Color Me Rad

Color Me Rad!

If you've never run a "color run" now is the time!  

Color Me Rad is coming to a city near you!  With over 100 events in the US and Canada in 2014 you're sure to find one near you. 

Color Me Rad is a 5K (3.1 mile) fun run. 

You start out in a white shirt and through out the run you'll get bombed with color until you come out tie-dyed at the end. 

For your entry fee you will receive a Rad t-shirt, a sweet set of sunglasses, a race bib, a donation to a local charity, a decal for your car and some swag from the sponsers. You will also receive one color bomb right before the finish for the final color throw. 

This is not a race, there's no time limit so anyone can participate!  

I will be running the Los Angeles event the day after my birthday!  What a RAD birthday!

Use code radrunning and save 20% off your entry fee (and they're pretty low anyway). 

Sign-up here www.colormerad.com

Let me know if you sign up and which event you'll be running!

Stay rad!

Tinker Bell Half Marathon-Expo Day

On Sunday, January 19, 2014 I ran the 3^rd annual Tinker Bell Half Marathon in Anaheim, CA.  This was my 3^rd year running this race. 

 

My mom and I headed down on Saturday morning.  We stayed at the Best Western Stovall’s on Katella.  This is my favorite hotel to stay at for Disneyland races.  It’s so close to the start and finish areas and the prices are reasonable too.  We’ve stayed here numerous times and never had any problems.  We arrived a little before 9:00am and they had a room ready for us.  We quickly unpacked, displayed our window sign and headed out to Downtown Disney for breakfast at the Rain Forest Café. 

 

After breakfast we headed to the Expo at the Disneyland hotel.  My first stop was at New Balance to see if there were still spots open for the RunDisney shoes, but they were all gone. 

We then headed down the ramp to pick up my bib.  It was quick and easy with no lines.  We then headed up to the Expo where I picked-up my shirt and goodie bag.  We received a long sleeve raspberry colored tech shirt, a Luna bar, the Official Program and two drawstring backpacks. 

 

 

The Expo seemed a little smaller than usual but there were still a lot of vendors.  Since the Expo had opened on Thursday there wasn’t much Official Merchandise left.  I was able to get my pins, but the Dooney and Bourke purses were long gone, as well as the tech jackets.

We walked around for a while and did some shopping.  I picked up another Sparkle Skirt, the only skirts I’ll run in. 

 

 After the Expo we hit the movies in DTD to see Saving Mr. Banks.  It was really good!  I knew I’d be walking a lot after the races on Sunday so I wanted to take it easy the day before. 

 

We went back to the Expo to see if New Balance was doing walk-ups but we were told they were not.  So no runDisney shoes for me this time. 

 

We then headed into California Adventure for a few rides, some photos and dinner.  

We ate at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta.  

I had the Chicken Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta, which consists of Campanelle Pasta lightly tossed with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce.  It was $9.49 but the serving is huge.  It could be shared by two people for sure.

We then hit up the Mad T Party for a little bit but soon called it a night.  I had a 3:30am wake-up call the next morning!

 

I laid my costume out so I wouldn’t forget anything the next morning.

 

 

Next up – RACE DAY!

 

DIY Yarn Pompom's

I am running the Tinker Bell Half Marathon on January 19^th.  I’ve started to put the finishing touches on my costume.  I decided I needed pompom’s for my shoes but I didn’t want to spent $9 or $10 bucks to order some off of Etsy.com so I searched Pinterest and made my own.

 

All you need is some cheap yarn.  This was on sale at Michaels for just over $2.00.  And some cardboard.  I took a small box apart.

 

I used a drinking glass and the lid from some Airborne to draw my circles.  You will need two of these cardboard circles. 

Next I pulled out a length of yarn, cut it and began wrapping it around and around the two pieces of cardboard.  I though I’d never get done!  The yarn kept tangling up because you have to pull the whole length through the center circle each time.

I quickly gave up on that pompom and decided there had to be a better way.  I ended up cutting a small piece out of both circles.

This made it 100% easier to wrap the yarn and this way you just pull the yarn from the skein so you can wrap as much as you want.  I made about 3 layers of yarn.

Next you slide the scissors between the two pieces of cardboard and cut the yarn all the way around.  The yarn pieces should stay in the center hole of the cardboard circles. 

Then slide a long piece of yarn between the cardboard pieces and tie it tight around the yarn pieces. 

 

Slide the cardboard pieces off, trim any long pieces and fluff into a ball.

 Super easy and they look so cute!

 

183.4 Miles

I've been thinking about a New Year's resolution that I might actually keep and I decided I want to run 14 Half Marathons in 2014. This equals out to 183.4 miles which is my actual goal. 

I most likely won't be able to complete an actual Half Marathon each month but between training runs, Half's, 10K's, 5K's and virtual runs I know I can do it. 

What type of resolutions did you make?

Diva's Half Marathon SoCal

On Sunday, December 8, 2013 I ran the Diva’s Half Marathon – So Cal in Ontario, CA. 

I signed up for this race a long time ago and only paid $65, which is pretty good for a Half Marathon.

 

Packet pick-up was either the Friday or Saturday before the race.  The Expo or “Health & Fitness Boutique” as they called it was very small.  It was inside a tent behind the Convention Center.  We got there about an hour before it closed and had plenty of time.

Packet pick up was quick and easy.  We received our bib, shirt and an Emergen-C sample in a cute draw-string backpack. 

There was a back drop set up for photos with a few props. 

Our hotel was walking distance to the starting line, and the Half didn’t start until 7:30am, so we hit Ontario Mills Mall (the largest outlet mall west of the Mississippi) for dinner at Dave & Busters and a little shopping before heading back to the hotel.

This is my race outfit.  This was my first Half as a Half Fanatic!  I made the arm sleeves earlier in the week because I couldn’t find any I liked.

We were out the door at 6:45am and arrived at the starting line before 7:00am.  I snapped a few photos of people setting up the medals and champagne glasses at the finish line.  We also took pictures next to the starting line sign.

It was so cold while we waited to start!

At 7:15am I had a group photo with other Half Fanatics.

There were signs to line up by with your average pace but it wasn’t enforced.  I lined up by the 13 minute mile sign which was near the back. 

There were no wave starts so it was a little hard to get going at first but it wasn’t too bad.  If I had known I would have moved up toward the front more.

The course was pretty boring.  There were a few DJ’s and some cheerleaders but no other entertainment.  There were more than enough water and Gatorade stops along the route but no Cliff Shots; luckily I had brought my own.

I liked that the Mile Marker signs were girly.

Right before the finish line we received our hot pink feather boa and tiara.  There were 2 shirtless guys as well as other volunteers handing out the medals.  After receiving my medal I was given a rose and a plastic champagne glass, with a Diva’s Half Marathon sticker on it, of apple cider.  They were also passing out those silver space blankets.

We then continued to the finishers photos, which went pretty quick.  The food at the end was a small bag of dried cranberries, small bag of dried apricots, little pack of cookies, bananas, plain bagels and a bottle of water.  It would have been nice to have plastic bags available to put everything in. 

I didn’t see much of an after dance party going on, as advertised on the website.

Overall I think the race was a good value for the price I paid.  I like the extra little perks and the overall theme.  The medal is awesome too! 

For me, what made this race special was running with my fellow Half Fanatics.  The support I gave and received from people I had never met was great.

I figured this race woul sell out since it's the first time they have come to SoCal and since they said the cap was 6,500 people but less than 2000 participated. 

Did you run this race?  Let me know what you thought in the comments below.