Tower of Terror 10M After Party

One of the best part of Tower of Terror 10M is the after party!  Honestly, the after party is my favorite part of the runDisney night races. 

This after party takes place at Hollywood Studios.  After finishing, I picked up my food box and started to make my way to the baggage.  Our baggage had been moved from in front of Hollywood Studio's (where we left it) to inside the Indiana Jones theatre.  It was a bit of a walk, but not horrible (not worse then the walk to the start of the Jan/Feb half's!). 

After picking up my stuff and get settled, I ended into the after party.  Some rides where open (including Tower of Terror, which given my costume I had to ride!) and they had all the villains out.  I headed straight for Tower of Terror and got to walk right on!  Since it wasn't crowded, I took advantage and took some fun photo's in my costume.

I love how in character the cast members at Tower of Terror were.  Everyone kept asking my why I was late for work and telling me to get to my post.  Love it!

After that I walked around getting pictures with all the villains while waiting for Pam and Abby to finish.  After meeting up with them, we got some food, took some more photo's and did some last rides!  It was a really fun after party!

Shan Yu from Mulan

Cruella informed me too much of my legs where showing

It's all about Gaston, isn't it?

Pain and Panic from Hercules

Had to take it for niece obsessed with Star Wars!

Overall, the after party was lots of fun!  I am really glad I got to do this race before they removed it from the schedule.  Hopefully it'll come back in the future!

Race Recap: Tower of Terror 10M

This post is seriously overdue!  Since you probably don't remember, here is the link to my expo recap from Tower of Terror.

Tower of Terror 10M
October 4, 2014

This race was so long ago, that honestly, I don't even know where to start with the recap.  I'm sure at this point I've forgotten some points, so I'll just try and share what I do remember.  And pictures!  Can't forget the pictures!

The race starts right outside Hollywood Studios.  The weather was excellent for the race, not too hot, which was something I was worried about.

Similar to the morning races, we had to walk a bit to get to the start line, so we got in the corrals early.  I was in Corral A and made some friends while killing time.  Gotta love runners!

The start line was decorated and they had a DJ there to help keep the runners entertained. 

The race started promptly on time and since I was in Corral A, I didn't have to wait long.  The course is a pretty simple out and back from Hollywood Studio's to Animal Kingdom and back (but you don't actually go into AK).

The first character stop was on the to Animal Kingdom was Jafar.  No line, so I stopped for a quick photo!

After a quick jaunt though the AK parking lot, we headed back towards Hollywood Studio's (via World Wide of Sports).  They did have the hyena's from The Lion King out and I stopped for a photo, but it didn't come out.  The night races do have issues for me with the flash.  I never knew how to set the flash. 

Next we saw the Red Queen from Alice. 

Causing trouble?  Who me?

Continuing along the way to WWOS, we next saw Dr Facilier from Princess and the Frog.  Some issues with the flash again!

Freaking flash picture

Heading on the dirt trail into WWOS wasn't too bad.  I know in the past people had said it was dark, but I thought they had it well lite.  Glad to hear they heard the runners feedback!

On the way there, they had out Captain Hook and the Hag.  Love Captain Hook and you never see the Hag out, so had to stop for them!

Need a hand?

Can I have a bite?

Inside WWOS they had a good variety of characters out, so that was nice!  Grave diggers, Stitch and the Big Bad Wolf.

Should I be scared?

Hang ten Stitch!

I'm not afraid of the Big Bad Wolf!

After WWOS, the course takes us back to Hollywood Studio's for the finish.  The way back (right outside of WWOS) had my favorite photo stop of all - the zombies!

I'm not dead yet!

After that, it was only a couple of miles to the finish and a straight shot back to Hollywood Studios. 

The finish is right inside DHS in the shadow of Tower of Terror (fitting, right?).  Right as I finished (before I got my medal even), one of the runDisney folks noticed my costume and was like - 'Your late for your shift, what are you doing?'.  People seemed to enjoy my costume! 

