Just Keep Sewing, Just Keep Sewing...

I'm more excited about my race costume than I should be.

Maybe it's that Halloween is coming, or that there seemed to be more guides to making your own perfect Elsa dress (sadly, most were for children) on Pinterest than usual. But it was probably Once Upon a Time getting into the Frozen madness. I will admit I stopped watching in the middle of season 2 because it all just came so repetitive. Aww, (insert villain's name here) is only evil because their (wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/child) was (killed/kidnapped), or their (parent/grandparent/neighbor's hairdresser's dog) was mean to them! They aren't REALLY evil deep down! Oh and they're related to Henry. 

But then I saw the ads for Frozen. Part of me rolled my eyes; annoyed by this obvious hop onto the gravy train. But the other part of me (the part with the Netflix account and seven pairs of Mickey Ears) demanded that I catch up on the show so I could be well informed on the story when the new season started. Yes, I hate-watched the Wizard of Oz storyline something fierce, but I really tried to give it it's best chance. 

Oh yes, I went there.

The high point was The Little Mermaid (AHH MY FAVORITE) with Regina's Ursula impression. Regina has always been my favorite, but I really want more excuses for her to be Ursula, relevance be damned! Anyway, onto this season. I wasn't expecting much but it was worth jumping back into the show. I do love Frozen after all, and the obvious references to the movie ("Aren't you cold?" "It never bothered me") are sort of fun. Plus, if you're fine with the show ignoring every other inhabitant of Storybrooke (which I might be) then hey life is good. The sorcerer's hat made a brief appearance in a cliffhanger, and I'm calling Yensid out as the fairy tale book writer right now. My inner Disney geek is thrilled. 

So anyway, back to race costumes. For a show that has such beautiful costumes on the regular (and I could admit that in the depths of season 3) I could understand why people were expecting Elsa's dress to be a little more spectacular. On the other hand though, it did look very practical for going about your day and ruling a country. and if she hacked off the skirt she could probably run in it!  

So now we know what happened when the Fringe timeline reset. 

With that inspiration in mind, I set about starting the top of the ice queen dress portion. The perfect fabric was easy to come by, and I definitely wasn't the only person at Joann's making an Elsa dress. I used a meshy tank top I had found at TJ Maxx, and some inspiration this t-shirt tutorial. I don't know much about sewing, so this seemed like a safe bet. I settled in with Once Upon a Time and got started.

Here's what I did. I'll be better about taking pictures at each step in the future!

1. I put on the meshy top over my sports bra and drew a few dots in pencil to outline where the sweetheart neckline would be.

Sorry this picture is terrible.

2. Get some waxed paper (or some other see-through paper) to trace the dots. Fold it in half a cut it. Voila! you have a pattern!  I made a low scoop for the back portion.

3. Trace that pattern onto your sequin fabric.

4. Again I know almost nothing about sewing so I thought I'd just hem this nonsense by hand. Don't do that. Pin that business to your undershirt (meshy top in my case) and save your tears for something worth it. 

5. I opened up the seams on my sides of my meshy top and resewed them with the sequin fabric inside. There is probably a better way to do this. Maybe make one piece of fabric rather than a separate front and back?

6. Sew the top of the front piece to your shirt along those pencil marks.

7. Sew the sides. I left the top of the back open to attach a cape later.

8. Jack it up! I used glitter glue and flat backed gems. I'm not sure if they'll hold up during the run, but they look nice!

YouTube was my savior during this process. I borrowed a sewing machine with a downloadable manual (ugh) and needed some help setting the thing up. Darling Adventures and Singer Sewing Company have awesome channels that helped me set up (and unjam) my machine several times. Seriously, if you're as clueless as I am, watching someone put the bobbin into the machine is so much more helpful than reading a description!

I'm trying to work on this a little at a time, but I'll be writing more about making costumes!

Finding My Motivation

Whoops, it's been a while! But I've been hard(ish) at work for the past month!

Unfortunately, most of what I was doing was not running.

A week of camping in the wilderness, some strep throat, and a wedding and I'm finally getting back in the swing of things. I did have a lot of time to plan my outfit for the Princess Half Marathon, and will be sketching out a few concrete ideas soon. I finally decided on Elsa, because I am going to be the last person to get over "Let It Go."

I was having a hard time deciding between her coronation dress and the ice queen gown. The coronation dress is so underrated. But can you really be Esla without the badass ice dress? In my feverish streppy state I remembered Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway...

 

+ =????


... and I'm obsessed with making this work. I've been spending some quality time on Pinterest looking for ways to make this work with my newly inherited sewing machine. I can't actually sew yet, so most of my sketches involve velcro and prayer. How amazing would this be to do at the 7 mile marker? I'm hoping the song is "Let It Go" again.

