Updated Goals for 2013

LMS found this bunny at Kohls on clearance after Christmas- it was a Christmas ornament, but all she saw was that it was a stuffed bunny, and that it needed to be added to her collection of stuffed animals. It's kind of cute, don't you think?

I last updated my goals in June, and I've accomplished most of them so now's a good time to make new goals/update the ones I didn't make as much progress on. I'm keeping the same categories since I think they worked well.

A few goals under Health:
1. Stick to GAPS
Resist the temptation to eat things I shouldn't or to add things in before we're ready.
2. Train for and run at least 6 races by the end of 2013 (at least one half marathon, preferably two)
I've run 2 races already, one of them a half marathon. I'm registered for a third race in February.
3. Consistently cross train and strength train
Start cycling again and add in a strength training routine.

A few goals under House:
1. Clean up drips and do the final touches in each room
I've done the ceilings and walls, but there's cleanup work to be done as well as finishing touches, artwork to be hung, and so on.
2. Build and install shelves in all closets
Make the closets more efficient
3. Build homeschool cabinet
Can't wait for this one- I'm still working out the design details.
4. Build kitchen table
I already built one, but I used pine and I'm not happy with how the top is wearing. We'll move it out to the shed for use as a worktable, which should work out very well.

A few goals under Homeschool:
1. Continue to be consistent at keeping to the schedule
This includes getting an earlier start to the day.
2. Be more present
Don't multi-task quite so much, especially during classes.

A few goals under Habits:
1. Practice the piano and violin consistently
Self-explanatory :)
2. Index several batches every week for FamilySearch
I have not been consistent with this.
3. Have more meaningful daily scripture study (start journaling as I read)
Find a journaling method that works for me.

How did you do with your goals this month?

Fake out

a little bit of snow, rapidly melting as it gets rained on

We've been faked out two weeks in a row now.

A week ago Thursday afternoon/evening we were supposed to have a big snowstorm. Schools let out early, church activities were canceled, and people stayed home.

And.... nothing happened. A few very wet snowflakes mixed with rain, but that was it.

Fast forward a week to this past Friday afternoon, when we were supposed to have another big snowstorm. We'd gotten an inch or so on Thursday, so the forecast seemed credible. Schools were canceled all together or let out early in anticipation of the impending storm.

And.... nothing happened. Ok, there was a light dusting of snow that fell during the afternoon, but that was it.

The Little Miss is so disappointed- she really wants a lot of snow to play in and it just hasn't happened. We were able to sled down our little hill a few times, but there was so little snow that after a couple passes we were pretty much sledding on grass and leaves, so we gave it up and did some sad snow angels instead. LMS's desire to build a snowman was once again thwarted by how dry the snow was, so she compromised by patting some snow together to make a snow cake.

We did get a few days of actual cold weather (in the 20s- that's cold for here), and some freezing rain on Monday delayed local schools, but yesterday it was 75 degrees! And supposedly we're supposed to get snow Friday. Crazy weather. And I'm not holding my breath on that snow....

Have you gotten any actual snow this year?

Cotter Tens Fractal

Looks kind of like a Christmas tree...

This is something LMS and I did in math (we're using RightStart Math Level B), and is a great way to visualize numbers.

The huge triangle is made of 10 smaller triangles.

Those triangles are in turn made of 10 smaller triangles, and those triangles are also made of 10 smaller triangles.

Confused yet?

We glued 10 small triangles onto a medium triangle and repeated for a total of 100 medium triangles. The small triangles represent ones, so if there's 10 ones in a medium triangle, a medium triangle represents 10.

We then glued 10 medium triangles onto a large triangle and repeated for a total of 10 large triangles. Since there's 10 ones in a medium triangle and 10 medium triangles in a large triangle, a large triangle represents 100.

We then glued 10 large triangles onto a giant triangle. Since there's 10 of them and each one represents 100, the giant triangle represents 1000.

