Settle in friends, this is going to be a long one! [we are covering about 2.5 days]. There will be some fails and some wins and I’ll tell you about about them! Here goes..thanks for hanging with me!

Friday, slight fail. We wrapped up class about 3:30/3:45, great, and AP offered to take me to the airport, very nice! We got there about 4:30, a little early for my 8:02pm flight, ok, I was going to get some work done. I settled in to get things finished for work, got 2.5 done, wahoo! They take between 1-2 hours each, score!

About 6:30, I started getting texts that the flight was going to be delayed. First 8:45, then 9:00, then 9:19, well, alrighty then. About 7, I was getting hungry, so I looked for some food, not a lot of choices for a vegetarian, especially one who is cutting out dairy. They have a PB&J! This was so cool! All PB&J, all the time! I had a pb, honey and banana on toasted cinnamon swirl bread, y u m! It was tasty, but the bread was not the best idea, fell apart too easily. This was a win!

I was heading to Orlando to participate in a 10k at Walt Disney World, there were quite a few people on the flight heading down for a race. There were three going on over the weekend: 5K Friday, 10K Saturday and half marathon Sunday. The choices! I did see RM, one of my co-workers, that was nice, she’s from Orlando and was going home, so we chatted a bit, she had a busy weekend planned!

The flight boarded eventually and I’m not 100% sure when we took off, I know I dozed here and ther, but we landed sometime after 12:10, oh joy! I went to the rental car center and waited on line for about 25 minutes at the Avis counter, when it was my turn, realized I rented with Enterprise [our company uses Avis as a preferred car rental company] fail on my part! Then waited on line for Enterprise, well, Alamo because there was no one at the Enterprise counter and they are partners, ok.

I get into the car, head towards the hotel, it’s now close to 1am. I completely forgot about the tolls all over Orlando! I got to the first one and no cash or change! I asked if they take credit cards, nope! I asked what would happen? It would get charged to the license plate, so I would be charged when I turned the car in, ok. Then the next toll, oh brother! That guy made me nervous, he said they might charge me $15! No, whew! I found out when I returned the car that they woudl charge $2.95 plus whatever the tolls are, ok, that’s better! I remembered to get cash for the drive back!

I get to the hotel about 2am and it’s a Hampton Inn, we know how I feel about Hilton properties. This did not live up to those standards! I think the hotel needed a little love. First…I made my reservation via a travel company, I am getting points through that company, but since I used them, I don’t get my Hilton points, did it say that anywhere? NOPE! I will be sending a letter to Hilton, we’ll see what happens. I did talk to someone who works at the Hilton Garden Inn where I am staying and she said that I should have at least gotten my gold status treatment, two bottles of water, etc. nope and not the nicest desk staff, terrific. slight fail.

The room wasn’t in the best shape, the tub dripped, the lights hummed, the outlets didn’t work that well. But…the sheets and towels were clean and fluffy and the bed comfy, the best part.

As I said I got to the hotel about 2am, I had to be at Disney for the race at 4:30, no going to bed for me! I was starving, so I got some food, went back to the room and had a late dinner and watched some tv while I waited to leave. I was starting to “wake up” again. At 4, I headed out to Epcot, got to the parking lot and walked to the information tent, I wasn’t able to get to the Expo to pick up my race packet since I got in way after it closed.

I get to the information tent, show my confirmation and was told that my registration was for the 5k the day before. I explained that my confirmation was for the 10k, “yes, but you paid the 5k price”. Well, I registered for the 10k at the Peachtree Expo in July and I received a discount. “You should have gone to the Expo to take care of this” “My flight got in at 12:30a this morning, I couldn’t get to the Expo”, this went round and round for a few minutes, fun [fail]. He finally gave up and 10 minutes later I had a bib and I was off to the races! Ha ha. win!

It was about 5am at this time, I took a picture and texted people, not thinking anyone would be up to respond, but I had to send! And I posted on FaceBook. I got into my area, started to warm up and then started talking to a few people, some were from Georgia, all sorts of great running outfits, some Disney, well, most Disney and some were running skirts, some full costumes! I started talking to this one girl, very nice and after a few minutes finally introduced ourselves formally. Ready for this…[remember what I told you about meeting people with my name at the Hot Chocolate Expo?] same first name! wait…SAME INITIALS!! JRS! and our birthdays…13 days apart! not the same year, but wow! She was there doing the Glass Slipper Challenge, 10k Saturday, half marathon Sunday, you go girl! She had a lot of experience with Disney runs, thanks so much!

