Mrs. Darling's 2010 Half Marathon Trip:Yes, it does snow at Disney World [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

dismagiclover

01-14-2010, 10:30 AM

:welcome: to my latest trip report. For those of you unfamiliar with any of my previous adventures you can check out my last trip report here
The Darling Family June Beach Club Trip: Hugging Ewoks and Finding Peter Pan (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2210463)

This trip report has a much shorter cast of characters and a much shorter duration, but it was definitely an adventure. So without further delay I’ll introduce our limited cast:

Mrs Darling (that’s me and you can call me Jenny). I’m now a 38 year old mostly SAHM that loves all things Disney (except maybe Hannah Montana). I also dabble in running and one of my favorite things is combining the two. I “ran” the Disneyland Half Marathon in 2007 and this trip was planned so I could “run” the Disney World Half Marathon.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/jenny.jpg

Mrs. Disney (but we can call her Liz). My great friend that used to be my great neighbor. She left me a few years back, but I’ve long since forgiven her for that oversight. She is a huge Disney lover too and we’ve been lucky enough to meet up in Disney World three times since she moved far, far away. I planted the seed in her head of running in Disney way back in 2007 when I did the Disneyland Half. She started running herself a little less than a year ago. She then took me up on my promise that if she ever ran the Disney World half I’d come run it with her. (Of course that was a promise I was thrilled to keep.) She took to running right away and as you will see as the report progresses the student has overtaken the instructor. (Not that I was ever a great instructor.) Hopefully she will pop in regularly and tell ya'll the real story;)
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/liz3.jpg

The final cast members play very minor rolls that involve voices only (sometimes they come from the cell phone and sometimes they are just in my head.) If you read my summer trip report you’re familiar with the ones I left behind. DH (he’s not Peter this trip because he is nowhere near Disney World), Wendy, John, and Michael. This is the whole family last summer.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/DisneyPhotoImage26.jpg

The Plan:
This was a quick weekend trip with the sole purpose of getting our Donald Duck medals though we did fit some other fun in. I’d rented some DVC points for the weekend at a Bay Lake Towers studio and we’d decided on the Deluxe Dining Plan. We figured it would be OK to splurge on a weekend that we ran 13.1 miles. Our reservations were made and we were ready to go.

So let the good times roll!!!
party:

Day 1: The Journey (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35020250&postcount=17)
Bay Lake Tower Arrival (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35039673&postcount=28)
The Expo and the Tyvek Man (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35054549&postcount=46)
A California Grill Birthday Dinner (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35069773&postcount=59)
Night Night (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35085394&postcount=74)

Day 2: The Marshmallow Gang (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35104745&postcount=86)
Will we ever get to the Magic Kingdom? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35117131&postcount=95)
A Sad Parting (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35131474&postcount=109)
Racing Up Main Street (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35144303&postcount=115)
Blazing our way through the Magic Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35156455&postcount=129)
Heroes (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35169217&postcount=147)
This Race is On (for one of us anyway) (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35186685&postcount=163)
Epcot Here I Come (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35201698&postcount=175)
The Big Finish (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35214892&postcount=186)
It's Freezing Out Here! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35229619&postcount=199)
Liberty Tree Character Lunch (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35243216&postcount=206)
A Magic Kingdom Afternoon (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35256025&postcount=215)
Our Celebration Dinner at the Castle (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35269173&postcount=224)
The Day Finally Ends (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35283372&postcount=237)

Day 3: Goodbye Bay Lake Tower (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35298113&postcount=248)
The End (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35311736&postcount=256)

Final Thoughts (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35322981&postcount=270)

liznboys

01-14-2010, 10:44 AM

dismagiclover

01-14-2010, 11:33 AM

I am here girlfriend!!!!! :yay:

And I forgive you for putting that huge, half-blinking picture of me in your first post!! :crazy2: :rotfl::rotfl:

This will be fun, am I spoiling anything with my signature pictures?

OK I changed the picture! After I get your CD I'll put that cute picture in the far right of your siggy up. I don't think of your signature as spoiling, I think of it as previews:goodvibes

cjackearl

01-14-2010, 11:59 AM

I'm here!! You two are so darling it makes me (almost) want to drop this cup of cocoa I'm holding and start jogging. NOT! Can't wait to hear the details, especially about BLT.:thumbsup2

liznboys

01-14-2010, 12:05 PM

OK I changed the picture! After I get your CD I'll put that cute picture in the far right of your siggy up. I don't think of your signature as spoiling, I think of it as previews:goodvibes

You silly girl! I was perfectly FINE with being the ugly step-sister in your Cinderella TR!! :rotfl::rotfl:
(Really, I was fine with the pic, it actually made me laugh because it showcased what dh and I refer to as my "gimpy eye" that blinks more than the other one! LMBO! cracks us up.)

I'm here!! You two are so darling it makes me (almost) want to drop this cup of cocoa I'm holding and start jogging. NOT! Can't wait to hear the details, especially about BLT.:thumbsup2

oh my......that was so funny! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Dolce27

01-14-2010, 12:09 PM

...:tiptoe: sneeking in. popcorn::

Angies1274

01-14-2010, 01:33 PM

Yay!! I'm here too!!:goodvibes Can't wait to read about your adventure to the world!!!!:thumbsup2

dismagiclover

01-14-2010, 01:35 PM

I'm here!! You two are so darling it makes me (almost) want to drop this cup of cocoa I'm holding and start jogging. NOT! Can't wait to hear the details, especially about BLT.:thumbsup2
:yay: I'm glad you're with me! BLT is a beautiful place with a fabulous location! (It didn't cause me to give up my Beach Club love though.)

You silly girl! I was perfectly FINE with being the ugly step-sister in your Cinderella TR!! :rotfl::rotfl:

I think I may be the ugly Stepsister. Check out your signature! You are the one with the Fairy Godmother;)

...:tiptoe: sneeking in. popcorn::
:welcome: No need to sneak. Make all the noise you want. And congrats on finishing the marathon:worship: I read your report on Sandy's thread. Someday I want to be you. I'm thinking maybe next year.

dismagiclover

01-14-2010, 01:36 PM

Yay!! I'm here too!!:goodvibes Can't wait to read about your adventure to the world!!!!:thumbsup2

:yay: Another old summer trip report buddy! I'm glad you're here! This trip was much colder than our last trips:laughing:

liznboys

01-14-2010, 01:48 PM

I think I may be the ugly Stepsister. Check out your signature! You are the one with the Fairy Godmother;)

LOL Yeah but YOU got the Prince! :rotfl:

Dolce27

01-14-2010, 06:34 PM

:welcome: No need to sneak. Make all the noise you want. And congrats on finishing the marathon:worship: I read your report on Sandy's thread. Someday I want to be you. I'm thinking maybe next year.

:banana: Everyone that I met on here (pre-race) was doing the half. I'm on a mission to convert all of you to the full for the 2011. Come on over!! I see that the dates are announced. I'd sign up today but Disney currently has all of my money. I'm going to have wait a couple of months before I can fork over some more.

I know that you were on Sandy's preTR some, but I don't know if you ever read my full background. I started running last August. Started. I did a 1/2 marathon on Nov. 1 and now a full marathon (although, as you know, I had to walk 1/2 of it due to injury) on Jan 10.

You can sooooo do the full for 2011 if you really want to. You already have a half under your belt and a full year to maintain and then buildup for the full.

Ellester

01-14-2010, 08:11 PM

I'm in! Looking forward to hearing about your experiences with the Deluxe Plan. I think running a 1/2 marathon definitely deserves some celebratory dining!

Stefy

01-15-2010, 02:21 AM

I'm in and looking forward to reading.

Well done to both of your for completing the Marathon, I heard that it was not the best of temps but everyone had a great time :)

dismagiclover

01-15-2010, 07:36 AM

:banana: Everyone that I met on here (pre-race) was doing the half. I'm on a mission to convert all of you to the full for the 2011. Come on over!! I see that the dates are announced. I'd sign up today but Disney currently has all of my money. I'm going to have wait a couple of months before I can fork over some more.

I know that you were on Sandy's preTR some, but I don't know if you ever read my full background. I started running last August. Started. I did a 1/2 marathon on Nov. 1 and now a full marathon (although, as you know, I had to walk 1/2 of it due to injury) on Jan 10.

You can sooooo do the full for 2011 if you really want to. You already have a half under your belt and a full year to maintain and then buildup for the full.
I can't believe you started running in August and did a marathon in January:scared1: No wonder you had IT band issues. That is just amazing. I'm planning on the full next January. I'll make my reservations on Feb. 6 when the 11 month window opens up. Boardwalk villas here we come! I won't officially register for a while because I too want to hold on to the money a little longer. I noticed on Sandy's report you're thinking of staying at BWI. Maybe we can ride the bus at the ungodly hour of 4 am together:goodvibes

I'm in! Looking forward to hearing about your experiences with the Deluxe Plan. I think running a 1/2 marathon definitely deserves some celebratory dining!
:welcome: The Deluxe Dining was perfect for a 2 night trip with no kids in tow. We did a couple of 2 credit meals so we ended up eating 4 meals. One of those was absolute fabulous, but you'll have to wait to see where that was. I don't want to give up my secrets and lose any readers before I've really started;)

I'm in and looking forward to reading.

Well done to both of your for completing the Marathon, I heard that it was not the best of temps but everyone had a great time :)
:welcome: Another of my summer trip report friends! It feels like a reunion to hear from you again. How is life in my favorite city?

PracPerfPatricia

01-15-2010, 12:42 PM

Hey Jenny,

Subbing on...

Can't wait to hear all about the 1/2 marathon...You will be my inspiration as I aspire to do one someday...;)

:surfweb:

dismagiclover

01-15-2010, 01:27 PM

Hey Jenny,

Subbing on...

Can't wait to hear all about the 1/2 marathon...You will be my inspiration as I aspire to do one someday...;)

:surfweb:

:welcome: I'm glad you're here! Oh there are stories to be told about the half marathon! Don't go away:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-15-2010, 01:34 PM

I woke up this morning in Maryland to a ringing phone. On the other end was a voice telling me the schools were to have a 2 hour delayed opening because of snow. I peeked out the window and saw about 3 inches on the ground. (It doesn’t take much snow to slow things down around here.) I should have seen the snow as a foreshadowing of what was to come, but I didn’t.:confused3 The delay was good news because now DH and the kids could drive me to the airport and I wouldn’t have to mess with parking and shuttles. So we left promptly and before I knew it I was at the airport standing in line to check my luggage. Originally I had planned on just taking a carry on. (The trip was only 2 nights.) But the weather forecast kept requiring me to pack more and more clothes so I finally decided to check a bag so I wouldn’t have to worry about space. It was the coldest it had been in Florida in at least 25 years and I was pretty bummed about that. I want to escape winter when I go to Florida not take it with me.:headache: Anyway, I made it to the gate where they promptly announced our plane was still on the ground in Buffalo but would be leaving shortly. It looked like about a 30 minute delay. I called Liz and left a message to let her know I’d be late and she’d have to wait a bit longer in the airport. We were taking the Magical Express together and I had the passes so she didn’t have any choice. (Sorry again, Liz.) The plane eventually loaded and we were on our way. We landed after an uneventful flight. I called Liz and she told me she was sitting right by the food court waiting so I headed over. We happily said hello and then headed for Quiznos where we picked up sandwiches and quickly ate. We were in a bit of a hurry because we were hoping to make a DIS meet at POP by 4:00 and because of my 45 minute flight delay were running a bit behind schedule. After scarfing down our sandwiches we headed to the Magical Express. You no longer have to wait in line at the counter. You show your ticket and they send you directly to your bus line. We were in line number 4
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3251.jpg

Soon we were heading out to the bus.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3252.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3253.jpg

Then we were on our way. And a long way it was. It didn’t take too long to see this
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3254.jpg

But unfortunately the bus was full and we were the last stop on the circuit. So we began the stops. First stop was the Polynesian and we noticed that many of the flowering plants were covered. I’m sure to protect from the freeze.:eek: Next stop was the Grand Floridian. Then came the Wilderness Lodge. At this point it looked like the entire bus disembarked.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3255.jpg

This was definitely the most popular resort of this bus. For a moment we thought the bus was empty and that maybe we’d gotten on the wrong bus because no one else appeared to be heading to the Contemporary. Then we noticed one lone soul way in the back of the bus heading to the Contemporary as well. Here we are waiting for them to remove all the luggage at Wilderness Lodge.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3256.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3257.jpg

Finally we saw this.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3258.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3259.jpg

We pulled up to the Contemporary entrance, jumped out and headed to check in. Would we get a good room location? What kind of view would we have?

dismagiclover

01-15-2010, 01:39 PM

Liz, there is a new cute picture of you in the first post:goodvibes

pjstevens

01-15-2010, 04:24 PM

Jenny, can't wait to hear all about it. I thought our 'weekend' was short, I can't imagine your's just two night, ouch.

disneylovin24

01-15-2010, 05:55 PM

popcorn:: Can't wait for more!!! I want to see the snow in disney:scared1:

Happy Elf

01-15-2010, 06:21 PM

I'm here! Can't wait to hear about your adventure!

dismagiclover

01-15-2010, 07:25 PM

Jenny, can't wait to hear all about it. I thought our 'weekend' was short, I can't imagine your's just two night, ouch.
Hi Patricia! It was a quick weekend, but you'll see me drag it waaaaay out on this trip report:goodvibes It will be fun to compare notes on our trips!

popcorn:: Can't wait for more!!! I want to see the snow in disney:scared1:
:welcome: Don't worry. I have pictures of the snow in Disney:scared1:

I'm here! Can't wait to hear about your adventure!
Hello old friend! It's so fun to hear from all of my summer trip report friends again. This adventure was a little colder than my last one:rolleyes1

Dolce27

01-15-2010, 07:57 PM

Yay! Very happy that you started!

Stefy

01-16-2010, 06:04 AM

:welcome: Another of my summer trip report friends! It feels like a reunion to hear from you again. How is life in my favorite city?

Its great to hear from you too :goodvibes Life in London is good, apart from the two weeks of snow we just had, but the rain seems to be melting it away.

I'm glad you weren't delayed too long on your flight and score for the nearly empty ME after your first resort stop.

Oooh I'm excited to see what your room is like, more please :goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-16-2010, 10:44 AM

Yay! Very happy that you started!
I'm happy I started too! Though the really good stuff (the race itself) won't be up for a while. I hope you add in your race experience as we go along too. I want to get as much info about the marathon as I can!

Its great to hear from you too :goodvibes Life in London is good, apart from the two weeks of snow we just had, but the rain seems to be melting it away.

I'm glad you weren't delayed too long on your flight and score for the nearly empty ME after your first resort stop.

Oooh I'm excited to see what your room is like, more please :goodvibes
Two weeks of snow in London:scared1: The winter I stayed there I don't think it ever even came close to freezing. I hollered (in shock) when I read your post and told DH. He said he knew all about it. They'd had to cancel some soccer games. For him that is tragedy:rolleyes:
The rooms at Bay Lake are nice, but the studios are pretty small. You'll hear about it in the next update:goodvibes

Dolce27

01-16-2010, 06:01 PM

I'm happy I started too! Though the really good stuff (the race itself) won't be up for a while. I hope you add in your race experience as we go along too. I want to get as much info about the marathon as I can!

I completely, 100%, understand!! I was like this when I first made the decision to do it last August. I couldn't ever find much on it. I wanted people's experience on the full-marathon; not the Disney website about it that Google kept pulling up.

I was already thinking about doing this, since I had so many problems finding race reports on it last year (I think I found 3 full's and 2 half's? :confused3), but I've started a training and marathon TR:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=35034717#post35034717

I'm not doing a full Disney TR. This is just running/marathon related only. It will be in two parts: Part one, my training and experience leading up to the marathon and Part two; the actual marathon.

I'm really happy that you're going for the full. Now that you've done a half and have a year to build, you're going to do great for the 2011 full-marathon!

dismagiclover

01-17-2010, 07:43 AM

Dolce Thanks for the link! Still feel free to share any insight over here! The more info I get the better:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-17-2010, 07:53 AM

We headed to the check in line and approached the friendly cast member. She efficiently checked us in and revealed our room number. She showed us the location on the map and we were pretty excited. We hustled up to the room. We were still trying to hurry because we hadn’t yet given up on the DIS meet, but time was ticking away and hope was fading. It was close to 3:00 as we arrived at our room.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3433-1.jpg

We entered and saw this:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01216.jpg

Liz had stayed here previously, but in a 2 bedroom villa. This was the first studio stay for both of us. The modern style gave the room a feeling of sleekness yet it still was very comfortable. I noted it even still seemed to have some of that new construction smell. Sorry I don’t have too many pictures of the room, but you can check it out on allears. I do have this shot of the vanity area/kitchenette.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3432-1.jpg

Now this is a very strange design. The studios are pretty small and I suppose there was no other way to fit everything in, but it seemed strange to be getting ready in the kitchen. It was fine for us because we didn’t do any food prep (remember we are on the Deluxe Plan.):goodvibes

And here is a picture of some Disney art.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3268.jpg

The art throughout the tower was really cute.:cutie:

The Studio was perfect for two people. Anymore than that I think would feel a little crowded.
After dropping our things we headed out to the balcony to check out our lake view. Straight ahead was this:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01200.jpg

The lake was beautiful and peaceful, but what really got us excited was what we saw when we turned our heads to the left:cool1:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01199.jpg

Both Liz and I couldn’t believe our luck. This was officially a lake view, but Space Mountain was right in our face! :yay: Sure seems like a Magic Kingdom view to me! We will definitely take it! Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to enjoy the view because we were late for a very important date. Before the DIS meet we needed to get to the Expo to pick up our packets for the big race tomorrow. So we quickly headed for the convention center to catch a bus to Wide World of Sports where the Expo was held. We knew we were on the right track when we saw this sign.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01202.jpg

See that woman in the background. We chatted with her on the bus. She was a very experienced runner. She’s from Boston and has run their marathon several times which for those of you that know about marathons means she’s fast. Both Liz and I peppered her with questions while we waited and on the bus ride over. Another long bus ride it was. Once again we made multiple stops at various resorts before we finally arrived at the Expo. At this point we realized there was no way to make it to Pop for the DIS meet. With a sad heart Liz used her nifty I-phone to post on the half marathon thread that we wouldn’t make it. Would we ever make it to the Expo?

carissanboys

01-17-2010, 08:18 AM

wsushocker

01-17-2010, 08:19 AM

subbing

01-17-2010, 08:52 AM

Hi Jenny! I am subbing to your trip report. I sooooo badly want to run the half-marathon next year! So I am very interested in your report!

I am not a runner, just a walker. I love, love, love to walk but really want to convert to running.

Do you have a good training program to refer me to?

Thanks for the report. I am loving it!:love:

Dolce27

01-17-2010, 09:00 AM

Awesome view! I stayed at the Contemporary once... when I was 5 yrs old. :teeth:
I don't think that I'll ever stay at a MK resort hotel, I'm too in love with the Boardwalk Inn. The room you guys had was nice. ... and back to that view!

I'm sorry that you guys missed the Pop meet. I *ahemskippedahem* it myself. Friday had been my arrival day as well and I wasn't up to rush over for a meet after travel, EXPO, ect... I hope that you made it through EXPO. I apparently hit it just in time Friday afternoon. I was there - maybe? around 12:00 - 12:30? After the Milk House, it took maybe 3 minutes before I got into EXPO to pick-up my packet. By the time I left EXPO the line was so long.. I couldn't figure out where it ended! I hope that it had quieted down a bit for you guys by the time that you needed in.

eeyore7360

01-17-2010, 10:03 AM

Looking forward to the rest of your report. My friends have already registered to run the Goofy challenge next year. I will be on the sidelines cheering.:cheer2: Our plan is to stay at Bay Lake Tower.

Stefy

01-17-2010, 10:14 AM

Two weeks of snow in London:scared1: The winter I stayed there I don't think it ever even came close to freezing. I hollered (in shock) when I read your post and told DH. He said he knew all about it. They'd had to cancel some soccer games. For him that is tragedy:rolleyes:
The rooms at Bay Lake are nice, but the studios are pretty small. You'll hear about it in the next update:goodvibes

I know, I was shocked too! But even more shocking is that now its gone (in London), but a few days ago it snowed pretty heavy, but a day or two after it was completely gone from the roads and sidewalks, I couldn't believe it.

I lol about the soccer part, typical men eh. What team does he support, I'm an Arsenal fan.

Your room looks great, loving the Disney Art and what an awesome view. Did you get to watch Wishes from there?

Happy Elf

01-17-2010, 02:30 PM

What a beautiful room! And the view was AWESOME!!!!

Ellester

01-17-2010, 03:39 PM

A friend of mine who ran the 1/2 just posted her pix on Facebook. Boy, it looked chilly! Maybe you saw her? ;) Your view was awesome! It does look a bit cozy though! Looking forward to more!

dismagiclover

01-17-2010, 03:52 PM

Hey Jenny and Liz! I'm here! :yay:

I'm so glad you're doing a TR, Jenny! I've been pestering Liz for photos and info. :rolleyes1

I thought of you guys the day of the marathon. I'm so proud of you both. :goodvibes Maybe there will be a half marathon in my future if I can ever get my butt in gear. ;)
You'll get plenty of photos and infor here. Maybe more than you wanted to know! Liz is running it again in 2011. I'm sure she would love it if you joined her! If I can do it anyone can:goodvibes

subbing

:welcome: Don't hesitate to chime in at any time!

Hi Jenny! I am subbing to your trip report. I sooooo badly want to run the half-marathon next year! So I am very interested in your report!

I am not a runner, just a walker. I love, love, love to walk but really want to convert to running.

Do you have a good training program to refer me to?

Thanks for the report. I am loving it!:love:
:welcome: You definitely have plenty of time to get ready for next years half. Liz just started running last February and she did great. Try the Couch to 5K plan (just google it.) That will get you to be able to run 3 miles and if you can run 3 miles you can train for a half. Just watch the sign up for the Half. It usually fills pretty fast. It filled in April last year.

Awesome view! I stayed at the Contemporary once... when I was 5 yrs old. :teeth:
I don't think that I'll ever stay at a MK resort hotel, I'm too in love with the Boardwalk Inn. The room you guys had was nice. ... and back to that view!

I'm sorry that you guys missed the Pop meet. I *ahemskippedahem* it myself. Friday had been my arrival day as well and I wasn't up to rush over for a meet after travel, EXPO, ect... I hope that you made it through EXPO. I apparently hit it just in time Friday afternoon. I was there - maybe? around 12:00 - 12:30? After the Milk House, it took maybe 3 minutes before I got into EXPO to pick-up my packet. By the time I left EXPO the line was so long.. I couldn't figure out where it ended! I hope that it had quieted down a bit for you guys by the time that you needed in.
BLT was really nice for the race because of the monorail, but I'm with you in loyalty to the Ecpot resorts. We stayed at Beach Club last summer and loved it and this past fall bought into DVC at the Boardwalk. Our first trip home is Marathon weekend 2011:cool1:

Looking forward to the rest of your report. My friends have already registered to run the Goofy challenge next year. I will be on the sidelines cheering.:cheer2: Our plan is to stay at Bay Lake Tower.
You can walk right out of your hotel and cheer on your friends. The race goes right by!

dismagiclover

01-17-2010, 04:00 PM

I know, I was shocked too! But even more shocking is that now its gone (in London), but a few days ago it snowed pretty heavy, but a day or two after it was completely gone from the roads and sidewalks, I couldn't believe it.