I collected my medal and headed to the recovery food, baggage claim and on to the after party!  More to come on that!

Overall, I really liked this race.  The course is fun and it was packed with character stops.  Since I was in Corral A, they were never too crowded for me (same with the course) and I was able to get photo's easily.  Plus, I can't resist a medal that glows in the dark!

Results
Official: 10.0 miles, 1:33:58, 9:24 pace
Garmin: 10.18 miles, 1:33:54, 9:13 pace

2 on Tuesday

runDisney announced the event calendar for 2015-2016 late last week.  Immediately, social media erupted (okay, it actually did twice once when they posted and quickly removed and then when they "officially" published it) because of a couple of noticeable absences.  The first, Expedition Everest in 2016.  I am not really surprised for 2 reasons - 1) there have been rumors of Everest's cancellation for a while now.  If they aren't planning on holding it in 2016, it's not a huge shock; 2) it's kinda the blacksheep of races and is often announced last minute.  Might still happen and we just don't know yet.

The next item that is missing?  Tower of Terror in 2015.  When they first published it and then it went away, people assumed it was to add TOT.  But alas, the official one didn't have it either.  runDisney has since confirmed that TOT is "suspended" for 2015.  One hopes it will come back in 2016, but who knows?  There is a lot of speculation about why - construction at Hollywood Studios (which doesn't make sense since W&D goes through a larger portion of HS and it's not cancelled); to make room for a Disneyland Paris event?  Personally, I don't know.  I am just glad I did it before it got suspended!

 

In other runDisney news, lots of Wine and Dine updates were posted to the runDisney website.  They published the event guide and course maps.  The course map hasn't changed - in fact they didn't even change the date on the map (seriously, it still says 2013.  Seriously?).  But of course, most important is waivers and corral assignments.  My number puts me in Corral B.  It's only a couple of weeks away!  Can't wait!

Tower of Terror 10M - Expo Goodies!

 

The best part of a runDisney race is the expo.  Okay, let's be real, I love expo's at all races - I just can't help my self with running goodies! 

This expo made me really happy!  It had great vendors - less then Marathon or Princess weekends, but still great booths.  It was also managable!  Since the race is smaller, it wasn't as packed.  I was a big fan of being able to move around while at the expo.

After picking up our numbers in the HP Field House (which took all of 5 minutes), we headed over to the Jostens Center for shirt pickup and official merchandise.  I really liked the shirt this year - it's a little different, but I like it. 

From shirt pickup, we headed to the merch.  I knew I wanted a couple of things (mini medal pin, magnet), but wanted to not buy much.  I got my TOT Mini Medal Pin and also picked up the mini Coast to Coast pin.  I didn't get one at Disneyland and wanted to pick one up this time.

I was able to get my Tower of Terror magnet and I also picked up a mini 48.6 magnet to keep at my desk at work.  I hadn't seen these before.

 

Even though I hadn't planned on it, I picked up a Tower of Terror 'I did it' shirt.  I really liked the design and couldn't resist.  I did resist from getting a jacket - so that's good (although I do have a tinge of regret for not getting it, but I really don't need it...).

Front (L), Back (R)

The only thing I really wanted was a Tower of Terror 10M Sweaty Band, but they didn't make any for this race.  We checked with the Sweaty Band booth and they didn't order any.  They will be back for Wine and Dine though!

Following our purchases at the expo, we made our way through the rest of the booths.  Sparkle Athletic did have black with them, so I picked that up (yay!).  I even managed to resist buying any Sweaty Bands (although I do want to get one that matches my Oiselle Flock singlet).  We checked out all the gear and races and then headed out. 

Nothing too surprising or special about the expo, but I really enjoyed it.  I liked how un-crowded it was and they had a good sampling of booths.  Overall the WDW races always do a good job at their expo's.
  
Stay tuned for my race recap! 

Training recap week of 9/29 (Tower of Terror Week 5)

I had a good week of workouts, but managed to come home from Disney with a bit of a cold.  Lots of fluids and rest for me right now!

