Two races + Canadians + movie night all this weekend!

I’m really looking forward to this weekend!  I have two races to run, friends visiting from out of the country, and family time!

My hubs and I have two of our friends visiting and staying with us from Canada through next week, and they are so much fun.  I am taking this Friday off of work because, well, I just needed some personal time since work and school have been so busy (especially school…t-minus 8 months until I graduate from my Master’s program!!!!), and of course to hang out with our Canadians!  So on Friday we are taking them to the happiest place on earth:  DISNEYLAND!!!  I bought me and my hubs passes for Valentine’s Day and we’ve only been able to go once since then, so I’m super pumped to go.

Saturday morning I’m running the Seal Beach 5K!  I’ve run it every year for the past 3 years, making this my 4^th.  It’s such a fun and family-friendly

Run, and it’s in my backyard (bonus!).  After the race we’re all going to relax in the sun and enjoy some lunch and sangria, and Saturday night is our monthly family movie night!  Every month, someone in the family hosts, and they can chose any movie they want, and the rest of us don’t know until we arrive.  Sean and I hosted the beginning of March, and for spring training we did a baseball theme!  We roasted hot dogs, had mini kegs of beer, and even an ice cream sundae bar complete with little baseball hats for bowls.  And we showed the movie Major League!  It was a blast!  The month before that, my parents hosted and they chose The Big Lebowski complete with white Russians.  Another fun one :)  This will be the first one without Mom, so it may be tough, but I know she’d want us to have a blast.  My cousin and her hubs are hosting and they won’t divulge any clues as to what the movie might be, but I know it’ll be a fun one.

Sunday morning my cousin and I are running the Color Run in Irvine!  We have neon leggings and white tees (you have to wear white tops because @ every kilometer they throw colored powder at you), and tutus.  We’re so pumped!  And with the weather forecasted to be in the 80s this weekend, after the Color Run I want to lay out on the new chaise lounges Sean and I just bought and enjoy some sun while studying.  I have SO much studying to do on Sunday (2 presentations, a 12-page research paper, a 1-page brief, not to mention finals are in 3 weeks), but at least I’ll be enjoying the sun.

Sorry for the super long post!  I’m just really excited about this long weekend and enjoying time with family and friends.  I need it.

What are your exciting/relaxing plans for this weekend?

On April 28th I walk with family and friends to raise awareness for Myelodysplastic Syndrome, the horrific and rare disease that took my Mom on March 13, 2012.  Please consider supporting us by walking withus or donating to our cause.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon Recap

Tutus, glitter, pixie dust, Disney characters, singing, dancing, running…

This is what made up the Inaugural Tinker Bell ½ Marathon that I was lucky enough to participate in on this past Sunday (1/29/2012).  My friend Sara emailed me two weeks prior to the race asking me if I’d like her friend’s bib since her friend wasn’t able to make the race anymore.  I said “Absolutely!” and I was given my “wings” (AKA bib).

My cousin Rachel was already signed up with her mom, friend and other cousin so I was stoked that I could join them!  My cousin already had her green tutu so I ran out to Party City and picked up a fabulous sparkly green tutu with gold ribbons.  It’s amazing.  (It will probably make a 2^nd appearance on St. Patty’s Day coming up).

Since the race started at 5:45am and shuttle pick-ups were at 3:50, we had to wake up at 3am.  Ouch.  Luckily we stayed at one of the Disneyland hotels so we were nearby.  My cousin Rachel, her friend Lisa and I shared a room and once we were ready we headed down to the lobby to meet the rest of our crew at the shuttle.  But WAIT!!!  The shuttle was driving away!!!  We waved our arms and saw it slowing down the street.  The three of us looked at each other and said “Is it stopping?  Do we run?  We RUN!”  So we sprinted down the street flailing our arms to get on the shuttle.  Phew!  We made it.  Chasing a giant Disney bus down the street at 4am will sure wake you up.

The Tinker Bell crew

We arrived at the starting area, used the restroom, and warmed up our muscles.  Then all of a sudden we there was this intoxicating smell in the air…BACON!  Whoever was cooking bacon was creating quite the tease for a lot of people!

Me and my cousins Rachel

Me Rachel and Lisa in our green tutus pre-race! 

After our mouths stopped watering, we were herded into our Corral where we waited for a long 45 minutes.  

