winner winner epcot dinner

Crazy news here!  

I actually won something!  A race!  Sort of!

The 10K in Apopka that Scot and I signed up to do so he could get a proof of time for Princess was this past Sunday.  I'd gone to a birthday party the night before with full intention of not drinking and only staying for maybe an hour so I could get some rest but THAT didn't happen.  After a bit more wine than usual and some food that I wouldn't normally eat (hot dog, anyone?), I was feeling pretty shitty the next morning.  

We pulled up to the church parking lot where the run was and I was chugging Powerade and water and trying to not look so dead.  I must have hit the bathroom 3 times before we got going!  Ugh.  Just after 7am, the 10K run (there was a 5K an hour later) started off.  I struck out at about a 9 min/mile pace with a handful of guys in front of me.  As I ran, I started feeling a lot better.  An older woman pulled in front of me after about a mile and I was thinking if I kept up my pace I could finish as the second female.  This put a spring in my step and I moved along.  The course ran out of the church parking lot, around a local school, up a zig zag pedestrian bridge over a major road (that part was a bitch and a half), and out on a bike trail before turning around and heading back the same way.  

Scot managed to keep a pace slightly behind me.  The air was cool and after the first mile I felt fantastic!  At the first water stop, the woman ahead of me suddenly veered off course to the side (later I talked to her and she said she had a shin splint) and so that put me in the female lead.  I didn't know how many men were ahead of me- it hadn't seemed like much, I could see a couple of them up ahead.  I just kept going and picked it up for about an 8:40/mi pace.  I managed to hold that all the way to the finish!  Everyone at the water stops was so nice, clapping, cheering- on the turn around part of the course, 6 men passed me going the other way so that meant I was 7th!  And the first woman!  Scot fell back a couple minutes for some shoulder pain but I had such a big lead over the next female behind me that I was able to slow down a bit to check on him when our paths crossed on the turn-around.  

As I passed the mile 6 marker, I heard a thumping sound close behind- a man WITH A BABY STROLLER was gaining fast on me!  No way in hell I was going to get beat by a baby!  I cranked up my speed and sprinted to the finish, with Stroller Man on my heel.  Got myself a medal and a banana and hob-nobbed with the other early finishers for a bit.  Crazy!  Scot rolled in about 4 minutes after me, still kept his time under an hour so we're good to go for Princess!

See that placement?  8th?  Stroller Man was definitely behind me when I crossed the finish but his timing chip was picked up before mine.  Part of me is annoyed, part of me is still psyched to see "Overall Female Champion!"

Here's the kicker- they had trophies for the age group winners and overall winners, but the ones for me and the crazy fast guy from Poland who came in first (38 minutes!  Srsly, who does that????) were in the same box and both arrived broken!  Needless to say, the awards ceremony was rather anti-climactic!  The organizers said they were ordering new trophies and would ship them to us.  We'll see.  Watch, I'll get in like, December, and wonder what the hell is this thing for?

After the race, we cleaned up and headed to Animal Kingdom.  Please enjoy this photo of a majestic looking gorilla:

We hit the Food & Wine Festival hard on Monday.  I have a list below of everything we tried.  I've been saving Disney Dollars from my Chase visa card and finally used it for the festival.  I must have dropped 70 bucks on stuff Scot and I shared!

Try all of this- it's all delicious!

Patagonia: 

Grilled beef skewer with chimichurri sauce and boniato puree (still don't know what boniato is but it's good)

Sparkling brut (so what if it's fake champagne, it's only $4!  Ahem, unlike the $32 GLASS of Dom)

New Zealand:

Lamb meatball and spicy tomato chutney (Scot ate this, he really liked it.  I don't do lamb)

Craft Beers:

Spicy pimento cheese dip 

Beer flight- Sierra Nevada Kellerweis, Spoetzl Wild Hare pale ale, Abita Purple Haze, Magic Hat Dream Machine IPL (again, all Scot.  His favorite stop, I think)

Mexico:

Rib eye taco

Mango strawberry margarita (not frozen, yay!)

Farm Fresh:

Pepper bacon hash with sweet corn, taters, pickled jalapenos (OMG so fresh and so good!)

China:

Mongolian beef on steamed bun (we've been waiting all year to have this again!)

