Lama pa'ipa'i on the Lanai – an Aulani TR -Aloha and Mahalo Aulani! Link to PTR 11/5

[Nora03]

Hi Cynthia
What a fantastic planner you are - great job! I LOVE that. Part of my job in my career (before I retired) was a meeting and conference planner and I took pride in my attention to detail and organizational skills. I can see that you enjoy that too.

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your Hawaii trip and following along as you plan this huge group vacation!

Have fun at the wedding today and chatting about the trip with your parents in the car. Has your Mom booked yet? I've missed a few days. Busy with grandson's baseball.

Nora

 

[rentayenta]

You must be so excited!!!!

I'm so excited. Joshua? Not so much. Said he could get use to this only child gig for a while. Tonight though I'm alone and hardly know what to do with myself. Joshua is staying over at the neighbor's. I do have the dogs to keep me company. I am wondering what I did with all my free time before marriage and kids? I ended up cleaning out the pantry tonight.

 

[eandesmom]

It's already been a week since the E's left? That went by fast. Gabby comes home tomorrow after her a month away.

It did go by fast but it was weird! Very weird. And then of course we picked them up and then dumped them and left to go to a wedding. We could have taken them but after a week at camp I knew they'd be toast and not fun at all at a wedding (last year on this same day Evan literally slept on the lawn at a party as 40 people were in and out of the lake, on jet ski's, in the hot tubs....he was toast!) and they were VERY happy we didn't make them go.

I'm glad they are home

Hi Cynthia
What a fantastic planner you are - great job! I LOVE that. Part of my job in my career (before I retired) was a meeting and conference planner and I took pride in my attention to detail and organizational skills. I can see that you enjoy that too.

I do enjoy it!

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your Hawaii trip and following along as you plan this huge group vacation!

Have fun at the wedding today and chatting about the trip with your parents in the car. Has your Mom booked yet? I've missed a few days. Busy with grandson's baseball.

Nora

They, and my sister/BIL each have a room on hold at POR but I think there is about a 95% chance that is switching to the Swan/Dolphin today/this week. They are actually now considering the red eye the night before, making it in time for CP is a big deal for her.

I'm so excited. Joshua? Not so much. Said he could get use to this only child gig for a while. Tonight though I'm alone and hardly know what to do with myself. Joshua is staying over at the neighbor's. I do have the dogs to keep me company. I am wondering what I did with all my free time before marriage and kids? I ended up cleaning out the pantry tonight.

Mine like it when it's just them around, Evan will get a solo week at the end of the summer when Eric goes to scout camp.

cleaning out the pantry. I don't do so well with totally unscheduled time, I ignore/forget what I should be doing and instead wander around lost and then do something I totally didn't need to do but sounds more fun.

though I can't say cleaning the pantry sounds more fun.

 

[tinacaplan]

Congrats to your sister! That is great news! I've never taught at a school that didn't have similar demographics to the one your sister will be at, and truthfully, I don't think I'd want to teach anywhere else. It is challenging, for sure, and it is amazing and incredibly rewarding!

I am just in awe of your ability to coordinate a trip that large. Keeping track of all the ADRs alone makes me dizzy! But your plans look great! I sort of wish we had taken on EPCOT for NYE, but we flew in that day, and EPCOT seemed a bit ambitious.

 

[englishrose47]

Gotta mark my spot so I know where I amI don't think I could juggle all those ressies

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Is it a bad thing that I keep checking in...............right after Rosie???

 

[eandesmom]

Congrats to your sister! That is great news! I've never taught at a school that didn't have similar demographics to the one your sister will be at, and truthfully, I don't think I'd want to teach anywhere else. It is challenging, for sure, and it is amazing and incredibly rewarding!

I didn't now that about your school Tina, you do middle school right? It's really interesting, their scores are scary low 3-6 but something happens 7-8 and they jump WAY up. Not sure if it's that some of the 7-8 head to a middle school that is 7-8 or what but it's fascinating. It is so perfect for her, she will be amazing. Clearly you've survived, that is great to know, I know how much you put into it.

I am just in awe of your ability to coordinate a trip that large. Keeping track of all the ADRs alone makes me dizzy! But your plans look great! I sort of wish we had taken on EPCOT for NYE, but we flew in that day, and EPCOT seemed a bit ambitious.

LOL! The ADR's make me dizzy too. Really the only ones kind of freaking me out are the 29th/CP and NYE. The rest is good I think. Did get a bit of clarity on dates last night and will likely get more tomorrow as we will all probably be at my Dad's angiogram.

