jingle jungle 5k.

 (I know I am so late in posting this, but I still wanted to do it!  It's a fun look back!)

Back in November, Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5k was my first Disney 5k to participate in!  It was also the morning of the Wine and Dine Half (which was later that night). So this was my first ever double race day!

I arrived at the 5k way too early, in hindsight I would have left later.  I was on one of the first buses at 5 a.m. and we got to the start area by 5:30, maybe even earlier.  I didn't know what to expect, having only done the half marathons where you walk forever to get to your corral!  Here, it was drop and there you are!  I hung out a bit, just watching all the costumes go by, and keeping busy people watching.  Soon it was time to get in the corrals for the start!

My goal was to just go easy and enjoy the characters to save my legs for the half marathon later that night.  I had intended to train by doing 2 runs a day, but that never happened.  So this truly was my first time ever having to do 2 runs in one day!  My training leading up to this was minimal, due to a lack of it over the summer/fall, and then having gotten sick not long before the trip to Florida.  I was totally winging these races!

I was in corral B, the second group to start.  As the sun rose over the horizon, corral A set off on their jungle adventure.  Not long after, my corral set off, and I was running my first Disney 5K!!  I was excited!

The start line was in the far end of the Animal Kingdom parking lot, then we ran around the perimeter, toward the main entrance to the park.  I was excited to see the Christmas tree, it was my first glimpse of the holiday decorations at Disney World!

 {entering Animal Kingdom where the fun really starts!}

{the tree of life}

We ran into the park, toward the Tree of Life, with a left turn into Africa!

This is where the characters started!  All the characters were in their safari gear with a holiday twist!

 {Rafiki from Lion King!!!}

{Turk from Tarzan!!}

{King Louie from Jungle Book}

We made our way from Africa over toward Asia, past Expedition Everest.

We ran by Dinoland, back to the front part near the Tree of Life.

Then we turned into a backstage area, and ran down a road I never thought would end, which was a turn around road, and directly in the sun.  It was kinda blinding, and hot!  There were a few stops along the way, with more characters!

{Donald Duck!}

{Pluto!!}

It was in the Pluto line where I ran into Melissa, an instagram friend, for the second time all weekend!  I ran into her at the expo as well!  It was so fun seeing her not once but twice!  Hi Melissa!

Then it was on to the finish!  It was getting pretty warm out there, with the sun fully out now!

{pushing full speed to the finish!!}

 I crossed the finish line in 44:48!  My longest 5k ever, but that is ok, I stopped for pictures and took my time.  I dodged people the whole time as well.  It was a fun run!

  I found my bff's husband who also ran the 5k (and won it, unofficially since it is an untimed race)!  Who does that?!  He is speedy!  Then I got in the super long line for a picture with Minnie and Mickey, and who did I run into again?!  Instagram friend Melissa! As I stood there I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned around to see her, again! This time we captured it!  It was fun to chat with her in line!  It was so nice meeting you Melissa, and how random each time it was!

{instagram and now real life, friends!}

{Mickey and Minnie!}

Then we were off to meet our families for some fun times in Animal Kingdom, before we headed back to our resort to rest up for the Wine and Dine Half!

{Me and the unofficial winner!  My best friends hubby!  Congrats!}

I had a great time at the Jingle Jungle 5k and will surely do it again sometime!  Definitely 3.1 miles of magic!

still here.

I am already behind on posting!  Ahh!  I feel a bit of a time crunch right now, as soon as I declared my gung ho attempt to maintain training, I go and get sick (again!).  I swear, I commit to training for a half and I get sick.  It happened before Wine and Dine and it happened again for Glass Slipper!  I was off any sort of training about 10 days, but am now just getting back into the swing of things.  I had goals I wanted to work toward for the Princess Half, but may be adjusting those goals depending on how my training goes.  Exactly a month from today is the race!  We will see how my training goes, and I will adjust as I need to, but for now, goals are to get in 2 or 3 short runs during the week, and a long run on the weekend.  I'd like to get some back to back runs in too on the weekends, to prepare for the Glass Slipper Challenge, but that may or may not happen.

In exciting news, I am planning to run the Enchanted 10K with Ashley, and possibly Wyndi.  We plan to wear our Disney finest and just go easy and enjoy the run and stop for all the pictures!  I am ok with this plan, to save my legs for the following days race.  I am so excited to finally meet these girls, and to wear my first costume!  (My usual attire is usually just a sparkle skirt, but we have bigger plans!).