I lol about the soccer part, typical men eh. What team does he support, I'm an Arsenal fan.

Your room looks great, loving the Disney Art and what an awesome view. Did you get to watch Wishes from there?
DH is a Gunners fan too. Apparently he was a big Dennis Bergkamp fan. (I learned something new about DH today. I'd never heard of Dennis Bergkamp.) He told me they won today 2-0.:woohoo:
The plan was to watch Wishes from the room the first night, but dinner went a bit long so we saw it from somewhere else. You'll have to stick around to find out where.:goodvibes

What a beautiful room! And the view was AWESOME!!!!
It was an awesome view. Too bad it was too cold to really enjoy it.:eek:

A friend of mine who ran the 1/2 just posted her pix on Facebook. Boy, it looked chilly! Maybe you saw her? ;) Your view was awesome! It does look a bit cozy though! Looking forward to more!
It was freezing! You'll have to look for your friend in the pictures I post. There were over 20,000 runners so chances aren't good that I saw her, but who knows. Stranger things have happened:goodvibes

PracPerfPatricia

01-17-2010, 06:07 PM

Angies1274

01-17-2010, 09:36 PM

Yay! You arrived!!:goodvibes The room looks beautiful...and that view!! Wow! A lake view and a Magic Kingdom view--that's so cool!! :thumbsup2

Stefy

01-18-2010, 02:25 AM

DH is a Gunners fan too. Apparently he was a big Dennis Bergkamp fan. (I learned something new about DH today. I'd never heard of Dennis Bergkamp.) He told me they won today 2-0.:woohoo:
The plan was to watch Wishes from the room the first night, but dinner went a bit long so we saw it from somewhere else. You'll have to stick around to find out where.:goodvibes

V cool, your DH has good taste in teams :goodvibes

DF and my dad (not sure what the abbreviation is for dad) saw Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial match, he was a really good player.

Yep, they didn't do too bad, although it was a v scrappy game. I don't watch football (prefer rugby) but this game was brutal. Poor Fabregas, nearly got his head trampled :eek:

Ooh wonder where you saw Wishes from, tell us more :goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-18-2010, 07:45 AM

Yay! You arrived!!:goodvibes The room looks beautiful...and that view!! Wow! A lake view and a Magic Kingdom view--that's so cool!! :thumbsup2
The view was something else. I think I prefer it to a straight MK view. The MK view have lots of parking lot, and the lake view is so relaxing. So we got the best of both worlds!

V cool, your DH has good taste in teams :goodvibes

DF and my dad (not sure what the abbreviation is for dad) saw Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial match, he was a really good player.

Yep, they didn't do too bad, although it was a v scrappy game. I don't watch football (prefer rugby) but this game was brutal. Poor Fabregas, nearly got his head trampled :eek:

Ooh wonder where you saw Wishes from, tell us more :goodvibes

Usually DH has to follow the team on the internet, though I think every once in a while he sees games on the soccer channel. He's always trying to talk me into going over to London to see a game. One of these years he may succeed:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-18-2010, 07:51 AM

Very Nice View...:goodvibes

ah well the snow worked out to your benefit...it must have been nice to have the ride and send off to the airport...how long is your flight? It's just about 2 hours from PHLx so it must be even a bit shorter for you...

From couch to 5K hmmm....I'll be checking that out after the boards...;)

(Does it really snow at DW?)

Our flight from Baltimore is scheduled at 2 hours 20 minutes. Sometimes it's shorter sometimes it's longer. It all depends on the headwinds I guess:confused3 This trip the pilot said we were fighting 250 mph headwinds or something like that:scared1:
There is usually a thread going on the WISH boards for the couch to 5K program. Check it out if you're interested.
And yes, Patricia, it does snow at Disney World.

Stefy

01-18-2010, 07:58 AM

Usually DH has to follow the team on the internet, though I think every once in a while he sees games on the soccer channel. He's always trying to talk me into going over to London to see a game. One of these years he may succeed:goodvibes

Oh you must and you must try and score tickets for a game at home (Emirates Stadium) as it is something to be seen I can tell you.

dismagiclover

01-18-2010, 09:37 AM

Oh you must and you must try and score tickets for a game at home (Emirates Stadium) as it is something to be seen I can tell you.

DH knows all about the stadium and now I do too.;)

dismagiclover

01-18-2010, 09:49 AM

We finally arrived at Wide World of Sports and were greeted with this sign.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3272.jpg

Woo hoo! Things were starting to really sink in. After all the months of training we were finally here to pick up our packets. Neither of us had ever been here before and Liz started snapping pictures.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3273.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3274.jpg

We headed into the Milk House to pick up our race bibs and chip timers.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3275.jpg

There we were greeted with this.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3276.jpg

Pick up was organized by bib numbers and there was no one in my line so I just walked directly up to the volunteer and retrieved my bib. Here it is:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon001.jpg

Then I headed over to Liz who had to wait a few minutes in line, but it wasn’t bad at all. Then we headed over to the Expo to get our bag of goodies. We went through this door

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3277.jpg

Here is what we saw when we walked in.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3278.jpg

We headed down to pick up our goody bags. Most of the goody bag was advertisements for upcoming races, but there was this cool goody in the bag:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3454.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3455.jpg

After getting our packet we checked out the official Disney Merchandise. I must say I was disappointed in the selection. I have a great picture frame from my Disneyland Half in 2007. They didn’t have any picture frames or trinkets like key chains or really much of anything besides t-shirts and sweatshirts. I don’t know if they sold out early or just didn’t produce them, but we walked out empty handed.:confused3

We then looked through the rest of the vendor’s booths. It was the usual supply of running stuff pretty typical of most running Expos. We walked by one booth that got me really excited though. There was the Tyvek man selling waterproof and breathable disposable rain suits. Here is a picture of their product.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/tyvekjacket.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/tyvekpants.jpg

It gives the wearer a distinct marshmallow look I would say. A little aside here. The forecast for Saturday morning was going to be cold. I knew that and I was prepared for that. I also could handle that. I’d trained in the cold so I wasn’t scared to run in cold. However, it also included about a 50% chance of precipitation and I was terrified of that. I couldn’t think of any worse condition than running in 33 degrees and rain. I can do rain. I can do cold. I can’t do rain and cold. I really had no desire to prove my toughness. I had a rain jacket to bring to the start, but it wasn’t breathable and I knew I couldn’t actually run in it. I’d have to toss it before the race started. But here was the Tyvek man offering me hope for only $20.:worship: With no hesitation I shelled out the cash and had my suit in hand. (If I was to look like a Marshmallow, so be it). I mentioned to the Tyvek man that he was probably the only one in the place happy with the weather forecast. He just looked at me and said, “It’s a good year.”;) Then he turned to the person next to me who asked him about the forecast and said, “It’s going to sleet the entire race tomorrow. No question about it.” I couldn’t help but see a twinkle in his eye as he collected another twenty bucks. :rotfl:

Now for me there had been no hesitation. The Tyvek guy seemed to represent my race salvation. Liz wasn’t as sure. She was clinging to the hope there would be no precip and she didn’t want to waste $20. There was a fellow runner next to us that was also wavering. So our new runner friend (runner friends are very easy to make) and Liz were debating whether they should plunge in and buy the Tyvek. They asked for my opinion. I pointed at my Tyvek. They debated a bit more. What was the verdict? Did they succumb to Tyvek man?

disneylovin24

01-18-2010, 10:28 AM

popcorn:: I personally agree that $20 is a small price to pay to stay nice and dry during a long run

Ellester

01-18-2010, 11:52 AM

I would have paid double to be dry! I totally agree with you, cold is one thing and wet is one thing, but cold and wet is a whole 'nother thing and none too pleasant! I hope Liz and your new friend took your advice.

PS - I mentioned seeing my friend tongue-in-cheek. I know there were 20,000+ runners. I will watch your pix for her though. She has long red frizzy hair, so she would be easy to spot.

aharbin88

01-18-2010, 12:18 PM

Mrs. Darling and Ms. Disney? You ladies are my heros. :worship::worship:

DH and I are tossing around the idea of doing the half next year. I am not a runner at all (so I would consider this my greatest achievement- overcoming the thing I hate the very most), and DH is only a beginner runner. He can at least run a 5K. I'm not sure I could WALK a 5K! :cutie:

I just wanted to let you know that I am subbing to read along, and hopefully you ladies will continue to inspire me to take on this challenge. I figure a trip to Disney may very well be the only thing that would motivate me to get off my ba-dunk-a-dunk and hit the road!

cjackearl

01-18-2010, 02:04 PM

What a great view! I like the look of the studio, but agree...it would be a little weird to be getting ready in the kitchen.

I would have snapped up one of those suits also. I'm guessing the other two refrained.

Stefy

01-18-2010, 02:36 PM

$20 is a steal to stay dry. I hope they both opted to get one. I am with you on the not liking cold and rain (don't like cold either).

Cool pics, have never seen WWoS before.

mla1977

01-18-2010, 02:55 PM

I'm in! I was there for the race too (Trippie will begin tonight for me!)

dismagiclover

01-18-2010, 05:44 PM

popcorn:: I personally agree that $20 is a small price to pay to stay nice and dry during a long run
Seemed like a small price to pay to me too, but you'll have to stay tuned to see if it's worth it.

I would have paid double to be dry! I totally agree with you, cold is one thing and wet is one thing, but cold and wet is a whole 'nother thing and none too pleasant! I hope Liz and your new friend took your advice.

PS - I mentioned seeing my friend tongue-in-cheek. I know there were 20,000+ runners. I will watch your pix for her though. She has long red frizzy hair, so she would be easy to spot.
Cold and wet does make for pretty miserable running experience. Your friends long red frizzy hair may have been covered up during this race. Pretty much everyone had their head covered. It was cold:eek:

Mrs. Darling and Ms. Disney? You ladies are my heros. :worship::worship:

DH and I are tossing around the idea of doing the half next year. I am not a runner at all (so I would consider this my greatest achievement- overcoming the thing I hate the very most), and DH is only a beginner runner. He can at least run a 5K. I'm not sure I could WALK a 5K! :cutie:

I just wanted to let you know that I am subbing to read along, and hopefully you ladies will continue to inspire me to take on this challenge. I figure a trip to Disney may very well be the only thing that would motivate me to get off my ba-dunk-a-dunk and hit the road!
I would encourage anyone that even has a slight interest to give this race a try. It was so fun (as you will see if my report ever gets there:laughing:) People rave about the couch to 5K program so look that over. I'd never run more than 5K when I decided to do my first half. It was Disneyland and the trip to CA was the major incentive. And then I decided running long distances is actually rather enjoyable. Go figure.:rolleyes:

What a great view! I like the look of the studio, but agree...it would be a little weird to be getting ready in the kitchen.

I would have snapped up one of those suits also. I'm guessing the other two refrained.
The kitchenette/vanity set up is a serious downside to these studios. I can't imagine anyone would actually like it. You'll see soon enough if the Tyvek man made another sale or two.;)

$20 is a steal to stay dry. I hope they both opted to get one. I am with you on the not liking cold and rain (don't like cold either).

Cool pics, have never seen WWoS before.
It wasn't until this year that I realized I didn't mind running in the cold. If you are dressed for the weather it isn't bad at all.

I'm in! I was there for the race too (Trippie will begin tonight for me!)
:welcome: Make sure you post a link to your report and I'll stop by.

liznboys

01-18-2010, 07:54 PM

Ok, here's the thing with the big tyvec decision... I was standing there thinking, if I buy these stinkin' things then I'm giving in to the fact that there REALLY might be rain. Furthermore, I thought if I buy them I won't end up needing them and if I don't buy them I will end up needing them....because that is how life goes sometimes. What to do, what to do?!?!?

jo and anyone else who truly wants to start running, Jenny already said it but I will say it again, definitely check out the Couch to 5K program. I did the program myself last year! :thumbsup2:thumbsup2 That is how I began running. Before that I was not a runner by any stretch, I didn't even exercise AT ALL for many years before that (besides being the mom to four active little boys). I was truly going from the COUCH to a 5K. I even teased to my dh the week before I was planning to start the program... I was sitting on the couch and told him, "Look, I'm doing great, already on step 1!" haha The first week of workouts have you running for 60 seconds at a time....even that was hard for me! But after the 9 weeks I was able to run 3 miles non-stop. It really works! :)

Here's a link for beginner runners:
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/How-to-Start-Running-Today.htm

And here's the C25K program:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

I could go on an on about being a new runner and doing this program but I'll stop. Anyone out there feel free to PM me with any questions. I would LOVE to help others who want to run. I can't tell you how happy I am to be a runner now, and to have done the WDW Half is simply amazing!!

carissanboys

01-19-2010, 07:29 AM

Nice shirt in the goodie bag! :thumbsup2

Will we get pictures of you in the marshmallow suit? :rolleyes1

Alright - I vow right here and now to attempt the couch to 5K program (once I'm finally healthy again - stupid cold). The reason I say attempt is because the treadmill I bought isn't a super expensive model and I have read reviews of people saying it does fun for walking, but not for running/jogging. I was going to try the program years ago, but I didn't have the treadmill at the time and I hated the idea of learning to run/jog around other people.

Okay - you hear that Liz?? You need to make sure I stick to my vow! :yay:

mla1977

01-19-2010, 07:41 AM

My trip report is started! See the link in my signature. It is also on my Disney blog.

PracPerfPatricia

01-19-2010, 08:18 AM

We want to see you in the marshmallow suit...:goodvibes

Heck after all the money I've spent at Disney on stuff and especially after all of your hard work...I'd say that $20 was a good spend...

I hear you on the cold and rain...individually maybe but together...that's stay in and make a fire and tea or cocoa weather...(that comb of cold and rain just chills you straight to the bone...snow is actually better...not so wet...:confused3

Wide World of Sports looks interesting...(I've never been there...:rolleyes1)...I think its a shame the expo disappointed you...with all of Disney's resources it could/should have been fabulous...

:surfweb:

dismagiclover

01-19-2010, 09:47 AM

Ok, here's the thing with the big tyvec decision... I was standing there thinking, if I buy these stinkin' things then I'm giving in to the fact that there REALLY might be rain. Furthermore, I thought if I buy them I won't end up needing them and if I don't buy them I will end up needing them....because that is how life goes sometimes. What to do, what to do?!?!?
And everybody is about to find out what you did coming right up!

Nice shirt in the goodie bag! :thumbsup2

Will we get pictures of you in the marshmallow suit? :rolleyes1

Alright - I vow right here and now to attempt the couch to 5K program (once I'm finally healthy again - stupid cold). The reason I say attempt is because the treadmill I bought isn't a super expensive model and I have read reviews of people saying it does fun for walking, but not for running/jogging. I was going to try the program years ago, but I didn't have the treadmill at the time and I hated the idea of learning to run/jog around other people.

Okay - you hear that Liz?? You need to make sure I stick to my vow! :yay:
Will you get pictures? You will get pictures that will have you howling in laughter:lmao: Even my DH who has some sort of spell over him and thinks I always look cute shuddered a little when he saw the picture of me in my marshmallow suit. His comment, "Are you really gonna post that one?" :scared1:

My trip report is started! See the link in my signature. It is also on my Disney blog.
I stopped by:thumbsup2

We want to see you in the marshmallow suit...:goodvibes

For the sake of full disclosure (and great comedy) you will see a picture of me in the Marshmallow suit. And afterwards everyone can thank Liz because she took the lovely pictures. Thanks Liz:rolleyes:

dismagiclover

01-19-2010, 10:03 AM

My previous installment left us with Liz deciding if she wanted to look like a marshmallow or not for her first half marathon. What did she decide? She succumbed to the wiles of the Tyvek Man and bought the marshmallow outfit.:woohoo: So did our new runner friend. I think they made the right call.:thumbsup2
Anyway after our encounter with the Tyvek Man we noticed the time and realized we needed to head back to the hotel if we wanted to make our dinner reservation. So we headed out to wait for another Disney bus. The bus arrived shortly and we once again went on the Magic Kingdom Area Hotel Circuit. It felt like déjà vu. It seems like we spent an inordinate amount of time on Disney buses on Day 1.:eek: We arrived and headed to the room where we noticed a flashing message on the phone. Thinking it was just the normal welcome to the resort message I put it on speaker phone. What do we hear? It’s Mickey Mouse wishing me a Happy Birthday.:goodvibes My birthday had been the day before. I’m not quite sure how Mickey knew that. Maybe he’s like Santa and just knows stuff.:confused3 We had a few minutes so we called our respective families and DH informed me the weather forecast said there was only a 30% chance of precip in the morning. That made me very happy. Things were definitely looking up! Maybe I wouldn’t need the Marshmallow Outfit after all!:)

After quick chats we headed over to the Contemporary where we figured out we check into the California Grill on the 2nd floor. We were both very excited about this meal since neither one of us had eaten here before. As we were checking in the Cast Member wished me a Happy Birthday and I remembered when I’d made the reservation 90 days earlier I’d mentioned my birthday. Of course that got me a birthday pin which I took with as much grace as I could, but I was not thrilled about.:rolleyes1 I’m not a big birthday gal. I guess because my birthday is 13 days after Christmas. I’m usually suffering from that Christmas hangover. You know the one where you know you’ve eaten too much food and spent too much money over the last month.:eek: Anyway since I’ve been a grown up I’ve tried to downplay by birthday. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I made the reservation. (It was before the Christmas hangover I suppose.) Anyway we waited for our special elevator that took us to the 10th floor and as we arrived were immediately greeted by a smiling CM that said, “Happy Birthday, Mrs. Darling.” (Actually she said Jenny because that is what my tag said;).) Liz was loving all of the attention I was getting. I was just trying to be gracious and not roll my eyes. This was a very sweet CM who chatted to us for a while and told us about the new menu item. Buffalo. A bit different than my usual fare, but it sounded intriguing. (I like to try new foods.) We walked away from the elevator and we were both very impressed by our surroundings. The restaurant is a large open space with an absolutely fabulous view of the Magic Kingdom.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3282.jpg

The picture doesn’t do it justice.
We were shown to our lovely table where I was once again wished a Happy Birthday and scattered on the table was Pixie Dust (or Mickey shaped confetti.):cool2: As I am a Darling, I have a special place in my heart for Pixie Dust so that brought an immediate smile to my face. (Well I was probably already smiling so it just made my grin bigger.)
We studied our menus and placed our orders. For our appetizer we both chose the Flatbread. Liz had the three cheese

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3284.jpg

I had the chicken flatbread.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3283.jpg

We both found them amazing, but as we were saving room for the rest of our meal we didn’t clear our plates. (Though Liz really wanted to.)
Next came our entrees and I am so sorry I don’t have pictures. I suppose we were being naughty DISers. I’d been planning on the filet, but decided on the Bison instead. It was really flavorful and I was happy with my choice (and now I can say I’ve eaten Buffalo.) :cool1: Liz loved her steak, the potatoes and even the broccolini! She actually cleared her plate. I was amazed! We were studying the dessert menu when I looked up and Liz had a goofy grin on her face. I asked her why and before she could answer our server appeared with this:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01209.jpg

Looks yummy, huh! Our server wished me a Happy Birthday and I thanked her for not singing. She assured me that isn’t the CA Grill style and I was glad this was my birthday dinner. She kindly took a picture of us.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3286.jpg

And here is one of just the birthday girl with her cake

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3285.jpg

I made a wish and blew out the candle. I'd made the same wish the night before when I blew out the candles with my family. The wish didn't come true.:mad: (It involved precipitation or the lack thereof.)

Liz ordered the Yule Log dessert (after we discussed it seemed a little strange to still have the Christmas menu)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3290.jpg

Cute, isn't it?

I told our server I was great with just the cake. (Two rich desserts the night before running 13.1 miles is not a good idea.) The cake was very good. Very rich and chocolatey. Just the way I like it. Liz enjoyed her dessert as well.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3289.jpg

As we were eating our desserts the lights dimmed and the Wishes music began. We thought we’d have a great view of the fireworks from our table because we had a great view of the castle

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3287.jpg

However a large column and the roofline obstructed our fireworks view. It was an option to go out on the viewing deck, but it was cold and we hadn’t brought our coats up. So we just sat inside and enjoyed the music.

We both gave this meal an enthusiastic thumbs up!:thumbsup2 I would definitely return here, but I wouldn’t bring my kids. The meal took over 2 hours and my boys would not have the patience for that. There were kids there and they were all very well behaved, but for me having to make sure the kids were entertained would have ruined the effect of the delicious leisurely meal. So the meal was over. What happened next?

Dolce27

01-19-2010, 12:18 PM

There we were greeted with this.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3276.jpg

Uhhhh... what was that line to? The Milk House looked nothing like that when I was there the day before.

I mentioned to the Tyvek man that he was probably the only one in the place happy with the weather forecast. He just looked at me and said, “It’s a good year.”;) Then he turned to the person next to me who asked him about the forecast and said, “It’s going to sleet the entire race tomorrow. No question about it.” I couldn’t help but see a twinkle in his eye as he collected another twenty bucks. :rotfl:

Smart girl! :thumbsup2
(ok. I may have quoted the wrong section. but smart move on the Tyvek gear!)

Liz wasn’t as sure.

:rotfl2: Sleet, Liz! Sleet! Listen to Jenny, you want the jacket.

jo and anyone else who truly wants to start running, Jenny already said it but I will say it again, definitely check out the Couch to 5K program. I did the program myself last year! :thumbsup2:thumbsup2

I second this. I also used the C25k to learn to run. Great program. :thumbsup2

My previous installment left us with Liz deciding if she wanted to look like a marshmallow or not for her first half marathon. What did she decide? She succumbed to the wiles of the Tyvek Man and bought the marshmallow outfit.:woohoo:

:woohoo: Excellent decision :thumbsup2 ... and one I'm certain that you were thankful for the next morning.

carissanboys

01-19-2010, 01:19 PM

I never got a call with Mickey singing Happy Birthday to me. :(

Sounds like you guys had a lovely meal! Absolutely perfect. Good food, a great view, and Wishes! :thumbsup2

wished

01-19-2010, 04:37 PM

Thanks for the great pictures of the California grill, I was considering going there next time I visit WDW.

dismagiclover

01-19-2010, 05:13 PM

Uhhhh... what was that line to? The Milk House looked nothing like that when I was there the day before.

That isn't a line. It's a bunch of people listening to a speaker. I'm not sure who it was talking, but he must have been semi interesting.

I never got a call with Mickey singing Happy Birthday to me. :(

Sounds like you guys had a lovely meal! Absolutely perfect. Good food, a great view, and Wishes! :thumbsup2
Sorry you never got a birthday call. Our dinner reservation was linked to our hotel reservation so that must be how they figured it out. CA Grill did have great food. Probably the best I've had at Disney World:thumbsup2

Thanks for the great pictures of the California grill, I was considering going there next time I visit WDW.

:welcome: I definitely recommend CA Grill. If I ever do a trip with just me and DH we are there:goodvibes

Happy Elf

01-19-2010, 06:02 PM

Dolce27

01-19-2010, 07:17 PM

That isn't a line. It's a bunch of people listening to a speaker. I'm not sure who it was talking, but he must have been semi interesting.

