The Darling Family Takes on Marathon Weekend: Jan at the Boardwalk Villas

[dvc4life]

Jennie - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

This has been one exciting TR to read. What an inspiration you are to people. I wish I had the drive that you do. I don't know you, but I sure am proud of what you have accomplished.

You are a MARATHONER!

 

[DisneyRed95]

What a sweet finish line story! Congratulations!!!

 

[MagicShell]

Congratulations! That is so awesome. I love your medal, I don't blame you for wearing it a lot. I would want to show EVERYONE. So what do you do after you run a marathon to recover?

 

[3prettyprincesses]

You did it! You did it! Congratulations on a huge accomplishment. Love the pic of all your medals together too! Good for you, I'm just blown away!

This pic says it all, what an amazing job you did. And still smiling!

I don't know how you managed to walk up those bus steps though! I'd have made my DH carry me!

Thank you for sharing your marathon with us, I absolutely loved following it along! If I were you, I'd STILL be wearing that medal to remind me of such an incredible accomplishment.

 

[DrMomof3]

I LOVE your race report! I'm SO inspired by it!!!! You are amazing! You did it!!!

Amanda

 

[TinyDancer]

I love this TR.

You are SO very inspiring. I started running again back at the beginning of January, I am up to four miles now. I am slow but I don't care, I am doing it.
You have totally convinced me that I can do a marathon if I put my mind to it!

 

[Kellyh123]

That was really great! Thanks so much for sharing!
You should be so proud of yourself!

 

[RunningGirl]

Congrats on becoming a marathoner! Your post reminded me very much of my favorite quote ever from a book, when Dumbledore says to Harry Potter "It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." I have my Mickey medals hanging by my bathroom mirror so that every day I see them and know that I got there by all those little choices I made to go out and run. You're so right on!

 

[dismagiclover]

Congratulations! What an amazing achievement and I love the way you have the medals displayed

Thank you! You can bet that Mickey medal will be displayed for a long time to come!

What a fantastic finish! I love that you had the presence of mind to cross over to Minnie. I love that your family was there along the way and such a support to you. Congrats!!!!

DH saw that video and just laughed. He pointed out to me that I cut in front of a bunch of other runners and they might not have appreciated that. So maybe it wasn't presence of mind, but rather just character obseesion

CONGRATS!!!

I love all the pics with your medals!!!

I hope you headed off to GF Spa after that!!!!

Believe it or not I bet the Spa would have been painful. I hurt to much for a massage

Jennie - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

This has been one exciting TR to read. What an inspiration you are to people. I wish I had the drive that you do. I don't know you, but I sure am proud of what you have accomplished.

You are a MARATHONER!

Thank you so much! I really am nothing special. So much of running is in your head. I decided to do it and I did it.

What a sweet finish line story! Congratulations!!!

Thanks! It was a great moment.

Congratulations! That is so awesome. I love your medal, I don't blame you for wearing it a lot. I would want to show EVERYONE. So what do you do after you run a marathon to recover?

Everyone says the worst thing you can do after a marathon is not move. So the thing you feel like doing the most is the worst for you. DH kept reminding me that I needed to be walking around or else I would pay for it the next day.

 

[dismagiclover]

You did it! You did it! Congratulations on a huge accomplishment. Love the pic of all your medals together too! Good for you, I'm just blown away!

This pic says it all, what an amazing job you did. And still smiling!
I don't know how you managed to walk up those bus steps though! I'd have made my DH carry me!

Thank you for sharing your marathon with us, I absolutely loved following it along! If I were you, I'd STILL be wearing that medal to remind me of such an incredible accomplishment.

Thanks so much. It wasn't hard to smile at the end. It was a moment I'd pictured a thousand times and it was great that it was finally here! I've thought about wearing the medal around, but then even perfect strangers would know I'm a little bit cuckoo. (I prefer to keep that knowledge limited to my friends.)

I LOVE your race report! I'm SO inspired by it!!!! You are amazing! You did it!!!

Amanda

And next year, Amanda, that will be you!

I love this TR.

You are SO very inspiring. I started running again back at the beginning of January, I am up to four miles now. I am slow but I don't care, I am doing it.
You have totally convinced me that I can do a marathon if I put my mind to it!

Four miles is great! As you can tell, speed is not important to me And yes you can do a marathon if you decide you want to do it. Making the decision to start is a huge step! Great job!