1000 small triangles = 100 medium triangles = 10 large triangles = 1 giant triangle

If I'd thought about it ahead of time, I'd have used a different paper for all the small triangles, which would have made it easier to see each individual triangle.

This took a lot of time and a lot of glue sticks, but was pretty interesting. I will admit that this is the first time I'd heard of a Cotter Tens Fractal (at least that I remember), so I'm already learning new things!

Have you heard of a Cotter Tens Fractal?

Reducing costs at Disney World

After writing all the posts about this year's Disney trip, I got to thinking about how often we've been to Disneyland and Disney World. In the last 10 years, Mr M and I have been to Disneyland 4 times and Disney World 2 times. How did we do it without spending a ton of money?

The Short Answer:
Disney gives military personnel good discounts.

The Long Answer:

Disneyland/California Adventure
10 years ago (when we went the first time), Mr M was able to get free admission into Disneyland & California Adventure and we paid a reduced price for my admission. By the time we went to Disneyland the fourth time they’d changed their discounts a bit, so he no longer got in free, but he still got a discounted ticket, as did LMS and I.

Each time we went to Disneyland we stayed with my very kind relatives who live quite close to Disneyland, so we didn't have to pay for hotels.

LMS with Minnie Mouse at Disneyland, spring 2009- look how tiny she is!

Disney World/Universal Studios
Disney World is significantly more expensive than Disneyland, and since it’s so large you can’t get away with a single day ticket and still do everything (like we could at Disneyland & California Adventure). Luckily they offer great military discounts on 4 day Park Hopper tickets.

This year I was preparing our itinerary and discovered that Universal Studios also gives military discounts. In fact, service members can get FREE 3-day Park Hopper passes! Family members can get discounted tickets. Last year we wanted to go to Universal Studios to ride the Harry Potter rides, but it didn’t fit into our schedule and the cost was prohibitive.  This year, with the guys getting in free, we only had to pay for LMS and me. Still pricey for a one day ticket, but if you average the cost we actually paid by the four of us, it was a lot more reasonable.

Me, Mr M, Uncle R, and LMS at Disney World January 2012

Hotels
We stayed at Shades of Green for 5 nights this year and 3 nights last year. Shades of Green is a hotel for military service members, retirees, and their immediate family members. In some ways it’s considered a Disney resort hotel, but in other ways it’s not (unlike the other resort hotels, we have to pay $5 every day to park there, and we have to pay to park in any of the Disney theme park parking lots).

It’s across the street from the Polynesian resort and within easy walking distance of the Magic Kingdom transportation center, though they also offer bus service from SoG to the transportation center. From there, you can ride the monorail to Epcot or the Magic Kingdom (or take the ferry to the Magic Kingdom), or a bus to Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.

We walked to the transportation center and traveled from there every day except the day we went to Hollywood Studios. That day we didn’t want to deal with buses and we wanted to get dinner on the way back to the hotel so we wouldn’t be eating super late.

The cost per night at SoG is based on the service member’s rank, and is significantly cheaper than the other resort hotels. The problem is making your reservation far enough in advance- both times now we’ve had to find rooms at another hotel the days of the half and full marathon.

We really like SoG. For 3 adults and 1 child, we had a room with 2 queen beds and a couch that flips over into a twin bed. There was plenty of room for our luggage and we didn’t feel cramped at all. In addition, the ground floor rooms (which we’ve been in both times) have high ceilings, which makes the room feel even roomier. The décor is definitely on the bland side, but that’s an easy trade off, given the cost savings. The thing to remember is to make reservations at least 6 months out, which we haven't done either time because of uncertainty regarding schedules, which resulted in us not being able to stay at SoG the entire time. 

one of the pools at Caribbean Beach resort

Last year we spent two nights at the Yacht Club, which was a really nice (and expensive) hotel, but a lot smaller than our SoG room. This year we spent two nights at the Caribbean Beach resort, which was cheaper, but still more expensive than SoG, and definitely on the cramped side. LMS ended up sleeping on the floor in her peapod. It did have one small redeeming factor: the room was pirate themed, which LMS liked.

