Disney Star Wars weekend - Part 3... The Good, The Bad and the Not So Pretty

 Running Disney...

Something I've had on the bucket list since I started running nearly 9 years ago.  Running though the Happiest place on earth!  Who wouldn't want to chase that dream?

This year I finally had that opportunity!   I was able to run t he Star Wars Half Marathon at Disneyland in Anaheim California.  Then a few weeks ago, I also had privilege to travel to Florida to run the Inaugural Dark Side Half Marathon at Disney World!  This trip ended up being a family vacation and my husband and son were taking on the 5k!  I, on the other hand registered for the Dark Side Challenge (the 10k and Half Marathon) and then I also decided to add the 5k in, just to complete the trifecta!

In the end, 2 states,  4 races, 5 Parks, 7 medals... and a huge credit card bill and a ton of lasting memories.

There is always so much hype about Disney Races.  Now after doing races in both US parks, I'm torn on if  I will do another one.  Don't get me wrong, running through the parks was awesome, I got some amazing pictures and met some fabulous people.  But was did it really live up to all the hype??  Since I already covered all the details of the trip in my previous 2 posts, this is more a look back on the overall experience... would I do it again?

Transportation

When we got all checked in to our resort, we headed straight for packet pick up.  It was about 10:30am so the expo had not been open that long.  Disney does make a point to have special buses for the run Disney events and we headed straight to the appropriate bus stop to head to the expo.  We pretty much had the bus to ESPN to ourselves!

Each morning, when we had to be up and on the buses well before the sun came up.  The bus that served our resort (Art of Animation), was also the same one that stopped at Pop Century.   Apparently, since AofA was the first stop these runDisney buses made each time that they made their loops, we usually only had a 10 minute wait or so and always had an empty bus to get on. A friend of mine was staying at Pop Century and told me that they did not have the same luxury.  For the 10k on Saturday, she was at the bus stop at her resort about the same time as me, but waited over 20 minutes for a bus because when the bus stopped at AofA, by the time it left, it was full, so it headed straight to the start line, leaving those at PC waiting.  THEN, onc eshe finally got on a bus driver got lost!  YES, the charter bus driver that was hired to get people to the start line DIDN'T KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING!  How is it that these drivers are sent out without explicit directions to get people where they needed to be in a timely manner!  Thankfully she was on the bus early enough that she didn't have to worry about being late!  Sunday for the Half, I had good luck again, but she still had to wait a bit.  Not as bad as Saturday, so she wasn't complaining.  I also heard stories of runners at one of the other resorts (Wilderness I think, but can't be positive) that never had buses!  Not sure if it was some of the similar issues as to the ones we saw between our resort and PC, but this is not cool!  If you a re providing transportation to the race from your own resorts, make sure you have enough buses and don't forget about anyone!

After the races was another crazy mess.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that they are shuttling a few thousand people around, things can get backed up, but to me this seemed like organized chaos. Now, the 5K, post race transportation was not bad at all,  We walked from the post race area and waited about 2 minutes for a bus.  The 10k and half were another story. After leaving the finish line area, you walked for, what seemed like forever (but in reality was probably the equivalent of a few blocks).   Here, you found lines for each bus stop/resort and had to find the end of the line and wait.  for the 10k, we only had a short wait and then Mary and I were on buses towards showers and food.  For the Half marathon, the way the lines zigzagged back and forth it was hard to figure out where the lines actually went and where the end was.  Thankfully there was a Disney Cast member standing at the end of the line with a large sign on a pole, but since these people were always moving, it was often difficult to read the signs!  I ended up waiting for almost a half hour to get on a bus... in the warm sun (no shade to be found near the bus lines).  Again, I understand the idea of having to shuttle 12,000+ people around can have it's backup.   Just frustrating when you are hot, tired and HUNGRY!

Packet Pickup

My advice?  Get here early!  We didn't have to wait in many lines to get our packets and were in and out in record time.  We heard many people talk of long lines and waits as day went on.  Can't really say anything negative.  Disney has their packet pick up figured out and gets you through without much delay!

After we headed out from Packet Pickup, we were directed outside, down some stairs, around the building, back up stairs and into a different side of the building where we found Disney Race Merchandise, the pick-up for any pre-ordered Race merchandise and the Dooney and Burke purses.  I was rather disappointed that there was a lot of the merchandise already picked over.  Only a handful of pins, etc.  The Kessel Run shirts that I wanted were only available in size small and then 2XL and larger!  This really didn't make a lot of sense to me, since the expo and packet pick up was supposed to have only been open since 10.  I did find out later that they actually opened an hour early and the first people that were there were grabbing armful and handfuls of stuff.  NOT COOL!  If you post hours, stick to them!

