Nails & Costumes

My friend Kristin was tweeting awhile back about her new nail "polish", the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects stuff.  I had seen it in the store but was wary to try it.  After hearing her review, I decided to buy some and give it a whirl.  The packs have extra pieces in case of mishaps and include all the tools you'll need (other than nailpolish remover).  They are a bit more labor intensive than applying liquid nail polish, but I think the payoff is well worth it!  This was the first color I tried:

Graffiti look

Forgive the dinosaur phone, I found it at my office and was thinking that in 100 years, people will laugh that we used those things, right?! Anyways, the photo shows the nails, they were kind of a graffiti style, I really liked that color.  So, after testing it out, they definitely stayed on a LOT longer than normal nail polish.  I got quite a few compliments (which never really happens with regular polish) and I knew there were a lot more colors to choose from!  So, I went back to the store and bought 3 more colors!  I was most excited to try out the sparkly colors!  The next one I tried out was Frock Star, seen here:

Sparkly finger & toenails!

I decided to cut the strips into 2 pieces, one bit longer, enough for my fingernails, and the shorter end for my toenails.  However, this particular color was a bit of a pro/con scenario.  What I mean is, I put these on August 19th.

• Point 1: The strips are very thick.  That's good for toenails, but not for fingernails.
• Pro: They are just now (Sept 26th) beginning to come off of my toenails (after running at least 45+ miles with it on!)
• Con: They proceeded to start peeling off my fingernails within a couple of days.
• Point 2: The glitter on that particular color, while pretty & eye catching, is very big and once it started peeling off, would get snagged in my hair or on soft fabrics.
• Conclusion: for heavily large-pieced glittered colors, be prepared for them to peel from fingernails more quickly. But they still look amazing on!  I got a lot of compliments on this color as well!

Next, I tried this color:

Bling it On!

I wanted to wear it at Disneyland for the Half Marathon since it matched with my Cheshire Cat costume.  This color stayed on for about a week (even through making sandbags for Hurricane Isaac!) and the smaller glitter pieces didn't get snagged on anything.  I still had the Frock Star on my toes when I applied this color, so I'm not sure how it would fare as a toenail polish, but I'll report after I find out :)

Overall, I'm really happy with the product.  My least favorite thing: removal.  I cannot use enough nail polish remover to make a dent on the stuff!  I end up just scraping it off.  It's probably not best to do that, but it works better and faster than the remover does!  I have 2 more colors, a matte oxblood color and a black color that I'm excited to try soon for fall!  Actually,  I think I'll use the black this weekend for...

My Tower of Terror 10 mile race costume!!!

Yep, I finally decided what I want to be! Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog!  I LOVE that movie and since we go to New Orleans so often since we're so close, it seems like a perfect fit, villain-wise! (Disclaimer: don't think that I do voo-doo or anything!  Haha!  Never have, never will, promise!)

Saturday we stopped at Party City and I found what they had listed as a "Vampire Hat" priced at 9.99 (somehow, it ended up being only .50!!) and some wall hangings that included a skull & cross bones for 2.99.  Then, we went to Wal-Mart and I bought 1/8 yard of purple fabric, 1/4 yard of red fabric, black duct-tape and some feathers (total $7).  Here's my haul:

That afternoon, I went home and put it all together like this:

1. with some glitter that I already had, I recovered the black glittered skull & crossbones for the hat with silver glitter with modpodge and then clear coated it with more modpodge to try to keep from the dreaded glitter fall-off (I hate when it gets everywhere!)
2. I attached the newly glittered skull to my hat with a safety pin
3. I attached 2 of the purple feathers to the side of the hat with another safety pin
4. using my plain black short-sleeved tech shirt, I cut the purple fabric to length and a v to match the neck of my shirt.  Then, I used the black duct tape to attach the purple fabric onto the black shirt, to mimic his "black jacket"
5. Using more black duct tape, I made "lapels" for the shirt/jacket!
6. I am simply going to tie the red fabric around my waist (you'll see below)
7. Lastly, I'm going to try to make spats with old socks and more black duct tape, but I don't want to damage my beloved Brooks Pure Connects :) We'll see how that works out!

