Outfits of Princess Half Marathons Past

There has been a slight evolution in my Princess Half race attire over the years, although I feel like I still am not up to DisBroad standards. Those ladies go all out!! Don’t believe me? How about this picture from the 2013 Wine & Dine half marathon??

I was told that DisBroad Tania wore the sombrero the whole way!! I totally believe it too since here she is at the 2014 Tinker Bell Half Marathon between mile 11 and 12 with DisBroad Patty cape on and light saber still in hand! I tell you the girl commits!!

 

2011 was the first year I ran the Princess half and my outfit consisted of this:

I made my own sparkle skirt using Simplicity pattern 2414  and adjusted the length and made an elastic waistband instead of a drawstring. I also bought the tiara Bondi Band, but decided it needed a little more bling so I traced the entire tiara with rhinestones!! I don’t suggest you do this, or if you do realize it is pretty much a one time use thing. After I washed the headband not only did the rhinestones fall off, but they also took most of the screen printing off with it!

During the 2011 race I saw a guy in my corral with the saying “I kissed a frog and I liked it” on his shirt and that inspired my 2012 outfit! I was going for a Tiana inspired outfit, but ended up having some issues executing it.

I had several different ideas for Tiana inspired tops, but grossly underestimated the amount of time it takes to make a petti skirt and ended up just buying a white tech top and adding a “princess” rhinestone transfer to it and calling it a day.

2013 was an off year for me. Since I was living in a hotel room at the time, and my sewing machine was packed away in storage with all my other belongings I went the entirely purchased route. I bought the Jasmine Sparkle Skirt and picked up a C9 top from Target. Viola I was Jasmine!

I had been planning on doing Jasmine for a long time and I was hoping to successfully pull off the midriff look, but alas it did not happen and you are very welcome because at that point it wouldn’t have been pretty.  

This year I am stepping it up bit and trying to fit in with the DisBraods so they don’t kick me out of the group for having a lame costume. ;) It is still in the works right now, yeah I better get on it, but here is a little preview of some of the items I have collected. I’m sure you can guess who I’ll be . . .

 

Do you like to dress in costumes for races? What is the favorite costume that you have worn?

Tinker Bell Half Marathon 2014

Last year the Tinker Bell half marathon made me cry. I should have gotten a PR but I didn’t and  watching my PR slip away was heartbreaking. It was the first and only race that literally brought me to tears, but I am happy to report that this year that was not the case.

Since I had known my training had been lacking I wasn’t expecting much and decided that this year I wanted to PR in fun and I did just that!



I’m still not a fan of the 5 am start time, but once I’m up and going I’m glad to get it done early and still have all day to spend in the parks! Unlike the 10k the morning before there was no flat Summer laid out. Instead there was a balled up Summer laying on the sofa in the room, and when my alarm went off at 3:45 I grumbled a bit and begrudgingly rolled out of bed. After getting dressed and downing a protein shake I was ready to head down to the lobby to meet up with Kirsten again.

I have to say that the lobby was much busier that morning and the feel of the half marathon was very different than that of the 10k for sure! You definitely knew what the main event was, and we were hoping we were ready for it! We both have ran several half marathons before, but with the vision of the 10k sweepers still fresh in our minds we weren’t as confident as we normally would have been. In fact I posted this status update on Facebook and being blessed with awesome friends they had some wonderful answers for me!

 

After settling into corral C and taking the obligatory corral selfie I was feeling a little better about the mileage ahead of me, but only a little. The national anthem was sang with fireworks a blazing and shortly after that the wheelchair racer took off. For some reason this always chokes me up a bit, and usually brings a tear or two to my eye.

After the wheelchair racer was well on their way corral A was off, followed closely by corral B, and before I knew it was time for us to head out on our own 13.1 mile journey through the Disneyland Resort Parks and the streets of downtown Anaheim.


After making a loop around Disneyland resort we headed back stage, and then into California Adventure where the fountains for World of Color were on and absolutely beautiful!



From here we headed towards Cars Land, which is just amazing to run through when it is all lit up! I would also like to give runDisney huge props for the slight change of course from last year, and the added light to the paths that were really dark in the past! It was greatly appreciated!



This sign made me giggle a bit so I had to get a picture of it in case I needed to use it somewhere down the line. The other side said “Not Slow” but I couldn’t get the picture to come out with the spotlight shinning on the “sl”

After running around most of California Adventure we hit the 5k mark as we exited the park and headed across the way to the Disneyland park! It was in the area between parks that I noticed another great change runDisney added to control the flow of cross traffic, similar to what they do on the parade route, and that was greatly appreciated too, as there has been more then once that I almost plowed into a spectator trying to run across the course in front of me.

