WDW Half Marathon Prep

Well, the countdown is officially on for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon!!!  (It's a week from today!)  I can't believe that it's already time to be preparing for our trip!  I remember feeling like it would never get here when we left Disney last March.  Now, we're leaving in 3 days!  Tomorrow Eliot is planning to pack all of his things and I'll be working on getting the last minute stuff like laundry done!  Wow!

Photo Source: Pinterest (Original pin here.)

I'm pretty nervous and excited for the race itself.  I haven't gotten to train for the half marathon as much as I wanted to.  I did go to the gym a few times.  But between the holidays, going to my parents' house, and being sick for 2 weeks after Thanksgiving, it wasn't nearly as much effort as I'd wanted to put in!

I had high hopes for my virtual runs, but I didn't get that many done.  I'm apparently super picky with myself, because I probably earned 4-5 of them.  But since I wanted to track them all with my Nike running app on my iPhone, I didn't actually "count" any of the ones I did do.  I'm planning to earn the rest of them and kick it up a few notches in 2014.

Photo Source: Chip&Co

At this point, I'm telling myself that I'll finish the race, or I won't.  It's pretty simple! Either way, I'll be proud of myself for trying.  I'm not too fond of running in the first place!  So taking a big risk and leap of faith to do this in the first place is pretty spectacular!  

Photo Source: Team Sparkle

The fact that it's a Disney race is making it a lot more exciting to me!  I'm so excited for the experience as a whole.  This will not only be my first ever RunDisney Event, but I've also never been to Disney while they're doing a race weekend!  I'm so excited to see everyone's race costumes, to see the entertainment and characters along the course, for the Expo and race merchandise and to see the medals in person!

Inspiration for my Minnie Costume. Photo Source: Polyvore

I'm was hoping to wear a costume of my own.  I tossed idea after idea around in my head but finally I've decided to go with Minnie!  What's more classic Disney than Minnie Mouse herself!  I tried to convince Eliot to dress up as Mickey, but no such luck.  Maybe once he sees everyone else he'll want to do it in the future?  A girl can dream right?

The Minnie Costume that I'm hoping to wear for the half marathon!

I've decided to wear my black running shoes, black capri leggings, and a black tank top. I'm thinking about buying a Minnie ear headband with her classic red bow! I also found a Minnie skirt and arm sleeves from Team Sparkle that I wanted to buy at the expo. Hopefully I'll be able to get them before they sell out of them!  I also thought about making Minnie bows to wear on my sneakers!  I think it'll be pretty fun! 

RunDisney tutus.  Photo Source: Pinterest (Original pin here.)

I'm excited to see all of the booths at the Expo.  We're hoping to get a few small RunDisney items and some race stuff.  But since I've never been, I'm not sure what to even expect!  When we registered for the race, Eliot and I also signed up for the special pin and I ordered the race necklace.  I know that RunDisney will have a ton of items. There will be a lot of booths for other running companies.  I really want to see the 2014 New Balance RunDisney shoe collection!

New Balance 2014 RunDisney Shoes.  Photo Source: Competitor

The race itself is 13.1 miles running from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom and back to Epcot. The halfway mark is somewhere around the Grand Floridian Resort.  My first goal is to make it to Cinderella Castle.  If I'd done the 10k like I originally planned, I would have made it that far.  Then I'm going to set my sights on the Wedding Pavilion.  It'd be nice to say that I made it to the point where Eliot and I got married.  

And at that point, I'm convincing myself that if I can get that far, I can go the distance! (Yes, that song from Hercules is my "theme song" and I will be singing it to myself the entire race.) I'm trying to mentally prepare.  They say that it's more mental than physical right?  I'm sure halfway through the race, I'll be cursing whoever "they" is.  But "they" have a point.  If I put my mind to it, I'm sure that I can do it.  As long as my knee doesn't completely cave out on me, I'm sure that I can keep a 16 minute pace for 13 miles. Thankfully, Disney is pretty forgiving in the time category!  

Photo Source: RunDisney Facebook Page

My parents, brother and I are planning to do a walk/jog anyways.  They haven't really trained either.  Eliot's the one who will be ahead of all of us.  We're all in the last corral or "walking" division, so I'm hoping to find a group of people we can join who are just happy to be at Disney in the race.

Eliot's already prepared his playlist for the race.  I'm hoping to work on mine tomorrow or Monday.  I have a few songs that I know I want to put on it.  RunDisney also recently did a social media survey to find out which song the runners wanted to be played at the Half Marathon Mile 7 and during the Full Marathon at Mile 21.  They basically had a 3 way tie, so they'll be playing "Roar", "Don't Stop Believing" and "Let It Go" at mile 7.  (Those are all actually songs on my planned playlist as well.)

Photo Source: RunDisney Facebook Page

If we make it to the finish line, we will have earned our half marathon Donald Duck medal! I'm sure I will eat like a pig in celebration, and will probably spend a good portion of the morning sitting in the pool at our hotel.  We're hoping to go into the parks with my grandparents later on in the afternoon and evening once we've recuperated a little. Hopefully I'll be sporting this beautiful bling around the parks that evening!

Photo Source: RunDisney Facebook Page

No matter what happens during the race a week from now, I'm very excited about our Disney vacation.  It's literally 19 degrees right now and it's been below zero for about 2-3 days.  And tomorrow and Monday aren't supposed to get much better.  I know 7 people who are not going to be complaining about the delightful 60, 70 and 80 degree temperatures that are waiting for us in Florida!  (Although, I think complaining about freezing on the other end of the vacation is definitely acceptable!)

Here's to finishing the half marathon and earning that new bling!!!  °o°

Happy Birthday Walt Disney

Hello Friends!  I've missed out on a few days of blogging since I've been fighting a head cold all week.  On a the plus side, I've had my own personal "Once Upon A Time" Season 1 marathon from the comfort of our couch.  Today I'm finally feeling better so I wanted to check in on my blog!

Image Source: The Disney Wiki (Link here.)

Today is also a special day as it marks 112 years since Walt Disney was born.  Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901.  

I owe Walt a debit of gratitude.  Without him, this blog wouldn't exist, I wouldn't have had the most incredible wedding, and I don't know if I would have ever wished on a star.  (I probably can blame the lack of money in my wallet on him too.  But our lack of willpower could also be to blame so I'll let that one slide.)

Image Source: The Walt Disney Company (Link here.)

I think that one of the things that inspires me most about Walt, is that the sky was the limit with his imagination.  When I decided to pursue interior design in college, I wanted to design everything.  You can't think "too big" in terms of Disney.  Everything is larger than life and it's amazing.  My least favorite part of my design classes were always when there were parameters.  I suppose that even Disney has limits, but it's that sky high mentality that has always drawn me.  (My creative side doesn't like rules or boundaries.)

Image Source: Pinterest (Link to pin here.)

I've had a lot of time to figure out what I want to do career wise this year.  No matter what I do, I can't seem to narrow it down to one thing.  I want to do travel planning, interior design, landscape design, graphic design, jewelry making, crafting, painting, wedding planning, and so much more.  And why should I have to narrow it down?  I look at all of the incredible things that Disney (both Walt and as a company) has created over the years and it gives me a new determination to follow all of my dreams.

Happy Birthday Walt.  
Thank you for wishing on stars, dreaming big and never giving up!  °o°