Mrs. Darling's 2010 Half Marathon Trip:Yes, it does snow at Disney World

[Stefy]

Those medals are pretty sweet

Looking forward to seeing where you lunched

 

[cdotla]

Wow - sounds like Liz was in rough shape for sure! Glad she warmed up!

I am sure standing around after the race didn't help her much. Would you guys ever consider the runner's retreat or whatever they call it for more pampered pre-and-post race accomodations next time? It seems like a bit of a splurge, but in Liz's condition I am sure it would have been well worth the extra money!

You guys had a great plan making lunch reservations so tight to the race so you would be forced to keep moving and not crash back at the room.

Oh, and you asked what Disney races I did? I did two 5Ks - the Minnie 5k and the EEC. Both times I did it with girlfriends, which made them that much more enjoyable! Unfortunately I didn't stick with running afterwards, but I hope to get back into it soon!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

 

[carissanboys]

I can imagine how cold you both were being wet and then not running. Survivorman always says how dangerous it is to build up a sweat (or just get wet from the weather) and then have the cold temperatures hit you. Being wet and cold is one of the worst combinations there is.

Can't wait to hear where lunch was!

 

[HockeyMomR]

Really enjoying your report. Congratulations on finishing the race!!!

My neighbor has run the past two years, I keep saying one of these days....

Again, thanks for sharing.

 

[dismagiclover]

What an awesome medal! You already did Cali Grill for dinner, so I don't think you're going back for lunch. Hmmm...it's probably a 2TS place...is it Narcoossee's?

Denise

Those medals are pretty sweet

Looking forward to seeing where you lunched

The medals are one of reasons I race Hopefully I'll get the next installment up soon and then you'll find out where we ate!

Wow - sounds like Liz was in rough shape for sure! Glad she warmed up!

I am sure standing around after the race didn't help her much. Would you guys ever consider the runner's retreat or whatever they call it for more pampered pre-and-post race accomodations next time? It seems like a bit of a splurge, but in Liz's condition I am sure it would have been well worth the extra money!

You guys had a great plan making lunch reservations so tight to the race so you would be forced to keep moving and not crash back at the room.

Oh, and you asked what Disney races I did? I did two 5Ks - the Minnie 5k and the EEC. Both times I did it with girlfriends, which made them that much more enjoyable! Unfortunately I didn't stick with running afterwards, but I hope to get back into it soon!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

Liz was in pretty bad shape. I'm sure she'll pop in at some point and tell us about it. It was Liz's idea to keep moving after the race. It is much better to help with recovery, but a nap sounded good at the time. I hope you make it back out running soon. It helps me keep my sanity! (or at least stops me from going totally insane)

I can imagine how cold you both were being wet and then not running. Survivorman always says how dangerous it is to build up a sweat (or just get wet from the weather) and then have the cold temperatures hit you. Being wet and cold is one of the worst combinations there is.

Can't wait to hear where lunch was!

I think it was tougher for Liz because she waited for me to finish plus she has less natural layers to keep her warm. Sometime that little extra padding pays off

Really enjoying your report. Congratulations on finishing the race!!!

My neighbor has run the past two years, I keep saying one of these days....

Again, thanks for sharing.

Make one of these days today. Just jump in! The water is fine.

 

[dismagiclover]

We headed out the door (proudly wearing our medals) and walked toward the Magic Kingdom. In my opinion that is the single best thing about the Contemporary. It is within easy walking distance of the Magic Kingdom. Walking is always my preferred means of transportation at Disney World. Both Liz and I were a bit stiff during this walk, however. This was my 3rd half marathon and I’ve been lucky, but in all my training and in both my previous races I have never been sore afterwards. This race was different. I was really feeling it. I think it was because of the cold. I was moving for 3 hours which kept my muscles warm and then boom I stopped. Then my muscles immediately cooled down and froze up. Liz had the same experience, but I think she may have hurt even a bit more. The area around her knee was bugging her a bit and she was really hoping it was just soreness not anything worse. So anyway we probably looked like a sorry pair as we hobbled along. It was a fairly short walk and then we saw this.

