Re-Cap Attempts and Well Wishes

Raise your hand if your intentions and follow-through don't always see eye-to-eye. Insert vigorous hand waving here! When Veronica and I started writing this blog, we had every posting at least 2-3 times a week, if not more. Leading up to Princess Half Marathon Weekend, we did. Then - a culmination of months of waiting, registering, freaking out, costume making and training collided into an amazing Disney-filled weekend that left us with an overwhelming sense of bittersweet-ness (I know that's not a word, but I don't know how else to explain it!) Long story/apology short - it's taken us much longer than planned to re-cap our RunDisney experience.  There have been attempts to start, I swear!

The proof is in the pudding or draft posts and you can see below:

Last weekend, my Facebook and Instagram timelines were flooded with photographs and statuses from Disneyland's Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend.  Fairies, princesses and other Disney characters running in the Tinkerbell 5K, 10K and half-marathon were EVERYWHERE. I loved it! My younger sister LOVES Tinkerbell and we've talked several times about doing this race.  While I'm not a die-hard pixie fan, I love Tink's spirit and even her newly discovered sister, Periwinkle. We donned homemade tutus and ran as Periwinkle and Tink in a winter 5K this past December.

Maryland Princesses for the Half

I don't know if or when I will run the Tinkerbell Half Weekend - I love the costumes and magic, but also think Star Wars Weekend might be up my alley more so...either way, all the posts left me reminiscing over Princess Half Marathon weekend.  Three months have passed and I still have not written about the races themselves and I'm SO overdue - I apologize.  I also haven't posted in over a month, so I apologize for that as well. Life at home had become a bit over-scheduled and I am working to get reorganized and writing again.

Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend - tens of thousands of runners racing throughout the parks. Tens of thousands of runners who need to pick up their packets. How does Disney do it?! Having only attended one Expo myself (all other races were small enough for same-day pick-up or a friend picked up my packet), I had a fraction of an idea of what to expect.

oh to be Dory again...

Tinkerbell Half Marathon has come and gone and now its mid-July and a day before open registration begins for Disney Princess. I can't go next year for a million reasons and yet there's a TEENY TINY part of me that is already planning costumes (Pinterest = not helping) and wishing I had the bank roll to do it. BUT - I don't. I won't. Instead, come registration hour tomorrow, I'll be thinking of all my fellow Disney Princesses and wishing them luck! In some ways, just getting through the registration process is an event in of itself. So - while I won't be running in Florida next winter, I will instead look ahead to when I will plant my feet on the West Coast and experience Disneyland among fairies or storm troopers.

Our Maryland Mickey Ears will run again!

What about you? Are you running Disney Princess in 2016 or another RunDisney event?

Pinterest Love + Running Costumes: Part One

Pinterest is a dangerous vice of mine.  It's how I hoard...online.  I have over 5,000 pins in numerous categories: school, home, running, crafting, you name it.  "Hi, my name is Laura and I'm a Pin-aholic."  I can't help it.  Pinterest is a mecca of ideas and downright time-consuming.  As we speak, I'm pinning. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Wait - that's from something else. But seriously, with the right idea and follow-through, you can come out with some great stuff.

But - I digress. The reason for my gushing over Pinterest is this: it is an AH-mazing resource for costumes. Not just Halloween, mind you - running costumes as well!  Search for any possible costume or character and add the word 'running' and BAM!  Type in 'Princess Half Marathon running costume' and be prepared to lose several hours of your life. Well worth it, I promise.  At least, I thought so.

In the planning of our Dory and Maryland Princess costumes, one common accessory made its presence known - sparkle skirts.  Sparkle skirts are just that - sparkly skirts.  I first stumbled across them via a cute photo of Kelly from Sparkle Athletic/According to Kelly donning several colors as various Disney characters and I grew curious. Then - I wondered some more and decided to Google Sparkle Athletic. Lo and behold, I discovered an overabundance of sparkly skirts and other accessories.  Beautiful sparkly sparkles in an assortment of colors, fit for a princess or cute fish.  I wanted to own them all..but I was not fully prepared to pay the $25 they cost. Which is a fairy reasonable price but given the amount of cash we were already forking over to do the Glass Slipper Challenge, stay at a Disney Resort, flights, etc... I wanted to find ways to be frugal when possible.

