Liebster 2.0

This award is for an aspiring blogger with less than 300 followers.

Rules:

- Answer the questions the tagger has asked you

- List 10 bloggers you nominate and link them in your post. Let them know

- Create 10 questions for the bloggers you have tagged to answer.

Questions from Emily

1. What is the top item on your wish list? A pony? Scratch that. Won't fit into a NYC apartment. A king sized bed. That may or may not fit either, but I'm totally cool with chancing it. 
2. Where are you going on your next vacation? Disneyland for The Dumbo Dare Challenge (race-cations totally count!)
3. If you had out-of-town visitors and could only show them one spot in your city/town, where would you take them? The Strand Bookstore in Union Square.
4. Apple juice or orange juice? Green :) or Orange.
5. Favorite flavor or ice cream (or gelato!!): Cream Cheese or Cheesecake or Cinnamon and thanks for reminding me I forgot to grab some on my way back from lunch!
6. What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Oz, The Great and Powerful. Loved it.
7. If you could time-travel, where would you go and why? Any Christmas morning from my childhood for the obvious reason I miss my Grandma and Nanny.
8. What’s your favorite song right now? Hall of Fame- The Script featuring Will.I.Am. I should probably listen to the radio more often.
9. Gold or silver? Silver.
10. Favorite type of Girl Scout cookie? Samoa Caramel Delights or the Savannah Smile Lemon ones. 

So technically, Emily nominated me. I like her approach to the whole "I really wish I was nominated" and her questions (so I'm stealing those, too!). If you're reading this and have a second on this Fabulous Friday to fill out the questions, you, my dear are soooo nominated. Tag! You're it! 

 

Have a great weekend! 

3 (Food) Things

1. I love the idea of yogurt, but I just can't get into it actually eating it. Why does it have to smell like sour milk? It's a favorite of runners for breakfast but just a whiff of that early in the morning makes my stomach turn. Now, Fro-yo, I love and I'd eat it everyday if I could. How much sense does that make? 

2. I've discovered my new love for Tomato Soup, yet I don't eat actual tomatoes. Again, how much sense does that make? I just discovered Hale and Hearty has this delish Tomato Basil with Rice. Yum! I might even start to branch out. I made some at home this week and added cheese and croutons. Culinary genius, I tell you. How do you like your tomato soup?

3. I know I'm late on the juice trend, but it's another new favorite form of nutrition right now. I'm kind of in love with the green juice and I hear rumors that apple celery carrot juice is a good substitute for coffee (not that I'd ever give that up). I'm looking into juicer vs. blender to make my own juices, but the more I look into the more it sounds like an expensive pain in the butt. I think I'll stick to making them $5 a bottle treats. What are your thoughts on it? Any tips?

W.o.W.

Since I'm confined to my own apartment for the second day (Thank you, Tonsillitis), I'm driving myself a little mad. Remember when you were a kid and you stayed home and watched daytime television? Once you become an adult, the only time you stay home is when you literally cannot stand anymore. This being sick but not sleeping is totally messing with my head (as if you couldn't tell). I know I should be resting, but it's freaking me out. What is wrong with this picture? 

But I digress. 

And, if you haven't noticed this isn't Wordless (which I wasn't very good at keeping up with anyway). So I've decided to shake things up! 

For Christmas, I got the Runner's World daily calendar from the best sister ever (ps- super genius gift for the runner in your family. I never would've bought this for myself but having it now I can't believe I lived without it!) and I decided why keep all it's awesome-ness to myself? 

Welcome to the new WoW (Words Of Wisdom) Wednesdays here on my end of the information highway. 

Without further ado:

Prepare to be WoW'd! 

;)

How's your Wednesday going? 

What do you do to entertain yourself when you're sick?

Dopey is Official

(source)

Dopey is finally official! 

4 races. 4 days.

What do you think about it?

