tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81989670033264050072023-11-16T05:07:45.647-08:00Triple O: The Objects Of my ObsessionsWhatever I'm into at the moment; thats what I'll post about. Its kind of like taking a trip into my brain!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-38900397208691528502014-10-12T06:02:00.001-07:002014-10-12T06:07:45.687-07:00Do You Wanna Volunteer (for a RunDisney race)?This past weekend was the 3rd annual Tower of Terror 10 Miler at the Walt Disney World Resort. Usually, when a race is taking place, Im running it, but I decided to sit this one out because Tower isn't my favorite race due to the pretty boring course (from DHS out to ESPN Wide World of Sports and back) and the gravel trail portion of the race. Also, the first two years of the race have been pretty hot and humid. Luckily, this year this wasn't a factor. With temps in the 70s and low humidity it was an amazing night for a run! I was ALMOST jealous and wanted to be out there with my team.
But just because I wasn't running doesn't mean I was sitting on my butt doing nothing. This year I decided to experience the other side of a RunDisney event and volunteer. Being a night race, we decided for our first time through we wanted an "early shift". The actual start time of the race is 10 PM so that means volunteer shifts could go as late as 4:30 AM (or even start around 10 or 11 PM). We were lucky enough to be able to get a 6 to 11 PM shift working gear check pre-race. I was excited because I thought that meant I would get to see my teammates, even if it was for just a quick good luck hug. Unfortunately, as the race got closer I found out we were assigned to "gear check - finish line". Which meant we (me, my Mom and my Dad) would be on the other end at the finish line before the race started.
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I was a little bummed that I didn't get get see my friends but it turned out to be a pretty cool job. But before I get into race night, I think I better start from "the beginning".
A few weeks before the race we each received our volunteer confirmation letters in the mail, confirming our volunteer shift and position as well as a name tag if we were working the expo or 5k.
Just like the runners, race volunteers have to visit the expo to pick up their credentials (or an property office the week before expo). Because we weren't arriving until Saturday, we chose to go to expo to pick up our stuff. When we arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, we were directed to the HP Fieldhouse to a room set up with several tables. Unfortunately our experience started with a bit of craziness as the first gentlemen we encountered thought we were there to volunteer for the expo and sent us to the wrong table. The poor lady at the table tried to scan the card I had received in the mail over and over again to bring up my shift with no luck, until she looked at my paperwork and realized that I was working the race not the expo. So we were sent BACK to the other table where we got were handed an envelope with our final race instructions, lanyard and name tag. We weren't given our volunteer t-shirts there which I was a little bummed about because i was pretty curious to see what they looked like but looking back now I understand why they do that way. All volunteers are required to wear the provided shirt or jacket to their shift so to assure this, they just give them out before the shift starts.<br />
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A few hours later around 5:30 we followed our directions and headed over to the Rapunzel and Mulan lots at Magic Kingdom to check in for our shift. Once we were checked in we were given our tshirts (bright yellow with the race logo) a blinky blue safety light and glow sticks. In addition, each volunteer is provided snacks - meaning we were given a gallon size Ziploc bag and told that we could choose 5 items from a table filled with Oreos, Chex Mix, Goldfish, trail mix and chips. Among the 3 of us that's 15 snacks (and 3 bottles of water)! Very generous!
We then headed out to the parking lot to wait for our bus - which our name tags told us to board bus #4.<br />
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There was a bit of confusion among the team leaders with the busses but after about 40 minutes our bus finally arrived and we were finally on our way. Before the bus left, our team leader Bob introduced himself and took a roll call and then we headed for Hollywood Studios. On the way there the bus driver put Frozen on the DVD player, but since it was only about a 20 minute ride we only got to when Anna wakes up on coronation day...just enough time to get "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman" stuck in my head.<br />
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Finally we arrived in the parking lot to Disney's Hollywood Studios - in the distance I could see the lights and hear the music of the gathering area of the starting area. The weather that night was AMAZING - mid 70s and REALLY low humidity - the nicest it had been in MONTHS! I was so jealous! I wanted to run - but I had a job to do!
Our group headed across the lot and backstage or should I say "behind the scenes" to our set up area on the Indiana Jones Stunt Show stage. The showing having been there since about 1989 I had seen it a few times but never been a part of the show so I had never been on the stage, until that day. I had a great time getting a close up look at all the details (did you know the boulder that nearly tramples Indy in the opening scene is more of a big rubber ball?), taking pictures and having my pictures taken.<br />
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After a bit, the tables arrived and our team lead Bob instructed us how to set them up in groups of two columns, three tables long each. Our next job was tape papers with numbers on them to the edges. At first I was confused because every few tables had the same numbers - then I figured out that each few set of tables was for a different part of the alphabet. For example, the first 3 tables were for last names A-B. The next 3 for letters C-E so the bib numbers started over each time. Confusing I know.<br />
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For the last section, they brought in some large rolling medal racks that some of us were assigned to hang S hooks on to. This was something RunDisney was trying out, but I don't see how it would work well with the strings and I would think the numbers would be hard to see.<br />
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Soon after, the first of the bags showed up, being transported in the carts the resorts sued for laundry. We wasted no tim e positioning the carts near their respective tables and starting to unload. At first we were told to not worry about getting the bags in specific order, just get them on the right tables.<br />
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Between trucks we had a little bit of time so most of the bags got organized in some sort of order anyway. I think with every new load of bags we learned something. For example, the first load, a couple of people were in charge of unloading the bags from the cart and putting them on the table. By the second load we found that didn't work too well because the new bags were getting mixed in with the sorted bags. Later, we learned to if possible, try to grab a bunch of bags that belong in the same area. For example, at one point I grabbed like 6683, 749 and 5 so I had to keep going around and around the tables. We also learned pretty quickly to actually look at the numbers - it was pretty easy when you were moving that fast to mix up 1023 and 10023! As the race got closer, more and more bags showed up (probably about 6 or 7 loads) and the crew continued to set up around us (barriers and signs to help the runners find their letters to get their bags). Some sections were so full that we had to make use of the space on the floor to store the bags.<br />
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While we worked there was some area appropriate music playing....except Once Upon A Dream from the new Maleficient movie...not sure how that fits into the Indiana Jones area. Problem was it was on a loop of about 5 songs which got REALLY old after a while. I kind of wish they had some better, more fun music playing for us while we worked!
Throughout the evening we did get to see some pretty interesting stuff. Some bags had HUGE backpacks shoved into them (really? you want to carry that around DHS during the party all night?) and another bag had just a single package of ClifBlox (seriously? You wasted the time standing in line, now this person will have to come back to pickup for THAT...i would have just put them in their pocket). One bag had a full sized trophy in it - guess they wanted some cool pics at the after party? While others weren't very smart with their valuables we found a couple of iPhones in the bags and one bag with $35 smashed up along the side so it was clearly visible. Amazingly, one of the first bags I put my hands on had a WDWRadio Running Team sweatshirt in it! What are the odds that I would be the one to grab that bag? Through the wonders of Facebook I figured out that bag belonged to my friend and teammate Scott...but he didn't have any good snacks in there. Boo.
Before we knew it, we had unloaded the last truck, the next shift of volunteers had arrived and we were done - and IMO the bags looked pretty good and ready for pickup!<br />
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Team Leader Bob gathered us all on stage to thank us for a great job and to take a group pic before we headed back to the buses.<br />
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The buses took us back to the volunteer tent at the Magic Kingdom lot where we had started. When we had returned all the tables that had been used for check in and been broken down except for one where we were asked to line up for check out. Upon checking out, we handed over a card that we had been given in our credentials packet and in return received a 1 Day Disney Theme Park ticket! (that only happens if you work the actual race - volunteers who work the expo, Kid's Races or 5ks have to earn 16 hours before they earn their ticket!) Considering the work we did, that was an awesome deal! Our shift was 5 hours but between the bus rides and the waiting around I'd say we actually worked maybe 2.5 or 3 hours - and we didn't have to deal with any runners. Good deal!
The next day my back was a little sore but I would definitely do it again. Unfortunately there is no Tower of Terror 10 Miler next year but I don't think this is my last runDisney volunteer experience!
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-90972189657478762562014-09-06T19:45:00.000-07:002014-09-06T19:45:12.426-07:00I AM NEVER GOING BACK EVER!!!!Remember that scene in the movie Tangled where Rapunzel finally leaves the tower and her feelings are a conflicted mix of "what have I done?" and "This is SOOOO AMAZING!!!!" ??? Yeah that pretty much sums up my life lately. <br />
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Oh, yeah did I mention I got a job? Only took about 6 months but I GOT A JOB! No its not in teaching and its actually not something I ever thought I'd be doing - its a receptionist position? Thats funny to me because one of my biggest fears is talking on the phone. But, I didn't have a choice. Nobody else seemed to "want" me and I needed a job so I closed my eyes and took a huge leap of faith. The first couple of days were REALLY scary - everything as being thrown at me, I felt like I was never going to pick anything up and I was still terrified of the phones. Luckily, my supervisor caught onto this and slowed everything way down for me. Now, I know I'm not dumb its just that this is a whole different world for me and its A LOT to learn. I'm not just answering the phone - Im mailing packages, updating credit cards, running credit cards, helping to make travel reservations, uploading files, sending letters....etc. The second week I started feeling more comfortable and I'm starting to finding myself doing things probably a month ago I would have been scared to death of. I guess the song is right - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Sometimes when I hear people talk I do feel a little bit out of my league, but my new co-workers are all really nice and have been super supportive.<br />
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I'm finally starting to get over that feeling every morning of "OMG what am I doing?" I've realized part of it is as a teacher I woke up every morning and I knew EXACTLY what I was doing at pretty much every minute of the day. I had my folder of all my plans and copies all prepared. Not that I don't know whats coming each day but I'm not armed big heavy bag full of stuff.<br />
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Speaking of - lets talk about the awesome discoveries I'm making. First of all, I don't have to carry that big heavy bag of stuff every morning. I don't have those mornings anymore where I'm taking care of last minute details anymore either. I can get up, feed Bailey, relax a little bit before I have to get going (I also have a 20 minute drive as opposed to a 40-45 minute drive! WOOHOO!). And do you know WHY I don't have that big heavy bag anymore? Because I don't spend all my home time working and planning. It's not that I wasn't prepared or unorganized as a teacher, it was just the kind of teacher I was. Always worrying about finding that perfect activities and then having to MAKE most of those activities took a lot of time. Last year, one weekend I went to Disney for an event and had to go home early because I had to work and get ready for the next week. Now, I walk out that door and I'm free until 8:30 the next morning! Also, when I was a teacher even if I was supposed to leave at 5, I was never out of there on time. I was always stuck waiting for someone to relieve me or talking to a parent or finishing up something. Now, my office is a ghost town at 5:05 - 5:03 on Fridays LOL!<br />
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It's so nice to feel "normal" again. Its been a long time - since moving to Florida I've either been pretty unhappy with my job or frustrated in a job search or scared of not being able to find a job and freaking out about the future. <br />
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While I loved teaching while I did it and really do believe i was put in the lives of my student's for a reason right now Im not feeling like I want to go back to teaching - its fun to feel free and not have to worry about lesson planning or 20 little bodies (and their parents). So right now, Im feeling like Rapunzel when she's running down the hill yelling "I am never going back ever!"<br />
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And with that...I'm going to bed! Night night world! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-30839216524279744482014-08-04T17:23:00.001-07:002014-08-04T17:23:41.975-07:00The Bright Side of LifeGrowing up in Chicago, for as long as I can remember I grew up listening to the radio station WGN 720 AM. One of the segments that one of their anchors, John Williams did was called The Bright Side of Life. During this segment, listeners would call in with things that currently made them happy or good things that were happening to them. That's where the title of this post comes from (and now I have the cheesy song he would play - Monty Python I believe? - stuck in my head!)<br />
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The last 3 years have been quite the emotional roller coaster leaving me a little messed up emotionally. Not depression but a little down, confused, and frustrated.<br />
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Have you ever had those times when someone says something to you or you read something and it hits you like a ton of bricks (or to quote one of my favorite movies, "Hook" - "Like lightning struck my brain!")? Every once in a while that happens to me! I'll just be scrolling along Instagram or Facebook and someone posts a quote that I feel like was put there just for me! <br />
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For example, right after Christmas I was trying to decide if I really wanted to stay at the child care center. I wasn't very happy but it was a JOB and I could just try to make the best of it until the end of the school year. Then, one day I went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant and this showed up in my fortune cookie.<br />
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That was it - I totally agree! I wasn't happy, I felt like I was completely under appreciated and I wasn't going to grow there and six more months would be TORTURE so I handed in my two weeks notice. </div>
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About a year or so ago I was having a really bad week and felt really small and scared and then my friend sent me this:<br />
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Ive loved it ever since and it made me feel SO much better! </div>
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Sometimes its a song. Earlier this year I was out running and it was one of those perfect days but I was a little down. That day there were no jobs I was qualified for and I hadn't heard back on any of the applications I had. That day I had loaded some new songs from this past season of Glee onto my iPod and the song "Be Okay" by the band Oh Honey came on. </div>
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And it literally stopped me in my tracks: This job hunt sucks but I am SO lucky to live in a beautiful place (where I don't have to shovel snow), I have a wonderful, supportive family and thanks to them a roof over my head, food in my belly and I'm not broke. Like the song says. "Can't complain about much these days. " I know I'll be okay - I just have to be patient.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIXeuvnCsGz6Eb4kTIjmHoRekbz67o3C0204OXYAXZmVbkf9rffebkmFf2zm_rOJ0wsp3ribXv0hMS6DckOtK26lQ8R36rOCHkg2lQmE4bs4W9H0Ei49yUvqkXZON2gHY9M6k7vF9y9s/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIXeuvnCsGz6Eb4kTIjmHoRekbz67o3C0204OXYAXZmVbkf9rffebkmFf2zm_rOJ0wsp3ribXv0hMS6DckOtK26lQ8R36rOCHkg2lQmE4bs4W9H0Ei49yUvqkXZON2gHY9M6k7vF9y9s/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Some of these quotes I've found remind me of important lessons I seem to forget. I have this HORRIBLE habit of worrying about what others think of me or comparing myself to others - so when I saw this I printed it out to remind myself.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz3-glFVCf3jV7STfvNT1SMPnCxdU3n5ZjeXQwizDqYmMBHcEpPoQiiTonFDgLvLfnZQv1JTquGoO7-qI6aPokkMHvckstBaLTQz4Rt1NSEhVY6Y2mK89y7pcIjhwwhFIV6tHj6nYXG3c/s1600/1896769_10153923349895512_1981470034_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz3-glFVCf3jV7STfvNT1SMPnCxdU3n5ZjeXQwizDqYmMBHcEpPoQiiTonFDgLvLfnZQv1JTquGoO7-qI6aPokkMHvckstBaLTQz4Rt1NSEhVY6Y2mK89y7pcIjhwwhFIV6tHj6nYXG3c/s1600/1896769_10153923349895512_1981470034_n.jpg" height="200" width="195" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJow3rGIPsx30r-nv0lZm236q57WZJjS1ru2togggZsMAocC00_94gAMb8EsMoEUBz2v4hkJ1fyHIZTiEQ7qoKreSbVc-SasGDuiqG7wFXP7LkzSTIGR4Ag_SDxhFCcIHxRt-YGqg-7w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-04+at+8.08.07+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJow3rGIPsx30r-nv0lZm236q57WZJjS1ru2togggZsMAocC00_94gAMb8EsMoEUBz2v4hkJ1fyHIZTiEQ7qoKreSbVc-SasGDuiqG7wFXP7LkzSTIGR4Ag_SDxhFCcIHxRt-YGqg-7w/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-04+at+8.08.07+PM.png" height="200" width="197" /></a></div>