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.00 mi, 28:16, 9:25 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: 6 miles easy
Actual: 6.01 mi, 57:22, 9:33 pace

Thursday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 2.65 mi, 26:04, 9:50 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: Tower of Terror 10M
Actual: 10.18 mi, 1:33:54, 9:13 pace

Sunday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Total miles: 21.84

Total September miles: 71.27
Total October miles: 21.84

Miles until goal (1,250): 274.94

P.S. - As of 9/30, I was 77% of the way to my goal!  I'm getting there!

2 on Tuesday

I was really pleased with my Hollywood Tower Hotel bellhop costume.  It turned out really cute!  I ended up not wearing the hat - I just couldn't figure out how to get it to stay on my head.  But even without the hat, I really liked it!  It was wicking, so it was functional as well.  I got lots of complements on it!

I even managed (peripherally) to make the runDisney Facebook race photo album!  That's me right behind Thor!  He had quite an intense costume, full pants and sleeves in all.  He even ran the entire thing with that hammer - not sure how he did that.

Tower of Terror Costume Reveal!

As I mentioned Monday, I put my Tower of Terror costume together this weekend.  Per my decree after my Donald costume, I really don't want to go too intense on costumes (anymore).

This costume was pretty simple.  I've known for a long while that I wanted run this one as a Hollywood Tower Hotel employee (aka a Tower of Terror employee).  I know they sell cotton t-shirt versions, but had no desire to run it in cotton since historically it's always hot this race weekend.

I knew I could make a version of it myself!  I started with a maroon tech tee.  I found a New Balance one online that was the perfect color and only $8 bucks.  I had a Hollywood Tower Hotel logo iron on made for me by Miranda at DesignsbyMKC on Etsy.  She had created my iron on for my Anna costume as well.  She didn't have a HTH logo in the shop, but she was able to make one for me.  She was a joy to work with - easy to order and she shipped super quickly!  I highly recommend her if you need an iron-on made!

The iron-on was easy to apply and then from there, the rest came together quickly.  I added gold stripes to the sleeves and black/gold stripes to the shoulders using ribbon with fabric adhesive tape.

Whole thing took me about 30 minutes to make and I am really pleased with how it came out!  I'll be pairing it with a hat Abby had made last year as part of her costume and a black skirt - either a Sparkle Athletic one or plain black running skirt.  I'd prefer a Sparkle Athletic skirt, but I know they don't bring all the colors to the expo's and I forgot to pre-order for expo pickup.  Oh well, it is what it is!

What is everyone else dressing up as?

2 on Tuesday

I mentioned last week that I had joined Oiselle's The Flock and my race singlet came this past week!  It also came with one of Oiselle's Spike drawstring bags.  While I am really excited to race in it, I won't be wearing it for Tower of Terror - the draw of a costume at runDisney races is too much!  I do have an Oiselle tattoo to wear for the race.  But I will be wearing it for Baltimore!

 

I just started reading Outlander (I know, I am seriously behind!).  I've only just started it, but so far I'm a big fan.  It's a huge book (close to 800 pages on my iPad) and just book 1 of a series... so basically I've got a lot of reading to do.  Anyone else read it?

Training recap week of 9/22 (Tower of Terror Week 4)

Happy Tower of Terror race week!  I am starting to get excited for the race - it's been busy at work so the time has gone quickly!  I did my costume this weekend (something simple, I'll share later this week!) and am already thinking about what I will be eating at the Food and Wine Festival. 

I got some solid training in this week, but did skip my Sunday run.  I spent 5+ hours on Saturday helping a friend move (lets just day there were lots and lots of stairs and heavy lifting involved) and was a bit sore on Sunday.  Since I figured I got a good amount of cross training in from the move. 

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.00 mi, 29:40, 9:54 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: 5 miles easy
Actual: 5.00 mi, 48:26, 9:41 pace

Thursday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.00 mi, 29:57, 9:58 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 9 miles easy
Actual: 11.27 mi, 1:52:38, 10:00 pace

I was only planning on doing 9 miles, but the team (Team in Training) was running to the Little Red Lighthouse which is always one of my favorite runs so I went longer!