3 Things.

1. Information about the 2014 Walt Disneyworld Marathon weekend has been leaked. Rumor has it, Dopey is being officially recognized as a challenge and a 10k has been added. Prices: $495 for Dopey and $160 for the 10k. Makes that ToT registration increase look like a steal now doesn't it? :) I wonder if runDisney has heard of the Naperville Marathon incident? They've also included a question regarding a possible Disneyland Paris race on one of their surveys. I'm interested to see how far this will go. Again, this is all total speculation. Where do you draw the line for race prices?

2. Lululemon recalled their black pants. I'm glad they're doing something about it. I'm a fan of their pants but not of the world getting to see what kind of underwear I'm wearing when I'm downward facing dog (PS- I just came to the realization that dogs actually do this. It's ok. I already know I'm slow). I found this post about how to get your refund quite humorous. . you know if it wasn't really happening. Having to bend over and have a sales rep decide if the pants qualify as sheer enough? Wowsers.

3. Thanks to Kickstarter and having more free time, I'm a season and a half deep into The Veronica Mars series. I figure, if they can raise over 2 million dollars in 11 hours, it might be worth it to watch the pilot. Anyone else a fan? Holy cowers, there are a lot of weird things this series touches on, but I cannot look away.

How's your Thursday?

Wordless

Midtown East

NYCHalf 2013: Volunteering

Sunday morning the PIC and I woke up extra early and made our way down to the finish line for the NYCHalf. Honestly, it was a little weird NOT running this race, but I know it's for the better. Next year (hopefully) I will be ready for this one. It is, after all, the anniversary of my first half marathon.

As soon as we got there, the area was buzzing with people. Even though the winners were still an hour away from finishing, there was a lot to do! We were redirected to help unload the UPS trucks with the runner's bags and then organize them by number. Little did we know, there is a science to it and it really helped when we were swarmed with just-finished half marathoners wanting their warm clothes. Once that was done, there was a lot of waiting. We had the bags for the runners in Corral 8 (the corrals went up to 22)- so we weren't slammed with runners finishing until about half way through. So what else to do but take fun pictures?

A finish line worthy photo for finishing bag sorting.

The calm before the storm!

Very soon this area would be filled to the brim with 13.1ers.

This started with the very sleep deprived PIC's comment "You think I could fit in that box?"- followed by a "I think you can too!" We should not be allowed to be left to our own devices. Seriously.

But once our runner's started to flow in, we got busy! Sadly, we were too slow for the young guys in our group who were having a blast running around trying to get bags for runners. They were super enthusiastic about getting runner's their bags, so we just reorganized the bags and moved them closer together as they were being picked up. After the majority of the bags in our pen were gone, we broke down the table and barracks and picked up random trash while waiting for the rest of the runners to finish.

Did I mention it was cold? 

Like I'm lucky to still have my toes cold. We were stuck in between the shade of 2 buildings and the wind was seriously biting. We danced around to try to keep warm, but after a few hours, even that didn't help my fingers and toes- note to self: Do not forget the toe and hand warmers even if you have 2 pairs of pants on, 2 shirts and 2 jackets. We found out the finish line was a few blocks up, so our supervisor let us walk up there to see the last finishers. Moving really helped keep warm. 

On our way, who did we run into?! Gabby and her mom! 

It was so great getting to meet her IRL and having a second to talk. They were stationed at the medals and it sounded like lots of fun, too. 
 

The finish line: from the other side

It was really inspiring to see these last runners who were putting their all into making sure they got across that finish line before they picked up the mats. We cheered super loud for them and got lots of high fives!

We checked out of our shift and decided to have brunch in the area (gotta support Lower Manhattan!) to warm up. It was super delish and a great end to a great day! As soon as I got home, I took a nap. Volunteering was very tiring :)

I hope everyone had a great race! See you next year.

What did you do for St. Patty's?

NYCHalf Expo 2013

Yesterday I discovered I actually enjoy race expos when I'm not actually running! Not having the stress of picking up a number and rushing through so you're not on your feet for too long kind of ruins the moment a bit.

