3:23:25

And the moment you've all been waiting for... I ran the half marathon today!!!

They had World of Color going while we ran!

Okay, perhaps "run " is putting it a bit strongly. I walked with Kristy for the first 11 miles - she was quite the trooper and I'm very proud - and then I ran the last 2.1. What I learned in the experience, first and foremost, is that that's the best way to feel like an awesome runner. Cuz I spent 3 hours at the back of the line and then spent 20 minutes passing like 3,000 people. And that's not much of an exaggeration - Kristy got 13125th place and I got 10367th place, which means that when I left her and started running, I did indeed pass approximately 3,000 people.

Soooo many people!

In any case, we should probably go back to the beginning and start from there. This morning, Kristy and I woke up around 3:30 am. This was lovely because we couldn't fall asleep last night until about midnight. So yes, we slept for about 3 1/2 hours the night before doing this craziness to our bodies...


We got dressed, packed up, and made sure we cleaned up and left my grandparents' house as clean as when we arrived. Grams even said we left "no fingerprint," so I call that a success. We drove down Katella and hit maybe 3 red lights in our whole 20-minute drive. If you don't like traffic, I highly recommend driving at 4 am.

Ready & waiting...

Once we finally arrived and parked and walked to the starting area (where we saw a huge contingent of ladies from that society where they wear red hats and purple clothes waiting to cheer everybody on), we waited almost 45 minutes to start. We were in the last starting corral for whatever reason so there was a lot of waiting involved.

We eventually made it to the starting line and got to the gettin'. The route took us around the outside of the parks, through California Adventure and then Disneyland, and then around some random parts of Anaheim before ending back in the parking lot near where we started. We both finished - and we weren't even last! - so we're deeming it a success.

One thing that surprised me this time was the number of bathroom breaks I ended up needing to take. I hardly drank any water before we left this morning and I only took water at the water stops, so I can't imagine I was that over-hydrated, but I went before we got to the starting corral, 3 times during the race, and probably 3 times during Frozen (we decided we would reward ourselves with a 2-hr movie break before heading home from Disney). It was craziness. I still don't quite get it, but whatevs.

So colorful and lovely =)

I also wasn't expecting there to be bands and cheerleaders along the route playing music and cheering for all of us as we went by. It was really helpful and motivating, especially at the end. The Disney employees (while we were in the parks at least) were also really great. We kept thinking it'd be fun to stop and take pictures with characters like other people were, but also we couldn't afford to sacrifice any time. My favorite, though, were the custodial workers -- when we went around the back of Disneyland, we turned a corner and there was a big sign saying "Welcome from the Custodial Staff!" and a group of 10 or 15 guys taking time out of their mornings to cheer us on. I just thought it was so awesome of them, especially since they weren't there working the race like so many of the other employees.

We did it!!!!!

The other thing that was kinda fun during the race were all the signs. The two best we saw were "Run like it's the start of the Hunger Games" and "Worst Parade Ever." It's really great that so many people come to support, especially people they don't know. All the people really help keep you motivated as you're running, as does the fact that there are just so many people running, and in our case also running slow (or walking). The first half I did, back in South Bend, I was going a lot faster than I was today - I think I ended up somewhere between 2:30 and 2:45 - but I was pretty alone most of the time. Minus the friends who ran with me, of course, but there weren't many others around to keep me pumped about finishing and make me feel like I wasn't just lame compared to everyone else. That's something I really liked about this race.

So anyway, we did it. On 3 hours of sleep. And now we have really heavy medals that have Tinkerbell on them. And neither of us has work tomorrow lol. Life is good =)

Seriously, so heavy. We we sitting down eating after and kept leaning further & further forward from the weight.

Half Marathon Eve

It has arrived. The Tinkerbell Half Marathon is tomorrow. Are we ready? Probably not, but we're doin' it anyway.

Not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping for a bright green shirt (I mean, c'mon -- it's named after Tinkerbell, who always wears bright green), but this isn't too bad. And it's better, I think, than the pale purple 10k shirt, so I'll take it.

Our friends who ran the 10k this morning have already decided they're doing the Disneyland Half Marathon in August. I'm torn. Part of me wants to because over the summer I'd actually have time to train -- no school and all -- but of course, as you may remember, I really dislike running in the heat so part of me obviously doesn't want to. Registration doesn't open until next weekend, though, so I have a little time to decide. If I'm gonna sign up for another one, though, especially an expensive Disney one, it's going to have to be one I take seriously. I'm not gonna sign up for another half unless I actually train for it for real and try to do well. I don't know my exact time for the Holy Half a few years ago, but I think I'd want to aim for a 10:30/11 minute pace. Which would probably be fast for me. But if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right.

You might be wondering why I'm talking about the Disneyland half as if it would be my next half marathon. Aren't I signed up for a half marathon in May? ... I have a confession. With as much trouble as I had with this training (various injuries, sickness, being tired from work, not having a buddy to keep me motivated), I was feeling extremely overwhelmed about trying to train for another one right away. And I was mentioning this to co-worker of mine who was talking about how she wanted to run a half, so I offered her my spot and she was really excited to take it. So that's that. I feel a little lame about it, but also I think having it hanging over my head for the rest of the semester and me feeling tired all the time from running or lame all the time from not running would've been worse... Don't hate me...

In other news, though, I finally bought The Stick. My goal is to use it on a daily basis, even if I don't run, and get my muscles all nice and loose and relaxed. I really have no excuses cuz I can totally do it while I watch TV or something. In the shorter term, I'm hoping it'll help me be able to walk tomorrow and Monday lol.

Anywho, I'm off to eat dinner and lazy around and try to get some sleep before we wake up to leave for the race at 4 am. I'll have more for you tomorrow =)

Thanksgiving

Okay, I may be a few months late for this, but I decided that today's post would be about things I'm grateful for.

Last time I ran was 2 weeks and 2 days ago. I haven't run since then because I had a really terrible cold - worse than I ever imagined a cold could be. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say I definitely couldn't do any running. So anyway, to start the giving thanks, I was thankful during my time of sickness for the friends who took care of me and the fact that now I have a much better understanding of how debilitating non-stomach sickness can be. I'm also grateful I have sick days I can use at work, and for that matter that I have a job at all, and one that allowed me to go visit my friends in the first place.

So today, I finally felt good enough to go running - another thing to add to the grateful list. It was much hotter today than I would like, particularly in winter, but that leaves me grateful I don't have to deal with some of the more annoying parts of cold winters, like scraping my car or getting salt all over everything or shedding 20 layers every time I go inside. And it was hot mostly because of the Santa Anas, but that also means it was very clear and very pretty - and that I'm grateful for.

I'm also grateful that the run wasn't too bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. I ended up running about halfway and walking the back stretch, then even running most of the rest of the way (I stopped a teensy bit early out of respect for not having run for 2 weeks and being sick). So 3 miles in 36 minutes or so. Including 5 minutes of walking. Not bad.

I also had a conversation with a random guy who asked how long the loop was and was in a very good mood about the weather, which made me feel a little better about running. So I'm grateful for being able to talk to people and for joy in the world, and for the little bit of cold I got on the second half - gotta love cold air that's been sitting in the shade for a few hours. Refreshing.

And then, of course, there's the fact that I can run. That I have a friend to run (or probably more accurately, walk) with this weekend. That I have a car to get to Disneyland this weekend. That I have grandparents to let me stay at their house since it's closer to Disneyland than mine. 

I'm pretty sure Sunday is going to be a world of pain, but at least I can say I did it, right?