Thank goodness! It looked like it could be a line for where you make corral changes. I'll have to be in that line again next year, bumping back up corrals based on whatever my Nov 2010 1/2 marathon time will be (as I can't use this years full-marathon time when I sign up). The line hadn't been too bad for me at EXPO but then I saw your pic and worried that I was just lucky this year and may not be so next year!

liznboys

01-19-2010, 09:03 PM

Jenny I am so glad you did this report. :goodvibes I love reliving our weekend. It makes me get teary though thinking about how fast it went! I knew it would, but geez, here we are already a week and a half past it... booohoo

That Cali Grill dinner was awesome...oh that filet I had was soooooooooooo good. I could not NOT eat every bit of it. YUM!!

Dolce LOL you cracked me up.."What was that line to??" Yeah that would have been a bad line eek! I wish I had looked at the runner's relations table/line though just to see what it looked like and stuff. I will probably be there next year too.

Dolce27

01-19-2010, 10:17 PM

That Cali Grill dinner was awesome...oh that filet I had was soooooooooooo good. I could not NOT eat every bit of it. YUM!!

Between the two of you, the Cali Grill is soooo on my list for next trip. You guys are making me hungry!

Stefy

01-20-2010, 02:08 AM

What a nice Cali Grill experience and it sounded very relaxed and enjoyable. Those desserts look so good :)

Angies1274

01-20-2010, 09:20 AM

Good decision on the Tyvek outfit. I would definitely spend $20 to stay dry!!:thumbsup2

A call from Mickey to wish you Happy Birthday!!! Very cool!!!

Your Cali Grill dinner sounds yummy!! And that cake...Mmmm!! I would so love to have dinner there but I agree with you-- I don't think I would take the boys. Even though they are getting older, they would never be able to sit for 2 hours.:sad2:

Oh, if your interested I started my PTR (finally settled on a date...a little unexpected and soon but we're very excited.) The link is in my siggie.:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-20-2010, 09:31 AM

Your dinner sounds lovely. I would love to eat there sometime. But the kids would never last 2 hours, so I guess we will have to wait until they are older or if we go with grandparents....maybe they could babysit.
Like I said in my post, I wouldn't take my kids there. It would ruin the whole thing for me. It would change a relaxing atmosphere into a stressful atmosphere because I'd have to make sure the kids weren't disturbing anyone:eek: Disney has the child care clubs you could consider if you don't have grandparents there.

Jenny I am so glad you did this report. :goodvibes I love reliving our weekend. It makes me get teary though thinking about how fast it went! I knew it would, but geez, here we are already a week and a half past it... booohoo

That Cali Grill dinner was awesome...oh that filet I had was soooooooooooo good. I could not NOT eat every bit of it. YUM!!

That is why I like doing the reports. It seems to prolong the trip. And this trip was so short it need lots of prolonging. You'll be amazed at how I'll drag the race out:rotfl:

Between the two of you, the Cali Grill is soooo on my list for next trip. You guys are making me hungry!
Cali Grill should be on the list! It was yummy!

What a nice Cali Grill experience and it sounded very relaxed and enjoyable. Those desserts look so good :)
The desserts were yummy. I think part of what makes everything taste better is that just make it look so pretty:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-20-2010, 09:33 AM

liznboys

01-20-2010, 10:29 AM

That is why I like doing the reports. It seems to prolong the trip. And this trip was so short it need lots of prolonging. You'll be amazed at how I'll drag the race out:rotfl:

Yeah, I just don't have the energy for my own reports... I just need to keep travelling with you (and Carissa!) so you can do reports with me -and my family- in them!! teehee! :teeth:

Drag out this report all you want, fine by me! ;)

Hey, are you going to post about that, um, "interesting moment" we had near the start of the race? I think you should......lol

dismagiclover

01-20-2010, 10:51 AM

Hey, are you going to post about that, um, "interesting moment" we had near the start of the race? I think you should......lol

It will be all about reading between the lines;)

dismagiclover

01-20-2010, 10:56 AM

I apologize in advance. This is rather a dull update. But stick with me because next update the fun really starts:goodvibes

We’d just finished up our fabulous California Grill meal and realized we better get to bed because we had a 3 am wake up call coming.:scared1: We made a quick pit stop and picked up a few things for breakfast at the shop in the Contemporary. It was freezing in the Contemporary. I guess because the monorail hole and the wide open space, but the cast members were all wearing winter coats! That was not a good sign for the next morning if it was freezing inside the buildings! Anyway after picking up our breakfast, Liz headed up to the room, but I wanted to quickly check out the Top of the World Lounge. This is a perk for DVC members staying at Bay Lake Tower. So I headed down to the lobby, showed the CM my room card and she took me to the elevator, stuck in her special card and pressed the button for the top floor. I felt rather too special.:rolleyes: I got out on the top floor, turned right and found myself in the lounge. My initial thought was this is small. Here are a few pictures of the interior (that I took from AllEars site).

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/blt09b54.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/blt09b56.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/blt09b59.jpg

When I was up there it was obviously dark unlike the pictures. There were very few people up there (maybe 5 or 6). It was quiet and cozy and would be a nice place to relax with a few friends, but I just wanted to check it out so I headed out to the viewing area. There was a lovely view of the Magic Kingdom, but it was freezing so I snapped a couple of pictures (that turned out blurry as you can see) and headed back to the room.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01211.jpg

As I exited the elevator on my floor I snapped this shot of the view out the window.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01215.jpg

Liz told me this is a real fun pool area with a fun slide. I didn’t try it out. (A bit too nippy:rolleyes1)

After arriving back at the room Liz and I got all of our stuff ready for the morning’s race. We laid out the layers of race clothes, attached the timer thingy to our shoes, and pinned our bibs to our shirt (well I did. Liz waited until morning to decide which layer to put the bib on.) We had nothing to do, but try to go to sleep so Liz set her alarm and we climbed into bed. (Poor Liz was stuck with the fold out couch. I never asked. Was it comfy?) We both laid awake in bed for a while without talking willing ourselves to sleep. We were awake at least until 10:15 because we heard the water parade going by, but didn’t get up to look. Eventually we both slipped into a restless sleep. We had a big adventure ahead of us in the morning.popcorn::

Next up: Half Marathon Day!:cheer2:

carissanboys

01-20-2010, 11:24 AM

That answers my question! I saw you had a studio and wondered if you guys shared a bed or if the couch was a pull out. ;)

liznboys

01-20-2010, 11:34 AM

The pull out was fine. It had this crease in it between the top 2/3 and bottom 1/3 that at first I thought would bother me. But it didn't. I actually kinda stuck my feet in there and it was comfy.

It sure was hard getting to sleep that night. My mind was racing and my body just wanted to get up and go!! I did peak out the window to see the Electric Water Pageant, which of course we couldn't see from our room, not sure why I looked out. I loved hearing it though! It's one of my favorite WDW things.

Carissa, Jenny and I are close, but not THAT close. (No offense, Jenny. ;)) There are only 5 people on this planet I would share a bed with. :goodvibes

disneylovin24

01-20-2010, 12:38 PM

popcorn:: Can't wait to read about the marathon!!!!

01-20-2010, 03:30 PM

dismagiclover

01-20-2010, 07:12 PM

dismagiclover

01-20-2010, 07:14 PM

Thank you! I did check out the C25K site and printed it out! You two have really motivated me to do this! :yay:

:cheer2: Good luck! I'm always happy to share any advice I have. But remember you get what you pay for:laughing:

Ellester

01-20-2010, 08:57 PM

Stefy

01-21-2010, 02:03 AM

Ooh the excitement is rising for the race now. Forgot to add in my last post, am glad you decided to go with the Tyvek in the end :)

dismagiclover

01-21-2010, 09:13 AM

Sounds like a great birthday dinner! Cali Grille is on my list for a non-kid meal. I agree that having to keep my kids entertained tends to minimize the relaxation aspect of a nice meal. Two hours for a meal would about kill them! (If I didn't first! ;)) Can't wait to hear about the race!
Even my calm 10 year old girl wouldn't enjoy a 2 hour meal. My 7 and 5 year old boys would think they had died and ended up where they didn't want to be:laughing:

Ooh the excitement is rising for the race now. Forgot to add in my last post, am glad you decided to go with the Tyvek in the end :)
The Tyvek was definitely the right decision. I watched a bit of the Gunners game last night to make DH happy and I thought of you.

liznboys

01-21-2010, 10:06 AM

Thank you! I did check out the C25K site and printed it out! You two have really motivated me to do this! :yay:

Yay! Keep us posted! :thumbsup2

I'm glad the bed was comfy! I didn't realize you got up and peaked out the window. I must have either been asleep or very close to it!

Yeah, I remember I heard the music and I thought for a second if I should say anything about it because I knew you were like me, TRYING to relax and fall asleep. But then I couldn't help myself, had to ask you if you heard it too. You replied but I could tell you were more interested in working on sleep. Which was a very good thing, because if you were all excited to hear it like I was, we probably would have ended up getting up and heading out of the room to watch it from somewhere...thereby making sleep occur even later!

dismagiclover

01-21-2010, 02:43 PM

Which was a very good thing, because if you were all excited to hear it like I was, we probably would have ended up getting up and heading out of the room to watch it from somewhere...thereby making sleep occur even later!

Then we would have only gotten 3 1/2 hours of sleep instead of 4 1/2 hours:sad2:

dismagiclover

01-21-2010, 02:58 PM

At 3:00 am sharp Liz’s alarm went off and she rolled out of bed to get ready. It took me a bit longer to get up and I finally got out of bed around 3:30. It was insane to be up that early! We piled on all our multiple layers, ate a quick breakfast and headed out of the room a little after 4:00 am. As we walked across the bridge to the Contemporary we shivered and it was an unsettling realization that we were going to run in this weather. It was about 30 degrees F.:scared1: We headed over to the monorail and there was a train waiting for us so we hopped on with all of the other crazy people willing to be up at 4 am to go for a run in these freezing conditions. Liz snapped this incredibly flattering picture of me in my marshmallow garb.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3291.jpg

Check out all those layers. Pure Comedy.:lmao: I snapped one of Liz (who looks way too happy for this time of the morning.)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3292.jpg

Before we knew it we were arriving at Epcot. I knew there were real restrooms (as opposed to the hundreds of port a potties to come) right by the monorail stop so we made the first of many potty stops of the morning. Everyone in the restroom was lamenting the weather. One runner was from Florida and I believe in a state of utter shock. Liz decided to don her Marshmallow gear

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3293.jpg

We headed out into the dark, frigid outdoors and made our way over to the starting area. We were surrounded by fellow runners and most of them were quiet as we contemplated the task ahead of us. As we came close to the race area we heard the music blaring and a DJ trying to create a party atmosphere, but most of us were just trying to stay warm. We chit chatted with a woman from Pennsylvania (about the weather of course) and Liz looked up at the lights and took a picture.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3296.jpg

:scared1: That is snow. In Florida. And we aren’t on Main Street during the Christmas Party! This was the real deal. So don’t ever let anyone tell you it doesn’t snow in Florida. There are 20,000 insane runners who can testify to you that it does! The realization hit me that despite all of my optimism this was not to be a dry race. I tried not to think too much about that and we headed through the tents to the runners only area where we were greeted by hundreds of Port a Potties and thousands of people waiting for said Port a Potties. We hopped in a line. Pre race nerves, over hydration, and cold weather do funny things to the bladder. We picked the wrong line. Most of the lines had 2-3 port a potties serving them. Ours had one. The woman behind us kept encouraging whoever was at the front of our line to rush another port a potty. No one ever did. Anyway, we made it through the line and by the time we were done the crowds had thinned out quite a bit as everyone headed toward the starting corrals. We took a bit of a walk (I’d guess around a half mile) on a road through a backstage area. We noticed a few old boats and such. No pictures though. I think we were a bit nervous. We finally made it to our corral (Corral G) and waded our way through the crowds. We tried to get up as far as we could, but it wasn’t too far. We found our spot and plopped down and waited. (In our fully marshmallowed up condition)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3302.jpg

And waited.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3300.jpg

And waited.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3301.jpg

Fireworks!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-854-007f.jpg

The gun went off.

And we waited. The gun went off again. More fireworks. And we waited. Gun went off. Fireworks. Waited.

And we MOVED A LITTLE BIT!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3304.jpg

And more fireworks!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3307.jpg

The race was on.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3311.jpg

As we slowly made our way to the starting line we began stripping off the extra layers we’d brought for the wait. We threw them to the sides (Disney collects them and donates them to charity. This was a banner year for that). I even stripped off the Tyvek jacket because the zipper broke. (I know it is a one time use thing, but geez.:confused3) We approached the start line.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3313.jpg

Look who was wishing us luck as we crossed the starting line.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-2335-013f.jpg

And then we finally made it under this:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3315.jpg

So thirty five minutes after the elite runners crossed the starting line (which meant they were around mile 7) we finally crossed. The race was on!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-862-012f.jpg

carissanboys

01-21-2010, 04:08 PM

Stefy

01-22-2010, 02:35 AM

The Tyvek was definitely the right decision. I watched a bit of the Gunners game last night to make DH happy and I thought of you.

Aww thanx :goodvibes They have quite a few matches coming up, Premier League and all, but at least we are at the top :cool1:

Gosh thats alot of people for that early in the morning :eek: I salute you both.

I love how Mickey and the gang cheered you on as you went by the start, awesome :)

Looking forward to reading more about the race :)

disneylovin24

01-22-2010, 05:40 AM

Snow on marathon day:scared1:

I'm very intrested in reading the marathon, I have always wondered how disney does a marathone:confused3

I can't believe it took that long to reach the start line:eek:

dismagiclover

01-22-2010, 08:13 AM

Wow! I'm in shock of how long it takes to get to the starting line! I'm sure you'll probably tell as we get further along (maybe next installment), but I'm wondering how long until the crowd starts to thin out. Doesn't even look like a person could start jogging/running at the point.

I am very nervous about the peeing aspect of a half marathon. :rolleyes1 As we know from my previous TRs, I have a teeny, tiny thimble and I'm afraid I'll have to pee often. I'll have to train for it! :rotfl: Marathon Peeing!

I thought there was something else I was gonna say, but I've lost it. Oh well....
We were in the last corral and they had several different waves or starts all separated by 10 minutes. So we didn't start until I think the 4th wave. To be honest it never really thinned out. This is quite a crowded race. They assign corrals based on projected finish time so the fast runners aren't stuck behind the walkers/woggers. However, you have to show proof of time from a previous race (10K or longer) to get moved up out of the last corral. I'm going to try to get a 10K time that I can use for proof of time next year so I can move up at least one corral.

Regarding the peeing aspect. I think I stopped 5 times during the race itself (not counting the two times before we even started.) I was a bit overhydrated on race day:rolleyes1 There are port a potties all along the way, but there are lines for them so it affects your time. For me that is just part of racing! When it's hotter I don't have to stop as much. I guess because I sweat it out. Hopefully next year will be a bit warmer.:goodvibes

Aww thanx :goodvibes They have quite a few matches coming up, Premier League and all, but at least we are at the top :cool1:

Gosh thats alot of people for that early in the morning :eek: I salute you both.

I love how Mickey and the gang cheered you on as you went by the start, awesome :)

Looking forward to reading more about the race :)
There are over 20,000 people that do this race. It's huge! Lots of insane people out here;) I love Mickey and the gang at the start too. They look so cute in their workout outfits:goodvibes Don't worry there are more characters to come. That is the best thing about Disney races!

Snow on marathon day:scared1:

I'm very intrested in reading the marathon, I have always wondered how disney does a marathone:confused3

I can't believe it took that long to reach the start line:eek:

I explained the start a bit up above, but it does take a while. That is just a lot of people to move. You may hear more about this race than you ever wanted to know. I'm planning on dragging it out:laughing:

Angies1274

01-22-2010, 08:30 AM

01-22-2010, 08:49 AM

Wow! That looks so exciting! I am going to register today!

I guess it will do me good to be training in Iowa winter! Then I will be all prepared if it snows next year- BUT let's hope not! ;)

Thanks so much for the report- it is so inspiring!

Jo

micheleq

01-22-2010, 09:08 AM

Finally found you and joining in the fun! Alot different from Star Wars Weekend huh ;)

I was for several years, a high school varsity track coach, so bravo to you gals for doing the half!! Since having my two kids I've become a bit of a couch potato and need to get back into the game. DH has several friends who are competitive tri-athelets (two have been to Ironman in Kona, one is among the top ten amateurs in his age group in the nation) and they love to "encourage" me to get running again.

Running in the cold is never fun (here in CT we always had the kids outside unless conditions were too icy), esp. in snow or in mixed weather conditions. I bet at the end of that race, you had a great sense of accomplishment. If you can run in those conditions, every other day must feel like a heatwave. Can't wait to hear the rest!

dismagiclover

01-22-2010, 12:19 PM

Wow! Look at all those people!!:scared1:--and at that early in the morning!! You all are such an inspiration!!!:thumbsup2

I think I'm still in shock over the fact that it actually snowed in Florida. Brrrrr...you both look so cold.

I can't wait to hear more about the race!!!!popcorn::
I think I'm still in shock that it snowed in Florida too and on the day of the race:scared1: Not in my wildest nightmares could I have come up with that scenario. But it was still a great race and it makes for great stories;)

Wow! That looks so exciting! I am going to register today!

I guess it will do me good to be training in Iowa winter! Then I will be all prepared if it snows next year- BUT let's hope not! ;)

Thanks so much for the report- it is so inspiring!

Jo
:yay::yay: Did you get registered? It really is such a great race and there are so many people on this board who will help to cheer you on to the finish! I trained here in the cold in Maryland and I'm glad I did. Race day didn't seem that bad. Those Florida folks were just dying on race day!

Finally found you and joining in the fun! Alot different from Star Wars Weekend huh ;)

I was for several years, a high school varsity track coach, so bravo to you gals for doing the half!! Since having my two kids I've become a bit of a couch potato and need to get back into the game. DH has several friends who are competitive tri-athelets (two have been to Ironman in Kona, one is among the top ten amateurs in his age group in the nation) and they love to "encourage" me to get running again.

Running in the cold is never fun (here in CT we always had the kids outside unless conditions were too icy), esp. in snow or in mixed weather conditions. I bet at the end of that race, you had a great sense of accomplishment. If you can run in those conditions, every other day must feel like a heatwave. Can't wait to hear the rest!
:welcome: It's fun to see my summer trip report friends again! This trip is definitely different from Star Wars Weekend. Just goes to show you there is always something new at Disney!
You have friends that do the Ironman. :worship: Those are real athletes and tough cookies! I just dabble in this running thing. Your friends are right though. You should get back out there running. You won't be sorry that you did!

dismagiclover

01-22-2010, 01:34 PM

We were off, but definitely not at breakneck speed. This race has lots of walkers and we were in the last canal so there were many around us with a slower pace. We began weaving around people and trying to find a place to run a comfortable pace. We were looking for around an 11 minute mile, but didn’t get close to that during this part of the race. Almost immediately we noticed quite a few people heading for the woods by the side of the course. For those of you that are non runners let me explain a little bit about a phenomenon that occurs on race day. Most racers are pretty paranoid about staying well hydrated leading up to race day so we drink plenty. Plus there are those pre race jitters. Plus in this race there was the cold. All these things together tend to cause full bladders. Running on full bladders is rather uncomfortable. Thus the race into the woods. Most of the woods racers are men. Were there any female woods racers? Well I know there were at least a couple.:rolleyes1

Anyway, back to the business at hand. The race was on and we were moving. We passed Mile 1 and I was going to take a picture of the sign, but it had no race clock on it so I skipped it. We soldiered on to Mile 2 and here is our time.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01222.jpg

Now remember we started 35 minutes after gun time so we aren’t as slow as it appears, but we also aren’t speeding bullets. (The winner crossed the finish line less than 4 minutes after we hit mile 2):worship:. We were still dodging people trying to get a steady pace. As we ran along World Drive we saw some of the super speedy runners coming back the other way. Hard to believe, but these runners were coming up on Mile 10 while we were still working on mile 3.:eek: Craziness! We made it to Mile 3.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01224.jpg

That was about a 12 minute mile. Somewhere along this stretch it began to really sleet. At one point Liz cried, “Ouch.” I looked over thinking she might have pulled a muscle or something and she says, “Ice just flew into my eye!” Yea, running through pelting ice is not a pleasant feeling for those of you that were wondering.:confused3 I don’t think I’d recommend it. We came upon the first landmark of the run.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3317.jpg

Then shortly thereafter we ran by the Speedway and through the TTC parking area. There were a few spectators about cheering us on which was very appreciated. It was miserable weather for us runners, but I’m sure it was worse for the spectators. At least we were moving. The Mile 4 sign soon appeared.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01226.jpg

We’re making OK time, but nowhere near our hoped for 11 minute pace. (Too much people dodging.) About this time we get our first castle spotting. It was exciting to think we’d be running through it soon! At about 4 ½ miles we hit the much hyped “Contemporary hill.” Hills are interesting things when you are a runner. Normally people don’t even notice hills, but as a runner you’re pretty much always aware of an incline no matter how slight. Overall Disney is incredibly flat which makes for great running. (Especially compared to Maryland. If you don’t like hills never go near the Baltimore races:scared1:. Trust me.) There are a few inclines at Disney though. Most of them involve overpasses, but the Contemporary hill is an underpass. It actually goes under a bridge of water connecting the 2 lakes. So I was interested to see if this hill was all it is hyped to be. I hate to say it, but it wasn’t.:confused3 Like I said I’m used to running in Maryland and there is a much bigger hill that I do on every run. So we made it up the “big hill” without incident. Right after the hill we ran by this lovely sight.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3321.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3323.jpg

Notice the sun has come up. I mentioned to Liz that maybe we should just bag it and head inside to warm up. She laughed at my joke. I wasn't joking:rolleyes:. But we carried on despite my fantasies of warm showers and hot cocoa, motivated by what we knew was coming right up. We hit Mile 5.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01228.jpg

Then what did we see?

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01230.jpg

It’s Space Mountain!:yay: Now that’s what I’m talking about! The sight inspired me to really take off!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01231.jpg

Liz was feeling like she had the whole universe in her hands. (I know. Bad joke.:headache:)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3327.jpg

It was finally here. Time for the Magic Kingdom and that run down Main Street!:woohoo:

carissanboys

01-22-2010, 02:13 PM

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01226.jpg

I saw this picture on someone else's half marathon TR for an older race so I'm thinking they use the same mile markers each year? I'm hoping so because my maiden name is Bannister. I'm sure we're not related at all, but maybe he'll inspire me during the race. :rotfl:

They count your time from the time you cross the start line, right? That's why you wear chips on your shoes?

RunningthruDisney

01-22-2010, 03:34 PM

It even looks cold. Ran the Half in 07. We had lots of fun and warmer weather. Started laughing when you said the elite runners were so far ahead. I do that all the time!!!!

liznboys

01-22-2010, 07:48 PM

LOL Jenny you're cracking me up with your descriptions of everything... :rotfl:

And after us, there were at least a few more...we started a trend on that stretch of road...:rolleyes1

Wow, that's crazy that the winner crossed the finish less than 4 minutes after we reached mile 2!

I have told the story of the sleet going in my eye many times now. lol It was crazy!

That Contemporary hill/underpass was nothing. I was so caught up in the sights around us, and the anticipation of nearing MK, I did not even notice we were going up a hill. Distraction sure helps when you're running!

