I'll skip over the months of training from when I decided I wanted to do this, to registering, to trip time, and sum it up by saying we completed two 5Ks -- the Saints Back to Football 5K on Labor Day Weekend, and the Freedom Run 5K on Veterans Day Weekend. We trained using the Jeff Galloway Run-Walk-Run method, and found a sweet spot of two minutes running and 1 minute walking intervals. However, we did do three minutes running and 1 minute walking during our two 5Ks. It was challenging to find places to run as our mileage started tracking up to the 13.1 mark. I learned a lot about fueling, hydrating, and on one of my really long runs, learned my trusty 5K shorts were NOT a good choice for any distance over 10K. Can you say chafing?
We decided that we wanted to raise money for Team Gleason, which is a charity for ALS patients started by former NFL player Steve Gleason, himself an ALS Patient. I bought a Team Gleason running shirt to wear in the Half, and after the chafing lesson, also bought a pair of compression capris. I tried auctioning off a one-of-a-kind dress to no avail, and direct requests for donations resulted in a grand total of $270 raise out of the $500 minimum we hoped for. Well, $270 was more than nothing, but I found I am NOT good at fundraising!
So, anyway, fast forward to January 2013.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9
After almost a year of dreaming and several months of training, it was time to head to the World! We left our driveway at 4:30 AM to meet up with my parents at All-Star Music! My brother had agreed to watch our dog, who we usually board at the Best Friends Kennel at Disney, which saved us a chunk of money---and it saved us time on the road, as it was a lot easier not having Sadie with us.
Even at the crack of early, Miss K was pretty excited to be heading to Disney! Well, we all were!
http://youtu.be/mjOUV2GuyUs
Finally, in the afternoon, we made it to Disney and went to check in.
We asked to be in the same building as my parents at Music. To our delight--we were given the room right next door!!!! This worked out great as Mamy and Parrain were flying in that night and were going to be staying in our room, while Miss K was to stay in my parents' room. We got settled in, admired our Mickey head towel arrangement
and then headed over to Boatwright's for dinner! Now, I am from New Orleans, and I have to say the gumbo at Boatwright's was among the best I have ever had! (Okay, I stole tastes of the gumbo. I actually got crawfish etouffee.)
We enjoyed our meal (of which I only got a few pics) and then headed over to check out the Art of Animation Resort. Wow, just love walking around this resort at night especially the Cars area. They really outdid themselves!
Boy humor:
Soon we were exchanging text messages with Mamy and Parrain---their plane had landed and they were making their way to All Stars Music via the Magical Express! We left the lobby and gift shops of AoA and headed back to Music.
But not before somebody got a chipmunk thinking they were a nut stuck on their head:
What a pretty pretty
Mamy and Parrain made it to the room, we got Miss K settled in Gigi and Poppa's room, the coordinating shirts I had made were distributed (more on that later...), and catching up commenced. Finally, we all crashed, with a final training run on tap for the next morning.