If you read my costume reveal post last week or followed me on Instagram you already know our theme for the Disneyland 5K. I had been warning Coach Jeff for a few weeks now that he might be embarrassed to be seen with us....I think we were right.
It was part 1 of our 22.4 miles of magic at Disneyland 1/2 Marathon weekend! If you have followed my blog in the past, you know that I am a huge fan of runDisney 5Ks. There are a number of reasons that I enjoy these races: (1) they are un-timed so it is more relaxed (2) watching the families running together (3) great shakeout run for the other races this weekend (4) PICTURES! If you read my costume reveal post last week or followed me on Instagram you already know our theme for the Disneyland 5K. I had been warning Coach Jeff for a few weeks now that he might be embarrassed to be seen with us....I think we were right. We loaded up in our corral, met up with a few friends for quick hellos, and were on our way before we knew it. We were ready! The first .5 mile or so are outside of the parks as you make your way into California Adventure through a backstage area. Then the fun begins! As you enter the park, you quickly find yourself in Cars Land! Who better to greet us on Route 66 than Lighting McQueen himself! We took a few more quick pictures in Cars Land before departing and making our way towards Buena Vista Street. I absolutely love running in the "dark" parks. While the parks are not open, you can still feel the Disney magic surrounding you as you pass attractions, shops, and restaurants that are currently silent and waiting for guests later that morning. We quickly exited California Adventure and zipped over to Disneyland! I am going to be straight up - I always get teary running down Main Street. The lights. The music. The MAGIC! After leaving Main Street and a quick swoop through Tomorrowland, we found ourselves in Fantasyland. Of course I took a quick little spin as I passed the Mad Tea Party. We were then greeted by Snow White and Prince Phillip - shhhhh, don't tell Snow White but the Prince did tell me that I was "his cup of tea." We exited Disneyland through a backstage area where we had an up-close look with some of the vehicles of Main Street with some pretty awesome Cast Members cheEARing for us! The final portion of the course takes you through Downtown Disney which I always enjoy. There is nothing better than the support of your fellow runners and the unsuspecting tourists in that final stretch. Nothing beats going to Starbucks for your morning coffee and pastry and end up seeing thousands of crazy (and costumed) runners darting by. The first of 3 finish lines of the weekend was crossed and we collected our bling. I will tell you, putting a medal around your neck is not easy with an oversized hat on.... Race 1 was in the books! 3.1 miles down, 19.3 magical miles left! I will be honest, I was a little sad after the race. I had been planning this costume for a year and have been way to excited to run in my teacup and now it was over. I guess it is time to come up with new ideas for 2016 races! We met up with a few of our friends for some pictures before we headed back to the room to freshen up and get our day going. As we were making our way through Downtown Disney and back to the hotel, we cheered on the remaining runners that were coming into the finish. We saw a lot of chaos happening in the distance and we quickly figured out what was going on. Kimberly, Gail, and their pals have done it again! They truly live by the motto of "go big or go home" with their costuming and this race was no different. They ran as the gang from Inside Out and were a total hit to say the least! Children and adults alike were stopping them for pictures along the way - that is how awesome they are! I truly loved every step of the Disneyland 5K! runDisney never disappoints me and I could not thank them enough for all the fun, magic, and memories that they created at this year's Disneyland 5K.