It's even better when you meet up with friends! The lovely Ms. Joesahfeen was in town on business, so I was lucky enough to hang out with her, too.

This year, The Expo is being held in The Penn Plaza Pavilion, 401 Seventh Avenue at West 33rd Street (right next to Hotel Pennsylvania across from Madison Square Garden). Lots and lots of room for vendors! If you're looking for something specific, its probably there. The building is laid out a little funny, so make sure you look around the corner, there might be some other vendors hiding! Luckily, I did not have cash on me because there were quite a few products that were very tempting (coughSparklySoulcough$10greenheadbandscough)! 

 

New feature this year: women's sizing! What?! 

 

And of course, my favorite part of any NYRR expo: their chapstick! OMG. That alone was enough to get me to the Herald Square area after work ;) It's Pink Grapefruit and my go-to for long runs. It's always in the race belt. They also had a Team for Kids branded one which is Pomegranate & Pear flavored. Yum!

If you're going to the expo, remember to pick up your Run the City Pass (also at the NYRR booth and pictured above with the chapstick) there are a ton of businesses in the neighborhood (and all over the city for that matter) giving runners discounts! Most are located in Lower Manhattan (where the finish line is) and will help support the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort. I will definitely be checking out an establishment or two for post- volunteering brunch and fun! 

 

Make sure to take a photo with your bib on the awesome background before you head out, too!

Hours for the rest of the weekend:

Friday, March 15: 10:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 16: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

 

To all those running this weekend, have a great race!

Things to do while taking a break from running

Did you sign up for the Vampire 5k giveaway? It ends tomorrow!

This past weekend, I met up with the PIC and had a fabulous Saturday evening dinner date that did not involve running. It was quite lovely. We hung out, ate good pizza and shopped around one of my favorite neighborhoods. We even went into a running store (shocker, I know!).

How do you know you're totally ready for a break? You can walk into a running store without the slightest urge to buy anything or the desire to go for a run. BUT when walking into a regular shoe store, you leave with 5 pairs. Opps. Clearly the many months of weekend recovery on my couch has lead to a lot of pent up shopping. I don't know what my bank account hates more: the race registrations or the running break shopping. Yikes.

And just in case that wasn't a big enough sign: When Nike Women's emails you about registration spots for the half marathon, instead of jumping to register for that Tiffany's necklace, your legs start to hurt just at the idea of starting to train again. I'm super bummed about this, but in an effort to be a smart runner, I just couldn't justify doing it. One day I will have that necklace! :)

So, since it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows (you know how runners can be when they're not running!), I thought it would be nice to make a list of things I'm going to do on the off season to not go crazy:

- Create training plan for the next race. Dumbo Training officially starts May 11! I've even compared my mileage weeks to the NYRR calendar, so I can get in little races during training, too! Kudos to myself for planning ahead. I'd like to have another race-cation in between, but I haven't found one that works well with my schedule. Any ideas?

- Enjoy sleeping in. That has not been a problem ;) Although, this time change business really hit me this time. I can't remember the last time I was effected this bad. Do they effect you? Hope to get back on track soon!

-Stay up late! It's a little hard for my body to get used to it, but I was definitely up until at least 1AM (wow! living on the wild side) both nights this past weekend. What?! Pre-training, I was trying to train myself to function on less sleep, but training definitely allows me to indulge. I'm still not sure it's natural to need the amount of sleep that I do.

- Wait until your body is ready to start working out again and do something different! I've been saying I want to branch out and taking different classes at my gym, so maybe this is my chance to do it? The PIC told me about an awesome dance class at her gym that got me thinking. I've wanted to try Zumba and even a spin class or two. I think it's time. My threshhold for being inactive was a little over 2 weeks. So I went to the gym last night, ran on the treadmill and took the usual Piyo class. Sadly, my legs were not ready for running, which is totally ok. My goal is to get a ton of cross training in and wait until my body wants to run.

