Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon Tips for New Runners: Costumes

The RunDisney 10k & Princess Half Marathon is in less than 2 weeks! Sadly, I won't be participating in this wonderful race this year but I did it last year and thought it would be fun to share some tips and tricks I learned about the race to any new participant this year! So I am going to do a series of posts over the next few days about RunDisney and the Princess Half Marathon!

(Brave inspired costume. Tutu by Race Junkie. Nike Shirt with custom vinyl by Be Bold.) 

A must do is to DRESS UP! Wearing a running costume is all the rage at RunDisney events! You don't have to but most everyone running will be wearing a costume of some sort! And generally they are Disney themed but seriously you can wear whatever you want to wear!

Trust me it is so much fun to run in costume and to see what everyone else is wearing to run in. Need inspiration? Check out my Pinterest page for some ideas.

Angie, from a Facebook group we are part of, gave me permission to post her picture with her AWESOME costume! She got the skirt from Run Princess Run, the top was homemade. Leg warmers are from Run Alice Run and the cape is from her daughter's costume (way to repurpose Angie!)

Outfit: Styles of costumes are important to think about. Tutu's are great to run in, however the length of the tutu does matter. Last year, I ran in a tutu. It was made by RaceJunkie (I am pretty sure it is past the cutoff point to order a tutu from her at this point.) If you decide to make one, there are lots of tutorials online, between now and the race make sure the Tutu is 9-12 inches in length. RaceJunkie does them 9 inches preferred, but I will say that it barely covers my big butt. The 12 inch tutu might be too long and can get caught in between your  thighs as you run and can cause a TON or chaffing! So shorter might be better in this case. Last year I saw someone wearing an ankle length tutu. Talk about annoying and painful! Oh, and be creative. You don't have to dress up like a main character. I have seen a Chip, from Beauty and the Beast, costume from this year. There is even talk about someone dressing up as a balloon lady, balloon and all. That will get everyone around her to run a little faster!

Trial and Error: Do a Test Run in your costume! So important! You will learn if there is chaffing before you have to deal with it for 13.1 miles. You will learn if your costume can hold up to running. You will learn the annoyances of it too. I had a large pregnant belly to help keep the tutu riding low on my hips, but when I ran in a tutu at 17 weeks pregnant my tutu kept riding up a big and I just ended up pulling it up above my belly button so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

(My BFF K. tutu and shirt from RaceJunkie)

Hair& Makeup: If you put spray color in your hair to temporally change the color of your hair while running. TRY IT OUT BEFORE the race day. Go do a sweaty workout or a nice long run that gets your head all sweaty to see how much the spray dye will drip into your eyes or if it will drip down your head. Also don't forget if you run in makeup try to wear waterproof mascara and eyeliner.

Motivational Quotes: Have sayings on your shirt, front and back. It was fun to read all the motivational sayings on the shirts. Seeing what was on the back and also trying to read the front. My friend who ran with me kept telling me how many people I was passing and I was 29 weeks pregnant. And others would come up from behind and say, how amazing it was that I was running at 29 weeks pregnant. My front of my shirt was my motivation to me and the back was a reminder that a very pregnant lady was in front of them.

Shoes: New Balance released a new series of shoes and they will be for sale at the Expo. Buy a pair if you want, but DO NOT RUN 13.1 MILES IN THEM THE NEXT DAY! Huge rule of thumb is to not do something new that you have already tested out. I saw so many people on the course wearing their new beautiful New Balance Cinderella shoes, some even with the satin as the laces. I saw bloody heels and hobbling going on from some of the ladies. You have been training for the last couple of months for this in your running shoes, stick with it for race day. And wear the awesome new shoes around the parks. Don't mess with running mojo on the day of the race!

