Disneyland Half Marathon 2013! Part II

Race Day:

3:00am.  Our alarm went off.  That's a RIDICULOUS time to get up for a race.  The things we do for runDisney.  We put on our costumes.  I found an awesome tuxedo t-shirt for Ben in the print of the blue jacket the Beast wears and I wore a yellow tank top and skirt and a red rose for Belle.

Roughly 4:00am on Race Morning

I highly HIGHLY recommend costumes for runDisney races.  Do you have to wear them?  No. Are you going to be looked at funny if you do/don't wear one?  No.  But it's alot of fun.  There are TONS of ideas out there, just make sure to Keep It Simple, Stupid.  It is still 13.1 miles, you don't want to be uncomfortable at mile .1.

Ben trained quiet a bit harder than I did so we split up for this race.  He took off like a speeding bullet and I chugged along.

Jenn and Jan at sunrise at Paradise Pier

We made it to Disneyland

Fixing to run through the Castle!

BOOM!

 As we went to Disneyland we couldn't help but compare it to our beloved Disney World.  This race, you are completely done with the Disney parts of the race by mile 4.  Sure you go through Angels Stadium and

by the Honda Center, but it's lacking in the Disney Magic if you ask me.   The cool part about it is the entire community of Anaheim comes out to support you.  There were local marching bands, classic cars, dance teams, people on their front porches all out to cheer you on so that was awesome.

Welcome to Mile 4

Mile 9 is by, and through, Angles Stadium.

And of course you know I did the Angles in the Outfield move.  I also chanted "Quack, Quack, Quack" when running by the Honda Center.  

Now we were in the home stretch.  We were a bit slower that anticipated based on the heat and the (at the time) secret pregnancy (YAY JAN!) so now it was a race against the dreaded balloon ladies.  If you don't keep a 16 minute/mile pace they will sweep you.  We've heard horror stories of them blocking the course with a bus and requiring everyone to get on the bus instead of completing the race.  We've also heard that if you get back to Disney property they won't sweep you.  So it was a race against the balloons.

We Did IT!

Jenn and Ben with their DL and C2C medals!

The whole gang with their medals!

As I promised in the last post the blue banana vomit story.  So as me and Jan were finishing up, we called Ben and Tim to see where they were so we could meet up (and to let them know we are almost finished to get a picture).  They said they were in ESPN Zone.  If you know Ben and Tim that obviously means they are hydrating...with beer.  Come to find out, after the race, Tim chugged a blue powerade and ate a banana.  One of the two, or perhaps a combination of both, upset his stomach and that's where Ben found him...crouched over vomiting behind a kiosk.  Blue Banana Vomit.  Then this picture happened.

Don't you....forget about me....

After the race we could either wait for the shuttle back to the off-property hotel or walk the 1 mile.  We've already gone 13.1, what's another mile?  Turns out, 1 mile after a half marathon is a 51 minute mile. 

We got back to the hotel where I walked immediately into an ice bath.  I LOVE ice baths after a long run.  We originally tried this after the Royal Family 5K in February the day before the Princess Half Marathon.  We knew our legs were exhausted after 2 days in the parks, plus a 5K so we thought we had nothing to lose.  Our legs felt great after it and completely ready for the half marathon the next day.

Ice Bath Celebration

 After cleaning up the boys went to In and Out Burger.  This is the stuff of legends for Southerners.  I've never been to one.  Let me tell you, this is straight from the gods after a run.  We devoured our animal fries and animal burgers in silence.

Headed back out to the parks after the race to celebrate!

Of course you cannot celebrate without a Dole Whip Float!

Introducing Jan to the nectar of the tiki gods.

 

It was delicious

What a beautiful view.

Jenn and Ben...Enjoying the parks

I completely DESTROYED Ben on this game.  

CarsLand!  It was so cool!

One more day in LA so we toured Paramount Studios.  We saw Mychal Rivera's sister! Go Vols!

We went to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour which was simply amazing.

One more stop then we headed back to God's Country.

We had an absolute awesome time.  The parks were great, the race was finished, the Southern California TN Alumni Association chapter was so friendly and welcoming.  Even with the weather being unseasonably hot and the queue lines, restaurants, everything, not having adequate air conditioning for this Southern girl we had an absolute amazing trip.  