Oh there was NO WAY we or me or you were going back to BLT at that point my friend! :)

HAHA the whole universe in my hands. cheesy, love it. :teeth:

Carissa, yep the tag on your shoe tracks your actual race time, called "chip time". On the results they show your chip time and clock time. Here's the first page of the half results so you can see:
http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?pubID=3&rsID=88766
The difference in time between the chip and the clock shows you how long it took the person to cross the Start line. It took Jenny and I about 35 minutes to cross it, so we have a 35 minute difference between our chip times and clock times.

Ellester

01-22-2010, 10:00 PM

You look so cold! I'm sure it was warmer running than watching though. I grew up in South Florida and when I was in second grade in 1977 it snowed in Ft. Lauderdale. The first and last time in recorded history. We got to go out and play in the flurries and then they closed school because we had no heat. (It wasn't broken or anything, the school was built in the 50's and they simply didn't put heat in.) Looking forward to hearing about the run through the MK!:thumbsup2

disneylovin24

01-22-2010, 10:16 PM

I never realized that the race actually went through the parks, that's very cool. It's good to know that a nice amount of people walk (in case I ever considered it:laughing:)

Stefy

01-23-2010, 08:34 AM

Awesome pics, loving your descrips for each. Love the "Scream" mile marker picture :)

Am looking forward to reading/seeing the Main Street run :)

Dolce27

01-23-2010, 08:38 AM

Regarding the peeing aspect. I think I stopped 5 times during the race itself (not counting the two times before we even started.) I was a bit overhydrated on race day:rolleyes1

Everyone was b/c it wasn't hot enough to sweat. And those port a potties were gross. I was always hydrated just right on training runs to not have to stop for a potty. It stunk to have to stop on race day.

We were off, but definitely not at breakneck speed. This race has lots of walkers and we were in the last canal so there were many around us with a slower pace.

Good luck to you on getting bumped up into a higher corral for 2011. Dodging slower runners/walkers burns more energy than you realize. It will make a difference if you're placed in a corral with people at your pace.

Almost immediately we noticed quite a few people heading for the woods by the side of the course.

You learn fast when someone over by the trees catches the corner of your eye to snap your head forward and not look. Especially that one woman who was all letting it hang out .... this was after the sun had risen :eek: Call me a prude, but I waited for the port a potties... even if it took a minute or two in order to make it through the line and do my thing.

(The winner crossed the finish line less than 4 minutes after we hit mile 2):worship:.

Those crazy Elites! :snooty: It'd be nice to run as fast as them and get it done with. :teeth: I think that the winner for the full marathon came in at 2:33

Somewhere along this stretch it began to really sleet. At one point Liz cried, “Ouch.” I looked over thinking she might have pulled a muscle or something and she says, “Ice just flew into my eye!” Yea, running through pelting ice is not a pleasant feeling for those of you that were wondering.:confused3 I don’t think I’d recommend it.

If for some crazy reason it decides to sleet again next year (which I doubt - and hope - it won't). But if it does, I think I'm going to invest in a pair of these:
http://www.amazon.com/MSA-Safety-Works-10041748-Contoured/dp/B000BO6NZQ

That sounds painful, Liz.

At about 4 ½ miles we hit the much hyped “Contemporary hill.” Hills are interesting things when you are a runner. Normally people don’t even notice hills, but as a runner you’re pretty much always aware of an incline no matter how slight. Overall Disney is incredibly flat which makes for great running. (Especially compared to Maryland. If you don’t like hills never go near the Baltimore races:scared1:. Trust me.) There are a few inclines at Disney though. Most of them involve overpasses, but the Contemporary hill is an underpass. It actually goes under a bridge of water connecting the 2 lakes. So I was interested to see if this hill was all it is hyped to be. I hate to say it, but it wasn’t.:confused3

I'm glad to know that I was not the only one that didn't get all of the hype surrounding this hill. Actually, it's long gradual inclines that kill me, not hills. There are so few actual hills in the Disney marathon that it's a nice break to take the pressure off your legs (for the most part) and put it on your glutes. Gradual inclines are long and put tons of stress on your legs and just never seem to end. :sad2:

It was finally here. Time for the Magic Kingdom and that run down Main Street!:woohoo:

:woohoo:

xDisneyAngelx

01-23-2010, 09:28 AM

So it was true that it snowed in Disney. Thats weird it was like the same temp 3hrs South and it never snowed. Wow you are so lucky! I kept waiting for it to snow but it never did. Oh well. At least you had a great time :-)

dismagiclover

01-23-2010, 09:37 AM

I saw this picture on someone else's half marathon TR for an older race so I'm thinking they use the same mile markers each year? I'm hoping so because my maiden name is Bannister. I'm sure we're not related at all, but maybe he'll inspire me during the race. :rotfl:

They count your time from the time you cross the start line, right? That's why you wear chips on your shoes?
I bet they do use the same mile markers every year so gear up for Mile 4 next year:thumbsup2 And yes your official time is the chip time they get from your shoe.

It even looks cold. Ran the Half in 07. We had lots of fun and warmer weather. Started laughing when you said the elite runners were so far ahead. I do that all the time!!!!
It was cold! Hopefully this was a once in a lifetime cold and next year we will go back to worrying about being too warm.

LOL Jenny you're cracking me up with your descriptions of everything... :rotfl:
And after us, there were at least a few more...we started a trend on that stretch of road...:rolleyes1 We're quite the trend setters aren't we;)
Wow, that's crazy that the winner crossed the finish less than 4 minutes after we reached mile 2! You've got some training to do if you want to win next year;)
I have told the story of the sleet going in my eye many times now. lol It was crazy! Crazy or insane (or both)!

That Contemporary hill/underpass was nothing. I was so caught up in the sights around us, and the anticipation of nearing MK, I did not even notice we were going up a hill. Distraction sure helps when you're running!

Oh there was NO WAY we or me or you were going back to BLT at that point my friend! :) I'm glad you were with me because you never know what I would have done if I by myself

You look so cold! I'm sure it was warmer running than watching though. I grew up in South Florida and when I was in second grade in 1977 it snowed in Ft. Lauderdale. The first and last time in recorded history. We got to go out and play in the flurries and then they closed school because we had no heat. (It wasn't broken or anything, the school was built in the 50's and they simply didn't put heat in.) Looking forward to hearing about the run through the MK!:thumbsup2
It was cold. I can't imagine how tough it was for those spectators.:eek:

I never realized that the race actually went through the parks, that's very cool. It's good to know that a nice amount of people walk (in case I ever considered it:laughing:)
The best part of the races is definitely throught the parks. The half goes through MK and Epcot. The full marathon actually goes through all 4 parks which sound awesome!

dismagiclover

01-23-2010, 09:47 AM

Awesome pics, loving your descrips for each. Love the "Scream" mile marker picture :)

Am looking forward to reading/seeing the Main Street run :)
I especially like the woman posing with the Scream mile marker:rotfl:

Everyone was b/c it wasn't hot enough to sweat. And those port a potties were gross. I was always hydrated just right on training runs to not have to stop for a potty. It stunk to have to stop on race day. The temperature really did change the hydrating and sweat factor. I never did even close to that many pooty breaks in my training runs either

Good luck to you on getting bumped up into a higher corral for 2011. Dodging slower runners/walkers burns more energy than you realize. It will make a difference if you're placed in a corral with people at your pace.

I'm hoping to do a 10K this summer that will bump me up, but on the Disney website it says you need to show proof of time if you expect a 5 hour finish or less. That means a closse to a 60 minute 10K and I'm not sure I can do that. I'm going to have to do some speedwork

Those crazy Elites! :snooty: It'd be nice to run as fast as them and get it done with. :teeth: I think that the winner for the full marathon came in at 2:33 I don't know. I think they miss all the fun;)

If for some crazy reason it decides to sleet again next year (which I doubt - and hope - it won't). But if it does, I think I'm going to invest in a pair of these:
I'm going with the assumption this was a once in a lifetime event

I'm glad to know that I was not the only one that didn't get all of the hype surrounding this hill. Actually, it's long gradual inclines that kill me, not hills. There are so few actual hills in the Disney marathon that it's a nice break to take the pressure off your legs (for the most part) and put it on your glutes. Gradual inclines are long and put tons of stress on your legs and just never seem to end. :sad2:

I agree. Gradual inclines can be killers!

So it was true that it snowed in Disney. Thats weird it was like the same temp 3hrs South and it never snowed. Wow you are so lucky! I kept waiting for it to snow but it never did. Oh well. At least you had a great time :-)

It snowed, but it didn't hit the ground or even come close to any accumulation. It didn't take long for it to turn into sleet (which is worse). We weren't thinking we were lucky at the time! Maybe in that one pocket it was a tad bit colder:confused3

disneylovin24

01-23-2010, 11:18 AM

The best part of the races is definitely throught the parks. The half goes through MK and Epcot. The full marathon actually goes through all 4 parks which sound awesome!

I could do that:rotfl: It sounds really nice, best scenary in the world for a race:thumbsup2

eeyore7360

01-23-2010, 11:48 AM

I'm so glad to see the race runs right by BLT. That means extra sleep for me!:cool1:

dismagiclover

01-23-2010, 02:09 PM

I could do that:rotfl: It sounds really nice, best scenary in the world for a race:thumbsup2
Does that mean your registering for 2011?;) It is definitely the best scenery of any race I've ever done!

I'm so glad to see the race runs right by BLT. That means extra sleep for me!:cool1:
BLT is the perfect place to stay if you are a spectator. Just pop outside your hotel and you'll have a front row spot:thumbsup2

dismagiclover

01-23-2010, 02:45 PM

I’m not sure how many of you noticed the coat I’m wearing in the last installment. If not go back and take a look because that coat is a major character in this installment. Before continuing I need to give a little background on the coat. It is an LL Bean fleece purchased by my husband around 1993.:eek: You read that right. 1993. That is when we were all wearing flannel shirts, watching Seinfeld, cheering on Pete Sampras and listening to Boyz II Men. Most shocking of all, most of us still didn’t have e-mail.:scared1: So DH didn’t have an e-mail address, but he had that fleece coat. He also didn’t have me. In other words that fleece jacket had known DH longer than I had. He had a bit of an attachment to it.:love: I didn’t. Frankly, I think it is hideous (and I’m quite unfashionable so that is saying a lot.) However, before the trip we were all religiously watching the weather forecast. And it kept getting colder. And the trip got closer. And the weather got colder. I knew I would need something really warm that I could toss during the run. I never even considered asking him for the fleece jacket. I knew how long it had been with him and how he felt about it. But one day he offered.:faint: I stood there slack jawed. He asked if I’d heard him. I mutely nodded my head. He said, “I never wear it anymore so take it.” I told him it would be a perfect throwaway coat because it was very warm, but not too bulky. So we were agreed that I’d take it. And he then proceeded to wear it around the house for the next 3 days straight.:lmao: I suppose it was his way of saying goodbye. Needless to say, it was a really nice gesture of DH to give up the fleece jacket and I wanted to show my appreciation for it.:flower3: We were, however, coming up on the Magic Kingdom which I knew would be prime photo time in the race. And my undying gratitude for the jacket did not include having it in all my pictures. So I realized I needed to ditch it. The plan was to wait until we entered the Magic Kingdom and then look for somewhere special to leave it. I figured if DH knew I left it in my favorite place he would realize I really did recognize the sweetness of his gesture.:lovestruc So the time for the tossing had almost arrived. We veered off the road into a backstage area

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3328.jpg

We entered the Magic Kingdom through a side entrance.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3330.jpg

As soon as we entered I saw a bench off to the right and I knew it was the right place to leave the jacket. I lovingly placed it there.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01232.jpg

Then I stepped back and took a picture.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01233.jpg

Liz took a picture of me taking a picture

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3331.jpg

Then I said my final goodbyes.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01234.jpg

I didn’t even look back as I headed toward Main Street.;)

This, however, is not the end of the story of the 1993 LLBean Fleece Jacket. The night I returned home I was happily showing my family all the pictures and telling them the stories of all our adventures. The jacket pictures came up and I related my tale. (DH mostly just rolled his eyes at me, and Wendy told me I was a weirdo.:laughing:) We’d moved on in the race, but all of a sudden I look over at my youngest son Michael. He is sobbing and is absolutely distraught. I ask him what is wrong and after a little prodding he tells me he is so sad that I left the jacket behind. I’m not sure he even knew the jacket existed before this.:confused3 It takes quite a few minutes to explain to him that it is OK. That somewhere someone that doesn’t have as much as us is staying warm because I left the jacket. And that I left it in my favorite place in the world. DH even reassured him we will visit the bench where the jacket was left. So I guess from now on when we go to Disney World the Darling Family will make a special pilgrimage to the 1993 LLBean Fleece Jacket Bench.:lmao:

Next up: I promise we will actually make it to Main Street..

disneylovin24

01-23-2010, 02:53 PM

Does that mean your registering for 2011?;) It is definitely the best scenery of any race I've ever done!

I actually might be if I could go in January:rotfl: I can't make it to disney in January sadly, maybe in a few years I'll make it down for the marathon. I've actually done a few races myself, but not since 3 or 4 years ago.

I can see why you didn't want that jacket in your pictures:eek::lmao: How sweet of your husband to let you get rid off..oops I meant borrow his jacket.;)

Stefy

01-23-2010, 02:54 PM

Aww bless DH, takes alot for men to let go of clothing from the old days (DF still holds on to his fav t shirts that are waaay to small for him). I lol at "he wore it around the house for the next three days", bless :)

How cute is Michael, but at least he knows it has gone to a better place and like you say, you can go and visit the bench every trip now :)

carissanboys

01-23-2010, 02:58 PM

Awwww - how sweet of your husband to give you his jacket to wear and discard! (Go Beans!! Sorry - the Maine native in me made me do it.) And too cute that Michael was so distraught over leaving it behind.

I'm feeling a bit nervous looking at that large group of people all packed in like sardines!! Doesn't even look like jogging/running is possible!

dismagiclover

01-24-2010, 02:44 PM

I actually might be if I could go in January:rotfl: I can't make it to disney in January sadly, maybe in a few years I'll make it down for the marathon. I've actually done a few races myself, but not since 3 or 4 years ago. They have races throughout the year. I know they do the Princess Half in March. Plus there are doing a new half marathon this fall during Food & Wine. Just something to think about.

I can see why you didn't want that jacket in your pictures:eek::lmao: How sweet of your husband to let you get rid off..oops I meant borrow his jacket.;)
I must say I don't really miss the jacket. It was a bit outdated:rolleyes1

Aww bless DH, takes alot for men to let go of clothing from the old days (DF still holds on to his fav t shirts that are waaay to small for him). I lol at "he wore it around the house for the next three days", bless :)

How cute is Michael, but at least he knows it has gone to a better place and like you say, you can go and visit the bench every trip now :)
It really was nice of DH. And Michael's reaction suprised us. It was like I had left his favorite stuffed animal behind or something. Like I said I don't even think he knew the jacket existed before he saw the pictures.:confused3

Awwww - how sweet of your husband to give you his jacket to wear and discard! (Go Beans!! Sorry - the Maine native in me made me do it.) And too cute that Michael was so distraught over leaving it behind.

I'm feeling a bit nervous looking at that large group of people all packed in like sardines!! Doesn't even look like jogging/running is possible!

There are periods of the race that are definite bottlenecks. Entering Magic Kingdom and going up Main Street is defintely one of them. We still managed to jog most of the time. It was just a pretty slow jog.

Stefy

01-24-2010, 02:46 PM

It really was nice of DH. And Michael's reaction suprised us. It was like I had left his favorite stuffed animal behind or something. Like I said I don't even think he knew the jacket existed before he saw the pictures.:confused3

Maybe he overheard you guys talking about it or something, bless :cutie:

dismagiclover

01-24-2010, 03:24 PM

:yay:Here we were! This is what the months of training was for. This is what I thought about when I was running through ice and cold back in Maryland. (However, in my thoughts I was never running through ice and cold in Florida.:scared1:) We were in the Magic Kingdom. We came out of the Alleyway of the 1993 LLBean Fleece Jacket and were greeted with this:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3333.jpg

The Christmas tree was still up! This was an unexpected surprise for both of us, but I was happy to see it. And the weather fit in perfectly.:rolleyes1 We turned the corner and there we were running up Main Street. The street was lined with spectators on one side and cast members out cheering on the other. The way was a bit narrow so there really wasn’t a lot of running going on. Rather some fast walking (I think I’ve gone down that street faster during a rope drop Dumbo Dash.;)) I stopped to do a little jig.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01236.jpg

I seriously have no idea what I think I’m doing, but I’m having fun doing it. Liz stopped for a quick photo too.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3334.jpg

Then what do we see before our very eyes?

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3337.jpg

And as you can see the way towards the castle is more crowded than rope drop in the summertime.;) We’re not trying to win any prizes here so we stopped for a castle shot

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01238.jpg

And here is looking the other way

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3340.jpg

Hey we’re not in last place.:goodvibes

We run through the hub and head towards Tomorrowland.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3342.jpg

Spectators aren’t allowed here so things opened up a bit.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3343.jpg

And then we have our first character sighting.:woohoo: Who is it?

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01245.jpg

We didn’t stop for a picture. (Liz kept reminding me we were in a race you know. I’m pretty easily distracted.) Check out this couple posing with Buzz. Looking all cute and color coordinated. Who do they think they are? Don’t they know that the rest of us look like a cross between marshmallows and drowned rats? :rotfl: On the other hand: Shorts?:scared1: Now that is just insanity. Buzz did do a quick pose for Liz.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3345.jpg

We soldiered on through Tomorrowland until we saw something that got me really excited. A restroom. This isn’t a Port a Potty! This is a bonafide restroom that is open. This is a must stop. Every race does not provide clean, warm restrooms. It’s one of those bonuses you get when you run Disney.:thumbsup2 So we head in and wait in a line (It is a women’s restroom in the Magic Kingdom.;)) After using the facilities and checking the mirror to see how fabulous we look we head out. Not without a little internal chuckle that yes we are in a race, but yes we did leisurely wash our hands and spent a little time primping (not that it did us much good. It was still 32 degrees and raining.)

So we said goodbye to Tomorrowland and made our way into Fantasyland. And there we pose for our first character picture. Who was this that distracted us from our blazing pace?

Stefy

01-24-2010, 03:36 PM

carissanboys

01-24-2010, 03:41 PM

How awesome to see the Christmas decorations!! Are they not normally up during marathon weekend? I'd love to be able to see them. :goodvibes

disneylovin24

01-24-2010, 03:45 PM

Thanks for the info on the other marathons, I'll have to look into them:thumbsup2

Isn't Main Street suppossed to be empty that early in the day:rotfl:

Happy Elf

01-24-2010, 08:07 PM

The castle is such a beautiful sight! I might take up running to run up Main St. :laughing:

Angies1274

01-24-2010, 09:12 PM

Wow! Great updates!!:thumbsup2

I didn't realize that you got to run down Main Street!! That is so cool that you were able to see the castle and all the Christmas decorations!!

Ahh...that was so nice of your DH to let you take his jacket. But...poor Michael--feeling so bad that it was left behind.:sad2:

Cute picture of Buzz!! Hmm...wondering who else you found???

Brrr....it still looks really cold!!

dismagiclover

01-25-2010, 07:12 AM

Oh wow that looks so awesome running through Main St and seeing the Castle must have been really cool.

Love that pic of Buzz runing, bless him. Looking forward to seeing who else you bumped into along the way :)
Running up Main Street is one of the highlights for lots of racers. I love seeing all of the characters. There are many more to come!

How awesome to see the Christmas decorations!! Are they not normally up during marathon weekend? I'd love to be able to see them. :goodvibes
I'm pretty sure they leave the Christmas decorations up through Marathon weekend. Since this was my first marathon weekend I wasn't expecting it so it was a bit of a suprise. Now watch next year they will take them down when I'm expecting them up!

Thanks for the info on the other marathons, I'll have to look into them:thumbsup2

Isn't Main Street suppossed to be empty that early in the day:rotfl:
:rotfl: So much for getting that castle shot with no one in it before park opening!

The castle is such a beautiful sight! I might take up running to run up Main St. :laughing:
During rough training runs thinking of the castle is one of my motivations! Could work for you too;)

Wow! Great updates!!:thumbsup2

I didn't realize that you got to run down Main Street!! That is so cool that you were able to see the castle and all the Christmas decorations!!

Ahh...that was so nice of your DH to let you take his jacket. But...poor Michael--feeling so bad that it was left behind.:sad2:

Cute picture of Buzz!! Hmm...wondering who else you found???

Brrr....it still looks really cold!!
Lots more characters coming up and it was really cold. It never got any warmer:sad2:

carissanboys

01-25-2010, 07:24 AM

Ohhhh - I thought you'd run the half marathon before? :confused3

dismagiclover

01-25-2010, 07:32 AM

Ohhhh - I thought you'd run the half marathon before? :confused3

I've run the Disneyland Half (in CA) and the Baltimore Half (here in good old MD), but this was my first Disney World Half (in FL). Wouldn't you know the Florida race was by far the coldest too:rotfl:

carissanboys

01-25-2010, 07:40 AM

I've run the Disneyland Half (in CA) and the Baltimore Half (here in good old MD), but this was my first Disney World Half (in FL). Wouldn't you know the Florida race was by far the coldest too:rotfl:

:rotfl: Here's hoping next year is a bit warmer! :thumbsup2

Dolce27

01-25-2010, 12:42 PM

:rotfl: Here's hoping next year is a bit warmer! :thumbsup2

But not too warm! :scared:

carissanboys

01-25-2010, 12:45 PM

But not too warm! :scared:

Exactly! But, I think the chance of it being too warm that early in the morning during the month of January is pretty slim. Hope I didn't just jinx us. :rolleyes1

January is my favorite month to visit WDW. :goodvibes

mebbradley

01-25-2010, 01:23 PM

I can't wait to run the half-marathon in 2011 :)

Ha. Disney Hills. Can we trade Disney hills for the hills here in Maryland/Delaware?

:)

dismagiclover

01-25-2010, 02:30 PM

:rotfl: Here's hoping next year is a bit warmer! :thumbsup2

But not too warm! :scared:

Exactly! But, I think the chance of it being too warm that early in the morning during the month of January is pretty slim. Hope I didn't just jinx us. :rolleyes1

January is my favorite month to visit WDW. :goodvibes
A couple of years ago it actually got up into the 80s during the full marathon:scared1: I think you're probably right about the half though. It finishes early enough that it shouldn't get too hot.

I can't wait to run the half-marathon in 2011 :)

Ha. Disney Hills. Can we trade Disney hills for the hills here in Maryland/Delaware?

:)
It is a great race! I'd trade for those Disney hills anyday:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-25-2010, 02:43 PM

So at the end of our last installment we were heading for our first meet ‘n greet of the race. Who did we chat with?

