Step Out for Diabetes 5K

This morning marked my return to the walk/run circuit. Yep, it's race time in AZ - finally :)!

Today was for the American Diabetes Association - a nice 5K walk to get the blood pumping. The day started out at 6:45am when a friend picked me up and we headed out to the event.

We arrived and parked and headed in to the event. One of the things I hate about this event (I've done it before) is that you sign up online, go through the waiver process, make donations, etc...but when you get to the event you have to fill out a form with your name, information, donation amounts and sign the waiver again...This is the only event I do that doesn't use the waiver you sign online - I mean honestly they've been doing these events for so long that they should be able to figure this out most of the other races in town have figured it out.

Today's goal was to walk the course and just try to get back in the swing of doing events. This event is pretty laid back in terms of pace because there are a lot of kids and a lot of people that just cannot move quickly. My friend and I are both the type that look for space - being squished with the masses isn't the most fun for either of us.

The event started about 15-20 minutes late - another pet peeve of mine...Please start the event on time. Anyway, I don't know if it is the economy or the sweltering heat that made the turn out light, but it definitely was not as crowded as last year.

We were all squeezed together at the start - typical. Then we headed out and the course was really tough to find a free spot to get around people. Eventually we did some off road running whenever we saw a spot ahead that would give us some room to breathe. It was also pretty hot this morning, both of us were hot before we even got started. By the time we finished the race it was already 93 degrees out. I'm also still fighting this cold so my breathing is way off and I had a little trouble breathing, but that I know will get better.

I didn't keep my pace today - in fact, I didn't even wear my Garmin. I figured that since it was the first walk I'd keep all pressure off and just let it go. It's been about 3.5 weeks since I've run and it felt good to try my legs out a bit. I can tell I have a long way to go before the 1/2 in January. I can feel every extra pound with every step. Time to get back on track and get my eating and exercise back under control.

We had a good time and finished somewhere around 40-45 minutes. We did more running than we had intended so our pace was slow, but quicker than just a pure walk.

I feel good that we did the event and I think it was a good wake up call for me to get my act together. The next two Sundays I have breast cancer runs so it should be interesting!

Trip Report Coming Soon...

I promise I'll get my trip report started soon. I'm still fighting this cold and getting back in to the swing of work. I have so much to share though I hope you'll all enjoy the experiences I had in Orlando :)!

In the meantime, did you notice my new profile pic? If you love dolphins, you have to go to Discovery Cove at least once!!!

Mini Report Sept 15-18, 2009

September 15, 2009
-Yummy Animal Kingdom Lodge room service breakfast
-Keys to the Kingdom tour - Matthew was an amazing tour guide
-Like the changes in Hall of Presidents
-Didn't notice much change on the TTA, the lights were on in Space Mountain and black construction walls were blocking all views
-Artist Point is still a very good place for a nice meal
-Used MNSSHP to get in some rides with no waits
-Buses to AKL were a bit slow today

September 16, 2009
-Slow start today
-Love Expedition Everest
-Fabulous lunch at Yak&Yeti
-My throat is really starting to hurt
-Had a fabulous dinner at Narcoossee's
-Had the Wishes cruise boat all to myself
-Went looking for alligators before Wishes (didn't find any, but captain assured me there are plenty of them in the lake)
-Wishes from the water was quite nice

September 17, 2009
-Another great AKL room service breakfast
-Not feeling very good, my throat is still on fire
-Took the morning and just relaxed in the room
-Had a fabulous spa treatment at Grand Floridian - a facial and soak
-The Chef's Table at Victoria & Albert's was pretty amazing. I had the whole thing to myself which was a bit odd, but the meal was outstanding!
-Got a jump on packing so I won't have to rush tomorrow night

September 18, 2009
-Feeling even worse than yesterday, my throat just won't stop burning
-Headed to Epcot and got a quick ride on Spaceship Earth
-Did the Dolphins in Depth program - amazing. This is a great program - while you don't get to do a ton of things with the dolphins you get to see some cool things and you do get to pet the dolphins...More on this later
-Decided to skip Rose&Crown for lunch - just didn't feel like a sit down so I headed to Electric Umbrella instead.
-Did Dive Quest - this is the program I was most looking forward to this trip. I did get scuba certified just for this after all. It was amazing. I think I'm going to try to do it again in January!
-Checked in for dinner at Le Cellier, they were running very behind, I wasn't feeling well and I had to leave at 3:30am tomorrow, decided to skip dinner altogether.

