Running in a dress - game changer!

Several years ago, when I discovered running skirts, I wasn't really sure how comfortable that would be.  Until I gave them a try.  Once I found the right ones, I was hooked!  Skirt Sports was the clear winner, but that's a whole different post.  Today I'm here to tell you that, although I still love my skirts and wear them whenever I can, running in a dress proved to be a game changer!

When Skirt Sports announced their two new dresses, I knew I had to give them a try.  I was not sure if I would actually like running in them, but if nothing else, this seemed like a great option for days up north when we head out to explode waterfalls, do some hiking and just hang out with the family at the lake!


My Electric dress (affiliate link) arrived about a week before I left for Indy and it fit perfectly!  I debated between ordering the Emerald City print or the solid black.  Normally, I ended up going more conservative and would have ordered the black on... but I decided to go out on a limb and order the Emerald City.  I am so glad that I did!

From the time I first put the dress on, I could tell it was going to be very comfortable.  My biggest concern was that it was not going to have enough support on top.  For everyday wear, I knew it would be fine, but was it going to be enough to carry me through a run.  It's no secret that I need a little extra support up there.

I debated for a few days on when I was going to actually try my dress out on a run.  Since the week leading up to Indy was a crazy one and my training calendar ended up getting compromised, I decided to break one of the cardinal rules of running - never try anything new on race day.  No new fuel, no new shoes, no new clothing...

But I then decided that since it was the 5k that I was signed up for, I was willing to take the chance.  I packed my dress.  Yes, I packed an extra skirt and tank for the race, just in case I changed my mine, but that never happened.  I was too excited to wear my new dress!

This was by far one of the most comfortable races every!  MY dress stayed in place, never seemed to ride up (or down) through my miles!   Now, although I was missing my shorts underneath (mainly for the pockets) this dress does feature a "cleavage alley" pocket!  plenty of room for some race fuel, and ID, hotel room key (we were travleing after all), and I probably could have even slipped my key fob in, if I needed to!  Nothing moved around, bounced out or even weigh the dress down!  WIN!

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my skirts, the comfort, the pockets and everything else about them, but I love my dress!  Matched with a pair of the SS Redemption Shorts underneath (YAY - pockets!) this is a true winner!

The inaugural adventure of running a 5k was a success.  I will have to break this out on a longer training run before I adventure to running a half marathon in it, but after the first race, I have high hopes for this little gem!

So, now that I am sitting to write this post, and it's actually a few weeks AFTER the debut, this dress has proven to be even more valuable than I originally thought!  The simple lines and cut of this dress make is so functional for so many different things!  No, I have not worn it to work yet, but I have wore it for random errands, but this weekend, I put it on, added a simple black sweater and headed to the local performing arts center for Chicago!



Running apparel by day, Theater apparel by night!

Now that works for me!

In the end:
What did I love?
       * Everything stayed where it needed to.
       * Super comfortable
       * Cleavage Alley pocket

Downfalls?
       * I miss my pockets (but this is easily remedied with the addition of the shorts underneath)
       * Due to the sizing on the dress and my need for slightly more coverage on top, I had to adjust what size I ordered.  Normally in SS tank, I wear a large and most skirts are a Medium, I needed to order an XL dress to fit right on the top.  not a big deal, just make sure you check the sizing charts and order accordingly!

Now, time to decide if I want to order this same dress in another color or do I try the other new style?! Such decisions!

Ready to try an Electric Dress (affiliate link)  for yourself?  Use my discount code CHD20 to save 20%!



As a Brand Ambassador for Skirt Sports, I obviously love their products.  All opinions above are my own and when you click on any of the affiliate links or banners on my page to place your order, I do make a small commission.

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 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!

Pi Day of the Century!

Pi Day of the century was upon us!  For all the math geeks out there, rejoice! 3/14/15 is here!

In honor of the fun day, the kids of Leonardo da Vinci school for Gifted Learners here in Green Bay put in hours upon hours of work and planning to create and execute the 1st annual Green Bay area Pi Day fun run!  They planned everything form the theme, raffle prizes, race route and everything in between!

To keep with the Pi theme, the race was officially set to start at the exact Pi moment! 3/14/15 at 9:26am - and yes we started on time!

Lisa decided to meet John and I for this fun morning too!  Granted none of us would actually be hitting the course together it is always fun to have good friends around!

