Marathon Weekend 2019

Okay, my goal for 2019 is to keep up with this dang blog haha! I changed the name to match my instagram handle! And I will try to make this more running/Run Disney/ Disney oriented. Only took me 10 years but I finally found my "thing" ;)

2018 was my first year running a full marathon and I knew I didn't train the way I should have. I am a flat out baby when it comes to running in cold weather-- and I live in Atlanta! So my mom asked me if I was up for doing the 2019 full marathon with her. I took her up on the challenge and I started training harder than I have in years. I am faster than I have been, in better shape, and just truly feel better! We did most our long runs on a Saturday then treated ourselves to Waffle House after! Kept me accountable and sometimes you need to bribe yourself to get the miles done :)

I flew in Friday night after work, I got that $30 Frontier flight-- what what! We were staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was just a nice perk! If you have never done marathon weekend you should know that this is the Super Bowl of RunDisney! So it was nice to have a relaxing setting with a hot tub and other amenities. A lot of time we have the Savannah view, which is breathtaking don't get me wrong! But this room was so much closer!

Saturday morning I was hoping to sleep in but no such luck! So we got up and headed to Epcot to watch the half marathon runners! We watched them for a while and decided to go see how long the wait was for Frozen. We walked over there and were SHOCKED to find out it was walk on. Yes you heard me right! We walked right on!! That's never happened to me before, not even early mornings. We went to the expo after to pick up our race bibs and that's when it started to get real for me. I kept thinking out of sight out of mind. I'm not comfortable with the full marathon distance yet so I was pretty nervous. After that we just went back to the room to lay low. I was tired so I took a cat nap by the pool, went to Hollywood Studio's for a bit and went back to the resort to indulge in their runners pasta special. But let me tell you, it was anything but special! hah. But it worked. We hit up the hot tub and went back to the room to sleep. If you aren't aware wake up calls for the running events are about 3a.m. earlier if you want to be on the first bus!

3a.m. came early of course, but I was feeling optimistic about what my 26.2 miles were to come. I get dressed, eat breakfast, and i'm ready to go down to the buses. One perk of staying at a deluxe resort for race weekends are the plethora of buses they have waiting! Anytime I have stayed at a value (which is a lot) we get crammed on the bus. So once again another great reason to stay deluxe on race weekends. It was a little chilly that morning so we took some pool towels from the resort (Sorry Disney if you are reading this ;)) We met with my friend Danielle and headed over to our corrals.

The nerves start kicking in a bit, and the temps are only rising at this point. I honestly wasn't too nervous, I kept just telling myself that I was running a half marathon. It was finally our turn to go, and the extra added stress to this was that we started in the same corral as the balloon ladies. If you don't know about the balloon ladies they are basically the pacers and if you fall behind them then you get "swept". Here we go! 

The first few miles honestly just flew by! Which is always a good thing while doing any race. We got to the Magic Kingdom gates which is about 3-4 miles in. We are chugging along with our intervals keeping a great pace! We hit the castle and i'm all like "yeah!! Every mile is magic!" by the time we leave Magic Kingdom we are about 6-7 miles through. We run on this really congested road past the Grand Floridian and all of that. We were running 20/30 (20 run 30 walk). A nice lady asked what we were running and she asked if she could run with us. I said of course! She was the most adorable human I have ever met. It was her first marathon! We hit Animal Kingdom and I was feeling great still! Fueling properly, I was getting texts from friends tracking me saying how great and fast I was going! 

