Inaugural Disney Paris Half Marathon

Last year this time, The FireMarshall asked what I wanted for my 50th Birthday. Epic Party – Epic Trip. I planned the party – it was EPIC and the trip was for me and a friend to go to Paris for the Inaugural Disney Paris Half Marathon. Not to be outdone, I also had to participate in the first Chateaux to Castle Challenge (which meant I had to do a Disney Half Marathon in the states before Paris – I did the Star Wars Half Marathon).

We had a Grand Epic Time.

Disney Paris, in its entirety, including the two parks, Disney Village (their version of Downtown Disney) and the hotels immediately surrounding the parks could probably all fit inside of Magic Kingdom. Despite the size, the parks were packed and the lines just as long for the rides – of which we rode none. Just walking through the park taking pictures, seeing the characters, pin trading (or, in our case, buying) and people watching was just fine.

The only disappointment was that they ran out of the unique race pins by 10am of the second day the Expo/Packet pickup which meant they either didn’t have enough for each participant or they let people buy several of them before allowing registered racers the opportunity to get. Now they are on sale on Ebay for $650. No sir! Although I know someone will pay that. HUMPH. There were a few glitches that were probably only noticeable to regular runDisney participants – small expo with not enough gear/variety, not enough big screens in corral to see what is happening at start and poor sound system and not enough porta-potties near the corrals. Otherwise, both the 5k and Half Marathon were fun & scenic. Lot of photo ops!

The Inaugural Race Party was nice, but they were not prepared for the number of people that paid for it as evidenced by the long lines and long wait to get food. The Wild West Buffalo Bill Show – I was pleasantly surprised by my amusement. The show was actually pretty good and entertaining. We were on the Green Team and our Cowboy sucked.

 
     
After the Half Marathon on Sunday, we hobbled back to the hotel lodge and enjoyed cocktails in the lobby bar as we planned our transportation into Paris for the rest of our adventure. Grown Women Gone Wild – Paris Edition will have to wait for another post.

Suffice it to say, we came, we ran, ran some more and had the time of our lives.
 
Of course, I put a little video together from the two races. Enjoy!

Disney Glass Slipper Challenge 2015

First up on The TravelDiva’s race schedule was the Disney Glass Slipper Challenge – February 21-23.

 

WE HAD A BLAST! 19.3 leisurely miles over 2 days! Anytime MsPattey and I get together it is a raging, gut busting, hilarious, grown women gone wild adventure and this weekend was no exception.

 

Can’t you tell? Who else would dress up looking like a highlighter with a tiara on top when you were supposed to look like Princess Tiana, run half marathon after running a 10k the day before and still be all grins and giggles. Well, me and about 24 THOUSAND of my bestest friends.

 

This is the second year in a row that MsPattey and I have done this race. Last year we only did the Princess Half, but when we saw the people with 3 medals from the Glass Slipper challenge we HAD to do it! It’s all about the BLING! Nothing like looking for your car after the race clicking and clanging with all that BLINGAGE!

 

                                                      PERFECTION!

 

As for the races…Well, If you want to be all competitive, run for a time, PR or BQ then you best get in the 1st couple of corrals and not stop to take narry one pic or it ain’t gonna happen for you. NERP, NOPE, NOT A CHANCE. For the 10k, I tried to pause my watch every time I stopped to get an “accurate” running time. I did my best and may have been off only 2-3min. 10K was 1:29. I was happy with that. I wasn’t trying to do anything major and was enjoying the scenery, talking to people and having a good time. As for the half-marathon, I forgot to pause my watch ever. Just let it run because I was fixated with playing with my new GO PRO HERO 4 (which I accidently deleted all the video doing a software update – Live & Learn). I estimated, based on looking at the splits that we killed 30 min piddling around, taking pictures and having a great time. Watch 3:40, 3:10 is what I was expecting. GO ME!

                     

So, what’s next for the dynamic duo…well, Disney announced that there will be the Inaugural Disney Paris Half Marathon and perhaps a Continent to Continent Medal in 2016. Sounds like just one of many MUST DO’s/MUST HAVE ALL THE BLING kinda thing to do for my 50th Birthday Year.

 

I put together another video slide show of the weekend. Enjoy.

GWGW–Disney Princess Half Marathon

Grown Women Gone Wild – Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend (February 21-25, 2014) is in the bag and what an awesome time we had.

 

This weekend had been in the planning since June 2013 when discussing with my BFF what she wanted to do to celebrate the end of radiation & chemo treatment. She wanted to do a race and I decided it had to be all bling, sparkle and over the top fun.

 

The Disney Princess Half Marathon was just the celebratory ticket.

 

And there was no skimping on the bling…from our awesome purple tutu’s infused with glitter (I think I’m still finding glitter in places that there SHOULD NOT be glitter) made by Pattey’s daughter, Candice, to the larger than life tiara’s, to the coordinated tops & socks, to the BEST WINGS EVER – we were blinged out, BABY!

 

We also maxed out on the activities (well, not really cause EVERY.SINGLE.THING. costs a fortune). We went to the Pasta in the Park Party on Friday night in Epcot, where we ate so so pasta & chicken with a cash bar while jamming to an awesome DJ and watching adults and kids alike dance to the latest tunes. We piddled around watching this little girl make dance moves like the next Beyoncé, and missed our opportunity to take pictures with the Disney Princesses.

- As a side note, from our weekend observations, Princess Tiana gets short shrift everywhere at Disney World. We had to scrounge to find even a pin of the Princess character in any store – and we went to plenty. She was not represented ANYWHERE we could see during the race. We saw every single other Princess, villian and Prince Charmings EXCEPT for Tiana. Interesting and a damn shame. They would have gotten a whole lot more money out of me had they had some Tiana merchandise. HUMPH.

We tried to wait for the Epcot Illumination show but we were too pooped to party anymore and decided to go back to the hotel.

 

The next day was the Packet Pickup at the Expo which they housed at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.

  

We got there around 2pm and ended up shutting the expo downt. We worked this madness with a purpose and didn’t miss a booth. Whew Chile. We found our names on the New Balance Wall of Fame. We had our pictures taken at the Lady Footlocker booth with the giant fairy wings and tiara, had our eyes checked (and the lady exclaimed to Pattey – “Do you drive at night?!” I was DONE), tried on every brand of compression socks known to man, bought charms, and almost passed out from starvation.

 

After the Expo, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, went back to the Wyndham and laid everything out for our 3am wake-up. Had to be in our corral by 5:30am – AKA – OH DARK THIRTY.

  

Sunday morning came real quick and we were off. We had to carry our tutu and wings with us in the backseat of the car as, well, it was a little to cumbersome to drive in full regalia. We got parked and made the gazillion mile trek to the corrals. I swear 20k people did a 3 mile forced march to get to those corrals. Amazing. We were in Corral I and it took 30 min for our corral to get to the Start Line and begin the race.

 

We were off and my girl, who 4 weeks earlier had a surgical procedure and hadn’t ran in 15 months ran this race like a gazelle. I would end up catching up to my junior Kenyan when she would stop to take pictures and whatnot. She was just amazing. The race was fun and colorful – filled with supportive, happy people enjoying a run in the parks. We had glorious finishes and hung out with some women in the Self-Check (DIY first aid) who had a 5 pieces of bling. They had done the 10k & Half earning the Glass Slipper Challenge Medal and had done a half marathon in California which also earned them the Coast to Coast Medal.

 

We were JELLY!

It was decided, right then and there, that we would be coming back and at least doing the Glass Slipper Challenge (10K & Half) next February. DONE!

 

MUST HAVE THE BLING!

 

After hobbling back to the car, grabbing a sammich from Panera, and peeling out of our compression socks, we took to the hot tub and pool at the resort. It was most awesome!

     

We managed to pull it together to go across the street to eat, make it back to the resort and pass out. The FireMarshall skyped me at around 9pm and when he said he wanted to call me before putting Cara to bed, we were like “da hell is Cara up this late for on a school night” –we couldn’t believe it was only 9pm. It felt like we had been asleep for hours.

 

We certainly got our rest because the next morning we were up and our at the Lake Bonavista Prime Outlet and we did some major shopping damage that ended up requiring the purchase luggage in order to get it all home. Note to self – always put a foldable duffle in your luggage – you know you are going to shop!! 6 hours, 9 bags, 2 pieces of luggage later…

Best time EVER!!! Already looking forward to next year for Grown Women Gone Wild – part 2.

 

I put together a video slide show from the weekend. Enjoy! – We certainly did.

Race Report: A Royal Family Weekend

It was a Fit Family Birthday Weekend at Disney. The 26th celebration of my 21st birthday was on February 21st and Princess Cara’s 9th Birthday was on the 22nd, so we decided to celebrate our birthday by playing the Mickey & Minnie and ALL of the other Princesses, Princes and assorted characters at Disney.

 

We had a blast.

 

But let me tell you, it’s a racket and Disney has this business down to a science. From shuttle buses to the expo (since parking was limited at the resort where the expo was) to brochures outlining where to park, where to spectate down to the CHear Squad (EXTORTION, but well worth it for your Spectathlete crew that gets up with you at 2am) – where for a mere $100/person you can have private seating, buffet breakfast etc etc. Mmmm Hmmm. We also went to the Pre-race Pasta Dinner at Epcot where for $40/person (cash bar) you got a pretty decent meal, DJ, dancing, activities, pictures with the princesses (we saw Cinderella, Tiana and Belle), access to the park just in time for the fireworks & light show. Princess Cara was in Disney heaven.

