Disneyworld 2015 Trip Recap: Part 3

After we race, we grabbed lunch, swam, and took a really long nap back at the hotel. But when we got up, we were ready to head to Downtown Disney for the night.  Our friend Robyn met up with us that evening because she had recently moved nearby to Orlando.

They have an after race party in Downtown, so I wore my medal! When we got to Downtown Disney, we put our names on a waiting list for a restaurant, and immediately went to do some shopping. We of course had to hit Adam's favorite store, the Lego Store! I do love Lego stores though, as they are a lot of fun. Especially in Disney, because they have Lego figurines of Disney Characters. I loved the scenes from Snow White, most of all. 

Soon it was time for dinner, we basically chose Portobello Country Italian Trattoria off the map because Italian sounded good to everyone. The food was amazing! Adam raved about his spaghetti and meatballs all week long. My slice of wood grilled pizza was really tasty. Everyone was pleased with dinner. 

After dinner, we shopped some more. The World of Disney is like the Disney Store, expect on a massive injection of steroids! I saw a booth selling commemorative items from the Half-Marathon, and I ended up picking up my Mickey Ears for the trip, they say Princess Half on them, and they are adorable.  Jana and I stopped to pose for a picture in front of this  Frozen "postcard," to send back to our friends and family back home. We were being brats because it was freezing back home, but it was 85 degrees in Orlando. 

After shopping, everyone was ready for dessert. Jana and Austin hit up Ghiradelli for ice cream. But I wanted to try out Goofy's Candy Co. At Goofy's, you fill out a card of what you want, and then they make your treat right in front of you.  I made a white chocolate covered rice krispee treat with sprinkles and butterfingers, with a chocolate drizzle. I kept that thing in my hotel room all week long, only having a bite here and there. I never finished it. But it tasted so incredibly amazing.

Robyn and Adam didn't grab any dessert, but we did treat Robyn by buying her some "Unbirthday Tea." I would love to try out that tea sometime.

We got back to the hotel about 11 p.m. We went to bed because the next day would be our very first Park Day!

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Disneyworld 2015 Trip Recap: Part 2. (Princess Half Marathon)

I find it almost overwhelming to blog about such an important accomplishment of mine, so I guess there is no better place to start than at the beginning. So here it goes.

We boarded the buses from our resort about 3:30 a.m., but I promise you I had been wide awake since about midnight, I was just so pumped up and ready to go. I was so excited when we got to Epcot, as that was my first real life glimpse of Spaceship Earth. I've been curious about what that thing was since I was a child, I always thought it was some big golf ball!

We all three posed for pictures. Jana and I in our costumes, and Adam dressed as none other than my husband! Oh well, he may not be one for dressing up, but he makes a pretty cute husband.  We also got to hang out a little bit with Ivonna Dream, who basically is a poor man's Fairy Godmother, meaning she was HILARIOUS.

Soon it was time for me to part from the group. We were all in 3 different corrals. I was in Corral K. In a way, I was glad to be headed to the start line by myself as it gave me time to get centered. The walk to the corrals was about 20 minutes, which was a nice little warm up. When I got to the corral, I talked to one or two people around me, got my iphone ready to go, and sat down to listen/watch the announcers of the race. I could not even see the start line until several of the corrals had started ahead of me, and we moved up.

I surprisingly did not have the nerves I have had at the start of other races. I felt prepared and ready. 

My corral went off about 30 minutes after the first corral. There were a lot of people, and it slowed me down quite a bit. I also did a lot of weaving around people, but that didn't really bother me. I just had to be really aware of my surroundings. The first mile came up really quick! But my pace was like 2 minutes slower than I usually go. But I decided not to worry about it. This race was never about personal records for me. In the first couple of miles, I also saw the first characters on the course. I made a choice I wouldn't really stop for characters unless the line was short and it was worth it. But I did love seeing Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa, and the big old pirate ship.

 

After about mile 3, we ran past the entrance sign to the Magic Kingdom, which was so exciting! But it would be two more miles before we actually got into the Magic Kingdom. We also passed by one of my favorite character groups, the villains group! How awesome is the Queen of Hearts?  

Around mile 4, the cheering crowds were electric, and I loved reading their signs. They had funny ones that said, "Have Fun Storming the Castle," and "Worst Parade Ever." But also motivational ones like, "Remember when you thought you couldn't do this?" That one almost made me cry.

Mile 5, I glimpsed Space Mountain and I knew we were almost there.  

Running through Magic Kingdom was exhilarating. Seeing the castle for the first time was mind blowing.  And I loved, loved, loved seeing Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff sending us well wishes from the castle balcony. When I was showing Adam the picture I took of them from the race, he said, "Oh, I saw them too!" But he had no clue who they were. I guess Frozen fever hasn't reached Adam. 

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay in the Magic Kingdom forever. And it was a bit of a long slog back down the highway to return to Epcot. Just outside the Magic Kingdom, I saw Mary Poppins, Bert, and the penguin! I almost stopped, but I just wanted to keep going. So I did.

The next three miles went by step by step. I never stopped running the entire race, except to take pictures. Around mile ten, we had to go up an on ramp for an overpass. On top of the hill, the toy soldier from Toy Story was barking orders. I decided to take a picture with him. After I took the picture, he said I had to run fast because I had to make up the 30 seconds I had stopped to snap the photo.

After posing with the green soldier, there was nothing left to do but keep going. The race definitely got harder at this point, but it never felt impossible. I never felt like I had to stop. I was so very happy to finally enter Epcot though, knowing I only had one mile left to go. 

