Another half marathon down. One to go!
I decided back in September to run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon and the Princess Half Marathon so that I could earn a pink coast to coast medal from runDisney.
And then December came and went and I was really regretting that decision because I've done zero training for any kind of long distance running. I mean, I haven't even been going to Crossfit regularly since I hurt my hand right before Thanksgiving.
So not only was I untrained, but I've packed on a couple of extra pounds to carry along with me as well.
Guess what? It didn't matter. I PR'd!!! By almost 5 minutes. I'm not going to pretend that I'm fast. Because I'm still super slow. But? I did it. Better than last time.
I'll recap, but I'm a total loser and took ZERO pictures. Not even the obligatory post race pic with my medal. Super bummed.
The night before the race I worked until 8pm. Husband picked me up and we went out to dinner. We had originally planned on seafood, but the wait was 45 minutes and I really wanted to get to bed as soon as I could, so we ended up at Outback for some steak instead. I'm not really a huge believer in carb loading before a race, so I high proteined it with a big steak and some salad, but did eat some of my baked potato on the side. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. We had decided to stay at a hotel across the street from Disneyland so that I could walk to the race, since it started at 5am! Husband had already checked in to the hotel before grabbing me from work, so we went straight to the room. I showered, laid out all my stuff for the next day and called it a night!
I can't decide if it was the worst bed on the face of the planet, or if I was just anxious about the race, but I tossed and turned all night long. My alarm went off at 330 in the morning and I actually hit snooze I was so tired!
When I got up, I got ready, made a protein shake and grabbed a banana before heading out the door. I walked the one mile to get in to my corral and made it there at about 425. And then waited. And waited. And waited. Finally we saw the fireworks when the national anthem was sung, and then came the first disappointment of the race. There were no fireworks as each corral started. If you have runDisney before, you know that each corral begins with a bang, but not so this time. It was kind of a bummer.
Shortly we were being ushered to start, and then came the anticlimactic start. I have a tendency to start out too fast (relatively speaking) and the slow down a ton at the end, so I had to make a conscious decision to keep it real this time. I decided to use the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method and it worked out great for me this time!
The first 6ish miles were in the parks, and they were fun!! We wound through both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, and both backstage areas, and it was a great time, but after mile 6 we headed out on to the streets of Anaheim, and it got kind of boring. The only other races that I have done have had plenty of entertainment to pass the time, so I was kind of disappointed. We ran through some neighborhoods where there was signage with Tinkerbell telling us to be quiet because the neighbors were sleeping. The signs were cute, but I'm sure that is one of the reasons for the lack of entertainment. Around mile 9 my calves started to cramp. BADLY. With each step the corresponding calf would tell me to stop. And I refused. I kept moving regardless, and I'm so glad that I did, because by mile 10ish they had stopped! Husband came out to cheer me on, so when I saw him at mile 11(or so) it was the nicest pick me up, and it gave me the energy to just keep going.
When I hit the 13mile mark, I realized that it was possible for me to get a PR! I tried to run all the way through the finish line, but my body wasn't having any part of it, so I had to walk for about 30 seconds during that last .1, but I ran through the finish line and managed to PR! Given the fact that I haven't been running and I'm carrying some extra weight, I didn't think it was possible, but YAY!!!
Overall, I was a little bit disappointed with the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. The weather was amazing, but other than that, I was more impressed with both the Disneyland Half and the Princess Half marathons. After my Princess Half next month, I think I'm done with this distance for a while.
Either until I somehow magically run faster, or until I can drop some serious poundage.
Do you runDisney??