The weather was perfect! Then again, any time that I can wear capri's and a long sleeve t-shirt in March and be outside, I'm not going to complain!  Granted, there was a chilly wind that kept pestering us, but I was not going to let that bother me!  As always, I seem to start out fast and then I end up slowing down so that I can get to the end.  When I hit the 1 mile marker I was pleasantly surprised that I was a 9:17 pace and still felt strong.  I was determined to make the most of the day and keep this pace as long as I could.

Start/Finish line was even built by the kids that planned the event (yes with help from some parents and teachers).  It was really awesome to see all of the thought that they put into this fun community event.  For a 1st time race in the area, they had over 750 people sign up!

Highlight of the course?  That's debatable!  Part of me wants to say the fact that there was virtually no snow in the park when we ran though.  However I also have to say that running past Joanne's Baseball stadium and knowing that summer baseball starts in just over 2 months makes me happy!  Summer evenings at the ballpark with some awesome friends, is always something good to look forward to!  So yes, spring is in the air and I am so ready for warmer weather to be back to stay for a few months!  Once I passed the ballpark, I felt like I had renewed energy!  When I hit the 2 mile marker, I was still pushing a 9:30 pace.  Time to kick in anything else that was left in the tank!

Running into other Fellow Flowers along the way is always fun!  I originally met Kerri when we were running the 1st leg of the Fall 50 last October and have been running into each other at events ever since!  The encouragement from other Flowers wherever we happen to meet is always amazing!

In the end, John, Lisa and myself were all pleased with our "unofficial" times for this fun run.  Any 5k that I can hit under 30 minutes, it's a good day in my book.   Over all it was a super morning, spent with family and friends!  I can't wait to see what these kids to next year for the 2nd annual fun run!!

Warrior Dash WI! If you don't get muddy, you are doing it wrong!

Mud, Sweat and Beer!  Get ready to get muddy!

Time once again for Warrior Dash WI!  This was the 3rd year that I conquered this crazy, muddy, awesome run.  This was a little different tho - I was facing these obstacles with John!  We knew that we would not be running the course and time was not even going to be a concern for us.  We were going to do this and  accomplish the beast of a course together!  John was not sure if he was going to be able to do all of the obstacles.  I reassured him that if there was something that he was not able to do, there were ways around most of the obstacles.

John and I Pre-race - i.e. No mud yet!

We could not have asked for better weather!  When we got to the Hunt Club where event is always held, the sun was shining!  This was a nice change from the storms and near flash floods from the night before!  Since we decided to leave from Madison early enough, we didn't have very long lines to wait in to pick up our packets and get ready to have some fun!

I knew that they made a few changes to the obstacles this year and from the finish line we were able to see the Collosus Slide that  they added to this years course... It looks A LOT higher than I thought it would be from the pictures! This is gonna be interesting!

Best part about this year (aside from running this with my husband!) was that we remembered to bring the rugged camera!  That shock-proof, water-proof camera was finally going to really come in handy!  In the several years that we have owned this camera, aside from a few trips out on the lake, it has not seen much action!  We were going to make up for that today!

The wall that I was not sure I was going to get over

We were only walking today and agreed that we were going to make a point to enjoy the morning and have as much fun as we can!  We spent the next hour and a half laughing, working together to get through, over and under everything that was in front of us!  At one point, John actually accidentally hit the button on the camera and actually took a video of himself falling into one of the mud pits.  I will have to see if I can get that posted out here - or at least put a link to it!

There were a few obstacles that we each thought that we were not going to be able to get through.  The biggest one for me was the Warrior Peak (pictured to the right).  I was not sure if I actually had the upper body/arm strength to pull this one off!  I am proud to say that not only did this obstacle NOT give me any trouble, but I almost ran right up the wall!  The worst part was actually getting over the top!  I am also happy to report that John also made it up an over on this one!

In the end, we may have taken our time, but we had a blast!  The Collosus slide at the end was awesome - the climb up to it, on the other hand was tough - but it was not going to stop up!  John is anxious to sign up again for next year too!  I also have a group of friends that have already said that they want to join us next year!

Here is to more fun to come guys!  I am working on getting pics from this year's Warrior Dash posted, so stay tuned for the link!!

