Wife Mother Runner @WaltDisneyWorld Archives

2017 Princess Glass Slipper Challenge Day 1 – The Expo

March 4, 2017

My day was full even before I was at the airport for my departure to Orlando for the runDisney Glass Slipper Challenge. Our daughter was honored as student of the month so there was a special breakfast for her at her school at 8:30 that my husband and I were invited to attend. It was hard for her to say goodbye but she turned around and gave me a big smile before she went to her classroom. I still hadn’t fully packed because I had a going away party for a coworker at work the night before; so when we got home from the breakfast I had to throw last minute items in my suitcase, write notes for the kids, and get myself out the door by 10:00. My husband drove me up to the airport so we had the chance to spend 45 minutes together. I think that’s the longest time he and I had alone time together while awake in a long time!

I arrived to the airport at 11:00, got through security in less than 5 minutes and took my time in the terminal. My flight was really easy and I spent the time enjoying some music and time to relax. When we landed I felt like I was just there (we actually were there the first week in January). But it felt like I was home. I was glad to be there. I got my car and drove straight to the expo to meet up with Mandy.

The expo had a few new perks this year. They offered a wine and cheese plate and also had manicures from the Senses Spa! I thought that was a nice touch. Something I may consider doing next year even though I do my Jamberry Nail Wraps myself. Mandy, Kenn and I enjoyed a wine and cheese plate and discussed our plans for our night and the following morning and also caught up a little since we hadn’t seen each other since last April!

After that I visited Jeff Galloway’s booth to have him sign my bib and then took a loop around the expo to see what the vendors were offering. I did some shopping at the Rinse booth and the runDisney official merchandise area before leaving to head to WalMart for a few essentials for my room, and then to my hotel. After I checked into my hotel, I went to Disney Springs to grab dinner. I couldn’t wait to check out all the new changes at Disney Springs and to do some shopping at Tren-D and get my favorite soup from Earl of Sandwich!

I love going to Disney Springs. It’s such a great place to walk around and even just to window shop! They have a lot of entertainment, especially on the weekends, and I can always pick up a bite to eat and it’s close to my hotel. I was back to my room around 9:30 and had to get all my race gear laid out for the next morning and say good night to my family. By the time I settled down to get to sleep it was after 11:00 p.m. with a 3:30 alarm clock set for the next morning. Check out the video of the day and stay tuned for the Enchanted 10K Recap.

Throwback Thursday 2016 Princess Glass Slipper Challenge

February 23, 2017

The 2016 Princess Glass Slipper Challenge weekend came and went as quickly as they always do! Unfortunately, life also came and went so fast that I never got my blog posted with that race recap. Fast forward to this year and I can give you a Throw Back Thursday version of last year’s race. Mandy and I ran this race together because we are trying to get five Princess Glass Slipper Challenges done in hopes of obtaining legacy status. Sadly Diana wasn’t at this race weekend with us.

I flew down Friday afternoon, went to the expo for my bib and to shop around, and then went over to my hotel to check in. I traditionally like
to spend my first night that I arrive at Disney Springs. I like to get the tomato soup from Earl of Sandwich and shop at my favorite little shop
in the Marketplace Co-op, Tren-D. Then head over to my room to lay out my 10K race costume and get settled in for the night.

I met Kenn and Mandy for the start of the 10K. Our corral took off at 5:51 a.m. and we took 2 hours and 14 minutes to get the race done. We
spent every minute of that race having fun and getting pictures taken with as many characters as possible. In France we were in line for photos
with Lumiere and Cogsworth, a picture I really wanted to take; but there were officials on bikes yelling out to everyone that the sweepers were
coming and if we continued to wait in line we were putting ourselves at risk of being taken off the course. Even though Mandy and I knew we
could outrun the balloon ladies; we didn’t want to run the risk of losing our challenge medals. So we took off and ran back towards the balloon
ladies who were crossing the International Gateway and heading over to the Boardwalk. We continued through the Boardwalk; took some photos of the balloon ladies that we were chasing, and then ran towards the finish line.

