Princess Medals

We are only 3 weeks until Princess!  I am really looking forward to this weekend.  Outside of the fact that I'll be in Disney and with family, I am mostly looking forward to the warmer weather!  After this polar vortex, I am so in need of warm weather!

Since we are 3 weeks out, let's talk about the bling I am going to be getting!  I meant to do this post sooner, but, you know, life got in the way.

When runDisney first posted the medals, I have to admit, I was not totally in love with them.

via runDisney facebook page

But, once I got to see them in person, I feel in love with them!  It wasn't even in actual person - Abby got a peek at them during the NYC Marathon expo and in her photo's the medals looked great.  I am not sure who does runDisney's medal photo's, but they should find someone else.  It does not showcase them in the best light.

Anyway, even beyond Abby's photo's, I got to see them in person at both the Wine and Dine and Marathon weekend expo's.

Enchanted 10K -

photo courtesy of Abby

I really like this one.  I love the carriage and the slightly purple on the 10K.  I also feel like it is in line with the overall branding of the weekend.

Princess Half -

Photo courtesy of Abby

I love that it is different then last year, but they haven't made too many drastic changes to it.  I have to admit this is one of my favorite medals.  I originally wanted to do this race solely because I wanted a Disney medal with a tiara on it.

Glass Slipper Challenge -

Photo courtesy of Abby

Out of the 3 Princess medals I'll be getting, this is my least favorite.  I wish it was actual glass - how cool would that have been?!?  At least inaugural is spelled right (hello, Minnie 10K bibs?).  But overall, I do like it.  I also really like that the colors for all 3 medals coordinate.

What are your thoughts on the Princess weekend medals?

The Dopey Experience, my final thoughts

It's been a couple of weeks now since Dopey and I've had some time to sort through the race.  It's been hard to really put into words, but I am going to try and do a post on my thoughts on the Dopey experience.

This was only my second multi-day challenge (Dumbo Double Dare being the first).  I knew this would be a challenge.  4 days, including a marathon?  What was I thinking?!?

Ahhhh - what was I thinking!

I knew this was not something to be taken lightly.  My training for the Dumbo Double Dare was actually a perfect lead in to Dopey training.  It gave me a strong base with some back to back practice.  I decided to go with the Hal Higdon Dopey schedule as I felt it would work best for me.

Physical training is not the only aspect.  I do feel that mental training is one of the most important aspects of this race.  Pushing yourself when you are tired/sore is tough and if you can work through that, then you are ahead of the game.

I felt truly prepared heading into the race weekend with the Hal Higdon plan.  I had only missed 2 runs and knew that I had done everything I could do be prepared.  My strategy of taking the first 3 races easy and having lots of energy for the marathon worked best for me, but from reading other blogs, it looks like most Goofy/Dopey'ers seem to do it the other way (race the half, take it easy in the full).

But for me, taking the first 3 races easy was key.  Something else that help was trying to limit time on my feet Friday and Saturday.  Saturday Pam and I literally did nothing but have lunch at Downtown Disney and dinner in Hollywood Studios.  By the time marathon morning rolled around, my legs were not feeling tired.

I wouldn't say my legs were feeling 100% fresh, but they weren't completely tired.  It allowed me to be able to have the race I wanted on Sunday.

I think the main question is, would I do Dopey again?  Honestly, I don't think so.  I'm sure some of you are thinking, wait, really?

Don't get me wrong - I loved the race and it was a great experience and I am so glad I did it, but there were some definite downsides to it.

First, let's talk about money.  The registration price tag is not a joke ($495 in 2014, but I anticipate it will go up in 2015).  Plus, you also have to factor in plane tickets, hotel/tickets, merchandise purchases, plus the sheer expenses that go into training (sneakers, nutrition, etc).

Another issue is the time commitment.  I gave up a lot of time (and personal life) to train for this.  Many hours in the park, lots of weekends were I did nothing but run.  When you run long on both Saturday and Sunday, you can't really do anything on Saturday.  Speaking of time, let's not forget about needing to take a week of vacation the 2nd week of January.

And of course, my favorite - sleep deprivation.  Getting up that early for 4 mornings in a row is no joke.  By Friday night, I was becoming slightly delirious.  By Sunday, it took all my effort to get going when the alarm went off.

I think at some point, I would be open to doing Goofy again (many, many years in the future though!), but no Dopey again.  Never say never, but at this point, I feel this way.

