Disney Dark Side Challenge weekend - Part 2

Of course, I couldn't go to Disney and just run one race!

I had to run all 3!

Day 2

(warning - this post is going to get a bit long, but I didn't want to forget any of the fun!)

Alarm set for 3:30am and after a quick shower to help me wake up, it was time to head to the bus... at 4:15am!

I was excited to see a bus pull in a few minutes after I was at the bus stop.  After just a few minutes, we had a full bus and were headed to the start line.  I would find out later, that some people, at other resorts did not have the same luck with early morning buses that I did. From the point in the Epcot parking lot where the buses drop you off, you have a short walk to get to the stage area, where again, there are characters out for photo ops, plenty of placed for you to meet up with friends before the race and grab some last minute breakfast or coffee (if you are one of those people that can actually eat before you run!).  Unfortunately, the start line for the 10k is NOT in the same place as the 5k!  This time, they herded us through the area behind the stage (ample port-a-pot's here in case you need a pitstop!) and along the road that was actually the beginning part ok yesterday's 5k.  By the time I arrived in my start corral (Corral B today!) I had walked almost 3 miles since I rolled out of bed!

I quickly was able to find Mary in the Corral - it was nice to have a friend to start the race with, in these huge crowds!  Remember, I live in Green Bay, I don't normally run in races that have 10,400 participants! (numbers courtesy of Disney Sport News)  Our local Cellcom Green Bay Marathon weekend usually sees a total of just over 8,000 runners between the Half Marathon, Marathon and Marathon Relay combined!  This was just the 10k and it was over 10,000 runners!

Disney starts off each corral with fireworks, not just the 1st corral of runners!  It's kinda nice to see everyone given the same start line fanfare, no matter what corral you are starting in!  At shortly after 5:30am we were off an running.  I lost Mary in the crowd after a few minutes but every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of her/Rey running ahead of me.  I ended up catching up with her just after she stopped to get in line for pictures with R2-D2 (right before the 1st mile marker).  I jumped in line with her, and we had a few laughs while we waited and chatted with the group behind us.  The lines for theses photo ops do seem to move fairly quickly, but for this weekend, I was not concerned about time - it was all about the fun, getting some great pictures and just enjoying running around the Happiest Place on Earth.

After R2 pics, we were off again.  Once again, Mary got off ahead of me, but I caught up to her for Chewbacca pictures.  We followed this same pattern for most of the 10k.  We would lose each other in the crowds and catch up at photo ops!  Running the streets of Epcot, in the dark was just as much fun today as it was yesterday, especially because we took a slightly different route through the park.

This would however, bring us to the one part of the course that I really did not like!  My biggest complaint about the 10k course was the section between Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  We were on a sidewalk, along the river, in front of one of the resorts.  When you have 10,000+ runners trying to get through a narrow place, while trying to keep moving - some running and some walking, caused some major bottle necks.  There were many times during this stretch that we were all forced to walk.  Some ran on the grass just to keep moving, but it was by far one of the slowest sections of the course.  Yes, this is just a short section, but when you are trying to keep a decent pace between photo stop, so as to not completely kill your overall finish time, it is very frustration.  Once you finally pass this section and you arrive at Hollywood Studios, everything opens back up and you can move about freely, at your own desired pace.

About halfway through HS, I ended up losing Mary.  No worries, I was over halfway done.  I enjoyed my run through the park and got myself ready for the last stretch, along the roads to get myself to ESPN and the finish line!  At one point, just after mile 4,  I ended up falling into pace with another gal that was moving about my pace and we kept each other going for those last 2 miles.   Just before we hit mile 5, the course took a turn and we were on a dirt trail, through the woods!  During this stretch of the race, there were more photo ops, great star wars themed music playing and just a ton of fun to be had.  Although it all looked fun, we actually didn't stop for any pics.  We were just ready to be done - it was starting to get warm and again, this WI girl is not used to the humidity in FL!

