This Is What We Train For

Yesterday I ran in a 10km race. It was a local race, and there weren't tons of participants. I was looking forward to this race. I'd followed my training schedule. I'd done the long runs. I'd eaten well. I'd crossed trained. I met the group I trained with. I was ready.
And then the race happened.
I have no idea what went wrong really, other than:

• It was a hot humid day. I was not expecting this and I get some major weather headaches
• I was running with my iphone and I screwed up my playlist. I wanted my running list and I got some weird shuffle and didn't know how to switch it
• I'm used to running on roads. Instead we were on a path and it was muddy and slippery
• I couldn't catch my breath. And then I started to think about this and panicked
• Every part of my body ached. 

I wanted to go for a good time.
The first half wasn't bad. In fact, I did the first 5k in under half an hour. For me this is great because I wanted to get a PR (Personal Record) of around 58 minutes.
I figured if I kept it up I could absolutely go under an hour.  But I couldn't do it. I started walking. I was disappointed. I'd lost my group. I was running alone. Usually I walk for 1 minute every 10 minutes (or just under every 2km). I was beginning to walk 1 minute every km, and then I would get discouraged. At one point I texted my husband to tell him it was too hard. I've hit the wall before, but never felt it the whole race.
And then I realized, at some point, this was the race I've trained for.
Call me crazy, but if you're having a great day, going out and running isn't hard. But I wasn't having a great day. My week had been terrible. I was tired. I hadn't hydrated. This was a tough race. And I realized the battle here was finishing. It wasn't about hitting my PR. I knew I wouldn't. It was about running as much as I could and not giving up. It was about putting a smile on my face, and being proud of myself.
There will be lots of great races ahead. But, this one I will remember. Because I did it. Because I finished. Because I found something to push forward - when I wanted to sit down and cry.
So I did it. The time was 1:03. Not terrible - especially considering that a year ago a 10k was unimaginable.
But this ... this is what we train for. This is what 4am runs are about - knowing you can do it and believing you can. And believing it gets better.
November 18th is my 10 miler!!!!! YIKES!

Choices Choices

Saturday was the beginning of our next yoga challenge. This couldn’t have come at a better time for me. September was one crappy, stressful month for me, and for my family. There were several evenings when Matt and I enjoyed a bowl of (organic) ice cream and commiserated over bad days while Mike put Chloe to bed. Maybe ice cream doesn’t solve anything, but it does help!

But the problem with a challenging month is that I started to doubt myself. And feel crappy about myself. So, yes. I’m looking forward to this challenge. It’s simple, really: attend 20 classes in 30 days and participate in a weekly challenge. This week is daily 2-minute planks. I mentioned to one of my teachers that I didn’t think I could do a 2 minute plank, and after assuring me I could, he proceeded to have us all do a set in class (in addition to the regular stuff), and although I can’t say it was the highlight of my class, it was nice to know I could do this.

Next week is meditation, so I’m actually trying out a meditation class on Thursday! I know. Crazy crazy! The class is an hour in the evening, right before my favourite 8:30 class. Truthfully the idea of meditating for an hour strikes me as crazier than well, pretty much anything I’ve ever done. The teacher has promised the class will be fine, and there are pillows and blankets so I guess I can always take a nap and say I’m deep into meditating.

Anyway …

That brings me to something that I’m trying to figure out and just can’t.

I’ve committed to a regular yoga practice – and I signed up for a year. I love it all, but I LOVE Thursday nights because the teacher is amazing, and now this whole meditation thing first…. Awesome. And it’s worked well because Wednesday night has been my running night with the 10k clinic. I signed up for the 10k clinic because I’m doing the half marathon in February, but I felt like I needed to have more of a running foundation (pacing, breathing, etc) before I jumped into a half marathon clinic. That was an awesome choice and definitely worth it. And it’s worked so beautifully with my yoga schedule.

And now the clinic is almost done. I’m actually really sad about this. And the choices arise.

Choice 1 – Sign up for the half marathon clinic as planned. This means a month off of clinic (but I will still run), and then the clinic is designed to build to a March race, and by my February race the distances will work with some tweaking. This clinic is on Thursday so I will miss my Thursday yoga night. Boo. But, I’ve heard the clinic instructor is good.

Choice 2 – Sign up for the 10 Miler Clinic (16km) which builds toward a 10 mile race on December 26^th. This means that I’ll have to figure out 2 months of half marathon training, but I can run with the half group on Sundays if I want to. The perk to this – I know and love the clinic instructor and I know a lot of the people in the clinic. It’s also on Wednesdays, which means that I can do the Thursday yoga.

