Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

I also think the benefits of a 1br outweigh the extra points cost. But I would split the difference and not go for the preferred location. You're driving (or being driven to) races, and the rest of the time is largely park time, so don't jump through all the hoops and spend the extra points for a benefit you won't need this trip.
 
I will be an enabler and say do the 1br. :)
I mean, i'm like 90% sure it'll happen. I need to talk it out with DH, probably sooner than later since standard rooms there sell out faster because of the lower point chart. I'm SURE he just cannot wait for me to talk about another Disney trip 2 days after our last one. :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:
(Also, if you bring DD to DATW, I will totally keep my kid out of school that day and bring him with me, that way they can occupy each other. :D )
That sounds like it could be fun! We will probably have to see how things go with the other park days. DD is a very busy/active kid, and I can see her having a hard time just hanging out at a country pavilion while that grownups stand around and talk. But if I could set up LL or something for character meets along the way it might work out. Also, be prepared to be invited to our house for a playdate. She was inviting people left and right this week. It was hilarious.

We might even bring our stroller because she kept complaining that her battery was running out and wanting to be carried and that is definitely not happening!
 
DH and I love a 1bd for MW. The in room W/D alone…🤩 My suggestion is get the 1bd in a resort view, request the Grandstand section with a near pool request. That puts you really close to the Carriage House and boat launch. I wouldn’t change rooms if you can swing it, too much going on with the races.
 

DH and I love a 1bd for MW. The in room W/D alone…🤩 My suggestion is get the 1bd in a resort view, request the Grandstand section with a near pool request. That puts you really close to the Carriage House and boat launch. I wouldn’t change rooms if you can swing it, too much going on with the races.
we've stayed in grandstand before and didn't care for it. of course, we were also in the building that's the furthest away from the CH in the grandstand section, but I digress. We prefer just walking to DS versus taking the boat because when we relied on the boat it would have been faster to just walk at least half the time (really we should have just drove down to Congress Park and parked in that parking lot and walked.)
 
Last edited:
Yeah, we have T-storms this morning with temps in the 30's. I just decided I did not want to do a run in the rain. I actually said out loud "now if it was snowing, it would be fine".
Yeah the snow turned into rain and it's going to be such a mess up here.

Middle School track season starts today. And DS3 didn't even take a hoodie to school, so hopefully they just do conditioning inside because otherwise he's gonna freeze. Their coach is a big softie, so I don't anticipate them going outside or really doing much of anything with the weather today.

Baseball (DH coaches) is supposed to have a game tomorrow and there's snow on the ground.

I'm sick of this weather. Spring needs to arrive already. It's especially rotten because we just spent an entire week with sunshine and 80s everyday and I'm sooooo ready for that weather.
 
I would go with the 1 bedroom for the whole trip, but I also hate split stays, and have gotten way too spoiled by 1 bedrooms. I've never stayed in SSR though (first stay booked for Canada day weekend!), so can't comment on preferred vs standard.

another 50pts (Aug) that I'm not sure I could transfer and then borrow because I already transferred [Aug 2025]points from one contract to another
My understanding is that you have unlimited transfers between your own contracts. The one transfer rule is only between different members.

I'm sick of this weather. Spring needs to arrive already.
Tell me about it. We had a snow/ice storm over the weekend, and having another one tonight. I'm so over it.
 
Because apparently I post about everything *except* training....

Does this look scammy to anyone else?
https://www.kanabcottages.com/ (I just found them on VRBO as well, so I feel slightly less trepidation now.)
Google is only giving a few reviews, and only one is within the last year. The prices just seem way too good to be true! $1300 (plus taxes) for an entire week???? This would be just about the perfect "base camp" for us for next year though for DS2's trip. Everything we want to go see/do is about an hour away, and I'm totally OK with that drive over having to pack up 6 people mid-trip to change accommodations.
 
Because apparently I post about everything *except* training....

Does this look scammy to anyone else?
https://www.kanabcottages.com/
Google is only giving a few reviews, and only one is within the last year. The prices just seem way too good to be true! $1300 (plus taxes) for an entire week???? This would be just about the perfect "base camp" for us for next year though for DS2's trip. Everything we want to go see/do is about an hour away, and I'm totally OK with that drive over having to pack up 6 people mid-trip to change accommodations.
That's real and I know them! That price sounds right too.
 
That's real and I know them! That price sounds right too.
Well that is a HUGE relief! We ran across MULTIPLE scam listings last year when we were headed to Ft Lauderdale (listings with really low prices that just poofed into the internet ether, or listings with way nicer houses than the price would normally indicate) so I'm just a little bit more wary of things these days. Gone are the days of VRBO owners taking personal checks or paypal payments instead of booking through the optional (and expensive!) VRBO portal. We're talking like 15 years ago. Haha!

