Race Report: Another DNF ... This Time Closer to Home

Three weeks after successfully completing the Tinkerbell Half and eight weeks after my Disney Marathon, I was at the start line of the Inaugural Woodlands Half Marathon.  Why, you ask, was I doing this?  For lots of reasons:

1. Inaugural bling;
2. (Relatively) cheap registration fee;
3. "Flat & fast" course;
4. Some high school friends had tossed around the idea of running it also;
5. (Relatively) close to my parents house;
6. Qualify for Half Fanatics (this was actually an unintended side effect that I realized after I'd already registered); and
7. Inaugural bling!

Pre-race with Dad

What I hadn't counted on, however, was my lingering nasty cold/flu/crud (whatever it was) and my previously mentioned bad case of post-race blues after Mickey and Tink.  All of that led to me lining up in my start corral feeling less-than stellar that cool and damp morning.  I had even told my mom several times earlier in the morning that I really wasn't "feeling it" and that I should probably just be cheering.  But I decided that I could power through it and just finish - certainly not my best idea.

Early on.

At Mile 2, I realized I had no business being out there on that course - with every run interval my chest would tighten up and send me into a coughing fit that I needed the entire following walk interval to recover from.  So I made the tough, but right, decision to stop.  I walked to the next water/medical station at Mile 3 and stopped.  Of course, I was so upset that I was stopping (with flashbacks of Donald 2010 playing through my mind) that I was crying and having trouble getting words out.  Which totally freaked out the medical team - they called for an ambulance for a female in respiratory distress!!!  I quickly pulled myself together and managed to convey that I was fine, did not need an ambulance, was just upset, but did need to get in the sag wagon back to the start.  Apparently there were some serious delays getting the sag wagons through, because I sat there for a couple hours - I even saw my Dad come through on his second loop for the marathon course...

Post race.  No Medal.  :-(

Once I finally made it back to the start/finish line, I met up with mom just in time to cheer Dad on as he finished (and set a new marathon PR - 4:01!).  I was really bummed to not have gotten the cool finisher's medal and finisher's shirt, but I knew I'd made the right decision.  Plus, I knew I had R'n'R Dallas coming up in just three weeks, and didn't want to push myself to finish this one but screw myself for the next.

So that's the story of my second DNF.  Truthfully, it should've been a DNS (Did Not Start) but apparently I'm a little too pigheaded for that.  And hopefully, this DNF has helped me learn my lesson about starting a race when I shouldn't.

Race Report: Hot Chocolate 5K - Dallas

When RAM Racing announced their newest race series, the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K, billed as "America's Sweetest Race," all of my running friends were abuzz with excitement.  Even I, not being a huge chocolate fan, found myself swept up in the enthusiasm.  So, my BFF Carrie and I both signed up for the 15K in Dallas, which was being held two weeks after Tink.

After we got home from Tinkerbell and "the crud" (as I have deemed it) continued to have an iron-fist-like hold on me, I started getting worried about the 15K.  Finally, I decided to see if I could switch to the 5K.  I sent the race team an email and they told me I should be able to switch at the Expo if there were spots available.  So I had my fingers crossed that there would be!

Packet Pick Up

I drove down to Fair Park on Thursday afternoon, and was able to successfully switch races and pick up both Carrie's and my packets and jackets - yay!  As race weekend approached, the weather forecast for race morning looked COLD!  And, in fact, the night before the race, the RD sent out an email advising slower runners in the 15K to switch to the 5K (without penalty) to limit their exposure to the elements - crazy!!!

I had been coordinating with some of my fellow Galloway Group runners, and we all planned to meet up before the race and run together, so we managed to assemble ourselves within the corrals (which were a little halfhazardly put together) and start together!

Galloway Girls!

There wasn't anything spectacular about the course - the area around Fair Park is not exactly Dallas' most scenic area - but it was fun to be running with my Galloway friends again after an almost 2 month break!  We ran 1:1 intervals and kept up a decent pace for the 5K.  After crossing the finish line, we headed straight back inside to warm up, because we were frozen!!!

Post-race goodies!

So we picked up our post-race goodies, which included warm chocolate ganache for dipping, and hot chocolate.  I didn't care that it was a lot of chocolate, especially for me, it was WARM and tasted so good after running!  We sat inside, eating and chatting, and waiting for our friends who were running the 15K to finish.  Once Carrie arrived, we hung out a while longer while she relaxed and enjoyed the festivities, then we headed back to the car to go home.

Considering there had been some VERY negative reviews and press of the Hot Chocolate races around the country in the months leading up to the Dallas race, we were concerned about how it was going to turn out.  With the exception of the confusion in the corrals, it was ok - definitely nowhere near the clusters we'd heard about elsewhere - so that was good!

BFFs with Hot Chocolate!

Surprisingly, I had a pretty decent finish time - considering my much slower paces in my longer races recently, and "the crud." All in all, it was a fun race to do once, but we probably won't participate again next year.  But if you want to do one, it's definitely worth doing once!

5K results:  3.14 mi; 40:19 min; 12:46 min/mi

Race Report: Tinkerbell Half Marathon

Just a short three weeks after completing my first marathon (yay!) I was standing at the starting line of a half marathon at Disneyland - clear on the other side of the country from Disneyworld, but not a world away.  Once again I was nervous, but amongst friends, and decked out in "costume."  So how did this happen?