Did anyone else do Dopey?  Would you do it again?

50 States Challenge: Year 1 Recap

As I mentioned yesterday, my birthday was this past weekend.  Outside of getting 1 year older, this marks the end of Year 1 of my 50 States Challenge.  Since year 1 has come to a close, I thought I would start a tradition of doing a recap of my progress in that year and to date around my birthday each year.

This year saw the completion of 4 states - Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont and Connecticut.  This falls right in with the average number of states I need to complete each year in order to be done in 10 years (4.5 a year).

I started the challenge already having completed 10 states completed, so this puts me at 14 total states completed or 28% done.  I am including DC as part of the challenge (and in that percentage), so I guess it's really 50 States + the District of Columbia, but that didn't sound as good :)

Looking to the future, I already have 3 states on the calendar:
- Kentucky (Bluegrass Half Marathon)
- DC (Nike Women's Half Marathon DC)
- Oregon (Eugene Half Marathon)

Since we are talking 2014 and states, I feel like it's a good time to announce my 18th state (and 4th for 2014) - Minnesota.

As I said in my goals, I wanted to race a marathon.  I have decided to combine the two and race the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN.  I have heard nothing but great things about this race and I can check Minnesota of the list (since this is my own personal challenge, I have decided that a marathon in that state counts for that state).

That makes 4 total states for 2014 and I have a 5th in my mind (it would be at the end of the year, so I have some time to decide).

Either way, I am making some serious progress towards my goal!

And for you visual people, I made a map that shows how the states completed.  Orange means the state has been completed, blue still needs to be run (and yes, I purposely made it Syracuse colors).  I'll be updating it each year, so it'll be fun to watch it grow more orange!

2 on Tuesday

My birthday was this past weekend!  My main birthday present?  An iPad mini - yay!  I have already spent many hours playing with it on my couch.  I am a big fan.  And I love the plaid of my case I got.  Abby recommended the Speck Fitfolio and it was right on - it is the perfect case (for me at least).  I couldn't pass up the plaid.  Madras all the way.

Well, that didn't take long.  Registration for the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend events opened at Noon EST today and by 12:42, the Dumbo Double Dare was already sold out (screen grab taken at 3:12 pm EST).  The 10K followed shortly after.  The Half is currently at 71%, but if you are interested, I recommend you register soon.  Kids races should be gone any minute as well and don't even get me started on the "Welcome Event". It's basically the old runDisney Meetups but now you get to pay $89 to attend (they used to be free).  You get early entrance into the official merchandise, but is that worth $89?  You'll still have to actually buy the merch.  I mean, I love my merch as much as the next person, but it is not worth that much too me.

Training recap week of 1/20 (GSC Week 1)

After taking a full week of of running post Dopey, I was definitely itching to get back out there.  Unfortunately, the cold weather forced all 3 of my weekday runs onto the treadmill.  Not my favorite, but I took it easy and eased back into it.

Obviously, there is not a lot of time until the Glass Slipper Challenge.  The goal of the next 5 weeks (the total number of training weeks I'll have before the challenge) is to just take it easy and keep my base.  I'll do a smidge of easy speedwork, but nothing intense.

Monday

Scheduled: Rest 

Actual: Rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy 

Actual: 3.0 mi, 34:21, 11:32 pace

Wednesday

Scheduled: 3 x 1 mile at marathon pace, plus warmup and cooldown

Actual: 5.0 miles total

Paces: 9:44, 9:42, 9:55

Thursday

Scheduled: 3 miles easy

Actual: 3.0 mi, 34:04, 11:19 pace

Friday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Saturday

Scheduled: 7 miles easy

Actual: 7.0 mi, 1:10:08, 10:01 pace

Sunday

Scheduled: Rest

Actual: Rest

Total miles: 18.0

Total January miles: 78.34

Miles until goal (1,250): 1,171.66

Race Recap: Walt Disney World Marathon

Don't miss my recaps of the expo, 5K, 10K and half!  All below photo's are from my iPhone.  I plan on doing a post with the professional photo's so I am not posting all I took (you're welcome!).  Once they finish identifying all the professional photo's, I'll share those!

Walt Disney World Marathon
January 12, 2014

Marathon: #10

I am apologizing in advance on this one. It's going to be a long post as I want to try and remember as much of it as I can.  It's been almost 2 weeks and I am still in disbelief on how well it went!

