It's Just a 13.1 Mile Walk in the Park - Feb. 2013 (10/9 Finally, It's Done!!)

[magichusky]

Yaaay! Congratulations!!!! Can you imagine doing that half marathon back to back????

I love that tiara head band- that was the perfect "costume." I can't imagine running in any costume more complicated than that for 13 miles- I'd be so uncomfortable. How exciting about signing up for the ToT ten miler as well! You're like an elite Disney athlete now! I was actually thinking about doing another half marathon in the Fall- a smaller one, that doesn't start at 5am haha. When I did the DL 1/2, I had to get up at 2am which was sort of a problem since I go to bed at like 4am. Then I had to wait in the corral for like 45-60 min and it was so crowded that I couldn't sit down or stretch or warm-up. So I basically stood upright for an hour and then ran 13 miles, which seemed ridiculous to me. It looked like there was more room where you were waiting before the Princess 1/2.

I'm so inspired I'm literally going for a run right now!!!

 

[Eight]

Yaaay! Congratulations!!!! Can you imagine doing that half marathon back to back????

I love that tiara head band- that was the perfect "costume." I can't imagine running in any costume more complicated than that for 13 miles- I'd be so uncomfortable. How exciting about signing up for the ToT ten miler as well! You're like an elite Disney athlete now! I was actually thinking about doing another half marathon in the Fall- a smaller one, that doesn't start at 5am haha. When I did the DL 1/2, I had to get up at 2am which was sort of a problem since I go to bed at like 4am. Then I had to wait in the corral for like 45-60 min and it was so crowded that I couldn't sit down or stretch or warm-up. So I basically stood upright for an hour and then ran 13 miles, which seemed ridiculous to me. It looked like there was more room where you were waiting before the Princess 1/2.

I'm so inspired I'm literally going for a run right now!!!

Thanks! And, well... After Princess, I would have said no way! But after Tink and the one I did two weeks, it feels like more of a possibility. I have to keep training hard!

I have two more non-costume-y costumes planned for the Disneyland 10K and half. I'd say what I'm doing here, but it's more fun to keep it a secret until right before the actual races. But I think they will be cute!

And actually, at this point, I don't think I'll be able to do the ToT Ten Miler. I knew when I signed up there was a chance I would not be able to make it. But I'm not too upset because there the reasons I won't make to the ToT Ten Miler are related to good things. Purposefully vague because nothing is certain yet, but we'll see.

There might have been more room, but there was also about a half hour of standing. I don't know why runDisney insists people get there so early, if we have to wait so long in the corrals.

What half marathon are you looking at?

Yeah! (there's no running smilie..?)

 

[FancyNancy]

Great job on your marathon! I love the pic of you crossing the finish line Congratulations on completing it while not feeling very well

Subbing!

 

[Eight]

Great job on your marathon! I love the pic of you crossing the finish line Congratulations on completing it while not feeling very well

Subbing!

Thank you! I have to admit, at that point, I was pretty happy to see the finish line.

And thank you for reading!

 

[Eight]

I finished. And to be honest, I did not feel as great as I did after the Tinker Bell half. I received my medal, and my special Coast to Coast medal, took a finisher’s photo, and set off to find my mom.

And once again, I had to go through that small funneled area which was the last thing I wanted to do, but alas, the charity tents were on the other side, and that’s where I was meeting my mom. I was so tired, I remember I was kind of getting irritated with all the people in my way.

Once I got through that area, I was fine. I saw my mom and started yelling her name, but for whatever reason, she didn’t see or hear me, and people were looking at me funny, whoops.

At the charity tent, I was given another medal from them, so I ended up with three medals for one run! Not too shabby.

After eating a cookie and a banana and drinking some Gatorade, we needed to head to the bus because we were checking out at 11, and it was probably getting close to 9:30 at the point, maybe? Unfortunately that meant going through the funnel area again, fortunately my mom spotted a way around it although it felt like a really long way around after 13.1 miles.