We didn't actually pay the prices listed on the Disney Resorts site- we called Ears of Experience, and they were able to get reduced rates for us. I think there was some military discounts in there too? I just told them what we wanted (two nights in a Disney Resort hotel, but not too expensive), and they got back to me in a day or so with our options, and it didn't cost us anything to use them.

Other cost saving measures:
As I mentioned in a previous post, we only eat one meal in the park each day. Some people advocate leaving the resort to find food, but you waste so much time doing that that it's not worth it to us. We bring (or buy at a local grocery store) food for breakfast, then find a local non-Disney restaurant for dinner.

We don't usually buy snacks in the parks since they're overpriced. This year we did buy a couple: LaFou's Brew (kind of a frozen appley slushy) in the new Fantasyland and Butterbeer (a frozen cream soday slushy with a yummy creamy foam) and pumpkin juice (spiced apple juice with pumpkin in it- tasted a lot better than "pumpkin juice" sounds) in Hogsmead in Universal Studios.

 Princess Minnie

We don't really do the souvenir thing. LMS does get one thing each time: a Minnie Mouse doll this year, Minnie Mouse ears headband last year, etc, but Mr M and I don't get anything specific. We do buy a pin for LMS and one for us and we get smashed pennies whenever we see a machine, but those are things we do wherever we go. We find it cheaper and more fun to collect pins and pennies than random items with names of places plastered across them. Though I still need to figure out a good display board for all the pins...

LMS and Uncle R with their ears last year

Last year we flew out of our small local airport, which had a layover on the trip there and back. This year, I planned on doing that again, till I expanded my search and found another small airport an hour away with a direct flight to Orlando for less than half the cost of a flight with a layover from our local airport. Totally worth an hour drive for a cheaper, direct flight.

We thought it would be a prop job since it was such a small airport, but it turned out to be a normal plane- 25 rows, 6 seats across. We actually got to keep our carry on bags with us this time, instead of having to gate check them like last year (I don't like not having my carry on bag available). We even had free parking and only had to walk a few steps from our car to the terminal. And small airports are so much nicer to fly out of- so much less hassle.

The moral? Broaden your search and be open to flying out of different airports. You never know where you'll find a cheaper flight.

Below are the links for the various sites I've found military discount information. Let me know if you know of any other discounts or deals.

Disney military discounts

Universal Studios military discount

Shades of Green
Ears of Experience

Sunday Funny

LMS playing video games (Lego Harry Potter, I think?) with Daddy. 

Look at that smile!

GAPS Full Diet

View from the upstairs loft in a log cabin we looked at while visiting my sister. It's a model home for a company we've had our eye on for years. Since it wasn't far from my sister, we went for a little drive to check it out.

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 2 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 3 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 4 here.

Read about our GAPS Intro Week 5 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 6 here.

I should have posted this before Christmas, but that obviously didn't happen, so I'll ramble on about our food for the last month.

Since completing 6 weeks of GAPS Intro, I have to say that I'm not really sure that the Intro phase was necessary for us. Our diet was already pretty close to it, and just adding broth and probiotics probably would have been enough for us.

On the other hand, we are eating a lot more veggies, which is good, and I've gotten over my aversion to veggies for breakfast (my old excuse for still eating GF rice crispies for breakfast).

We didn't do a whole lot with food our first week off the Intro phase. We finished up that first week of full GAPS just before we headed to my sister's house for Christmas, and I didn't want to worry too much about adding anything new in right then. We did cheat a bit while on that trip- partly to see how we'd react (mostly better than we have in the past) and partly because I just wasn't ready to figure out how to eat GAPS legal food while driving in the middle of winter (suggestions anyone?).

After returning from my sister's we went back to our full GAPS diet for a week or so before heading to Disney. While we were at Disney we did some more cheating, but I really don't see how it's possible to eat GAPS-legal food without a kitchen. Or at least a hotplate/camp stove. If we hadn't been on a tight schedule, we would have driven the trailer to Florida and stayed at the Disney Fort Wilderness Campground. That is why we bought the trailer, after all: so we'd be able to prepare our food when we traveled.

It was encouraging to note that while we reacted to some of the foods we ate (dairy, potatoes, and corn were the biggest offenders), the reactions were not as severe as they have been in the past. In addition, I didn't get glutened, despite multiple opportunities. Part of me hopes that my system is already less sensitive to gluten, and maybe I was exposed to it but I didn't react because of the healing that has taken place. At this point, it's hard to know for sure without going and eating something with gluten in it, but I'm not willing to do that.

We're now back on our version of full GAPS, with no trips planned for the next few months, and we're committed for the long haul. We haven't been able to add back in any of our problem foods, but we'll try them again in awhile, and one of these days our bodies will have healed enough to add things like nuts and dairy back into our diet. Looking forward to that day....

GAPS Intro Week 6

LMS during her Irish music class recital back in December

Read why we're doing GAPS here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 1 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 2 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 3 here.
Read about our GAPS Intro Week 4 here.

Read about our GAPS Intro Week 5 here.

So, we finished Week 6 more than a month ago, but with Christmas travels and our Disney trip I didn't get this written and posted.

I'm trying to remember what exactly we added the 6th week: I think it was just fruit- apples and oranges.

We could have added in ghee and cultured dairy products, but I'm holding off a while longer before we add them in. I also held off on the beans (there's a few beans that are GAPS legal) that we could have added in.

We didn't do a lot of juicing- I don't really love the flavor, and the sugar content is a bit high for me. I've realized I react to fruit sugars more strongly than I react to some other sugars, which I find interesting. Given how much fruit LMS has consumed, I'm thinking she reacts in a similar way, unfortunately. It triggers the urge to keep eating and a sense of being hungry, even when we've already eaten a good size meal.

I also spent some time experimenting with cooking down and dehydrating broth to take with us on our Disney trip. 

Sunday Funny

While waiting for Mr M to take care of the paperwork for the rental car, I looked down and caught LMS sprawled on Daddy's duffel bag. Doesn't she look sooooo bored?

December Goals Re-cap

LMS reading "Calvin and Hobbes" in front of our new bookshelves before I rearranged them.

Since I wrote down some new goals, I thought I should track my progress at the end of each month. So here's how I did in the month of December:
(November's progress report can be found here)
(October's progress report can be found here)
(September's progress report can be found here)
(August's progress report can be found here)
(July's progress report can be found here)
(June's progress report can be found here)

A few goals under Health:
1. keep strengthening my knee and start running for longer periods of time/distance
I'm running regularly and increasing my mileage. The next thing to do is be more diligent with my strength training.
2. train for and run at least 4 races by the end of 2012 (at least one half marathon)
I ran 5 races this year, the first of which was a half marathon.
3. be more careful with my eating and lose some weight
We stuck with GAPS for the first part of the month, but did some cheating around Christmas. Now that we're back from Disney, we're buckling down again.

A few goals under House:
1. finish painting all the rooms
I still haven't managed to finish the details on the master bath and kitchen, but they're coming along.
2. do the family room ceiling
Paneling is up, spackled, sanded, primed, and painted. The crown is repainted and reinstalled, so I'm calling it good.
3. finish building built-in shelves in the library
I made and painted 9 more shelves and ended up using 7 of them. The books are all on the shelves and organized, though I'm thinking of tweaking one portion of the shelves. I also need to figure out a bit of "styling"- mainly to keep books in place on the shelves that aren't full.

