February, 2014 | Through Heather's Looking Glass

Gone for a RUN Review and Giftcard Giveaway

February 28, 2014 by Heather 122 Comments

As an ambassador for Gone for a Run, I was given the opportunity to review some more products for them, and host a gift card giveaway, read on!

The first item is a very nice, DISHWASHER SAFE mug! I thought my fellow runDisney Princess runners would be interested in that tid bit since the mugs at the expo are ALL hand wash only. I thought maybe those that didn’t buy a mug at the race could get one of these instead! Don’t worry, if princesses aren’t your thing, there are PAGES and PAGES of other designs to choose from. Literally an option for everyone!

I love how the design wrapped all the way around the mug, and it wasn’t too heavy and easily fit into my dishwasher. I have washed it five or six times already and it still looks brand new, a good sign!

I also got to review this adorable state t-shirt for runners. Show some state pride! They come in tons of adorable colors, and ladies, there is a women’s cut! (Runs a bit small, this is a medium). It’s really comfortable and I have already had a couple of people ask me where I got it.

I am all about state pride so I was all over this one! (PS- they have tons of other state running products like jewelry, luggage tags, and more!)

Who wants a shot at a Gone for a RUN $20 gift card so you can purchase your own items? Simply follow the Rafflecoptor instructions below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

122 Comments Filed Under: blogging, fitness, Giveaway, running Tagged: git card, Giveaway, Gone for a Run, running

Let’s Move! Talk With the White House

February 27, 2014 by Heather 19 Comments

Yesterday I had the privilege of joining in a call with the White House! I was honored to hear Sam Kass, the executive director of Let’s Move! talk about the fourth anniversary of Let’s Move, which the First Lady is very involved in.

She was in Miami this week talking with a parks and recreation center in Miami, Florida about taking action to make sure they are serving healthy snacks and water for kids in programs after school. On the call, Sam talked about the importance of the three hours after school, and making sure kids get out and move, especially if they are not involved in an after school activity or sport.

Sam also gave us some GREAT news, that the obesity rate for young children is on the decline, and 90% of schools have met the new lunch standards. New standards were also rolled out for local wellness polices. The framework for what these policies need to look like is being set, such as nutrition education, how much physical activity a child should get each day, etc. and these policies will have reports and will be able to show progress over time.

Also, new standards were announced for what can be MARKETED in schools. Sam said school should be safe place, and messages kids are getting shouldn’t undermine parent’s good work at home. If you can’t sell something in schools, you shouldn’t be able to market it there. This idea will be implemented this fall (think vending machines, snack bars, etc, full of healthy snacks). Same said the marketing is a big step forward to ensuring our schools are places that support the well being of kids.

I really liked that Sam said having candy or a bag of chips every now in then isn’t a bag thing, but that they shouldn’t be staples in our diets. We were able to ask questions, and some other bloggers had some great ones!

Some of you who have been reading my blog for many years may remember the vlog I recorded on Childhood Obesity, and know this subject is something near to my heart as a former teacher who dealt with this on a daily basis.

In closing, Sam left us with four basic things parents can do to help their kids combat childhood obesity:

1.) Breastfeed (if you can)

2.) Fill half of your plate with fruits and vegetables

3.) Drink water/avoid sugary drinks

4.) 60 minutes of play a day (he emphasized the word play).

QOTD: What are your thoughts on Let’s Move! and the new announcements from yesterday? Do you think we are headed in the right direction as a country? What would you like to see changed in regards to this topic?

19 Comments Filed Under: blogging, family, health Tagged: 60 minutes of play, childhood obesity, Health, let's Move!, white house

Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend

February 26, 2014 by Heather 21 Comments

I am sure many of you have already seen the announcement, but just in case you haven’t, yesterday runDisney announced the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Weekend in Disneyland! The race weekend will take place November 14-16 2014, (the weekend after Wine and Dine in Walt Disney World) and will include Kids races, a 5k, and a half marathon as well as a pasta in the park party and health and fitness expo.

(Video used with permission from runDisney)

I think it’s expected that they would come up with a more “male oriented” race to balance out Tinkerbell and Princess half marathon weekends, and I know a lot of people are now hoping for a similar race on the east coast. It is also worth noting that the course for this race will be NEW and will not follow the same path as Disneyland half marathon weekend or the Tinkerbell half marathon.

Tom Wolber, senior vice president of Disney sports enterprises and Downtown Disney had this to say about the new event: “Our runDisney events continue to be hugely popular and by joining forces with the Avengers brand, we expect this race will appeal to an even broader range of runners in Southern California whom we hope will see this event as the perfect opportunity to unleash their inner Super Hero in a race to a personal triumph.”

