Tag Archives: race recap

Rock n’ Roll Marathon’s 2013 St. Pete half race recap

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A foot of snow fell in upstate New York last weekend, completely blanketing much of the region and wreaking havoc on everyone’s travel plans, mine included. I was headed to sunny Florida with my colleague and friend Traci to race her first-ever half marathon. Nothing would stop us from getting there. Not even Snowmaggeon 2013, which blessed me with a 70-minute commute home Friday afternoon. (It normally takes about 15 minutes)

Somehow, our flight south was not canceled. It wasn’t even delayed! We headed to Buffalo (with a generous snow-buffer delay) early Saturday morning. By early afternoon, we were in Tampa. We cast our snow boots aside and welcomed the sunny skies.

We stopped by the Rock n’ Roll Marathon race expo at Tropicana Field and collected our bibs and a few other choice goodies. We also stalked the PowerBar booth for their delicious new banana blueberry Performance Energy Blends. Apparently, it will be sold in stores soon, but I haven’t been able to find it just yet.

Fast forward to race morning:

We left our beachfront hotel around 5:30, which allowed plenty of time for us to drive the 12-mile route back to Tropicana Field, battle any potential race traffic and park before the VIP parking lot closed out.

Purchasing VIP parking tickets was hands down one of the best race decisions we made. We arrived minutes before the lot closed and parked within a 100 feet of a row of portable toilets. I know, that doesn’t sound stellar at all. But it WAS! We hit the bathrooms not once, but twice without waiting in any lines. Anyone who has been at the start of any race knows what a luxury this was.

We soon dropped off our shared check bag, and anxiously awaited our 7:30 am race start. Soon enough, we hopped into the corrals.

At the starting line

We’re so excited! And we just can’t hide it! (pre-race, of course)

Before we knew it, the race was underway and our corral was released.

We were off! We took the first mile a wee bit too fast. We were excited and ready to go, go, go! We rounded the first turns, which looped us around the baseball stadium, and up a hill to our first water stop.

It was going to be a warm day, so we had to hydrate early on, I told Traci as we headed toward the water station.

Then, Traci was body checked by a massive linebacker reaching for water. I dodged around more arms and legs. Grabbed water, drank water. Didn’t trip.

But I lost Traci.

I am the worst coach ever.

I repeatedly yelled her name. I frantically scanned the crowd. Then I finally realized she must’ve kept running. I start running again, whipping out my cell phone and I prayed. And yes, I was the jackal talking on my cell while running a race.

“Oh thank God!” I gushed when Traci picked up.

“I lost you,” she replied.

We chat for a few more moments, she tells me where she is on the course and I realize I am way behind her, so I tell her I am on my way and speed up to catch her.

Huff huff. Puff puff.

Damn, my legs are not pleased about this sudden sprint.

Where is she? There’s mile 2. Annnnd queue Traci’s smiling face. THANK GOODNESS!!!

Sadly, though, I am basically wheezing since I ran at 8:30 pace to find her again. And this was just a few weeks after my Disney marathon. Phew! It took me several miles to get my breathing pattern back to normal. Well, as normal as I was going to get for this run.

We didn’t chat much as we ran those next few miles — ya know, since I was trying not to die and all. We passed a few bands, some less-than excited spectators and repeatedly dodged a runner who stopped dead in the middle of the course to snap pics.

We also honored our wonderful nephews. At miles 6 and 10, we thought of Traci’s nephews and at 3 and 8, we thought of mine. It’s a wonderful way to pass the time while paying special attention to those you love most. Right, smiley Riley?

Soon enough, we passed an air field and dreamed of flying to the finish. Next, we raced onto The Pier, which was quite breezy. Stellar views but boy was it getting HOT.

Soon after we left The Pier, we started dumping water on our heads instead of drinking it. We were hurting. But let’s be realistic, it was in the teens yesterday and we were racing in 75 degrees. Given all that, we were still on pace for our projected goal time. Not too shabby.

Three more miles and we started to fade a bit. But we kept plugging away.

As we rounded a corner toward final mile – mile 12 – I encouraged Traci to run ahead. She was close to her goal and had a bit more spring in her step than I did. She didn’t want to, but finally did.

That last mile was rough. The cramp I’d been harboring much of the race felt like a dagger in my side. All I wanted to do was walk. But I didn’t I kept going. Soon enough, the finish line was straight ahead.

I sped up, at least that’s how it felt. I can’t even imagine how I must’ve looked at this point. But soon enough, I crossed and moments later Traci and I found one another.

We collected our post-race treats and sat along the beach. A slice of heaven.

Our view. I like oceanside runs!

Traci conquered her first half-marathon and is weeks away from her second race. I’m so proud of her!

PSA: I am not one to endorse running with a cell phone, since running is truly my only time to unplug. But our cells saved our butts here.Hands down. I will never run a race without my cell in tow again.

runDisney’s 2012 Princess half marathon race recap

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The Princess Half Marathon aka Mer’s first half marathon!

