TourPass: Thoughts?

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I received an email about this a minute ago and my first thought was "Really RnR?! You had to start this the year I'm not running an obnoxious amount of your races? Of course you did!" and my second was "That's totally badass."

If you're running or planning on running multiple Rock-n-Rolls to go for the heavy medals this year, you should check it out. It's $300 and you can register for as many races as you want (that are on the list) for the rest of the year. The list includes 5 of the races I ran last year. If this would've existed then, I would've saved at the very least $100. . which then could've gone back into the RnR coffers with merch purches, but whatev.  Who knows? Maybe I would've gone for the Rock Idol. Even with this list of races, you could easily achieve Idol Status.

The only downfall would be if their races are still running the way they were last year. I understand hiccups and whatnot when events the size of these are put on, but c'mon. None of the 7 races I ran with Competitor didn't have a serious issue that affected me personally. I hope the growing pains have worked themselves out (we will find out this weekend won't we!) because this company really has potential to be great.

I'm impressed with this option and I'm hoping this is a test run, which will get bigger and offer more options. It's such an encouraging way to get people to run more of their events. I also noticed that they have added RunnersTraveling, sponsored by Orbitz to their site. Smart move considering all runners who are traveling for races nowadays. Now just get your branding together, quit booking Bret Michaels, have your events run more uniformly, quit making it so damn hard to pick up your bib and this company should grow quickly.

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I've also noticed they've added a new heavy medal to the mix. Random but motivating, I'm assuming for those on the west coast. Now what about a southern one? Or an east coast one? With the addition of all the races to the series, there are so many more heavy medal options. I hope they continue to add to the list. Maybe in a year or two roll out an entirely new set of designed Heavy Medals? That would totally get me to run multiple of your races again. I mean, who really needs (or even wants) 2 heavy medals that look exactly alike? When the time comes that I can start having race-cations again, I can always be persuaded with a sweet ass medal. Right now, I only have NOLA on my list (and a DC bib that I don't plan on using. Anyone want it?) and I'd do the disaster that was the New York 10k again, only because it's in my backyard.

Who's planning on running more Rock-n-Rolls this year? Does the TourPass make you want to run even more of their races? Anyone going for the Rock Legend? We can be twinkies!

Waking Sleeping Beauty

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Sorry, Disney is on the brain. I normally have this problem when I get back from a vacation there. I spend a few months being completely obsessed, then it dies down. This time, I don't think it will though seeing as I'll be going back in May. Oh Well. Sucks to be you if you're anti-disney.

Anyway, do you like documentaries? I'm such a nerd for them.

Are you a fan of the 2nd round of Disney golden years? They define my childhood.

Then you should really check out, Waking Sleeping Beauty. Netflix sent it to me and I just finished watching it.

My opinion? It was amazing at the amount of things that were documented back then. Most documentaries are a look back (I'm thinking the Pixar Story for one) but this one was told with films from that time. It was really neat to see that part of it. I highly recommend it if you're into that. If history repeats itself again, we only have about 30 more years until the 3rd round of reigning Disney movies take over again. Seriously, Disney, stop trying to make Randy Newman happen. It's not going to happen. He's not the next Howard Ashman. Move on already!

Thanks to Netflix, I already have The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' story, Frank and Ollie and Walt and El Groupo in my Queue along with some old Disney classics I've never gotten around to watching (I know, I know. I'm a bad former cast member!)

Has anyone seen any of these? What did you think?
Thoughts or opinions on recent Disney movies? What's your favorite?

Now that's a coast-to-coast medal.

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Rachel Booth achieved the epitome of the Coast-to-Coast medal this past weekend by winning the Disney Princess Half marathon after also winning the Disneyland Half Marathon in September.

Even cooler? She's from Louisiana!!

Side note: I love what Disney did with the subtle changes to the Princess logo this year.

#suchatypenerd

I'm really interested to see the special edition medal for next year's 5th anniversary.

I'm so torn on the ever changing medal debate: Should it stay the same every year or change? If one year it's a crappy design, I'd be pissed (especially the year I decide to run it, hence RnR VA Beach) but if I plan on running the race every year I'd be pissed it was always the same. Oh, the curse of being a designer in a runner's world.