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The last few weeks I've been taking the first steps on what I hopefully will be an exciting new journey into a new career. Of course I'm scared to death because all I've ever done is teach but then the other day my friend, Lou Mongello posted this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUVE9m_iKei1A_St_kMmPiGKSPwlr2IMORzkavw7Q3kOqhUnpaW0B8x674-3gITDz9vUmqFrRhtaCNbXTQqn3OlCJLUz2i3H9k63KSjL4feEbDiVb5hyphenhyphenpXijC3cMhy52UO4wz1WF1eYo/s1600/10527403_10154435138020713_7398085900592809913_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUVE9m_iKei1A_St_kMmPiGKSPwlr2IMORzkavw7Q3kOqhUnpaW0B8x674-3gITDz9vUmqFrRhtaCNbXTQqn3OlCJLUz2i3H9k63KSjL4feEbDiVb5hyphenhyphenpXijC3cMhy52UO4wz1WF1eYo/s1600/10527403_10154435138020713_7398085900592809913_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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"Like lightning struck my brain!" LOL! I just have to remember I'm not going to be an expert on day 1 and they don't expect me to be. And then I saw something that goes WAY back to a book that I loved when I was about 10. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2JSxKcfWTVFaSLXgUKOadfaGPRbCnZ0dmyMcBozSe5hTqdNP-1JFLXasz6yCGQhNTyQeMEoj35tWB5embkYNHEQ2vxVgPXpcjzvzMmUeVkQNdX4wEkUSUwq-S_4wW3JdK4yMlZgPdpw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-04+at+8.19.28+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2JSxKcfWTVFaSLXgUKOadfaGPRbCnZ0dmyMcBozSe5hTqdNP-1JFLXasz6yCGQhNTyQeMEoj35tWB5embkYNHEQ2vxVgPXpcjzvzMmUeVkQNdX4wEkUSUwq-S_4wW3JdK4yMlZgPdpw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-04+at+8.19.28+PM.png" /></a></div>
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(well the actual quote was "With no mistakes in it...yet" but were trying to stay positive here!)</div>
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I've also learned that celebrities know what they're talking about every once in a while. </div>
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For example: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9sD2j1xLy48H7HcbueAFP0CImaiyMMADTQcQWGd-x0wSu3BirOEj7b78Jx3aS34qZdZUQmGGlpu5Zv9zNnQdiCaiH77-7SAT89nwWH3z9b1a4YYx4ceGq0lYEUAcB9bkwrpb9nvhB-8/s1600/1888500_10153923349780512_950623224_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ9sD2j1xLy48H7HcbueAFP0CImaiyMMADTQcQWGd-x0wSu3BirOEj7b78Jx3aS34qZdZUQmGGlpu5Zv9zNnQdiCaiH77-7SAT89nwWH3z9b1a4YYx4ceGq0lYEUAcB9bkwrpb9nvhB-8/s1600/1888500_10153923349780512_950623224_n.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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and </div>
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(yes I know this was in the movie Nanny McPhee too)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s1GSo-vt1k9fjq_QMciz5sSad5CpYdz-Ox1I0ycy-Ek-GBN7DCeXW-McwR4Z-PFVwwcX2PcGsQz49oy63tCKSy3mXFaZajMjh7wktnuD4acHR5BfZdoa5ooLGhyDOF394h70utWtgK4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-04+at+8.16.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s1GSo-vt1k9fjq_QMciz5sSad5CpYdz-Ox1I0ycy-Ek-GBN7DCeXW-McwR4Z-PFVwwcX2PcGsQz49oy63tCKSy3mXFaZajMjh7wktnuD4acHR5BfZdoa5ooLGhyDOF394h70utWtgK4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-04+at+8.16.45+PM.png" /></a></div>
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And Audrey Hepburn - more than once I've been inspired by her quotes. Seriously, did she have someone writing this stuff for her? LOL</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1AcutLdHT38mTHv0qkHY73W_dC7ysV8XRBFPforRv3zzpRcHm7CI13QKdgo_zVH6m1yCjji2xOwDA6SJbc8XFyK1hGMgWV3DfZq2hRetZosvnJthvRZry1JDfvs_FTfP5Sy-r_-XNzA/s1600/10525974_10154362020955512_4099411687230663597_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1AcutLdHT38mTHv0qkHY73W_dC7ysV8XRBFPforRv3zzpRcHm7CI13QKdgo_zVH6m1yCjji2xOwDA6SJbc8XFyK1hGMgWV3DfZq2hRetZosvnJthvRZry1JDfvs_FTfP5Sy-r_-XNzA/s1600/10525974_10154362020955512_4099411687230663597_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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That Walt Disney guy knew what he was talking about too! </div>
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So as I (hopefully) embark on this new journey - everybody keep your fingers crossed!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-71262923605529482132014-07-12T13:23:00.000-07:002014-07-12T15:09:45.876-07:00"To all who come to this happy place..."If you ask me which one is my favorite Disney Vacation Club resort my quick and easy answer would be Boardwalk. How can you not? The lobby itself is so beautiful, the rooms are beautiful, and the view - being able to not only to look out over the hustle and bustle over the Boardwalk but being able to WALK to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. This past weekend might have made that answer a little bit more difficult.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxvzK3gtNg07PQMtgCRol2eO8qPxfcL_Ju1l4JNx6AFEF-4dYEWmExM6WOBSFm3nDd_llQe9F5zYjNu3W9osI2MsKNAKYKAGkt2a7YVoYqjbUesPihqpYUWbdhileBwYQ6wpAEzk_3O0/s1600/38531_10150227148045512_6441033_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxvzK3gtNg07PQMtgCRol2eO8qPxfcL_Ju1l4JNx6AFEF-4dYEWmExM6WOBSFm3nDd_llQe9F5zYjNu3W9osI2MsKNAKYKAGkt2a7YVoYqjbUesPihqpYUWbdhileBwYQ6wpAEzk_3O0/s1600/38531_10150227148045512_6441033_n.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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A year ago, we decided that we wanted to spend the 4th of July at Bay Lake Tower to watch the fireworks. Because we "own" points at BLT we can book 11 months out from our check in date which we did as soon as it became available - studio with a theme park view for July 3rd and 4th 2014! <br />
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Okay back to the present - the weekend had finally arrived...and did not disappoint! We COULD have gone up to Top of the World to watch the fireworks but we enjoyed the private view from our room so much we just stayed there both nights. When we went home on Saturday I was sad to leave and realized how much I loved this place. It seemed like every time I turned around, I found a new reason to love Bay Lake Tower. Here's just a few of them:<br />
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1) You can walk (or run) to the <b>Magic</b> <b>Kingdom</b>! Due to our seasonal passes being on summer black out we weren't able to able to go into the parks, but how cool is it that we can avoid the craziness of the busses in the morning and just walk??? Or stay in the park until some ungodly hour with Extra Magic Hours and just walk home (or take a nap in the middle of the day)? And as a runner, its one of my favorite places to run on property. You have to get up early to avoid the crowds but running down the pathway towards Magic Kingdom, past the boat dock towards Grand Floridian to where the path ends is such a peaceful run.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQvB-g-vkEl8HHSBJA6xcDTF5mZ67rFnxlUMNMOJiWqFBOd7iqyfaFTGxpZ5ZRcj63nNIFbPjUStQ5rfYaNId6VI_mPP-LmS2FzLNAEKNe_WCWtro8En1gjrUpcLyGqx8EVzEBlsZ_rM/s1600/10530798_10154373993480512_7489198186432342241_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQvB-g-vkEl8HHSBJA6xcDTF5mZ67rFnxlUMNMOJiWqFBOd7iqyfaFTGxpZ5ZRcj63nNIFbPjUStQ5rfYaNId6VI_mPP-LmS2FzLNAEKNe_WCWtro8En1gjrUpcLyGqx8EVzEBlsZ_rM/s1600/10530798_10154373993480512_7489198186432342241_n.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The run from the end of the sidewalk in front of Bay Lake Tower, in front of Contemporary, across the street (be careful!), past the Magic Kingdom entrance (follow the bricks), to the end of "the path to nowhere" is not quite 1 mile - and if you time it right you can stop to catch the "Welcome show"!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWhm399rb2CPg4BhhjRRO-g9YoZyKw7yMQRhklpxXwS1FB7I88PWGM9YGxSekJIsiYlFFIZrtoBF6BqtZqA6_FbgHg58kRlle9oneIZ7hljJHvKL4Uipdd_znhf5U0IhH4jCoiV9nqt0/s1600/10502333_10154373994005512_1523026438336703529_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWhm399rb2CPg4BhhjRRO-g9YoZyKw7yMQRhklpxXwS1FB7I88PWGM9YGxSekJIsiYlFFIZrtoBF6BqtZqA6_FbgHg58kRlle9oneIZ7hljJHvKL4Uipdd_znhf5U0IhH4jCoiV9nqt0/s1600/10502333_10154373994005512_1523026438336703529_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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There is also a nice jogging trail that goes around the back of the building and around the Contemporary property.<br />
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2) <b>"Magical Touches". </b>Bay Lake Tower always gives me that "I'm on vacation!" classic Disney feeling. How can it not with Disney touches everywhere. Castle murals in the entry way, Disney art work on every floor and in every room and oh yeah - you can see the castle.<br />
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The feel of BLT is very uh..."contemporary" which makes sense since it is the sister resort of the Contemporary resort next door. I like to call it "IKEA style" which is where Im sure a majority of the furniture came from. But I like the light walls with dark furniture with accents of light greens, light blues, yellows and oranges.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbVAffLMFAcHJ1pilKSbeqWL4M1d9qsxIC6rCWs76y0aoizQHWfbYxzJzQ-BlrEafys41i18_xBy41qRtHBgrkViOM0gln3IK-g_gNcdNrTRDTR_esgqgnxZqZbgPagMbKHm2QPoZNnM/s1600/47a0d907b3127cce985485f5e89700000045100BZOWrhs0bMW.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbVAffLMFAcHJ1pilKSbeqWL4M1d9qsxIC6rCWs76y0aoizQHWfbYxzJzQ-BlrEafys41i18_xBy41qRtHBgrkViOM0gln3IK-g_gNcdNrTRDTR_esgqgnxZqZbgPagMbKHm2QPoZNnM/s1600/47a0d907b3127cce985485f5e89700000045100BZOWrhs0bMW.jpeg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lobby</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Studio</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 Bedroom (is anyone else drooling over the artwork?)</td></tr>
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Even if you don't have a theme park view room you can get some pretty spectacular views of the Magic Kingdom from the hallways.<br />
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There's even a giant "hidden" Mickey on the water slide!<br />
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3) Speaking of water slide. I need to talk about the <b>pool</b>! It doesn't get very crowded because ONLY Bay Lake Tower guests can use it (you have to have a key to get in the gate). The Cove Bar is a great place to grab a light snack or maybe a nice cool drink (or a sushi snack like we did :D).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The splash pad. The pool is behind those chairs</td></tr>
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In addition, there's a hot tub which has a beautiful view over looking Bay Lake - pretty awesome in the mornings you can watch the ferry boats come out of their docking to start a new day. <br />
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And an added perk - were allowed to use the pool next door at the Contemporary too!<br />
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4) <b>Fireworks.</b> The whole reason we booked our stay at Bay Lake Tower. I COULD go watch the fireworks inside Magic Kingdom with several thousand of my closet friends or watch from the comfort of my own balcony.....yeah I choose B too. :D<br />
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Watching the fireworks from your room gives a pretty interesting perspective of the fireworks as you can see they are shot off quite aways behind Space Mountain and not directly behind the castle. The fireworks for the 4th also had fireworks going off from the Seven Seas Lagoon near the Grand Floridian to achieve a 360 degree effect inside the park.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture gives you an idea of how far behind Space Mountain the fireworks are shot off</td></tr>
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Disney is also nice enough to pipe in the music for the nightly fireworks on one of the TV stations. And if you don't have a theme park view room (or just feel like a little something extra) you could always go up to....<br />
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5) <b>The Top of the World Lounge.</b> Bay Lake Tower is the only DVC resort with a "private lounge" for its guests. For most of the year, the current policy is any guests staying on points at ANY DVC resort can come visit Top of the World but the weekend we were there and a few other major holiday weekends (especially New Years and 4th of July) its open only to guests staying at Bay Lake Tower. <br />
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Access to the lounge is a bit tedious as you have to go down to the first floor to check in with a cast member who takes you up in a special elevator but once you're up there its all worth it. <br />
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6) And last but not least, what kind of WDW fan would I be if I didn't mention <b>food</b>? The amount of restaurants accessible from Bay Lake Tower on foot or a quick monorail or boat ride is awesome! And that doesn't include restaurants inside the Magic Kingdom! On this trip we took the elevator down to the 5th floor to the skyway bridge and walked over to the Contemporary for a lunch at Contempo Cafe and a dinner at The Wave. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bridge between the two buildings takes you right across to the 5th level of the Contemporary where Chef Mickey's, Contempo Cafe and the shops are located. Its just a quick walk up to the monorail station!</td></tr>
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On our last morning we walked over to the Contemporary and took the monorail over to the Polynesian for breakfast at Kona. That's just the start of the list of access without getting in a car or on a bus!<br />
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<u><b>Polynesian </b></u> <b><u> Contemporary </u> </b> <b> <u>Wilderness Lodge </u> </b> </div>
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Kona Cafe Contempo Cafe Artist's Point </div>
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'Ohana Chef Mickey's Territory Lounge </div>
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Captain Cook's The Wave Roaring Forks Snacks </div>
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Tambu Lounge Outer Rim Lounge Whispering Canyon </div>
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Spirit of Aloha Show Hoop-De-Doo </div>
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Trail's End </div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;"> Grand Floridian </u> <b> </b></div>
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Grand Floridian Cafe </div>
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Citricos </div>
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1900 Park Fare </div>
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Garden View Tea Room <br />
Victoria and Albert's</div>
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Narcoossee's<br />
Gasparilla Grill<br />
Mizner's Lounge <br />
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And if you do need to get to another resort and don't have a car or just don't want to drive, walk the easy 1/2 mile to Magic Kingdom and take a bus!<br />
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Okay, that made me hungry....I'll stop there - I think you get how awesome Bay Lake Tower is. ;)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-24969242060884458142014-06-16T08:10:00.002-07:002014-06-16T08:10:48.869-07:00#LetTheWookieWin - My thoughtsFirst of all, this is going to be one of those posts where I've got some thoughts in my head and I just need to get them out. So read if you want, don't read it if you don't.<br />
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One of my favorite things about the Disney community is how we all inspire each other. Sometimes we inspire each other to run crazy amounts of miles. Some of us inspire each other to stay up for 24 hours in the Magic Kingdom... you get the point. We even inspire each other to do "normal things" too. In fact, this post was kind of born out of that inspiration.<br />
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One of my favorite podcasts to listen to while I run is the Mickey Miles Podcast hosted by my friends Mike Scopa and Michelle Scribner-MacLean. On episode #179 of the Mickey Miles Podcast Mike and Michelle invited two more of my friends, Ashley Kennedy Turner and Sam Turner hosts of WDW Happy Place to talk about the recently announced Star Wars Race Weekend. Ashley mentions that she and Sam were inspired by the guys over at WDWToday to start their own podcast. I guess you can say, in turn, I was inspired by this episode to write this blog. <br />
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As we all know, on May 27th we woke up to a teaser from RunDisney featuring Darth Vader. Could it be??? The long awaited and long rumored Star Wars RunDisney event?<br />
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In the past, RunDisney has teased weeks or even months before officially announcing a new race. Disney shocked everyone when just an hour or so later another video was released - with Chewbacca running through a park with the hash tag #LettheWookieWin but no actual details about when or where.<br />
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Being smack dab in the middle of Star Wars Weekends in Walt Disney World and the buzz of Star Wars taking over more of Disney Hollywood Studios, A LOT of people expected this race to be an East coast race. Also We got one "fan race" in California with Avengers, so why not have one in Walt Disney World??<br />
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But then I started really looking at the video of Chewbacca running for clues. And I still didn't know how long 6.8E-13 Parasecs was. But that was quickly deciphered by others in the RunDisney community :P - yep just as we thought - 13.1 miles!<br />
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He's obviously running down Main Street...but which one? Then I realized there were details I didn't recognize. I also spied a garbage can in the background with a very specific design on it. My next step was to Google "Disney park garbage cans" (trust me its really a thing). And quickly discovered it matched the trash cans of Disneyland. <br />