Now to start stalking flights, or figure out with airline credit card to get to make those flights hurt a little less. It appears that St. George (SGU) is the nearest airport at about 90min away, and Vegas is about a 3hr drive which, with 6 people, the savings there may be enough to justify the extra drive time. DH has a pretty massive work project coming up this summer so hitting a MSR on any sort of rewards card wouldn't be an issue at all, and is how we generally fund a lot of our trips. For our local airport, we have the big 3 (American, United, and Delta where nearly all of them stop in either Detroit or Chicago) along with Allegiant, Sun Country, Avelo, and JetBlue (all of those are very limited on schedules.)
 
We flew into Vegas last year on our Utah/AZ trip. We did Delta NS from DTW. Depending on where you start finish, SLC may also be a possibility. One thing I would suggest is to simultaneously look at rental cars--there was a big difference in price, which for 2 people made a difference--might not with 6.

In the end, we flew into LAS and out of PHX (AA NS to DTW), and weirdly the 1-way rental from LAS to PHX was less than a RT rental to either airport (by several hundred $$)
 
We flew into Vegas last year on our Utah/AZ trip. We did Delta NS from DTW. Depending on where you start finish, SLC may also be a possibility.
Ooooh good call! SLC is about 4.5 hours, but Flagstaff is "only" 3.5 so that's definitely another option to look into!

One thing I would suggest is to simultaneously look at rental cars--there was a big difference in price, which for 2 people made a difference--might not with 6.

In the end, we flew into LAS and out of PHX (AA NS to DTW), and weirdly the 1-way rental from LAS to PHX was less than a RT rental to either airport (by several hundred $$)
yeah similar thing just happened with our rental/flights in Florida. The cheapest way to do if then was DTW to RSW (Ft Meyers) and then SRQ (Sarasota) to DTW, with a one-way rental. It was convoluted, and one of the reasons why DH is very happy that I get obsessive about trip planning.
 
Can I also just say, that looking at all of these hikes I just want, more and more, to send DD to my parents' for a week because some of the hikes I'm reading about with a 6yo just sound like we would end up carrying her a lot.
 
Can I also just say, that looking at all of these hikes I just want, more and more, to send DD to my parents' for a week because some of the hikes I'm reading about with a 6yo just sound like we would end up carrying her a lot.
I don't know about the specific hikes you're planning, but can you do some hikes of increasing difficulty/length at home to get her ready?
 
I don't know about the specific hikes you're planning, but can you do some hikes of increasing difficulty/length at home to get her ready?
because of when the trip is, not really. we'll still [likely] be in full-blown winter when we leave, and hiking during the winter here just isn't possible. She's a complete ball of energy, but was complaining just walking around DS last week. DH will not be ok with sending her somewhere else for vacation (and my parents' probably aren't up to the task of having her on their own for a week) so it's really just wishful thinking on my park.
 
because of when the trip is, not really. we'll still [likely] be in full-blown winter when we leave, and hiking during the winter here just isn't possible. She's a complete ball of energy, but was complaining just walking around DS last week. DH will not be ok with sending her somewhere else for vacation (and my parents' probably aren't up to the task of having her on their own for a week) so it's really just wishful thinking on my park.
That makes sense. I find with my kids I can usually get away with distracting them. Also, whenever they ask me to pick them up that their legs are tired, I turn around and say that *my* legs are tired and if *they* can pick me up. They end up laughing that I'm too big and forget about it.
Hopefully DD surprises you and can enjoy the hikes with everyone else!
 
Definitely look into flying to SLC. It's the easiest drive and best rental car and flight options. I've made that drive dozens of times.
 
because of when the trip is, not really. we'll still [likely] be in full-blown winter when we leave, and hiking during the winter here just isn't possible. She's a complete ball of energy, but was complaining just walking around DS last week. DH will not be ok with sending her somewhere else for vacation (and my parents' probably aren't up to the task of having her on their own for a week) so it's really just wishful thinking on my park.
Have her watch the Bluey episode when Bingo keeps wanting a piggyback. 🤣
 
And we return to your regularly scheduled "training" journal.

There hasn't really been much. I did do a 45min incline walk on the first day of our spring break trip on the hotel treadmill, but after that I didn't really do anything. The left hamstring seems to have resolved (hurray!), and in its place I am getting occasional twinges on the outside of my right ankle (boo!), which dr google tells me could be peroneal tendonitis? I'm not really worried about it at this point: I need to get back into good stretching habits, which help prevent other things such as PF, and get back into the habit with my assorted calf raises. This means I've taken an entire month off after refereeing ended which I'm not super excited about, but if it means I go into this training block with less nagging issues I'm going to be OK with it.