I have also decided to register for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, which will make me eligible for the Coast to Coast Challenge! I was incredibly excited when I signed up, but now that I'm getting back to the gym after a break, I'm a little worried about what I've gotten myself into. The races are three months apart, so I rationalized it by saying that I'd already be in running shape from the Princess Half. It makes sense right? But then I looked down at the timer on the treadmill (while watching Mad Men!) and realized I was huffing and puffing fifteen minutes into my workout. I restarted at the walk five, run five part of the plan. I finished it today, but it feels like I have so far to go. It's hard to keep myself motivated, but I really think this outfit idea is helping. I'm much better at art than I am at sports! Joann's Fabric has a few fabrics that might work in their Performance section, but not at the store closest to me. I'm trying to hold off until I have something like a pattern, and Joann's has something like a sale...

My mood is either excited or discouraged, but now I get to come up with more outfits! I'm going to be looking for some runs to do to keep me going, but my work schedule has been so crazy lately. But I'm gonna let it go.

"Please stop making puns!"

Running Hot

Yesterday, I went running with a friend from high school on a trail around her neighborhood. She's in terrific shape and she knows how to keep someone running when they really just want to walk (or lie down on the ground and cry), so with her help, I ran a 5k!

It took us 38 minutes in 77 degree weather, which is faster than my last official 5k with extreme(ish) weather as an obstacle. Hey, I'm from the Bay Area, we don't do this hot nonsense! It was definitely hard, but I think I ran about 90% of the trail, including hills. Needless to say I looked like a hot mess afterward and my face was red for about an hour and several bottles of water later.

Like this, but gross.

It made me realize that I need to prepare myself to run in all kinds of environments, because how frustrating would it be to put in so much training, but then be affected by something out of your control? Active.com had some great tips, and I'm going to try to incorporate these into my training for summer.

According to Active, it can take two weeks for a body to adjust to running in hotter weather. While adjusting, the goal should be to improve your tolerance for heat rather than time. For someone who is working with the Couch to 5k program, I feel like this advice fits in perfectly. I'm challenging my body to do something new a little bit at a time, much like an experienced runner adjusts to a hotter season. For my next outdoor run, I'm going to try sticking with the  program and seeing how I feel. My other favorite tip was to run in circles and and hide goodies (like ice-filled bandanas and ice pops) at a stop along your route! I'm not sure how practical this is where I live, but maybe laps around Starbucks would be an okay substitute?

Hey there, beautifuls.

Castaway Cay Challenge and Bomb Girls

I'm taking it a little slow in my training for this week, but I'm still working! I've started watching Bomb Girls on Netflix while I run (or walk... but I use the incline!) and I'm addicted. I accidentally binge watched the first season, but I'm trying to pace myself starting season two. There are only two seasons on Netflix and I'm a little afraid to Google it in case of spoilers. One of the actors was on Orphan Black recently though, so I'm afraid there might just be the two. I'm in love with the retro style of this show, and taking it slow this week has made me realize what a serious case of hair envy I have.

The show is about women of different backgrounds working in a munitions factory in Canada during World War II. Gladys, top left, is a grocery heiress who feels the need to provide more than just office support for the war effort. Kate, on the right, is starting a new life working in the factory on the run from her past. Lorna, on the bottom left, is in charge of the ladies on the line and her story is just starting to get scandalous. Then there's Betty, who is awesome. Season one didn't end well for her, but I believe in Betty. YOU GO GIRL, YOU BUY YOURSELF A HOUSE! 

Oh, right... headphones.

Anyway, back to the races.

Registration for the Castaway Cay Challenge opened today at noon. From the website;

 "The all-new Disney Castaway Cay Challenge is an ultimate running adventure, combining one magical 5K event or longer during the 2015 Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend (February 19 - 22, 2015) with a Castaway Cay 5K on Disney Cruise Lines' private tropical island in the Bahamas the following week." 

It's an interesting idea, but a four-night cruise plus $65 registration in addition to the half marathon is just a little much in terms of expenses. I'll be skipping it, but the part of me that wants to collect everything is filing it away for later. Like when I win the lottery. From what I can tell, the new challenge differs from the Castaway 5k offered before this year in a few ways. From the registration page, it appears that this year this will be a timed event rather than a fun run, with the 16 minutes per mile rule in effect. It also appears that participants will be entitled to special perks on board the cruise. I'm interested to see how this turns out!

Registered!

I am back from Seattle and officially signed up for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Disneyworld! It's a big jump to go from 5ks to a half marathon, but I loved my last Run Disney event so much that I've been wanting to do another one. When my cousin mentioned she wanted to do this run, I was already considering the Tinkerbell Half as it now lands on my birthday weekend. I wanted to try something new though, so I'm getting excited to run like a Princess! My cousin Amanda and I have always been pretty close despite living on opposite sides of the country, and it's been years since our last trip to Disneyworld. I'm more than excited to see if Disneyworld is as amazing as I remember, but I'm trying to get excited for the run too.