Once in Disneyland there were character picture ops aplenty, but after the run in with the sweepers the day before I opted to skip all of them but this one, that I mostly took for #3 since she loves puppies and kitties and is known to try and use “cute paws” on me.

 
After running through Disneyland, and hitting the last real restroom, under the Hungry Bear Restaurant, we were on our way through Downtown Disney and toward the amazing Red Hat ladies! I was completely surprised by them the first year, and I greatly anticipate seeing them every year, and they did not disappoint! They are hands down the most amazingly enthusiastic group of spectators I have ever seen!

  

After leaving the Red Hat Ladies and Downtown Disney behind it gets pretty quiet, and I knew there was nothing but the streets of Anaheim left to see. A little after mile 6 we stopped at the medical tent so I could get a band aid. When we were back stage at Disneyland I could feel that one of my toe nails were cutting the toe next to it so I wanted to prevent any further damage. I was a bit surprised to see as much blood as there was, but I put the band aid on and thankfully my shoe went back on with no issues and we were off again. These were some of my favorite signs from the neighborhood portion of the run.



There was also this sign in the business area of the course. Don’t worry my mom taught me well and I did not take the candy from the nice strangers on the street corner, but I did take a couple of the orange slices and they were quite heavenly!



Around mile 9 I stopped at another med tent, this time for some Tylenol. My hip had held up really well, but it was giving me some itchy sensations off and on so I wanted to be a bit proactive and take it before I absolutely needed it. It was at this stop that I lost Kirsten. She kept running and told me to catch up when I was done and I somehow passed her without seeing her. #SadTrombone

But I did find a couple of people from one of my Facebook running groups at the med tent and they invited me to run with them, so I did.  Just before mile 11 I happened to check my phone and noticed I had a missed call from DisBroad Patty, silly lady. I will text, Facebook, and tweet during a race, but I draw the line at answering the phone. ;)

There happened to be a text from her as well checking where I was. I was actually just behind her and the rest of the Tink DisBroads so she told me to stay at the mile 11 sign until I see them. As we approached the mile 11 sign I said good bye to my running partners and ran toward the sign when I heard a loud cheer yelling "Summer" and there they were! DisBroads April, Patty, Amy and Tania were already at the sign waiting for me!


With just over 2 miles left to go we decided to finish the race together, using the motto #NoDisBroadLeftBehind and in this case that DisBroad was me!! As we finished the race together, spirit fingers in the air, we were diverted to one side as there was a runner down receiving medical attention and I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Yes, I'm that girl who cries over everything! His wife later posted in one of the Facebook groups I am a member calling him the "Lost Boy who tried to go to Neverland" and reported that he ended up having open heart surgery, but is expected to make a full recovery and their goal is to get him completely rehabilitated in time to run the Wine & Dine half in November!! Again this made me tear up a bit, but I was glad to hear was going home and doing well.

As we exited the finish line area and made our way toward the medals we came across runDisney’s Bob Hitchcock and he very graciously posed for a picture with us! He was so nice and his lighting crew even offered to light up our cell phone picture for us!! It was a very brief, but wonderful experience.



Now with an absolutely amazing race behind us what is in the DisBroads future? Rumor has it we will ALL be in Disney World next month for the Princess Half marathon!! #TureStory The word epic is being thrown around, and we hope you will be there to join us!

What’s Up Wednesday v.1.12.14

Inspirational Quote:

I’m a planner. I like to plan and research, research and plan. Often after all that research and planning I no longer feel like doing, so I am going to work on less talking/planning and more just doing it!

(Intentional) Act of Kindness:

This week I donated to DisBroad Kristen St. Jude’s Hero fund. She will be running the St. Jude Country Music half marathon in April as a St. Jude’s Hero, once again. If you would like to join her she as a discount code you can use for $10 off just entry KSMITHRUNS as the promo code, or if you are feeling lucky you can also head over to her blog and enter for a chance to win a free entry!

Now for my randomness.

Eek! Tomorrow I am heading down to Anaheim to visit with the mouse for a bit! I honestly have some very mixed feelings about this. I know I’m not properly trained so I am very nervous about the running, or more likely walking, part of the trip. I’m doing both the 10k and the half pretty much untrained, which is just plan stupid.

I’m also somewhat solo! I’ve never done Disney without a family member, who was obligated to hang with me, so this will be very different for me. Several of my fellow DisBroads will be there, but we all arrive at different times and have different schedules planned so I am unsure how that will all pan out.

Lastly I haven’t exactly packed or updated a play list or anything. You safely say I’m pretty much a mess at this point. On top of that mommy guilt is kicking in big time!

