Disney Princess Half Marathon 2012 - A Race a Month - February

At the end of February, I went to Florida for my annual Princess Half Marathon.  I can not even begin to tell you how much fun I had during this weekend.  It might have been my most favorite visit yet.

I got in Friday night and spend the night at Kathy's apartment.  We woke up early Saturday morning, got her birthday cupcakes, and headed to Disney.  We first went to the Expo to pick up our things.  After, we checked in at our hotel, Port Orleans, and went to Downtown Disney and out to our annual dinner at Il Mulino.  The all star game was going on during the same weekend and we saw some NBA players at the restaurant!  Then, it was to bed around 7 to get up at 3:15 the next day...

The morning of the race started so early, but I was okay with it!  We had the best best time running the race.  We decided to stop at every character we wanted to and not care about our time.  We ran everything in between and felt so good the whole time.  It was truly a blast.  After the race was over, we felt great!!

We spend the rest of the day walking around the parks.  By the end of the day, we had put in over 21 miles!  Whew!  We ate at our annual dinner at The California Grill and slept well.  We stopped at The Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge for a little visit before we went to the airport on Sunday.  I was soo sad to leave but grateful for such a fab weekend.

I can not even begin to post all of the pictures, so here is just a little glimpse...

A Race a Month - December

I have almost ran a race a month, except July, for a year!  Who knows, maybe I will keep it going?!


There were not too many races to choose from for December.  Most were only 5k and in random parts of the city.  The only race that really worked was called the Rudolph Ramble and was an 8k (5 miles).  I was supposed to run it last year but there was a snow storm!  Where is the snow this year anyway?  The race was ran on the lakeshore paths and was super crowded the first mile or so.  Overall, I had a good time though!

We had to take the picture at home because someone waited in the car for me to finish.  I wonder who that could be?

    370   690/1108  SARAH BARNETT               28  88/150    50:16.3 BUFFALO GROVE      IL 

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

A Race a Month - November - Part THREE!

November was truly the month for races.  While I was home for Thanksgiving, my Dad, Margaret, and I ran in the 30th and final annual Turkey Trot.  The course was 5 miles and I ran with my Dad the whole way.  We did it in 47 minutes!  I felt really good and love the place I'm in with my running right now.  Let's just hope the lovely snow that is in the future doesn't ruin that for me...

 My Dad and Margaret

 My Dad and I

The Silly Trophies

Mrs. Barnett : )

A Race a Month - November - Part Two!

I went back to Indy for Veteran's Day weekend to get my hair done.  While there, I wanted to keep up my running momentum and found a small 10k to run.  It was NOTHING like the hot chocolate race and much much smaller.  It got me out for a longer run though, so it was perfect!  I even ended up getting 3rd place in my age group.  This qualified me for my very first racing award!!  However, I had no idea and didn't stay for the results. : (  There will be more though, right?!  I actually ended up going by myself, so did not get good pictures.  Please enjoy what I did get though!

Girls on the Run was there!

 SMALL crowd!

Self Portrait!

Your overall finish place was 118 and your age group finish place 
was 3.  Your time of 1:04:27.6 gave you a 10:24 pace per mile.


Mrs. Barnett : ) 

A Race a Month - November

This past weekend, my friend Lauren came to run my November race with me!  We did the Hot Chocolate 15k and had a total blast.

We started on Friday by going to the expo and having a fun dinner at Cosi.  The expo was pretty crazy and we decided to walk there, which was a little far!  We had fun at Cosi though and ordered s'mores for dessert!

Saturday morning was the race.  It was a little cold to start, but super sunny!  It ended up being one of the best races I have ran.  I felt great the whole way and never stopped to walk a little.  The 9.3 miles went by fast and I was super proud of myself when we finished.

After the race came the fun "chocolate" part.  First, when you ended you were able to scoop up as many Ghirardelli chocolates as you wanted!  Then, you walked over to tents where you could pick up chocolate fondue and hot chocolate.  I have never been the biggest fan of eating at races, but this was delicious!

After the race, we went to my favorite place, Sweet Tomatoes, for lunch.  Then, we saw 50/50 (really good!) and went to Kona Grill for dinner.  Yummy!

Thanks for a fun weekend, Miss Martz!