You still with me? Need a bio break?

Did I mention that this was the Inaugural Enchanted 10k? I love being part of inaugural runs!

Then it was time to go! We started our heat about 6am. Guess what died at that point? My cell phone! Of all times for my phone to die, at a Diseny Race? Well, you know what that means? I’ll just have to do another one! Twist my arm! We started off the run through the parking lot and we went under a bridge and Princess/Queen Elsa was waving at us from the bridge and there was snow, well, soap bubbles, that was fun. There was music along the course and characters waiting to take pictures. I took a few pictures with characters, hope to find those somewhere on runDiseny.com. We ran along the main road, came in through Epcot by Asia, took a left and ran by France, the lake was on the right, the took a left and ran down by the Boardwalk, that was fun. We went back through the park and then past Spaceship Earth, how cool would that have been if we ended on the ride! We exited in the parking lot to cross the finish line. Here’s the course, in case you’re interested. http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/rundisney/pdf/princess/2014/PRN10K5KMap.pdf

About 2/10 of a mile from the finsih line, my Motoaciv watch died, what? Epic Fail! [luckily it still recorded 99.99% of my run]

The great part about it, there were lots of people along the course cheering us on, people who work there as well as people staying at different hotels, holding signs and giving us high fives! Got to the finish line and through the cheers of the crowd, got my medal and went to take a victory picture!

You have no idea how important those people cheering you on are, you might be struggling, at a low point, just can’t find that second wind and someone says “Way to go!” “Wahoo!” “You’re awesome! You’re doing great!” It helps so much!

I have to tell you, it was H O T Hot!!! It got up to 8000 degrees, I know not really, but it felt that way! I commented that I could have washed a car with what was coming off my neck and head! WOW! H O T! But, it was so worth it!

My stats: Out of 8967 runners [1039 men, 7928 women] I came in 6986 [gender finish] 7934 [overll] with a time of 1:44:52. I’m quite happy! [with no sleep, go me! Imagine what I could do with some sleep!]

After the run, I went to the Expo to pick up my packet [t-shirt] and walked the Expo, I enjoy walking the expo, it was a big one, like the Peachtree Expo, only sad part, I didn’t have my expo buddy! CKM wasn’t with me! well, she was in spirit! I did pick up a few things for myself, a running skirt, something I’ve needed for a while, a really good one, with a pocket at the waist and pockets on the legs of the shorts, LOVE it! I talked to people who have multiples of these skirts, wow! It’s definitely a good investment! Then I got a magnet for my car, a mickey mouse with 6.2, a running hat “walk, crawl, run, Just finish!”, sleeves “I love running, just not while I’m doing it!” and a long sleeve thin hoody “Enjoy the journey…One milestone at a time”.

The best part being at the expo, I had my bib and medal on, everyone who was working there, Disney employees and vendors from the expo all wished me well and congratulations, you have no idea how great that feels!

After I did my thorough inspection of the expo, I headed back to the hotel, had a bite to eat, took a shower, sent a text that I was going to sleep, got under the covers and by 12:15pm, I was ahhhhsleep! I slept hard hard hard! I woke up at 12:15am! YUM! I woke up, grabbed something to eat and then at 3:30am, I fell asleep again until 8:30am, I think I may have caught up on some of the sleep I have been missing the last few weeks!

I got up, had some breakfast, headed to the big outlet mall not far from the hotel, walked around and then headed to the airport. After getting turned around a few times, epic fail on phone, finally got to the airport, left my sweatshirt in the car, duh! When I realized it, I went back and they were close, three minutes away, I got it back, win!

Made it to the gate and as I am getting on the plane…upgraded to first class! WIN WIN WIN! Sat next to a nice guy, we chatted about cars and tv shows and food and Detroit, made the time passable.

Got back to Detroit, whew, it was nice and cold! Never thought I’d be happy for that! Went to Avis, met AP, he dropped off his car, I picked up mine and we drove back to our hotels. After I picked up my bags, I called KS and we met for dinner, Red Robin, yum! We laughed, chatted and got caught up. Then it was back to the hotel for laundry, paperwork, paid some bills, stuff like that and to talk to you guys!

You tired now? Thanks for sticking with me! You deserve a medal for reading through this and staying awake!

I know, I know, you’re thinking…is there something wrong? I’m getting a prattling from peaches before 11pm/midnight EST? Yes, I am writing to you earlier because by the time I get to my hotel, my plan is to pass out and I am going to tell you why, but let’s go in order.

[I just finished, it’s a long one, get some coffee!]

