Running Update: A change of plans & February training recap 🏃‍♀️

Helloooo, everyone! It's been a little while since I've updated y'all on how my training is going. Honestly a LOT has been happening in my running life lately so I thought I'd do a larger update encompassing everything for you instead of my usual training log style update (though if you'd like to see my training log, skip down to the bottom of this post!). Let's not waste any time and hop right into what's been going on!

1. Milwaukee Marathon Postponement & Change of Plans

My face after finding out about the postponement. :/

The biggest update that I have for you guys is that the Milwaukee Marathon - the race I've been training for all winter - made the announcement last week that they are postponing their race until October. I totally understand why they made the call and I agree that safety of the public is priority #1, but I was super bummed when the announcement came out! Training has been going pretty well this winter and I was excited to head out to Wisconsin and see what I could do after a year off of marathons. Unfortunately Milwaukee wasn't in the cards for me this spring, so I immediately went into problem solving mode.

My first instinct was to find a replacement race. There are plenty of April races that are still on the books (for now), but I didn't want to risk registering for another race that ended up postponed or switched to virtual. Additionally, I was looking for something in a state I haven't completed yet or do not already have a race I'm registered for. It was honestly slim pickings! However, I came across the Carmel Marathon in Carmel, Indiana which seems *very* confident the race will be going off without a hitch. It's the weekend before I was originally scheduled to run Milwaukee, it has full support of their local government, and it seems to have some excellent COVID-19 safety protocols in place as well. So I decided to take the gamble and register!

Luckily there were still some spots left in the marathon field so I was able to snag a bib. I've spent the last week planning my trip. I was able to switch my flights for Milwaukee over to Indianapolis, get a refund on my MKE AirBnB and find some accommodations nearby Carmel, and switch all of my PTO requests at work. All systems are GO for a trip to Indy this April and an official 26.2 is on the docket. Fingers and toes crossed that everything continues to stay on!

Now that Milwaukee is bumped to October, I am going to be a BUSY runner this fall. I'm not sure when in October Milwaukee will be scheduled as they haven't announced it yet, but I already have the I-35 challenge (Kansas City & Des Moines) on the calendar that month. I'm really unsure how I'm going to balance it all, but summer is going to be a TOUGH training season. It's going to be so important that I do everything I'm supposed to do in training so I can cross all three finish lines! Wish me luck 😅

2. Virtual Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend

A couple of weekends ago I participated in the Virtual Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend! Running these races at home was definitely not the same as running at WDW (for obvious reasons), but I did my best to make the most of it by dressing up each day, listening to Disney tunes, and trying to partake in Princess-like activities during my non-running time. I even had Snowy running with me most of the time! Doing these races has me so excited to finally return to a runDisney race, whenever that might be. I have my heart set on Dopey being my runDisney return, but I honestly wouldn't hate participating in another Princess weekend if that's the earliest we can get back to it! Anywho, here's some photos from the weekend:

5K flat runner! Reprising our Evil Queen/Snow(y) White costumes 🍎💀❆

Snowy having a blast running in her costume!

Finish line pics!

5K finisher certificate!

10K flat runner - wanted to go with a Rapunzel theme since the 10K was themed after her! 🌞

Finish line pic!

10K finisher certificate!

Half Marathon flat runner! Of course I had to wear my Belle costume again because the half was themed after her this year! 📚🌹

Found a "character stop" around mile 12! 😜

Finish line pics!
(I actually have 16 miles to run on this day, so I finished the half in a random spot on my route. Definitely needed to stop and commemorate the moment, though!)

Half Marathon finisher certificate!

And because the Fairy Tale Challenge was themed after Tiana, I wanted to do a Tiana-like activity and tried my hand at making beignets! They were a little on the cakey side and tasted more like a donut than a beignet, but they were still so delicious. I'll have to tinker with the recipe a bit to get the fluffiness down to a science, but I think Tiana would have been proud of me for my first try! Looking at these pictures seriously makes me want to whip up another batch right now. 🤤

I vlogged my entire Princess Weekend experience as well, so if you'd like to see everything
~in action~ take a look at the video below! 👑

3. Strength & Stretching (or lackthereof)

This training cycle my strength training and stretching game has been abysmal. I know this is going to bite me in the butt when April rolls around, so I really want to get back on the horse of being disciplined in this department. It's already starting to come into play for me - I did a 5 mile run on Wednesday and was randomly SO SORE yesterday? I'm still feeling really sore today as well. That's.. not normal haha. I really need to do better! So for these last few weeks I'm going to intersperse a bit of strength training (without going too overboard) and a lot of stretching. I also sit on my butt most of the day, so I need to make sure I'm getting up and moving around a bit more often throughout the day. Hopefully all of that helps and I'll feel good through 26 miles on race day!