Treadmill Interval Training

Some days it is just too cold outside to go running. For me, there is 1 Saturday a month that I  cannot run with the training group, guaranteed, because that is the weekend that Matt has his Army training. GO ARMY WIFE! So I am stuck with running on the treadmill or dreadmill as some call it for my long run that day. YUCK! (anything more than 4 miles on the treadmill is HARD! Also during the week though you can find me at the gym on the treadmill and elliptical. Since my gym has 2.5 hours of daycare allowed per day I try to spend a good amount of time there.

So what do I do from getting bored on the treadmill. First of all. I use the personal TV that is on the machine. Since I don't have cable TV at home I love to watch the Food Network when I exercise. I also go to the gym around the same time each day so that I catch my fav shows. I love cupcake wars and Pioneer Woman. And if I am there late enough I catch Ina Garten.

But also I am starting to incorporate interval training into my daily workouts. Since I do interval running/walking on the weekends I should be doing that during the week. I aim for 30-45 min 2 days a week of my runs. For a beginning runner or like me a slower one here is what I am doing:

You can adjust these speeds based on your current running level but the point it is to push yourself and for me 5.0 is pushing it. But because of this I have noticed that my average running speed on the weekends when I am running is around a 12 min mile. YEA! So it is working!

January Week 5 Recap

Another week done and over with. Time is just going by so quickly! I am so happy though that I started the month with a race and I ended the month with a really good long run. Well the run could have been better but still 7 miles! Super happy with that.

So why could the run have been better. My shoes. The real test of the shoes was on my long run. I said that I was a little on the fence about them and my suspicions were correct that they just weren't going to work out. During the week I went walking and did the elliptical and my feet just felt cramped like crazy in them. And on Saturday for my 7 miles I could literally feel the pounding of the pavement on my feet, my knees actually started to ache, which has never happened before, and my toes went numb around mile 4 or so. When I got home I had a knot on the bottom of my foot at the arch, because I was so squished in the shoes. And under the nails of my pinky toes on both feet have little bruises on them.

I went back into the store and worked with my running coach and owner personally and he said that they were just too cramped. I have really wide big feet. (Sasquatch here!) He had me try on a few more pairs. And they found my same style of shoes, that I had previously but in a guys shoe and when I put it on I felt like I was home. My feet just felt so comfortable. However they are a 10 and I really should be in a 10.5. The 10's worked but he ordered the Brooks Adrenaline 15 for me to try in the 10.5. Men size by the way. So the new shoes should be in sometime this week for me to compare. So the search for shoes are still afoot! (I had to totally write that!) Until then I have my not so comfy shoes, without the liner and coach said that it should work fine for 1 shorter run. I have older Nike's that aren't all dead that I can use too if I need to.

Mason and Collin- Not much is going on here with these two boys. They are keeping me busy as per usual. Trying to keep the house clean with these two is becoming more and more difficult. Collin is now trying to learn to climb up the stairs. He keeps crawling to them and wants to tackle them but hasn't quite learned how to do that yet. Mason is a good older brother when he wants to be. We are having communication issues right now, where if he doesn't get what he wants he tells me to GO AWAY! (makes me want to cry) No idea how to change that or help with that.

Long run of the week:
7.07 miles. 1 hour 48 min- 15:24 min mile

How to Freeze Rice and Oatmeal

I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out but I have found a lifesaver in my bulk meal making. I am now pre-making all my rice and oatmeal in huge pots and then make them into single servings and FREEZE THEM! It works! Totally works and is so easy!

Totally easy to do. Just make up a batch of rice or oatmeal. Let it cool down after it is done cooking so that you can handle it. Then just use a measuring cup (I use 1 cup size) and place the portioned size of rice onto plastic wrap and wrap it up tightly. I do that until all the rice or oatmeal is gone and then put it in a a Ziplock bag and into the freezer it goes. Super easy!

To defrost, pull out as many servings as you need for the next day, the night before and stick it in the fridge to defrost overnight. Pop it in the microwave or on the stovetop to reheat and there you have it! I can then add seasoning to the rice (cumin), or use it in stir fry and the oatmeal I add my tablespoon of Flax seed and stevia and I'm DONE! Super EASY! And one less thing to do in the morning when I have 2 kids screaming for their food in the morning.

