A Girl Against the Universe - a Running Story

So a few years ago I picked up something I never thought I would - running.

I was always the little chubby kid in gym class.  The one that got picked last for teams.  The one that couldn't finish running "the mile" test.  The one that liked literature, music, and art way more than physical activity.  Then, a few years back, I was trying to think of something I had never done before.  I wanted a new goal - something brand new and shiny to work on achieving.  Something I never thought I'd ever be able to accomplish.  So I set out with a Couch to 5k app and a goal to run my first 5K.

I did it.  And from there I ran a couple more 5Ks.  Then the Nerd Husband and I trained for the Inaugural Star Wars Dark Side 10K at Walt Disney World.  It was freaking amazing.

Then our world blew up.  The Nerd Husband's grandfather grew sicker until he was finally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  He passed away quickly after a hellish fight.  Then my biological mother had a stroke while we were in Florida, and there I was - worrying for my family until I could get back home.  Then - most recently - we had an ice storm, and the Nerd Husband fell in our driveway and broke his left hip.  We lived with my parents for a month until he could come home and do the stairs (slowly and only once a day in the beginning).

Needless to say, we haven't been home much.  Our house has suffered for it.  We have suffered for it - physically and mentally.  It's been trying.  Running fell to the wayside.  Making it through to the next day was really the only goal.

During this last trial - the Nerd Husband's accident - I came up with my next plan.  In between sitting in the hospital with my husband and doing the drives back and forth from our house to gather things, take a shower or feed our kitty, it dawned on me that I wanted to show the universe it wouldn't break me.  It wouldn't throw all of this at me and see me back down without a fight.  I remember saying out loud, "No.  I refuse to feel like this, and I won't let you tear me down."  Plus, I was doing all of this to help someone else.  And I'd been helping other people for so long.  I needed to do something purely for me.

I vowed to figure out something I had never done before and make me feel badass, strong, and rebellious against the universe.  I thought about a tattoo or dyeing my hair another color.  But then my brain rested upon one thought...

I'll run a half marathon.

Not sure that was a normal train of thought.  But then again, I've never claimed to be normal.

I've always been interested in the runDisney half marathons.  I remember being there right after Princess weekend and seeing all of the people on the buses and in the parks with their medals.  It was really inspiring because there were people of all shapes, sizes, and walks of life.  It looked like a goal that anyone could obtain with training and tenacity.  I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever be one of those people, but I wanted to be one of those people.  Plus, how wonderful would it be to run through the place that holds so many wonderful family memories for me.  Family and friends and people I don't have with me anymore.  They're all still there, in that place, in those moments.

The details are fuzzy on how it all came about, and it was a while before I put my mind to a permanent decision on when this would all go down.  I recall asking my virtual running group for advice, signing up for a local 10K (for experience and a time to submit), writing out a training schedule, and then eventually marking my vacation time in my work calendar for "February 2019".

Princess Half Marathon 2019 had been decided.

Now I have a little Disney Princess dry erase board from the Dollar Tree sitting in my cubicle at work, counting down the days to registration.  I have nerves floating around in my gut because the registration process got changed this year, and they pushed the dates further away than originally planned.  I have a countdown on my phone, and I'm debating where the best place to stay is and how to make this all work.

Best of all, I have a goal, and I'm nervous as hell about it - but it's mine.  And that is so stinking exciting that I can't even begin to explain to you how exciting it is.  This is mine, and no one can take it from me.  I know that bad things can happen, and chances are they totally will.  Who even knows what will/could happen when I'm away next February?  But bad stuff is going to happen no matter where you are, who you're with, or what you try to do to prevent it.  You can't prevent life.  Life finds a way.  The best you can do is live your life for you.  Do the things you can do while you can do them.  Share your strength and love with others.  And remember to be kind to you.  Always.  In all things.

Now, if you'll excuse me, this princess has a half marathon training schedule to contemplate.

Star Wars Dark Side 10K - Part 2

We woke up Saturday morning while it was still dark outside (again).  I think the alarm was set for 2:45 AM or so.  We dressed quickly and headed out to the bus stop to be there by 3:30 AM.  I'd finished the Asajj Ventress costume, and I was pretty darned proud of it.  It was time to take it out and show it off and be Sithly!  There was a line at the bus stop at our hotel, but it wasn't too bad of a wait and the bus pulled up quickly.  We hopped on, and we were off to the races.

It was awesome driving on the property in the dark.  Pulling into the Epcot parking lot where it's just a barren wasteland of parking spaces but you can see Spaceship Earth in the distance - that was just cool.  We pulled up to the drop off area, and we kind of blindly followed the crowds as we walked...and walked...and walked to the main area.  It was kind of a ridiculous walk, honestly.  There were a few volunteers, some people checking bags.  We didn't have to worry about any of that, so we figured we'd have plenty of time to maybe get a picture or two with some characters or some schemes.

When we got to the main area, it looked like the party had been in full swing for hours to be honest.  If busses didn't start running until 3:30 (and we were on that bus), where did all of these people come from?  The lines for the characters and photo scenes were outrageous, and they were already announcing the fact that they were closing the lines in 15 minutes because it was almost time to get people to their corrals.  Weird.  But maybe it's always like this.  I have no idea; it's my first event.

So we enjoy the DJ silliness and fan crazies - DJ Elliott was providing some entertainment, and it honestly felt like being "home" at a Star Wars Celebration.  So that part was pretty neat, and we decided not to worry about the pictures.  It's not like we couldn't grab those at a convention later on.  I saw one other Asajj Ventress costumed runner, but other than that, Asajj wasn't anywhere to be seen!  That kind of made me sad considering all of the time she got on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but oh well.  About 20-30 minutes went by or so, and then they announced they were moving people to the corrals.  So we follow the herd (literally) to our corrals, find corral E, get in place and get ready.

Get ready to be smushed in with a bunch of other people for about an hour and a half, unable to sit, unable to stretch, unable to do anything but stand and watch Star Wars trailers and have conversations with the people around you.  And freeze.  It was pretty darned cold that early in the morning, and we just kept having to think warm thoughts and huddle together.  I guess that was one good thing about being packed in so tightly.  But the wind was just brutal at times.

The Nerd Husband and I spent time pointing out costumes in the sea of people who just kept flooding into the corral section.  It was seriously never-ending, and they kept packing us in tighter and tighter.  I knew right then there was going to be no way I could run this thing.  Not in the slightest.  Even if I had a hope of breaking through in some way, I had a feeling it was going to be like this most of the 6ish miles we had to go.

They released each corral with a length of 10-15 minutes in between.  Something like that.  I didn't time it; it would have annoyed me far too much, I think.  But I spent my time in a pleasant mood instead - watching the fireworks and cheering for the corrals as they were released.  Patiently waiting to move up, and finally...it was our turn.  Corral E.  The "Evil" Corral as we then referred to ourselves.  It's the Dark Side 10K, after all.

We got our on your mark, get set, gooooooooooo - FIREWORKS!  I filmed it on my phone, we walked until we go to about the start line, and then jogged lightly over the start - because c'mon, you kind of have to start off a run at least kind of running.  I think I gave a thumbs up to the camera guy, but who knows if it was broadcasted on the screens to corral F (the only folks left waiting to start the race).

We did our running through the Epcot parking lot and met up with a high school band who was playing Star Wars music.  That was a great pump-up, and it made me so excited to be outside running(?) at Epcot.  We managed to do a few run/walk intervals, but it was proving to be difficult to keep up with our interval timer on my phone.  Even this early on, we were kind of bottle necking in places - especially as we moved our way into Epcot.  It was then that we decided that we would do what we could with our intervals, keep up with the folks that were close to us in the corral, and speed up when necessary to not get swept.  Honestly, this was the best decision of the race - the decision to not make it a "race". 

I never even saw the mile marker for the first mile - who knows what I was gawking at.  It could have been the backstage view of Epcot, trying to figure out what the buildings were for and what they housed in them.  Or waving at the cast members who were cheering for us.  Or checking out the back gate that was open into Mexico as we rounded the corners to Star Wars music playing.  The lights on the Mexican pavilion as we made our way into the park and up the pathway toward the entrance to the World Showcase.  Or looking at the giant screen playing Star Wars movie clips.  Of course, then there was Spaceship Earth - that ball never ceases to amaze me.  Somewhere in there I think I saw Artoo and Vader, and I just kept staring at it all and smiling and walking quickly or jogging a bit when I could find a place to break through.

We rounded into Canada and the UK, and then the path took the bridge toward the "back door" of Epcot with the intent of moving on to the Boardwalk area using a little bridge.  It was kind of a narrow little pain-in-the-butt pathway, let me tell you.  But again, we treated it like a walk-fest when we couldn't do our intervals.  No big deal until you see the balloon ladies, right?  (The balloon ladies, by the way, are women who do Disney races and walk at the back of the pack at the correct official pace time.  It's my understanding that they carry balloons so you can see them, and you don't want to fall behind them because then you will be swept.  I am proud to say we never saw the balloon ladies.)