Okay – talk about first world problems. But, still. It’s like 2 of a good thing. I just don’t know. Suggestions? Anyone.

Truthfully, I just need to let this one go a little bit. Both options are awesome! And right now I’m focused on this yoga challenge combined with my goal race the week after Thanksgiving.

Life may not make sense right now. But, in some weird way everything else kind of does.

Hills and Cheetos and Smiles

If you ever join a running clinic you’ll be introduced to a new fear … hill training.

It’s part of every running clinic, and people talk about the fear of hills pretty much from the moment clinic starts.

Last night … dunh dunh dunh … was hill training.

(admittedly so was last week, but I was sick and the warm up did me in. I don’t even remember the hill part).

Usually clinic nights start out at the local store and then we do a route around the area. It started with a 3k run and progressed to about a 6k route. This week we met at a local park (kind of local. I got lost) with a lot of hills. We did a 20 minute warm-up, ran 4 huge hills, and then did a 20 minute cool-down.

The warm up went well. I enjoyed it. The we got our hill route. There were lots of runners out because another clinic group was training on those same hills. I was walking down the hill with our coach when I realized that everyone running these hills was smiling. SMILING. Call me crazy, but I did not expect that.

Because we were all going at different speeds and setting our paces what you started to see was people almost in lines on either side of hill. What started to happen was that on the walk/slow jog down people were screaming and cheering encouragement to the people running up the other side of the hill. As soon as someone heard the cheers this huge smile would cross their face. At first people were cheering for the group we were familiar with, but as everyone started crossing over, there was more cheering.

Last night I did 4 hills. It was pretty awesome. I thought I’d hate hills. I didn’t. I thought they were awesome. And I can’t tell you whether I preferred cheering on the runners or being cheered when I made it to the top.

It’s funny how these small successes seem monumental lately.

Sometimes I feel like all of this focus on running and yoga keeps me from focusing on other stuff, but I don’t think that’s really true. I was talking about Matt’s school issues. You know, it didn’t get any easier. Every day my 8 year old came home from school sad.

Tuesday night he was downright miserable. He’d had an argument with his best friend at recess, and trust me when I say he looks soooo forward to recess. (it was a typical 8 year old disagreement). Add to that the fact he ate practically nothing all day because he’s not in a routine, and he was a mess.

Now I can’t solve all the problems of the world. I can’t even solve all the problems of my kids. But one thing I can do is comfort food. Tell me all you want about how bad cheetos are, how meatloaf is fattening, how you shouldn’t eat your way out of your issues and that red food dye is evil. BUT, if you ask me, it’s called comfort food for a reason and if my kid isn’t eating I can do comfort food. So, off we walked to the grocery store. We bought cookies, candy, chips and all the ingredients for Matt’s favourite food, meatloaf. Oh – and we talked, about school, about friendships and about the importance of knowing the difference between Lego Star Wars and Lego Star Wars the Clone Wars.  And then I came home and made meatloaf.

And yesterday. School success. I came in to a kid who told me “my day was perfect.” He ate his lunch! There’s a new kid in his class that he likes. He did well on a math quiz. He had amazing recesses.

Maybe a thumbs-up kind of day isn’t always monumental. But right now it’s so necessary. And you know what? I’m going to celebrate the small successes. Because sometimes … they are huger than anything we can ever imagine.

School Day 1 - It Gets Better, Right?

Not one of these kids looks happy :(

I'm not one of those parents who loves back to school. I work full-time, so maybe that changes my opinion, but I don't see school as this relief time when the kids are back to school and I get a break. (that's not a judgement). It's just a change in routine. And it comes with anxiety, expense and new teachers.

Matt started school today. Chloe starts tomorrow.

The funny thing is, I'm not worried about Chloe starting school. She's more than ready. She loves meeting new people. She will be fine with any of the teachers.

Matt is not that child. He loves school, but he has a small circle of friends. He likes routine. He likes the comfort of seeing his best friend in the classroom. He likes knowing what they are doing at recess. I spoke to the school about this. I requested he be in a certain class. We found out today that he was separated from all his friends and put in a split class.