Armed with an idea and Pinterest, I sought out Do-It-Yourself tutorials and enlisted the help of my mother and her faithful Kenmore sewing machine.  The tutorial we used was from a blogger/runner at Beauty Still Remains - great explanations and pictures. First step, a trip to our local JoAnn Fabrics with a list for thread, elastic and confetti dot fabric.  We soon discovered that the online inventory is sadly not always accurate and our dreams of sewing that afternoon were quickly put on hold and instead, we ordered the royal blue fabric that would be Dory online.  We waited. We waited. Finally - a mere two weeks later, we were rewarded for our patience and yards in hand, we began to analyze the tutorial I found and we sewed.

the sewing begins!

the confetti dot fabric being cut into strips

Well, my mom sewed and I played assistant, bringing her drinks and pinning when instructed, and so on.  From start to finish, the first skirt took us an hour and a half.  We didn't want to waste any fabric or make any mistakes and often re-read the directions to be on the safe side.  Several skirts later, my mom can now whip these out within a half-hour.

attaching the elastic band to the skirt

I cannot thank my mom enough for sewing our sparkle skirts and honestly, several more. Since the first skirt, we've collaborated to create several more in various colors. She made several for a local 5K for herself and some of her friends, which has led me to create a wish list for more colors of my own.  For the Enchanted 10K, Veronica and I donned black shorts or capris under our sparkle skirts and a matching ensemble of blue wigs, yellow fins fashioned from tulle and elastic and a beautiful tech-shirt custom-embroidered (but more on that later).  Our completed Dory costumes were quite original and stood apart from the hundreds of tutus and princess costumes that day.  If I recall, we only encountered one other Dory during the race in a sea of 10,000 runners.

our homemade sparkle skirts a la Dory! 

I have worn my skirt again for other local races and even on some random training runs because hey, who doesn't love a little sparkle?  Keep an eye out for another costuming re-cap involving the custom Mickey ears I created that were inspired by the Maryland flag!

What's a Princess to Wear?!

Picking out an outfit in the morning is hard enough. Partly because there's a small child usually asleep in my bed and I'm trying to get dressed without waking them up AND be sure my outfit is somewhat coordinated while still using the least amount possible. Getting dressed by flashlight AND you're not camping? Mini-adventure! Now...getting dressed for a race - somewhat easier. I typically go by the day's weather and try to somewhat coordinate my outfit but mostly go by comfort. Deciding you're not just getting dressed for a race but going in costume??? That presents a whole new series of challenges. Not to mention where there are TWO races and you want need costumes for both.

Prior to registering for the Glass Slipper Challenge, I had never wanted to nor felt comfortable wearing a costume during a race. Not to say I haven't seen my fair share of costumed runners: a turkey and pilgrim, the Super Mario Brothers and a personal favorite: Buddy the Elf, to name a few. In my "research" leading up to the event, I came across several blogs and Pinterest pins of costumes for various RunDisney races and knew I could NOT run Disney in my old capris and pull-over.  I had to dress up! But as who???  With so many characters and favorites to choose from, how could we narrow it down? I debated over Cinderella (my first princess), Vanellope Von Schweetz, Dory and countless others... I even looked at several of the Villians: Ursula, Cruella and Maleficent (who, coincidentally have teamed up on Once Upon a Time - but that's another story).  I didn't want to look like the thousands of other runners but also wanted a costume that was special to myself, my family and my running.

What Disney character could truly sum up all of this? What Disney character would I continually come back to in my Google searches and find inspiring without realizing it? Who did I often quote during the hardest moments of my long runs? That little voice that would tell me, "just keep running" in her most uplifting tune - "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." Face palm: Dory. She would be the inspiration for the Enchanted 10K.  A little fish with a big voice.  Not to mention one of preferred movies on rotation in our household. 

Our "Flat Dory" costumes side-by-side prepped the night before the 10K.

One costume down, one to go.  For the Princess Half Marathon, the question of what to wear may have begun as a difficult decision but was answered quickly.  Given that we would be running side by side and celebrating our journey as runners, we had been reflecting upon our experiences to date including our first costumed race, the Shape Diva Dash.  Veronica and I became friends during our freshman year of college at the University of Maryland, born and raised in the land of blue crabs and Old Bay.  For the Shape Diva Dash, we crafted tutus in red, yellow, black and white - the colors of our home state.  Since the Diva Dash, our tutus had been hanging in our closets begging to be worn again.  Over several text messages and I'm fairly certain, a conversation no longer than five minutes, we knew we'd be dusting our skirts off and creating our own princess ensemble.

