Running... From Coast to Coast and Back Again - Tink 1/2 TR, Princess TR

[Mickey_Mom]

Well, despite the fact that I haven't even started a PTR, I wanted to point out that today was my

Online Check-In Cha Cha Day!!!

for my wine & dine half marathon trip!

Missed your cha-cha day but I'm doing it anyway!

Sorry I've been away for much too long ... heading out myself shortly on my little trip but I can't wait to see your TR!

Oh and to see you there!!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 1: September 1, 2011 – Arrival Day

Day 1 started like any other Thursday. I woke up around 7:30am, got ready, and headed to work. The day, of course, dragged on as dreams of California and Disney raced through my head. Finally 1:00pm arrived and I headed home. I arrived home around 1:30pm, threw some last minute stuff in the car loaded up Lilo and Oty and DF and I were on our way to his parent’s house. We had grabbed some sandwiches from Subway that we ate in the car during the 35-40 minute drive to his parents. Once there, we unloaded our dogs and all their stuff and just hung out for a little bit. Around 3:15pm, we left and headed to the airport. We did the curb side check-in for our bags and then headed inside to go through security. I was a lucky one and got chosen to go through the body scanner while DF got to head to the left instead and just go through the regular metal detector. Once we were both through, we stopped in the shop and picked up a bottle of water, and a few snacks for the long plane ride ahead. Our flight departed on time at 5:15pm. We had a little bit of turbulence but overall it was a smooth and uneventful flight to Las Vegas. DF napped then watched a movie on our iPad while I spent most of the flight reading for one of my classes. We had a short 55 minute layover in Vegas where we grabbed a small snack to share and before we knew it, we were on our way to Burbank, CA. This flight is only about an hour long so before we knew it, we were making our final descent into Burbank. I saw this on our way in and couldn’t help but take a picture:

Even though we weren’t close to Disney yet, it was like Mickey was welcoming me anyway. Once we landed, we deboarded the plane and headed to baggage claim to meet up with my parents. They had arrived a little before us, already had their luggage and had just finished up getting the rental car. Once we got our luggage, we headed out to our car, loaded it up, and were on our way to my brother’s apartment. It was only about 10 minutes away. He was still at work so one of his friends that lives a floor above him came down to give us a key. We dropped our stuff off then headed out to get something to eat. It was about 9:30pm PST by this point and we were all really tired. We ate quickly and then headed back to my brother’s apartment. My parents decided it was a little too crowded so while DF and I blew up an air mattress and settled in on the living room floor, they headed out to the nearest Holiday Inn. My brother didn’t get home until 2:30am and I only briefly woke up to say hi before falling back asleep. Then, around 4:00am, I had one of the worst experiences that could possibly happen 3 days before a race. I got the WORST Charlie horse/cramp in my right calf. I mean the WHOLE thing tightened up and I woke up instantly in tears. I was trying my best to make it stop but there’s really nothing you can do. It also, obviously, woke DF up and as much as I know he too was trying to help, there really was nothing to do. I can’t tell you how long it actually lasted but it felt like forever. Eventually, however, it did stop. But the damage was done by that point. I tried to stand up to walk to the kitchen and couldn’t. My calf was so sore that I couldn’t flex my foot enough to even stand on it. DF had me sit on the couch and he did his best to help rub it out a little more. I did eventually get to the point where I could walk but it was with a limp and it hurt. I took some pain reliever, ate a banana, drank a lot of water and headed back to bed to hope for the best.

Continued Next Post…

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 2: September 2, 2011 – iFly, Cougartown, Show at Barre

Our alarm went off at 8:00am and DF and I got up. My calf was definitely still sore but not as bad as I expected. DF and I went ahead and changed into our running gear, got keys from my brother (who didn’t have to be back to work until 11:00am) and headed outside. Going down stairs hurt but I was going to try running anyway. This was our last training run before the race and I knew if I skipped it all together, Sunday wasn’t going to feel good. We started out and I did my best to concentrate on the music from my iPod and take in the new scenery. I’ll say this much, California was a lot nicer to look at with all the mountains and cool architecture then what we see in Cleveland. Oh, and the best part? The sidewalks are flat and not broken up. In Cleveland, we live in a somewhat older town and while it’s really nice, it definitely has some wear and tear.