The best thing about this little narrow path was a lady at the end of it who was cheering people on.  She had a sign that said sometime like "Good job, Random Stranger.  You can do this!"  It literally made me laugh of loud, and I said, "Thank you, Random Stranger!  That's awesome."

The Boardwalk was just a nightmare to run on with all of those people - lol.  So we walked it.  And then we walked quite a bit of the pathway from the Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios, doing little jog spurts when we could get into a good groove and not get in the way.  I was starting to worry around this time that it was going to rain on us; we felt a few little misty drops, but that was about it.  We ran under a little bridge down by the river that they had bathed in deep red lights and Darth Vader's breathing was playing on a loop.  It was pretty cool, but that was about the only thing we saw until we got to Hollywood Studios.

I honestly don't recall what characters or stops or anything were in Hollywood Studios.  It was just neat seeing the whole place in the early dawn light.  The lights were still on, and the cast members just seemed genuinely thrilled that we were up and out this early in the morning being stupid.

From here on out, the pathway is kind of a blur to me, and I'd have to sit down with a map to really show you were we were.  I remember seeing an alligator in a little bog-like thing off of a main road.  That was a fun little pit stop.  I think my favorite part of this last bit of the run, though, was running down this little dirt/gravel access road.  We were surrounded by trees and everything, and it felt a bit like running through Endor.  I loved that.

The homestretch was back at ESPN Wide World of Sports, complete with dozens of costumed Rebel Legion and 501st folks.  I stopped long enough to ask a stormtrooper if I could take a selfie with him, and he obliged.  And then...

FINISH LINE!

I filmed going across the finish line, too.  They were calling out names of people as they crossed, but I don't remember hearing my name.  Not a big deal.  I finished.  I got my medal placed around my neck, and I was given a box of goodies.  There was really no place to sit down except on the pavement which was weird, so we just took our box of goodies and our awesome medals and decided to head back to the bus.  There were huge lines waiting for the bus, and we were all very hot and tired and still standing and waiting.  That was just...hard.  Really hard.  We got in a conversation with teh couple in front of us, and it helped pass the time.

Back at the hotel, I prompted pulled off my shoes.  Wearing new socks was a bad idea, and my feet were swollen.  That never happened during any of my training sessions, so it was a new one.  I let my feet rest and I gobbled through some of my goodies.  Then the Nerd Husband took a nap, and I drew up a hot bath and relaxed.  Who needs a hot tub when you've got a bath tub?  Yay, value resorts!

After our rest, we decided to head out to actually get to enjoy the Epcot Flower and Garden festival, and we spent the rest of the day on our feet.  My phone told me at the end of the day that it was my "most active day ever" - clocking in at a crazy 18.25 miles.  Holy.  Mother.  Of pearls.

So as a conclusion regarding the Dark Side 10K race - all-in-all, I had a pretty good time with it.  Did I have some gripes?  Yep.  Did I have some nerdy geek moments?  Yep.

Let's start with the complaining first.  ;)

Gripes

• The walk from the bus pick-up/drop-off to the Expo and the Finish Line.
• This was just hard.  Normally, it wouldn't have bothered me, but I was trying to prep for a race.  And then afterward, I was trying to recover from a race.  I felt like all of that walking just tacked another 5K onto my distance, to be honest.  Can we just move the bus area closer to wherever it is we need to be?
• Expo merchandise
• There was nothing left that was worth getting, and we were there very early on the 2nd day of the Expo.  My guess from reading message boards and other blogs is that local eBayers come out, purchase a bunch of merchandise, and then resell at crazy prices on eBay.  Sure enough, I did some searches, and that's what happened.  I hate this.  Please, there are some people who this is their first race.  Maybe just having a magnet to put on our cars would make us feel kind of cool, you know?
• Narrow pathways and too many people - not able to "race"
• I understand that part of this is because I was in the next-to-the-last corral, but surely something could have been done.  Maybe even split up the last couple of corrals.  I don't know, but it was kind of upsetting to not be able to do what I'd trained to do.  I accepted that fact early on, though, and it made life easier.  Next time, I know - submit a proof of time and get in an earlier corral.
• More entertainment in some places
• There were times when there was just...nothing.  Not a lot of times, but I know there's that stretch of road from Hollywood Studios until the access road where my greatest entertainment was the girl who complimented my Asajj hat (without realizing what it was) and the alligator I saw in the bog.  I didn't need much, really.  Maybe even just some music or a random Star Wars character holding a sign.  Nothing big.  But there were times it just seemed quiet.
•  Fix the Race Day photo weirdness
• If you're on the first bus at 3:30, but by the time you get to the Race all of the photo ops are closing...something is wrong.  Severely wrong.  If you need to start busses earlier, that's fine.  If you need to start the festivities later, then that's okay, too.  But it doesn't seem okay that for some reason those of us who stayed on property got left out of the photo op fun.
• Fix the Race Day walk to the corrals
• Did we really have to trek that far to our corrals?  lol  Holy cow.  I mean, I really don't care in the long run - what does it matter?  But that just seemed a bit of a stretch to me.
• Seating at the Finish line - benches, maybe
• I'm not sure how to fix this one, but I saw so many people sitting in the sun on the pavement trying to eat their banana.  It was hot and uncomfortable, and there they sat.  It didn't seem quite fair, and I think that's why we just opted to go to the busses.  Maybe a tent?  Some bench seating or something?  
• Buses
• More of them, maybe?  Or just shaded areas to wait for them?  

And now for some nerdy geek moments...

Fangirl Squee-worthy Moments

• 501st and Rebel Legion volunteers
• I was so glad to see all of those costumers out there supporting the runners and walkers.  That truly made my morning because there were so many of them and so easily accessible to everyone for pictures and whatnot.  Those of us who couldn't afford to wait in official character lines got a chance to take a picture with these folks, and that was just awesome.  I really appreciated them being there.
• Epcot backstage
• Why this made me as happy as it did, I have no idea.  There isn't much back there, but it still felt like I was getting away with something by being somewhere I'm traditionally not allowed to be.  
• Epcot in the early morning
• What more can I say?  Epic.
• High school band playing Star Wars music
• This pumped me up quite a bit, and I needed it after standing in the wind for about an hour and a half.  Thank you, bandies!
• Random Conversations with strangers
• I'm weird; I know.  But this is the part of a convention that always means quite a bit to me - getting into random conversations with random people that you'll never meet otherwise.  You meet these people right now - in that moment - because you're sharing something cool.  You're sharing fandom.  And yes, I'm a natural-born introvert, but I still love interactions like this.
• Getting to wear my medal to the park
• You get into all sorts of conversations with people.  You exchanges congratulations with other racers.  You get congratulated by cast members, and some of them even stop to admire your medal.  It was just another way to meet more smiling people; I liked that.

So it was a mixed bag of good and bad - as most things are, really.  I don't want to knock this event completely in a hole and cover it up for dead because it's just starting, and I think it could be a really great thing.  I'd love to attend next year's race, but due to the timing of it (the weekend immediately after Star Wars Celebration), I just can't make it work.  Perhaps next time...

Star Wars Dark Side 10K - Part 1

I realize that I flake out on writing when I have to write about something huge - like the Star Wars Dark Side 10K race in April.  Yep.  April.  Like over a month ago now.  I've ignored it that long.  It just always seems so intimidating, and I ask myself all of these questions.  What if you leave something out?  What if you ramble on too long?  Do you really want to talk about how your bank closed down your credit card when you tried to buy your annual passes?  Do you only talk about the good things?  My word, how many blog posts will this take?  No one really reads it anyway, so why are you doing this?  

And the list goes on.

So first, I apologize to myself for being a slacker.  Secondly, we're going to go back in time just a little and talk about a few things regarding the race weekend.  Things I liked and things that need a bit more help in my book.

This was my first runDisney race, so I realize that this was all new to me.  I have no idea how past events have been, so none of that clouded my thoughts on how the weekend went.  That being said - all in all - I had a great time, and I'll definitely be attending a future runDisney event at some point.  I think the Star Wars race is a great concept, full of fun people and fans, but I think it requires some tweaking to make it a truly great event.

So let's see if I can actually write up some sort of trip report here based on what I can remember...

First day we arrived in Florida, we took an ungodly flight time (had to get up at 2:40 AM) and landed in Florida around 8 AM.  We hopped the Disney Magical Express to All Star Sports, checked in and linked our credit card to our Magic Bands (first time we've tried this, and there's more on this to come), dropped off some bags with luggage services, and we took a bus to Epcot.