Just my luck, the Kessel Run shirts that I was looking at actually ran small so the 2XL that I tried on actually fit pretty good.  I grabbed that and a Dark Side Challenge magnet and headed for the lines to pay for my stash.  Then it was off to the rest of the expo, which was actually in a completely different building.

EXPO

After maneuvering out of the one building and following signs for the Expo, it was shopping time! I realized that I forgot my calf sleeves at home so I was hoping to find a new pair at a decent price!  The expo was a little crowded, but nothing worse that what I was expecting.  This is Disney and there were 12,000+ people running the Half Marathon on Sunday.  John and Darrin found sunglasses, I found a few new shirts, picked up some race fuel and found calf sleeves!  We did find out that there was another area to pick up Disney race merchandise down here too, but since I found the 2 things that I wanted, we didn't wander in.  All in all, the expo was fun, variety of vendors and all that jazz.  It was fun to check out some new stuff and I was able to replace one of my favorite shirts that I bought at an expo a few years ago that was now stained and worn out!

ESPN Grill

I'm adding this as a separate section because it was NOT at all up to Disney Standards.  After the expo, we needed lunch so we decided just to grab food at the ESPN Grill right outside the expo.  This was probably our first mistake because EVERYONE was stopping there after they finished shopping.  But we ordered our food in a timely manner and headed outside to grab a table.  After a half hour, we knew something wasn't right.  There were people that grabbed tables AFTER us that already received their food.  Ok, at first, we chalked this up to... maybe they were sitting inside and then moved outside.  Just to be sure, Darrin headed inside to get a refill on his soda and check on our food.  One of the servers came to our table with him to check on what our table number was and what we ordered.  Apparently, their computer system went down and the order numbers and orders were not matching up.  Not really a good thing to happen on a busy day like this!  She then took our receipt and headed off to the kitchen.

25 minutes later....

No food and we were done!  This was beyond ridiculous.  We headed up front to find someone to ask about a refund... oh yeah - we had already PAID for our food, so we couldn't just leave!  The server that we found took our number and headed to the kitchen.  A few moments later, a manager came to see us.  She informed us that our food had just come up and she was going to have them box it up for us (we had zero desire to stay there and eat anymore) and refund us the entire amount we paid for our meal.  She apologized several times for the wait, again telling us about the computer system failure.

I understand that one never knows when a computer system goes down, but please, please please... be a bit more proactive on trying to get orders figured out and customers food faster.  Don't wait for your customers to get annoyed.  Had we been informed, we may not have worried!

The races

In reality, the reason we are here!  To run Disney!

I really can't say much negative about the 5k.  Well organized, start line and finish line at the same place.  It was fun to run through Epcot in the dark and see the place all lit up.

The thing that I can't understand tough is why would you run a race course, with 10,000+ people (12,000+ for the half) through an area where the sidewalk is no wider than a standard sidewalk?  The bottleneck that this created was NOT COOL!  This it what we dealt with between Epcot and Hollywood studios.  Yes we were in a scenic area along the river, but when you are trying to run and maintain a decent pace between photo ops, having an extremely narrow course is only cause for issues.  I did hear from a few people that were in corrals closer to the front that the area was not as much of an issue, but as we came through (for both the 10k and Half) there were so many people walking 2 or 3 people abreast that anyone wanting to run was forced to slow down to try and get around them, many of us taking to the grass to just keep moving forward.

When I paid my money to run Disney, I wasn't paying to run on open highways for miles upon miles, with NOTHING to see or do!  For the 10k, once we left Hollywood Studios, there was a long boring stretch of highway.  Wasn't a huge deal for that race, but the Half left more to me desired.  Running from HS to Animal Kingdom is a long boring run along a closed highway for several miles.  The extent of course entertainment was a single DJ about halfway between the 2 parks.  Oh yeah, and 1 single photo stop. I actually got excited when I saw the sign for AK as I figured the long boring stretch was over.  I was wrong.  We spent the next LONG stretch basically running around the parking lot at AK!  Yes, the parking lot!

Then once we got into AK, it was all in the back lots!  Overall time spend in AK seemed like it was virtually nothing!  We ran past Everest, and then the Tree of life and all of a sudden, we were heading back out of the park.  More parking lot and then back to long stretch of boring highway!  