Next park up was Animal Kingdom! We had a lot of high way miles in between. They had more than enough hydration stations and they had a banana stop! Animal Kingdom we hit the half way mark, which is obviously always a relief! Basically after we leave Animal Kingdom there is nothing else for about 6-7 miles. And even then we have to go through Wide World of Sports which is also known as the rat maze. Around mile 16-17 things just really fell apart for me. I was getting slow, could hardly keep up with my intervals and I was starting to feel sick. I have people texting me encouraging words but I really just wanted to quit. It was so hot, the sun was just beating down, and I was just unhappy. I saw the "parade bus" and nothing looked better than getting on that thing. But I had come that far I knew I had to finish. I had a friend telling me how far the balloon ladies were from me and they were about a mile and a half behind me. I'm just walking at this point-- I was at about mile 20. After WWOS you have about a 10k left. That doesn't sound so bad. Except I died somewhere in between WWOS and Hollywood Studios. I mean I had tears because I was in so much pain. I felt like I was going to puke at any given moment and my feet just flat out hurt so bad. Mind you my mom is like a spring chicken bouncing around. These next few pictures are not all cheerful. But it's the reality of how I felt. We get into Hollywood studios and we hit Hollywood Boulevard and my mom says just smile and run and you can walk after the cameras. Momma is always right! I faked it and got some good pictures. What the cameras didn't catch was right after me having to pull over because I thought I was going to puke. At this point I had a 5k left. I wanted to cry because I only had 3 miles left and I wanted to cry because I still had 3 miles left. 

I got through the 5K somehow, unfortunately I don't have any finish line pictures. But I can tell you I cried. I ran to the finish line with my mom and I cried. Last year I didn't have one tear. This year I cried and walked over to medical because I felt so sick. They were so helpful and didn't leave my side until I felt better. I left got my snack box (hello fake cheese) and met my mom. I was scared to sit down because I was afraid I wouldn't get back up. But I did, sat there ate my applesauce and my fake cheese (not together of course). I actually felt a good deal better. So we get back to the room. I was so tired and sore. I couldn't even bring myself to shower when I first got back (gross I know)   

I showered and got ready for my group meet up and dinner. My favorite thing about race weekends are the times I get to spend with all my other group members. It's always such a good time! We met at Beach club, and I had dinner with a couple of people at Via Napoli. If you have never been the pizza is a must!! Seriously so good! 

After dinner we go back to Animal Kingdom Lodge and hit the hot tub. I was so tired at that point I almost fell asleep in the hot tub hah! We went back to the room and let me just tell you. I slept like a baby that night! Monday we got up and did extra magic hours at Animal Kingdom which was nice because it was so close to our resort! I unfortunately woke up with a very upset stomach. Things were just not sitting well with me. Nothing sounded good and I was just trying to get through the day. We had Boma with some friends. Headed off to Magic Kingdom for a little bit. Went back to the room around 4 and I didn't leave the rest of the night haha. Again, this is when it's nice to stay at a deluxe. I actually wanted to spend time in the room! We were leaving on Tuesday but decided to do breakfast at Epcot before we left. Mu current favorite spot is the bakery in France. Not many people know it's open so it's pretty quiet and omg. so delicious! I got the spinach feta quiche. It's a must do if you haven't yet! We did a couple of rides, did the DVC lounge, made a stop at the caramel shop in Germany and we were on our way home. 

And that's a wrap on marathon weekend!! 

Blue Apron

Hey Everyone!

Hope everyone is having a great 2017!

One of my friends posted on her Facebook that her and her husband ordered Blue Apron and raved about it. I always heard about it but never really looked into it. Honestly, I just always thought it something I could never really afford. And, well, let's be honest with my Disney addiction stronger than ever I can't lol! But, I signed up anyways. I was debating it for a few days, and then blue apron sent me a 75% off Coupon. Which made the total for 3 meals (6 technically) for $15. So I figured it was a perfect time to try it!

I ordered my meals, they give you the choice of 6 meals and you choose 3 out of the 6. We chose the spinach and mushroom Stromboli, Catfish with collard green, and sweet potato quesadilla. I received the order on Sunday afternoon. I was so excited to get the box! I couldn't wait to see how it was sent!

I of course set it up you could see what was inside the box a little better. I loved how everything was labeled and packaged!

The first meal we decided to make was the spinach &mushroom Stromboli. And it did not disappoint! 

Here are all the ingredients they gave me.