- Make a bucket list for future races. Having all this free time, I've expanded my pintrest boards (we should follow each other!) I now have a board dedicated to my race bucket list.

- Relive your last one, by finding new blogs and run vicariously through them. Thanks to the fabulous ladies over at Twins run in this Family, there are over 100 recaps of the Princess Half that will keep me busy for awhile!

- Volunteer! The NYC Half will always hold a special place in my heart being my 1st half, but I just couldn't bring myself to enter the lottery again this year. So, instead Gabby inspired me to sign up to volunteer. I knew I wanted to go cheer, but I think this is an even better plan. I get to be excited about a race and I don't have to run it! Bonus? For volunteering, I get automatic entry to the 2014 race. If you're running, look for me: I'll be volunteering at the finish line!

What do you do while you're taking a break from running? Am I missing anything awesome I should be doing?

Wordless

Vampire 5K- GIVEAWAY!

Who likes free race entry?! 

 

Have you heard of The Vampire 5K? 

5 cities, one night......Which side will you choose?

Locations: Dallas, Denver, LA, DC and Atlanta
Date: April 26, 2013

A little bit about the race: The run begins at dusk and ends under a full moon. Participants may register as either a Vampire or Citizen. Citizens in all white start in one location, Vampires in black in another.  The paths converge at an unknown location and then the hunt is on! Vampires will try to "convert" citizens by pulling both white garlic flags they will be carrying while running through fog and red powder zones.

Participants will then “celebrate eternity” in the post-run Red Dusk after-party with music, red colored beverages, fun awards, and make-up artists on-hand ready to “transform” any willing citizens into new Vampires.

The Vampire 5K benefits Red Cross blood donation services and local blood banks. How brilliant is that?!

Does this sound like a 5k to die for? What about getting to participate for free? The awesome event organizers have given me a race entry just for yall!

Rules for entering the giveaway*: 
Leave a comment: If you won, would you register as a Vampire or Citizen?

Bonus (+1 each! Make separate comments): 
-Follow my blog
-Follow me on twitter, instagram and/or pintrest
-Share via any of the above platforms!
-Like The Vampire 5k on Facebook

*This giveaway is good for one entry into the Vampire 5k. 
It does NOT include travel and/or lodging expenses. 


Winner will be announced next Friday (March 15)
Don't want to wait?
Find the city of your choice and register now for $10 off with the code: DONTGETBIT at: www.vampire5k.com

Full Disclosure: I was provided this entry from vampire5k.

Wordless

The 2013 WDW Princess Half Marathon

Honestly, I was not prepared to like this race. It had all the elements for me NOT to enjoy it- physically burnt from double marathon training, hot humid weather even at the start, too much estrogen in one place, highway running, and the list could go on.

But somewhere in there, Disney magic happened.

Pre-Race Surprise: Ariel and Flounder Unite!

Getting to meet Emily! 

 

In the first few miles, I met a lady who told me I'd finish the race around 3:15. I looked at her like she was crazy. I was planning on stopping for characters, marathon training had slowed me down a ton, and oh yea, it was friggin 100% humidity. I was already checked out of the race and I wasn't even to the 5k mark. There was no way. My fastest Disney Half took 3:40 with all the stops- so I figured tack on another 20 for seriously long lines and 4 hours sounded about right.

Spoiler Alert: She was right. I Disney PR'D by over 20 minutes!

Here's the thing. I don't know what happened, but I forgot I was running a half marathon. I wasn't mentally into it. I walked the first mile (which, btw, is pretty awesome. If you ever want to do it, I suggest hanging out in the back of your corral so people don't have to run over you. It took the next corral over a mile to catch up to me, so I had the entire highway to myself- give or take a handful of other walkers. Which was nice, because the course ended up being super crowded for the rest of the race). My legs weren't feeling it when I was running. They did not want to go. I forgot to take Gu until about an hour and 15 minutes in- opps. No wonder I wasn't feeling good. But then it was all about to change.