Sorry Disney, I paid to run through the parks and the enjoyment of the crowd along the way - Kinda like it was in California!  When I first looked at the course for the race at Disneyland, I was disappointed that the second half of the course was all just on the streets of Anaheim.  HOWEVER, these streets were pretty much lined the ENTIRE way with cheer squads, high school bands, church groups and more!  Everyone was cheering for runners, some dressed in super cool costumes and more!  I actually had just as much fun, if not more fun, on the second half of that course!  This course in Florida was BORING!  yes, the parks were fun, but I'm not flying halfway across the country to run on quiet streets and highways!  I can do that for free in Wisconsin!

Finish Line area (does not include 5K)

Disappointment!

Let me clarify... the finish line itself was awesome!  Between the announcers, the crowd support and organization of everything beyond the finish line, everything was awesome.  Everything was close and convenient.   Once you get past the food and bag pick up, it all falls apart.  

There was nothing!  or at least that is what we thought after the 10k.  We left the finish line area and then headed straight to the buses since we didn't see anything else.  Come to find out, there was an area where you could get back over to the finish line etc, but we saw no signs etc telling us that was the way we needed to go.  So we left.

We were told at the startline of the half marathon that the characters would also be at the finish line - and would be there until 11:30am!   We made a point to check out the finish line area after Mary and I both finished (and found each other).  Another disappointment.  Unless they were hiding somewhere, there were no characters at the finish line. (and we were there at about 9:30am looking) Just a tent selling some of the remaining Disney race merchandise, a tent where you could purchase food and then (at the FAAAAAR end of the parking lot), the bleachers where you could sit and cheer on those that were still finishing.  

No characters

NOTHING!

Again, huge difference to the California race.  Yes, I understand that the start and finish line were in the same area at Disneyland, but this is Disney.  I expected at least a little more!

So, we headed to the buses!

 Final thoughts

I ran Disney.  I ran in both California and Florida.
The bling was amazing
The friends that I met there, and ended up running with, made lasting memories

Would I do it again?

Maybe.

Given the two choices tho, I'd head back to California!

Why?
Better spectator participation, better finish line festivities and less crowded race course (no bottlenecks, wider course)!
Overprice and oversold.
Overall cost is about the same depending on which park, when you consider flights from WI, but I just plain enjoyed the Disneyland race experience better.  Yes, I understand that this was the Inaugural Star Wars series in Florida, but with the number of Disney races that they do every year, the mistakes from this one were rookie mistakes.  Not a company that has been putting on races for many years!

Sometimes, there is more to repeating a race than just the medal...

Disney Dark Side Challenge weekend - Part 2

Of course, I couldn't go to Disney and just run one race!

I had to run all 3!

Day 2

(warning - this post is going to get a bit long, but I didn't want to forget any of the fun!)

Alarm set for 3:30am and after a quick shower to help me wake up, it was time to head to the bus... at 4:15am!

I was excited to see a bus pull in a few minutes after I was at the bus stop.  After just a few minutes, we had a full bus and were headed to the start line.  I would find out later, that some people, at other resorts did not have the same luck with early morning buses that I did. From the point in the Epcot parking lot where the buses drop you off, you have a short walk to get to the stage area, where again, there are characters out for photo ops, plenty of placed for you to meet up with friends before the race and grab some last minute breakfast or coffee (if you are one of those people that can actually eat before you run!).  Unfortunately, the start line for the 10k is NOT in the same place as the 5k!  This time, they herded us through the area behind the stage (ample port-a-pot's here in case you need a pitstop!) and along the road that was actually the beginning part ok yesterday's 5k.  By the time I arrived in my start corral (Corral B today!) I had walked almost 3 miles since I rolled out of bed!

I quickly was able to find Mary in the Corral - it was nice to have a friend to start the race with, in these huge crowds!  Remember, I live in Green Bay, I don't normally run in races that have 10,400 participants! (numbers courtesy of Disney Sport News)  Our local Cellcom Green Bay Marathon weekend usually sees a total of just over 8,000 runners between the Half Marathon, Marathon and Marathon Relay combined!  This was just the 10k and it was over 10,000 runners!

Disney starts off each corral with fireworks, not just the 1st corral of runners!  It's kinda nice to see everyone given the same start line fanfare, no matter what corral you are starting in!  At shortly after 5:30am we were off an running.  I lost Mary in the crowd after a few minutes but every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of her/Rey running ahead of me.  I ended up catching up with her just after she stopped to get in line for pictures with R2-D2 (right before the 1st mile marker).  I jumped in line with her, and we had a few laughs while we waited and chatted with the group behind us.  The lines for theses photo ops do seem to move fairly quickly, but for this weekend, I was not concerned about time - it was all about the fun, getting some great pictures and just enjoying running around the Happiest Place on Earth.