The half marathon took off at 5:49 a.m. and we took 3 hours and 32 minutes to finish. Again, we were running this race for fun and not for time. We were in corral G and the last corral was P so we had plenty of time between us and the balloon ladies. This course is the typical course that runs from Epcot towards the Magic Kingdom entrance, under the Contemporary water way and into Magic Kingdom. We ran through the castle and then back towards cone ally. At this part of the race I feel relief because I know we just have to run back to Epcot and not towards Animal Kingdom like the marathon course does. As we were getting closer to the end of the course we were running with Kenn and were actually running up the overpass hills.

I’m looking forward to running with Mandy and Kenn again. We haven’t run together since the Dark Side Challenge last April so it will be good to catch up! I am also looking forward to some warm Florida weather. The cold winter months in CT are getting to me and I need to see some green and feel the warm sun. I’m also looking forward to Kona breakfast with all the ladies of Team Shenanigans on Saturday!

View the 10K race recap video

View the Half Marathon race recap video

Injury Update – Making A New Plan

April 30, 2016

It’s been a while since I blogged and there are several reasons for that. One good reason was because I was on vacation with my family to Disney for Spring break and also to run the runDisney Star Wars Dark Side Challenge. I’ll have more on the race specifics in a future post. I have also been recovering from my recent bout with patellar tendonitis. I had been very good about resting it, icing it and doing various PT exercises to strengthen it. I did not run at all prior to the race; but wasn’t too concerned about conditioning for the race. I was able to walk around the parks at Disney with the family just fine and had my knee taped by my friend Merle while at the expo for the race.

That was great support for me while I visited the parks the two days prior to the actual races. I also took the advice of my chiropractor and purchased a knee strap for support to use when I run.

Once it was time to run the races, I felt good about the 10K. My plan was to run my intervals and see what happens. If things weren’t better, then I was going to walk the half the next day if necessary. I was running with Diana and Mandy and they were supportive of my needs. I ran the 10K with a few issues; but what I noticed with this race was that instead of doing my intervals, I kept running through them. I didn’t want to stop every 30 seconds. Part of the reason for that was because it was crowded and the second part was because I was feeling so good. I hadn’t run in three weeks and my legs felt fresh to run almost a mile without stopping for a walk break.

It’s when i stopped for the intervals that I was starting to feel the twinges. I also noticed it when I ran downhill. So I was very careful. All in all, I was very happy with my recovery and knew that I would be ok for the half marathon. I felt good the entire day after the race (despite the fatigue from being awake since 2:30 a.m.) and went to the Magic Kingdom with my family and met up with Diana and Mandy for pictures of us together for Dapper Day.

The next morning was the half marathon and I was going to take the same approach for that race. My legs were a little bit sore from running continuously but my knee felt ok. However, I had quickly gotten sick with some type of respiratory issue. I don’t know if it was allergies, or not having my oil diffuser with my in our hotel room; but I lost my voice and my lungs were very heavy. Once the race started I did ok for the first section and my knee survived it very well also; but by mile 6 I was deteriorating. I was very tired, I had trouble with my breathing and my throat and chest was burning from the illness I was fighting off.

I was not happy with my race results, and I am still processing this race mentally; but that will be left for a future blog post.

What I plan to do now that I am back home again and was able to go on a few runs with no knee issue is to put together my plan for the year going forward. I am signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon. I thought about my successes in the past and what I did to be successful with my races. The answer is to have a plan. So I went to my favorite website, www.jeffgalloway.com and printed out his marathon training plan and penciled in the dates from the Marine Corps Marathon date back. So now I have a plan. When I was successful with my races, it was because I used that plan religiously. I want to get back to that.

I am also exploring Heart Rate Training. I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Another Mother Runner and Dimity and Sarah were talking about Heart Rate Training, which Dimity has been doing a lot of because she is training for an ultra. They talked about Heart Rate training having benefits of better aerobic training, reduction in the risk of injury and an increase in your speed. They offer a heart rate training plan which I am going to join and give it a fair shot in addition to my Jeff Galloway training plan.