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No sooner did I figure this out when we got the official announcement - Star Wars half marathon weekend coming to Disneyland in January 2015. Boo. Well, now we have our answer why RunDisney moved Tink weekend to Mother's Day. <br />
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One of the things Mike,Michelle,Ashley and Sam contemplated is why RunDisney announced this race so quickly AND why so shortly after announcing the Castaway Cay 5k "challenge?". One of their conclusions was that they did it so quickly so that people couldn't get out of the commitment they made for the races they signed up for marathon weekend and the Castaway Cay Challenge that had literally opened (and closed) for registration literally just days before. <br />
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My opinion on this is the same line of thinking I seemed to see over and over again for people I saw that tacked on to the cruise... "Oh I'll just add 4 more days onto my marathon weekend trip" before people actually look at their calendars....and checkbooks.<br />
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Now the Expedition Everest Challenge isn't my favorite race and there have always been rumors of this event going away....maybe perfect timing for a Star Wars race....right around Star Wars weekend???? I am still baffled by the people that make the trip for a 5k. Okay it is cool that you get a real medal for a 5k....that is really more like a 10k disguised as a 5k :). Regardless of what RunDisney does with Everest, I wouldn't be surprised to see them "plus" this weekend to more than a 5k.<br />
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And WDW has has begun work on what will in the semi-near future "Star Wars Land"...so we don't get a Star Wars race? <br />
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Oh I got it! Sam and Ashley talked about having some sort of special medal for doing both races - but that would take two years. But why not have the races virtually being run at the same time or at least on the same day in Disneyland AND Disney World? You couldn't do them in one year but it would be fun! <br />
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Sam did bring up the possibility of an Avatar race in the future. That would be cool from what we're hearing about what's coming for Pandora. It keeps a race in Animal Kingdom and a possibility for some awesome bling! <br />
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Also, I don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer but I am concerned about the amount of people that signed up just because they are Star Wars fanatics. If they signed up and see it is an opportunity to train and get in shape, great! But there will be that portion that are just in it to dress up and get Star Wars bling and see Star Wars characters. I hate to say it, Ive seen it waaay to many times at Princess - the girls that dream of wearing a tiara and a tutu and running through the castle and spend more time on their costume than training so that by the time they actually get to that magic moment at the castle, they're dead.<br />
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Either way, as mentioned its an opportunity for New Balance to create some cool new shoes! I always said the Mickey shoes from last year reminded me of Darth Maul!<br />
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Good job RunDisney for listening to what the fans want! Although I'm bummed its in Disneyland I still think its a great idea -and if it was in Disney World, because I'm local, I would do it at least once. (And because I'm a bling junkie).<br />
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This would make for some pretty cool bling!</div>
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Okay I feel better now that I got that out of my head. Thanks for "listening!"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-91681071234903774432014-06-12T09:47:00.001-07:002014-06-12T09:47:48.221-07:00"And Now Its Time To Say Goodbye..." Disney Magic Day 4....well not quite yet! We still had one more full day aboard the Disney Magic! On this day we made our way back from Castaway Cay to Port Canaveral so it was a pretty low key at-sea day. We started... off our day with a relaxing breakfast at Cabanas (oh Cabanas how I miss you!). This day it was finally cool enough that we could eat outside on deck.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After breakfast I was "good" and ran a couple of miles around Deck 4. Not easy in that humidity...and eating like that for 3 days probably doesn't help either. But how many people get to say they got to run on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean!? </div>
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The rest of my day was spent watching the Princess meet and greet and the character dance party in the atrium! If this doesn't get you in the Disney spirit - there's something seriously wrong with you! There was this one adorable little girl who was all about meeting the Princesses and posing with them and blowing them kisses! So sweet!</div>
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Later on we participated in Disney Trivia in one of the lounges and once again lost by just one point! One of the questions was how long is the Disney Magic? I was off by 1 foot! Come on! </div>
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Our show for that night was Disney Dreams. Apparently this show has won some pretty prestigious award for cruise line entertainment but I think Disney's Believe is still my favorite show! This one was a blast though - SO cram packed with classic Disney characters! </div>
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After the show we headed for dinner at Carioca's. This restaurant has completely been redesigned during the Magic's Re-Imagining and has a very South American feel. The lighting fixtures are all paper lanterns and the back wall is a picture of a South American skyline at night. The other wall is designed to look like a neighborhood of doors and the floor to look like a stone cobbled path. </div>
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Before we left, I had read about Carioca's signature dish the Jose Carioca which is skewered sausage, lamb and tenderloin. While this dish tasted amazing, its the presentation is really what makes it a stand out. You a presented a plate with Mexican tomato rice and one giant shrimp and then this medal horseshoe is placed above your plate where your server places each of the skewers. </div>
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Dessert that night was an ice cream sundae topped with caramelized apples. Every bite was amazing - and made me glad I had gone for my run that morning! </div>
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Later that night, we went to the atrium for the "See Ya Real Soon" party where the crew and the characters come out to say goodbye. :( It only lasts for about half an hour and most of the lines were pretty long so we only got our picture taken with Minnie before we had to go back to our room and pack to get our luggage outside for it to get picked up. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-72035075629405836752014-06-12T09:00:00.000-07:002014-06-12T09:01:02.938-07:00"Tequila and boats don't mix!" - Disney Magic Day 3 - Part IIAfter the 5k, I went back to the ship for a MUCH needed shower before heading down to the beach at Disney's private island Castaway Cay. I think we all agree that this was our prettiest day we've ever had on the island. We've had some real SCORCHERS but this day was not too hot with sunshine and beautiful blue sky! After settling on some chairs we got some island inspired drinks and enjoyed the beautiful day.<br />
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While we aren't really swimming people, we did enjoy cooling off a bit in the ocean. <br />
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A couple of hours later was something I had looked forward to for the whole cruise - lunch! You would think a day on the island lunch would be just average...but once again Disney goes above and beyond! Hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, salads, baked beans and nice shady areas to sit.<br />
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After lunch, we headed back to the ship deciding we had enough of the sun for the day - and on top of that mom had signed us up for - the tequila and margarita tasting. I don't really like tequila but I DO like margaritas so I went...and at $15 each how could I pass it up?!<br />
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When we arrived we found out there were only 5 people attending the tasting at the Keys Lounge so the CM running it moved in closer so he didn't have to talk so loudly.<br />
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At the tasting, each participant received three shots of tequila ranging in age (and expense). I was not a fan of any of them...yuck!<br />
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Next up was an orange margarita that was SUPER yummy! Unfortunately I didn't catch the name of it or what was in it because like most of them, I couldn't understand about 95% of what the Cast Member was saying :)<br />
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Next up, our host made us fresh margaritas using limes and Patron Silver! Good stuff! </div>
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As we were wrapping up the bartender announced that they expected more people at the tasting so she had made WAAAY too much of the orange margarita and was making one for each of us to go! And they weren't tiny either!<br />
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We ended up taking our "to go's" out to the deck but pretty soon all of us were feeling the sun and probably more so the tequila! It was time to go back to our room anyway to get ready for dinner so we left what we couldn't finish and headed back to our stateroom.</div>
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That night, dinner was again at Animator's Palate and it was Pirate Night! This was first time I've ever gotten to experience Pirate Night at Animator's Palate and I was very excited about it because I heard that all of the pictures turn pirate themed for the night! Every where you looked there were characters and backgrounds from Peter Pan and Pirates of the Carribean.</div>
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Of course everyone got into the spirit of the night by sporting their Pirates IN the Carribean bandanas that were waiting for us at our tables. </div>
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Dinner was once again yummy and at the end, our scalywag crew of waiters got a little rambunctious and started a limbo line around the restaurant - this NEVER happened at Pirate Night in Enchanted Garden on the Fantasy or Royal Palace on the Dream! </div>
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After dinner was the Pirates IN the Carribean party up on deck featuring all of our favorite characters in their best pirate attire, Mickey saving the day as he ascends from a zip line and fire works!<br />
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We did skip the Pirates In the Carribean late night buffet (including GIANT turkey legs) but can you blame us after such a fun, full day???Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-65729359619099681652014-03-01T19:45:00.001-08:002014-03-02T05:32:55.971-08:00"Some races are worth melting for" - Princess 1/2 marathon 20142 days down - 1 to go. Set the alarm for 2:20 but I was up at 1:56 AM - well might as well get this party started! Mom and Dad didn't have to be up for another couple of hours to make their way to Magic Kingdom to cheer so I tried to be as quiet as I could as I got dressed. I am a BIG believer in never wearing anything brand new on race day (last year I even braved taking my Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday tutu skirt out for a run around my neighborhood) but there is one piece of clothing I will break this rule for - <a href="http://www.sparkleskirts.com/">SparkleSkirts</a>! Having sold a skirt I didn't wear very much, I bought myself a new skirt and wore it for the half with my team shirt (which I washed from the day before). After getting dressed, I grabbed all my gear and was on my way out the door by 2:45. I am very superstitious about getting on anything later than the first or second bus to the start line and apparently I'm not the only one as there were already about 12 Princesses on the bus including my new friend, Bev who I had ridden the bus with marathon weekend too! To my surprise, the bus didn't wait around and even though the bus was only about 1/3 loaded we were on our way! A few days before I posted about how a year ago I woke up the night before the Princess half with a bad case of the nerves. This year I was just excited to go and ready to do this!<br />
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Getting there so early meant a lot of standing around until my teammates showed up but one by one they started to come. Hey! Even George was on time for the team picture! By the end it was getting pretty uncomfortable as our meeting spot is RIGHT next to the port-a-potties and several thousand princesses lined up to use them right before go time so we were getting a little cramped! Again, we were meeting in the reunion lot. Half marathon day is again different as we gather in what for the previous two days has been the reunion lot then head through the bag check tent and walk to the start line.<br />
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As usual, we stood around, talked, laughed and took pictures until it was time to go. Around 4:45 we snapped our usual team picture, wished each other luck and then we we were off....for the 20 minute walk to the corrals. <br />
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The best part of being on a team is always having someone around - walking to the corrals is DEFINITELY one of these times I am grateful for my teammates. I made the long walk with Kim until we split off when she headed to corral and I made one last stop at the famous and never ending portapotties. Port-a-potties at RunDisney races are always an interesting experience but this time someone decided to move them back to make more line up room so now they are sitting on the side of a hill! Yay! In addition, someone forgot to put extra TP in the stalls so people stopped using those causing this potty stop to take longer!<br />
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But timing is everything! I finally was able to go and as I started heading to my corral I ran into Suzi! We had talked about meeting up but with some 20,000 odd runners it probably wasn't going to happen. Amazingly I looked up and there she is looking beautiful in her Belle costume! I was so excited to have someone to line up with. But the fun didn't stop there - right next to us were Mike and Michelle, hosts of the Mikey Miles Podcast! 1500 people in our corral and I manage to find 3 friends! Amazing!<br />
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Before we knew it we were moving closer and closer to the start line and with a blast of fire works it was our turn to go! I wished my friends good luck and we were off! It was REALLY humid but I was feeling good! Especially when I passed the 2:45 pacer for Corral H where I started and was quickly closing in on the 2:45 pacer for corral G! A few minutes later we heard the fireworks go off for the next corral and of course someone had to make the "GUNSHOTS! Everybody down!" joke! As we continued a long, I noticed a lot fewer costumes than the day before - I think the heat REALLY got to a lot of people. <br />
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The miles were zooming by, helped by the characters (Captain Jack and Barbossa at Mile 2, Villains heading into Magic Kingdom parking lot) but the crazy fog defintely made for an interesting experience. The Magic Kingdom toll both - we were nearly right up against it before we could really see. <br />
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Around mile 4 we hit my dreaded "Contemporary Hill from Hell". I took the opportunity to slow down and text my family to let them know I was heading toward the Magic Kingdom.<br />
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I'm glad I did this later, as I found out that the texts from RunDisney came later and all in a big lump so my trackers weren't sure where I was. Mile 5 - time to enter the Magic Kingdom! I had preset another text to send to Mom that I sent just inside the gates that said "OKay I'm coming!" so they would see me on Main Street. <br />
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As we entered Main Street, for some reason EVERYONE shifted right and I stayed left, which was perfect because my personal cheerleaders were on the left hand side. Stopped for a quick hug and then I was off. What a strange experience - we were running down Main Street but there was no castle - completely hidden by fog! I felt kind of bad for the first time Princesses who signed up for this race looking forward to running down Main Street looking at the castle - except it was like the beginning of Despicable Me...looked like someone stole the castle! LOL! But we still got to run THROUGH the castle!<br />
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Running through the Magic Kingdom was awesome as always and soon we were back out on the road again for the IMO very boring miles 7-10. Mary Poppins, Bert and the penguin were out by Grand Floridian, Let It Go blasting at the half way point, Lilo and Stitch out near the golf course but pretty low key. But no Elsa, Ann, or Olaf! :(<br />
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I thought I felt a blister starting at Mile 8 so I took my shoe off and straightened everything out but after that,I was feeling pretty good and I was keeping consistent walking through all the water stops and drinking water and/or Powerade at each one. (PS - RunDisney volunteers are awesome!)<br />
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Next up - big evil overpasses and we encountered Sarge at the top of the hill. Maybe I'll make that a future RunDisney goal. Forget PR's - have enough energy to give Sarge a few pushups!<br />
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Mile 10 I slowed down to text my family and friends and let them know where I was - and of course look over the side of the overpass and see ALLLL the people behind me (which wasn't easy with the still crazy fog!). <br />
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Mile 11 1/2 ish I looked ahead and saw the only other WDWRadio Running Team shirt I had seen so far. I put a little speed on and caught up to her and made a new running friend in Liz! We hung together, stopping off around mile 12 so say hi (and sweaty hug) our friends and favorite cheerleaders Lou, Deanna, Marion and Nicolas Mongello before we headed for our last mile.<br />
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Into EPCOT, around the the loop between Future World and World Showcase (fog still so crazy we couldn't see the American Pavillion across the lake!), backstage to say hi to the gospel choir and on to the finish line! <br />
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I like to run what I call "Forrest Gump style" - no watch to keep track of my pace I just run so I wasn't quite sure I was at but I did now that when I finished in January the gun time was 3:01. In hopes of beating that I took off for the finish line, finishing when the clock read 2:59:52. Unfortunately my finish time was 2:38:01. 8 minutes slower than my PR but with the humidity I am REALLY happy with my time! <br />
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I grabbed my medal and then it was off to the Glass Slipper Challenge tent to pick up my shiny Glass Slipper medal. I did it! 22.4 miles over 3 days! (Actually the Glass Slipper Challenge was only the 10k and the half - 19.3 miles but I had to go ahead and do the extra 3.1 miles! ;) )<br />
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I got to see my friend Beatrice again handing out the little Princess weekend drawstring backpacks too! I love that RunDisney gave these out at the end of the race instead of at expo because I had something to put my Powerade, snackbox and banana in. Another great thing RunDisney did at the end of this race was hand out little cooling towels which was a nice surprise after a long sweaty run!<br />
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After the half my legs were a little tired but I still felt good. Honestly, the day before after the 10k I had been having a good time I started thinking "Maybe I do want to Goofy next year - maybe I could do it" but after 13.1 miles those thoughts were over. But I'll admit, after a couple of days of recovery I'm still deciding what I'll do for marathon weekend next year. Dopey? Probably not. Goofy? Maybe....I'm still scared to death of a full marathon and doing my first full the day after a half probably isn't the smartest thing, BUT its an anniversary year and that medal will be AWESOME. *sigh* I'm such a bling junkie! But don't hold me to that! LOL<br />
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But I do know one thing - I will be there for marathon weekend in some form or another! But next up Wine and Dine in November....now to figure out how to keep myself motivated for the next 8 months.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-48266247653764355842014-02-26T19:16:00.002-08:002014-02-26T19:51:58.215-08:00"Albert skips!"...Princess weekend Enchanted 10k10k morning dawned bright and early...well early anyway. Another 3 AM wake up call. Got dressed and made my way down to the busses. Transportation was said to start at 3:30, but as I got on the bus at 3:20 the bus was full. In fact I got one of the last seats and we were on our way!<br />
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Got to the parking lot and made my way over to the traditional WDWRadio meeting place of the T-Z reunion area flag. It was really odd because on this morning the bag check area and the starting area were in two different areas, most people going directly to the starting line area so it was me and about 10 other people in the reunion lot. I did actually question if I was in the right place :) Pretty soon, my teammates started showing up and then the real party got started!<br />
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After a while, we headed over to the starting area where we waited for more of our teammates to show up. Pretty soon it was time to take the traditional team picture before we headed to our corrals.<br />
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I was lucky enough to be starting in corral C (the corrals went up to E or F) with Deanna and Danielle and James. We were lucky enough to score a bib for Deanna - but the name on the bib was ALBERT and it was a corral A bib. We tried to convince her to run in A since it could be a once in a life time chance to start there but she fell back with us slow pokes. She did embrace Albert though. We decided that Albert liked to have fun during races. Albert liked to skip. Albert liked to take pictures. LOL....oh the things that come out of our mouths at 4:30 in the morning! <br />
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Finally its time to head to our corrals and the traditional National Anthem is sung. I don't remember a soloist singing it but I do remember a trumpet and the crowd singing. With the early morning fog and everyone singing kind of quiet it was kind of creepy. But then the quiet was over as the corrals started moving up. For some reason there were 10 minutes between corrals - ugh! Finally it was our turn and we were off! <br />
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The first mile was pretty uneventful but as we neared mile 2 we came across what was definitely the highlight of the race. Perched high on the overpass was Elsa from Frozen. As we approached she was singing Let It Go so I assumed it was the recording. But then she started talking and it was relevant - and was it me or did she sound like Idina Menzel? Crazy! Maybe it was her...now that would be AWESOME! (Nicole got a pretty good little clip of Elsa in the video. She starts at about 7 seconds in). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it started SNOWING! I thought it was cool but some of my fellow runners from up north didn't think it was very funny! <br />
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Unfortunately after that the entertainment went down hill. I heard later the White Rabbit was out, big screen with music and Mickey toons. First 3 miles were long and boring....we blamed Albert. We were so over Albert at this point. LOL!<br />
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Finally, we got to World Showcase! Hooray! We made our traditional stop (can you have a tradition after only two races?) in Japan to take a picture and sent Steve a video of how well we were doing. We made our way around the countries and then it was out to the Boardwalk area! I was staying at Boardwalk and we had a fantastic room that was right over the route so my parents and our friends decided to cheer from our balcony.<br />
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It was pretty cool to be able to see them from way down by ESPN (where we passed baseball Goofy and a Richard Petty race car....but the line was too long to stop!) Deanna,Danielle and I spent our time on the Boardwalk dreaming up things we could ask my family for. Donuts....bagels.... no luck but it was cool to have our own personal cheerleaders! Then it was over the bridge around Yacht and Beach back into EPCOT. We made our way into the gate outside the International Gateway greeted by Disney music and the giant Genie and Lumiere puppets. Total Disney goosebumps! THIS is why I keep doing these races! <br />
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At this point the humidity was getting to us but as a wise man once said we kept moving forward! We did stop and see Figment's autograph in the cement in the off stage area. We continued on through Future World (where we got a couple of AWESOME pictures)<br />
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and then....we were done! We got our fancy new Inaugural 10k medal (with a teeny tiny "diamond" LOL), got some pics (pro pics and a couple courtesy of our awesome teammate Scott). <br />
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It was REALLY warm that day but we made good use of the water stops and I am so grateful to have been able to run this race with Deanna and Danielle! The January 10k I wasn't feeling so good so my only goal was to finish feeling good - and I did! And thanks to these ladies with a smile! Because I was participating in the Glass Slipper Challenge I had to make a stop at the GSC tent to pick up my wristband where I was happy to find my friend Beatrice handing out wristbands!<br />
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After the 10k, I went back to the room, showered, relaxed and then I was hungry. I had two choices I COULD stay in the room and eat the bagel OR I could go to Magic Kingdom for a Nutella and fruit waffle.<br />
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Well, since it didn't look like it was going to rain right at that moment, off to Magic Kingdom it was! I got to Magic Kingdom, used my Peter Pan FastPass, enjoyed my waffle with a view of the castle, then it was off to EPCOT for the WDWRadio meet of the month. Unfortunately, the rain decided to show up...but luckily I found shelter in the Yacht Club lobby. <br />
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Due to the weather, the meet got moved from the United Kingdom to the French Bakery (oh, darn) but we still had a great time and it was awesome to see so many friends. After the meet, a group of us went to Morocco for some food (final scene of Avengers anyone? Shwarma anyone? LOL) - a great time to eat because of my early wake up call the next day.<br />
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Afterwards, I headed back to Boardwalk and ran into the last stragglers of the Mickey Miles meet so I stopped by to say hi to Mike and Michelle and then it was back my room, get set up for the next day an then early bedtime! I was surprised how early I fell asleep - I know I was out before Illuminations which was a good thing since the alarm was set to go off at 2:20 AM!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-78842290065621260732014-02-24T16:13:00.001-08:002014-02-26T19:23:49.710-08:00"Hello? Banana phone?" Expo and Royal Family 5kI PROMISE I'll get back to my cruise recap but I wanted to recap the race weekend before I forgot all the fun I had. <br />
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To tell this story properly I have to go back about a week or so before Princess weekend started. Originally, because Disney pushed back the Royal Family 5k to Friday and the Glass Slipper Challenge was costing enough money, I didn't sign up for it. Anyway, about a week before my friend Joy put it out there that she had a bib she couldn't use. I so wanted to do it but it just didn't seem possible. THEN - all the cards fell into place. So we didn't have to have multiple cars there for the whole weekend, Dad offered to drive me down on Thursday, my friend Fran offered me a bed to crash in and I had a bib! Okay I'm in! <br />
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Okay, here we go! Got to Disney Thursday morning, met up with Fran at Pop Century and then we were off to expo! I was grateful for the extra hands to help pick up bibs and bags and pins and shirts and stickers...ugh! Finally it was time to go shopping!<br />
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Couldn't find my Clifhshots I needed so I picked up some Gu's to get me through. Defeated that I couldn't find my Clifshots (LOL) I headed over to the SparkleSkirt booth. Okay, so I was planning to visit the SparkleSkirt booth anyway. My original plan was to sell the skirts that I have that are a little too big for me - but replace them before I sell anything. Only trouble is, they didn't bring any of the skirts I need to replace! Oops! But I DID end up picking up a new skirt. YAY! And yeah I talked Fran into a SparkleLight....need to work on getting her into a SparkleTech LOL! Because as about 4 people at expo said "SparkleSkirts are better than tutus!"<br />
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After a while, Fran and I headed back to Pop Century to drop off our stuff then off to EPCOT to meet up some friends. We ended up taking the bus to DHS then the boat to EPCOT which took a LONG time. By the time we got there I was starving so we headed for dinner at Katsura Grill in Japan. Later, we met up with some friends who had reservations at Via Napoli and invited us to come. I didn't eat anything but it was fun to catch up! Later in the evening, Beatrice, who was also staying with us for the night, got to EPCOT and met up with us at the French bakery.<br />
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Since we had to be up at 3 AM we decided to call it a night before Illuminations. Getting back to Pop was quite an adventure as the GPS in Beatrice's car was being special but we did get a REALLY close up view of the "bugs" in Illuminations!<br />
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The next morning, the alarm was set to go off at 3 (and my phone and the wake up call which when we picked it up was the Grim Grinning Ghosts. I found out later we were on hold). We got up and dressed and headed over to EPCOT for the 5k. This day I was dressed in my "costume" as one of my favorite Disney characters Sorcerer Mickey!<br />
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A simple costume but I liked it! As the morning went on we met up with our teammates, talked, laughed and took pictures.<br />
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Having 3 days of races I probably should have walked the 5k but I get itchy and wanted to run! Lucky for me, my friend Beatrice said she would run with me. I guess I need to back up again...a couple of days before the weekend my friend Virginia decided she was too sick to do the 5k so asked if I knew of anyone who wanted to run the 5k with her and her husband's bibs. I asked and Beatrice became "Virginia" and Scott became "Harry"!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Joy", "Harry" and "Virginia"</td></tr>
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We ended up running the whole course but we definitely took our time, taking character pictures (no way we were getting in those lines - we would stand off to the side and get our pictures), took some selfies along the way and some videos. One of our team traditions for the 5k is to stop and take a group shot in the Italian pavilion. We were SO fast at this point (LOL) it was just the two of us so we did stop for Italy picture but as we were lining it up we here "AAAHH!" and feel someone run up behind us - it was our teammates Mike and Beth! So instead of just the two of us we got a real group shot of the four of us! <br />
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Along the way, we continued to take pictures and send some silly videos to our friends (including a long distance call in the UK pavillion to our friend Emma. She didn't pick up LOL). We even found a guy who's shirt said "Hi I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" - so we gave him a hug! LOL he seemed so grateful that someone finally gave him a hug!<br />
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Before we knew it we were done and picked up our cute Cinderella medallion. As always RunDisney had food boxes and bananas! We were missing our friends so we tried to call them on the banana phone! We waited around for a while for friends to finish and then it was back to the hotel to shower, get dressed and pack. Later, I headed to EPCOT for what turned into a very busy morning. I met up with Suzi who I was trading SparkleSkirts with and then met up with Maria and Alisa so I could meet Maria's mom (and Minnie's grandma! ;) ).<br />
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THEN, after seeing the fun we had in the morning my friend Deanna texted me and asked me if I could find her a bib. I thought less than 24 hours before the race there's no way I would find one but I've always been told "you don't know if you don't ask" so I put it out there on a Facebook group. Amazingly someone came back and said her brother in law couldnt run and she was selling his bib! The funny part about it is the name on the bib was Albert (in a weekend all about Princesses and predominately female runners thats hilarious!) and it was a bib for corral A! I told Deanna she should run in A as it was a once in a life time chance but she decided to fall back to C with the rest of us. <br />
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I wasn't feeling any of the restaurants in the Boardwalk area so I went into the Screen Door store grabbed a microwave dinner mac and cheese and headed to bed early having to get up at 2:45 AM again. Ugh!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-89026905819889694462014-02-12T15:15:00.000-08:002014-02-12T15:15:10.257-08:00On Your Mark Get Set Go! - Disney Magic Day 3 Part I- Castaway Cay 5kAs low key as the day before was....the next day was pretty much the opposite. Wednesday was our day at Disney's private island - Castaway Cay. I had decided when we booked the cruise (a whole 6 days before!) that I was going to run the Castaway Cay 5k! Having been on two previous cruises you think I would have done it by now but the first cruise it was just too hot and the second cruise I wanted to make sure I was part of the group picture. But this time - no excuses - especially know that I am much more involved in RunDisney. A Disney "race" that doesn't cost anything AND there's a medal...I MUST DO IT! <br />
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The navigator on the first day suggested that you preregister for the 5k at Guest Relations which I did but when I arrived about half the people looked like they decided to run that morning and just showed up....and some were dressed that way too - deck shoes, denim capris...can we say CHAFFING?<br />
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Anyway, the navigator said we needed to be at Fathom's at 8:15 AM to check in and get our bibs which are not assigned you just take the next one on the pile. For an unofficial race the bibs are pretty nice! If you do this run remember you need not just your key card but also a photo ID. A lot of people didn't realize this and had to go back to their staterooms and get theirs. Not that I did an official count but looking around there seemed to be 75 people ready to do the 5k...and one dog. <br />
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While we were waiting, the music that was playing was all songs with RUN in the title - why doesn't RunDisney put this out to buy? It was actually a pretty good mix - and Andy, the crew member who was kind of running the event seemed to enjoy it too - singing along to EVERY song!<br />
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After sometime Andy and another crew member named Maroly got up on the stage and gave us a "run through" of the course.<br />
