I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised that I had comments. Yay! Anyway, on to my experience, one month after the event. I have an excuse for the delay, but will cover that another time.
Friday
My friend and I arrived late Friday afternoon/early evening and panicked that we wouldn't make it to the Expo before it closed that night. We didn't want to waste a "Parks" day at the Expo and planned on taking it easy Friday night. Upon boarding the "Magical Express" we discovered that we were the last hotel on their drop-off schedule, which would most likely result in not arriving at the Wide World of Sports area in time.
Following the drop-off of the last guests at the All Star Music hotel, Michelle and I discovered we were the only people remaining on the bus. My formerly shy friend Michelle decided to ask the driver if she wouldn't mind dropping us off at the WW of Sports so that we could ensure we could visit the Expo. Much to my surprise (Michelle had no doubts), our bus driver said that she would be happy to make the detour. Two suitcases and a happily tipped driver later, we were exploring a runner's dream, at least a former runner/now overweight runner's dream; lots of stuff to look at and things to buy.
Michelle and I checked in, received our packets, activated our timing chips and decided we had a mere 20 minutes to look around before they would kick us out of the exhibition hall. On the plane to Orlando, the United in-flight magazine contained an ad for a new shoe that boasted "spring" technology. For someone with an extra 100 pounds on her body, extra spring in my step was exactly what I needed this weekend. Michelle and I sought out the Spira booth and proceeded to try on their shoes. I was instantly won over as there was plenty of support in the ball of the foot, which I had become accustomed to while wearing my Skecher knockoffs this summer.
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| Spira Odyssey www.spriafootwear.com |
After we both gladly spent $99, I thought I was ready to walk/run my first half marathon...although had I really thought about it, or listened to my friend Michelle, I should not have decided to wear the new shoes for the actual race. But, as they say, hindsight is 20/20 and will cost you days of aching feet.
The two of us shuffled to the bus corral for a ride to the All-Star Movies Resort. One of the bad things about Disney is they group the All-Star resorts on to one bus, which means overcrowding and annoying people. I have some fabulous stories about the people we encountered during our 60 hour stay at the Magical Kingdom.
Michelle and I checked in, delivered our bags to our room and made the trip back to the bus corral at the hotel to venture over to Downtown Disney for a carbo-loading dinner. (I just realized that corral basically describes the whole weekend.)
We had a quick dinner at Planet Hollywood, accompanied by two delicious beers, followed by the two of us collapsing into bed, where I did my best to not snore, despite severely clogged sinuses. I think I got about 3 hours sleep as I was so afraid of waking my friend, I wouldn't let myself give in to the Sandman. (My dogs usually don't mind if I snore.)
Saturday's adventure and the race details still to come.