I have a very full plate right now, with some job stress and new responsibilities that take up more time, as well as lots of other things at home that keep getting pushed to the back burner (Hello, Wine and Dine recap, Jingle Jungle recap, and Christmas Story 10k recap!).  I need to get in some trip planning too!  I have a long list of to do's but not the time to do it (isn't that how it always is?!).

This weekend is my birthday, so I hope to get in a good run, and have some birthday fun!

My biggest goal right now, is to stay healthy and get stronger legs to prepare for race weekend. I finally feel semi normal again, and would like it to stay that way.  Thank gosh for antibiotics!

rundisney shoes.

Yesterday,  RunDisney and New Balance unveiled the new set of special Disney themed running shoes!  These shoes will make their debut at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Expo, happening next week!

Last year, the shoes made a debut in a men's Mickey Shoe and a women's Minnie Shoe.  This year, they have upped the cute factor by releasing 4 new designs, in both stability and neutral running shoes.  The choices are Sorcerer Mickey, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Cinderella. Not only are they for adults, but kids can get in on the fun too!  There are kids options in the Minnie and the Mickey shoes as well!  

I am not a very flashy Disney girl, but these shoes may have me standing line at the Princess Expo in February! 

You can check out the Disney Parks Blog post here,  that details the shoes, and has a video of  the shoes unique detail!

picture found via

I have my eye on both the Minnie and Cinderella shoe.  How cute are they both?!  I love the pink and polka dots of the Minnie (and how cute would it be to get my niece a pair of Minnie's, and we could match at our next kids race!), and I love the sparkle of the Cinderella; it just looks like a fast shoe!  

Decisions, decisions!

The good news, is that the price point is no different than "regular" running shoes.  Good to know, I will be needing a new pair to run in!  Or to just walk around in, with some Disney flair!

Last year, the lines for the shoes were comparable to long Disney ride waits!  Hours!  And they sold out in hours.  This year, New Balance has promised a bigger stock at the expo, as well as a process to delay the wait in line, by setting up a reservation time to go check out your size shoes.  I am sure it will still be busy, but it sounds like better line control already!

I held off last year, but I may not be able to this year.  My first chance to see these cuties in person will be at the Princess Half Expo in February.  Better start saving my pennies!

I am torn!  Like Cinderella, I will need to see which one my foot fits best!  For running, I'd be more the neutral shoe, but for day to day life, the stability would be ok too, I think!  

Which shoe would you choose?  

determined, or at least trying to be.

As we enter 2014, I have one not so distant goal ahead of me.  The Princess Half Marathon!!  Yes, it's my 4th year in a row participating, and this year it's a challenge!  I am signed up to participate in the Glass Slipper Challenge!  The Glass Slipper consists of 2 races; the inaugural Enchanted 10k on Saturday, and the Princess Half Marathon on Sunday.  By participating in the challenge, you not only get a medal for each of those races, you recieve a glass slipper medal too!  I am excited, I am all about the prizes!

So, my plan was to keep up with decent training between the Wine and Dine Half in November, until this Challenge, but I may have slacked off.  Between work, and the holidays, running hit the back burner.  I had a few bouts of vertigo which derailed me, as well as pure exhaustion, plus the holidays!  So......from now until late February, I am determined to try to do as much as I can to prepare myself.  Warning friends and family:  weekends will be dedicated to long runs.  Getting in training runs will prevail.  All things will have to revolve around them.  

found via

 My life will revolve around long runs, especially on the weekends, as well as trying my best to get in some shorter training runs during the week.  I work a very physical job, as well as just mentally/emotionally tiring sometimes, so it can be hard to get home and run on the treadmill, but I will do my best!  (I can't get up early and run, it just isn't happening before work!).  I also need to get in some back to back runs on the weekend, hence my warning!  I am hoping to have time goals for the race, but that will come in due time if I am able to accomplish them.  Being winter, I am resorting to the treadmill (as well as it is too dark to run outside when I get home), because I am a cold weather wimp and just cannot handle the cold!  It hurts me to my bones, that crazy cold air!  Plus, if there is snow and ice on the ground, I worry about falling, and it hurts my knees and ankles too much.  So I have lots of dates ahead with my treadmill, I did it last year, and can do it again this year!  (Last year I ran 14 miles on that thing!  Proud moment!).  I already know I am going to be giving myself pep talks to get the runs in, motivation is hard to find at times, but it's my goal to really make training a priority, more so than I did for Wine and Dine and the Jingle Jungle 5k.  I know I can do it after those 2 races (on the same day) with little to no minimal training.  This time, I want to have bigger goals.

So here we go, on the road to the Glass Slipper!