Girl's Weekend Away

Last weekend I met my very good friend of 15 years down in Anaheim for a Girl's Weekend and Half Marathon.  She convinced me about 6 months ago to sign up for the Inaugural Avenger's Half Marathon so she's to thank for getting me addicted to running.  We met down there on Friday and raced (no pun intended) to the Expo to pick up our bibs and a most importantly park hoppers and then we hit the parks for some adult fun at Disneyland.  Saturday morning we slept in, went back to the expo to check out the vendors and then off to the parks for the day.  Sunday morning we were up bright and early for our run which started at 5:30 (yes, in the AM!).  The race itself was actually awful.  There was a major Santa Ana rolling through SoCal and the winds were ridiculous and blowing at our faces.  The course was awful and we spent much of the race running along a sand-filled aqueduct with the sand pelting us on the face due to the winds.  There was no on course entertainment so it made the race drag on.  Still, I'm glad I ran it despite the poor conditions.  We finished in about 2 1/2 hours, so about the same time as my Nike run.  Anne is a super competitive runner so I felt like I held her back a little but there was no where to run, the path would only fit 3 people across for most of the race.  They even cancelled the post-race Expo because of the wind.  So after the race we got our stuff and headed straight for CA Adventure so we could get FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racer.  (Wow, so much fun!).  We were hard core and stayed at the park for a few hours before heading back to our room for a shower and then back to the park.  We did about 22 miles that day according to my FitBit!

Even though the race was disappointing, we had so much fun, it's been 6 years since we had seen each other we picked up where we left off and had a blast.  It was nice to get away and Disney is so much more fun without kids.  Of course I had a high level of mommy guilt being at Disney without my two favorite Disney fans so there were lots of pictures and lots of presents for them!

The Holidays really is the best time to be at Disneyland!

Love this picture of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouses' hand with the castle in the background

It's still all about Anna and Elsa

I think people were judging our cones!

Quick pic with Lightning and Mater on our run!

Snow White and the Seven Drawfs (not pictured)

Finishers!

Captain America

Mickey's Funwheel from the Secret Drink menu at the Cove Bar.  YUM!  I recommend the lobster nachos

More Half Marathon Pics

So I'm a little behind on what's been going on with the kids, especially Jacob, but I got some more pictures from the agency that orchestrated the Half Marathon, they definitely do the amount of people participating justice.  They also got some nice shots of us finishing! 

Try Your Best and Never Give Up

That's the advice my 5 1/2 year old gave me when I asked her if she thought I could run a 1/2 Marathon.  Thank goodness for her advice because I am VERY proud to say that yesterday, I attempted and completed my first 1/2 Marathon in 11 years!!!  The Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco.  I found out 6 weeks ago that my company had some golden tickets to run in the half because our Morningstar Farms brand was sponsoring so a group of 5 of us ventured out and ran it with very minimal training.  I signed up about 6 months ago for a Disney Half but it's not until mid-November so I had accelerate my training.  My goal was to NOT get picked up by the pace wagon AND to finish under 3 hours, especially since I didn't do any hill training (which I am paying for today). 

We decided to make a weekend of it and got a hotel room off of Union Square where the half marathon started from.  We headed to the Expo Saturday which was very crowded.  The city was also abuzz because of the Giants' being in the World Series so we sought out family World Series shirts.  We had a nice day walking around and had a dinner and then early bed for the kids and I while Marc enjoyed the bar the Marriott Marquis where we were staying.  I did not sleep well at all.  I was so nervous about the race, not waking up in time, etc that I tossed and turned all night long.  Alas at 5:15, I was up, dressed and off to Union Square to meet up with my teammates.  Our brand manager and the agency put us up in the VIP start, which meant we were steps away from the start line with the sub-6:00 min mile runners.  I texted Marc that I really hoped that I didn't get run over...like seriously.  But the vibe was awesome.  I ran with my friend Aimee, who continues to amaze me in every way, her husband passed away in early March and she's a single mom of an almost 4 year old and a 15 month old.  She was an awesome running buddy and I'm not sure I could have made it the entire 13 miles running without stopping.  We chatted the whole run until about 11 miles when we needed a boost from our music to make it the rest of the way.  The weather was perfect, the course I felt went fairly quickly.  The first few miles were tough, but they always are for me, and the last 2 were also tough because I could see the finish line but couldn't quite get there fast enough.  Mile 10-11 was AWFUL!  It was a pretty much vertical hill which we ended up walking about a quarter mile or so of (I think we walked faster than we were running it!).  It was so intense that they actually had medics about every 10 yards on the hill.  Overall, we finished in 2 hours and 27 minutes and 07 seconds which way exceeded my expectations.  It also put me in the top half of finishers which I was pretty proud of! 

Marc was tracking me through Nike's app, I guess Riley was SUPER upset that I didn't win (note that the winner ran just over a 6 minute mile to win the run, I ran like an 11 min 14 sec mile so as she was finishing the race, I was on mile 7).  Riley couldn't comprehend this and for the life of her understand why I wasn't upset that I didn't win.  So here came the lesson of the day...

Riley: "Why didn't you win?"
Me: "Remember when I first told you I was doing this and it was 13 miles which is really far and did you think I could do it?"
Riley: "Yes."
Me: "What did you tell me?"
Riley: "Try your best and never give up."
Me: "Right, and last night I didn't sleep well and I was really nervous, and tired and there were times when I just wanted the run to be over because my legs were tired but I knew I wanted to finish, that you and Jacob and Daddy were waiting for me at the finish line, so I tried my best and I didn't give up.  I didn't win the race but I finished it and that's because I never gave up.  Remember when you told me reading was too hard the other night and you were no good at it?"
Riley: "Yes."
Me: "What do you think you should do next time?"
Riley:  "Try my best and never give up."
Me: "Right."
Riley: "I still think you should have won."

At least she has faith in me!

Checking into our hotel!  The kids were so excited they slept with their suitcases next to their beds

Little dude ate his way through the Expo and the city munching on fries and sliders

He REALLY likes ice cream

Excuse the bathroom selfie but everyone was sleeping and I wanted a pre-race photo

Meeting up with the team the streets were electric with runners

The start line

Team Morningstar Farms!

So many runners

Runners for blocks!

Crazy close to the start line!

Finished and enjoying the VIP tent

Tiffany's necklace

My official results, overall rank was 10,374 out of 25,000 and 1071/2924 in my Division

Coming into the finish and hearing the kids cheering for me was awesome!

My running buddy, Aimee!

Would I do it again...absolutely!  Can't beat that runner's high...even though I am pretty sore today (mostly my hips from the hills!)