13.2 miles of happiest place on earth!

The first weekend in January marked the end of my training for 2011.

Brian and I hot footed it down to Orlando and ran our tooshies off in the 

Disney World 1/2 marathon.

My gear below:

We actually left a bit early in the week so we could traipse around Magic Kingdom for the day.

It was awesome!  I love going with the kids but MAN!!! it was sure fun without them.

We hustled to animation trading posts to swap out undesirables.

We took our time at lunch only to find out we didn't really want to take our time at lunch!

It took me a minute, tops, to realize I didn't have to head count OR head off any drama.

And I took the whole rest of the day to enjoy it.

Then we woke Bright...uh...EARLY!

3:30 EST which was 2:30 our CST.  

Off to the shuttle to take us to the park and hopefully 

make it in time to get into our assigned corrals for the 5:30 start time.

We didn't.  Make it in time.

By the time we made it to the front, corral A had already started so Brian shot off with corral B and I made it up there in time to start with corral C.  Which really just meant we got to pass a bunch of slow pokes the first little while.  Just kidding.  They weren't slow pokes.  

Well, some of them were.

It was super chilly and really dark, but so fun.

This is me coming up on the entrance to Magic Kingdom.

I didn't want to stop to get a good focus so I just slowed a bit and almost got run down.

They had characters set up along the way that you could stop and get pictures with but there was always a line and I wasn't feeling like standing around waiting.

By the time I ran 11 miles though, I told myself I was going to stop at the next character because frankly, I was tired and could use a good excuse to rest a minute.

So that was my dude and there was no line.  10 second rest wasn't really what I had hoped for.

 Brian finished a good 1/2 hour before I did.  By the time I found him he looked like he hadn't done much more than walk over from the shuttle!

They handed out these foil emergency blankets when we finished because 

it was still cold and we were all sweaty.  Brrr.  They helped a ton actually.

Later that afternoon we hoofed it over (quite gingerly on my part - I was so sore!) to BOMA.

A fab buffet at the Animal Kingdom Resort suggested to us by my dear brother.

This is my dessert plate.

It was such a great weekend.  And I haven't run a step since.

before I have to dash...

I did survive the half marathon.
I knew you were worried 'cause I hadn't checked in since I ran it.
But I'm alive and well and haven't run an inch since I finished the run last Saturday.

I don't have a picture.  I forgot to take a camera, but Brian wouldn't have been able to jet to the car.  I mean maybe he could have, but he came back to find us and then tried to run with us the rest of the way in but found his legs just didn't want to run again.  So we kept on trucking and he sauntered in a bit afterward.

Even though I didn't get pictures I am thinking this is pretty much how we looked the whole time:

You know...just happy and smiling.  It was pretty cold, but no biggie.  And we didn't even frown a little when it started raining at mile 7.  Or when my legs didn't want to go another step at mile 12 1/2 and good old Norma pulled ahead of me 6 seconds worth and kept yelling back encouraging words to which I finally responded for her to "hush up" and just go.  With a smile of course.

We finished in 2 hours 11 minutes and 51 seconds.

I am really pleased with our hard work and that we actually ran pretty much the whole thing.  We went into it initially thinking we'd maybe run half and walk on and off.  Nope!  We just kept on going.  Well, we did stop for water because I can't move when I drink water or I will choke.  And we walked for 1 minute at mile ten which was a wrong move.  It's really hard to get your legs going again once they've stopped.  Ask Brian.

So, that's my 1/2 marathon.  Done.  Check.  Accomplished.


In further news:
I am listening to books on cd while I sew some projects for Christmas.  I'm enjoying it.  The one I am listening to now is read by a woman with a Scottish or Irish accent.  Love it.
I find that when I think to myself I do so with an Isabelle Delhousey accent.  I can't replicate it very well when I try to talk to the children, but I think it VERY well.  Sometimes, occasionally, I think I might be a little Irish.  In my thoughts.  a little.

SO!  Merry Christmas!
Hope all is going just smoothly and no stress about getting blankets crocheted in time or getting a decent family picture taken for cards, has graced your days.

All the pictures taken with our whole family in them have not turned out very flattering on my side this year.  Well.  There is one where I actually sucked in my pooch and smiled all cute, but everyone else's eyes are closed.  I may just use that one because really, who needs to be cute?  Momma does.


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