Do other runners actually care as much as I do? Yes, I already know the answer but it would be nice to here your opinion anyway.

Progress!

With all the races coming up, I decided to bite the bullet and go get another massage. At the end of it, I didn't really feel that big of a difference. The next day I tried to run a little and the pain was still there. I was super depressed over it and had to cut my workout short. You know it's bad when working out can't make you feel better.

Later, I got my personal massage therapist to take action. At one point (well, in all honesty, many points) I screamed don't hurt my bone! The response was "What Bone?!" I don't know what I was thinking, but the place that hurt so bad wasn't my hip or a bone. It was a knot so tight, I thought it was a bone and I wouldn't roll it because it hurt so bad. Yea. Clearly, this designer paid a lot of attention in Biology. Now that we got that blonde moment out of the way (no offense to my fare haired peeps!), there was more screaming but a looser muscle. Hooray for figuring out the problem!

Once that happened, it felt like the massage was targeting the very painful spot without easing into it, to which I promptly stated "Baby, you need to buy me dinner first". After that, it was a little hard to get and give a massage in the middle of a giggle fit. I'm so funny. Maybe you had to be there, but we entertain ourselves a lot. Anyway, the point was taken and after a few more rub downs, we made serious progress.

Yesterday, I tested out our progress. I walked 6 miles (better than nothing and the time on my feet can totally count towards training) and it only started to tingle after 5ish. I think with more massages and serious foam rolling, we can get this fixed. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself because it's super frustrating to always be injured.

 taken from the Castle.

Crazy this exists in the middle of NYC.

On today's recovery walk, I didn't hurt but I wasn't trying to push. We took a hillier route through CP and stumbled upon the Belvedere Castle (how appropriate!), as seen in the previous post. We used our cool down to stop at Duane Reade to grab groceries for breakfast. As my chef was making me breakfast, I rolled in front of the TV, which IMHO I think is the best place for it. Totally took my mind off the fact I wanted to cry.

Anyone else have beginner running moments? 

In honor of princess weekend

belvedere castle, Central Park

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and I can't wait to see pictures!

To all the princess runners this weekend:

This past January was my first experience with runDisney. I did the 5k, the half marathon and the marathon relay. Yes, a little obsessive, but an amazing experiences nonetheless. Seeing as I spent my first year of racing doing Rock-N-Roll races to acquire the Legendary status (appropriately named "The Year of the Rock-N-Rolls") and NYRR races to acquire automatic entry into the NYCM, I wanted to make 2012 The Year of the Disney. Unfortunately, this did not work out, but no worries! I just have more things to look forward to with the coming years.

Since I'm having Disney withdrawls, I decided to stalk the internets for Tinkerbell race recaps (don't judge. You know you do it, too!). In doing this, there are 2 things I have learned that baffle me: 1. Not many people stopped to take pictures (b/c during my research, I read the lines were long) and those that did are not members of the blogging community. 2. Not many people stopped to take pictures! What?! I don't understand this concept!
(Granted, this was written as a draft right after the race. More blogs popped up with pictures but with the same 5 character stops. . .I don't know if these runners were jipped with the lack of characters out, or if they all just liked the same 5 characters. .either way, the Disney part of my soul was dissappointed)

You just paid $150 to run a race that, without those experiences, is maybe worth $50? That's crazy talk.

I get starting and stopping being painful, that was a big gripe from me about it. And I can understand slower runners being scared to stop bc of the sweepers. Lord knows, as I waited for-ev-er for Jack Sparrow, I kept frantically looking for the balloons. But the slower runners usually have a method as to how to get it done. I sent Fred to get in line for me. A couple behind us who were clearly pros, jumped corrals to get a head start on the sweepers and were able to stand in the lines. For faster runners, it makes no sense not to stop. Since no one else stops, it should be a breeze. What I would give to be a faster runner so I didn't have to deal with redonkulous lines for characters!

I also get not wanting to take pictures with characters you already have pictures with. The year I worked there, it was my mission to get as many pictures with as many characters as possible. To this day, I only like to get pictures with characters I've never taken pictures with (but then again I had blonde hair when I was 19. . so an update is always good). Rare characters are my ultimate favorite. Anyone and Everyone has at least a handful of pictures with the Fab Five and Pooh. . . but do you have a picture with Megara from Hercules or Jane from Tarzan or Beast as a human?! (Seriously. He who dies with the most rare character pics, totally wins in my book!)