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After arriving in California late Wednesday night, it probably goes without saying that we were pumped to get the weekend started! Momma K and I woke up bright and early to register for the runDisney New Balance virtual queue to reserve our new runDisney shoes at the expo. After getting our appointment time locked in, we went out to get our mile in for day 466 of our run-streak and grabbed a quick bite to eat. We quickly got showered and met up with my friend Kathleen to head over to the expo. If you have ever been to a runDisney expo, you know that the official race merchandise tends to be the most sought after items of the expo. Lines start to form to enter the expo hours before the expo opens so we made sure to get there early. We arrived to the Disneyland Hotel shortly after 8:00 where we were greeted by Cast Members who directed us to the waiting area for the expo. We were given colored wristbands upon entering which signified when we entered line to help line-jumping. We had about 1:15 to spend in line, so obviously it turned into a "expo line party." It was great to meet up with friends from around the country that were all here for the same reason this weekend. Even though we only see each other periodically, it is like we just saw each other last week when we are reunited. The line quickly grew and before the expo opened, the line was quite lengthy. Thank you runDisney for allowing us to enter the expo 30 minutes earlier than scheduled and keeping everyone so organized. After the expo chaos of Dumbo 2013, runDisney has really stepped up the expo line organization. When it was time to start letting us into the expo, they had everyone sit down on the ground (to avoid people just rushing the doors), then row by row they escorted us into the expo hall and to the merchandise area where we were queued up to go in. They only allowed so many people into the shopping area at a time which was great because you were actually able to shop without jumping over people and mass chaos all around. Huge kudos to runDisney! It was finally our turn to go inside and shop! Thanks to the Disney Parks Blog preview last week, I already had an idea of what items I was wanting, however in true Disney style there were some surprise items as well. Every was very well organized and there was plenty of room to move around and shop. After getting our race merchandise, we headed over to the New Balance booth for our appointment to get our 2015 runDisney shoes. I love how New Balance has started making the virtual queue for runners only the first day of the expo to allow them the opportunity to purchase first then open it to the public the remaining days. We got in and out pretty quickly. The New Balance team was awesome to work with and Momma K and I are both loving our new runDisney kicks! Momma K got the Tink shoes and I got Tink and the newly release Donald Ducks. Now it was time to make our way through the rest of the expo. My first stop was obviously to say hello to the wonderful ladies at Sparkly Soul! They released a special collection for the Disneyland Half Marathon Expo which I was super excited to get my hands on. You may have seen them on me over the weekend, but you will want to check them out. Of course I had to stop by and visit with the wonderful Jeff Galloway while I was there a well. I could seriously talk to him for hours about his run-walk method and how it was empowered so many people to start their running journey as well as experienced runners getting faster. There were some other great vendors like KT Tape and PRO Compression which I of course had to stop by to say hello and pick up some goodies. Surprisingly, the expo wasn't overly crowded for it being the first day of the expo. There was room to move around on the expo floor and lines were moving rather quickly. One of my favorite freebies of the expo was the runDisney pictures. We didn't get to do these on Thursday, so we did them when we went back on Friday with Becky. Aren't they adorable though!?!? Our final stop was bib pick up. If you read my expo survival tips last week, you know that I always preach to do this last. Your bib is not going anywhere. They cannot sell out of them so why do it first (unless you don't plan to shop). Everything in bib pickup went very smoothly. The longest wait was to pickup our 10th Anniversary Party wristbands but even that went pretty quickly. The volunteers were all very upbeat which always makes for a great experience. After picking up your bib(s), you head back into the main expo hall to pick-up your race shirts. This process is super organized and size swaps is easy as well. I was very happy with the shirt designs for 2015, but more on that later. :) Each year runDisney has continued to improve the format and organization of the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon Weekend expo. I wish there were a few more running focused vendors with different products, but overall I would call it a success. Thank you runDisney for making the kick-start to my 2015 Disneyland 1/2 Marathon weekend so great!
***DISCLAIMER: I was provided complimentary samples of products from Influenster to review. All items are strictly my own.*** I was excited when I found out that I was being given the opportunity to try out Airbursh Legs from Sally Hansen. Between battles with heat rash, eczema, and bruises, my legs are far from presentable most times. When I received my Vox Box in the mail, I quickly opened it up to check it out. When I first read the promotional card inside of the box I started to think that this product was going to be more like a self-tanner type of product than I originally thought it was. There was a generous sized sample located inside for me to try out, so there was no better way to find out if it was indeed "self-tanner" like than to try it out and see. Due to my apprehensive nature with the product, I decided to use it outside in the event this ended up being one of those sunless tanning lotion horror stories...let's be real, we all have either been one or at least know of one. When I squeezed the product into my hand I was pleasantly surprised by the consistency and odor-less appearance of the product. The best way to describe it is like a liquid foundation that you would apply to your face (maybe a little more liquid though). I rubbed it on my right leg. It rubbed in and blended in very easily and I never had that "streaky" or "sticky" feeling while applying it (or afterwards). Being accident prone and being a sufferer of eczema for many years, I have a number of scars on my legs. Airbrush Legs lived up to its promise of helping conceal the blemishes on my legs and helped them be more presentable for sure. There was no mess (unlike my fears), my hands washed off very easily with soap and water afterwards, and the product stayed on until I washed off in the shower. While my legs didn't look completely flawless (I am a human after all), I am quite pleased with the results. This is a product that I wouldn't necessarily use every singe day, but it is a great product to have on hand when you are are getting ready to head out for a night out in your favorite dress.