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

8608  1374/2324   5176/9067  SARAH BARNETT          66368 F 28 F2529 GLENVIEW        IL   31:34 1:03:02 1:34:30 10:09

A Race a Month - October

It feels like it has been awhile since "a race a month" post!  My September race was at the beginning of the month, and the October race was at the end!  I was signed up for a half-marathon that I could not run because of an event.  Therefore, I searched and searched for a longer race.  Unfortunately, I did not have great luck!  I did find a random 9k (about 5.5 miles) that was an inaugural event through Title Nine women's clothing store.  I decided to go for it!  It ended up being a fun race along the lake shore paths.  It was in the Lincoln Park area, so I decided to walk to the zoo afterward.  David had to go play his softball game, so I took the stroll alone.  I had fun though!  Here's to another race down!

Below you will find my time (the pace is obviously super off...more like  9:45 a mile!) and some pictures!

231

Sarah Barnett

Buffalo Grove

337

52:13.85

5:48

Mrs. Barnett : )

A Race a Month - September

I am still going strong on my "race a month" goal!  I already have September's race done!  I came into Indy over Labor Day weekend.  We had a lot of fun planned, but one was running a quick 5k with my friend Lauren.  It was the inaugural event for the Indy Women's Half Marathon.  Lauren and I were shocked when we went to the race to find that we were among the "elite" athletes.  Let's just say, it did not look like these ladies were about to run any type of race!  None the less, we had fun running in this women only event.  Sadly, the only picture I took was with my first grade class take home stuffed animal, Skippyjon Jones.  Check out the medal...definitely the best 5k one I have ever received!

Mrs. Barnett : )

A Race a Month - August

I am happy to say that I was able to run my race in August!  I participated in the "Elvis is Alive 5k".  It was an untimed event and was meant to be a fun run.  Thanks to lovely traffic (which I am currently totally over) we arrived about 5 minutes after the start.  Luckily, as we were walking to the start line, I was able to hop right in the race course!  I have no idea what I actually ran (forgot to turn my watch on!) but think I only missed a little.  All in all, it was tons of fun!  The after party included peanut butter and banana sandwiches, chocolate covered frozen bananas, and Elvis preforming!

Getting into character on the way over...

Me finishing!

Elvis is alive!

After the race, we went to the cutest Italian Street Festival in Little Italy.  A great end to the evening!

Mrs. Barnett : )

A Race a Month - July

July just has not been my month.
I was signed up to do two different races this month.  BOTH did not happen. : (

First, I planned on doing a 10k on July 17th.  I had every intention of running it and even ran 6.2 miles three different times that week to make sure I was ready.  Then, the extreme heat hit.  There were several emails cautioning runners, and in addition I wasn't feeling so hot the day before.  I decided to forget about it because I found a 5k I could run in Des Plaines the next weekend.

I woke up for the 5k ready for the race and it was raining.  We had terrible storms the night before, but I assumed the race would still happen.  Well, I was wrong.  As we were driving to the race, we saw a lot of terrible flooding.  When we got to the race, we realized the race was cancelled because of this.

I have decided that it is just not in the cards for me to run a race in July.  I can't say I didn't try though!

This picture does not give the flooding justice...

What do you do when you are up early and have nothing to do?  Get McDonald's oatmeal!

Mrs. Barnett : )

A Race a Month - June

My "race a month" goal is still going strong!  For June, I ran an 8k in my hometown of Carmel, IN.  It was the inaugural race for Carmel and included a marathon, half-marathon, 8k, and 1 mile walk.  I ran the race with my Dad, Margaret, and my friend Lauren.  It ended up being fine racing weather...I even felt like I could have kept going and finished the half instead of just the 8k.  All in all, it was fun!

One exciting thing did come out of the race.  After we finished, Lauren and I watched the marathoners come across the finish line.  It reminded/confirmed that someday I want to accomplish that goal.  I have been told that a marathon is 4x harder than a half, but I still think I want to complete one!  (Probably ONLY one!)  Lauren and I decided that we needed to complete it in Disney World and have planned on running the Disney Marathon in January 2013.  It is a long way away but perfect timing for a lot of reasons.  Plus, it will take that long to mentally prepare myself for it!

Mrs. Barnett : ) 

A Race a Month - May

I continued my quest to run a race a month on May 7!  I ran the "Cinco de Miler" which was obviously a 5 mile race.  The best part was, I had a friend to run it with!  A group of my friends came up the day before and we went to a Cubs game.  We had a blast!  It is always fun having friends visit.  I also did better on the race compared to my last 5 mile one, which was exciting!

 Jenny and Lauren!  We sat together, and the rest of the group sat down in the "good" seats!

 You know I had to have an outfit, too bad we didn't get better pictures!

2011 Cinco de Miler

2011 Cinco de Miler
5 Mile Run

757

5 Mile Run

Sarah Barnett

FEMALE / 28

Small Long Sleeve Tech Shirt

Your Time:

53 min 42 sec

Mrs. Barnett : )