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Unfortunately after this we hit kind of a lull because our arrival at Castaway Cay was delayed due to some strong winds. Finally we were given the all clear around 9 AM. One of the perks of running the Castaway Cay 5k is you get to be first off the ship. Well, with the delayed arrival we were still first off the ship but we had to wade our way through easily a couple of hundred other people sitting in the stairs between Deck 2 and Deck 1 waiting to get off. When we finally did get off we were greeted by Donald Duck who high fived us as we made our way onto the island. <br />
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A couple of people had brought their kids with so our first stop was at the kid's club, Scuttle's Cove and then we were on our way. The walk from the ship to the bike rental where the run actually starts is long but not bad. I started chatting with a guy who had come down from Canada he was a little concerned about running in the humidity he was not used to! Finally we arrived and our crew members gave us one more overview of the course, showed us the clock that stood to the right of the course and then it was "on your mark, get set, go!" <br />
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The run on the island took us down a path, then up around a loop and then down the old airstrip. There was a water stop as we got back to the loop that we had to run one more time and then down to the finish line. <br />
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Remember that humidity I mentioned before? Even this Florida girl had trouble with it- and made good use of the water stop on my second loop. There are a couple of other water stations placed along the course but that was the only one I made use of. The course has very little shade but is surrounded for the most part by trees and plants and some "sights" that go along with the island theme, "whiskey" barrels, a rusty anchor, an abandoned airplane but certainly not much entertainment as far as a RunDisney course goes but that would be hard to do since this run happens every time one of the Disney Cruise ships docks at Castaway Cay. The course is marked by red "plates" with arrows - although I'll be honest there was one point when I got to kind of a crossroads and I looked around and the runners in front of me had taken off and there was no one behind me - yikes! Luckily, I went the right way.<br />
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The heat was really getting to me the last 3rd of the race or though so I started doing a little walking along the way and was happy to see the finish line...and even happier and surprised to see the finish clock read 31:22! Wow - that's amazing since I walked and took my time at the water stop.<br />
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Just a few feet past the finish clock Andy was there waiting for us with our plastic medals and pointing us in the direction of water. Soon after I was on my way back to the ship to clean up and then head to down to the beach for some well deserved relaxation! <br />
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There were some shirts available for purchase (about 21 or 22 dollars each) but I decided to pass, but i have to say they were good looking shirts!<br />
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Am I glad I did it? Yes! ( I mean its a RunDisney medal I didn't have yet. AND it was a good excuse to get me to run). It was a beautiful course - even if it was HOT and definitely an interesting way to see the island. Would I do it again? Probably not - unless I was doing it with friends, the Castaway Cay 5k is kind of a one and done for me as I think I prefer my beach day to start off more relaxing. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-17005523191091904992014-02-10T12:08:00.000-08:002014-02-10T12:15:45.517-08:00....And a little bit of pixie dust Disney Magic Day 2Our first full day onboard the Disney Magic was spent in Nassau. We actually chose not to get off there because we did the last cruise.....and were back on the ship within half an hour. <br />
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We started off our day with a walk around Deck 4....but that got cut short because they blocked off half the ship due to some work being done. Ugh, so much for getting a run in on the ship! Oh well, just short of 2 miles and then we took the stairs down the two decks back to our room is pretty good start to our day. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at Cabanas. Since we weren't getting off that ship that day, we enjoyed some nice quiet time reading and relaxing in the adult area. Later we watched the end of Mulan on Funnelvision! <br />
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The rest of the day was pretty low-key. Lunch, nap, taking pictures around the ship. That night our show was "Twice-Charmed". A slightly different version of Cinderella where Lady Tremaine and the Stepsisters get one more shot at their happily ever after. I LOVED this show! And if that didn't make the perfect Disney day complete we were having dinner at Animator's Palate! Having been on the Dream and the Fantasy I knew we were in for a special treat but knew this show would be different and was excited to see what they had done! The entire restaurant is decorated with black and white sketches, columns made of paintbrushes and paint palates on the ceiling. </div>
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The walls are covered in large screens where we watched different characters being drawn. Later, the drawings began to get colored in.</div>
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Then, around the time dessert was being served the real show started - an amazing collection of the greatest Disney moments with all the good guys...and some of the bad, ending with a spectatular montage of how good always triumphs over evil and then....a very special guest came out ending with a parade of all of our waiters! </div>
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As amazing as the "interactive" show on the Fantasy was I think THIS maybe my favorite Animator's Palate show! Well done Disney Cruise Line!</div>
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After dinner, we went for a walk around the ship and then headed back to our stateroom to be welcomed by a new towel animal. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-80704644315965415132014-02-08T16:16:00.003-08:002014-02-10T12:25:50.906-08:00Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away With Meeee.... Disney Magic Day 1Planning? Who needs planning? We booked this cruise on Thursday and left the following Monday. While I did miss the time to get excited and plan it was AWESOME to know we were leaving in just 4 days!!! After a very busy Sunday of packing and taking care of last minute details, we got up Monday, ate breakfast and got in the car for the about 2 hour drive to Port Canaveral. While eating breakfast I pulled up the Port Canaveral webcam and was happy to see blue sky and the Disney Magic waiting for us! <br />
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On the way down, we got excited (like we needed help there) by listening to the WDWRadio Podcast episode about all the cool features of the Disney Magic. While the Magic is the oldest ship of the Disney Cruise Line fleet, she definitely doesn't look it as the Magic was in dry dock for 40 days last Fall for a complete refurbishment or "re-imagining"! </div>
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The podcast wrapped up in perfect time just as we arrived at Port Canaveral (or I should say at the nearby Park N' Cruise where we left the car and then took a shuttle to the port). Even though this was my third Disney Cruise I never get tired of catching my first glimpse of those red smoke stacks! </div>
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Before we knew it we were pulling into our port, the porters took care of our luggage and we breezed through security and into the check-in line! I've never cruised with anyone but Disney, but I can't imagine anyone getting guests through security and check in better than Disney. When we arrived, boarding had already started and we were assigned boarding group #25 - which was the very next group! We jumped in line but not before I got a picture with this guy! </div>
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I guess Olaf really does love summer...and warm weather...and hot....</div>
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After my picture, we were handed our Navigators and whisked through the big yellow Mickey head shaped tunnel. We did stop for the "welcome aboard" picture and then it was on to the ship!</div>
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As always, we were given the traditional Disney Cruise Line welcome - when we approached the entrance of the ship we were asked our names which were announced by a Crew Member and we were welcomed by a "tunnel" of crew members in the lobby.</div>
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Having only been on the Disney Fantasy and the Disney Dream, I was used to be the bigger lobbies so this took a little getting used to but it was still beautiful. As with all the ships, the Disney Magic has its own look and color scheme - dressed in teals , peach and silvers.</div>
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Upon our arrival on the ship, the staterooms weren't open yet so what else do you do? Eat! We grabbed the first elevator and headed up to Deck 9 to Cabanas! As always, I ate waaay too much but there's so much to choose from!<br />
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Our timing was perfect because after lunch our rooms were ready! Booking last minute we didn't have a choice in our stateroom but we ended up loving the location of our room. Our stateroom was on Deck 2 with a large porthole window - and just 1 or 2 decks below the restaurants and theater. We were just down the hall from Edge - the 11-14 year olds club but were never really disturbed from the noise coming from there. </div>
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Speaking of Edge - after we dropped off our carryon bags we found that the kid's clubs were open for everyone to check out. I was so excited about this because one of the biggest renovations to the Magic was the Oceanner's Club - one section has been transformed into the Avenger's Academy! Not to slight any of the other areas (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Pixie Hollow, Andy's Room...) - they're all awesome and I'd stay there if they'd let me! </div>
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They were finally able to drag me out of the kid's clubs and spent sometime with our fellow DVC Members at the "DVC Member Celebration"...or another excuse to get us to buy points in the D Lounge. We didn't take the bait but we did get a free drink, a hat, some new cool bags. There were some people in there that made us look like amateurs - there was one couple who had been on 17 cruises and had 5 more planned! </div>
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About this time it was time to head back to our room for a bit and then get ready for the Emergency Muster Drill - or as I call it "Get to know your neighbor!" They insist on cramming everyone shoulder to shoulder....atleast they don't make us wear our life vests anymore! Then...party time!<br />
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We were very lucky that we got a beautiful late afternoon for our Sail Away Party!<br />
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At 6:15 we got dressed and headed to the Walt Disney Theater for our first show - Villains Tonight. Not my favorite DCL show but still entertaining. <br />
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Dinner that night was at Lumiere's. Each ship has a Princess themed restaurant and this may have been my favorite yet. Lumiere's seemed much more open than Royal Court or Royal Palace. The chandeliers all featured roses with falling petals and the back wall was a huge mural of Belle and the Beast dancing. As always the food was amazing. On the last cruise my friends had gotten me to try escargot which I enjoyed so I had been encouraging Mom and Dad to try too - Dad even ordered his own! So proud!<br />
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As you can kind of see from the last picture we didn't have any table mates on this cruise which was fine but we were excited to meet someone new and have someone to talk to over dinner. DCL seems to do an amazing job matching people up at dinner but maybe with us booking 4 days out they just didn't have time LOL. But we did meet our adorable waiters Aziz and Ralex.</div>
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After dinner, we could have gone to one of the many events around the ship but it had been a long and exciting day so we decided to head back to our stateroom and get some sleep for another great day ahead! </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-28248657909771148502014-01-18T18:24:00.002-08:002014-01-18T18:32:24.103-08:00Wine-ing and Dineing...and oh yeah I've got to run 13.1 miles!That's right half marathon #3 in the books! And surprisingly I was REALLY looking forward to it. Maybe because I got to run through 3 Disney parks. Maybe because this race has a notoriously awesome after party. Maybe it was because it was the first time I was going to get to see a lot of my teammates in several months. If you ask me, I think it's because - combined with all of these things. I was actually trained for this race. I could honestly say I was PSYCHED! <br />
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This race is a whole different ball game than the other half marathons I have run at Disney mostly because its a night race....meaning we don't even START running until 10 PM! Maybe that helped me. In February I woke up at midnight with a BAD case of nerves seriously looking to go online and sell my bib. This one, I was just excited to GO!<br />
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One thing I REALLY need to work on with these night races is staying off my feet the day of the race. I always go there with the best intentions but those all disappear once I get to Disney. On Saturday morning, I headed to expo to pick up my number, shirt, race goodies and do a little shopping. I spent a good couple of hours there, ran into my friend Mindy, and bought not one but TWO new Sparkle Skirts (and some desperately needed Clifshots). No big deal. <br />
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Then I got a text from my friend Fran who I haven't seen in months! She was in EPCOT and I needed to eat so I wandered in and met up with her and her sister. Somehow we managed to walk ALL the way around World Showcase - oops. I was there for about 3 hours but we did a lot of sitting in the meantime. I headed back to the room around 4 o'clock and got about an hour nap and then an early dinner before it was time to get dressed.<br />
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The buses started heading over to the race start at ESPN around 7 PM (3 hours before race start) and I grabbed the first bus. Judging from the lines I'm SOOO glad I made the decision to get down there early! The line backed up nearly all the way back to the lobby! <br />
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As I was riding on the bus I was texting with a few of my teammates to find out where we were meeting up. Luckily for me it didn't take me long to find them. Everything about this race was different even gathering area. Usually, we hang around in a parking lot - this race we gathered in a large grassy field...with the obligatory hundreds of port-o-potties. We had a great time getting everyone together, chatting, laughing taking pictures. Before long, we made a group stop at the porto-potties and then headed for our corral...somewhere at this point some strange guy handed Lori a free banana...yep just as weird as it sounds. Kind of became a running joke for the night! <br />
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Because we're a team (and there's no I in team!) a bunch of us started together in Corral H - right in the middle of the pack. <br />
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One of the coolest things RunDisney does is give EVERY corral fireworks at the start. They also blast music as each corral gets ready to go...although we were a little concerned as we noticed the music for each corral getting a little more...corny. The corral before us was this really cheesy German music so we were worried we going to get....I was plesantly surprised to hear the strains of Aaron Copland' s "Hoedown" which I more often associate with the old Illuminations!<br />
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Anyway...we were off! First few miles were pretty uneventful but I was feeling good! At about mile 3 we saw our teammate Mark on the otherside of the road as he was flying through the 10k point - of course we shouted and yelled some encouragement...and got some weird looks along the way. <br />
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Before we knew it, we were entering the first of three parks we would run through - Animal Kingdom! Talk about "caution runners; path narrows ahead!" They weren't kidding! One of my teammates had a BRILLIANT idea - bathroom break in one of the nice clean theme park bathrooms! We all agreed to stop and found literally no wait before we were on our way again - 9 miles to go! Shortly after I had to stop and fix my shoe and my skirt. Now I love my SparkleSkirt because the shorts literally do not move but they are a bear to get back in the right place if you have to...make a pitstop! So I sent my teammates on ahead and said I would catch up. After a quick break I SPRINTED (which may or may not have hurt me later) up ahead and suddenly I saw Joe's red DAWS shirt and of course the group of WDWRadio Blue and shouted Marco! (we had been doing this along the way to keep track of eachother) and my teammates responded POLO! and I think they were surprised to see that I had caught up so fast! One of the down points on the race was on our way out of Animal Kingdom where apparently a pipe or something had blown and there was an unexpected fountain of water which had created a HUGE puddle in the middle of the road. There was a cast member but he was AFTER the puddle and was like "Oh yeah...watch out for that big puddle"...gee thanks buddy!<br />
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The miles passed by - lots of open roads but enough entertainment that I didn't have to run with my iPod. I found that a lot of the music they were playing along the course. At about 7 miles in I was having a little trouble keeping up with the pace of my teammates so I decided to fall back a little and Joe was nice enough to hang with me. <br />
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Mile 8 - time to head into Hollywood Studios. Running past Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror were pretty awesome and I LOVED running down Sunset Boulevard but I couldn't WAIT to get to run through the Osborne Lights...and they didn't disappoint! <br />