A few goals under Homeschool:
1. stick to the schedule I've worked out, as much as possible
We're still doing pretty good. I'm really liking the 3 weeks on/1 week off schedule that we've been doing- no time for boredom or burnout.
2. be more consistent with violin practicing
Since we started school we're doing better because it's in our school schedule. In thinking about this particular goal, I think I meant more consistency from LMS and myself. We've been really good about making sure LMS is practicing, but I still haven't been, so now I need to be more consistent with MY practicing. Like a lot of other things, though, it won't happen till after Christmas.

A few goals under Habits:
1. practice the piano more frequently
Still haven't had time. Realistically, with the schedule I've imposed on myself, I won't have time until after Christmas. I'm ok with that.
2. index several batches every week for FamilySearch
I slacked off completely this month.
3. have more meaningful daily scripture study (start journaling as I read)
I've bought a topical journal, but haven't quite gotten it broken in yet.

How did you do with your goals this month?

Our Disney Pics

We didn't actually take a lot of pictures this year, though we did try to get a few of all of us. Above was in the Great Britain portion of Epcot. When I went to England my freshman year of college we did a similar photo, though there was a lot more of us in the phone booth :)

Last year we were supremely unimpressed by Epcot, but we didn't visit the countries. So this year we decided to go through all the countries, and we came away with a much greater appreciation for Epcot. There are some rides and informational shows, which were quite interesting. There's also the Kidcot program, where the kiddos can collect stamps at each of the countries. Finding each Kidcot table helped us spend more time in each area than we might have otherwise, and we saw a lot more.

Above was in the Canada section of Epcot. LMS is touching her nose with her tongue- a talent she inherited from her daddy :)

After the Maelstrom ride in the Norway section of Epcot. Doesn't she look fierce? 

Though it's kind of hard to look fierce with a dimple peeking through :)

Because the guys got free tickets to Universal Studios (more on that next week), we decided it was worth it to pay for LMS and I so we could go to Islands of Adventure, where the Harry Potter rides are.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is in this miniature Hogwarts, which is still quite large. LMS was too short to ride this one, but they have a child swap room at the head of the line where they were playing the first Harry Potter movie. LMS didn't mind not going on the ride since she got to watch the movie. It's a cool ride, if you get the chance to ride it; though Mr M's brother didn't appreciate the massive spiders.

LMS was tall enough for the Flight of the Hippogriff, which is basically a rollercoaster for kids and was almost too short to be worth the wait. 

There's another Harry Potter ride, the Dragon Challenge, but it was closed for some reason, so we didn't ride it. They have the town of Hogsmeade, populated by gift stores behind the signs for Honeydukes, Dervish and Banges, Zonkos, and other stores. They do sell a lot of the things mentioned in the books, but at exorbitant prices. $10 for one chocolate frog!? Though we might actually have bought one to try if it hadn't been contaminated with gluten. We did try Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice, which were both yummy.

We also the rode the Jurassic Park River Adventure. It's a water ride and there's this steep drop right at the end that I was NOT expecting. We all got splashed good, but LMS and I were wearing our ponchos, so only our hair got wet. The guys ended up a lot wetter :)

The guys also rode the Incredible Hulk Coaster, which they really liked. LMS and I waited down below. Though I like roller coasters in theory, they don't really agree with me- I always end up with a raging headache and the immediate need to go get my neck adjusted by our chiropractor. So we didn't bother trading off so I could have a turn.

On our way out, we passed this tiger statue and LMS hopped on and posed like this- too funny the poses she comes up with !

LMS and I 

LMS on her daddy's shoulders- her main mode of transportation during our trip! Daddy's shoulders got a real workout.

GAPS/Gluten Free Disney World & Universal Studios Trip

we saw lots of princesses and other characters, but LMS only got a pic with Ariel- she had a really short line because it was the end of her shift

We finished the 6 phases of the GAPS Intro Diet back before Christmas (I still need to finish that post), but since we went to my sister’s house for Christmas, I took advantage of that time to do some judicious cheating. I knew our Disney trip was coming up and I wanted to gauge how we would react to eating non-GAPS approved foods. We still reacted, but it wasn’t as bad as it used to be, which shows that we have made progress- YAY!