Not going to lie when I just saw one package of dough I was doubting if this was going to be big enough to fill up two people! But I still went with it! There was def a good amount of prep that went along with this meal! In which sense I can see people say it's a good date night activity. But, I had date night with myself so I started chopping. 

After I got chopping up all the ingredients I threw the mushrooms in a pan to cook, then went the spinach.

I cooked everything and then threw it a bowl to mix together. Flattened out the dough and stuffed the Stromboli!

I folded it and put it in the oven. 

I didn't think it was going to be enough for two people... But it was more than enough! I even had leftovers for lunch the next day!

Update::I did six meals... Although it was fun and different I chose not to do it after the first two weeks. Too many ingredients and too time consuming.

Princess half marathon 2017

Well princess 2017 has come and gone! It's such a special weekend for me... It's where it all started for me! I skipped last year, but this was my third princess race weekend.

I went with my friend Do, it was her first half marathon! We flew in to Orlando on Saturday, we stayed at old key West... Which was my first time staying there! It was cute! I enjoyed the theme. We hopped on the bus where the resort told us the expo was open until 6 so I figured we had plenty of time. We get there and it turned out the expo closed at 3pm. Not gonna lie I panicked. They told us we could pick up our bibs in the morning... But I had always been told no packet pickup morning of. So I sat and felt bad for our selves for a little while. This was Do's first half and I felt bad she wasn't going to experience the expo. But we took an Uber to Hollywood studios to catch our fastpasses. In my next post I'll talk more about the actual trip.

After riding a couple of things we go back to the room since we had to be up at 3:30 am. We ended up taking Uber over to Riverside for the pasta bar. Took it back to the room to eat in bed and prepare for the race in the morning. Usually I can't sleep the night of a half marathon.... But for some reason I wasn't nervous at all... Which I have to say was a strange feeling.

The alarm went off around 3:15am... Once again the resort told us the first bus was at 4am... But turns out it was at 3am... Once again I freaked out because I had no idea how long you could pick up the bibs that morning. We hopped on the bus and were on our way! And then we hit major traffic and it took us an hour to get to get to the race. STRESSFUL! We finally get to the race pickup our bibs and are on our way!

We get to the corral-- we were in the last.. which was OK except it took forever for us to start since well.... We were in the last. Fast forward an hour and it's start time!

The fireworks go off and were on our way! I started with my friend but we didn't stay together. I've never stopped for characters before but I was feeling good about this race... And knew I was going to be waiting for Do, so if I did characters we would be finishing about the same time.

About 2 miles in I found the pirates.. it was almost like fate because I was actually listening to yo-ho at the time! About mile 3.5 you go under the Magic Kingdom parking tolls. Mile 4 you go past the evil Queen from Snow White.. I waited about 7 minutes but they said it was still going to be about 15 minutes.... I had to pass and keep going.

About mile 5 you enter Magic kingdom... It's a side entrance that takes you to mainstreet. The bacon smell was unreal! It made me more hungry than I already was! If that was even possible! First you go through tomorrowland-- where I got picture with buzz lightyear. Then you Go through fantasy land and through the back of the castle. Once again it felt like felt.. let it go was playing right when I came up to the back of the castle characters from frozen were taking to everyone.

Mile 6 is when you hit frontier land and then go through the back of the park. I was feeling really good at this point! Stopped for a few more characters... Around mile 10 I was hitting a wall.. just getting really tired... Not enough long training runs I suppose.

I hit the God forsaken famous bypass everyone hates. But I knew it wasn't too much longer. There were a few times the course for super congested and it forced us to walk. Overall a great race! I dressed up as Cruella De Vil!

If you made it this far thank you!! I know it was a long post!

