Wine and Dine Weekend

This past weekend, my boyfriend (Ray), roommate (Austin), and I headed down to Orlando for the Wine and Dine weekend!

Here's a recap of before and after the race, and I'll get to the race next!

We arrived Friday night and checked in.  We were staying at Port Orleans Riverside, and it was GORGEOUS! I'm absolutely in love with this resort, and hopefully we can stay here again sometime.  It was a little pricier than the value resorts we normally stay in, but I loved every second of being there.  It was a great atmosphere, and all the Disney details were perfect!

This is actually Saturday morning, shhhhh

After getting settled into the room, we headed off to the Polynesian.  We have a #runnerslove meet-up, where I got to see Meg, Lauren, and Kristy again (so exciting!) and a few other bloggers I hadn't met before.  I so wish I got to spend more time with all of these lovely ladies, but there was so much to do!



After that, we headed up to Kona Cafe for dinner.  Here you can see my #runnerslove headband, and my lovely pineapple.  It's the Lapu Lapu, and I've been wanting to try one since Princess weekend.  They're expensive, but this time I decided I was having it!  We also had lots of great sushi and food.  I was absolutely stuffed by the end of it, but I think it was a good day/night before the race dinner.  Nothing fried or heavy.




Saturday morning we woke up early to get to the expo before it opened.  We went to the food court at POR for breakfast.  I had a ham and cheese croissant, chocolate milk, and got a pain au chocolat for later!  We were able to get in to the expo early, which was super exciting.  There was no line at all to get my bib.  The official Disney merchandise was cleared out of the Field House by that time, it was just bib pick up and a photo opportunity.

We headed over to the Josten center, and truly got into expo mode.  I headed straight for the official merchandise, before too many people got to it!  The maroon jacket I really wanted was only left in XL's, which was kind of sad.  I did end up getting a grey I Did It shirt, a purple hoodie, and a magnet for my car.  Ray was sweet and bought me a purple tech shirt as well.

Austin was able to get a few things for his girlfriend, who was back at home, so that was sweet of him!

I also got 3 SweatyBands, 2 SparkleSkirts (one for my costume that night), one of Jeff Galloway's books (now signed by him), an orange hat for my costume, and probably a couple of other things I can't remember now.  Everything is in various states of being unpacked, so no pictures for now!





After the expo, we dropped everything back off at the hotel, then hopped on the boat to Downtown Disney.  I think this was a really calm and relaxing way to get there, even if it took a little longer!

We went to Raglan Road for lunch.  We got parmesan garlic truffle fries as an appetizer, which is one of my favorite Disney foods.  I had a grilled chicken breast sandwich (I don't remember what else was on it), and ended up bringing half of it back to the room as my pre-race food.

After lunch, we did a little bit of shopping.  I got a couple of presents for friends at home, and a Disney Vera Bradley backpack and matching wallet.  So, I'm no longer using my matching wristlet in my Disney Dooney purse, but my OCD will just have to live with that, since now I get an actual wallet with card slots, etc.

We hopped back on the boat and went to the resort to rest for a bit.  I was going to try to nap, but that didn't end up happening.  I hydrated as much as I could, rested, and tried to stay calm!  That didn't go very well, but I tried my very best.

I ate the other half of my sandwich around 4:30, I think, which ended up working well for me.

Around 6:30 I started getting ready, and was on a bus around 7:15.

The rest of the race will come in another post, but for now we're going to time travel to Sunday morning!

We woke up way earlier than I wanted to, but we had to check out and get back over to the Polynesian.  Side note, the Polynesian has now become the Pomeranian in our apartment, thanks to a forgetful roommate!  I had made reservations at O'hana, because I'd heard so many good things about it!  Let me tell you - nothing disappointed!! I'm absolutely in love with this place, and I got to have Mickey waffles for the first time ever!  Everything was perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious!! And I loved seeing the characters.

We stopped at the Florida mall on the way home so I could stop at Lush, and that sadly ended our wonderful weekend!






Have you been to O'hana? Were you at Wine and Dine?
Lauren

5 Things Friday

1. Autism Awareness 5k on 10/12. I ran in 42:27. I was so sore and tight from ToT ... I probably should have ran in between them. It was basically the same course as Help the HooHahs on 9/27 when I PRed. My boyfriend and his mom ran too. He took off with her and ended up with a PR of 31:13. I'm so proud of him! 

2. Bluffton Seafood and Arts Fesitval 10k on 10/19. I ran it in 1:30:19 according to their time, 1:29:51 by my Garmin. I like that a lot better because my goal was under 1:30. It was a pretty good race. My only complaint is that it wasn't closed to traffic and the drivers didn't seem too happy we were there. 

3. Yesterday's training run. I tried a :30/:30 interval and it failed miserably. I like my 1:00/1:00 but I'd like to build up my stamina to be able to run longer. And I found this! 

4. SparkleSkirts! I know I've mentioned them before but I've gotten new ones that I love so much. There's Everest from my 10k, AmericanGraffiti which I haven't worn yet and Tiffany which is absolutely gorgeous! 

5. The weather! It's gotten so much colder so fast here. It's great for running, horrible otherwise. I just wish there wasn't a difference of being hot in the sun and needing a jacket in the shade. But like I said, it's perfect for running. 

What's been new with everyone else lately?

Lauren

Help the HooHahs 5k

Yesterday I ran in the Help the HooHahs 5k at the Trade and Convention Center. I think this is amazing cause, all for GYN cancer awareness. They started up this race because it's kind of a taboo subject for many, and they want to spread awareness. I believe the race director lost her mother to a GYN cancer, and got a bit emotional during medals because the top female ran with a pair of angel wings and gave them to the director. It was really sweet. 

I felt really good at the race! It was so cool outside which is very unusual for this time of year. 

I wanted to get a new PR, under 41:22. In the back of my head I wanted to get under 40, but didn't really think it was possible. I went out to fast, as always. When I hit .45 miles I was at 5 minutes. I don't run 10-11 minute miles! I run 13-14! I definitely slowed down so I didn't burn out and finished the first mile in 12:23. 

The next mile had a water stop and my only pet peeve. They advertised it as a flat course but it wasn't. It definitely wasn't any bad hills, I just wasn't mentally prepared. They may not look like much but for Savannah they're big! The other problem is that it was on the race track, and there were a few sections that were banked and my knee was yelling at me. 

You can kind of see in the second picture where we go around and back down the hill, so that was nice. Mile 2 was 13:46. After that it was pretty flat, a little more banking but I got through that mile in 12:46. All this is flying for me! 

And the total...39:52!! I was unbelievably excited about this! The course had actually stopped at 3.08 so I ran in the parking lot. I had to have my best 5k on my Garmin too! I might be slightly obsessive. 

This was also a good chance to try out my tutu for Tower of Terror. It's actually a bit too big so I'll have to make it smaller and try it again. Hopefully the neighborhood doesn't think I'm too crazy!

I also got a new SparkleSkirt courtesy of my wonderful boyfriend! 

Did you race or get any new gear this weekend?

Lauren