After R2 pics, we were off again.  Once again, Mary got off ahead of me, but I caught up to her for Chewbacca pictures.  We followed this same pattern for most of the 10k.  We would lose each other in the crowds and catch up at photo ops!  Running the streets of Epcot, in the dark was just as much fun today as it was yesterday, especially because we took a slightly different route through the park.

This would however, bring us to the one part of the course that I really did not like!  My biggest complaint about the 10k course was the section between Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  We were on a sidewalk, along the river, in front of one of the resorts.  When you have 10,000+ runners trying to get through a narrow place, while trying to keep moving - some running and some walking, caused some major bottle necks.  There were many times during this stretch that we were all forced to walk.  Some ran on the grass just to keep moving, but it was by far one of the slowest sections of the course.  Yes, this is just a short section, but when you are trying to keep a decent pace between photo stop, so as to not completely kill your overall finish time, it is very frustration.  Once you finally pass this section and you arrive at Hollywood Studios, everything opens back up and you can move about freely, at your own desired pace.

About halfway through HS, I ended up losing Mary.  No worries, I was over halfway done.  I enjoyed my run through the park and got myself ready for the last stretch, along the roads to get myself to ESPN and the finish line!  At one point, just after mile 4,  I ended up falling into pace with another gal that was moving about my pace and we kept each other going for those last 2 miles.   Just before we hit mile 5, the course took a turn and we were on a dirt trail, through the woods!  During this stretch of the race, there were more photo ops, great star wars themed music playing and just a ton of fun to be had.  Although it all looked fun, we actually didn't stop for any pics.  We were just ready to be done - it was starting to get warm and again, this WI girl is not used to the humidity in FL!

It was really awesome to see the crowd support during the final stretch of the race!  As soon as we came off the trail and onto the property at ESPN, the sidewalks were lined to people cheering, waving signs, giving high 5's and more!  Then just when you think it's over and the finish is just ahead, you turn the last corner to find a army of storm troopers and more, available for photos!

As I approached the last turn, up do the finish line, my legs were on fire.  I was ready to be done.  I knew that I only had a short distance to be done and about that same time, I caught up to a gal dressed at BB-8.  I told her, "Come on BB - lets go!  We've got this!"  Her legs were ready to be done to, but we pushed that last tenth of a mile together with miles on our faces!  

Done.  As you can see from the above picture, it was a warm one.  In the grand scheme of things, it was actually a pleasant morning, in Florida standards, but coming from WI, I am definitely not accustomed to the humidity and unfortunately I was not able to find my inhaler in my luggage after the 5k yesterday.  Thankfully since I made a few photo stops and got slowed down in the bottlenecks, I didn't actually NEED that inhaler today, but this is something that might come in handy tomorrow!  Time to dig through the suitcase and backpack again!

Today's medal did NOT disappoint!  What Star Wars Fan wouldn't like a giant Tie Fighter medal!?!?  Yes, yesterdays Storm Trooper finisher "medal" was cool, but it was rubber!  Granted it still has a cool look to it, but Disney is the only place I know that you get a finisher medal made of rubber!  This one today makes up for it tho!  Big, heavy and flashy!  Just how I like my race bling!!

Day 3

Half Marathon day!

 

Today, the alarm went off at 2:20am.  Yes that is 2:20 IN THE MORNING!  In my younger days, there were times that I was coming IN from a night out... not getting out of bed to go RUN!   It still amazes me that I actually have learned to love mornings like this!  The excitement of a race, especially in a new place, with new people and new experiences!  And this is Disney!  Why would I NOT be excited!?!  Especially since I decided to go with the Chewbacca costume for today!

On a bus by 3:10am and at Epcot by 3:30!  It was time again for that long walk from the buses, through the stage festivities, and along dark road towards the start line.  Yesterday's crowd of 10,000 for the 10k was increased to over 12,000 for the half marathon!  It was very slow moving from the stage area to the actual start corrals that I was wondering if I was going to make it in time! 

I knew ahead of time that this half marathon was not going to be my usual half.  I was out to enjoy the day, have fun, get lots of pictures and just enjoy the morning.  However when I was walking to the start line, I started to get a weird, almost vertigo type feeling.  Not sure if it was the humidity and heat starting to get to me, combined with the excitement of the weekend.  Or who knows what else!  Thankfully I had some extra Stinger waffles with me (since I wasn't sure how the heat and humidity was going to affect me on this longer run).  While I was walking to the corral's I ate that waffle, drank some more water and hoped for the best.  This was just going to help me make sure that I didn't push it too hard, making me enjoy the atmosphere around me.