Chicken potstickers

Mango green tea with popping bubbles (you drink it and you're like, WTF is up with this weird-ass drink?  But it's delish, and really crazy to drink.  Try it.  Trust me.)

Brewers Collection:

I'm not going to list them because my auto-correct will go nuts.  Scot drank them all (8 total, in 2 flights).  No complaints from him.  Boy put away a shit-ton of beer.

Poland:

Kielbasa and potato pierogi with caramelized onions

Hops & Barley:

Grass fed beef slider with pimento cheese

Belgium:

Potato and leek waffle with beer braised beef

Belgian waffle with chocolate ganache and whipped cream

Brazil:

Brazilian cheese bread (sweet mother of jesus this was good!  Cheesy bread with creamy cheese inside- it's like nothing you're expecting!)

France:

Caramel sea salt creme brulee (drool)

Ireland:

Lobster and seafood fisherman's pie

Scotland:

Seared sea scallop with spinach cheddar gratin (my favorite!)

So, yeah, we ate all of that!  There's more we just didn't have stomach room for, but I know we'll be back before it's over.  I have 30 Disney dollars left to spend, after all!

rocking new tunes and tower of terror countdown

I picked up the "Rock My Run" app for my Android earlier this week.  I saw a Facebook post in the Team #runDisney group where someone was asking about music to run to so I figured, why not?  

The app is pretty awesome- I've never seen anything like it before!  It's playlists that are already compiled and sorted by genre, beats per minute, length, etc.  All mixes under 45 minutes long are free- I haven't decided yet if I'm going to get the pay subscription yet.  So far I've used "Celtic Rock" at run club on Monday, which, with its fast, energetic beat cut a whole minute off my min/mile time!  This morning, I ran to the "Miles & Mullets" mix (don't laugh, it's 80s hair metal and it's awesome) and "Bro Country Throwdown," which was okay.  There's dozens to pick from so I think I'll find more I like!

Tomorrow morning is my first run longer than 13.1.  Not much longer at 14 miles, but it's a big step.  I went to Track Shack today and got myself a bigger running belt to carry all my crap around as well as a little water bottle that straps to my hand.  At the moment, I'm dreading doing 13 laps (22 miles, eventually) around the long block in our neighborhood.  I get bored after 3 1/2 laps, which is a 10K.  Scot suggested I run up to the library and back (if I can remember where it is, otherwise I'll need more survival gear than a 10 oz water bottle).  Not tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll take him up on that when HE's getting close to doing 13 miles!

Just under a month til the Tower of Terror 10 Miler and the 1st anniversary of my first Disney run :)  Found out today I'm in corral B.  Last year I was in G with no proof of time ever, so my hard work is paying off!

dumbo double dare- part 2: the half marathon

After blazing through the Disneyland 10K on Saturday, I was ready to hit the parks!  After a trip back to the hotel for me to clean up, we had our park hopper tickets in hand and scooted back up to California Adventure 15 minutes before rope drop to ride the Radiator Springs Racers.  Fortunately, we didn't have hardly any wait but as we left the ride there was already a 30 minute waiting time at 20 after 9am!  

I didn't know it at the time, but I'd made a grievous error when I got dressed to go run around the parks.  I made a mistake I NEVER otherwise make.  I wore my running shoes instead of my regular sneakers.  It didn't bother me at the time, but as the day wore on, my feet started hurting really bad and I later discovered a nasty little blister underneath my toe.  

Running shoes are for running.  Not Disneyland-ing.

We made our way over to Disneyland park after about an hour in DCA and went hard until a little after 4pm.  No rest for the weary!  I'll have to put up another blog entry later about DL rides vs WDW rides.  I liked to compare the same rides in the CA park vs FL park.  Some things surprised me.  More on that later.

After a pasta dinner at the hotel later that evening, it was back in bed at 8:30 again for us.  I was exhausted.  My foot hurt.  I ended up popping the blister but didn't tear the skin.  I was hoping hoping hoping my extra soft Balega socks would keep me protected for 13.1 miles in the morning!  