It was really awesome to see the crowd support during the final stretch of the race!  As soon as we came off the trail and onto the property at ESPN, the sidewalks were lined to people cheering, waving signs, giving high 5's and more!  Then just when you think it's over and the finish is just ahead, you turn the last corner to find a army of storm troopers and more, available for photos!

As I approached the last turn, up do the finish line, my legs were on fire.  I was ready to be done.  I knew that I only had a short distance to be done and about that same time, I caught up to a gal dressed at BB-8.  I told her, "Come on BB - lets go!  We've got this!"  Her legs were ready to be done to, but we pushed that last tenth of a mile together with miles on our faces!  

Done.  As you can see from the above picture, it was a warm one.  In the grand scheme of things, it was actually a pleasant morning, in Florida standards, but coming from WI, I am definitely not accustomed to the humidity and unfortunately I was not able to find my inhaler in my luggage after the 5k yesterday.  Thankfully since I made a few photo stops and got slowed down in the bottlenecks, I didn't actually NEED that inhaler today, but this is something that might come in handy tomorrow!  Time to dig through the suitcase and backpack again!

Today's medal did NOT disappoint!  What Star Wars Fan wouldn't like a giant Tie Fighter medal!?!?  Yes, yesterdays Storm Trooper finisher "medal" was cool, but it was rubber!  Granted it still has a cool look to it, but Disney is the only place I know that you get a finisher medal made of rubber!  This one today makes up for it tho!  Big, heavy and flashy!  Just how I like my race bling!!

Day 3

Half Marathon day!

 

Today, the alarm went off at 2:20am.  Yes that is 2:20 IN THE MORNING!  In my younger days, there were times that I was coming IN from a night out... not getting out of bed to go RUN!   It still amazes me that I actually have learned to love mornings like this!  The excitement of a race, especially in a new place, with new people and new experiences!  And this is Disney!  Why would I NOT be excited!?!  Especially since I decided to go with the Chewbacca costume for today!

On a bus by 3:10am and at Epcot by 3:30!  It was time again for that long walk from the buses, through the stage festivities, and along dark road towards the start line.  Yesterday's crowd of 10,000 for the 10k was increased to over 12,000 for the half marathon!  It was very slow moving from the stage area to the actual start corrals that I was wondering if I was going to make it in time! 

I knew ahead of time that this half marathon was not going to be my usual half.  I was out to enjoy the day, have fun, get lots of pictures and just enjoy the morning.  However when I was walking to the start line, I started to get a weird, almost vertigo type feeling.  Not sure if it was the humidity and heat starting to get to me, combined with the excitement of the weekend.  Or who knows what else!  Thankfully I had some extra Stinger waffles with me (since I wasn't sure how the heat and humidity was going to affect me on this longer run).  While I was walking to the corral's I ate that waffle, drank some more water and hoped for the best.  This was just going to help me make sure that I didn't push it too hard, making me enjoy the atmosphere around me.

Once again, it didn't take long to find Mary in the Corrals - so excited that we were in the same start corral again today!  Yesterday it was so much being able to spend the morning running with her that I was really looking forward to doing it again!

Any runner always jokes around about being in the port-a-john during the national anthem.  No, that didn't happen this morning, but it was close - I was in line for one!  The funky feelings that I had earlier seemed to have lead way to my stomach not being happy with me.  Fingers crossed that this was going to be the last of my stomach and weird feelings.  Somehow, after my trip to the bathroom, I managed to find Mary again in the corral, in time to shill for a few minutes before our corral moved up to start.

Once again, more fireworks at the start of each corral.  Although the fireworks are a nice touch, the rest of the "entertainment" while we were in the start corral's was fairly uneventful.  At the start of a race, I always enjoy music, entertainment or anything else to get me pumped up and excited to run.  The pre-race entertainment was clips from the movie.  Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge Star Wars geek and love seeing the video clips, but I would have hoped for a little more hype!

Before long, we were off and running.  Just to save myself a few minutes on my time, I oped to skip stopping for pics with R2 today, knowing that stopping for Chewy was going to be a MUST today!  I also knew that there was a few more photo stops that I was most likely going to want to stop at.  So I kept running!  Just as I was getting to to my target stop with Chewy, and I was making another pitstop at the bathroom (those actual bathrooms in the parks are like a little oasis!).  I was concerned about my pending visit with Chewy, as I saw him walking into the building near the bathroom!  Hopefully he was not going to be gone long!