I was feeling okay but I knew I wasn’t going to make it too far and I didn’t want to push it. When my Garmin beeped that we had reached the 1 mile mark, I stopped running and walked for 1 minute. At the end of our 1 minute, I told DF, it’d be best to turn back. We made the trek back and ended our run at 2.3 miles. Not as long as I would have liked but it would do.

DF hopped in the shower first while I checked my e-mail. Then, while I showered, DF walked down to the Corner Bakery to pick up some breakfast. Right as we were finishing up, my parents showed up, and we discussed our plans for the day. My brother said we should arrive at the set of Cougartown around 5:00pm. So, as he headed off to work, we headed towards Universal Studios. It only took about 15-20 minutes to get there. We parked and walked into City Walk. We made our way to iFly and after spending a little time watching the current people, we walked over to choose our own package. My parents decided they weren’t going to do it this time around so instead, we signed up for DF and I to each make two - 2 minute flights. We headed into the classroom where you learn some of the basics and then in to change into our flight gear: jumpsuit, helmet, and ear plugs. Once our group (6 people) was all geared up, we headed out into the wind tunnel. We waited our turn and then I headed in. Here are some pics of my two flights:

Next up was DF, here are the pics from his two flights:

I had done this before and I thoroughly enjoyed it again. DF said that he also had a lot of fun! On our way out of the tunnel, My mom took this pic of us:

We changed out of our gear and waited for the DVDs that were included in our package. When we finished up there, we walked around City Walk a little more. DF and I filled up a bag of candy at It’s Sugar that we ate throughout the weekend. Then, to finish up our time here, we headed to Saddle Ranch for lunch. A little way into our meal, my brother called to say they were moving really fast and that we were probably going to need to get there sooner. Luckily, our food was brought out just then so we rushed a little through our meal and then back to my brother’s apartment / parent’s hotel. We all quickly changed into the outfits we wanted to wear on set then waited for my brother to tell us when to leave. Finally I got the go ahead and we headed towards Culver City. There was quite a bit of traffic along the way and we ended up making a detour. It ended up taking us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there which wasn’t too bad. We gave the guard at the gate our names and he directed us where to park. From there, we made our way over to Stage 6 and waited for my brother to come get us. They were filming outside, so when they broke to move inside my brother came to get us. He gave us a quick tour of the set:

Then, we got to stand outside one of the rooms while they did some staging for the next shot. When everything was ready to go, we got moved to the side and put on headsets so we could hear and watch the monitors:

Right before filming started, some of the actors came over and we got to meet them. We met Ian Gomez, Josh Hopkins, and Brian Van Holt. We watched the filming of one scene, two different camera angles, with about three shots each. During the break between camera angles, we also got to meet Courteney Cox. After they finished filming that scene, Courteney was going to be leaving for the day so my brother took us outside and formally introduced us and we were able to get our picture taken:

They were filming a weird scene with special costuming, so that’s why she’s in the weird dress. If anyone watches the first episode, the scene we watched will be right towards the end. After meeting Courteney, we headed back inside for about 30 minutes before they broke for lunch (at 7:30pm) and my brother was able to leave early. Here's one last pic before leaving:

We hopped in the car and were off to my brother’s “favorite place in LA”, Show at Barre. It’s basically a restaurant/bar that puts on a show (mostly songs with a little dialogue) while you’re eating. Tonight’s show was For the record: The Coen Brothers. It also happened that in this night’s show 5 of the 8 performers went to Carnegie Mellon University (in Pittsburgh, where my brother went, so he knew all of them). Here’s a link if anyone is interested:

http://www.showatbarre.com/

It was pretty good and really funny so we all really enjoyed it. My brother and Ian had a couple drinks so on the way home, I ended up driving and got my first taste of the California roadways. Luckily, it was pretty late so there really wasn’t much traffic at all.

By the time we got home, I was exhausted. I quickly got ready for bed. Tomorrow it would finally be time to head to Disneyland!

 

[20thingamabobs]

I can't wait to hear about the DL Half! And, by the way, your costume looks adorable!!! You always come up with the cutest ideas for race outfits. I'll be coming to you next spring when I'm looking for ideas for the next EE 5K
I think it's cool that you're doing the Wine and Dine Half with your friends. It's always nice to experience something you love with new people and spread the magic. Plus, 3 friends in Disney sounds like there'll be great times ahead.