Notice lots of the Christmas decorations were still up and they were playing Christmas music. It seemed a bit strange, but it was still fun. We headed into the park and were greeted with this sight.

It is an empty Main Street. This was around noon on a Saturday. Pretty unbelievable. I guess there are a few advantages to 34 degrees and drizzle. (Though by this point the precipitation had pretty much stopped.) Liz snapped a picture of the tree.

Then we headed over to our lunch reservation. We turned into Liberty Square and saw this.

Pretty empty once again. We checked in for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and it didn’t take long to hear them call, “Hear ye, Hear ye, a table is now ready for the Darling Family.” We headed to our table and settled in for a yummy meal. Now normally Liberty Tree Tavern has a lunch menu that you order from, but because Crystal Palace was closed Liberty Tree Tavern was hosting character meals. So we were served a turkey and ham dinner served family style. The food was good. It’s the same menu that is usually served at dinner. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either. Except apparently the butter. Seemed like pretty normal butter to me, but Liz loved the stuff. It appeared to me she was trying to replenish every calorie she burned during the 13 mile race with that butter alone. She eventually asked me if I wanted anymore and when I said no, she dispensed with the knife and just began dipping her roll right into the butter container. So hopefully Liz will pipe in and tell us why that butter was so good. She may return again just for the butter.
As we enjoyed our butter, visitors began to stop by. First up Minnie

I just love her colonial dress. Next came Dale

He took one look at my sweatshirt and gave me a huge bear hug. He hugged me even more when I told him I liked him more than Chip.

He liked Liz OK too.

Pluto came next and we showed off our medals

Then Chip snuck up on me and I squealed so loud the whole restaurant looked. He loved my sweatshirt as well.

I told Chip not to tell Dale, but he was my favorite chipmunk. Chip was pretty excited about that. I’ve used the same trick on my three kids. (Telling each one of them they are my secret favorites.) It worked pretty good until one day they were comparing notes and realized I’d told everyone of them they were my favorite. Oops. Liz got a shot with Chip too.

Anyway we finished up with lunch and were ready to head out and get our ride on. What ride did we do first?

 

[wsushocker]

It's pretty amazing that the body can recover so quickly. It would have been very sad not to enjoy the emptiness of MK after your race.

Way back in another lifetime, I was able to walk through the Cave of the Winds outside Colorado Springs just hours after finishing the Pikes Peak Marathon. I did not want to disappoint those with me who came along to support me in my efforts!

 

[Goofy442]

I'm all caught up. Does everyone run or do some walk ? Do they make it in time without being swept if they walk. I'm glad you both made it to the finish line.

 

[xDisneyAngelx]

Hey congrats on finishing the race. At least you didnt have to run in the heat. That would have sucked. Anyway I love the pictures you took. I cant wait to see more.


"Have a Magical Day!"

 

[dismagiclover]

It's pretty amazing that the body can recover so quickly. It would have been very sad not to enjoy the emptiness of MK after your race.

Way back in another lifetime, I was able to walk through the Cave of the Winds outside Colorado Springs just hours after finishing the Pikes Peak Marathon. I did not want to disappoint those with me who came along to support me in my efforts!

I'm glad we got out to the Magic Kingdom, but I'm not sure we were quite recovered. There was some waddling going on.
You've done the Pikes Peak Marathon! We lived in CO Springs for a couple of years and I was in awe of those runners. 13 miles straight up and 13 miles straight down. I don't think my lungs could take the trek up and my knees wouldn't make the trek down.

I'm all caught up. Does everyone run or do some walk ? Do they make it in time without being swept if they walk. I'm glad you both made it to the finish line.

There are lots of walkers at Disney races. You have to maintain a 16 minute mile pace, so that is a brisk walk. The hard things for the walkers is that they don't really have much time for dawdling. I think quite a few of the walkers must get swept because there were lots of people behind me and my finish time was pretty slow.