Thank you again to Influenster for the opportunity to check out Airbrush Legs and share my thoughts with you. Be sure to checkout Airbrush legs at a store near you! I know a lot of people are trying to guess what we will pull off for the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon for our costume selection. Well, this year we have decided to keep things a little more simplistic....shocker I know. For the 2015 Disneyland 1/2 Marathon we are going with more of a theme. We will be celebrating not only Disneyland's 60th birthday, but MOMMA K'S 60TH BIRTHDAY! Yes the race course will likely be filled with other Disneyland 60th inspired costumes, but we are focused more on Momma K's 60th. We will be decked out in our blue, white, and silver ensemble with sparkly accessories galore. Momma K and I love meeting readers/followers at races, so if you see us along the way please be sure to say hi (and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!). We would love to meet you! I hope everyone has a wonderful race and a MAGICAL morning! Please be sure to follow along in our fun! Twitter: FunnerRunner13 Instagram: FunnerRunner You can also follow the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon weekend with the hashtags #Disneyland5K #Disneyland10K #DisneylandHalf #DumboDoubleDare Question of the Day: What is your costume for the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon? If you are not running, what would you want to dress as for the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon?
After "spinning round and round" in my Mad Tea Party costume yesterday, we decided to go with another ride for the theme of our Disneyland 10K costumes. My friend Becky is wearing her first race costume tomorrow! Yes! Seriously! I am beyond excited for her to enter the race costume world....bwhahaha! For the Disneyland 10K, we are basing our costume selections off of one of mine and Momma K's favorite rides on both coasts.... That's right, we will heading to the brier patch and having a ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH Day! A little piece of trivia for you is that Song of the South was the first movie that I saw in the movie theater. Anyways....since Momma K refused to run in Disneyland covered in white feathers, we decided to take a more practical approach. Momma K, Becky and I will be running as Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, and Brer Fox. All 3 of us are looking forward to a wonderful 6.2 miles of fun tomorrow morning. If you see us, please say hello - we would love to meet you and of course take pictures! Please be sure to follow along in our fun! Follow me on social media: Twitter: FunnerRunner13 Instagram: FunnerRunner You can also follow the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon weekend fun with the hashtags #Disneyland5K #Disneyland10K #DisneylandHalf #DumboDoubleDare Question of the Day: What is your Disneyland 10K costume? If you are not running, what costume would you chose for the 10K?
People often ask me how I come up with my race costume ideas/designs. To be honest, I often get them while I am running. Running gives me a clear mindset, and my brain starts coming up with ways to create/construct my costumes. The brains behind my Disneyland 5K costume came just like this. Actually, it has been a year in the making since I was inspired for my costume at the 2014 Disneyland 5K. As I was running last August, I ran past the Mad Tea Party and had my "ah-ha" moment. The Mad Tea Party at Disneyland has several memories for me and I knew that I wanted to go back to the 2013 theme of Alice and Wonderland for this year's 5K costumes. The 2013 runDisney Disneyland 1/2 Marathon Meet-Up was one of the best experiences of my running career. It was great listening to some of the runDisney team including Jeff Galloway and Tara Gidus, taking a shakeout run through Disneyland with Joey Fatone and Sean Astin, and meeting some truly amazing friends. With that said, I present to you our 2015 Disneyland 5K costumes..... You might be underwhelmed by the costumes. Well, there may or may not be more to the costume than you see here. Wink, wink. Be sure to follow me on Instagram (FunnerRunner) tomorrow morning to see what I might have up my sleeve. Please be sure to follow along in our fun! Follow me on social media: Twitter: FunnerRunner13 Instagram: FunnerRunner You can also follow the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon weekend with the hashtags #Disneyland5K #Disneyland10K #DisneylandHalf #DumboDoubleDare GOOD NIGHT FROM DISNEYLAND!