Thanks! I always have so much fun picking out costumes so it's nice to hear that people like them! Assuming they do the EE Challenge again next year, I too will be there again! It was so much fun. We'll have to get some really good ideas and I'll be happy to help!
I am excited to travel to Disney with friends, this will be my first time. I think we'll have a lot of fun. I just hope 13.1 miles doesn't push us over the edge. I can totally see my one friend freaking out a little.

Not just "a" reader, you probably have thousands of readers!! One question I have, that perhaps you can answer is in regards to your training. You seem very busy. How do you find time to train for a half and how do you do it? Do you walk/run or run straight through? Do the cute outfits you wear ever get in the way of your performance(i.e., scratchy, too loose/tight, etc.)? Can't wait to hear more!!!

Sorry, this is going to be a lengthy response.

I’m sure you’re right, there are probably more readers out there that just don’t post, and I appreciate them all the same! I do that occasionally on threads as well. I like when people post though because it gives me someone to talk to, not so lonely! As for your questions, I do tend to live a pretty busy life. Monday-Wednesday, I leave my house at 8:30am and am lucky to be home by 9:30pm due to work and school back to back. Thursday-Friday I leave at 8:30am and am home around 5:45pm. Weekends vary, I work every other Saturday but always have Sunday off. And that doesn’t include the large amounts of homework that are pouring in as a result of this being by far the hardest semester to date. I had 8 chapters to read just for my Tuesday class

But, running/training is one of those things that you have to fully commit yourself too. There’s times where I wonder if I took on too much but then I realize that my running (training and the races) are an outlet and give me something to look forward too amid all the stress of daily life. I follow Jeff Galloway’s training program which requires 30-40 minute runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then alternating between a 4 mile run and “long runs” on Saturdays. Since I have school on Tuesdays, I’m required to fit my training in before my day starts. That means, I drag myself out of bed at 6:30am to get in 3 miles, then I shower and head to work. It’s not fun. It’s a struggle every time. I always want to stay in bed but then I tell myself, “you chose to do this, you made a commitment, and you’ll be mad at yourself all day if you don’t do it, and you can’t go to Disney if you can’t run the race”. Then, I get up and about 5 minutes into my run, I feel good about my decision. But, that still doesn’t make it any easier the following week. Thursdays I run when I get home from work and Saturdays I either run after work or right when I get up.

Since I use Jeff Galloway’s program, I always adopted my own version of his run/walk theory. We run to the mile marker, walk 1 minute, run to the mile marker, walk 1 minute, etc. This works really well for us. It keeps it so you’re still running a mass majority of the race but those small breaks keep your body from being pushed over the edge. I found that once I settled into this “pace”, I was a lot less sore.

Costumes. I like them (HAHA). I haven’t had any real problems with my costumes thus far. I don’t find that they get in the way too much when I’m running but my Minnie skirt was a little difficult to go to the bathroom. Since the tulle underneath was in sections, I had be really careful that I “got everything out of the way” and pulled it back down afterwards. My costumes for my other races fit perfectly but once again, my Minnie skirt was a Child’s M-XL (literally, that’s how they sized it). It obviously could have been a little looser and I worried about that beforehand but once I started running, I didn’t even notice I had it on (at least not in the waist where it was tightest). I’ve never found any of it to be scratchy but I wear spandex shorts underneath so that usually means it never really touches my skin. I will say this though, there were a couple times during the DL half that the strips of tulle would slide between my legs which was a little annoying but I could always push them to the side and they tended to stay so it wasn’t a huge deal. Overall, I would say I had the most “trouble” with my Minnie skirt but it wasn’t so much so that I wouldn’t wear it again. I was happy to find that my skirt for the wine & dine does not have strips of tulle though!

YAY I cannot wait to hear about the Disneyland race, its so exciting to see pictures from Disneyland since I have never been there and want to go so badly!!

I hope you have a GREAT time at the wine and dine half, I did that one last year as my first half marathon and it was so much fun running at night time...I really enjoyed it. I have to tell you that whenever my friends and I run races together we try to stay together for the first mile, but make no promises after that. I just feel like when you spend that much money, train, etc you want to enjoy yourself yes, but you also don't want to finish upset with yourself for not doing your best

on a side note I just signed up for the WDW FULL marathon yesterday thats in january and you should do it!!!!

I’m trying to get to the race portion quickly! I’m so excited to share it. I would definitely say DL is worth visiting at least once but I’ll say this much, for me, it doesn’t have that same feeling of “I’m home” as WDW does.

