Inspiration comes in the form of a sea of red!

This past weekend marked the 40th Annual Bellin 10k Run.  The first event was held in 1977 with a total of 881 participants.  Since then, the race has grown by leaps and bounds!  Over the years this has grown to be one of the largest 10k's in the country.  This year it drew in nearly 17,000 runners, including a field of elite runners from around the world!

One of the high point of the weekend was the Friday morning kickoff fun run.  Run with Greatness.  This event is a fundraiser for myTeam Triumph (mTT) and gives anyone who attends, the opportunity to run along side some of the greats, such as Meb KeFlezighi, Joan Samuelson, Uta Pipng, Risper Gesabwa and more.  Sometimes, running at a sub 8 minute mile is worth it, just to get that epic running selfie with and elite runner!

Although this opportunity was priceless, it was not what the weekend was about!  The best was yet to come!

This year, after several years of volunteering for mTT, I decided that it was time to step up my game.  I was going join the fleet of Angels and run at least a few events.  This year one of the events I chose to run was the Bellin 10k.  Shortly after I signed up to run, my friend Lisa decided that she wanted to join me!  We had been looking forward to this weekend since before Christmas!

We were selected to run as Angels for Captain Justice!  We were also joined by another new Angel, Krista on this epic adventure.  Because we all have busy schedules, the 4 of us finally got to all meet each other less than a week before race day - 3 days before in fact!  But that didn't matter, we came together for one reason...

To make Captain Justice fly!

Bright and early (6:15am) Saturday morning, a sea of red converged in front of the hospital to prepare for the days festivities! This was history in the making.  This year, mTT had a record 40 Captains running this event!  Yes!  40 Captains for the 40th annual Bellin 10k!  Combined with their 120 Angels and countless other volunteers, that was a lot of red!  

Everyone came together for a reason...  for a purpose... united together to run the streets of Green Bay on this HOT Saturday morning in June!  At the start of the race, it was already approaching 75 degrees and by the time we finished it was pushing 85!  

One amazing perk of running with mTT for the Bellin - our Captains get RockStar corral placement!  We start right behind the wheelchair division - in FRONT of the elite runners!  Most runners may never have the opportunity to "toe the start line" at a race, unless it's a small, local race with only a few hundred people.  With the way that we were lined up in the staging area, as the sea of red moved around to the start line, Captain Justice ended up right at the start line!  The best seat in the house!  So not only was he starting ahead of the elites, he was one of the 1st athletes to cross the start line!

When I said, sea of red, I was not kidding!  This picture only give you a glimmer of how much red was out on the course!  Unless you have your eyes closed, there is not way you can miss this flood of Captains and Angels crossing the start line!

We headed out, knowing that we were going to take it easy, walk when we had to, and make sure that we had fun!  Another cool thing about the Bellin 10k is the community support.  Since the course runs through both business areas as well as residential streets, there are people out lining the streets everywhere!  Almost the entire course is lined with spectators, chilling in their front yards in lawn chairs to cheer on runners,  putting out their sprinklers so runners have a chance to cool off a bit, and even handing out freezie pops!  Yup, right before we hit mile one, there was a mom and her kids on the sidewalk passing out freezie pops to any runners who wanted one!  It didn't take Justice long to say he wanted one!

For the next 5 miles, we ran, we walked, we laughed, we played in sprinklers, we say Green Bay Packer players (who were giving high 5's as we ran by!) and more!  We all agreed that the one thing that kept us all running - Justice's giggles each time we ran through a sprinkler!  This young man loves water and you could easily see that!  He would see a sprinkler coming in the distance, slide his CD player under his pad of paper and then cover the whole pile with his ziploc bag of markers!  He had this routine all figured out!  Before we knew it, we were at the park, meaning the finish line was just around the corner~

Huge perk again this year - FREE race photos!  Although we did not get many photos from on the course, finish line photos like this, are perfect to sum up what the weekend is all about!  Working as a team to make our Captain's fly!  Approaching that finish line with the massive crowds cheering and hearing Justice name announced over the loud speaker was one of the most rewarding moments EVER!