This year, the Nerd Husband and I celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, so we figured our big gift to ourselves would be annual passes to Disney World.  One of our favorite parks is Epcot, so we figured we'd head on over there and purchase our passes first thing our first morning.  No problem.  Until our credit card company flipped out at the amount we'd just charged in another state, and they put a block on our account.  So we then get out of line, go to call the bank, fix the problem, get back in line, get the same Customer Service Cast Member, and finally get our card to run and get our tickets in our hot little hands.  We get a nifty little Annual Passholder booklet, and we feel kind of special.

It's a pretty early morning, so crowds are low and the weather is feeling pretty darned good.  We know that future world is open, but we're not exploring just yet because we have other plans.  We walk on back to France to Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie.  This is seriously one of our favorite (if not favorite) places to eat in all of Epcot.  We picked up a croissant and a cold ham/cheese sandwich to split for breakfast.  Good times, let me tell you.

After breakfast, we head on out the back door of Epcot because we figure the next thing on our list to get done in the runDisney Expo.  We exit the park and walk on toward the Beach Club resort where we picked up a bus to the Expo.  No problems there; it worked like a charm.

The bus dropped us off at the Expo...or at least a mile or two from the Expo.  Seriously, it was a hike from the bus drop-off to the actual Expo buildings.  It was a little ridiculous, to be honest - especially if you had a race/races to be attending that weekend on top of theme park walking.  Oy.  But we made it with no problems, and the grounds of the ESPN Wide World of Sports are kind of interesting.  Nothing hugely special, but kind of neat to finally see it.  We picked up our bibs with no problem at check-in, and I got my pre-ordered 10K pin.  We then headed out to check out the merchandise.

This is where the disappointment kind of sets in.  The Expo was pretty easy to navigate but also a little strangely set up.  There were at least two places to purchase official merchandise, and neither one of them was remotely close to one another.  The Expo opened Thursday morning, the day before we go there.  We were there around 10:30 AM on Friday...and seriously there was almost nothing worth getting.  I picked up one shirt because this was my first event, so I felt I had to have something.  There were lots of pins left, but there were no car magnets.  No hats.  We found one cool shirt I would have loved to purchase for the NH, but it wasn't his size and it was the only one left.  We later found out they only had that one because it had been returned.  The Dooney and Bourke handbags that had looked so neat on the internet looked...well, not great in person.  That was disappointing as well.  So I got my shirt (and remember my newly acquired annual pass discount), and we just sort of wandered around for the rest of the Expo. 

It was then that we figure we'd grab a quick drink while at ESPN and figure out our next move before heading out.  We went to the little food court there, ordered two drinks, and scanned our magic band.  Nothing.  Actually, something - it said we were "over our charge limit".  *sigh*  More credit card bank issues - yay.  So I finally just use my debit card to get the drinks, the NH spends a good portion of time on the phone with the credit card company, and we finally get everything worked out eventually.  Our credit limit is fine - company isn't sure why the error read that way, and they assure us we're okay.  No block on the account.

From ESPN, we take a bus back to our resort to drop off our stuff, and we decide to just spend a bit of time at Magic Kingdom.  Why not?  We have annual passes, right?  Let's use 'em!  So we bus on over and hit a couple of our favorite rides.  The only ride I remember right now is the People Mover which is kind of sad because it's the People Mover - lol - but seriously, how do you skip that one?!  I love it!  We tried to purchase a drink in the Magic Kingdom using our Magic Bands - again - with more errors.  Finally, someone told us that it could be an issue with how the card was linked to our bands originally, and we could get our front desk to fix it.  Honestly, I gave up and just used my card.  So much easier than the headache of the silly band.

We left the Magic Kingdom early because we knew we needed to get some dinner and hit the hay early for the race the next day.  We decided to grab a bite at Earl of Sandwich at Disney Springs, which suited us just fine.  But man, that line gets longer and longer every year; soon we'll need two locations!  By then, it was nearing bedtime, so we bussed on back to the All Star Sports, got ready for bed, and hit the hay early.

I am so glad we did...because two days of waking up at 2:40 AM will just about kill you.  But when you're running on adrenaline and geekery, you're probably going to be okay.

Next time: the actual "race"

Oh, She's Not Dead. Not Yet.

I've been putting off posting because I have too much to say and just not enough time (or brain power) to sit down and say it.  So I decided a while ago that I should wait, collect my thoughts, and then type it all out for the blog.  Then the brain went "OMG SO MANY MUCH THOUGHTS", and it flipped out.  So I haven't written a thing until now.

It doesn't really hurt anyone but myself when I don't write about stuff, so really - I'm not out much.  lol  But I really want to make an effort to keep this blog going and up to date because it's a pretty good source of hope and inspiration for me.  All too often, we deal with the negative things in life and have to wade our way through the crap of work, mean people, personal issues, and interpersonal relationships.  But here, I'm doing my best to focus on two over-arching things that bring me joy - Star Wars and Disney.  That's a lot of happy stuff right there, so I don't want that die out.

Right now, though, my brain is tired.  I need to still gather up my mental and physical resources to come back here and type out something that makes some sense.  Maybe there's just too much going on in my brain, and I can't fit it all in one post.  So what I'll do is make myself a little list of ideas - things I've been wanting to talk about but not having the time.

• Recap of the Disney trip in April - complete with Dark Side 10K race details (short story - we finished, we got medals, we looked awesomely geeky, my feet hurt)
• Costume ideas for Disney trip in October for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
• Announcement of Star Wars Celebration in Orlando next April 2017
• Which leads to...costume ideas for Star Wars Celebration next year

I'm sure there are other things, but that's kind of where I'm sitting with it all right now.  I might come back and adjust this list or just leave it as is because it's still kind of overwhelming to look at on an early Monday morning.

Bags Are Packed!

We completed our last scheduled run at the Community Center last night in preparation for the Star Wars Dark Side 10K at Walt Disney World this Saturday.  I figured it was fitting to choose locker #77 for my last run (Star Wars 1977...made sense to me).  We did an easy 2 miles of run/walk, no timer, but we kept up our regular 30/60 interval.  Aside from just feeling horribly tired in general, we both felt pretty good after this run.  Last night and the long run this past weekend have made both the Nerd Husband and me feel pretty good about this coming weekend. 

I think we can do this.

It's been fun perusing the Disboards, watching everyone get excited for the upcoming races.  People are posting pictures of their costumes - which always makes me happy to see what people come up with.  There are folks making dinner plans, discussing options on what to do regarding injuries, and people just generally fanboy and girl squeeing all over the place.  It reminds me of my old message board days on StarWars.com, and that makes me rather happy.  I need that right now, I think - just a bit of old fashioned happiness.

Our bag is packed and ready to go, aside from those "get ready" items that you kind of need to - you know - get ready.  Toothbrush, stuff like that.  That will get tossed in the suitcase early on Friday morning, and we'll head on out to the airport to start this year of Disney craziness off right.  I have a few things I still need to take care of - just have to work on getting my carry-on put together, and then I think I'm golden.  That will be my job this evening.

I had so many projects I wanted to complete for this trip.  My brain went into overdrive on creativity, but I had to nix those due to time and stress.  I didn't want to stress.  It wasn't worth it.  So I set those things off to the side for "later".  I'd like to come back to them, eventually.

For now, that's what I've got to share.  It's not much, but we're getting closer...

Training and Costuming - A Dark Side Update

There's quite a few things to be updated on in terms of the upcoming runDisney Star Wars Dark Side 10K race.  I keep watching my little race ticker count down the days, and it's so hard to believe that the Nerd Husband and I will be on a plane to Florida in just nine days.  9 days.  9.  When you write is as a numeral it just seems scary because it's just one digit.  Not two.  1 not 2.  Yep - see?  Scarier.

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

So...this is the moment of truth time.  Right now I know we're capable of staying under the 16 minute/mile pace requirement, and that might be all we really need right now.  I know us.  We might not be runners, but we are finishers.  We're pretty fit for the most part, and we're definitely capable of walking this distance with no problems.  So I think that plus all of the course entertainment and the characters and the costumes and everything will carry us through to finish this with no problem.  That's what I'm holding on to - hope.  Because hope is a good thing and no good thing ever dies (thank you, Andy Dufresne).

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)

"You Want the Impossible"

I'm feeling a bit discouraged.

We had a long run scheduled for yesterday - which was rough anyway since we were out of town visiting the Nerd Husband's family.  We figured we'd be able to get out with the nice weather, though, and put in our 4.5 miles.  However, overeating and not eating things we were used to caused some problems to crop up, and NH had to back out of the long run.  We were going to just take a break and get back to it, but then his brother had driven in to visit.  So it didn't seem right to go back out and ignore family that we rarely get to see.