Finally the gun went off, and about 15 minutes later our corral crossed the Starting line.  My cousin, her friend Lisa, and I were together the whole race, and let me tell you, these girls can SPEED walk!  The first few miles ticked by…1…2…3…4…5.  

Main St, Disneyland

Running down Main St. 

The Castle :)

We were laughing, singing, and admiring everyone’s costume.  I have never seen so many tutus in my life!  If you WEREN’T wearing a tutu (or a costume of some sort) you stood out like a sore thumb.  Let me digress for a second – anyone who discounts walkers doesn’t know what they’re talking about.  We were speed walking and we were passing folks!  Yes, we walkers were passing runners (and I say this as a runner myself)!  Anyways…one of the fun thing about Disney races is that the characters, Disney parade floats, and Disney holiday decoration adorn the course and we get to run through the park!  This makes time fly by!!!  So before we knew it were at mile 9 and feeling great!  

Well, Rachel and Lisa were.  They had been training doing lots of mid-week walks and long walks on the weekends.  Me, not so much.  As I mentioned, I’m a runner and walking uses very different muscles.  Speed walking those 9 miles was making my hips scream!  So I started running a nice easy pace with them as they continued to kick butt walking!  I didn’t even see the 10-mile marker and before I knew it we were at mile 11 with 2.1 to go.  The spectators thickened and we saw some of our family in the crowd cheering us on!  It was such a great pick-me-up.

We rounded the corner and there was mile 12 along with Woody and the Toy Story crew.  I had to take a picture for my hubby because people at his work call him Woody (there is a slight resemblance :-P ).

We saw mile 13 ahead and all began running.  The three of us grabbed hands as we passed mile 13 and held them up together as we sprinted the last 0.1 miles across the finish line!

Finishers! 

We got our huge and heavy Inaugural Tinker Bell ½ Marathon medals and let me tell you, they’re so cool!  Like I said, they are substantial, and in the center is a little Tink that spins!  Adorable!

So we got our medal and waited for Rachel’s mom and aunt.  It was Rach’s mom’s first Half!  She was crossed soon after us and looked amazing!!!  She kicked butt!!!!  We took some pictures then headed over to get water, Cliff bars, and bananas.  We hung out for a bit then I headed home.  As soon as I got home I jumped in the shower.  I hung my medal on the door knob and one of Sean's and my kitties, Tantalum started playing with it...so cute!

Little Tantalum playing with Tinker Bell (and scoping himself out in the mirror)  I love this little guy :)

After showering, I told my hubby I wanted bacon (that bacon smell at the beginning was teasing me the whole race) so he took me out to brunch at one of my favorite places for the most amazing egg-white omelet and bacon ever.  Oh it tasted so good :)

We all decided the Tinker Bell ½ will become a family tradition and we will do it every year.  It was so much fun!  Thank you again to Sara and her friend who gave me her bib for this amazing race!  Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!

Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon! (quick post)

Yesterday was the Inaugural Tinker Bell ½ Marathon at Disneyland!  I did it with my cousin, her friend, and three other ladies, and we had an absolute blast!  We talked, we laughed, we sang, we danced, and the miles just ticked by.  Before we knew it we were at mile 9 with only 4 miles to go.  So we sang, we laughed, and we danced along the course some more!  We were being silly and enjoying all the Disney characters along the course.  Twenty years from now we can say we were a part of the very first Tinker Bell race…how cool is that?!  It was so fun and the beginning of a lasting tradition :)

Full recap to come later this week! 

What goes around comes around :) Good Karma

Call it kindness, call it coincidence, or call it karma.  Whatever you call it, it’s pretty cool.

Last week I gave away my bib for the LA 13.1 Half Marathon that I was unable to run.  Two days after I gave it away to Miss J, I got an email from a friend offering me her friend’s bib for the Disney TinkerBell half marathon on January 29^th!  I was so stoked because I tried signing up for this race last fall and it was completely sold out.  It’s the inaugural race, which is so cool to be a part of, and it’s Disney!  I love Disney! :)  Of course I said yes!  My cousin is also doing it and I’m so pumped to be doing it with her and some other family!  And of course we’re dressing up!  Green tutus galore!  It’s going to be fun :)

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2011 was an amazing year!  So much happened this year!!  I can't list everything, but here are some highlights:

• Flew to Walt DisneyWorld in Florida with my hubby
• Ran the DisneyWorld 1/2 Marathon (hubby's first 1/2!)
• Bought a house and made it our home
• Ran four 5Ks
• Ran the Disneyland 1/2 marathon (CA) without training (oops!)
• Completed Disney's Coast 2 Coast Challenge
• Completed 2 semesters of my MBA program with flying colors
• Celebrated our engagement with lots of festivities (Engagement party, 3 bridal showers, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner)
• Gained a guardian angel.  I love you Grammie and miss you every day.
• Visited five states (CA, FL, MT, NV, NY)
• Danced with my daddy at my wedding
• Married the love of my life <3
• Honeymooned in Costa Rica (post and pics to come soon!)
• Welcomed two beautiful kitties into our family
• Celebrated our 1st Christmas as husband and wife :)

Two thousand and eleven was a memorable year.  The year started out tough with the loss of my Grammie, but she was with us every step of the way in all of our celebrations this year!  We had much to celebrate, and I just want to say thank you to my wonderful family and fantastic friends...you guys helped make this year what it was.  Cheers to 2012 being just as fantastic!!!!

Disneyland 1/2 Marathon Recap!

I had so much fun this past Sunday participating in and finishing the Disneyland ½ Marathon!  I must confess, I wasn’t sure how my body would handle the 13.1 miles since I hadn’t trained at all.  Literally, I hadn’t ran or walked more than 3 miles in months!  But I told myself I was going to have a great time, and that some silly stories about myself might come out of it (blisters, stomach issues, muscle cramps, ya know…things that happen anyways but have increased probability without any training).

To my surprise, I finished in 3:20 which was much quicker than I thought considering the circumstances.  Actually, I was very surprised with everything!  I had zero blisters (I usually always get blisters under a toenail or a few), I had no muscle cramping (my calves started to tighten near the end, but no cramps!), and I was shockingly not sore the next day (I was expecting to not being able to move on Monday!)  My best guess to my why my body held up as well as it did is because I’ve been working out, despite my complete lack of running and increasing mileage like a normal runner-in-training would do.  But I’ve still been lifting weights, practicing yoga and pilates, and taking some fun fitness classes.  Just being in shape helped me tremendously.  I will say, though, that being surrounded by runners and feeling everyone’s energy and adrenaline strongly made me realize that I do want to train for another half marathon.  I love the 13.1 distance, and I want to do it again and this time be prepared.

On to a quick recap of the race!

My friend Sara and her fiancé Dave were also running Disneyland and were kind enough me a ride with them.  After a brutal 2:30am wake up call, I got ready and Sara and Dave were at my house around 4am.  We made it to Disneyland with plenty of time to be in our assigned corrals by 5:30am.  The gun went off at 6am and my corral didn’t cross the starting line until nearly 6:30am.  While waiting, I made friends with Rapunzel and Minnie Mouse (almost everyone was dressed up or had some kind of Ode-to-Disney-character trinket).  We finally crossed the starting line and I fell into a light run.  I was feeling quite good and continued to run until we reached the mile 1 marker where I began to walk.  I knew if I kept running, my tank would exhaust before we hit the half way point.  I ended up walking nearly the whole race with some light running here and there.  The first 6 miles ticked by so quickly as we snaked our way through California Adventure and Disneyland.

We came out to Ball Road which was kind of a pain in the butt because the sun was rising in our faces as we ran up a hill.  Fun stuff.  I walked.  Good times.  We finally came around the Honda Center and into Angels Stadium!

I love the Angels and being able to run the bases is so cool!  The last few miles were pretty dull until we hit downtown Disney and the finish through which I sprinted.  (No matter what, I have to finish strong.)

After crossing the finish, I was rewarded with my giant Disneyland finisher’s medal and quickly proceeded to the Coast to Coast Challenge booth where I picked up my C2C medal for running a Disneyworld race and a Disneyland race in the same calendar year (Sean and I ran the Disneyworld ½ Marathon in Florida back in January).

The medals are HUGE!  As I walked to meet Sara and Dave, my Disneyland and C2C medal clinked together and I felt so proud of myself for getting out there and accomplishing the un-trained 13.1!  And I’m so proud of Sara and Dave who both PR’d!!!!

I had a great time and I can’t wait to pick my next 13.1 :)

Love,

Mags