Of course, CSR had a ridiculously long line. They had buses coming in continuously, but we still had to wait about 5 or 6 buses or so. While in line, my mom called to see if there was any way we could get late check out, which admittedly, we probably should have done that ahead of time, but we hadn’t anticipated waiting so long for a bus. According to my mom, the person on the phone was not very Disney, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

Finally we got on a bus, and there was some traffic getting back, but it wasn’t too bad. I think we got back by 10:15. Back at the room, we both took quick showers, collected all of the little items around the room, and we were out by 11:15. I was glad we were not flying home that day because we did not pack our things well at all because we were in such a hurry!

That day we were driving to visit a family friend who lives about three hours south of Orlando. After about thirty minutes on the road, I needed food, so we found a pizza place in a strip mall. I no recollection of what it was called, but the pizza was good! We got one with bacon on it.

I fell asleep for about half of the rest of the trip, so it didn’t seem like a long trip. We picked up our friend, dropped our bags off at the hotel we would be spending the night at, and drove to the airport to pick up my mom’s friend, B.

On the drive to the airport, our family friend was telling about how there was a Chili’s at the airport, and I was like, that sounds great! I’d only been to a Chili’s one other time and for whatever reason, the chicken tenders I had eaten there before sounded amazing. Or maybe I was just really hungry, and EVERYTHING sounded good at that point. Yeah. That’s probably it.

We got to the airport, met up with B, and there was no Chili’s. Dang. I’m not sure if there ever was one there or if it had just been replaced, but this Chili’s did not exist. So we at Shula’s instead, which wasn’t bad, but you know how when you get a craving, nothing else tastes quite as good as what you were craving? Yeah. I did have some good sweet potato fries, so it wasn’t all bad.

It was also around dinnertime that my cold was getting worse. I had asked my body to be okay until Sunday after the race, and it did just that, nothing more. I can’t complain. Well, I did complain a little because I was feeling pretty bad at that point, but I mean. At least my cold waited until after the run.

After dinner, my mom dropped B and I off at the hotel, since we were both exhausted, while she spent more time visiting. We watched part of the Oscars and the Amazing Race, but I think I was in bed by 9.

 

[Eight]

Finally, I got to sleep in! I was in bed until 9, and it was so amazing. My mom and B went to meet up with our family friend while I lounged around the hotel room for a couple of hours. As much as I love being busy at Disney, it felt great to have a morning where I didn’t have anywhere to be. Especially since the whole being sick thing was pretty bad.

They got back around 11:45, and then we had lunch at Chili’s (yes, I was still craving it! And it was as good as I had hoped it would be!), and then we were on the road back to WDW by 1:30.

This time, the drive back seemed a lot longer since a) I wasn’t able to sleep, and b) I was so excited to get back to WDW! We would be checking in to Bay Lake Tower, which I was so thrilled about. Let me give you a little backstory on our room reservations.

When we first booked this trip, B was not coming, and my mom and I had booked one room at the Contemporary. I was super excited because I’ve wanted to stay at the Contemporary for as long as I can remember, and this would have been my first time. When B decided to come, I thought it might be easier to get two rooms or a DVC villa at either AKL or BLT, since they both have two bathrooms, and with three women, sharing one bathroom in the morning when you’re trying to hurry can be a pain.

My first choice was a one bedroom at BLT, but there were none available. My mom loves AKL, it’s her favorite resort, so we contemplated getting a villa there, but ultimately decided on getting two rooms at the Yacht Club. The reasoning behind that was we figured if we wanted to do something, and B didn’t, there was more to do in the Epcot resort area.

The Sunday before we left, I was checking to see if I could get a reservation at Be Our Guest (I can dream, right?), when I decided to see if there any one bedrooms at Bay Lake Tower had opened up. And there was! My mom was out of town that weekend, but I called her up right away, and asked if I could book it. She said yes, and that’s how we ended up booking our room 8 days before we checked in.

A bit crazy, but it worked out!

So finally, around 4PM maybe, we pulled up to those beautiful Magic Kingdom gates and announced proudly to the world, We are checking in to Bay Lake Tower!

Okay, so maybe we only said it to the cast member working at the gate, but hey, it felt like a big deal.

As we drove to Bay Lake Tower, I gave a running commentary on how I had run this road (ooh, that was bad) the day before.

“And here’s where that killer hill was, but there was guy at the top dancing with giant Mickey hands…”

I practically ran through the doors when we got there. Practically. In my head, I was running.