I knew I wanted to go as fast as I could until I got to MK, but I just didn't have it in me. The first character stops came (Jack Sparrow, the princes and then the villains) and the lines were so bad, I got even more discouraged. I knew I couldn't stop in long lines and expect to finish in time. Luckily, I'm not the type to stop for the princesses and I knew they would be the longer lines anyway. It was the Princess Half after all. I was allowing for Ariel if I saw her (hello! I was dressed as her sidekick), but she was at the finish line and I totally missed her there anyway. Boo.

Once we got to the TTC, I saw the puppets from the marathon and decided I needed one with Sebastian. Emily had the same idea and was in line right in front of me! It was nice to see a familiar face on the course. We hung out together for a second, but split up when we got closer to Main Street. I was confident I'd run into her again and often, but sadly, the crowd was crazy and I didn't. 

The Little Mermaid Cast

If I thought the line for the villains was bad, the line for Belle by Fantasyland and Mickey by the castle was 3x as long (I later overheard someone say they waited in line for 30 minutes for Belle. INSANE!). At that point, I decided stopping for characters just wasn't in the cards for me and I accepted it. 

I did stop for a castle picture and carried on. (Tip: wait until after the bridge into Liberty Square. Perfect Castle stop with no wait and cheerful cast members willing to take your picture!) As I left Magic Kingdom, I looked at my watch and realized I was going to finish about an hour before I thought. Maybe that lady wasn't crazy after all!

So, I stopped for Mary Poppins. The line wasn't bad.

Then I stopped for The Genie.

And I stopped for Lilo and Stitch.

I was so excited I was getting to stop for characters, that I just started running from character to character and I was feeling really good. It was really crowded running in the one lane out of Magic Kingdom, but once you got back on the highway, it was nice to have a tad more room to breathe.

The Princes were still on the highway with a way shorter line. This was the longest line I waited in and it was about 3-5 minutes. I was so glad I didn't wait in the 20+ minute line earlier AND it was light out at this point, making for a better picture. Win Win! While I waited, it occurred to me that the people who stopped in Magic Kingdom weren't stopping anymore to make up for all the time lost- which again, was a total win for me! 

Hey Princess Atta!

It definitely took me a good minute (about 6 miles) to realize I was running a race, but once I did, I felt strong. I reminded myself I just came off of training for back to back marathons (sidenote: this is also probably why it took me so long to get into my groove); I'm a rockstar. I trained for a marathon during the NYC summer and then ran a second one in record high heat. All these thoughts got me even more pumped and wasn't ready for the race to end. Around mile 11, I decided I felt awesome and was going to try for that 3:15 time. I calculated and even if I walked the rest of the race, I could make it. But I didn't want to. I wanted to leave everything on the course. I looked ahead of me and saw this:

The wall of tutus. 

I've never seen a course this crowded this late in the course. Everyone was walking. Granted, I get it. Mile 12 of a half can be brutal- but I had a lot left in me and I wanted to leave it all on the course. I tried to fight around those tutus, but it got super frustrating. 

Then there were MORE characters with NO lines to distract me. 

Oh hey Mulan! 

Mrs. Incredible. Yes, we are.

I even stopped for Ivana Dream! 

Karen took a picture with her during the marathon and we spent too much time trying to figure out who she was. My guess was streetmosphere- which is correct! She's a fairy godmother wannabe (her words, not mine). When I came around the other side, The actual fairy godmother was there (and I totally thought about cutting across the course to get a picture. . but decided I was too close to the finish to stop). 

And then I saw the finish line.

MICKEY WAS THERE!!

AND SO WAS MINNIE! 

I really hope the ALL CAPS gets across HOW EXCITED I WAS!! It was the best moment. I finally got my finish line pictures with Mickey and bonus Minnie! Surprisingly, I got to stop for a ton of characters. Even with a less than stellar start, I Disney PR'd. The cherry on top? The love of my life was waiting for me on the other side of the finish line. I'd say it was one hell of a royal day! 