Since we wouldn't have access to a kitchen, we couldn't just cook all our meals. I thought about our options and made a plan. GAPS foods for breakfast, gluten free park food for lunch, miscellaneous gluten free restaurants for dinner.

Breakfast

I cooked down and dehydrated 10 quarts of chicken broth (following directions I found here) to make homemade chicken bouillon that we could take with us. I prepared butternut squash, divided it into baggies, and froze it. I blanched some broccoli, lightly sautéed some zucchini and summer squash, then froze baggies of them and some green peas. I also chopped up and divided some roast chicken.

For breakfast, I walked up two flights of stairs to the nearest microwave, where I heated up some squash, some chicken, and some veg, and made some broth using the bouillon. Not ideal, and I could have sworn there was an in-room microwave, but it all worked out.

The last two nights we were in a different hotel (more on that in another post), and there was no microwave available.  We ended up using a one cup coffee maker to make cups of broth, and ate fruit for breakfast. The coffee maker worked surprisingly well, especially compared to microwaving it.

The dried broth turned out great, though I didn't double check the instructions before starting to cook it down. I should have scooped all the fat off, but only remembered after the fact. I kept the bouillon in the fridge just to make sure it didn't go rancid, and it was fine.

The zucchini and summer squash ended up kind of soggy when reheated, so I think I'll stick with broccoli and peas in the future.

We didn't end up eating all the food we brought, but I'd rather have too much than too little.

Lunch

For lunches we ate at counter service restaurants in the parks. I tracked down the updated gluten free lists beforehand, which was helpful. Unfortunately, they made some changes in the last year, and they don’t have dedicated fryers for gluten free fries anymore L They’ll bake them for you, but they take forever, and everyone else’s food is getting cold and the little one is getting impatient….

Monday we ate at Pizzafari in the Animal Kingdom. LMS and I ordered the gluten free pizza. I don't remember the brand, maybe OMG It's Gluten Free? Whatever brand, it was disgusting. The pizzas were very small and tasted like pasty cardboard. Gross! They came with caesar salads minus the croutons and dressing, but we didn't eat them- I found multiple bread crumbs in the salads. I don't think they picked croutons off, I think the cheese or lettuce bin was contaminated with bread crumbs. Not worth the hassle to get them replaced, so we gave them to the guys. Our meals cost the same as the guys' pizzas and salads, despite the drastic difference in amount of food, and were grossly overpriced.

Tuesday we ate at Liberty Inn in Epcot. LMS and I ordered gluten free hamburgers and grapes for her and an OMG It's Gluten Free brownie for me. The wait was long, but the food tasted pretty good, though I had to save my brownie for later since it was still frozen. It tasted pretty good once it defrosted.

Wednesday we ate at Fairfax Fare in Hollywood Studios. LMS got a kids meal turkey sandwich, applesauce, and Enjoy Life gluten free chocolate chip cookies. They used a gluten free bun for the sandwich, but it was still frozen and very stale. Yuck. I ordered a half rack of ribs with slaw and baked beans. They weren't on the gluten free list because of the potential for cross-contamination, but I decided to risk it. The flavor of the sauce was good, but the cut of meat was substandard- very gristly and not at all fall-off-the-bone tender. I didn't get glutened, so I was happy.

Thursday morning we picked up our race packets, and weren’t actually in one of the parks yet, so we went to 5 Guys for burgers and fries.

Friday we went to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios, but I hadn’t been able to find any gluten free info ahead of time, and nothing looked promising while we were there. So we made do with some snacks (Butterbeer is quite tasty!) and ate a late lunch/early dinner at PF Changs. I’ve heard good things about PF Changs in general, as well as their gluten free options. I’ve never eaten there because we don’t have one nearby, so when I found one in the Orlando area, we decided to give it a try. It was quite yummy, and a nice change from our other dinner choices.

