Hang in There

Just a quick post to say I'm still alive, not running again yet, just trying to keep my head above water in my new job. Things are slowly starting to settle down. I should be back to normal by next week...*fingers crossed*.

And I promise to have the 3rd & final installment of my 1/2 marathon up by the end of the week!!! :)

Thanks for reading/following...promise my writing & running will become more frequent soon. (Sometimes life just happens)

Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, Part 2

Sorry for the delay...now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

Saturday morning we got up and headed for a nice big breakfast at Kouzzina by Cat Cora. I loaded up on potatoes, waffles, and muffins. Yum!

Afterward we walked over to the Epcot back entrance (aka - International Gateway) and picked up our Finish Line Party tix. It was a relatively painless process, other than the long wait in line, and the fact that Disney had originally told everyone to pick up these tix at your hotel concierge, then the concierge sent us to the Guest Relations booth at Epcot, and the guy there said 'yeah...they're wrong, but I'll get the tickets for you anyways'. Grrr Disney...grrrr.

While at Epcot we took some pics of the finish line for that night!

We then headed back to the room for some rest. I would spend alllll day in bed. It was boring, and I kept trying to nap, but I was never successful. I was too amped up/nervous about the race!! It was the longest....day....ever.

Finally at 7pm I got dressed...

...and headed over to the buses to make my way to the start. Hubster and Twiu walked me to the bus, they took a pic, then I was off!

(I later heard there were outrageous lines for the buses to the start from Boardwalk - I must have gotten there just in time because I waited no more than 5 minutes.)

I got to ESPN Wide World of Sports and it was PACKED! Hubster had decided not to come to the start with me, and now I'm glad. It would have been difficult for him to see me start, and I heard the spectator buses took forever to get back to Epcot.
I just sat around, listened to the entertainment, hit up the port-o-lets, and waited for the start.

I may have snuck in a picture with Minnie before the start. :)

Right at 9:30p they started herding us towards the corrals. I had no previous race time to post, so I was placed in the last corral: D.

This was fine by me. I knew I was doing the Galloway walk/run for the race, so I didn't want to be in the way of any runners. I was probably about 200-300 people from the very back of the race (10,000 runners!). To give you a preview of the finish - I finished ahead of 3,500 runners....so I passed a LOT of people! lol

Here is the view from my starting point looking forward. There is a bend in the road and the start is REALLY far away.

 

After waiting for what felt like forever (thank goodness I had peed!!), I saw the fireworks announcing the start!!

(This is how far away we were! This was looking to my left)

Finally coming up on the Start:

And we were off!!

Stay tuned, the 3rd and final installment to come! (I'm stretching this out because I have no running to blog about. :( I haven't been a good runner girl...I've been so caught up with my new job. But I'm getting back on track this week. Need to get training for the Turkey Trot!)

Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon, Part 1

On Thursday I got off work (old job, for those keeping track lol) and Hubster and I headed down to Orlando to check in at the Boardwalk resort, one of the host resorts for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I had to drive the 1.5 hours back home Friday morning to shadow someone at my new job for a bit, so that was a little sucky, but def worth it. (Allll that to come in a separate post - focusing on the race now.) While I was away Hubster enjoyed a little time alone, and some Disney mini-golf.

Friday afternoon, after I got back to the resort, we headed down to the buses for the expo. Since Boardwalk was a host resort they had direct bus service to the Wide World of Sports complex - nice! There was no line for the bus, and it arrived pretty quickly. Usually Disney transportation is annoying: hot, crowded, and slow. But they were using an outside bus service, so they were nice, quick, and air-conditioned. :)

We arrived at the expo around around 5pm and it was pretty crowded. They probably could have used a little more signage to direct people, there were lines everywhere, not really sure if 1/2 of them went anywhere. We finally managed to find the expo entrance and headed inside.

After asking 3 different cast members we found the packet pickup. It took about 20 minutes to complete that, check my D tag, and pick up my shirt. (Should have gotten a small, oh well - medium usually fits me, but this time it ran large.)

Hubster and I walked around the expo, there were a lot of 'blog famous' brands there: BondiBand, SpiBelt, Running Skirts, One More Mile, YurBuds (got some of those...wow they are amazing!), etc. Names we all know and love around the blogo-sphere. There was also a Disney booth with lots of Wine & Dine gear. I loaded up here. :) Jeff Galloway was spotted, and we enjoyed a quick chat with him. He was popular here of course.

My loot from the expo

After putzing around and spending all my money we decided to head back to the resort and grab some dinner. Again, it was an easy trip back, and we grabbed a bite outside on the Boardwalk at Big River Brewery. A lot of people were doing easy laps around the Boardwalk/Beach/Yacht Club area. Stretching for Saturday maybe?

Race Day to come next.... :)

What a Change!

I've been MIA this week and with good reason. I haven't shared the info, but since it was officially official today (how do you like that grammar? lol), I can tell...

I recently interviewed for a job that I thought I was a total long shot for....and got it!! So the last two weeks, on top of preparing for and running in the half marathon, I've been wrapping up at my current job and preparing for the responsibilities of my new job. I'll go in to more detail when I have a little time, but first I'll be sure to post a race-recap from the Wine & Dine last weekend.

Till then, I ask you just bear with me. I'm not missing, just temporarily unavailable. :)

I finished!!

 

 Chip Time: 3:00:31

Garmin Time: 2:57:11

More details to come later! :)

Checked in, Ready to Run!! Wine & Dine Update

Well, here we are, at Disney. I've been to the expo, spent ALL my money, and picked up my packet. I'm #5847 in case anyone is tracking. Since you know I'm such a garb-junkie, here is my obligatory loot pic:

I picked up some Disney Wine & Dine merchandise, as well as a pair of YurBuds! Those guys were so nice, and the product proved itself right there at the booth. If you get a chance go check out their website here.  I picked up a pink pair and love them. I also ran in to Jeff Galloway again. Always such a pleasure to speak with him. I had the opportunity to thank him for his guidance in training for this half marathon. (Of course I was all giddy and nervous like a school girl again!)

After this race I'll be posting some videos from Jeff Galloway regarding his walk/run training method. I'll be using the method again for my Princess 1/2 Marathon in February. I hope you'll stick around to see the progress there.

I'm so excited! I can't believe my first 1/2 marathon is tomorrow!!!! I've had a good yummy dinner, and have a carbo-load breakfast booked for the morning. This is it....the day I've been waiting for. It's here. Wow!!!!

Running Away

There is a difference between 'running away from your problems' and 'putting on your running shoes and leaving your problems behind'. 

Thank you running therapy, sometimes you really are my sanity saver.