Definitely cheating.

Of course, if you’re not going for an age group award, does it matter?  I personally think it does – it’s all about integrity.  You’re cheating yourself.  And in a way, you’re belittling the efforts of the people who did work their way through the entire race.

Cutting the course is actually policy at Rock ‘n’ Roll races – if a participant falls too far behind pace, the sag wagon picks them up, but rather than take them to the finish, they get dropped off further along the course so they can still finish and get their medal.

Their finisher’s medal.

Yeah, you can guess how I feel about that.

Disney has started doing something similar – if you get picked up by the sag wagon, you don’t get moved along the course, but you do still get a medal.  I’ve heard multiple stories about how this works – in some cases, the volunteers just tossed the still-wrapped medals at the swept runners and in other cases, there was a little medal ceremony telling the swept runners how they deserve the medal for all their hard work.

I don’t think so.

Don’t get me wrong – it hurts to not be able to finish a race.  Sometimes it’s undertraining, sometimes it’s injury or illness, sometimes it’s just a fluke.  I missed my first half marathon because I was too sick to run.  But did I deserve a medal because hey, I trained for the race and it wasn’t my fault?  Absolutely not.

Some runners say that they paid for the medal as part of their entry fee and thus they deserve the medal.  I disagree.  A few friends joke that you pay for the shirt – you earn the medal.  I could not take a medal that I didn’t earn by covering the full course.  I would never be able to look at it.

At the end of the day, it’s personal choice.  I would never take a medal I didn’t earn.  If another runner wants to, that’s their choice.  But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I have to admit, I was a little worried about this race.  Not about my training – in fact, I was excited to have a January race to force me to train during the holidays.  I was worried about the fact that it was an inaugural race.  I love runDisney.  I love Disney in general.  But I was nervous.  The inaugural Wine & Dine Half had a number of issues (that runDisney quickly corrected for the second year of the race – thank you runDisney!) and this past fall, the corrals for the Disneyland Half Marathon were a bit of a disaster.  A small issue to be sure, but if that’s what happens at an established race, what was going to happen at a new race?

Being a women’s race, they had plenty of merchandise, though the Dooney & Burke purses apparently flew off the shelves.  Not a concern to me – I didn’t want one.  But a bummer for others, I suppose.  Something else new they did for this race (and for Princess as well) is that they offered a commemorative necklace for purchase at the time of registration.  It was around $20, I believe, and I ordered one sight unseen because I figured I would rather waste $20 than later regret not spending the money.  The necklace is very simple – silver chain with two silver charms.  The circular charm is stamped with the logo of the race, and the other charm features Tink’s wings.  It’s pretty and I think the charms would be very pretty if put onto a running charm bracelet.

Now, onto the race itself.  This race was absolutely amazing from start to finish.  The corrals were incredibly well organized, with giant lighted letters at the back of the corrals and signs clearly pointing you where to go.  Definitely an improvement over the Disneyland Half.

I ran this race with Jenny, and we went with a 1:1 run/walk pattern because she’s still recovering from her AWESOME finish at the Walt Disney World Marathon a few weeks ago and because we were both a little tired from all the walking we did around the parks.  It’s a new pattern to me, and I think I liked it – it’s hard to say when dealing with legs that are already tired.

The announcers did a great job of keeping us entertained in the corrals, and they had a number of interviews, including the adorable Megyn Price and Sean Astin, who was talking about his #run3rd campaign – run first for yourself, second for your family, and third for someone important to you, someone struggling with something or who needs the extra thoughts.  It was very cool to see another celebrity runner out there to just have fun.

One notable figure missing from this event – Tinker Bell herself!  Of course, she was on the screen in animated form, but never seen elsewhere.  Kind of surprising, but I guess it would have been hard to have her featured.

I loved this race course.  It was so much better than the Disneyland Half.  We started out in Disneyland (you can’t beat running down Main Street towards the Castle), ran through Downtown Disney, spent some time on the streets of Anaheim, then back to California Adventure.  runDisney did a great job of having characters on the course in Disneyland (the Lost Boys on the Carousel were precious!) and the crowds in Downtown Disney were fabulous.  So many people cheering!  And then, I can’t not mention the Red Hat Society ladies.  Their group stretched for what felt like a quarter of a mile!  It was incredible!  Jenny and I were both in awe of how many of them were there.

