Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon

Another race on the beach for me. This was the half marathon I signed up for that I wanted to PR in. It was nice and flat, and I figured it would be cooler. HA! But it was good to get another race in here.

This is only my second solo half.

But I left my house super early in my last minute costume and I got going. It was pitch black when I got to the beach. The time change still hadn't happened, and the start was 6:30am.

We started in the dark and were off from South Point Park to the edge of the Miami Beach island. It was DARK that first mile. We wound around all of the pier, and then ended up back on Alton Road, and headed to the iconic Ocean Drive on South Beach.

There is the one thing about these beach races, watching the sunrise is amazing.

I was feeling good this part of the race. Steady, even, and I wanted to keep that pace in check, so I had enough for the end of the race. Thankfully the sun being hidden totally helped.

Like I has mentioned before, this was the race, I wanted to get my fast back in. The last few weeks had shown me that this was probably NOT gonna be a PR. The heat and my training weren't up to it. So, the night before, I reframed my goals. My A goal, was the PR. B goal was to be in at 2:45:00 or under. Then my C goal was just to finish and feel ok.

To get in more miles, we ran down and back on Lincoln Road pedestrian mall. It was nice and familiar, since my office is on Lincoln Road. And after the detour, we headed back to the dreaded boardwalk.

It was another out and back course down the boardwalk. I was more attentive to my footing this time, since I knew it was an uneven surface. I was feeling good til about the 10k mark, which was a little before the boardwalk turn around, but then I was struggling to keep going. I don't know if it was the heat, my endurance not being up to it? But that boardwalk was killing me.

By the time the boardwalk was done, it seemed to take forever to get back to the finish. I walked a lot, cause my legs just couldn't keep up with the running. Then I switched my intervals and ran for :30 and walked :45. I kept trying to run each time, but it was hard. Plus, by this point, the sun was in full glory, and though it was not as hot as it was for the 10k, it was still hot. And the people had begun to come out to the sidewalks and places we were running, which was a little frustrating, since most of them had no idea we were in a race. I almost got hit my a non-race pedestrian fooling around on the street. So near the end, and having to basically weave to avoid getting hit by his arm was not fun.

FINALLY, I was reaching the park and the finish, but not before a little hill. I'm sure it was nothing to the people that actually have hills, but it was killer for me. After the hill over the park, we ran back along the water and into South Point Park to the finish.

And thank god it was over. I got my medal and I grabbed some ICE water (very nice touch) and some fruit.

I was so glad to be done. And i was hanging around to see if my results would be printed and posted. After waiting about 5 minutes, I gave up and started heading to my car. I checked my time online later, and I hit goal C with a time of 2:51:03. I was kinda pissed when I saw it, cause I knew that had I not walked so much at the end, I could have reached 2:45:00. But my body was just not having it that day.

I was happy to report that I didn't tape my IT band and it didn't bother me at all. I physically felt pretty good after the race. And all of the people I spoke to before, during, and after the race was so nice. I have to mention this, cause being Miami, it was a nice change.

I think I have decided that the Miami Beach races just aren't for me. I know this is limiting my racing here at home, but me and that boardwalk are just not having it.

Quick handmade Halloween costume - Skeleton shirt

I had a Halloween themed half marathon this past weekend. I wasn't going to wear a costume, cause I had no idea what to make, but then I had an idea. A sugar skill costume would be easy and festive. With not enough time for an Amazon prime order to arrive, I had to make something myself.

Since I had left this to the night before the race, paint was out of the question. I didn't think there would be enough time for it to dry. Fabric is my medium of choice anyways, so fabric it was! And I had a few shirts that were in the goodwill pile that were perfect to use for this purpose.

Here are the supplies you will need:

• 1 black t-shirt
• 1 white t-shirt
• Thread (optional)

And the following tools:

• Pencil
• Paper
• Scissors
• Needle or sewing machine (optional)

I skteched out a rough skeleton ribcage on a piece of paper, I foled it in half and cut our the "bone" parts. Then I opened it up and checked for placement on the black shirt.

I found that it was easier to fold the shirt in half, and then cut out the "bone" parts on the shirt as it was folded in half. This way both sides would be even. I pinned the pattern in place, and then cut the fabric where the holes were. I also cut them a little smaller than what I had on the pattern, since I knew it would stretch out when I put it on.

At this point you can just wear this black shirt over a white shirt. It will give the illusion of the bones peeking through.