Thanks! I’m excited to do a night race too! In fact, it was your TR about the race that had me wanting to run this one in the first place! I hope the Osbourne Lights are on again. That’s a good idea about just the first mile thing. I just don’t want anyone to be disappointed or frustrated or whatever at the end of the race because that just won’t be fun for anyone. I mean, I did pay a good amount of money and I put in the time for training and I feel like I know I can finish so I deserve to have that opportunity. I just hope it all works itself out.

That’s so cool! Good for you for doing a Full! I already signed up to do the half again in Jan! I’m too scared to try the full. I mean, I would like to someday but I’m just afraid that right now, I don’t have the time or energy (because of grad school) to devote to the necessary training. But, that being said, we need to plan a DIS meet!

Missed your cha-cha day but I'm doing it anyway!

Sorry I've been away for much too long ... heading out myself shortly on my little trip but I can't wait to see your TR!

Oh and to see you there!!

I love Cha-Chas! It’s ok, I can tell from your PTR that things are a little crazy and I feel the same way! I worked on my Halloween party plans this morning, so I’ll message you about that. Can’t wait to have another DIS meet with you and your family again and I can’t wait to meet Natalie and her daughters too! I’m sure we will see each other a lot that night!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Pre-Trip Information

My Disney adventure will actually be starting on Thursday, September 29. I have to work 9am-5pm but after work I’ll be heading to The Q Arena to see Disney On Ice: Mickey & Minnie’s Magical Journey! I haven’t seen a DOI show in a LONG time but I loved them as a kid so I’m excited to see one again! My mom is driving up to go with me and once the show is over, we’ll be making the 2 hour drive back to my parent’s house. I’ll probably get to bed fairly late but that’s ok because I wouldn’t have got much sleep anyway.

Day 1: September 30, 2011 – Arrival Day / Expo / Epcot

This day is going to start super early. My alarm will be set to go off at 3:15am. I’ll get up and get ready then we’ll plan to leave the house around 4:15am. This will put us at the Pittsburgh airport around 5:00am. My mom will drop me off and I’ll be meeting up with my friend Lauren. She lives in the Pittsburgh area so that’s why I chose to drive there and fly with her instead of flying out of Cleveland. I’ll be sure to give her her ME tags before we check-in and then it’ll be through security and off to our gate. Our flight departs at 6:30am. Hopefully we’ll have a smooth and uneventful flight to Orlando spent catching up. We’re scheduled to land at 8:45am assuming there are no delays.

Alison will be flying in from New York. However, her flight doesn’t leave until 7:45am. She won’t be arriving until 10:40am. I’ve gave her instructions on how to get to the magical express and that she doesn’t need to do baggage claim. She should be fine so we made a group decision of the following:

When Lauren and I arrive, we’ll make our way to the Magical Express bus and be on our way to All- Star Music! We’ll finish the check-in process and either drop our bags off in our room if it’s ready or leave them with bell services. Then, the two of us will head to the Race Expo. We pick up all three of our bibs, packets, t-shirts, and goody bags. Other than a quick stop at the race exclusive merchandise, we aren’t planning on doing too much shopping here. I think all three of us plan to buy an I Did It t-shirt and wine glass. With that taken care of, Lauren and I will head back to ASMu to meet up with Ali. I’m hoping she won’t have to wait long for us to get back. We’ll add Ali’s carry-ons to either our room or bell services and then we’ll be heading out to Epcot! The only thing Alison said that she wanted to do was the Food & Wine Festival. I know with it being the opening day, things are going to be a little crazy so I wanted to give us as much time as possible. When we get to Epcot, I think I’ll try to convince them to get a Fast pass for something but we’ll see. The afternoon/evening will mostly be spent sampling the offerings. Here are the key places I want to try:

China – pot stickers
Cheese – Ali will like this one
Germany – Riesling
Poland – Pierogies
Italy – wine, maybe ravioli
Hops & Barley – Lobster Roll
Belgium – Waffle
France – Parisian Cosmo Slush (Ali speaks fluent French and studied abroad here so I’m sure she’ll sample something)
Canada – Cheddar cheese soup
Hawaii – Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet 7 Sour dole pineapple Chutney

Once we’ve had our fill of the food & wine festival, we may walk around a little more but we’ll see. I’m not sure if we’ll stay for Illuminations or not either. No matter what, we’ll eventually grab a bus back to ASMu and head to bed. Or, if we decide not to stay at Epcot too late, maybe we’ll head to Downtown Disney or go swimming. We’ll see* I’m going with the flow on this trip.

