I am not proud to report where the NH and I are on our training, but I am proud to report where we are on our training based on the craptucular winter we've had here in the lovely midwest of blah. We have battled stomach illness, colds, fevers, bronchitis, muscle aches, ankle pain, foot pain plus vacation time and weekend-long visits with family. But through all of this, we are sitting here looking at 51% of our total training sessions completed since December 16th. That's...not a great number, but given everything we've dealt with and the extreme length of this training (which is crazy, now that I think about it), I'm happy with it.
I realize that if I were running this thing alone, I would have gone about this differently. I think both NH and I are in the same boat when it comes to that. We both realized not too long ago that we walk/run differently when the other person isn't with us. For some reason, we both compensate for the other being there by slowly down (even when it's not necessary). I think if we were both doing this as single runners, with no intent of staying together, we would be in a vastly different place than we are now.
However, our intent was to do this thing together. So that's what we're doing, and we've both had to adjust for the other's illnesses and battles these past few months. It's been a lesson in patience for me, and I'm sure he's had to adjust to some things as well. It's so different to train with someone, and it doesn't always make it easy. But this is something we both love, and I can't imagine not sharing it with my best friend. That just doesn't make any sense to me, so onward and upward we go!
I've fixed up our training schedule for these last few days, and it goes a little something like this:
- Thu 4/7: 2.5 mile walk/run
- Sat 4/9: 5 mile walk/run (or as far as we can get)
- Mon 4/11: 30 min walk/run
- Wed 4/13: either a 30 min walk/run or a 30 min cross-training
- Fri 4/15: (in Florida) light walking at theme parks
- Sat 4/16: Race Day
In other fun Star Wars runDisney related news, I finished the daggone costume, yo! Seriously, the Asajj Ventress Clone Wars inspired running costume is complete, and I - for the most part - am happy with it. I ran into some issues, though, and I learned some things that I want to try and keep in mind for costumes in the future...
I'll share some pictures here, but I'll put all my process and notes under a cut. So y'all don't get too bored if you don't want to be... ;)
(clickable thumbnails)
First of all, I had a heck of a time working on the front burgundy/gold tabard for the skirt. I had to hand draw the pattern for her tabard, which I did on a large roll of brown pattern paper. I folded my initial paper in half and drew only half the design (since it's symmetrical on both sides). I then cut out the image and immediately wished I had done one of two things. 1) Decided I was going to actually transfer this image in burgundy onto something gold (because otherwise, my design was just obnoxious to cut out and flimsy in places) or 2) cut the pattern out of something much more durable than butcher paper.
The next hurdle was trying to figure out how to adhere this pattern to the vinyl so I could do my painting. I knew Scotch tape was a bad idea because the pattern had to stick as close to the vinyl as possible so when I spray painted it (my initial idea), nothing would bleed through to other areas of the vinyl. I tried to find a repositional glue stick that I had read about, but WalMart failed me. Again. Surprise surprise. So I picked up some Scotch brand repositional sticky pad things. They were round, clear, and you could stick and restick them as much as you wanted. So I cut them down to size when needed, attached them to my pattern, and then attached them to my tabard.
It was then that I realized the spray paint I had found in my garage from another project was not gold. Grr. I tried it out, but it tested more silver than anything. So back to the drawing board. I didn't want to really leave the sticky pads on the vinly overnight and it was pretty late. What I had nearby was a gold Sharpie marker, so I pulled that out. I transferred the pattern onto the vinyl using a Sharpie. I even tested it first - no problems, didn't wipe off, looked great. I finished it, left it overnight, came back the next day, started to attach it to the belt...got gold on my hands. And on my pretty white belt (thankfully on the back of it). I panicked. I went to the internet.
The internet suggested a Clear Coat, but not all of the internet agreed. I figured I wasn't out much if the Clear Coat didn't work - I'd still have to make another version. So I purchased some Clear Coat, sprayed down the thing and waited for it to dry. Meanwhile, in between my coats, I started on Plan B.
I had enough vinyl left to make one more version of the tabard, so I went back to the initial Plan B I had in mind. I had purchased some gold, adhesive paper from JoAnn Fabrics, and I thought I could cut the design out of the paper and then adhere that to the vinyl. I used my pattern again (those little Scotch sticky pad things were so handy), and I tracked my design onto the back of the paper. I then used my ruler to clean up my lines (something I couldn't do with the Sharpie marker), and I cut the pattern out using an X-Acto knife. It looked...awesome. That's all I can see. It looked so crisp and clear and awesome, but way more glittery than I had initially hoped. But I was okay with that this time. It was a running costume anyway, so a little glitz couldn't hurt.
I had no difficulties transferring the adhesive paper onto the vinyl aside from a few corners peeling up a bit. I still haven't been able to fix those, even with a few layers of Clear Coat. And this is where I hit my next snag that I've just had to learn to live with. The Clear Coat on the vinyl with the paper...turned my pretty gold into a very dark gold color. I'm not sure why the color change, but it was definitely there. When I saw it by itself, I was still upset. Hated it. Was so mad. But when I put the whole outfit together and realized who is really going to care?, I felt a lot better about it.
I ended up machine stitching two pieces of Velcro onto the front of the tabard, and I stitched the corresponding Velcro to the back elastic of my belt buckle. That was the best way to attach the thing to the belt so it wouldn't be obnoxious.
I tried on everything, and I felt slightly chunky - I'll be honest. lol But I think it will look pretty darned good when I'm out there with it.
So - things I learned:
- Sharpie will rub off of your vinyl, no matter what you do. Clear Coat does not help or seal it.
- Perhaps I could use a Sharpie paint pen or something. But regular Sharpies are a firm "no".
- Adhesive paper is cool stuff.
- Adhesive paper will turn color when you apply a Clear Coat.
- You can use Super Glue to adhere Sculpey to fabric. Hot glue does not work.
- You can make your own bias tape...but make sure you cut it on the bias. Because it's...bias...tape. Yeah.
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