We got to the airport where they searched my hair!  I felt more violated than I did when I walked through the naked scanner.  Then we were of course pulled aside where the guy already knew what he was looking at through the scanner on my carry on.  He had see the mass quantity of medal and made me empty out my bag only to find 4 giant hunks of runDisney medals.  #runDisneyproblems

After planes, trains and automobiles we arrived safely back to Tennessee, only for me to realize we no longer have a Disney trip on the books.  Time to start planning.  Here's to Wine and Dine 2014!

Disneyland Half Marathon 2013! Part I

So after running the Princess in February we though, we might as well do another one in California to get that coveted Coast to Coast Medal!  So we signed up for it...even though it would mean the following 3 things:

• It would be the first home game Jenn would miss in 12 years
• It would be the first home game Ben would miss in 20 years
• It would be the first home game that someone from our family hadn't attended since 1973.

That's a big deal.

We made it out there, through planes, trains, and automobiles.  Yes we watched that during a layover.

Nashville -bussed-> Atlanta -flew-> Ft. Lauderdale, FL -flew-> Los Angeles -car ride-> Anaheim

We headed to the parks the 1st day (Thursday), our hotel was a mile from the parks so we walked.  When you're doing a 13+ mile run in a couple days what's an additional 2 miles each day?

Complete with First Visit Buttons!

We ran back and forth between parks.  I HIGHLY recommend park hoppers.  We went in first to California Adventures to get a fast pass for Radiator Springs Racers.  I had heard that was the hot ride right now.  So thankful we did!  We got the fast pass at roughly 9:30 and it was for 7:15 that night!  They sell out quickly!

Checking out the New Cars Land

This place served their cokes in giant cones!

This ride is so awesome

Lightning McQueen!

Part of Radiator Springs Racers

 The racers ride was almost identical to the Test Track in EPCOT.  However without all the advertisement which makes it way better.

Clearly I loved this ride.

I think I have the same picture of me on Test Track doing the same thing.  It was so warm and fast.  So awesome.

From there we went back to Disneyland and just started riding anything and everything.  The park was dead.  It was awesome.  

We also got a fast pass for "World of Color" so 2 of the big things we knocked out in the first day!  Side note: I found out my Papa died on this day...the "Up" scene in World of Color didn't go over well...at....all.

Grizzly Rock

For dinner we headed over to New Orleans.  

I got to see inside, now I'm obsessed.  Someone help me get inside!

 So we are standing outside of Club 33 as I take this picture and this couple comes up and also takes a picture.  I said "Hey if you are going inside you have to take me!" of course kidding...because no one goes inside.  They take their picture, ring the bell and go inside.  I was like "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?"  It hadn't even dawned on me that they were in a suit and dress...I felt like an idiot.

Since Club 33 wasn't an option we headed next door to Blue Bayou.

 This place was awesome.  The ride for Pirates of the Caribbean floats by, the theme is awesome, and their "broiled filet mignon" was one of the greatest I've ever had.

Walt's apartment with the light left on.

Friday started out with more parks. I haven't mentioned the weather yet.  You know Southern California weather right?  Beautiful, sunny, cool days.  There should be an asterisk next to that that says "Unless the Altom's are in town"  It was low 90's, with 60-70% humidity the whole time.

Not that big of a deal, we live in Tennessee, we're used to that.  But we're also used to BLASTING the AC when we come inside.  That's not the case there, all their line queues, dining spots EVERYTHING is outside.

I'd say we handled it pretty well with minimal complaining.  Others did not.  We saw people with coats covering their heads from the sun, walking around with bags of ice on their heads. It was hilarious.

Trader Sam's was once described as the "Awesome badass child of the Enchanted Tiki Room"

 So this bar...where to start.  First it's a Tiki Room with alot of the decorations from the Enchanted Tiki Room in it.  Complete with totem poles with eyes that follow you around.

You order certain drinks, and the entire room is themed to do something. Whether it's the lights go out and the volcano erupts while alarms and red lights flash, or the ship in the bottle gets stormy and sinks.  It. Was. Awesome.

The first drink I ordered?  The "Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum".  It was like suntan lotion.  Would I order it again? Of course...if only to say the name.

The first drink Ben ordered was the Shrunken Zombie Head..complete with souvenir glass.

Right after I caused the volcano to erupt... 

 We ordered the Krakatoa Punch next.  It was DELICIOUS.  We could have drank a million of these...

Yes...the drink glows.