 

Ron and Princess Cara ran the Royal Family 5k on Saturday morning. Princess Cara had a stellar performance for her first 5k running the 1st 1.5 miles non stop, doing intervals for the next mile and running it in like a champ for the last .6.  The FireMarsall refused all attempts to get him in costume opting for the all black secret service look as Princess Cara’s Royal Guard.

             

After the race, we made it back to the hotel in time for our free breakfast which was included in my hotel package and the Princess was ALL ABOUT going to the pool. At the pool she made fast friends with a lovely girl named Evie and fanangled her way into going to SeaWorld with Evie and her mom. That required me to get up off my lounge chair and play meet the mom, break bread & libations while talking about our daughters all the while both girls are floating to the edge of the pool with “Please, Please, Please!” every 5 seconds.

 

Off to SeaWorld the girls went and once back…inseperable. Quick to change, dinner and then we HAVE to go to the poolside movie. The FireMarshall is such a good sport as I had no interest in seeing Hercules with a bunch of kids.

 

Early to bed, early to rise as I had to be in Epcot for the Disney Princess Half Marathon NLT 4:30am to park (for free) and get into my corral by 5:30am. Team Spectathletes were AWESOME and up with me at 2:30am with not nary a complaint. Of course I got them a CHEar Squad package, so once they dropped me off, they were off to get their viewing seats and hot cocoa at the 5.3 mile mark in Magic Kingdom

                

9000 – NINE THOUSAND RUNNERS – mostly women almost all in costume (and some AWESOME MANLY guys dressed as Princesses, Mr. Incredible and I saw a couple of Princess Leah’s and Wonder Men – LOVED IT) lined up to run 13.1 miles. I was, of course, adorned in fairy wings, tiara and glitter ready to see if I could get ‘er done despite not running for the prior 2 weeks trying to heal a foot injury.

 

At 6 am the first corral was off…corral E probably got going around 6:30am and at 3 miles in I knew I was in trouble. That bruised bone or whatever it is in my foot started up with shooting pain and I was hobbled into a shuffle. I kept moving though, bummed that I was not keeping a pace that would allow me to stop for all the photo opps with all the Disney characters out. It was so cool. To be honest, this is not a race to get a PR on. This is a run for fun, grins, giggles. Definitely a race to do with a bunch of friends and just have a great time.

 

I had a terrible time in this race because I had to walk a lot and stopped at the med tent to get some more Tylenol and BioFreeze, but I finished, walking away with some awesome BLING!

After the race, we went back to the hotel to hang out and I immediately scheduled myself some spa time at the Ritz Carlton Spa followed by max pool side time with some frozen umbrella type drinks. My version of relaxing and hydrating!

 

I put together a little video slide show from the weekend.

Have you ever done any of the Disney Races? What’s your favorite? Which one’s would you recommend?

Travel & Friends

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." -- Mark Twain

The Pollhein's and The Steptoe's survived the journey and are still best friends - maybe even a little closer. We loved, hugged, laughed, fought, argued, invested, shared and more together for a week. We waited a long time to do this together, and now Joe & Terri own a little piece of paradise too and are already dreaming and planning for what we are gonna do together (and separately) next year.

Terri put together some pics from "The Florida Experiment" - Go check it out:
http://homeatlastfarm.blogspot.com/2008/07/im-not-great-photographer-but-here-is.html

Perfectly Princess Tea Party

On the 4th of July, Cara and I got gussied up and went over to the Grand Floridian Hotel to meet Sleeping Beauty at the Perfectly Princess Tea Party. Cara can be so brutally honest sometimes (from the mouths of babes)..."You're not Cindarella" -and promptly burst into tears. It's just not so attractive to be wearing a beautiful gown and a tiara, while bawling your eyes out - but then again - it was her party.

What a wonderful start to our Tea Party. She recovered as soon as she saw the doll that she got at the Party. I knew all was well when she tried to cut off her dolls hair with the butter knife. I just take a deep breath, exhale and remind her of the horrors of cutting off hair (remember the Easter weekend ponytail fiasco).

She ate one peanut butter and jelly heart sandwich, a couple of grapes and drank all of her Apple Juice "Tea" - she got a real kick out of pouring it herself. Princess Aurora (aka - Sleeping Beauty) managed to coax a few smiles and a few words out of Cara long enough for a picture.

Diva in Training lessons can be a challenge, but are well worth it.

