Friday, February 24, 2012

Princess Mania!

The 2012 Disney Princess Half Marathon is Sunday and I couldn't be more excited to head up to Orlando today!!
My friend Annie flew in from Alaska this morning and is driving up with me.
Once there, we will meet up with Martha & John from Alaska; Leah, Sue & Daniela (and her family) from NY; and of course Annette & Brian!
from runDisney's facebook page
Such a fun weekend ahead... my sparkle skirt and headband are all ready to go!
Good luck to all the Disney Princesses out there!
Enjoy your time out on the course, it is a BLAST!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

ING Miami Half Marathon Recap

I ran the ING Miami Half Marathon on Saturday January 29th.
I woke up that morning feeling terrible, and in fact, I vomited before leaving my house that morning.  I had been sick for a couple of weeks so I think my body was just tired of the yuckiness.
So that was a great start.
I really wanted to get back in bed and forget about the half.
But then I remembered I was running those 13.1 miles for Gabby.
I figured if a little girl could tough it out through chemo, pills and everything else she has had to deal with this year, I could stand to do something for 3 hours.

In the end, I was really glad I at least completed the course.  I didn't feel great and it was not easy, but I got it done.
I do love this course and think this is one amazing race!
It has grown quickly over the past few years, and for good reason. 
It is a SCENIC, FAST, FLAT course.  Last year I had a 10 minute PR.
Pay no attention to my results from this year.
I really don't think there is a more beautiful run on the east coast.  Absolutely awesome.

It begins outside of the American Airlines Arena (where the Miami Heat play), immediately takes you onto the MacArthur Causeway (the only hill on the course and at .4 miles in, it does not feel like anything at all) into the beach, on Ocean Drive, Washington Ave. and then back into downtown along the Venetian Causeway.
The last three miles of the half are in downtown and it is pretty entertaining with bands, music and marching bands entertaining you along the way.
The finish line is at Bayfront Park, about a block away from the start line.
The marathon will break off at mile 12.8 and head down towards Coconut Grove (the turnaround point) and along Bayshore Drive, Key Biscayne and back into downtown for the finish.  I have never done the marathon, but can tell you the second half of the course is just as beautiful as the first.  That is where I do all of my long runs on the weekends.  Gorgeous.

This year was the 10th anniversary and we got this sweet medal:
Huge.
They also had awesome shirts - ladies fit!
I even picked up a beach towel.  I loved that I could buy something different!
I love orange.
Everything about this race is super organized.  The expo is great, the bag check is great, finish line area (while crowded) is organized.
Well, the only thing that is less then awesome are the start corrals.  They are there, there are signs, but I have no idea how to get into them.  I was in corral H, but I do admit I had no intention of starting there.  The only thing that meant to me was "H, like Heather".
I knew I wouldn't get to the start super early and I knew it would be hard to find the entrance into the corral, so I just hung back and jumped in with F when they were passing by.  That worked just fine.
The water stops (especially for the first 6 miles) were kind of a disaster.  Lots of garbage, more than I had ever seen before.  To be fair, I have since seen pictures of the NYC marathon water stops and they looked similar.  I guess a lot of runners = a lot of trash.
Oh! One other thing... there wasn't a water stop until mile 3.  I thought that was a little too long to wait.  It was simply to humid that day to wait for water.  Mile 1.5 or 2 should have a stop.

Aside from really small annoyances, I really love this race and will continue to do it as long as I live in Miami.  
Anyone want to join me next year?

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The rest of Marathon Weekend

In an effort to wrap this up before Princess Weekend this weekend, here is what else my family was up to at Disney World during Marathon Weekend...
My parents, sister, aunt & cousin all took part in the Family Fun Run 5K on Friday morning
We took my niece to the Magic Kingdom on Friday afternoon.
Let me just tell you that taking a 3 year old to Disney World is so much more fun than taking a one and a half year old (when she first went).  She absolutely had a blast and was really into everything.  She loved the rides, especially the teacups!

I also found it funny she picked out the same Mickey balloon as she did the first time she was here.
Those suckers are tough, the balloon is still alive and well in my living room!
Lily loves her balloons so much, I never have the heart to pop them and throw them away, so I bring them home with me.
These Disney balloons are like $10 or $15 but you definitely get your money's worth!

She took this great picture with Tigger & Pooh :)
Friday night we had dinner at Portobello at Downtown Disney.
I gave my spectators goodie bags as a thanks for waking up early to watch me run (and walk) around Disney World.
Don't you wish you could come see me in a marathon? :)
After dinner as we walked out of the restaurant there was a band playing, so Lily put on a little show for us.

And the adults all took pictures of her...
Can you tell she is the only kid in our family?

Saturday night we had a Princess birthday party for Lily, she turned 3 on Sunday!

My friend Annette came to visit with her family.  Addison (Annette's daughter) and Lily share the same birthday, so they were both dressed in their "birthday girl" outfits!
They were friends when they first met last year, and they picked up right where they left off, so cute! Lily was sad when Addison left.
A tad dramatic...

Sunday after the marathon, I took a quick nap, then I headed over to Epcot with Amanda and Sarah to meet up with Derek & Celeste.  We did some drinking around the world to celebrate the 26.2 miles.
The Jalapeno Margarita from the Mexico tequila bar is delicious!
We had dinner at the Germany Biergarten Restaurant which was fun and then ended the night at The Boardwalk (ESPN & Jellyrolls)


I have no idea why Derek is doing this.