He was so brave this morning. He didn't cry. He put on a happy face and told his best friend he was looking forward to recess. And then I took him to his class lineup. He looked so young, one of the grade 3 kids with a lot of grade 4's. He smiled for a picture. And then he asked me if I could walk with him to class, and come back at recess. He's 8. The last time he asked me to do that he was 4. It broke my heart then. It was harder today. Sure eight is growing up. It's also so young. Last night I spent a good half an hour teaching him to tie his shoelaces, because it's just one of those stupid things he hasn't learned yet. Because he's only 8.

I know the school is a great school. And, I know he will be fine. I know there was thought put into this decision, and even though we may not agree with it, there is some logic to it. But ... I'm not a happy mama right now. I hate that I left him there floundering for friends, stuck with all the older kids.

We'll see how today goes. The truth is, this is a funny class. At least half the kids in the line up were in tears. I wasn't the only parent saying "WTF?"  And the teacher had her arm around one girl who was really upset. So, I think it may be quite the day.

I can say all I want about my own challenges. I can talk to Matt about this. I can talk him through all our anxiety exercises. I can even call up our therapist (why yes, we have an on-call therapist!) to ask her advice. But for now I'm going to hope Matt's day went okay.

And then tomorrow I'll face the day with Chloe!

10 KM Run ... Princess Style

On Saturday I ran in my second 10k race. It was the Toronto Women's Run 5k/10k race. This is a series of runs that is organized for women with an amazing motto of "Women Set the Pace."

I only heard of it about a month ago when I started researching the Disney Princess Half Marathon. A group of Toronto area women found me, and we agreed this race would be a great place to meet up, run and chat RunDisney after.
Before I get to the meetup, though, let me tell you a bit about the race.
I've been doing the Running Room 10k clinic for about a month now. To say it's made a difference to me is a bit of an understatement. I enjoy doing things my own way, so stuff like actually running 10 minutes and walking 1 minute just wasn't my thing. So, needless to say the clinic has been a learning experience. I'm constantly being told to slow my pace (seriously. it's all about different muscles groups as it turns out), stay with the group, run my own race, etc. At the last clinic one of the instructors talked about following our training and running our own race - not worrying that we take a walking break and people are passing. This was awesome and necessary advice when I got out there.
Something different for me in this race was that we were put in corrals based on speed. Luckily I knew the time I wanted to hit, so I knew where I wanted to be.

With a goal time of sub 60 minutes I was in the second group.
The other thing about this race that was new to me was that it was a 5k and 10 k and we all started at once. Those of us running 10k got to run the same route (with an extra loop) twice.
I started this race really well. I had my music, I found a good pace, and I went for it. It actually took me about 2 km to really find my footing. I think a huge part of it was nerves. I need to submit a placement time to Run Disney for corral placement (at Disney you have to have proof of time), and I really wanted to get this  race under 1 hour. So, I was having this constant debate in my head about pacing myself and going for it. In the end I went with pace, and decided that if I felt great at 8k I would just put everything into the last 2 k.
So ...



1-3 km - Start was good. And I was trying to feel it for these 3k. I was okay. But just okay.
4km - Around here we did a loop and then were running past fire fighters and a water station. The water perked me up. (okay - as did the firefighters). And I knew I had a bunch of cheerleaders at 5k.

See the signs ... and me running toward them?

5k(ish) - This is where the 5k's ran to the finish line and the 10 k's kept going. I saw my family. I had the awesomest cheering section. My friend, Erin, came out to cheer. My parents were there. My kids had signs and noisemakers. AWESOME!! I stopped for high fives, and I was feeling amazing. It struck me that Erin was at my last 5k, and I was not feeling nearly that good. I was ready to keep going.
6-7km - still feeling it.  And then we hit the loop. They had to add some distance to make the race a true 10k. I was losing my mind because it made the route different than I expected, it was up and down and up a hill and I just hit a wall. Physically I felt fine. Mentally I started to lose it. And then I just decided to run through it. Amazingly I did.
8km - Hello firefighters! Water was great. I was ready to finish. I looked at my (borrowed) watch. And then realized I had to keep going. So I did. I wanted to walk. I didn't need to. So I kept going. I decided not to push. I was tired, and I knew if I tried too hard I'd want to walk at the end.

