He's 13 miles crazier than me!
Jan. 12th, 2009 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ad_exiaSO. This weekend was pretty much awesome, with about two hours of panic in the middle. XD
So Saturday Diana and I met up in Orlando and went to the Grand Floridian for tea. It was very yummy, and we got tea sandwiches and scones and tarts and strawberries and cream! We were so full by the end of it. XD We wandered around the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian before we headed over to the Caribbean Beach Resort where we were staying to get changed back into regular clothes (because of course where there is tea, tea dresses must be involved!). Our room had Finding Nemo comforters and trim on the walls and there were pineapples in all the furniture and it was awesome! (Actually, I think the only pictures I took all weekend were of our room. XD)
Anyway, we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at our favorite restaurant (Earl of Sandwich :DDD) and it was pretty crowded, but then it was a Saturday night and also Frank told me it was the Post-Half-Marathon Party, so that kind of explains it. Then we headed back to get to bed at a reasonable hour so we could get up and cheer Frank on while he ran the Disney Marathon!
So the plan was to get up at 6am, get breakfast at 7, and take one of the Marathon transportation buses to Animal Kingdom to watch Frank around mile 16-17. We used the Merlin ringtone on my phone as an alarm because, as Diana said, "I'll hear the Merlin theme at 6am and getting up won't seem so bad." XD So in the morning we got ready and went down to my car to drive it over to the food court and grab some breakfast.
D: AND MY CAR WOULD NOT START.
Argh. I have had this problem before - no warning, but one day it just won't start. The terminals on the battery somehow get this buildup of calcium and it blocks the spark from the starter to the battery. I've had the terminals replaced twice already, and the second time (less than a year ago) they even supposedly coated them in something so this wouldn't happen. But apparently it did. D: So that was really not good. I decided to deal with it later, and we took Diana's car over to the food court, picked up something to eat, and went to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. It took a while to get there - I'd signed up for "Frank Tracking" (well, okay, it was runner updates via text on my phone, but Frank Tracking sounds cooler XD) so I could keep an eye on him, and he was hitting pretty much 10-minute miles the whole way, so we definitely wanted to get to Animal Kingdom sooner rather than later so we wouldn't miss him! Finally the bus came, and we found a spot right at a bend in the course where we could spot him easily, and hung out for about half an hour until Frank came running by and we cheered!
We then caught a bus to Epcot to see if we could cheer him through the finish line, but there was a giant crowd of people there and there was no way we were going to get close enough to even spot him, let alone have him spot us. So I tried calling about getting my car fixed - I knew Disney had a car repair place, but lo! THEY ARE CLOSED ON SUNDAYS WHUT. I guess even though the parks are open Sunday, it's too much to hope that the Disney on-site car repair place would be. So there was a brief moment of panic, but the lady at the Caribbean Beach front desk that I'd called was amazing and located a Pep Boys in Kissimmee that was open! I called them and they said I could come in; then I called AAA and Diana and I headed back to the hotel to meet the tow truck. He came, but thankfully the guy had a portable battery and was able to find a spot on the terminals that wasn't too covered in calcium and managed to get my car started! So I drove it myself (with Diana as navigator <3) to Pep Boys, where they replaced the terminals and the battery (since they tested it and it was in need of replacing, anyway). All in about an hour, which was really pretty quick, even if I was getting antsy because I was supposed to meet Frank at the park around 1.