Oh well. To each his own and whatnot. . .

But seriously and back to the point of this post: To all the Princess runners this weekend, I'm begging you, for me. . .stop and take pictures with the characters so I can be uber jelly from my apt, mmmkay?

Yes, today may be Mardi Gras

but the only bead I care about is this one!

T-12 days!

Long run partial fail.

I knew yesterday's long run wasn't going to be a great one. My right leg wasn't having it. So, I started out by walking and concentrating on my form (whoah. . .when was the last time I did that?!). Thank you, Chi Walking! Maybe I will finish reading you (as opposed to your brother, Chi Running) and properly apply your teachings whole heartedly and stop getting injured.

I decided I was going to walk the entire 8 miles, working on my form and also being able to get in the mileage without aggravating my hip too much. The day was absolutely gorgeous, too. Win win win, right? Wrong. Around mile 2, my glute wanted to let me know it existed and it wasn't having any of this physical activity either. After many stops for stretching and not being able to reach the pain (it was so high on my glute, it was almost my lower back. . how do you get to that without a foam roller in the middle of Central Park?!), I did something I don't think I've done in a long time: I listened to my body and cut my run short. What?! I know. Crazy thoughts. I decided getting through the miles in pain and possibly hurting myself more was not worth THREE DNFs. Wow, right?! Am I maturing as a runner? Who knows? But I do know I need a massage.

Anyway, moving back to the positive,  as I walked, I actually looked around the park and documented what I saw, which made it easier to forget that it was going to take me forever to finish and then later that I had a huge pain in my ass, literally. Please enjoy my photo documented 4 miles:

 Reminds me of the NOLA water meter love.

 Three trees in various stages of life.

 The Fred Lebow statue

 Statue I had never see before but walked past every time I went to th Bethesda terrace for practice.

Danger: [No] Thin Ice.

I match! 

(on one of the many stops to try and stretch my glute out)

Please ignore the runner's sock tan line. I also have one on my thigh from the Disney's marathon relay which took me 2 days to figure out I had it and why.

I was going to try another long run today, but I think I'm going to do lots of stretching and wait. 

Maybe tomorrow?

It felt like there was tons of racing going on in the blogosphere this weekend. What was your favorite part of your race/ long run?

Speaking of yoga. . .

I'm a fan of your advertising, Moksha Yoga, and your branding. Good for you getting all guerrilla marketed and stuff.

Yoga world drama.

I'm new to the yoga world since I found out it's really good for you as a runner, but I would not consider myself a yogi. Since getting into it, I'm a super fan for what it stands for and the principles of the practice. I am all about meditation and getting to know my body on a spiritual level and all that new-age hippie junk that sometimes makes me worry about myself when I spout it out loud. . . but whatever. I'm ok with it. It makes me feel good and that's all that matters.

I also get that it's trendy at the moment and with any large trend, there are a ton of bad apples that like to ruin a good thing. I've had personal encounters with humans who preach the word of wellness. . but at the end of the day are really bad people. I'm still confused as to how someone can practice this amazing art and turn around and act in the complete opposite manner in which it stands. The more I get involved with fitness, the more I'm noticing this. This baffles me, especially coming from a running world where everyone is supportive of each other and genuinely motivational. I feel like in the yoga community, it's very much a sorority and I already belong to one, thankyouverymuch. (note: I am not in any way saying I think I act like a perfect person ever. I struggle just like everyone else, but I also believe in treating others the way you wish to be treated in every aspect of life. Again, sometimes I mess up, but I can assure you, it's something I'm always striving for. Unfortunately, it seems a ton of people forgot that very small lesson I learned in kindergarten). All this kind of reminds me a lot of organized religion and why I don't agree with it. . . but that's a whole different story for a whole different day and hence why I like to practice my yoga in the comfort of my own apt. My favorite video instructor feels the same way (I knew I liked her for a reason!) and probably says it a lot better than I could, so you should check it out.

Apparently, there is a 15 minute fame scandal involving yoga drama, but from what I understand, this isn't really new to yoga or anything else for that matter. Sex and Scandal is apart of every aspect of American society, so having it penetrate this isn't all that surprising to me. Why do these things still catch the media's attention? It should be news if a company ISN'T involved in a scandal.

