Blood, Sweat, and Glitter

My mom, our family friends (Yoga In Heels whom I've known for over ten years + her mom and sister), and I run the Walt Disney World Princess Half Marathon every February in Florida.  Its so much fun!  When runDisney announced the Disneyland Tinkerbell Half Marathon for January 2012, we knew we had to do it!  California + Disney + Tinkerbell = one happy girl. 

I was doing pretty well with training this year with the Jeff Galloway training program for the Disney Princess Half (it even incorporates the Tink Half into the running schedule).  Unfortunately, getting staph infection and traveling during the holidays messed up my awesome training groove.  Thankfully, our whole run group had slacked on training, so we were all a little nervous flying out to the OC.



I met Jeff Galloway  at the expo later in the weekend!



We decorated our hotel room door to get in the Tink spirit!

My mom and I got into Anaheim, CA late Friday night after work.  Saturday morning, we met the lovely Burke ladies at Mimi's Cafe for breakfast.  After some delicious French toast and a fruit smoothie, we headed to the race expo.  I was a little disappointed that they ran out of some of the official merchandise by the time we got there, but I still picked up a cute "Eat my pixie dust!" shirt.  I also got a lime green sequin headband for the race.  I won a Chia pet from the Los Angeles Angels booth and picked up some brochures on some West Coast runs.  I think the Run Like A Diva Hawaii Half would be the ultimate for me.  How gorgeous would that be?! (Plus, a tiara, medal, pink boa, champagne, and chocolates at the finish line wouldn't hurt either!)

We got our race bibs!

One thing that I thought was really cool about the Disneyland expo was that ABC had a booth and did some television show research/screenings as well.  My mom and I went to see Ashley Judd's new show, Missing which airs in March.  I was surprised she transitioned from movies to tv (hopefully not for good!), but overall I thought her show was interesting.  I wrote a ton of comments on the back of the comment card, so you better read them ABC peeps!  We actually ended up staying for the next show as well.  I have seen commercials for The River during Revenge.  It was interesting, but it reminded me of Lost mixed with Paranormal Activity, so I don't think I'll be watching that in the future.  I am more of an action/drama lover than a sci-fi buff. 

While at the screening, I met Ruty Rutenberg.  He moved from the South to LA to pursue acting.  He announced the beginning of each screening and gave a brief intro to the shows - the guys sitting around us all whispered that they wanted his voice!  It was great talking to him about the ABC shows and some of his acting gigs.  I wish I could have talked with him more about the entertainment business since I think its really interesting.  I told him he needs to move to Atlanta since its the Hollywood of the South!  He said he will move back to the South one day once he establishes himself in California and is ready to start a family - which I have no doubt he will be a big star in the future (should've gotten a photo with him for when that happens, right?! darn.).  Check out his website and "like"/"follow" him on Facebook and Twitter! - then you can say "I knew him when..." :o)

Ruty Rutenberg

After the Expo, we headed to Disneyland for some fun in the 80 degree sun!



Reason #34638 why Donna aka Yoga In Heels is my bff is because she always says I am going to be famous one day, so this photo made me think of her!

At Princess Aurora's castle! Its got nothing on Cinderella's castle in Florida...I'm just saying.



The coolest room I have ever been in - the Beauty and the Beast library!  In LOVE!

On Sunday, we woke up at 3:30am for the race.  Thankfully it started (and finished) right outside of our hotel!    The sunrise was gorgeous coming over the mountains at the beginning of the race.  One thing I loved about the race was the course.  It ran through Disneyland, the city of Anaheim and California Adventures.  Once inside Disneyland, there were a ton of photo opportunities.  We had to stop for all of them, of course!  Unfortunately, we realized we weren't yet to mile 3 and our time was almost at an hour!  At mile 3, the sweepers warned us that we needed to pick it up or they would pick US up!  Umm...Scary!?  I wanted my race bling aka my medal!  From then on, we booked it.  I don't think I stopped running from that point on except to drink water at the stations and eat GU gummies (I recommend these if you think GU gel is nasty like I do!) .  We ended up finishing just under 3 hours which was my goal!

Me, Donna/Yoga In Heels, and Becca - we all went to high school together!

With the princesses and princes!

With Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip outside their castle!



Tinks with Wendy and Peter!



This photo is out of place, but I just wanted to throw it in because how gorgeous is the sunrise over the mountains!?



FINISH!

bling, bling!

Now we are onto the next half in a month - the Walt Disney World Princess Half in Orlando, Florida.  The Tink  Half has definitely made me want to get back into training ASAP!  The last two miles of the race Sunday were killer.  I thought I was going to throw up.  Plus, there was blood dripping down my ankle, lots of sweat and glitter pixie dust (hence the title of this post)!  Thankfully, Yoga In Heels had some encouraging words.  She better be practicing her inspirational speeches for the Princess Half too - where I will be running my first half marathon for an actual good time!  Sunday was also neat because we got to meet up with our family that lives out here after the race as well!

The fam on the Indiana Jones ride!

Did you run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon this weekend?  If so, comment below and tell me your opinion on the expo/race especially if you have run in other runDisney events.