Tag Archives: half marathon

I Want It All Or Rather to See It All

Posted in Disney, Travel by

During March I was very busy travelling for work and spent half of the month away from home.  While I enjoy travelling, 14 days away from my family in one month is more than I could take.

A quick visit to Stanley Park while in Vancouver, BC for the joint NAR/AE Conference.

A quick visit to Stanley Park while in Vancouver, BC for the joint NAR/AE Conference.

Apparently it was more than my family could take too, but not for the reason you would think.  They actually managed quite well without me (aside from a rather large laundry pile).  What they did (and still do) have a problem with is listening to me as I continually talk about where I want to travel to next.

You see, while I was away and stuck in a hotel room by myself I spent a lot of time online researching where I wanted to travel to for my next trip, with my family. The more research I did the more locations I realized I want to visit.

I’m realistic enough to know I’m not going to get to visit them all but that isn’t going to keep me from trying to figure out how to visit as many of as I can.

In that quest I’m currently planning my 20th wedding anniversary trip and still trying to figure out how to afford another trip to Walt Disney World for my daughters 16th birthday.

My anniversary trip planning has had some challenges.  I booked a Disney Cruise but my husband, Wayne, has now said he doesn’t really want to go on a cruise.  I still haven’t cancelled it on the hopes he changes his mind. I planned the cruise so I could run the Wine & Dine Half Marathon and then relax on the cruise a few days later.

Since this trip is for him as well, I suggested a visit to Las Vegas so he could attend the tattoo convention and then we could tack on a few days to Disneyland for its 60th anniversary but the timing just doesn’t seem to be working out for that.

Next I found a wonderful jungle lodge in Costa Rica that seemed perfect but it’s very remote and Wayne doesn’t want to spend 2 days travelling just to get to and from our destination.  He has also said he’d prefer an all-inclusive resort but I just can’t find any I like in Costa Rica that seem true to the magnificent natural surroundings.  I’ve always said I want to experience the culture of where I travel to. I don’t want to stay in just another fancy hotel so now I’m back at square one again. I’m looking for something unique whether that be from the excursions available, location or atmosphere.

Where to go?

Looking forward to another perfect beach sunset.

Looking forward to another perfect beach sunset.

A few of my dream trips would be to Cambodia and Vietnam, Bali, Figi or Madagascar but since Wayne currently won’t go anywhere with a flight longer than 6 hours they are out of the running as well for this next trip.  We does however want to see the Great Wall of China so I have hopes that someday we’ll be able to travel farther together.

Mexico can be nice but we have been there so many times now that I’d like to visit some place different. Roatan, Honduras was beautiful but again I want to see someplace new.

Maybe Brazil, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos or Grenada. At this point who knows where we will end up but I’m having fun researching and driving my family crazy with the discussions on all the options.

An Unexpected Benefit of Running

Posted in Disney, Running by

When I started running I did so knowing I needed to be more active and get healthy.  A sedentary office job was starting to take its toll on my body. I had a lot of aches and pains and had a standing appointment with my massage therapist, Angie, to work out the kinks.  In particular the muscles under and between my shoulder blades were always badly knotted from sitting in one position at a desk typing on my computer all day. I think those muscles are called the Trapezius and Rhomboids but whatever they are called they caused me a great deal of pain on a regular basis.

v2.My back

During the first few weeks of running Angie had to deal with tight muscles in my legs and hips when I showed up for my appointments and didn’t get to spend as much time working on my shoulders as she usually would. Once my body got used to running Angie no longer had to work on my legs and returned to my shoulders but to both our surprises my shoulders were not in nearly as bad a shape as we expected, especially since they had basically been neglected for a few months.

It seems that for me at least, there is an added benefit to running. The motion of pumping my arms as I run also seems to loosen up the stiff muscles in my upper back and shoulders and I couldn’t be happier about this unexpected side effect.

Now if only I could figure out how to pay for my next trip to Walt Disney World for the runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon to really stretch out those muscles, life would be almost perfect.

I AM going to run a half marathon this year!

Posted in Disney, Running by

So after a year off from running and roller derby due to a knee injury and life getting in the way I’ve set myself a new goal.  I AM going to run a half marathon this year!  There I’ve said it and put in it writing.  I can’t turn back now.

I haven’t always been the best at keeping fitness goals I set for myself so my thought is that by putting it out there for everyone to see I am forcing myself to stick with it this time.  I know I need to make myself accountable but if the prospect of public embarrassment is what it takes I’ll do it.

I’m lucky enough to be married to my best friend for 20 years this summer and have tentatively booked a Disney cruise to celebrate but I hope to run the Wine and Dine Half Marathon while we are in Florida just before our cruise.

wine-and-dine-logo

Well, now that I have a goal and a date it’s time to get started with the training plan and deal with my 2 biggest excuses.

Firstly, running for me (and many others) is a mental game as much or more than it is a physical game.  In this game I have realized that it doesn’t take much to distract me from my runs so my husband came to my rescue and bought me a treadmill for Christmas.  Why does this help? Because I get bored when I run and then the mind games start.  On the treadmill I can put a movie in the DVD player and lose myself in the story while running.  This means I don’t get bored and want to quit.

Secondly the treadmill is inside.  I know this sounds silly, but to state the obvious, inside means warm.  I truly dislike winter and since I live in Canada winter is long and cold.  With the treadmill I don’t have the excuse that I can’t run because it’s too cold, dark and slippery to run outside.

Well now that I have those excuses defeated I have no reason not to train for a half marathon.

Wish me luck.

I will do it.