After my pitstop, I headed to the Chewy photo op, I found Mary waiting in line so I joined her.  Chewy came back shortly and a few minutes later, I had some of my favorite pictures from the weekend! 

 After a few more miles through Epcot and Hollywood studios (where I met up with a few other Skirt Sports Ambassadors along the way!) and making my way through the crowds, it was off to the next (pretty boring) part of the course... the highway to Animal Kingdom.  Those miles down the highway were long and pretty uneventful!  

But then we finally arrived at Animal Kingdom.  I was actually pretty disappointed that we really were just mostly running around the parking lot... the time that we spent in the actual park was really fairly short!  Yes there were some cool photo ops in the park and in was fun seeing the monkey's playing and yelling as we ran through while they ate the breakfast, this was fairly disappointing.  Not to mention the last stretch as we worked out way back out of the park was very narrow and another bottle neck.  They had an area with more characters to take photo's with, but the people waiting in lines ended up actually blocking the path of the runners just trying to get through.  

As I was heading out of the boring lornar AK, back to the highway, I saw those infamous balloon ladies. Those are the ladies you don't want to see behind you. If they pass you, you will be picked up by the sweeper bus and driven to the finish line... And recieve no medal!  Since they were in their way IN to the parking lot, I knew that I was a few miles ahead of them... They were not going to catch me!

Finally after another long stretch of boring highway miles, in the bright, warm FL sun, we made our way through the trail to ESPN, through the same spectator lines sidewalks to the finish line.  This part of the course was pretty much the same thing as yesterday, so I felt no need to stop for any pictures etc.  I was ready to be done!  Show me the bling! 

I earned it!

This was one of the toughest races I've run, even though I know I didn't push myself nearly as hard as I usually do for a half marathon.  Today was all about the fun, the experience and the memories.  once I got through the finish line corrals, I had 4 medals clanking around my neck as I walked around the finish line area!  It was one of the toughest challenges I have done, to date, and I am so glad that I did it!

Afterwards, I somehow found Mary again!  I had not seen her since Hollywood Studios!  Somehow, at some point, I ended up in front of her and actually finished about 10 minutes before her!  Apparently, she actually stopped for a few more of the photo ops than I did, and I didn't see her in line as I ran past.  Yes, part of me wishes that I had made those few extra stops, but I was warm, tired and hungry!

Thanks again Mary for helping make my Disney race weekend so much fun!  I can't wait until our paths cross again!  Maybe one of these days I will actually make it down to Baton Rouge for a race!  If you even want to come to Green Bay, I have a spare bedroom waiting for you!

1 weekend

3 races

6 Medals:

Storm Trooper 5k

Tie Fighter 10K

Dark Side Half Marathon

Plus bonus medals:

Dark Side Challenge (completing 10k and Half this weekend)

Kessel Run Challenge (completing half marathon in California in January and here this weekend)

Disney Coast to Cost Medal (completing half marathon on both coasts in the same calendar year)

All in all it was a good weekend!

Next and final post of the weekend to come...

The good, the bad and the ugly of Disney Races! 

Why Skirts? The question really should be "Why NOT?"

There is so much more to running than just getting up one morning and deciding to run a half marathon (or whatever distance you choose!).  There's hours of training, early morning runs, and so much more, but that is a whole different post.

Today we are talking about the statement you make when you run!  Are you the practical running that just grabs whatever shorts and shirt out of the drawer, throws on some socks and shoes and heads out the door?  Or do you have a few tried and true items that you always put on for a run?

at the start line of the St Pat's 17k in Phoenix AZ, 2014

If you have been running for more than a few months, you have probably already found a few items that you tend to gravitate to when you head out for a run.  Maybe its'a shirt shouting your support of a certain organization or maybe it's just the most comfortable pair of shorts that you have ever owned.  For me, I have gone through several phases with my running apparel and I have finally found what works for me... that go to item that I don't leave home without...