In the end, this experience was something that will never be able to be replicated.   No matter how many races I run with mTT, this one will always hold a special place withing, because it was the first!   I am already looking forward to training for the next one, but I am also not going to rush to put this day behind me!

3 rookie Angels and one amazing Captain!  Thank you Justice for being the one to encourage us, motivate us and allow us to be your wings!   The weather may not have been what we wanted, but that was a small issue in terms of the magnitude of the experience!

This right here, it why I do this!  Seeing that smile on Justice's face when that medal was put over his head was priceless!   Not too long before this photo was taken, Justice's mom made the comment that is is always so hard for her to get a picture of him smiling.   

Apparently it just takes a race medal to bring one out!

Thank you Captain Justice!

So, if you are looking for something to do that just might change your life, this could be it!  The amazing relationships that are created and built through this fabulous organization are tough to duplicate elsewhere! Offering your time, energy and legs to give athletes the opportunity to do something that they would otherwise not be able to do, is something thing that I don't think you can fully understand until you experience it for yourself!

We can be our own worst critics, don't fall into the trap

Many times, we are often more critical of ourselves, forgetting to see the big picture. Last week I received the link to my FREE race photos from the Oshkosh Half Marathon. Yes!  Free race pics!  It's not often that I actually get race pictures that I like, let alone ones I would want to pay for!  So when I saw that these ones were free, I had hope.

I hated them!  

I looked like I was dying!

I saved off a few of them and posted them to one of the Facebook running groups that I follow, to share my "Pathetic" pictures. 

After a few comments from other group members I stopped and realized I fell into the trap. I looked at those pics and saw every flaw.  But now I decided that I needed to share these here also.  We all need to remember that one picture, one moment, one day, does not define who we are.  It is just one grain of sand that is part of the beauty that is created by the beach!

I saw the pounds that I put on when I was sick earlier this year. 

I looked exhausted.  My shirt kept crawling up...

I knew how much my feet and legs just wanted to be done. 

I was missing the bigger picture. 

I was a runner

I was strong and determined. 

Only I knew how hard I've worked to get to where I was

I'm a mom, a wife, a sister and a friend. 

Oh yeah... I actually have pretty good running form (thanks Nate and Lisa for helping with that over the years with those Running Assessments!)

After stopping to think about it, I really have a better appreciation for these pictures.   

5 years ago, I couldn't run a mile, now I'm training for my first Ultra Marathon. 

I have a family that supports my running adventures (yes they often think I'm crazy, but they still support my crazy ideas, dreams and desires)

I have met some of the best friends I could ask for because of these running adventures. 

I may never get that "perfect" race photo, but each "imperfect" one helps to remind me how far I've come. I will probably never win a race, but that's not what it's about. It's about being true to myself, running MY race and pushing myself to be the best version of me that I can be!

Don't get so focused on the little details that you forget to see the whole story!  You are stronger than you give yourself credit for!

Zero Expectations can work out to your benefit sometimes!

Before each race, many of us probably go through some of the same questions to prepare ourselves mentally for the event...

Goal time to finish? Average Pace? Whatever it may be, we usually have something that we are shooting for.

Last weekend, I threw all of that behind me.

I went into the Oshkosh Half Marathon with ZERO expectation.  Why would I do this?  Why sign up for a race and not have a goal in mind to measure my success?  It was simple.  I was running this one completely for fun.

Last winter, I was at a benefit for myTeam Triumph and ended up with the winning bid of one of the silent auction baskets.  Part of that basket was 2 entries into any DuTriRun events in the area.  As part of my training for the Titletown Ultra Marathon, I decided to add the Oshkosh Half marathon to my training calendar.  After running the Dark Side Challenge at Disney World the weekend before,  I was coming off  22.6 miles of running through the parks.  This race was just about getting out and enjoying some time with the racing community, exploring some new areas (I've NEVER run in Oshkosh before!) and just enjoying the spring weather!

