My RunDisney Inaugural Avengers 5k at Disneyland Resort

Avengers Assemble! 

November 14, 2014- The Expo

I attended the Expo on Friday, the day before I was set to run the 5k. They had a lot of really cool booths (which I did a great job of avoiding and spending gobs amount of money), as well as the official merchandise. On the topic of official merchandise, if you do not go early on the first day, chances are you will be subject to slim pickings of what is remaining. This may or may not be a bad thing for you, but I know many were not happy that most of the things they wanted were gone by the time they could attend the expo. 

After walking around the expo for a bit, I decided to take a photo at the photo booth areas that they aways have set up for the races. See! 

I guess I should also mention that I picked up this bad boy: 

Yeeaaahhh... guess who was about to run a 5k with only about 2 weeks of training.. Yeah that was me. Whoops. I guess I should really get back on the training wagon...  

Well after the expo I decided to walk around with friends at Disney the day before the race, and that is what I did.  Next stop: Race day!

November 15, 2014- Race Day!

Well here I was... in Corral A no less (which I will most likely never see again, as I am very much a turtle running through peanut butter type of runner. Here is my classic selfie. 

I keep running most of these things alone, so selfies seem to be the easiest method to document. Sorry if it bothers you!  Anyway, back to what was going on. Here I was waiting for the party to get started. It was a bit chilly on this day. I ran the 5k in a jacket and my favorite Lululemon running crops.  After waiting for what seemed like forever, we were off!

The race started through Disney's California Adventure. There were four Avengers throughout the race with photo ops (Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor, Captain America), but their lines had switchbacks they were so long! Instead, I decided to get some of the standby characters I didn't have a chance to stop for at the Disneyland Half Marathon. Here is me being a cheeseball with those characters: 

Also, the great thing about the 5k is that almost the entire course is through the parks. I totally creeped on all the mile marker signs because I didn't want to wait in line, but here are those photos also, along with the Castle, because that is also a large marker (just without a mile sign :D )

This is where I knew I was almost done. 3.1 miles to go for a 5k. But before the finish I got to creep with a cardboard Captain. Ha!

 And then.....

I FINSIHED!!! I received my medal (which is made of plastic for the 5k) and called it a day. I went home, took a shower and got back in bed for another 3 hours. It was glorious. 

My Thoughts

I am looking forward to running the next couple races (Star Wars Inaugural 10k and Tinkerbell 10k) with friends and family. As much as I enjoy doing this races, and will continue to do them either way, I would like to experience the event with a partner in crime. I might even sign my boyfriend up for the Disneyland Half Marathon races with me, even though he refuses to run. hehe.  Until next time!

My First Disneyland Half Marathon (aka my first run ever)

My Experience with the Disneyland Half Marathon Race Weekend

So way back before the Disneyland Half Marathon, I had to register. Initially, I was going to register for the 10K, but somehow my cousin talked me into the half marathon (as she was going to complete it as well). So I registered for that. Fast forward six months, the run was quickly approaching. Because I had almost no training (my longest run before the half was 7 miles), I was freaking out. It also did not help that I was having some serious hip pain two weeks prior to the race, but I sucked it up, sewed a running skirt, and packed my bag for the paradise pier hotel for the night prior to the race. My family, cousin and boyfriend went to Mimi's off Harbor for dinner. We then went back to the room and watched World of Color from our window before getting in bed to try (notice I say try) to sleep for the night.  (See Below for the view of World of Color from the room)

The next morning, after almost no sleep, it was time to get up at 4am. Race starts at 5:30 for corral A. I was in corral I, and my was cousin in J. We got up and ready in our running skirts and made our way to the starting line. I ate a poptart on the way there to fuel, and then the waiting game began. (See photo for pre-race smiles)

Waiting for the race to start is fun (and would have been more fun if I knew someone in my corral). They have announcers talking and music and everyone is getting hyped up. It is also a good time to see some of the creative costumes people come up with for these races.  As many of my friends know, I am pretty clumbsy. During my corral walk up to the starting line, I tripped on a road reflector. That was probably a good thing, as I was completely aware of them for the rest of the day. 

Around 6:12am it was time for my corral to cross the start line! Woohoo! 

