Half Marathon Week...13.1 miles and 60 pounds later!

[RENThead09]

This is my first trip report, so please bare with me. I am actually taking off to the Land on Monday, but wanted to get this started so I can add to it each day. A little info on this life changing weekend for me.

People do many things when they hit those "special" birthdays in their lives. I took and incredible trip to London for mine.

I wasn't much for having my picture taken in the past, and when I got back I looked at the pictures I took and was a little stressed. I never really wanted to admit how out of shape I was. I was A shape, but unfortunately that shape was round.

Here is the pic that put me over the edge:

A month later, I took a trip to Disneyland. While I was there, I was talking to a CM and they mentioned the half marathon. Didn't think much of it, but when I got home, I looked it up on the internet and got the info. Hmmmm. Running through the Parks, Seeing all the characters, and getting in better shape.

Here were the problems...1-Never really ran in my life 2-I was pushing 240 pounds 3-I didn't know where to start 4-Did I mention that I have never run before in my life.

So they had a special at work for 24 Hour fitness. I bit the bullet and signed up. When I stopped in to check out the club, I was talking to one of the trainers and before I knew it, I was signed up for my first 6 sessions.

I set 3 goals:
To run a 5k in March
To run the Pat Tilman Run in Tempe, AZ in April
To run the Disneyland Half Marathon


I accomplished the first with the Las Vegas DARE Run!

Pat's Run in Tempe was amazing to be a part of!

I added a couple more 5K's, a couple 10K's, and a 10 miles run back in MN. I continued with my trainer. I hated doing the core and weight workouts and just wanted to run. Never thought I would like running, but I am ready to go. So Here I am at 188 pounds and more excited than I can explain to get this started. If you are in the park next weekend, cheer loud for all the runners, even those of us in the back half of the pack!

My plan for the week is as follows:
Monday....Drive to LA Hopefully see Murphy the dragon for the first time!
Tuesday...morning run, head to Niketown LA, Santa Monica Pier, and the Dodgers-Diamondbacks game
Wed...Play in the park! Take lots of pictures!
Thurs...Morning run, repeat wed.
Friday...More fun in the sun!
Satuday...rest day. Find me an Olive Garden or other pasta place for Carb Loading! Bed early, hope the fireworks don't wake me up
Sunday...HALF MARATHON!!!!!!! Seriously, I understand that we need to clear the park, but do we really need to start at 6am. I don't do mornings!!!
Monday...recover and take lots of pictures in the park with my medal
Tuesday...sleep in, ealy run in when I wake up, Angels game that night
Wednesday...drive back to Vegas!

Feel free to stop back in. I will try to update each day starting Monday.

Have a great weekend!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Congratulations to you! Losing 60 lbs, and doing it healthily is quite an amazing accomplishment! What a great idea to set that half marathon as your goal!

 

[bumbershoot]

Sounds like fun, and congratulations!

 

[Hawleys]

Hi RENThead09. My Mom took a trip to England for her 60th birthday. A big highlight was seeing Man U! I'm sure you had a great trip. Congratulations on your amazing weight loss and good luck with the marathon.

 

[Padstack]

Congratulations on the weight loss! Losing 60 lbs is an incredible accomplishment. Not many people have the determination to do what you did. I am running in the DL half myself. It is also my first half-marathon, the first of many. Good luck.

 

[Daisybelle]

How enouraging to read your experience! I look forward to reading about your trip!

 

[RENThead09]

Thanks for all the great comments! It has been an amazing journey so far and it is far from over. I feel great about where I am, but still have a ways to go before my next goal, the 2011 London Marathon. Of course in the big picture, I have set myself up to spend more time with my nephew/Godchild, so every ounce of sweat is worth it.

Padstack! Way To Go! Hope you have a blast. Looks like you are doing the Vegas half as well. If so, make sure you stop at the Niketown store in Caesar's Palace. We do a lot of cool things for Marathon weekend. And also great to see another Hockey Lover on the boards. My brother just married a goalie last year. It guess it is in our Minnesota blood.

Hawley's...sounds like you mother is an incredible smart woman! Ya gotta love someone who loves them Red Devils. Seeing a game at Old Trafford was breathtaking!

2 days of work to go.