9.5 km - There was a volunteer telling us we had 500 metres, and I sort of did a weird push/walk combo that didn't work, but I was close. When I saw the finish line I saw my family and then I looked at the clock. I literally had to sprint to hit my goal. I had it in me. I sprinted. Final time: 59:24!!!! This Princess just hit a sub 60!!!!!
Of course, it wasn't over when the race was over. I had the chance to meet some other princesses who will either be running the Princess Half with me in February, or have done it, or both. It was pretty amazing. I mean, I realize that there are close to 20,000 people who will run that race, but these are people from all over Canada and the States. And, its kind of hard to explain to a lot of people that I've never done a half, and I'm planning my vacation around a race in DisneyWorld, and bringing my family. Oh - and taking hte next 6 months to do some pretty serious training.
Add in the fact that I love tiaras, love Disney and will be running in a costume ... it's a little lonely.
So. This? was pretty amazing. We've already discussed our next race. And, you know you've been chatting a long time when the race course is being dismantled around you.

No ... or Yes!

I read a lot of information about Happiness. It started when I read the Happiness Project (a book I read really quickly – and then re-read in pieces), and then I continued reading blogs and articles about Happiness, because I find it so interesting. Here’s the thing though – everything about it is so conflicting.

Some experts say you should say no more. Some experts (and by experts I mean anyone who really wants to talk about it) say you should say yes more. Some experts tell you to take a break and enjoy downtime. Others say workout more.  And while I’m pretty sure I’ve never read anyone say to overeat or get drunk, there is a whole school of thought on how “clean” your diet needs to be in order to have your happiness come from Health. (And I think we can all agree Kris Carr seems to have found balance).

My point is … trying to be happy is hard. And confusing.

The other night I was in yoga, trying to not think, and I started to overthink this whole yes/no thing. About a year ago I was fully in the camp of say no to stuff. Someone told me I say yes to everything and maybe I should be more selective. I went a little overboard and just kind of got used to saying no to everything. Guess what happens when you do that? Requests stop coming in.

And recently I’ve just stopped the whole no thing. Sure time is a constraint, but I’m getting tired of saying no so that I can be what? More aggressive? Better respected? Appreciated more? Happier? I don’t know.

The truth is, I like people who don’t say no all the time. I love when I message someone for coffee, and the answer is sure, I can meet you in 5 minutes. Or when I want to try out a new class, start a reading club or just hangout out… and it’s a yes. Guess what? I don’t automatically think that person has no life. I think that it’s awesome they made time for me. And I want to be more like that. Or I want to go back to being like that.

This weekend I’m running in a 10k. I’m excited.  Why am I doing it? Because some women who will be running the Disney Princess Half invited me to join them, and meet up after. (Princess Power!) It would have been easy for me to say no, after all, I’m not 100% confident in my running yet. A 10k is still a bit overwhelming.  But saying yes … felt really good!

And, as for yoga (yes, still going all the time). That’s where this all began. As much as I love it, there are soooo many nights when I’m just tired. And 8:30 seems late. Or I don’t know the teacher. Or I don’t feel like it.  And I get a message from my mom and I just say yes. Because pretty much as soon as I get there, and class starts … I’m so glad I went.

So, maybe I’m going to skip the no’s for awhile. And just embrace saying yes. 

And while I'm at it, I may not have found the key to Happiness quite yet, but here's some stuff I know for me:

• Sleep is good, but I'm a morning person. Waking up super early (4:20 am) to workout does make me happier, even if some people are just crawling into bed
• I equate happiness with food. If I'm eating healthily I'm happier about my body, but chocolate makes me instantly happy. It's just something I need to accept
• I am happiest surrounded by people, but also really happy to be alone.
• I truly believe that you can't be happy in every situation, but outlook plays a big role
• And .... I'm pretty much happiest in Disney World! Running through the castle, accomplishing a goal and getting a medal after. I can't think of anything better.

So, what makes you happy?

Crunching his way through a Clif Crunch Bar

Let me confess, I've never been a big fan of nutrition bars. The more I get into health and fitness the more I hear about bars. There are some serious discussions out there about nutrition bars. I've read them, and I've even taken the next step numerous times. Trying them. Lots of them, and here's the thing. I don't like them.
I've always had an issue with the weird texture, the cost, and the fact that it just seems really odd to me that here I am trying to swallow something I'm really not enjoying, at a price I don't like, to basically add calories (and protein,etc) to my day ... when I've spent my entire life trying to avoid calories.
Recently this all changed.
know this is shocking to say about a child of mine, but Matthew, my 8 year old is underweight because he doesn't eat enough and what he does eat is burned off by activity. (I wish I had this problem). I'm not complaining. But, when you're doctor tells you she's concerned ... it's an issue.
Matt would happily live on fruits and vegetable with the occassional hotdog and jawbreaker thrown in for variety. (yuck). He also likes granola bars.
As a parent, I generally don't. As he is being encouraged to eat more, I'm hesitant to give him a box of junk to increase his calorie intake. And, if they are in the house, my daughter (who does not need to add weight) will also eat them.
Many granola bars are packed with sugar, over processed and aren't filling. I have a hard time justifying giving my child a smores bar covered in chocolate and calling it a healthy snack.
While I was researching bar options, I received an email offering a sample of the new Clif Crunch Bar.
So, we tried Clif Bars, specifically the Clif Crunch Granola bar. Imagine my surprise when both of my kids gobbled them up (they come in 2 packs), and asked to have another one the next day.
That's a thumbs up from Matt.