5th Annual Packers Training Camp 5k

This past weekend marked the 5th annual Packers Training camp 5k.  Since I have run this event every year since it started, it was one that I didn't hesitate to sign up for when registration opened.  This is one of 2 times during the year that I know I will get inside Lambeau Field (the other time is each spring with the Cellcom (Half) Marathon or 5k).  This is always a fun race to run and it brings out so many people - why not, when you can run through Lambeau Field.  There have also been times when several of the Packers players were spotted running the course.  A few years ago, I actually ran with Mark Murphy, Packers President and CEO, for a while, but he quickly left me in the dust!

Each year this event has been slightly different... the first few years, it was at 10am.  Now, normally, I don't mind the 10am start, but when you are talking the end of July, by 10am it was always too warm.  I can understand why they went with a slightly later start time - they were looking to make it a family event and a 7am start time is not practical when you are looking to get families together to come out and run/walk.  During the second year, I think it was 85 degrees by the time we finished!  Then they changed the run to the evening.  Last year, this was awesome!  It was unseasonably cooler than the year before - low 60's and cloudy!  It it was not for the bottleneck getting into the stadium, this would have been the first time I broke the 30 minute 5k time.  My official time last year was 30:08.

This year was a little different for my family!  This was the first time that the entire family was participating in the event!  I had a bunch of friends that I was going to be running with, John decided to sign up to walk and Darrin was going to be running with myTEAM TRIUMPH.

Darci, Kim, John and Myself before the start

This year they once again went with the 6:30pm start time and the weather was not as mild as last year.  As it turned out, Matt and I were signed up for wave 2 (7-9 min mile pace) and then Darci & Kim were in wave 3 (9-11 min mile pace), so we headed to our respective corrals while John and Molly headed to their corral with the rest of the walkers.  Darrin was already hanging with the rest of the crew from mTT.  He was running with Captain Tristan and fellow Angel Adrianne this year.  At the time the start gun went off, it was 87 degrees and virtually not a cloud in the sky!  This was going to be brutal.  There was no way that I was going to attempt a 5k PR in these conditions.  Our goal for tonight - not to die!  Ok, and hopefully hit under 35 minutes.

Matt and I waiting at the start line

I would love to say that I had a fabulous race and that I was able to put the heat out of my mind and just run, but that was not the case.  Matt and I started out strong and made it through mile 1 in 9:30.  Unfortunately, that was the only mile that was under 10 minutes.  Shortly after the 1 mile marker, the course begins a long gradual uphill stretch.  I was determined to make it to the top of this hill before I had to walk, but the heat really started to get to me.  I had to stop to walk for a bit.  Thankfully this part of the hill was somewhat in the shade so that helped.  The entire second mile was a combination of walking and running, just trying to survive and not over heat.

The anxious crowd awaiting the start of the race

As we came around one of the last corners, and the stadium was back in front of us, I felt like I was running on near empty.  Matt was my godsend in this race.  He slowed and walked when I had to but yet pushed me to keep going.  He was determined to get me to the finish line, and I am truly grateful for that!  Just before we reached the parking lot back to the stadium, we passed the second water station.  Since I had my Nuun with my in my water bottles, I was ok yet on hydration that way, so I grabbed 2 cups of water and poured them over my head to try and cool of.

Feeling a little more refreshed, it was time for the motivation run through the tunnel and around the field in Lambeau Field.  I pushed that last mile for everything it was worth.  As we ran through the tunnel on the final approach to the parking lot - and the finish line, Matt turned and said "there's the finish - time to kick it in and finish strong"  Normally I would do just that, but today, there was nothing left in the tank.  I pushed with what I had left and we did finish side by side.

Matt and I crossing the turf at the finish line!

I honestly didn't even see the clock as we crossed the finish line.  I had one thing on my mind... I needed to find water and needed to cool off.  Around the corner from the finish, they were handing out medals!  I honestly had forgotten that they were giving out medals this year!  5 year anniversary of the event = medals for all finishers!  OK, that works for me... but I still need water!

Finally I got to the water and kept walking.  After a few minutes of standing in the shade of the food tent I could feel that I was finally cooling off a bit - plus I had dumped half my water on me, instead of drinking it.  That was by far one of the most brutal, warm runs that I have ever done... but I finished!

We may be warm, but we ROCKED that!

We slowly found everyone else in our party - Kim and Darci finished just a few minutes later.  Thankfully by the time we finished, the temps had started dropping so it was not as hot and sticky anymore.  Kim was extremely proud of her first official race medal - smile away Kim - you earned that one! My official time came in at 32:04 - much better than I thought it would have been with how I was feeling out of the course!  All in all, we all agreed that we were happy that we were done, we were happy with what we did and we all needed showers!