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01246.jpg

It was the Queen of Hearts that got me. I’d never met her before and I am all about meeting new people. Alice is looking like she wants to climb right out of this rabbit hole isn’t she?:lmao:

So we passed the Teacups and headed towards Dumbo (which was flying high)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3347.jpg

Then we were waylaid by these scoundrels.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01247.jpg

I told Captain Smee he was quite the gentleman when he took my arm and I think he fell a little bit in love. And Liz is charming Captain Hook by cuddling up close. (Men are such suckers!)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3348.jpg

The Carousel was also in full swing

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3349.jpg

We made our way towards the castle

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3350.jpg

Trumpeters heralded our arrival

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3351.jpg

Looking backwards

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3353.jpg

We saw another pair we couldn’t pass up.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01249a.jpg

I insisted on standing by the Prince and Liz kindly agreed. I giddily approached and he kindly gave me his arm while I told him I don’t get pictures with Princes everyday. I think he may have liked me just a little. Liz was trying to pull me towards her side of the picture, but I was sticking with the Prince. As you can tell I was feeling the love, or maybe it’s just the cold rain making me loopy.:laughing:

The Moment had arrived. It was our time to run through the castle. Every Disney runner pictures this moment in their head when training gets tough and it pretty much lives up to the expectation. As we came out the other side we hammed it up a bit for the course photographers.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-288-032f.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-288-031f.jpg

And then we noticed a photographer that was actually taking posed shots in front of the castle. We were all over that.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-897-003f.jpg

After the castle we left the hub and headed into Liberty Square. (For those of you that know Sandy that is her in front of us).

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3356.jpg

Liz snapped of shot of Liberty Tree Tavern where we planned on having lunch.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3357.jpg

We headed into Frontierland

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3359.jpg

There were some bears out

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3360.jpg

And some banjo players

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3361.jpg

And we hit Mile 6

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01250.jpg

In case you weren’t paying attention Mile 5 took us around 30 minutes. That is 2 miles an hour.:eek: I’m pretty sure my 93 year old grandma could walk that pace.:rotfl: Ain’t nothing wrong with a leisurely stroll through the Magic Kingdom on a cold blustery day. The only problem was Liz thought we were actually in a race. Would we ever speed up?

carissanboys

01-25-2010, 02:52 PM

mla1977

01-25-2010, 03:10 PM

OMG! I was about a minute ahead of you at this point. I only stopped for the pictures at the bottom of the ramp though. You guys still finished faster than me.

Stefy

01-25-2010, 03:41 PM

Oh wow, awesome post. Loving all the pics and look your very own fanfare of trumpets were playing to cheer you on and your Prince too :)

UGAFan0829

01-25-2010, 03:48 PM

Hi, Jenny! I just stumbled upon your TR, and am love, love, loving it! It's so cool to read about your adventures during the race, as I'm planning to run the Princess 1/2 in March! I love that you look like you're having such a great time! I only hope that my run is as fun as yours looks!

disneylovin24

01-25-2010, 04:17 PM

What scenary:lovestruc:lovestruc:lovestruc

marcielm

01-25-2010, 04:42 PM

I am loving your TR!! I am thinking about doing the Princess Half in 2011, and this is just what I needed for motivation. I can't wait to hear about the end of the race! popcorn::

Happy Elf

01-25-2010, 06:06 PM

Great update! I would have stopped for the prince too! :lovestruc

Dolce27

01-25-2010, 08:59 PM

As we came out the other side we hammed it up a bit for the course photographers.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-288-032f.jpg

I love this pic! You guys are too cute! - esp Liz! But... I don't think the man behind you is "hamming" it up. :lmao: It's part of what makes this photo so great - you and Liz cheesing it for the camera and the poor guy so clueless, just begging to get to the Finish Line.

The posed photo of the two of you in front of the castle is really good. I didn't think they had done it for the full-marathon after hearing about these photos from people that ran the 1/2 .... then I just received a couple of pic's in the mail that I ordered. One was my castle pic and I can see what appears to be a line off to the right of the picture that must have been a line for a posed pic.

I didn't stop for any photos this year but next year I would like to stop for Alice and the Mad Hatter (she wasn't out with him when I ran by during the full) and the Wicked Stepmother and Sisters who were standing pretty much where you stopped for the Prince and Fairy Godmother. I'd like pic's with them...

I think that's my list. :teeth:

Liz snapped of shot of Liberty Tree Tavern where we planned on having lunch.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3357.jpg

Too funny that you managed to snap a pic of Sandy by taking that photo. :lmao:

dismagiclover

01-25-2010, 09:04 PM

Love all of the pictures with the characters, but the one with the prince and the look on your face is priceless!!! :rotfl: Love it!!

I just noticed Liz was wearing a running skirt, too. Do you guys normally wear them without the "tights" when it's hot or are they to keep people from staring at your bottom?? :rolleyes1
We wear them without tights normally. When I train in cold here I usually just wear the running tights, but I didn't want my pictures with just the running tights. That might have been too scary:scared1:

OMG! I was about a minute ahead of you at this point. I only stopped for the pictures at the bottom of the ramp though. You guys still finished faster than me.
Wow you are close. Look for yourself in my pictures.

Oh wow, awesome post. Loving all the pics and look your very own fanfare of trumpets were playing to cheer you on and your Prince too :)
All the details and the characters are really what make Disney races so great!

Hi, Jenny! I just stumbled upon your TR, and am love, love, loving it! It's so cool to read about your adventures during the race, as I'm planning to run the Princess 1/2 in March! I love that you look like you're having such a great time! I only hope that my run is as fun as yours looks!
:welcome: You will have so much fun in March! And I'd say chances are 100% that you will have better weather! Good luck in training and at the race!

What scenary:lovestruc:lovestruc:lovestruc
That's the reason I love Disney races.

dismagiclover

01-25-2010, 09:15 PM

I am loving your TR!! I am thinking about doing the Princess Half in 2011, and this is just what I needed for motivation. I can't wait to hear about the end of the race! popcorn::
:welcome: I say definitely make the Princess a goal! It is a great motivator to have a Disney race to train for. And race day makes all of the training worth it!

Great update! I would have stopped for the prince too! :lovestruc
Couldn't pass up the prince and in the next update we get someone even betterpopcorn::

I love this pic! You guys are too cute! - esp Liz! But... I don't think the man behind you is "hamming" it up. :lmao: It's part of what makes this photo so great - you and Liz cheesing it for the camera and the poor guy so clueless, just begging to get to the Finish Line.Liz is funny doing a little jump for joy or something:laughing: That man behind us really does look like he is having a tough time and we're not even half way there plus we are in the most inspiring part of the race. I hope he finished.

The posed photo of the two of you in front of the castle is really good. I didn't think they had done it for the full-marathon after hearing about these photos from people that ran the 1/2 .... then I just received a couple of pic's in the mail that I ordered. One was my castle pic and I can see what appears to be a line off to the right of the picture that must have been a line for a posed pic. The line was off of the course. I think it was Liz that noticed it. We only had to wait half a minute or so. It wasn't too bad

I didn't stop for any photos this year but next year I would like to stop for Alice and the Mad Hatter (she wasn't out with him when I ran by during the full) and the Wicked Stepmother and Sisters who were standing pretty much where you stopped for the Prince and Fairy Godmother. I'd like pic's with them...I think they do different characters each year and the characters rotate around. So you never know for sure who is going to be where. Gives you a reason to come back next year:thumbsup2

I think that's my list. :teeth:

Too funny that you managed to snap a pic of Sandy by taking that photo. :lmao:

And we didn't even know it was her yet. We figure out who she is next mile.

mla1977

01-25-2010, 11:03 PM

I've checking my pictures since you probably passed me at some point, but I haven't found you yet!

mtnmomma3

01-26-2010, 09:55 AM

So enjoying your report :) I am running the princess half - coming up soon!:scared1: It has been nice to have some images to put in my head while I run. Also a cold weather runner.. live in the Blue Ridge Mountains... hoping for a warm, sunny March morning!

Can I ask a couple of quick questions since you are a Disney race veteran now?!?!
- Also will be stuck in Corral G for the start but am aiming for about a 9 minute mile, will I ever be able to break from the "G pack"?
- My family (Hubby, grandma, DD3 and twinDD 6 months) will be at the BLT.. do you think that is their best bet for waving to mommy? Would they be able to catch me in the park too after that? Can't really envision how long it takes!

Thanks so much! Can't wait to hear about the finish!!
Erin

carissanboys

01-26-2010, 10:59 AM

I just remembered another question I had. What kind of race do you have to have to show proof of time? I'm assuming a 5K won't cut it for the half marathon?

mtnmomma3

01-26-2010, 11:24 AM

It has to be a 10K or greater for the half... which are hard to find in the winter time...

Angies1274

01-26-2010, 12:08 PM

Great update!! Love all the pictures!! For being so cold, you guys look really happy!!!! Then again, if I got to stand next to the prince I would be feeling the same way!!!;)

carissanboys

01-26-2010, 12:40 PM

It has to be a 10K or greater for the half... which are hard to find in the winter time...

Thanks. :thumbsup2

dismagiclover

01-26-2010, 12:54 PM

I've checking my pictures since you probably passed me at some point, but I haven't found you yet!
There were lots of people there so chances aren't good that you saw me, but you never know!

So enjoying your report :) I am running the princess half - coming up soon!:scared1: It has been nice to have some images to put in my head while I run. Also a cold weather runner.. live in the Blue Ridge Mountains... hoping for a warm, sunny March morning!

Can I ask a couple of quick questions since you are a Disney race veteran now?!?!
- Also will be stuck in Corral G for the start but am aiming for about a 9 minute mile, will I ever be able to break from the "G pack"?
- My family (Hubby, grandma, DD3 and twinDD 6 months) will be at the BLT.. do you think that is their best bet for waving to mommy? Would they be able to catch me in the park too after that? Can't really envision how long it takes!

Thanks so much! Can't wait to hear about the finish!!
Erin
:welcome: Congrats on your upcoming Princess Half. That sounds like a really fun race. It will be slow going at first to break away from the G pack, but I'd think after a mile or two you should be able to. I'd just try to get as far up in the corral as you can. There are lots of walkers at the race and you'll have to weave around them. There are narrow stretches when you may have to slow your pace, but overall you should be able to maintain it ok after the first couple of miles. At 9 minute miles you'll be doing lots of passing which is always good for the ego:goodvibes

I think BLT would be a great spot for you to see your family. There aren't too many spectators so you would be sure to see them there. I don't think there is any way they could see you at BLT and the Magic Kingdom. There just wouldn't be enough time. To be honest I think BLT would be a better place because Main Street is really crowded and you may not even see them. After you passed them at BLT your family would have plenty of time to hop on the monorail and go to Epcot to see you at the finish.

I just remembered another question I had. What kind of race do you have to have to show proof of time? I'm assuming a 5K won't cut it for the half marathon?
I see you already got your answer, but you need 10K or more.

Great update!! Love all the pictures!! For being so cold, you guys look really happy!!!! Then again, if I got to stand next to the prince I would be feeling the same way!!!;)
It was cold, but it was still so much fun! Just wait to see who we meet next installment! That is coming right up.

dismagiclover

01-26-2010, 01:01 PM

So as we passed Mile 6 Liz started talking about getting serious. I started nodding my head in agreement (though I wasn’t feeling it in my heart;)). We ran by the train and since we were trying to be serious we didn’t stop for a picture.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3364.jpg

We continued into backstage and passed by a couple of floats. Again we were serious runners now so no stopping. And then we saw them.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3366.jpg

Captain Jack and his pirate friends.:love: It was over. All thoughts of serious running were long gone. We made sure there were still some folks behind us in the race.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3367.jpg

We hopped in what was a fairly long line of sweaty women. For some reason there weren’t very many men in the line.:confused3 Go figure. Look at these cute running skirts. I think I may get one for next year.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3369.jpg

Liz and I immediately started discussing who got to stand by Jack. I knew I should cede the spot because I had claimed the Prince earlier. But come on. This was Captain Jack Sparrow and we all know that pirates trump princes any day of the week. Our diplomatic hero Liz suggested we each take a side.:hippie: Why hadn’t I thought of that? So when our turn was over we ran to meet them. (Jack can get me running.:lovestruc) And we got this classic.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01252.jpg

I do think Captain Jack liked me best;), but something screwy is going on with Liz. What is that Pirate up to?:eek:

So after our Pirate encounter we had a new burst of energy and headed out. While still backstage we went through a water stop staffed with a great group of volunteers. At this point I have to give a huge shout out to all of the fabulous volunteers that staffed the race. The weather was miserable for us runners, but I’m sure it was doubly miserable for the volunteers. At least we were moving. A big enough thank you can not be said to all those that stood out in the wet, cold weather for hours so we could participate in this event. Those volunteers are heroes.:worship:

Speaking of heroes this is the point when one of my favorite moments of the race happened. We were running through the water stop and I looked to my right and noticed one of those really cute 19 year old sweet young things volunteering.:cutie: You know who I’m talking about. That young, beautiful girl that looked adorable out there in the freezing cold and we all secretly dream that is what we were like in our other life. (Well at least I do.) We all have wanted to be that girl at one time or another. And I’m sure some of you either were or are still that girl. Anyway, that girl looks at me and yells, “Jenny you are my hero.” I don’t think I had a happier moment the entire race! Me the hero of that girl I always wanted to be.:cool1: On one level I know she was just being nice and cheering us on. But I like the version where I am somebody’s hero. Just makes me feel good. :goodvibes

So after my hero moment I was actually with Liz that maybe we should get our behinds moving. So we headed out of the backstage area to a stretch of road and we were actually running. We were coming up on Mile 7 when we spotted a real hero. This is where we met Sandy. Now, we had passed her earlier in the race and then she had passed us during our Magic Kingdom dawdling. We had noted her WISH shirt. This time when we passed her I asked her screen name and we discovered it was Sandy who we “knew” from the Boards. We knew she’d been swept the year before and was out there trying again. We told her she was good on time and she was looking good too. Then we snapped a picture and wished her luck.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01254-1.jpg

As we ran away Liz and I mentioned we really hoped she finished. Did she? She sure did.:woohoo: She has a great story as the last finisher to cross the line. The announcer called her name and the crowd gave her a standing ovation. She epitomizes the WISH motto Dead Last Finish is better than Did Not Finish is better than Did Not Start. It was truly courageous of her to get out there last year. It was even more courageous to come back this year after having been swept. And it was most courageous to keep on going even when she knew there was no one behind her. Sandy, you are my hero!:worship:

Stefy

01-26-2010, 01:49 PM

carissanboys

01-26-2010, 02:02 PM

Great pics with pirates. Argh! pirate:

I agree. Sandy is awesome. :thumbsup2

Happy Elf

01-26-2010, 04:57 PM

Great pics with the pirates! Arrr!

What a great hero moment! What a neat story about Sandy.

jmskinner

01-26-2010, 07:06 PM

I just sat here and read through your report. I am loving it. Ok, I am seriously thinking of giving this a try. Running a marathon. I know my family and friends won't believe it until it is done, but I am sitting here so excited reading your report.

But I am also sitting here with tears of joy for Sandy. Amazing!!!:cheer2: :cheer2: for her!!!

We were at a car show the weekend of the marathon and as I stood outside looking at cars, I thought of everyone running that marathon because it was horrible weather for sunny 'ol Florida.

Ok, as soon as the hubby gets home, I'm going to see if he would be interested. Looking forward to more!!!

carissanboys

01-26-2010, 07:10 PM

jmskinner

01-26-2010, 08:37 PM

:cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

Are you thinking of running the marathon or the half-marathon??

Oh, it would have to be the half marathon, I'm sure.

Sandy321

01-26-2010, 08:49 PM

Jenny, Jenny, Jenny - I'm so sorry.... you are delusional :sad2::sad2:

*grin!! I LOVE the Pirate Picture!! OMG!! Too funny - that's a great capture!!

First I have to say - unfortunately in '09 we were only there in spirit - irl we were at hospital, and then our #1 son got married... but it was the '08 trip that was so memorable...

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c228/angelmum3/Marathon%20Weekend/th_MVI_4025.jpg (http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c228/angelmum3/Marathon%20Weekend/?action=view&current=MVI_4025.flv)

I gave my camera to the CM - and they ended up taking a 5 second movie :rotfl2: OF NOTHING!! :rotfl2
so when I passed the Pirates I thought, drats... if only... but I kept pushing forward.... forward... and hey there were a LOT of people behind you (and therefore me!) I cant believe they swept at mile 8! so many people....

in '08 I wanted to get some photos - and I eventually crossed the finish line - but the finish line was turned off... so my goal this year was to be an "official" finisher!!

I know, I know.... too many words....

Y'all are great!! :goodvibes

you are the real hero!! YOU TOTALLY ROCKED THE RACE!! :woohoo:

Sandy321

01-26-2010, 08:54 PM

oh PS....

after reading Maroo's trip report of the Make a Wish with the Steam trains... I really gave them a cheer - and wanted to stop for a photo there too!! :goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-26-2010, 09:42 PM

OMG you met Captain Jack and Barbossa!!! How cool is that pirate:

Question, how nice of that girl to shout out that comment to you. How did she know your name though?

Well done Sandy :)

What does swept mean?
Our names are on our bibs in pretty large letters. You have to be doing 16 minute miles throughout the marathon. If you don't keep the pace they can take you off the course and you don't finish. And Sandy points out below that she actually wasn't swept. She just crossed the finish line after they turned off the clock so it wasn't official.

Great pics with pirates. Argh! pirate:

I agree. Sandy is awesome. :thumbsup2

Great pics with the pirates! Arrr!

What a great hero moment! What a neat story about Sandy.
The pirate picture is one of my favorites and Sandy does have a great story!

I just sat here and read through your report. I am loving it. Ok, I am seriously thinking of giving this a try. Running a marathon. I know my family and friends won't believe it until it is done, but I am sitting here so excited reading your report.

But I am also sitting here with tears of joy for Sandy. Amazing!!!:cheer2: :cheer2: for her!!!

We were at a car show the weekend of the marathon and as I stood outside looking at cars, I thought of everyone running that marathon because it was horrible weather for sunny 'ol Florida.

Ok, as soon as the hubby gets home, I'm going to see if he would be interested. Looking forward to more!!!
:welcome: I say go for it! The race isn't easy, but I don't think you'll regret it. I can't explain the sense of satisfaction you get when you cross the finish line (especially the 1st half marathon.) I remember tearing up when I hit mile 13 during my first half and realized I was really going to finish. It is so empowering and made me realize I was tougher than I ever knew:goodvibes

Jenny, Jenny, Jenny - I'm so sorry.... you are delusional :sad2::sad2: Trust me. You aren't the first person to ever think that:laughing:

*grin!! I LOVE the Pirate Picture!! OMG!! Too funny - that's a great capture!!

First I have to say - unfortunately in '09 we were only there in spirit - irl we were at hospital, and then our #1 son got married... but it was the '08 trip that was so memorable... oops I got some of the details wrong, but it's still a great story!

I gave my camera to the CM - and they ended up taking a 5 second movie :rotfl2: OF NOTHING!! :rotfl2
so when I passed the Pirates I thought, drats... if only... but I kept pushing forward.... forward... and hey there were a LOT of people behind you (and therefore me!) I cant believe they swept at mile 8! so many people....
Mile 8 is an early sweep. I wonder how many were swept.

in '08 I wanted to get some photos - and I eventually crossed the finish line - but the finish line was turned off... so my goal this year was to be an "official" finisher!! And you finished in style:goodvibes

I know, I know.... too many words....

Y'all are great!! :goodvibes

you are the real hero!! YOU TOTALLY ROCKED THE RACE!! :woohoo:

I'm glad you popped in. Kind of like I have a star posting in my trip report;) I love the photo in your signature.

UGAFan0829

01-27-2010, 08:32 AM

What a great update. Sandy is my hero, too!! That story made me cry! Yeaaa!

Ellester

01-27-2010, 10:12 AM

I'm laughing over your son's grief over the left behind coat. That sounds so like my kids, I'm sure you were like "what?". Five year olds are such a trip! I'm sure it now belongs to someone who really needed a nice fleece jacket.

I never knew about all the characters on the course, how cool! And, great job Sandy! You all are inspiring me!:thumbsup2

UGAFan0829

01-27-2010, 10:56 AM

I have a somewhat dumb question-If you cross the finish line, but your time is unofficial (the clock is off), do you still get a medal?

Sandy321

01-27-2010, 12:42 PM

Our names are on our bibs in pretty large letters. You have to be doing 16 minute miles throughout the marathon. If you don't keep the pace they can take you off the course and you don't finish. And Sandy points out below that she actually wasn't swept. She just crossed the finish line after they turned off the clock so it wasn't official.

The pirate picture is one of my favorites and Sandy does have a great story!

:welcome: I say go for it! The race isn't easy, but I don't think you'll regret it. I can't explain the sense of satisfaction you get when you cross the finish line (especially the 1st half marathon.) I remember tearing up when I hit mile 13 during my first half and realized I was really going to finish. It is so empowering and made me realize I was tougher than I ever knew:goodvibes

I'm glad you popped in. Kind of like I have a star posting in my trip report;) I love the photo in your signature.

What a great update. Sandy is my hero, too!! That story made me cry! Yeaaa!

OK - y'all need to stop - - I was not I did not... I can and should've done better!! (its embarrassing all the nice things y'all are saying, the truth is I am so not worthy!)

I have a somewhat dumb question-If you cross the finish line, but your time is unofficial (the clock is off), do you still get a medal?

Funny you should ask that... :rolleyes1

When I signed up for the Half in '08 I read trip reports, read blogs, and posted questions... and the advice from prior races AT THE TIME - was get to the front of your corral, and get to mile 10 - they previously hadnt swept after mile 10 - that changed in '08!

THEN, when I did realize the chip thingy was off - and the timer said 4hours + some minutes... I was sad.... there were lots of people in front of me, and behind me... we get thru the chute... to hear "sorry we ran out of medals, stop at the info booth and leave your name and bib number... " um but we werent recorded "oh, well" :confused3

Long story short - the truck with the last box of medals went to the expo instead of the finish line - a kind CM paired me up with another runner from the resort who had a car and we drove over to get our medal!! (and it was another mile of walking to get the medal!! lol)

(and I'll always wonder, what my CHIP time was that year!)

bottom line - in this year '10 - they announced me as the last official runner in the Half Marathon - but I've since heard there were other people that crossed after me :confused3 I seriously didnt see anyone behind me from mile 12 to the finish line... :confused3

What happens to those that are "swept"? Can they get a medal? :confused3

dismagiclover

01-27-2010, 01:06 PM

What a great update. Sandy is my hero, too!! That story made me cry! Yeaaa!
I teared up a bit when I wrote it too.

I'm laughing over your son's grief over the left behind coat. That sounds so like my kids, I'm sure you were like "what?". Five year olds are such a trip! I'm sure it now belongs to someone who really needed a nice fleece jacket.

I never knew about all the characters on the course, how cool! And, great job Sandy! You all are inspiring me!:thumbsup2
We were a bit confused at the extreme emotion over the coat. You would have thought I'd left his beloved stuffed panda or something. Go figure:confused3

I have a somewhat dumb question-If you cross the finish line, but your time is unofficial (the clock is off), do you still get a medal?
I was gonna say I have no idea, let's ask Sandy, but she already answered the question:goodvibes

OK - y'all need to stop - - I was not I did not... I can and should've done better!! (its embarrassing all the nice things y'all are saying, the truth is I am so not worthy!)

Alright I'll cut out the hero worship, but I still think you're pretty cool.:goodvibes

UGAFan0829

01-27-2010, 01:13 PM

[/QUOTE]=Sandy321;35186044

What happens to those that are "swept"? Can they get a medal? :confused3[/QUOTE]

I'm glad that you managed to still get a medal after all that!

