Jelly Beans and the Easter Bunny (aka ME) heads out for some miles

So remember I posted about the Jelly Bean Virtual Race? Well the week is over now and I went with just the 5K and 10K (still pining away for a bike of my very own *sigh*). Forgot to take pictures for the 5K but snapped some today. I was in Target last night and just for the heck of it wandered over to the Easter section and stumbled upon a lone pair of fuzzy bunny ears lying amongst the remaining scattered bags of candy. They were only a dollar so I decided to get them, just for fun. See?

And yes, I did wear them the whole time out today like I was the Easter Bunny. Got lots of smiles from the other people I passed along the way. A runner headed in the opposite direction got a kick out of them and gave me a thumbs up (she said something too but I was listening to heavy metal at the time and by the time I realized she was talking to me, she had already passed me). It was beautiful out today. It was around 74 degrees by the time I headed out with hardly a cloud in the sky and warmed to 79 by the time I was done. Thankfully the humidity was only around 58% so the temps didn't feel too hot-plus my route was shaded about 75% of the time and there was a decent breeze going.

For the 5K I did during the week I did 48:12 and today's 10K was 1:38:20. Not fast but still decent. Had some fun along the way making bunny shadows:

And as the Easter Bunny will tell you, jelly beans are a great fuel source...and they sure taste better than a gel!

Now to submit my times and pics to the virtual race. No, the times don't "count"-meaning winners aren't determined by how fast you were...prizes are randomly awarded so we'll see if I win anything...and even if I don't, it was a fun way to spend my miles-even with some of the odd looks I got from passing cars...could it have been the bunny ears?

Countdown to Expedition Everest 2012

Only 27 days to go until I leave for the 2012 Expedition Everest Challenge weekend at Walt Disney World! I'm interested to see how they've changed it for this year...from what I've read, it seems like there will be clues along the 5K course to help us after the 5K portion is completed and we start picking up our clue cards in the park. I don't know if I'll like that or not...though it might make it easier for me to add more run segments in since I'm guessing when we come up to a clue area I'll be pausing to read the information so will have short rest breaks.

When I look at the map on runDisney's website, it looks like last year with clue cards being available in the same places (Oasis, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Africa and Asia) and the scavenger hunt finish near Expedition Everest. So I guess the info along the 5K course will help us solve those clue cards as opposed to last year just getting the cards and having to figure them out ourselves. Since my only goal this year is to finish faster than last year, hopefully these clues for the actual clue cards will make the scavenger hunt portion go much faster. If you've read my blog entry from last year's event, you know I lost quite a bit of time at the beginning of the scavenger hunt since I couldn't figure out where to turn in my first clue.

4 weeks of training to go!

2012 WDW Marathon Weekend Recap Part 1-Pre-race and Expo

So this year I was originally just going to do the Chip & Dale Marathon Relay (the “C&D”), but was drawn toward the Half Marathon (the “Donald”) for two reasons-number one, 2012 is the 15th anniversary of the race so of course you know the medal will be an anniversary medal and will be unique. Number two, my sister-in-law who recently started running was making Donald her first half marathon. And so that is how I came to register for both. Yes, that’s right-both. I’d be doing my first back-to-back days of half marathons...not back-to-back weekends---DAYS. As in a half marathon on Saturday AND Sunday. Really. Me. Nutso, right?

Well, I figured hey-2010 I did the half, 2011 the full, now 2012 I’d do half and half (sounds like I need a cup of coffee with that, right?)...so 2013 I should just do half and full for the Goofy next. Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.

Anyway, when I posted looking for a partner for the relay I stated I was looking to run the 2nd leg...for two reasons-first, I’m normally slow, coming in near the 16mm mark. Since I’d be doing the Donald the day before and didn’t know how that would affect my pace and how my body would feel doing half marathons two days in a row, I wouldn’t want to go first and get swept (although now I know the 2nd leg runners would have been allowed to run anyway, at the time I was concerned I’d screw them up if something happened). Second, the half marathon on Saturday follows just about the same course as the first part of the full on Sunday and I didn’t want to run virtually the same thing two days in a row. By doing the 2nd leg I’d basically get to do the whole full marathon course, just splitting it up over two days. I was lucky to hook up with Carol (U.S.) from Running of the Ears who was just fine with being runner #1 and we got together on the phone the day registration opened to sign up. Yay!