That’s where things are as of now, I’ll dig deeper into my race recaps, training plans and Disney vacation recap as soon as I can. Stay tuned!

“You have to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side” – Poppa

December 2, 2015

That was a quote from Poppa, the father dinosaur from the movie, The Good Dinosaur. We took the kids to see the movie last Sunday, our last day of the wonderful Thanksgiving weekend we had. I wanted to have something fun planned for each day that we had off. It was a fantastic weekend!

The movie was full of emotions! On our way our of the theater my son and I were talking about how the movie was like Inside Out because we felt every emotion during The Good Dinosaur – sad, happy, fear, disgust and anger. It was yet another hit from Disney Pixar.

That one particular quote was said close to the beginning of the movie and as soon as Poppa said it I immediately wanted to write it down. As I thought about it over the past few days it really ties into many elements of my life. One in particular that I can recall is last December with my job. My co-worker was going on a 3 week vacation from work and we preparing me to handle all of the accounts while she was out. But she was always going to be available for me should I need to reach out to her. But this was my chance to spread my wings a little more and stand on my own two feet. I recall specifically one account with a person that Heidi worked with primarily. I had very little to almost no contact with this person and the site they worked on. Her name is Ellen. Now Ellen is one of my favorite clients to work with.

So when Heidi left and Ellen reached out to me with a question, fear set in. I was afraid of the type of work that needed to be done for Ellen’s account. I was still learning some things and wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to deliver the standard of support that Heidi delivered to Ellen. Well I did my best and was able to give Ellen what she needed (with some gentle guidance from Heidi). I pushed past my fear and learned some new things.

In my running life I have fear. Anytime I am at a race there is that rush you feel prior to the race, sometimes up to 3 or 4 days for a marathon. But I don’t know what the fear is, specifically. I always finish, so I can’t say that it is about failing. I know how to be smart about my training to avoid injury, so I haven’t gotten injured in a race. So what is the fear? Is it just part of the process when doing races? Fear to give you the edge you need to push yourself a little harder and go a little longer when training?

I know for sure, that when I have a long training run on my schedule I get anxious. I think it is the fear that I am going to be out on the roads alone for such a long time and that I am doing something that many “normal” people don’t do. But once I am done and I am showered and refueled and refreshed I do see the beauty on the other side. I have those miles behind me and I accomplished another feat.

The movie had a lot of great learning points in it. I will give a more general review of the movie in another post, but I wanted to share the point that struck me the most within the first 10 minutes of the movie.

Did you see The Good Dinosaur? What did you think of the movie?

First Step To Reaching Your Dream

July 17, 2014

I seem to be on a dream theme these days. I came across The Dreamers Podcast from Joe Pardo, which I had the pleasure to be a guest of on his show (coming soon); and also the Dream Warriors Podcast from Doc Kennedy and they have been very inspiring. Today 59 years ago, one man had a dream that he made come true even when no one believed in it – Disneyland was born. Walt is known for pursuing our dreams – “If you can dream it, you can do it”.

While listening to Doc’s podcasts today I got something out if it that I appreciated. In order for your dream to come true, you have to take the first step. What great advice, but sometimes that first step feels like you are walking off a cliff. It doesn’t have to. Try taking baby steps.

Your first steps can be:

– To sign up for a class
– Attend a seminar
– Get books about the subject you are interested in
– Listen to podcasts related to the topic

As you educate yourself in the field you are interested in you will gain confidence. Facing a new dream takes courage and risk. Sometimes the fear of the unknown is why our dreams never come true. Sometimes you need to give up things in order to achieve your goal. But if it is that important to you, the end result will mean more and you may have no regret for the things you gave up.

It could be as simple as this… you want to run your first 5K. So what would you have to give up to meet such a goal? Well, you may have to give up a little sleep on a Saturday morning in the summer so you can get out and run in the early morning hours when it is cooler. What’s more important to you, the sleep or working towards your first race finish?