Sunday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: Rest

Total miles: 22.28

Total September miles: 68.26

Miles until goal (1,250): 295.91

Training recap week of 9/15 (Tower of Terror Week 3)

Another week come and gone.  This year just continues to fly by - basically only 1 week left in September.  Is it me or is time going faster?  How is that possible?

This week included a pretty big behind the scenes action - if you follow me on Instagram you may already know.  Either way, I'll share the more details tomorrow.

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.09 mi, 28:52, 9:21 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: 5 miles easy
Actual: 5.04 mi, 47:03, 9:20 pace

Thursday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.09 mi, 29:05, 9:25 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 7 miles easy
Actual: 7.59 mi, 1:16:15, 10:02 pace

Sunday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Total miles: 18.81

Total September miles: 45.99

Miles until goal (1,250): 318.19

Training Recap Week of 9/8 (Tower of Terror Week 2)

Happy Monday everyone!  I can't believe it's already the middle of September!  Holy cow, where has time gone?

This weekend was pretty low key.  Got some solid running in, ran lots of errands and caught up on my DVR.  All in all a good weekend!

I also got a good amount of running in this past week.  I think last week's down week was really needed!

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.00 mi, 29:58, 10:00 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: 5 miles easy
Actual: 3.16 mi, 33:07, 10:29

I attended New Balance's Girls Night Out only got 3 miles in.  More on that to come!

Thursday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.00 mi, 31:07, 10:22 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 6 miles easy
Actual: 9.00 mi, 1:32:39, 10:17 pace

I only had 6 on the schedule for today, but we were running over the GW Bridge which is one of my favorite runs and I wanted to go longer.  I felt pretty good though!

Sunday
Scheduled: 2 miles easy
Actual: 2.56 mi, 25:31, 9:58 pace

Had only planned on 2 miles, but there was a race in the park and had to make some adjustments!

Total miles: 20.73

Total September miles: 27.17

Miles until goal (1,250): 337.00

Training recap week of 9/1 (Tower of Terror Week 1)

This week was not good in terms of running.  I was always planning on taking Tuesday off (I do not do well with jetlag and knew I'd need to sleep), but I also missed Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday I got some last minute tickets to the US Open and I couldn't miss that.  Thursday, I was sick and took off to rest.  I'm not sure if it was something I ate or my body telling me I needed some sleep, but I am guessing some combination of both. 

I'm working on my Disneyland Half recap post and it'll be coming this week I promise!

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Wednesday
Scheduled: 4 miles easy
Actual: Rest

Thursday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: Rest

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 6 miles easy
Actual: 6.45 mi, 1:05:26, 10:09 pace

Sunday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Not so much running this week, but sometimes it's needed!

Total miles: 6.45

Total September miles: 6.45

Miles until goal (1,250): 357.72

2 on Tuesday

I have been back from Florida for almost a whole week and I still don't feel caught up on my sleep.  Works been crazy and just haven't got caught up yet.  Here's hoping this week allows me to do so.

The Tower of Terror 10M registration opened up recently (it's at 73% if you are thinking of doing it) and I am all registered! I am excited to participate in my first ever Tower of Terror.  I've heard great things about it and up until very recently, it's one of the few I haven't done.  I have to admit, I like the distance.  More than a 10K, but less than a half.

 If you are a runDisney fan, I'm sure you've heard by now that there is a new race (or you've been living under a rock).  It is the Avengers Super Hero Half Marathon.  It's going to be held in Disneyland the weekend after Wine & Dine.  I find the timing slightly odd - it's awfully close to W& D, don't you think?  I also can't believe it's going to be in 2014,  I thought it would have been sometime in 2015.  I've made no secret about my love of the Marvel movies, so I have a strong desire to do this race.  Registration doesn't open up until March 25th, so I've got some time to see if I can make it happen.