So much catching up

My apologies for not posting much this month. Life has been crazy and busy!! Let's start from the beginning...... DISNEY WORLD!!!! I decided to go down to Walt Disney World to cheer on a few of my friends that were running during marathon weekend. It was a blast! I had a great time playing catch up with @acityrunner, @jilliankmf, @mikeandthemouse, and @goobermonkey since I haven't seen them since we were all in Atlanta in November. If I wasn't excited before, I am definitely excited now to be running the Dopey challenge in 2015.

Spending time with some of my favorite princesses

She already likes race bling :-)

babymouse cheering during the half marathon

I have some awesome friends that got these for me at the race expo. I'm coming for you Dopey!!!

Last day at the Magic Kingdom before my flight. I literally had an alarm set so that I could leave the park in time to get to the airport. I had a great time with my runDisney friends. Congrats to all of you on your races!

As soon as I got back from Disney, I immediate got hit with reality....and several days a week with my chiropractor. We did a lot of adjustments to my ankles, knees, and hips. He also did FAKTR (pronounced factor) active release treatment on my legs. FAKTR is a way to help treat the soft tissue in your body. He used this lovely (please note my sarcasm here) instrument on my legs to help get rid of adhesions so that my muscles work better. I am so happy that I knew before hand that there was going to be bruising. My legs looks like I got beaten with sticks!! It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it wasn't really painful either. My legs looked like a hot mess, but I could honestly feel an improvement after the first time that he did it. 

It doesn't look pretty, but they feel so much better!!! I also have a love/hate relationship with my foam roller now. I have decided that IT bands are just evil to runners. Pain is temporary though and whatever it takes to get better and stay injury free right? I had my progress exam just a few days ago and they said that they haven't seen such a drastic improvement in quite sometime.  I will be meeting with them again soon to get the results of my progress exam and see  what our plan is for the next phase of my treatment.  On the plus side, they said that I can get back to running!!! Thank goodness because I have a few races to get ready for in February. 

I've also been doing a bunch of cleaning of the house because......MR. BEACHMOUSE IS COMING HOME!!!!!! I guess it's safe to say that I am a tiny bit excited about it. It's going to be fun to watch him with babymouse. She has changed so much since he left and has definitely gotten more vocal. Well, she is her mother's daughter. Hahaha

Adjustments & Goals for 2014

So my running is having a very slow start so far this year. 3.1 miles run so far. Yes I understand that it's only the first week of 2014, but I really need to start working on my training. I am looking forward to coming home from Disney World (yes, you read that right) so that I can start going to get adjusted by the chiropractor. The idea of having someone adjusting me freaks me out a little bit, but there is something about him that has made me feel super comfortable since day one. We had actually met for the first time in October when he taped my knee before the Wicked 10k. I saw him a few weeks later when he taped my knee again before the Surf n Santa 10 miler in December. He asked me if I was still having the same problems with my knee, I told him that I was, so he asked me to come in and see him for some x-rays. I was already impressed with him because he remembered me and my knee issues. With the amount of people that he had seen at both events, plus his regular patients, that says a lot to me about him, so I made an appointment and had x-rays done. I went in a week later to discuss my x-rays and a plan of action. Man are my hips jacked!!!! It turns out that my right hip is lower than the left, so that is effecting my stride and causing my pain. So for now the plan is to do some adjustments and some muscle release therapy. I can still run, but for now no more than 3-4 miles at a time. I can't complain too much, at least I can still run.

I've been thinking about my goals for this year. I definitely want to try to run 14 races in 2014. I was originally planning on having a set number of half marathons in that list, but I decided to just go with the flow. I took a look at my schedule and my spring is looking intense!!! I've also decided that this is the year that I will get my Disney coast to coast medal. The biggest goal I think that I have this year is to train like crazy for Dopey in 2015.

What are your goals for the year? What type of plans to you have for the year ahead?

BRING IT 2014!!!

a running year in review

Dirty Girl Mud Run April 2013

Color Me Rad April 2013

Foam Fest May 2013

Chik-Fil-A 10k May 2013

Disco Dash June 2014

Sparkle Me Wild 5k July 2013

Color Vibe 5k July 2013

ASYMCA Mud Run August 2013

Water table with my MRTT mommas Sept 2013

Sparkle Me Wild 5k Sept 2013

Disney Kids Races October 2013

Tower of Terror 10 miler October 2013

Run Like a Girl 8k October 2013

Wicked 10k October 2013

runDisney meet up in Atlanta

Run for Chocolate 10k November 2013

Surf N Santa 10 miler December 2013

I still can't believe that today is the last day of 2013. The year has flown by!! I've met so many people from different walks of life through running. I didn't really set goals for this year other than to improve and I did. I think that is going to be the one goal that I have to have every year. This year I am also adding a few race goals as well. I would like to get a Disney coast to coast medal. I've also decided that I would like to try to do 14 races for 2014. What are your goals for 2014?

