Racing to Lose a Toenail ~ My Half-Marathon Weekend *Homeward Bound 3/16 p.25

[MeMom]

All of that HGTV watching will come in handy now. It'll be a lot of fun to decorate and maybe buy some new things. I'm so glad the boys and Baxter will have plenty of room to run around and be themselves in their own place. Congratulations!

 

[dismagiclover]

This is such exciting news, Carissa!!!!!! So happy for you!!!! Congratulations!!!!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Congratulations on the house Carissa!!!

I'm so glad you loved Teppan Edo - it's one of our favorites.

 

[pirate<3rocks]

I am also, I use a fan at home, on short road trips I have been know to take a small desk with me.

Hi Carissa!

 

[Goofster57]

It was! Then she pushed it around and made choo choo noises.

That is too funny!!!

What the heck is Autopia?

That is what the car ride is called in Disneyland.
I think it is the Indy Speedway in the Magic Kingdom.

Wow! How do you fit an entire desk in your suitcase??

Not sure where you got the idea that I took a "Desk"?

 

[mommytothreeboys]

First....congratulations on the house!! SOOOOO exciting!!

Teppan Edo looks fantastic! I have to put that on the list of places I definitely need to try. (That list is getting long...I better go back soon!)

Can't wait to hear about race day!

 

[jmskinner]

Congratulations on the house!!!! Looking at your posts on FB, I thought you had and started to just ask, but thought it gave me more incentive to get caught up on your TR. That is such great news!!!

Sorry I've just now caught up. It was so great to meet you and it was cool how we just started talking like we had hung out many times before. I was so happy you enjoyed ToT as much as you did. That's why I always tell people it is one to try even if you don't like most drop rides, its different than most.

And it was nice to meet the others that joined us on that ride.

Your pic came out so much better than mine, really need to remember what settings to use, I know I have been able to get those redneck photos before.



Super excited to hear all the details of the race and the rest of your weekend!

 

[eandesmom]

very late to the party but I'm here! Did I miss the FB post announcing you got the house? CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​

Love the TR so far!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

Congrats!!!!

 

[Bethannk511]

The other day I was home sick and I found your TR and PTR. I read through your entire PTR and WHAT AN INSPIRATION YOU ARE!! I found the C25K info and i'm going to start next week!!! Thanks for being awesome and I can't wait to hear more about your 1/2 marathon!!

 

[DrMomof3]

Congrats on the house! I'm so happy for you.

Amanda

 

[carissanboys]

Congrats on the house Carissa - that is awesome!! I saw your post on Facebook but then came here. I am so happy for you!! I know how much you wanted the house. So now how long is it going to take before its really yours and you can move in?

We should close sometime during the beginning of March.

LOL at the 2:45 wake up time. I used my old cell phone as my alarm clock since it works so much better than my new "smart" phone. The old phone still had the alarm set for 2:40 AM from all my previous Disney races. I thought that was funny that I didn't have to do more than turn it on and it was already set for the right time. But it still didn't help the way I looked at that time of the morning. I snapped a picture of myself before I left the room and it looks like I am still asleep!! Good thing Disney has the music pumping so you wake up before the start of the race!!

Too funny!

Congratulations on the house! Sounds like a great find

Thanks!

Congratulations!!! And welcome home.

Got to love those words!

Congratulations on the house, Carissa!!!

Thanks Jackie!

All of that HGTV watching will come in handy now. It'll be a lot of fun to decorate and maybe buy some new things. I'm so glad the boys and Baxter will have plenty of room to run around and be themselves in their own place. Congratulations!

Thanks MeMom! I'm so excited for the boys and Baxter.

This is such exciting news, Carissa!!!!!! So happy for you!!!! Congratulations!!!!!

Thanks Jenny!

Congratulations on the house Carissa!!!

I'm so glad you loved Teppan Edo - it's one of our favorites.

Thanks Amy! I understand why everyone loves it!

Hi Carissa!

Hey Natters

That is what the car ride is called in Disneyland.

I think it is the Indy Speedway in the Magic Kingdom.

Ahhhhh. Gotcha.

Not sure where you got the idea that I took a "Desk"?

Two people quoted your unedited comment so the proof shall remain!

 

[carissanboys]

First....congratulations on the house!! SOOOOO exciting!!

Teppan Edo looks fantastic! I have to put that on the list of places I definitely need to try. (That list is getting long...I better go back soon!)

Can't wait to hear about race day!

My list is always growing!

Congratulations on the house!!!! Looking at your posts on FB, I thought you had and started to just ask, but thought it gave me more incentive to get caught up on your TR. That is such great news!!!

Sorry I've just now caught up. It was so great to meet you and it was cool how we just started talking like we had hung out many times before. I was so happy you enjoyed ToT as much as you did. That's why I always tell people it is one to try even if you don't like most drop rides, its different than most.

And it was nice to meet the others that joined us on that ride.

Your pic came out so much better than mine, really need to remember what settings to use, I know I have been able to get those redneck photos before.