So we checked-in, which took a really long for some reason. I think it had something to do with switching my mom’s park ticket on to her new card and getting a ticket for B, but since we had our room keys, I was able to go and check out the room.

It was beautiful. Yep. I loved all the art and the color palette they choose. I only took two pictures, which is surprising for me. I think I thought I would have more time later, but I never did take more pictures.

The room worked great for us. There was one drawback with the bathrooms, which I will get to when I post the update for Tuesday. I had the sleeper sofa in the living area, which was hard but not uncomfortable. I slept fine on it. My mom and B shared the bedroom. I think we all appreciated having the extra space, and I especially liked it when I went to bed at 8PM on Tuesday, and mom and B didn’t have to worry about being loud or waking me since there was two separate sleeping areas.

Since I hadn’t been to a park in close to 48 hours at this point, I was ready to go! I’m pretty sure that as soon as mom and B came up, I was like, “drop your stuff, we’re leaving now.”

Nah, I’m sure I gave them a little time to get ready.

Just a little though.

 

[FancyNancy]

Great update! Love the BLT pics

 

[Eight]

Great update! Love the BLT pics

I definitely regret not taking more pictures, the room and view was beautiful!

 

[jdd]

Just registered for the 10K at the Princess half-marathon weekend in February So excited and thought you all might understand

Great updates - it's a shame you weren't feeling well, I'm sure that made it more difficult to enjoy race day. Terrific that you finished!!

The BLT suite looks amazing - it's definitely on my list of "must-stay" resorts.

 

[emilyindisney]

You finally got your Chili's!! Haha

BLT looks like it has an upscale, classy feel to it. Seems fun! Glad you're not leaving the World quite yet!

Are you signed up for next year's Princess? Or the Glass Slipper Challenge?

 

[Eight]

Just registered for the 10K at the Princess half-marathon weekend in February So excited and thought you all might understand

Great updates - it's a shame you weren't feeling well, I'm sure that made it more difficult to enjoy race day. Terrific that you finished!!

The BLT suite looks amazing - it's definitely on my list of "must-stay" resorts.

That's exciting! I totally get it, clicking that registration button is thrilling! I think you mentioned you had starting running recently, will this be your first 10K?

It did make it more difficult, that's for certain. Tinker Bell, my first half, felt so much easier, but I feel like I was better prepared for this one. I blame being sick.

It was awesome! Definitely everything I had dreamed it would be. Well, maybe in my dreams there was a Magic Kingdom view, but the Bay Lake view was pretty great too.

You finally got your Chili's!! Haha

BLT looks like it has an upscale, classy feel to it. Seems fun! Glad you're not leaving the World quite yet!

Are you signed up for next year's Princess? Or the Glass Slipper Challenge?

Haha, yes, and I was so excited!

It was definitely nice! I loved the color scheme it had. And the art! I really don't know why I didn't take pictures of all the cool pictures in the room.

No. I would love to do the Glass Slipper Challenge, but since I'm doing the WDW marathon the month before, I can't justify going again a month later. But I'm guessing by your ticker you're doing the half or the GSC?

 

[lsenquiz]

Following along. I plan to get completely caught up tonight and will be able to post some comments in the next day to so.

 

[jdd]

That's exciting! I totally get it, clicking that registration button is thrilling! I think you mentioned you had starting running recently, will this be your first 10K?

Yep, first 10K. I'm signed up for a local 5K in September, so hopefully that will go well. I still don't love running, but I can just imagine that running through Epcot will be awesome! Maybe if all goes well, I'll plan on the half in 2015!

 

[Eight]

Following along. I plan to get completely caught up tonight and will be able to post some comments in the next day to so.

Welcome! Thank you for reading!

Yep, first 10K. I'm signed up for a local 5K in September, so hopefully that will go well. I still don't love running, but I can just imagine that running through Epcot will be awesome! Maybe if all goes well, I'll plan on the half in 2015!

Fantastic! I'm sure running through Epcot will be amazing. I definitely think running through the parks are the best part of runDisney.

 

[magichusky]

Hey is that a Mickey towel sitting on the oven handle in the BLT kitchen? It looks like an elephant! BLT is definitely the place to be on the DIS lately- it looks so awesome!