My running skirt!

Disney Dark Side Half marathon, FL 2016

I discovered Skirt Sports a few years ago, thanks to a friend!  At the time, I didn't really think that a skirt would be comfortable to run in, but she insisted that they were. I was skeptical. Finally after browsing the website for a few months, I finally broke down and ordered one.

Game changer!

Why?

BUILT IN SHORTS

 Everyone loves a good comfortable pair of running shorts, but many of us ladies would prefer a loser fit to keep the booty covered.   Best of both worlds!  Comfortable compression shorts under a super cute skirt to keep you feeling comfortable, confident and ready to run!  The built in compression shorts have this awesome little "grippies" on the bottom so they stay in place!  No shorts crawling, no chaffing, no booty hanging out for the world to see.  (I have always said I will keep in real here... that will never change!).  Depending on which skirt you order, the shorts are slightly different lengths, but no matter what option you choose, they WILL stay in place!

POCKETS

With a hidden pocket on EACH leg of the shorts, I have room for my phone (which I always carry with me when I run) as well as fuel (Gluten Free Stinger Waffles and Margarita Clif Blocks are usually with me!), without having to take my hydration belt with me!  Keep in mind, I have still not completely weened myself off the hydration belt for my half marathons.  With my recent dietary changes that I have recently had to made has caused me to have to make some adjustments to my race fuel and I am still trying to work out exactly how much of each I need to have with me.  Plus having my own beverages with me is another security blanket that I can't give up on those long events!

But for anything shorter than a half marathon, no extra pockets are needed!  The pockets in my shorts are enough to carry everything I need!  If 2 pockets are not enough, check out the Happy Girl Skirt - it has a 3rd pocket tucked into the waistband on the back of the skirt!

COMFORT

These skirts have proven to me that skirts are more comfortable than any other options that I have tried to run in!  I actually will wear mine any chance I get!  On our recent trip to Florida, I actually lived in my Skirt Sports skirts and Capri's all weekend (yes they have shorts and capri's too... that's a whole other side of the adventure!). 

Oh yeah... the fun patterns and high quality of these skirts make them great to run in, but I have also been known to pair them with a sweater or dressy top and wear them to work.  I even wore them for my son's Boy Scout Eagle Ceremony!

My next purchase?  A running dress!  Yes, you read that right!  A dress!  Just need to get it ordered, and if it gets here in time, I'll debut it at the Indy Mini 5K on May 7th!

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!!

 Right now, you can actually get your own skirt to try and save a few bucks in the processes!  Literally as I was writing this, I received an email with a sneak peak of the Mothers Day Sales, which technically starts tomorrow, but as my friend (or family) I am able to share this with you ahead of time!  Use the discount code EXTRA20 to save an additional 20% off any sale priced items!  Yes, that means you could save up to 70% on some items!

Click here to find all the NEW Spring 2016 colors and prints at Skirt Sports!  Head on over to Skirt Sports to check out what you might be missing!  While you are at it... pick up something for mom!  I am sure she will appreciate it!

Disney Star Wars Dark Side Challenge weekend... part 1

As many of you know, I just came back from a long weekend in Orlando for the Disney Dark Side Half Marathon.  After running the Star Wars Rebel Half in January, I have been looking forward to this weekend since!  This was an awesome weekend filled with tons of fun, laughs and adventures.

This time the family was coming with me, and participating in the 5k too!  Since we had an EARLY flight out (6am), we drove to Milwaukee.   the night before and stayed at my favorite "go to" airport hotel!  The Clarion is right near the airport has reasonable rates as well as Stay and Fly packages so you can leave your car parked in their secured lot while you travel!  Since we had such an early flight, the first day of vacation started with the alarm going off at 3:30am!  by 4:10am, Thursday morning, we were on the way to the airport.  It was 19 degrees when we left Milwaukee and a pleasant 75 when we landed in Orlando!

