Greetings from Disneyland! Photo Log Day 1

Hi everyone! We got to California yesterday at noon (Cali time) and have been exploring the city of Anaheim and headed down to Downtown Disney District. Plus I got a MAJOR surprise when I was at the airport! Best day ever! Today we are headed to the expo. My favorite thing to do! I hope you enjoy my first Photo Log! Here we go!

6 AM Flight to Houston then on to LAX

This was my surprise! My sissy came to Cali with Mama! And she made tutus! 

Finally made it!

Painting the roses red? I am just smelling for paint! 

Very funny trash can! Mama and I wanted a picture!

Loving Disneyland so far! 

Having fun at the World of Disney!

My lego twin? Maybe! 

Until next time everyone! 

QOTD: Did you make it to Disneyland yet? If so what have you done so far?

Ready? Set? DISNEYLAND!

Hi everyone! Well I am offically on VACATION! WOOOOO!! I will be spending majority of today packing and getting my act together before my 6 AM flight tomorrow morning to meet Mama in California.

With me being in California the next couple day, I won't be able to post like normal. So I will being doing photo post from my previous day before! This will be fun so you can see first hand what I have been up too! So be on the look out for those each morning! I will be a little behind on the time because of the time difference.

Did you happen to see the Disney Park Blog last night? OMG I am about to blow my whole pay check that I got today on Friday. Ooops! Word on the street is they are making a special Dooney & Bourke! I got my first Disney Dooney last January at the 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.

Photo courtesy of Disney Park Blog

As I've said my sister Kelcy May won't be making the race this year. We found that out 2 weeks ago. She had her little heart set on a Dooney. Maybe if she is nice I will get her one! Love ya Sis!

I hope you all have a great rest of the week! If you are heading out to Disneyland be sure to check me out on Twitter or Facebook! I will be posting a lot there. And if you see me out and about be sure to stop me and say hi!

Until next time everyone! 

QOTD: What do you look forward to most about race weekend?

Countdown to Disneyland!

Well we are all days away from boarding planes and heading to Disneyland. Unless you are already there. If you are, I am super jealous! I am one of the lucky 5,500 (give or take) runners taking part in the inaugural Dumbo Double Dare!

Packing, laundry and preparations have begun at our house. Chris will not be taking part in this race weekend. Someone has to stay home and watch the furbabies! But Mama is coming with me! Tons of pictures will be taken and I will probably get lost a time or two because neither Mama or myself have ever been to California!

Trying to pack for a destination race is something I have never done before. And as I started last night I quickly became overwhelmed. I will have a backpack and my carryon luggage. We will only be there for a short time and having to change planes twice, I am afraid to check it!

So with this short little post today, have you started packing yet? Do you have any tips on packing?

Until next time everyone!

QOTD: How do you pack for a destination race? 

Race Recap: North Collier Regional 5k

Saturday concluded the Elite Events Summer 5k Series with the North Collier Regional 5k. This is 5k series is now in its 4th summer. Starting in the summer of 2010. I have done a couple Elite events. Not many. But this was the first time competing in the summer series.

Photo courtesy of eliteevents.org

What is a series you may ask? Well, you have to run 2 out of the 3 summer series races to be eligible for the over all series award. Or you could be really awesome and run all 3 races. Which is really cool. So you get points for every race you compete in. And if you place you get more points. The great thing about Elite Events is that they give awards 5 deep. So the top 5 in each age group gets recognized. I have a chance to be recognized which gives me an extra boost cause I wanna kick some butt.

This course was a really nice course overall. It is a local park, where there is a water park and soccer fields. It was very scenic. There was actually a soccer tournament going on while we where there. At some points in the course we had to make a couple of U-turns. My favorite part of the course was between mile 1 and 2 because it was like a swampy marsh. It was a bit humid but it was like running through a forest.

I felt really great starting out. The first mile I think my RunKeeper app told me I was running around an 8:30/mile. I remember thinking "SAY WHAT!" But the heat and Florida humidity got to me and I started to slow down. After mile two I took a one min walk. I have a interval timer strapped to my arm that is set to a 3:1 ratio. I tend to do speed work instead of a 1 min walk. I run normal for 3 mins and speed up for  a min.

At mile 2.5 we crossed a small bridge that was over a marsh. The bridge was a bit slippery from the morning dew and I started to slide a bit when we had to take a slight right turn on the bridge. By the time we passed mile 3 I could see the finish line in sight. The sun was already high in the sky and I forgot my racing sunglasses. I just kept telling myself, "Ky, you got this." and soon the finish line was insight.

I ran as fast as my little legs could take me. One of my co-workers was at the finish line waiting for me and cheering me on. She is awesome and runs so much faster than me! So nice to see a familiar face. After finish I felt a little over heated. I quickly grabbed a bottle of water and started pouring it on my arms, legs and splashed some on my face. I felt so much better after that.

