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Suck It Up and Be Grateful

September 20, 2015

I was having a rough week last week and during the beginning of my week before I started to call it “hell week” I stopped myself and told myself that I was going to stay positive and not let things upset me. I tried very hard to keep that positive attitude. I also told myself that I have it VERY good. Compared to others, my life couldn’t be better! I have a beautiful family, I have a beautiful home, I have a job, a car, my kids are doing well in school and sports, I have a loving husband, I have my health, we are all healthy (well the children are at least).

As the week went on, I tackled my challenges as they came my way. One of the things that I was dreading was my trip to New Jersey. I had to teach a virtual class all day on Wednesday in East Hartford and then I had to drive back home from work; pack up, have dinner with my family, and then drive to New Jersey. I was dreading the drive because it was going to be after 7:00 at night and lately when I was travelling while tired I was having difficulty driving. I was anxious about that. I don’t mind driving places. I enjoy listening to my podcasts and having time to myself. But I was scared to make the drive at night. Especially in an unfamiliar area.

The positive thought I had was that while in New Jersey, I was going to have the chance to visit my friends Joe and Melissa Pardo. So again, I kept trying to make the best of the situation. I drove to NJ, missed an exit and drove around Newark airport and then arrived to my hotel around 10:30 p.m. At that point I was so wired up from the drive that I didn’t get to sleep until close to 1 a.m.

The next day, I arrived to the facility where I was doing the training. The beginning of class was bumpy with technical difficulties and was getting off to a very rough start. I took a deep breath and told myself I was going to get through it. I thought I was teaching 6 people online and 6 people in the class. When I arrived to the small conference room I was annoyed when I learned that there were no students in the class. Then two people arrived, I had at least two people in the room. Ok then it wasn’t so bad. I pulled out some magic and had a good class for the day with a decent class review. Then it was off to dinner with Melissa and Joe.

I had a great night with Melissa and Joe at the Cheesecake factory in Cherry Hill, NJ. We talked and had dinner and spent over 3 hours visiting with each other. I am so grateful for the friends I have gained from runDisney events to be able to hook up with a friend in just about any state to share a meal with someone.

On my way home from dinner I called my family and was told that my husband’s uncle passed away. We knew he was sick and didn’t have much time left; but he passed much faster than expected. I was also told that my mother-in-law was suffering from dementia even worse in the past weeks and my father-in-law was under a lot of stress with her health and the loss of his brother.

The next day during a break from class I took a walk outside and saw a beautiful pond with geese on a sunny, beautiful day and took a few minutes to myself to enjoy the view and to feel grateful. Sure, I wished I was home with my family but I was making the best of the situation.

The drive home was going to take a long time. It was a Friday night driving north through NJ, NY and CT and the GPS was right. It was over a 4 hour drive home. But when I arrived home, I was thankful. I enjoyed some time on the couch with the kids and watched the America’s Got Talent Final episode and we all climbed into bed happy.

This weekend we had the pleasure of attending our nephew Stephen’s wedding to his beautiful wife Shirlie.

We also had the joy of watching our baby girl Adrienne have another win with her softball team. The weather was perfect for both events this weekend.

Then we attended our town’s fundraiser for my son’s good friend Lyla who is battling cancer yet again. It makes me grateful that I have many things to be grateful for and I am more than happy to help out this wonderful family and little girl who has spent time playing with my son since they were in kindergarten.

Suck it up buttercup, Many others don’t have it as good as you, so be grateful for what you have and think twice about complaining about things. It’s something I have been chewing on for a few days now.

Dumbo Double Dare Travel Day 1 and Expo

September 8, 2015

I can’t believe this trip was already a week ago. Life was so hectic right up to the trip and then right afterwards. I will be providing you my details of the trip in segments. Today we will begin with the travel day out to California and the Expo.

The trip began with a little bit of frenzy. When my alarm went off at 6:00 I snoozed it. Then when my backup alarm went off at 6:15 I snoozed that. I finally got up at 6:30. I wasn’t motivated to get moving too quickly. I wanted to be around to see Kevin get on the bus and then at least I’d have a few minutes with Adrienne also. I watched the traffic on the news so I was keeping up with any issues on the highway. With the last traffic check I did at 8:05 there was an accident just outside of Hartford! That’s when a little panic set in. I grabbed the
last of my things, kissed Adrienne and my husband and got on the road. Thank God for the Waze app. The traffic was looking OK according to the app. My estimated arrival time was 9:07 and I was leaving my house at 8:20 for a flight at 10:30. I arrived at 9:00 – Perfect.

I parked the car and got on the shuttle. Diana texted me that the line at the counter to check bags was very long. When I arrived, there was no one left! A flight to Chicago had a large amount of people there so they moved them all through. Security had a longer than usual line. It was doing the Disney zig zag rather than the usual straight lanes. But even with that we got through in less than 10 minutes. But of course, BOTH of my carry on bags needed
to be inspected. We were fine though. We had plenty of time to get a tea, use the restroom and chill for a few minutes before getting on the puddle jumper to New Jersey.