That was really great! Thanks so much for sharing!
You should be so proud of yourself!

Thank you! I am pretty proud of myself.

Congrats on becoming a marathoner! Your post reminded me very much of my favorite quote ever from a book, when Dumbledore says to Harry Potter "It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." I have my Mickey medals hanging by my bathroom mirror so that every day I see them and know that I got there by all those little choices I made to go out and run. You're so right on!

DH is always quoting Dumbledore to the kids, so I know that quote well. It is definitely true! Awesome that you have Mickey medals (plural) I haven't yet committed to another marathon. It was great, but the training was just so time consuming. I'm sticking with halfs for the immediate future.

 

[dismagiclover]

We arrived at back at the Boardwalk Villas and I slowly made my way back to our room. I received congratulations from both CMs and guests which made me feel good. DH recommended I take an ice bath so that I didn’t get sore. I really just wanted a warm bath, but I gave the ice bath a real quick try. I figured it would make me go numb and that didn’t sound like such a bad thing at this point. The ice bath didn’t last long and soon I was soaking in a hot bath in the wonderful tub at our villa. I couldn’t stay there forever, however. My poor kids were getting antsy. All they had done all day was chase me around and this was their vacation too. Wendy had been wanting to ride a Surrey bike around the Boardwalk. The good thing about this plan: the bikes were at our resort so I wouldn’t have to walk very far. The bad thing about this plan: I was not in any shape to be pedaling a bike. DH assured me he could cover me so we headed out to the Boardwalk. We went down to the lobby and out onto the porch. This was our normal way to get to the Boardwalk, but this time it was a problem. Because to get from the lobby down to the Boardwalk you have to take a flight of stairs. Stairs are very daunting after a marathon. I gritted my teeth, held on to the rail for dear life and laughed as I hobbled my way down. We reached the Surrey bikes and discovered we would have to ride the smaller bikes because our kids weren’t big enough to pedal. So it really would be all DH. The boys sat in the front basket. Wendy was in between DH and I on the seat. Here are a couple of shots of the kids before we left.

Here is the whole family ready to roll. Notice my medal. You’ll be seeing a lot of that. I think I only took it off to sleep for the next four days.

Since I was pretty useless with the pedals I was the designated photographer. (That’s nothing new.) Here we are just getting started.

Now there are a couple of bridges on the Boardwalk loop that have inclines. DH assured me they would be no problem. We started up the first incline at a pretty good clip, but rapidly lost speed. It may not look like it, but DH is exerting a fair amount of effort to get us up the hill.

I, of course, am laughing my head off as we slow to a crawl. The CM we rented the bike from had mentioned it is easier to push up the hill. But was DH going to push us up the hill? No way. He is a manly man (despite his Peter Pan thing) and he would be pedaling us up. I laughed even harder which made DH even more determined. Onlookers were giving us very strange looks and I’m sure we were quite the site. DH working as hard as he could so we could move at a snail place. And me being absolutely no help at all, but just laughing and having fun. (DH would tell you this happens rather often in our life together.) DH being the manly man that he is made it up that hill and we continued on. The kids and I were having a fabulous time. There was lots of squealing and laughter from all of us. I continued in my designated and useless role as photographer. (Not even a good one at that.) Here are some shots I took of our beloved Beach Club. We spent a fabulous week here a few summers ago.

We passed by the Yacht Club and were heading up another hill. DH was still hard at work.

I was still laughing and this time DH decided he’d take the CM’s advice.

He doesn’t look like he minded too much though. To punish all of us joyriders, DH took the downhill at full speed. (Don’t worry there were no pedestrians in danger.) We all screamed. Especially the boys who were in the front. It was all in good fun though and everyone wanted to do another lap. Everyone except DH. (Imagine that. He didn’t want to keep being our workhorse.) So despite lots of begging from Wendy we returned the Surrey bike. It was a really fun ride though. Once those boys of ours get bigger we may make this a regular event. Then they can be the workhorses.

Up next: What’s for dinner?

 

[schmass]

I'm sad this portion of the trip report is over too. Though you can't say I didn't do my best to drag it out I hope you still stick around for the rest.

Of course I'll stick around for the rest!

That bike looks like a lot of fun! I'm staying at the Boardwalk next week, so I might have to check that out!

 

[Shannon84]

You should be showing the medal off everywhere!! Not everyone can do 26.2 miles...heck some people don't even like to drive that far

I always wanted to try those bikes out, cute pictures!!