Once again, it didn't take long to find Mary in the Corrals - so excited that we were in the same start corral again today!  Yesterday it was so much being able to spend the morning running with her that I was really looking forward to doing it again!

Any runner always jokes around about being in the port-a-john during the national anthem.  No, that didn't happen this morning, but it was close - I was in line for one!  The funky feelings that I had earlier seemed to have lead way to my stomach not being happy with me.  Fingers crossed that this was going to be the last of my stomach and weird feelings.  Somehow, after my trip to the bathroom, I managed to find Mary again in the corral, in time to shill for a few minutes before our corral moved up to start.

Once again, more fireworks at the start of each corral.  Although the fireworks are a nice touch, the rest of the "entertainment" while we were in the start corral's was fairly uneventful.  At the start of a race, I always enjoy music, entertainment or anything else to get me pumped up and excited to run.  The pre-race entertainment was clips from the movie.  Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge Star Wars geek and love seeing the video clips, but I would have hoped for a little more hype!

Before long, we were off and running.  Just to save myself a few minutes on my time, I oped to skip stopping for pics with R2 today, knowing that stopping for Chewy was going to be a MUST today!  I also knew that there was a few more photo stops that I was most likely going to want to stop at.  So I kept running!  Just as I was getting to to my target stop with Chewy, and I was making another pitstop at the bathroom (those actual bathrooms in the parks are like a little oasis!).  I was concerned about my pending visit with Chewy, as I saw him walking into the building near the bathroom!  Hopefully he was not going to be gone long!

After my pitstop, I headed to the Chewy photo op, I found Mary waiting in line so I joined her.  Chewy came back shortly and a few minutes later, I had some of my favorite pictures from the weekend! 

 After a few more miles through Epcot and Hollywood studios (where I met up with a few other Skirt Sports Ambassadors along the way!) and making my way through the crowds, it was off to the next (pretty boring) part of the course... the highway to Animal Kingdom.  Those miles down the highway were long and pretty uneventful!  

But then we finally arrived at Animal Kingdom.  I was actually pretty disappointed that we really were just mostly running around the parking lot... the time that we spent in the actual park was really fairly short!  Yes there were some cool photo ops in the park and in was fun seeing the monkey's playing and yelling as we ran through while they ate the breakfast, this was fairly disappointing.  Not to mention the last stretch as we worked out way back out of the park was very narrow and another bottle neck.  They had an area with more characters to take photo's with, but the people waiting in lines ended up actually blocking the path of the runners just trying to get through.  

As I was heading out of the boring lornar AK, back to the highway, I saw those infamous balloon ladies. Those are the ladies you don't want to see behind you. If they pass you, you will be picked up by the sweeper bus and driven to the finish line... And recieve no medal!  Since they were in their way IN to the parking lot, I knew that I was a few miles ahead of them... They were not going to catch me!

Finally after another long stretch of boring highway miles, in the bright, warm FL sun, we made our way through the trail to ESPN, through the same spectator lines sidewalks to the finish line.  This part of the course was pretty much the same thing as yesterday, so I felt no need to stop for any pictures etc.  I was ready to be done!  Show me the bling! 

I earned it!

This was one of the toughest races I've run, even though I know I didn't push myself nearly as hard as I usually do for a half marathon.  Today was all about the fun, the experience and the memories.  once I got through the finish line corrals, I had 4 medals clanking around my neck as I walked around the finish line area!  It was one of the toughest challenges I have done, to date, and I am so glad that I did it!

Afterwards, I somehow found Mary again!  I had not seen her since Hollywood Studios!  Somehow, at some point, I ended up in front of her and actually finished about 10 minutes before her!  Apparently, she actually stopped for a few more of the photo ops than I did, and I didn't see her in line as I ran past.  Yes, part of me wishes that I had made those few extra stops, but I was warm, tired and hungry!

Thanks again Mary for helping make my Disney race weekend so much fun!  I can't wait until our paths cross again!  Maybe one of these days I will actually make it down to Baton Rouge for a race!  If you even want to come to Green Bay, I have a spare bedroom waiting for you!

1 weekend

3 races

6 Medals:

Storm Trooper 5k

Tie Fighter 10K

Dark Side Half Marathon

Plus bonus medals:

Dark Side Challenge (completing 10k and Half this weekend)

Kessel Run Challenge (completing half marathon in California in January and here this weekend)

Disney Coast to Cost Medal (completing half marathon on both coasts in the same calendar year)

All in all it was a good weekend!

Next and final post of the weekend to come...