The morning started with the alarm going off at 2:45am.  Pam and I knew it would take us longer then other mornings, but we still should have gotten up earlier as we did leave later then expected for the buses.  I had laid everything out the night before, but there was still a lot of double checking going on to make sure I didn't forget anything.

As I said, we got on the buses a little later then we planned on and then we just sat in traffic.  This was the worst of the 3 days with traffic.  What took maybe 15ish minutes the other days, took close to 45 minutes.  At least the bus was comfortable and warm!

It has stormed overnight so the humidity of the previous day had broken and it was a cool morning.  A little chilly in fact and all my throwaway clothing came in handy.  But, perfect weather for running a marathon.

Upon arriving at Epcot, we went through security and headed to baggage.  Since the bus was delayed, we didn't have any time to kill.  I did some final organizing (double checking all gu's, filling my handheld, etc).  I did decide to run with the handheld water bottle I purchased at the expo and it was a good call.  I need to remember that being able to control my own hydration is important.

By this point, we needed to start heading to the corrals.  I checked my bag and used the restroom one last time.  I was feeling surprisingly calm at this point.  There were still some panic in my mind, but nothing too bad.

I got to the corral right as they were getting ready to start the first one.  I ditched my sweatpants and sweatshirt when they did the send off for Corral D and was done/ready as we starting moving towards the start line.  I ended kept the gloves until about 5 mile.  I liked having minimal waiting time for the marathon - helped prevent me from getting inside my head.  They got the fireworks for our corral right this time and off we went.

My plan was to run comfortable and make sure I didn't go out too fast.  The first 8ish miles are the same as the half, so I knew what to expect.  I took the first couple of miles easy and before I knew it, we were passing the race track and making our way to the Contemporary.  It was about this point that the 4:15 pace group caught up to me.

As I said, I had a secret goal of 4:15 for the marathon.  I debated trying to stay with the pace group, but in the end I decided it was better for me to run my own race and let me dictate the pace.  It was definitely the right call for me.  We ended Main Street and I did stop for a photo at the end with the castle behind me.

I love the blurry runners behind me!

I also stopped for a photo with Winnie the Pooh in Fantasyland, but skipped Mickey and Minnie by the castle.  Their line was so long and I have photo's with them from other races already.  I ran through the castle and down the ramp (stopping quickly for a professional photo at the bottom in front of the castle) and headed into Liberty Square.

We headed out of the park around Splash Mountain and I ended up stopping for a photo with Flynn and Rapunzel.  The line wasn't as short as I wouldn't have liked, but it wasn't long either.  Plus, Joey (my niece) loves Tangled and I feel like you never see them out.  And the photo on my phone turned out awesome.

Sorry Flynn, gotta run!

From there we headed back out past the Grand Floridian and towards the race track.  This is when the course got new to me.  There was steep down incline heading into the race track and let me just say, thank god it wasn't raining because that would be dangerous.  They had the race track filled with classic cars which provided some nice distraction.

After the race track we headed towards Animal Kingdom via some backroads.  I was really trying to take it 1 mile and 1 park at a time, without going too hard.  I did stop for a couple of photo's along the way to Animal Kingdom - the evil Queen, the dogs (Dug, Pluto and Bolt) and Captain Hook and Smee.  I was getting annoying constantly taking my phone out so most are with the photographers.

We headed into Animal Kingdom and I was feeling pretty good.  I stopped quickly for a photo with Rafiki and King Louie (from the Jungle Book).  I skipped Safari Donald and Minnie as they had crazy lines.  As we headed out of Animal Kingdom, we passed the 13.1 marker.

I couldn't believe the race was halfway done - and how good I was feeling.  I'd been making sure to take my Gu's on time (first after 60 minutes, then every 45 minutes) and stay hydrated.  Having my handheld really helped with this as I wasn't relying on the water stops for hydration (and could take my gu's when I wanted to).  My half time was 2:15, which would have me finishing in 4:30 (which still would have been really good).  But I was feeling really strong so I decided to see if I could pick it up a little to 9:45's.

