Say Please in French - A June and Sept. 2018 DLP TR *Updated 4/22

Awww bless your kids, they really weren't fans of all the waiting around during their race. Out of curiosity how long do these races usually go for? This isn't just a question for Disneyland Paris, it's a question for RunDisney in general.
 
Oh such cute pictures of the married couple! And what a fun race they had! Poor Landon and Emma- what a bummer they had to wait so long. Glad you got to go back to the room and just relax- hope you felt better!
 
Love your last updates. As usual the kids are adorable especially the married couple. So happy DH enjoyed his race.
 
I’m laughing right now at how many of us hide food from our kids! :rotfl2::rotfl2:
I usually hide mine in the salad drawer of the fridge as I know they aren’t going looking there!:rotfl::rotfl:
The kids races are very cute but oh my goodness 90 minutes is way too long for 5 year olds to hang about! Thank goodness for friends :thumbsup2
Poor wee Evie’s face is a picture on her coaster ride but hey at least she wanted to like it!
Great update :)
 




Dads can be selfish too. There's a chance that I may have dipped into the bag of Oreos in the cupboard late at night when the kids are in bed. Maybe.....

It sounds like this is just a standard parent trait. We all sometimes need to sneak a treat for ourselves after the kids are asleep.


We have done this too. When they were little one of us would go out and grab dinner and eat it after they went to bed. We would then throw way the wrappers in the trash outside. We no longer do this but I do hide my Tagalong Girl Scout cookies or if I am shopping without the kids get a candy bar and eat it before I get home.

I hide my Tagalongs too! I don't even know if my kids have had Girl Scout cookies before, because I usually buy them when they're at school and hide them in the cupboard. But at 5 dollars a box for, like, 16 cookies they're a treasured treat! :rotfl2:



Oh my goodness Evie and Talon's relationship is too cute! And will be even more cute if they do end up together someday! lol

Also how adorable are those races! Although, making kids wait 90 minutes seems a bit unfair by Disney! You would think they would all run simultaneously!

I'm looking forward to seeing if Talon and Evie continue to get along as they get older. I know Ashley and I would love for them to end up together one day, but that's only so we can tag along for more Disney trips together. :rotfl::rotfl:


At least 25% of parenting is hiding the good food from the kids. Mine thought Lucky Charms were "Mommy's spicy Cheerios" for years.

:laughing: Spicy Cheerios is great!
I can usually get away with not sharing something with Landon if I say it's spicy, but that trick backfired on me with Evie. She wanted a bite of my veggie burrito one day, and when I warned her the salsa was spicy she licked a small bit of the stuff and determined she "liked spicy foods." :faint:
Right now, saying certain things are "protein food" for adults tends to work. They know Dad drinks protein shakes and they're not okay for kids to have, but I'm sure they'll catch on that not ALL my granola bars are protein food. :rotfl2:



Awww, that's a true Disney lovin', Evie lovin' kid right there.

Since we kind of have to depend on our friends for so much living overseas, our friends have become more like family, so I'm emotionally invested in Talon's life. It's just an added bonus that he is unbelievably sweet and kind to my daughter.
 
Out of curiosity how long do these races usually go for? This isn't just a question for Disneyland Paris, it's a question for RunDisney in general.

Are you referring to the time limits? I don't think the kid races have a specific time, but they only run 100 meters or 200 meters so I don't think they have to worry about time there.
All other runDisney races follow a 16 min./mile pace (which is about a 10 min./kilometer pace). However, that time starts after the last runner crosses the starting line. So, if you are in a corral that leaves much earlier than the last one, you have a little more time to work with.



Oh such cute pictures of the married couple! And what a fun race they had! Poor Landon and Emma- what a bummer they had to wait so long. Glad you got to go back to the room and just relax- hope you felt better!

Aside from the really long wait, the kids had fun participating in the kid races. I think they thought it was really cool to receive a bag of goodies at the end, just like Mom and Dad did after their races.


