Ultras, Challenges, and Halfs, Oh My!!! plus a giveaway winner

Whew, it's been a busy morning at the Running Happily Ever After house. 

Registration for two February events opened just after midnight last night and so we jumped on those right away.

First up:

We spent Valentine's Day weekend this year doing a Spartan Race; but 2015 will be something far more insane.

DisneyGroom pulled the trigger and registered for his first official Ultra:  the Destin 50.

They have the following race options: 50K (100 runner limit), 50M (100 runner limit), 100M (20 runner limit), Team Relay (25 team limit), and a 24 hour race (20 runner limit).

As you can see, the field is capped very small on these events, so they are filling up quick.

He is really excited about this one.  And I just think he has officially crossed over into 'crazy land'.  As if the actual 50K distance... 31.1 miles was not enough, the course has multiple water crossings (knee high or greater) and is run almost entirely on the beach.  Running on sand is brutal!  So, I am happy for him, but also shaking my head at the madness of the whole thing.

And NO, I have no plans to do the event, any distance beyond a half any time soon. But I will happily be Support Crew to my DG.

Next up:

The following weekend is the Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa.  On Feb 21-22, 2015: there are 4 races over 2 days, with options for walkers, teams, and Challenges. 

I am registered for the Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus Challenge - that is a 15K on Saturday and an 8K on Sunday.

DisneyGroom is registered for the Michelob Ultra Challenge - back to back 15K and 5K on Saturday, back to back 8K and 1/2 Marathon on Sunday.  Yep another 30+ miles on back to back weekends. He is Cray-Cray, that man of mine.  And this week, he will set to work tweaking his Dopey Challenge training plan to include more time on beach/sand runs and longer distances.

Sadly, the Gasparilla events are the same weekend as the runDisney Princess Half Marathon, so while we will be at Walt Disney World Marathon weekend in January, we won't be back the following month.  We are still looking at ToT and Wine & Dine though, and perhaps the DisneyLand Half.

This last race I'm going to mention isn't next February, but this winter.  Yes, it really is #SignUpFrenzy today.

We have some wedding related travel again this winter, during peak race season here in Florida.  In fall and winter of 2013, we had to forgo a few events due to several weddings of friends, and even eat the cost of a race we had both already registered to run.

This time however, DisneyGroom was determined.  And with some digging, he found this:

The Holiday Half Marathon in Brooklyn is scheduled on the morning of his cousin's wedding.  DG confirmed that the ceremony and reception will be in the evening, and so we will get up early and  run on Dec. 13th, 2014 in the chilly temps of New York.  Then we must manage to get back and get cleaned up for an evening wedding.  I have a feeling we will be snoring facedown in wedding cake after 9pm. But I was the one that created this running/racing monster, so only myself to blame.  #NoSleepTilBrooklyn will be the theme of that weekend, I am sure.  Not to mention freeze our butts off... 

And yes - there will be costumes!  So there is that to plan: pirates and Christmas themes - so many possibilities.  

Last, but not least....

  

We have a winner in our Sport Kilt giveaway!  Thanks to all who entered.  Not surprising, but we had an uptick in entries from guys.  And the winner is:

 Nathan MacDonald is a blogger over at http://nathanalbert.wordpress.com/, and is known as The Fotographing Fat Kid.  This runner has an amazing weight loss story of his own, and we hope he enjoys his Sport Kilt at many upcoming races.  You can find his blog by clicking the blog button below.

If you didn't win, you can still get your own SportKilt, and we have a 10% off code for our readers:   RunHappy  is valid through June 30, 2014.

And we will get another cool giveaway posted up this week - so thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Run Happy,

DisneyBride

Have you run, or would you consider an ultra?

Are you running any of the Gasparilla events?

If you are in the NY area, let us know if you plan to run this Holiday Half.  Would be great to meet some other runners before the race.