The (Tentative) Schedule for 2014

I think I went a bit overboard this year, I went from doing 2 races in 2012, no races last year to doing 4 half marathons, 1 ten miler, 3 10ks and 1 5k this year. (As of March 29, 2014 at 10am). So what am I running?

February
Enchanted 10k - Florida
Disney Princess Half Marathon - Florida

April
Nike Women's Half Marathon - Washington DC

May
Zooma Half Marathon Annapolis - Maryland

July
Wyoming Buffalo Stampede 10k - Delaware

August
The Green Turtle Run 10k - Delaware

October
Disney Happy Haunted 5k Train Run - Florida
The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror Ten Miler - Florida
Monster Mash Half Marathon - Delaware

Monster Mash will probably be my last official race of 2014. I think I've shelled out enough money on races for this year, and this summer I will be forking over the registration money for next year's Princess Half and Tinkerbell Half. That's right! With 2015 I will be going Coast to Coast and checking Cali off my list of states for my race to 50!

Where are your running shoes taking you this year?

Sparkle Skirts: First Hand

Find Sparkle Skirts at their Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Before arriving to the Fit For A Princess Expo I was unaware of what Sparkle Skirts were. Ali (who can be found on her own blog here) had mentioned then, but I kind of disregarded any idea of buying one. Once I talked to a few people and saw the product in person, I was interested.

Sparkle Skirts were one of the vendors on Ali's infamous list of people to see at Expo, up until this point I was planning on tackling the 10k in a Under Armour shirt and some compression pants and calling it a day. Upon entering the Sparkle Skirts area of Expo we were greeted by some of the most friendly staff I have ever encountered, seriously, they were genuine and took the time to explain everything that I had questions about in regards to their skirts. Our of the corner of my eye I saw this beautiful specimen staring at me, and I knew that despite my attempts on being frugal in Disney, I was going to have to try it on. 

Grotto Sparkle Skirt

I'm a natural redhead who decided to enhance my red a bit in order to portray Merida for the half marathon. Ariel has always been one of my favorite princesses sine she too had ginger locks, and there aren't that many of us. The skirt that caught my eye was the Grotto Skirt, I eagerly asked the girl if they were true to size and the response that I got was that though they typically are, she wanted me to try on my usual size, and one up and one down, just to be sure. The next part made me giggle: "Now, when you try this on, don't be afraid to jump up and down, run in place, shake it, or do whatever to make sure it isn't going anywhere!". I took the advice to heart and shook my groove thing in the little fitting room area. For me, it was true to size, in Victoria's Secret yoga pants I'm typically a large, along with FILA running shorts and pants, the same went for this sparkle skirt. 

The best thing about Sparkle Skirts? Unlike some running skirts that you have to throw compression skirts under, the SparkleTech skirt that I ended up with had them built in. No muss, no fuss. 

The thing that sold me on the skirt was the pockets. There are three in all and they are all on the large side:

The first pocket is in the waist band, it is 12" in length and zippers shut. With Sparkle Skirts they are designed to be worn with the zipper pocket either in the front or back, whichever is more comfortable for the runner. Even though I am typically a pocket in the back kind of girl, I went for the front approach for the Enchanted 10k. During the run I hid away a couple of necessities in my front pocket, drivers license, cash, and hotel room key. They stayed secured in there the whole trip, safe, sound, protected. 

Each side of the compression shorts house a 4"x5" open pocket. The whole race I ran with my cell in one of the side pant pocket. I didn't want to have to worry about possibly having my license or room key fall out when trying to get to my phone for whatever reason during the race, so even though I was a skeptic, I put the phone in a side pocket. 

Throughout the race my phone stayed put, right in the bottom of my side pocket, and didn't move one bit. It was snug, it was secure, it was stationary. 

After the race I was hooked, even though at first I was a little unsure of my new investment, I quickly became a fan. The SparkleTech Skirts have an inseam that range from 6" Inches for the Extra Small up to 7.75" for the 3XL, yes you read right, 3XL. That is the other thing that I love about SparkleSkirts, they cater to all sizes of women, because it doesn't matter your size, if you are working out you should be able to look good and feel good doing it. 

In Conclusion

I absolutely LOVED running in a Sparkle Skirt, and even though the pattern I chose is clearly themed towards a Disney/Mermaid theme, I have run in it since returning back to Delaware. I intend on expanding my collection of Sparkle Skirts, as they are worth the investment. To care for my specific Sparkle Skirt the directions state to machine wash cold and line dry. Easy enough!

Enchanted 10k 2014: Glass Slipper Challenge

And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what it looks like when you put together all your stuff for a pre 10k picture the night before your race! Not featured is the DayQuil and Claritin. Oh yeah, I probably should mention that when we got to Florida I came down with a sinus and upper respiratory infection/illness/death, and yet I still had every intention on running 19.3 over the course of two days.

Cinderella and Ariel pre race

 Ali and I were up by 2:30 Saturday morning, on a bus by 3:15, and at Epcot by 3:30. Our excitement outweighed our sleep deprived state, and as people began to fill the area everything finally seemed so real! I must say, the intricate work and detail that some people put into their costumes was some intense dedication! My favorite on Saturday was Merida and a bear, yes, a guy dressed as a bear to run with a girl. It was adorable.

Megan, Ali, and myself

When we made our way to our corrals, Ali made the decision to drop back a corral to be on my level, and then we also met up with another one of our friends who dropped back to join our corral party too! The execution of how the corrals started was very well timed. For the 10k about every ten-fifteen minutes they would start the next corral. This eliminated congestion on the race course, and allowed for a pretty amazing opportunity. Given the fact that this was a six mile race, before we were even heading out the first finisher was starting to come back. The cheers that we heard were so inspirational and it made for excitement among all of us.

For the first part of the race we pretty much stuck together, Megan, Ali and I. Then thanks to my cold/sinus problems, I fell back and started a coughing fit. Can I just tell you that running in Delaware where it had been 26 degrees and snowy then going to Orlando where it was 80 degrees and humid was a fun/interesting experience. Running through the Boardwalk area and Epcot was awesome, it was great to see everything in the parks and the different areas.

Along the race course I came across a girl who had fallen, I wasn't going for a PR, I wasn't going for anything really, my goal for Princess Weekend was to cross the finish line. Anything else was an added bonus. Especially given that I could barely breathe thanks to whatever ailment I had come down with. I stopped and asked her if she needed help, turns out she was sixteen, and this was her first race ever. She wasn't even a runner, honestly. That was her father's passion, and he had run Boston the year prior and was near the explosion when it happened, she was running this race because PTSD was preventing him from running it. She just wanted desperately to get to mile five, around there is where her family would be.

It was appropriate, I was running Disney after all

I look at the running community as a family, when Boston happened our hearts were heavy. Boston is a long term goal of a lot of us out there. And the fact that something so terrible could happen to our little community, something that a lot of us use as an escape had been harmed. Being a Disney race, the quote from Lilo and Stitch played through my head. I "ran" with her for the extent of her time on the race, and when she got to the part of the race where her family was her father extended his gratitude that I kept an eye on his daughter. And with my teenaged running partner no longer by my side, I pushed to the finish.





I didn't stop for any character photos, looking back on it now I regret it. I wish I had gotten at least one picture with a character. But, there is always next year to get pictures with some princesses! As I crossed the finish line it was a moment of victory. I was excited to get my first Disney bling, and excited to find Ali to hear how her race went. And to get my hands on a post race snack box. After brief search, I found my travel buddy and we snapped a picture together! We were definitely both very excited to have our first medals of the weekend, and to get back to the hotel to get ready for our adventure in Epcot that day.

Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger