What I've learned from the ProForm Boston Marathon Treadmill

I've had something cool that I've wanted to share with you guys for a while now, and now that a new record has been set it seems like the perfect time!

Did you all hear about Tyler Andrew, an elite young American runner who ran a treadmill world record half marathon?  He did it in  1 hour, 7 minutes and 18 seconds,  ON A TREADMILL!!!
That was 11 seconds faster than the previous world record. You can read the complete story from Runner's World and see his video HERE.

He set this record on the ProForm Boston Marathon GSX Treadmill! His speed for the entire half marathon was 12.4 mph. He learned in the last 2 minutes of the race that he was behind pace, so he increased his speed to 15 mph! This is the only home treadmill with the capability of going 15 mph!
 

I've had the pleasure of using this treadmill at a previous Runner's World event that I was invited to. I can't believe everything this baby can do.  I'm pretty confident that I won't ever be running 15mph on it, but I would definitely be using some of the other fun features it has.

 

It has some great embedded video training workouts.

 

 

This treadmill has a wireless SpeedRing so you can adjust your speed without breaking stride to reach forward on the console.

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T      This treadmill goes to 20% incline and 6% decline that automatically adjusts with iFit technology onboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

C        Probably my favorite thing about this treadmill is that you can an watch Google Street View of routes you’ve drawn or maps pre-drawn at iFit.

 

 

 

 So of course I had to put in one of my favorite routes. Does anyone recognize that purple sign on the left? Yup, that's on Disney World property. Could you imagine plugging that route in every day and running those streets?  I'm thinking this is how I might be training for my next Disney race!

 

This  ProForm Boston Marathon GSX Treadmill also features state-of-the-art adjustable cushioning. So, whether you’re training for road-surface outdoor events-or taking care to ease stress on your knees, ankles or back-the GSX is specially designed with advanced push off stability (that other treadmills neglect). 

 

It also includes Adidas® ANT+ wireless heart rate monitoring.

 

Gym Source is the exclusive retailer for this limited edition product. Make sure to check out their website to find out how YOU can benefit by training on this treadmill. You might find some other features that you are looking for in a treadmill that I didn't mention here.

 

So whether it's one you own or one that you are using at the gym, what features do you most appreciate on a treadmill?

 

 

  

Spring Forward (and a new link up)

 

So this week's Friday theme is "What we are looking forward to this Spring". To be honest, things are pretty up in the air for me right now since I don't know what my condition will be like but we'll play along today!


1. One of the best things we are looking forward to this month is our annual Murder Mystery weekend. It's a long weekend that my sister and I take together every year at a resort. Everyone stays in character all weekend and there is a TON of food. When I say a ton, I'm not kidding. It's always themed too. One year it was a wedding, one year it was a talent show ( think American Idol), Last year it was a political theme, and this year the theme is set in the 1920's so we have our flapper dresses ready!

2. Lacey has the Shamrock Marathon coming up this month as well. I know quite a few bloggers who will be running this. If you are one of them let us know! I remember how miserable it was last year ( good thing they gave out blankets at the finish) so I am crossing my fingers that the weather is better. I was thinking about being a spectator for this race, but the more I think about it, I might just stay in my house by the fireplace. Does that make me a bad sister? ( Last Year's Shamrock Recap)

3. I started Physical Therapy this week. Something I probably should have started 4 weeks ago. So  probably one of the most important things I need to look forward to this spring is getting rid of pain and building up strength.

4. Both of us have some races coming up in April too. I was just debating today whether or not I wanted to defer my registrations for them. I am hoping by then my pain will be gone but I know if I do either of them I won't be running full on ( it's not like I'm gonna win) so I might as well just do them and take my time.

5.This Spring I have been invited to Co-Host a Link -up called "Tasty Tuesday". We will be trying our first one this Tuesday March 11. If you have a recipe, food review, restaurant review, basically anything about food ( even if you want it to be a recap of what you ate, I know a lot of you like to do the WIAW, but you can do it on a Tuesday). As long as it has something to do with food, feel free to link it up! Just visit this blog on Tuesday morning and link up, that's all!

Don't forget to enter the Runner's World Sweepstakes to win a trip for two to Iceland ( and free race registration too)

So that's about it! I say lets just bypass Spring and move right to summer! I'm ready to sun and swim!

                            What are you looking forward to this Spring? 
                            
                           Who's gonna link up with us on Tuesday?

( Sorry about the lack of pictures in today's post)

A Free Trip to Run an International Race: Who's In?

Good Morning Friends!

Thank you all for hanging with us the past couple of days and reading all of our Disney race recaps. I know some of you were probably overwhelmed with Disney seeing that every blogger who ran those races was recapping this week as well. Thank you all for reading and your kind comments! We appreciate you all!

Now on to new business.

We were asked by the kind folks at Runner's World if we would help promote a Sweepstakes they have going on now. It started on March 1st, so you may have already seen it on social media.

It's a trip to Iceland!

That's right! You can run in Iceland!

Runner's World is running (haha literally) a sweepstakes with Iceland Naturally to give away the following:

• Economy round-trip air on Icelandair for 2 people 
• 3 nights accommodation in Reykjavik at Hotel Nordica for 2 with Scandinavian buffet breakfast daily
• 2 72 hour Reykjavik Welcome Cards providing free access to the City of Reykjavik world famous thermal pools, museums and public transportation
• 2 entries to the Reykjavik Marathon
• 2 roundtrip bus transfer from the airport to the hotel 
• 1 case of Icelandic Glacial water for your hotel room
• 2 Experience Comfort entries to the Blue Lagoon Spa
• 2 award winning Snaefell jackets 

                           Tell me this doesn't sound fabulous?

The race is August 23, 2014. The average temperature in Iceland at that time is in the mid 50's (F). What perfect weather for a marathon!

So who's ready to press their luck and enter the Sweepstakes?

You can access the entry form HERE.  Contest ends April 1.

( If you are not a marathon runner quite yet, they offer a variety of other distances)

                       So is running an international race on your bucket list?

Completing the Princess Half Marathon

 

 

How I pushed through.

 

As many of you know, this was the race that I've been waiting for for over a year. Every training run and every race I've done up till this point was in preparation for this half marathon.  So you can imagine my disappointment when I started to get horrendous knee pain 4 weeks before. My mom agreed to run this race with me and we agreed that we would stick together. 

 

We're not as fast as Lacey, so my mom and I started in corral "D" and agreed to meet up with her somewhere at the finish line!

 

Even though my IT band was feeling pretty tight during the 10K, I was able to get through with a run/walk/run and was still happy with our time that we finished in. I was hoping that the same would be true for this race, but I was in pain before we even completed the first mile. I stopped at the first medic tent and slapped on some Bio Freeze with the hopes that would help.  As a matter of fact, I stopped at every medical tent along the course and reapplied the Bio Freeze.  Even though I was in pain, I was able to push through it and I was very happy with our time at the 5K mark.

                                   

We had a glorious time running through Magic Kingdom and I almost forgot about my pain!

 

 

I heard a lot of remarks about how bad the bottle neck would be while running through the castle and that we would probably have to walk so I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the castle and had plenty of room to run right through!

 

 

By the time we left Magic Kingdom we were still making pretty good time at the 10K mark. I thought that we might still actually meet our goal time that I had for us in the back of my mind. 

I was able to continue to push through till mile 8.5 ( right after the Clif Bar station) and then it was all down hill after there.  My pace drastically slowed down and I had to walk all of mile 9.  I felt bad because I knew my mom had it in her to keep going but she held back and walked with me. From mile 10 on, I tried to run a little bit more.  

 

As we did the final loop around Epcot heading to the finish line, I told my mom that we were going to sprint to the finish. I gave it all I had and we finished strong!

 

 

 I think I gave a little too much though because after I received my medal my leg tightened up and I could not move it.  I wanted to hobble over to the medic tent but they made me sit in a wheel chair.  When I sat in the chair, the medical volunteer was trying to talk to me and I couldn't even speak to her because when I sat down it was like I couldn't breathe. They thought I was nauseous and that I was going to throw up and they gave me a bag.  I was not sick, I was not nauseous , and I was not going to puke. I just felt like I had just lost my breath. I felt a bit silly that everyone was over reacting, but it's nice to know that they are all prepared for the worst.  When I got inside the tent, I had my blood pressure taken and was given some advil and then a doctor came over to check out my leg. He wrapped it up pretty tight and sent me over to the massage tent. Which was good because I had planned on getting a message anyway.

 

 

                       The photographer caught us as I was hobbling out of the medic tent!

 

 

I was finally able to make my way over to the Glass Slipper Challenge line and receive my medal for completing both races!

 

 

 

Will I do this race again? My final thoughts and comments on this 13.1.

 

Lots of people commented how hot and humid the race was. In all honesty the heat and humidity did not bother me one bit.  Maybe if I lived in a climate where it is often humid I would mind it more but to me it was just warm and that felt good.

 

As we were running under the underpass by the Contemporary ( Where the guy with the Mickey hands was) I couldn't breath. 

 I almost thought I was going to hyperventilate but then after I ran out from under there I instantly felt better ( I don't know if this had something to do with the humidity or if it was just how the air wasn't circulating). Did anyone else feel like that?

 

I felt the course it's self was an easy one. The inclines did not bother me one bit. However, I did feel the course was very narrow in most spots. Even on the roads that were flat, I felt they were uneven. Because I was running and then slowing down, I tried to stay to the side of the road. But some of them were so uneven that I knew with my knee problem it would be dangerous to continue to run there. I apologize to those people who had to run around me.

 

I was so worried about what I was going to do about water stops. It ended up that I did carry my own hand held bottle and stopped at 2 or 3 water stops to fill it up.

 

I worried about the bathroom stops as well. I am SO proud of myself for not having to stop at all!

 

Running with my mom put me at ease. I know she could have done much better if she was running on her own, but it was nice having her with me. We didn't listen to our I-pods at all. We talked most of the time and had fun stopping for pictures!  I am so proud of her!

 

I actually felt good this whole race, I mean I definitely had the endurance to keep going if only my knee had felt better. The 13.1 miles really did fly by quickly. I had a feeling it would!

 

During my training runs, I was finishing 13.1 in 2:20 at a pretty comfortable pace. So considering this was a Disney race and there would be a crowd and I would be stopping for pictures, I had a goal of finishing in 2:30.

But then I had to deal with this whole knee pain so I knew 2:30 wasn't going to happen.  So now my "B" goal was to finish in less than 3:00.   About mile 4 we got passed by the 2:15 pace group. By mile 10 we were still on target, but then shortly after that we got passed by the 2:30 pacers.  I thought maybe we could still finish in 2:45.  It ended up we finished in 2:40.
 

I will absolutely do this race again and cross my fingers that my knees are in better condition next time because I really believe that I can do much better. I am happy with my time considering my injury and how many stops we made, but I know I have it in me to do a bit better. 

 

Have you ever suffered an injury during a race and had to "Push through" it? Please tell me about it?

Did you run PHM? What did you think of it?

Disney's Enchanted 10K: Where the skirt doesn't matter.

 

 

After taking it easy for the 5k and stopping for pictures, the 10k was just as enjoyable. It started almost an hour earlier so stopping for pictures wasn't as easy since it was still dark out when we started.

 

My favorite thing about the race was running it with my sister! Other than the other Disney family 5k races we've run in the past, this would be our first race running together side by side. My sister was very excited to run this race together since we were going to run in coordinating outfits, me as Belle and her as Sleeping Beauty.

 

 

Unfortunately SOMEONE forgot part of her outfit! Yes, My sister forgot her pink skirt ( that was just like mine but was pink) You may have remembered seeing it HERE. I know she was pretty upset about this since she worked so hard putting these outfits together for us.  Fortunately I ended up having an extra pink running skirt that she was able to use. It wasn't as fluffy and sparkly as the one she had planned on running in, but it worked.  So we were not quite as matching as we had planned.

  The first part of the race was on the highway. The first piece of Disney Magic we encountered was I Elsa from Frozen up above the overpass. As we ran on that portion of the highway it magically started to snow ( and to think we came to Florida to get away from snow)! It was pretty cool though unless you got some of it in your eyes like we did. 

 

There were a few character stops during the first half. I remember seeing The White Rabbit,  A Character I thought was an ant ( I wasn't sure because it was too dark out ), and Toy Soldiers.  Then before we headed into the Epcot area we spotted this motivating sign.

 

 Since it was still dark out when we passed the 5K mark it is really hard to read, but it was a flashing sign that said "Enchanted 10K" and "Almost Finished".

