My crazy Friday began with the alarm going off at 6:30 a.m. I worked late at lululemon the night before (getting home at 1:00 a.m.), so this noisy alarm came way too soon.

By the time I took care of the puppies and packed for the week long trip I was taking with my family later on, I realized my time for a run was cut drastically short. I had 17 miles on the agenda as I came off the Disney Princess Half Marathon last weekend and look ahead to the Crooms 50k May 3rd.

I realized life would go on even if my long run wasn’t as long as planned. I ended up logging 11 dreadfully boring (although strong) miles on the treadmill. I’m going to make my next medium-length run a little longer to make up for the lost mileage.

Then I met David for a quick goodbye lunch at the local Japanese restaurant before heading to a dentist appointment! Phew!

A gigantic vegan chocolate chip cookie from Whole Foods was definitely in order for my long drive to the dentist back home. Can you believe how big that is?! Things finally slowed down when I met my grandparents and two youngest siblings for dinner and a visit. They live 2.5 hours away, so I really appreciate when I get to see them.

Being a vegan is easy, but there are some places I just count my losses, order iceberg lettuce and sacrifice a good meal. This little cafe my grandparents frequent is definitely one of them. The menu is all meat and cheese… as if the creator never even knew it was possible to create a meal without using meat!

I knew my only chance of a warm, cooked meal would be steamed veggies, so I headed right to the salads. Too bad they were all topped with tuna or egg salad and slathered in mayo-based dressings!

The waitress about had a cow when I explained my situation and asked for a salad with “any and all raw veggies they had in the kitchen.” Oh goodness.. she did not want to give them to me! Eventually I got her to bring them as a side (she wouldn’t put them right on the salad?!).

I ate most of my veggies with a vinaigrette and some crackers… and then ate a Larabar! lol

Post-dinner I challenged the kids to some challenging poses I do in my yoga practice. It was fun to see the whole family getting so into it! The kids were so strong and flexible- even at 6- and 8-years-old, they’d definitely outshine me at my yoga studio!!

Below just might be my favorite photo ever. My grandfather doesn’t like to smile for the camera, but I caught him with a big grin playing with the kids!!!

On the way home I stopped with the kids for some Italian ice at Ritter’s. It was fun hanging with the kids, but the ice left plenty to be desired. My mango flavor tasted very fake and was super-icy (as in more ice than flavor). This place has nothing on Jeremiah’s Italian Ice back in Orlando! What a day! It was long, but fun!

I’m blogging this from the first leg of a long drive from Tampa, Fl. to Williamsburg, VA. My mom, youngest brother and sister and I have a fun week planned!

Do you ever get your family involved with yoga?

  The Disney Princess Half Marathon was by far the most fun race I’ve ever done- even more than the Walt Disney World Marathon in January!

I’ve been fighting with adding music to my little race video for two days. I figured it was about time to give up and get it out! So check out the tutus and castle in this race video:

Waking up early on race mornings often tires me more than the running! I woke up at 3am Sunday to meet Kelly to carpool to Disney. Here's Kelly and me- cold and tired!

It was fun having Kelly and Leslie to start off with. They were way too fast for me to actually run with, but we spent plenty of time together pre-race :)

It was so entertaining to see so many tutus and tiaras in this crowd of distance runners! There were actually a few men in the crowd- and even the men had tutus!

Did you see the awesome start in the video above? That perfectly done up theme continued the whole race. It’s so much fun racing past your favorite characters!

Everyone who ran the race noticed this girl. I wonder if she actually ran in that dress!?

I felt so good during this race! I was a little scared since I had the Gasparilla Marathon one week before and I spent the better part of the week in bed with the flu, but my legs were very happy.

At mile 10 I said I was going to give it my all… and I was then greeted with hills! There were so many onramps and hills the last few miles!

Things looked even better when I saw the large white sphere that always means one thing to me: the finish line is close!

I finished with a time of 2:20:32. I was proud considering I PRed by 16 minutes! Still, I’d like to do another half soon to see how I do when I haven’t run a marathon the week before :)

I’ll definitely be signing up for the Disney Princess Half Marathon next year!

What was your favorite/most fun race? Have you ever raced in a costume?

 

Ooops. I forgot to mention on the blog that I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon today :) I am working on the video to complete that recap. So here’s what happened the day before (Saturday!) for now!

So many great bloggers were in town for the Disney Princess Half Marathon so a meetup was definitely in order. We had about 20 people at Pizza Fusion, an earth-friendly and vegan-friendly pizza place.

I love hanging out with people so passionate about health and fitness. Just check out those smiles! I was too busy talking to look at the menu, so Katy W. saved me when I copied her order. I got the Farmers’ Market personal pizza on multigrain crust. I also subbed cheese for eggplant. 

It sure is pretty! Tood bad I wasn’t in love with the taste. The crust was pretty dry and lacked flavor. The roasted veggies were good, but there was something missing from the pizza. Still, I managed to clear my plate!

Healthy homemade goodies are a fun part of blogger meetups! Lindsey brought some of her famous cookies and Ryan shared some of her raw vegan macaroons. Yum! Thanks ladies!

  I wish all these girls lived in Orlando. They’re so fun!

  Pizza Fusion is one minute away from Whole Foods… obviously we couldn’t resist! After having a cold for five days and a flu for two days, I was excited to get a fresh-squeezed juice with the group.

I got my regular (kale, spinach, apple, carrot, beet, ginger) but the barista added way too much ginger! It buuuuuurned going down! Leslie ordered the same thing. I felt bad for recommending the sushi-in-a-glass! ;)

After the blogger fun I spent some time at the expo. I loved all the women here! Everyone was so excited for the next day’s race.

I wasn’t hungry for dinner but I picked up an assortment from the Whole Foods hot bar anyway. You gotta eat the night before a race! I’m going to work on my video now. I’m so excited to share another race recap with you! Be sure to check out my Gasparilla Marathon Recap if you missed it!

Do you enjoy race expos? Do you go to the local ones even if you’re not running?