Orange Chicken

Hi Everyone! I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to make for dinner the other night. I knew we were going to have chicken... But I was kind of sick of all the chicken I had made so I decided to make this orange chicken recipe I found on Pinterest a while back! (I will post link at bottom of post). The sauce was very simple to make! The time consuming part was the chicken. The recipe wants you to fry the chicken. But, since I am trying to eat on the healthier side I decided to bake the chicken.. Although half of the chicken I dipped in egg, flour, and breadcrumbs and baked it that way, the other half I just baked regular.

The sauce was just BBQ Sauce (1 cup), Sweet Orange Marmalade (the whole can), 2 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce. Note:: I don't like my orange chicken very orange... I like mine with a hint of orange... So next time I would probably just use half the jar.

I dumped everything into the mixing cup and then dumped it into a pan to cook. I had it on medium low heat.

I just let it heat up while I started preparing the chicken.

I cut up all chicken into bite size pieces. Like I stated earlier I did half in the egg, flour, and bread crumbs. and half just the chicken. My boyfriend said he actually liked the coated ones better, I baked all the chicken together.

 

I put that in the oven to bake at 350 degrees for 25ish minutes.

 

While the chicken was baking I made the white rice and broccoli. I took the chicken out and dipped the chicken in the orange sauce.

 

Here was the finished product:

 

 

My boyfriend loved it! I wasn't totally sold... I would do half the orange, a nicer BBQ sauce, and probably add water to the sauce. However it was a pretty delish meal!!

 

Here is the link from Pinterest: http://www.craftymorning.com/3-ingredient-orange-chicken-sauce-recipe/

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

Stitch Fix Review

Hi Everybody!

Happy late New Year! Every year I say I will write more... yet I never do... I always think my next year will be more interesting than my last... yet it never is!

Anyways! I keep seeing people post about Stitch Fix... I was kind of curious about it so I decided to order a box for myself! For anyone who doesn't know what it is... here is my summary: Stitch Fix is where you make a style profile they pick out a stylist for you... You pay $20 a month the stylist picks out 5 items they think you would like..... If you like one of the (over priced) items in the box the $20 go towards the item(s) and then you send the rest back that you don't like. If you like all 5 you can buy them at discounted 25% off full order.. ( I think it's 25%)

Okay so here it goes!

The box only took a couple of days to get here which was pretty cool. Came in this box.. And I must say I was very excited to see what they sent me! It was like a present to myself! (an over priced present)

 

 

It was very neatly wrapped! Which made me even more excited to dig in!

So I had 4 pieces of clothing plus a necklace.. And here are the pieces!

First piece was a tribal (I have no clue what you call these prints) but anyways it was really soft and comfy! It's probably something I would wear but to be honest I would probably only spend $15 on this at the store. Not because I'm that cheap (but yes, I am also that cheap). I just don't love the print enough to spend a whopping $48 on it! But, like I said it was soft. So that was a plus.

Next we have boy friend jeans. They don't go all the way down to the floor. They were kind of an awkward length for myself. Longer than capris but shorter then just rolling them up once. Anyways these as well were very comfortable! Priced at $76 I believe... If I liked the way they fit I would have bought them because they were very comfortable. But I didn't get them  because i'm not a big "boy friend style" person.

 They sent  this blue top that I really liked... But I have a ton of these shirts already... And in this color. And it seemed a little big on me. Please excuse my cats paw. He was dying to try on the necklace... or just play with it. Either one. I guess I forgot to mention i'm a mom now! Actually a mom of two! But i'll save that for a different post. Shirt was $48 necklace was $28

I did like this jacket a lot! It was super cute! I just didn't love it. and for $88 I wanted to love it.

So there ya go! This wraps up my January box! I didn't really love anything I got and I thought it was a little over priced... But I get it.. you are paying for convenience. I would of tried the clothes on but honestly, I didn't want the two people reading this to see me before I start my cleanse. (I will be posting about Advocare soon).

I ended up buying the necklace because if I didn't I would have lost my $20 so I just paid the extra $8.. Which I actually wore today. And yes, I am getting one more box next month. But then I'm cancelling (most likely) because it's not really worth it for e. I would rather just go to TJ Max or something like that.