Since I registered for the NYC Half Marathon, I have also signed up for two others!
Here’s my race schedule:
February 26- Disney’s Princess Half Marathon (I ran it in 2010)
March 3- Gasparilla 15K in Tampa
March 18- NYC Half Marathon (also ran this in 2010)
The Princess Half actually falls on the day I should be running 12 miles, and the Gasparilla 15K falls on the day I should be running 9, so it all worked out perfectly!
What’s your race schedule like for the next few months?
On Monday, the day after my first half-marathon, my mom and I headed out to Epcot to check out the Flower & Garden Festival. I was still sore and stiff when I woke up, but I knew a day of walking would help the situation.
After taking this picture, we realized my medal was already falling apart. The one single thread holding it together had started to unravel. Therefore, I had to take it off and not flaunt it all day long like I wanted. Instead, I only took it out for pictures with characters.
Aren't these the cutest garden knomes ever?!
On our way out of Epcot, we were stopped by one of Disney’s researchers and were asked to complete an online survey regarding healthy eating. It’s about time Disney focuses its energy towards providing more healthy options!
My mom and I headed back to our resort to drop off our souvenirs and picked up some hoodies and then headed over to the Grand Floridian for dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe. We both enjoyed the caramelized onion soup au gratin as an appetizer…
And the salmon with asparagus, crimini mushrooms, leeks, and potato-chive sauce
And for dessert… chocolate fondue with fresh fruit
Everything was delicious, and the service was superb! This probably tops my list of favorite meals at Disney! After dinner, we strolled around the Grand Floridian property to enjoy the atmosphere. I used to work at GF, so it was nice to be a guest there instead of a cast member!
We even ran in to a talking palm tree, and my mom posed for a picture with him. He called her a “tree hugger”.
Some more pictures around GF.
On Tuesday, our last day at Disney, my mom and I checked out of our resort and went over to Downtown Disney for shopping and lunch. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, and I ordered my favorite meal ever- quesadillas with no chicken and a side of guac.
Luckily, my legs were feeling about 90% better so walking around the airport and sitting for over two hours on the airplane wasn’t too painful.
Hope you enjoyed my recaps 
As much as I disliked certain parts of running this race, I’m sure I’ll be back next year. And I’m thinking of signing up for the Disneyland Half Marathon on September 5th and the Inaugural Wine & Dine Half Marathon on October 2nd.
I know you all want to hear race details now, but I’m going to start from the beginning of my half-marathon weekend.
On Friday, my mom and I caught a flight from Philly to Orlando at 10am and checked in to our hotel, Disney Port Orleans Riverside.
We quickly grabbed some personal pizzas at the food court before heading over to Celebration to check out some office space for my new business I’ll be starting in Orlando in the next few months.
My mom and I were both super impressed by the office building and the staff. I’m very excited to begin my new business venture in Florida!!! (if you live in Florida and need a mortgage, let me know) 
Pictures around Celebration
Neighborhood Clubhouse
There was this really cute kids’ candy store downtown. I just had to take pictures of the cupcakes they were selling. And the kids get to create a plate full of their favorite treats. Soooo adorable!
Once we were done looking around Celebration, my mom and I headed on over to the Disney’s Wide World of Sports for the Fit for a Princess Expo. I used to work at the All Star Cafe at the Wide World of Sports, so it was great to be back at my old stompin’ grounds!
I was greeted at the expo with a red carpet and these fine young men
The scene inside the expo
As soon as I walked into the building, I was told the order in which I needed to go, so I headed directly to the back to pick up my racing bib and D-Tag (timing chip).
I was a little less than thrilled about my Corral E placement since I already knew this was the last corral and was pretty much designated for those people planned on doing a lot of walking. Although, I found this to be quite inaccurate since Leslie registered for the race the day it opened and submitted proof of time only to be stuck in Corral E as well. After that, I was told to validate my D-Tag and pick up my goodie bag. The goodie bag was a purple mesh drawstring backpack, which I think I might donate to Crazy Gym Girl. And the shirts were sized wrong, so I got an XL instead of the Large I requested. Oh well.
The expo was full of awesome companies, and I found so many things I wanted to purchase… but it was crazy crowded, and I knew I could buy everything online or at the running store. But I picked up a lot of marathon pamphlets, and I’m thinking about signing up the Disneyland Half Marathon on 9/5 and the Food & Wine Half in Disney World in October.
I’m sorry, but I was not interested in any of the clothing Disney had for sale. Just because we’re women and running a princess race, does not mean I want to look bedazzled and prissy pink. No thank you, Disney.
My mom and I got back to the resort, had some delicious salads at the food court, unpacked, and I took a picture of my “swag” and new racing shirt.
Just look at all of that precious loot! Are you sensing my sarcasm? Gee, Disney, you really gave us a lot… a wrongly-sized shirt, eyedrops, a disposable camera, socks, and a mini Luna bar. Whoop-de-doo.
Well, that’s it for Friday’s recap. Stay tuned for Saturday’s recap.. I got to meet some other bloggers!!!
So last week’s starting weight was…. 177
This week’s weight… 176.2
Total Lost in 2 weeks- 1 pound
So this week’s mini-goals are…
Yeah, I said “don’t track anything.” I’m not going to track calories this week. Last week was the beginning of my intuitive eating plan, and I think it has worked well. And I’m not going to stress over calories this week or try to lose weight this week. I’m 6 days from the longest race of my life. There’s no reason why I should be limiting food right now anyway.
So in other news… I fell down the stairs last night. So many thoughts of “you won’t be able to run!!!!” ran through my head in the split second it took for my butt to hit the stairway landing. But thank goodness, the only things that hurt are my shoulders from trying to catch myself!
I also broke a bowl last night. Remember I got these last weekend?