Super excited to hear all the details of the race and the rest of your weekend!

Thanks Melissa! It was such a cool way to try ToT for the first time with all of you. I can't wait to get caught up on your TR and hear/see all about your trip with Jonas.

very late to the party but I'm here! Did I miss the FB post announcing you got the house? CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​

Love the TR so far!!!

Hey Cynthia! You must have missed the post because I did mention it on FB. It's hard to keep up sometimes over there. Thanks!

Congrats!!!!

Thank you, Kat!

The other day I was home sick and I found your TR and PTR. I read through your entire PTR and WHAT AN INSPIRATION YOU ARE!! I found the C25K info and i'm going to start next week!!! Thanks for being awesome and I can't wait to hear more about your 1/2 marathon!!

Awwww - you're so sweet! Glad to have you stop by.

Congrats on the house! I'm so happy for you.

Amanda

Thanks Amanda! I need to head over and see if you have any house news.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a lot going on right now, but I hope to get another update posted this weekend.

 

[ddstratton]

Congrats on the new house! How exciting!!

 

[carissanboys]

Congrats on the new house! How exciting!!

Thank you! We are very excited!

 

[carissanboys]

So, Liz and I were in bed around 10:30, trying to fall asleep to waves crashing and birds crying. I began to hear our neighbors' children screaming next door. I don't think it went on for too long, but even after it was quiet, I just couldn't fall asleep. Around midnight I decided I really wanted to turn the white noise off. It was quiet enough now that I thought I could fall asleep better without having it on. I was pretty sure which button would turn it off, but I was afraid I would hit the wrong button and have it make some crazy beeping noise and wake Liz up, if she was sleeping. So, I left it on.

I believe it was somewhere between 1 and 1:30 that I finally fell asleep. I had pulled the comforter way up over my head to block out as much of the crying seagulls as I could. It was also kind of warm in the room so I had to keep half of my body uncovered.

Before I knew it, Liz's alarm went off. Ugh. Neither one of us had gotten more than an hour or two of sleep. We both got up and started to get ready. I think we were out the door between 3:15 and 3:30. We headed over to the food court and I was a bit worried because it wasn't all that chilly outside. I was hoping for 40 degree weather, but it was definitely in the 50s. And man - was it humid! I totally wasn't expecting that during the winter.

When we arrived at the food court, we were disappointed to see all of the hard boiled eggs were gone. I grabbed some bread, peanut butter, yogurt, and water. I think Liz also grabbed some toast with peanut butter, but both of us had a hard time getting it down so early in the morning.

We had to be on the bus by 4 a.m. so we headed to the stop. I remember it was pretty crowded and I think we had to stand. And it wasn't a quick trip. The traffic was crazy. But, we made it in plenty of time.

The first thing we did was look for a port-a-potty line to get into. A word of advice for others who do a Disney race in the future - keep walking until you find the end of the port-a-potties. The lines there will always be the shortest!

Once that business was over with, we had to make the long, slow walk to the corrals. We met up with a guy who was by himself and we chatted for most of the walk. So much of the morning is a blur to me. I was sleep deprived and nervous!

Liz had qualified for Corral D, but she decided to join me in Corral E for the start. It was so nice to be able to hang out together while we waited. And our corral was a great spot because it was the last one in our section. The corrals behind us actually were next to us on the side. Kind of difficult to explain. But, we had plenty of space to move around! We also had a set of port-a-potties right next to us so we both made another trip. I did my warm ups and stretches and ditched my gloves. I tied my sweatshirt around my waist and we waited for the start. We (well, Liz took all of them except for the one of just her) also took some pictures!

Do you see how early it was???

While we were waiting, I was noticing how wet my clothes felt from the humidity. I was also starting to worry that I was overdressed. I had on a long sleeved technical shirt with a short sleeved over it. And of course - I was wearing my running skirt with tights. But, overall I was feeling pretty good and ready to start!

Liz captured some great photos of the fireworks.

There was a man and a woman hosting the start of the race. The cool thing is the woman's name was....Carissa! And her male co-host used her name every chance he got. It was kind of funny to hear my name over the speakers over and over again.

We started walking closer to the start line. It was almost our turn to begin!

Look who was at the start line!

We pressed the start button on our Garmins as we crossed the start line and we were off!

Up Next - Plans fall by the wayside

 

[Charleston Princess]

I can't imagine being up that early and having to run!!!

Hope your clothes didn't end up being an issue while you ran!

 

[RunningGirl]

Oh - hate that you feel overdressed! I hope it turns out you were just right. I know that humidity can be a shock to the system after training in dry winter air!

I am excited to get this race started!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

And you're off!!!

I was looking at that exact skirt/leggins, so I'll be interested to hear how they worked for you! I'm an early bird, so I suspect when I do the Princess next year that I'll be up and ready to run! That's one of the only perks of waking up at 4am every day! (I have no idea why I wake this early, but I do!)

 

[jmskinner]

Love all the photos. I'm all excited just reading about it.