I'm sure the tutus help.

I'm currently on week 2 of the Couch to 5k Plan, and so far I'm feeling good. Well, I'm not dying which is good. On my last run, I walked five minutes and then ran for five minutes for half an hour. Sounds easy like that, no? By the last running cycle I was kicking myself for thinking this would be a breeze! I have a few tricks to make it more bearable that I'll share with my next workout!

Long time, no see?

Soooooo I'm not dead.

And! I'm still running.

I was on hiatus from running and this blog for a while due to sickness, business and an up in the air work schedule. It's been a long ride on the hot mess express, but I've just restarted the Couch Potato to 5k plan and having a training schedule has brought me some much needed peace. It's also made me worried that I have been body snatched by the most considerate aliens ever. They just want me to be healthy before they eat my brain.

And they're cute! Thanks brainslug!

I've also been doing some thinking about my runs. I am still determined to run a 5k in every state, but doing more runs along the way will keep me in better shape overall, and I'll be able to be a little more choosy about which 5ks I do.

My next concrete goal (as in I register next week) is the Disney Princess Half Marathon. "But Eryn", someone responsible is probably saying, "how are you going from too lazy to write about running to running 13.1 miles?" And I would respond first by saying, hush you voice of reason I wasn't done. Secondly, have you seen the outfits? Even if I'm not flying through this race, I'll be falling with style.

I have a theme and I'm going with it.

As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, I'm planning on running a 10k before December first in order to submit a qualifying time for the half marathon. My current goal is to not be in the last corral, though I may be able to amend that once registration opens and I can learn more.

I'm investigating options for a 5k to squeeze in before then, just to keep myself focused. After reconnecting with a high school friend (who is a marine!) I have experimented with running outside, and determined that while I have a long way to go, it's definitely easier with a friend. But, as she is not always available and Planet Fitness has beautiful air conditioning, I will also need recommendations for more shows to Netflix!

Look forward to more updates and Disney fan-girling!

Leprechaun Lope

One week later...

Sorry for not posting about the race sooner, but it has been an exhausting week! Flying into Salt Lake City, coming home to work a 12 hour shift, then a camping trip has left me with very little time to recover.

I flew into Salt Lake on Friday, checked into my hotel, and set out to explore! I was pretty close to downtown and despite the snow on the mountains, it was really warm. Temple Square was my point of reference for everything while planning the trip, but I didn't expect it to be surrounded by office buildings. It looked like a castle in the middle of a city.

I'm getting this Instagram thing down.

I could see the capitol building, which served as the race start point, from there and decided to go up and look around. If anyone ever tells you that they had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to school, they probably live it Salt Lake City. At this point, I was still having my Rapunzel-esque internal struggle of whether or not this was a terrible idea. I tried to focus on how good my butt would look after hiking up to the starting line the next morning, but really I was dreading it.

Right next to Temple Square is City Creek Mall.

I spent the rest of the day (and probably too much money) there. It was glorious. This mall covers two levels on two blocks with a retractable roof, which was open that day. I started getting a little chilly after the water fountain show (which included fire because why not?) and passed out in my hotel around 9:30 pm because I'm nintey-three and a half.

BUT I did get up nice and early on race day. The temperature was in the 30s (good research there, Eryn) and I walked up that giant hill again. Packet pick-up went pretty quickly, and race coordinators said that there were about 1000 people there for the 5k and 10k. The course looped behind the capitol building, so I didn't have to run up the giant hill in front of it, thank you baby jesus.

However, this was far from being a flat course. We raced uphill for the first half before turning around and heading back down.

If you froze to death while waiting at the starting line, you could have rolled downhill to the finish.

Much easier said than done. I felt like my lungs were freezing, which in addition to my lack of training lead to a lot of walking in the first half. I ran whenever I could, and tried to push myself to run a few steps further before walking my next chunk. I kept pace with an adorable little yorkie in the final uphill push toward the water station, and I wish I had my camera because the view was amazing. You could see the dome of the capitol, down into Temple Square, and the mountains in the distance. But then it was time to head back down. I did manage to run the whole second half, but I felt like I was doing really badly. The second half of the race did have Leprechauns handing out chocolate coins to racers though, so I wasn't down on myself for long! After the race we were offered some healthy snacks and invited to join the school's St. Patrick's day parade float. I was exhausted, so I skipped the parade and headed back to my hotel, which was right on the parade route. After getting some much needed coffee, I gave my legs a rest and watched the parade.

"This is the place (for fresh roasted coffee beans)"

My race time ended up being 44 minutes. I'm a little disappointed, but I try to focus on the positive. It's better to have run slowly than not at all! Overall, this was a good experience. Since the next few months are full of graduations and weddings, I'm going to focus on training and making better time for my next race.