The pink one is now in a million pieces in my trash. Poo.
So with all of my clumsiness, I’ve decided to do non-impact activities this week during my taper for fear I might injure myself running. So, it’s a ride on the stationary bike tonight for me!
I leave for Florida in FOUR DAYS!!!
Hello there, lovely bloggies!
Today started out with a yummy not-so-green monster with protein powder, amarertto coffee creamer, a banana, and soy milk. I don’t even know why I didn’t put the spinach in. I tossed around some laundry and then got ready for a short run. This was my first run outside on pavement with my new shoes. The first mile was a little rough with some ankle pain, which I’ve never had during a run. But it subsided after my first walk break. I did 10/1 intervals (I didn’t do the last walk interval) and did 3.1 miles in 33 minutes (a 10:38 pace). I felt like the wind gods were conspiring against me. I was running against the wind no matter which direction I was running. My lower back immediately let me know it wasn’t happy though. I forgot to do my hip openers and yoga moves before running today. Ooops! As soon as I got home, I did some yoga and my back cracked big time! I think it said “thank you”, but I’m not too sure.
What’s your pre-run ritual? Stretching? Yoga? Fuel?
After my run, I heated up some Amy’s pizza for lunch and got a call from my mom asking if I wanted to grab a smoothie with her since she was going to be coming to my neighborhood to pick up a gift card to a salon. What a wonderful surprise I had a strawberry-banana smoothie, while she had an orange-banana smoothie. And we shared a delicious sandwich made with turkey, pesto, brie, and granny smith apples on multi-grain bread (I took the turkey off my half). YUM! We chit-chatted about our Disney vacation, work, and random stuff. We’re so excited for our trip!!!
One of my things on my to-do list today is to revise my packing list. One of the things I need to think about is an “after the race” bag. My mom is going to hold a bag for me while I run, and I need some things to be in this bag like:
I know Disney will have water after the race, but does anyone know what they’ll have as far as protein? I wish I could have my mom keep a chocolate milk for me, but it won’t be kept cold enough. I wish I knew what Disney will be serving to us afterwards. I know we’ll be eating at Rainforest Cafe for lunch that day, but I want to know that I’ll have something to eat right afterwards. I’m getting paranoid and anxious now.. can you tell?
I still need to get a lot more done today:
I’ve been reading The Non-Runner’s Marathon Guide for Women, and I just end up shaking my head at it. This woman is clearly inspirational because she’s a marathoner, but most of the book is about how much she hates to run. Sure, she’s making it funny, and I think she thinks she’s funnier the more she writes about hating running. But seriously? There are other activities she could have done if she wanted to get off the couch. Stop having a piss-poor attitude. Maybe the book gets better. Who knows? Oh, and I’ve been told not to follow the training plans in the book, so if you do grab this book to read sometime, don’t even glance at the training schedules. They’re useless, or so I’ve been told.
Do you have any good book recommendations for running marathons? I need to get myself mentally prepared for what I’m about to register myself for! (When I come home from the NYC Half, I’m registering for the WDW 2011 Marathon!)
Oh, another thing on my to-do for sometime this week… Spray tan! I know this makes me seem all “Jersey Shore” but it needs to be done. See?
I’m incredibly pale! I looked down at my legs the other day, and they almost looked green! Maybe it’s all the spinach… hehehe.
Ok, time to start cleaning my house!
6 Days!!!
With only 8 days left to go before I leave for Disney World for “Tiarathon”, I’m feeling rather stressed. I never like to leave work for too many days. The place can’t survive without me, ok? For a while, I was very stressed I couldn’t find my free Disney tickets. I almost lost it last night and literally cried because I couldn’t find them. There’s just no way I can fit park tickets in to the budget right now.
But I found them!!!
They were in a bedside drawer for some unknown reason.
I gave my mom her own copy of the race information, and she’s been making out a schedule for us so I can get to the expo and race on time, as well as attend the blogger meet-up and pasta dinner on Saturday. We’re also checking out office space in Celebration next Friday. Woohoo!
But a big thing that’s stressing me is that I need to make a big decision at work.. [the rest of this has been deleted]
Today’s a rest day for me, so I’m very excited knowing I can go home and just lounge on my huge, fluffy sectional and just read blogs and watch American Idol all night!
As far as intuitive eating goes today, I’ve been feeling full all day, so I haven’t really eaten much. I brought a veggie burger bagel sandwich for lunch, but I didn’t feel like having the veggie burger, so I toasted the bagel and put some margarine and jelly on it instead. Totally hit the spot. And I had a cup of chick peas for my 11am snack. Delicious! And for my 3:30 snack, I’m munching on chick peas again. This morning’s breakfast was a Green Monster made with:
2 handfuls fresh spinach
1 scoopy chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp. flax seed
1 cup soy milk
1 banana
2 tbsp. Amaretto coffee creamer
ice
The Amaretto coffee creamer, although not that healthy, gave it a nice kick and made it taste like a dessert. Delicious! And if you’re all wondering about the spinach in Green Monsters, you can’t taste it at all!
Tonight’s dinner will probably be Amy’s Kitchen Pesto Tortellii with a spinach salad. Mmmm.
Time to get back to work and try to destress.
So with all of the excitement of the race and Disney and seeing my bff and checking out where to live in Florida, I also get to meet some wonderful bloggers at a blogger meetup!!! Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point and Operational Beautiful tweeted about it this morning, so I RSVPed I’m so excited to finally meet some of these people who I feel like I already know from reading their blogs for so long. By looking at the RSVP list, it looks like Caitlin, Megan, Meghann, Ryan, Ashley, and a few others are attending so far. If you are coming to Orlando for the Disney Princess Half Marathon and want to come along to the meetup, email Caitlin at seebriderun at gmail dot com.
15 days until I leave for Disney World!!!
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