I made my way down to the awards area and grabbed a banana on the way. I was proud of myself because I finished 31:18.8 and I ended up dropping 33 seconds off my last race time! Go me! I sadly didn't place in my age group. I placed 8th. I was just proud of dropping some much time off since my last race!

As I was getting ready to leave I heard my name called and found out I place 5th in my series of two races and won a series award! I felt like a rock star! All in all it was a great Saturday and a great race!

PS Shout out to Fit2Run! Love ya Kimmi!

I was a happy, happy, happy girl!

Until next time everyone! 

QOTD: Have you ever placed at a race or dropped some time? 

Weekly Workout Roundup: Aug 18-24

Happy Sunday! I hope you guys are having a great week. I took a little bloggy break yesterday. I had so much to do and needed a little break. But I did have a race yesterday. You will hear all about it in tomorrows post. Now to my weekly recap!

I took this week very easy. Since I am leaving for California on Thursday. I have been trying not to over do it. I have been majorly slacking this week because I am afraid if I over do it I will get sick. Mostly because Chris was sick last week. If I sneeze I freak out. NO BEING SICK FOR ME!


Here is what I did the rest of the week!

Sunday: 2 mile walk.

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 2 mile run

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: rest

Friday: rest

Saturday: 3 mile run

Very uneventful week. I am in the process of trying to get a key to our club workout house. It have a couple of machines like a treadmill, elliptical and other minor things. This would help me out so much of those super hot Florida afternoons or evenings! 

Until next time everyone!

QOTD: How did your weekly workouts turn out? 

Friday Fab 5!

It's Friday! I am so glad it is the weekend. I feel like this week took FOREVER! It 's probably because I am so excited for Disneyland. I am so close! This time next week, well it will be 4:00 in the morning California time and I will probably be waking up. Why do I get the feeling that I will be getting up at 5 or 6 AM Cali time (It will really be 8 or 9 EST) and going for a run or work out pre park and expo? Oh well!

Being that it is Friday, you know its time for the Friday Fab 5! This is my FAVORITE post of the week because I get to tell you all about 5 things I loved about this week. Ready? Here you go!

One:
I obsessed with the fact that I got my Disneyland Ticket yesterday. I had to get them sent to my office because someone had to sign for them. And no one is usually at our house during the day, except the dogs. So I got to see them in all there glory at my office.

Two:
That I have a 5k race tomorrow It is called The North Collier Regional Rampage 5k. Elite Events is a local race company that puts on literally the best local races around. During the summer they have a 3 series race contest. I unfortunately could not do the first race because of a surgery. I participated in the second of the series, Eagle Lakes Extreme 5k.. My chip time was  31:51, I places 7th in my age group, 50th overall female and 117th overall. I am pushing for a 30:30 to 31:00 time. Fingers crossed.

Three:
Yesterday I signed up for a yoga class called Restore and Renew. It will take place on Sunday from 1:00 to 3:30 PM. This yoga class is a relaxing therapeutic workshop while a massage therapist works on you. I thought it would be a nice little down time before Disneyland Half. It will be at Bala Vinyasa Yoga. Be sure to check out my blog next week to get a review of this! Now I need to go find my yoga mat... Hmmmmm.

Four:
I am happy and sad about this one. I stopped by our local Disney Store to pick up some goodies for our trip to Disneyland. Well when I walked it I found out the store was closing! NOOOOOO! But EVERYTHING in the store was 75% off! GASP! YAY! So I basically purchased a 8 shirts for me 8 shirts for Mama and some other goodies. But here is one of the coffee mugs I got! Be sure to check out my photo blog everyday while I am in Cali to see what shirts I got!

Five: 
I am so excited to see my MAMA! I haven't seen my Mom since April. Which is a really long time for us. She spends about 3 months out of the year down here is South Florida and the rest of her time in Northern Georgia at her cabin. I am just really excited to see her and spend some quality time with her. I am sad the Kelcy May can come with us to Disneyland! It's ok I told her we would go back next year!

Until next time everyone!

QOTD: What is one thing you LOVED about your week? 

Fit 4 Fun Thursday & Meet Stella!

It's Thursday y'all! It is almost the weekend! And I for one couldn't be more excited because it means I am closer to the Dumbo Double Dare, seeing my Mama and because I have a race Saturday morning. Which I just now registered for. I am one of those last second registration people.