BUT they finished just about 1, and I drove Diana back so she could pick up her car and head out, and I parked at the Magic Kingdom and headed in; I think I got there only a little while after Frank, so he wasn't waiting too long and the timing worked out in the end. WHEW! That was one of the more hectic mornings in my life. XDD
Anyway, the Marathon looked pretty awesome - they shut down most of the roads so people could run them, and there were characters all along the way that the runners could get pictures with! XD Frank said they ran down a lot of the back roads, which was neat, and they even got to run through theMGM Hollywood Studios costume shop! I so would've had the slowest mile ever through that portion, I'd be too busy goggling~ XD;
Anyway~ So Frank and I did the Magic Kingdom. We both totally have the same strategy of hitting up Space Mountain first and last, so it works out well~ (NTS - I think it's the right side that's faster! I keep forgetting. ::dies::) The part really wasn't too crowded at all - I don't think we waited more than 20 minutes to get on anything, and Frank was doing pretty well, considering he'd just run a marathon, the crazy boy. XD He just made me get into everything first so he wouldn't have to scoot over, which was fine with me~ And I let him sit in front on Space Mountain since there was more leg room and he wouldn't have to bend his legs so much. XD
We sat down for a bit for dinner, and got a good spot to chill and wait for the parade... which never happened! It was so weird - the park info said the SpectroMagic Parade was at 7, and we weren't the only ones sitting down for it, but nothing happened until 8 when the fireworks went off and the park closed. D: It was so weird! But we played with Frank's iPhone so we were entertained in the meantime. XD
But THEN there were extra magic hours, so the park was open 'till 11 for us since we'd both stayed on Disney property~ Though I think at about 10 we called it quits, since we'd hit up everything we wanted to do because all the lines were so short. (The only sad thing was that Splash Mountain was closed, which is Frank's favorite, but hopefully next time he comes it'll be open!) And in line for Peter Pan, we even ran into a guy who'd done the Goofy Challenge - a half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday! And Frank said, "Hey, you keep calling me crazy, but he's 13 miles crazier than me!" XD
Woo, so I drove Frank back to his parents' place in the Villages and headed home; I got in about 1:30 (since I had to stop off and feed Nozimi), and pretty much passed out~ And I slept in this morning 'till about 10:15, because I figured I deserved it at least a little. ^^;
Anyway, it was an awesome weekend - I don't get to see Frank really often (usually just at Stacie's Christmas party, which he wasn't able to make this year) and it was really great to see him and hang out~ Diana and I had a wonderful time at tea and everything, and mad props to her for hanging out with me while I got my car fixed. <3
I really think I might do the Half Marathon next year - we were talking about it and I could start training as late as October. It's only 13 miles! I could do that! Slowly, but I could do that. XD; I think you just have to be able to do 16-minute miles or something, which I could totally do. I hope. :D;; Plus there's that Tower of Terror 13k that I might be getting roped into this year as well.
And then today it's been overcast and cold (50s) in Gainesville - what's up with that? D: At least I get to wear a scarf! And I got some hot tea a little while ago, which was nice~ Those London Fog Tazo Tea Lattes at Starbucks are amazing~ I highly recommend them!
OH and I finished True Colors on... Friday, I think! I'm still reading "Odds" but I brought Order 66 with me today to read at the gym~ I think there will definitely be a Fi plushie somewhere in my future. XD I <3 you, Fi~
Okay, gotta finish running WAVDETECT before 4:30 or so~ I hope this time I've broken the evt2 file up properly - I don't know why it's been giving me so much grief. I'm sure there's a way to automate this, but then I would have to learn it, and that might be harder than what I'm doing now. XD;
So Saturday Diana and I met up in Orlando and went to the Grand Floridian for tea. It was very yummy, and we got tea sandwiches and scones and tarts and strawberries and cream! We were so full by the end of it. XD We wandered around the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian before we headed over to the Caribbean Beach Resort where we were staying to get changed back into regular clothes (because of course where there is tea, tea dresses must be involved!). Our room had Finding Nemo comforters and trim on the walls and there were pineapples in all the furniture and it was awesome! (Actually, I think the only pictures I took all weekend were of our room. XD)
Anyway, we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at our favorite restaurant (Earl of Sandwich :DDD) and it was pretty crowded, but then it was a Saturday night and also Frank told me it was the Post-Half-Marathon Party, so that kind of explains it. Then we headed back to get to bed at a reasonable hour so we could get up and cheer Frank on while he ran the Disney Marathon!
So the plan was to get up at 6am, get breakfast at 7, and take one of the Marathon transportation buses to Animal Kingdom to watch Frank around mile 16-17. We used the Merlin ringtone on my phone as an alarm because, as Diana said, "I'll hear the Merlin theme at 6am and getting up won't seem so bad." XD So in the morning we got ready and went down to my car to drive it over to the food court and grab some breakfast.
D: AND MY CAR WOULD NOT START.
Argh. I have had this problem before - no warning, but one day it just won't start. The terminals on the battery somehow get this buildup of calcium and it blocks the spark from the starter to the battery. I've had the terminals replaced twice already, and the second time (less than a year ago) they even supposedly coated them in something so this wouldn't happen. But apparently it did. D: So that was really not good. I decided to deal with it later, and we took Diana's car over to the food court, picked up something to eat, and went to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. It took a while to get there - I'd signed up for "Frank Tracking" (well, okay, it was runner updates via text on my phone, but Frank Tracking sounds cooler XD) so I could keep an eye on him, and he was hitting pretty much 10-minute miles the whole way, so we definitely wanted to get to Animal Kingdom sooner rather than later so we wouldn't miss him! Finally the bus came, and we found a spot right at a bend in the course where we could spot him easily, and hung out for about half an hour until Frank came running by and we cheered!