The good, the bad and the ugly of Disney Races! 

Why Skirts? The question really should be "Why NOT?"

There is so much more to running than just getting up one morning and deciding to run a half marathon (or whatever distance you choose!).  There's hours of training, early morning runs, and so much more, but that is a whole different post.

Today we are talking about the statement you make when you run!  Are you the practical running that just grabs whatever shorts and shirt out of the drawer, throws on some socks and shoes and heads out the door?  Or do you have a few tried and true items that you always put on for a run?

at the start line of the St Pat's 17k in Phoenix AZ, 2014

If you have been running for more than a few months, you have probably already found a few items that you tend to gravitate to when you head out for a run.  Maybe its'a shirt shouting your support of a certain organization or maybe it's just the most comfortable pair of shorts that you have ever owned.  For me, I have gone through several phases with my running apparel and I have finally found what works for me... that go to item that I don't leave home without...

My running skirt!

Disney Dark Side Half marathon, FL 2016

I discovered Skirt Sports a few years ago, thanks to a friend!  At the time, I didn't really think that a skirt would be comfortable to run in, but she insisted that they were. I was skeptical. Finally after browsing the website for a few months, I finally broke down and ordered one.

Game changer!

Why?

BUILT IN SHORTS

 Everyone loves a good comfortable pair of running shorts, but many of us ladies would prefer a loser fit to keep the booty covered.   Best of both worlds!  Comfortable compression shorts under a super cute skirt to keep you feeling comfortable, confident and ready to run!  The built in compression shorts have this awesome little "grippies" on the bottom so they stay in place!  No shorts crawling, no chaffing, no booty hanging out for the world to see.  (I have always said I will keep in real here... that will never change!).  Depending on which skirt you order, the shorts are slightly different lengths, but no matter what option you choose, they WILL stay in place!

POCKETS

With a hidden pocket on EACH leg of the shorts, I have room for my phone (which I always carry with me when I run) as well as fuel (Gluten Free Stinger Waffles and Margarita Clif Blocks are usually with me!), without having to take my hydration belt with me!  Keep in mind, I have still not completely weened myself off the hydration belt for my half marathons.  With my recent dietary changes that I have recently had to made has caused me to have to make some adjustments to my race fuel and I am still trying to work out exactly how much of each I need to have with me.  Plus having my own beverages with me is another security blanket that I can't give up on those long events!

But for anything shorter than a half marathon, no extra pockets are needed!  The pockets in my shorts are enough to carry everything I need!  If 2 pockets are not enough, check out the Happy Girl Skirt - it has a 3rd pocket tucked into the waistband on the back of the skirt!

COMFORT

These skirts have proven to me that skirts are more comfortable than any other options that I have tried to run in!  I actually will wear mine any chance I get!  On our recent trip to Florida, I actually lived in my Skirt Sports skirts and Capri's all weekend (yes they have shorts and capri's too... that's a whole other side of the adventure!). 

Oh yeah... the fun patterns and high quality of these skirts make them great to run in, but I have also been known to pair them with a sweater or dressy top and wear them to work.  I even wore them for my son's Boy Scout Eagle Ceremony!

My next purchase?  A running dress!  Yes, you read that right!  A dress!  Just need to get it ordered, and if it gets here in time, I'll debut it at the Indy Mini 5K on May 7th!

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!!

 Right now, you can actually get your own skirt to try and save a few bucks in the processes!  Literally as I was writing this, I received an email with a sneak peak of the Mothers Day Sales, which technically starts tomorrow, but as my friend (or family) I am able to share this with you ahead of time!  Use the discount code EXTRA20 to save an additional 20% off any sale priced items!  Yes, that means you could save up to 70% on some items!

Click here to find all the NEW Spring 2016 colors and prints at Skirt Sports!  Head on over to Skirt Sports to check out what you might be missing!  While you are at it... pick up something for mom!  I am sure she will appreciate it!

Disney Star Wars Dark Side Challenge weekend... part 1

As many of you know, I just came back from a long weekend in Orlando for the Disney Dark Side Half Marathon.  After running the Star Wars Rebel Half in January, I have been looking forward to this weekend since!  This was an awesome weekend filled with tons of fun, laughs and adventures.

This time the family was coming with me, and participating in the 5k too!  Since we had an EARLY flight out (6am), we drove to Milwaukee.   the night before and stayed at my favorite "go to" airport hotel!  The Clarion is right near the airport has reasonable rates as well as Stay and Fly packages so you can leave your car parked in their secured lot while you travel!  Since we had such an early flight, the first day of vacation started with the alarm going off at 3:30am!  by 4:10am, Thursday morning, we were on the way to the airport.  It was 19 degrees when we left Milwaukee and a pleasant 75 when we landed in Orlando!