4. Training Log!

As promised, here's all of my training data from the last month. Aside from 2 skipped runs, I've been VERY consistent about getting my miles in which I am super proud of myself for. There's been so much going on in my personal life that it would be so easy for me to skip out on runs in favor of other things, but I've been dedicated to this training cycle. I'm hopeful for a good race this April and to finish this training cycle strong. 💪

Week 6: January 25, 2021 - January 31, 2021

Monday, 1/25 → Rest

Tuesday, 1/26 → 1 mile walk + 5.19 mile treadmill run @ 11:34/mile

Wednesday, 1/27 → Rest

Thursday, 1/28 → 1.23 mile walk

Friday, 1/29 → 6.5 mile treadmill run @ 11:25/mile

Saturday, 1/30 → 3.08 mile run @ 9:35/mile

Sunday, 1/31 → 13.01 mile run @ 10:22/mile

Total weekly running mileage: 27.78

Week 7: February 1, 2021 - February 7, 2021

Monday, 2/1 → Rest

Tuesday, 2/2 → .37 mile walk

Wednesday, 2/3 → 7.51 mile treadmill run @ 11:15/mile

Thursday, 2/4 → 1.61 mile walk

Friday, 2/5 → 5.31 mile treadmill run @ 11:18/mile

Saturday, 2/6 → 14.2 mile run @ 11:03/mile

Sunday, 2/7 → 1.07 mile walk + 1.01 mile walk

Total weekly running mileage: 27.02

Week 8: February 8, 2021 - February 14, 2021

Monday, 2/8 → .68 mile walk

Tuesday, 2/9 → 1.65 mile walk + 7.5 mile treadmill run @ 11:19/mile

Wednesday, 2/10 → 1.8 mile walk

Thursday, 2/11 → 1.63 mile walk

Friday, 2/12 → Virtual Disney Princess 5K
3.21 mile run @ 11:05/mile + 1.5 mile run @ 11:52/mile

Saturday, 2/13 → Virtual Disney Enchanted 10K

1.41 mile walk + 6.27 mile run @ 10:27/mile

Sunday, 2/14 → Virtual Disney Princess Half Marathon
13.12 mile run @ 11:06/mile + 2.89 mile run @ 11:15/mile

Total weekly running mileage: 34.49

Week 9: February 15, 2021 - February 21, 2021

Monday, 2/15 → Rest

Tuesday, 2/16 → 1.66 mile walk

Wednesday, 2/17 → 5.05 mile run @ 10:40/mile

Thursday, 2/18 → 1.61 mile walk

Friday, 2/19 → 6.5 mile treadmill run @ 11:36/mile

Saturday, 2/20 → 4.18 mile run @ 10:07/mile

Sunday, 2/21 → Rest

Total weekly running mileage: 15.73

Out of Control

I took the day off of blogging yesterday for the first time since late November and it felt SO WEIRD! It was nice to not have to force myself to try to think of something to blog about - I'm back to the normal daily work grind and things are fairly boring - but it definitely felt like part of my routine was missing and I did feel a bit off. So we're back to writing & posting today! 😂

I'll admit that I'm a bit of a control freak. I'm a big BIG believer in taking action in your own life and not just letting things happen for you, so my natural instinct is to try and take steps towards achieving the things I want to achieve at all times. At this point in time, however, I'm feeling a little (a lot) out of control. I have ideas of where I'd like my life to be at this point and time and they're not there yet, and that's not because I haven't done the things I believe I have to do in order to get there. It's mostly due to other factors in my life having to fall into place *first* which are beyond my control. It's a scary feeling and dealing with it is a really big challenge for me. Does anyone else ever feel this way?

I think when I feel like this the best thing for me to do is focus on the smaller things in my life that I can take control of - blogging, working out, reading... Things that make me feel like I'm accomplishing something productive (because I am!) and can scratch that itch of needing to take charge of things. While the big things may still be on my mind, I can at least give more attention to the smaller things in life that may fly under the radar while I'm working toward my bigger goals.