There are a bunch of flavours - chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia nut, and blueberry crisp are the ones we tried. Both of my kids way preferred the blueberry, which kind of surprised me, but they were really good.
These bars are slightly different than some of the other Clif products you may have tried - they are lighter on some of the added nutritional stuff so I'm okay with my kids enjoying them. The crunch part made it tolerable for me as well, so let's just say it's kind of a "gateway" nutritional bar - and a lot healthier than some of the stuff out there.
When I say these bars are healthy, here's what I liked - they are trans-fat free and don't contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavours or preservatives. The ones we tried were samples, but luckily we can buy them by the box at Bulk Barn, among other places and we plan to.
The downside to these bars? They are also pricier than some other bars. Bars come in packages of 2, and there are 5 two-packs per box. The boxes are $4.99 each. 
I don't believe they are peanut-free and nut-free, and even if they are they aren't labelled as such, so my kids can't bring them to school. This is not something I worry about at home, I'm not too concerned about that. We eat a lot of snacks on the go, and Matt tends to want to snack on this kind of stuff in the evening anyway. So ... the peanut thing isn't an issue in our house.
All in all we have a new healthy snack and a happy kid.
Thumbs up all around!

Battery Re-Charge

For the last week or so I’ve been on a bit of a vacation. Call it a staycation, if you wish, though I hate that term. I had a lot of appointments booked both for me and for my kids, and rather than trying to scoot to appointments and then hop on later trains and balance everything, I’d just book a few vacation days and enjoy being at home.

If you don’t do this, you should.

My rules were simple. Take a break. Enjoy my kids. My “schedule” revolved around making it to appointments, not exactly taxing. I also spent a lot of time watching Olympics, playing with my kids, and chatting with our nanny. In fact, the highlight of my days included my morning cuddles with my kids and several chats over coffee with our nanny. We happen to be big fans of pretty much all the same tv shows, so forget discussing my kids’ milestones, we always have Bachelor Pad stuff to catch up on. Being home also gave me the opportunity to give her a bit of a break.  It worked for both of us.

What I didn’t do? Stress. I meant to do a complete house makeover. Instead we organized some clothes and kids’ toys, and then had another cup of coffee and watched more Olympics. I was going to make a bunch of healthy meals to freeze. Instead we put on tank tops and shorts and hung out with the kids at the splash pad and worked on our tans, eating cheesies and laughing at some of the more interesting fashion statements.

I still ran. I still did yoga. But I also slept in. I let Chloe style my hair. I learned the names of Matt’s lego creations. I cooked dinner. I played with my kids.

Sometimes I work so hard toward vacations where we go away. We eat fancy dinners out and have every minute of the day planned. I like that. But, I surprised myself by really really enjoying just hanging out.

I need to do that more often.

Training ...

A few months ago I read the book Spirit Junkie by Gabby Bernstein. I was pretty inspired by this book. I went and met her and heard her speak. And I was totally influenced by what she spoke about. It's hard to outline it all here, but basically it was all about figuring out what you want in life, believing in yourself and believing in miracles.
Inspiring.
One of the key things I got out of this was that I needed to really figure a few things out.
Like how to be happier in my life with what I have. And, it's been pretty amazing to step back and look at the things I have in life to be grateful for: my family, friends, job, health, etc.
But when you start to get all introspective and grateful is that you statart listenng to youself, and over and over again I kept thinking "join a running group". Seriously. One day I was in yoga and I kep thinking I should really run with a group. weird - not my thing.
And then ...
I signed up for a half marathon and realized the only way I could hit my goal was by joining a clinic to learn how to run. And, by default that meant running with a group. And we got our training schedule - keep in mind I'm still working on 10k training and this schedule seems intense - and it's a lot of running ... with a group.
I have no idea why this is such a weird concept to me. I think it's because for me running is a morning thing. A super early morning thing. And I love it because no one can see my akward stride, my crazy pulled back hair, my spandex running pants (that aren't totally flattering), my red face OR hear me sing along to my music when I need a boost.
BUT. I'm kind of surprised, after a couple runs, how i'm kind of enjoying it. I like the idea of other people setting a pace, and telling me when to take a break. I like that at the end you get, and give, high fives. I was afraid I'd be the slowest in the group. I'm not (at least not at the distances we are doing at this point), but at the same time I like that the plan is that they don't leave the slowest person behind.
I think I'm learning to have a little more patience with myself.
And run run run!
I loved this picture from lululemon. So true.