So we completed 2.4 miles of the 4.5 mile run.  We plan on doing the other 2.1 miles tonight, just to say we completed it.  But it doesn't feel "real" to me.

I'm worried for the NH because he hasn't really been able to finish any of the long runs due to health issues.  Some days are better than others, and he's on top of the world.  Then there are days that are just...like Sunday.  They suck.  It's discouraging to him, and I keep trying to talk him up and help him out.  But I don't know what else I can do to help. 

I really want to finish this race because it's my own personal goal, but I would feel awful if I would have to leave him behind to do it.  So I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

Add to that the fact that I'm personally upset by some other family stuff that's going on, and it's just not making for a very good Monday, really.  At all.  I feel kind of useless and sad and blah, and that's not a good mental attitude to have.  I know that.  But I'm not sure what to do about it right now when all of these signs are pointing to "you're not prepared and you can't handle this".

I guess we'll just keep going.  Do our best when it gets here.  And if we're swept - oh well. 

For the First Time in Forever

Earlier this week, I shared how I had to (yet again) adjust the training schedule I had laid out for the Star Wars Dark Side 10K.  Everything seemed to be blocking us from regular training sessions, including injury.  Today, I am proud to say that we completed the first two cross-training sessions that I had listed on the new schedule.

And then, last night, the Nerd Husband and I got out for the "First Time In Forever" to run (fun little Frozen reference there...totally accidental, and then I realized it - it made me giggle).  It was hard to push off that guilty feeling that we'd been falling behind on our training, but taking the break really made more sense than pushing it through illness and injury.  Much better to sit out, rest, and get back at it slowly but surely.  We talked it out and figured we'd adjust our walk/run interval slightly until we got back into the groove of things.  Instead of our traditional 30 sec run / 45 sec walk, we went with a 30 sec run / 60 sec walk.

The results of the revised training were very interesting this week, to say the least.

First off, in our past sessions, I realized that I tend to pick up my pace when I'm run/walking on my own versus when the NH is with me.  My lap times were quicker when I was going solo, which I thought was really weird because he is traditionally faster than me in walking and running.  This week, the NH was walking on his own because my foot just wasn't having any of it.  So I would do strength training while he walked/ran solo around the track. 

He came up to me after the first time he did this and said, "So I found out something interesting.  If I walk at a really good clip, my times are *insert time here*." 

I kind of laughed at him and said, "That's really strange.  So you're walking faster by yourself than when I'm with you.  Which is weird because I did the same thing when I was walking solo."

So somehow - we hold each other back.  Which was a new and weird realization for the both of us.  We were both compensating our pace for the other person when it really wasn't necessary.  I think that has actually stuck with us, and we're going to hold on to that knowledge.

The other interesting thing came from adjusting our pace down to a 30 sec run / 60 sec walk.  We ran a solid 2 miles - no more, no less.  We weren't winded at the end, and we felt pretty darned good considering it had been forever since we'd done this!  Then I checked our time.

28 minutes and 43 seconds.  A 14:21 min/mile pace.  We were doing worse than that on some days that we were doing 30/45 second intervals.  Holy cow!

So the moral here is I think we're training all sorts of wrong, but hey - practice makes perfect.  We're making as educated of an attempt at this as we can, but we're still learning.  We've also decided we're going to stick with this pace for now, get back up to speed, and then we'll make a decision from there. 

All in all, though, we're pretty darned excited and back at it again!

Updated Training Schedule

Annnnnnd we're back.  With another not-so-exciting update from the land of sickness and despair!

Wow - 'cause that wasn't a depressing intro.  ;)

Seriously, it's been not-so-great in the 10K training aspect of life right now.  The Nerd Husband's illness was a setback.  My cold was a setback.  My resulting bronchitis was a setback.  My hours of sleep to get over said cold and bronchitis were a setback.

Then came the weird ankle/toe pain of last week that lasted over the weekend and into today.  That, too, was (and still might be?) a setback.  The weekend was spent icing the thing to the point of Hoth numbness and rejoicing the fact that I found a tube of Bengay cream in the medicine cabinet.  The cat was quite appalled at my lethal peppermint smell; it was amusing.  However, the pain associated with this setback was (and still occasional is) not amusing.  I'm attributing the ankle/toe issue to a case of bad footwear - probably a pair of cheap boots that I wore to work last week.  So I'm now making it a priority to not wear boots to work before April 16th.  Nope.  Just the Dr. Scholl's old lady work shoes for me, buddy.  I also decided to order myself a new pair of tennis shoes for walking from my car to work each day.  My old ones are starting to wear down, and I really want to take care of my feet for this race.

Unfortunately, all of these setbacks mean that I had to revise the schedule.  Again.  I know that I need to ease back into this whole running thing, and the last "long run" I did was 4.25 miles.  The NH didn't make it to the end of that run; he managed 3.14 (ha!  PI!) miles before he had to sit out due to allergy/breathing issues.  That run also led directly into my bout of bronchitis, so we both really aren't doing so well.  So I'm trying to ease us back into running, gently increasing the mileage as well as working on our overall strength.  I think we just need to build our bodies back up to being awesome, and it's going to take a bit of work.  Knowing that, I decided to throw in some cross-training days and adjust the schedule from our original Galloway training.

The new schedule for this week looks a bit like this:

Table Header	Table Header
Monday, March 21, 2016	15 min run; 25 min cross-train
Tuesday, March 22, 2016	20 min run; 20 min cross-train
Wednesday, March 23, 2016	2 miles
Thursday, March 24, 2016	REST
Friday, March 25, 2016	45 min cross-train
Saturday, March 26, 2016	REST
Sunday, March 27, 2016	4.5 miles

It's definitely going to be a challenge to get back up and ready to do all of this.  Plus, we aren't used to going to the community center this often.  I'm keeping my thoughts positive, though.  Hopefully I can keep the NH's thoughts positive, as well. 

In other news, I finally found a pair of running shorts that fit my properly!  I went to JC Penney's this weekend, and they happened to have their shorts out on the racks.  I picked up a pair of Xersion quick-dri compression shorts on sale, and I also found a pair of Nike shorts that I think might work out well!  I'm a little nervous about the Nike ones when it comes to running, but they fit well for everyday fitness and just overall, so I picked them up.  I'll test both out and see what works best. 

Now that I have shorts, that allows me to figure out where to hem the running skirt for the costume.  I put on the compression shorts last night, and I marked about where I think the hemline should be on the skirt.  I need to find my original pattern piece, mark my new, rounded hemline, and then finallly hem the darned thing.  That will also allow me to get going on the tabbard.  So I think things are finally going to move along on that, as long as I find the energy to get up off my butt and get to it.

We also got our magic bands in the mail last Friday.  They're the newer model of Magic Band, and you can definitely tell a difference.  Much lighter, thinner, and less clunky then the first version.  Plus, mine is purple.  So, you know, it's already superior to the old ones.  ;)  However, we're still awaiting our Magical Express paperwork.  I called last week to confirm that we were set up for ME, but I never did ask if they had sent the documentation.  I figured I would give them until this week, and then I would call just to make sure it was on its way.

I can't believe this is coming up as quickly as it is.  It seems like we were waiting on April forever, and now I'm freaking out because I don't feel like we're trained enough, prepared enough, etc.  But it will get here, and we will be where we will be.

Hopefully, we'll be okay.

Flowers and Gardens and Vader - Oh My!

In exactly one month, the runDisney Star Wars Dark Side race weekend kicks off with the 5K race on Friday morning.  That very same morning, the Nerd Husband and I will be on what I like to call the "butt crack of dawn" flight to Florida.  We will arrive at 7:35 AM.

Yes.  You read that right.  And yes.  We are crazy.

This trip is kind of an exciting one for both of us because it's incorporating so many awesome and wonderful things.

First, the inaugural runDisney Star Wars Dark Side races.  As I've mentioned before, we'll be participating in the 10K race on Saturday morning.  This is the first time either one of us has raced this distance, and I consider this a personal fitness goal.  This is also the first time either one of us has raced at Disney.  I've thought about it in the past.  Then I talked about it in the past.  Then it happened now.  So while this might be Walt Disney World's inaugural Dark Side race, this is our inaugural Disney Dark Side 10K race on all levels.  That's pretty special in my book of awesome.

Second, this trip falls right at the time of the NH's birthday.  The day after the race, we'll get to celebrate his birthday on his actual birthday at Disney.  That might sound kind of simple, but it feels kind of awesome.  I asked the NH if there was anything he wanted to do for his birthday or anywhere special he'd like to eat.  He chose Be Our Guest restaurant for dinner at Magic Kingdom, so that's our one major plan for the day.  We have a couple of FastPasses for that day, as well, and we'll just come and go as we please.  I might also have a surprise or two up my sleeve, but those are still in the works.  More to come on that later.  Much later.

