Run, Eat, Date, Sleep

On Monday, the day after my first half-marathon, my mom and I headed out to Epcot to check out the Flower & Garden Festival. I was still sore and stiff when I woke up, but I knew a day of walking would help the situation.

After taking this picture, we realized my medal was already falling apart. The one single thread holding it together had started to unravel. Therefore, I had to take it off and not flaunt it all day long like I wanted. Instead, I only took it out for pictures with characters.

Aren't these the cutest garden knomes ever?!

On our way out of Epcot, we were stopped by one of Disney’s researchers and were asked to complete an online survey regarding healthy eating. It’s about time Disney focuses its energy towards providing more healthy options!

My mom and I headed back to our resort to drop off our souvenirs and picked up some hoodies and then headed over to the Grand Floridian for dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe. We both enjoyed the  caramelized onion soup au gratin as an appetizer…

And the salmon with asparagus, crimini mushrooms, leeks, and potato-chive sauce

And for dessert… chocolate fondue with fresh fruit

Everything was delicious, and the service was superb! This probably tops my list of favorite meals at Disney! After dinner, we strolled around the Grand Floridian property to enjoy the atmosphere. I used to work at GF, so it was nice to be a guest there instead of a cast member!

We even ran in to a talking palm tree, and my mom posed for a picture with him. He called her a “tree hugger”.

Some more pictures around GF.

On Tuesday, our last day at Disney, my mom and I checked out of our resort and went over to Downtown Disney for shopping and lunch. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, and I ordered my favorite meal ever- quesadillas with no chicken and a side of guac.

Luckily, my legs were feeling about 90% better so walking around the airport and sitting for over two hours on the airplane wasn’t too painful.

Hope you enjoyed my recaps As much as I disliked certain parts of running this race, I’m sure I’ll be back next year. And I’m thinking of signing up for the Disneyland Half Marathon on September 5th and the Inaugural Wine & Dine Half Marathon on October 2nd.

I decided around 12:30 yesterday I was not going to run the Run to the Plunge 5K. We were having downpours and heavy winds here, and I decided my health was more important for next week’s race in NYC. Around 2, the sun came out but one of my friends told me it had been canceled anyway, so no regrets!

So I headed out for a solo 5K run since the sun had come out. I thought I had spent a lot of time stretching beforehand, but my hamstrings were really tight for the first mile, and then by 1.5 miles, my left knee started giving out. I slowed down my run to a shuffle to see if it would go away, and it didn’t. I started walking for a bit and tried running again several times, and my knee kept giving out every time. So I started walking all the way home (another half mile). By the time I got close to my house, I started another run, and my knee felt fine and didn’t give out. But when I got home, I still elevated and iced it for about a half hour.

I had plans of meeting my friends Missy and Ellen at a local Mexican restaurant at 5:45, but I wanted to make a quick stop at the running store to pick up a 13.1 magnet for my car. It’s well deserved, I think!

I also wanted another pair of socks, so I picked up this pair of pink-lined Balegas.

Dinner was delicious and an excellent time to catch up on life with my girls. We caught the 7:10 showing of Alice in Wonderland afterwards.

I must have been really tired because I ended up closing my eyes several times and took a few naps. The movie was good, but I felt like I was on sensory overload. Johnny Depp was excellent as the Mad Hatter! I missed the Hatter’s squeaky voice though. I really expected a lot more from the movie… not sure what though.. just more?! I much prefer the made-for-TV 1985 version. Do you all remember this one?

Ok, time to clean the house!