I'm sorry you became ill at WDW but thank goodness you made it through the 1/2 before you really started to feel icky. I can't even imagine running a block w/ a sore throat/stuffy nose or whatever.

 

[Eight]

Hey is that a Mickey towel sitting on the oven handle in the BLT kitchen? It looks like an elephant! BLT is definitely the place to be on the DIS lately- it looks so awesome!

I'm sorry you became ill at WDW but thank goodness you made it through the 1/2 before you really started to feel icky. I can't even imagine running a block w/ a sore throat/stuffy nose or whatever.

If I'm remembering correctly, it was a bow!

I'm the same way if I'm sick at home, but I was so determined to get that Coast to Coast medal, I think would have crawled if I meant I got across the finish line. I was NOT going all the way to Florida and going home without it.

 

[Eight]

Long time, no update, right? I'm sorry.

I plan on trying to get an update in this week, because my goal is to finish this before I leave for the Disneyland Half Marathon/Dumbo Double Dare in August.

Speaking of Disneyland, I was just there! It was a spur of the moment trip, I planned it a week before I left. The main reason I went was to be there on Disneyland's 58th anniversary on July 17th.

It was an amazing trip, and I thought I'd do a quick recap of it on here. Of course, it ended up getting wordy quickly, so my question to you, the reader (if there are any of you left!), is do you have any interest in reading a sort of short Disneyland TR in here? I'm guessing it would be about three updates worth. Or would you just prefer to see pictures. Because either way, there will be pictures posted for sure.

And like I said, I will do my best to post a Princess half update very soon. The Disneyland mini TR would not conflict with that.

Thoughts?

Take care!

 

[WDWRids]

Absolutly! Add in your Disneyland trip! Jumping in and joining in. Been bit by the "wanna run a Disney race" too and interested in seeing how you did for my motivation.

 

[Eight]

Absolutly! Add in your Disneyland trip! Jumping in and joining in. Been bit by the "wanna run a Disney race" too and interested in seeing how you did for my motivation.

Hello, welcome! I hope you are enjoying the TR so far. Disney races are definitely fun, now that I've done a few non-Disney halfs, I have to admit I like the Disney ones the best, even if they can be pretty crowded!

 

[Eight]

So, I went to Disneyland! It was a spur of the moment type trip, something I had thought about for about a month, but only booked the week before. I love trips like that.

The whole trip came about because I thought it would be fun to be at Disneyland on its 58th birthday. I’ve never been on any of its anniversaries before, since I’ve never been in July, and I figured now was the time, for a variety of personal reasons that I won’t get in to, to finally do that.

Originally I wanted to go July 16th – July 19th but ended up going July 14th – July 17th because the Disneyland resort hotels were totally booked Wednesday night. I know I could stay off-site, but I love the convenience of the Disneyland resort hotels and the fact that I never have to leave the Disney bubble. Sort of like WDW but on a much smaller scale. Anyway, these dates ended up probably be being better than the dates I wanted, but I’ll get to that.

I was going to go by myself, but my mom decided she wanted to come. I was glad, because I think it’s way more fun to go to Disney with other people. I also had a couple people I would meet up with once I was there.

I had three hopes for this trip.
1) Get a room upgrade
2) Ride the Lily Belle
3) Get evacuated off a ride

Sort of odd list, I know, but in of my many, many trips to Disney, none of these things have happened.

We left pretty early on Sunday so we would have most of the day in the parks, and got to the Grand Californian around noon.

They were able to find a clean room for us, and when we arrived at our room, this was our view.

The room we booked was supposed to be courtyard view, but we were definitely looking in to the parks, even if trees blocked most of the view. So I’m not 100% if this was an upgrade, since compared the theme park view room I had once, it was definitely not as great (we had an amazing view of Paradise Pier), on the other hand, it was technically a park view. It doesn’t really matter, and it was pretty cool to be able to sit on the balcony and look down at the people in the park

I had been texting a friend of mine who works at Disneyland, and found out she would be working at the Jungle Cruise that afternoon. I planned to try and see her while she was working. Since I had a few hours before that, we had some lunch and rode some rides, though since I didn’t take notes, I don't remember exactly what.