Budgeting

Let's be completely honest here, I hate budgeting. I hate thinking about money, or lack thereof. I love to shop. I love to look at pretty things. I like to buy stuff for people I love, for my kids, for me. I love a good sale. I have a serious Starbucks addiction, and although I try to bring my lunch to work I have a tendency to buy lunch fairly often.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm worse (or better) than a lot of people I know. It's just that recently I've been looking at how much money I'm spending on stuff, and how that's limiting what I really want.
For instance, I was considering joining a local gym - an expense we don't need - and even though it was affordable I couldn't figure out where the money would come from until I realized that maybe I could skip my acrylic nails. Ya know?
So ...
I'm putting myself on a budget.
Part of this budget is because we're planning a trip to Disney in February.  So we definitely need to save for that. But that's only part of it. I'm also just really tired of worrying about money - for dumb reasons.
Since it's August 1st (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BECKY!) My official budgeting starts today, even though I've been working away at this for about a week now.
And, as my friend said, I'm not looking at this depriving myself. It's a bit like a year ago when I decided I wanted to lose weight and be healthy. I gave up a lot of stuff (chips/chocolate/sleeping in) but you know ... kind of working for me :)
So, here's the plan.
1) Stop buying stuff I don't need - that includes magazines, fast food, more clothes, shoes. Also, no more lunches out, food court meals, etc
2) Keep track of everything I spend. I plan to keep all receipts (when I get them) and write everything down. I hate doing this. My friend sent me a really helpful spreadsheet that is easy to fill out. I'm going to actually do that.
3) Keep track of what I'm saving. That's just to feel a bit better about myself! I love a pat on the back :)
4) Be realistic. I love Starbucks, and I'm proud of my gold card status. However, shouldn't give me permission to spend a fortune there. So, I'm filling my card once per week - for $20. When it's out it's out. I'm going to spend a bit more on groceries so that I actually enjoy the lunches I bring to work.

August budget here I come!

Run Princess Run

A few years ago, when I was training for my first 5k, a friend of mine sent me a picture of a running skirt. It was pink with a crown on it, and it was to advertise the Disney Princess Half Marathon. 

One Day.

I tossed the idea around numerous times. The thought of running 21km sounded incredible and also insane. Especially after I ran my first 5k and about 1km in thought I may die. Nice thought. Not happening.

Life went on, and every so often I’d debate signing up for a running clinic. And I never did. I put in my runs, and work to run a 5k, wish I could run further and then content myself with the fact that some people aren’t runners. I’m one of those people. My marathon is the 5k.

This year that changed. I don’t know why. I ran past that mental block. I just kept going. I started to change my mind set. And just keep going.

I kept going to a 10 k.

And when I ran over that finish line I knew exactly what was next. The Disney Princess Half Marathon.

Crazy? Maybe a little. When you look at training plans and think about all of the training that you need to put in to get there, I think crazy is a pretty fair assessment. But, crazy in a good way. I love Disney. And I love challenges. And nothing makes me happier than facing something head on.

So I signed up for this race. It’s in Disney World in February. My whole family is going. Mike and the kids will cheer me on while I run 21 km (or 13.1 miles which sounds infinitely better) through Disney World and Epcot. Dressed as a princess.

And then we will have ourselves a Disney vacation. Bonus for my family? I will already have run through Disney, so I may not be quite as anxious to make them run around the parks every day. (why yes, I have run for fastpasses!) In fact, there may be one or two mornings when I sleep past 6 am and don’t wake everyone up when I’m on my second cup of coffee with “who’s ready for a magical day?!”  And if all it takes is 6 months of training and a grueling race to let my family sleep in. I’ll do it!

Truthfully, I’m frightened by this. It’s huge for me, and it’s a lot of running. But, I’m also really excited and pretty sure that I will be ready when the time comes.

Run run run!