Gotta mark my spot so I know where I amI don't think I could juggle all those ressies

LOL! I'm not sure I can either Rosie. Pray for my credit card!

Is it a bad thing that I keep checking in...............right after Rosie???

Hmmm....I am not sure what that says

 

[eandesmom]

I am working on a Hawaii update, I promise! But…it’s been crazy busy. Picked up the E’s from camp yesterday, 4 hour drive round trip for that. Got home, ate, showered and took off to my cousins wedding...5 hours driving/ferry round trip. Yes, 9 hours in the car. Suffice to say, I wasn't online! So...while I did wade my way through the pics from the evening…Photobucket only liked some of them for uploading and I need to retry on the ones that didn't "take". I should be able to get an update up tomorrow…I hope! In the interim I thought I’d give a little life update, which actually has a lot of Disney in it!

NYE Trip. Lots of chatting on the drive there and back to the wedding about the trip. My folks may actually end up on the red eye on our same night, as may my sister K and her husband E. Yep, another E! They are also REALLY leaning towards the Swolphin, though they currently have rooms on hold at POR. Swolphin would be much better, literally next door, so I think/hope that is what will happen. My other sister M hasn't weighed in on dates for herself and her boys and I think that will be a couple of weeks. She's off to run a ½ marathon in Sonoma with one of her best friends (as a graduation present from them) and should enjoy a well deserved break. Once back I think she'll nail stuff down. That said, I will likely see her tomorrow as my dad is scheduled for an angiogram...the twice annual maintenance he seems to need and things may firm up a bit then. In general though it is coming together!

And…we actually have plane tickets! Well, only half of our tickets. We can come home. We don't have tickets there yet but hey, minor detail right? My plan/hope had been to take the Alaska direct red eye there, and then the Alaska direct 6:25 pm home. In looking, I stumbled across a really great return flight option with Southwest that leaves Orlando at 5:35pm in Denver with a quick layover and gets us in at 10:35 Seattle time. Now. The layover is a whopping 30 minutes, which seems insane to us. BUT...it is the way home. Bags are free. $171 for the leg (compared to the Alaska at $340 or so right now). Layover is in Denver, if we are in fact stranded, Jeff's mom is there. It is the way home, if bags don't make it and we do, we will all live. While I expect the Alaska flight to go down, I am not sure it will hit $171. It could…it could not. I will keep my eye on the SW one to see if it drops. Question for those who do SW…how often do you check to see if it has dropped? It doesn't appear there is any way to track price drops on SW, is that correct? Our hope is to book those red eyes after our Denver trip in 2 weeks and those flight miles post. If the mileage rate is still there, we can get 2 on miles and pay full fare for 2. If we manage to pull that off our overall cost per person will be only $354 each which I would be thrilled with! And honestly, we save a little more than that as SW does have the free bags which is wonderful! We would have checked 1-2, now on the way home we will check them all lol!

In other real life news, I had a DISmeet this week! But first, I think, a little back story may be in order. This DISer is someone who has been incredibly helpful to me over the past several months in what really in many ways is a bit of a personal journey. As some of you know I've had a variety of supremely annoying, yet limiting physical things that have caused me over time to have to give up some of the physical activities that I love. After about a year of PT, Chiro, Massage etc I hit a wall and last fall decided I just needed to accept my limitations and move on and let go of the idea of getting some of those things back. Fast forward to March, April and the reality was...I was losing my mind. I could only be on the darn elliptical machine so much! Much as I enjoy it, get a decent workout, enjoy listening to my podcasts, etc. without being able to balance it much with weights or other things it was becoming…a bit mindless. It's a funny thing. Many people my age, several good friends, are runners and have always been. As they have aged, their bodies have protested in their own ways against the things they loved, and they've had to give it up. They are exploring the things I love (pilates, cycling) as alternatives. Me, I ran out of alternatives. Literally. Which means unless I wanted to lose my mind on the elliptical, I had to start running. Literally. I'd gone through grief and denial and now needed to move into acceptance. Plus, as a woman of a certain age, impact exercise is important for bone strength and with Zumba off the table, I wasn't getting it. Really, the only thing that made this idea semi palatable was the idea that IF I did this...I could justify more Disney trips if I actually did a race. And the idea of doing a half marathon before my half century mark well, that seemed like not such a bad thing too. As I mentioned, I have a lot of friends that run. I have a husband that runs. He is FAST. He has done it all, the half's, the marathons, duathalons, triathlons blah blah blah. He and his ex fought about it, she would get cranky if he wouldn't run at her pace. Besides the fact that I have spent my entire life saying I won't run, have no desire to run, knowing they had issues around it was a deterrent. As I contemplated this idea...I floated it by him. He didn't laugh. I reached out for this DISer, who has had her own running journey and she didn't laugh.
I didn't tell anyone else.