 

New Official Title: PRINCESS
(Like you didn't know that already ;) 

I will admit, I loved this race and would definitely like to do it again. 

How do you feel about women focused races? 

Princess Expo

Disclaimer: For the love of all that is holy always always, make me eat before I need to be in crowded areas. We all should know my tolerance is already very low, on an empty stomach, it's down right dangerous for all those around me. A lot of belligerent crankiness could've been saved with one granola bar- that was conveniently left in the hotel room. 

 By now, I'm sure word has gotten around about the crazy expo shenanigans. None of which was exaggerated. I got there on Saturday and it was still INSANE.

Luckily, everything moved somewhat quickly. We were in the expo with bib in hand in no time. Now getting TO the tshirt line (and figuring out which line that was), into the runDisney merch booth and anywhere else, was going to be annoying. Thankfully, I had my other half with me and we tag teamed those lines like no one's business. B waited in the runDisney merch line (thanks again, babe! You rock ;) while I went to register for The Tower of Terror 10Miler (I was NOT leaving that expo without a runDisney backpack)- it worked perfectly.

There were a few booths I wanted to check out- Lady Foot Locker had some adorable wings you could get your picture with and Team Sparkle had limited edition Princess shirts and hair ties that were adorbs!- but I just couldn't handle anymore pushing. My last request was getting a picture in front of the castle. I've seen the cute picture backgrounds from previous years and I was finally going to be able to get my picture in front of the castle- which turned out to be extremely frustrating and NOT a pleasant experience.

Guys, I don't even wait for real characters as long as I did for this picture. After 10 minutes of being in the line, I stubbornly refused to get out of it. Since I was there so long, I had a chance to observe what was going on. Here's the thing. It wasn't the families and friends with parties of 8 who wanted 5 different group shots AND individuals (although, that was quite obnoxious)- it was the "princes". I'm a total fan of making magical experiences and whatnot, but it wasn't really about making the princess feel special; more of a way to entertain themselves. Not cool. When it was my turn, I just wanted a picture- preferably without them.   

 My Prince Charming was taking the picture ;)

I'm assuming (and hoping) they were NOT actual cast members because I'm pretty sure every character knows when a line gets too long, it's time to start with the "love and shove" technique.

I'm sure that granola bar might've helped lighten this situation, too ;)

Besides that upsetting moment, I was very pleased with my expo haul. I'm super excited about my first RunDisney shirt that actually fits and it's an awesome color. The mesh drawstring bag was a great surprise, too. I also love the new Raw Thread's shirts for Minnie and Mulan- super cute and not too Disney that I wouldn't wear it in public. Kudos! I bought them both.

What's your expo spending weakness?

Foto Friday: Disney'gram

Since I still haven't gotten my brain around the whirlwind trip that was The Princess Half, I thought I'd just jump to the day after :) 

 

We spent the day recovery walking through Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

 

I booked reservations at Tusker House again. 

Sadly, I think the Japanese Steakhouse the night before didn't allow me to make as big of a
dent in the buffet as I wanted. 

Enjoying an empty monorail to Epcot.

We took a bus to the TTC to catch the monorail, because why not? It had been a long time since I took the monorail to Epcot. Getting to ride around the ball never gets old.

 I also got to experience a few new firsts:

 

First time flying standby for Soarin.

An hour wait. Yikes!

 

First time in France. 

I heard on the internets that it's the same exact film from opening day in 1982.

Impressive.

 

First time in America. 

Is it just me or is this never showing at a convenient time? I've tried a few times in the past to see it, but could never hold out long enough to see the show. 

We also got to see some topiaries since Flower and Garden starts next week.

 

Hello Iluminations Globe!

Sadly, we could not make our already 12 hour day last a minute longer.

Next time. 

What's something you've never done at Disney?