Official 2016 5th Anniversary Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend!

[Keels]

How much of a pain will it be to get from a resort on Harbor Blvd to the race start? Is the walk over a nice warm up or a I regret everything and need a taxi moment?

Depends where on Harbor.

I stayed at the Fairfield in and it was fine. I think @mbwhitti stayed at the Ménage and it was a haul.

 

[kirstie101]

How much of a pain will it be to get from a resort on Harbor Blvd to the race start? Is the walk over a nice warm up or a I regret everything and need a taxi moment?

Ditto what Keels said. Depends where you stay on Harbor. I've stayed at Hojo's (next to the Fairfield) for Tink and Avengers and the walk in the morning is a nice 20 minute warm up. You walk down Harbor to the DL pedestrian entrance, go through the esplanade to downtown disney and then you're at the disney hotels. The walk back takes a little longer (security check is open by then) but still very doable. I wouldn't stay on the other side of the freeway overpass though. For me Hojos is about the furthest I want to walk. I dont want to have to go over hte freeway. For Tink I might be staying on Harbor too. Have a few reservations and haven't decided which one to go with yet.

 

[flvy]

Thank you @Keels!!!

And @kirstie101 Good to hear that about Hojo's it's on my short list.


I really need to just pick a hotel. I thought I already had, but I'm still on the fence between two or three. Thankfully I already have the reservations made and I just need to pick and pay off now so I don't have to think about it anymore.

 

[kirstie101]

Thank you @Keels!!!

And @kirstie101 Good to hear that about Hojo's it's on my short list.


I really need to just pick a hotel. I thought I already had, but I'm still on the fence between two or three. Thankfully I already have the reservations made and I just need to pick and pay off now so I don't have to think about it anymore.

Thats how I do it too. I have 3 reserved right now, just trying to decide what I want to do now. I love Hojos. The beds are the best IMO and they have keurig coffee makers in every room.

 

[flvy]

Thats how I do it too. I have 3 reserved right now, just trying to decide what I want to do now. I love Hojos. The beds are the best IMO and they have keurig coffee makers in every room.

Ughhhhh a good coffee maker is enough to sway me. That and the easy access to the park. I've never actually see anything to critical of Hojos. My biggest issue was how much of a pain in the butt it would be to get to the race start from there, and you basically erased that.

 

[kirstie101]

Ughhhhh a good coffee maker is enough to sway me. That and the easy access to the park. I've never actually see anything to critical of Hojos. My biggest issue was how much of a pain in the butt it would be to get to the race start from there, and you basically erased that.

They offer a discount to runners if you call them direct too just in case you don't have some sort of discount in place already. I got a rate I really can't beat over at the Del Sol so I might try that one this year just to save some money. Though I know I'll miss the coffee and beds at Hojo!

 

[courtneybeth]

Husband ordered me a Garmin Forerunner 220 for Christmas - so excited to try out my new toy next Friday!

 

[Ariel484]

Husband ordered me a Garmin Forerunner 220 for Christmas - so excited to try out my new toy next Friday!

Yay, good choice hubby! You will love it!

 

[Ariel484]

On the subject of watches...little update from me: I ended up returning my vivoactive and got a Garmin Forerunner 230. It's just like the Forerunner 220 (a watch I have owned and cherished for 2 years) except that it also has activity tracking and smart notifications. I've had it for about 1.5 weeks now and I really like it! And it's purple!

I just need Garmin to come out with a way for me to download a Mickey watch face for this bad boy. Then we'd really be in business! My BFF did point out that my current watch face looks like pixie dust, so that will have to do for now.

 

[huggybuff]

On the subject of watches...little update from me: I ended up returning my vivoactive and got a Garmin Forerunner 230. It's just like the Forerunner 220 (a watch I have owned and cherished for 2 years) except that it also has activity tracking and smart notifications. I've had it for about 1.5 weeks now and I really like it! And it's purple!

I just need Garmin to come out with a way for me to download a Mickey watch face for this bad boy. Then we'd really be in business! My BFF did point out that my current watch face looks like pixie dust, so that will have to do for now.

Oooh, it's so pretty!

ETA: Did you see that purple Magic Bands are finally being released for retail?

 

[Ariel484]

Oooh, it's so pretty!

ETA: Did you see that purple Magic Bands are finally being released for retail?

Isn't it? The background changes during the day! Sun and clouds during the day and then a sunset!

And i did not see that about purple Magic Bands! So it looks like that's not a free option, just the on-demand option? I have so many freaking Magic Bands that I don't think I could ever bring myself to pay for one!

 

[huggybuff]

Isn't it? The background changes during the day! Sun and clouds during the day and then a sunset!

That's so cool!

So it looks like that's not a free option, just the on-demand option?

Yeah, it'll be in the stores along with all the other specialty bands.

 

[kirstie101]

Husband ordered me a Garmin Forerunner 220 for Christmas - so excited to try out my new toy next Friday!

Lucky! This is on my wish list! I love my little forerunner I have now but I really want the 220!

 

[courtneybeth]

@kirstie101 - we found an amazing deal on Finishline.com for it. It was marked down to $149, then we used a 10% off coupon and I think with tax and shipping it came to like... $150.

 

[emzben25]

On the subject of watches...little update from me: I ended up returning my vivoactive and got a Garmin Forerunner 230. It's just like the Forerunner 220 (a watch I have owned and cherished for 2 years) except that it also has activity tracking and smart notifications. I've had it for about 1.5 weeks now and I really like it! And it's purple!

I just need Garmin to come out with a way for me to download a Mickey watch face for this bad boy. Then we'd really be in business! My BFF did point out that my current watch face looks like pixie dust, so that will have to do for now.