 

[20thingamabobs]

Oh, one more thing...


Single Digit Dance!!!

 

[Shannon84]

Oh my gosh so much to say!! I am now dying to go to California...at least just once in my life I have to get out there!!

The pictures from Cougar Town are so amazing, I can't believe you met Courtney Cox and the pictures came out great!! Seems like such a fun and exciting experience to watch filming...I am very impressed!!

Your poor calf...that has happened to me before, but luckily went away the next day, usually when I am dehydrated that day I have issues That would really scare me before a race!!

You are the Disney race queen...thats my new nickname for you, I swear you have done almost all of the halfs!! I figured this was my one time to fit a full in, since I am training for a half in November, so I will just keep training until January...its going to be very difficult I am sure!

We should try and meet up some time, even if we just end up at the expo or something at the same time, that would be awesome!!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 2: October 1, 2011 – Animal Kingdom / rest & relaxation / Wine & Dine Half marathon / After Party

Ok, this day is going to start fairly early as I drag the girls to the bus stop around 8:00am. I want to get to the park early so that we can be close to the front of the line. Once the park opens and the welcome ceremony has finished, we’ll make a beeline (as quickly as possible) towards Expedition Everest. We’ll grab a fast pass and then hop in the stand-by line once or twice. I’ll be the only one that has ridden this before so it’ll be fun to see how the girls react. They both like thrill rides so it should go over well none the less! From here, I’m not sure what we’ll do. We may head over to the safari and see how bad the stand-by line is. Then, maybe we’ll take a walk through one of the animal trails. I’m going to leave most of the decisions of what to do up to Ali and Lauren past what I just told you. Well, at least this way, the Trip Report should be a surprise! I don’t foresee us staying at the park too long; the plan is to leave by 12-12:30pm.

We’ll grab a bus back to ASMu where we’ll probably grab some lunch is we didn’t get it at the park and then most of the afternoon will be spent relaxing by the pool. I’m going to do my best to stay out of the sun to extent though because it can really drain your energy. Around 3-4pm, we’ll head back into our room and try to take a nap or just watch some t.v. We’ll really want to rest up at this point; it’s going to be quite the night!

Around 7:30pm we’ll board a bus over to the Wide World of Sports where the race starts. Once there, we’ll spend some time taking in the atmosphere and making our first of many potty breaks I’m sure. When they open the corrals, we’ll make our way over to them in the hopes of being towards the front. The race kicks off with Corral A starting at 10:00pm. We won’t know our Corral placement until we get to the Expo. I can tell from the info they sent out that there are 5 corrals total and I’m really hoping we’re not in the last corral. Based on our bib numbers, I think we’ll most likely be in the 3rd or 4th. If so, this means we’ll start around 10:10-10:15pm. Then it’ll off on our magical 13.1 mile journey! I’m excited for this course because we go through 3 out of the 4 parks and the pics from last year look awesome!

When we make it to the finish line, we’ll be right outside of Epcot. We’ll head to baggage claim to grab our things and then it’ll be time to party! The Finish Line Party takes place inside Epcot where 3-4 rides, food & wine festival booths and character meet & greets are sure to be the highlights of the evening!

The party lasts until 3:00am but we’ll see how long we make it. Once we’ve had our fill of the party, we’ll limp our way back to the bus stop to make our way to ASMu for the night. We’ll rinse off and fall into our beds with hopes of sleeping in as long as possible!

Now, this is where my mom comes in. Well, sort of. I'll have to explain later how this all came to be. My mom's flight will be departing Pittsburgh at 5:10pm and will arrive in Orlando around 7:25pm which is when we'll be heading out to the race. She'll take the ME to ASMu and drop off all her carry-ons. She'll then be heading over to Epcot. She plans to check out the food & wine festival mostly while she waits to hear from us. When she gets notification that we've reached the 15k mark, she'll start heading over to the front of Epcot where the finish line is located. The goal is for her to be able to get a picture of us crossing the finish line! Then, she said she may or may not come into the party with us some more. I think she'll probably come in for a little bit but not the whole time.