But since I was making this a running costume, I decided to sew the white part on the inside of the black shirt, so I wouldn't have to wear a double shirt for my run.

*This part is optional, but makes for a lighter shirt.

Cut a piece of white fabric big enough to cover all the cut out parts of the black shirt. Pin to the wrong side of the black shirt. Stitch around the edge of the cut out design to hold in place.

And you're all done! Add some skull makeup to complete your costume, and maybe even some flowers for the sugar skull look.

This took me a total of about an hour to put together, and the hardest part was drawing out the pattern. There's no reason not to have a Halloween costume, even if you have left it to the last minute.

Happy making and happy Halloween!

Running Costumes: Rides of the Magic Kingdom

I wanted to do something a little different for our costumes for the WDW Marathon. It was gonna be the first marathon for Kris and me, but I didn't want to do anything like the basic Disney characters. I'm in a few Facebook running costume groups, and was getting all sorts of inspired. Now, as always, I wanted to keep these costumes extremely run-able. so I was gonna build off of some basic running tops.

*post contains affilate links

But then what to do... I got inspired as this was the 25th anniversary of the Walt Disney World marathon, and started to think about my Disney World memories. Now this isn't so much a memory, as an family story turned urban legend, but word has it my favorite thing on my first trip to Disney World was "It's a Small World." I loved it so much, that my 2 year old self was singing the song on repeat and we rode the ferry back to the Ticket & Transportation Center. The other people on the ferry were going nuts listening to my little voice singing the ear worm over and over. With that, it was too easy to decide to make a Small World costume.

I told Kris my idea about ride costumes, and she decided on the Haunted Mansion. She decided on the Haunted Mansion cast member costume. Pretty easy, or so I thought.

Since it would be January when we ran, and there was no telling if it would be cold or hot, we decided on short-sleeve workout shirts. Cause there is no way in hell I was gonna run 26.2 miles in something that wasn't sweat wicking. I looked all over for a striped shirt for Kris, but to no avail. I ordered plain shirts on Amazon in the colors we needed (dark green for Kris, light blue for me).

Then I started on Kris's costume. I got a dark green shirt, and then was gonna paint on the stripes. I found Tulip spray fabric paint, which I figured would be easy to do, and not too stiff. I used masking tape to tape off the stripes, and used freezer paper inside the shirt to prevent bleed through. Then I sprayed, and waited forever for it to dry.

As I was painting, I wasn't sure the color was dark enough. So I was mentally preparing to start over. Once I took off the tape after it was really dry, it did look black, thank God! Then, I taped and painted the back and the fabric for the apron. In total this took one small and 1 large can of the fabric spray paint.

After waiting til the back was dry, I made the lace collar. I didn't make the collar go all the way around, since I still wanted the neck to be able to stretch for her to be able to put the shirt on.

With a scrap of white fabric and some lace I made the headpiece. I also added the bat bow with black felt. I attached this to Kris's visor with some safety pins, and it was good to go.

Now my shirt, initially I wanted to paint the big clock onto my shirt. but that is insane and crazy and I wouldn't have time, so iron-on it was. But I wanted this to be BIG, like covering my whole shirt big. I sized this all out on the computer, and then went to print. Not the easiest to print an image on 6 sheets of paper. I used the poster printing to get this all done.

I first tried on normal paper before attempting the iron-on sheets. A few trials and errors, and it was finally all lined up and ready to print.

First I cut around the design on the sheets closely, so I wouldn't have too much extra iron-on material left on the shirt. Then, I lined up all of the iron-on sheets, and started ironing.

Some pieces required a little more heat. I was also afraid of melting the dry wicking shirt. But thankfully, it all worked out. As I slowly started peeling off the backing, I saw my creation..

I had grand ideas of having the kids from the ride holding hands around the bottom of my skirt, and having all of the goodbyes on the back of my shirt. But between running, the holidays, and life, I just didn't have enough time. I loved the bright colors on the shirt, and figured this got the point across just fine.

The best part of all was that the costumes both made it 26.2 miles! They looked good after the race too. My shirt had some of the iron-on lifting after I got home, so it doesn't seem like it'll make it through another run. But it did the job. And really, as long as I looked cute, that's all that matters.

Enchanted 10k: the race

This past weekend I did the  Enchanted 10k, which was part of RunDisney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend. Now, Princess Half Marathon weekend, which is just a huge excuse for all the women, young and old, to wear tiaras all weekend. Gotta love that.