That's awesome! How do you like the 230 compared to the vivoactive? DH has the vivoactive and he doesn't love it and has been considering the 230. He had the forerunner 210 prior to the vivoactive and didn't like it because it didn't have smartphone sync (had to upload your data via usb).

 

[Ariel484]

That's awesome! How do you like the 230 compared to the vivoactive? DH has the vivoactive and he doesn't love it and has been considering the 230. He had the forerunner 210 prior to the vivoactive and didn't like it because it didn't have smartphone sync (had to upload your data via usb).

I'll be honest in saying that I dumped the vivoactive pretty quickly - I wasn't happy with how the GPS synced. It was slow and there was no obvious way for me to tell that the satellites had been found. But since I dumped it so quickly I feel like I'm maybe not the most knowledgeable to comment on it.

So far I really like the 230 a lot. To me it's a running watch first, smartwatch/activity tracker second. Where I feel like the vivoactive was smartwatch first, running watch/activity tracker second. I know you can also create custom workouts on the 230 and use the virtual pacer, which I don't think the vivoactive has. And it does sync with the phone. As far as running functionality I would say it's similar to the 210, but with lots of extra features (color/bigger screen, smart features, activity tracking and syncing data to your smart phone). I have a longer post about it here. Also definitely check out DC Rainmaker's review, which is way more detailed than anything I could ever put together. His website has a product comparison calculator that is really helpful too - you can look at the vivoactive and 230 side-by-side with that.

 

[emzben25]

I'll be honest in saying that I dumped the vivoactive pretty quickly - I wasn't happy with how the GPS synced. It was slow and there was no obvious way for me to tell that the satellites had been found. But since I dumped it so quickly I feel like I'm maybe not the most knowledgeable to comment on it.

So far I really like the 230 a lot. To me it's a running watch first, smartwatch/activity tracker second. Where I feel like the vivoactive was smartwatch first, running watch/activity tracker second. I know you can also create custom workouts on the 230 and use the virtual pacer, which I don't think the vivoactive has. And it does sync with the phone. As far as running functionality I would say it's similar to the 210, but with lots of extra features (color/bigger screen, smart features, activity tracking and syncing data to your smart phone). I have a longer post about it here. Also definitely check out DC Rainmaker's review, which is way more detailed than anything I could ever put together. His website has a product comparison calculator that is really helpful too - you can look at the vivoactive and 230 side-by-side with that.

Thank you! That was very helpful. I'll check out those reviews.

 

[WDWarchitectureguy]

I understand my husband's reasoning on this other issue but... 2016 will be the year of the 10K and doesn't want to start the challenges until 2018. That means that 2017 is another year of 10K. I'm kind of bummed about this because I feel like I'd rather step it up to a half marathon for Avengers. He's thinking that January 2018 is challenges and we'll already be trained for halfs but just doing the 10K instead. IDEK what his rationality is at this point but he wants to start in 2018?

I'd recommend doing a half before doing a challenge, personally.

Maybe do a local half first to give him a confidence boost because that might be the issue here. Halfs for races and training for the challenges in 2017 makes sense. You've got some time to convince him. Sometimes you just have to dive headfirst into the deep end. As long as the training is there it shouldn't be an issue. I've found with running anything is possible if your head is in it.

That said I got my first thermal pair of tights today! Just in time for unseasonably warm temps this weekend...

I did three Halfs before I ran my first RD half, and only because of that did I step up and do a "mini" challenge on those race weekends - the 5k and the Half.

I would definitely run a half marathon before I would jump into a challenge.

But I feel like my "minis" made me a lot more prepared for my first RD challenge - Dopey next month.

Hey, I'm not saying people shouldn't or can't jump right to challenges...just not what I would do or recommend.

My first Half was Princess 2013, followed by DL 2013 and W&D 2013. So my first 3 halves were all rD. I didn't have my first non Disney Half until 2014. I did a few locals, then decided to do my first Full. The Dopey Challenge 2015. I trained most of the second half of 2014 for the race this past January. It was Go big or go home. Since then I've run 12 halfs in 2015 so far with one more to go.

My next Dopey will be 2018. Plus GSC, PDC, DDD and both Dark and Light SW for all the medals. All challenges, all 3 domestic C2C medals. That's the goal. Then it's onto the RnR Hall of Fame medal in 2019.

All it takes is faith and trust and something I forgot.......dust.

 

[sperkins921]

On the subject of watches...little update from me: I ended up returning my vivoactive and got a Garmin Forerunner 230. It's just like the Forerunner 220 (a watch I have owned and cherished for 2 years) except that it also has activity tracking and smart notifications. I've had it for about 1.5 weeks now and I really like it! And it's purple!

I just need Garmin to come out with a way for me to download a Mickey watch face for this bad boy. Then we'd really be in business! My BFF did point out that my current watch face looks like pixie dust, so that will have to do for now.

It's my understanding that the new '30's (at least the 230; I can't seem to find anyone with a 630 to ask them) also allow for reminders such as "at mile 3 remind me to drink water" or what not. IOW, you can actually set reminders based on time or distance. That right there would be the reason I'd buy the watch. I have such a hard time remembering to use gel or whatever every 35 minutes or what not.

Have you used that feature?? DC Rainmaker has great reviews on both the 230 and 630 but he only mentioned the smart notifications/reminders in the review of the 230.

I have a 620 and want a 630; but I want to make sure I can do the reminders on it before I plunk down the cash...

 

[Ariel484]

@sperkins921 i haven't used it yet but I know what you're talking about. I'm pretty sure it's an available feature on my watch.