As far as getting swept---From what I've been reading-if you get swept, then you don't get counted as finishing, and from what I've read, you have to finish in order to get a medal.

dismagiclover

01-27-2010, 01:17 PM

So here we were at Mile 7 a little over half way done . (I’m not sure why I couldn’t fit this mile marker all in one pictue)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01256.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01255.jpg

We’d been on the course close to 2 hours. Liz was really hoping to finish in under 3 hours. In other words, it was time to get serious.:cool2: So Liz took the lead and headed over to the grass so we could really run (the road was rather crowded.) I followed behind for a bit and then I remembered I really don’t like running on the grass. (Some of you may be getting the impression that I just really don’t like running.:rolleyes1) Anyway, the grass is pretty uneven and sometimes hurts my knees and ankles a bit. So I headed back to the road which slowed me down because I had to people dodge. I saw Liz fading farther into the distance and I made a decision. I would let her go. We’d talked before the race about how I knew she could do this faster than me and I didn’t want to hold her back. I assured her I wouldn’t mind one little bit if she left me behind. She really wanted to get through the Magic Kingdom with me and we decided then we’d see what happened. Well what happened was I sneakily let her go ahead. She really did think I was right behind her. I figured she would be better off running this part of the race on her own at her pace. Chances were good she could still make it in under three hours. Plus, with Liz racing ahead I could just relax and enjoy. (Though I have to confess I’d been pretty relaxed all along;).)
I guess now is a good as time as any to explain my racing philosophy. (I suspect some of you may have figured it out already.) I really do train for my races. My last long training run was 11 miles and I did it in around 11:30 minute miles. When I’m training I try pretty hard to push myself and take seriously the task ahead. Race days are a whole other ballgame.:cool1: Especially Disney Race Days. I train because I want to be confident that I can finish. I don’t want to have to worry about sweepers picking me up or questioning whether I can make it to the end. I train so that I can have fun. For me my finish time on race day is pretty far down my list of priorities. I’m all about stopping and smelling the roses.:flower3: (And I’m sure you’ve noticed I do a lot of stopping.) Now this is a race philosophy that is tough for some fellow runners to wrap their head around. My DH didn’t get it until he actually ran the Disneyland Half with me. (Though I’d explained it beforehand.) And I don’t think Liz really understood it either until she ran with me. It takes a certain kind of person to have this race philosophy. It takes a person without a competitive drive and a person who frankly doesn’t have the desire to test his or her limits. Right or wrong I can’t say I’m going for my best on race day. I’m just going for a good time.:hippie: And I must say a good time it was. Despite the freezing rain and crowded roads I was having a fabulous time.:teeth: I ran by the Grand Floridian and who did I see.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01257.jpg

I bet Mary was glad she had that parasol in this weather.;) Now I didn’t stop. Despite my racing philosophy so eloquently outlined above I was feeling like I should maybe pick up the pace a bit. So I kept running. But then I saw them. A pair there was no way I was passing up. Here they are

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01258-1.jpg

Don’t they look adorable? :cutie: (Mickey and Donald, not me.) I’ve never seen these outfits. I love them. And check out that golf cart. Cutest golf cart ever! The line was a bit long for these two and while I waited I chatted with some fellow Marylanders. Runners are the friendliest people and Disney Runners are the most friendliest (yes I know that is completely grammatically incorrect.)

After saying goodbye to Mickey and Donald I headed towards Mile 8

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01259.jpg

Then I was upon Mile 9. (I’m speeding up!:thumbsup2)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01260.jpg

Then I hit Mile 10.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01261.jpg

Check it out. I actually ran an 11:30 mile. :woohoo: I guess I must have been feeling focused.

Well the focus went away rather quickly. Look who I found.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01263.jpg

I’m actually trying to look tough.:laughing:

I hit mile 11 (and you can see I’ve reverted back to my smelling the roses pace.)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01264.jpg

I was actually showing Michael (my 5 year old) the pictures of the race and he was explaining to me that if he was running he would try to go a bit faster. He said, “I think those characters make people lose focus.” He told me he is not going to stop for the characters when he runs the race. Then he said, “Well maybe I’ll only stop for 5 of them.” He has a little bit of his Mama in him after all.;)

dismagiclover

01-27-2010, 01:23 PM

=Sandy321;35186044

What happens to those that are "swept"? Can they get a medal? :confused3[/QUOTE]

I'm glad that you managed to still get a medal after all that!

As far as getting swept---From what I've been reading-if you get swept, then you don't get counted as finishing, and from what I've read, you have to finish in order to get a medal.[/QUOTE]

If you get swept you don't get a medal. What I don't know is if you get a medal if you cross the line after the time limit has passed. So you're not an official finisher. It appears from Sandy's pictures that this year they swept everyone after Sandy since there is no one behind her in pictures. Thus, there are no "unofficial finishers". I, obviously, could be wrong about that since I wasn't there.

UGAFan0829

01-27-2010, 01:33 PM

carissanboys

01-27-2010, 01:40 PM

"I think those characters make people lose focus.” :rotfl: Love it!

I think your philosophy is just fine. :thumbsup2 Whatever works for you. I have no idea which philosophy I will follow until I get there. We'll have to see how tired I am. :rolleyes1

Wow - Liz must have been going FAST for the 2nd half of the race!!

Stefy

01-27-2010, 01:47 PM

I'm loving your theory too. Taking your time and not pushing yourself too hard is the way to go. I love how the characters are there to greet you and it gives you incentive to keep going, as you want to see who the next character up will be :)

Mickey and Donald look so cute in their lil outfits and that golf cart is awesome!

Angies1274

01-27-2010, 01:58 PM

YAY!! for seeing the pirates!! Love the pictures!!!:goodvibes Great job, Sandy!! What an inspiring story!!:thumbsup2

It looks like you are having such an amazing time! I really think you are inspiring me to give this a try.:thumbsup2 The "stopping to smell the roses" theory sounds pretty good to me!;) Love the picture w/Donald and Mickey. That golf cart is so adorable!!!:)

Michael's comment about the characters making you lose focus....but he would maybe stop for 5? Too cute!!!:rotfl:

dismagiclover

01-27-2010, 02:46 PM

Wonderful update! I love your theory about stopping to smell the roses, and the characters too!!:rotfl: Seriously, you really look like you're having a great time, and that's what it's all about. It was really sweet of you to let Liz run ahead so that she could meet her goal.
I SO can't wait to read more!:thumbsup2
I was definitely having a great time! It really wasn't that sweet of me to let Liz run ahead. It was actually pretty self serving and lazy. I didn't want to exert the energy it would have taken. I mean what kind of crazy people think you should actually tire yourself out running a half marathon:rolleyes:

"I think those characters make people lose focus.” :rotfl: Love it!

I think your philosophy is just fine. :thumbsup2 Whatever works for you. I have no idea which philosophy I will follow until I get there. We'll have to see how tired I am. :rolleyes1

Wow - Liz must have been going FAST for the 2nd half of the race!!
My first half marathon I was absolutely dead by the end and I still finished in about 3 hours. I remember I went back to the hotel and took a nap. So I would guess you'll probably be pretty tired by the end. Liz did pick it up for the 2nd half of the race. She really is a much more serious runner than myself even though I've been doing it for 9 years now and she is just going on 1 year. She'll claim otherwise, but I think she is just more of a natural.

I'm loving your theory too. Taking your time and not pushing yourself too hard is the way to go. I love how the characters are there to greet you and it gives you incentive to keep going, as you want to see who the next character up will be :)

Mickey and Donald look so cute in their lil outfits and that golf cart is awesome!
I love Mickey and Donald in their golfing outfits:lovestruc I've seen pictures in other places of Goofy and Minnie in that spot so the characters traded out. I"m glad I got Mickey and Donald because they look way cuter!

YAY!! for seeing the pirates!! Love the pictures!!!:goodvibes Great job, Sandy!! What an inspiring story!!:thumbsup2

It looks like you are having such an amazing time! I really think you are inspiring me to give this a try.:thumbsup2 The "stopping to smell the roses" theory sounds pretty good to me!;) Love the picture w/Donald and Mickey. That golf cart is so adorable!!!:)

Michael's comment about the characters making you lose focus....but he would maybe stop for 5? Too cute!!!:rotfl:

You should think about giving it a try! It is a whole new way to experience Disney Magic and it's good for you too:thumbsup2 Go down the page to the WISH board and you'll find lots of people that do the races. It really is a great time! And yes Michael is quite the character:laughing:

disneylovin24

01-27-2010, 04:39 PM

How many times a year do you get to run around disney like that, of course your going to not be going to fast:thumbsup2

liznboys

01-27-2010, 07:49 PM

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3337.jpg

Did you notice the 3 hour pacer in this picture? There she is with her balloons... So I guess that's where we were at that point, I thought we were further behind than that.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-897-003f.jpg

I just love our picture right in front of the castle!! :goodvibes

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-288-032f.jpg

I was cracking up in this picture because we actually had to go backwards and then pretend like we were running that way for the first time in order to get it!! LOL!

Ok, after Mile 7..... Yes, I thought Jenny was behind me as I was running in the grass. And then I looked back at one point and she was GONE. I had no idea! I slowed down, may have stopped completely, to look for her. She was no where in sight. So I thought, I could wait for her or I can keep going... I figured that she probably meant to do that so that I would just keep going and could try to meet my goal of under 3 hours.

So, I went back on the grass and sped up again. I didn't take any pictures at all after I split from Jenny until I got to Epcot. I did feel a pang of sadness as I ran past Mickey and Donald and that cute golf cart, but I was more interested in meeting my goal.

dismagiclover

01-28-2010, 11:19 AM

Did you notice the 3 hour pacer in this picture? There she is with her balloons... So I guess that's where we were at that point, I thought we were further behind than that. I didn't notice that. Of course after that point we spend probably at least 15 minutes stopping throughout the Magic Kingdom so you had some catching up to do. Do you remember passing by her your way to the finish line?

I just love our picture right in front of the castle!! :goodvibes This is the picture I put in that frame I bought. It looks great!

Ok, after Mile 7..... Yes, I thought Jenny was behind me as I was running in the grass. And then I looked back at one point and she was GONE. I had no idea! I slowed down, may have stopped completely, to look for her. She was no where in sight. So I thought, I could wait for her or I can keep going... I figured that she probably meant to do that so that I would just keep going and could try to meet my goal of under 3 hours. I was a sneaky little bugger, wasn't I?

So, I went back on the grass and sped up again. I didn't take any pictures at all after I split from Jenny until I got to Epcot. I did feel a pang of sadness as I ran past Mickey and Donald and that cute golf cart, but I was more interested in meeting my goal.

There is always next year:thumbsup2

Ellester

01-28-2010, 12:03 PM

It takes a certain kind of person to have this race philosophy. It takes a person without a competitive drive and a person who frankly doesn’t have the desire to test his or her limits. Right or wrong I can’t say I’m going for my best on race day. I’m just going for a good time.:hippie: And I must say a good time it was. Despite the freezing rain and crowded roads I was having a fabulous time.:teeth:

I was actually showing Michael (my 5 year old) the pictures of the race and he was explaining to me that if he was running he would try to go a bit faster. He said, “I think those characters make people lose focus.” He told me he is not going to stop for the characters when he runs the race. Then he said, “Well maybe I’ll only stop for 5 of them.” He has a little bit of his Mama in him after all.;)

I think my philosophy would be close to yours. I can certainly be competitive, but I would want to enjoy all the experience of a Disney race. I'll never be a competitive runner, but I like the idea of training just to be sure you'll finish!

Michael is so sweet! I love their quotes at that age. Today, Andrew wanted to know when we were going to Italy. What? Not anytime soon, son. He'll have to settle for the pavillion in the WS, although it doesn't have the leaning tower of Pisa that he really wants to see.

dismagiclover

01-28-2010, 01:11 PM

I think my philosophy would be close to yours. I can certainly be competitive, but I would want to enjoy all the experience of a Disney race. I'll never be a competitive runner, but I like the idea of training just to be sure you'll finish!

Michael is so sweet! I love their quotes at that age. Today, Andrew wanted to know when we were going to Italy. What? Not anytime soon, son. He'll have to settle for the pavillion in the WS, although it doesn't have the leaning tower of Pisa that he really wants to see.

:rotfl: about Andrew wanting to go to Italy. I suppose kids that age don't see Italy too differently than they see the next city over.:confused3

dismagiclover

01-28-2010, 01:21 PM

So there I was at Mile 11. For many this is one of the toughest parts of the race. We’d been putting one foot in front of the other for 11 miles and there are a couple of hills (read overpasses) around these parts. Just as things were feeling a little dull I saw this

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01265.jpg

The Epcot parking gates! The race ended right outside of Epcot so this meant we were getting close. On one hand I was relieved. I mean it was freezing and it never did quit raining.:eek: On the other hand that meant it was almost over.:sad1: I trained for this race for months and it went by so fast. (Though knowing my time many runners would take issue with that statement.;)) That is the nature of racing, however, and I must not mind too much because by golly I’ll do it again. So we all climbed another hill (read overpass).

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01266.jpg

Notice there were pretty much no runners left. All walkers. Most of the people around me weren’t struggling with my dilemma of not wanting the race to end. There were a lot of miserable people out there. Many of them were giving everything they had to just put one foot in front of the other. I’ve been there at the end of races before. (Ask me about my Baltimore Half sometime.) Add the weather conditions and this was a brutal first time half marathon.

I was feeling amazingly good as we came upon Mile 12.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01267.jpg

That is about a 12:30 mile and I’m pretty sure I made a potty stop during that mile too. I have to say my training really paid off this race. I never really got tired during the race. I was pretty tired by that evening though.
So we arrive outside of Epcot and headed in through a Cast Member entrance (aren’t we special?)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3372.jpg

Then what did I hear? It was Eye of the Tiger.:woohoo: You know the Rocky theme song. Oh baby, things were looking good. If you can’t get pumped up listening to Eye of the Tiger then I don’t think there is anything I can do for you. I broke into a sprint. (Now that would be pure comedy.:lmao:) Actually I just sped up a little and started grinning. And I’m pretty sure I didn’t stop grinning for the rest of the race. Our final water stop was up ahead.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3373.jpg

I didn’t get any water here, but I did make use of the final Port a Potties. I think I was a little overhydrated during the race.:rolleyes1 Anyway, after my quick stop I headed through backstage

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01268.jpg

And popped out in Epcot.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3376.jpg

I ran through Future World, and I was distracted once again.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01269.jpg

I didn’t even know who these guys were, but the race was almost over. I wanted to prolong it and there was zero line. So I asked the handler who they were. He told me the Robinson’s and I told the guys I’d rent the movie as soon as I returned home. (I still haven’t). The guy on the right was a little offended. Thus his stance. I’m sure he’d look madder, but he can’t change his face.:laughing: See that grin on my face. That was the Perm a Grin I kept on all the way through Epcot.
So I headed up towards Future World.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3381.jpg

Around the Christmas tree

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01270.jpg

Stopped for a quick picture of World Showcase

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01271.jpg

And ran back towards the big ball.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01272.jpg

The official photographers were out so I showed off my Perm a Grin

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-1061-021f.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-1079-005f.jpg

Next time: I actually make it to the finish line.:yay:

carissanboys

01-28-2010, 01:36 PM

mtnmomma3

01-28-2010, 04:24 PM

Kuddos to you for not wanting it to end.. I can understand, I have been training so hard and looking so forward to the race... not sure what I am going to do after it is over! (besides a nice hot shower and some good chow!!)

carissanboys

01-28-2010, 05:44 PM

And I am definitely putting Eye of the Tiger on my playlist. :thumbsup2

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

liznboys

01-28-2010, 07:57 PM

I didn't notice that. Of course after that point we spend probably at least 15 minutes stopping throughout the Magic Kingdom so you had some catching up to do. Do you remember passing by her your way to the finish line?

Yeah I do remember passing her. It may have been around mile 10?? It was a big deal to run past her and know I was under 3! yay! I didn't slow down though...after that I wanted to see just how far under 3 I could get. :)

liznboys

01-28-2010, 08:01 PM

... The guy on the right was a little offended. Thus his stance. I’m sure he’d look madder, but he can’t change his face.:laughing: ...

:laughing:

... See that grin on my face. That was the Perm a Grin ...

I had the PERMAGRIN on my face all through Epcot too! Couldn't stop smiling knowing I was really close to the finish!! :cloud9:

disneylovin24

01-29-2010, 02:30 AM

Another great update!!!popcorn::

dismagiclover

01-29-2010, 07:12 AM

Love those last two photos of you. :goodvibes
You didn't know the characters from Meet the Robinsons?? It has the great song "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas! :thumbsup2
I've seen it a couple of times now. You guys need to rent it!
You're almost there - woohoo! :banana:
I really do need to see Meet the Robinsons. My Disney Education is lacking:rolleyes:

Kuddos to you for not wanting it to end.. I can understand, I have been training so hard and looking so forward to the race... not sure what I am going to do after it is over! (besides a nice hot shower and some good chow!!)
I'm so excited for you! I hope to hear a report of how it goes:goodvibes

And I am definitely putting Eye of the Tiger on my playlist. :thumbsup2

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

That is definitely the best song there is for getting pumped up. Even sitting here singing it in my head I want to get up and move:laughing:

:laughing:

I had the PERMAGRIN on my face all through Epcot too! Couldn't stop smiling knowing I was really close to the finish!! :cloud9:

When you're feeling good, the end of the race is just fun! I like the new WISH stuff in your signature:cool2:

Another great update!!!popcorn::

Thanks for following along:goodvibes

mla1977

01-29-2010, 07:35 AM

Angies1274

01-29-2010, 11:27 AM

Yay!! You made it to Epcot!!!

My boys would have been thrilled to meet the characters from "Meet the Robinson's"!! It's actually one of Noah's favorite Disney movies so we've seen it a dozen or more times. Cute movie....you should watch it.:)

After working so hard to get ready for the race and looking so forward to it! I can totally understand why you didn't want it to be over!!

Can't wait for more!!!popcorn::

dismagiclover

01-29-2010, 12:19 PM

I can't wait to see you cross the finish line! When I got into Epcot my TnT coach was with me and said I couldn't stop for water and once we got into the actual park she had me running AAALLLLLLLL the way to the tree. I made it. It was my own fault for telling her what time I wanted. (I really wanted to beat my time for the Philly Distance Run) I was close, but you'll have to wait until I get to that part in my TR to see if I beat it!
Those pesky coaches. Wanting you to actually achieve goals. What is up with that;) I checked out your blogs to see if they gave any info about your finish, but they didn't.:confused3

Yay!! You made it to Epcot!!!

My boys would have been thrilled to meet the characters from "Meet the Robinson's"!! It's actually one of Noah's favorite Disney movies so we've seen it a dozen or more times. Cute movie....you should watch it.:)

After working so hard to get ready for the race and looking so forward to it! I can totally understand why you didn't want it to be over!!

Can't wait for more!!!popcorn::
You're making me decide I have to figure out a way to get my hands on a copy of Meet the Robinsons. My boys would probably love it too.

dismagiclover

01-29-2010, 12:47 PM

So I was almost to the finish line. I headed out of Epcot into the backstage area. I was feeling great! I’m not actually sure when this picture was taken, but that was how I was feeling during the home stretch.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-1676-009f.jpg

On the right I passed by this great choir

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01274.jpg

I want to give a huge shout out to these folks. They were singing their hearts out and I’m sure had been for hours. It was cold and wet and I’m sure they were miserable, but they lifted my spirits and made my grin even bigger (if that was possible.)
Here came the mile 13 sign

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01275.jpg

Woo hoo! I made it! :yay:
I turned the corner and the finish line was just up ahead

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3390.jpg

And then something happened. This next set of pictures shows why I will never be a serious runner. The finish line was just feet away. Every second mattered. I was within seconds of my goal. Just needed to stay focused. One foot in front of the other. Oh look! There is Mickey Mouse!:yay: So what do I do? Stop dead in my tracks and take a picture, of course!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/finish1.jpg

And here is the picture. (Definitely worth those extra few seconds.)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01276.jpg

Oh and Minnie is here too.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/finish3.jpg

Here is that picture

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01277.jpg

Best be moving on.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/finish6.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/finish7.jpg

I finally cross the finish.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/finish8.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/57860-2016-034f.jpg

With a huge grin on my face!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/finish11.jpg

My official chip time was 3 hours 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

Next: Will I find Liz? And did she make it in under three hours?

carissanboys

01-29-2010, 12:53 PM

My official chip time was 3 hours 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

That sounds better. I keep forgetting that the time on the clocks isn't your time because you guys started so much later. :thumbsup2

You did it!! And you had a blast!! :cheer2: :cheer2:

Dolce27

01-29-2010, 12:59 PM

:banana: Congrats! Great last pic! I wonder I saw you in EPCOT? I was in the park trying to cheer on some of the runners here and there as I went.

I'll be one of those runners that will never 'stop to smell the roses'. I may allow myself to stop next year for one - or maybe even two - pic's, but I'll be focused on time. This year I was going to allow myself to stop for a pic in the MK if I found someone that I really wanted a pic with, but I never found someone that made me go: I’ve got to stop!

Since my IT band went out on me right after the MK, I’m glad that I didn’t. My finishing time was already pretty bad in comparison to what I was capable of finishing had I been able to run the entire thing so I’m glad that I didn’t add on any extra time with character photos. But next year I expect to run the full thing so maybe I’ll allow one or two pic’s to slide. ;)

mla1977

01-29-2010, 01:32 PM

I guess I didn't even update my TnT page with that. The Disney blog is updated before the TR (for now it's the same thing), and I plan on updating the running one once I get to the race. You'll find out soon enough. If DBF goes out tonight I will be doing a lot of writing!

liznboys

01-29-2010, 03:43 PM

Haha! I didn't know the photogs captured you taking pix of M&M at the end! Too funny.

While you were finishing up your race with a huge smile on your face, I was beginning to deep freeze....

Thanks for the sig. compliment, I like your new ticker!! Argh! pirate:pirate:

Happy Elf

01-29-2010, 06:40 PM

Great updates! I love the picture of you crossing the finish line! You look like you had a great race despite the miserable conditions!

dismagiclover

01-29-2010, 07:10 PM

That sounds better. I keep forgetting that the time on the clocks isn't your time because you guys started so much later. :thumbsup2

You did it!! And you had a blast!! :cheer2: :cheer2:
There is a pretty big difference between my chip time and clock time, but even my chip time is still pretty slow. I don't mind one bit though;)

:banana: Congrats! Great last pic! I wonder I saw you in EPCOT? I was in the park trying to cheer on some of the runners here and there as I went.

I'll be one of those runners that will never 'stop to smell the roses'. I may allow myself to stop next year for one - or maybe even two - pic's, but I'll be focused on time. This year I was going to allow myself to stop for a pic in the MK if I found someone that I really wanted a pic with, but I never found someone that made me go: I’ve got to stop!

Since my IT band went out on me right after the MK, I’m glad that I didn’t. My finishing time was already pretty bad in comparison to what I was capable of finishing had I been able to run the entire thing so I’m glad that I didn’t add on any extra time with character photos. But next year I expect to run the full thing so maybe I’ll allow one or two pic’s to slide. ;)
As I mentioned earlier serious runners have a hard time wrapping their head around my race strategy. I actually run races slower than I do training runs. Kinda strange I know, but it works for me:goodvibes

I guess I didn't even update my TnT page with that. The Disney blog is updated before the TR (for now it's the same thing), and I plan on updating the running one once I get to the race. You'll find out soon enough. If DBF goes out tonight I will be doing a lot of writing!
I'll be on the lookout for updatespopcorn::

Haha! I didn't know the photogs captured you taking pix of M&M at the end! Too funny.

