I pried my eyes open thinking its too early, dont wake up yet. Dave was still dead to the world, I finally managed to find the clock and focus my eyes long enough to see it is 10.30am! I guess we really are on vacation now. But its only 7.30am at home maybe thats why it feels earlier. We shower and dress and pack up for the day. Camera, US dollars, maps of Disney World, maps of Orlando, my ½ marathon check in papers, water, the GPS, directions to the Radio store, the style name and size of the pants Dave wants to buy at Outdoor World, 2 cell phones, 2 palm pilots, annual passes, room keys, wish walkers lime green Mickey name tag, sweaters and raincoats. Do we have enough stuff for 2 adults, perhaps we should leave something in the room, so that housekeeping actually knows its occupied?
We head over to Everything POP for breakfast. I make Dave stop to admire the icons along the way The Potato Heads, the Big Wheel, the Foosball, the Mickey Telephone, Twister Boards, and Goofys car. But its so late they have actually taken all the breakfast items away. I guess we will have lunch instead. Good thing I also put some food vouchers in my bag as we can use them for lunch. We split one Q&C voucher and share lunch:
Chicken Bacon Wrap $5.69
Tossed Salad $2.59
Tie Dye Cheesecake $3.59
Diet coke $1.99
Tax $.91
Total = $14.77
Savings of $3.27 (cost of voucher $11.50)
DH ate the wrap, I ate the salad, and we split the cheesecake.
We also buy a refillable mug for Daves coffee and coke $11.99 + .78 = $12.77. Now we can add that to the luggage for the day.
We find our way over to the World of Sports for the Marathon Expo without getting lost once, although our paper maps, the GPS and the signs along the way do not match up. Anyone else notice that if you follow the Disney signs they seem to send you the long way round to anywhere? Find parking close to the entrance, and wander on in. Dave stops at the Power Bar tent to get a free Power Bar, a chocolate chip one. A friendly volunteer with a flag waves in the direction of the main hall and tells us to follow the signs. With my check in paper clutched in my hand we go in. Why is there no one else here? Are we in the right building? We are its just nowhere near as crowded as I had expected. I walk right up to the volunteer at the desk and pick up number and then pass my chip over the pad to confirm that my name is attached to it. Stop for a quick photo at the countdown clock, only 17 hours 20 minutes and 25 seconds to go, remind me again why I am doing this. Again there was no line up to collect my t-shirt, a long sleeve Coolmax type t-shirt. I had previously read that the ½ marathon t-shirts are cotton so this is a good surprise. The whole process didnt take anywhere near the amount of time I had anticipated. This gives me plenty of time to check out the expo. I tried out The Stick. Its a muscle stimulator that kneads and pulls your muscles, helping recovery and preventing injury. Its basically a long plastic Dave says he can make for the ½ the price. Ask me next year, I bet I will still be waiting for him to make it. At the Disney Marathon merchandise stand I try on the I Did it T-shirt, but theres this really annoying voice in the back of my telling me I havent done it yet so I cant buy it, and Dave likes the white t-shirt better. So I buy the white one and a postcard of the course and we are out of there. The credit card got off lightly for this morning.
I load everything into the boot, sorry trunk and we begin the fun of navigating our way to the Radio Store. We miss the street and the next one and the next one. Finally we make a turn, its a dead end, back to the main road, turn across all the traffic and then down the street we should have turned down originally. For a tiny radio store in the middle of nowhere (actually its right near the Orlando Executive Airport) it sure is busy, and more people come in after us. Luckily Dave already knows what he wants, he looked it all up on the internet before we even left home, and he has a printed list with all the items he wants highlighted. Is he organized or what? Remember how I said the credit card got of lightly this morning, well Dave made up for it now one radio, case, mouthpiece, antenna and various other accessories and we are out of there.
Last year we accidentally ended up in Bass Outdoor World and spent a small fortune, followed by a mail order after we got home. So this trip we purposefully found our way there, with several sheets of paper printed from their website so that Dave would know exactly what he wanted, RedHead Duck Work Pants in 36 x 34 $29.95. But of course we couldnt just walk in, get the pants and walk out. No, we had to browse and ended up with two pairs of pants, one in brown and one in olive, a new pair of boots, and a Hawaiian style shirt, all for Dave. And he thinks I spend too much money.
We had been planning to head back to POP to drop off all our shopping but neither of us has been paying attention to the time, and we are supposed to be at Trails End in 20 minutes for the Wish Walkers dinner. We manage to find our way to Fort Wilderness and into the parking lot, and onto the bus to Trails End. We did ask the bus driver if this was the right bus to get to Trails End, and he asked us Whats that? Not a good start, but another guest knows what it is and where it is, and we are on the right bus.