Dinner

We ate at Outback one night- we’ve always had good luck with their gluten free menu, though it does get pricey. We also ate at Chili’s several times, but that started getting old. We ate at 5 Guys a couple times, and we did Chipotle for lunch Saturday after the races.

End result
13 meals not prepared by me, but no gluten! Unlike last year, when I got glutened two days in a row. Whether this was because there was truly no contamination or because my intestines have made progress, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. While LMS and I did react a bit to what we ate (dairy, rice, and potatoes were the major offenders we ate), it was a lot less pronounced than I was afraid it was going to be.

Overall, our experience eating gluten free at Disney World was quite a let down after last year, when we had a much better experience. I know suppliers and options available are always changing, but having a wider variety of options that taste good would be nice.

I’m really glad I brought the broth. Before we left, we were getting sick, so I did some research and found a suggestion here to add kudzu root starch to our broth to help us get over our colds quicker. I actually had a bag of kudzu root starch in the cupboard, so I added it to our broth all week. I really think it helped LMS recover quickly and shortened my symptoms. Though running a half marathon and fighting a cold was a bit too much for my body to handle at the same time, so I did relapse a bit.

Disney Kids Races

After the half marathon the Little Miss ran in one of the Disney Kids Races again (read about last year's race here).

This time Mr M paced her and I attempted to get a decent picture of her running. 

Hmm. Yeah, that didn't work out so well.

LMS had fun and was happy to get another finisher's medal (just like Mommy!), though she was disappointed that her race shirt didn't have Minnie Mouse on it :)

Disney World Half Marathon

tail end of the fireworks starting corral A- I was in corral C

Saturday I ran the Disney World Half Marathon again (here’s last year’s re-cap).  Despite not training as much as I’d have liked, I felt better prepared than I did last year. I had a 9 mile long run, as opposed to a 6 mile long run, my knee hasn’t been giving me any problems, and I had a great, fast 5k on New Year’s Day.

Since it was so cold last year, we made sure we were prepared this year: fleece pants and jacket for LMS, as well as an extra jacket for layering, and I brought a $3 fleece from Goodwill that I could wear and take off when I got warm, leaving it on the side of the road to be donated back to Goodwill.

So naturally it was on the warm side. Unseasonably warm, in fact, and they were warning us to make sure we stayed properly hydrated and not over-exert ourselves.

Cinderella's castle during the race. Mr M wasn't able to get a pic of me running past because of a very rude person's incredibly bad timing just as I ran past.

This year I managed to figure out how to use my Garmin (I haven’t used it much because I’ve been doing more treadmill running than outdoor running) and was able to accurately track my pace and split times. And according to it, I actually ran 13.23 miles, not 13.1 miles J

Because I love comparisons and seeing my progress, here’s how I did this year, compared to how I did last year:

	2013	2013 average pace per mile (min:sec)	2012	2012 average pace per mile (min:sec)	How much faster I was this year (min:sec)	How much faster my average pace per mile  was this year (:sec)
5k split (3.1 miles)	36:15	11:42	36:43	11:51	:28	:09
10k split (6.2 miles)	1:11:40	11:34	1:12:50	11:45	1:10	:11
15k split (9.3 miles)	1:48:20	11:39	1:51:33	12:00	3:13	:21
Finish time (13.1 miles)	2:32:28	11:38	2:37:27	12:01	4:59	:23

Overall, I was faster, and I managed to keep my pace up even as the race went on. Last year my pace slowed as the race progressed, and my overall speed was slower.