Kris and I headed to Oshkosh early so we could pick up get a parking spot near the finish line, pick up packets and relax a bit before we had to run.  He had run this race before and knew all the minute details!  He got us a parking spot literally 25 yards from the finish line!  We walked the short distance to the hotel where packet pickup was and had no wait to pick up our bibs.  Granted most people probably picked up there stuff the day before, but there was literally no wait for us in the morning!  No sooner than we got our bibs, Tracie found us (the joys of smaller local races - it's easy to find your running friends in the crowd!)

When it was time to head to the start line, everyone was talking goals, psyching themselves up to run at their peak, making plans on how the rain would (or wouldn't) affect their plans, and everything else to get themselves ready for the race.  I simply headed to the corrals, did some stretching, took a few photos and just enjoyed the morning.

Once the race started, I headed out, found a happy pace and just stated running.  I ran into a few friends from the Saturday morning Prevea training runs and chatted with them for a bit as we ran.  Just before Mile 2, I heard a voice being me "hey Fanatic, where ya from?"  Wearing my Half Fanatics Tank usually gets a few questions or hello's during any race). I replied back, "Green Bay" and turned to see the 2:30 pacer fall into pace with me.   (so I guess now I knew about what my pace currently was!).  We chatted or a bit and were joined by one of the other gals that I always see at the Prevea training runs.  We all ran together until just before mile 4 when I caught up with Tracie and we ended up running together.  I think at this point, I finally set ONE goal for myself today.  Since I was feeling good, I wanted to keep moving and finish in front of the 2:30 pacer. 

 

Tracie and I and I ended up playing leap frogfor then next 4 miles or so. She was dealingwith a Klee that was not playing nice, so she was doing some walk/run intervals to make sure she didn't push too hard (we head to Indyin a few weeksso she wants to make sure she will be ready to run there. I evenually lost her around mile 10.  I couldn't keep up with her cheetah legs anymore!

Running the trail and across the bridges in Oshkosh was awesome!  It may have been an overcast cloudy day, but that didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits.  One of the biggest things that I noticed tho?  The crowd support throughout the course!  Every few blocks it seemed like there were crews ready and willing to keep runners going!  One lady, I saw several times and each time I saw her, she had a different sign... I'm still waiting for those tacos she said were at the finish line!

This was also the 1st half marathon I ever ran WITHOUT my hydration belt!  I knew that I had enough pockets in my Skirt Sports running skirt to carry all of the race fuel that I needed, bit I didn't have my water bottles (still need to break down and buy myself that hydration best for the ultra).  Since I didn't water with me, I was forcing myself to hit all of the water stations and actually drink something!  There was no shortage of water stations of the course either - always love that!  Looking back, I actually think I consumed more water during this half marathon than I usually do, when I am carrying my own with me!  Many times, even though I have water (or Hydrate) with me, it's almost like it's too convenient and I forget to drink!  Note to self... drink your water!!

Overall, I get strong until about mile 11. My feet had enough (thinking back now, I probably should have replaced my running shoes already so that was probably part of the problem).  I wasn't giving up tho. I keep pushing on, and really started to dig deep. I started digging even deeper when I saw the 2:30 pacer had caught up to me!  I pushed on. I wanted to walk. I wanted to be done. Easiest way for that to happen? Keep running. 

Once I turned the corned off that last bridge and entered the park, it was time to leave it all on the trail.  I forged on ahead, finished strong and a good minute ahead of the pacer that I was determined to beat!

Official time:  2:27:33

Missed my PR by 0:2:30!

Best thing about this race?  Being done and having friends at the finish line to celebrate with!  Fellow Skirt Sport Ambassador Hannah was there waiting for me!  We big ran strong races. It was a good day!  After catching up with a few other friends, cheating on a few more myTEAM Triumph teams and walking off some tight calves it was time to head home for a shower... And food!

My go to post race or long run refueling? Healthy Bellyz!  Today it was the zucchini burrito!  Gluten free, dairy free and beyond amazing!  

In the end, I went in with no expectations, Ran a strong run, had fun and came up extremely pleased with the results!

Remember, it's not always about that finish time or pace!  It's about getting out there and just enjoying the fact that you have 2 legs that can carry you through these adventures!  Some people aren't that lucky!  Cherish these days, embrace the journey!

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...

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!