The 3:30 alarm jarred me from my Disneyland-induced coma.  I started getting my Piglet costume together- I had pink shorts, a pink striped shirt, and little piggy ears I'd made with hopes to attach them to a stretchy headband.  After screwing around with the ears in front of the bathroom mirror for a few minutes I gave up on them.  They just weren't sitting right and kept flopping over.  I pulled a pink Bondiband over my head and then Scot and I headed back down to the bus.  

The bus dropped everyone off at DTD again, and it was another trek to the staging area.  I honestly thought that the crowds were going to be insane.  I mean, for the Princess at WDW back in January, you couldn't even move in the mass of people.  Lines for the bathroom were 30 minutes long!  The DL half marathon area was a ghost town compared to Princess.  25,000 people last Feb in WDW, probably 15 or 16,000 for DL.  We stopped for a few photos, enjoyed the people-watching (some of these folks has some crazy-ass costumes), then split up as I headed toward corral C and Scot went back to stake a spot in front of the Lego Store.  

I was feeling pretty good, except my shins were sooooo tight!  I found a curb in my corral and chatted with some other runners nearby as I sat and massaged the fronts of my legs.  After that little rest and some stretches I was ready to go!  C moved up to the start line, and, at 5:38 in the morning, our countdown was over and we were off!

There was less initial time on the regular streets for the first mile- it was really just around the corner and then directly into the parks!  Just after the mile 1 sign, we passed the mile 12 sign!  That gave me sort of an idea about how things were going to be oriented in 2 hours.  I seriously had no idea where I was for this entire course.  I mean, I'd looked at the map but decided to just take in the sights and not worry too much about where the miles were.  Surprise me.

As I started running though the parks, as especially as I got into Disneyland, there were characters everywhere!  It definitely made up for the zilch from yesterday!  I mean, there'd be like 3 or 4 in a row once we got into the DL park!  I didn't stop, even though there were next to no lines to see them.  I just enjoyed looking!  Before I knew it, after another trip backstage, mile 4 was coming up and my park time was over.  

After that, things get a little fuzzy.  Because I had no concept of where the hell I was, I'll be brief with what I do remember.  

I remember the people!  

The people who were watching.  The "Citizens of Anaheim," if you will.  They. Were. Awesome.  I saw so many funny and motivational posters.  So many people cheering.  So many people passing out orange slices, pretzels, semi-frozen sponges, grapes, and of course hi-fives!  One guy had a water mister and was spraying anyone who wanted to fun close enough.  One guy had a sign that he was giving out "Free Hugs!"  How could I not take one!?  There were a couple nasty hills that went over I-5, I chose those times to speed walk a little.  I'd forgotten to change my interval time on my app for a distance over 10 miles.  However, I managed to make it work with the conditions as I encountered them.  

Some of the route went through some sort of industrial area that I don't remember much about at all.  But  you know what really made it great?  Every mile or so, there was some school band, cheer team, flag line, whatever- performing for us all!  (btw, if you've never heard Tupac being done by brass, it's pretty awesome)  There were hula dancers, Mexican dancers, and line dancers.  I clapped for them, they clapped for all of us, everyone was so happy and excited it was fantastic!  

As we went on, we passed down a few streets lined with classic cars.  I'm guessing there's a club or organization or something in town for it, and there were what must have been hundreds of them for at least a mile!  The people who owned them were hanging out on the road clapping and cheering (and they were all dressed in sweaters, but I didn't think it was that cold at all!)  The classic cars turned to more modern ones as we approached the Honda Center (no idea what goes on there, I guess it's just an event center) and I even saw the Batmobile!

After Mile 7, I took out my Gu packet and sucked it down best I could.  I noticed that the street was littered with Gu packs and other sorts of fuel trash from everyone ahead of me so I figured that was a good a time as any.  The 8 Mile water stop was just ahead.

Passed around the Honda Center parking lot then the route took an unusual turn.  It went out a fence and turned into a dirt trail that ran alongside a giant dirt ditch.  I must have wondered out loud what the hell it was because someone next to me told me it was supposed to be a river.  Oh, right.  California's been in a bad drought for like 4 years.  Anyway, the trail was okay.  It was an interesting change from concrete road.  It did switch to asphalt after not too long, then Mile 9 came into view as I exited the trail and headed on in to Angel Stadium.  