Hey congrats on finishing the race. At least you didnt have to run in the heat. That would have sucked. Anyway I love the pictures you took. I cant wait to see more.


"Have a Magical Day!"

When I was training for the race I really was much more worried about running in the heat. I thought my body would go into shock after having trained in weather in the 30's and then running in weather in the 60's or so. I guess I worried for nothing

 

[carissanboys]

You both are glowing in your pictures during your lunch!

 

[praisehisname]

You two look fantastic for just running the 1/2!!! So cool how empty the park was! You're already in Liberty Square...is your first ride Haunted Mansion?

Denise

 

[Angies1274]

Congrats on finishing the race!!! The medals are very cool!!!

Can't believe how empty MK looks...wow!! I'm glad you enjoyed LTT!! The character pictures are great!!!

First ride...hmmm???

 

[dismagiclover]

You both are glowing in your pictures during your lunch!

I think it might be the frostbite wearing off

You two look fantastic for just running the 1/2!!! So cool how empty the park was! You're already in Liberty Square...is your first ride Haunted Mansion?

Denise

Excellent 1st ride guess, but no that isn't it.

Congrats on finishing the race!!! The medals are very cool!!!

Can't believe how empty MK looks...wow!! I'm glad you enjoyed LTT!! The character pictures are great!!!

First ride...hmmm???

It was pretty amazing how empty MK was. Especially because the last time I'd been there it was full of summer crowds

 

[dismagiclover]

It was finally time for some rides! We decided our first stop would be Space Mountain. I’ve been on Space Mountain in Disneyland in California and Paris, but never here in Florida and Liz wanted to check out the recent changes. So off we went. Having never been on this ride before I didn’t know what had changed, but Liz said the whole waiting area was a bit different. She said it had been spruced up and was much more interesting. I didn’t find it too interesting at all, so it must have been real boring before. Anyway after around a 30 minute wait we hopped into our ride vehicles. Now in California and Paris this is a great ride. There is music blaring and lots of fun turns that really make you feel like you are flying through outerspace. (In fact in Paris you go upside down and on corkscrews. It is maybe too much like outerspace.) I was excited to experience the Florida version. We headed off and the first thing I noticed was no music. That really changed the atmosphere of the ride and not for the better. The ride was also quite jerky, and I never felt the sensation of flying through outer space. To make matters a bit worse, getting out of the car was a bit dicey. I was feeling those 13 miles. Here is a redneck shot of us:

So my final verdict on Space Mountain Florida. Not so good. Dare I say it. It was almost boring. I may never ride it again. It is just not worth the effort it takes to get on it. (Long waits, early mornings or fastpass). Sorry to any of you true Space Mountain lovers. I guess the other Space Mountains in the world ruined me.

Next ride on the agenda was Hall of Presidents. Another ride I’d never been on and one Liz wanted to see the changes made since the addition of President Obama. So we headed in right as a show was starting. I really enjoyed this show. It was quite inspiring and I’m definitely going to take my family there next trip. My daughter would especially enjoy it. Next stop was Haunted Mansion. Another very fun ride that my kids won’t do with me. (I tried taking them once and they still are mad at me.) Then we headed over to Philharmagic. This is one of my favorite attractions in the Magic Kingdom. It always makes me smile. We were planning on doing a little shopping before our dinner reservation, but we figured we had time for 1 more ride. Liz let me pick and since I’d never been on Snow White we went with that one. It’s a cute dark ride, but nothing like Peter Pan. (Being a Darling that is my other favorite Magic Kingdom attraction.) After Snow White we decided to head over to Main Street and do a bit of shopping. (The ones we left behind expected gifts.) On our way by we snapped this picture of the castle at dusk. The picture doesn't do it justice.

We headed to the Emporium and my first priority was finding a hat for Wishes. It was cold. I ended up with this.

I was lucky to find a hat with the Mickey on it. They’d been selling like hot cakes and most of the hats left were just plain black. The other thing I wanted was a frame to put a race picture in to display next to my medal. I was planning on getting one at the Expo, but since they didn’t have any I just bought this instead.