We were now heading to ESPN World Wide of Sports, which I knew meant we had some highway time.  I stopped for a photo with the Grave Diggers as there was no one waiting.  I was trying not to look too much at my watch, but I was feeling good and my paces were averaging around 9:15 (so much for trying to do 9:45's).  I kept telling myself to slow down and not use up all my energy, but I have to admit, the 9:15 didn't feel hard.  It felt easy.  Since I was gaining speed, I started passing people (which I did from 16 to the end of the race - let me tell you, that feels awesome!).

We headed into WWOS around 17 and although it was narrow, it never felt too crowded (for me at least).  There was a lot of zip zagging (the course, not me running around people), which while annoying, I would much rather have vs. more highway time.

My pace was continuing to hold strong.  We left WWOS right around 20 and I realized that even if I ran 10 minute miles, I would finished in 4:20.  Since I was already running sub 10 minute miles and feeling good, my 4:15 goal might be possible.  I wanted to stay steady and not pick it up too early.

But at mile 21, my legs just did it themselves.  My 9:15's turned into sub 9's.  And the miles felt solid.  I didn't feel like I was running on empty, I felt like I had plenty in the tank.  I knew Abby would be cheering somewhere in/near Hollywood Studios, so I was keeping my eye out for her.

We entered Hollywood Studio's through the Backlot Tour and onto Streets of America.  We took a left after the Streets of America and headed towards the Hat and down the main stretch of Hollywood Studios.  Right after we left Hollywood Studio's, I saw Abby in front and she had made some friends and they were all cheering for me.  It gave me such a boost and was so helpful for those last couple of miles!

Photo courtesy of Abby

After leaving Abby, I knew I had the energy left to push it (those cheers really helped).  We headed onto the walkway to Epcot and I just kept pushing it.  I knew the 4:15 was in sight and I wanted to know I had given it my all.  Thankfully the path wasn't too crowded and there was room for me to pass people.

We headed passed Yacht and Beach Club and towards Epcot.  There is a teeny hill right before you hit Friendship Gate which, while not big, was painful at mile 24.5.  So mean course designers, so mean.

It was on this stretch (I can't remember where exactly) that I caught up with the 4:15 pace group and blew right past them.  It made me happy to know I made the right decision to run my own race.

Right before we headed backstage of Epcot, Dopey was there!  I debated not stopping because I didn't want to break momentum, but there was no line so I was able to stop quickly take the photo and get going, losing only like 30 seconds (at the most). We entered Epcot right next to the UK and headed towards France and the rest of the World Showcase.  Fortunately, it wasn't crowded so I was able to keep the pace going.

After leaving World Showcase, we headed towards Spaceship Earth and out of Epcot.  We passed the Gospel choir again and I just kept pushing.  I knew I would be sub 4:15 and just wanted to cross the finish line at this point.

As the finish line approached, I started to get emotional.  So much time and effort had been spent training for this and now it was all coming to an end.  I gave Mickey a high five right before the finish line and then raised my arms as I crossed it.  And... promptly burst into tears.  Happy tears, I promise (which is what I told the med people when they swarmed the crying girl).

I had done it.  4 days, 4 races, 48.6 miles.  And I had met my time goal which I wasn't sure was possible.  I couldn't stop the tears (which is why in all photo's from afterwards I am still wearing my sunglasses).  I collected my heatsheet and marathon medal (my first Mickey Marathon medal!) and made my way through the chute.  I got a Gatorade and water (which the nice volunteers opened for me because my arms literally couldn't do it) and headed towards the Dopey medals.

When the volunteers put the Goofy and Dopey medals around my neck, it just felt amazing (and more tears came).  I had set a goal (both in race distance and time) and reached them both.  It was definitely a special day.  I stopped for my official photo's and the food box before picking up my bag and heading for more photo's with all the characters they had at the finish line.  I had packed my other 3 medals so I could take photo's with all of them.

Super happy Dopey finisher

I was tracking Kasey and knew when she would be finishing (her first in 4:48, so proud!) and decided to stick around after my photo's to see her.  She felt (and looked) great after finishing.  She worked really hard and I was so glad it went well for her!  We hung out and celebrated with some beers before heading back to the hotel.

Post race hydration is important

Overall, I had a great marathon and liked the course a lot.  It was pretty flat with minimal hills but was definitely crowded at points.  I am not sure when/if I'll ever be back for the full again, but I'll definitely be back for the half again in 2015!  My time was just what I had hoped for.  This is my 2nd fastest marathon to date, even with all the miles leading up to it.  I think with fresh legs, I'll be able to go even faster, so now I am really excited to actually race a marathon.