Time to conquer the Dark Side

 One of the best choices we made for this trip was booking the Disney Magical Express to take care of our transportation.  We really wouldn't realize how much of a benefit this was until later in the weekend, but I'll get to that later!  Without having to worry about collecting luggage at baggage claim, we headed straight for the Disney Welcome center, checked in and were on a bus withing 15 minutes of when we got off the plane!  A short ride later and we were at out resort!  Again we didn't have to worry about collecting luggage and were able to just head inside to check in!

runDisney time!

After dumping our carry-on bags in our room, we headed for the expo.  One of the awesome things that Disney does for race weekend is provide race specific busing.  On Thursday, since anyone that was already on property was heading to the expo, there was a bus that just went from the resorts to ESPN Wide World of Sports.  There were only 2 resorts assigned to our bus so it was a short ride!

One of the advantages of arriving about an hour after the expo and packet pick up opened, the lines were short!  We had all of our packets picked up in less than 15 minutes - 5k for John and Darrin, then the 5k and Dark Side Challenge for me.  Disney always does a great job of having a well organized packet pickup with plenty of friendly volunteers to answer any questions.  With how many people I know will be running these events this weekend, I am glad we were able to get here before everything got really busy.

With all of our packets picked up, and I collected my wrist bands to verify medals that I was eligible to earn once I finished all my races for the weekend.  I felt like I was checking into the hospital for major surgery with the 2 race wrist bands, plus my magic band (room key, park passes, everything all in one) on one wrist and my running watch and JayBird on the other!

Then it was on to the expo!  Shopping time!  Since I really didn't have a ton of time to explore the expo when I was in California for the Star Wars Half in January, I was excited to have time to really see what was here!  I found a few new flavors of my Gluten Free Stinger waffles that I love, so I had to get a few to try!  Luck was on my side too - one of the vendors had calf sleeves on sale for a decent price, so I was able to pick up another pair (since I forgot mine at home!).  A few shirts later, it was time to find some lunch!

Unfortunately lunch was NOT up to Disney standards!  We opted to stop at the ESPN Grill right outside the expo.  After ordering, we grabbed a table outside, in the shade to enjoy the Florida weather.  about a half out later, we still didn't have our food, so Darrin went to get a soda refill and check on where our food was.  Someone came over to check on what we had, told us that they were having a computer issue and took our receipt and headed to the kitchen.  Another half hour later, we STILL didn't have food.  We waited long enough.  But unfortunately, we couldn't just leave - we had already paid for our food!  We headed back inside to find someone to inquire about a refund so we could go find food elsewhere.  Of course they asked us for our receipt, which we did not have anymore as the last gal took it from us when she went to check on our order!  Apparently, their computer had crashed and orders were not matching up with table numbers and everything was a mess.  They were able to find our order, based on the number that they gave us for our order.  After talking to 2 more people we were informed that our food had just come up.  They offered to box it up for us AND refund us the full amount of our meal.  Although not ideal, but at least they did what they could to make it right.

With bag of food in hand, we headed out from ESPN to catch the bus back to our resort.  But not before we took a few more pictures outside the entrance to ESPN!  The whole family was running the 5k on Friday and I would also be taking on the Dark Side Challenge - the 10k on Saturday and Half Marathon on Sunday!

 When we got back to our room, we magically had luggage!  Everything made it, in one piece!  Gotta love it when a good plan comes together! We officially could start the adventure and have clothes to change into!  The rest of the day, we explored out resort a bit, relaxed and then headed to bed early.  Alarms were going off at 3:30am so that we could get ready to catch buses by shortly after 4 to make it to the start line on time!

5am is early, no matter which way you look at it, but we were hanging gout with a few thousand other people at the start line of the inaugural Dark Side 5k!  I will have to say that the start line area was well organized, there were ample volunteers around to make sure you made it from the buses to the start line,  and plenty of Disney Photographers were on hand to take any pictures that you wanted!  There were also about 6 Star Wars Characters at the start line area, around the stage, for photo opportunities!  Since I was in an earlier corral for the race, I left John and Darrin at the stage area to head to my corral to stretch out and get ready for the race.  They used this time to get a few photos before the race!