While you were finishing up your race with a huge smile on your face, I was beginning to deep freeze....

Thanks for the sig. compliment, I like your new ticker!! Argh! pirate:pirate:
The pictures of me taking pictures weren't part of the original ones they put up, but I went searching for them so I could add them to my download. I thought it was funny I stopped feet before the finish line to take a picture. Maybe DS5 is right. I really need to work on my focus:laughing:
The next update will talk about the post race. Definitely not the best of times:scared:

Great updates! I love the picture of you crossing the finish line! You look like you had a great race despite the miserable conditions!
It was a great race and the miserable conditions make for a great story. But as you'll see in the next update Liz especially paid for the weather conditions:scared1:

praisehisname

01-29-2010, 08:12 PM

Jumping onboard a little late, but loving the report! Another Baltimore girl here; Loch Raven area.

Denise

Angies1274

01-30-2010, 07:22 AM

Such a great update!!!:thumbsup2

You look so happy as you're crossing the finish line!! What a great accomplishment!! Love the pictures of Mickey and Minnie! (I would have stopped too!;))

Is that a new ticker? or did I just miss it before?:confused3 YAY!! for going back!! I bet the boys are soooo excited!!:goodvibes

Ellester

01-30-2010, 10:40 AM

Hurray! The big finish! It must feel awesome to cross that finish line. Looking forward to the post-race activities!

cdotla

01-30-2010, 10:51 AM

What a great recap of your experience!!!

I am loving your TR! I also did a Disneytrip / running event with a close girlfriend and it was a blast! We had so much fun, and it brings back memories just reading your report.

Can't wait to hear Liz's time, and hear both of your final thoughts on the race, and the final parts of your trip!:goodvibes

Stefy

01-30-2010, 12:04 PM

Another great update :) Cool pics too, I lol-d at you stopping to take pics with the finish line just a stones throw away.

Just over 3hrs is not bad, well done, you truly are an inspiration and congratulations again for a great achievement and the same to you too Liz. Well done to you both :hug::hug:

dismagiclover

01-30-2010, 01:41 PM

Jumping onboard a little late, but loving the report! Another Baltimore girl here; Loch Raven area.

Denise
:welcome: The more the merrier! We actually live down in Anne Arundel County. We're getting a bit of snow today:eek:

Such a great update!!!:thumbsup2

You look so happy as you're crossing the finish line!! What a great accomplishment!! Love the pictures of Mickey and Minnie! (I would have stopped too!;))

Is that a new ticker? or did I just miss it before?:confused3 YAY!! for going back!! I bet the boys are soooo excited!!:goodvibes
It is a new ticker. It's a trip I've had planned for a while but I just added the ticker. DD is going on a Disney cruise with my parents and me and the boys will head to DW for the week!

Hurray! The big finish! It must feel awesome to cross that finish line. Looking forward to the post-race activities!
The immediate post race gets a little dicey, especially for Liz.

What a great recap of your experience!!!

I am loving your TR! I also did a Disneytrip / running event with a close girlfriend and it was a blast! We had so much fun, and it brings back memories just reading your report.

Can't wait to hear Liz's time, and hear both of your final thoughts on the race, and the final parts of your trip!:goodvibes
What race did you do? It is such a fine time. Disney races are like no other!

Another great update :) Cool pics too, I lol-d at you stopping to take pics with the finish line just a stones throw away.

Just over 3hrs is not bad, well done, you truly are an inspiration and congratulations again for a great achievement and the same to you too Liz. Well done to you both :hug::hug:
Actually coming in at over 3 hours is pretty slow (especially considering it's my 3rd half. I don't mind one bit though and wouldn't change a thing:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-30-2010, 02:28 PM

It was over. I’d completed the race.:woohoo: It was freezing.:scared1: The cold rain was still coming down and the temperature was still in the lower 30’s. I picked up one of the space blankets that is supposed to keep you warm. (It really didn’t).

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3392.jpg

Then it was time to get the hard earned Donald Medal. Here is a close up shot of the bling.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon003.jpg

Here are all of the medals of people still behind me (actually Liz took this picture so it is medals of the people behind her which includes me.)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3395.jpg

I stopped by the food tent and picked up some water, a banana and a clif bar and then I went looking for Liz. She was waiting for me in the agreed upon place and was trying to stay dry. The first thing I asked, “Did you make it in under three hours?” And she did!:dance3: I was excited for her because I knew that is what she was hoping for. Her official chip time was 2 hours 54 minutes and 43 seconds. She really turned it on for the last half of the race. I think she ran some miles in close to 10 minutes! Liz you rock!:worship: As I mentioned in my very first post, she has surpassed me! I can’t wait to see what she does in her next race without me slowing her down.:goodvibes

Anyway, at this moment in time I’m not sure Liz cared too much about her time. She was just cold. I mean really cold. Bordering on hypothermia cold.:scared1: All she wanted was to get back to the room and out of the wet clothes. I definitely wasn’t going to disagree. It was pretty miserable out there. There were some characters available to take pictures with. I can’t even really remember who they were, but they all had lines. The only one that even tempted me was Daisy. However, she wasn’t tempting enough. So we found someone to snap this shot and we headed out.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01278.jpg

Problem was we weren’t sure where out was. We just kind of followed the people and ended up over by the buses where there was a looong line of people. At that point I realized we were headed away from the monorail, and Liz was so cold I’m not sure she even realized we were looking for the monorail. (Like I said I think she was borderline hypothermic.:eek:) So we made the walk back across the Epcot parking lot and hopped in the monorail line. We made it on the first monorail that showed up and were happy to be somewhere a little warmer. When we switched monorails at the TTC there was a line we had to wait in. We were under cover, but water kept dripping on us anyway. There was a nice family behind us in line that was quite worried about Liz. The man kept trying to talk her into getting some coffee (there was an open stand nearby.) After what seemed like a long wait we finally made it on the resort monorail and around the loop to the Contemporary. Liz headed straight up to the room. I stopped at the shop for chocolate milk (a great race recovery drink). Then I headed up to the room. After a shower (that wasn’t hot enough) and some time in the heated room (we turned the thermostat up) we both started to feel better though I think it took Liz a bit longer to get over the chill. No time for rest though. We were late for our lunch reservations! Where were we headed?

praisehisname

01-30-2010, 04:40 PM

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon003.jpg

What an awesome medal! You already did Cali Grill for dinner, so I don't think you're going back for lunch. Hmmm...it's probably a 2TS place...is it Narcoossee's?

Denise

Stefy

01-31-2010, 08:56 AM

Those medals are pretty sweet :)

Looking forward to seeing where you lunched :)

cdotla

01-31-2010, 09:13 AM

Wow - sounds like Liz was in rough shape for sure! Glad she warmed up!

I am sure standing around after the race didn't help her much. Would you guys ever consider the runner's retreat or whatever they call it for more pampered pre-and-post race accomodations next time? It seems like a bit of a splurge, but in Liz's condition I am sure it would have been well worth the extra money!;)

You guys had a great plan making lunch reservations so tight to the race so you would be forced to keep moving and not crash back at the room.

Oh, and you asked what Disney races I did? I did two 5Ks - the Minnie 5k and the EEC. Both times I did it with girlfriends, which made them that much more enjoyable! Unfortunately I didn't stick with running afterwards, but I hope to get back into it soon!;)

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!:goodvibes

carissanboys

01-31-2010, 11:48 AM

I can imagine how cold you both were being wet and then not running. Survivorman always says how dangerous it is to build up a sweat (or just get wet from the weather) and then have the cold temperatures hit you. Being wet and cold is one of the worst combinations there is.

Can't wait to hear where lunch was!

HockeyMomR

01-31-2010, 02:05 PM

Really enjoying your report. Congratulations on finishing the race!!!

My neighbor has run the past two years, I keep saying one of these days....

Again, thanks for sharing.

dismagiclover

01-31-2010, 02:31 PM

What an awesome medal! You already did Cali Grill for dinner, so I don't think you're going back for lunch. Hmmm...it's probably a 2TS place...is it Narcoossee's?

Denise

Those medals are pretty sweet :)

Looking forward to seeing where you lunched :)
The medals are one of reasons I race:goodvibes Hopefully I'll get the next installment up soon and then you'll find out where we ate!

Wow - sounds like Liz was in rough shape for sure! Glad she warmed up!

I am sure standing around after the race didn't help her much. Would you guys ever consider the runner's retreat or whatever they call it for more pampered pre-and-post race accomodations next time? It seems like a bit of a splurge, but in Liz's condition I am sure it would have been well worth the extra money!;)

You guys had a great plan making lunch reservations so tight to the race so you would be forced to keep moving and not crash back at the room.

Oh, and you asked what Disney races I did? I did two 5Ks - the Minnie 5k and the EEC. Both times I did it with girlfriends, which made them that much more enjoyable! Unfortunately I didn't stick with running afterwards, but I hope to get back into it soon!;)

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!:goodvibes
Liz was in pretty bad shape. I'm sure she'll pop in at some point and tell us about it. It was Liz's idea to keep moving after the race. It is much better to help with recovery, but a nap sounded good at the time. I hope you make it back out running soon. It helps me keep my sanity! (or at least stops me from going totally insane;))

I can imagine how cold you both were being wet and then not running. Survivorman always says how dangerous it is to build up a sweat (or just get wet from the weather) and then have the cold temperatures hit you. Being wet and cold is one of the worst combinations there is.

Can't wait to hear where lunch was!
I think it was tougher for Liz because she waited for me to finish plus she has less natural layers to keep her warm. Sometime that little extra padding pays off:laughing:

Really enjoying your report. Congratulations on finishing the race!!!

My neighbor has run the past two years, I keep saying one of these days....

Again, thanks for sharing.
:welcome: Make one of these days today. Just jump in! The water is fine.:goodvibes

dismagiclover

01-31-2010, 02:52 PM

We headed out the door (proudly wearing our medals) and walked toward the Magic Kingdom. In my opinion that is the single best thing about the Contemporary. It is within easy walking distance of the Magic Kingdom. Walking is always my preferred means of transportation at Disney World. Both Liz and I were a bit stiff during this walk, however.;) This was my 3rd half marathon and I’ve been lucky, but in all my training and in both my previous races I have never been sore afterwards. This race was different. I was really feeling it. I think it was because of the cold. I was moving for 3 hours which kept my muscles warm and then boom I stopped. Then my muscles immediately cooled down and froze up. Liz had the same experience, but I think she may have hurt even a bit more. The area around her knee was bugging her a bit and she was really hoping it was just soreness not anything worse. So anyway we probably looked like a sorry pair as we hobbled along.:laughing: It was a fairly short walk and then we saw this.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3400.jpg

Notice lots of the Christmas decorations were still up and they were playing Christmas music. It seemed a bit strange, but it was still fun. We headed into the park and were greeted with this sight.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3403.jpg

It is an empty Main Street.:banana: This was around noon on a Saturday. Pretty unbelievable. I guess there are a few advantages to 34 degrees and drizzle. (Though by this point the precipitation had pretty much stopped.) Liz snapped a picture of the tree.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3404.jpg

Then we headed over to our lunch reservation. We turned into Liberty Square and saw this.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01280.jpg

Pretty empty once again. We checked in for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and it didn’t take long to hear them call, “Hear ye, Hear ye, a table is now ready for the Darling Family.” We headed to our table and settled in for a yummy meal.:cool1: Now normally Liberty Tree Tavern has a lunch menu that you order from, but because Crystal Palace was closed Liberty Tree Tavern was hosting character meals. So we were served a turkey and ham dinner served family style. The food was good. It’s the same menu that is usually served at dinner. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either. Except apparently the butter. Seemed like pretty normal butter to me, but Liz loved the stuff.:love: It appeared to me she was trying to replenish every calorie she burned during the 13 mile race with that butter alone. She eventually asked me if I wanted anymore and when I said no, she dispensed with the knife and just began dipping her roll right into the butter container. So hopefully Liz will pipe in and tell us why that butter was so good. She may return again just for the butter.:lmao:
As we enjoyed our butter, visitors began to stop by. First up Minnie

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01281.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3405.jpg

I just love her colonial dress. Next came Dale

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01282.jpg

He took one look at my sweatshirt and gave me a huge bear hug. He hugged me even more when I told him I liked him more than Chip.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01283.jpg

He liked Liz OK too.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3406.jpg

Pluto came next and we showed off our medals

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01284.jpg

Then Chip snuck up on me and I squealed so loud the whole restaurant looked. He loved my sweatshirt as well.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01285.jpg

I told Chip not to tell Dale, but he was my favorite chipmunk. Chip was pretty excited about that. I’ve used the same trick on my three kids. (Telling each one of them they are my secret favorites.) It worked pretty good until one day they were comparing notes and realized I’d told everyone of them they were my favorite. Oops.:eek: Liz got a shot with Chip too.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3407.jpg

Anyway we finished up with lunch and were ready to head out and get our ride on. What ride did we do first?

wsushocker

01-31-2010, 03:15 PM

Goofy442

01-31-2010, 06:22 PM

:surfweb: I'm all caught up. Does everyone run or do some walk ? Do they make it in time without being swept if they walk. I'm glad you both made it to the finish line.:worship:

xDisneyAngelx

01-31-2010, 07:11 PM

Hey congrats on finishing the race. At least you didnt have to run in the heat. That would have sucked. Anyway I love the pictures you took. I cant wait to see more.

"Have a Magical Day!"

dismagiclover

01-31-2010, 08:01 PM

It's pretty amazing that the body can recover so quickly. It would have been very sad not to enjoy the emptiness of MK after your race.

Way back in another lifetime, I was able to walk through the Cave of the Winds outside Colorado Springs just hours after finishing the Pikes Peak Marathon. I did not want to disappoint those with me who came along to support me in my efforts!
I'm glad we got out to the Magic Kingdom, but I'm not sure we were quite recovered. There was some waddling going on.;)
:worship: You've done the Pikes Peak Marathon! We lived in CO Springs for a couple of years and I was in awe of those runners. 13 miles straight up and 13 miles straight down. I don't think my lungs could take the trek up and my knees wouldn't make the trek down. :worship:

:surfweb: I'm all caught up. Does everyone run or do some walk ? Do they make it in time without being swept if they walk. I'm glad you both made it to the finish line.:worship:
There are lots of walkers at Disney races. You have to maintain a 16 minute mile pace, so that is a brisk walk. The hard things for the walkers is that they don't really have much time for dawdling. I think quite a few of the walkers must get swept because there were lots of people behind me and my finish time was pretty slow.

Hey congrats on finishing the race. At least you didnt have to run in the heat. That would have sucked. Anyway I love the pictures you took. I cant wait to see more.

"Have a Magical Day!"

When I was training for the race I really was much more worried about running in the heat. I thought my body would go into shock after having trained in weather in the 30's and then running in weather in the 60's or so. I guess I worried for nothing;)

carissanboys

02-01-2010, 07:39 AM

You both are glowing in your pictures during your lunch! :goodvibes

praisehisname

02-01-2010, 08:09 AM

You two look fantastic for just running the 1/2!!! So cool how empty the park was! You're already in Liberty Square...is your first ride Haunted Mansion?

Denise

Angies1274

02-01-2010, 08:43 AM

Congrats on finishing the race!!!:thumbsup2 The medals are very cool!!!:goodvibes

Can't believe how empty MK looks...wow!! I'm glad you enjoyed LTT!! The character pictures are great!!!:)

First ride...hmmm???

dismagiclover

02-01-2010, 12:53 PM

You both are glowing in your pictures during your lunch! :goodvibes
I think it might be the frostbite wearing off;)

You two look fantastic for just running the 1/2!!! So cool how empty the park was! You're already in Liberty Square...is your first ride Haunted Mansion?

Denise
Excellent 1st ride guess, but no that isn't it.

Congrats on finishing the race!!!:thumbsup2 The medals are very cool!!!:goodvibes

Can't believe how empty MK looks...wow!! I'm glad you enjoyed LTT!! The character pictures are great!!!:)

First ride...hmmm???
It was pretty amazing how empty MK was. Especially because the last time I'd been there it was full of summer crowds:scared1:

dismagiclover

02-01-2010, 01:02 PM

It was finally time for some rides! :dance3: We decided our first stop would be Space Mountain. I’ve been on Space Mountain in Disneyland in California and Paris, but never here in Florida and Liz wanted to check out the recent changes. So off we went. Having never been on this ride before I didn’t know what had changed, but Liz said the whole waiting area was a bit different. She said it had been spruced up and was much more interesting. I didn’t find it too interesting at all, so it must have been real boring before.:confused3 Anyway after around a 30 minute wait we hopped into our ride vehicles. Now in California and Paris this is a great ride. There is music blaring and lots of fun turns that really make you feel like you are flying through outerspace. (In fact in Paris you go upside down and on corkscrews. It is maybe too much like outerspace.:sick:) I was excited to experience the Florida version. We headed off and the first thing I noticed was no music.:confused3 That really changed the atmosphere of the ride and not for the better. The ride was also quite jerky, and I never felt the sensation of flying through outer space. To make matters a bit worse, getting out of the car was a bit dicey.:scared: I was feeling those 13 miles. Here is a redneck shot of us:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3409.jpg

So my final verdict on Space Mountain Florida. Not so good. Dare I say it. It was almost boring.:eek: I may never ride it again. It is just not worth the effort it takes to get on it. (Long waits, early mornings or fastpass). Sorry to any of you true Space Mountain lovers. I guess the other Space Mountains in the world ruined me.

Next ride on the agenda was Hall of Presidents. Another ride I’d never been on and one Liz wanted to see the changes made since the addition of President Obama. So we headed in right as a show was starting. I really enjoyed this show. It was quite inspiring and I’m definitely going to take my family there next trip.:thumbsup2 My daughter would especially enjoy it. Next stop was Haunted Mansion. Another very fun ride that my kids won’t do with me. (I tried taking them once and they still are mad at me.:eek:) Then we headed over to Philharmagic. This is one of my favorite attractions in the Magic Kingdom. It always makes me smile.:goodvibes We were planning on doing a little shopping before our dinner reservation, but we figured we had time for 1 more ride. Liz let me pick and since I’d never been on Snow White we went with that one. It’s a cute dark ride, but nothing like Peter Pan. (Being a Darling that is my other favorite Magic Kingdom attraction.;)) After Snow White we decided to head over to Main Street and do a bit of shopping. (The ones we left behind expected gifts.:rolleyes1) On our way by we snapped this picture of the castle at dusk. The picture doesn't do it justice.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3410.jpg

We headed to the Emporium and my first priority was finding a hat for Wishes. It was cold. I ended up with this.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon004.jpg

I was lucky to find a hat with the Mickey on it. They’d been selling like hot cakes and most of the hats left were just plain black. The other thing I wanted was a frame to put a race picture in to display next to my medal. I was planning on getting one at the Expo, but since they didn’t have any I just bought this instead.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon006.jpg

Here it is on display with my other Disney race picture and medal.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/dis003.jpg

Then here are the gifts I brought home for everyone. For DH (who can never have too many ties.)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon017.jpg

For Wendy (DD9) (who can never have too many socks)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon009.jpg

For John (DS7) (who collects Stitch pins and loves Star Wars)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/stitch.jpg

For Michael (DS5) (also a Star Wars lover)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/mickey.jpg

And this for me (Because I'm always a sucker for the spend so much get it for $15 deals)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/marathon005.jpg

I had them send my purchases to the front of the park and we headed to our dinner reservation. Any guesses on where we ate?

Stefy

02-01-2010, 01:29 PM

Two great updates and I love your purchases :)

Loving the empty MK pics, always a lovely site.

Sorry SM was a bust for you.

mtnmomma3

02-01-2010, 01:36 PM

Wonderful updates!
Very nice to read after my 10 mile training run this morning in the snow!!!!
Hoping for sunny Florida skies in March!

micheleq

02-01-2010, 04:23 PM

Congrats on finishing another half!!

Looking forward to more...esp. where's dinner? I'm thinking somewhere on the monorail...if it were me and a girlfriend celebrating finishing a half marathon, I'd be at Citricos or V&A's!

Angies1274

02-01-2010, 08:49 PM

Great purchases!!!:thumbsup2

Sorry you didn't enjoy Space Mountain!:sad2: We will be riding it for the first time in April. Hmm...I'm anxious to see what the boys think??

YAY!! for Philharmagic!! Love that show!! It's always so much fun!!!!:goodvibes

liznboys

02-01-2010, 09:39 PM

I picked up one of the space blankets that is supposed to keep you warm. (It really didn’t).

I was trying to cozy up in mine as if it were a wool scarf. It was not, but I kept pretending it was. I was going for mind over matter!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01278.jpg

I remember smiling for this picture and it took a lot of mental energy to do so. The cold was getting to my mind!

Liz was in pretty bad shape. I'm sure she'll pop in at some point and tell us about it.

Yeah I was pretty messed up by the cold. I've never felt that way. I don't think I've ever been that cold for that period of time in my life (for your readers: I grew up in Michigan by the way...) It was really awful. And it took a long, long time for the cold to leave my body. It felt like it was down to the bones and had to slowly go away. I really don't want to go through that ever again!! And I'll tell you what, I was not a fan of cold weather before this race, but I am even less so of one now. I think it kinda gave me a mental scar. Sounds odd I know, but it feels that way.

There was a nice family behind us in line that was quite worried about Liz. The man kept trying to talk her into getting some coffee (there was an open stand nearby.)

That man (and his family) were so sweet, it was fun chatting with them. They distracted me a bit from my uncontrollable teeth-chattering and muscle-twitching. lol

After a shower (that wasn’t hot enough) and some time in the heated room (we turned the thermostat up)

Remember I turned the heat up when I got to the room, and then you turned it up (not knowing that I already had) when you came in? lol We had it toasty!

Liz had the same experience, but I think she may have hurt even a bit more. The area around her knee was bugging her a bit and she was really hoping it was just soreness not anything worse.

I was FEELING it bigtime in my right leg, a place where I had never been sore before from running. It got worse as the afternoon/evening went on...and became comical at one point... :rolleyes1 Let's see if you remember that moment, Jenny. :teeth:

Except apparently the butter. Seemed like pretty normal butter to me, but Liz loved the stuff. It appeared to me she was trying to replenish every calorie she burned during the 13 mile race with that butter alone. She eventually asked me if I wanted anymore and when I said no, she dispensed with the knife and just began dipping her roll right into the butter container. So hopefully Liz will pipe in and tell us why that butter was so good. She may return again just for the butter.

:rotfl::rotfl: You crack me up. YOU may not be a butter connoisseur but I am and that was some darn good butter!!! ;) Ok, honestly I can't remember which one it was, since we did eat a fair amount of butter on bread that weekend! :laughing: I think that was the one that was whipped and sweetened (with honey maybe?) And I was EXTREMELY hungry at that point and that bread and butter hit the spot. :cloud9:
Here come da butta, baby! (Will Smith fans will know that one.)

... and we showed off our medals.