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If anything I was REALLY nervous about running through the "costume tunnel" as last time I ran there during the Tower of Terror 10 miler in 2012 I was REALLY hurt and just remembering wanting to stop right there. Luckily, Disney took my mind off those bad memories by turning the tunnel into a giant 70s dance party - music, lights, fog, disco balls! <br />
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On our way out of the park, I texted Mom and Dad that they should head down from our room at Boardwalk because we would be there soon. It was fun to run down the Boardwalk and before I know it I saw my parents but just waved - no time to stop for a hug! According to Dad - I looked "fresh"! <br />
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Heading into EPCOT - last park and then it was time to eat! I'm so thrilled to report that I crossed my first half marathon finish line uninjured. I knew I had done well with my time because my running buddy Joe had kept me updated that I was WAY ahead of my former personal best of 2:53 but I didn't know how far and at that moment I didn't care - my goal was just to finish uninjured. <br />
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Soon I headed off to change in the changing tents (THAT was an interesting experience LOL) and after I was finished my official time came through...2:33! I had PR'ed by some 18 minutes!!! Of course I immediately posted it on Facebook LOL! Next up...party time! Unfortunately I couldn't get there as quickly as I wanted to because there was a HUGE block through Future World as the people who were finished were trying to cross through the people still finishing the race. Come on RunDisney! There MUST be a way you can fix this? Have the course go around World Showcase and only use one side of Future World? Turn off the fountain and let the finishers walk up and over it? LOL. I just wanted to get across because with all that standing my legs were cramping bad! <br />
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FINALLY I made my way over to Rose and Crown where I found my team, who had seen my Facebook post so there were lots of hugs and celebrating. The only down part of the night was my friend Joe didn't make it to the after party as he was feeling crappy after the race.<br />
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Even though this was Food and Wine festival, we didn't partake in a lot of the booths and we were pretty tired (we even skipped our 2 AM plank in Mexico) but had a great time hanging out in front of Rose and Crown. We DID close out the night at 3:45 AM dancing with some cast members though. Something I'll never forget!<br />
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While each race weekend is special in its own special way I think that night Wine and Dine definitely became my favorite. Great weather, great race (3 parks!), great bling, great friends, and the best after party with great food! Let's do it again!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-52549607318662754272013-11-24T16:43:00.003-08:002013-11-24T16:47:41.741-08:00Running and Real LifeThis has been something that has been swirling around in my brain and I just need to get it out on paper...or uh....blog. Whatever.<br />
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One month from yesterday, on October 15th I'll be coming up on the second anniversary of the day I started running. In 8 weeks I will be running my 3rd half marathon...who knew?<br />
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The other day on my long run I got to thinking about how my life has changed since I started running. Let's start with the obvious - I left my teaching job in Chicago, moved to Florida, started a new job. <br />
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Lets get the perhaps not so obvious stuff out of the way. It took a while but I got a job...but it was WAY different then I thought I would be, I got overly stressed, really sick and made the decision to quit. After that I went through a REALLY bad time. I was anxious, nervous, scared, possibly a little depressed. Looking back now I think I was looking at the BIG picture and trying to take on everything too fast....<br />
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<i>continued 11/24/2013</i><br />
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Thank goodness for my running. I think its safe to say it literally saved me. A couple of weeks after this all went down, I participated in my first long distance run - the Tower of Terror 10 miler. While it was not a perfect run I DID finish and I think seeing my running family and friends did me a lot of good. Felt good to smile and laugh again. And after that...I didn't have time to slow down - my first half marathon in January was coming quick! So here I am a year later, 3 half marathons and a new job (woohoo!) later and I've been thinking about how my running has affected my regular everyday life. <br />
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First of all - like I said the first job was a disaster because I kept looking at THE MOUNTAIN not the little steps. I think that's something has running has taught me. Sure, you go out there somedays planning to run 10 miles but there are a lot of days my brain and my body does NOT want to do that so I have to break it down. Sometimes its "lets just run 1 mile." Or "lets just run to the corner. " I've even have days where it's "Lets just run to that light post." In my real life when I'm having a tough week I don't look ALL the way to graduation. Don't even look to the end of the month. Some days its don't even look to Friday - lets just get through today....or at least the morning LOL. <br />
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Finishing these races has also made me strong in believing in myself. Once upon a time WAAAY back in high school, my gym class started running in preparation for the dreaded mile run. Well about two laps in, I had to quit because my side hurt SO bad. Years later, look at me - I'm a half marathon runner! In January I was SO proud that I finished! In February, my running partner was unable to make it to the race so I sent the rest of my team off and made it my goal to finish the race on my own. I was hurt but I did it! If that doesn't make you strong I don't know what does. And I'm happy to say in November I finished my 3rd half marathon uninjured, with an 18 minute PR! WOOHOO!<br />
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I guess the Kelly Clarkson song that comes up on my running playlist ALL the time is right "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-67411958497010541172013-03-02T18:19:00.003-08:002013-03-03T13:39:06.233-08:00"I am the lost princess!" Princess Half Marathon Weekend Part 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
First of all - this is my 100th post on this blog - what a cool thing to be able to write about on my 100th post!</div>
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The day of the half marathon started REALLY early. In fact, it starts so early it started the night before! Marathon weekend I woke up at 11:50 PM with a REALLY bad case of nerves because I had never run 13.1 miles before....and never went back to sleep. Saturday night/Sunday morning I woke up at yep, you guessed it, exactly 11:59 PM. I'm not sure I would call it nerves, I just didn't want to run. I mean seriously I was hatching a plan to get on Facebook and ask if there was anyone in the area who wanted my bib. Still not sure what that was about but the smart thing I did do was to get on Facebook. The good thing about living on the east coast is that a lot of my friends were still up. I posted a message about my nerves and within 30 minutes I had at least a dozen positive messages from my friends reminding me that I COULD do this! Luckily for me, I was able to go back to sleep - but that 2:15 AM alarm came really quick! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Best family, friends, and teammates in the world!</td></tr>
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As expected, even at 2:30 AM it was warm and ridiculously humid - I was VERY glad I had ditched the idea of doing a costume for the half, and instead put on my blue WDWRadio Running Team shirt, some black shorts and added a little bit of sparkle with my purple SparkleSkirt and brand new tiara Bondi Band. I was up and ready and apparently so was EPCOT because from my Boardwalk view room I could see the HUGE flood lights illuminating the parking lot where the runners would gather.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how I do Princessy in 100% humidity at 4 AM!</td></tr>
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Around 2:50 I headed down for the bus and again ran into my friends Steve and Valerie at the Boardwalk entrance....maybe they're my good luck charms ;). We exchanged quick hugs and then I headed for the runners bus. Again, it was a quick ride over to EPCOT and the runner's area was buzzing with excitement. If I thought people were dressed up the day before for the 5k - I hadn't seen nothing yet! There were tutus and sparkle and costumes everywhere! Men and women! I quickly found my team over by the T-Z family reunion tent and then....it was time to wait. But we made use of the time talking, laughing, taking pictures and doing my best to down a Pop Tart and a bottle of water. After a while, we did our traditional group shot, and our traditional pep talk from Lou before heading to the corrals. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing! Were all looking the same direction for once!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group hug before heading to the corrals</td></tr>
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As always we got into our corral early after a potty stop (I skipped this - big mistake - no this is not TMI - I find runners talk a lot about using the bathroom and it might be important later!). We were in the corral for so long I was getting hungry again (I still need to figure out this eating before a race thing) but that didn't last too long because the excitement kept growing and growing! From our corral we could see the big screen with characters and celebrities (yes, Lori's friend Sean Astin in his pretty tiara) being interviewed and the DJs keeping the crowd pumped up. Before long, it was time to go! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ever wonder what its like to be in a half marathon corral? Yeah it looks something like this!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6x8bG5gqUH__UkZZSgUsDTkGB1cS6xjkY7oBFQP00P6sFXLpZ4P0qlY-NvmwjvnF1CbIxB2NBE9naharONdg6rNAsheGquDWQWrnvy9lrRxYGaKMtsRTg5Z4vxQiynTxSjVogjDpeBiM/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6x8bG5gqUH__UkZZSgUsDTkGB1cS6xjkY7oBFQP00P6sFXLpZ4P0qlY-NvmwjvnF1CbIxB2NBE9naharONdg6rNAsheGquDWQWrnvy9lrRxYGaKMtsRTg5Z4vxQiynTxSjVogjDpeBiM/s1600/images.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready, set, go!</td></tr>
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This was kind of a different race for me because I had decided to run this race by myself - first time I had ever done that! I train by myself at home so I figured I could run by myself. I love running with my friends but actually for the most part it was kind of nice - I just cranked my tunes and ran my race, walked when I need to - no need to impress anybody. As I mentioned before it was VERY humid so it didn't take long before I was sweaty - yuck! Unfortunately that wasn't the worst of it. At some point during the half marathon in January I had messed up my IT band and I'm still hurting a little bit and the pain returned at about mile 5....not even half way! Yikes! I tried hard to ignore it and focus on all the cool stuff along the course. <br />
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Just like at marathon weekend there was a huge pirate ship where runners could stop and take their picture with Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa. The line was already long so there was no way I was waiting in that line! <br />
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Right around mile 3 we reached the Magic Kingdom toll both - not actually in the park yet but it's still pretty exciting! <br />
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Along the way we also passed photo ops with the Disney Villains and Lightning McQueen. Early on we also got to see the giant puppets that were part of the surprise at Mile 20 during the marathon - and I only had to run about 3 miles to see them! Sounds good to me!<br />
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Next up, my much hated "Contemporary hill of doom" that goes underneath the Seven Seas Lagoon. Remember that knee pain I mentioned? Yeah it kicked in right about here - especially when I caught my foot in a grate on the road. Ouch! I luckily stayed on my feet, moved over to the side, took a second to evaluate. No major damage done so I kept moving but that knee hurt so you can bet I walked up that hill. <br />
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Next up - finally the Magic Kingdom! I try my hardest not to walk in a park - especially on Main Street. Just BEING on Main Street gives you an extra boost of energy. Entering the park through the gate between Tony's and the Chapeau is awesome but THEN I see my team on the corner cheering me on and THEN turning the corner to see the castle...wow. Its SO hard to explain. I honestly don't remember much of running down Main Street marathon weekend so I tried hard to soak it in this time - I remember fog and the purple lights slowly fading away.<br />
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Pretty soon it was through Tomorrowland, back into Fantasyland where we are greeted by two trumpeters and then THROUGH the castle. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks James for letting me borrow this!</td></tr>
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This always reminds me of being in my college marching band when before each football game we would come through the underpass screaming and yelling and chanting...people do the same thing through the castle! As I came through, I remembered what I'd read on the internet to head left if you want your picture taken in front of the castle, as I headed down the ramp I made eye contact with a photographer, smiled, and then some stupid princess dodged in front of me! I was sure she had bombed my pic! Looking to my left I saw the lines to get your pic taken in front of the castle weren't so bad, and since I was sure my other castle pic had been ruined I headed over for a quick shot.<br />
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At this point, my knee was bugging me a lot, and as much as it killed me, I decided to slow down a little bit through Frontierland - where I felt a tap on my shoulder - it was my friend and teammate Liz! She was on a walk break too so we hung together for a little bit before it was time to head out of the Magic Kingdom. Remember when I said, it was a bad idea to skip using the porta-potty before getting into my corral? Well this is where it caught up to me. <br />
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I pushed myself through the 10k mark past Aurora, Phillip and "the castle-float-they use for everything" and made a pit stop before heading back out onto the road. Luckily, these bathrooms weren't used much and there was no wait since I think a lot of people stopped to use the facility inside the park. <br />
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Feeling a little lighter (LOL), I kept on running, downing a vanilla Clif Shot at the next water stop (wow makes me sound like a real runner!) and then passed Mary Poppins and Bert in front of the Grand Floridian. I remember thinking how warm she must have been since it was Mary in her hat and coat - not Jolly Holiday Mary. About this point, I notice the tongue of my shoe had rubbing against my big toe and it was REALLY starting to bother me so I stopped a couple of times to try to fix it ...no luck :(. It was still warm, and I was hurting so I decided to not be mad at myself if I went over 3 hours and do a little more walking. This is where my training outdoors at home came in handy. I've become VERY good at "all you need to do is just run to that sign, or just run to that light post". Pretty soon, I ran into (not literally) my teammate Amanda, who gave me a big boost of encouragement that I so needed! Around the half way point we got to listen to the song picked as "the theme"....Girl on Fire by Alicia Keyes. I get the "Girl Power" message but not really a great running song in my opinion! Too slow! So I cranked my music and kept moving. <br />
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About Mile 9 I sucked down another Clif Shot - this time Mocha with a full shot of caffeine! Woohoo! I must have done something right because during marathon weekend 9-13 seemed SO long, this time those miles seemed to fly by. Maybe because I knew what to expect, but I think the caffeine REALLY had something to do with it! Then it was time to conquer what I "lovingly" refer to as "big stupid overpass". Basically we have to climb up a HUGE onramp, and then about a mile or so later we hit another part of the clover leaf with a HUGE hill. Just like January, Sarge was there "encouraging" us up that hill. I didn't stop to do any pushups for him, but I did salute him as I ran by ;). <br />
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Everything I've ever read will tell you not to swerve back and forth because all it does is add mileage to your race but when we reached the top of the overpass I moved WAY right to look over the side and then made my way WAY left to look over the side and was thrilled to see SO many people still behind me. :)...Hey, whatever gets me through right?<br />
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At about mile 12 I ran into another friend, Jess who I hadn't seen in a long time and took a few minutes to catch up with her and her new job at Disney! By now it was time to head in to EPCOT! I knew my team was there but they seemed farther ahead than I thought they would be but I found them and they gave me that last boost I needed. These miles can be really fun because there are a TON of people cheering you on!<br />
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Into EPCOT - I knew there were LOTS of photographers so it was time to run again! <br />