Then, using the same hat and red sash, I translated the costume into a non-runner friendly Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party costume!

Here's the hat closeup:

And here are the 2 costumes, side by side!

Dr. Facilier MNSSHP costume and Dr. Facilier running costume!!

Overall, $10 for 2 costumes is pretty sweet!! I'm so excited for the race and I'm REALLY hoping he'll be on the course and out at the party too so I can get a photograph with him!!  Is anyone else dressing up for a race/Halloween?  I'd love to hear about your homemade costumes!

Disneyland Half Expo and Race recap

Sorry, this didn't get to you yesterday, Monday was well, a Monday.

On with the show!  I forgot to say that at the meetup, we were given our shirts (which were HUGE! I wore it for the first time yesterday and it was WAY too big, who'd have known I would need a SMALL?!) and bibs ahead of time but were urged to visit the expo anyways.  I knew I'd still need to go to the expo to get hubby's bib and get some official merchandise.  So, we went to the expo Friday afternoon and picked up his stuff and then I picked up a Coast to Coast shirt, a "I'm only Half Crazy" Disneyland Half long sleeved shirt and a race pin since I hadn't been able to get one since I was late registering.

Then, I walked over to the runDisney booth and finally got to see this bad boy in person and in action! Here is some video of the 20th Mickey Medal I took!  Can't believe I'm willing to run 26.2 miles to get it, but I totally am!

Coast to Coast wristband, shirt, Expo carpet and Tower of Terror medal

I walked around the expo for quite a while, looking at the booths, getting my free Lasting Commemoratives poster, trying stuff out, it was a good expo.  We ended up going back Saturday after talking to Katie & her husband at lunch and hearing good reviews on the Yurbuds.  Jason & I both ended up getting a pair, his blue, and mine, unbeknownst to me until we got back to the room IRONMAN branded.  What the heck?  I guess I'll have to add IronMan events to my list of athletic to-do's so I don't seem like an impostor! (Oh my word did I even just say that?!)

Anyways, at that point, we were all set for the race!

Sunday morning, we woke up and hit the road to walk over to the Disneyland Hotel to queue up for the start.  It was early and there was a tiny nip in the air but not enough to make me excited.  We waited in the staging area for awhile for my friend Susan but she was running behind, so we got a quick picture snapped:

Sorry for the crummy quality

and then we walked over to the corrals.  I was hoping for cooler conditions but oh well.  We waited and waited and finally heard the first corral, then the others begin to go.  On the long walk to the starting line, we ended up seeing Katie and her husband again!  What are the odds?! Random but fun!

So finally, we got to the starting line, I started MapMyRun and we were off!  We passed our hotel before mile 1 and shortly after I tossed the tutu.  Note to self, if running in a tutu, make it short!  Mine was too long and kept going between my legs.  So, stripped of the tutu, I was more free to run and we rounded into the backstage area behind California adventure and that's where I took these photos:

Incredibles float backstage

Ham Float backstage

Coming out of the backstage area into Paradise Pier

Then we rounded our way into Paradise Pier, the first part of the race on Disney parks proper!

Paradise Pier

World of Color

In the shot above, you can see World of Color going.  I don't think I even caught that, EatSleepRunDisney told me about it later at the TouringPlans meetup and after looking at these photos I realized she was right! Then, we ran through CarsLand!

Carsland/Route 66!

Right at this point, Jason needed to take a potty break so we ran into the bathrooms behind Sarge's Supply.  He didn't see me follow him so there was a little freakout when we couldn't find each other, but all was well within a few seconds.  (I realize now that if 1-I hadn't taken some of these pictures and 2-we hadn't stopped for this potty break, I would've PRed, but oh well, it was fun and I'm glad to have these shots!)

Blurry photo, but Red was out, I like him :)

Hollywood Studios Area

As far as running goes, I was already feeling hot and gross.  It was really fun to be running in the parks and with Jason though, so we just kept on running!  We were running 1 minute:walking 30 seconds I think?  It's been too far back now for me to be sure!

My favorite ride!!! Wish it had been open!

I don't watch this show, but I know a lot of people like it, so here ya go!

After this point, I can't remember exactly which route we took to get into Disneyland, but somehow, we got over there and we ran through the backstage area which had all of the Mainstreet Vehicles lined up!