Darrin, Adrianne and Captain Tristan!

This race was definitely a challenge but we all kept each other going and got through to the finish!  I am very proud of all of us for encouraging each other to keep going, helping push each other to do our best and celebrate our success at the end!  You guys all rock (and this includes you Jeff for getting the awesome finish line photos!)  I am proud to call each of you my friends and family! Together we can accomplish anything!

What kind of extreme's have you dealt with during your outdoor fitness activities that have pushed you to your limits?  How did you deal with it?  Did it change anything about the way you train?

Where is this summer going??

They say that time flies when you are having fun... this has been so true for this summer!

It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that I was putting in some freezing cold miles in the bitter cold of the "brisk" winter we had here in Wisconsin.  Now we are halfway through July, summer vacation is half over and we are already starting to think about fall and back to school.

I figured this was a good time to look back on some of the goals that I set for this year, things I wanted to do and see where I stand with those goals now.

1.  750in2014 - After running/walking 319.95 miles in 2013, I decided that I needed to raise the bar!  My goal is to hit 750 miles in 2014 (between running, walking and biking combined).  I know that there were a few more miles that I walked in 2013 that I did not log, but it was no where near another 400+ miles.  In order to hit 750 miles this year, I was going to need to log about 62 miles per month.  At the end of June, I was at 318 miles... quite a bit short of where I should be for the year.  I know that I have many more miles to come this year as I still have several Half Marathons in my future. Based on where I am now, I am going to need to kick into high gear and average 70 miles per month to hit my goal. Granted, I know that I can help these miles out my getting in some biking too (my bike has not been out on enough of the awesome country roads yet this year!) but these feet need to get moving!

2.  Run my first Full Marathon - Cellcom 2014 was on my radar as the first full marathon I was going to run.  Unfortunately, as you all know, that didn't happen.  My IT Bands had other plans for me.  I ended up having to back off my training miles and take a look getting myself back on track.  I ended up with an awesome Physical Therapist who not only got me back on track with no knee pain but also made sure that I started getting in the proper strength exercises to make sure that I didn't have to go back and see her again next year!  She officially broke off our relationship just after the 4th of July holiday.  She told me that she hopes that only time she sees me again is at a race!  I know that a Full Marathon is not going to happen this year, but I am not giving up this one.  We will table this one until a later date... I am not giving up on it, just postponing it until I know that my body is ready for the challenge.

3. Run a sub 2:15 half marathon.  Considering I have only run 1 Half this year and it was partway through my IT band rehab and I hit 2:33, I am calling this one a work still in progress.  If I was within 5 minutes of my Half PR while dealing with my IT band issues, I am not giving up on this one!  I still have several more Half Marathons in 2014 so I can guarantee that I am still working on this one!

(New goals since the beginning of 2014)
4.  Qualify for Half Fanatics (http://www.halffanatics.com/)  I recently discovered this group online and have realized that running these half marathons has gotten into my blood.  There are other people out there just as crazy as me - or even crazier!  So why not join the asylum and have some fun with it!  If I work it out that I am able to run the Marquette Half Marathon Labor Day weekend, I can qualify for the Saturn level - 4 half marathons in 37 days!

5.  Try things that I have never done before - time to step out of the comfort zone!  This of course is an one going adventure.  I started out the year running in some of the coldest conditions ever!  In years past, if the weather was too cold, I either skipped my run or hit the treadmill.  After doing way too many miles on the treadmill, it was time to suck it up and get outside!  With a few changes to my running gear, I ran through the coldest winter I think I have ever lived through, outside and survived!

I also had the chance to actually do some running/hiking in the beautiful Phoenix area this past spring!  Those amazing views could really convince me to move out there!

This weekend will mark my first 10k trail run.  Last year I ran the Bairds Creek trail 5k here in Green Bay. It is time to embark on a 10k extreme trail run, single track... we will get dirty and may even have to use our hands to climb through part of the course!  It will be a true adventure!

2014 may be half over already, but the adventure is no where close to being over! I have made some awesome new friends, found many more new challenges to consider and have some incredible adventures planned! With several more races left, miles to run, family and friends to enjoy time with, the second half of 2014 can only be better than the first half!

I know that I have a few race recaps to catch up on and other updates that I would like to get out here, but until then...

How are you doing on your goals for 2014?  If you are not on track to achieve them, what can you change now to ensure that you will be successful?