When RunDisney made a big announcement about the Tinkerbell Half Marathon last year, I was a little skeptical...  After all, I'd heard from quite a few people that the Disneyland races weren't on the same level as the Disneyworld races, it was so close to the Disneyworld Marathon, and getting to and around Disneyland is just plain more complicated than Disneyworld - there's so much more that goes into a Disneyland trip!  But, it didn't take us (my parents and BFF Carrie) long to realize that of course we wanted to be in on this inaugural race, and we began planning!

My parents and I flew into LAX on Friday afternoon, and after getting settled into our hotel room at the Ramada Maingate (I love this hotel when we're at DL) we made a late night trip to SNA to pick up Carrie.  Saturday morning Carrie got up early to attend the Jeff Galloway Meet Up while Mom, Dad, and I spent a leisurely morning walking through Downtown Disney.  We stopped at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Express and got chicory coffee and beignets, and sat out on the patio watching the world go by while we waited for Carrie to re-join us.

Deciding on souvenirs.

After breakfast, we lined up for the Expo, where we made a mad dash for the RunDisney merchandise area to pick out our "I Did It!" and "Coast to Coast" shirts.  We spent a little more time wandering the Expo, where I bought a new SparkleSkirts Sparkle Light skirt to go with my "costume" for the race, and caught up with some ROTErs.

Tink's Garden at the Expo

ROTErs!

Storyteller's Cafe Dinner

That afternoon, we did a little more shopping around Downtown Disney, and then met up with friends to head to the CAST MEMBER STORE (because a ROTEr friend is a cast member) where we were able to pick up some cool Disney merchandise at ridiculously discounted prices - so awesome!!!  After all our shopping, we hung out around the pool for a while until it was time for dinner.  My parents were meeting up with some old friends, and we had plans with a big group to meet up for dinner at Storyteller's Cafe at the Grand Californian.

Megan & me in our corral

Big Group Pre-Race

After a whirlwind race prep and an early night on Saturday night, finally it was race morning!!!  I'm not a huge Tinkerbell fan, and I look terrible in green, so I decided to dress up as a pink fairy - pink wings and all! One of the perks about a Disneyland race is that we can walk to the race start from our hotel, so it makes for a not-quite-so-early morning (but it's still early).  After meeting up with more ROTErs, we made our way to the corrals.  Carrie was in B, and Dad and I were in C (all the guys had to start in C or higher).  My friend Megan and I were planning on running the race together, and we were just running to have fun and to finish.

Saw mom in the first mile!

In front of the castle!

Honestly, I don't remember many of the details about this race.  What was fun was that it was an unfamiliar course for me, but we were running through areas that were familiar - so it was a nice mixture of old and new.  Just before Mile 1, we saw mom out on the corner.  One thing I do clearly remember is being rather dazzled by a cast member dressed as Tarzan in a barely-there loincloth outfit as we ran through Fantasyland...LOL. 

In Downtown Disney

In Fantasyland.

After leaving Disneyland, we ran through Downtown Disney, where we were greeted by lots of boyfriends/husbands/dads cheering on the women in their lives that were running.  And then, perhaps, the coolest part of the entire race - the WALL of Red Hat Society ladies who were decked out in their finest purple and red outfits and chEaring their hearts out for all of us as we ran by.  Those ladies were amazing - I hope Disney invites them back every year because that was a great experience!!!  Then it was time for the miles through "scenic downtown Anaheim."  That's in quotes because that's how Disney describes this section of the race...again, I don't remember much of it, but I don't really describe Anaheim as scenic...  Either way, Disney had invited lots of cheer squads, bands, and volunteer groups to be out chEaring on this section of the course off of Disney property.

Past the Tower of Terror

Mom & Dad's hotel room

I do remember that Megan and I were having a lot of fun out on the course, talking, laughing, commenting  on all the great costumes, and dodging some out-of-control wings (unfortunately some people went a little overboard with their costumes and wore some very wide pairs of wings and then weren't aware of the damage they wrought as they passed people while wearing them... :-/  ).  We were doing 1:1 intervals, but as we hit miles 9 & 10, I was really getting tired and slowing down, and we walked through some of the run intervals now and then.  Finally, we were headed back towards the parks, and just before we entered a back entrance of California Adventures, we passed our hotel and could see my parent's hotel room!

We made it!

The finish

Leaving California Adventures, we hit the 13 mile marker, and finally could see the finish - we'd made it!  Mom, Dad, & Carrie were waiting for us just past the finish line and they seemed just as excited to see us as we were to see them!

Family of runners

All three medals!

After getting our Tink medals, I got my Coast-to-Coast medal, and we all headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and rest a bit before going to play in the parks.

Castle pic with medals!

Family & friends at DCA!

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Disneyland to ride some rides and eat dinner at the Blue Bayou (yummy and a must-do for us at DL).  Monday morning we met up with an old friend from UT and her husband, who now live in L.A., for a day at DCA.  We had such a great day!  Sadly, on Tuesday we had to drive back to LAX and head home.  It was short trip, but another fun one!