It's partly blocked, but they had all of the Main Street Vehicles out!

Then, we rounded our way onto Main Street USA!  In the picture below, you can see the Princess & The Frog Riverboat Float (LOVE that movie!!)

Main Street USA

I see the Castle!!!

At this point, we were right by the riverboat and we snapped this shot

Mile 3!

We kept on through the Frontierland area and then rounded our way into Fantasyland.

See the Pirates riding the Carousel?! Love that!!

The castle corridor was so small & congested, we had to WALK through it. Boo.

Manny The Monorail is saying hi!

Merida!!

Daisy & I'm not sure the name of the female chipmunk?

After this, we left Toontown and went backstage.  That was it for the parks, it covered more ground than the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom portion, but it still felt short (running through Disney parks always do) I wish they could get every square inch of a half into the parks, how awesome would that be?  I mean it's totally  not feasible, but... That's the advantage of a Walt Disney World race, more property means more Disney themed entertainment throughout the course.  But we weren't off property yet.  They had the horses out!

My sister rides horses so I thought of her when I saw this :) Love ya Katie!

After this, we left Disneyland Property and began running the streets of Anaheim!  My biggest gripe: we ran INTO the sun a majority of the way.  It was pretty blinding.  I wish they had designed the course backwards, with the sun at our backs, but I trust there was some unknown reason for the way it was designed, but it gave me slight raccoon eye sunburn.

I love this shot. So much.

The above shot shows the intensity of the early morning sun.  It made for a great shot, but not great running conditions!  But, we soldiered on!

Runners behind me (I wasn't last yay!)

Entertainment along the course!

I loved this sign along the course!

We just kept running and walking, and running and walking, for what felt like miles!  Oh wait, it WAS!  It was sunny, it was hot, but we were getting closer and closer little by little!  My least favorite part of the route was the path along the "river" (it was a drainage ditch ok Californians?!) that was dirt.  It was dry and dusty and I got gravel in my shoes, which isn't so fun when you have to run a few more miles.  But, we got to the stadium and there were Boy and Girl Scouts lining the path cheering us on! They were so cute!

Angel Stadium! You can see the Boy Scouts along the side!

Then, we went down through the tunnel and out onto the field!!! I'm pretty sure it was my favorite part of the whole race, even more-so than running through the Disneyland Parks.  Rounding that corner, hearing the cheers, it was magical and I shed one tear.  Just one.  I had too much salt on my face from sweating, I didn't need anymore!!

High Fives from the Girl Scouts!

The crowd cheering us on at Angel Stadium

Jason & I-take 1

I took 2 pictures of us here, one with the home plate in the background, and one with the marquee with the Disneyland Half Logo on it:

Disneyland Half Logo on the Marquee

Jason & I-take 2 :)

and with that, Jason was tired of me taking pictures and I just wanted to focus on finishing.  Also, by this point, it was the farthest Jason had ever run!  We only trained up to about 8.5 miles before the race and so the last few miles wasn't as smooth-sailing as it could have been if we had trained farther, distance-wise.  We passed quite a few more cheerleaders, a dude with a cowbell, and a school band or two.   When we got to mile 12 we were on Disney property again, running through the backstage area, I told Jason I might need to walk more than run.  But, I didn't really end up doing that.  I knew it was his first race and I had held him up with picture taking and so I pushed myself to just keep going.  Jason even said later that he was proud of me for keeping on running even after I said I wanted to slow down :)

As we neared the Disneyland Hotel, I could hear the announcers at the finish line and the spectators cheering the runners on and we just kept running and running until finally, Jason and I crossed that finish line together, hand-in-hand.  Yay!!!  Jason got his first ever medal and his first PR 3:00:59, haha (he can totally run faster than me, but he was a gentleman and ran with me)!  Then I got my medal and went and picked up my Coast to Coast medal too!  I love that medal!  It's so pretty!!

I can't remember if I cried at the finish line, but I know I did for a bit while we were standing in line to get our picture taken.  Just knowing that I had major abdominal surgery 12.5 weeks earlier, only having 6 weeks to train for a half marathon, and getting to run it with my husband, it was a great experience.  Here's my post-race pic with all 3 medals:  The WDW Donald Half and the DL Half which earned me the third, Coast to Coast race challenge medal!