Hooray the entire gang finally met up for some Tiki Bowl Punch!

Finally we ordered an "UH-OA" which caused the room to start chanting while the lady threw cinnamon on our flaming sugar cube.  You know you have good friends when having not seen them in months the conversation goes how was the flight?.....blah blah blah.....so I'm hoping my poop schedule doesn't get thrown off too much.

We headed to the Expo after putting it off all day afraid of the nightmares we had been reading on facebook and twitter about lines that were 7 hours long!  Then headed to a Mexican joint in Downtown Disney for some margaritas and chow.  We were beginning to get hangry.  

Griffith Observatory

On Saturday we headed out for some touristy stuff.  We headed to "Home" to eat breakfast and meet a friend from Ben's old ska days.  Do we have a picture with him?  Of course not...

Then we headed up to the Griffith Observatory.  It was awesome.  You could see everything.  

The boys...being...boys.

Can you tell it was game day?  I'm sure people thought we were part of a cult or something...in a way...we kinda are.

Selfie with Bert.

This is what happens when you go out of town on a game day...and Ben wondered why the call was lost.

From there we split up, me and Ben headed to the Santa Monica pier to look for a Sharknado while the others headed to do other touristy things.  

We never found a sharknado so we headed to Q's for the official Southern California Alumni Association game party.  It was awesome.  50 Tennessee grads gathered together to watch the game on the other side of the country.  

We headed back to Anaheim and got stuck in the infamous traffic.  We finally got back to Downtown Disney to get supper and everywhere had 2 hour wait!  At this point I was getting hangry, we didn't get anything at the bar or the whole day since eating at "Home" that morning thinking we needed to behave somewhat for the race the next day.  We left DTD in search of food that wouldn't make us wait forever.  Turns out, Anaheim has NOTHING as far as chain restaurants.  No Chili's, Logan's, nothing.  Not that we were looking for that, but we were too afraid to venture out and eat at some hole in the wall the night before a race.

We ended up eating at Chipotle.  The night before a half...  It's never tasted so good.

I'll update Part II when I can including stories about the race, blue banana vomit, and Rudy.

Music City July 4th 10K

In July we ran the Fourth of July 10K.  It rained.  It rained all summer in Nashville I don't know why we thought Independence Day would be any different.

Me and the sister in our DIY shirts!

The night before me and Stephanie (sister) decorated shirts with good old spray paint.  I thought they turned our really well!  Ben went with the "Who has 2 thumbs and loves America?" shirt. 

We got down there, somehow met up with Stephanie even though neither of us had our phones due to the rain and got ready to run.

I'm proud to say that even as slow as I am I didn't come in last...sure the announcer was gone and the music had stopped but I wasn't last and they hadn't reopened the roads!

I guess we didn't get a picture of the group but there were several of us who met up.

After the race it was time to hydrate, with beer.  Turns out 3 beers is just over my limit to consume after 6 miles.  

Also, we decided Nashville isn't a tourist town just yet considering on the 4th of July we couldn't get a beer before 10:00.  Some of us need to get our boozing on Nashville!

I went to Tootsie's for the first time.  Despite what ABC's Nashville says, locals don't frequent Tootsie's often.  Well we did that day, and heard some live music while being the only people in the bar at 10:00.

Muddy Buddy Nashville

Finally, a obstacle race where we are running it as a group and we don't have to travel.  This is the first time we've done a race as a group and not had to stay in a hotel. We signed up for Muddy Buddy.  It was their first race in a downtown setting.

We invited everyone over to our house Friday night where we ate supper then the girls had to go out to get shirts for everyone.  We were going to decorate shirts - because what fun is a Buddy Run without matching costumes?  It was getting late (probably 10:00) and we didn't really want to decorate shirts so we looked around and lo and behold we found them.  The perfect shirts!

#Swag

#Swag Shirts. Awesome.  Words cannot describe the joy the boys were in when we showed up with these shirts for them to wear.

We went to bed and had a 5:00 alarm set for the next morning.  It was then that some of the girls realized that we don't drink coffee, nor do we have a coffee maker. There were cuss words....and a stop to the gas station.