I know we rode Pirates though, which is 100x better at Disneyland, trust me.

When I knew my friend would be working, I got in line for Jungle Cruise, and I could not have timed it better. Her boat pulled up right when I was boarding so I didn’t even have to ask to ride hers! It was pretty awesome seeing her as a skipper, even if the boat, with the exception of me and like two other people, was not in to it at all.

I met back up with my mom, and we went to go see the new show, Mickey and the Magical Map.

It was cute! I love the songs they included, especially the sort of random Princess and the Frog finale and Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride from Lilo & Stitch because I adore that song. Plus, there were some cool effects, like Mickey Mouse seeming to appear out of nowhere.

After that, I more or less crashed. I had only gotten four hours of sleep the night before and it was hitting me. I think we did a few more things before going back to the room for the night, I have no idea what though. I don’t even remember what we did for dinner.

The next day, I attempted to get up at 6AM, failed, and went back to bed for like two more hours. Normally I see this as a waste of park time, but I was so tired, and I’ve been to Disneyland enough times that I don't feel pressure to get everything in. As I was getting ready, my friend texted me to see if I wanted to get breakfast with her and her husband at Disneyland.

She hadn't left yet, so we used the hotel entrance in to Disney California Adventure (amazing!) and got some Radiator Springs Racers fast passes for later that day.

My mom and I also watched Five & Dime, which is a performance they have on Buena Vista Street with jazz music and my mom got pulled up for part of it! That was fun to see. I got pulled up once, but I was by myself that time so there are no pictures of it. Sad.

I walked over to Disneyland, as my friend texted me saying she had left. But since walking to Disneyland from DCA is much faster than driving there from her apartment, I ended up waiting a while on Main Street. It was fun to people watch for a while though.

I take selfies, I have no shame.

Finally my friend and her husband arrived, and we had breakfast at Carnation Café, which I had never had for breakfast before. It was very good. I had the apple granola pancakes, and I would definitely recommend them. After breakfast, we decided to do an attraction my friend had never done before (and I had only done once), the canoes!

Yup, you paddle canoes around the Rivers of America. It’s actually pretty fun, except for the part where if you are sitting any where near a small child, you WILL get splashed. We couldn’t figure out why they gave small children paddles, like, they’re not going to be able to row properly, and they'll probably just splash people. Oh well. It was pretty hot so the water felt sort of good, even if in the back of your mind you can’t help but worry about all the germs and chemicals that are in the water... I mean, it’s green…

We took the train to the front entrance, and walked across the plaza to DCA. We didn’t do much, but from there, we got food at the Grand California quick service place, and I showed them our room. They had to go shortly after that, but it was great seeing them, and hopefully I’ll be able to see her again when I go in August.

And once again, there is a huge lapse in my memory of what my mom and I did after that. I’m pretty sure we got in the single riders line for Radiator Springs Racers, where we ended up racing against each other. She won. I have a losing track record on that ride. I don’t love the movie Cars, but I have to say, the detail in Cars Land is amazing, and RSR is fun. I have to say, I like it much better than Test Track.

We had dinner at downtown Disney at Catal, where we had never eaten before, but it was tasty. I would go there again for sure.

After dinner we were at DCA, pretty sure we rode Tower of Terror. I was determined to find out if this one cast member who made an amazing bell hop, still worked there but we never saw him unfortunately.

We were walking back to Paradise Pier to ride Midway Mania when we realized there was about 45 minutes to World of Color. We didn’t have a pass, but we were able to squeeze in one of the spots where you don’t need a pass to stand, and honestly, the view is just as good, if not a little better, in my opinion.

I love World of Color, but I am slightly disappointed they cut down the villains part that they had originally. I think it’s because they occasionally add new parts, like they have a Brave part now, and at some point, I think they had a Tron part.

When it ended, we still wanted to ride Midway Mania, and luckily the line wasn’t too long. I want to say we waited less than 15 minutes. I don’t think it’s as popular in California as it is in Florida, since I rarely see the line over 45 minutes and there are no fast passes. I wonder why. I am embarrassed to admit my mom beat me. She always does.

We were also able to see some of the Disneyland fireworks while we were waiting in line, which was cool.