Our bibs the night before

The night before the half, I basically didn’t sleep.  I tossed and turned and generally tried to rest my mind and body as much as possible because I knew we’d be waking up at 2:45.  Except I “woke up” (can it be called that if not technically asleep?) at 2:30 and we arose soon after.  Threw on the race attire, Glided (and of course, I missed some key areas – which I learned later on), and bundled up in our throw-away clothes.

The bus stop was directly outside our hotel so we made our way there a little after 3am.

Brooke looking pretty at 3:10am

We were the only ones at the bus stop for a couple of minutes which was a little disconcerting but another girl wandered up soon after and she and Vic realized that they were from the same area so they chatted for a bit.

Then the buses started going past us.  They were completely full and the time was ticking away.  The stop filled up with more and more Princesses waiting for their chariot and there we stood.  I’d say about five buses went past us.

Scary, right?  We tossed around the idea of just driving there (Brooke had her car) but we decided to wait it out and finally, close to 4am, we got on a bus.

Me on the bus – don’t I look calm, cool and collected?  I wasn’t, for the record.  But I was happy to be on the bus.

There was a LOT of race traffic and that was ALSO disconcerting because they had said we should be in the corrals by 5am.  Disconcerting was definitely the watchword.

We stopped to go to port-a-potties outside of the heavily populated area and then made our way to bag check.

Yep, this is the place!

Since we were sticking together, we checked one bag and then got into the line to get to the start.  At this point, I’m pretty sure that it was after 5am.

The line to the start.  Yeah.  Yeah.  That’s a lot of Princesses (and a few Princes too!).  Honestly, I feel like things could have been different over here.  The people around us assured us we were in the right place and that we were headed to the start but it felt very cattle-like.  We were moving at a snail’s pace and there was really no telling exactly what was going on.

I tried really hard to be zen-like during this walk.  Apparently a 20 minute walk took about 40 minutes.  But really, what was I going to do about it?  Freaking out wouldn’t change the mass of people in front of me and they were in the very same boat that I was.  So I did the best I could to just take everything in, give myself pep talks, and know that soon enough I’d be wearing a beautiful medal around my neck.

We got to the corrals at 5:43 (I remember making note!) and joined corral C.  Vic and Brooke were both seeded in A but jumped back to C so that they could stay with me throughout the race.  The start for corral A happened as soon as we got into our corral so it was perfect timing, even if it didn’t necessarily FEEL perfect at the time.

At nearly 6am, the fairy Godmother gave corral C a lovely benediction and then we were off!

Our fireworks!

Fun fact – men aren’t allowed in corrals A and B so we got many of them in corral C!

Just after we past the start line there was a high school band to our left, playing us into the race with the Rocky theme, which was pretty kick ass.

And right after we started running, the three of us realized we ALL had to pee.  Awesome, right? I mean, we basically stopped at the first line of portapotties we saw (my aversion to them had to cease to exist this weekend – blah!), which was only a mile and a half into the race.  And, of course, the line was about ten minutes.  Great, right?

Oh well!  As Annie says, “When you gotta go, you gotta go!”

After that, we jumped back into the fray.  The course was pretty packed, from start to finish.  It felt like there was a bit more room at the beginning (of all places!) because the road was wider.  Along the route we saw a pirate ship, hot air balloon and other fun stuff.  I took pictures from the road and continued on because I was trying to pay attention to not falling or running into someone else.

And soon enough, around mile 4, we saw…

The Magic Kingdom ticket booths.  Running through there was pretty cool!  Around that time, right after we passed the booth was when we saw Rachel Booth on her way to winning the race.  You know, nearly 20,000 participants and there’s the one that is going to pull into the finish line first.  And?  She won the Tinkerbell 1/2 in Disneyland in January.  Just really cool stuff.  Yeah, I totally teared up seeing her.

My first of many tears, by the way.

Right around the entrance to the monorail, we saw the villains.  At least, I think it was near there.  Things are a bit hazy.

I have to say the the first six-seven miles were pretty amazing.  Just when I started to drag a little (around mile five) we turned into the Magic Kingdom and I saw THIS.

And then there was pep in my step once more!

Running through the Magic Kingdom was definitely the highlight of this race.  It was… incredible.  Really, no other word to describe the feeling that came along with it.  As we approached the castle, we saw a (long) line to meet Cinderella and Prince Charming.

Now, my kiddo had asked earlier in the week if I’d gotten permission from Cinderella to run through her castle.  I saw my opportunity to “ask.”  So we jumped on the line, I ate a Gu and we got permission.

We made our way through the Magic Kingdom, stopping to take a picture with Jessie and Woody too.  The entire race, we were looking for things that our kids would get a kick out of.  I took pictures with mile markers 2 and 7 in honor of my kid’s ages.  It was just a lot of fun and easy breezy.

Until we reached mile 8.  Mile 8 through 11 were pretty… dull.  I mean, they have things along the route here and there but it’s sort of sparse and a lot of it (since you’re running back up the other side of the highway) is the same as on the way there.  I think since I hit such a high in the Magic Kingdom, it was just a little meh.

And then around mile 10 is when my IT bands started to really hurt.  I was disappointed because I was doing a lot more fast walking than running, even though I WANTED to run.  And every time I started running, they were complaining loudly.