Our "Flat Maryland Princess"

Ideas in hand, sketching and crafting was underway - we continued working on our costumes up until the very week of the races.  With the help of my mother and her sewing machine, a colleague/friend of Veronica's who does embroidery and some of our own handiwork, I think we managed to create costumes that were meaningful and truly unique.  

Post-Enchanted 10K - We just kept swimming!

Maryland Pride - Pre-Half Marathon (3:15 AM)

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes...

...and Disney makes possible.
We know it's been awhile since our last posting and we apologize - upon our return from Disney our schedules were disrupted by matters at home and at work. Thank you for being patient as we catch up and re-cap our experiences with the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend. We'll be looking back on our trip from beginning to end. For starters, how did we get here?! 

With all of our recent snow days, I'm wishing I lived where it was warmer.  Okay, confession: I wish I was back at Walt Disney World.  It's been almost two weeks since Veronica and I completed the Glass Slipper Challenge.  One moment, it was a frantic afternoon in mid-July trying to get through the registration process and the next, we're home again, medals in hand.  Princess Half Marathon weekend has come and gone, leaving me begging for more.  So much went into preparing for this event - physically, mentally and costume-y!

I often say, "who is this girl" and "I can't believe I did this," when reflecting back on my running journey.  It's true - comparing myself to my pre-running self, you would not have seen me running except in case of an emergency.  You would not have seen me consider forking over any amount of money to run (Who pays to do that?!), purchasing inordinate amounts of confetti dot fabric and glitter for running costumes, or simply scrolling though fellow blogs looking for exciting races to join.  But.. "Runner" Laura, does just that.

Shortly after completing our series of back-to-back 5K races and Veronica moving across the country, I was excited to tackle more, but didn't know where to begin.  I googled fellow runners' blogs, looked online and scoured Pinterest.  It was there that I stumbled across a pin for Disney Princess Half Marathon. What?! Disney does races?! This I had to see.  A slightly wasted lunch-hour later, I was hooked.  I knew I needed to get to Florida and run among fellow princesses.  I talked it over with Veronica and we set a goal - we would run in 2015.  She had her upcoming wedding in March plus moving to adjust to and there was also the nitty-gritty of training to be done.  We marked July 15th on our calendars for registration and we waited...

Well, sort of. The whole idea of running through Epcot and the Magic Kingdom overwhelmed me so much that I had to find out more. Following reviews and re-caps of fellow princess runners, I discovered the Glass Slipper Challenge: run the Enchanted 10K on Saturday and the Princess Half-Marathon on Sunday. Your reward? Not one, not two, but THREE shiny medals, including one emblazoned with a glass slipper.  As a girl who was nicknamed Cinderella at a young age (I protested about some chores), I HAD to have it. It took a little (barely any) convincing to get Veronica excited, and we decided we'd "go big or go home!"

Fast-forward to July 15th and we found ourselves counting down to registration opening at 12:00 noon (9:00 AM Pacific Time).  I was teaching summer school and had just sent my students home for the day.  Armed with our phones and the registration page loaded, we were ready.  Disney and Active, however, were not.  For anyone who is familiar with registering for a RunDisney race -- they sell out. FAST.  Right from the start, we encountered difficulty with the Active website and struggled to get through for over 45 minutes.  After several emails with RunDisney, who assured us they were working on the issue, I bit the bullet and hurried home to try registering from my own computer and hoping the glitch would be fixed.  By the time I arrived and logged in, the Glass Slipper Challenge was sold out and the Princess Half Marathon was 95% full.  Frustrated and beyond upset, we registered for the half marathon, feeling half-defeated.

However, we decided not to give up. Having already been in communication with RunDisney regarding the registration, we both followed up separately asking for any consideration to be allowed to complete the Glass Slipper Challenge.  As the day passed, we continued to hope and several hours later, an email response came through.  RunDisney apologized for the technical issues and our inability to register for the Glass Slipper Challenge as planned.  True to the magic that is Disney, they granted our wish: we were going to be able to participate in the Glass Slipper Challenge! Ecstatic beyond belief, I called Veronica and shared the good news.  In less than a year, we would be running together again surrounded by thousands of other princesses in the most magical place on Earth.

Now - costumes?!