This race WILL be eligible for the Coast to Coast race challenge, and registration for this race weekend begins March 25th at noon ET. Be sure to check our runDisney.com for more information and to stay up to date! Also, you can follow runDisney on Twitter and Facebook. (You may also want to follow the #SmashTheHalf hashtag on Twitter!)

QOTD: What are your thoughts on this new race? Will you be running?

21 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

Glass Slipper Challenge: Complete

February 25, 2014 by Heather 6 Comments

Hey friends! Sorry for lack of posting but I was enjoying Disney with my family. We fly home today so it will be back to reality and back to blogging. The glass slipper challenge was tough for me (plus the 5k!) but I did it! Full race recaps to come but I just wanted to share a couple of pictures with you.

6 Comments Filed Under: Disney, runDisney, running Tagged: Princess half, runDisney, running

What Makes You Fearless?

February 21, 2014 by Heather 7 Comments

Awhile back, I was approached by someone from sheknows.com who was writing an article on healthy living bloggers and fearless living. One of the questions I was asked was “what makes you fearless?” Honestly, I took a day or two to mull it over, because I didn’t want to just spit out “the answer” that everyone wants, if you know what I mean.

So, now I would like to ask you. What makes you fearless as someone on a journey to healthy living. It’s not always an easy one, and everyone struggles with different parts of it. I believe everyone has a strength in this department, something that makes them fearless, gives them the strength to tackle the big issues.

I would love to hear what makes YOU fearless. Brag a little today, it’s ok!

*Check out the article on SheKnows.com!

QOTD: What makes you fearless?

7 Comments Filed Under: blogging, fitness, health, motivation Tagged: fearless, fitness, motivation

January 2014 Disney Trip: Part 2

February 20, 2014 by Heather 8 Comments

I left off part one of the recap with us roasting marsh mellows before going to sleep for the half marathon the next day!

We got up at 2:45 to run the half marathon, then ate breakfast and took a nap. This day was pretty boring, but we really enjoyed all the relaxing! I found a newspaper and saw that my picture was on the front page of the sports section of the Orlando Sentinel!

Very, very weird to me, but also really cool. We ate lunch at the resort, and spent some time sitting outside in the rocking chairs enjoying our beautiful surroundings.

That afternoon, the Saints Playoff game was on, so we lounged in the room and watched that while we ate dinner. We called it an early night, we only had one more day of waking up at 2:45 wahoo!

The next day we completed the Dopey Challenge, and earned our 4th, 5th, and 6th medals.

While we were on the course, I heard a girl talking about wanting a cheeseburger, and I could not get it out of my head. After we showered, I told Bobby I must have one, so we headed down to Roaring Forks at our hotel and I enjoyed a huge cheeseburger, a coke, and a mickey straw given to me by the cast member at the register as a congrats on Dopey!

yyyuuummmmm

All we wanted was a nap, so that’s what we did! I woke up from my nap not feeling so hot. I just felt…icky and blah and had a headache. We rested in the room until our dinner reservations at Trail’s End. I really wasn’t feeling up to going, but didn’t want to lose money for canceling and knew I needed to eat, so we hopped on the boat and made our way to the campgrounds. I am so glad we went, because we ran into these two!

Jenn, Danielle, and me

The next day was our last full day in Disney, so we spent the whole day at the magic Kingdom. I couldn’t wait to get this photo opp, I had been thinking about it for months!

Don’t worry, I just wore the Dopey medal around the parks and the others only came out of my bookbag for the photo. That would have been insanely heavy!

We stayed in the park all day, which isn’t very typical for us, but we were having a great time. We had lunch at Be our Guest.

hung out with some friends

had Dole Whip floats

and told Dopey his challenge was a piece of cake (haha)

Dopey’s on the Peoplemover! Our legs thanked us.

We went back about 4:45, we needed to get changed for dinner at Chef Mickey’s! Can you believe I had never eaten there? There were some people at the table next to us that had the BEST idea and I am so bummed I didn’t think of it! They brought all their medals and took photos with each character and it’s corresponding medal (ex. Minnie with the 10k medal) then had each character sign their medal with a sharpie!

Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto were there. Would have been perfect!

The food was actually really, really good! We were impressed. Oh! I had this cute ornament made for us Monday while we were at the Magic Kingdom.

We drove home the next morning, and it all seemed like a blur. I can’t believe the race we planned on for so many months had come and gone in the blink of an eye. We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go and run, and can’t wait for our next adventure!

QOTD: Do you buy ornaments to commemorate special occasions?

8 Comments Filed Under: Disney, family, runDisney, running, vacation Tagged: Disney race, dopey challenge, runDisney, running, vacation, wilderness lodge

Princess Prep

February 19, 2014 by Heather 22 Comments

Hello friends! Tomorrow is the big day! I leave the dogs with the house sitter, fly out with my fam to Orlando to spend five days in Disney World for the Glass Slipper Challenge and the family fun run 5k. It’s going to be a jam packed trip, but also hopefully a lot of fun.