I opted to wait until I hit the course to take any pictures, and even tho this was the Dark Side 5k, the only photo op I stopped for...   Chewbacca!  This was the one day that I decided I was only going to make the one stop, and was going to try and push my time a little.  I felt good, the temperatures were mild and I was ready to run.  I did stop along the way to snap a few pictures along the way, but nothing too exciting!

In the end, I finished this 5k in my normal a few minutes of my average 5k time (with the exception of the 10 minutes that I waited for my picture with Chewie).  I was actually excited to know that I pushed myself enough that it was still dark out when I finished!  I beat the sun!

Since I knew that John and Darrin were just walking the 5k, I had some time to spare.  So I used this time to get a few other pictures at the stage area.  The lines seemed long, but in reality, they did move fairly quickly.  I managed to get a few different picture before heading back over to the finish line to watch them come in. 

When I say them come around the corner, I tried to get a video of them actually running to the finish line, but apparently I couldn't' operate the camera on my phone and ended up just with a photo.  Oh well, you can tell from the picture tho, that they were actually running!

Proof of finish!  Medals and official finish line photos!

Race 1 for the weekend for me done!  After showers and breakfast, we spent the rest of Friday in the parks, wandering through Magic Kingdom (Where I met up with fellow Skirt Sports Ambassador Mary, who joined us for the morning!), then Hollywood Studios.  We actually had some issues with getting our Fast Passes to work with the Disney Experience app that morning at MK, so when we talked with the awesome young lady at the resort, she added a Fast Pass package onto our account to use at Hollywood Studios that afternoon!  We had 3 fast passes to use, any time, any ride that day!  We were able to hit 3 rides, literally no waiting in less than 2 hours in the park!

Once we used our passes, it was time for this Crazy Hamster to get some sleep!  I left the boys at the park and headed for the bus, and ultimately back to the resort so I could get some shut eye. While I headed back, they hit another show and then the Fireworks - which apparently were set to the opening theme from Star Wars!

Next part of the adventure was coming soon... and the alarm was going off at 3am! 

Stay tuned for Race Recap Part 2, coming soon!

Attention active ladies!

When you find something that you really love, you tell people about it... right?  Well, I just found something for all you active ladies out there!

To all you guys out there, go ahead and stop reading now... unless you really want to read about my new favorite sports bra!  

After my run today, as I was hanging out on the floor with my roller, it came to me that it was time to sit down and write a quick review!

I know that there are many of you ladies out there that have the same problem as me - finding a good sports bra that will give you the support that you need during all your fitness adventures, without pinching, chafing, or suffocating you!

I am sure we all struggled with getting out of a sports bra after a long run or workout - it's pretty much another workout in itself!  Hence why I have switching to almost exclusively wearing zip front sports bras - after running a half marathon in 105% humidity, there is now way that sweaty beast is coming off over my head!

I recently decided to give the Zip'em Up sports bra from Skirt Sports a try.  Yes, I am a Skirt Sports Ambassador and always talk highly have their running skirts and carpi's but this was the first time I have ordered one of their bra's!  Why did I wait this long?

  For all you ladies out there that need the extra support, all I can say is WOW!  For the last few years, I have been wearing nothing but another well known company's bra's (and spending more than a small fortune on them) when I head out for a run.  No, not the same ONE bra for 2 years, I bought several over the last few years!  This one is quickly becoming my new favorite and will be replacing my other ones!  So far, this bra has supported me through several long runs, fitness classes, cycling and everything in between.

With just the right amount of compression to keep the girls in place without making you feel like you like you are a stuffed into a sausage casing, and lightly padded shoulder straps, this is a thing of beauty!  

The other thing that I love about this bra?  It's not super thick and padded!  Now wait!  Yes you read that right!  It's not padded!  A sports bra for us large chested ladies that is not padded?  That's right, it's not actually padded but has this amazing lining that helps provide perfect coverage, while being lightweight and breathable!  Perfect for those warm summer  activities.