I could hear the roar of the crowds before I saw them.  There was a steep hill (down, this time!), which I took advantage of to build up some speed, then I burst into the stadium to the sounds of, oh I don't know, maybe a million boy scouts and spectators.  I stopped at the entrance to get my photo taken, then started the run around the dirt area just outside the foul line.  Somehow, the announcer in the stadium was getting everyone's names and I heard him call mine as I passed in front of the crowd.  So.  Awesome.  I sailed around the back of home plate, took another picture, then headed for the exit.

Once I got out of the stadium, I slowed to a walk to fiddle with my phone.  I admit, this half marathon was exactly one minute slower than the Princess one because I had to post my stadium picture and "check in" there on Facebook.  Oh well!

The walk break did me good, though.  I felt rested and was able to pound out the last few miles with relative ease.  We were all back on the regular streets with crowds of people cheering from the sidewalks leading back to the parks.  Before I knew it, I saw that Mile 12 sign again!  The last mile was easy, I sped up my pace a little bit as I approached Downtown Disney.  I was looking for Scot near the Lego Store and I saw him!  I stopped as I ran by, planted a big wet *SMACK* on his lips, then gunned it down to the finish line

Finished!  Got my beautiful medal, someone handed me a cool towel (which I tied around my head...hm I guess it did warm up out here!), and another volunteer guided me over to the area to redeem my Coast 2 Coast and Dumbo Double Dare medals.  I was feeling a little wobbly as the adrenaline wore off!  I found my way over to the bananas and snack boxes, then headed out through bag check to find Scot waiting for me on the other side.  Hugs all around, then we started heading back to the bus.  He did bring my 10K medal with him so I could get a photo with all 4.  Aren't they pretty?

The plan was for me to rest and clean up and try to get on the road to Yosemite before 11am.  I made the mistake of sitting down on a bench while waiting for the bus and ohmygodmylegsnolongerwork.

It was a great race, though.  I'm hard-pressed to say that this course is my favorite so far!  Next up, Tower of Terror 10 Miler!  That one was my very first Disney race one year ago.  Safe to say, I've drank the RunDisney KoolAid.  They've got me hooked!  

Here's my results:
Place: 2,406/15.977 (Top 15%)
Age group: 183/1,890 (Top 9%)
Gender group: 901/10,142 (Top 8% )
Net Time: 2:10:58    

part 1- dumbo double dare recap: the disneyland 10k

Wow!  What a trip!

There's a few things I noticed right off the bat about California:

1.  It's wonderfully, blissfully, dry and my hair looks great the whole time

2.  It's hot, but not Florida-hot.  Florida is Africa-hot!

3.  Speaking of, I should have brought more chapstick than I did.

4.  Everything at Disneyland is really, really, REALLY, close together.

We got in to town and made it to the Expo in the Disneyland Hotel around 4pm.  We were running about an hour behind what I'd originally planned for, but somebody wanted to stop and eat at In-N-Out Burger.  I admit, it was tasty.  Scot has an obsession with it.  We must have come in the wrong door at the Expo (not surprising, we were travel-weary and had just schlepped 30 minutes down the road from the Hilton) because we had to go out and back around and underground into I guess what was a parking garage or something to get my race bib.  After that, back upstairs to get shirts and do some shopping.  All I wanted to get was the Haunted Mansion themed Sparkle Skirt.  Once that was in hand, we were out of there and off to California Adventure.

We spent maybe 3 hours in the park, which was a lot of fun but after being awake for almost 18 hours, we could barely stay up long enough to even find our way back to the hotel.  I crashed into bed by 8:30 and awaited my 3:30am wake up call!

My corral assignment was A for the 10K and C for the half marathon.  Yippee!  I'd been in A before, when Scot and I did the Expedition Everest Challenge, but never for a... real race I suppose.  We took the ART bus this time and Scot got to come into the staging area in the Stitch parking lot.  We hung out for a little while there- the crowds weren't too bad at all- then I went off to my corral and Scot went back to the Downtown Disney area.  He managed to find a spot to watch near the Starbucks, since the Mile 6 marker was right smack in the middle of DTD, with the finish line right around the corner!  