 

[TnMaryJo]

RENThead09,
What a great story!! You look great and you must feel great! I am doing the DL Half as well, in order to get my Coast to Coast Medal. I also got back into running in order to loose some weight and have the opportunity to get back to the park (WDW). Just beware, running races at Disney is addictive. You are going to have a blast!!!!! This will be my third race in the parks. I am going to doing a 10K down at WDW in October, then my biggest feat ever will be in January. I have signed up to do the Goofy's Challenge. If I live to tell about it, I will probably do more after that, lol.
We are suppose to be meeting up at the Lost Bar at Disneyland Hotel on Saturday 9/5 around 3 or 4pm. I would love to meet you! If I don't see you, have a great race, have fun and take a camera. You will have photo ops that you will never see again.
Good luck!!!!!! You are going to do great!
Mary Jo

 

[geaux_half]

Congratulations on the weight loss and good luck in the 1/2 marathon Sunday! Sounds like you are doing your running in the correct order; I made the mistake (for me) of running the marathon distance before running the 1/2 distance.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your disneyland 1/2 experience. My plan is to run WDW Goofy in 2010 and then run dl 1/2 a year from now to get the coast to coast medal. These races can become quite addictive!

 

[RENThead09]

OK, please bare with me as this is my first attempt at this. I already realize that I should have made a couple notes as to what I did each day, but hopefully my pictures will help.

I was smart enough to download my pics each night, so I had them in folders based on the days.

That all said, a few quick thought about the week:

-thank for you for all the well wishes. I finished my first half marathon! Woo Hoo! It was amazing and I really can't think of a better place to do it.

-this whole running in Disney thing is addicting and I have now signed up for the WDW Marathon in January! I want that CtoC medal! HAHAHAHA I thought about waiting a year, but in reality, WHY? Set a goal and make it happen. So I can't wait for my first trip to WDW in January.

OK, on to the show...

 

[RENThead09]

MONDAY, AUGUST 31:

Stayed up too late packing, but hey, it's vacation time. Got up at 7am as scheduled and was on the road a little earlier than my 8am plan.

After a left, then another left, then a right, I was travel down Sunset.

OK, it was the one in Vegas, not the one in LA. But that would have been nice.

The air in Vegas and on the trip over was actually more smokey and hazy than anything I experienced in my week in Cali. Probably due to the direction of the winds.

Hopped onto the I-15 and into California.

Checked into the Super 8 early (yeah for letting me check in early) and than headed out for a quick 3 mile jog to stretch the legs. The thing I like about the Super 8 is that price is great, and be in the park in 10 minutes, and there is a 24HR Fitness next door. It is the basic club, but if I need the hot tub or sauna, there is one a Orangewood, less than 2 miles away.

Ok. Run completed and feelin good, it is time to hit the parks. Since Murphy was a no go for that night, I decided to catch Celebrate and Magical and just take it easy and relax. I feel very fortunate because every time I have watched Magical, Tink and Dumbo have both performed. That was the case this week as well.

Back to the hotel and sleep came very easily that night.

 

[justkeepswimmin]

Subscribing.

Just talked my dh into running his 1st 1/2 marathon here in Tucson in December. He had to have a stent put in his heart last May despite being relatively young (38) and healthy. It was a wake up call for our whole family and he has always loved running so I have been pushing him to do it more often and if this one goes well in Dec we will be signing him up for the the DL 1/2 marathon in 2010.

Look forward to reading about your trip.

 

[RENThead09]

Swimming, great screen name. That is my favorite part of the Nemo ride. I just laugh every time I hear it. Congrats on doing the DL half next year. I will tell everyone I know to give it a try. It was one of the best weekends ever. (hope that doesn't sound too sad) And keep giving those little nudges of encouragement to your DH. The weekend at the park is that little light at the end of the tunnel. It was a great motivation to keep me going during the hot summer months here in Vegas, so I understand what you have to put up with in Tucson. Plus you have to deal with it being Wildcat territory...FORK 'EM DEVILS!!!!! (had to be said)

Somewhere in here, I will try to throw what I learned about this past weekend. There are definitely some things that I wish I would have known before the weekend started.

 

[RENThead09]

TUESDAY, SEPT 1:

Up at 7am today. head over to the 24 HR Fitness on Orangewood next to the Angels stadium. I like this club because it has a wet area (Hot Tub and Sauna) for after workouts. Got on the street by 8am and put in 5 miles. ran up to Katella and then over to Harbor up to Manchester and then made my way back to the club. It was great to run without the heat, and the humidity was a nice little kick in the pants.

Run over, got all my stuff together for the dreaded trip up the 5 to LA. For some reason, the 5 is one of those roads that I just hate driving on. You are either going 5 miles per hour because of the traffic, or going 80 because we all know there are no real speed limits on the 5.

I made it to LA, drove by the Staples Center (didn't realize it was soo close to the freeway) and headed over to Farmers Market. Luckily I left a little early, because I may have turned a little early and rather than end up at The Grove, I may have ended up at the big BEVERLY HILLS sign. Luckily I keep an Atlas in my car and got turned around in the correct direction. Soon I was greated by a welcoming sight!