For a bit.

See here's the thing. I have a lot of friends that run, siblings too. To say I’m going to do it, opens myself up to more inquiry, questions and scrutiny than I wanted to start. I wanted it to be a stealth mission. Between you, me and the wall kind of thing. I looked at all kinds of programs, Couch to 5K etc to try and figure out what might be best for me. As many of you know, I tend to overthink most things. I struggled with this. In looking at a lot of the runDisney stuf...they kind of beat into your head that Couch to 5K or Couch to 10K is the way to start running if you haven't before. Except I haven't been on the couch. I looked, and looked, and looked and really didn't like what I read. If I followed those...well I’d be just as bored for several weeks, possibly months and not burning the calories I was on the darn elliptical. But I wanted to do it right, not overdo it, not cause injury. This DISer helped me navigate through a lot of this (god bless my DH, his advice was "just run"). My BFP was I'd start in Hawaii. Why not right? What a beautiful setting to motivate. Jeff was not at all on board with that idea. Too hot and besides, we would be hiking, biking, snorkeling...plenty of exercise that way. Well shoot. I got his point but really didn't want to wait to start until we got back. We went for a 5K power walk one night and chatted about our plans for Hawaii and this crazy running idea. That walk...made my shins hurt. And had some crazy calluses popping up. One thing was clear, I'd need new shoes. My gym shoes were likely 7-10 years old. I honestly don't know. And while only/exclusively worn at the gym, at a certain point the support goes. So I headed off to my local running store and did it right. Got fitted, custom inserts, yada yada yada and walked out of there having dropped a nice chunk of change on shoes, inserts and socks. I had to do it now! I was financially committed. In late April, a day or two after I'd gotten the shoes we headed down to the lake and I attempted to work with one of the Couch to 5K programs. In reviewing I'd decided that if I started at week 6, maybe it would work. As many of you may know the programs advocate a walk/run ratio that slowly changes but in many cases remains a walk ratio of some sort. I found that frustrating. I was used to a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio at the gym and the idea of doing less made me a bit nutty. Which is not to say I’m some kind of crazy gym rat, that couldn't be further from the truth, I just have a pretty set amount of exercise I’m getting a week and didn't want less.

Next time out I decided I'd try week 9. That didn't feel right either. Neither did the shoes, which went back. The idea of going further than week 9 when I’d never run in my life seemed weird and wrong and I was frustrated. I wanted to do it right but these just didn't "fit". I decided to toss the programs out and follow Jeff's advice, which my DIS friend backed up.

Just run.

And I did. It has now been about 11 weeks, running 3x a week. I'm on the 3rd pair of shoes and finding running gear I am not allergic to has been an interesting project in and of itself, not to mention expensive. I did take Hawaii off from running though as you will see...we do not remain total utter bums for the trip and my legs paid for it at the end. You know what? I can actually run up to 5.5 miles without stopping, or dying! Who knew! In a MILLION years I never thought I'd see the day. Or actually sort of, kind of, enjoy it. Sometimes a lot even. Very Very odd. I've been lucky enough to find a FB group that has provided some additional good info that works for me so I've kind of cobbled my own unofficial training plan that is sitting pretty well. I've also had to come out of the closet to friends and family. Not large scale but the reality is that most of our running is done on the trail by our house. We often start and stop from our Civic Club. Which means in the parking lot or bathroom if nothing else, we see folks we know. Not to mention seeing folks we know actually out on the trail while running. And on the "long run" days, we leave from our house and run down a big ugly hill to that trail. Which means all my neighbors see, etc. So kinda hard to keep it between you, me and the wall.

Here is the current BFP. I'm just going to run. For a while. My siblings want to do a 5K in the fall so that will probably enter into the mix. I may do a local something else in the fall and if not most certainly a 10K in the spring. I'll need that 10K for proof of time. Why? Well I plan to run the Disneyland Half Marathon, labor day weekend 2014! And there is another DISer who is thinking about doing this with me but I will let her "out" herself lol. I would like to do something sooner but it just doesn't work with schedules and other planned trips. It does however mean I may just have to upgrade my PAP to the premiere one that includes DL as we will also most likely be going to DL in April...to see Evan’s HS band march down Main Street! I figure the positive thing about the first runDisney event being over a year away is that I've got a good chunk of time to just get really solid on the basics and improve short distance time. I don't know that I'll go further than about 6-7 miles, can't say I see the need to lol! Then, about a year from the first day I started running I will likely start a ½ training program and have one in mind.