We got to the expo on Friday when I got into town and went to pick up our numbers. Now, I've been to a few of the Run Disney expos before, but this by far was the largest I'd been to yet. Guess it goes to show you how big the princess weekend is. We got our numbers, and purchased some Enchanted 10k t-shirts and headed back to Kris's house. It was gonna be an early wake up call, so we needed to get some shut eye.

The next morning, we were up at 3am (yes it is that ungodly to wake up in the middle of the night), and started to get ready for the race. We put on our costumes and tried to look our princess best. We drove over to Epcot, got into our corral, the last one, and waited... and waited. There were 10 minutes between corrals, which seemed like it took FOREVER. We ended up starting at 6:10.

Right as we got on the highway and passed under the first overpass, we saw Elsa from Frozen. She was wishing everyone a great race, and she even made it snow! It was so cool (pun intended!).

We got to the first mile marker, which was Snow White, so Kris had to take a pic with her.

Then we kept going. It was really humid out and I just felt sluggish. Luckily there was entertainment, the only wasy Disney can do it along the course. After we passed I think it was the second mile marker, there was a volunteer telling us that the ballon ladies were only 2 minutes behind. What?! Those are the people that pick you up if you are too slow. They were too close for comfort in my opinion. But luckily, the road opened up a little wider and we were really able to run now. We got into a groove after mile 3 (guess it really took a whole 5k to warm up).

At about mile 4 we came into Epcot through the countries. We saw a Snow White topiary and stopped to take a pic of Snow and Snow.

We kept going and I wondered if we'd see any Cinderella stuff along the course. She is French, so I had hoped to see something in France. And just as we were leaving France to cross the bridge to England, there was a topiary of Cindy and her Prince. We stopped to snap a pic of that for sure.

We crossed through the back of the World Showcare and were around the Beach Club and Boardwalk resorts. It was so nice to run around these resorts and there were even people cheering us along the way.

At this point we were almost back at Epcot and nearing the end. I saw lots of people puking, but I felt great. I really think doing a 10k last weekend helped. Kris was even feeling good too. We found some photographers along the way and smiled for all of them. And before we knew it we passed by Spaceship Earth and it was nearing the end.

We saw the finish line in front of us and went for it. Before we knew it we were done. Not my best time, but we took pictures and had lots of fun along the way. I love RunDisney races, the location, the costumes, the characters, and my favorite, the awesome bling.

Now when I signed up for this race, I hadn't yet done the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, so I didn't know or even fathom if I could do another half marathon. Instead of signing up for the half, I just did the 10k. And now, I wish I would have signed up for the half. Oh well, next year. Maybe I'll even try the Glass Slipper Challenge (the 10k and the half all in one weekend).

Enchanted 10k: The costumes

If you follow my Instagram, you've already seen, but I had a Disney race this weekend, which means only one thing, costumes! This was a princess-themed weekend, so Kris and I decided to go as out favorite princesses, Snow White and Cinderella.

I made out costumes run-able, so we both started with our running circle skirts and tank tops. Then, of course, I had to make everything princess-like.

I have to say I'm really proud of Kris's Snow White top. My first addition was the pouf-y sleeves. I made the red parts of the sleeves and attached them first, then attached the sleeves to the top. I was kinda shocked that it worked on the first try. Then I added a gold strip down the front and, you can't see it too well, but there was a white collar and a red cape. Now, I know Edna Mode has issues with capes, but Kris told me she needed one, and I was happy to ablige.

Add the red headband and she was one cute Snow White.

Then came my Cinderella outfit. This, I have to say was a total winging-it type situation, which if you know me is my nightmare. I somehow managed to make the skirt overlays and then attach the sleeves to the tank too, after 3 tries. Now I have to admit that this didn't look like anything as crazy good as Kris's outfit when I was done, but it was late and the race was almost here, so I figured it would work.

Now this costume really came together with the accessories. I added a headband, a black velvet choker and the crowning touch was a sock bun. I just added some big ball earrings and I really started to feel like Cinderella.

I gotta admit that making the costumes is half the fun of these races. And I just love making the costumes for me and Kris. We have tons more costume ideas, so I guess that means we have to keep doing these RunDisney races. And the other part of the fun is running with my best friend! Can't beat that.

Wine & Dine Half Marathon: the costumes

The Wine & Dine Half Marathon was this past weekend and since it was a RunDisney race, costumes had to be made. This was the fun part of all of the prep, getting the costumes done.