I wound up registering for Donald while at the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend Expo (yay for no Active.com fees!) along with Princess. Once back from W&D I started my training for my double half marathon weekend. Didn’t do too much different, just threw in a few double long run weekends which weren’t bad at all.

Marathon Weekend is now a yearly trip for me; this year I left really early Thursday morning (January 5th) before the sun came up to pick up my SIL and start the 3+ hour drive to the Mouse House. I wanted to be at the Expo when it opened; we arrived a little after and headed on in. It was pretty neat that I got to go to two different places to pick up two sets of stuff, makes you feel kinda special. Once we had our bibs we went over to the next building for our shirts and the Expo. Again pretty cool getting two different shirts, a nice navy blue for C&D and a brighter blue for Donald. I was kind of bummed that I didn’t see any C&D merchandise for the race-no shirts, glasses, knick-knacks, keychains...I did find out the next day that they actually DID have “We Did It” shirts so since we went back the next day anyway to meet some of SIL’s friends who had just arrived, I was able to buy one of those. Yay for a C&D shirt! When I spoke with the rep there about the lack of C&D merchandise, he said with the small number of teams it wasn’t really cost effective for them to have all the different merchandise made. BOO!!!

Anyway, after picking up a velcro wrist strap for my Garmin 305 (since the holes on my regular strap are just about to rip), we headed out of the Expo with our goodies and to the hotel to drop off our stuff...then headed out for some park time. Did Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom Thursday/Friday before eating an early dinner at the hotel before our very early bedtime Friday night (can you believe it, we went to bed around 7pm!). Alarms set for 2am!

Virtual racing: The Jelly Bean Virtual Race

Typically when I'm doing a race, it's in-person, meaning I'm there alongside hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of other runners and walkers. Every now and then, I see a post somewhere for some virtual race that's going on...what's a virtual race you ask? Well, that's when people from all over (the city/state/country/world) run a race together, but separately. Meaning we all don't travel to the same place to run the same course, instead we run whatever the virtual race distance is but in our own town or on our own treadmill and then report back how we did. Most of these are just for fun, like the Running of the Ears Munchkin Run (we did a half of a half-meaning half of a half marathon so 6.5 miles where we treated ourselves to munchkin donuts at the end)

We did that one so those of us left at home during the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend last year wouldn't feel left out. I even went so far as to map out my miles so I ran/walked to Dunkin Donuts, got my munchkins, then ran/walked back home...I think the people at the shop thought the sweaty smelly girl buying munchkins was a little nuts.

Anyway, I've been reading some recommended running blogs and came across Run With Jess. Excellent blog, lots of great product reviews and an overall good read. I saw something there about The Jelly Bean Virtual Race and was intrigued. At first I thought, how cute...then later I thought, hmmm I think I'd like to try that! Then I realized there's also some neat raffle prizes from sponsors like SparkleSkirts, Nuun, Gu and several other cool places-and I decided to go ahead and sign up. I've initially signed up to do the 5K and 10K, but I'm thinking since we can do them any time over a whole week (April 1-8) that I may also add the half marathon...I would do the 10K this Sunday, the 5K during the week and the half the following weekend. I just wish I actually owned a bike so I could do the bike 21K also (I really miss having a bike, but that's a post for another day). I may wind up only doing the 5 & 10K's like originally planned, but I'm going to shoot for all three (anyone have a bike they want to give me to make it all four? LOL).

So if you have a chance, I'd recommend checking out the blog and signing up for the virtual race...hey, you might even win something! I'll report back next week on how things went.

2011 WDW Wine & Dine Half Marathon Relay Weekend Recap

Sorry if some of this is not very detailed...my fault for waiting 5 months to write a recap *doh!*

This was my first time doing a relay so I wasn’t sure what to expect; it was also only my 2nd time doing a race at night (my first was only a 5K-Expedition Everest Challenge-and was broken up by obstacles; the “run” portion was only 45 minutes or so). I was runner #2; my runner #1 would be starting the race over at Wide World of Sports and would run from there to and through Animal Kingdom for 4.8 miles, then I would take over for an additional 8.3 miles from the Animal Kingdom parking lot to and through Hollywood Studios, then over to Epcot for the finish.

I left home early Friday morning so I could check in to my hotel (All Star Sports) and get to the expo when it opened. Love the color of the shirt, a nice deep maroon.

For us relay participants, we also received a commemorative baton which was a miniature rolling pin, so cute!