And the damage? Just two small blisters- one on each foot, though I didn’t notice them till I took my shoes and socks off, as well as some {not unexpected} sore muscles. I did the same basic prep as last year (BodyGlide, etc) and carried the same items, though I ditched the Fuel Belt pouches in favor of the RooSport pocket I picked up at the prerace convention.

convention craziness

I know you’re not supposed to try new things during a race, but I was fairly confident it would work better than the Fuel Belt pouches I used last year. This proved to be the case: I loved it! So much easier to get stuff in and out of, and it felt more secure. It uses strong magnets that hook it securely to your waistband. You put the pocket inside your pants/shorts/capris/whatever, and it doesn’t bounce around (the Fuel Belt pouches did a lot of bouncing). Wonderful! 

The only potential problem I saw was that the pocket holds a lot, and overloading it could cause your pants/shorts/capris/whatever to sag down a bit. The easy fix is to not carry too much. I had two packages of ShotBlox, my clip-on sunglasses, and my chapstick in it during the race. Towards the end of the race I moved my iphone from the pocket in the small of my back in my capris into the RooSport pocket because there was only a couple ShotBlox left. This weighed it down more, but it still felt secure.

I had half-hoped to beat my previous PR of 2:29:46, but I missed that mark by 2 minutes and 42 seconds. If I hadn’t been sick all week, I might have made it. Despite that, I am pleased with how I did- I finished almost 5 minutes faster than last year. I may be getting older, but I’m getting faster!

	Race	Date	Finish Time
First	Disneyland Half	Sept 2007	2:59:18
Second	Top of Utah Half	Aug 2008	2:29:46
Third	Disney World Half	Jan 2012	2:37:27
Fourth	Disney World Half	Jan 2013	2:32:28

I brought my travel size foam roller and used it, which helped keep everything looser. I can definitely tell a difference in my knees and hips when I’m rolling. Going to physical therapy last year really made a huge difference in my body mechanics. I learned which parts of my body need more work to stay loose and how to keep things better aligned. They also gave me pointers on improving my running form (focus on shorter strides and forefoot strikes rather than longer strides and heel strikes).

LMS caught a cold while at a play date on New Year’s Eve and she was kind enough to share it with me. By the time race day came around, she felt fine, with just an occasional phlegmy cough. I, on the other hand, have been fighting a fever and a nasty cough since last Tuesday. If I coughed, my lungs hurt, but if I didn’t cough, I couldn’t get the phlegm moving. It was a conundrum I don’t want to have again.

I felt bad enough that I stayed in the hotel room Thursday afternoon while everyone else hit up the Magic Kingdom (and it only bothered me a little to miss out, if that tells you anything). I kept dosing up with broth, Advil, and Airborne and took detoxing baths and by Saturday morning I felt well enough to run, but knew that I was definitely not at a hundred percent. Experimental coughs did not yield good results, so I determined to make sure I avoided future coughs if at all possible. Thankfully, I didn’t need to cough, and my lungs cooperated. I was really afraid that the air would be cold and would cause me to start coughing and have my lungs seize up while I was running.  My lungs did not feel good before or after the race, but they held up throughout the race, and the warm air didn’t aggravate them.

Mr M's brother, LMS, and I pre-race

Other than that, I ran strong and my legs felt good. I kept a fairly steady pace, but I had to work harder the second part of the race to keep my pace up, since I was trying to break 2:30. The heat ratcheted up the last mile or so and my body started telling me it was really feeling the effects of the cold virus and not appreciating what I was demanding of it. Consequently, I had to stop and walk several times during the last mile (I’d only stopped to walk 3 times before that). Physically I just couldn’t push my body enough to shave off that extra 2 minutes and 42 seconds. On the other hand, I beat last year’s time by just under 5 minutes!

Mr M's brother and I post-race

I was able to run the first 8.3 miles without stopping- a personal record for me, since I tend to do the run/walk thing, even on training runs. I was still feeling pretty good at the 10k mark (that’s 6.2 miles, for those wondering), so I think I’ll try to run at least one 10k this year to see how I do.

I'm definitely happy with how I did in my fourth half marathon and am now planning out my race schedule for the rest of the year. So many races, so little time....

Me and my cheering section after the race