Long time no blog... trip recap and a LOT of pictures
This week has been exhausting for many reasons (15 hours of travel on Sunday probably didn't start the week on the right foot!). I have been extraordinarily stressed at work and had a scary "eye thing" going on for a few days. If I hadn't been worried enough, when I called for an eye appointment and described my symptoms, I was asked if I could be there in a couple of hours for an "urgent" appointment! Anyway, that's over... but through a combination of DS being sick... the eye thing... the work thing... and well... let's just say it wasn't a stellar week for working out.
I was out for a windy 8-mile run this morning. The first 4 miles were so tough. I'm not sure I've ever run that long directly into wind before. At least it wasn't cold and raining, dealing with one of three isn't too bad.
When I got home from my run, we started digging out the Christmas decorations. Two full-size trees, two small trees, about a dozen totes, boxes and bags filled with lovely Christmas things to spew about the house. We got all of the outdoor lights and decorations up (won't turn them on until next weekend) and we started on the indoor decorations. Tomorrow, we'll finish up what we can and that will be it! Next weekend, I need to focus on the cookies and food that I'll be preparing for our annual family potluck/cookie exchange.
Disney RecapI already mentioned that we had a wonderful time at Disney World. It was worth keeping a secret for several months! I'm so glad we were able to surprise Mom and DS with an early Christmas present. My mom kept saying that she couldn't believe she was there and DS was practically mesmerized by *everything* (so was I, if truth be told).
I have to say, that I didn't really understand the Disney appeal prior to experiencing it. Sure, I was a fan of the movies when I was a kid, but a trip to Disney World was never a "must do" for me. After being there, I have to say that I was/am very impressed. Everything was so clean, well-run and exceptionally organized. It was spectacular. Of course, everything was completely over the top. The scenery for each attraction was just incredible. It puts other parks to shame, that's for sure.
A little summary and then I'll get to the pics:
Wednesday - our flight arrived in Orlando at around 11:30am and we headed from the airport to Hollywood Studios. DS's biggest Disney dream was seeing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones sections of the park. They did not disappoint. We went on the Star Tours attraction twice and sat through the Indiana Jones stunt show a couple of times. The Block Party parade was also a *huge* hit and DS danced with a number of the characters. You could tell the cast loved how into it he was. They kept coming over and singling him out for things.
Thursday - this was our only cool day of the trip (69 degrees). This was our Magic Kingdom day and we also bought tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party so we could see the evening Christmas parade and fireworks. The Haunted Mansion and Jack Sparrow's pirate ride were probably the biggest hits of that day, although Buzz Lightyear's Spin ride was pretty impressive too. The parade and fireworks were AWESOME and worth every penny of the ticket price. It was the first time DS had ever seen fireworks and he kept saying how "awesome" and "beautiful" they were.
Friday - The moment DS had been waiting for finally arrived on Friday morning. We went to Downtown Disney where he could do his souvenir shopping at the Lego Store. I did a "little" shopping at the World of Disney store next door. After a quick lunch, we headed back to Hollywood Studios so DS could see the Indiana Jones show again and we took in a few more rides in addition to the back lot tour and the Lights, Motors, Action tour. Another fabulous day! We stayed in the park until after sunset so we could see the Christmas lights turned on and we walked back to the Streets of America so we could see the Osborne Festival of lights. Unreal!
Saturday - we considered our last full day as a "bonus" day because we'd already seen everything we had set out to see (Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom). It was almost like flipping a coin to determine whether to spend the day at Epcot or Animal Kingdom and Epcot won. We took in a few attractions at Future World and then headed to the World Showcase for the afternoon. DS definitely preferred Future World and we all loved "Soarin" (even my mother, who I was worried about after reading the motion sickness/scared of heights warning before entering the ride). Another successful day at Disney brought our little vacation to an end.
Sunday - up at 5am... on the road to the airport by 6am... 2 flights and a 3 hour drive home had us pulling into our driveway at 9pm that night. Splitting the travel on the way down over 2 days and having a shorter connection between flights was soooo much nicer.
Now for the pics...
Epcot
Hollywood Studios across from the Star Tours attraction:
Hollywood Studios after the Back Lot Tour:
Enjoying the Back Lot Tour (I believe that smile is because he just realized I got wet from one of the "stunts"):
The "pick-a-brick" wall at the Lego store in Downtown Disney... DS had the *most* fun filling one of the small containers with whatever bricks he could squish in there from the wall. It didn't matter which bricks you chose, the container was $8 when you were done so you wanted to stuff it as full as you could!
Cinderella's castle changed colours all evening... gorgeous every time...
Some of the floats in Mickey's parade actually smelled like gingerbread or peppermint!
Cinderella's abode in another colour:
Ok, why did we have our pic taken with Daisy? Well, while I was buying tickets for the Christmas party, Trevor took DS to get in line for a picture and didn't realize that *Goofy's* line was separate. Sooo, since DS didn't have much interest in Daisy, I hopped in the picture too:
Osborne festival of lights in Hollywood Studios:
They tried on lots of hats while I was shopping!