A Magic Day

Princess Cara's Makeover

Cara loves to play dress up! Anything outfit that if frilly is absolutely in and she can wear a pair of heels better than most of us. She loves herself some Cinderella, big time. So, on our trip to here to Disney, I signed Cara up for an opportunity to get all dressed up as a Disnesy Princess. We went to Magic Kingdom to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique located inside the Castle. More of a salon than a store, there are 10 salon stations where girls can get their hair, nails and makeup done.

Cara started out by picking her dress, shoes, wand & crown. Then she went into the boutique where she was asked to pick her hairstyle - she picked the Disney Diva (of course) - her makeup, nailpolish, and the color hair she wants to add. Just hilarious.

She had the time of her life. Here is some video from here Princess Makeover.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

THE perfect princess experience. All I have to say is FUTURE DIVA...More pictures and a synopsis of our adventure later...off to dinner.

If you would like to preview more pictures from our boutique experience - check out this link:

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/photoshareviewer.aspx?share=998cf08f-c532-4b64-b0a2-8c213474d2ee

I Think I Needed Detective Benson - SVU

Was I violated? Was I massage molested? Did I almost have spa se.x right in front of my girlfriend? I think it was so close, so borderline, as to warrent raised eybrows from the detectives from La.w&Or.der:S.VU.

Soooo, I arranged for Terri and I to have a Body Polish & Hot Stone Massage at the alledged 4 star spa at Star Island Resort. This was Terri's first spa experience and, of course, I wanted ti to be perfect & awesome. While the actual treatments themselves were fine, the spa itself ahs a LONG way to go. Call me what you want - elitest, snob, bougie - WHATEVER - I've been to enough world class spas to know friggin' better and to expect certain things for the amount of money we were going to spend.

1. I should NOT have to walk out inf ront of other guests in a friggin town to get ot the shower area to rinse off the body scrub. POOR SPA DESIGN!

2. I should have been given a SPA ROBE as a minimum... A ROBE, not a hairdresser smock doing double duty as a robe. WTF?!!!!

3. The spa slippers were those pedicure thin azz slippers. R U KIDDING ME!!!!!!!

4. I have NEVER, EVER had my treatment specialist (not EVER - even in a WAY superior spa) use latex gloves...and she didn't even ask me if I was allergic. WHAT DA HELL?!!!!!

5. When having multiple treatments, I have NEVER, EVER had to gather up my clothes and ish and move to a different treatment room; having to walk past other guests AGAIN in my SMOCK. RIDICULOUS!!!!!!

In the spa ambiance category, this spa is a high ZERO!

After our body polish, Terri and I were moved into the joint (couples) massage room. We were to have our Hot Stone Massage together. Fine. Terri gets the lady, I get the guy. No biggie.

Well now, this Latin Lover laid the Hot Stone Massage of my life on me. He starts by saying, "Take a deep breath." mmmmkay....All Imma say was there were a few moments when I thought if he just went a 1/2" further his fingers would end up where only 2 people have access to on a regular - my husband and my GYN. Surley, he wouldn't do anything wehre (naked or not) I'd have to mule kick this sucker; I mean really, my friend is right there. I dunno, he was awful close to having a need for some dental work.

Despite a close call with violence, the massage was actually pretty good. The spa itself SUCKED. If you ever are at Star Island Resort and plan on some spa treatments...Go somewhere else. You can do WAY better for your money.

The TravelDiva Has Spoken....

Pirate Adventure Dinner Show

See pictures in previous post below....

I'm not sure, but I think the adults had way more fun at the dinner show than any of the kids combined. Terri and I had our faces painted and all of us grown ups ('cept designated driver, Ron) were chuggin beers and singing "Drink, Drink, Drink" while waving our glasses back and forth. Several "Aaarrrgggs" were heard amongst us and Joe and I were very good at cheering on the blue section Pirate; booing the other section pirates.

The food wasn't bad - not spectacular - but edible; the dessert fantastic. I had a hard time following the story line (prolly due to the excessive booing & cheering) but was entertained nevertheless.

After the dinner & show, they had a Pirate Dance Party and once again the adults did most of the dancing. They played some good ole music that only people over 40 understood - The Twist, Summer Loving, Jive Bunny & more fun dance stuff from the 50's thru the 80's.

My son, who is just too cool, looked on at his parents with an amused look and refused to do the twist with his mom..."Maaawmmm, that's not my style." He also had the nerve to say, "Wow, I was getting dizzy from all the gayness of it all." Jordan thinks his parents are silly.

Another TravelDiva Family Fun Adventure accomplished.

A Day in Pictures

I have so much to blog about but I'm exhausted. It is enough that I got this slide show together to share. We are off to the beach tomorrow, so while enroute, I'll put some posts together. In the meantime (so shut up, Erin - her is a post), enjoy the pictures.