We got to the race and met up with another member of our group who cannot tell the difference between the North and South side of the stadium that he's lived by for almost 10 years.  That guy checked his bag, then realized he forgot his arm band, ran back to his bag got it, came back to the group where I pointed out he forgot his wedding ring and it's still on.  "I'll make a fist in the mud"...it's never a good idea to "make a fist in the mud"

We ran up one side of the stadium ramps - did a couple obstacles at the top, ran down, ran up the other side of ramps, did a couple more obstacles, ran down, around downtown a little and then we were almost finished.  My sister met us and took some pictures at the end of the race.

Getting over one of the final obstacles. 

 This obstacle didn't look too hard.  It wasn't tall, we've certainly done taller walls like this.  But they had soaped down the front side of it.  You get a running start and then BOOM your legs are out from under you and you're face first into the wall.  That's what happened to one of our friends, we were on the other side of it and heard this loud boom and I said "oh shoot that was on this end of the wall...that was one of us" about that time one of our friends came walking around the corner holding her chest that had hit collarbone first into the wall...at least she raised her head up.

A valiant effort was made to find the ring.

Remember what I said about how it's a bad idea to just make a fist when keeping on a ring.  You will forget to make a fist, you will lose your ring, and your wife will be mad.  Just take the ring off or at LEAST unlace your shoe, put it at the bottom of your laces and tie it back.  Your hands do so much during these obstacle races you will probably lose it.

The whole crew after the run.

 Here's the whole crew after the run, sans wedding ring that is being pointed out.  Thanks Sister for the pictures!

Ben basking in the glory that is Muddy Buddy.

With the Muddy Buddy entry we got not one but TWO free drink tickets.  You could choose between beer, or the new Cayman Jack canned Margaritas.  Let me tell you, these margaritas are delicious.  Way better than the Lime-A-Ritas.  I was double fisting the Cayman Jack margs, while Ben had one, then switched to beer.

Foam Fest - Nashville

I've been looking forward to this race for a while. They advertised it like crazy on every website I'd visit.  Foam, Mud, Inflatable Slip in Slides...count me in!  So we signed up for it.  It was the 1st weekend in May so the weather should be gorgeous and we'd be good to go.  We'd invited a couple friends to run it with us, some friends who ran the Color Run earlier that year.

For some unknown reason in started raining in May...and never stopped.  It rained the entire month.  The weather in Nashville changes quickly.  It can be shorts weather in January and hoodie weather in July.  It was May 4th and it was cold.  Like 45 degrees cold, and raining and we had Foam Fest.

This race taught us to read reviews of races before we run them.  Obstacle Races are very popular now and I'm afraid we got sucked into one that was thrown together.  We parked our sweet Honda Element in a field, that was flooded.  We pulled in and I was afraid we'd never get it back out.  (We did thankfully)

We went to check in and it seemed like no one knew what to do.  We were handed a random number that didn't match those of our other teammates, the poor ladies at the tables were freezing - we later found out that they had hired help from a temp agency and those poor people didn't know they'd be working outside, they didn't know what obstacle races were, they were freezing, muddy and miserable and I was so appreciative that they were there handing us water, checking our bags among other things.

My only picture from Foam Fest 2013

We finally just decided to run in the next wave.  I wasn't sure what wave we were in, I wasn't even sure if they were checking to make sure we were running in the right wave but with no one to tell us we figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.

It was fun, more hills than I was anticipating, and very muddy. It reminded me of the hell race that was the Charlotte Spartan Race in 2013.  The more we ran the colder it got.  We got to one of the long slip n slides that they advertise.  They had run out of gas for the generator so it was down so that was a bummer.

Then we got to the mecca.  The GIANT slide they advertise at the end.  One of the slides was down because some dumbass had climbed up it in cleats and torn a giant hole in it.  The other one had ripped some other way and where there should have been 3 people going up it at a time they were letting one person up.  We tried to decide if we wanted to wait in this giant line - while our bodies cooled off from running and we got cold - or just skip it.  We decided we couldn't skip it, after all, it's the big attraction.  That'd be like going to Disney World and skipping Space Mountain!

We waited....and waited....and waited....finally after about an hour we got to go down it.  It was fun, I don't know that I'd wait in the line again.  We finished, pushed a couple cars out of the grass so we could get the Element out, and left.

It was Cinco de Mayo so you know this girl headed out to get her some margaritas!  We headed to Rosepepper Cantina here in Nashville where they charged us $2 per extra (after 1) basket of chips.  TWO DOLLARS!  Sorry Rosepepper, this girl will be making her own Pineapple Margaritas from now on that's ridiculous!  But we did learn about this new "shot" called a banderas or "flag".