Just wanted to share a few things for my fellow princesses who may be packing and preparing for their own trips.

I posted these tips for running Princess last year

I posted this vlog on packing for a multi race Disney trip when I was packing for Goofy last year

Here are my race recaps from the past two princesses if anyone wants to read them to GET EXCITED!

Princess half 2012

Princess half 2013

I will be at the expo in the early afternoon on Thursday, if you see me at any point during the weekend PLEASE say hi, I love to chat! I will be at all three races, and also roaming the parks until Tuesday when we leave. I am stoked my mom and dad are coming with us. We are ALL doing the 5k, my dad’s first runDisney race! Mom and I are running the 10k, and I am running the half all by my lonesome.

Good luck to everyone who is running, I hope you have a magical time and don’t forget running at Disney is supposed to be FUN! Don’t be nervous, if you have put in the training YOU CAN DO THIS! Enjoy every magical mile, and hope to see ya real soon.

QOTD: Who will be there with me this weekend?!?

22 Comments Filed Under: Disney, family, Race Recaps, runDisney, running, tips, vacation Tagged: disney race packing tips, disney race tips, glass slipper challenge, Princess half, princess half tips, runDisney, running

January 2014 Disney Trip: Part 1

February 18, 2014 by Heather 15 Comments

Now that I am caught up with my race recaps (whew!) I wanted to share a little about or January trips when we WEREN’T running! Our first day in Disney in January for Dopey, we went to the expo Wednesday then had dinner that night at California grill. I was a good girl and wore flats, but totally forgot I had only brought a dress…and I got taped at the KT Tape booth that afternoon. Whoops! I got some strange looks.

We love the newly remolded California Grill, and got to eat there for the second time since the re-opening.

Bobby was a happy boy with his sushi

We went to bed early, and got up to run the Family Fun Run 5k the next morning. After the race and breakfast, we headed to EPCOT for the morning.

Where I somehow got roped into being part of a “play” in the UK.

We rode Soarin’ and Space Ship Earth, and grabbed some lunch.

We were pretty tired and headed back to the room for a nap. As soon as we got there, I got a call about shooting some video and still shots for an article in the Orlando Sentinel about Dopey, so we grabbed my costumes, hopped back in the car and headed to the Sports Complex…where we filmed in the pouring rain!

We made it back to the hotel just in time to grab drinks from the concierge lounge and change before heading to dinner at Ohana. I had to leave to go meet some friends for drinks, so I left Bobby at dinner (no kidding, and he was fine with it!) I met my friends, and came back and picked Bobby up at the Poly. Don’t feel too bad for him, he had a book and my iPad! It was off to bed after that, we had the 10k to run the next day.

We were up at 2:45 for the 10k, and we came back to the hotel to shower and eat before driving to Hollywood Studios.

Not going to lie, we didn’t last long. With no nap the day before and two early wake up calls, we were spent. We rode a couple rides, grabbed some lunch at Toy Story Pizza Planet, and then went back to the hotel for a glorious nap. That night, we just hung out around the hotel relaxing and enjoying the weather. No dinner plans, just sitting. Aaaahhh

We also roasted some marsh mellows with the kiddos!

I really love the Wilderness Lodge, it’s such a beautiful and peaceful resort. We found some chairs to sit in and listen to the waterfalls before heading upstairs for some dinner.

Again it was early to bed. We had a half marathon in the morning!

QOTD: When you go to Disney do you ever take time to relax or are you just go go go the whole trip?

*I would LOVE to help plan your family vacation to Disney World, Disneyland, on any cruise line, to Universal, you name it! It costs you nothing extra and I do all the work. heather@travelwiththemagic.com

15 Comments Filed Under: blogging, Disney, family, runDisney, running, vacation Tagged: Disney, runDisney, vacation, wilderness lodge

Tinkerbell Half Marathon Race Recap

February 17, 2014 by Heather 33 Comments

I was so very excited to run my very first runDisney Tinkerbell half marathon in January.

I had heard so many great things about it, and about the course, I couldn’t wait to see for myself!

I forgot one thing however, that I would still feel exhausted from Dopey the weekend before, and I underestimated how much of an impact it would have on my race. My plan was to have fun and soak it all in, but I also didn’t want to FEEL bad during the race either. I got up quietly as to not wake my mom, and walked towards the start line by myself.

The convenience of staying onsite can’t be beat. A quick walk from my hotel room and I was in my corral, with time to spare.

Right as I was walking into my corral I heard a familiar voice. It was Crystal! We chatted in the corral and waited for the race to begin.