 

Next it was our journey through Epcot, out the international gateway, and on to the boardwalk.

                                   A somewhat blurry picture of Meranda running on the boardwalk.

This was probably our favorite part of the run. Some of our favorite runs have been on boardwalks ( VA Beach and NJ)!  Then we looped around the resort area of the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club and Beach Club. It was great to finally have some crowd support in these areas!

 We entered Epcot back through the International gateway again and through future world.

 

During the race we did try to take some pictures even though it was dark.. It wasn't until we were almost finished that the sun was rising so we stopped and got a pic with Donald Duck.

 

 

 

 Even though this was the same course that was for the 10k over the Dopey weekend, I didn't run that race, so it was new to me. We were familiar with the course because it was a similar course from the 5k the day before. We knew when we were approaching the finish, so that's when we crossed the finish line hand in hand for our first 10k together!

 

And we did it. Our first Disney 10K!

 

 

I think we both agreed that this race is a must do again! We liked the course and the medals are just beautiful! Probably the nicest 10K medal we've ever earned!

 

After receiving our medals we opted for the obligatory Princess pictures!

 

We waited in line for Belle and then when we got up there she left and Ariel came out. honestly, we didn't even know she was Ariel. She didn't look like the Ariel we remembered.  Maybe she was Ariel's understudy! What do you think?

 

 

The handler said Belle would be back out in 25 minutes, so we got back in line again and hoped by the time it was our turn again the characters would have made their switch. It was funny to see other runner's dressed as belle opting to not get pictures with Ariel, but waiting for Belle as well.

 

The race was so perfect running with my sister and just having fun along the way. In the end, it didn't really matter that she didn't have the "right" skirt!

 

Have you ever ran the 10K distance? If so, which one was your favorite?

Have you ever forgotten part of your race outfit?

~L

 

Up Next, Meranda's version of the Half Marathon!

Running Like a Girl and Running WITH a Girl

We had a pretty exciting weekend around here. Remember when Simon and Shuster publishers sent me a copy of Alexandra Heminsly's book "Running Like a Girl"?  Well, That review was published this weekend!

I wrote that review last year when I had no injuries and upon reading what I wrote again yesterday, I realized that I should go back and re-read that book because she had some really good tips on how to deal with running injuries, including IT band syndrome.

Since returning from Disney, I for one have been extremely exhausted. My leg pain seems to be getting worse. I'm pretty sure that my hips are out of alignment again, but before I go back to the chiropractor I'm going to be making an appointment with the physical therapist this week.  I just don't understand why after 4 weeks ( at least) why I am not seeing any progress.

Lacey had just as an exciting weekend. She met up with Christine ( from We Run Disney) and they did 12.75 miles through First Landing State Park and then had a relaxing brunch afterwards. I can't wait to get back to my running routine so I can join them next time!

Hope you all have a great Monday!

What did you do this weekend? Have you read the book "Running Like A Girl"?

Why We Love Disney's Royal Family 5K

 

 

During every race weekend, Run Disney offers a Family 5K race in addition to the other race or races they have. This was the first year that the Royal Family 5K was held on a Friday morning. This is a fun run and even thought there is a clock at the finish line, your finish time is not recorded. When we first started running this race several years ago there weren't even any corrals. I think last year may have been the first year for corral placement.

 

The Royal Family 5K will always be a special race for both of us because it was our first Run Disney race ( and Meranda's first race ever). We ran this race with just our mom this year.

 

Here are just a few reasons why we like this race so much!

 

All ready for Cinderella's Royal Family 5k on Friday morning!

 

1. We love the fact that everyone is encouraged to dress up! Only at a Disney race can you dress up as a princess to run and no one bats an eye!

 

 

2. Even though it is a fun run, Disney still does it up big at the start line and finish line. Expect fireworks at the start, and a big finish at the end!

 

 

 

3. Another favorite thing about the Royal Family 5K is that the course is through Epcot which makes for some great picture opportunities.

 

                            4. And of course the characters along the course are always a favorite!

 

5. It's always exciting getting the medal presented around your neck, even if it is just a "fun" one!  Every one of them represents an accomplishment!

 

 

Do you have a favorite 5K that you've run?  What makes a race special to you?