It was a quick 1 hour trip to New Jersey and when we arrived, we picked up sandwiches and snacks for lunch since it was close to lunch time and our flight to California was 6 hour flight. We wanted to make sure we had sufficient food with us to keep us fueled up for the flight. The flight ended up taking 5 hours and 30 minutes flight and was a good flight. I got some work done and rested and Diana read her book and rested. When I think back on it, it did go by quite fast.

When we landed we gathered our luggage and used the restroom. I had a moment in the restroom where I heard a woman calling out for help. I was alone in there with another woman and the woman in the stall. So we both walked over to see what was wrong. The woman who needed help had MS. She needed help moving from her motorized scooter toward the toilet so she could go to the bathroom. She did need the help of both of us women in the bathroom to help her move her legs. She had no feeling and mobility in her legs. We helped her and left her to her privacy and then helped her get dressed and move back into her chair again. She was a wonderful woman, whose daughter was going to run the Dumbo Double Dare Races. After she was all set and back into her chair we said our goodbyes and I felt grateful for my health and to appreciate the little things like how easy it is for me to quickly go in and out of a stall to get my business done and rush onto my way.

Diana and I got our rental car and went on with our journey to Disneyland. I took the advice from the man at the rental car check-out counter and we took the back roads to the Disneyland hotel. He said the highway at that time of night was a mess. That didn’t surprise me because that is how it was for me for the past two prior years. So we typed in the address to our phones and started on our way. As usual, it took 45-50 minutes to get to the hotel, when it is usually a 15-20 minute drive. Like in the past, I had to make a few U-turns and then we parked at the Downtown Disney parking lot and walked over to the Disneyland Hotel to go to the expo.

It was around 6 pm and many of the items at the Expo were picked over and there wasn’t as much of a selection left. I purchase an “I Did It” shirt; but it was only for the Disneyland Half Marathon, it wasn’t even for the Dumbo Double Dare. I also picked up a new Coast to Coast shirt. Those are the two items that I always want to grab when I run the Dumbo Double Dare races.

I did have the chance to go to the New Balance booth with no wait time and had the chance to pick up a pair of children sized Donald Sneakers. They didn’t have the exact size I wanted; but I was able to squeeze my foot into a half size smaller and was OK with that. We went downstairs to pick up our bibs, park passes, and coast to coast wrist band. Then we went upstairs to pick up our shirts. As we walked to the car it dawned on me that I had a coast to coast wrist band and Diana didn’t. Good thing I noticed it! We went back to the expo and talked to Runner Relations to get that resolved and she got her wristband.

It was getting late and we were getting hungry. So we dropped our items into the car and grabbed a sweatshirt to bring with us to Disneyland to watch the Electrical Parade and fireworks. Mandy had landed around this time and we were making arrangements to meet up near the gate so we could give them their passes. Diana and I went to Earl of Sandwich to pick up dinner and brought it with us into Disneyland to eat. But being close to the parade time; there was a large crowd on Main Street. I didn’t want to be too far from the gate because I still had to walk out to meet Mandy to give her the park passes.

We finally met up and the parade had started. Unfortunately, it was just too crowded to enjoy the parade. There wasn’t a good place where I could see the floats. But I did my best to take some pictures. We hung out for a little bit at the park and then decided it was time to head back to our hotels because it was getting close to 9:30 (12:30 back home) and I wanted to be asleep by 11:00 PST the latest.

We checked into the hotel, laid out our race materials for the next day and hit the sack around 11:00 p.m. The alarms were set for 4:00 a.m.

Stay tuned for my recap of the Disneyland 10K race recap.

Disney Dumbo Double Dare Is Upon Us!

September 3, 2015

Dumbo Double Dare weekend came up quick. My friends have been counting down to it but I haven’t been because it also signified the end of summer and back to school for the kids.

I did finally start making my costume pieces and started packing this past weekend. I also found some fun accessories and makeup to use for my costumes and to wear in the parks for the Disneyland anniversary celebration.

I usually like to travel with just one carrying bag so I dont have to go to baggage claim. But since I have costume pieces and scissors and a glue gun I decided it’s easier that way. I also want the space for bringing home lots of goodies from the 60th anniversary and I am hoping to score the Donald Duck New Balance sneakers for me and a friend!

I happened upon this silver glitter eye shadow at Rite Aide from Wet and Wild. I love it! It’ll be fun!
I also love these custom Jamberry wraps which are now discontinued.

So once I get my kids on the bus I will head up to the airport and the adventure will begin. Tomorrow night we are going to see the parade in Disneyland and Saturday we have reservations for dinner and to see the World of Color show.

After going to Disneyland twice this year I will finally experience the parks!

Stay tuned for more updates during the weekend and follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Yup! A New Star Wars Race Is Coming to WDW Next Year!