Soon it was go time (no fireworks, bummer) and we started running together. Crystal asked if I ran intervals, I said not usually but why not! We hadn’t planned on running together but just kind of ended up doing so, and I am so, so glad we did. We talked the ENTIRE race and it made things go by so quickly.

Once we got into the parks, I told her no hard feelings if she didn’t want to stop and take pictures with me. She said it was fine and so we stayed together.

I felt bad for all the waiting so I kept insisting that she go on ahead but she hung with me.

We didn’t stop for all the characters, but still got a lot of photos. We made it into Disneyland park, and down Main Street.

The lost boys were on the carousel!

Princesses!

As we ran towards the Haunted Mansion, Crystal spotted Captain Jack! He was hidden off to the side so only had 3/4 people in line. I would have run right past him had she not said anything.

We headed out of the park and through Downtown Disney, where one of the highlights of the race happened for me. HUNDREDS of red hat ladies were at the turn by the sorcerers hat! They had signs, cowbells, and were cheering SO loudly. It warmed my heart and made me want to cry that there were SO many of there out there so early in the morning. They were totally awesome.

As we made our way off property, the sun started to come up.

I was so, so glad I was running 4/1 intervals with Crystal at this point. We were not even halfway through, and my legs felt like lead. It didn’t matter how hard I pushed, I just couldn’t go any faster. Luckily our chattering away was a welcomed distraction (as were the one minute walk breaks!) I would be lying if I said I paid a ton of attention to my surroundings at this point. Lots of different streets, buildings, houses, etc.

I got excited when we made it back to Disney property. We were getting close! We hit the mile 12 sign and I texted my mom to tell her we were close. She was waiting for me at the finish line in the cold, what a trooper.

We took one last walk break then charged ahead and finished around 2:45. I had a blast running with Crystal, but my body was definitely telling me it was time for a break from long distance racing for a bit.

We collected our beautiful medals, said our goodbyes, and I was off to find my mom.

Mom sadly somehow missed me crossing the finish line, but that’s ok she was still there. We were both cold so we didn’t hang around long. Back to the hotel we went for hot breakfast and then playing in the parks.

I love my medal!

Final Race Thoughts:

Tink has never been my favorite character, but I do love the idea of a women’s-focused race on the west coast. It had a fun girly atmosphere that I really enjoyed. The medal is beautiful, and I am so glad I could WALK from my hotel to the race start! I enjoyed the course and the fact that you are in the parks for further into the race than at the Disneyland half over Labor Day. It helped make the second half go by much faster. The volunteers were friendly and plentiful, and there was plenty of water and Powerade on the course.

There aren’t really many negatives to this race, I wasn’t a fan of starting at 5:00 (30 minutes earlier than the east coast races) and I also felt like the finish line was so skinny and cramped compared to the east coast races. My mom said that was why she had a hard time spotting me because so many people were funneling through such a small area at the end and you come around a quick corner so it’s hard to see. I felt like there were not as many bands/on course entertainment as at the Disneyland half. I don’t know this for sure, it’s just the way it felt to me (maybe someone knows how many there were?)

Would I run this race again? Absolutely! I really enjoy the west coast races, the weather is always SO much better, not having to take a bus is a MAJOR plus, and getting to run through the park where Walt Disney himself walked is truly magical.

QOTD: Have you ever run a race at Disneyland? What are your thoughts on all of the women’s focused events that keep popping up?

For more information on this and other runDisney races, be sure to visit rundisney.com

*Disclosure: My race registration, hotel, park tickets, and some meals were paid for by runDisney. However, all opinions are strictly my own.

33 Comments Filed Under: blogging, Disney, fitness, Race Recaps, runDisney, running Tagged: Disney race, half marathon, race recap, runDisney, running, tinkerbell half

Weekly Workout Recap: February Week 2 2014

February 16, 2014 by Heather 5 Comments

Who is working off chocolate from Valentine’s Day? I was actually really good and just had a couple pieces (which are actually leftovers from Christmas, yikes!)

The gym has been SO HOT I have dreaded the treadmill, but it was also in the low 30’s so I didn’t want to go outside. I managed to get in a couple workouts but really want to get back to weight lifting. I have been totally slacking on it since Dopey!

Sunday: rest

Monday: 2 mile run

Tuesday: 30 minutes stationary bike

Wednesday: 1.5 mile walk and 15 minutes circuit in my living room

Thursday: rest

Friday: 5 mile treadmill run

Saturday: rest

My goal for next week since I am tapering for Princess anyway is to do 2 weights workouts and one run, as well as one cross training day. Fingers crossed!

QOTD: Do you lift weights the week of a race?

5 Comments Filed Under: blogging, fitness, health, running Tagged: fitness, Health, running, weekly workout recap