I liked running through the streets of Anaheim.  There were people out on their front porches waving at the runners and probably wondering why there were so many cross-dressing men running through the streets.  It was much more fun than boring industrial Anaheim.

The finish area of the race was crowded, but not too terribly bad.  Clearly, everyone wanted finisher’s pics, which always holds up the line.

And the medal.  How can I forget the medal?  It’s absolutely gorgeous and Tink spins!  I found myself playing with it the rest of the day.  The only bad thing about Disney medals is the fact that they are SO HEAVY to wear the rest of the day.  I know, I know, first world problems.

I’m probably not going to be able to pull off running this race next year as they intend to move it to MLK weekend, making it back to back with Marathon weekend, which I would like to participate in next year.  But if you’re considering it, I highly recommend it.  It’s an awesome event.

The morning started early – we met near the Disneyland hotel at 6:15 (not bad for someone still on East Coast time).  We were all given runDisney shirts to wear and set off on a 2 mile run through Disneyland.  Running in Disneyland and California Adventure at that hour was amazing.  I ran with my friend Carrie from ROTE and my new blogger friend Mallory.  Mallory took some amazing photos – I don’t know how she was able to tweet and run as well as she did!  We were told to be ready to run at a 12:00 pace.  I’m more of a 12:50 kind of girl, but I thought I could handle it for 2 miles.  We were running a 40 second run/20 second walk pattern, and well, I just couldn’t keep up.  We weren’t too far behind, but my heartrate kept skyrocketing, so I had to slow up a bit.  Mallory and Carrie stuck with me though, and we had a lot of fun.  We finished the run and I was shocked to see that we actually stuck to around an 11:30 pace!

We then headed into the Art of Animation theater for a few presentations.  It was fantastic.

We listened to runDisney’s Bob Hitchcock talk about runDisney and social media.  Bob’s a great guy and he definitely organized an amazing event.

Then he introduced Robin Trowbridge, who discussed all of the entertainment and special touches that go into a Disney race, such as having Tinker Bell fly during the 5K and having characters out on the course.  Someone asked what happens when Snow White needs a break – does another Snow White come out?  We were all appalled.  Of course there is only one Snow White!

We also heard from Lori, the runDisney member of the Disney Mom’s Panel.  What a sweetheart.

Megyn Price was the “celebrity runner” for this race, and trained up for this as her first half. She got to wear Bib #1!  She was awesome to listen to.  She was so normal and down to earth and, like every new runner, was terrified that she wouldn’t finish her first race.  (Spoiler alert – she did!)   She talked about how she had never been an athlete and how she wanted to do this to show her daughter how strong women can be.  It was fun when the tables sort of turned and instead of asking questions, people started reassuring her that she would be just fine.

And of course, the man himself, Jeff Galloway.  This was a great Q&A session – plenty of time to ask questions, anything from how to figure out run/walk intervals to the best way to start.  And he has a great rule – one that I follow myself: No puking.  I know many people who throw up after a hard run.  No run is worth that to me.  Jeff had great tips about listening to your body and doing what’s right for you.

At the end of the event, Minnie came out in her cute running outfit and posed for pictures!

Then we were treated to a wonderful surprise – we were invited to tour the Disneyland Dream Suite!  The Dream Suite is in New Orleans Square, by Pirates of the Caribbean.  It’s in a space that was originally intended for the Disney family, but it wasn’t built until 2007.  The space is amazing and is based off of the original plans for the apartment.  There were many sweet touches to the space.  We weren’t allowed to take photos, but I found a great online walk-through here.

What an amazing event.  And this was only a small part of the weekend, as the next day was the main event – the Inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon!

Then we hit the Art of animation where we heard a bunch of speakers, including Jeff, many runDisney reps, and Megyn Price, who was just so genuine and lovely.

After that, we cheered on the kids races and got a tour of the Disney Dream Suite!  Such a cool day!  Thank you, runDisney!