Have you ever frozen rice or oatmeal before?

January Week 4 Recap

So my thing has has me doing indoor walking videos and PiYo. Read below for why we were at the house all week. As far as with PiYo I can tell a difference in my flexibility since the last time I did PiYo. The body is amazing. I started PiYo a couple of months after I had my second son. I still had the hormone relaxin in my system. Now that he is 8 months old, relaxin is completely gone and I am NOT as flexible as I was. I am looking forward to doing Buns and Core this week though. I am really trying to increase my leg strength right now. I have been doing squats everyday. This week I will be doing 50 squats a day. (5 rounds of 10) I didn't do my run on Saturday. I went and got my new shoes and never made it out later that day due to family stuff. ARGH! That means more work this week at the gym.

Mason: Is being so polite lately. He has learned to say you're welcome and excuse me. But on the flip side he also says go away. So it is a work in progress. He sure does love playing with his brother. And Collin loves it too. Collin just giggles away not matter what Mason is doing to him. They are going to be great friends!

This past week was an indoor week for us. We are in the midst of potty training Mason and he isn't quite ready to wear underwear out of the house just yet. But we did make some great progress this week with him though. Only 9 more #2's on the potty and he will get his reward dinosaurs. Potty training is going ok. He will wear underwear now, YEA, and only has 1-2 accidents a day, most days none at all. He refuses to go #2 on the potty. He did have a massive accident yesterday at church as it was our first experience out of the house without a diaper. He wanted to play and didn't tell his teacher he needed to go.

Collin: Collin likes to get himself in trouble these days. He has learned what the word "No" means and thinks it is funny every time. Kid wants to kill himself. He always goes to the stairs and the dog water dish and we always say no. He just looks at us and thinks we are the funniest people in the world. He will crawl to us if we ask him to. And it is super sweet. He is sleeping so well at night right now, only waking up mostly at 5:30am for a feeding then goes back to sleep till 9am. He does mommy quiet time too. He will go down at 12:30, on the dot, and will sleep till 2:30-3pm. Then he is up for a little while longer and takes about a 45 min nap from 5ish-6. Then goes to bed by 8:30pm. He tells us he is ready to go to bed. After nursing he will look at his bed as a sign that he is ready to go in. He doesn't fuss or complain. He just pushes himself up to look at me as I leave then plops his head down and is out for the count! IT IS AMAZING!

Workout Recap:
Sunday: rest
Monday: Squats- 40- 1 mile indoor walk
Tuesday: Squats- 40- 2 miles indoor walk
Wednesday: rest - PiYo Lower
Thursday: Squats- 40 - 2 miles indoor walk
Friday: Squats - 40 - 1 mile indoor walk
Saturday: rest got my new running shoes!

Fitbit Totals: 
Steps- 60,736 = 26.51 miles
Total stairs- 60
(I believe that I was charging my fitbit on Wednesday and that is why it didn't register any walking so, the numbers are off!)

My New Shoes

Well I have them and have now tried them out, once! Today, at the gym. And all I did was walk for 30 min and use the elliptical for 15 min. I am trying to get my feet used to them before my lovely 7 mile run this weekend.

So what did I get?

I got Asics GT 2000's. Aren't they PRETTY!

I will say I am a little on the fence. They do feel different. My foot actually is supported now and I hadn't realized how little support there really was in my old shoes. And my feet are kind of humming in the shoes right now. (like after you get an adjustment from the chiropractor and your body is like, this is good, but WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO ME kind of humming.) Also the back of the shoes come up higher on my heel than my other ones did and I had some uncomfortable rubbing today.