 

[kcandbella]

Congratulations!

I loved the entire report of the marathon! Of course, that is sitting here reading it and not running it! It makes me so excited for the half in Oct, even though I am nowhere near ready for it (I've been training regularly though). Your finish line pictures are so inspiring, and I love your medal display. Each of them is something to be proud of!

The surrey bike looks like a lot of fun. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip!

 

[DrMomof3]

I can't imagine doing the surrey bikes after running the half marathon!

Amanda

 

[MagicShell]

So glad you didn't have to pedal. It sounds like the bike ride was a lot of fun.

 

[dismagiclover]

Of course I'll stick around for the rest!

That bike looks like a lot of fun! I'm staying at the Boardwalk next week, so I might have to check that out!

They were fun. They are great this time of year. I'm not sure I'd want to do them in the summer when it is hot. Have a great time at the Boardwalk. I'm very jealous!

You should be showing the medal off everywhere!! Not everyone can do 26.2 miles...heck some people don't even like to drive that far

I always wanted to try those bikes out, cute pictures!!

Don't worry I show off my medal plenty (as you will see.)

Congratulations!

I loved the entire report of the marathon! Of course, that is sitting here reading it and not running it! It makes me so excited for the half in Oct, even though I am nowhere near ready for it (I've been training regularly though). Your finish line pictures are so inspiring, and I love your medal display. Each of them is something to be proud of!

The surrey bike looks like a lot of fun. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip!

Thank you! You have plenty of time to get ready for your half. Just keep on training. The better trained you are the more fun race day is!

I can't imagine doing the surrey bikes after running the half marathon!

Amanda

Remember I didn't really do anything on the bikes. That was all DH.

So glad you didn't have to pedal. It sounds like the bike ride was a lot of fun.

Definitely wasn't in any shape to pedal, but we did have fun!

 

[dismagiclover]

So dinnertime was approaching and I was feeling hungry. After all I’d run 26 miles and I hadn’t had a real meal today. Plus DH kept me reminding me I needed to keep walking or else I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. So we made our way over to Epcot for dinner at a pace a bit slower than our usual walk. Remember that incline that we’d ridden up on the surrey bike earlier? Well I felt that incline when I walked over the bridge on this night. It is actually the downhill that was tougher. We made it into Epcot and headed towards our ADR. As we crossed the bridge into France a Photopass photographer was set up there. This was the first photo pass photographer I’d seen since getting my medal. Do you think I stopped? You bet I did.

I like this one of DH and I.

This one is a little too cheesy for my tastes.

And here I am showing off my bling.

It sure seemed like the photographer thought she was taking a picture of something in the background, but I don’t think it worked. After our photo shoot we headed over to Germany for dinner. It was our first time eating at Biergarten. We checked in and were seated shortly. We were seated with a party of 3 and the guy I sat next to worked at Disneyland in computer something or other. It was fun to talk to him about how things were going out in California. He said when he comes to Disney World it is all about the food. Speaking of food, here are some pictures of Biergarten’s buffet.

I loved the pretzel bread and the carved pork. So moist and yummy. I was pretty disappointed in the dessert selection. Seriously, where is the Black Forest Cake? One of the best parts of the meal was the entertainment. These guys were lots of fun.

We all gave the Biergarten a thumbs up. The food wasn’t the best we had all week, but it was pretty good and there was plenty of it. The atmosphere was great. We will be back. After dinner we slowly made our way back to the hotel. I was ready to hit the sack. I think DH and the kids stayed up and watched a movie we’d borrowed from the Community Center. I took one last picture before I went to bed. This is a shot of my Garmin (the watch that records time and distance.)

It’s a bit blurry, but can you see it says 27.17 miles? The 26.2 miles of the course is the absolute shortest distance the course can be run in. When you race like me you don’t take the shortest route. All that stopping and smelling of the roses caused me to veer off course quite often. So according to my Garmin I actually went a mile over. That must be why it took me so long. Anyway, I crawled into bed and I didn’t have any trouble falling asleep this night. And oh yeah, I am a Marathoner.

 

[wdwgirl03]

CONGRATS on finishing the marathon. So awesome!!

How neat for you all to have medals now and proudly displayed.

I've always wanted to ride one of those surrey bikes...hehe.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Congrats again!!

Looks like you had a good feast at Germany!!

I wonder how the next morning will go?!