I finished!

So, there you have it, another race in the books!  Plus, this weekend, we're racing AGAIN!  We're headed back to Walt Disney World to run the Tower of Terror 10 mile race!  I can't wait to see my friends and get a new medal.  I hope you enjoyed all the pictures and hopefully next week I can recap that race and not wait 3 weeks like this one!

Disneyland Half Marathon Meetup and Recap

August 31st was the Disneyland Half Marathon Meetup put on by Disney that I was lucky enough to get chosen for, and Sept 2nd was the Disneyland Half Marathon.  Let's start with a recap of the Meetup, then Monday I'll cover a bit of the expo and the the Disneyland Half!  I know a lot of other bloggers have already covered this, I just wanted to share my experience and photos too!

So, if you aren't already aware, Disney has been offering meetups sporadically for the last year or so and they've had them before some of the recent races.  You have to to sign up as soon as it opens, so after hitting refresh for 10 minutes, I got my email in, and later that afternoon, I got an invitation!  (Let me just say, looking back, I REALLY freaked out about that invitation. Like a lot. Screaming in the car and dancing. That's how I roll.)

After getting up very early to meet my friend Susan who was also chosen, we walked over to the meetup spot at Disneyland Hotel.  We were given runDisney shirts (which I love, it's so comfy!) and then herded up to have a welcome then begin the run!

Image courtesy of Disney©

We started under the Disneyland Hotel hat and proceeded through Downtown Disney into the promenade.  Then, we rounded the corner onto main street!

Image courtesy of Disney©

Now mind you, we had gotten in at midnight the night before, gone straight to bed, and then I woke up at 4 so this was my first glimpse of the park, much less the castle!  It was so neat, although we didn't get to spend any time handing around, we were running after all!

We ran this route .  Susan and I stopped for a second to get a picture by the castle :)

Next, we ran through California adventure and I grabbed a few Paradise Pier sunrise shots:

Then, we rounded the corner through Pacific Wharf and saw this GLORIOUS sight:

I won't lie, rounding the corner into Carsland for the first time before the park was even open with my friend Susan by my side, that was so special.  It was such a pretty sight, and so true to the movie, it was a magical moment for sure.  We kept running and then reached the end of the route near the Animation academy and then proceeded into the Animation auditorium to listen to runDisney employees along with Jeff Galloway, the authors of Another Mother Runner and Suzy Favor Hamilton speak.

Favorite things I heard:

• They're working on more races!
• Races will always be on-property
• runDisney vision "Make everyone believe they can run & make it magical!"
• There's a "possibility" of a Paris or Tokyo run in the future
• Best question to runDisney "Are you hiring?!" ;)
• More women than men enrolled at the WDW Marathon for the first time ever!

I tweeted a lot during the session, as evidenced by multiple photos of me doing this: (double chin for the win!)

Image courtesy of Disney©

Then, Mickey came out and we got to take pictures with him!  

Me & olympic runner Suzy Favor Hamilton

Susan & I with the big cheese

Jindy & I with the big cheese

Image courtesy of Disney©

Next, it was over to Flo's for Breakfast, then a special ride on Soarin' with a behind the scenes look at the screen!  Breakfast was great, and Susan and I sat with the photographer while he ate and got to talk shop, that was fun too! He was a really nice guy and he took some great shots too, as evidenced  by the ones I included here :)

Image courtesy of Disney©

After breakfast, we walked over to Soarin' and we got to go behind and under the screen where we learned a few cools facts:

• The smellitizers are on the ride vehicles themselves
• There are 3 scents: Orange, Pine and Sea
• The oranges are CGI inserted, the fields are actually filled with avocado trees!
• The screen is made of aluminum and they found shards and remnants of a cell phone that met and untimely demise after falling onto it!

Overall, it was really fun.  I hope I can do it again sometime!  Final shot: Susan & I getting some nice one on one chat time with Jeff Galloway.  He was really so nice and I'm glad I got the chance to meet him and tell him that he helped me start running!

Image courtesy of Disney©