August 30, 2015

Remember in my blog post about the new Star Wars Worlds coming I wondered what that was going to mean for the runDisney races? Well, that question was answered just a week later when runDisney announced a new Star Wars Race coming to the East Coast in April, 2016. It ties in perfectly with our family vacation plans for next year so I already warned my husband about it! The races will take place April 14-17, 2016.

The first-ever Star Wars Half Marathon – Dark Side will be in Walt Disney World with a 5K, 10K and half marathon. Also included is the Ultimate Darth Vader Challenge! Participate in the 10K Saturday, April 16 and the half marathon, Sunday April 17 to receive the special Star Wars Dark Side Challenge Finisher Medal. The start of the half marathon will be at Epcot and the finish will be at ESPN Wide World of Sports. The 5K takes place in Epcot alone, the 10K begins in Epcot and ends at ESPN Wide World of Sports. This may be a new course from races past. I’m looking forward to seeing what the information will be regarding the course.

We vacation in Disney in May and it’s a very warm time of year. This is going to be one of the warmer races in their calendar year; but I’m hoping since it will be starting early in the morning, like all of their races, it won’t be too bad.

This race was just announced last week and registration opens on September 22nd! Quick turn around for such a big event! Who will be registering for this new challenge?

Dumbo Double Dare Donald Duck New Balance Sneakers!

August 30, 2015

source New Balance

I’m excited that Donald Duck is the character for the newest release of the NB runDisney special sneakers being released during Dumbo Double Dare Disneyland Half marathon weekend. Donald is my son’s favorite character and I know that they carry children sizes for these sneakers.

This model is the New Balance Boracay Fresh Foam, similar to the Tinkerbell model that was just released in may. The sneakers will be sold for $140 at the runDisney Health and Fitness Expo.

Source New Balance Love the hat tail like Donald’s hat coming off the back of the sneaker!

Source New Balance

How do you get your hands on a pair of these?

You can wait in line at the New Balance booth at the expo, or to help minimize the wait you can sign up for the virtual queue at NBvirtualqueue.com using your bib number starting Thursday, September 3rd, at 6:00 AM PST. The queue is also available on Friday and Saturday beginning at 6:00 AM PST.

The NBvirtualqueue.com will also provide you up to date information on inventory availability and updates throughout the weekend.

Check out all the latest releases of the special runDisney New Balance sneakers while you are at the expo as well!

Source New Balance

Marine Corp Marathon 16 mile Training Run

August 24, 2015

I was supposed to go out for a 17 mile training run today but due to the heat and the humidity I did cut it short by 1 mile. I was hoping to go on this run when I was on vacation; but I was enjoying too much of my vacation time and it was still very hot and humid in New Hampshire with now break in the weather forecast. So I decided that I would save the run for Sunday when I am back at home and am familiar with my roads.

I set my alarm for 7:00 a.m. At first I was thinking 6:30 but decided I wanted a little more sleep. By the time I had my tea and oatmeal, mapped out my route on my Garmin Connect, loaded up my iPod with all of my favorite podcasts, and got all of my gear together it was 8:30 when I was on the road. My intent was to walk at first to adapt to the heat. I did that for the first half mile and then started my 30/30 intervals. I was feeling good, the air temp was comfortable and there was a little breeze with overcast skies.

I stayed on a shady road for the first 2 miles and they went by quickly. Then instead of what I was considering for my route changed while on the road. I decided to go a different way because I didn’t want to hit many of the very high hills that are on the return trip home. I wanted to survive this run with confidence under my belt. It’s just much harder running in the summer.

I did see several nice sights out on my run today. The silly cow standing in the swampy pond, turkeys in my neighbor’s yard, the beautiful vineyard, horses, a woodchuck, and a unique coke bottle with the word “Explorer” on it.

I felt good through the first 8 miles, then I was starting to do the marathon math and was getting confused. When I hit 10 miles I was happy that I had just 7 left; but I was also close to home and decided that I would get some pretzels and fill my water bottles with ice. I was starting to feel the effects of the heat. I needed to get ahead of any heat exhaustion so that I could get the rest of my 6 miles done. I went back out and did my usual 4 mile route and saw my neighbor up the street whom I had seen 3 hours earlier. He was surprised I was still at it.

While on the last 5 miles I was starting to feel light headed. The ice in my water bottles melted already and the roads had less and less shade on them. The sun was starting to burn off the cloud cover so I didn’t have much respite from the heat. I poured some of the water over my head to help cool me down; but I was feeling pretty sure that I wasn’t going to be able to get the full 17 miles done. I would do the best I could to get 15 for sure. I was able to pick up some running again around mile 14 and did my 30/30 intervals closer to home and once I got to my driveway I walked the remaining distance to get me up to 16 miles.

While this wasn’t a fast training run, it was a successful training run. I didn’t get a heat headache and my legs don’t feel too bad. I did have to end up to walk some more than I had wanted; but the goal is to get the mileage under my belt and not worry about the speed.