Walking into the restaurant we are greeted by a sea of lime green t-shirts, yep we are in the right place. The CM at the check in counter asks Are you with the group, please be with the group, otherwise you will have to come back in about an hour. Lucky for us we are with the group, but if we werent do you think we would have been smart enough to say yes anyway? Probably not!
We meet Team Canada Susan, Mary-Liz, Debbie and Nancy and their families. We are sitting next to Christy and her husband and two really cute little boys. Kamy and Tim arrive and introduce themselves to everyone; Dawn finds me and presents me with the lime green scarf she had made. It even glows in the dark.
Trouble with buffets is we always eat too much and tonight was not different. Cornbread, salad, fried chicken, ribs, potatoes, various pastas, shrimp, salmon, Macaroni and Cheese, rice and veggies, bread pudding, jello, chocolate pudding, cobbler and all we could drink coke and diet coke served in mason jars.
Buffet $16.99 x 2 = $33.98
Tax $2.21
Tip $3.50
Total $39.69 total
Definitely a good value for dinner, and we would eat here again, I would like to try their breakfast buffet, I have heard that is great.
Karen asked everyone to hang round for a group photo. We wait outside and chat about our lack of training, our fears and what we are going to do if we finish. Meet too many people to name, but its great to be able to faces and real names to the board names. There are a lot of hubbys and friends taking photos, for a moment it look likes there are more people in the cheer squad, but I think in the end we athletes out number the cheerers.
Dave and I find our way back to POP Century. My legs are tightening up, a sign that I am starting to stress about the big even so I decide to check out the pool. Our building is near the computer pool big and square. The water is quite warm so I float round for an hour or so, while Dave sits on the side and plays with the radio, GPS and the tracking device I am going to wear tomorrow.
I am not a morning person, I am not getting up until the last possible moment, and I heard another guest say that Everything POP already had some breakfast items out. I carry my GPS, tracking device and two way radio, so Dave could see if it worked, anyone would think I was going hiking in the back country, and stroll over the to the main hall.
Breakfast tomorrow morning will be a:
Bagel $2.29
Banana $.99
3 musketeers bar $1.17
Milky Way bar $1.17
Total $6.00.
The last two are not actually for breakfast but will go in my bum bag (fanny pack to North Americans).
Dave couldnt get the tracking device to work, hes not sure whats wrong with it, but he keeps working on it while I watch TV, read and try to get some sleep. And Andrea (friend from home) called to wish me luck. It was exciting to hear from her and her family (Noah asked me to say hi to Mickey and Buzz) and made my day.
Day 1
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
We head over to Everything POP for breakfast. I make Dave stop to admire the icons along the way The Potato Heads, the Big Wheel, the Foosball, the Mickey Telephone, Twister Boards, and Goofys car. But its so late they have actually taken all the breakfast items away. I guess we will have lunch instead. Good thing I also put some food vouchers in my bag as we can use them for lunch. We split one Q&C voucher and share lunch:
Chicken Bacon Wrap $5.69
Tossed Salad $2.59
Tie Dye Cheesecake $3.59
Diet coke $1.99
Tax $.91
Total = $14.77
Savings of $3.27 (cost of voucher $11.50)
DH ate the wrap, I ate the salad, and we split the cheesecake.
We also buy a refillable mug for Daves coffee and coke $11.99 + .78 = $12.77. Now we can add that to the luggage for the day.
We find our way over to the World of Sports for the Marathon Expo without getting lost once, although our paper maps, the GPS and the signs along the way do not match up. Anyone else notice that if you follow the Disney signs they seem to send you the long way round to anywhere? Find parking close to the entrance, and wander on in. Dave stops at the Power Bar tent to get a free Power Bar, a chocolate chip one. A friendly volunteer with a flag waves in the direction of the main hall and tells us to follow the signs. With my check in paper clutched in my hand we go in. Why is there no one else here? Are we in the right building? We are its just nowhere near as crowded as I had expected. I walk right up to the volunteer at the desk and pick up number and then pass my chip over the pad to confirm that my name is attached to it. Stop for a quick photo at the countdown clock, only 17 hours 20 minutes and 25 seconds to go, remind me again why I am doing this. Again there was no line up to collect my t-shirt, a long sleeve Coolmax type t-shirt. I had previously read that the ½ marathon t-shirts are cotton so this is a good surprise. The whole process didnt take anywhere near the amount of time I had anticipated. This gives me plenty of time to check out the expo. I tried out The Stick. Its a muscle stimulator that kneads and pulls your muscles, helping recovery and preventing injury. Its basically a long plastic Dave says he can make for the ½ the price. Ask me next year, I bet I will still be waiting for him to make it. At the Disney Marathon merchandise stand I try on the I Did it T-shirt, but theres this really annoying voice in the back of my telling me I havent done it yet so I cant buy it, and Dave likes the white t-shirt better. So I buy the white one and a postcard of the course and we are out of there. The credit card got off lightly for this morning.