Also the store said didn't have half sizes in stock for my Sasquatch feet, so I am in an 11 and my other shoes were an 11.5. I brought up this point with the shoe fitter guy and he said that they fit for now and how my feet are now not for how they could be in the summer with swelling and such. But since they are almost slipping now, a bigger size might not work that well!

~Here is what tread on the bottom of a shoe should look like!~

So the verdict is yet to be delivered at this point. I am going to see how tomorrows training run goes and I think I need to have my feet adjusted again at the chiropractor to make sure my talus is in the right alignment and then I might feel better overall about my new shoes. (it has been a few weeks since my last cracking session!)

~SUPER WHITE LEGS! EEK! Who needs a reflector when you are this white!~

(oh my goodness, Mason just giggled and it sounded like a pig squealing! so cute!)

Today Is The Day

Today I am going to get my new running shoes! Super excited for a brand new pair and to start training in them. A little nervous to find out if my foot has changed, or my support needs have changed. Maybe my foot size has changed too. It feels like so many things have changed in my feet since I have had Collin.

We were at Dick's Sporting Goods the other day and I made my way to the shoe area and was looking at the different running shoes. I remember that I was fitted with the ACIS GT 2000 and they didn't feel as good as my Brooks. I have had Nike's in the past and have wanted to try the ACIS Kayano and have heard great things about Mizuno. We will find out in just a few hours what I am destined to have for the next year and round of training!

Off to the running store I go now though to BUY MY NEW SHOES!

Early To Bed

Can I just say that I am totally loving the fact that Collin is sleeping in his own room! Maybe my friend has it right that she starts the kid in their own room from the day the baby comes home from the hospital, because this sleeping through the night thing is AMAZING! (awe man, another $1 in the jar!)

I have been sleeping so well at night. Thanks to my Fitbit charge I can actually see how much sleep I am getting and right now, especially the last 4 days has been AWESOME! (avoided using the other word!)

So, now my goal is to be in bed and asleep by 10pm every night. That allows me some time to blog, and check my social media stuff and chit chat with the hubs, maybe even catch an episode of something together before having to head off to bed. I think I have done pretty well with this so far this week. And since the sun doesn't come up till a little bit later, I am even able to sleep in for a little while longer before Mason yells at me to open the door. (Mason wakes with the sun. So in the winter he sleeps in and in the summer he is up and at 'em by 5am.) This has been so nice for me since working out super early just doesn't work for me. I tried it, see my post here about how I was going to try it. I failed at it and realized that I am just not an early morning waking up kind of person to work out! And that is ok! I am getting it done in the morning and I am ok with that!

There are some good reason why to go to bed early though and get a good night sleep: It can help with losing weight, keep your appetite under control, improve your memory, make you more nice, less grumpy, clear thinking, less chronic pain and inflammation. Give it a try for a week and see what it does for you!

So far though I am doing pretty well with the sleeping. I am just hoping that I can keep it up.

What time do yo go to bed?

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What I am LOVING

Coconut Oil! I LOVE THIS STUFF! It is amazing! (oops, $1 goes in the jar!) I have been using coconut oil for everything right now it seems. I cook with it, feed my baby it and use it as lotion. Let me count the ways I love it!

1. It is a healthy fat! As I have mentioned Collin is not gaining as much weight as he should be. He is a super active baby and started crawling at 5.5 months and hasn't stopped yet. And I didn't supplement his solid foods diet with healthy fats. He was just getting super low calorie purees. So this month I have been fattening him up with FATS. No doughnuts or ice cream for him (although he has tried cake and ice cream and loves them) but I want him to have healthy fats. He dislikes avocados, and can stand egg yolks if they are mixed with bananas but the one fat that he will gobble down is coconut oil! I add 1/2 a teaspoon in his solid foods about 1-2 times a day. Like last night, he had prunes and 1/2 a teaspoon of melted coconut oil. (Coconut oil is actually solid until it reaches body temp, then it melts.) He loves the stuff and he smells so good afterwards when his face is covered with coconut oil! I wonder if he remembers the stuff from when he was just a tiny little baby. I used it to help my nipples when I started nursing him to avoid cracking and such. It totally worked!