I’ve decided that I really need to take charge of my weight this year. For many reasons, I’ve put on about 25 pounds in the last 5 years and that needs to change. I think it should help my running as well, which is always a positive thing.

The unfortunate thing is that my body’s going to get used to all these miles and I’m going to have to keep it up.

2012 is the year of the half marathon. So far, I’m registered for 8, plus one virtual. I’m also thinking 2013 is going to be the year of my first marathon… yikes!

I did not make my goal of 600 miles. I ran a little over 526 miles. Not bad, but I want to do better. Once again, I’m setting my goal for the year at 600 miles. 50 miles a month. I can do it if I stick to it.

I did run a lot of races this year.

5K – 1

8K – 1 (new PR, but only because it was my first 8K)

5 Mile – 1 (new PR, first 5 mile race)

10K – 2 (new PR – 1:18:45 at the Cold Turkey 10K. Had I known I was running so well, I would have actually pushed this race!)

10 Mile – 3

Half Marathon – 6 (new PR – 2:49:20 at the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon)

For those of you counting, that’s 14 races and 4 PRs (but really only 2).

I haven’t fully set my race schedule for 2012 yet, but I’m anticipating at least 8 half marathons, 2 ten milers, and a couple shorter races as well. Let’s see how my legs hold up!

For whatever reason, it doesn’t feel like the holiday season this year.  It’s my first year in my new house… and I’m not putting up the Christmas tree.  This is mostly due to time.  My goal was to be all settled into the house by Christmas.  I moved in March.  Most of my walls remain bare.  It’s something I’m working on, but it’s very slow going.  At least 95% of the boxes are unpacked.  Just a few little things left to deal with, mostly because I’m scared of my attic so I haven’t gone up there yet.  (Yes, I said it.)  So instead of wrestling with the Christmas tree and all the struggle that goes with it, I’m using what little free time I do have to finish getting the house in order.

I do have some decorations up though, and my office is going overboard with decorations, so it’s not as if I’m without the holiday spirit. Plus I don’t spend Christmas day at the house, so there’s no missing out there.

It still seems a bit strange to not have a tree though.

(Yes, I could just write the entry on my break and then post it later… but that seems to be too many steps for my brain.)

Still running.  Still in one piece.  Seem to have screwed up my wrist somehow, which is strange, since you’d think it would be my lower body taking all of the abuse.

Fall racing season has come to an end, with an amazing half marathon near the tail end. I’m pleased to be finishing the year with two new PRs – 10K and half marathon.  Of course, I still have never actually “raced” a 10K.  I tend to sort of lollygag my way through, chatting the whole way.  I wonder what my time would be like if I actually ran.

I’m approaching a challenging spring.  I’m registered for seven half marathons between January and May.  I don’t plan to all out race any of them – they’re all just for fun.  There were too many bonus bling opportunities.  I’m registered for a total of 8 races for next year, and expect to get three pieces of bonus bling (meaning an extra medal just for the race combinations):  Disney’s Coast to Coast (running Tinkerbell and Princess), Iron Girl Titanium (Frederick and the Iron Girl Half), and the Maryland Double (Frederick and Baltimore halfs).  Yes, that’s right, I’m really just in it for the bling.

Working backwards:

This past Saturday (October 15) was the Baltimore Relay.  This was my second of four races in four weeks, and my 4th of 6 in 2 months.  Yes, I’ve gotten a little crazy.

I was on a team with great friends – Jen, Katie, and Kim.  We ran in that order, with me taking up the fourth leg.  We were lucky enough to have three other relay teams from our running group, so we all had friends with us at the relay points.  That was especially welcome at leg four.  I didn’t expect to start running until at least noon (the race started at 8am).  Jen’s leg was a hilly 5.7 miles through the zoo.  Katie’s leg was 7 miles involving zombies.  Kim’s leg was 6.3 miles run with the Godfather, and I picked up with the last 7 miles.  No, that doesn’t quite equal 26.2, but none of the exchange points avoided any parts of the course, so we’re sure that it actually adds up.