While half marathon is my favorite distance to run, there is something about a 15K that gets me super excited as well. I think part of it is because not only of the increased mileage over a 5K or 10K, but rather the uniqueness of this distance for races in my area. After last week's craziness of a 5K and 2 half marathons in a 24 hour period, I was a little apprehensive of how my body might react. With Disneyland Half Marathon weekend next weekend, I didn't want to do anything "stupid" and end up hurt. Momma K was running the 5K and I opted for the 15K. We had a few other friends running in the races (mixture of 15K and 5K) so it is always great to see them before, during, and after the race. Becky was awesome and decided to come out and cheer for everyone. It is her one morning to get to sleep in and she woke up early just to cheer! Spectators and volunteers are awesome - be sure to always thank them for supporting you! The course for this race is a series of minor rolling hills throughout. The first 2.3 miles or so the 5K and 15K stay together for a loop around the mall then the 15K breaks off for a little mini tour of Kennesaw, GA. My Ala Mater is in Kennesaw, so it is fun to go back and run through some of my old stomping ground even though we don't go near campus. Once highlight of the race for me was passing the football stadium - Kennesaw State University officially kickoffs their inaugural football season this week (which is a project that started back when I was a student). As I approached the water-station at mile 7 I heard a volunteer say "it is starting to rain." After the monsoon of Hotlanta Half Marathon last week, the last thing that I wanted to do again was run in the rain. I had a goal in mind and I was not going to let the rain stop me, so I decided to just suck it up and keep going. I crossed the finish line with a new shinny (and rain covered) PR by over 3 minutes. I am on track for where I want to be going into fall half marathon season, so this was definitely a great confidence booster. I feel like I can still push harder, but we will save that for a day when I am not still recovering from back-to-backs. By the time a lot of the 15K runners were finishing (well ahead of the cutoff time), most of the vendors were already packed up and gone. There was still a few little snacks for us, but it is a little deflating to have everything be gone when you finish. Sadly, this happens a lot of the times when there is a shorter distance along with a longer distance - the shorter race ends and has their award ceremony then everything seems to close up before the longer distance runners finish up. I think the rain played a small part in this, but still. Thankfully, with awesome friends like mine we had our own little post-race fun (in the rain and all). Like I mentioned before, the 15K distance is a favorite of mine but sadly I won't get to run another until January. Until then, it is time to focus on my half marathon goals for the fall.
Today is the day - we are DISNEYLAND BOUND! Well, first, I must get through my day at work. It seems like just yesterday we were all in a mad scramble to get registered for the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon 10th Anniversary weekend. Our bags are packed, costumes are ready, waivers are printed, and boarding passes are in hand! WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND! We have a very busy few days ahead - expo and 10th Anniversary Party on Thursday followed by three days of races and playing in the parks with friends. As I did during Princess Half Marathon weekend, I will release each of our costumes the night before the race. Thursday night we will share our 5K, Friday night will be the 10K, and Saturday night will be the 1/2 Marathon. I can't wait to show everyone what we have been working on the past few weeks! Please be sure to follow along in our fun!
Twitter: FunnerRunner13 Instagram: FunnerRunner You can also follow the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon weekend with the hashtags #Disneyland5K #Disneyland10K #DisneylandHalf #DumboDoubleDare Disclaimer: I was provided a Bulu Box for free as part of a Sweat Pink campaign. All opinions are my own. Thanks to the awesome team at Sweat Pink, I was recently given the chance to review Bulu Box. The concept of Bulu Box is pretty easy. They are a monthly subscription box the provides you with various samples of different health, fitness, and weight-loss products. Each month's box provides you with 4-5 different samples of products to try. Bulu Box describes themselves as: "Bulu Box is the first health, nutrition and weight loss discovery box designed to help you feel your best. Each month, you’ll get a custom box filled with a new mix of 4 to 5 premium samples from top brands to try. Every sample is sufficient enough to decide if the product is right for you. Of course, shipping is always free and you can cancel anytime. " I have tried similar services in the past and really enjoyed them. Fitness and health products can be very tricky at times to find out what works best for you. Rather than going and dropping serious cash on products that you quickly find out that you can't stomach or don't work well for you, Bulu Box lets you try various products each month before you decide to purchase large quantity packages of new products. While every product might not be the best fit for you, you can typically find a friend that might want to try it out instead. The best part about Bulu Box is that you can cancel your subscription any time if you find that you aren't enjoying your box. One cool perk about Bulu Box is their rewards system. When you take part in their sample surveys and you can earn reward points which you can use to purchase your new favorites in full size at BuluBox.com. I eagerly awaited for my Bulu Box to arrive. Once