Today was a long day because it started way too early, 6:30am to be exact, not 100% sure I’ve caught up completely with the time difference, but I roll with it! I packed last night, got everything ready to go except for toiletries and jammies. I even packed up the food I had in the cabinet and fridge. I got up, showered, got ready for work, finished packing, took everything downstairs, well, in two trips [I had my luggage and food bag, then went back to the room for my work bag and what I was taking with me on the flight. Hilton is great and I am sure most hotels will do this, especially if you’re a business traveler, hold your bag over the weekend. I am going to be back Sunday afternoon and didn’t want to lug it all with me to Florida. [oops, gave something away!]

We get to class and get going, learned a lot, so ready to get going! We worked from 8:15 to 12, then 1-4, then AP was great and offered to take me to the airport so I wouldn’t have to deal with a taxi and I also suspect he had nothing else to do, well, not nothing, but no concrete plans for the afternoon and he was very generous to offer and I appreciated it! We have gotten to know each other over the last week, it’s been nice. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, driving back and forth to training over the next five weeks; I don’t know if we’ll be teaching on the same days or in the same building after that. The nice thing is we are sharing a car, he got it this week, I’m getting it next week.

Well, we got to the airport about 5pm, I got through security and headed to my gate. My flight was leaving at 8:02pm EST and I knew i had a lot to get through work wise, so perfect non-distracted time. Yes, you are very smart, I am still writing to you and it’s after 8pm EST. I started getting text alerts, flight is delayed to 8:45, flight is delayed to 9:00, flight is delayed to 9:19…just sitting here waiting for them to either tell me it is boarding or delayed or canceled. ok…

Oh, the weather, it started off yucky, cold and very windy and grey. Then cleared up nicely, then a little bit of snow, love it! Tonight, they predicted winds 40-50 miles an hour, um.

So, we have covered the long day, let’s just say I forced myself to go to sleep at 3am this morning, does that help put some of this into perspective? We’ve covered the weather and now the flight delays. On to an awesome dinner!

I think, based on my physical reactions lately, that I am going to be going ovo-vegan. By this I mean, I will still eat eggs, but I will not be adding dairy to my diet. I have had too many bad reactions to things i have been able to eat in the past, it’s just getting worse, so I might well cut it out, right? We’ll see, I’m still hopeful, but…

So, my options in this boarding area are limited, very few vegetarian options and a lot of dairy, as in pizza. There is a place called PB&J, who knew! It was nothing but peanut butter and jelly combinations! I’ve never seen this place or a place like it. They have about 8 different sandwiches or you can build your own. Multiple bread choices and toppings, simple and inexpensive! I think the sandwiches started at $4.99 and for airport food, that was incredible! I must have confused the guy behind the counter because he kept asking what jam or jelly I wanted after telling him several times what I wanted, no jelly or jam. I had peanut butter, banana and honey on toasted cinnamon swirl bread! Tasted great, but for a sandwiche, not the best bread choice, fell apart, had to eat it with a fork, oh well! This was a tasty treat!

The reason I will not be talking to you later tonight is that I am getting in to Orlando at midnight, have to get my car and get to the hotel, probably should have just gotten the car and slept in it near the hotel, for the little I will be in it tonight! Why? Because I am doing a 10k at Walt Disney World at 5:30 AM! Yes, I said FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING! No, I did not realize that the race was at 5:30 when I signed up, the other races at Disney I have signed up for were in the evening! I signed up for it back in July at the Peachtree Expo, when I was with CKM, my registration came with a bag for both of us, how could i not? I also did not realize that I would get out of class as early as we did, the calendar they provided said 6pm, so I made the flight for 8, what???

Ok, I have put on my big girl panties and I am dealing with it! I am heading to Disney to participate in a run! How fun! Prediction for tomorrow? Get up at 3:30, get to Epcot by 4, check in, get my packet, do the 10k at 5:30, be done in about 1.5 hours, who knows, maybe I’ll find some wings for my feet, doubt it, but who knows. Back to the hotel by 8 and under the covers with the blinds drawn by 8:15 and alarm set for Sunday! If, and I use the term loosely, if I do get up before Sunday, I will venture out, maybe get some food, look at stuff, then get back in bed until Sunday! I will be perfectly find if I don’t get out of bed until I head to the airport again!

So, as I sit here and watch the people debark from the late plane from Orlando, I bid you a very good night and I will talk to you on Sunday. Oh wait! I must revise my last paragraph, I will get up at some point to say hello and tell you about the race! That might be all I can do!

Good night!