Normally I don’t have this issue since the kids stay with Officer P when I make my runDisney trips, but with Officer P out of commission they are staying with grandma. I am most concerned about “the boy” since he has been having the hardest time with his dad’s absence, and has been sleeping with me every night. The older 2 could care less, and “puppy lover” is hit or miss. I think she will be fine, but she does like to lay on the guilt a bit too. I’m sure it will all be fine and dandy in the end, but right now it is adding to my stress.

Now off to pack! I hope I get to see some of you this weekend! If you do happen to run into me feel free to say hi! I’m pretty nice ;) but I am horrible about spotting people on the course or in crowds so I’m not ignoring or avoiding anyone. I promise. 

Celebrating Disneyland Style Day 2

Can you believe it?? I finally wrote a recap of day 2, and it only took me a little over 2 weeks to do it!!
On day 2 we decided we were going to do the parks in the opposite order so we hit California Adventure a little after opening and headed straight back to Radiator Springs Racer!! It was closed the day before, and the fast pass return time was already up to 5:00pm so we were hoping the stand-by line wouldn’t be too bad.

It said 75 minutes, which for newer rides isn’t all that bad so we decided to brave the line. This was by far the longest line of the whole trip, but the kids did rather well. “The Boy” did want to be held a lot, but at least he wasn’t whiney about it.

We all rode it and there was a mixed reaction among us. My mom and I have ridden it before and both really like it, but this was the first time for the kids. #1 & #2 both loved it and wanted to ride it again, while #3 hated every minute of it and will never go on it again. The boy seemed to enjoy most of it, until the dips when we were race. Since he is a bit of a little guy those negative G’s were a bit much for him, but he didn’t complain! 

After the ride we stuck around Cars Land for a bit and rode the other rides they have to offer and enjoyed Radiator Springs in all it’s Christmas glory! They have a lot of trees there and they are all so unique. Here are a few of my favorites.


Up next the kids wanted to hit Bug’s Land so that is what we did. Amazingly “The Boy” insists that “the caterpillar” is his favorite ride, although I’m not sure I agree with him. We hit a few of the rides there and then it was on to my absolute favorite ride, Toy Story Mania!!


I am so bummed that TSM does not have fast passes at California Adventure, but thankfully the wait was only about 30 minutes, because this is a must do ride for me!

I had “The Boy” next to me and he had such a blast it made it that much better for me. Every time we moved to the next game he would do a fist pump and declare that he won that round! He was rather disappointed when we got to the end and he found out that I actually had the high score for the whole car!!

By now it was about 2 o’clock so we decided we better get some lunch. I’ll be honest here, I am not as impressed with the food choices at the Disneyland Resort as I am at Disney World, but I do like what I have tried at the Pacific Warf area of California Adventure. I was really hoping to try some of the clam chowder at Pacific Warf Cafe, but the line was really long the whole time we were there so that didn’t happen. Instead we ate at Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, which is really good.

After lunch we headed over to the Animation Academy, as this is one of “Artsy Girl’s” favorite things at Hollywood Studios. Here we all tried our hands at drawing Agent P. I don’t think we did too bad. Can you guess who’s is who’s? I’ll give you a hint none of them are “The Boy’s” since he only scribbled all over his paper. ;)

View Full Album

After playing around in Beast’s library, and getting our voices stolen by Ursula we decided it would be a good time to go to Disneyland and ride a few of the rides, like It’s a Small World, that we didn’t do on the first day. The girls also wanted to take another spin in the teacups. We spent most of the evening in Fantasyland riding my ‘classic’ favorites like Snow White and Pinocchio. When coming out of Pinocchio we spotted this guy! I <3 him!!



We were in line for Peter Pan when the boy decided he had to go to the bathroom. My mom took the girls and Peter Pan, while “The Boy” and I went to use the restroom an then rode on Dumbo . . . again. The Christmas Parade was going on at this time so the line was really short! We ended up waiting just about 10 minutes to get on the ride, and those of you out there with Dumbo lovers know how rare that is! 

After we rode everything there was in Fantasyland we decided we wanted to head back to California Adventure to end our evening with a hot cocoa from the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop. Unfortunately, our timing was not as good as the day before and we got caught in the end of the parade mess. That always scares me, but alas we did make it out of the park safely and did not lose a single kid, so I call it a success.

We made our way over to Ghirardelli’s and was greeted by a CM handing out samples of peppermint bark. I had actually tried it before at the Ghirardelli Shop in Monetary last year and was surprised by how much I liked it since I am not a huge peppermint fan.

The 3 girls all got small hot cocoas, while I found myself intrigued by the salted caramel hot cocoa, and got a medium. We sat outside the shop for a bit enjoying the best hot cocoa we have had in a long time and then decided to make a loop around Paradise Pier while World Of Color was going on, before heading back to the car and home for the night.

