Star Wars Expo and 5K: Sharp Turn Ahead!

“No wonder C3PO is the way he is…Hayden Christensen made him.” -Tyler Martin

Honorable Costume Mentions:

Lego Slave Leia

Jabba the Hutt

Wampa Girl

Han in Carbonite

Great group of three as Han, Leia, and Chewie

Lando! and a really great Padme with him

X-Wing and Tie Fighter

Elvis Leia

Thursday I was nervous. Like really nervous. People online were stressing out about the expo merchandise and so was I. Was I going to get to Anaheim in time to get the expo items I wanted and still be able to pick up my bibs? I was worried about lines, I was worried about logistics. I was worried. And it hurt me. I was experiencing the whole “stomach doing flip flops” thing until we got to Anaheim. And it didn’t help me that we left later than I wanted to. I wanted to leave at 12:30/1pm but we didn’t end up getting on the road until after 2pm. It was because Tyler had laundry going in the dryer and we had lunch with our friend, Ben.

But that was all probably for the best, though I couldn’t convince myself at the time. Finally, after some gruesome 405 traffic, we got to our Best Western hotel.  I started to breathe sighs of relief. I needed to. If I had gone into race day feeling the way I felt Thursday morning, my run would have been atrocious. We checked in with Kevin who was very kind and gave us great walking directions to Disneyland. We dropped our stuff at our room and headed off to the expo.

We could not have picked a better hotel. It was an easy 15 minute walk from our hotel to the Disneyland hotel (where the expo was being held) and I was even MORE relieved to see that the starting/finishing area was right outside the Disneyland hotel. The only way we would have been closer to the event was if we were camped in the parking lot. The logistics were coming together, I started seeing signs for the event, and my worry turned to giddiness pretty quickly.

We got to the expo and the first thing we did was go to the event merchandise section, which was packed. The most packed part of the house. Luckily there was no line to get in. After reading online that people had to wait almost two hours just to get into the merchandise section, I was happy to just stroll right in. Tyler and I did a round and I ended up getting a jacket and a mug. There was a hat I liked but they were sold out. It’s ok, $25 saved. I’m kind of glad I didn’t love the designs on the race shirts. It saved me a LOT of money. I knew I was getting 4 shirts with the cost of the race so I didn’t want to spend any money on things I didn’t absolutely love. The jacket and the mug cost enough and I am extremely in love with them.

From there we made our way to the bib pickup. A huge black carpet led the way to the downstairs area with the writing “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…” Armed with our signed race waivers, we got in line to pick up the bibs. There was barely a line, but of course I had to go in the longest one with three ladies ahead of me. We surrendered the waivers for a bib and a race program, one for the 5K and one for the Rebel Challenge. Then we had to go take our picture for the Rebel Challenge so we couldn’t cheat. We chatted with a really sweet photographer. It felt like she was bored because she talked and talked.

After checking out the Dooney and Burke bags, we headed upstairs to pick up our race shirts. The black carpet had a nice “May the Course be with You” message on the way up. We made our way to the red carpet that led into the expo and grabbed our race shirts, 4 in total. We walked around the expo for a while. Tyler was in search of socks that fit him (which he didn’t find) and I wanted to get KT Taped up. We got to the KT tape booth. Tyler got his lower back done and I got my dress done…well, it was because I wanted my glute muscle done and couldn’t discreetly raise my dress and show my butt at the expo, so the KT Tape guy showed me where I should put the tape by putting it on my dress and I did the real application later in the privacy of my hotel room.

More walking around the expo. We discovered that the Sierra Nevada company, the company sponsoring the race, was NOT a water and beer company but rather a space exploration company, much to our humored embarrassment. I was upset to discover the Champion Star Wars themed USC shirt only came in kids sizes and Tyler was upset over the pretentiousness of the “In a Corral Far Far Away” shirt sellers. But we both got excited when it was announced that Sean Astin was about to speak on the main stage. There was barely anyone in the stage area so we grabbed a table (and some coloring paper and markers for coloring) and waited for Sean to speak.

He was a great guy, He talked about his iconic roles, how he got into running, how much he and his family love running, and his cause #Run3rd (First he runs for himself, second he runs for his family, third he runs for you or whatever cause you support!). He was gracious enough to take pictures afterwards and Tyler and I jumped in line. Tyler chatted with Sean about running and admitted that he had barely trained. Sean gave him some good advice (you’ll be excited, but don’t start off too fast!). When he learned that Tyler and I were running together he said “I just have this picture in my mind of him on the ground and you over him screaming “GET UP! YOU HAVE TO GET UP!”

Nothing could top Sean Astin, so we made our way back to the hotel. When we got back we sorted things out and laid out our clothes for the race and turned in pretty early, around 8:30pm. Well, I turned in…Tyler was playing Duck Tails when I fell asleep so I don’t know when he went to bed. I had set the alarm for 3:30am so I was happy to go to sleep. I was feeling relaxed and ready. And excited of course!

It took 3:30am a long time to come. I slept well, but it felt like I slept for a LONG time. I woke up at 12:30am thinking it was almost time to wake up and was surprised when I saw the clock and still had 3 hours left to snooze. But it finally came and I was wide awake. I wasn’t tired, I wasn’t nervous, and I was ready to go! After eating breakfast, brushing teeth, etc, and dressing in my Chewbacca outfit it was time to head out.

It wasn’t very cold, which was nice and we walked over with another runner in a Yoda costume. Part of our walk was on the race course that we would be running soon and they already had the runner announcements going. “CAUTION. THE ROAD NARROWS AND THERE IS A SHARP TURN AHEAD,” it said over and over. Which, sure ok, we’re turning…but it’s not like we’re at risk of running off the road or anything Disney. Calm down about the sharpness of that turn…This message became a running joke for Tyler and I as there were several of these messages along the course. We would overdramatize our concern for the sharpness of the turns and Tyler would feign careening off the course because he didn’t watch out for the sharp turn.

When we got to the starting party they were just announcing that it was time to go to the corrals, so we went straight there. We were both in corral B, the second and not last corral, which was pretty exciting. It was nice to not have to worry about cramming to the front of the corral knowing that there were other corrals behind us starting later than us.

They had large TV screens set up over the corrals to show scenes from Star Wars and to show the announcers who got us pumped up for the race. R2D2 and C3PO were on stage too, though the C3PO voice actor didn’t seem like he had much energy. We watched the swinging over the trench scene from A New Hope, the “I am your father” scene from Empire, and the teaser trailer for episode 7. Then it was time to start!

Corral A was released to confetti and the Star Wars opening theme and us in corral B walked up to the start. Shortly after A started, we were released to the same confetti and Star Wars theme and we were off!

We killed the run with a 10:30/mile time. I wanted to see how fast we could go. This meant not stopping for pictures though which I was ok with; the lines were long and they weren’t characters I needed pictures with: Stormtroopers, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, random Jedi, the Star Wars Rebels characters…It was more fun to see what people dressed as. Costumes for this race were elaborate since it was a 5K and it was untimed. People could take as long as they wanted so they went big with their costumes.

We started in the back lot of Disneyland, threw some high fives to the Third Shift janitors and made our way into Toon Town. The park was all lit up and absolutely beautiful. It was easy to run fast because everything was just so magical and exciting! Some of the rides were going with no riders which was kind of creepy and made the park look ghostly. There was Star Wars music all along the way.

We exited Disneyland through the turnstiles and headed into the back lot of California Adventure. After an underground tunnel we ran through Bug’s Life, the wharf, and Cars Land (where I was snubbed by a photographer, how rude!). It was out the front entrance and into Downtown Disney for the last leg of the race. At this point people started calling out to me.  “Go Chewbacca!” which I thought was a lot of fun! There were people at Starbucks sitting outside enjoying beverages and watching us run, cheering us on.

We got quickly to the finish. Tyler wanted to sprint in but thankfully stayed behind with me. We held back a little because we were close to a group of girls and I wanted to get a good finishing photo. In the end, we finished in 34 minutes. Crazy. That pace is gonna be a LOT slower for the next two races. But I wanted to see what we were capable of.

We got our medals, were given Powerade and water, took our official race photos, grabbed our goodie box filled with

snacks. After watching a few people cross the finish line (which they were showing on a big screen over the main stage) we decided to walk back to the hotel to catch breakfast. It was about 6:40am at this time.

We changed quickly and got breakfast, came back, showered, and CRASHED. We were both so tired. We slept until about 12:30pm and made a quick run to Wal Mart and lunch (delicious tacos from La Linda Michoacan) and came back to the hotel. I crashed again! I think I only spent 8 hours awake. I was so tired. I figured it was ok to indulge in the sleep because it was better to do that than be miserable at the next two races.

Fitness 4 All's Valentine's Day 10K: February 14, 2015

So after the high of Star Wars, and after deciding that my next race would be the Cedar Point Half Marathon in June of 2015 I decided that I still wanted to run races (short races) and, most importantly, earn medals. With my budget, I figured I could afford one race a month. So for my February race, I thought it would be a good idea to do a Valentine’s Day race; since I couldn’t revel in the love of a significant other, I figured I would revel in self love and start the day off feeling good with a race and some earned bling.

I found a Valentine’s Day race in Long Beach, the only one in the area that didn’t market itself as a “couple’s race.” It was limited to 100 participants, and I liked the idea of a small group. I signed up. A day before the race, we were informed that the bike path we were supposed to be running on was under construction and because of this we should be prepared to run on the sand. I freaked out. If you’ve ever walked on the beach you know that sand is VERY difficult to navigate through. And I was expected to run 6 miles in it now. I hoped that this construction meant we would only have to be in the sand for short stretches…they couldn’t expect us to run the whole way in sand, could they?!?!

I was also nervous because for the past week I had been very sore. I had started a strength training workout program that was kicking my butt and the runs I had done during the week weren’t my easiest runs. I was very much looking forward to being at the end of this race.

The morning came and I made the drive down to Long Beach. I had never experienced downtown Long Beach before and it took me by surprise. It’s a beautiful city and I was grateful for the chance to drive through it and experience it. And they have a wonderful beach front. VERY visitor friendly. And FREE PARKING. I gotta say, I was loving Long Beach from what I was seeing. 

The runners gathered around a tiny Fit car with the “Fitness 4 All” banner draped over it  and a Valentine’s Day balloon attached to it and checked in with the founder of Fitness 4 All. He gave us a pink “Fitness 4 All” bracelet and then we runners took so time to stretch before the race. Before starting, the owner explained a little bit about his company and about the run. Fitness 4 All is a 9 year old non-profit company that provides fitness programs to the less fortunate: women’s shelters, mental health institutions, etc. By running the race, we were helping to fund these programs (which are free for participants). Then the owner talked about the course. He told us that there was no bike path to run on and that the whole race would be run on the shoreline, down in the packed sand.  Ok, this sounded reasonable. Packed sand was easy to walk on so I figured it would be easy to run on too. The 5K runners were to turn around at a large apartment building that stood alone on the road and the 10Kers were to turn around when we hit the rock wall. Basically, we turned around when we hit the end of the beach. It was time to run so we were sent off!

A tiny distance on what was left of the bike path brought us to a path that led down to the ocean. We had to cross about two feet of soft sand to get to the shoreline and then we followed the shoreline the whole way. It was pretty incredible. I had never run that close to the water before and it was an absolute thrill. I could tell I was excited because I started the race off FAST, too fast for my liking. But the adrenaline from being that close to the ocean was just pumping through my veins. I mean, we had to dodge the waves coming up upon the sand. I love the ocean and this was just too amazing for me to handle. We were running over and past shells, crabs, dogs on the dog beach, cute little ocean birds all the while treated by the views of the oil rig boats and islands, downtown Long Beach, and the Queen Mary in the distance. 

Despite this, it was a challenging race for me. 
As I mentioned, I started off way too fast so I  was hurting way too early. I thought the small group of runners would be nice, but in reality once everyone spaced out it was kind of lonely. And most of the runners at my speed turned around at the 5K mark. I was left chasing the footsteps of the runners in front of me and wishing that I was fast enough to be with them. In addition, the beach was always at a slight incline, so one foot was always a little above the other, which resulted in my toes rubbing together and blistering. And my legs getting sore quicker since that was something they were not used to. The last challenge was the most difficult for me: you could clearly see the rock wall turn around in the distance, which did not help my mentality. I kept thinking “oh, this will be easy, because I can see it, so that must mean it’s close!” But as I ran and ran and felt like I wasn’t getting any closer my spirits suffered. I tried to keep my head down and watch the sand underneath me so I wouldn’t psyche myself out. The sand was actually wonderful to look at. There was one point where it looked zebra striped which was pretty cool. 

I finally got to the turn around and felt elated when I touched the rock that signified my halfway point. It was all downhill from here. 

Except now I could see the finish and I had the exact same problem as before. Because I could see it, the finish seemed way closer than it actually was. And it was starting to get hot. I knew I had to adjust if I was going to shake the misery that sometimes creeps up while running. So I focused on the sand in front of me again and focused on breathing, relaxing, and taking it easy. In fact, around mile 4 I started repeating in my head “breathe, relax, breathe, easy,” in time with the breaths I was taking. I started trying to enjoy where I was; the sand was sparkling in the sunlight, the ocean was constantly trying to catch me, and the beach was alive with action. My pace slowed, which helped a lot, and I got through the second half with more ease than the first. To beat the heat I would sometimes stick my hand into the ocean water and slick back my hair with the cold water. It was a nice cool down. 

I had been seeing the most beautiful shells during the race and near the end I picked one up to take home as a souvenir. When it was time to get off the beach for the tiny stretch of concrete at the end my legs gained a power that I didn’t have a minute earlier. They knew they were almost finished. It felt SO GOOD to be on concrete again as opposed to sand. Although the packed sand was MUCH preferable to the soft sand, it was still a little too squishy for my taste. I like the rebound you get from running on roads; it feels like I have to make more of an effort to bring my foot up when I run in sand or grass. 

I got got to the finish, collected my medal, chatted for a bit with the founder of Fitness 4 All, took a couple pictures, and was on my way. I felt AMAZING. It was definitely a great way to start off a holiday that I probably otherwise would have felt kind of bummed out about. I treated myself to some Chik Fil A for breakfast since I was starving (and the sandwiches were shaped like hearts! So cute!) and had a great rest of the day relaxing. The race was a little bit of a struggle, but it was a great experience :)

Training for the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend

I had a fun idea while training for the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend: Why not write down some thoughts and take a selfie after every training run to see how I progressed over the weeks of training? I really enjoy tracking my improvement in things that I do, so with the help of the RunKeeper app I started to do just that. 

What follows is a collection of my runs, my thoughts after each run, and a selfie from each run.

Sunday, September 28th, 2014
3.23 miles, 12:45 pace
No note

Tuesday, September 30th, 2014
2.65 miles, 11:56 pace
Butt hurt at the outset. Shoulders felt tense. I focused on keeping shoulders loose and keeping a steady breathing pattern. Almost got run over by a white Land Rover. What a jerk.








Friday October 3, 2014
2.62 miles, 11:49 pace
Knocked 15 sec off my pace which is surprising because I had a hard time breathing. My throat, mouth, and lips were really dry. Was listening to "Gone Girl" audiobook though. Never listened to an audiobook while running so maybe it's good to listen to and made the difference in my pace.




Sunday, October 5, 2014
3.76 miles, 13:22 pace

Easier run than I thought, though I did take it easy due to the fact that my body is sore all over from the batting cages yesterday...and from being hungover...but my pace really suffered. I listened to music. Dunno if that was a factor in my slower pace.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

2.57 miles, 11:50 pace

Started off way too fast because of emotional trauma. Nice change of scenery with the new course though.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

2.65 miles, 11:49 pace

No note

Sunday, October 12, 2014

4.57 miles, 13:23 pace

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith." Hebrews 12: 1-2

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

3.18 miles, 13:14 pace

Listening to Mosaic podcasts is making this easy.

Sunday October 19, 2014

6.36 miles, 12:53 pace

Took about 25 minutes to get into it and I was not relaxed at all. The second half was easier than the first. Nice going down the creek trail.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

2.87 miles, 12:59 pace

Something's in my head that's making this seem like work. I gotta work on my mental game.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

3.34 miles, 12:54 pace

No note

Saturday, November 8, 2014

3.11 miles, 17:01 pace

Electric Run! Didn't run very much but it was a super awesome time with great friends...and I danced afterwards so that made up for the walking ;)

Sunday, November 9, 2014

6.18 miles, 12:27 pace

Tried a 3:1 interval today and it went well. Fell into a nice groove. Will probably keep that pace going forward unless my knees start hurting. Felt some twinges in my OS one today but I think I'll be ok. Will maybe ice it.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

3.27 miles, 12:58 pace

Adult errands!

Friday, November 14, 2014

3.31 miles, 13:23 pace

I think my mentality has changed. It's no longer what I notice that is hard, that needs improving, but rather what new things I notice seeing or experiencing while running. Like Tub's Chili. I'm going to get chili there soon.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

7.22 miles, 12:18 pace

Air was dry, or pollen-y. Hard to breath sometimes because of my asthma. But the second half went by so fast.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

3.23 miles, 12:37 pace

I will not be a wanderer. I will not be a prisoner. I will not be a fool. I will be an adventurer, courageous enough to explore the deep waters of God's love.

Friday, November 21, 2014

3.77 miles, 12:43 pace

Feet hurt. Very tight. Started listening to Serial. Very interesting and also very scary…

Sunday, November 23, 2014

8.04 miles, 11:45 pace

I wish my runners high would hit me BEFORE I got to the 4 mile mark...first half was a struggle, second was a breeze.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

9.02 miles, 11:49 pace

Pain in the groinal area. Gonna have to take special care of that. Same as always, second half easier than first. I think it took exactly 48 minutes to hit my groove. Good run.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

3.56 miles, 12:29 pace

Ran with Tyler. It was nice having a partner.

Friday, December 5, 2014

4.49 miles, 12:35 pace

Saw parts of Santa Monica I never saw before. Big wide quiet streets, beautiful houses. Talked about being adults and living life.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

5.98 miles, 12:07 pace

Unable to go to Santa Monica as my car was blocked in. Had a LOT of trouble breathing...I think there's a cold trying to take hold of my throat. Not a bad run though, but the groin pain is back. I didn't have a problem with it when I did 2/1 during the week, so maybe the 3/1 is too much. We'll see.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

3.91 miles, 12:45 pace

Mystery machine and film set. Cool and easy run.

Friday, December 12, 2014

4.84 miles, 12:56 pace

Rainy run; it was fun! A fellow runner have me a thumbs up tonight which made me smile :)

Sunday, December 14, 2014

8.03 miles, 11:41 pace

Used KT Tape for the first time since the LA Marathon and it was a HUGE help. VERY good run. The river looked beautiful today. Sub 12 min pace baby!!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

3.91 miles, 12:53 pace

Good run. Little struggle. Lots of cars pulling in and out of driveways got in my way.

Friday, December 19, 2014

4.80 miles, 12:57 pace

Annoying that I had to dodge a news camera in front of Sony. Sharp pain in my right glute. Boo. I'll try to relax it.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

11.07 miles, 11:42 pace

Super pain in the right groin. Second half was a limping struggle because of this. I gotta learn to let go of measuring time and distance early on so I'm not working myself up and getting nervous for no reason.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

5.08 miles, 10:46 pace

Western Reserve Frosty 5 Mile on Christmas Eve. Ran with my brother Patrick! That boy has never talked to me more than when we talked during this race :)

Sunday, January 4, 2015

12.08 miles, 12:51 pace

Ouch. Hard. Not easy running 12 after a week and a half not running and maybe being sick. Glad it's over.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

8.05 miles, 11:43 pace

Last long run before Star Wars. Swift as the coursing river :)

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

5 miles, 12:32 pace

Manetaya. Last run before Star Wars! So excited!!!!!!