My normal Thursday post is about Fit 4 Fun where I talk about my favorite time of the week at my local Fit2Run store! But sadly I had a meeting last night at 6:00 and couldn't go to my run club. Worst feeling in the world. Mostly because I don't get to see my run club friends. It was really heart breaking. Plus, I have not been feeling 100% (Thanks Chris! Love ya hunnie!). So the real only work out I did yesterday was the .5 distance to my car and back! So I walked a mile. Wow I feel LAZY!

I just don't want to push myself and then not be able to go to California. That would be totally devastating to me. So instead I am taking the next couple days off. Just to be on the safe side. But as I said early I signed up for a race on Saturday, AND I signed up for a 2.5 hours of "restore and renew" this is yoga involving massage and yoga. I AM SO EXCITED.

Yesterday I received an email from someone on my Facebook Fan Page. In this email Cara the writer behind Running In Sanity featured me on her blog! She was so nice to feature me and I just wanted to thank Cara for giving me my first feature! You can check out her post here!

I've been meaning to introduce you to the little doggie in my header! That is my Stella Belle! I call her my "Little Assistant Puppy Blogger". But she isn't the only dog in our house! We also have a Morkie (Maltese/Yorkie Mix) named Lord Bentley (aka The Beebs). Our little Stella is a rescue and is 5 months old. The reason she is on my header is because she sits at my feet every morning and night, chewing on her rope while I write, update and do everything at my blog!

So here is a little photo shoot of Stella and I. She is my girl girl and my little buddy (she is literally 3 lbs.). Couldn't image life without her and Bentley. Oh! I also will be sharing a picture of Beebs too!

Until next time everyone!

 

QOTD: Do you have any pets? If so I'd love to see pictures of them! Share on my FB Page!  

Disney Expo with some BACON & mid-week check in!

It's Wednesday! I love Wednesdays. Like I mentioned last week post, Training for Disneyland & mid-week check in!, I annoy Chris by marching all over the house yelling "Guess what day it is?". Never gets old.

So how is your week and workouts going? Mine have been ok. I am so excited for the Disneyland Half  and the Dumbo Double Dare that I can barely get my office work done! My most favorite thing about a runDisney event is the Expo! So far I ran this past weekend and yesterday. But no Fit2Run run club tonight. So I ran this morning!

This past year I decided to get to the Expo for Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend early. Like an hour and a half early. I usually go to the expo's by myself. Chris loves going to my races, but doesn't understand the whole point of the expo. So he usually statys back at the hotel or lounges by the pool while I explore the expo. Here is Kylee's official guide to navigating around a runDisney Expo! This is a three easy steps to getting the most out of your expo.

Tip one: Make a plan.
By plan, I mean what is important to you? My first stop, ALWAYS at a runDisney expo is the runDisney merchandise booth. Because it ALWAYS sells out with-in the first couple hours. This is mt theory on packet pickup. I paid for it. No on is going to take it. So it will be the last thing I pick up.

Tip two: Check out all the vendors & booths
As I have said before, I LOVE free stuff. A lot of these vendors give out free samples of different things. They want you to try it out! So try it out. If it doesn't work for you. Oh well, it was free anyway. Also you will find some very unique running shirts and gear that you won't find anywhere else.

Tip three: Enjoy!
Meet other runners and talk to people. This event is about you! So have fun meet some runners. Talk about training tips. Take TONS of pictures. Just enjoy this time. I know I will!

Now you may be wondering why I put "Bacon" in my title. Because about 3 weeks after the Walt Disney Marathon Weekend I found a FB group called Run Disney So I Can Eat Disney this fun little group of people put on a challenge called "The Three Little Pig Challenge". Basically during one of the runDisney events you have to eat 3 PIECES OF BACON and you get a medal. I was like "OMG I want to do this!".  

So when sign ups open I decided to do it! So on top of the three medals for Dumbo Double Dare, my Coast 2 Coast medal, I get a 5TH medal for The Three Little Pigs Challenge. I am beyond excited. Definitely check out the FB group. Everyone in it is super awesome and fun. I must say this tho, this event is not apart of or affiliated with runDisney.

Until next time everyone!

QOTD: What is your favorite part of a runDisney expo? And are you doing The Three Little Pig Challenge too?

I Don't Break Running Records.

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you got motivated yesterday. I have been a little less motivated than normal. Hopefully it is because I am really excited about the Disneyland Half! It is only just 9 days away. But I did get some mileage in this morning even though I went to bed later than normal. Mostly because my favorite show Mistresses was on last night.

2013 WDW Half Marathon Retreat

I realized the other evening as I sat down to write my post that a lot of you don't know my whole running story. Some of you may have seen some little snippets in my first post Get to know Me ABC!, so here is some information for you. I AM NOT A FAST RUNNER. I run for the joy, the wind in my hair and the fresh morning air. If I am pushing myself I run a 9:50 min mile. But I am comfortable at a 10:25/10:35 min mile. I like to sing when I run. It helps me know that I am running at a comfortable pace.