Love your last updates. As usual the kids are adorable especially the married couple. So happy DH enjoyed his race.

Thank you! The races were really fun and a new way to experience Disney. The weekend didn't allow for as much park touring as normal Disney vacations, but since this was our third time visiting DLP we didn't mind.


I usually hide mine in the salad drawer of the fridge as I know they aren’t going looking there!

It's already been said, but that is a brilliant idea! I made sure to share that one with Alex.


Oh Evie! Well, she gets an A for effort!

She wants so much to like coasters like her dad and brother, but it's just not her thing! Right now we are waiting to see if she grows one more inch so she'll be tall enough to ride Slinky Dog Dash this summer. But even if she is, I'm afraid I might traumatize her for life by taking her on it!!
 
Half Marathon Recap Part 1:


What felt like the biggest Disney moment of my life had finally arrived. After years of dreaming about half marathons, months of training, and days of anxiety it was race day. I got decent sleep, waking up without issue at 5:15 a.m.

I ate the breakfast I had brought with us, but it was a struggle. Each bite felt like paste in my mouth and swallowing was like pushing bricks down my throat. I really didn’t want to eat, but Alex reminded me that I needed to put fuel into my body. It was just nerves getting in the way but hard to overcome, nevertheless.

At 6:00 I began getting dressed.

I didn’t want to don a full costume for the race, so I chose instead to wear a fun skirt and a top with a running pun across the front. Ashley helped me out a lot by taking my request and creating the shirt:

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Since the race weekend was villains themed, I picked an Ursula quote – Poor Unfortunate Souls - and changed souls to SOLES.

I loved the outfit but next time would put the writing on the back. Because of the bib and the way the shirt folded, everything was kind of hidden during the race.


Impatient, I left the hotel much earlier than I needed to and made the walk to the Expo Center. It was still dark out and drizzling; my shoulders were really chilly on the way over. A smarter person would’ve brought a bag to check and worn a sweater on the hike over, but I worried I would be too tired after the course to go and retrieve the bag.

Pure laziness won out that morning.



My corral – Corral D – was about a fourth of the way full when I reached the entrance. The earlier corrals had a Cast Member checking bibs to make sure nobody cut corrals, but there wasn’t anybody for mine. Either I was too early or Disney wasn’t concerned about the last two corrals.

I could have walked as far up as possible in the corral to be closer to the front, but I didn’t want to fight that madness. Since I knew I would be slower than a lot of runners, I left that space open for people more concerned about pace.

Instead, I settled in along the fence to watch the screen set up:

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The crowd in front of the stage are all Corral A runners, ready and waiting for the 7:00 o’clock start time.



About fifteen minutes before the race began, a montage video was played on the screen, welcoming runners and pumping everyone up for the big event.

And of course my emotional self started crying!:sad: I was worried I would tear up a bit when I crossed the finish line but apparently, I had it backwards. I leaned against that fence, watching as runners from previous years crossed the finish line and couldn’t help but think: “My gosh, that’s about to be me!”

A dream five years in the making was about to come true. I was about to cross off a bucket list item.

I was standing, alone, replaying all my runs in my head. The one run where I conquered a massive hill. Another run where my gel pack burst in my hands and I had to wipe them in the grass. My last long run where my shins burned and I had to remind myself over and over again that it was almost over.

A few of my friends texted me while the video ended, and that almost got me going again. I had so much support over the summer from friends and family that I realized a dream like this was only feasible because of others believing in me and encouraging me. Whether they babysat Evie for me, brought me a coffee, pushed a meetup back because of a workout that ran long, I had help from the very beginning.


I think a lot of these feelings of gratitude and success wash over runners after they’ve completed the race. But for me, it all piled into my head at the starting line. Deep down, I knew I would finish. I was confident. My concern was more over whether or not I would complete the 13 miles in the time goal I had flying around in my head for a few weeks.


