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.