Mini Report - Sept 12-14, 2009

September 12, 2009
-Room service at AKL is wonderful for breakfast
-Paul at the security gate at The Contemporary is super nice
-I've now done parasailing in the rain...A little wet, but still fun
-I miss The Contemporary, I hope to stay there again some day
-The Segway Tour at Fort Wilderness was a ton of fun. You're feet will be sore, but it's worth it!
-Cirque du Soleil is a great show no matter how many times you've seen it
-People should learn to wear deodorant in FL, especially when wearing sleeveless shirts and sitting in close proximity to others
-Fulton's Crabhouse is not cheap, but it is delicious
-I shouldn't be allowed in World of Disney without a chaperon :)

September 13, 2009
-Ah, The Great Movie Ride
-I still think the Hollywood Brown Derby is over rated
-Why does it always rain when I go to Hollywood Studios
-Walking on rides is a lot of fun
-Rock N Roller Coaster is fun when first timers are in line with you
-Tower of Terror is always fun, but even more fun when little kids are on it for the first time
-Toy Story Midway Mania still rocks and one ride I don't mind waiting for
-Walking to the Yacht Club in FL heat is rough
-Yachtsman's Steakhouse is still one of the best steaks around
-Walking back to Hollywood Studios in the pouring rain makes your shoes extra squishy

September 14, 2009
-The Undiscovered Future World tour with James was fabulous - saw some really cool things
-Remy is super cute at Chefs de France and it was a good meal too
-The Behind the Seeds tour was fun, but not my favorite tour
-California Grill...Need I say more...Okay, fabulous and Wishes from there - amazing

More details later...

Mini Report - Sept 8-11, 2009

Wow - sorry I haven't been posting regularly. It seems I haven't stopped to breathe yet this trip :)!

September 8, 2009
-Spent the day at Sea World
-Watched Blue Horizons, my favorite show at Sea World
-Watched the Shamu show, over rated in my opinion (more on that when I get home)
-Watched Clyde & Seamore, such a great show, animals did what they wanted to do today
-Watched Pets Ahoy for the first time, cute show with rescue pets
-Rode Manta, great coaster, interesting experience, felt very short
-Why I love running shoes - because they ventilate your feet
-Why I hate running shoes - it takes nothing for them to become completely soaked
-Forgot my pedometer, but I'd guess I walked well over 10 miles today

September 9, 2009
-Checked out of Pop Century very early
-Drove to Animal Kingdom Lodge to check in
-Checked in and was told I had Concierge - I didn't book concierge. Wow, I've never been upgraded before!!! My room was actually ready too - it's before 7am - this must be a sign of a good day to come.
-Did the Backstage Magic tour for the first time - so much good stuff to see!
-Ate at The Wave for the first time - so surprised at how good the meal was. I was one of those people that loved Concourse Steakhouse so I wasn't sure I'd like this restaurant as much
-Got back to my room and found a gift from the AKL staff - a cute beaded lion key chain and note! How cool
-Concierge left me a welcome letter and carved animal pen

September 10, 2009
-It's my birthday!!!
-Did the Around the World on a Segway Tour. There were only three of us on the tour. Love the Segway, love the tour, love the guides (Larry and Robert)
-Ate lunch at Electric Umbrella, still one of my favorites
-Did the Seas Aqua Tour - I love this program. It's great fun to do the assisted snorkel in the Living Seas!
-Dinner at Coral Reef. The menu was questionable, but this turned out to be such a great meal. -My dessert came out with a chocolate Happy Birthday message. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of it
-Used WDTC VIP viewing for Illuminations. Not a bad location and a great show!

September 11, 2009
-Did the Backstage Safari Tour at Animal Kingdom. Great program, I highly recommend it.
-Ate at Tusker House for lunch. Great buffet with good food.
-Quite a bit of rain this afternoon
-Dinner at Jiko tonight. Good meal, but not as good as I remember and not as good as The Wave or Coral Reef - surprisingly.

That's it for now. When I get home I'll do a real trip report with some pictures and more details of the tours, etc...

2010 Disneyland Half Marathon Registration

Congratulations to everyone that finished the 2009 Disneyland Half Marathon!!!! I hope you all had a great experience.

I just went to check some results and found that the 2010 Disneyland Half Marathon registration is open. I have signed up! I am shooting for the Coast to Coast Medal next year.

Next year is the 5th Anniversary of the Disneyland Half Marathon so it should be exciting!

None of the other races - the 5K or Kids' Races are available for registration yet, but keep an eye open for them soon too!

I hope to see some of you there next year.

Mini Report - September 7, 2009

Happy Labor Day - hope everyone had a great day.