After my emotional outburst was contained and I was focused again, the pre-race speakers came out and started talking. I can’t remember much of what was said, and after they were done Cruella de Vil was brought out to cheer the runners across the starting line:

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By this point the drizzle that had accompanied me on the walk turned into a light rain, bringing with it a heavy mugginess to the air. I looked around me and said out loud:
“Ah. It’s going to be like a Florida run.”:rolleyes:

Because I sure felt like I was back in warm, humid Florida. The temperature wavered in the mid-60’s for most of the race, which was nothing short of a miracle. Anything warmer and it would have been an absolutely miserable race. As it was, the weather hung balanced on the line of uncomfortable and painful.


*Alex told me later that the elite runners from Corral A were completely soaked to the bone as they crossed the finish line. Fortunately for me, by about halfway through the race the rain had slowed down again and the sun had dried all the moisture from the earlier miles.*


On the official race guide, it says Corral D was meant to start the race at 7:05 a.m., but I finally earned my stare down with this sign at 7:47 a.m.

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Terrified, jittery, but beyond ready to get the ball rolling my group was released and we were off!


I rounded a corner backstage and ran under the entrance sign in Disney Village. Alex and the kids were standing to the right, and I got to high five them as I passed. Then it was into a side entrance of the Studios Parc and through Toy Story Land.

They were running the attractions during the race:

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I had been running a grand total of 8 minutes before I ended up here:

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And stopped for a potty break.

I knew the last half of the course would be mostly outside the park and decided stopping at an actual bathroom would be preferable to a portapotty. (Fortunately, this was my only bio break of the race.)

Someone had left their phone on the sink, and I had grabbed it to hand to a Cast Member standing by the bathroom entrance when the owner returned for it. Poor girl would have had a rotten surprise had she made it to the end and realized she’d left her phone!


The course left the Studios shortly after that point. Whereas Alex ran through the interior thorofare from the entrance, I ran it backwards:

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Here is where my memory fails me and I get really confused, because the next picture I have is of a Loki meet and greet back inside the park:

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So maybe we ran back in for a kilometer? The beginning is really fuzzy in my head. I was trying so hard to get around other runners and not slip on the wet cement that I don’t remember any of my surroundings.


By kilometer 4, though, the race entered the Disneyland Park:

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And I was able to grab a selfie with my favorite ride:

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Continued in Next Post:
 
Half Marathon Part 2

Continued from Previous Post:



I had reached the part of the course everyone dreams of when they register for a Disney race…

The Main Street portion!

It was down one side, first:
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Then up and running towards the castle:

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They had a spot off to the side that runners could use to step aside and take pictures. Naturally, I had to get a selfie. I only dreamed about running towards that castle a few dozen times before and needed a memento of a dream coming true:

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It was into Adventureland next, where I passed Skull Rock and came upon a Flotsam and Jetsam photo op.

Well, I was channeling Ursula with my costume; no way was I going to skip a picture with her minions!


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And that was my only character photo from the race….But I loved it so much I wasn’t upset. The photo is my lock screen on my phone and brings me a lot of joy every time I see it.



The 5 Kilometer marker was the next thing I came upon:

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Then the carousel and the backside of the castle:

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Thanks to there being so many walkways in and around the castle, the race course was able to go around the structure twice, giving me another opportunity to snap a photo:

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See, dear husband, that’s how you grab a race selfie with the castle!




It was at this point that my race took a few dips. I realized that I was running wayyyy slower than my normal pace. Part of that was because I was too busy looking around and enjoying the parks; the other part was because I was apprehensive about slipping. The wet ground was psyching me out, but even the wet weather couldn’t justify how slow I was going. I was averaging a pace almost 3 minutes slower than I expected!!!

That was pretty detrimental to my overall time.


Then, when I reached the Malificent dragon float:

0041.JPG

Another huge setback struck.