Third, this trip marks the beginning of our "Year of Disney to Celebrate Five Years of Marriage".  That was my title I just now came up with it.  It's not great.  Actually, it's pretty bad.  I have a headache, and you'll have to forgive me.  The good title vibes are not yet flowing through my brain.  But this year marks our fifth wedding anniversary, and we decided that we were going to visit Florida at different times throughout the year, buy annual passes to the parks, and just spend our vacation time down there.  He's pretty excited about it (every time I turn around, he's looking up another dining menu), and I have to admit that I am, too.  I think it will be a great year.

Fourth, this trip falls during an event we have never been to - the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival.  We are garden people.  We have two garden boxes in our backyard which ususally contain tomatoes, green pepper, red peppers, jalapenos, any other kind of cool pepper we like, green beans, green onions, lettuce, herbs, and - on occasion - corn.  (I'm still learning on the corn.  It's been an experiment the last two years, and I've had...yeah, basically no success.  But we got half an ear last year!  So that's...something.)  We also love flowers, though we honestly don't take the time to do them around our own home.  We have a rose bush, a big old rose "tree" in the back yard, and I have some perennial phlox that I planted a while back.  When I do plant annuals, they tend to revisit a year or so later - like the rogue snapdragons that decided to nicely invade the walkway up to our front door.  Never planted them there.  Never even planted them in the ground.  Planted them near there - in a freaking pot.  Weird plants.  Anyway, Flower and Garden Festival - we're excied.

Fifth...well - the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival.  But this time, we're coming for the food, baby!  I saw this article on the Edible Gardens which will feature some of the fruits and veggies being used at the outdoor kitchens around EPCOT.  It made me super excited - like a little kid excited.  I obviously know what some of things look like, but I can honestly say I've never seen how pineapples, coconuts and mangos grow.  I think it will be really cool - food for our bellies and our brains.

Now we just have to wait.  And wait some more.  That's always the hard part.

Loosen That Belt Buckle - It's Pi Day!

Some progress and some setbacks.  I think that's the way life just tends to work, honestly.  I'm trying not to let it get to me too much.

No cross-training happened on Sunday due to the Nerd Husband coming down with some sort of bug.  Not sure what the bug was or is, but it definitely put him out of commission for the day.  I was a little bummed that we couldn't go (and really bummed he wasn't feeling well), but I have to admit that I was also pretty darned tired.  I did get out and get to the grocery store, and I stood on my feet for a while making pie dough for Pi Day today.  Does that count as exercise?  I'm going to say "yes" because then I will feel less guilty.

My bronchitis is still there - making itself known every now and then in little coughing spits.  My lungs don't hurt quite like they did, but there's still some gunk that's clingy around in there.  That's the annoying part.  We're scheduled to go to the community center on Tuesday, so maybe that will actually be able to happen.  Not sure about the running, but maybe some more cross-training just to get back up to speed.

I did have success in the running costume, though!  I have been having some fits with trying to figure out how to make this darned belt buckle for Asajj.  I tried a couple of different things.  Air dry clay ended up being too heavy and bulky to affix to the costume and run in.  I tried working with some actual air clay (lighter stuff), but I'm really not good at this whole sculpting thing.  I ended up scrapping that idea and going back to my sewing.  I had a basic design idea, but I could not figure out how to get the imitate the "raised edge" that goes around the buckle.  Finally, I figured it meant I had to learn something new - bias tape.

I've never worked with bias tape before, honestly - and to be honest again, I have never cut anything on the bias until I made this running skirt.  So I'm learning all sorts of new things with this project, I guess!  I bought some bias tape to check it out at JoAnn's, but it was the wrong color for my fabric.  So then that meant...I had to make my bias tape.  Myself.  Oh boy.  Luckily, I found this handy little doodad at JoAnn's for 40% off, and I figured out how to make my own bias tape...with a little trial and error.  Thankfully, I didn't need a lot, and I actually got the darned stuff sewed on and looking pretty decent without too maybe stitch ripping sessions.  To attach the buckle to the belt, I added a strap of black elastic onto the back of the buckle.  So the whole thing will keep its overall shape, I cut up two circle of plastic canvas, rolled them up, and stuffed them into the belt before I stitched it closed by hand.  It's awesome.  I love it.  It'll work.

Couple more things to work on regarding this costume now.  I have to figure out where to hem the skirt and complete that.  That will affect how long the tabard is.  I'll have to cut that, draw out my stencil pattern, and paint that on there.  That will take some time with drying and coats of paint and whatnot.  Then I have to figure out how to attach that tabard to the belt.  Not sure how to do that just yet, but I'll figure it out.  I also realized I have to adjust my belt clasp so that it is hidden by the belt buckle.  This will require a bit of cutting on the belt, some more stitching, and then finally stitching on the plastic clasp pieces.  I think that will be okay.

So much to do.  And this is the stuff that doesn't really matter - the running should matter.  Well, the running does matter, but unfortunately, life has dictated that the running can't matter right now.  Getting well is top priority, and I'd rather hold off, work on easy things, and then get back at it when the NH and I are both ready.

Oh, and hey - happy Pi Day!  I'm not sure how to make a Star Wars or Disney related pie (or pi) joke, so I'm just gonna leave it at that.  ;)

"Sick Have I Become..."

Bronchitis.

Yep.  That's what I heard on Tuesday when I finally went into the doctor because breathing was becoming way too difficult, and I was really starting to feel more and more like crazy as Monday labored into Tuesday.  Not much you can do for bronchitis except rest, but I was given some cough syrup so I can sleep as well as some steroids and an inhaler to open up my breathing passages.  Oh, it's good times in the sickie household this winter, lemme tell you.

So the running is going on the back burner for now because I think that will just make things worse.  I'm actually thinking that's what prompted this to move to my chest in the first place - the 4.25 mile run on Sunday.  I was feeling better before then, and I think I might have just abused my lungs a bit.  They protested.  I heard them.  We're resting.  The run for Tuesday didn't happen because I was home sick, and I stayed home sick on Wednesday to rest up.

Tonight's 30 minute run will turn into cross-training.  The Nerd Husband and I talked it over, and we're thinking 15 minutes of walking, 15 minutes on a bike or something, and 15 minutes more of walking.  I'm actually hoping to put in a bit of weight training in there because my arms are missing it.  Basically, anything that doesn't overtax my lungs is what I'll be doing.  Hopefully that will help keep my active and up my immune system and strength so I can get over this and get back to it.

Unfortunately, this called for yet another change in training schedule, and I'm nervous about it.  But it is what it is, and NH and I will do our best no matter what.  The schedule looks a bit like this now:

It's seriously the best I think I can do given everything we've had to deal with.  It puts us as close to the 10K distance marker as I think I can safely put us given our current position, so I'm hoping it will be okay.

It seems the runDisney is ditching the photo provider MarathonFoto, and they will be using their own Photo Pass system instead.  There is an awesome interview article about it over on AllEars.  This switch apparently starts with our Dark Side races, so I guess we get to be the guinea pigs.  I'm curious how this whole thing will go down because - really - all of this is new to me.  So I guess we'll see what happen. 

The biggest thing that caught the NH's (and my) ears about this switch is that "...if you are a Gold, Platinum, Platinum Plus or Premier Walt Disney World passholder, the photos will be included as a benefit."  Considering this is our 5th wedding anniversary year, we were going to do a Year of Disney and buy annual passes in April anyway, so this will definitely work in favor of our plan.  I'm kind of happy for that, honestly.  This is a once in a lifetime kind of thing, and it would be very neat to have pictures of it.

No news on the costume front because - frankly - I haven't felt like moving.  The only thing I did was take apart the stitching on the belt piece I was working on because I didn't like how it was turning out.  I'm going back to the drawing board on that one, but I'll get it worked out.

Just like everything else.  In time.

A Smattering of Things

I am excited and pleased to announce that I was able to get up, get out to the gym and run yesterday!  A full 4.25 miles (the longest I've ever run/walked, actually).  So yay for that!  The head cold had let up enough that I felt pretty good, despite still having a bit of a running nose and whatnot.  So I headed over to the community center, did my best despite my illnesses, and put in those 4.25 miles

And then last night, the head cold migrated.  To my chest.  The second I went to bed and put my head on the pillow, the coughing started.  A second pillow quieted me enough to get to sleep, but then I woke up sweating and hot/cold and just all sorts of fun around 5 AM.  I took myself into work (though I'm wondering why), and I managed to finish out the day.  I sounded like a frog by the time all was said and done.  Between the chest cold dropping my voice, a sore throat/chest, and having a talk for a good portion of the day - that just did me in.

