Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Kudos to the Walt Disney World Chefs

I was first going to tie in all my meals to my overall 2012 Disney Princess Half Marathon trip report, but I was so amazed at how well I was able to eat and how knowledgeable the chefs were about my multiple allergies that the food deserved a entry of it's own.

When we arrived on Thursday we went to Portobello in Downtown Disney via boat from Riverside. We happened to be there the same time a winner of some cooking show, could be Top Chef, was also dining. As I looked over the menu there was really no main entrees that stuck out at me so I started to look for things I could eat to prepare to discuss when the chef arrived. When the chef came to our table she was very helpful and as they mainly serve pasta, she kindly brought me a box to look at the ingredients. As soon as I saw it was Barilla brand I knew it was out due to toe corney vitamins added so we made a lovely dish out of fresh gulf shrimp and portobello mushrooms sautéed in EVOO. A glass of Italian Pinot Gris an we were off to a good start!
The next stop was dinner at The Hollywood Brown Derby at Hollywoods Studios. We were wisked away from the crowds into the private VIP Bamboo Room. Why? I have no clue but enjoyed having a room for just us four. The waiter brought me a cool iPad with an app to select my allergies. Since I have so many, it did not work that well for me and I knew I wanted filet and mushrooms anyways. Delicious!
For breakfast on Friday am I just had some of Nana's yummy muffins she made for me before the trip. Lunch on Friday took us to the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian Resort where I feasted on Ahi Tuna and some baked sweet potato fries which were a nice surprise. The chef commented that I even noted bananas on foods to avoid with corn due to gassing. He said not many people realized that.
Dinner on Friday was at Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Resort. I was too starving to take a picture before I dived in but got to enjoy another Filet accompanied by butternut squash.

Saturday breakfast an lunch was good I brought. We ran the 5k in the early and and truthfully we were just all too tired to make it to Downtown Disney again for lunch so Hubby and kids just used the counter service at Riverside.

Dinner on Saturday was another story. We dined at Narcosees at the Grand Floridian where I stuffed myself on a pre-race filet and a wonderful melody of wild mushrooms an EVOO.

Sunday I was up at 3am to get to the starting corrals so I snacked on muffins again and the big surprise came after my 13.1 mile run. We had reservations at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Epcot. This was a princess character breakfast. I need to make it clear that Pea does not like princesses, lol but this was booked as a convenience to have a meal with my family after my run. When we walked in I discovered it was a buffet an just kind of accepted I will just eat the food I had with me.

The chef came out and was very committed to get me a huge and safe meal after my accomplishment. Wow! I ended up with scrambled eggs sautéed in EVOO with onions and fresh potatoes and onions also sautéed. He also made me a huge plate of fresh fruit that I just devoured. I was craving some for the past few days before.

I skipped lunch due to the huge breakfast and napped instead. Our celebration dinner was at the Coral Reef in Epcot. I enjoyed wild salmon and butternut squash.

Monday we ate at Fultons Crab House where I had Ahi Tuna and green beans.

I can not say thank you enough to all of the chefs that made my trip so wonderful. It just goes to show that with proper planning (I brought a list of all my allergies and things I avoids due to them such as salt, seasonings, etc and contacted Disney Special Diets a month in advance) and open communication with the well trained and knowledgable chefs of Disney people with severe allergies can eat well when traveling. I highly recommend Disney for this reason.



Sunday, February 19, 2012

Look what I will have in ONE Week!!!


WOW, just found a picture of the Disney Princess medal for 2012 on Facebook!  Yea!  I am so excited!  Spent most of the morning packing and rocked out an awesome run yesterday morning - 10 miles in 1:47!  I am ready to go!  I must have been training good all along, as I am not even sore from it this morning.

Discovered that I did book the wrong resort though :( but it will just be a new adventure.  Thought we were staying at Port Orleans - French Quarter but turns out I booked Riverside.  When I called Disney today I was told French Quarter was full.  Oh well ;)  

Im thinking this might be my favorite medal of all time.  What is your favorite full or half medal?


Friday, February 17, 2012

Plan of Attack..