Foolish, foolish me wore the wrong shorts to the race. I had practiced my longest run before the race in my race outfit to make sure they would work, but I hadn’t anticipated the rain and how wet the clothes would become. My shorts began sliding up my legs and caused terrible chafing. It was horrible, and I was furious with myself.

I was going to mess up this goal I had spent so long preparing for because I had worn the wrong clothes! Chafing had never once been an issue for me before this point, so it took me by complete surprise.
(To make matters worse, I had brought a pair of capri shorts with me and decided last minute to wear the shorts, because I was afraid I would get too hot with the humidity.)


It’s amazing the pain one spot of raw skin can cause. I’ve gone through childbirth! Broken a finger! Had two surgeries! I like to think I’m tough, but good golly I turned into a whiny whimp when that chafe was created on my thigh.

I stopped running and sent panicked texts to Alex, frustrated tears almost falling. I yanked a pants leg down, then the other leg in quick succession. Only to growl in exasperation as they rolled up over and over again.

It was one little spot!

Get it together, Alicia.

Suck it up and RUN! Your 5K time was atrocious, you don’t have time for this!

I was mad about the shorts situation, but I was more mad that my plan was falling to pieces. So I turned that anger into motivation and began running, telling myself with every step to ignore my thigh.

IT BURNS.

Don’t think about it.

BUT IT BURNS!!!

Concentrate on music.

MY SKIN IS PEELING OFF LAYER BY LAYER.

Skip this song, this one too, there!!! Start jamming out and GOOOOOOOO!


I wouldn’t say things improved, but somehow I trained myself to work through the pain and keep going. It was uncomfortable, but the rest of my body was warmed up and ready to knock out some mileage.

I came to the Kilometer 6 sign:

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And had made it to the road part of the course. There wouldn’t be any more park sightseeing until the end of the race, and I knew this was going to be where I was going to be able to make up some time.


Kilometer 7 appeared:

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And fate struck me down again! That cold I was battling? It made a guest appearance on the course. A huge coughing fit overtook me right after the KM 7 sign, and I ended up having to step to the side and handle it.


Ugh.

This was NOT the way I pictured this race going.

I needed things to turn around. Fast.


I stepped back on the road, yanked my shorts as far as I could, and cleared my mind. Fourteen more kilometers lay ahead of me, and I was going to blast through them, come heck or high water.




Up Next….The Rest of the Half Marathon

 
Okay I teared up when you said you were able to high five your family as you started the race! So sweet!

And omg chaffing is NOT fun. You are a trooper for powering through!
 
I can imagine how excited you were, this race was a long time coming!

I loved seeing your selfies and especially the pic with Flotsam & Jetsam- so fitting with your shirt, which I love by the way!

Ugh I'm sorry for the setbacks you were having. I'm sure it was frustrating :(
 
I didn’t want to don a full costume for the race, so I chose instead to wear a fun skirt and a top with a running pun across the front. Ashley helped me out a lot by taking my request and creating the shirt:

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I love the shirt. Too cute!

Well, I was channeling Ursula with my costume; no way was I going to skip a picture with her minions!

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How awesome that they had this set up to go with your Ursula shirt. I love it!

I was averaging a pace almost 3 minutes slower than I expected!!!

Uh oh, that's a lot to try to make up. There's really no way to know in training, though, how much time you're going to lose on sightseeing and photo ops.

I was going to mess up this goal I had spent so long preparing for because I had worn the wrong clothes! Chafing had never once been an issue for me before this point, so it took me by complete surprise.

Oh no! Chafing is truly awful. I had underboob chafe once right on my bra line that I would never wish on anyone. It's hard to ignore, too. You think you'll just get used to it and push past it, but every stride it feels just a little worse.

You can't leave it on that cliffhanger, though! How did you do? Did you figure out a way to reduce the pain or did you really just have to trudge through all of those miles while hurting? Did you make up any of your lost time?
 