I decided to be Merida from Brave. I already had the red hair, plus I was brave for attempting a half marathon after less than a year of running.

picture from Disney Wiki

I struggled to find a running shirt in dark teal/green, but Kristina found one for me. I wanted to make sure I had a running shirt, cause there was no way I was gonna run in cotton. It would have weighed a ton after all the sweating.

I cut the neck out of my running shirt to widen the neckline, like Merida’s. This was a huge decision, and I have to admit, I hated it for a while after I did it. I added the ruffle, which was made from some organza scraps, and then attached it to my new neckline. Then I serged the edges, to give it a clean finish. Somehow, this totally warped the neckline (since the shirt was a knit). I had to leave it be for a while to figure out what I would do next. I decided to remove the neck facing from the original neckline and add it to the shirt. This was just the stability it needed, plus, it gave me clean edges. (Now I didn’t just want clean edges, cause I’m a crazy sewing snob, I wanted it to avoid chafing. I didn’t want to have that issue on my longest run ever.)

I added a “V” of organza to match the little V on Merida’s dress, then added gold trim to give it a little bling. For the bottom I made a running skirt (like the ones I made here) and used a pretty sparkly dark teal to match my shirt. I also made a headband from the same material and the gold trim.

I put on my compression capris and top and then my skirt and headband. I was ready to tackle those miles as the brave Merida.

I couldn’t be the only one in on the costume fun, so we brainstormed to make Kristina a costume too. Kris had been training with Team in Training, so she needed to wear her purple team in training shirt to the race. We busted our brains trying to think of a character that incorporated purple, and knew it had to be Ariel, The Little Mermaid. This is the one part where I was grateful for Halloween being a few weeks earlier. I found this great sparkly green fabric that looked like scales. It was perfect for a little mermaid. I made Kristina’s skirt out of the awesome green “scales” fabric, and then we attached a sparkly “bra” to her Team in Training shirt. Her normal running headband was the perfect green to complement the skirt, and a cute flower added to it rounded out her look.

We were all dressed up and ready to go run further than we ever had.

Have you ever made a running costume? What did you think of ours?

Costume time: Wicked Witch of the East

Everyone seems to know her very famous green sister, but the Wicked Witch of the East was also a force to be reckoned with in Oz. And I thought she would be a great inspiration for this year's Halloween costume.

All we ever see of the Wicked Witch of the East is her stocking and shoes (the famous ruby slippers), so I got to use some artistic license when making the rest of the costume.

I figured she should wear an awesome witch hat. That part was easy, but I attached her impending doom to the hat, the tornado with Dorothy's house. Getting that tornado to stay upright was no easy feat, but with some wire and a strategically placed headband underneath the hat it all worked.

Then for the dress, I made a skirt out of this awesome "decorated" organza. Doesn't it look like little funnel clouds? I thought that would be a cool wink to the Witch's ultimate demise.

All witches should be fashionable, so she had to have a ruby cape to match her slippers. And then I wore my newly glittered shoes, which made the perfect ruby slippers.

So what did you think of my costume this year?

What was your Halloween costume?

Glitter shoes tutorial

A great accessory for any costume are some glitter shoes. They can make a fairy or princess even more perfect, and can just add that special touch to a normal outfit. I made some glitter shoes for my Halloween costume this year.

I had some old thrifted shoes that were perfect to glitter up for my costume. Glittering shoes (or glittering really anything) is so easy.

Here are the supplies you'll need:

Mod Podge

Glitter

Sandpaper

Paintbrush

Newspaper

Pour some Mod Podge into a container (I use a disposable bowl for ease of cleanup) and then add the glitter right to the Mod Podge. This is the key to this technique. Since you mix the Mod Podge with the glitter, it seals the glitter in place, making way less of a mess.

Next you'll need to prep your shoes. All they need is a light sanding with some fine grit sandpaper. You just want to take the shine off of the shoes, so the glitter will stick even better.

Stuff the inside of your shoes with newspaper to make sure the inside stays clean. Take your paintbrush and paint on the Mod Podge/glitter mixture. It might take a couple of coats to get the color you want. Just paint a coat on and let it dry a bit before adding more. It will look white, but the Mod Podge will dry clear and you will be able to see the glitter really sparkle.

Then wait for them to dry. After you have done all of your coats, let them dry overnight, so they will be really dry before you wear them.

Once they are dry it's like you have a whole new pair of shoes.

And voila! Your very own glitter shoes. You can use any color of glitter and any shoes you want to get the look that would be perfect for you.

Any guesses on my Halloween costume this year?