it arrived, I quickly ripped into it to see what kinds of goodies I was getting to try. There were 6 samples in my Bulu Box, with quite a variety of items to try. Here is a look into my first Bulu Box. Bugeater Foods Jump. When I opened my Bulu Box, I instantly smelled something chocolate greeting me inside. Low and behold, I received some chocolate protein powder. This isn't just your typical protein powder, it is made from crickets. Yes, crickets. So, you might not know this about me, but I am scared of things that randomly jump towards you (frogs, grasshoppers, etc). After reading about the product more and the high value of cricket as far as protein and fiber go, I just couldn't stomach this one. It smells so good, but I just can't do it. I will be passing this one to one of my friends to try. Island Boost. I have never been one to do fueling gels or other types of products during my run. To be honest, the texture of them really bothers me and I just can't get it down and end up piratically choking mid-run. Island Boost isn't your typical energy "gel" and is more of a liquid which is much easier to swallow in my opinion. Yerba Prima Daily Fiber. I have not yet had the opportunity to try out this sample yet. Since my epic race weekend last weekend, I have been battling some pretty nasty issues. I do look forward to trying this one out in the upcoming weeks. Earth's Care Anti-Itch Cream. I was pumped to find this sample in my Bulu Box. I get pretty severe heat rash in the summer and it can be pretty intense at times. I must say, I was pretty pleased with the results that I got when I applied this to my leg post run. With the menthol in it, there is a slight odor to the cream, but it works and that is was is important. My heat rash felt cooled and the itch went away pretty quickly. This is one product I would definitely be interested in purchasing some more of in the future (and keeping in my running and gym bags). Mediterra Bars. Tomatoes aren't my thing...at all. My mom always likes to tell stories about when I was little how I would say anything that I didn't like was tomato (even if it wasn't). Seriously - I don't even eat ketchup. Needless to say, these bars will be passed along as well. I did look at the Mediterra website and there are some really tasty other options on their website that I wouldn't mind trying (the cherry & pistachio flavor looks pretty interesting). More T Toothbrush. I found this to be one of the more random things in my Bulu Box. A toothbrush? Well, I was pretty intrigued by the oddly shaped toothbrush and of course just had to try it out. It was really weird brushing my teeth in such a different way than I have been the past 30 years of my life. I had no clue that they made toothbrushes like these, so thank you Bulu Box to introducing me to More T. As I mentioned earlier, not every sample is going to be something that directly fits your life and likes. However, I really like the concept behind subscription boxes because you can try new things that you might not have known about before. I would like to see Bulu Box add options such as vegetarian or focused on particular fitness groups (such as running) to provide samples more geared towards specific types of people so you get products that are a better fit for you and your fitness goals. Thank you again to Sweat Pink and Bulu Box for the opportunity to take a look into what Bulu Box is all about and share it with you all. My friends over at Bulu Box have a surprise for you all as well! Use code SWEATPINK for 50% off a 3-month subscription to Bulu Box. You never know, you might just find your new favorite product inside of your next Bulu Box!
Y'all know that I love a good local race. Marietta (a nearby neighborhood) host quite a number of excellent 5Ks throughout the year. A few years ago, I discovered the DI Dash 5K which is held annually in August at the historic Marietta Square. DI Dash benefits Children's Health Care of Atlanta which is a wonderful health care provider in Atlanta. They have always take such wonderful care of my friends' little ones in their times of need, so I am happy to help support them. Being quite familiar with the course from running it a number of times over the past few years. The race is a little crowded the first 1/3 mile or so then things spread out a lot. There are a number of rolling hills along the way, but mile 2 always seems to get me on this course as there is a decent size hill that is in there. After last week's back-to-back-to-back weekend, a 15K tomorrow, and Disneyland Half Marathon weekend next week, I knew that I wanted to take it a little easier. I still manged to run a 2 minute course PR and one of my top 5 fastest 5Ks. After the 5K concluded, a 1K fun run was held before the awards ceremony started. Upon receiving your race bib, each runner was given a raffle ticket for the door prizes that were given out. Let me tell you what, DI Dash always has some AMAZING door prizes! Some of the prizes included fitness training sessions, GPS running watch, Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, iPads, a TV, and the new Apple iWatch! Sadly, we did not win, but it is fun to hold on to your raffle tickets in hopes of winning big! Papa J came in 3rd place in his age group today after running one of his fastest 5Ks in quite some time. He had been battling some injuries lately, so I was very proud of how well he did to say the least. This is a great race for sure and one that myself and my family will continue to support each year. Thank you again to the awesome team for hosting a wonderful morning of fun!
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BrandiI love to run and most importantly I love to have FUN while I run....I am the "Funner Runner" Feedspot's Top 100 Running Blogs
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