Stay tuned to hear about Day 3, which I might add has had some serious revamping since this trip originally came into plan!

 

[Shannon84]

I think you are going to love running the race at night time....the after party sounds like they really did some great changes (last year there werent any rides open, etc) I think this year is going to have some awesome improvements!!

Scheduling a nap that afternoon was a must for me, I heard a lot of people didn't nap, that surprised me!!

 

[amazingact21]

Sounds like you guys are going to have an awesome time so far. I can only imagine how cool running through 3 of the parks at night is going to be. And then topping it off food and wine samples!

 

[amazingact21]

Your trip begins tomorrow!!

I hope you have a great arrival day and enjoy all the food at Epcot!

And, of course, good luck at the W&D Half Marathon!!!! I'm sure you and your friends are going to have a blast!

 

[dismagiclover]

Good luck at your race! I'd like to try the W&D one of these years!

 

[Shannon84]

Good luck this weekend on your race and remember have fun cant wait to hear about it

 

[20thingamabobs]

Hi DISers! I want to begin by apologizing for abandoning all of you before my last trip and not finishing my PTR. I do have a good excuse though...

The Saturday before my trip, while I headed off to work, DF was headed off to a "camping party" with a bunch of his guy friends. I arrived home from work around 4:30pm and as I settled in to make the shirts my friends and I were going to wear for the race, my phone rang. It was DF. The first thing out of his mouth was "do you have a minute?". I didn't have a great feeling about it but said yes. Next, he says "I want you to know I'm ok". Yep, I was right, this wasn't going to be good. Well, he goes on to tell me that they were paying wiffle ball and that in attempt to slide into first base (yep, that's right, FIRST base) he sliced his knee open. He had then gone to the hospital where he received 8 staples in his leg. Ok, he could have called before the hospital but at least it didn't sound too serious. Wrong again. He called me two hours later in extreme pain and said he was coming home instead of staying. I offered to pick him up but he said he'd be ok. When he finally got home, I had to take Advil out to the car and then help him hop inside. We got him settled in and headed to bed.

On Sunday, it didn't really look like things were improving. He couldn't put any weight on his leg let alone walk. Sunday night I called off work for Monday. On Monday I picked him up some crutches but he was still in a lot of pain and still couldn't get around much. I had to take Tuesday off work as well to take him to the doctor where we were informed that it was infected. On the way home we had his prescription for vicodin and an antibiotic filled. On Wednesday, I worked a partial day, going in a little late after getting DF set up on the couch and coming home early to get him some lunch and help out a little before leaving for school. Thursday was the same, a partial day. Only this time, DF's dad came over around 5:00pm to pick him up so he could hang out there while I was in Florida. And, that is where my TR will start.

All that being said, DF is doing much better now (two weeks later). Five of his 8 staples are out and he can sort of walk now. It still bothers of him to bend his knee so he just hobbles around with his leg straight. It looks kind of funny but he should be back to himself soon.

Now, the trip... my friends and I had an awesome time! We loved the wine & dine and though it didn't go quite as hoped for, we all had a wonderful experience! I'm going to finish up my Disneyland Half TR first then I'll move on to this one!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 3: September 3, 2011 – Brunch / Expo

Saturday morning started at a more reasonable hour of 9:00am. We got up and got ready and then headed out to meet my parents and my brother’s friend Chris at Granville. It’s a restaurant in Burbank that’s really pretty good. I’m sure many of you remember Chris from some of my other reports. He’s an Imagineer for Disney and spent many days with us in WDW but was recently relocated to the main headquarters in California. September 3, was his birthday so that’s why we took him out to brunch.

When we finished eating, my brother, Ian and I headed back to the apartment while my parent’s went to their hotel. We all packed our stuff quickly to get ready to head to Anaheim. I triple checked to make sure I had everything for the race and then called my parents. They were pulling up the street now to pick us up. We walked out to meet them, loaded our stuff in the car, and we were on our way! DF and I watched a TV show on his computer during what was supposed to be a 45 minute drive. We did end up hitting some traffic but we still arrived at our hotel around 1-1:30pm. We were staying at the Sheraton Anaheim:

We had two adjoining rooms. My parents took the one with the king bed while my brother, DF, and I shared the other room with two queen beds. I thought the rooms were really nice and we were really close to Disneyland. We dropped our stuff off and were back out the door over to the Expo:

We parked in the overflow parking lot right behind the Disneyland Hotel. Here’s our drive/walk over to the Expo:

First stop was packet pick-up to receive our race bib, timing chip, commemorative pin, and coast to coast challenge bracelet (you had to wear while you ran and at the finish they would cut it off and exchange it for a medal). With DF and I’s stuff in hand, we walked over to walk through the B-chip verification line to make sure our timers were working correctly. Then, it was over to the GET Travel area. Here, we picked up DF and I’s park tickets for the next day as well as my parent’s and brother’s chEAR Squar packages. These included a tshirt, chair, clappers, and park ticket. Here’s my brother looking goofy trying out his new goodies:

He was laughing saying that they give all the “lazy people who aren’t running (like himself) chairs”. Once all this was taken care of, we walked over to the other section of the Expo where all the vendors and merchandise were located. Here’s some pictures:

We walked around for awhile in this area. First, DF and I picked up our goody bags and free t-shirts. Then, DF won an Anaheim Angels hat from spinning a wheel but I only won a calendar. My mom and I won water bottles and my brother and DF won little sling pack back packs by answering questions about ABC television shows. Also, DF and I stopped by the Jelly Belly stand and bought two bags of their energy beans which they were selling for $1. These are the only type of energy thing that doesn’t hurt my stomach while running. To finish up, we went over to the Race Exclusive merchandise:

While here, I picked up an I DID It t-shirt, a Coast to Coast Challenge t-shirt, and the Disneyland Half Marathon vinylmation. DF also bought a tall glass that matches the one from the WDW half. At this point, we decided it was time to head out but had two more things on our agenda. First, my brother went to the computers and signed my mom up for the text notification so they could track us during the race while DF and I waited to get our picture taken here:

By this point, we’d been here for several hours and we were all a little worn out and hungry. That being said, there was one thing I’d been looking forward to for months and there was no way I was leaving without. So while my dad and brother took our things to the car, my mom, DF, and I made the short walk over to Downtown Disney. There was only one store I needed to visit, D-Street. I walked in and spent a short amount of time looking around before buying the new Cars vinylmation set and a blind box from Urban 5 with the brown tonal Mickey topper. Then, my mom, DF, and I went to the trading box. I handed out one of my traders to each of them. My mom picked #4 and pulled an Urban “half glass full” figure. Next, DF picked #6 and pulled the Urban 7 Chaser. Finally, I went and picked #16 and pulled the Muppets 2 Chaser, Waldo. I was so excited and really happy with my pulls from my first trading experience!

Then, we went outside to wait for my brother and dad to come back. When they did, they went in and made some trades as well for me. My brother pulled the Urban 3 Cookie jar and my Dad pulled the Park 5 Magic Mirror.

With that done, we headed out to our car to find some dinner. We were going to eat at DTD but everything was packed so instead we went down the street a little to P.F. Changs. We had a nice dinner and then it was back to the hotel for an early night to bed. On the way out, there was a guy outside making these:

Back at the hotel, we laid all of our stuff out for the race and then got into bed. It was about 8:30pm and I was so happy to be getting to sleep early... Well, that was fine until the Disneyland Fireworks began at 9:00pm. It sounded like the was guns firing right outside of our rooms it was so loud. But, when they finished, I fell quickly to sleep.

 

[Shannon84]

Poor DF!!! I hope that he heals quickly, that sounds like quite an ordeal you two had to deal with, but I am glad to hear that he is starting to get better!!

I swear I must be really into this running thing, because I was just SO excited reading about just the expo seriously I love hearing all about the disneyland expo and I always wondered how they knew you were a coast to coast finisher, that is really cool!!

Those balloon animals are AMAZING...I had to show DBF those!!

 

[amazingact21]

Sorry to hear about your DF's knee! That had to make for a stressful week! (Not to mention I'm sure you thought about it a lot during your WDW trip.)

The Expo looks like it was fun, and I'm glad your frist trade went well!

 

[Brancaneve]

Glad your DF is feeling better. I look forward to reading more!

 

[dismagiclover]

I hope DF is doing better. That sounds so painful! Can't wait to hear about the race!

 

[disneygeeks]

I've been away for sometime busy travelling and busy with work but have just restarted to read your TR and just got to the part where he propossed to you....must say that was awesome and your ring is sorry to say but friggin beautiful. I am quickly trying to catch up to all the other action going on...great to be back