Lazy Days of Summer

Check it out! This cool website, Yearbook Yourself, takes your photo and takes you back in time.

I can't believe it's been a week since I've posted. I haven't been out of town or busy. The complete opposite, actually. I went to the foot doctor and I don't have to wear that godawful cast anymore but still have to wear a brace for a month. I can walk about 20-30 minutes at a time, about a mile or so. But...um...remember that 5k I mentioned several weeks ago? It's this weekend. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do it, but I'm still going to cheer on Danielle's sister, who I was suppose to do it with. Anyhoo, I'm a lot more mobile than the week before, but still a tiny bit gimpy.
_

Madretz, you just finished your first race. What are you going to do now?

"I'm going to...
Disneyland???"

hahahaha!

Whooo Hooo!!! Here I am, post race, with my supportive coach doing a celebration pose on the Mickey head icon.

I DID IT!!!

It was hard, I wish I was conditioned better, but it was so awesome running through Disneyland and having all the characters cheering us on.

What? I have a bib number on my t-shirt?? Are you serious?? ME??? Never in my lifetime would I have imagined this sight. And how cool is this...the 5k theme was Pirates of the Caribbean. Yes, that's Captain Jack Sparrow running my my chest. Phin took this photo of me at 5:48am, right before we walked over to the starting line.

2,999 other runners waiting for the race to begin.

Mickey, Minnie and their pirate pal cheered us on as we approached the starting line.
Whoo hoo! Crossing the starting line, just 3.1 more miles to go.

Running down Main Street. Actually, walking quickly down Main Street. As you can see, there are a lot of people. It was easier (and a good excuse) to walk with them rather than navigate around them. The good thing about walking was that you could take a tiny bit more time to take in the experience. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We ran through Adventureland and guess who was cheering us on??
Captain Jack Sparrow himself!! Verry close, but not quite Johnny Depp. Sheesh, I certainly would have passed out if it were. Talk about being breathless.

Running through the castle!! Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother's all cheering us on.

Running through California Adventures. These wide open spaces is where a lot of the runners left me in the dust. We ran our last mile in DCA and Phin and I crossed the finish line...eh...approximately 45 minutes after we crossed the starting line. In all of the pre-race literature, they specifically said that to receive a medal you had to complete the race with a 15 minute per mile pace and that all runners who didn't finish within that time would be picked up and brought to the finish line but I don't think they did because there were still a few hundred runners behind me.

The coveted Disneyland 5k Fun Run Medal and commemorative Pirates of the Caribbean t-shirt! These, along with my memories and the photos Phin took during the race are cherished.

Disney 5k

One week from today I'll be participating in my first race ever. It's only 5k, but I'm starting to get a little anxious. I've been training since the end of March so I know I won't pass out or anything, but I'm really not in the condition I wish I were in. I know I'm doing a lot of last minute "gee I should have's" and imagining a lot of "what if" scenarios. I won't be able to jog the whole thing, that was never my goal. I'll jog/walk ("wog", a word Phin's friend made up).
Here's the layout of the course: It'll be so awesome jogging thru Disneyland and California Adventures. When I look at the course map, it doesn't look that long, considering how much you walk around at Disneyland. I can't wait to run through the castle, that'll be one of the highlights. Finishing will be the other. :)

Phin sent this to me several months ago. Obviously I'm the downtrodden chunky bear and she's the encouraging sleek tiger. It's totally me and her and I LOVE IT! She usually wogged with me once a week or more. Every week I tried to go out 2-3 times and ddr* once. Tried is the operative word - I'm really good at making excuses especially when I wasn't home (which was a lot this summer), but I'm also pretty good at personal guilt being used as a motivator.

This is the trail I wogged on 90% of the time. It's a 1/2 mile from my house so it was very convenient not having to drive anywhere. My typical roundtrip wog is just under 3 miles. This week and next week, I'm doing between 3.1 to 3.3 miles and trying to do something every day till race day.

When I went out this week, I was slow. That's my biggest concern. I'm counting on adrenaline and having all the other runners there to help motivate me to keep a better pace. Plus Phin's doing the race with me so it'll be great having her encouragement throughout.

It's Disney's Inaugral year for this event, which is headlined by a half marathon that Phin and her girlfriend are doing on Sunday the 17th. In the end, I'll be so glad that I did it. Plus I'll get a cool t-shirt and a Disney medal! :)

*ddr explained in comments