And I was off. Now mind you, I had basically no training in the month prior to the race, and had only completed a total of 7 miles on my longest run. That said, I did okay. It is especially an easy first 3-4 miles as they are through and very near the park. I only stopped for a couple of photos as I was afraid that I would not make pace, which was, at this point, my only goal. Here is a couple photos from Carsland: one with DJ (because he's never available for photos, and one with my favorite cast member (my boyfriend).

After finishing my run through the parks, we took to the streets of Anaheim. This is probably the most boring part of the run and the fact that I was getting tired between miles 7 and 8. It is nice that there are spectators and groups dancing and cheering, but the streets are still streets, and they can be pretty dangerous. I saw two people crash on railroad tracks and numerous people trip on the road reflectors, so always watch where your stepping!  There is only one major hill on the whole course (pictured below), so other than the boring, it is a pretty flat course.  

Here is me at mile 6 on the course! There are mile markers to let you know how far you have come. The time is off a bit, though, as it is the race time for the first corral (corral A) starters. I signed up for the text alerts in order to manage my actual time.

My 10k time (6.2 miles) was 1:30, which is a pace of 14:31. My best training times were between 11-13 minutes, so this was a bit slow for me. 

Around mile 8 we were near the Honda center with all the nice cars to cheer us on. I took a picture with a Lightning McQueen impostor (see photo), and headed onto the Santa Ana River Trail, which would take us to Angels Stadium.  

 And here I am inside of Angels Stadium! We got to run through the outfield. There were many scouts of different types inside cheering on the runners!

This was about the time when I thought my legs were going to fall off. About mile 9 I wanted to die. I wanted to curl up on the course and just wave as people passed. I wanted to, but I didn't. I kept walking and jogging. The hip pain I had/have was making it so that jogging was actually more comfortable than walking. I would also have to stop and stretch my quads out as they were cramping pretty bad at this point. But, as Dory says, "just keep swimming", or in this case, running. So I did. I kept at a slow pace for the last 4 miles and then crossed that glorious finish line. It was magic. I was done. What else do you do when you finish? Pick up your medal, your box of snacks, and take a selfie!

All and all it was a great experience, however, I think the 13.1 miles is a bit long for me. I think I will stick to 10Ks. I will definitely stick with RunDisney though. My upcoming races are the Avengers Inaugural 5K, the Star Wars Inaugural 10K, and the Tinkerbell 10K. Let's lace up those running shoes and make some costumes!

  

Because Everyone Should Have a Peter Pan Flute

Peter Pan's Flute

So, weird things happen when you take your crafty, idea-laden, power-tool skilled boyfriend to Michael's Crafts. He buys two witch brooms (as Halloween is around the corner), and won't tell you what they are for. That is, until you get outside and he takes off all of twigs that make up the actual broom and throws them in the trash. Yeah. That happened. He really just wanted the worn bamboo handle. Then, because you are both on the same level of weird, crafty, and imaginative, you guess that he wants to make a flute. You guess right.

So as he wanted to make two flutes, (as I was Peter Pan and he was my shadow for our Halloween Disney Cruise), we got underway. Here I will describe what we did to accomplish creating these easy to make flutes.

It took a total of about an hour.

What you will need:

A Bamboo stick (or something long and rod like, preferably hollow?)
A saw of some type (we used a scroll saw, but I think a handsaw would also work)
A ruler
Something to mark the stick with using the ruler
Sandpaper (we used a grinder)
Super glue (we used Cyanoacrylate, but a hot glue gun with sticks would also work)
Twine

Step 1:  Measure

Measure how long you want your largest piece to be. For ours, we measured to 6 inches and reduced the length by about an inch for each piece. The shortest piece was about 2.5 inches. Just decide what you'd like and go from there. Initially, I started with a 7" piece but didn't like that length so I cut it down.

Step 2: Cut

Cut the pieces at the marked interval. We used a scroll saw, but a hand saw would probably work as well.

Step 3: Lay out pieces and check the lengths

Double check you like the lengths. If not, shorten or adjust accordingly.

Step 4: Sand or Grind down the edges

We did this purely for aesthetics, and because the bamboo splintered a bit. You could probably skip this if you really don't mind the way the fresh cut pieces look. 

Step 5: Glue the pieces together

Glue the pieces together. You can use any type of adhesive you think will work. We used cyanoacrylate here, but I think a hot glue gun, or some extreme super glue would work equally well. 

Step 6: Add the twine

We added twine, again for looks. so here it is... TADAAAAA. My peter pan flute.