CHEERS EVERYONE!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope that everyone is having a happy and joyous holiday with their loved ones. For us in the beachmouse house it was just a regular day that just happened to have the Disney Christmas parade. We decided that we're not going to do the tree or presents until my husband comes home on leave.  And just to let you all know, I did record the parade so that we could watch it again during our Christmas celebration. It just isn't Christmas without the parade!!!

I honestly have to say that this year I wasn't in the holiday spirit at all. A series of awesome events yesterday on facebook changed all of that. I'm in a group on Facebook called SparkleSkirt Princesses. What had started as one woman paying it forward giving away a skirt that she was no longer using, turned into a day full of random acts of kindness (and sparkle). Seeing the kindness and generosity of these women definitely helped to put me in a better holiday mood.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

love the beachmouse family

Feeling like a slacker...

I've definitely been slacking off on running for the past few weeks and it's driving me crazy! Honestly though, I think it's totally worth it. I finally got the tattoo for running my first runDisney race. I would've gotten it sooner, but I had too many races scheduled so I didn't have enough time for it to heal properly. It's a work in progress. I have the 10 for now, I will add the rest of the distances after I complete the Dopey challenge in 2015.

Even though I am feeling like a total slacker lately, I know that I haven't been. This has been a crazy busy year. I went from barely being able to run a mile, to training for a half marathon. I had to say see you later to my husband and start parenting by myself for awhile.  I quit my job with the support of my husband so that I could stay home with our daughter. I've traveled up and down the east coast for family and friends.  This year has had it's ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm really looking forward to what 2014 has to offer.  Here's a small year in review in pictures.

See you later daddy 

with my sister Noelle

the beachmouse clan

brought the baby mouse to her first boy band concert

loving my nieces to pieces!

birthday princess

running into my sister Selina at Epcot

Happy Halloween!

Happy 1st birthday baby girl!

Disney World!! 

Happy Birthday!

So I'm not the pot calling the kettle black....

         How can I joke with my friends calling them slackers if I haven't posted my recap from runDisney's first on the road meet up/tweet up either. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time when the post came up to RSVP for one of the spots for the meet up. I honestly didn't think that I was going to get in, so I just wanted to ask a question for future meet ups. I wanted to know if these were stroller friendly events since I would most likely be bringing my daughter with me. Within seconds, I got a response asking if it was a jogging stroller and if I had run with her before. I sent my response and then I heard nothing. So I thought that it was safe to assume that I didn't get in. I'm getting ready to walk out the door from work that day and I decide to check facebook before I get to my car. One of the running groups that I'm in said that the list of people that made the meet up was up and he posted it. I was excited to see a bunch of familiar names from the group get in.....then I get to the Gs.....I'm IN!!!!! I'm going to Atlanta!!!! I can neither confirm or deny that i might have dropped my phone and started shaking because I was so excited.

         The morning of the meet up, I get up and meet a few of the runners in the hotel lobby. Great minds definitely thought alike staying at the hotel across the street so we walked over there together. We get to Turner Field and you can definitely see that runDisney had taken over!! It was great getting to finally meet with people that I have been reading their blogs or only speaking with them on facebook or twitter.

                                                                          With one of my favorite bloggers Bamagirlruns

 I had a chance to chat with Jeff Galloway for a few minutes before everything really got started. We discussed training for Dopey 2015. I might have had a runner nerd moment there.

Soon everybody was ready to get started. We had a speaker from New Balance teach us about good running form, and a few other announcements, and we were ready to run!! We divided into two groups, one group ran the whole thing, the other was the Galloway group doing the run/walk/run method. I chose to go with the Galloway group. How many people can say that they had the chance to run with Jeff Galloway under the Olympic Rings while he was giving a tour of his city.   

After the run, we had an amazing and healthy breakfast thanks to this lovely lady Diet Diva Tara. She's the nutritionist for runDisney and also for the Orlando Magic. 

 SHOES!!!! I was so excited that we got a sneak peak at two of the shoes that will be coming out this January! I love that they are coming out with stability shoes and neutral shoes this year. I'm even more excited that they will also be coming out with kids shoes this year. I did have a "proud momma moment" during the video when they showed the kids races and I saw my daughter front and center.  I can't wait to finally see all four shoes up close and personal in January. We also heard from Tammy from Disney marketing about the new #WhyIRunDisney campaign on Instagram. Jeff Galloway also spoke and he gave away a few of his books. Olympic runner Barbara Parker spoke and told us how she has never been to Disney!!

Now what kind of runDisney event would it be without character photos? Photos courtesy of runDisney

I don't think that I can say enough about what a great day it was. I wasn't kidding when I said that I came down by myself and left with 99 more friends. I am definitely looking forward to many more running adventures with this awesome group of people!!

Next runDisney stop...Dumbo Double Dare in Disneyland!!!! See you real soon!! 

                                            I WANT ALL OF THE DISNEY BLING!!!!