That’s where the pain tears came in.  🙁

And that’s where Victoria and Brooke gave me the pep talks and the hugs that I needed.  My arm kept hitting my shirt (the part I forgot to Glide) and I was getting a pretty wicked chafing burn.

Wah wah wah.

I think that’s the point where I started talking about 5ks and my love of 5ks and who really needs half marathons anyway?  And Victoria pointed out the we only had 3.1 miles to go and that WAS a 5k.  Logical girl, she is.  She also suggested I put my music on for a bit, which I did, and it helped get me through about a mile.

And then?  We were at EPCOT.  And right before we entered EPCOT there was a woman on one of those scooter things holding a sign that said, “I’m cheering for you, too, complete stranger!”

It meant the world.

I pushed the knee pain aside, as much as I could, to finish the race.  And even smiled while doing it.

Because I knew who was waiting for me right near the end.  Not a Disney character.  No, no.

A gospel choir!

They started singing Joyful, Joyful right after I went by and was I ever!

Because .1 later, I finished my first half marathon.

ALLLLL THE EMOTIONS.

Then we got our beautiful, beautiful medals.  And Victoria medal’d me, which I’m pretty sure means something significant in some cultures.

The medical tent was wisely placed right after the medal area so we swung by there and got my IT bands the ice that they deserved.  Really, I’m sure that was their medal for a job well done.

At the end of the race, they gave out boxes with crackers, hummus, chocolate, and edamame.  We headed back to the hotel and showered.  I was pretty frozen as my body tried to regulate what had just happened to it.

But hey, I DID A HALF MARATHON.  And?  Despite my claims that 5ks are the only races for me during the half marathon…

I’m doing another one on my birthday, April 1st.

I can and I will!

runDisney’s 2012 Princess half weekend – Tangled 5k race recap

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Note – I wrote this recap last year after the Princess half weekend.  Since we’re getting Scoot A Doot up and running, I thought it would be fun to revisit recaps (and this one in particular, since the runDisney Princess Half 2013 weekend is coming up!). –

Victoria and I arrived on Thursday night and Brooke took us to her lovely abode.  We were both pretty exhausted so rather than drinking their extensive collection of wine (it was tempting!) we opted for bed.  Especially because we had a full day/weekend planned.

The Princess Expo at the Wide World of Sports was the next morning.  You want to see us there, don’t you?  Well, okay!  Here’s Shaina (wearing her daughter, S!), me and Brooke.

Princess half expo - Shaina, S-baby, Me and Brooke

After we bought some shirts and attire, we made our way through the expo and checked out some of the booths.  Like this one, for example.  WANT WANT WANT.

Bought some adorable compression socks from the ladies at Runningskirts, which we wore the next morning at the 5k (you’ll see those in a bit).  Bopped over to the next building and picked up our bibs for the races and then back to get our shirts.

Disney’s like a well-oiled machine and we really didn’t have any troubles during all of this.  There was one line for the half that was just SLAMMED; all the people seemed to show up all at the same time.  But all things considered, it was great!

I had gotten our park tickets through runDisney and since we were staying at Port Orleans, we had to go over to the resort to get our tickets.  They seemed a bit confused as to where I could pick them up – I was told the Guest Relations booth would be able to give them to us but they weren’t able to dole them out since it was part of a pre-paid package.  Thankfully it wasn’t too much trouble to go to the resort.

We spent the rest of the day at the Magic Kingdom, wrapping it up early since we had the 5k the next day.

Or should I say morning.  As in, before the sunrise.

Brooke, Me, Shaina and Victoria

Brooke, me, Shaina, and Victoria sporting our awesome socks!  They are still my favorites.

Brooke, her husband (Josh) and Vic went off ahead, placing themselves further ahead in the open corrals, because they are speedy speedsters while Shaina and I hung back.  It was Shaina’s first 5k and I wanted to take it easy since the next day was my first half.

While we were waiting to start, I got the nervous pee feeling.  You know the one, where you’re like… Oh!  I’m nervous and naturally that means I feel like I have to pee.

Except that we started the race and at the same time Shaina and I realized that it wasn’t going away and we actually HAD to pee.  Awesome.

Our view of the start from where we were in the corral. We should have moved up, for the record.

So we stopped at the first row of port-a-potties and took care of that.  😉

Lots of people walk the 5k, which is awesome – but they also placed themselves at the 11 minute mile corral.  There was a lot of bobbing and weaving but we just stuck together, tried not to run into/trip anyone and had a great time.

I’ve always had this vision of running around the Epcot World Showcase – it stemmed from a conversation that I had with my dad one summer while we were there on vacation.  So when we entered the loop at Mexico I was super excited and kept exclaiming to Shaina, “Isn’t this FUN?!?”  I’m not sure she thought it was as fun as I did but she said she did.  😉

Headed into Germany

It was just fantastic – I loved everything about this run!  Sure, it was crowded but I went into it thinking that it would be so I wasn’t expecting anything else.

The last mile

After we crossed the finish line we got our Tangled medallions and met up with the rest of our group.  Josh just finished the C25K program and was able to finish under 30, which was his goal.  HOORAY!

Vic and I after the race

Good times!