So, it is no secret that due to the nerve impingement, that thank goodness disappeared, I have not been able to get any run longer than 9 miles in.  That being said, I have no concern in the world that I will not be able to complete it because I have not run longer than 9 miles recently.  I did 13.1 in much, much, worse shape when I could not even run a full 9 miles.  None the less, I have put together a plan.

Take walk breaks at the get go.... HMM!  Wow, that is a new one, lol.  I heard Jeff Galloway will be at the Disney Princess so I picked up two of his books:
Galloway's Book on Runningand Marathon: You Can Do It!

I bought these because we happened to be in Barnes & Nobles getting Pea a book on Polar Bears for her 2nd Grade Talent Development research project and might as well look in the running section too for Mama.  Plus, with him being at Disney wanted to check out his thoughts prior. Also needed to start thinking of a plan for my Chicago Marathon debut ;)

After reading the "Book on Running" I thought it would be good to go into this Half with a plan to conserve my energy by adding in walk breaks.  Now, Jeff suggests walk 4 min/run 1 type of things but really?  No, not for this event.  First, I do not want to be constantly looking at my watch, second, I don't think I need to break it up that much to get thru.  What I have planned is take a 60 second walk break at every mile marker - easy enough to identify and might actually help my time vs. negatively impact it as I have read in his book.  This will allow me to:
1) Give my muscles a bit of a break
2) Guarantee a strong finish

So, that is the plan as well as keeping my pace around 10 min/mile.  Perhaps I will do this just for the first 10 miles or so then run the rest, that will be determined at the race but needless to say
I'M GETTING REALLY EXCITED!!!!

Also, in other news!  I will be running with the Dwarfs through the Castle this September to get  my Coast to Coast!  Yep, I saw the numbers going up to 87% full and the chances of it being at 100% before Princess Expo starts are really high, so this year's goal is Coast to Coast! Mine will say 2013, lol
Next year's Disney Goal:

 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Road to Recovery

Well, as crappy as I felt yesterday I decided to try for a run. Staring at my race planner and wishing I could record something, I reasoned with myself that if the run was that hard at least I could get off the treadmill and get my pjs back on. Plus, logically I figured all my illnesses were above the neck too. Isn't that some sort of rule?

So, as documented in Dailymile, 3 miles were done! I planned on 1.5 but it really is crunch time with Disney Princess coming up so soon!  Glad I was able to add some miles yesterday and going to do another 3 tonight. Still not feeling the best but trying to do something is better than sitting there wishing!

Discovered today that I am in corral B for the Princess based on my time submitted with my race entry!!!
Allergic Mama's Bib = 2695
Disney Princess Half Marathon Corral Placement 2012
 Corral: Individuals Bib *** Team Bib Range
 Corral A 31-2250 *** 20001-20313
 Corral B 2251-4500 *** 20314-20634
 Corral C 4501-6750 *** 20635-21017
 Corral D 6751-9000 *** 21018-21373
 Corral E 9001-11250 *** 21374-21777
 Corral F 11251-13500 *** 21778-22159
 Corral G 13501-15750 *** 22160-22617
 Corral H 15751-18000 *** 22618-23000
 
Yea! This gets me even more pumped and motivated to run through this virus and get some miles in to try and make up for the time lost to my nerve injury. BTW wore normal running socks yesterday and not one foot pain!!

Who else out there has ran or worked out while sick??? I'm sure to non-runners out there it probably sounds a bit crazy and may leave some doubting you are sick in the first place, but lots of it is mental!!! Lol, share your sick running stories with me :)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Really??

Well, figured out on my Saturday run that my foot problem is a nerve impingement.  Nerve impingements can be caused by lacing your shoes too tight and aggravated by wearing compression socks!  Who knew???  It is just a habit that when I go for a longer run, I put on my trusty pair of $55 compression socks!   Common sense sometimes needs to kick in.  None the less, the foot pain was back and it has been getting better, although I have not been able to test it out by running.

Why you ask??