DS got his picture taken with quite a number of characters over the course of 4 days. A benefit of going in November is the smaller crowds and lines (in addition to the Christmas decorations!), he was even selected as a volunteer for a couple of things:
The following pics are very low resolution because they're essentially screen captures from my Flip video camera... let me just say... the fireworks were AMAZING:
So, there's the trip run-down... now we're back to the daily grind and we certainly aren't wearing shorts anymore! Did I mention how perfect the weather was on 3 of our 4 days? We were also lucky with our weather on day 5 when we flew home... no delays!
I took 17 video clips and close to 400 pictures during the trip... so believe me... this very long post is just a tidbit! I've started looking into the Disney running races to snag another family trip... sounds like a good way to celebrate turning 40 and our 10th anniversary :)
We're back!
We're back from the most magical place on earth... where dreams
really do come true :)
We had an AWESOME trip and I will post pics and a summary soon... after I've assisted in assembling the Lego kits that somehow found their way home with us from the Lego store in Downtown Disney. I took a couple of sets of running clothes but didn't manage to fit any runs in during our short time away since I didn't want to take any time from our Disney experience. So, I'll be back in my running shoes tomorrow night for a short run. Until then... here's what I'll be doing:
Secrets...
I'll get the workout stats out of the way first:
Friday - rest
Saturday - 65 minutes cross-training on bike (program 7)
Sunday - 9 miles (9:1 run/walk ratio)
Now, onto the good stuff. Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret? for months? Well, I've managed to do it! I have kept a secret from my mom and son since July. We spilled the beans tonight. We leave for Orlando tomorrow!! We're flying down to spend a few days at Disneyworld while there are school "holidays" for the students so DS won't miss school.
Why did we keep this a secret? So my mom wouldn't freak out about flying. She gets a little nervous if she has too much time to think about it. She's still in shock at this point but I think she's excited about the trip. DS is bouncing-off-the-walls excited. That should calm her nerves (or least make the effort worthwhile lol).
So, I'm off to double-check my packing. I've managed to fit all of DS's and my clothes into one carry-on bag with an additional small carry-on bag for airport/plane entertainment for DS. I'm almost certain we'll miss our connection on the way down because we only have 35 minutes... so fingers crossed that the next flight isn't too long after :)
Last day of Course 1...
What a sad, sad day. Tonight was my last cake decorating class (awwwwwww). I can't believe that 4 weeks have passed so quickly. I loved it. It was so much fun to get out for an evening each week. However, it was a lot of work to prepare for that evening each week, so there's no way I'd even attempt Course 2 this close to Christmas. It was also very tough each Thursday to pick up DS and rush home to cook supper, do homework, get class stuff ready and be out the door by 6:00.
As you can see from the pic, the grand finale involved making the "Wilton Rose" and decorating a cake. I'm not a fan of cakes with roses (or roses in general for that matter)... but I had fun making the cake, so maybe I'll rethink my view of icing roses. We'll see. I had a lot of problems with crumbs in my icing, so my cake this week is rather "speckled". The bottom layer is chocolate and the top layer is white with a layer of pudding between the two cake layers. I actually can't wait to try a piece for dessert tomorrow night.
In workout news, my legs have finally started feeling like they're coming back to life. I think the experts might be onto something, it may in fact take 3-4 weeks to recover from a marathon, I assumed that only applied to the fast people and not to me :)
Monday - rest
Tuesday - 4.5 miles
Wednesday - 4.0 miles
Thursday - traded a rest day with Friday
Friday - plan to do an easy 3.0 miles
Saturday - plan to do 9.0 miles
We don't have a lot planned for the weekend. I hope to get caught up on a little laundry and perhaps, maybe, I might even put it away (but I doubt it).
Trick or Treat... part deux
Let's get the workout stats out of the way first:
Saturday - my long slow run for the week was scheduled to be an 8-miler, so naturally, that's what I did! It felt looooong. How could that be? My legs felt so heavy. I was doing a loop, so the wind was strong and in my face every time I ran the back half of my loop. I was very happy to be done (although the wind at my back pushing me up the hills in my route was nice).
Sunday - cross training for 60 minutes. I did program 7 on the bike and logged 24 km. (I watched coverage of the NYC marathon being broadcast over the internet while I cycled today... I was really rooting for Paula Radcliffe and felt so bad when she dropped back.)
Weekend RecapFriday night started off nicely enough. I went to pick up Trevor from the rental car place since he was away all last week. We came home and picked up my mom and DS and headed out for dinner. Yummy. After stuffing ourselves, we decided to venture to a vaccination clinic to get DS's H1N1 vaccine since he is in one of the priority groups to receive a shot sooner than later. The waits have been ridiculously long (several hours outside in the cold). We lucked out. We got there at 7:15 and DS was having his shot less than 35 minutes later. What a relief. I hope we are equally lucky when Trevor and I have to get ours in a few weeks time.
Saturday morning, after my long run, we headed out for a "regular" flu shot clinic. I had the regular flu shot at my office but the guys in my household did not have theirs yet. The clinics did not have hours that met our schedule to get DS's done prior to this one. I think we waited longer there than the night before! We got it done though. I also had my final pumpkin pie blizzard of the season afterwards.