I was looking forward to the 30 minute run tomorrow evening because the weather is supposed to be pretty and warm.  Now I'm wondering how I'll be doing tomorrow with this silly cold.  If it gets much worse, I'll have to take myself into the doctor.  Boy, if it's not one thing, it's ten thousand others, yes?

But 4.25 miles is still pretty awesome (for me), so I'm not letting a cold take away my victory!

In other news, I came across a post on a Disney message board that said they are now offering purple Magic Bands.  I was thinking, Oh, yeah.  I remember hearing about that.  They were going to charge me to buy a purple magic band.  No, thank you.  However, out of curiosity, I hopped on the Walt Disney World website just to check out the band selection. 

Lo and behold, there it was.  The holy grail.  The thing I had been waiting for since the dawning of the Magic Band era.  A beautiful, majestic, purple Magic Band.

I had originally been quite proud of my Magic Band selection for April - an orange band with the nickname of "Rogue One".  However, the discovery of a new purple band immediately trumped orange, so I set about making my changes.  A pretty purple band will be in the mail to me soon with the nickname of "Asajj".  *cue evil grin and laugh here*

I've been working a bit more on the running costume, but I hit a little bit of a snag last night with the belt buckle idea.  It's been kind of a pain trying to figure out how to make this all work, but I'm getting there.  I've got some ideas I'm going to try and put into play tonight, and we'll see how it works out.

And hopefully - Force willing - I will be able to run tomorrow and not croak.

A General Update on Things and Stuff

There's just so much going on right now that I don't even really know where to start.  I know I've been quiet for a while because - surprise! - I've been sick again.  Yep.  Last Monday, my body decided to quit on me and gave me a fun little cold/mini sinus infection.  So far I haven't required a trip to the doctor; I've just been taking my cold meds on a regular basis and hoping again hope that it will go away soon.

But - surprise - it put us behind on training.  Again.  I'm going to try and readjust it as best I can, but I think from here on out, we're just going to have to do our best.  I think we'll be okay, but it will be a little harder because we won't be quite as prepared as we were hoping.  We're going to keep up with our schedule as best we can from now until race day, and I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed for no more illnesses!

In regards to the running costume, I got together with a couple of good friends the weekend before I got sick and had a "Sewing Weekend".  We all worked on various projects, and I brought along my Asajj running costume.  The only part I really managed to complete was the belt (and it's not really complete).  I ran into a snag with the belt buckle - didn't like my original idea.  I think that's going to get scrapped for another idea that's still in the making.  I was originally going to go back to JoAnn Fabrics on Monday night to pick up what I needed, and then - wham - sickness.  So that will probably be a weekend project for me.

In other fun news, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has a Blu-ray release date.  I'm seeing it all over my blog feed, with lots of news about deleted scenes, different covers released at different retailers, as well as who has what exclusives and whatnot.  It's insane.  I'm going to have to do research just to figure out where I want to go buy my copy so I can maximize my features.  (Which is funny because - despite my good intentions - I really only ever watch deleted scenes and that's it.) 

I remember the good old days when I just took my money down to the local Media Play (anyone else remember those?) and bought my VHS Star Wars Trilogy.  Yep.  Those were the days.

I'm seeing a lot of Episode VIII pictures and "spoilers" pop up on my blog feed, too.  They're little things that don't really matter much in terms of spoiling plot lines, but I think they're pretty fun.  They're definitely fueling my little brain.  I'm excited for the return of Mark Hamill, and I really can't wait to see what he has in store for us.  He's always been one of my favorites.

The other major thing I'm waiting on is Rogue One news.  A trailer.  Something!  It sounds like some "footage" was shown to Disney Shareholders as a recent meeting, but it really didn't sound like much more than we've already seen here and there on the internet.  Maybe we'll get something soon...

Until the next time, may the Force be with you!

Costume Update: Belt Buckle

On Wednesday night around 9:45pm, I started feeling crafty.

This is never a good thing - craftiness hitting this late at night.  It usually means you'll be up until 2:00 AM or so, staring at your project and resisting (or giving in to) the urge to throw it across the room.  But I'm proud!  I managed to indulge my craftiness in a timely manner, and then go to bed about an hour later.  I didn't fall asleep for another hour later, but that's beside the point.

I played with something new yesterday - paper clay.  I bought this stuff ages ago for another costume project (Lara Croft maybe?  I honestly don't recall).  It didn't work for what I wanted, and I put it away.  I got it out last night because I figured it might be a good, light material to make my Asajj belt buckle out of for my runDisney costume.

I forgot how much I hated it.  I pulled out the clay, and it's just...stiff, tough stuff to work with.  It makes working with Sculpey seem easy.  Now, I'm starting to wonder if it's the brand of stuff that I was working with which was Model Air.  I honestly have no idea.  I figured this was an experiment anyway, so it didn't really matter if it worked well or not.  I just wanted to see what it would do.

The clay was darned difficult to smooth out - almost impossible to do by hand and still not easy to do with my marble rolling pin.  That was annoying.  Also, since the buckle kind of has layers, I had to built it using different pieces, and they didn't really adhere well to one another no matter what I tried.  So it will be an experiment.  I let it dry overnight, and I didn't have time to check it this morning.  I'm attending a concert tonight, so I won't be home until late.  I'll give it a look-see then.

In other news, we skipped last night's training session.  I was just horribly tired, and so was the Nerd Husband.  I opted for a 30-45 minute walk around JoAnn Fabrics instead of the running session.  It probably wasn't smart, but at least it was some sort of activity.  I'm feeling pretty guilty about all of these session falling by the wayside, but the number still look decent.  I'd like to make every effort to not skip from here on out, though.  The call to be lazy is a lot like the call to the Dark Side.

"Is the laziness stronger?"
"No, no, no.  Quicker, easier, more seductive."

Thank you, Yoda.  In this case, I'll listen to your teachings...or try to. 

And don't tell me about trying, dude. 

Costume and Running Update

I've been having kind of a difficult time lately on a personal level - lots of things going on in my mind.  My escape has been trying to plan this upcoming runDisney race, training, and costuming.  Unfortunately, it means "real life" things like laundry, running the vacuum, and picking up the living room are falling by the wayside.  Hopefully I can get back to those things soon, though.

The costume hasn't taken much more shape than it already had, honestly.  I did go out and do a test run in the race hat and the shirt I picked up.  Both of them will work out just nicely, and I've very happy with that.  I've been looking around for a pair of shorts (since I know the weather will be warmer, and I figured that would be better than capris).  Unfortunately, I can't find a darned thing that I like or that looks right.  They are either too short or too long.  It's frustrating.  The pair I'd gotten off the internet would have worked fine had those stupid dual inseams not been so irritating.  I might very well end up wearing a pair of my capris that I already own and call it a day.

I've been holding off on hemming the skirt until I found a pair of short that I liked - which will also affect the length of the tabbard I end up creating for the skirt.  So that's on hold, too.  Obviously my costuming escape is kind of all "on hold", which is frustrating.

Training is going a little better than before.  It turned really warm here in the lovely Midwest last weekend, and we were able to go outside for a run - which was heaven.  Heaven.  There is something so so different about running outside that makes it not nearly so boring.  I was grateful for the warm temperatures, and I was thankful we were able to do one of our longs runs on Saturday - 3.5 miles.  We did have to break part way through which upset both the Nerd Husband and myself.  But what do you do when unexpected bathroom breaks hit you?  Also, I took the occasion to stop and ice my right shin which had been giving me minor fits the last few times we've been out running.  I've noticed it's getting better - it takes it longer and longer to develop the dull ache that I've been feeling.  But it creeps up on me after awhile.  I'm going to have to be careful about that.

If you count all of the training session we should have been doing up until yesterday, we have completed only 56% of our goal.  That's pretty discouraging.  It's been a difficult time, though, battling illnesses for both myself and the NH.  Plus, some real life things creeped in - like birthdays, holidays, extended weekends to celebrate a late holidays, family legal matters, trips to Florida, and doctor's appointments.  I thought for some reason that it would be easy to create a schedule and stick with it.  That is not the case, apparently.

Regardless of all of that, though, I still think we can do this.  Overall, we're averaging 14:22 minutes per mile.  That's within runDisney's required pacing of 16 min per mile.  I also have to remember that I'm including the day that we only walked the 30 minute training session we were required for that day.  If I take that day out of the equation, we're sitting pretty on exactly 14 minutes per mile.  Boom.

Due to the craziness of our schedules, our next long run will actually happen this coming Saturday morning - 4.25 miles.  I'm keeping our fingers crossed that we can do this one pretty well.  Here's hoping.

Skirt FTW!