I was ready for the long wait at the relay point.  We boarded busses to get there at 8:30.  (I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such a long caravan of school busses.)  We grabbed ourselves a spot by the race course, set out some trashbags to sit on, and waited.  I brought food and snacks with me, and wore multiple layers, which was definitely a good plan.  We joked that next year, we need to bring a BBQ grill.

The wait wasn’t as bad as I feared.  Why?  Because of all the runners coming through!  We could get in lots of cheering, which we definitely did.  We were on an incline, and the hand cyclists were really struggling, even the first guy in the pack.  But they all made it up!

This course had an 18 minute mile pace limit, and my relay team all runs sub 13:30s.  We were actually running faster that day, but I was still one of the last people out of the relay point.  I think that made me want to run faster.  At first, I decided I wanted to try to run sub 13:00′s.  I was doing well and mentally adding up the time I was gaining (“Okay, that mile was a 12:15, so that’s an extra 45 seconds…”) which is how I race when I’m trying to hit a certain average pace.  Then one hilly mile hit me at a 13:10, so I decided to aim for 13:15′s, but still kept trying to push myself.  I really wanted to get the team in under 6 miles.  I wasn’t sure when Jen started, so I was basing it off of an 8:00am start time.

I kept passing marathoners who were slogging through the last miles.  Lots of pairs of people, with one experienced runner bringing a newbie through the end of the race.  Very cool to see.  Lots of people still going strong.  Power walking, but going strong.  One girl commented that this was her first and she was from Florida.  I told her to pick a flatter race for her second marathon.

It was kind of funny to see mile markers that I’ve never seen before.  My longest race has been a half marathon, so this was my first experience with mile markers 19-26!

I kept powering through, though my heartrate would get too high, and I’d have to walk.  I was running 2/1s, but frequently, needed to walk about 15 seconds early.  I think for next weekend’s race, I’m going to try to run 1:45/1, and see if that helps.  It can’t hurt to try, though I should probably try it in training at some point before I do it in a race.  Or not!

I knew I was running faster than expected, so I figured that my friends wouldn’t be at the finish line waiting for me yet.  But I was wrong!  I rounded a corner and there they were, all cheering!  Now that was a great part of being the last one in.  Everyone was there waiting for me!

I finished the race and the clock said 5:56!  I did it!  I got us in under 6.  But little did I know, I got us in well under 6.  Our final chip time was 5:51:36.  We averaged 13:25, which is an amazing pace for us.  And my pace?  Well, I got a little ridiculous out there.  I finished my leg in 1:31:26, giving me a 12:30 pace!  I haven’t seen those kinds of numbers in a long time.  I paid for it later – by 6:30 that evening I was ready for bed.  But it was great fun.  Makes me think that maybe my half marathon PR (a 13:01 pace) isn’t going to be as hard to beat as I thought.  Won’t happen this year, but maybe next year.

I think I do better on hilly races.  I love the downhills.  My half PR is on a very hilly course.  Maybe I should be searching out the hills.

I bought a treadmill this month.  It was on super sale because it’s summer and people run outside.  I love it.  I love having it.  And it meant that I could cancel my gym membership as well.  For so many people, a treadmill becomes a coatrack or a place to pile things.  Some of my friends have made similar comments.  Given the miles that I ran on the treadmill at the gym over the past few years, I think it will get quite a bit of use.  Probably more than the gym did, even.  I don’t have to travel to the gym, so on those awful weather days, I can just get dressed and hop on the treadmill with no trouble.

I also bought a road bike yesterday!  I’ve wanted a bike for years, and I finally took the leap.  That was definitely an investment, and I hope that it’s something that I love.  I haven’t gotten a chance to take her out yet (see previously mentioned heat wave), but I’m hoping to get out for a few miles this afternoon and maybe a few more miles tomorrow with Laura.  I just have to do my best to not crash!  But I have a helmet, so I’ll be fine.  Went with platform pedals to start rather than clipless.  I want to get used to the bike first, then in a few months, switch to clipless.  Eventually, I’ll get a trainer for the winter, so there will be no excuse for not working out.

And now it’s time for a  9 miler on the treadmill.  Wish me luck.