Color Run 2016

Yesterday, the 2016 Color Run event took place in South Portland.  This year's theme was "Tropicolor"- a tropical, Hawaiian themed race.  It was also what we Disney fans refer to as "Stitch Day" 6/26, (for Experiment 626).  What do you do when they fall on the exact same day?  Why, make a Stitch themed Color Run t-shirt of course!!!

I realized that the Color Run was on Stitch Day shortly after signing up for it.  As soon as I realized it, there was no turning back.  I was making our group Stitch themed shirts no matter what.  Unfortunately, we've been super busy, so I ended up designing it last minute, but they still came out pretty cute!  (If we'd had more time, I would have added the Ohana quote to the back so people behind us could have read that!)

Early yesterday morning, Eliot, my cousin Karen, my Dad and I drove over to South Portland for the Color Run.  We arrived pretty early, and we also got a great parking spot.  (Lesson learned- get there really early before the huge crowds arrive.)

Eliot hurt his back again Friday night, so he found a bench in the shade and hung out there.  Dad, Karen and I explored the check in party area.  Dad bought himself a Color Run hat from the merchandise tent.  We looked around, and eventually we made our way to a shady spot on the sidewalk near the start line.  I posted a photo on Instagram and the official Color Run account liked and commented on it almost immediately!

Eliot joined us after a bit.  We waited there for the race to start.  We were probably about the 5th wave (corral) to go.  We had all decided we were going to walk it.  I haven't started training for the Princess and Tink half and I didn't want to over do it in the heat.  Plus, Eliot could barely walk and I wasn't going to let him do it alone.

For the most part, we all stuck together.  Dad got ahead of us a few times when I stopped to check on Eliot.  I could hear him behind us talking to other people.  This year, most of the people doing the race were walking it.  The weather was nice but warmer than I would have liked.  However, there was a really nice breeze coming off the ocean.  I also slowed down while we walked in the shady spots.

We also didn't get as much color on our shirts this year, which is ironic because none of us hurried through the color stations like we have in the past.  The most I got was at the end when we went through the finish line and were covered in multiple colors.

Mom and Nana were waiting for us at the finish line.  (They'd driven over a little bit before us to make sure they'd get a parking spot.)  Nana was sitting over in the shade of a tree where she could still see the finish chute.  Mom was near the finish line waving when we were approaching the end of the race.  She got a few pictures of us before we ran through the final chute, crossed the finish line and got our medals.

We took a few photos post race.  Mom and Nana inspected us and we showed them the color packets we got at the finish line.  Nana got a kick out of it; I'm really glad she enjoyed it!  We had a lot of fun and enjoyed our Hawaiian Rollercoaster Color Ride!

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel in South Portland so we could take showers and clean up.  Then, we went to hang out at Old Orchard Beach.  Of course, no trip there is complete without Pier Fries!  Eliot and I haven't been yet this summer, so it was definitely a treat!  Mom and Karen got fried dough and it was also tasty!  Hanging out by the beach was the perfect way to spend the rest of Stitch Day!!!  °o°

Color Runs

Yesterday, Eliot and I did our second Color Run.  You might recall us participating in our first Color Run last year.  We did it with a ton of our friends and had a blast.

We've been planning this year's event with our friends for months.  Last year, we wore Pocahontas themed shirts that I designed and we were Team Colors of the Wind.  This year's Color Run 2015 theme is "We Shine" and the race included a shiny glittery powder.  Of course, I automatically thought of pixie dust and Tinker Bell.  Thus, our theme this year was born.  We decided to wear t-shirts and lime sparkle skirts.  I came up with the slogan "faith, trust, sprinkle me with pixie dust" and made a design with Tinker Bell for our shirts.  (Even when I don't run at Disney, I still run Disney.)

We couldn't get the shirts screen printed in time for the race, so Eliot and I decided to try ourselves.  Eliot bought a screen printing kit, but it didn't go as planned.  We didn't want to be "prinkled with pixie" by a scary fairy version of Tink.

We were running out of time, so Eliot printed the design on iron-on paper I did them the night before.  Eliot's sister Elissa and I made the fabric strip skirts.  Those also didn't go as planned originally.  However, we modified the design and got them done in time.

I also made cute pom poms to surprise the girls with the day of the race!

We were ready to have a great time.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn't on board with our race day plans.  It was pouring out.  I was drenched before we even got the start line.  My shoes were also soaked and I was terrified that I'd ruined my brand new custom orthotics.  It was raining hard, windy and cold out.  Not fun.

Eliot, Elissa, Katie and I met up with the rest of our team under a porch near the start line.  Thankfully, we got to dry out for a few minutes while we waited for my cousin Karen.  We changed into ponchos and took a few photos.  Sadly, we never took a team before photo.  But we did get a cute photo with all of our shoe pom poms!

The Color Run race itself wasn't completely awful.  They started people whenever they arrived.  We were some of the last group to start but there were still tons of people behind us.  I was miserable the first mile.  Once I took my glasses off, I could actually see so that helped.  My poncho kept me dry for the most part.  My shoes were so wet that puddles actually felt good after a while.  The colors on our shirts ran together so we were all the colors of the "rain"bow.

I have to admit: I was pretty excited that we got a finisher medal this year.  The medals are pretty cute and I love the bright rainbow ribbon!  

Eliot and I saved our powder packets so we could enjoy them some time when it wasn't raining.  At this point, we have enough powder to host our own mini Color Run!