2011 PHL Broad Street Run (10 Miler) 

2011 Wine & Dine Half Marathon

I started running after I broke my foot and ended my ballet career. I had graduated and needed something to calm my mind. I started to run (kinda). I was running about a week when I decided to sign up for my first race. The 2010 Halloween 8k. I nearly killed myself. And my time was HORRIBLE! I finished the race in 1 hour. I finished second to last. Completely defeated I started to Crossfit everyday. My second  race was almost a month and a half later and I blew that 5k out of the water with a time of 31 mins. From there the rest is history.

2012 Tower of Terror 10 Miler

2011 Run for Paws

As I said earlier, I am not a fast runner. Time for me is an added bonus to the run. If I do well that's awesome. If I am a little off, well there is always the next race. I want to inspire people to run for fun, health and for some women and men their sanity. I know that I sometimes just need to get out on the road to clear my head. Otherwise I will be in jail for murdering Chris, KIDDING! One thing that I always say is, If you're going to run, at least do it with a smile. 

2011 Tough Mudder Atlanta

Until next time everyone! 

QOTD: Why do you run? 

Monday Motivation

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Mine was full of taking care of Chris who FINALLY kicked the flu! Now I just need to pump myself with some Airborne until I leave next Thursday for the Disneyland Half. But we did get to go out to dinner with Chris mom and it felt nice getting all dressed up and pretty. And not be in work out clothes.

Lately I have been having a hard time rolling out of bed in the morning to go for a run. It's not because I am lazy. I am the polar opposite of that. I just really, REALLY like to sleep. I go to bed at like 9:30/10ish. My bed feels wonderful and when I have my little Bentley curled up next to me I don't want to move.

So as I was laying in bed the other morning with thoughts about upcoming blog posts running through my head I came up with Monday Motivations. I know it's not just me that needs some motivation, you can be a 20+ year runner and sometimes you need some motivation. Someone to tell you that you are awesome and amazing with some words that get you to tie up your laces and head out the door. And hopefully you will find that joy. That runners high, that keeps you smiling with every step.

Here is my Monday Motivation. I was popping around on my Pinterest looking for some inspiration when I cam across this picture. I literally couldn't stop laughing after I read this. I hope you won't be offended by this. There is one curse word in it. And if you are I am truly sorry.

Until next time everyone! 

QOTD: What keeps you motivated everyday?

Weekly Workout Roundup: August 11-17

It's Sunday! Which means work tomorrow. Oh well that just means I am so much closer to going to Disneyland! I have been tapering down for the race. I did a 3 mile run this weekend. I was suppose to do a race on Saturday but Chris was up all night couching and sneezing so I was taking care of him and not getting any sleep. But other than that I got some mileage in this week!

Here is what I did the rest of the week!

Sunday: rest (I did a 7 miler the day before)

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 2 mile run

Wednesday: 3 mile run

Thursday: Cardio Boot camp with my trainer David

Friday: rest

Saturday: 3 mile run

I hope you all have a great Sunday! I am almost a week away from being in California! I am so excited to be able to go!

Until next time everyone!

QOTD: How did your workout's go this week? 

Foodie: Upside Down Pizza

Happy Saturday everyone! I for one am glad it is the weekend! After one exhausting week. But I always look forward to writing my posts. Today I want to give you guys an easy recipe. It is called Upside Down Pizza! I love this recipe because it is EASY. And after a long day at work and then a work out, the last thing I want to do is slave over a hot stove and over for 2 hours. So here you go! Enjoy!

Shopping List: 

1.5 pounds lean ground beef

1 15 ounce can Italian-style tomato sauce

1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (6 ounces)

1 10 ounce package refrigerated biscuits (10 biscuits)

1 package of peperoni or Italian sausage. (optional) 

Things from your kitchen:

Salt and pepper

Red Pepper Flakes (optional) 

Circle non-stick pan 

Possible Side Options: 

Texas Garlic toast 

Salad

Step One: 

Brown the ground beef. Make sure you drain the grease 

Step Two: 

Add ground beef, Italian style sauce and mozzarella to round non stick pan. Add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes at this time. 

Step Three:

Place pepperoni or cooked Italian sausage or both on top of the mixture. Chris and I like pepperoni only. 

Step Four: 

Take the raw biscuits and place them on top of the pepperoni. You will need to pull it apart to make it fit.  in the end it will look like this. 

 Step Five:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 and place on the MIDDLE rack for 15 to 20 mins depending on your oven. 

Take out and enjoy! This usually serves 4 people. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do. This is also great for kids. If you have any questions about this let me know! 

Until next time everyone! 

QOTD: Do you have any favorite easy recipes?