Here it is on display with my other Disney race picture and medal.

Then here are the gifts I brought home for everyone. For DH (who can never have too many ties.)

For Wendy (DD9) (who can never have too many socks)

For John (DS7) (who collects Stitch pins and loves Star Wars)

For Michael (DS5) (also a Star Wars lover)

And this for me (Because I'm always a sucker for the spend so much get it for $15 deals)

I had them send my purchases to the front of the park and we headed to our dinner reservation. Any guesses on where we ate?

 

[Stefy]

Two great updates and I love your purchases

Loving the empty MK pics, always a lovely site.

Sorry SM was a bust for you.

 

[mtnmomma3]

Wonderful updates!
Very nice to read after my 10 mile training run this morning in the snow!!!!
Hoping for sunny Florida skies in March!

 

[micheleq]

Congrats on finishing another half!!

Looking forward to more...esp. where's dinner? I'm thinking somewhere on the monorail...if it were me and a girlfriend celebrating finishing a half marathon, I'd be at Citricos or V&A's!

 

[Angies1274]

Great purchases!!!

Sorry you didn't enjoy Space Mountain! We will be riding it for the first time in April. Hmm...I'm anxious to see what the boys think??

YAY!! for Philharmagic!! Love that show!! It's always so much fun!!!!

 

[liznboys]

I picked up one of the space blankets that is supposed to keep you warm. (It really didn’t).

I was trying to cozy up in mine as if it were a wool scarf. It was not, but I kept pretending it was. I was going for mind over matter!

I remember smiling for this picture and it took a lot of mental energy to do so. The cold was getting to my mind!

Liz was in pretty bad shape. I'm sure she'll pop in at some point and tell us about it.

Yeah I was pretty messed up by the cold. I've never felt that way. I don't think I've ever been that cold for that period of time in my life (for your readers: I grew up in Michigan by the way...) It was really awful. And it took a long, long time for the cold to leave my body. It felt like it was down to the bones and had to slowly go away. I really don't want to go through that ever again!! And I'll tell you what, I was not a fan of cold weather before this race, but I am even less so of one now. I think it kinda gave me a mental scar. Sounds odd I know, but it feels that way.

There was a nice family behind us in line that was quite worried about Liz. The man kept trying to talk her into getting some coffee (there was an open stand nearby.)

That man (and his family) were so sweet, it was fun chatting with them. They distracted me a bit from my uncontrollable teeth-chattering and muscle-twitching. lol

After a shower (that wasn’t hot enough) and some time in the heated room (we turned the thermostat up)

Remember I turned the heat up when I got to the room, and then you turned it up (not knowing that I already had) when you came in? lol We had it toasty!

Liz had the same experience, but I think she may have hurt even a bit more. The area around her knee was bugging her a bit and she was really hoping it was just soreness not anything worse.

I was FEELING it bigtime in my right leg, a place where I had never been sore before from running. It got worse as the afternoon/evening went on...and became comical at one point... Let's see if you remember that moment, Jenny.

Except apparently the butter. Seemed like pretty normal butter to me, but Liz loved the stuff. It appeared to me she was trying to replenish every calorie she burned during the 13 mile race with that butter alone. She eventually asked me if I wanted anymore and when I said no, she dispensed with the knife and just began dipping her roll right into the butter container. So hopefully Liz will pipe in and tell us why that butter was so good. She may return again just for the butter.

You crack me up. YOU may not be a butter connoisseur but I am and that was some darn good butter!!! Ok, honestly I can't remember which one it was, since we did eat a fair amount of butter on bread that weekend! I think that was the one that was whipped and sweetened (with honey maybe?) And I was EXTREMELY hungry at that point and that bread and butter hit the spot.
Here come da butta, baby! (Will Smith fans will know that one.)

... and we showed off our medals.

I was showing off that medal every chance I got, as will be seen!!

You both are glowing in your pictures during your lunch!

That was sweat and tears. lol

Awwwww, love them!!