I'd originally though to have the Princess 2015 as my target (and Jeff wanted to do that one with me) but honestly, that's too far away. 2014 doesn't work as we will have just been there and 2015 may well be a family trip that same week so...I don't know. I do kind of want to consider the Wine and Dine or ToT for fall of 2014 so I can get a C2C. Wine and Dine is the most likely candidate timing wise and I have a sneaking suspicion I might be able to get Jeff along on that one. Maybe Princess and Tink in 2016...as my half century bday present to myself since my actual bday will fall in between the 2. LOL!

With that VERY long preamble, this DISer (who started out her running journey with Disney as well and will be doing her 3rd race in Oct) lives near me. Relatively speaking in DIS terms anyway. Due to some fortunate scheduling I had an event that would be south and she was needing to head north. We were able to meet about 5 minutes from my event and on her way north so it worked out perfectly! Who is this person? Ann (annmarieda) and her lovely daughter Zoe!! We met at the Disney store (I was trying to find a few last goodies for a DVC xmas in July gift exchange) and then got drinks at Starbucks and hung out and chatted. I could have chatted with her (and Zoe too!) for hours, so very much fun! Because it's not real without a picture, Zoe was kind enough to take one that is not terribly good of either of us between the angle and my scary work logo gear lol. But it is proof!



I look forward to meeting up with them again. Very bummed we JUST miss each other on our trips in Jan, she and her DH will be doing the WDW 1/2!

I think she was good luck too, I'd had a really bad run, and a bad gym workout the 2 days before seeing her and then that night had my fastest ever.

Not that I'm tracking those things

Oh and for the record, Jeff and I are doing fine on the running thing. We start and finish together and run our own pace, until recently he's been always running farther but I'm catching up. He will always be faster and that's ok. It's working out wonderfully though for me it has added a full extra day of exercise to my lineup. Which isn't a bad thing and Jeff is thrilled. Winter will be interesting but for now, so far so good. I've run in the rain and that's been fine. I will say, I do NOT like the treadmill. I've only done it once and seriously I think I may fall off so the longer I can avoid it (or maybe entirely!) would be good.

 

[KatMark]

So glad that you got to meet Ann.

Did I read correctly on one of our TR's, that you'll be in Chicago sometime this year? I hope we can do a meet.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Interesting about your running. Last summer I was wondering if I could still run at all. When I was young I ran all the time. I have long legs & take very long strides when I walk. Anyway, I tried to run a little in the yard, I could still actually run! I need to do more to get back into some semblance of shape!

 

[emmysmommy]

How awesome Cynthia! I'm glad you love running! AND that you had some inspiration and encouragement. Plus a Dismeet to seal the deal!

I wouldn't say that I like to run but I like the way it makes me feel so when I lace up my runners and log the 20+ miles a week I feel it is medicine for my body. Hearing you want to jump into a 1/2 next year makes me feel soooo lazy! 50 is around the corner for me, perhaps I need to have your motivation rub off!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[eandesmom]

So glad that you got to meet Ann.

Did I read correctly on one of our TR's, that you'll be in Chicago sometime this year? I hope we can do a meet.

I am so glad I got to meet her too! Yes, I will be in Chicago in October. Dates aren't set yet and I won't have a ton of free time but will have some so hope we can meet!

Interesting about your running. Last summer I was wondering if I could still run at all. When I was young I ran all the time. I have long legs & take very long strides when I walk. Anyway, I tried to run a little in the yard, I could still actually run! I need to do more to get back into some semblance of shape!

I always wanted to be a runner when I was young and it was disastrous (or at least in my mind it was) so I am happy it has gone ok.

How awesome Cynthia! I'm glad you love running! AND that you had some inspiration and encouragement. Plus a Dismeet to seal the deal!

Love is a bit strong! But there are definitely moments when it doesn't suck. Which is a bit better than I was expecting.

I wouldn't say that I like to run but I like the way it makes me feel so when I lace up my runners and log the 20+ miles a week I feel it is medicine for my body. Hearing you want to jump into a 1/2 next year makes me feel soooo lazy! 50 is around the corner for me, perhaps I need to have your motivation rub off!