Anyone have thoughts on this? 

Moving on to the critics, seriously New York Times, any physical activity can wreck your body if you're not doing it correctly. Duh. And this is also another reason I will stick to my beginner videos and not try to do any cray cray poses that will get me in trouble!

What yoga pose is your favorite? What yoga pose will you never try because it looks cray cray?

Just realized I have 3 half's in March

I did my long run on Monday bc I've been super sick (and I still need to train. Those 3 half marys aren't going to run themselves you know!) The picture shows how gorgeous it was. (ps- thank you, Instagram, for your amazing update! You make pictures look even better!) Why couldn't the winter I decided to start running be like this? Oh well. My Bragging rights rock.

I did yoga yesterday and I went to the gym this morning. I hope this keeps up because I am super out of training mode. Forget PRing, I just hope to be standing after. For the next week, I'm dog sitting my step son, so that means easy assess to Central Park. Wish me luck!

Down the rabbithole in Brooklyn.

I found out what the hell a ticker tape parade was today. Why? Because, in case you live under a rock, the NY Giants won the Superbowl this weekend and they televised it on every basic channel except CSPAN. Where I'm from, our parades are better, just sayin. I was invited to go see the parade with my PIC, but then I thought about it and remembered NYC parades scare the shit out of me. Crowds in general scare the shit out of me, though. So, just in case I did want to see it from the comfort of my own living room, basic cable made sure I didn't miss a minute of it.

Moving on.

I went on a run tonight. I have a habit of doing my weekday runs on the treadmill at the gym, but I'd like to break that. Seeing as this winter has been eerily mild, there is no snow to dodge or freezing temps to deal with (knock on wood). The only issue I have now is running in the dark (remember Brooklyn sketch?) but I stuck to the big streets and dodged a minimal amount of pedestrians.

As I was making my way towards Williamsburg proper, I found a runner going the same way. I don't know if it was the Disney songs on the playlist or if I was trying to entertain myself, but I felt like Alice following The White Rabbit down the rabbit hole. Because, all of a sudden, we were in McCarren park:

 Cue cheesy enlightenment music!

I've never run in McCarren park before. I've only been a few times, usually during the summer to lay in the grass, but it's always been overrun by hipsters. This time, people were actually running around the track, there was a soccer game going on and the cross training equipment was being used. And the best part? It was lit! I was very excited, especially because it's only about a mile from my apartment. Unfortunately, the running around in a circle started to get boring, so I headed home. I'm sure I will be back, though!

I got home and made the most amazing salad. If I was one of those bloggers, I'd totes have a picture on my blog of it, but I'm not so I don't. Just trust me. It was delish. And then I had a very large handful (fine. two) of peanut butter M&Ms and continued to wonder why I'm not losing weight.

How's everyone else's training going?

Birthday race: M-M-Manhattan Hot Chocolate 10k

The question is legal birthday vs. actual birthday.

There was a typo on my birth certificate that I didn't know about until I was 12 and never got around to changing it. And why would I? I get TWO birthdays! Yes, it gets annoying and confusing but whatever. The day that I was brought into the world was 30 years ago yesterday (Feb. 4). The day that the government acknowledges my birthday is Feb. 2. And this year, the birthday fairy (;-) announced Feb. 3 is my Bridge Day, so now I have THREE days of birthday celebrations!

Presents for my legal birthday from my birthday fairy! 

All I wanted for my birthday this year was a sparkle skirt and to run a race. And that's what I got to do!

NYRR was putting on the Gridiron Classic on Feb. 5, but I wanted to run on my actual birthday. Plus it sold out before I had a chance to register. Boo. That's when I found NYCRUNS.com's M-M-Manhattan Hot Chocolate 5/10K.

 Anna Banana was in town, so I got to run with my partner in crime!

The race was in Riverside Park and it was beautiful! The only other time I had run in this park was for the Cupid's Chase 5k last year and it was covered in snow. This year it was gorgeous and a perfect day for a race.

This was the extent of the people in the race.