The hidden front zipper has a guard on the inside to help eliminate chafing and keeps it comfortable.  It also features 2 hidden hooks are almost like have an extra hand to help hold the bra closed so that you can easily zip it.  I don't know how many times I have tried on a zip-front bra and felt like I needed 3 extra hands to try and keep everything in place while trying to close the zipper!  And NO fighting with a sweaty gross bra after my run!  A quick unzip and that was it!

Honestly, this is one of the first sports bra's that I have owned that provided the support that I need, is beyond comfortable, doesn't chafe and is actually cute!  I think I might need to get one of every color!

Yes I am a Skirt Sports Ambassador but the opinions here are my own.   If you want to check out the options that Skirt Sports offers in bra's (as well as other athletic apparel) check out their website!  Click on the link below to head to the website!   Then, because you are all awesome, use discount code CHD20 to save 20% on your order just because we are friends!

Reading, learning and rediscovering

Every day is an opportunity to learn.  We are constantly learning.  Learning helps us grow, expand horizons, meet mew people, try new things and so much more.  In reality, we never can learn everything, there will always be something new.

This has been my life in the last few weeks.  

As you may recall, I recently found out that I have 22 trigger foods that have been wrecking havoc on my stomach and intestines, are potentially the cause of my headaches, fatigue and so much more!  I think I have read more food labels in the last 2 weeks than I have in my entire life.

Don't get me wrong, I read food labels before, but never like I do now!  Before I would take a quick scan of the ingredients, but my focus usually was more on the fat, calories, protein and carbs in anything I was considering buying.  Now, I am literally reading each and every ingredient on the label, trying to decipher what some things are, contemplating if it is "safe" for me to eat!

This weekend, I finally tackled the project of going through the pantry and cupboards to sort out what I could eat from what was now fair game for the rest of the family to enjoy.  Everything that contained Milk, almonds, cheese, onions, pineapple and more was set on one side of the table. Everything that was free of all trigger foods was placed on the other side of the table.

In the end, there was definitely more on the right side (avoid side) of the table than the left.  Wow!  No wonder why I feeling the way that I was, if I was eating so many of these foods on the "avoid" side of the table daily!  

How much of it was I eating?  just to give you an example:

Breakfast most mornings was a shake mixed with Chocolate Almond Milk, a milk based shake mix and either a banana or pineapple.  I have since learned that Milk (most Dairy) is a trigger, as are almonds and pineapple!

Now I am replacing my shake mix with a dairy free version and sticking with bananas, strawberries or other fruit!

Lunch was usually leftovers... this particular day, it was baked salmon (now on the list of avoid foods) and green beans (another avoid food!). Yes, I will miss as my salmon and

Shrimp and crab, but I still have scallops and a few other varieties of fish I can enjoy!

In the two weeks that I have been working to eliminate these trigger foods, I feel better, sleep better most nights and am starting to see higher energy levels.  Oh yeah, and I have not had any migraines!

I have also had to stop and think more about what I am feeding my body.  I have gone back to some of my favorite recipes, some of which I have not made in a long time, played with them to see what I could do to tweak them, to fit in the new diet

One of those recipes that I went back to, was my favorite chicken salad recipe!

A few years ago, I posted the recipe for this here and figured that it was time to share it again.. with a few modifications!

This light, summer chicken salad, in its original formula, was made with almond butter.  Since I can't have the almond butter anymore, I opted to make it now with cashew butter!  

What a game changer!  

Shredded chicken (perfect way to use up that leftover rotisserie chicken!), granny smith apples, grapes, cashew butter and honey!

The perfect blend of sweet and crunchy to go with the chicken!

Pure yum!

Yes, I am still learning what I can easily grab to eat when I need a quick snack or am making dinner.  I will continue to work on finding modified recipes for some of the family favorites that right now, I can't make in the same way that I did before... Chili without onions, kidney beans and cheese, just is not the same.   Same goes for sloppy joes and meatloaf.

Yes, this is a tough journey, but I know that it will be worth it in the end!  The next few months might be tough and I will miss my pizza, but if, in the end, it means that I am healthier, have more energy and can avoid the headaches, it will be worth it!  Your health is more important!

