1. The Tower of Terror 10-Miler with hubby was AWESOME!! You can read my recap of this race in the previous two posts. We both loved it and can't wait to do more Disney races!
2. The time with my family at the "happiest place on earth" was such a blessing. This was our third family trip to Disney World, and with our son getting ready to turn 16, I realize it may likely be our last. Each visit was different, with the kids at different ages and having different interests, but the family time and memories made are priceless.
3. Staying at Disney's Art of Animation Resort was fabulous! With the kids getting older, we knew we needed a little more space than the room we had at Caribbean Beach last time we visited. When I found the family suites at Art of Animation, it looked like it was just the thing for us. We stayed in the Finding Nemo section, and we had a master bedroom for hubby and I with our own bathroom, and there was a second room with a pull-out sofa, table with 4 chairs that also easily became another bed, a second bathroom, and a kitchenette, which had a fridge, sink, and microwave. The entire resort was full of art from Finding Nemo, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Cars. It was gorgeous, and really met the needs of our family.
4. I continued my training plan, despite being on vacation! I had a long run of 7 miles, a 45 minute run and a 40 minute run on the plan this past week, and I used the Tower of Terror race as my long run, but also completed my two other runs on the wonderful running path at our resort. It was a little over a mile and surrounded a small lake that was between our resort and the Pop Century resort. It was a well-lit path and I saw many runners taking advantage of it.
5. I ate and ate (and drank a little). The last time we went to Disney was pre-running, pre-healthy living, and we had the Disney Dining Plan. When hubby made these reservations well over a year ago, he got that plan again. Suffice it to say, we have agreed that the Dining Plan encourages you to eat way too much. The food was delicious, and I feel like I did a good job pushing my plate away before I overate, but I hated wasting food too. Also, we were there during Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival, but really didn't get to try anything because we had the dining plan. Next time, we will not get the dining plan, and will undoubtedly eat a whole lot less. We did enjoy champagne in Italy while enjoying a beautiful afternoon, though!
6. A continuation of the food thing, I weighed in this morning only up 2 pounds from when we left, which I consider a huge miracle. I am getting serious with my training for my December 29 Half Marathon, so I am also getting serious with fueling my body in a healthy way, especially since we are close to the dreaded holiday time when treats and big meals can derail a healthy lifestyle. I have a goal to weigh 130 pounds by Christmas, which is completely doable. As I mentioned before, I'm going to steer away from special diets or gimmicks and just focus on healthy foods and portion sizes. And as this skywriting that we saw over Epcot said, I have to trust.
7. Finally, I'm going to try to spread out that happy Disney magic, so it's not just something we do every few years. I have a very stressful job, and sometimes raising two teenagers can be scary as well, but I'm going to try to enjoy each day, despite those stresses, and not just wait until I'm on vacation. My son remarked to me last night that he had never seen me look so happy as when we were at Disney. I need to work on spreading that happiness in my life past the one week every few years.
P.S. In case you haven't noticed, today is now Monday. I was waiting to import some pictures from the camera before I finalized the post. Hope you're having a great week!