Once we all finished, we took a few team photos before calling it a day.  Eliot and I had planned to host another Disney Side BBQ after the race, but we were definitely rained out.  Instead, Eliot, Elissa, Katie and I went back to our house to shower and change into dry clothes.  Then, we enjoyed a great lunch at our local Longhorn Steakhouse.

While we didn't have as much fun as we did during Color Run 2014, we're definitely planning to do it again next year.  We're also thinking that our Tinker Bell costumes deserve a little bit more love, so look for more rainbow fairies next year!  °o°

Color Run 2014

This past Sunday was The Color Run in South Portland!  Eliot, Elissa and I were joined by all of our BBQ friends!  For most of us, it was our first color run.    

We'd been planning to do the race together for a few months now.  My best friend Katie approached me with the idea to form a team, and I came up with a team name: Colors of the Wind.  (I'm a Disney minded creative genius!)  We're Disney fans, so it only seemed appropriate to go with it.  Shortly after naming and creating our team, I designed a team t-shirt concept.  I came up with the slogan "Paint Me All the Colors of the Wind."

We really got into the Pocahontas themed spirit!  Katie and Jenn wore awesome feather earrings and Katie, Jenn and Kathleen cut the sleeves of their shirts to look like fringe and they braided their hair!  We made sure to take a team photo pre-race.

While waiting for the race to begin, a few members of our group joined the Zumba warm up routine.  We posed for a few Pocahontas themed photos.  (We're pretending to shoot arrows if you're confused.)  We also took some photos with the "runicorn" mascot of The Color Run.  I also took some photos of the crowds of people in white shirts everywhere!

We made our way over to the start line around 8:30.  The race started at 9:00 so we spent a few minutes hanging out in the shade under some trees.  Part of our team decided to do a human knot.  Then we headed over to the start line shoot.

While waiting in the shoot, we passed the time taking "selfies" pre-race and still clean. 

Before we knew it, our corral was at the front of the shoot and we counted down for the group in front of us!  We watched the "runicorn" dancing around and a few minutes later, it was our turn... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... and we're off!!!

The race itself was so much fun!  Katie, BJ and Eliot wanted to run it, while the rest of us girls decided to walk the 5K route.  We got a lot more color than they did since we walked through the 4 color stations.  I didn't get too much green, but the little boy at the end of the yellow section pelted the back of my neck as I passed him.  I tried to even out my color when I passed through pink on the right side and purple on the left.  As the race progressed, we gradually got more coated in it.

Sooner than expected, we were already at the finish area.  (We later found out that the course was actually only 2.5 miles.)  Eliot, Katie, BJ, Dani and my parents greeted Jenn, Katie, Elissa, Kathleen and me.  We were also given some extra colored powder!

We took a lot of colorful post-race photos.  We did our own powder toss in the field next to the post-race party area.

We took some colorful selfies.

BJ and I decided we were both turning into the Wicked Witches of the West.  I dubbed him Zeleno when I saw how green his face was turning.  (It really reminded me of Zelena from Once Upon A Time.)

We didn't spend much time at the post race party, but it was fun to watch all of the colored powder being tossed into the air!

Eventually, it was time to head home from our colorful morning fun!  Katie and I had a good laugh when we saw Elissa and Eliot trying to keep their powder off of Katie's car.

The Color Run was a lot of fun and it is a great way to train for our runDisney events.  I can't wait to do it again next year!  I wish every run as as fun at this one!  °o°

Note: Most of these photos are ones I took myself.  But I would like to say a special thank you to Dani, Katie and Kathleen for the photos that I stole from your Facebook pages.  Thank you ladies!!!  ;-)

Keeping Busy

Hi Friends!  I wanted to say a quick hello!  I've been super busy.  What else is new?  Ha!

This past week we've been busy starting to prepare for Elissa's visit next month!  Eliot and I went to our local JoAnn Fabrics store and signed Elissa and I up for a Zentangles class!  I've been really interested in doodling lately and I've made a few drawings over the past few months.  I'm really excited to do this class with her and I can't wait to see the fun ideas we come up with!

Speaking of registrations, we finally got registered for the Color Run in South Portland! This is a long story... the race has actually been sold out for a few weeks now, but I'm a lucky ducky and I happened to refresh the Active website and it let me in this afternoon! Ironically, I'd gotten an email back from Color Run this morning about how it was sold out and they weren't sure if they were opening more spots.  I was going to pray that people backed out of it.  Anyways, Eliot, Elissa and myself are all registered and will now be joining our friends in the fun!  I picked out our team name: "Colors of the Wind."  Ha ha.  I love it; I'm so clever.  But, it's our team t-shirts I've designed that will be epic.  Stay tuned!

In not so happy news, Eliot's San Jose Sharks ended up on the wrong side of hockey history this past week.  They completely blew their 3-0 series lead against the LA Kings. In the NHL, teams do a best of seven games series during the playoffs.  Only 3 teams (well, now 4) have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the last four games.  I'm still a bit disappointed, but at least I can still cheer for the Boston Bruins!  And Eeyore even has his Bruins jersey he can now wear.

As you've probably noticed, I still haven't been blogging as much.  I've been keeping myself really busy working on more hats.  I finally finished a creation for one customer that's taken me days to sort out.  But I'm finally happy with the patterns for the design and it came out great!  Introducing my Anna Ear Headband!  I absolutely love it!

I've still been gathering more supplies for other hat designs!  Eliot's going to be away visiting his family for 10 days starting next week, so I'm hoping to tackle some of those new projects while he's gone!

Finally, I'm also working on some blogging ideas and ways to make my blog better. There's a lot going on behind the scenes right now.  Just hang in there.  It will definitely be worth it in the end!   °o°