Time to conquer the Dark Side

 One of the best choices we made for this trip was booking the Disney Magical Express to take care of our transportation.  We really wouldn't realize how much of a benefit this was until later in the weekend, but I'll get to that later!  Without having to worry about collecting luggage at baggage claim, we headed straight for the Disney Welcome center, checked in and were on a bus withing 15 minutes of when we got off the plane!  A short ride later and we were at out resort!  Again we didn't have to worry about collecting luggage and were able to just head inside to check in!

runDisney time!

After dumping our carry-on bags in our room, we headed for the expo.  One of the awesome things that Disney does for race weekend is provide race specific busing.  On Thursday, since anyone that was already on property was heading to the expo, there was a bus that just went from the resorts to ESPN Wide World of Sports.  There were only 2 resorts assigned to our bus so it was a short ride!

One of the advantages of arriving about an hour after the expo and packet pick up opened, the lines were short!  We had all of our packets picked up in less than 15 minutes - 5k for John and Darrin, then the 5k and Dark Side Challenge for me.  Disney always does a great job of having a well organized packet pickup with plenty of friendly volunteers to answer any questions.  With how many people I know will be running these events this weekend, I am glad we were able to get here before everything got really busy.

With all of our packets picked up, and I collected my wrist bands to verify medals that I was eligible to earn once I finished all my races for the weekend.  I felt like I was checking into the hospital for major surgery with the 2 race wrist bands, plus my magic band (room key, park passes, everything all in one) on one wrist and my running watch and JayBird on the other!

Then it was on to the expo!  Shopping time!  Since I really didn't have a ton of time to explore the expo when I was in California for the Star Wars Half in January, I was excited to have time to really see what was here!  I found a few new flavors of my Gluten Free Stinger waffles that I love, so I had to get a few to try!  Luck was on my side too - one of the vendors had calf sleeves on sale for a decent price, so I was able to pick up another pair (since I forgot mine at home!).  A few shirts later, it was time to find some lunch!

Unfortunately lunch was NOT up to Disney standards!  We opted to stop at the ESPN Grill right outside the expo.  After ordering, we grabbed a table outside, in the shade to enjoy the Florida weather.  about a half out later, we still didn't have our food, so Darrin went to get a soda refill and check on where our food was.  Someone came over to check on what we had, told us that they were having a computer issue and took our receipt and headed to the kitchen.  Another half hour later, we STILL didn't have food.  We waited long enough.  But unfortunately, we couldn't just leave - we had already paid for our food!  We headed back inside to find someone to inquire about a refund so we could go find food elsewhere.  Of course they asked us for our receipt, which we did not have anymore as the last gal took it from us when she went to check on our order!  Apparently, their computer had crashed and orders were not matching up with table numbers and everything was a mess.  They were able to find our order, based on the number that they gave us for our order.  After talking to 2 more people we were informed that our food had just come up.  They offered to box it up for us AND refund us the full amount of our meal.  Although not ideal, but at least they did what they could to make it right.

With bag of food in hand, we headed out from ESPN to catch the bus back to our resort.  But not before we took a few more pictures outside the entrance to ESPN!  The whole family was running the 5k on Friday and I would also be taking on the Dark Side Challenge - the 10k on Saturday and Half Marathon on Sunday!

 When we got back to our room, we magically had luggage!  Everything made it, in one piece!  Gotta love it when a good plan comes together! We officially could start the adventure and have clothes to change into!  The rest of the day, we explored out resort a bit, relaxed and then headed to bed early.  Alarms were going off at 3:30am so that we could get ready to catch buses by shortly after 4 to make it to the start line on time!

5am is early, no matter which way you look at it, but we were hanging gout with a few thousand other people at the start line of the inaugural Dark Side 5k!  I will have to say that the start line area was well organized, there were ample volunteers around to make sure you made it from the buses to the start line,  and plenty of Disney Photographers were on hand to take any pictures that you wanted!  There were also about 6 Star Wars Characters at the start line area, around the stage, for photo opportunities!  Since I was in an earlier corral for the race, I left John and Darrin at the stage area to head to my corral to stretch out and get ready for the race.  They used this time to get a few photos before the race!

I opted to wait until I hit the course to take any pictures, and even tho this was the Dark Side 5k, the only photo op I stopped for...   Chewbacca!  This was the one day that I decided I was only going to make the one stop, and was going to try and push my time a little.  I felt good, the temperatures were mild and I was ready to run.  I did stop along the way to snap a few pictures along the way, but nothing too exciting!