The pre-race banter onstage at the starting line was the typical stuff- folksy jokes and goofy character interactions.  Stitch showed up.  So did Elvis.  Elvis actually sang the national anthem and did an amazing job at it.  

 There's the start!  I'm in A!!!!

 The 10K was Stitch-themed

I learned something interesting about Disneyland that I didn't think about before.  They don't do fireworks at these parks!  Because it's in the middle of a city and they don't happen to own the 40-plus square miles surrounding to do whatever the hell they want, they have to abide by noise abatement procedures and such.  All the night shows are done with colored lights.  So was the kick off for the 10K.  Music, lights, and a countdown 3-2-1!  It all happened so fast, and we were off!

Know what else I learned?

I don't belong in Corral A.

The proof of time I submitted was a PR 15K with an 8:44 min/mile that I did back in April.  I can't for the life of my figure out how I didn't die doing that.  The entire A group passed me quickly, and I'm pretty sure the B group did, too.  It's hard to not over-do it when you're running with faster people.  I had to just focus on my time and my intervals, and it took me a couple miles to settle into my pace at about a 9 min/mi.  The first 2 miles were tough- outside the park on dark streets with no much going on.  We did pass a homeless guy walking down the sidewalk who was yelling "RUN MUTHERFUKER RUN!!!!" as we all went by.  Not Disney entertainment, but it made me laugh!

Just after Mile 2, I popped into Cars Land at CA Adventure.  It was a quick turn around the corner to Paradise Pier where I stopped to take a photo of the lake where the nighttime show is presented.  Pretty!

After running past a talking Mr Potato Head in front of Toy Story Midway Mania, and past Grizzly River Run (where I stopped for a real bathroom break, with a real sink and real soap), it was out of the park and off to Disneyland!

The route into the Disneyland park led me around the bus drop-off area then in through the front of the park, underneath the Main Street train depot.  I was excited!  This would be my first time in Disneyland!  I ran down Main Street and turned toward the castle and...

Um, where's the castle?

Oh wait, is that it? 

Way down there?  Is it even lit up?

Damn, it's tiny.  Like, Mona Lisa tiny.

I stopped for a photo on Main Street but it came out fuzzy.  One thing that I did notice that was different from running the Princess half at WDW was the lack of spectators on this route.  Disneyland was empty, as was DCA earlier.  At least for the Enchanted 10K at WDW last February, there were people lining the Boardwalk to cheer.  Not much going on on this morning!

I turned in toward Tomorrowland and past the Nemo Submarines ride (aw, it's closed for refurbishment? rats), past the Matterhorn (oooh I wanna check that one out!), then backstage for a bit.  The Disney employees backstage were cheering for us all, and they had parade floats operational with lights and music playing.  I was really enjoying myself and was feeling comfortable with my pace still.  Mile 5 sent me right through the castle (anti-climactic, since there was no cheering) then around through Frontierland, New Orleans Square (where I paused to shed a tear that the attraction I was most wanting to go on, my favorite attraction, the Haunted Mansion, was closed while getting prepped for Nightmare Before Christmas), then it was out of the park, backstage again, before popping up at DTD.  

Home stretch!  I hit mile 6 feeling great, saw Scot and waved as I passed before turning the corner and setting a 10K PR at the finish line.

I got my medal and my finisher bracelet for the Dumbo Double Dare, picked up my Powerade and snack box, then met him back in the staging area.  We caught the bus back to the hotel to clean up and hit the parks at rope drop.  Nothing was going to stop me from riding the Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land, dammit.  

Tiny castle!

Overall?  I liked the course, but there were no ChEAR squad people for the 10K.  Also, there were maybe 4 character photo stops?  I don't stop for characters, but there wasn't really much at all for people who do.  The route was fast, no hills.  I liked that it was mostly in the parks, although the first 2 miles on the street were bleh.  I think that time I was just trying to get in my groove, plus I really had to go to the bathroom!!!  It was hard to focus, but it generally takes me about 3 miles to warm up anyway.  

Here's the results!

Place: 770/9,603 finishers (Top 8%)

54/1,167th in age group (Top 4% of women 30-34)

258/6,271 in gender group (Top 4% of women)

Net Time: 56:33

More to come- next up the 1/2 Marathon Recap!