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One loop around Future World and I would be just about done! Took a little walk on the other side so that I would look good at the finish line. This time I felt MUCH better about the gospel choir being there and then kicked it into high gear. Mom and Dad were waiting there, cheering for me a few hundred feet from the finish line and then....I finished!!!! I received my medal and grabbed a bottle of water, got my finisher's picture taken and grabbed a banana before heading to the self-medical tent to ice my knee and get that shoe off my sore toe! (But I'm happy to report besides my knee and my toe - I had no other injuries - no blisters and I still have 10 toenails!) Honestly, a few tears were shed, I'm not sure if its from the pain, or from the emotions, or just the excitement around me but here I was, a two time half marathoner in about 6 week time span! AND I was thrilled to see that I had finished in 2:55:04 - just barely 1 minute and 30 second longer than what I had run in January! Imagine what I would have done if I hadn't stopped!<br />
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After the race, I hung around for a while, then caught a bus back to Boardwalk which wasn't as much of a nightmare as you might think. Unfortunately, the bus back to Boardwalk was also shared with runners staying at the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club AND the Beach Club. But they were doing a great job counting off enough people to fill the bus and getting them out of there ASAP. The worst part was probably that the Boardwalk bus line stretched passed the porta-potties that had been um...well used :(. Good thing for me that those buses were moving quick because in addition to running the race that morning, we were checking out of Boardwalk and checking into Animal Kingdom Lodge which meant I had to be showered and checked out by 11 AM! I think the line from Princess Diaries applies itself well here "A queen (or a princess) is never late....everyone else is simply early"...cause now I'm a true Princess - I've got the medal to prove it! :)</div>
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Lessons learned:</div>
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Like I said, this was the first race I ran the whole thing by myself. Honestly I was REALLY nervous about doing that. But, I kind of enjoyed it. Sometimes when I run with others I feel like I have to "impress" them - running longer than I probably should, no potty stops. But this time I ran my own race and I still ran a sub 3 half marathon! Imagine if I hadn't stopped what my time would have looked like!</div>
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Drink water! Disney is very good about putting water stops about every mile or so on the course and with how humid it was, water was so important. At quite a few water stops, I actually stopped so I could drink the whole cup instead of just getting a few sips or spilling half of it down my front. </div>
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Its okay to walk! Even in my training I HATE to walk but this time due to certain parts on the right side of my body I was forced to walk a little bit. Jeff Galloway always talks about how taking walk breaks keeps you running stronger. Hmmm guess he's right! </div>
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Katie needs a smartphone. It KILLED me to leave my camera at home but I knew it was going to be super humid so I decided to leave my running belt at home (which can hold my phone and camera but gets a little heavy) and bring the phone (for obvious reasons) in my armband. Being the photo junkie I am of course there were about 1000 pics I wanted to take and my phone camera sucks so much I didn't even try. But I did make a smart choice wearing the arm band, my back felt better than it did after my January half. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-63756499846113896182013-02-28T09:01:00.004-08:002013-03-01T19:01:14.993-08:00Everybody Tweeting Is Here Because No One Else Is Up Yet!: Princess Half Marathon Weekend Part 2Saturday morning was part one of getting up before dawn because I was running the 5k. Buses started running at 4:30 so I made sure I was up by 3:30. Walking out of the lobby, I ran into my friends Steve and Valerie who were waiting on their ride. After a quick good morning, I took off for the bus stop and I was able to be on the first bus to EPCOT and I was one of the first people to arrive - easily with in the first 100!<br />
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It was crazy to see the parking lot so empty when I knew it would soon be packed with Princesses! I usually never get in line for the character photo op because the line is so long but getting there early, I decided to get my picture taken with Prince Mickey and Princess Minnie. Within a few minutes I'd spotted my friends Liz and Michelle. Michelle had already had her pic taken with the Royal Mice but I invited Liz to jump into line with me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtV7iH7JaScw4bAMBEE-ZDCQwyJR9a81Uv2EgfZvRHfXD8OldKWH3pRJW6-PKmIEii2O2F3QG6FZt8LqMRIDBYyCZd8lEVnxjcydcaLFf4x_bkMRwZW3VgTKM4vkTRv_fDZr0qBEOG9Qs/s1600/morning.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtV7iH7JaScw4bAMBEE-ZDCQwyJR9a81Uv2EgfZvRHfXD8OldKWH3pRJW6-PKmIEii2O2F3QG6FZt8LqMRIDBYyCZd8lEVnxjcydcaLFf4x_bkMRwZW3VgTKM4vkTRv_fDZr0qBEOG9Qs/s320/morning.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why are we up at 4 AM?</td></tr>
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After a while, the team started to arrive and Liz ran over and grabbed Deanna and Marion to join us in our pic. Good thing too because by this time the line was getting crazy!<br />
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The 5k races are special to me because that was my first run last year and its where a lot of people start. When I did my first 5k last January I wasn't sure I could even do those three miles but my awesome team pulled me through, so now I feel like its important for me to be there for other new runners. This time our newest runner was Marion Mongello, the 9 year old daughter of my friends Lou and Deanna. Being the photo junkie that I am, I had a blast capturing some memories for Mom and daughter.<br />
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Oh yeah, the other reason I was excited about this race, for the first time I was getting into the spirit of the weekend and dressed up! While she's not a true Disney Princess my favorite character is Mary Poppins. I have been obsessed with the white and red Jolly Holiday dress for as long as I can remember and I thought if done right, it could be a cute running costume. It really wasn't as hard as you might think to make it and I got SO many compliments on it! <br />
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Its tradition for our team to get to the gathering area of a race as early as possible but the hours went by pretty quickly as we chatted, laughed and took pictures until it was time to line up in our corrals.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marion getting interviewed for the Mickey Miles Podcast!</td></tr>
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Finally it was time to go and it was another beautiful morning around World Showcase - even if it was a bit humid! <br />
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And on top of that, we had to keep up with Marion! I think we all thought, "9 year old - we'll take it easy at her pace"....Yeah right! Every time there was a gap she was ready to run! As Steve said "this is not what I signed up for!" <br />
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We stopped for our traditional pic in Italy and a few others to capture memories of Marion's first 5k.<br />
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Before we knew it we were crossing the finish line and getting our medals. Getting your medal is always special but this time it was extra special because our friend Lori was volunteering for the race and got to give us our medals (oh yeah, she got to give Sean Astin his medal too :) ).<br />
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Once again, a great time and I have a feeling Marion will be back. She already asked her Mom to sign her up for the Expedition Everest Challenge! ;)<br />
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After that, we celebrated with a group breakfast at Kona, then back home/to our hotels for showers before we met up at Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately everything was PACKED so we only got on a few attractions and had lunch at Columbia Harbor House before we headed our separate ways. But we wouldn't miss eachother for too long because the next day was another LOOONG day and oh yeah, I had to run a half marathon. <br />
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That night I grabbed dinner in my room, watched TV and then watched Illuminations from my balcony before heading to bed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A perfect ending to a perfect day</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodnight EPCOT!</td></tr>
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Pics from Marathonfoto<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-35377087317055037452013-02-27T12:30:00.000-08:002013-02-28T07:29:24.929-08:00Oops I Did It Again! Princess Half Marathon 2013 Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yes, I quoted a Britney song for this post but I couldn't help it! What'd I do again? Well, let's just say were 2 months into 2013 and I've run 2 half marathons. I wasn't originally planning on running this because A) Disney races are expensive and B) I wasn't sure I wanted to run another half marathon after January. But, after marathon weekend, another member of the WDWRadio Running Team who had signed up to run Princess offered me her bib because she was unable to run -speaking of bibs, that turned into kind of a nightmare but thanks to one special "Princess" I was able to run.<br />
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Anyway, fast forward a couple of weeks and the big weekend arrived. On Friday morning I headed down to Disney, checked into Disney's Boardwalk Villas and then jumped on the bus and headed to the expo. This expo was a little different than normal because, due to baseball Spring Training, expo was being held at the Coronado Springs Resort. I got a bus from Boardwalk to the expo with no problem (because of the smaller space the only way to get to expo was by bus) and could feel the buzz as I walked in. As runners entered the convention center where the expo was being held, they were welcomed with a huge banner, a very princess-y backdrop and two royal footmen available for taking photos. But I didn't stop, I had things to do and people to see!<br />
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When I walked in, I thought "okay this isn't too bad". The entrance area led right into packet pick up...and then I turned the corner to the "shopping area". Yikes! Everything was crowded and there were SO many Princesses. I was smart and had made my "shopping list" ahead of time. First up, BondiBands to get a white headband to match my Mary Poppins costume for the 5k, next up I went looking for my new discovered ClifShots since I could only get Mocha at home. Unfortunately, I couldn't the find actual ClifShots to buy but I did find samples which was nice. Tried the vanilla and Citrus flavors (which has caffeine in it! Woohoo).<br />
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I tried to find a picture the craziness of expo but I think this video does it MUCH better!</div>
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So by now I had had two energy shots and I was feeling it a little - but was nothing compared to my friend Lori! Next thing I know, she hugs me and yells "I MET SEAN ASTIN!" LOL. Whether you know him as Mikey from Goonies, Rudy from Rudy or Samwise from Lord of the Rings, I'm pretty sure everybody who reads this will recognize him from somewhere. Sean was at expo because he was running the 5k as well as the half AND since because he had run the Tinkerbell half in Disneyland a few weeks before he would be earning his Coast to Coast medal. Everyone who met him said Sean was really nice and he was even nice enough to sign Lori's Goofy "I Did It!" shirt. This was just the beginning of Lori's Sean obsession for the weekend ;)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lori and her friend Sean (courtesy of Lori Burke)</td></tr>
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Then it was time to pick up my race packets and tshirts (which thanks to Lori, I didn't have to stand in the line for the half shirts which for some unGodly reason stretched all the way to the back of the room at one point!). After a while, I said goodbye to Lori then finally picked up my Clifshots (5 for $5...not too shabby) and got a new armband from ifitness - where I got $2 off for mentioning that I follow them on Twitter! Woohoo! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My expo haul plus my Princess BondiBand that was a Valentine's Day present from my Mom<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2013 Princess weekend shirts - so in love!</td></tr>
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Like I said, it was crazy crowded in there so I didn't stay much longer. But I did get to finally meet some girls I had met on the PHM Facebook page and my teammate Diana. There was an enormous line for the RunDisney merchandise booth so I didn't even get to look at anything and the line at the New Balance booth for THE shoes wasn't getting any better. So I got back on the bus and headed back to Boardwalk. With 16.2 miles over the next two days coming up, I wanted to stay off my feet a little bit so we went to Downtown Disney for a drink at Raglan Road and then much later, into World Showcase but only for dinner at Japan and dessert in France! This runner is here to tell you that there's nothing wrong with a little Creme Brule' the night before a 5k!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-77950446163030024622013-01-31T11:54:00.003-08:002013-02-27T12:31:59.863-08:00Marathon Weekend 2013So I've been told I need to update my blog (by a couple of people). So what to write about? Well, this blog is called The Objects Of my Obsessions - so I better write about what something I've beeen obsessed with.<br />
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1 year and 3 months - thats how long I've been running. 1 year - that's how long its been since my first RunDisney event...a 5k. And here I am, finished my first(?) half marathon!<br />
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Ive gotta say, I still have a LOT of days where I still don't like running but I've made a lot of friends but in someways running has saved my life - its been a long year. <br />
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Okay on to my marathon weekend recap!<br />
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On Thursday, Mom, Dad and I headed to Disney where we were staying at Boardwalk (PERFECT location for this race), dropped our stuff, and then headed to Expo at ESPN Wide World of Sports. After some mixups we headed over to the HP Field House to pick up my bib number and bag check sticker. Thats something I wish they would change - you don't get your bag until you pick up your shirts so you've got people carrying around loose bibs...saw quite a few hit the ground. Hope nobody lost theirs! <br />
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Then we headed over to the Jostens Center to pick up my shirt and bag and all that good stuff. Because I was running the 5k AND the half first I had to go UPSTAIRS and pick up my 5k package and then I had to go DOWNSTAIRS and pick up my half stuff. I was exhausted already and the races hadn't even started yet! Then the fun part! Time to go shopping! First I cruised by the RunDisney booth to check out the medal that would soon be mine then I made a bee-line for the ifitness booth because I had been eyeing an extra pocket for my running belt. <br />
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After that I didn't need anything else so Mom and Dad headed back to the resort while I tried to catch up with my friend Joe. While we were there we ran into our friends Happy, Pattie and Lori. <br />
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Later, after surviving the craziness of expo Joe and I dropped his stuff at his resort, and then after an interesting encounter involving his phone headed to Magic Kingdom for his first waffle sandwich and first time visiting New Fantasyland. But we couldn't goof around too long because we had to be up at like 3 AM for the 5k. AND we were meeting friends to celebrate Lori's birthday at the Bellevue Lounge. What a great way to start the weekend! <br />
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Friday morning, got up at like 3, put on my Running Team shirt and got on the runner's bus to EPCOT where I found my team (Go Blue Tide!).<br />
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This year was especially fun because we had 40+ team members running/walking the 5k including my friend Lou Mongello - who was completely ready with a utility belt complete with Doritos, Twizzlers, and Donuts. A little much for a 3 mile walk if you ask me LOL. <br />
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Walking the 5k was weird but it was fun to be with a group of friends and talk, and laugh (and sing our way around World Showcase) and of course we stopped for our now traditional picture in Italy.<br />
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Friday night we headed for an early dinner at the Pasta bar at the Art of Animation...apparently about 200 other people had the same idea! We were all looking to carb load I guess! It is very cool though - you go up there and pick your noodles, sauce and toppings that you want. <br />
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After a pleasant walk around the resort, we headed back so I could get to bed early, which at Disney is VERY weird! Well, I must have gone to bed too early (around 9 PM) because I was up at 11:50 with a bad case of nerves...looking back I think it was more excitement than nerves. I never really went back to sleep so that was interesting. Got up for good at 2, got dressed and headed down to meet Lori in the lobby and get on the bus. We didn't have to wait very long for a bus and were soon at EPCOT to find our team. <br />
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After meeting the team, taking pictures and the traditional pep talk from Lou it was time to head to the corrals! For some reason that took a LONG time - it was like a cattle heard. So Steve,Deanna, Nicole, Joe and I used our time wisely and used the Porta-Potties there, which I should mention were on a pretty precarious angle! Yikes!<br />
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Finally we headed to our corrals where we met up with George and waited around but we had a good time psyching ourselves up, looking for Joey Fatone and seeing all the awesome costumes (did anyone else see Aladdin, Jafar, the Genie and my favorite, Abu?). Before we knew it the first corral fireworks went off (WOW, that was a show), and before we knew it, it was our turn to go!<br />