I have to say it was a very nice ending to a wonderful trip. How can you not be happy when you get to see something like this on your way out of the park??

Celebrating Disneyland Style Day 1

I love Christmas and I love Disney so you combine the two and you have one happy Summer!

Chyenne’s birthday was on Tuesday so we decided to drive out Monday evening so that we could wake up, eat and hit the parks first thing, and we did just that.

The kids decided they wanted to go to Disneyland first so that is what we did. Our first stop was City Hall to get Chyenne a Happy Birthday button. Apparently that was the same plan many others had since the line was pretty long, and took awhile. Eventually we did get the button and were ready to let the fun begin!

My mom and the kids decided that they would get in line to see Mickey as I waited in line at City Hall and I was done just in time to join them for this picture! I just adore the characters all dressed up for winter ! !

After a few pics we were ready to hit the rides! First up was Winnie the Pooh, one of my personal favorites. Once we got off the ride we noticed the line for Tigger and Pooh was really short so we thought we better get in it and get a few more winter character pics!

Up next we visited The Haunted Mansion Nightmare Before Christmas style! I absolutely love the Haunted Mansion this time of year. Jack Skellington and Zero take over in such a magical way that includes a haunted gingerbread house that you can smell as you pass by, ghoulish presents galore and snow a plenty! 

From there we hit the preschooler friendly rides as we made our way over to Toontown to check out the homes of the big guy and gal themselves, and of course took some more pics.

We had a great time at Disneyland and a little before 5 we had done most of what we wanted to do so we decided to head on over to California Adventure. We actually timed it pretty well and caught the Main Street Tree Lighting Ceremony as we made our way down Main Street USA. One of my favorite things about Disneyland growing up was how magical it looks all lit up, and watching the lights coming on down Main Street all at once never gets old!! 

One of the things I love most about Disneyland Resort is how easy it is to park hop. For those of you who have never been, you can literally walk out of the turnstiles of one park, across an open area and into the turnstiles of the other!  It’s so convenient that we often go back and forth as we please!

Once in California Adventure we made our way to Carsland, which is always amazing at night, but is even more amazing at Christmas time!! Unfortunately I don’t have any pics to share since we managed to kill the batteries in 2 cell phones and our camera before we made it there!!! But we did spy Santa flying by Hyperion Theater, home of the Aladdin Musical. After riding Monsters Inc. we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel to recharge so we can do it all again the next day!!

Stay tuned for day 2 and, of course, a lot more pictures!

What’s Up Wednesday November 12 Edition

This week is busy busy busy for all of us here at the Pixie household. We are trying to get the girls ahead in their school work to account for our “travel days” as we head to Las Vegas for the Rock n Roll half marathon! To make things even a little more interesting Thursday my mom, the 2 older girls, and I will be the guest of Disney Parks at a World of Color- Winter Dreams meet up! ! ! !

Can you tell I am really excited about that? We were lucky enough to get into the meet up to attend the preview the night before the show goes live to park guests on Friday, November 15th. Secretly I am hoping “glow with the show” ears will be involved. ;) 

Since today is Wednesday you would think I am all ready to go right?? Yeah well about that . . . I always feel like I have plenty of time, until I don’t, and now I don’t. Today will be filled with lots of packing. I am packing for 5 after all and school work for the girls so that Thursday and Friday can go as smoothly as possible. Taking kids on a racecation is always a little tricky, but also rewarding! (hint: look for my post on DisBroads Tuesday)

So there you have it. Even shorter and sweeter then last week, but next week will be a busy week on the blog filled with recaps, so be on the look out for them! 

My Disney Tee Finds at Target!!

This weekend was full of packing and loading and more packing, yet somehow I still found myself at Target 2 or 3 times. The first trip I came across this adorable shirt and had to make it mine!!

Then on one of the other trips my mom was looking for a couple shirts and I found the Disney mother load of juniors shirts. Since I refuse to accept that I am no longer a junior I decided to investigate closer, and take pics to share with all of you, of course. The t-shirts ran around $12 and the sweatshirts $20 at my Target, to give you an idea of the price point.

I think that I may need to go back and add the Woody sweatshirt to my closet, not that I am a party animal or anything, I just think it is cute. Personally I don’t really get the relevance of the Jasmine shirt, it kind of seems like a random meme to me.

I really like all three of these!! The Mickey shirt is burnout, and the Lion King Sweatshirt is short cropped length so you would want to wear a tank under them. Nemo may happen to find his way into my closet too. I do have an up coming Disneyland trip so they would come in handy. 

All of the t-shirts are made out of a thin but really soft cotton. All in all it was a pretty fun trip to Target. I always love finding Disney merchandise at discount prices!! 

What are some of your favorite discount Disney finds?