2. Cooking with it! Matt loves stir fry and so I have been trying my hand at it. So I have been using coconut oil to coat my pan. Really anytime I use my pans on the stove I add coconut oil. I also use coconut oil spray to spray down my pan right before I cook my eggs. Mason loves the taste of coconut oil eggs and so do I. I know I am giving him good fats and not just empty calories and bad fats like from other spray cans.

3. Winter is hard on my skin. Really hard. I drink so much water but my hands and lips always get so chapped during the winter. So I have been using some coconut oil on my hands and lips to help them not be so bad. I apply at night so it has plenty of time to soak into my skin without me washing it off during the day and such and I will say that my hands look great! But it is not a quick fix. By the end of the day my hands are dry and ready for another coat of oil.

If you haven't tried coconut oil yet, GET ON THE BANDWAGON and try it! You will not be disappointed. It has so many good things for your body. You can add it in anything and not really taste it, unless you want to taste it, then you just use more. It is so clean tasting and it is just an amazing product that is like windex and can help almost anything.

What brands?: I use Trader Joe's Organic Virgin Coconut oil and also Trader Joe's Coconut Oil spray can. I also love Spectrums Organic Virgin Coconut oil but it is more expensive.

QOTD: What are you favorite things to use coconut oil in? Also I referenced 2 shows, 1 current TV show and 1 older movie in this blog post. Do you know what shows I am talking about???

January Week 3 Recap

Sorry this is 2 days late...again! This week we have been hit with a puking baby and a potty training toddler who thinks he needs to sit on the potty every 5 seconds. It is good that Mason is so dedicated to going potty but he requires me to be with him at all times. So it has been a pretty crazy few days here in the Allen home.

I am super happy with how last week went. I have been doing more for me. I have made it a goal to do squats every day to help build my leg strength and get some PiYo into my exercise routine as well. The gym attendance wasn't all that great but I still took care of me as much as I could. Life with 2 is challenging that is for sure!

Oh and an update on my running shoes. My coach is the owner of the running shoe store here in town. I stopped on the track to tell him on Saturday I was going to be in soon and if it was safe for me to go out on my run in the shoes or not. I showed him and he said that I need to get them replaced very soon and the way the shoes are could cause a stress fracture in my foot if I run too much longer in them. So new shoes it is. Just getting down there with 2 kids, almost impossible. Hoping this weekend to get my shoes taken care of.

Mason: Mason is learning more and more dinosaur names. And one thing that I have really noticed this past week is his growth in imagination. He is playing more with his toys. Making sounds for them to do things and using his toys to talk with each other. He makes his T-Rex eat other dinosaurs or the other dinos eat his T-Rex. But it just isn't with his dinos he does this with. He has a little Mickey and Goofy toy and they talk to each other and drive the car. It is really cool to watch him play with his toys now.

Collin: Collin is doing more crawling and standing. He is trying to stand at every moment he can find. We have been concerned about his weight. He has lost about half a pound since his 4 month appointment. So I have been trying to fatten him up with healthy fats and eating more solid foods in general. His main goal these days is to play with whatever toy brother is playing or grabbing mommy or daddy's tablet away. And sucking on any chord he can find! No teeth yet just lots of toothless grins for this momma!

Workout: 
Sunday: rest
Monday: 1 mile slow walk
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: PiYo lower define
Thursday: 30 min speed walk 30 min elliptical
Friday: 2.5 mile slow walk
Saturday: 6.13 mile run/walk. 15:10 min/mile pace. Super happy with this because it was on the 10 miler course and I just kept a consistent run a little walk a little pace.

Plus 30-40 squats every day.

Fitbit: 
Total Steps: 63,333 equal to 29.01 miles
Total Stairs: 54 (not including the hills from my 6.13 miles. I had to charge the thing. It died!)