I'll be doing a full post on my thoughts on Dopey, so I'll save those for them.

I had signed myself up for tracking (since I like to see the splits) and I got a laugh reading them afterwards and watching the finish time drop.  Here they are:

5M - 51:37, 10:20 pace, estimated finish: 4:30:55
10M - 1:44:25, 10:27 pace, estimated finish: 4:33:44
Half - 2:15:50, 10:22 pace, estimated finish: 4:31:39
20M - 3:20:16, 10:01 pace, estimated finish 4:22:32
Actual finish: 4:13:21, 9:40 pace

In case you didn't do the math, I ran some major negative splits.  My first half half was 2:15:50 and my second was 1:57:31.  Not a bad second half!

Garmin splits:

Results
Official: 26.2 mi, 4:13:21, 9:40 pace
Garmin: 26.57 mi, 4:13:20, 9:32 pace

All 6 medals!

Race Recap: Walt Disney World Half Marathon 2014

Don't miss my recaps of the expo, 5K and 10K!  All below photo's are from my iPhone.  I plan on doing a post with the professional photo's so I am not posting all the photo's I took (you're welcome).  Once they finish identifying all the professional photo's, then I'll share those!

Walt Disney World Half Marathon
January 11, 2014

State: Florida (repeat)
Lifetime Half: #42

Day 3 of getting up at an ungodly hour.  This morning was not as easy as the other 2 (even though I went to bed at 8pm).  I had laid out my clothes and packed my pack the night before, so I quickly got dressed and was on the way to the bus by 3:30am.

As soon as I opened the door, I was hit with humidity.  This would not be the easiest weather to run in.  I was able to board a bus with minimal wait.  There was more traffic this morning then the 5K or 10K, but not too bad.

Upon arriving at Epcot, Pam and I made our way through security (the line was long, but moved quickly) and camped out again by baggage.  I had brought one of my throwaway sweatshirts to sit on (I definitely didn't need to wear it with the humidity).

We spent some time people watching but before we knew it, it was time to check the bags and head to our corrals.  Bag check went quickly and smoothly.  The walk to the start is pretty long, which is so annoying.  When we got closer, the corrals split into 2 sections, so I said goodbye to Pam and made my way to Corral F.

I had more time to kill in the corral and befriended some more Dopey folks (1 of whom I even saw the next day after the marathon!).  They had Donald Duck there (with Mickey and Goofy) to kick it off.  The first corral went off on time and the window between corrals wasn't too long.  It took just under 15 minutes for my corral to start.  Not sure what happened, but for some reason there were no fireworks for our corral - not cool runDisney!

As this was my 7th time running this race (plus 1 time at Princess), I know this course by now like the back of my hand.  Given the heat and the fact I was going to be running a marathon the next day, I was really trying to take it easy.

We started off on the highway towards the Magic Kingdom and headed inside and went past the race track, Ticket and Transportation center and towards the Contemporary.  There is a point right before the  Contemporary were we go down under an overpass and then back up.  This is the first time I realized we go under water there (seriously, I spoke with other people and they all knew it).  Can't believe it took me so many years to figure that out!

Right past the mile 5 marker, we make a left turn and start heading into the Magic Kingdom.  It never fails, when I turn the corner and enter Main Street, I always get chills.  Past Main Street we head into Tomorrowland, then into Fantasyland where I stopped for photo's with the Red Queen, Tigger and Daisy and Donald.  Since I was dressed as Donald, I couldn't resist (even though the line was pretty long).

After my picture with Donald and Daisy, we headed through the castle and into Liberty Square and then Frontierland where we head out of the Park.  They did have a float out with Cinderella and the Prince, but the line was long so I passed on that one.

By this point, we were almost 7 miles in and started to make the journey back to Epcot.  This portion of the race can be pretty tough, but they had a good amount of characters out and music playing that it seemed to go pretty quickly.

Before I knew it, we were making the turn onto the on ramp with my favorite Green Army man yelling at us.  I always love him.  I was trying to take the on ramps easy and not push it.  I knew I needed to preserve my energy for Sunday.

Just past 12, we headed into Epcot for a quick bit (it really isn't a lot in the Half).  I stopped at the turn point at the start of World Showcase to take a picture with Rafiki and Timon.