In the end, I finished this 5k in my normal a few minutes of my average 5k time (with the exception of the 10 minutes that I waited for my picture with Chewie).  I was actually excited to know that I pushed myself enough that it was still dark out when I finished!  I beat the sun!

Since I knew that John and Darrin were just walking the 5k, I had some time to spare.  So I used this time to get a few other pictures at the stage area.  The lines seemed long, but in reality, they did move fairly quickly.  I managed to get a few different picture before heading back over to the finish line to watch them come in. 

When I say them come around the corner, I tried to get a video of them actually running to the finish line, but apparently I couldn't' operate the camera on my phone and ended up just with a photo.  Oh well, you can tell from the picture tho, that they were actually running!

Proof of finish!  Medals and official finish line photos!

Race 1 for the weekend for me done!  After showers and breakfast, we spent the rest of Friday in the parks, wandering through Magic Kingdom (Where I met up with fellow Skirt Sports Ambassador Mary, who joined us for the morning!), then Hollywood Studios.  We actually had some issues with getting our Fast Passes to work with the Disney Experience app that morning at MK, so when we talked with the awesome young lady at the resort, she added a Fast Pass package onto our account to use at Hollywood Studios that afternoon!  We had 3 fast passes to use, any time, any ride that day!  We were able to hit 3 rides, literally no waiting in less than 2 hours in the park!

Once we used our passes, it was time for this Crazy Hamster to get some sleep!  I left the boys at the park and headed for the bus, and ultimately back to the resort so I could get some shut eye. While I headed back, they hit another show and then the Fireworks - which apparently were set to the opening theme from Star Wars!

Next part of the adventure was coming soon... and the alarm was going off at 3am! 

Stay tuned for Race Recap Part 2, coming soon!

Attention active ladies!

When you find something that you really love, you tell people about it... right?  Well, I just found something for all you active ladies out there!

To all you guys out there, go ahead and stop reading now... unless you really want to read about my new favorite sports bra!  

After my run today, as I was hanging out on the floor with my roller, it came to me that it was time to sit down and write a quick review!

I know that there are many of you ladies out there that have the same problem as me - finding a good sports bra that will give you the support that you need during all your fitness adventures, without pinching, chafing, or suffocating you!

I am sure we all struggled with getting out of a sports bra after a long run or workout - it's pretty much another workout in itself!  Hence why I have switching to almost exclusively wearing zip front sports bras - after running a half marathon in 105% humidity, there is now way that sweaty beast is coming off over my head!

I recently decided to give the Zip'em Up sports bra from Skirt Sports a try.  Yes, I am a Skirt Sports Ambassador and always talk highly have their running skirts and carpi's but this was the first time I have ordered one of their bra's!  Why did I wait this long?

  For all you ladies out there that need the extra support, all I can say is WOW!  For the last few years, I have been wearing nothing but another well known company's bra's (and spending more than a small fortune on them) when I head out for a run.  No, not the same ONE bra for 2 years, I bought several over the last few years!  This one is quickly becoming my new favorite and will be replacing my other ones!  So far, this bra has supported me through several long runs, fitness classes, cycling and everything in between.

With just the right amount of compression to keep the girls in place without making you feel like you like you are a stuffed into a sausage casing, and lightly padded shoulder straps, this is a thing of beauty!  

The other thing that I love about this bra?  It's not super thick and padded!  Now wait!  Yes you read that right!  It's not padded!  A sports bra for us large chested ladies that is not padded?  That's right, it's not actually padded but has this amazing lining that helps provide perfect coverage, while being lightweight and breathable!  Perfect for those warm summer  activities.

The hidden front zipper has a guard on the inside to help eliminate chafing and keeps it comfortable.  It also features 2 hidden hooks are almost like have an extra hand to help hold the bra closed so that you can easily zip it.  I don't know how many times I have tried on a zip-front bra and felt like I needed 3 extra hands to try and keep everything in place while trying to close the zipper!  And NO fighting with a sweaty gross bra after my run!  A quick unzip and that was it!

Honestly, this is one of the first sports bra's that I have owned that provided the support that I need, is beyond comfortable, doesn't chafe and is actually cute!  I think I might need to get one of every color!

Yes I am a Skirt Sports Ambassador but the opinions here are my own.   If you want to check out the options that Skirt Sports offers in bra's (as well as other athletic apparel) check out their website!  Click on the link below to head to the website!   Then, because you are all awesome, use discount code CHD20 to save 20% on your order just because we are friends!