Thanks for sharing!

Well I am no where near 20+ a week, probably won't go over about 17 unless you add in elliptical! If you are doing 20+ that is most certainly not lazy and you can definitely do a half! It's around the corner for me too...

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Congrats on the NYE trip progress and getting your return flight tickets! And for the DIS meet! Is there any hidden meaning to the fact that the Pandora store is behind you two in the picture???

Hope the running continues to go well for you!

 

[Poolrat]

Question for those who do SW…how often do you check to see if it has dropped? It doesn't appear there is any way to track price drops on SW, is that correct?

"Sales" come out usually on Tuesday. I used to always check throughout the day on Tuesday. Prices usually good until Thursday. Good Luck. Remember no change fees so if it goes down you can rebook easily. Then you need to deal with trying to use the credit before it expires.
No way I have found to get an alert- I have do the manual check it out thing.

That walk...made my shins hurt. And had some crazy calluses popping up.

Oh yes - I know that feeling well. Went on a long walk after not running for a long time and boy I felt it the next few days.

I decided to toss the programs out and follow Jeff's advice, which my DIS friend backed up.

Just run.

That's what I did Just run. I used some of my swim coaching experience to come up with a very loose training plan. I did run walk in the beginning but no real rhyme or reason to it, just pick an interval based on how I felt and did my best to stick with it during the run.
I needed to be successful in order to stick with it. So really slow and easy stuff so I didn't get discouraged but also a benchmark goal to make me feel like I was making progress.

I can actually run up to 5.5 miles without stopping, or dying! Who knew! In a MILLION years I never thought I'd see the day. Or actually sort of, kind of, enjoy it. Sometimes a lot even. Very Very odd.

I felt the EXACTLY same way. Now I am back to square 1.

And on the "long run" days, we leave from our house and run down a big ugly hill to that trail.

And run back up at the End. I make sure a gravity assist is at the end. Our greenway is down a huge hill in a certain spot and well I go the other way to avoid it on the way home.

I will say, I do NOT like the treadmill. I've only done it once and seriously I think I may fall off so the longer I can avoid it (or maybe entirely!) would be good.

I can't do a treadmill. I need to make progress and staying in one place does not give me that. Also the spaz in me knows I will fall off in some way so I avoid it too.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

I just had to come out of lurking to say Yay! I seriously admire runners and really anyone who puts their fitness as a priority. I'm, well, getting there...slowly. I've always felt kind of a pull toward running, and one of these days I'm going to follow that pull and see where it leads.

 

[eandesmom]

Congrats on the NYE trip progress and getting your return flight tickets! And for the DIS meet! Is there any hidden meaning to the fact that the Pandora store is behind you two in the picture???

Nope, no hidden meaning, we probably should have turned around so the Disney store or Starbucks was behind us! I wasn't really expecting to buy tickets quite yet, it will be interesting to see if I did it too early or not.

It was a great DISmeet!

Hope the running continues to go well for you!

I'm just happy it doesn't totally suck

"Sales" come out usually on Tuesday. I used to always check throughout the day on Tuesday. Prices usually good until Thursday. Good Luck. Remember no change fees so if it goes down you can rebook easily. Then you need to deal with trying to use the credit before it expires.
No way I have found to get an alert- I have do the manual check it out thing.

That's how Alaska works...except I don't think the credit expires. It does on Delta, we lost one last year although the ways theirs works, we really didn't lose much. Pita on the manual check but worth monitoring.

Oh yes - I know that feeling well. Went on a long walk after not running for a long time and boy I felt it the next few days.

It wasn't so much the walk itself but it was definitely the shoes!

That's what I did Just run. I used some of my swim coaching experience to come up with a very loose training plan. I did run walk in the beginning but no real rhyme or reason to it, just pick an interval based on how I felt and did my best to stick with it during the run.

I found the run walk frustrating, I get the thinking behind it and know it works for thousands, it just didn't feel right at all.

I needed to be successful in order to stick with it. So really slow and easy stuff so I didn't get discouraged but also a benchmark goal to make me feel like I was making progress.

exactly

I felt the EXACTLY same way. Now I am back to square 1.

Do you want to keep running? I wasn't sure, kind of sounded like maybe you were glad you did it but were maybe done?

And run back up at the End. I make sure a gravity assist is at the end. Our greenway is down a huge hill in a certain spot and well I go the other way to avoid it on the way home.