Everyone also got a $10 Disney gift card, supposedly to use at the race After Party at Epcot at the food & wine booths, though you could actually use it whenever you wanted to. Wish they would do that for every race!

Friday night was Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom (which I absolutely love and highly recommend, I’d go every year if I could!)...normally when I go to the party I am done by 10:30-11pm but since I knew Saturday night would be a late night, I stayed until the park closed at midnight and then a bit longer at the park entrance where I met up with Rebecca from ROTE...we took a picture at the front so we could say we were in the park for its 30th anniversary since it was past midnight (I wasn’t about to battle the crowds there in the morning, plus I wanted to sleep in a bit since I’d be up late the next night with the race).

I had a late breakfast reservation for myself for Saturday morning at Kona Cafe (no, not Tonga Toast-not a fan of things stuffed in my french toast-but still very yummy), then back to my hotel for some pool-lounging and relaxation time since I didn’t want to tire my legs out wandering in the parks.

Had a late lunch/early dinner before hopping the bus to head to WWoS to meet up with the other Running of the Ears folks before the race.

My partner Tracy and I took a before-race pic before it was time for me to head over to the busses that would take us runner #2’s to the exchange point at Animal Kingdom.

Two other ROTErs were also running the relay so we rode over together and hung out until it was time to start watching out for our partners to come in. The weather was nice, was in the upper 60s with a little breeze by the time I’d get out on the course. They had it set up so when runner 1 got to our area in the parking lot, they branched off to the right of the course into the relay exchange where the runner 2’s were waiting. We had mini-chutes to wait in to watch for our partners with different colored flags...only problem was the flag color on the chart at the expo was different than what they were at the exchange. But next to the flags were signs with bib numbers so that helped out.

Since Tracy was texting me to let me know where she was on the course, I pretty much knew when she’d be coming so I was watching out for her. I still almost missed her, then heard her calling my name and waving. After a quick hug, I headed out running. And running...and running. And then I saw the start timing mat for the runner 2’s...after I was already past my time to change back to walking *sigh*. Wish I would’ve known that our timing mat was so far out, I would have worked a walk up to a run before reaching it...lesson learned for next time I guess.

The course headed out of the parking lot and onto Osceola Parkway. While I knew it would be darker than what I’m used to since I’m a daylight run/walker (well duh, the race started at 10pm and I didn’t start until almost 11:15pm), it was a bit out of my comfort zone even with the available lighting from streetlights and course lighting since I was pretty unfamiliar with the course from a race standpoint. That slowed me down a little bit since I was being more careful and watching my surroundings more closely. I was in between 16-17mm the whole time though...would have liked to go faster but the dark was making me concentrate more on watching around me and so my pace would keep dropping off, then I’d try and speed up again when I could be more sure of footing and not running into others.

Headed to Hollywood Studios and wound quite a bit through it before heading toward Epcot for the finish. I did take pictures along the way, but coupled with the dark and my walking/running, almost every single one came out very blurry.

The finish line seemed kind of closed-in to me; it didn’t seem like there was anywhere for lots of spectators to watch and cheer. I’m so used to having a huge, long finishing chute with tons of people cheering all over that this one seemed kind of anti-climactic. But, Mickey was there and of course I high-fived him as I crossed the finish! Got my cool medal and headed over to get my free drink and regular post-race refreshments.

I’m not one for alcoholic beverages (used to when I was younger but now I don’t like how they make my head feel at all) so I grabbed a can of Coke instead. I should have saved it for later--soda after a race was just not satisfying or enjoyable at all and I threw it out after only drinking half. Met up with Tracy afterward and joined a few ROTErs, but I was just tired out and decided to just change into a different shirt since it had cooled down some more and head back to the hotel to crash. Tracy was ready by then as well so back on the busses we went.

Overall it was a great experience for my first relay. Of course you have the great on-course entertainment with Disney characters which helps the miles go by quickly. It was a bit quieter than the other WDW races I’ve done since the number of spectators was drastically reduced; guess they didn’t want to stay up until the wee hours of the morning just to watch us crazies out there LOL. I did miss the cheering though.

Met up with some ROTErs for another breakfast at Kona Sunday morning then headed to Epcot for a bit before making the three hour drive back home. I wouldn’t mind doing the “full” half marathon for Wine & Dine one year, I’ll be keeping it in mind for some time in the future.