Well, with less than 2 weeks left to go to the Disney Princess Half, I now have the virus hubby and Monkey had.  Today is day three, which according to their stats, should be the last day.  Yesterday was chest congestion and a non stop runny nose with ill feelings all over.  Today greeted me with headache, swollen glands, runny nose (although I only hope to use one box of Keenex, not the two I used since 5 pm last night) and ill feelings all over.  Geeze, I can't win!

See, this is why running is a mental game.  Can I just say, well, I hurt my foot and have a virus, so much for the half?? UM NO!  Mentally, I can do it even if it means run/walking it.  Im hoping to get a run in tomorrow and until then I will drink lots of water and fresh squeezed OJ!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Life is Good!

Yum!  Life is good!  I shared my marathon announcement with my Facebook friends and family, I ran 2 pain free miles and Im now having a yummy dinner of organic, grass-fed, filet smothered in Italian Gorgonzola cheese and LOTS of roasted garlic with a size of zucchini and onions!  Red wine would complete the meal, but not on Friday night as I need to get some miles in tomorrow am before the Disney Princess Half Marathon!
 
YUMMY!
Back to my run!  I was so excited to be able to do any distance pain free and I only had 2 on the schedule today due to both my (now previous) foot injury and my long run tomorrow.  It is amazing how mental running is, I swear 95% is mental.  I love how I can play games when I run controlling both my mind and my breathing, how a different thought to breathe differently can make the run that much more enjoyable.  I don't like how an injury can make you scared to run, even if all signs point to a recovery, until you accomplish a pain free run there is always the worry.  

I'm really looking forward to my run as an Alumni with TnT tomorrow am now that my mental block is removed.  How many miles will I do?  I don't know, would like to do at least 8 but we will see.  It is snowing really good now and we have a packed day tomorrow so we will see.  But, the mental block is gone and I could not be happier!

What do you think the hardest part of distance running is?

Thursday, February 9, 2012

The HUGE Decision

Two friends kept telling me I should to the Chicago Marathon, registration just opened, it is a nice, flat course, yada, yada, yada.  Mind you, I do consider myself a runner, but a marathon runner?  I saw a movie on Netflix, Sprit of a Marathon, http://www.marathonmovie.com/ that documented several runner's preparations for the Chicago Marathon. Granted I was moved, but thought, "Ok, maybe when I turn 40 that would be cool to acomplish."

Well, fast forward to this past Monday.  My foot was really swollen on the top due to either too tight laces during my last 5K on Feb. 28th or a stress fracture.  Not a good scenario either way, and really concerned about my running and completing the Disney Princess in 3 weeks. The thought of doing a marathon was no where near the top of my concerns for the day as I made myself an appointment with a Sports Doctor for Tuesday to put a plan together on what I need to do to get thru the next 13.1.

My co-worker, who is always running, said I really need to think about signing up as the registration is expected to close soon.  Well, um, ok.. not sure I want to run 26.2 or train for it.  The deciding factor for me was looking at Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme Marathon Training plan that can be found at http://www.halhigdon.com/.  Easy peasy, nice way to really take my training a step back after this next half, build a good base and acomplish the 26.2.  Heck, I reasoned that even if my foot is broken, I have more than enough time, not yet 40, but that really did not matter.  Following the plan and modifying it somewhat to keep my longer weekned runs, I might.. maybe..can..Soooo......

I REGISTERED FOR MY FIRST MARATHON
AND MY JOURNEY HAS BEGUN!!!

I even booked the hotel room for Hubby, Monkey and Pea to join me.  I liked the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Facebook and went on with my day.  5 or so hours later, I found out via Facebook that registrtion closed!  WOW!  Glad I took the chance and made a quick decision. (Foot is most likey bruised or compressed, did 3 miles yesterday with little discomfort so getting better now.)

 I've kind of kept this quiet on Facebook with the exception of a post to a running group I am a member of.  But, thinking about it today on my way to a meeting at work, this is a huge undertaking, something worth documenting!   Kind of like the adoption of Pea and Monkey, it is a journey that will change my life and I will accomplish something huge!  I hope you join me as I prepare my mind and body to run (that is right, I want to run the entire distance) 26 miles and 385 yards.