No way to get to and from my house without a huge hill, no matter how I run. It's more a matter of picking lesser of evils or really, safer routes. So yep, have to go back up at the end. It's a mile down, and back and the worst part is about the last .3 leading to my house of course! But I figure it's good training and workout and if I can keep my pace where I want it to be with the hill on the longer runs, then I'm happy. Longer being relative of course as I don't see the need to go further than 5-7 miles for quite some time.

Plus I figure if I can ever make it to the WDW 1/2 or Princess...it's training for the off ramps. LOL! Not a clue what the DL course is like, or Wine/Dine etc.

I can't do a treadmill. I need to make progress and staying in one place does not give me that. Also the spaz in me knows I will fall off in some way so I avoid it too.

I will probably have to try it again in the winter, at some point due to weather and light. More light than anything as we run at night 2x and then one daytime and in the winter it could well drop to just the one daytime as there won't be enough light. So....we will see. I am hoping if I add an incline it will be better. It was awkward, felt like I'd fall off and as I didn't have my glasses on, the screen distracted me as it was blurry. I run with Rx sunglasses (and obviously no screen) and that part kind of threw me. I'm sure I could adjust but I did NOT like it at all.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Cynthia, great job on sticking with the running! I'm one of those people who has never been able to have the discipline necessary to keep it up--I get bored with it as well. But I keep telling myself that I should be in good enough shape to be able to run a 5K, so I need to get back on the horse. Your story is very inspiring to me.

Like you, I wouldn't mind doing it under the radar. The last thing I want is for my friends who are all running zealots to start putting me into half-marathons!

Glad you and Ann could meet up. Sounds like she's been a great friend.

 

[franandaj]

How great for you on the running. I didn't realize that you only started running recently. Great job. I wish I could run, but I had to quit the cross country team in Jr High because of shin splints.

I'm glad your trip.is coming together. The airfare seems to make it all more real!

I'm glad you have such a good friend through the DIS and what a fun meet!

 

[eandesmom]

Cynthia, great job on sticking with the running! I'm one of those people who has never been able to have the discipline necessary to keep it up--I get bored with it as well. But I keep telling myself that I should be in good enough shape to be able to run a 5K, so I need to get back on the horse. Your story is very inspiring to me.

The dreadmill is boring. Outside, if you can find a pretty route, not so bad! I know exactly what you mean about feeling like you should be able to do a 5K. Kind of a funny story. When I say I've never run in my life, that's not entirely true. I tried it a couple of times in HS, under the radar, thought I'd die, gave up. When Evan was going for his first degree black belt, one of the things they have to do is a 5K. He needed someone to train with and Jeff couldn't always do it. So one night, I went out, and did it with him. And of course tried to keep up with Evan. I did it one other time with Evan for another black belt later on but other than those 2 runs that's it. Only real point here is that while it totally sucked, I hated it, I was in decent enough shape to do it "cold" and live. Another way of saying I am pretty sure you could too!

Running around a track though...man, that's about as bad as the dreadmill!

Like you, I wouldn't mind doing it under the radar. The last thing I want is for my friends who are all running zealots to start putting me into half-marathons!

Yeah, either they want you to sign up for this or that OR, as with my fabulous brother (who only started running about 4 years ago but is fast) totally dis you. His comment yesterday was "I assume short distances" when I made mention of a run. And then goes on to talk about the 1/2 he is signed up for in the fall, but he hasn't been running at all and his goal is under 1:45...which he can do without any training (according to him) and then goes on to regale me with all of his faster times.

Whatever.

Putz.

Exactly why I was going under the radar!

Glad you and Ann could meet up. Sounds like she's been a great friend.

Yes she has

 

[eandesmom]

How great for you on the running. I didn't realize that you only started running recently. Great job. I wish I could run, but I had to quit the cross country team in Jr High because of shin splints.

Very recently! Shin splints are no fun and can take a while to heal that is for sure but the cause is generally the shoes/inserts so I wouldn't assume just b/c you got them in jr high that means you can't ever run. I can't say enough about getting fitted at a running store for shoes (even if they are just for walking!) and then not being afraid to take them back if they aren't working out.

I'm glad your trip.is coming together. The airfare seems to make it all more real!

Airfare always does make it more real! Of course having the outbound tickets will make it a bit more real than return but it's a step in the right direction. Firmed up a few more things yesterday and today so that feels really good!

I'm glad you have such a good friend through the DIS and what a fun meet!

It was a wonderful meet!