 

Yall? This was a super small race. I want to guesstimate about 1000 people total (Update: I looked at the results. It was about 300 finishers total). Fred tells me that that isn't a small race, but when the majority of my race history is NYRR, Rock-n-Roll and Disney? That's one corral for them. This was tiny for me.

 

I am a fan of big races. Why? Because I'm slow and slow people don't run small races. Well, I'm sure they do, but I would rather not. I've run about 4 or 5 small races and they weren't fun. Volunteers packing up before you pass them, no crowd support, no runners support because there is no one around you. A huge part of running is mental, so you can just imagine the mental terrorism going on there inside a slow runner's head. My first couple of NYRRs were like that. Yea. Not my idea of fun. Luckily, I was training with TNT and I always had a running partner. A friend of mine wasn't so lucky and was so scarred by the race experience, she hasn't really run since. I didn't realize people ran my pace until I ran RnR's Nashville half marathon last year and I was in the middle corral. It made me feel a million times better knowing I wasn't alone in the slow runner's world. When you get my PIC and I together for a long run, especially when we haven't seen each other for weeks, we as a team are even slower. We lollygag (isn't that an amazing word?!) and have fun, which isn't that the point? And it was my birthday? Yea, nothing over a 15 minute mile today.

After looking at the crowd, I knew we were going to be last. 

 

I started to freak out in my head. I mean, one of the guys in charge was kind of being a d-bag at the beginning of the race, what the hell was he going to be like when he was waiting for us to finish? Would he even be waiting? We bag checked, so they would know we were out there. Would they be pissed they had to wait around in the cold for us? And the course was weird. Not only did I find out that morning it was a hilly course, a half mile in, the crowd had thinned out so much that we had no idea where the actual course was. It wasn't marked well and it zigged and zagged to get enough miles in. . .would I remember how to go the 2nd loop?? And holy crap, the road's are thin. The faster runners are going to be coming straight at us in packs. What if one runs into me? And you know those elistist fast runners, they think they're sooo amazing. . . .

Then I stopped, said fuck it and ran an awesome race for my birthday with my favorite running partner.

Were we last? Oh yes. The race director literally rode on a bike next to us as we finished because all the volunteers had left and the course was taken down. But, he was super awesome! We all chatted, he rode, we ran and I learned a bunch about what goes into putting on a race. Not one person was rude to us. In fact, we got a ton of cheers. I'm sure it was because they were excited they got to leave, but hey, I'll take it! Everyone was super nice and it made me feel so much better. Maybe smaller races aren't that bad after all.

 

 We finished!! Thanks, NYCRUNS.COM!

AND there was hot chocolate left! 

Cute souvenir mug instead of a shirt.

I was dead last in a race (which has been my fear since I started running) for my 30th birthday, and it was pretty amazing. I got to spend my morning with my friend doing something we love. That's exactly how I spent my entire day; doing things I love with the people I love. Who could ask for a better birthday?!

Hope everyone had as awesome of a birthday weekend as I did.

My life accroding to my iPhone

 Random snow storm.  Weeks ago.

 L is for Lonely on the train.

 Taking it back.

 

Ready for their close up! All dressed up and nowhere to go, though :-(

 

 Fancy bed sheets.

Work in progress.

Under the Williamsburg Bridge

 Hello Billy!

For today's 5 miler, I decided to run under and around my fave Billyburg bridge before conquering that massive incline. As I passed the entrance, I started feeling like I was in a super sketch area (but then again, I live in Brooklyn. . it's all sketch unless you know it) and the fact that I had more than normal cat calls on the way there, I wasn't feeling it. As I went to turn around and get back on track, I found these beauties:

 The pics don't do it justice. 

 It was refreshing to see some amazing street art as opposed to the crappy graffti which is taking over the bridge.  It looks like a bunch of school kids came out and played with sidewalk chalk. Sorry to not have a picture of the hot mess that it is, but I did not want it stinking up my blog with it's ugliness.
Amateurs please go play somewhere else until your stuff is worthy of being displayed, mmkay?
Until then, please leave my fave bridge alone!

Back to the run, it was good! No pain, just sluggish. Today is my legal birthday and seeing as I signed up for a 10k on my actual birthday and I haven't really done much all week, I figured this was a good plan. I also figured out why my average pace is always so high when I run around my neighborhood: stop lights. Yes, you can make fun of me.