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I won't bore you with a mile by mile replay (because frankly it was a lot of dark roads and two weeks removed from it, I dont remember). But I do remember around mile 2 we came across a HUGE pirate ship with Captain Jack and Barbossa. The line was crazy long so we kept going. A little while later we came across Jack Skellington. Okay, 5k down! Woohoo....10 miles to go! BUT, I had done my research and I knew we were just 2 miles from the Magic Kingdom! Around this time we lost Steve and Deanna as they took off on a faster pace so I ran my race with Joe and Jillian. First we had to survive "Contemporary Hill". In the future, I plan on not even bothering trying to run that one - just walk it and pick up speed when you get up the other side. Pretty soon we were passing by some people on unicycles and crazy bicycles as we entered the Magic Kingdom parking lot.<br />
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Heading into Magic Kingdom I was feeling pretty good! The sun was coming up, I could see the gate that would lead us into the park between Tony's and the hat shop, and I knew soon we would be turning the corner onto Main Street to see the castle and our team cheering us on! So cool! This being one of my first big races I had never really experienced seeing the team cheering for us on the course! Wow! What a pick me up!<br />
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As we ran down Main Street I tried to soak it in - the sun was almost up but the Dream Lights were still on. Before I knew it we were heading through Tomorrowland, into Fantasyland, then through the castle....and STRAIGHT into a standstill traffic jam. We think people were stopping on the bridge to have their picture taken, ugh. So we kind of walked by the photographer and tried to look like we were running the best we could. I think I had Jillian convinced that the photographer on the ground was just trying to get a picture up her skirt LOL! After that it was into Liberty Square ("EW! Were running in Poo!"), Frontierland, and then backstage past the giant-castle-float-they-use-for-everything and Phllip and Aurora. <br />
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Right around Mile 7 I started losing energy since Id only been able to eat half a bagel some 5 or 6 hours before so I chowed down on the Kit Kat bar I had stuck in my belt (what? Im no pro runner so Im not into Gu yet!) Then it was back out on the road again. The sun was up now so there was a lot of shuffling through empty water cups and around mile 8.5 my leg started telling me that it was done. Not good when the race is 13 miles! So Joe and I started doing a little more walking at the mile markers (walk a minute...sometimes more) but I tried to push through the pain and I'm pretty proud of how I did. <br />
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Skipping ahead to Mile 11 - "The Overpass of Doom". Now I had heard of this and in the condition my knee was in I was NOT looking forward to it, but I muscled my way up. At the top it was pretty cool to look down and be able to see ALL the people still behind us. That may have been my favorite view...even more so then the castle. :) But we weren't done yet...there was another hill...CRAP! On this one there were two announcers and a big screen. The announcers were asking runners where they were from and shouting it out....we seemed to be around a lot of people from Virginia! <br />
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Mile 12...heading in to EPCOT but I just wanted to be done. I do remember seeing Phineas and Ferb out for pics but mostly I remember Joe telling me to just keep pushing because we were going to come around the corner and see our team again...sure enough there they were just in time! I needed that boost right there. A few days later I was excited to see that that moment was caught in the running team recap video and I don't look so bad, in fact I have a huge smile on my face! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No idea how Im still smiling here. So thankful for my team!</td></tr>
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1 more mile - into EPCOT. Into Future World, make the loop around at the entrance to World Showcase and out. I was in quite a bit of pain here but I knew we were done so I kept pushing...ouch. At one point I told Joe just to go but he was awesome and waited for me. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See that smile? Its all a lie!</td></tr>
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I remember coming out of EPCOT and seeing the Gospel Choir. Now Id heard from past years about the Gospel Choir and how its such an inspirational push. Not for me...I feel bad about this but I was kind of like "ugh be quiet!" But then, I saw it....The Finish Line! As we got closer I found my Mom and Dad cheering me on as we inched closer and closer. I remember right after that Joe said to me "Okay this is it. Give it all you got". I tried to push but there was NOTHING left...like an engine that stalled...and that's exactly what I said "There's nothing left!" But I pushed through, crossed that finish line, and got what Id been waiting for for months! My Donald medal! There was a part of me that had been really nervous about it but I had done it! 13.1 miles! And amazingly, outside of my leg, I didn't feel like DEATH!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wanted to finish in under 3 hours and I did!</td></tr>
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After the race, I headed to the area to get a water bottle and my box and I ran into my friend Jen - which was awesome because she has been such an inspiration through this whole journey for me. Of course she looked like she had gone for a nice easy walk. I got my finisher's picture taken and then waited around for a while to gather my bearings and finally got to see my old co-worker from Bright Horizons, Mellissa! What a great time to reconnect - both of us with our shiny new medals!<br />
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Instead of taking the Runner's bus back to Boardwalk I decided to keep walking and walk through EPCOT because I knew if I sat down on that bus, I'd be in trouble. And I didn't have to walk through the park alone, as I was heading in I ran into Lori (yeah there's a story about that but I wont share it here LOL). Surprisingly, neither one of us didn't look too bad for having run 13.1 miles. Luckily, I was done....she still had 26.2 miles to go. But we did have a nice walk through the park, cheering on the runners that were still finishing. Finally, we made it back to Boardwalk where Lori caught up with her family and I headed back to my room for a shower, ice and FOOD! But I gotta say - for my first half (the farthest I had ever run by 3 miles) I was in good shape. No blisters, no missing toe nails. Just a little sore and tired.<br />
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Somehow (I think I was still running on adrenaline), I headed to Magic Kingdom for the WDWRadio meet of the month then it was off to Teppan Edo for an awesome dinner with friends...did I mention how grateful I am for the elevator at Teppan Edo? <br />
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The next morning I definitely wanted to get up and support our marathon runner's but when the alarm went off at 2...there was no way - so I went back to sleep (sorry guys!) I woke up again at 5 but I knew that bus transportation had been suspended and all the roads were closed so there was no way I was getting to Magic Kingdom...so I went back to sleep for a couple of hours. <br />
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The good news is that when I finally did get up I was a little sore but no where near as sore as I was after Tower of Terror! Yay! So I got up and headed for EPCOT. Walked over to EPCOT and just as we got there, I spotted our cheering team heading in the International Gateway entrance just as the first runners were coming through. For the next 3 hours or so I had a great time cheering on and encouraging our runners...and everybody else. So proud of everyone who ran!<br />
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Of course I wore my medals and I even got congratulated a couple of times by runners on the course! Here it is, nearly mile 25 of a marathon (nearly mile 38 for the Goofy runners) and they took time to congratulate us! One of the many reasons I love Disney races! I heard someone say "Wow I feel like an underachiever". She was wearing a half medal too and I understand what she meant - but I'm proud of my 13.1 miles! I literally hung around until the very end for the last runner (who almost looked like he had a personal escort) and then when it was time move...WOW was I stiff!<br />
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To help my legs I spent a few hours walking around EPCOT, got my picture taken with Señor Donald and then later, headed back to Rose and Crown for the Running Team meet up to wrap up another great weekend.<br />
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Like I said, I was pretty done at the end of my race but I've already found myself saying to someone "when I run the half next year" and oh yeah...Im now running the Princess half...in 3 weeks. :OUnknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-3520255061674361442011-12-09T14:37:00.001-08:002011-12-09T14:37:17.388-08:00A little OT<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Dear family and friends –</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">If you would have told me a year ago that I would be a runner, I would have told you that you were crazy! I would have thought you were even crazier if you would have told me I have signed up for not one but two runs!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">In January, I will be joining a group of friends at EPCOT to run in a 5k during Disney’s marathon weekend. In February, my family will be joining me for the Princess Half Marathon Weekend Royal Family 5k.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Why, you ask? That’s easy! In addition to combining two of my greatest passions (Disney and kids), it’s for a good cause!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">I am running in support of The Dream Team Project, which raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">The number one wish of the seriously ill children that Make-A-Wish serves is to visit Walt Disney World. It is the goal of The Dream Team Project to help those wishes come true, so that a family can have some happy memories during a difficult time.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">According to the Make A Wish Website, the average cost of granting a wish to Disney is $3,900. Since its inception, The Dream Team Project has raised over $200,000 – that’s enough to make over 50 Wishes come true! Today, the WDW Radio Running Team is over 100 members strong proudly wearing our team colors (blue and white) while raising donations for the Dream Team Project benefiting Make A Wish.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">As a member of the WDW Radio Running Team, I have committed to raising $100 for the Make A Wish Foundation.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">If you are able to, please sponsor me and the Dream Team! Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Every little bit helps!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">If you can donate, please visit</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://friends.wish.org/100-100/page/Lou-Mongello/The-Dream-Team.htm" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://friends.wish.org/100-100/page/Lou-Mongello/The-Dream-Team.htm</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">There, you can make your donation directly to Make-A-Wish and print off a receipt for tax purposes.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">In the notes area please indicate "WDW Radio Running Team sponsoring Katie McNamara”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Thanks!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Katie</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-91457205253866996212010-07-04T16:40:00.000-07:002010-07-04T16:40:00.899-07:00Even the carnies show me respect!Last night I went to the local 4th of July festival and wandered around the rides area with my camera. This is not technically my best picture but I HAD to take a picture of it!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-24FHhkyWIlDPGLc-ah6Z2VRPtcxEmpetgB4dOKonYhMcU1bj9ZE7G1IDWQuG8MA-18WN0WorMol1aE6E4MF9cVVM13PtMlKUNnlGuGQGKRL9FvntfJ8XMZpZjLc0MEeZsZ0xLiU0KQ/s1600/IMG_0061.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-24FHhkyWIlDPGLc-ah6Z2VRPtcxEmpetgB4dOKonYhMcU1bj9ZE7G1IDWQuG8MA-18WN0WorMol1aE6E4MF9cVVM13PtMlKUNnlGuGQGKRL9FvntfJ8XMZpZjLc0MEeZsZ0xLiU0KQ/s400/IMG_0061.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Even the Carnies respect the power of the OGRE! They built me a castle! Okay so its a funhouse....I'm not sure if I should be offended by that....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Have a safe and happy 4th everyone!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-64325120980432947682010-06-27T19:24:00.000-07:002010-06-27T19:25:23.885-07:00Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?So I was goofing around on Youtube and came across a trailer for the movie Three Little Words starring Fred Astaire. Actually this trailer was part of the newsreel where Ginger presented Fred with his Oscar.<br />
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Back to Three Little Words. Besides Fred (and Red Skelton and Vera Ellen) there was a young lady in the cast that I recognized.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNam383NrG6YU2SrMiZfKsIiY_WE_EvCn0u6R9uFZjJGyUJP3jiBXctlTo8XjdEjf6IKIMVasxI9iKk2tzgYWG1vwDRqzTo9lICGBS2JCnV-zs7Js-6nybyp-5SMx1ShpcLHn2QZaC9bc/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-27+at+9.16.27+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNam383NrG6YU2SrMiZfKsIiY_WE_EvCn0u6R9uFZjJGyUJP3jiBXctlTo8XjdEjf6IKIMVasxI9iKk2tzgYWG1vwDRqzTo9lICGBS2JCnV-zs7Js-6nybyp-5SMx1ShpcLHn2QZaC9bc/s320/Screen+shot+2010-06-27+at+9.16.27+PM.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Yup thats Gale Robbins aka Shirlene from Barkleys. But its not her appearance that got me as much as that dress. I recognized it from somewhere. It took me a few minutes but then I realized its this dress....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Cw2g9TIO307UifTQ-ezh_IG7-I99K7mVOUF1WTJ0qx6DFn6TTDFs4s7uyxZ_ehvowPeJc1SlBnR4sZHR_Tn8-KtWBFphMCWyN4-zyYUJbnrL6xzrXoUfnDp728b0Gu80FLsog9De3rM/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-27+at+9.17.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Cw2g9TIO307UifTQ-ezh_IG7-I99K7mVOUF1WTJ0qx6DFn6TTDFs4s7uyxZ_ehvowPeJc1SlBnR4sZHR_Tn8-KtWBFphMCWyN4-zyYUJbnrL6xzrXoUfnDp728b0Gu80FLsog9De3rM/s320/Screen+shot+2010-06-27+at+9.17.26+PM.png" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The dress Ann Miller wore in Easter Parade for "The Girl on The Magazine Cover" and "It Only Happens When I Dance With You".</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">No luck finding if Gale was the same height as Annie or they had to adjust the dress.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Maybe Fred liked dancing with girls in that dress???</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Anybody else know of costumes that can be found in more than one movie?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-16778346732463606122010-06-14T15:51:00.000-07:002010-06-14T15:51:31.489-07:00More about me...Saturday night I stayed in and watched Julie and Julia. Everyone knows that that's the movie about a chick who decides to write a blog as she cooks her way through Julia Child's cookbook. By the way - has anyone checked out the real Julie/Julia Project? They obviously cut out lots of language! http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html<br />
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My Dad said to me "You should write a blog." I laughed. "About what?" I asked. He said you could write about being a teacher. I kind of blew it off but yesterday I was thinking about all the weird and funny things I see at work as a teacher.<br />
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A couple of years ago my friend and I decided these stories would make a great book. No book yet - but I'm writing a blog!<br />
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I don't plan on this making me rich and famous or anything but its kind of a release.<br />
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Also, I've decided I want to be a more positive person - so I'm documenting the good times! <br />
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Come. Read. Laugh!<br />
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http://msk8t.blogspot.com/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-33205184844326447882010-06-13T07:50:00.000-07:002010-06-13T07:50:11.589-07:00We survived...againThis fits here because the last few weeks it has been kind of an obsession making sure everything goes right!<div><br />
</div><div>As some of you may know, every year I plan an outing to the local Schaumburg Flyers baseball game. This year, because we have 2 Pre-K classes - it has been our biggest one yet. 130 tickets! This includes most of the kids and their families! Of course after I get the tickets passed out theres not much I can do except for hope for good weather! Unfortunately all week they were calling for rain and thunderstorms Friday. We got VERY lucky except for a few brief sprinkles - and the kids had a great time! <div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzlnfv91Wp1K06ACSzLltG-S3T1IsqgR6lc6SQ74tsA0DR6p-rfjR0fLs4ZA-MKpSlha4q88Fg8ISZ4AeN8ot6MDgkfnJ111W7rbDz0gHfEPH2RDSkGQYrqJC0NqkPN-df9Z2KQlOllk/s1600/Tie-dye+jerseys+6-10-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHzlnfv91Wp1K06ACSzLltG-S3T1IsqgR6lc6SQ74tsA0DR6p-rfjR0fLs4ZA-MKpSlha4q88Fg8ISZ4AeN8ot6MDgkfnJ111W7rbDz0gHfEPH2RDSkGQYrqJC0NqkPN-df9Z2KQlOllk/s320/Tie-dye+jerseys+6-10-10.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198967003326405007.post-56340445419875460882010-06-03T05:36:00.000-07:002010-06-03T05:36:18.614-07:00More pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For once, most of Memorial Day turned out to be absolutely beautiful. So the fam and I decided to stay far away from the city (thank you, Blackhawks) and go to the Chicago Botanical Gardens out here in the suburbs. Of course my camera tagged along! Enjoy!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procgtaserv/47a0db10b3127cce98548206726400000045100BZOWrhs0bMW" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procgtaserv/47a0db10b3127cce98548206726400000045100BZOWrhs0bMW" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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