So that's what training is for....

This was a really fun weekend. First, on Friday night, I went to the Roadshow at the Honda Center in Anaheim to see Skillet! I went by myself, but I still had a GREAT time! Below are some pictures, not very clear, but oh well. It's an iPhone camera, deal with it :) I took short videos, but I keep getting an error message after trying to load it...Anyways, it was really cool to see them, and fun to see the violinist and cellist rocking out along with the rock band! Skillet played several of my favorite songs (including "Sick of It" which I posted about previously) and had the longest set of the many opening artists (well, it seemed like many! The concert started at 7:30, and Skillet went on at about 10:30), so I was happy about that too!

On Saturday morning (after about 4.5 hours of sleep between getting in bed after the concert and when the alarm went off in the morning), we did the Tinkerbell 10K! It was my first 10K ever because we normally do the 5Ks at the Disney races. It was pretty fun, at least until mile 4 or so. Had I ever walked 6 miles or more? Yes, on Kilimanjaro when we have days with 7+ hours of walking, but we went slow. The longest I ever walked/jogged (I did a walk a song, run a song plan during the race), was about 45 minutes and only about a 5K in distance, and I had done that maybe twice....about 1.5 weeks prior...So I felt pretty accomplished to finish a 5K after not really having trained at all. I was surprised that I was doing so well, still feeling good at the 4 mile mark and continuing my pacing until the very end. I admit that I thought to myself, "that wasn't so bad, and I didn't even train!" But at about 6 PM, I realized why training would have helped as I sat there with ice on my ankles, and limping around all day. I still feel it some today, but much much better. I hope to do the 10K in the fall, at the regular Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend, if I register in time (that one sells out crazy fast). My goal: beat my last time and not be limping for hours that day. I should probably start training now...hey, it could happen!

Two screenshots above are the results from my heart rate monitor / Polar Beats System. The distance is longer than a 10K because I started it before actually getting to the start line because I didn't want to be trying to finagle that through my armband when we actually did get to start, which was a few minutes later.

My race bib & the metal (which is actually metal. Or really hard & heavy plastic)

My first selfie like this. I felt silly, but you had to see my cute running skirt that my sister made me for my birthday! My shirt (blocked by my medal!) says "Race you to the Castle"

Not sure what these are called. I didn't really know what they were for either. I saw people getting them and wrapping themselves with it, but I was SO warm after having just finished the race, that I didn't get it. Later, after sitting in the shade, I realized that one would be nice, and I did end up getting one. In my defense, I am new to running, new to races, and I have never seen one of these at any of the 5Ks that I have done thus far...

RunDisney (the section of Disney that puts on these races at Disneyland and Walt Disney World) partners with New Balance to make character-inspired shoes. This year, the women's shoes are Cinderella or Minnie themed (see the promo video here). I decided that I wanted a pair, and they can only be purchased at the expo at these running weekends. On Friday night, when we went to the expo to get our running bibs & shirts, I went over to get some but they had sold out for the day and the guy told me to come back tomorrow "early." I of course took that to mean to be there when the expo opens because it's first come first serve at that time. Saturday comes, and I go there when the expo officially opens at 10 AM and I go to the booth and guess what? You have to sign up at this totally separate part of the building to get a group number, which was much like a place in line, similar to picking a number at the post office when they are super busy. Each group has a certain amount of people, and they go 1 group at a time, letting a few people from each group in at a time, to control traffic. So, I just go with it, and of course I get group 7 when they are on group 3. Estimate wait time until my group is called? 2.5 hours:

Was this a guarantee that they would have the shoe that you want in the size that you need? No, not at all. This was just a reservation to get into the store. They did set up a website, though, that they kept updated with the group number and what sizes of each shoe were sold out. So, I have a pretty normal (at least I think so) size of 8.5, so I figured I had little chance, but I decided to keep hope alive. We went back to the hotel to check-out and everything and then went to breakfast. After that, I checked the site and it said they were on group 5. My sister had the good idea to go back over to the expo, just in case. When I got there, their sign said group 6 but there wasn't a line at all so they let me in anyways and they did have the shoe I wanted in my size (they ran small, so I ended up getting a size 9. Fortunately, no problem with availability for me!), and I got them! YEA! Picture is below. They also come with a blue ribbon that I can use to replace the regular laces and be more princess-y. Too cute. I was glad that they had them because on ebay, people were selling these shoes for $250 (twice their cost!), and that would be the only other place to get them, except the fall expo I guess.