Met up with my friend Dennis. We both worked together for Nike back in Tempe. He is now in Camarillo and me in Vegas. This was the first time we have been able to meet up since Tempe. He is a HUGE sports nut, so it was great to have a LA sports day. We had a quick snack at Farmers Market and then spent some quality shopping time at The Grove.

After spending a little money (yeah for employee discounts) we decided to head to Niketown LA over on Rodeo in Beverly Hills. This is one of the only Niketown in the US I have not been to, so I was happy to get there. Even if they did not have any ASU product, and only USC and Cal stuff.

Dennis found some great LeBron shoes that he picked up. We are both spoiled since we have our background in the factory (outlet) stores. So if we buy something at full price, it is something that we really want.

Shopping done, it was time to head to Dodgerland! But food called first.

Dennis called his uncle and he recommended The Red Lion Tavern on Glendale near Dodgers Stadium. It was a german pub (is that the right phrase?). Dennis loved the different beers they offered. My Diet Coke was just great!

I went with the BBQ Beef sandwich, which was amazing. Loved the german potato salad and was able to join the clean plate club.

Dennis had beef that was stuffed with onions, bacon, and pickles and then boiled (i think) and served with mashed potatoes and red cabbage. Dennis also was able to make it into the clean plate club.

On to the Dodgers game.

We made it with plenty of time.
Thank you to Stub Hub for the $6 tickets with a good view.

After growing up in Minnesota, it was nice to see baseball outdoors and not under a dome.
The Dodgers won and the hero of the night was ASU Alumni Andre Ethier.

All in all, it was a great day of experiencing LA. But tomorrow playtime in the parks start! Woo Hoo!

 

[RENThead09]

FIRST DAY IN THE PARKS!
First thing…rope drop

First Ride…Peter Pan (always!)

First time on Snow White every…there was no line at all, really, no one.

First trip in BTRR! Happy Birthday to you….

First time in Toon Town

First trip to Bug’s Land

First trip through TSMM (look ma, no line)

I hate that cat!

First Buzz score of the week

First visit to Pixie Hollow (no pics, all on photo pass)

First time seeing Flag Retreat

First float of Celebrate!

 

[RENThead09]

Thursday!
Slept in today…ran 4 miles around Angels Stadium to check out the route!
On to the parks-

Matterhorn first thing. Rode on the right side for a change.

Hit up Nemo since line was short

Buzz again…grrrrrrrrr! Horrible score

Quick trip to DCA and another visit by that stupid cat!

After a little lunch, it was time to CELEBRATE!
Balloons while we were waiting

Stitch was a little hot today

Mary is Magical!

Bikers know how to break it down

Over to Fantasmic!
Neighbor’s funnel cake…mmmmmmmm!

MURPHY!!!!

 

[RENThead09]

FRIDAY! Almost there.
Got up and headed to 24 hour Fitness. Did some stretching and foam rolling. Hit the hot tub and the sauna to relax and get ready for Sunday.
After that, headed to DCA to get my daily dose of TSMM. On the way, ran into the Green Army Men.

TSMM and that cat. I REALLY HATE THAT CAT!

Did Screamin after that. Love that coaster, but can’t wait for water to get back into the lagoon.
Had a little lunch at the Lucky Fortune Cookery. First day it was open, great food.

On to Disneyland, and hit up BUZZ.

Quick Monorail ride over to DTD and then walked to packet pickup.

Mickey was right there to lead the way.

The carpet and theme was a fun way to start the weekend.

The whole gang was joining us on the road to the packet pickup.

A little preview of things to come, because I don’t plan on stopping on Sunday to take pics at mile 13.

After leaving packet pickup, took the monorail back to Disneyland. Ran into Celebrate! Yep, I am a Celebrate fan. I know there are some people that don’t care for it. My thought is..Great, keep walking, more room for the rest of us to have fun!

After that, headed to Olive Garden for a little never ending pasta bowl. And then back to the park for a date with Tink and Dumbo that was truly…MAGICAL!
2 more sleeps to go!

 

[RENThead09]

SATURDAY! Next year, I will sign up for the 5K!

Got up, hit 24 HR Fitness to do some stretching and foam rolling.

Started with DCA today. Of course, TSMM!

NO CAT!!!! LOVE THE DEER!!!! Best game of the whole trip.

Quick trip on GRR.

Over to DL.

Pirates first…likin the length of the line!

Buzz of course…not my best effort!

Pizza Port for Pasta! MMMMMMMmmmmm!

On the way out, one last hit of Celebrate! You can’t stop the beat!

Off to the hotel to relax and get some early sleep! Early Day Tomorrow!

 

[geaux_half]

Great pics and TR so far. Looking forward to hearing about the race. I can't wait to run the DL 1/2 myself next year. I've only been to DL once and that was before DCA was there.

 

[Hawleys]

Love the TR! Incredible pictures!