Another road block towards reaching your dream is usually fear. You are afraid of the unknowns and the what ifs. If you let fear get in your way and paralyze you, you will never reach your dreams. For instance, if you were working toward that new finish line (a further distance or your first race) you need to think of what those fears are and talk yourself through them. What if I get hurt going further, what if I can’t finish, what if the weather is bad on race day. I’ve had many of those things actually happen to me during training and on race day, but you learn from it and it makes you a better achiever.

I came across this quote from Anaïs Nin which said:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Very powerful quote for me. Take your first steps. What have you got to lose? You may lose something, but what you will gain will be so much greater! I know I am so scared of the Dopey challenge this January, but when I cross the finish line on January 11, 2015 I am going to be so proud of my accomplishment! I also hope that during this process my children will see that I set my goal, worked hard for it and achieved it regardless of the fears and concerns that I faced during the way.

I am also afraid of my first sprint tri that I will be participating in on September 7. But I am making the effort to get in more swimming this summer and have to get back on the bike again (I have been lacking since May). But I will go for it. If I fail, I fail, but I will feel better for giving it a shot.

What is your dream or goal? What fears are holding you back from achieving them?

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration “On The Road” – Part 1

June 20, 2014

Yesterday I willingly woke up at 3:00 a.m. to take a shower and get ready to attend the Disney Social Media Mom’s Celebration “On The Road” at the Crown Plaza Valley Forge in King of Prussia, PA. Kimberly Markey picked me up at 4:00 a.m. sharp (I must say a positive trait of hers is being punctual! I wish I could say I was good at that). I digress… So we hit the road at 4:00 a.m. and head down to Philly. I was warned by Kim the night before, “don’t talk to me unless I talk to you first!” (sounds like my mom in the morning. We are not morning people). However, it was a great ride to the conference despite the early morning hour, the unexpected rain, and the challenge of driving in the dark with Kim’s wipers smearing all over the windshield! We pulled over in Fairfield to clean off the windshield and continued on our journey. I always enjoy travelling with her, we never run out of things to talk about.

We arrived at the conference at 7:15 right on schedule! We checked in at the registration desk and it was so cool to meet people and when I told them which blog I write for they actually recognized my name! To me that was a big deal.

Swag bags at registration

The celebration started at 8:30 and we had breakfast provided to us.

We began with an ice-breaking activity of pin trading. We were all given a pin and had to go around for 2 minutes and trade our pins with other mom bloggers. That was a great activity!

My before pin

My pin after trading

Gary Buchanan started us off with news from Disney and the recent contests going on like www.Bethe8thminer.com To enter visit the website and complete a challenge for each dwarf.

Each week, one aspiring miner will win $500 and a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train trading pin. Our grand prize 8th Miner winner will win a 7-night vacation for four to Walt Disney World® Resort, where you’ll meet the crew and ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!

How can you not try to win $500! The challenges are fun and simple, go check them out and post your entry to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #8thMinerContest.

Next up was Jenn Fickley-Baker, @DisneyParksJenn, Walt Disney World Social Media Manager, who talked about the Behind the Scenes of running the Disney Parks Blog. One of the tips she recommended to keep your readers interested is to write a series. She also shared with us the behind the scenes elements of working in the social media segment of Disney with their editorial calendar and the tools that they use to manage their blog.

After Jenn we had a representative from HP speak about the Solution Side of Motherhood and the products that HP has to offer busy moms to help them when in a pinch for gift ideas by using such tools as AirPrint and Instant Ink. They discussed the easy touch screen printers that your children can use to print out coloring pages and tools that moms can use to easily send an item from their phone to the printer (via an email address assigned to the printer). I don’t have a color printer at home, but this sure made me think about what I may invest in if we do decide to get one.

After the HP presentation we had a break. I will continue my next blog post with what I learned from the speakers after the break! In the meantime here are some photos from prior to the speakers and some activities and goodies we were given during the morning.

Gary Buchanan

Prizes that were given away throughout the morning