In the meantime, I've been getting SO excited for my February races! I'll be in New Orleans in less than a month for the Rock n' Roll New Orleans Marathon weekend, and a few weeks after that I'll be down in Orlando with Cassie for the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend! I just received all the pieces for my costumes for both the Enchanted 10k and the Princess Half which has gotten me so much more excited. You won't be getting a glimpse of my costumes until we're much closer to the race, but I have been looking at runDisney costumes online all week in my excitement for the big weekend. I wanted to share some of my absolute favorites!

I'm not sure if these first two are runDisney costumes, but they are amazing nonetheless and I would LOVE to see either one of these out on the course! 😂

"I AM MRS. NESBITT!!!"

Is it me or what this character the most terrifying Disney character to date? 😂

This last one is definitely a runDisney costume and probably the best costume I've EVER seen. I practically did a spit take at how genius this is!:

With this weekend being WDW Marathon weekend, I'll be following along with all of the runners on social and getting myself even more hyped for Princess Weekend. It's going to be such a blast! I'm especially going to be following along with the folks who will be attempting the Dopey Challenge as that is one (four of?) of my bucket list races. Hopefully Cassie and I can make our Dopey attempt sometime in the next few years!

Tonight I'm back on the running horse after my 18 miler that left me in shreds, and I'm hoping to wrap up reading Bunny which has honestly been one of the weirdest books I've ever read. 😂 Really trying to embrace this low-key time as much as possible as I know as soon as January's over my life will be action-packed until May!

What are some things you're looking forward to?

What do you do when you feel a little "out of control"?

A Few of my Favorite Links {#10}

It's been a while since my last favorite links post! Over winter break, I spent most of my time on the internet re-watching my favorite YouTube videos, binging on my favorite shows on Netflix, and really just rotting my brain in general. I hadn't been paying too much attention to any new links that I found interesting, so I never gathered enough internet goodies to share with you all. Realizing this, I have finally pulled together enough awesomeness over the past two weeks to share with you my first batch of favorite links for 2015! Hope you enjoy. :)

"Saint Optimus of Prime" Stained Glass Window

As I was scrolling through my feed of blogs, this Geekologie post stopped me right in my tracks. This beautifully awesome piece was done by a software engineer, and as incredible as this is, it was only the first stained glass piece he had ever made! I showed this to Brett and he agreed... We would both love to have something this nerdy and beautiful in our future home!

31 Times Tumblr Had Serious Questions About Disney

This post displays one of the main reasons I love Tumblr - it points out things in popular culture that I had never realized before, and Disney is not immune. This Buzzfeed article pulls some of the most mind-blowing posts deconstructing Disney movies and some of their hidden meanings (with a few posts poking fun of the franchise thrown in there).

Lovestruck Wild Elephant Breaks Into Zoo to Unite with Captive Female

Let's be honest - would it really be a Favorite Links post without an article on Elephants? This is a story of a wild male elephant who saw a captive female from outside of a zoo's fence and broke in to mate with her. A pretty adorable yet bizarre story. It mostly makes me wonder: why there is a zoo and an elephant sanctuary so close together? How do they decide which animals are captive and which are wild? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Howe & Howe's Minirip All Terrain Vehicle


This. Looks. AWESOME. For a girl who has grown up playing outside in the snow in the middle of the woods, this would have been so fun to tear around on with my dad and sister! As soon as I saw this video, I forwarded it to my dad as an idea for his next big project. ;)
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's 2015 Golden Globes Monologue

Reason 126,835 why the internet is awesome: I didn't get to watch the Golden Globes on Sunday evening, but the internet was sure to upload Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's monologue and have it ready for me to watch Monday morning. Perfect! Tina and Amy are for sure the two women in Hollywood that I idolize the most. Definitely have huge girl crushes on both of them! 
I just finished up reading Yes Please this weekend (it took me about a week to read which is FAST for me) and I read Bossypants in the fall of 2012 (took me about the same amount of time to finish this one) and just learning about how hard these women worked to get to where they are and how great of a friendship they have is so inspiring and empowering. These women are fantastic role models, and as Parks and Rec comes to an end this winter (NOOOOOO), I'm really interested to see what these two will get up to next!
15 Puppies Seeing Snow for the First Time Will Warm Your Cold Winter Heart

I don't think the title of this post could be more accurate. I recommend grabbing a mug of hot cocoa, wrapping yourself in a blanket, and scrolling through this gallery to cheer you up about how disgustingly cold it is outside!

What are your favorite links of the moment?