Now, time to scour the internet for dinner tomorrow!

Destination Disneyland!

No better way to kick of 2016 than a trip to Disneyland...

unless it's a trip to Disneyland to run the Star Wars Half Marathon!

(note: I am finally sitting down to write this a few months after I came back!)

I will have to say that this trip came at the perfect time.  On Thursday, when I flew out of Milwaukee, it was 10 degrees outside.

When I stepped off the plan in Orange County, it was 65!  You will not hear me complain about the weather!! While friends of mine back home were posting pictures of running on the frigid temperatures, I was living in capri's and t-shirts!

First stop - Packet pickup and the expo!  I was really glad to make this stop on Thursday, before most people arrived for the weekend.  There were virtually no other people in line and I was in and out in a matter of a few minutes with my race bib.  Heading up stairs then for the expo!

I probably could have spent 5 hours wandering round the expo, checking out all the goodies, shiney things and apparel, but I really did need to find some food!  So that won out over shopping for the evening!  

Friday morning started out early as I headed to Downtown for the start of the 5k.  Even though I wasn't running, it was awesome to get down there and be part of the excitement.!  Since I also needed to get in some miles, I found out that from the south end of Downtown Disney to the far north end near the parking garage was a half mile.  I am sure that I got more than just a few odd looks from those walking to the race, of from the Disney employees that were working and select points thru town and I kept running past  :)  in the end, I hit 3 miles right before the 5k started!  All in all, it was a productive morning!

After the race and a shower, it was off to the parks for the day!  Yes, a 1 day park ticket is about the equivelent of highway robbery, but when you are in Anaheim for the first time in 18 years, (and didn't get to go to Disney on that trip) you go to Disney!

The nice part about getting to the parks early, the streets aren't all that crowded!  Plus, when you are not lugging kids and everyone else around with you, you can avoid long lines but hitting the single rider lines!  

To make a trip to California even better than just being able to run at Disneyland?  Finding out that a dear friend from college currently lives less that 5 minutes from your hotel!  After 20 years, it was amazing to be able to catch up with Amy over lunch and coffee on Saturday, promising that it would not be 20 years before we saw each other again! (We actually saw each other again in February when she was in MI visiting her dad and we made the trip up to see them!)

Finally, Sunday and race day was here!  When you wake up at 3am to get to the start line and look at your weather app in California, you don't expect to see 38 degrees!  I had been on the fence about what to wear it was time to make a decision!  Temps were not supposed to get much over 50, so I opted to go with the (heatgear) capri's and lightweight long sleeve shirt under my costume. 

At the start line at 4:30 am!  Time to make it happen!

After spending Friday walking through the parks all day, it was completely different to see them in the dark!  The entire park was lit up and there were awesome photo ops throughout the entire park.  Of course, the best ones were with the Star Wars Characters!  

Each time I stopped, I did stop my running watch as I wanted to get a more accurate idea of how much time I spent running.  In the end, I spent about a half hour waiting for photos with Chewie and R2, but it was so worth it!

Not sure how I managed it, but I timed my run through the park just right that the sun was coming up as I was running through Radiator springs!  Ok, not quite the same as actually running through the majestic areas along Route 66, but it's a close second!

What an experience!  Traveling across the country to run a half marathon, explore new cities, meeting so many new people was so worth the adventure!  I couldn't have asked for a better race to kick of my 2016 race season!

I was at the airport in LA bright and early Monday morning to fly back home.  Happy to say it was a quiet uneventful flight home but a nice way to relax and reflect on my adventure!  I feel so blessed to have been able to take this opportunity and run with it (pun intended!)  Some days, I think my family is convinced that I am completely crazy... there may be some truth to that statement, depending on who you ask.  In the end, it comes down to fining your passion and striving to reach your goals!  

Life is an adventure!  Get out there and live it!

Don't be so busy making a living that you forget to make a life!

What drives you?  What are your passions?  That is a huge part of figuring out what you truly want out of life!