-Got up on time today
-Headed to Discovery Cove for Trainer for a Day Program
-There were five of us in the program with our trainer (9 people total-very small group today). Scott, Jade-13, Jacob-10, Wendi and me. Our trainer was Bryan
-Nice continental breakfast
-Spent time in the aviaries
-Met a Black Palm Cockatoo, three banded armadillo and an ant eater
-Saw baby dolphins - 1 wk old, several 1 month olds
-Saw the fish house
-Had a great dolphin interaction with Nate the dolphin
-Nice lunch
-Met Calypso the nurse shark
-Fed the sting rays
-Watched the baby dolphins some more - they are amazing
-Had a double foot push by two very powerful dolphins
-Had a dolphin race...My dolphin was Capricorn (Nate's grandfather) is over 700 pounds and over 40 years old
-Spent too much money on photos and stuff
-Came back to hotel - totally exhausted took a nice nap
-Dinner at Everything Pop!
-Am now very sunburnt - Yikes!

Tomorrow is a nice quiet day at Sea World. I have no agenda and no planned activities!

Mini Report - September 5-6, 2009

I'm going to give you a brief overview of my days on my vacation and I'll do a full trip report when I get back...

September 5, 2009
-Getting up at 2am is no fun
-Travel takes a toll on my and makes me very tired
-There was a crazy storm that started right as I was driving out of the airport
-Pop Century is a cool resort (I say that every time I stay here)
-My room looks out over the lake, but is a heck of hike from the parking lot
-Love Tie Dye Cheesecake - so bad for me and yet so good

September 6, 2009
-If you set your alarms (yes, two) and turn them off, don't go back to sleep. I didn't wake up until 6am and had to be at Sea World by 6:30am...Not a pleasant way to start the day
-Thank goodness I didn't get lost this morning and was only a few minutes late
-The Marine Mammal Keeper program at Sea World was just as good if not better than two years ago
-I interacted with Dolphins, Manatees, Otters, Beluga Whales, Polar Bears, Walrus, Sea Lions, Seals and that rare species - humans :)! So amazing!!!
-Dine with Shamu was a great meal and we had a good show from Tillicum. A storm cancelled Believe (the Shamu show) so we almost missed our show, but we got lucky.
-The Sea Lions at Night show is awesome - so funny as they make fun of the other shows in the park. So glad I didn't miss it
-I walked almost more than a half marathon today (12.86 clocked on pedometer and that did not include any of the time when I was in a wet suit which was a good portion of the morning

So far my trip has been amazing. I really enjoyed Sea World today and can't wait for Discovery Cove tomorrow! If I wasn't so tired tonight I would have written more :)! Stay tuned to Twitter and the Blog for more updates. Twitter will be light tomorrow while I'm at Discover Cove, but I'll tweet when I can.

Happy Vacation Eve To Me

I remember last year at this time I was getting ready for my first Half Marathon at Disneyland. I'm actually a bit sad that I won't be doing that race again this year, but I'll be there next year.

I've spent the week cleaning, scrubbing and getting the house ready for the pet sitters. I'm tired and worn out, but that's okay because this time tomorrow I'll be on a plane heading to my final destination - Orlando!

I can't believe it's finally here. I'm going to go and have a great trip. Follow me on Twitter - I'll try to do some tweeting while there and I'll try to post mini trip reports here on the blog.

I promise I'll catch up on every one's blogs as I have time - it's just been a crazy couple of weeks.

To all of you doing the Disneyland Half - I applaud you, good luck, have fun, make new friends and kick booty!!!! I'll be with you in spirit!

Did Anyone Else Notice...

In the latest Walt Disney World Marathon newsletter that the Circle of Life 5K in January has been changed to Family Fun Run 5K. I also think it said that it will be at Epcot now instead of the Animal Kingdom.

I was a little sad to hear that because I've done a couple of 5K's at Epcot and was looking forward to doing a different location.

Regardless, the 5K's at Disney are always fun and a great way to get a feel for the weather and terrain before that longer races!

Anyone else registered for this event? It's 95% full as of today. The full Marathon is 77% full, the Mickey's Marathon Kids' Fest is 60% full and the Half Marathon and Goofy Challenge are full!

The Expo will be held Thurs-Sat, January 7-9 at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

The Family Fun Run 5K and one portion of the Kids' Races will take place Fri, January 8.

The Half Marathon will take place Sat, January 9.

The Full Marathon will take place Sun, January 10.

You can purchase training tech shirts. Women's shirts are $34 and men's are $34 as well.

There are spectator packages and the race retreat for participants.

There will be a pasta party on Thurs, January 7 and an after race celebration on Sun, Jan 10 at Hollywood Studios.

Of course we'll hear more as we get closer.