Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend Ramblings

The 2010 Disney Princess Half Marathon is the first race that I've participated in that has an expo so I was pretty excited about it. I headed out to Disney's Wide World of Sports on Friday to check it out. When I first got to there, I bee-lined it to the race packet pickup area. Where I got my race bib, which is super fab!


And my goodie bag.

And um... I don't know if my expectations were too high, but I kind of expected to have a few more goodies in my bag lol. But I do like the bag itself and I love my bright pink socks.

After that I wandered through the expo while trying to not make eye contact with the vendors since I had promised myself that I wouldn't buy anything. But then I saw this:

And I just had to have it! And then I came across the Spi-Belt booth and since I had been planning on buying one anyways, it-only-made-sense-for-me-to-get-it-today-so-that-I-wouldn't-have-to-pay-shipping-and-handling-later!

I am quite proud to say that those were my only two purchases. The Spi-Belt was a necessity and the tiara... Well, although I haven't figured out where I'm going to wear it, I'm sure I'll get a lot of wear out of my tiara because I love it! My sister was even kind enough to post a really hideous picture of me wearing it while I was taking a nap to Facebook *Payback is a mutha*

After my nap I headed over to Downtown Disney to meet with the Shredheads. It was awesome to "meet" them after talking to them online for months. They are all just as nice and fun as they are on Twitter! One of their sponsors, Omron, provided tech tees and really cool pedometers for everyone. I am in love with that tech tee, it feels really soft.

I'm such a nerd that I already pinned my race bib on the shirt that I'll be wearing on Sunday and put my D Tag on my shoe.

Oh and for the record, it is 1:30 in the morning and I don't think I'll be falling asleep any time soon. I'm not nervous about Sunday, I'm just REALLY excited! The same thing happened last night and tomorrow (well tonight) will probably be worse FML!

I Must Be Slightly Crazy

I am so amped that I'll be running my first ever half marathon this Sunday! Who gets this excited about running 13.1 miles? Although I didn't do all of my planned training runs and my longest distance was a 10 and a half miler a couple of weeks ago, I feel like I'm ready.

I am also really excited that that I will have my very own Royal Cheer Squad there.

Yes, I gave them a name and even send out newsletters (in pink and purple fonts) that say From the Chambers of Princess Rekeesha. And yes, I know that I'm a dork lol

I thought about going it alone, but then I decided that I really wanted someone there to cheer me on. So I volunteered my sister to come, as in I told (not asked) her that I would be picking her up that morning so she would need to take the day off. She, in turn, volunteered her boyfriend lol. Then I found out that I have two friends who will be volunteering at the event. And within the last week my cousin and two other friends have called me saying they want to come spectate. Who knew that people would be so willing to volunteer to get up REALLY early in the morning to come cheer me on? I'm glad they are though, because I have a feeling that seeing their smiling faces along the course will give me bursts of energy and make me want to keep going if it gets rough.

Also, although I said only really crazy people run full marathons, the thought has been running through my mind that I should train to run a full in 2011. Training for this half has been such a positive experience for me that I want more.

Disney Princess Half Marathon Training Update

So, I realized late last night that the Disney Princess Half is almost here! As of today, it's 29 days away. Someone asked whether I am ready for it and I am. I'm going into the race without setting time goals. My only goal is to complete the run... I've even given myself permission to walk if need be. I'm really hoping to run/jog the whole thing, but have a feeling I'm going to get swept up in the excitement and start out too fast. Whenever that happens I hit a wall and have to walk a bit to bring my heart rate back down. I just want to enjoy race day, get some bling, and start training for my next race.

I have an 8 mile long run scheduled for this week. I'm really looking forward to it because that will be the farthest I've ever run at once. I love how I feel each time that I set a new personal record :)

My cousin totally bailed on me and our plan to run the Gasparilla 15k so I am planning on running the Heart Health 10k instead. If I do well enough, I'll qualify for higher corral placement at the half. Woot!

I came up with this Banana Nut Greek Yogurt recipe earlier tonight after I started craving Chunky Monkey Ice Cream. I'm still experimenting with Greek yogurt, but this dessert really hit the spot!

Another Milestone

I ran my first 7 miler yesterday, and it felt amazing to complete it!!!
My pace 11 minutes per mile on the dot... not too bad, but I'll be glad when I gain some speed.

For some reason, it never fails that the first 2 or 3 miles of each run are the hardest for me, no matter what distance I run. I feel like I need to take a walk break after each mile and want to quit. Then, just past the 3 mile mark the running fairies finally wake up and sprinkle their pixie dust on me; after that everything starts clicking and I'm okay for the rest of the run.

I feel like such a weirdo because it seems like it would be the other way around (easy at the beginning and harder near the end).

Anywho... Since I did originally start this blog to document my hair journey here are a few pics that I made my brother take the other day. *You can click on it for a bigger picture*


According to this handy dandy day calculator, I have been locked for 2 years, 8 months, 5 days. So... I'm kind of over my hair. I love my locks and can't imagine not having them, but I just haven't been taking pics and analyzing them like I did at first. So from here on out this blog will be a place for me to document what ever random thing I happen to be obsessed with at any given time.

Halfway There!!!

I weighed in yesterday and I am halfway towards my goal weight! 15 lbs gone baby!!!

It took forever, but I finally found a routine that works for me and everything is rolling along smoothly. If you aren't incorporating strength training and HIIT sessions into your routine, start doing it asap! I had been stuck in the 170s for a few months now, but adding these two things into my routine have kicked my metabolism into gear.

My midway reward is a spa treatment so I've booked it for the 29th of this month. As an added bonus, the spa is having a special happy hour night and the theme is chocolate! Can it get any better than a massage and chocolate? I'm going to set aside my weekly cheat meal for that night so that I can indulge in the complimentary chocolate-tinis (and hopefully chocolate covered strawberries) without feeling guilty. I can't wait!


Today also marks the beginning of Week 6 of the 12 week half marathon training program that I'm following. I cannot believe how well the training is going, considering that I just started running in the middle of December. I have logged over 55 miles since then! My last long run was 6 miles and while I feel like I walked entirely too much during the run, I finished it... I was grinning like an idiot for most of the last two miles lol.