Okay I teared up when you said you were able to high five your family as you started the race! So sweet!

And omg chaffing is NOT fun. You are a trooper for powering through!

One of the things I loved the most about the race and the training was how supportive Alex and the kids were. Alex was my biggest cheerleader and the kids loved hearing how many miles I ran after I'd come home from a workout. I think I would have had a lot of mental hurdles to overcome if I didn't have my family behind me.



I can imagine how excited you were, this race was a long time coming!

I loved seeing your selfies and especially the pic with Flotsam & Jetsam- so fitting with your shirt, which I love by the way!

Ugh I'm sorry for the setbacks you were having. I'm sure it was frustrating :(

Thanks! I was really grateful to Ashley for helping me make the shirt, and then I was ridiculously excited when I saw Little Mermaid characters on the course. And I mean, how many other times am I going to come across Flotsam and Jetsam?!



How awesome that they had this set up to go with your Ursula shirt. I love it!

I had pretty much assumed there wouldn't be any Little Mermaid characters on the course since it was villains themed and Ursula isn't a typical meet and greet, so I was happily surprised when I saw Flotsam and Jetsam!



Oh no! Chafing is truly awful. I had underboob chafe once right on my bra line that I would never wish on anyone. It's hard to ignore, too. You think you'll just get used to it and push past it, but every stride it feels just a little worse.

You can't leave it on that cliffhanger, though! How did you do? Did you figure out a way to reduce the pain or did you really just have to trudge through all of those miles while hurting? Did you make up any of your lost time?


You can't ignore chafing; I learned that the hard way. Now you can pretty much gurantee I'm going to try out my race day outfits several times prior to a race AND invest in Body Glide.

Hahaha, my update was getting pretty long and I was running out of picture space, so I decided to cut the race into two parts. It's Spring Break this week for the kids and I have to finish cleaning our attic before our move, but I'm hoping I'll find time to finish the race recap. Thank goodness Landon had a birthday over the weekend and him and his sister have a new PlayDoh set and a new box of Amelia Bedelia books to keep them occupied. :rotfl2:
 
Ahhh so that's where your avatar picture came from, it came from this very marathon. And oh dear lord I'm so sorry to hear your outfit causing your trouble and you had a coughing fit during the marathon. I hope the marathon got better for you later on.
 
Oh, the suspense! I hope you had a big turnaround and it gets easier in the next half. Can't wait to hear more!
 
I love it!

Normally Alex is the lover of puns in our family, but I thought the Ursula quote was pretty fitting for that weekend.



Ahhh so that's where your avatar picture came from, it came from this very marathon. And oh dear lord I'm so sorry to hear your outfit causing your trouble and you had a coughing fit during the marathon. I hope the marathon got better for you later on.

Yeah, I was pretty excited to get a photo with such rare characters that I wanted to see it often so I changed my avator picture to it shortly after returning home.



Oh, the suspense! I hope you had a big turnaround and it gets easier in the next half. Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! I learned a lot during the first half of the race and will go into all future races knowing what mishaps to watch out for. Some of the mistakes (like running too slow) wasn't something I knew to prepare for until I actually got on the course. Now I know...
 
I hide my Tagalongs too!
ok excuse my ignorance but what are tagalongs? I'm assuming they're tasty enough to need hiding lol but curious as to what they taste like?

It's already been said, but that is a brilliant idea! I made sure to share that one with Alex
You are welcome! What else are friends for :rotfl::thumbsup2

I'm really, really hoping that things improve for you regarding the race but can I just say that, even if they didn't go as planned, look at what you did!!
You made it through all the training, overcame all the obstacles, got the job done and received the medal to prove it PLUS high-5 ing your own personal wee fan club has to have been one of those "remember 'til I die" moments! You should be so, so very proud of yourself!!!:goodvibes



Good luck with all the house move stuff too:thumbsup2
 

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