As I mentioned before, I'm a costumer.  "Cosplayer" I suppose we're called now - still getting used to that term.  I suppose I've been a cosplayer since I was a wee little one (but then again, weren't we all playing dress up/make believe at some point in our childhood).  Memorable costumes of my youth:
the Lone Ranger, generic cowboy/sheriff, Indiana Jones, Catwoman, and Luke Skywalker.  As an"adult" (ha!): generic Jedi Knight (maybe 3-4 versions, I've lost count honestly), Asajj Ventress (twice), Katniss Everdeen, Indiana Jones (again), Lara Croft Reborn, River Song, and my Renaissance Faire garb.  Man, I am really proving my nerd status here with this beginning paragraph.  Word.

Because of my interest in cosplay, the costuming side of the runDisney races has come to really fascinate me.  I love seeing what people have created or how they've come up with their interpretations of characters based on items they find and craft bits they buy at stores to embellish their designs.  It's pretty darned awesome the amount of creativity out there in the world, and I like to see projects like this get a lot of attention.  I think all too often we get caught up in the idea of "I can't do that or make that costume because I'm not talented enough, not smart enough, don't have enough money, etc.".  I've never liked to hear someone say that because I believe that you can do it because there's always a way to make it work - even if it's not perfect.  You just have to think about things differently sometimes. 

I spent a lot of time looking at different runDisney costumes on Google and Etsy and ooing and awwing and smiling over some of the designs.  I knew that because of this element in the runDisney race culture, I would have an even better time at an event of this nature.  I do admit, though, I was a little concerned when runDisney announced some changes to their costume policy.  However, upon reading through the policy, I personally don't object to any of the changes.  Now, I also fully admit I'm not a runDisney veteran, so I fall in the category of "the newbie who doesn't remember the good old days".  I feel bad for the folks who are having to rethink their costumes now because of the policy, but I am grateful that my current idea falls within the rules.

Last night, I spent my hours from 9:30pm-12:00am working on the running skirt I was planning for Asajj.  I don't have a lot of experience working with knit fabrics, so I knew off the bat this would also be a learning experience.  But it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be.  I picked up a $1 Simplicity pattern #1201 during a JoAnn Fabric's sale, and I decided I was going to use skirt B as my running skirt.  Based on the measurements on the back of the pattern, I should have been a size 16 (I hate pattern sizes - I really do).  However, based on the "ease" of the garment, I figured I could get away with a size 14 (I was happy to find out I was right - woohoo!).

I played with all sorts of designs at first - eliminate the seam in the front and back, don't make the elastic casing and stitch directly to elastic.  Finally, I just said, "Follow the pattern - that's easiest."  So I layed out my fabric and started cutting in accordance to the pattern.  My cat tried to "help" me by hiding under the pattern pieces and batting at my scissors.  I finally had to call the NH to take her downstairs with him to play videogames so I could finish up.  Once I had everything cut, I picked out my thread, and then sat down at my machine and remembered - I don't have a ball point needle.

Apparently, ball point needles are an important thing when sewing knits.  I won't presume to know the science behind it, but I know that the right needle will make the difference based on what I've read.  I just had a plain, regular ol' needle.  I took a gamble and tested a seam with two scraps of fabric using my stretch stitch on my Kenmore machine.  Looked good to me - no ugly, punched holes because of the sharp needle, and everything looked to be in order.  I figured, hey, if I screw up, I'm just learning a lesson.  On I went!

I stitched up the skirt and then decided to add the casing and the elastic.  I had a bit of an issue with the elastic because I wasn't 100% sure how or where I wanted the skirt to sit.  After some testing, though, I was able to get a fit I liked.  I sewed up my elastic, stitched up the casing hole, and then looked at the next step.  It was something like, "To prevent elastic and casing from shifting during wear, stitch through all thickness of casing into each side seam."  To me that meant stitch through everything, including your elastic.  I thought that was a little weird, but I did it anyway (who knows if I interpreted it correctly).  It still fit and fit well, so I figured it's still a win!

I still have to hem the skirt, but I'm going to wait until I find some good running short.  As I said before, that'll probably be an "in person" purchase eventually - but I'm having a hard time finding them in stores this time of year.

Back to the drawing board!

Ventress Running Costume

I have a history with Asajj and costuming.  My first Asajj costume was the comic book version (not the Clone Wars version we're so used to seeing now).  Working on that project helped me learn an insane amount of skills and information I'd never had to look into before.  I learned to draft patterns from nothing and apply make-up and bald caps.  I'm still pretty darned proud of that costume even if it's not perfect.  Asajj helped me to learn new things about crafting, sewing, and art - as well as giving me an awesome, strong female villain that I could portray at conventions.

So let's see....awesome, strong female character at a time when I'm feeling anxious, depressed, scared and weak.  And I'm going to run a 10K.  In April.  When I thought about it, Asajj was a natural fit for this occasion.  She's a fighter.  She won't let someone put her in a corner or push her around.  She knows what she wants, and she goes out and gets it.  I like that.  I need that right now, so it just made sense.

I decided to go with a Clone Wars version of Asajj since she's "canon" now and quite recognizable.  The few friends that I've told this idea to have been amused and asked if I was running in a bald cap and full make-up.  The answer is first a giggle or a laugh from me which is then followed by a very emphatic "no".  I did a bald cap at Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando.  In August.  No.  Thank.  You.

So without a bald head or full make-up, I've been toying with ideas on how to design this and make it comfortable for running as well as recognizable.  It's been a bit of a challenge, but I think I'm up for it.  It's been forcing me to think outside the box quite a bit and even put some of my thoughts on the back-burner and simplify simplify simplify.

I'm basically doing this outfit from the "top down" - starting with the race day hat.  I picked up a white Headsweats hat from Amazon and a dual pack of purple Tulip fabric markers (one fine point, one brush tip) from Michael's.  I've never used fabric markers before, so this was a first.  I wanted the white hat for Asajj's bald head and skin tone, and then I painted the purple tatttoos onto the hat by hand.  Well, that was fun.  First of all, it's pretty darned difficult to find a good source picture for her tattoos.  By the time everything was said and done, I swore that Google images showed me 5 different versions of her tattoos from the Clone Wars series alone.  Finally, I found a good close-up image from an action figure, and I used that as my reference point.  If it's not accurate - who cares.  Seriously.

I sketched my outline by hand with a red lightsaber pencil (yes - I totally did), and then I went over it with the purple markers.  I managed the back part of the hat with little difficulty, and I created a pretty decent side tattoo, as well.  Then I realized that the other side would have to mirror this one identically...and I freaked out a bit.  I grabbed a piece of tissue paper leftover from Christmas, and I traced my design onto the paper.  Then I flipped the hat around, lined up my paper, and pushed my pencil through the tissue paper and transferred my design.

It wasn't an absolutely flawless plan.  It worked, yes - and for the most part it lined up.  The design is maybe off by .25 inches or so, and I see it as plain as day.  It annoys me a little, but then I had to think - will it matter later on when I'm sweating on a 10K course and I want to die?  Nope.  Probably not.  So I'm going to go with it and call it a "win"!  I even took it out to the community center for a test run, and it was a success!  No purple paint rubbed off on my hair or head, so it's a double "win"!

I figured the shirt was next on my list, and I had a really nice, short sleeve design laid out - but it would have required sewing and drafting my own pattern.  I figured I could probably do that with a bit of work, but then I realized something - I hate running in sleeves.  So I tried to then figure out if there was a recognizable way I could make this shirt work as a racerback tank top, how could I add the wrappings without being hot, etc.  I knew I could make a tank with no problem, but making one cool enough with those darned waist wrappings would just be difficult without me layering things or having too many itchy seams on my belly.  That didn't sound fun.

So I started looking for navy blue tanks on the internet to see if I could get any inspiration or new ideas, and I happened to run into a Nike racer tank on www.jcpenney.com that made me change the way I was looking at the problem.  It had the navy blue color I was needing, plus it had a wonderful purple accent color that swirled down the sides and then carried around to the back.  I figured, Awesome.  Navy blue for the shirt color.  Wide, open racerback sort of matches her open-backed shirt.  Her original wraps are a gray color with purple accents, and wrap all the way around her waist.  Okay, so there's no gray on this tank, but look, there's purple!  And it wraps all the way around my waist!  And the swirls kind of remind me of her head tattoos and it's on sale and I have gift cards and sold!

It then went on clearance the day my order came into the store.  Not happy about that, but it is what it is.  Thank you, five year old JCP gift cards!

The shorts were a fairly easy choice, though I've been debating on buying them for a while.  I hate to wear short shorts when running because - well - thighs.  I got 'em.  Most of the world has 'em.  And they rub.  "Chub rub" is the wonderful term I've been hearing the most when searching for running shorts.  I want to avoid that.  So I went with a pair of 7" inseam Under Armour Heatgear Shorts.  I picked the black and silver option because it was cheaper than all black, and they just came in the mail yesterday.  I tried them on last night, though, and there's a pair of rather itchy seams that go right down the inner thigh.  Probably not going to be very comfortable for me when running, so back to Amazon they go today.  Shorts will probably have to be an "in person" purchase to ensure fit and comfort.