I stopped and posed with royal Minnie, right before crossing the finish line.  I wanted to soak up that finish line moment. It felt so very good. I was so happy I made it. One year of planning and training and I made it! I finished in 3 hours 36 minutes. Not a stellar time, but I stopped for a lot for photos, and I had to go slower than normal due to crowds. But I was still so proud.  

My first goal was just to finish. My second goal was to run the whole thing. I accomplished both.

Adam was already at the finish line. Yeap, he passed me during the last mile, because he didn't stop at all. What a show off. But I was so incredibly proud of the both of us. I think we both felt like rock stars.

My run tracker app clocked me as having run 14 miles. Yes, all the bobbing and weaving added an extra mile to my race. Which is kind of awful, but now I know I can run 14 miles.

After the race, we hit up the hotel food court, swam a little, and then took long naps. That was a much deserved nap. It felt so good.

I'm already eying a marathon in 2017.  Probably in Walt Disney World, because why would I do one elsewhere? Yes, it seems impossible and scary to me now, but so did a half marathon once upon a time.

I got the kindest comments and responses to my announcement that I had completed the half. These are my two favorites, my husband's and my niece, Kayla's facebook statuesus.

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Disneyworld 2015 Trip Recap: Part 1

We got home from our wonderful, Disney adventure on Friday night. And I have been so tired since then. I'm so glad I had the whole weekend to recover before going back to work! But I think exhaustion is a good sign that the trip was perfection, and it totally was.

I have no idea where to even start recapping the trip, and there will be lots and lots of posts on the trip. But I'm just going to try and hit the highlights and not every single detail (as I am apt to do). And spoiler alert, I COMPLETED and RAN a half-marathon last weekend! It was awesome, overwhelming, and simply a dream come true. 

I took off all of last Friday to pack for the trip. I absolutely hate packing, and I can't tell you how much more enjoyable the whole process of packing was made by simply not having to do it after work, when I'm already worn out (which is usually what I do). In fact, I didn't hate packing for this trip at all. I woke up early and knocked it out in no time. I even finished with enough time to meet my mother for breakfast at iHop before heading out. 

Adam and I got on the road about noon. We were having some crazy weather when we left, and it was haling pretty hard. Adam had no concerns about driving in the winter weather, having grown up in Wisconsin. But I was worried it would lead to delays, especially in Birmingham. I was right, as they had closed down sections of the interstate due to wrecks in Birmingham, causing us to take a detour! There may have been a moment or two, where I freaked out, proclaiming we are never going to make it to DISNEY! Adam was more level headed than I was by the way (per usual, someone has to be rational in this relationship). 

However, it was lucky we left no later than we did, because not an hour after we had left town, officials had closed down our hometown due to poor driving conditions, and we would not have been able to leave at all.

So I'm only posting this road trip picture because I was really excited to wear a brand new Disney shirt for everyday of our vacation. I mean how cute is this Peter Pan Tee? I'm in love with it. But I digress. We spent that first night in Tallahassee. Our friends Jana and Austin joined us from Mississippi later on in the evening, and we got up bright and early the next day to head down to Orlando. Jana and I rode in the car together to have some girl time, and we blasted Disney tunes for three hours because why not?

When we finally got to Disney world, and I saw this sign, I totally freaked out. I was sooo happy. It's weird to plan something so intensely for a whole year and have it finally arrive. I started to have that feeling of, "Oh my gosh!!! We're Here. It's finally happening!!!"

Our first stop was the ESPN Wide World of Sports hotel to pick up our gear for the half. Which we did, and then Jana and I were super thrilled to see they had characters out for greeting, and that one of them was Royal Minnie. Royal Minnie was one of the few characters I really wanted to meet and would be willing to wait for on race day. So knowing that I snagged her picture now, meant that I wouldn't need to race day.  We also met Aurora, through all my planning I knew meeting characters is more fun if you interact with them. So I asked her if she liked her blue dress or her pink dress better. She said she liked them both, but that her godmother Flora, had won that day! She also loved my Mary Poppins shirt, which made me soooo happy.

The only souvenir I bought at the expo was this Belle shoe Christmas ornament, I thought it was perfect, since she was my princess of choice for the race. 

When we finished at the expo, we headed to check into our hotel, All-Star Movies. Even though it is a value resort, the themeing was nice! We ended up staying in the Love Bug Section, which was super cute. The pool area was themed on the movie Fantasia, with sorcerer Mickey looking over the water. But my favorite part of was the Daisy and Donald statue. Also, when we got into our room, our towels were shaped like a Mickey head!

For our first night, I had made us reservations at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I could not believe how beautiful the Animal Kingdom Lodge was! Simply stunning. Boma is a South African buffet. The amount of choices were overwhelming. There were soups, meats, and a dessert bar that never quit. My favorites were the bobotie, carrot ginger soup, and the dessert zebra domes. The price was a little steep, but so worth it, for the fun experience we had.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. I laid out my costume and everything I would need for the next day. We all went to bed around 9, as we had an early 2:45 a.m. wake up call the next morning for the race. 

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After All, There's Only One More Sleep till Disney

I can't believe that after nearly a year of planning, tomorrow I will be barreling toward Disneyworld with my husband and two best friends. I can't believe I've spent literally months and months training for a half marathon, and it is finally here. I can't believe that the first time I ever see Cinderella's Castle I will be running through it. I can't believe how much my life has changed in one year.

I know it may sound crazy, but completing a half-marathon in Disney world will be a completion of such a big dream for me (if I finish of course). I just don't know how to deal with the nervousness and excitement I'm feeling right now. I just hope I can sleep tonight. But if I don't sleep tonight, I can sleep in the car.

I can't wait to overload my little space on the web with a million posts about my adventures when I get back. But right now, it is just Orlando or bust.

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