So that ended our trip in January.  It was such a great time and of course, it went by way too fast!  Luckily I will be back up there in ONE DAY!!

Friday, February 17, 2012

One Year Old

Well this week marks one year of blogging. I don't want to point out the actual day, because like the extremely punctual writer I have been lately, that day has since passed.

Welcome to new readers and thanks to all of you for reading my insanely interesting posts over the past 365 days ;)

In honor of this occasion, I thought it might be fun to write about the Traffic that visits this blog. In Blogger, you can see your blog's stats: how many people have read your blog, what countries they are from, what images and posts are looked at the most.

A sampling of where Go Girl Go's readers come from:
United States

Canada

Russia

United Kingdom

Germany

Australia

Ukraine

Netherlands

India

Spain
Sweden
Finland
Israel
Thailand
Vietnam
Sri Lanka
Very multi-cultural, I love it!
Though I need to work on breaking into the South American market :)

Top 10 most read posts:

Now let's take a look at some of the search terms that lead people to my blog...
Let's Hug It Out Bitch, Let's Hug It Out, Ari Let's Hug It Out... really any combination of these words:
This picture has been viewed hundreds of times more than anything else on Go Girl Go

2nd and 3rd toes webbed:
Gross... I can't believe this is my third most read post. 

2 year old girl with red eyes:
Um... ok... 

Princess marathon freak
Clearly. 

Drunk+drunk+drunk+drunk+bitch
LOL, that's funny.  We were tipsy that night, but I wouldn't call us drunk.

There was a new search term that popped up last week:  Dumping Cocaine
That search led them to my post on Trash in the Trunk.  I referenced the documentary Cocaine Cowboys, so I assume that is the connection????
Unfortunately for that drug user, I was not able to provide any solid advice for their task at hand.

My "Bling!" tab gets a ton of hits.
I am happy to provide the public with that service.
You are welcome.

So that wraps up year one of Go Girl Go.
Thanks again for reading!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

I don't think I have ever made it a secret that I love all things New England Sports.
Obviously I want to the Patriots to win today... and get revenge (like in a big way) for that annoying night back in 2008.
I am watching ESPN right now (I love all the drama and analyzing leading up to the big game), and they were doing a package on how the Patriots were introduced as a team at the 2002 Super Bowl.  Ahh... that was a good moment!  Now all teams are introduced as a team at the Super Bowl.  

Aside from being ridiculously excited for the actual game, I am also soooo excited for the halftime show.
Madonna!
I have seen her in concert before, totally loved it and think she is just legendary.
This brings me to a question for you all...Why are the halftime shows always so polarizing for people?
Some are excited for it and some just loathe everything about it.
When all is said and done, it is over in 12 minutes.  Why do people have so many opinions about who is performing?  Why do people hate it so much? Granted, I am always excited to see the halftime shows, but really why do we care?

I can tell you that I now have a new appreciation for just how much work and attention to detail goes into those 28 minutes on Super Bowl Sunday.  Back in 2010 when the Super Bowl was here in Miami, I was one of the 700 volunteers that wheeled out the stage pieces for The Who's halftime performance.
Remember that year?  They had this cool stage...
Got this from Super Bowl Productions website
This was one of the most fun things I have ever been a part of!  To say I am jealous of the volunteers for this year's halftime show would be an understatement.
The teamwork and coordination that goes into getting the stage out on the field, plugged in and ready to go for one of the world's largest television audience is amazing.
Volunteering took a lot of time... 8 4 hour practices in the two weeks leading up to game day.  But it was definitely worth it on the nights we got to practice in the stadium and when we got to be at the full dress rehearsal two nights before the Super Bowl.  The Who did their whole performance... music, lights, lasers, fireworks everything.  It was cool. 
The majority of the volunteers were locals from South Florida and it probably didn't matter to most who was performing (I was one of these people), but there were some hard core The Who fans who came from all over the country to see their favorite band.  Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend were really nice to the volunteers on rehearsal night and many people got pictures and autographs.

On game day, the volunteers day starts early.  We had to report to a local school in the early afternoon.  This is where we parked, checked in, caught the bus to the stadium and got to watch the pre-game show on a screen they set up.  This is also where we watched the end of the game once we were back after the halftime show was over.
They bussed all the volunteers to the stadium in school buses with a police escort.
Parts of the Florida Turnpike were completely shut down to ensure the caravan of buses made it to Dolphin Stadium with no troubles.  Again, so cool :)
We spent the first quarter outside of the stadium, then we started wheeling the pieces into our line up.  
I was part of the group that was pushing the second piece of staging to go out on the field.  Luckily for us that meant we got to spend the second quarter in the tunnel behind one of the end zones.
Finally it was halftime!  Our piece of the stage was right on the 50 yard line and I got to watch the show from sidelines next to the Colts bench.  So cool!
Showtime!
And just like that, 28 minutes was over and we were headed back to the school to watch the end of the game and have a pizza party!  
What a fun memory and I know a bunch of folks from Indy are making those memories today!
Cart #9, Super Bowl XLIV