The other thing that goes along with the shorts is my plan for the skirt, which is something I'm actually going to make and not purchase from the world wide interwebs.  The skirt should come together fairly well, but I'm still working up an ultimate plan.  I have all of the pieces and parts.  I picked up some Navy "Let's Pretend Velvet" fabric from JoAnn's, as well as some 1 1/2" black elastic.  In addition to the velvety skirt, Asajj has this gold/burgundy waist tabard, a white double belt, and a belt buckle.

Starting with the tabard, I picked up a strip of burgundy marine vinyl at JoAnn's.  I originally thought about incorporating the tabard into the fabric of the skirt, but I thought it might get "lost" in my movement.  So I'm going to try this route of letting the tabard hang free and be a stiffer type of material.  If I hate it when I run, I'll use a piece of velcro or snaps to keep it "pinned" to the skirt.  On this tabard, she has a very nice gold design which I wante to replicate.  I wasn't sure of the best way to create the gold accents on her waist tabard, so I picked up three options (that were all on sale or clearance): 1) a fabric paint specially designed for leather and vinyl ($.99), 2) a Tulip fabric paint $.50), 3) a piece of adhesive gold paper in the scrapbooking aisle ($1.59).  The leather/vinyl paint was awesome in the test run, but not what I needed for this project.  It created a very, nice, clear finish with flakes of gold glitter.  It will find a home later, I'm sure.  The adhesive paper looks awesome and clean, but I didn't want it to get ruined if it rained.  I suppose I could always put a protective layer of something on it, though.  But the Tulip paint looks pretty darned good, so I'm going to try that first.

Still uncertain on how to make the belts work or if they'll get scrapped.  The belt buckle I have an idea for, but I have to find the air dry clay that's somewhere in my hell hole of a craft room.  Otherwise, I have another plan.  (So many plans!)

Lastly, at the bottom, my typical running shoes are already navy blue, so that's pretty perfect if you ask me.  I have a massive sock collection, so I was able to find something that worked pretty well with my color scheme.

It'll all come together, and I'll either feel like an idiot or feel like an awesome idiot.  We'll just have to see which one it is!  Yay! 

April Planning - FastPass+ Reservations

This 10K trip in April is starting to feel so real.   We were supposed to get out today and do another 30 minute run session, but we lazied it and stayed in due to the weather.  I know that we've been running inside at the community center, but it just felt like too much effort to leave the house today.  (Granted, I left later anyway to go to JoAnn Fabric's for the President's Day sale, but that's...different.  I did walk around the store for two hours, so I'm gonna count that as training...yeah...)

We found out we could make our FastPass+ reservation for our April trip today when I logged in and realized today was two months from our check-in date (holy cow)!  So we sat down and looked at our schedule for the April weekend and what we'd like to do.  The Nerd Husband and I have been cooking up plans for the 2016 year anyway considering we'll be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in May.  So for our anniversary gifts to ourselves we figured we'd do a Year of Disney.  The plan is currently to purchase annual passes when we go to do the race in April, and then we'll book a series of mini-trips during the year, as well as our usual annual winter trip next year in 2017.

All of this annual pass talk aside, NH and I sat down tonight to look at our FastPass+ choices, and we picked out a few things for each day that we'll be there.  Force only knows how our feet will feel after the 10K on Saturday morning, but I have a feeling we'll be okay.  (Our last trip to Disney was a week long and we totaled somewhere over 48 miles of walking.)  We really hate to uber-plan our days because we never know what we're going to get tied up in.  When it comes to FastPass+ selections, we just follow a couple of basic rules that work for us:

1. Make your selections for earlier in the day - usually first thing in the morning of early afternoon (after lunch time).  This allows us to go back and get another FastPass+ selection later if we choose to.

2. FastPass the things that make sense.  We debated on the Wishes Fireworks FastPass this time around as well as the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.  And then realized we've never had a problem seeing either of these things in the past.

3. Pick what you want now, but don't be afraid to change them later.  We realize that our plans are completely fluid and that we might get caught up in the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT (something we've never had a chance to experience and we're both super excited about because we have a garden at home).  If we can't follow our FastPass+ schedule, we don't freak out.  We just change it.  Easy as pie thanks to the MyDisneyExperience app!

For us, we made the following choices for the FastPass+ reservations:

• The Seas with Nemo & Friends (might not need FastPass)
• Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival (might not need FastPass)
• Test Track
• Jungle Cruise
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Toy Story Midway Mania
• Star Tours (we have two FastPasses for this, even though the NH can't usually ride it due to motion issues)
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Festival of the Lion King
• Expedition Everest

We have only one Advanced Dining Reservation (ADR) made for this trip - mostly because we're planning on sampling so many things at the EPCOT festival that we might just end up there every day!  However, since this trip falls on the birthday weekend for the NH, then I asked him where he wanted to go to dinner.  So one night will be a nice dinner for us both at Be Our Guest restaurant (one of our favorites).  Other than that, the sky is the limit when it comes to food!

I just looked at the clock because I knew it was time to wrap this all up, and it said it was 11:38pm.  And I got a little excited because...you know...1138.  Star Wars.  Yep.  Nerd.  Yay!

Anxiety, Depression, and Why Yoda is Totally Wrong

I've been personally dealing with a huge increase in anxiety in the last...oh...I've lost count.  Who cares anymore.  But 2015 kind of put my and a lot of folks who are close to me through an emotional spin cycle, and it was tiring and upsetting and generally just not great.  2016 has so far been about trying to turn that emotional state around and getting back to being at least "okay" with things.  I'm not great - far from it.  There are days I want to cry, but then there are things that keep me going and make me realize, No - you are strong enough to do this.  You can do this.  One of those things is training for this Star Wars Dark Side 10K.

I'm not a runner, and I'm not an athlete.  I never have been - until late fall 2014.  Oddly enough, what inspired me to run was a geeky passion of costuming or cosplay as its known by now.  I was putting together a Tomb Raider Reborn costume, and I wanted to feel stronger and more toned while wearing it.  So I figured - okay, well, I can do push-ups every morning.  And then I thought - okay, maybe I can start running (seriously - where did that thought even come from?).  I expected that the best way to start running was to have a goal, and something I'd never done before in my life was run a 5K.  So I picked a 5K that supported Prostate Cancer Research and Awareness (a cause close to my heart and life given my Dad's cancer history) and off I went.

And I did it.

I still don't like to call myself a runner, though.  I'm not "into it" like a lot of folks.  It's not my passion.  Star Wars, however, is deeply rooted in my life, and it's a passion that fuels me to do crazy things.  Like costume.  And I guess run a 10K.

I think I'm getting off topic here, but the main thing is this - if you're fighting with anxiety or worries or depression or whatever, find the thing that makes you happy right at that moment and run with it (maybe even literally).  The world is going to throw us crappy things every day, and we have to choose how we want to handle those crappy things.  We can either go, "Well, that's crappy.  I'm going to sit here and wallow in the crap until I feel crappier."  Or we can go, "Well, that's crappy.  I'm going to sit here for a little bit, but I won't wallow because...well, it's crap.  I'm going to get up and see if there's less crap over there instead."  I'm not always great at choosing the second option.  I'm trying.  That's all we can do is try (no matter what Yoda says - I'll fight the little pointy-eared dude on this one).

So we got back to training last night because the NH (Nerd Husband) was doing much better after his really awful bought of illness on Monday.  It was pretty terrible.  It's behind us now, and I'm grateful that he's doing so much better.  He was able to make it though the entire 30 minute run with no issues!  However, I actually ended up with the issue this time around - a pain in my right shin which kept getting worse throughout the run.  I had a walk a couple of our running intervals, and the track was also pretty darned crowded last night because it was such a cold day.  Plus, we haven't had a training session in nine days.

All of these issues came together to set us back in our pace to a 15:26 min/mile.  I'm not happy with this, but I'm trying not to let it get to me.  I know the reality of the situation and all of the factor, and I also know how well we've been doing up to this point.  So that's what I'm going to try and focus on today, and then we'll see how Saturday (or Sunday) goes.

In other running news, I'm working on a costume for the 10K.  I'm pretty excited about costuming anyway, so this added element of awesome to the event just makes me even more excited.  I ran through so many ideas in my head before settling on one of them.  I was really debating working on an x-wing fighter running outfit at first, but then I figured that this is the Dark Side 10K...so let's evil it up a bit.  I didn't want to do Vader.  Not a huge Boba fan, and a big fat fangirl "no" to Kylo Ren.

Then it hit me.

Ventress.  Asajj Ventress.

More to come on that later...