We then caught a bus to Epcot to see if we could cheer him through the finish line, but there was a giant crowd of people there and there was no way we were going to get close enough to even spot him, let alone have him spot us. So I tried calling about getting my car fixed - I knew Disney had a car repair place, but lo! THEY ARE CLOSED ON SUNDAYS WHUT. I guess even though the parks are open Sunday, it's too much to hope that the Disney on-site car repair place would be. So there was a brief moment of panic, but the lady at the Caribbean Beach front desk that I'd called was amazing and located a Pep Boys in Kissimmee that was open! I called them and they said I could come in; then I called AAA and Diana and I headed back to the hotel to meet the tow truck. He came, but thankfully the guy had a portable battery and was able to find a spot on the terminals that wasn't too covered in calcium and managed to get my car started! So I drove it myself (with Diana as navigator <3) to Pep Boys, where they replaced the terminals and the battery (since they tested it and it was in need of replacing, anyway). All in about an hour, which was really pretty quick, even if I was getting antsy because I was supposed to meet Frank at the park around 1.
BUT they finished just about 1, and I drove Diana back so she could pick up her car and head out, and I parked at the Magic Kingdom and headed in; I think I got there only a little while after Frank, so he wasn't waiting too long and the timing worked out in the end. WHEW! That was one of the more hectic mornings in my life. XDD
Anyway, the Marathon looked pretty awesome - they shut down most of the roads so people could run them, and there were characters all along the way that the runners could get pictures with! XD Frank said they ran down a lot of the back roads, which was neat, and they even got to run through the
Anyway~ So Frank and I did the Magic Kingdom. We both totally have the same strategy of hitting up Space Mountain first and last, so it works out well~ (NTS - I think it's the right side that's faster! I keep forgetting. ::dies::) The part really wasn't too crowded at all - I don't think we waited more than 20 minutes to get on anything, and Frank was doing pretty well, considering he'd just run a marathon, the crazy boy. XD He just made me get into everything first so he wouldn't have to scoot over, which was fine with me~ And I let him sit in front on Space Mountain since there was more leg room and he wouldn't have to bend his legs so much. XD
We sat down for a bit for dinner, and got a good spot to chill and wait for the parade... which never happened! It was so weird - the park info said the SpectroMagic Parade was at 7, and we weren't the only ones sitting down for it, but nothing happened until 8 when the fireworks went off and the park closed. D: It was so weird! But we played with Frank's iPhone so we were entertained in the meantime. XD
But THEN there were extra magic hours, so the park was open 'till 11 for us since we'd both stayed on Disney property~ Though I think at about 10 we called it quits, since we'd hit up everything we wanted to do because all the lines were so short. (The only sad thing was that Splash Mountain was closed, which is Frank's favorite, but hopefully next time he comes it'll be open!) And in line for Peter Pan, we even ran into a guy who'd done the Goofy Challenge - a half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday! And Frank said, "Hey, you keep calling me crazy, but he's 13 miles crazier than me!" XD
Woo, so I drove Frank back to his parents' place in the Villages and headed home; I got in about 1:30 (since I had to stop off and feed Nozimi), and pretty much passed out~ And I slept in this morning 'till about 10:15, because I figured I deserved it at least a little. ^^;
Anyway, it was an awesome weekend - I don't get to see Frank really often (usually just at Stacie's Christmas party, which he wasn't able to make this year) and it was really great to see him and hang out~ Diana and I had a wonderful time at tea and everything, and mad props to her for hanging out with me while I got my car fixed. <3
I really think I might do the Half Marathon next year - we were talking about it and I could start training as late as October. It's only 13 miles! I could do that! Slowly, but I could do that. XD; I think you just have to be able to do 16-minute miles or something, which I could totally do. I hope. :D;; Plus there's that Tower of Terror 13k that I might be getting roped into this year as well.
And then today it's been overcast and cold (50s) in Gainesville - what's up with that? D: At least I get to wear a scarf! And I got some hot tea a little while ago, which was nice~ Those London Fog Tazo Tea Lattes at Starbucks are amazing~ I highly recommend them!
OH and I finished True Colors on... Friday, I think! I'm still reading "Odds" but I brought Order 66 with me today to read at the gym~ I think there will definitely be a Fi plushie somewhere in my future. XD I <3 you, Fi~
Okay, gotta finish running WAVDETECT before 4:30 or so~ I hope this time I've broken the evt2 file up properly - I don't know why it's been giving me so much grief. I'm sure there's a way to automate this, but then I would have to learn it, and that might be harder than what I'm doing now. XD;