I load everything into the boot, sorry trunk and we begin the fun of navigating our way to the Radio Store. We miss the street and the next one and the next one. Finally we make a turn, its a dead end, back to the main road, turn across all the traffic and then down the street we should have turned down originally. For a tiny radio store in the middle of nowhere (actually its right near the Orlando Executive Airport) it sure is busy, and more people come in after us. Luckily Dave already knows what he wants, he looked it all up on the internet before we even left home, and he has a printed list with all the items he wants highlighted. Is he organized or what? Remember how I said the credit card got of lightly this morning, well Dave made up for it now one radio, case, mouthpiece, antenna and various other accessories and we are out of there.
Last year we accidentally ended up in Bass Outdoor World and spent a small fortune, followed by a mail order after we got home. So this trip we purposefully found our way there, with several sheets of paper printed from their website so that Dave would know exactly what he wanted, RedHead Duck Work Pants in 36 x 34 $29.95. But of course we couldnt just walk in, get the pants and walk out. No, we had to browse and ended up with two pairs of pants, one in brown and one in olive, a new pair of boots, and a Hawaiian style shirt, all for Dave. And he thinks I spend too much money.
We had been planning to head back to POP to drop off all our shopping but neither of us has been paying attention to the time, and we are supposed to be at Trails End in 20 minutes for the Wish Walkers dinner. We manage to find our way to Fort Wilderness and into the parking lot, and onto the bus to Trails End. We did ask the bus driver if this was the right bus to get to Trails End, and he asked us Whats that? Not a good start, but another guest knows what it is and where it is, and we are on the right bus.
Walking into the restaurant we are greeted by a sea of lime green t-shirts, yep we are in the right place. The CM at the check in counter asks Are you with the group, please be with the group, otherwise you will have to come back in about an hour. Lucky for us we are with the group, but if we werent do you think we would have been smart enough to say yes anyway? Probably not!
We meet Team Canada Susan, Mary-Liz, Debbie and Nancy and their families. We are sitting next to Christy and her husband and two really cute little boys. Kamy and Tim arrive and introduce themselves to everyone; Dawn finds me and presents me with the lime green scarf she had made. It even glows in the dark.
Trouble with buffets is we always eat too much and tonight was not different. Cornbread, salad, fried chicken, ribs, potatoes, various pastas, shrimp, salmon, Macaroni and Cheese, rice and veggies, bread pudding, jello, chocolate pudding, cobbler and all we could drink coke and diet coke served in mason jars.
Buffet $16.99 x 2 = $33.98
Tax $2.21
Tip $3.50
Total $39.69 total
Definitely a good value for dinner, and we would eat here again, I would like to try their breakfast buffet, I have heard that is great.
Karen asked everyone to hang round for a group photo. We wait outside and chat about our lack of training, our fears and what we are going to do if we finish. Meet too many people to name, but its great to be able to faces and real names to the board names. There are a lot of hubbys and friends taking photos, for a moment it look likes there are more people in the cheer squad, but I think in the end we athletes out number the cheerers.
Dave and I find our way back to POP Century. My legs are tightening up, a sign that I am starting to stress about the big even so I decide to check out the pool. Our building is near the computer pool big and square. The water is quite warm so I float round for an hour or so, while Dave sits on the side and plays with the radio, GPS and the tracking device I am going to wear tomorrow.
I am not a morning person, I am not getting up until the last possible moment, and I heard another guest say that Everything POP already had some breakfast items out. I carry my GPS, tracking device and two way radio, so Dave could see if it worked, anyone would think I was going hiking in the back country, and stroll over the to the main hall.
Breakfast tomorrow morning will be a:
Bagel $2.29
Banana $.99
3 musketeers bar $1.17
Milky Way bar $1.17
Total $6.00.
The last two are not actually for breakfast but will go in my bum bag (fanny pack to North Americans).
Dave couldnt get the tracking device to work, hes not sure whats wrong with it, but he keeps working on it while I watch TV, read and try to get some sleep. And Andrea (friend from home) called to wish me luck. It was exciting to hear from her and her family (Noah asked me to say hi to Mickey and Buzz) and made my day.
Day 1
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