The Ben's and their banderas

You set out three shot glasses and you fill one with lime juice, one with tequila, and one with tomato juice, and take them in that order one right after the other.

Holy. Cow.

They'll destroy you.  You cannot even taste the tequila after the tomato juice.  It was delicious.

While the day was fun, I want to encourage you to do your research before signing up for races.  Make sure it's a reputable company, make sure the reviews are good. Check them out on Facebook - if nothing else these races should all have Facebook pages, if they don't that's probably a red flag.

Warrior Dash and Iron Warrior Dash 2013

So we have a tailgating group. A pretty big tailgating group that meets early - usually around 7 or 7:30am - for every home football game in Knoxville call Party of the Southland after the marching band at UT "Pride of the Southland" because as you recall, we are a bunch of former band nerds.

In 2011, one of the guys in the group found Warrior Dash and Ben decided to go with him to run it in Charlotte, NC.  They had an awesome time despite running the race and driving all the way back to Nashville via Bristol, TN after the race and un-showered.

Ben with his free beer in Charlotte 2011

In 2012, after hearing about it for a year they convinced 3 more people to join so we had the first ever Party of the Southland Adventure Weekend that consisted of staying in a Murder Cabin, Warrior Dash, and White Water Rafting where we damn near capsized the boat on a class 2 rapid.

The 5 of us in Mountain City, GA in 2012

After another year went by we convinced 2 more to join us in 2013.  We headed down to Douglasville, GA where they were holding Warrior Dash - roughly 3 miles, and Iron Warrior Dash - roughly 15 miles.  

Two guys in the group - Ben included - decided to go balls to the walls and run the Iron Warrior Dash.  The rest of us slept in, enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast and headed down later for the shorter race. 

There were storms the week before the race so logistically this race was a nightmare.  They had to change where you parked so you had to stand in like for roughly and hour to get to the race site from parking, then stand in a 2 hour line to get back after the race.  Fortunately, like I've said before, my friends are awesome.  Really awesome.  Sure it was hot, and we were standing in line which no one likes to do, and we were tired - especially the 2 who had run 15 miles - but we could send people out on beer runs so we just stood there and enjoyed a nice Leiney's Summer Shandy and each other's company.  If you haven't tried this Leinenkugal Summer Shandy you should. It's a FANTASTIC summer beer.

The race was awesome. I think as a whole our group enjoyed the previous location in Mountain City a little better, but this was still just as awesome as we have come to expect from Warrior Dash.  The obstacles were tough, especially a roughly 20 foot wall you had to get over with a rope, and the mud.  Usually the "mud" is just brown water.  This was mud, thick mud.  And it smelled like chili.  I felt like I was crawling through cold chili.  A lady in front of me just stopped moving.  She said "I'm stuck I can't move anymore".  I stood up, stuck my hands through the barbed wire, and helped lift this lady up to where she could get on her feet.  It was amazing how much you sunk into this mud.

I highly HIGHLY recommend this race.  They have one in Tennessee, 10 miles from where I live, but for some unknown reason they have it on a Saturday, in the fall.  Don't they know Southerners have other things going on Saturdays in the fall?!?!

After the race we headed back to the hotel and cleaned up and headed out to Dave and Busters for some games and food.  I had an alcoholic snow cone.  I love snow cones.  More that most adults, you add alcohol to it...sold.

A couple of the girls got a little too addicted to the Jurassic Park game.  To the point we all left them there.  They came in the hotel not too long after we got back and we were surprised to see them.  They said "yeah, we beat the game"  Ridiculous.

This has been my favorite race series we've done.  I want to try Spartan again with better weather, but this one is awesome.

The now 7 of us in 2013 in Douglasville, GA

The next day we headed to get some food at the Vortex.  You've probably seen this if you watch the Food Network.  It's famous for the burgers.  It's a 21+ bar, that serves ridiculous burgers. Ben and I split the "Fat Elvis" which has peanut butter, bacon and fried bananas on it, and the "Double Coronary Bypass" which has 2 fried eggs, 6 slices of cheese, 8 slices of bacon, and instead of buns....two grilled cheeses.  We also had someone get the Carnivorgasm which is a meat Heaven and a few other burgers that I can't remember through the haze of meat sweats.

After that we all headed our different directions - Knoxville and Nashville and called it a successful weekend.