DS and I rushed off to meet my cousin and her little boy after lunch to go trick-or-treating at my aunt's house. It's a tradition for us to take the boys "pre" trick-or-treating each year at family homes where they are spoiled rotten lol.
Trevor stayed home to hand out treats and we had a grand total of 6 this year lol. Here are Darth Vadar and I all ready to go out trick or treating that evening... we lucked out... it was actually 18 degrees Celsius on Halloween night... no jackets required!!
Trick or Treat
Today was DS's big trick or treating session. After work, I came home and we got dressed up in our costumes (him - Darth Vader, me - fairy witch) and went back to my office for the children's Halloween party. It's a fantastic way to trick or treat! Two floors of the office are decorated to the max and nearly every office has treat bags, chocolate bars, candy, chips, or other treats for the children. There are 4 activity stations (games, cupcake decorating) a room with carved pumpkins, "smoke" machines and a haunted house type area. The children love it.
What's not to love? It's like trick-or-treating at 50 houses without tramping around in the cold, worrying about vehicles or unsafe treats and the whole thing takes under an hour. Fabulous. On Halloween, I doubt we'll go to more than a dozen homes (if that).
Of course tomorrow my coworkers and I will have to un-decorate the office and that's not the most fun task! (It really looks like a few dollar store Halloween aisles exploded in there.)
Training News
Tuesday - 4 miles in 40:00. This was my first post-marathon run. I got the worst stitch in my side at about the 12 minute mark. I slowed to a walk for a minute and it would not go away. So I hopped on the bike (I had been on the treadmill since Trevor is away this week for work). After a minute on the bike, the stitch finally vanished so I hopped back on the treadmill to finish out my 4 miles. My hip was definitely bothering me and I hope that goes away soon.
Wednesday - 16.2 km on the bike in 40:00 (Program 7)
My Recovery sock order FINALLY arrived!! They're ACTUALLY here!! I tried them on and they feel fine. However, I really won't get to give them a real test for a while as I don't have any long-long runs for a few weeks. I'm just glad that they made it and I never have to try to get an email response from them again. Phew :)
Houston in 12 weeks...
Thanks for the cake comments! Both cakes were very well received today :)
My Houston training program started yesterday! It looks soooo much easier than my marathon training plan. I'm following the same general schedule (because I'm a creature of habit and I refuse to change). I also find that my feet bother me if I attempt to run more than 3 days a week or if I run 2 days consecutively.
My plan is therefore the same
3-runs-per-week approach I used for the marathon:
Monday - REST
Tuesday - Easy run or hills
Wednesday - Cross train
Thursday - Intervals
Friday - REST
Saturday - long run
Sunday - Cross train
Differences between my training plans:
Marathon cross-training sessions maxed at 90 minutes
Half marathon cross-training maxes at at 75 minutes
Marathon long runs maxed at 20 miles (had 2 of them)
Half marathon long runs max at 14 miles (only 1 of that distance)
Marathon weekday runs regularly hit 9 and 10 miles
Half marathon weekday runs max at 6 miles and Thursday runs never surpass 5 miles
Marathon runs did not focus on speed work, only endurance
Half marathon training will include speed work
I'm looking forward to following this plan (as closely as life allows!).
Good service / Bad serviceJust as there are differences between plans, there are also differences between online ordering sites. I mentioned a few orders that I placed before our marathon. I placed two orders. One for a new running belt from Spibelt.com and another order for recovery socks from Recoverysock.com.
When I placed the order for the Spibelt, I received an order confirmation as soon as I placed the order. The following day I received an email saying that it had been shipped. It cleared customs and found its way to my mailbox soon after.
Great service!
When I placed the order for recovery socks (a few days *before* the Spiebelt), I paid via paypal immediately. I didn't receive an order confirmation at all, so I waited 4 days and then sent an email to see if my order was received. (It seems strange not to receive an order number or any email acknowledging the order.) I received the following reply:
"Orders are processsed within 48 hours of being received by the warehouse. You should receive shipping confirmation shortly."I did not receive shipping confirmation "shortly", so I waited 9 days and sent an email to ask if my order had been processed if there was a problem with it. No reply. I'm a pretty patient person and *rarely* email to ask about order status unless the wait becomes excessive.
So I waited 8 more days and sent another email to ask if my order had been processed/shipped. At this point (3 weeks after my initial order), I was getting very close to notifying paypal and requesting intervention to get my money back. Today (3 days later), I finally got a reply that my order was shipped on Oct 15. Hmmmm, I wonder where my shipping confirmation email went? Not my spam folder, nor my regular email address, that's for sure. If I had received some sort of email, I wouldn't have been worried about my $100 order going missing.
I don't care how "great" these socks are, I will NEVER place an online order from this company again and I do NOT recommend it. If you can buy them in person at an Expo, go for it. I assume some people have received good service since these things seem to be pretty popular items. Perhaps everyone buys them from Expos... or has had better luck than me. If I ever receive them, I'll let you know if I actually like them! If they were in fact shipped on the 15th, they should be here any day now...