I think I'm making friends with one of the other female referees. Making new friends as an adult is weird, and hard, especially when you're trying to arrange things around 4 other people's schedules. ANYWAY. Turns out that she and her boyfriend moved this past summer from the East side of town, and are only about 10min away from us. She's a former college field hockey player (I think that's what DH told me) with no kids and a pretty flexible job, and she works out a lot. (AKA, she's fast and I'm not sure how well this would work.) I'm going to see if she wants to hike once a week while DD is still in preschool and if that works out, maybe run together or do a hills/stairs workout that the XC kids do at a nearby boat launch. I'm 100% the problem when it comes to scheduling anything with all of the sports schedules and DD, so fingers crossed.

On the shoe-front:
I have ordered 2 more pairs of Hierro v8 shoes: a half size larger in the mens, and in my usual women's size because past experience tells me that a women's wide (D) is actually wider than the corresponding men's standard (D) width. Does that make sense? No. No it does not. Has it been true for multiple pairs of 1080s? Yes. I am finding pretty good deals on these ($80ish instead of $150) so as soon as I find a pair that fits well I'll more than likely order a 2nd pair so I have one to do the bulk of my training in, and another to "break in" and then save for race day. After I have actually put some miles on the first pair to make sure I don't have any other fit issues of course.

Weight loss?
Yeah. Sneaking this one in here. I'm trying very hard to not be weighing/measuring things out in front of the kids because one particular invariable makes some inappropriate comment (that he thinks is a joke) or starts obsessing over calories. I decided to try more of a generalized approach where I'm massively prioritizing protein (an trying to stay away from "carb-y" things) for breakfast and lunch, and then eat whatever we have for dinner as a family, and then that's it for the night. Some form of intermittent fasting? Not really IMO because if anything it's close to 12/12, but it does mean that I'm cutting out a lot of empty calories from snacking in the evening. I lost 4 pounds before spring break, loosened the reins during vacation since I had a lot less control over the meal choices and didn't backslide much, so hopeful that this continues to be a pretty un-stressful way to approach this. I'll more than likely have to add in more calories once the mileage ramps up, so we will see how things go. Weight loss and training blocks don't always go well together, but I would really like to lose 15-20 pounds before my trail race. That's only 1 pound per week, so I feel like it's not a crazy goal.

OK but for real, training:
All the talk about RWR makes me think that I should consider incorporating a magic mile into my plan (that I will likely be adjusting because the longs runs are just too long for my other commitments.) We have a lot going on right now (starting on the 14th we have baseball games or track meets 5 nights a week, until late May) but the idea is to get into the running routine because I'm supposed to be starting my whole plan 1 month from today. So theoretically I should be running a Magic Mile in the first 3 days of May to see where I'm at for pacing and intervals to play with. And then from there, do another MM about once per month. And there we have it. Me making yet another plan. Maybe I should try to stick to it? Follow through? Do the dang thing?
 
All the talk about RWR makes me think that I should consider incorporating a magic mile into my plan (that I will likely be adjusting because the longs runs are just too long for my other commitments.) We have a lot going on right now (starting on the 14th we have baseball games or track meets 5 nights a week, until late May) but the idea is to get into the running routine because I'm supposed to be starting my whole plan 1 month from today. So theoretically I should be running a Magic Mile in the first 3 days of May to see where I'm at for pacing and intervals to play with. And then from there, do another MM about once per month. And there we have it. Me making yet another plan. Maybe I should try to stick to it? Follow through? Do the dang thing?
I'm not sure Magic Mile is really very relevant for trail running. If you're going to need to do a lot of your training on paved surfaces (that aren't too hilly) then maybe it'll help set your paces. But on trails, the type of surface, hills, etc., are probably going to affect you too much to follow paces that you get from a Magic Mile. If you try to stick to your prescribed pace on the trail, then you're going to end up running at too high of an effort level. I've never really heard of trail running training using a Magic Mile.

If you're looking to see if your training is improving your speed, then just try to run the same route as previously (paved or natural surface trail) in similar conditions (T+D) and see how your pace has changed.

But...realize that if you're training for a 50k, you're not looking for improvements in pace. You're looking for improvements in endurance. They can go together to some extent if you're coming into a training block relatively untrained, but endurance is what you really need to improve.

In my opinion, you need to take that 50k training plan you had, adapt it to run for time instead of distance, and just do it. Make sure to keep the effort level in the range they suggest, which for the vast majority of it will be "easy". Maybe play with some of the higher-intensity workouts to change them to ones that are more interesting or relevant to you.

You'll know you're improving when you start getting into long runs in the 4+ hour range and you can do them. (And by "running" in this context, I mean "completing the time on the trail by running, power hiking, or walking as appropriate to the terrain".) And then you get a cut-back week of 2 hours, and it doesn't feel like much. Things like that.
 














Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top