decided to drive up to Minneapolis to try out an italian restaurant that we have been talking about for awhile. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon, and the food was AMAZING!! Probably the best italian I have had....ever!

The place is called Broders and has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the FoodNetwork. It is really worth a visit! After eating we went to my very favorite store: Anthropologie and I spent WAY too much money on some very cute clothes!! It was such a happy day, that I felt like I needed a little treat. :)

We also went to REI, so I could pick up my sister's birthday present: a Garmin Forerunner 10. She wanted the pink watch, and I just couldn't resist picking up the purple one for myself -- again a nice little treat!!

We called it an early day and headed home at about 5pm. Again, I had a very early wake-up call and wanted to get everything ready for my long run!

I wanted to be in bed by 9pm, since I was waking up to get ready for my 6am run at 5am (yes, it takes me about an hour to be fully prepared!) Well, things got busy and I didn't get to bed until almost midnight. Then I couldn't fall asleep, I had really worked myself up about my long run, and I think it was nerves. Well, once I got settled, the dogs started freak out.....ugh!!! They were restless and were determined to keep me up! I think I finally fell asleep after 2am.

Needless to say, when the alarm went off at 5am, I was exhausted!! I decided to postpone the run the run for an hour and try to sleep. I got up and ate a little -- my stomach does much better on a run, if I eat about an hour to 2 before I run -- and went back to bed.

An hour later, I was up and still not feeling it! Grrrr.

I made myself get up, get dressed and get out the door!! The first mile was hell! Both my mind and my body were fighting me to return to bed, but I kept going. I was really giving myself a hard time about the route I chose (super hilly!!), and the weather (HUMID!!). I struggled for about the first 2 miles and then settled into a good pace.

My body felt really great, all things considered, but my mind was just a mess, couldn't get the negative self-talk under control.

I just kept pushing and finished my 8.41 miles in 1 hour 50 minutes. I am not happy with that time, but I'll take it, I pretty much walked the entire 1st mile and probably the majority of the 2nd.

I need to give myself a break as far as time is concerned. Just like my last long run (7miles), I get so focused on hitting the right time that when I am slower I just beat myself up, which is stupid because it is just a training run!!! I need to stop comparing myself to everyone else and just be happy for myself that I got 8.41 miles in!! This is my goal for next week's long run: no negative self-talk!!

 

Today has been a pretty lazy day, just relaxing, icing my hip and shins and catching up on laundry!!

What did you do this weekend? Did you get your long run in?

Where I Run

It took me a long time to say "I'm a runner", or even to tell people "I run", mainly because I am not the stereotypical runner. I am athletic and always have been but people who just meet me would probably not put me in the category: runner.

When I tell people "I'm a runner" the question I get asked most often is "why?" or "why do you run, running sucks!" I have my general answer to that question down. It is in many ways a very boring question to ask, mainly because I get sick of giving the same answer, and it is generally the one question I am asked about running.

It is very rare to be asked, "Where do you run?", but it is a great question! It is a question that gets me excited, I want to answer this question, because I love where I run and in the back of my head, I want to convince everyone that where I run is just as amazing as I think it is!

My runs don't take me past oceans, or mountains or national monuments or even great city sights. I run in Mankato, Minnesota, heard of it? Probably not. Mankato is a small town located in southern Minnesota, about an hour away from the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

To best explain where I run, you need to know that Mankato is a town of hills, we are located in the Minnesota River Valley, so if you Run Kato, you have to know how to handle your hills!

Mankato boasts over 100 miles of paved paths for runners, cyclists and walkers. We have just about that many miles of unpaved paths as well, so when choosing a daily route, my choices are unlimited!

Mankato is a town that caters to runners (and cyclists and walkers), the paths are always being maintained and expanded. We hold 2 triathlons, a full marathon weekend, a very challenging 10k, a mud run, a zombie run, and multiple 5ks each year. We are truly a hidden runner's paradise.


While many people in Mankato choose to stick to the sidewalks in the flat areas of town, I love to get outside of the city and run on our extensive trail system. My favorite trail system has over 13 miles of paved trail traveling through the beautiful Minnesota forest area.

I love to run here in the morning, especially when it is cool and foggy. There is always a group of deer standing near or on the trail during morning runs to greet or scare the runners! They are so used to humans being on the trail they don't even move, just watch as we run by, probably laughing at our speed!

The trail starts right in the parking lot of the school I work at, and the local YMCA. When I arrive at the parking lot, there are always groups of runners stretching, some already having come back from their run, others gearing up for theirs. The trail takes runners though some residential area out into the countryside through rolling hills, past our local ski hill (note, not a mountain!), over an old railroad tressel bridge and to the small town of Rapidan.

Weekends are the best, everyone seems to have the same anxiety about their long run. This trail is so popular with runners that there are coolers and water bottles stashed every few miles (where the trail can be reach from the road) for runners to hydrate and refuel. It is a true sense of runners community, we are all out there alone, but also somehow together.

I love the sense of community our on the trail and The Red Jacket trail is my favorite trail to run, but I don't always enjoy the crowds, or the out-and-back route. Instead, I have found wonderful loops to run both from my house and from other starting points on the trail. These loops leave the paved path and give way to lonely gravel roads, long gradual (and some not to gradual) hills, and to my most recent find a unpaved lake trail.




These are the runs that I love the most, I love being outside of town, the only human for miles, surrounded by the hills of Mankato, and the vast blue Minnesota sky.

I run outside all year-long. I love the change of seasons and the best way to really experience them it to run through them. Our trails and paths are cleared of snow in the winter, and I love an early winter run through the woods. It calms my soul, as well as freezes my toes!!




I can't say I have a favorite Mankato run, I love them all. I try to hit all of my loops and trails each week, and feel bad when I have neglected a route. They all have something to offer, the challenge of hills to climb, the beauty of the surrounding area, or a sense of community.

I can truly say that I run Kato, and it is amazing!