I was showing off that medal every chance I got, as will be seen!!:cloud9: :cool1::yay:

You both are glowing in your pictures during your lunch! :goodvibes

That was sweat and tears. lol

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/dis003.jpg

Awwwww, love them!! :goodvibes

carissanboys

02-02-2010, 06:38 AM

I rode Space Mountain for the first time on our last trip, right before they closed it down for renovations. I hadn't realized it was open again. I wasn't a huge fan - it was very jerky. But, I'm glad I did it once.

I love how you have your medal displayed with the photo in a frame. :thumbsup2

dismagiclover

02-02-2010, 09:56 AM

Two great updates and I love your purchases :)

Loving the empty MK pics, always a lovely site.

Sorry SM was a bust for you.
I think I was just expecting more from Space Mountain. Have you been on the one in Paris?:scared1:

Wonderful updates!
Very nice to read after my 10 mile training run this morning in the snow!!!!
Hoping for sunny Florida skies in March!
10 miles in the snow:eek: You're one tough cookie! You will be so ready for the princess:goodvibes

Congrats on finishing another half!!

Looking forward to more...esp. where's dinner? I'm thinking somewhere on the monorail...if it were me and a girlfriend celebrating finishing a half marathon, I'd be at Citricos or V&A's!
V&A's would have been nice, but not in the budget for this trip. Maybe one of these years. It's not Citricos either, but that is in my long term plans for me and DH's solo trip.

Great purchases!!!:thumbsup2

Sorry you didn't enjoy Space Mountain!:sad2: We will be riding it for the first time in April. Hmm...I'm anxious to see what the boys think??

YAY!! for Philharmagic!! Love that show!! It's always so much fun!!!!:goodvibes
Your boys will probably love Space Mountain. I just had higher expectations because the ones in CA and Paris are better IMHO. If you've never been on any version FL version is probably fun!

dismagiclover

02-02-2010, 10:03 AM

Yeah I was pretty messed up by the cold. I've never felt that way. I don't think I've ever been that cold for that period of time in my life (for your readers: I grew up in Michigan by the way...) It was really awful. And it took a long, long time for the cold to leave my body. It felt like it was down to the bones and had to slowly go away. I really don't want to go through that ever again!! And I'll tell you what, I was not a fan of cold weather before this race, but I am even less so of one now. I think it kinda gave me a mental scar. Sounds odd I know, but it feels that way.

Doesn't sound odd to me at all! That cold was something else! Not something I want to experience again either. Hopefully next year is warmer!

Remember I turned the heat up when I got to the room, and then you turned it up (not knowing that I already had) when you came in? lol We had it toasty!

It could have been 90 degrees in that room and we still would have felt cold:laughing:

I was FEELING it bigtime in my right leg, a place where I had never been sore before from running. It got worse as the afternoon/evening went on...and became comical at one point... :rolleyes1 Let's see if you remember that moment, Jenny. :teeth:

I think I remember it. It's in the next update

:rotfl::rotfl: You crack me up. YOU may not be a butter connoisseur but I am and that was some darn good butter!!! ;) Ok, honestly I can't remember which one it was, since we did eat a fair amount of butter on bread that weekend! :laughing: I think that was the one that was whipped and sweetened (with honey maybe?) And I was EXTREMELY hungry at that point and that bread and butter hit the spot. :cloud9:
Here come da butta, baby! (Will Smith fans will know that one.)

I think you're right that it was the honey butter. CA grill had the sea salt butter

I was showing off that medal every chance I got, as will be seen!!:cloud9: :cool1::yay:

Do you have it displayed in your house?

I rode Space Mountain for the first time on our last trip, right before they closed it down for renovations. I hadn't realized it was open again. I wasn't a huge fan - it was very jerky. But, I'm glad I did it once.

I love how you have your medal displayed with the photo in a frame. :thumbsup2

People were hoping the renovations would make it more like the CA version (add music and smooth out the bumps), but apparently they didn't.
Just think next year at this time you'll have that medal to display too:thumbsup2

dismagiclover

02-02-2010, 12:42 PM

It was time for our special dinner to celebrate our achievement. We headed to the castle where we checked in and our hostess greeted us.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3412.jpg

We then sat and waited for our name to be called. We were both pretty happy with the sitting part.;) We hadn’t slept too great the night before, we’d gotten up at 3:00 am and we’d run 13.1 miles in the cold rain. That is enough to tire anyone out I think. So we enjoyed our wait. Eventually they called our name and we made our way up the stairs. I’ve eaten here before, but I didn’t notice how many stairs there are. We were both walking a little slower than usual as we made our way up.:laughing: They escorted us to what they said was the best table in the house. And they were right. Here was our view.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01290.jpg

Not too shabby.:cool1: Our server came over and told us this was the engagement table. We assured her there would be no engagements tonight.:rotfl: (I don’t think our respective DH’s would have liked that.) Here is a shot of the menu.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3414.jpg

Liz was still feeling chilled so she went with the soup for the appetizer. I chose the crab cake and we both had hot chocolate. Liz really enjoyed the soup. The crab cakes were interesting.:rolleyes1 They had salmon in them. I love crab cakes and I love salmon. I don’t love combining the two flavors. Anyway here is a shot of the room from our table.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01291.jpg

For our entrees Liz had the salmon. How was it Liz? I’m pretty sure I had the pork chop, but I might have had the lamb chops. I don’t remember for sure, but I do remember the chef coming out to talk to me because I only ate about half of it. He was concerned I didn’t like it. It was just fine. Not the best food I’d ever eaten, but I’d had a big lunch and I was pretty tired out (I’m not hungry when I’m really tired.) Anyway, I thought it was funny I got in trouble for not clearing my plate. Maybe this guy used to work at 50’s Primetime Café.:rotfl: While we were eating Cinderella’s mice came flitting around.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3417.jpg

Then the Fairy Godmother put on a cute show.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3419.jpg

For dessert, Liz had the crème brulee and I had the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle. Our server brought us some wands and took this picture for us.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01295.jpg

The desserts were quite good, but I loved the Chocolate Buckle the previous time I ate there and this time is was just pretty good. I think I was just too tired to really enjoy the food. Either that or my tastes have become very refined;) (That is pretty doubtful. Chick Fil A is one of my favorite places.)

We finished up our desserts, ordered hot chocolate to go and discussed our next move. We wanted to stay for Wishes, but we didn’t want to stand in the cold and wait for it to start so we figured we had to do one more attraction. And it would be nice if that attraction involved comfy seating. Remember we were tired. So we discussed various options. TTA was outside (too cold). Pirates involved getting down in the boat (sounded too painful). We were afraid Carousel of Progress would put us to sleep. We ended up deciding on Monsters Inc. Laugh House.:goodvibes

So we headed down the stairs and we were a sight to behold. I managed to hobble down OK, but Liz’s leg was really bothering her so she actually went down backwards.:lmao: I guess it was easier. Can you imagine us if we’d run the full marathon? Anyway we made it out of the castle and were on our way.

mtnmomma3

02-02-2010, 01:20 PM

I hear ya about the stairs!!! I was definitely struggling on my stairs last night after a long run day... I think I may have even done it backwards once or twice!

Stefy

02-02-2010, 01:34 PM

Yes I have been on the one in Paris and it is really good, I love how you move up to start your launch and then they open up the sides so you can see the whole park and then boom...away you go :) I was disappointed when I went on the one in Florida, I was expecting it to be even better!

Aww bless, you girls must have really been feeling the afterburn. Least you had a nice dinner and in the Castle no less :)

Love how you were seated at the engagement table and given wands too :)

disneylovin24

02-02-2010, 05:53 PM

I'm not a big space mountains fan either, my big problem with it is I'm 5'10 with long legs and everytime I ride my legs are in my chest. AKA, there is not a lot of room in the cars and I feel cramped the whole time:rolleyes:

Your dinner looked great, that view was spectacular. The engagement table, that's too funny:lmao:

Stefy

02-03-2010, 02:13 AM

jmskinner

02-03-2010, 07:33 AM

Love all the pics from the Marathon. :cheer2: on your times!!! Can't believe you were then able to spend the day at the park afterward. But, being at WDW, how do you not.:goodvibes

I remember thinking on that cold day how empty the parks would be, actually considered driving over but knew the hubby would think I was nuts.

Your running philosophy sounds great. I had never thought of attempting running a marathon, but something about running through WDW sounds so special.

carissanboys

02-03-2010, 07:43 AM

Crab cakes with salmon?? :confused3 I love crab and salmon is pretty good, but definitely not together. Salmon has too strong of a flavor for that. A milder white fish might have worked, but not salmon.

I think Monster's Inc was a great choice. :thumbsup2

dismagiclover

02-03-2010, 07:51 AM

I hear ya about the stairs!!! I was definitely struggling on my stairs last night after a long run day... I think I may have even done it backwards once or twice!
So Liz isn't the only one that knows the going down stairs backwards trick:rotfl:

Yes I have been on the one in Paris and it is really good, I love how you move up to start your launch and then they open up the sides so you can see the whole park and then boom...away you go :) I was disappointed when I went on the one in Florida, I was expecting it to be even better!

Aww bless, you girls must have really been feeling the afterburn. Least you had a nice dinner and in the Castle no less :)

Love how you were seated at the engagement table and given wands too :)
I'm glad I'm not the only one disappointed by the Florida version. That table really was the best seat in the house. Not quite sure why we got it, but I'm not complaining:goodvibes

I'm not a big space mountains fan either, my big problem with it is I'm 5'10 with long legs and everytime I ride my legs are in my chest. AKA, there is not a lot of room in the cars and I feel cramped the whole time:rolleyes:

Your dinner looked great, that view was spectacular. The engagement table, that's too funny:lmao:
I'm 5'9 and I know what you mean about leg room. That legs in the chest thing probably isn't helped by the jerkiness of the ride either. Now I've done it and know I don't need to do it again (at least not until one of my kids want me to ride it with them.)

Love all the pics from the Marathon. :cheer2: on your times!!! Can't believe you were then able to spend the day at the park afterward. But, being at WDW, how do you not.:goodvibes

I remember thinking on that cold day how empty the parks would be, actually considered driving over but knew the hubby would think I was nuts.

Your running philosophy sounds great. I had never thought of attempting running a marathon, but something about running through WDW sounds so special.
Running through Disney is extra special. The thought of it is what keeps me going during training. And you were right about the empty parks. The other parks were probably even quieter than Magic Kingdom.

Crab cakes with salmon?? :confused3 I love crab and salmon is pretty good, but definitely not together. Salmon has too strong of a flavor for that. A milder white fish might have worked, but not salmon.

I think Monster's Inc was a great choice. :thumbsup2
The crab cakes were definitely interesting. I guess I didn't think about what they'd actually taste like when I ordered them. I just saw crab cakes and thought "Yummy." I actually ended up kind of picking around the salmon and mostly eating the crab. I wonder if anyone likes the flavor combo:confused3

Angies1274

02-03-2010, 10:18 AM

aharbin88

02-03-2010, 11:09 AM

Somehow I got way behind on your TR, but I got caught up this morning! I am so proud of the two of you! I don't know which is more impressive, the fact that you both had the determination to finish the half, or the discipline to not crash out at BLT and sleep the afternoon away! I'm not sure I could have resisted! I will be even more impressed if you are both able to stay up (and vertical) to watch Wishes. I would think you'd be completely zonked by then!

I'm also glad to hear that a leisurely pace can still finish and not be official. I'm still debating running the half in 2011 (I just started the Couch to 5K program- I'm not a runner), so it's good to know that better-than-an-average-walk can finish without being swept. Makes my decision a *bit* easier!

Can't wait to hear how the night goes, and how you feel in the morning! I sure hope you both brought some warm flannel jammies!

A's Princess

02-03-2010, 11:19 AM

Subbing to this great TR! Congrats ladies on a grueling race - I'm beyond impressed how much you did in MK afterwards. I'd probably be snoozing away back in the room!

xDisneyAngelx

02-03-2010, 12:06 PM

Great seat at CRT. I think that was where me and my mom sat one year. I hope you had a wonderful celebration and dinner. I also love the Space Mountain picture. I am glad they added 'on ride photo' now I can't wait to ride it again and buy the picture to go with my Splash Mountain photo from 2004 :-)

dismagiclover

02-03-2010, 12:33 PM

Your pictures are beautiful inside the castle!!:goodvibes Everything sounds like it was yummy...um well except the salmon in the crab cake...hmmm.:confused3

Ahh...you both sound so sore! I really don't know how you did it...getting up at 3, running in the cold rain for 13 miles plus touring MK....wow!!!:worship:
Everything was yummy (well except maybe the crab cake). We really were sore, but luckily we both felt a bit better the next day:goodvibes Though it took me a couple of days to feel completely normal again.

Somehow I got way behind on your TR, but I got caught up this morning! I am so proud of the two of you! I don't know which is more impressive, the fact that you both had the determination to finish the half, or the discipline to not crash out at BLT and sleep the afternoon away! I'm not sure I could have resisted! I will be even more impressed if you are both able to stay up (and vertical) to watch Wishes. I would think you'd be completely zonked by then!

I'm also glad to hear that a leisurely pace can still finish and not be official. I'm still debating running the half in 2011 (I just started the Couch to 5K program- I'm not a runner), so it's good to know that better-than-an-average-walk can finish without being swept. Makes my decision a *bit* easier!

Can't wait to hear how the night goes, and how you feel in the morning! I sure hope you both brought some warm flannel jammies!
It was Liz's idea not to crash. That was one of the reasons I trained harder than my normal training for this half. Because I knew how I normally felt after a half. By training harder I really was less tired after the race (though the cold made me sore). It was the only day we had for the parks so we had to use it:goodvibes
And go for it in 2011. It's not easy, but you won't regret it once you have that medal around your neck:goodvibes

Subbing to this great TR! Congrats ladies on a grueling race - I'm beyond impressed how much you did in MK afterwards. I'd probably be snoozing away back in the room!
:welcome: Don't be too impressed. It was just the only day we had to visit the parks. I'm sure next year when I stay for the week after I'll take it easy the afternoon after the race.:goodvibes

Great seat at CRT. I think that was where me and my mom sat one year. I hope you had a wonderful celebration and dinner. I also love the Space Mountain picture. I am glad they added 'on ride photo' now I can't wait to ride it again and buy the picture to go with my Splash Mountain photo from 2004 :-)
It was a great table. I guess it's just luck to get it. I wonder if that Space Mountain picture is connected to photopass. I didn't think about it at the time because we didn't do photopass this trip, but now I'm wondering.

dismagiclover

02-03-2010, 12:38 PM

I think fourteen installments to describe one day is enough so I am going to finish up this very long day. So we hobbled out of the castle and headed towards Tomorrowland. On our way we were greeted with this beautiful sight.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3421.jpg

It was much more beautiful in person. SpectroMagic was going on and we could see the Christmas tree lit up in the background.
We then turned around and looked up.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3423.jpg

The Icicle lights on the castle are absolutely beautiful. They fit right in with the weather as well.;) Here you can see the lights of the Carousel through the castle walkway.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3424.jpg

After savoring the moment we headed towards our destination in Tomorrowland. We only had to wait a few minutes for the Laugh House show to begin. It was a fun show. The dancing guy at the beginning really got his groove on :banana: and one eyed Mike was great too. (He had a Perma Wink for us.:laughing:) It was an enjoyable show and we were most happy that the seats were just the right height. Not too terribly difficult to get in and out of.:rotfl: After the show we headed over to Main Street for Wishes. The park was really uncrowded. We walked up two minutes before the fireworks started and claimed a perfect spot on Main Street. There were some definite advantages to the cold.:cool1: Here are a few firework shots.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01301.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01308.jpg

I always love Wishes, but I could feel how tired I was so I may not have loved it as much as I normally do. After the show was over I turned and took a shot down Main Street. The lights and Christmas tree really were lovely.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01311.jpg

So we were ready to head back to Bay Lake Tower. As we headed out the gates, Liz started walking over to the monorail platform. I said to her, “We’re walking back, right?” (I mean the huge advantage of BLT is you can walk to and from the Magic Kingdom.) She looked at me and said, “You’re kidding, right?” The exact same thought went through my head when I realized she was going to take the monorail.:lmao: In all fairness I think she was hurting a bit more than me. So I told her I’d meet her back at the room and I enjoyed the short walk back. Call me crazy, but I like walking. I guess I like walking even on days that I complete half marathons. I actually beat Liz back to the room and was just heading out to get some hot chocolate when she made it back. (Love those refillable mugs that come with the Deluxe Dining Plan.) Anyway, we didn’t stay up long though Liz did do a little DISing on her I-phone. I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer and slipped into a dreamworld.:cloud9:

Up Next: How did we spend our final Day?

Stefy

02-03-2010, 02:00 PM

Stefy

02-03-2010, 02:08 PM

I'm glad I'm not the only one disappointed by the Florida version. That table really was the best seat in the house. Not quite sure why we got it, but I'm not complaining:goodvibes

Nope I am with you there on that one. We will most prob do it this year because of the revamp, but most prob only once. Would rather the TTA :goodvibes

disneylovin24

02-03-2010, 03:57 PM

That cannot be fun :(

Reason why I haven't rode it in 4 or 5 years

Beautiful pics of the castle and fireworks that night:lovestruc

carissanboys

02-03-2010, 04:04 PM

The close up of the castle is just gorgeous. :thumbsup2 I can understand why Wishes may not have been quite as enjoyable as usual.

Too funny about you both using different modes of transportation to get back to your room. :rotfl: I understand both trains of thought. ;)

Ellester

02-03-2010, 07:39 PM

I, for one, have enjoyed your fourteen posts to cover one day! You experienced a side of Disney I never have and it's been great reliving it with you. I'm sure you two were Zombies by the time Wishes was over. I'm so impressed you stayed up all day after the race and did so much at MK. (And, I think Chick-Fil-A is plenty refined!;))

dismagiclover

02-03-2010, 08:20 PM

Lovely pictures of the castle, its soooo beautiful with the icicles and the one with the portcullis and carousel in the background is v cool :)

Bless Liz, she must have really been in pain, but at least you went to get her a hot choc. Bet you were both out like a light that evening :)
I wish I could say I was thinking of Liz when I went to get the hot chocolate, but it was for me.

Beautiful pics of the castle and fireworks that night:lovestruc
The castle lights are so pretty.

The close up of the castle is just gorgeous. :thumbsup2 I can understand why Wishes may not have been quite as enjoyable as usual.

Too funny about you both using different modes of transportation to get back to your room. :rotfl: I understand both trains of thought. ;)
The walking vs. monorail was pretty funny. We just both assumed we were thinking the same, but we obviously weren't.

I, for one, have enjoyed your fourteen posts to cover one day! You experienced a side of Disney I never have and it's been great reliving it with you. I'm sure you two were Zombies by the time Wishes was over. I'm so impressed you stayed up all day after the race and did so much at MK. (And, I think Chick-Fil-A is plenty refined!;))
I'm glad someone enjoyed my ramblings! And we were pretty tired by the end of the day! Chick-Fil-A is the bomb! The workers at my local Chick-Fil-A actually recognize me when I go in:rolleyes1

carissanboys

02-03-2010, 08:22 PM

I'm glad someone enjoyed my ramblings! And we were pretty tired by the end of the day! Chick-Fil-A is the bomb! The workers at my local Chick-Fil-A actually recognize me when I go in:rolleyes1

Chick-Fil-A is the best! Don't know how I made it growing up in the north without one around! But, Five Guys has the best burgers and fries. :thumbsup2 I love both of them equally, but for different reasons.

Stefy

02-04-2010, 02:21 AM

Reason why I haven't rode it in 4 or 5 years

Well if you ever go Disneyland Paris, you will not only enjoy the ride much better, but it will be more comfy too (as comfy as you can be on a super fast ride) :goodvibes

Re: Hot Chocolate - Jenny Lol, oops must have read it wrong. I sure she was in your thoughts though :goodvibes

Angies1274

02-04-2010, 07:59 AM

Wow! You got some beautiful pictures of the castle!!!:thumbsup2 I hope to make it there someday during the holidays...it looks so pretty!!

dismagiclover

02-04-2010, 12:42 PM

Chick-Fil-A is the best! Don't know how I made it growing up in the north without one around! But, Five Guys has the best burgers and fries. :thumbsup2 I love both of them equally, but for different reasons.
Five Guys does have awesome burgers. I just love all those toppings! Grilled mushrooms, onions, peppers YUM!

Wow! You got some beautiful pictures of the castle!!!:thumbsup2 I hope to make it there someday during the holidays...it looks so pretty!!
The castle really did look great, but you'll have much better weather in April!

dismagiclover

02-04-2010, 12:49 PM

After a great night’s sleep I woke up about 8:00. Liz was still in bed so I tried to quietly get up and get dressed. My plan was to head down to Contempo Café for a quick breakfast. I guess I wasn’t so quiet because Liz woke up too. She had a muffin she’d gotten yesterday at the post race tent so she didn’t need to go get breakfast. So I headed down. As I walked across the bridge to the Contemporary I shivered. It was around 28 degrees. I looked over and saw some of the full marathon runners making their way past the resort. I shivered at the thought of being out there again today. It was dry, but it was even colder than the day before. Kudos to those that did the full.:worship: And giant kudos to those that ran the Goofy (the half and the full).:worship::worship: I’m not sure I could have motivated myself to get back out there in the cold again after the day before. Anyway, I smiled to myself as I thought about my plans for next year. I’m going to do the full and earn myself a Mickey Medal.:cool1: Hopefully it’s a bit warmer (but not too warm.);)
Anyway I headed into the Contemporary and used up a couple of snack credits on a muffin and fruit. Plus some hot chocolate in my handy refillable mug. The place was quite crowded and it was tough to find a seat. I sat at a single chair at the bar like thing. With the addition of Bay Lake Tower this quick service probably gets overcrowded quite often. After finishing up I headed up to the room. I found Liz taking a picture of this sign.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3425.jpg

Liz made it the day before at the Expo, but she didn’t want to take the picture before we’d actually finished. Now we were finishers!:dance3:

We discussed what we should do this morning. We considered Downtown Disney, but that would involve Disney buses. (We were Disney Bussed out.) We also considered visiting some of the other Magic Kingdom resorts, but we never really came to a decision. Instead we just sat around and chatted about life. It was really nice. Unfortunately I don’t get to just sit and chat with Liz anymore (what with her no longer living 2 doors away.):sad2: So it was great. It was the perfect way to spend our morning. (At least I thought so. Liz may have a different opinion.) :rolleyes1

Eventually we realized it was getting close to check out time so we packed up our stuff and took a few pictures of our incredible view. Today it was sunny, but don’t let these pictures fool you. It wasn’t warm.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01314.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/DSC01313.jpg

We headed out of the room shortly before 11:00. It is always sad to say goodbye to a Disney Home, but this was an extra short trip (though you wouldn’t know it from how dragged out the trip report has been) so it was extra sad to say goodbye.:sad1: Here is the hallway as we left.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3435.jpg

Here are some views out the windows in the hallways.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3436.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3438.jpg

Here is me at the elevator

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3441.jpg

Here is Liz by the coolest artwork in the whole place:cool2:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/troyjens/2010halftrip/IMG_3442.jpg

Seriously. Check that out. It’s Donald running! Nothing could be more appropriate for our trip.:goodvibes

We headed down to the first floor to check out.
But wait. We weren’t done quite yet. Our Magical Express Pick up time wasn’t for another 2 ½ hours. So what did we do next?