After the turn around point, we head back past Spaceship Earth and out the park past the Gospel choir (always one of my favorite points) and then towards the finish line!

After crossing the finish, I was keeping my eye out for Abby who was volunteering.  I spotted her just after getting my medal.  I was so happy to see her!  I won't lie, I got a little emotional as I realized I was going to run a marathon the next day.

She walked with my to get my Gatorade and water and headed towards my Dopey bracelet.  I now had 3 on my wrist.  Abby headed back to the finish line to continue volunterring and I made my way to finisher's photo's and food.

This race is always one of my favorites and it didn't disappoint this year.  My time won't go down in any record books as one of my faster races, but that wasn't the point.  I purposely kept it slow and conserved energy.

3 down, 1 to go!

Results
Official: 13.1 mi, 2:25:43, 11:07 pace
Garmin: 13.29, 2:25:42, 10:57 pace

2 on Tuesday

It's snowing.  Again.  I am so over this weather.  Today was my first run back from the marathon and I had to do it on a treadmill.  Ugh.

I am officially registered for Everest!  It was a little hard to justify the cost (and trip to WDW) for a 5K, but there are rumors that this will be the last year and I had to do it at least once.  Dear runDisney, please just take all my money!

We are just over 4 weeks from Princess which means it's time to start talking Glass Slipper Challenge costumes!  I know what I am going to be for the 10K, but I'm still working on the Half costume.  My cousin is running too, so we are discussing possible "themed" costumes.  I'll make sure to share once they are ready!

Any guess as to what I am going to be (for either race)?

Race Recap: Walt Disney World 10K

Don't miss my recaps of the expo and 5K!  All below photo's are from my iPhone.  I am waiting for them to finish identifying all the professional photo's and then I'll share those as well!

Walt Disney World 10K
January 10, 2014

Day 2 of waking up early was still not too hard.  The alarm went out at 3am and Pam and I quickly got ready and were leaving the room for a bus by 3:30am.

The ride to expo was easy, very little traffic heading in.  I quickly made my way through security (lines weren't too long, but I anticipated that wouldn't be the case for the half and full - and I was right).

Like Thursday for the 5K, Pam and I claimed a spot by baggage claim and relaxed until it was time to go to the start.  Abby met up with us - dressed perfectly as Daisy Duck!  Her costume was so cute, I am totally going to use it some day.

At around 5 am, it was time to check the bags and head to the start.  They used the same start line as the 5K, so it was a short walk.  I wished Abby and Pam good luck and headed to my corral.  Like the 5K, I was in Corral A.

I made friends with some other Dopey participants in Corral A and waited for the race to start.  Minnie came out to say hi and off we went!  They started the race with fireworks, which is always one of my favorite parts of Disney races.

The course started with an out and back on the highway near Epcot.  Just past the 1 mile marker, there was a pretty sharp right turn.  It was basically a u-turn to turnaround and go back.  While on the highway back towards Epcot, they had a giant video screen and music playing.  It was a nice distraction to break up the highway!

Similar to the 5K, I wasn't doing this for time, but I didn't want to spend too much time waiting for photo's.  They had Peter Pan and Wendy on the highway, but the line was pretty long so I didn't stop.  We had back into Epcot in a similar way to the 5K but this time we entered between Norway and China.

The course did a loop around the showcase and then head out of the park at Friendship Gate (the back entrance into Epcot) and took a left over the bridge to Boardwalk.  Sports Goofy was there, but had a crazy line so I skipped him.  We left Boardwalk and started heading back towards Epcot past Yacht and Beach Club resorts.

The course took a left before Friendship Gate and into the back side of Epcot.  We re-entered Epcot in the Land (same spot we did for Wine and Dine) and headed towards Spaceship Earth.  I stopped here for a photo with Chip and Dale as they had no line!

We went past the ball and out of Epcot and towards the finish line.  After finishing, I made my way through the chute, picking up my 10K medal, getting some gatorade and water and my 2nd Dopey bracelet.

On the whole, I liked this course.  I do wish that instead of almost 3 miles on the highway, we headed towards Hollywood Studio's more, but I know that walkway (by the water) is pretty narrow, so not sure how they'd do an out and back there.

2 races done, 2 to go!

Results
Official: 6.2 mi, 1:06:13, 10:40 pace
Garmin: 6.3 mi, 1:06:14, 10:31 pace