Indianapolis: Day 4

I feel like a broken record but Wednesday was another busy day!  I’ve never been good at resting on vacation and this vacation turned out to be one of the busiest active-wise!  But it was pretty fun so I’m not complaining.

On Wednesday, Sister and I headed out on a 4 hour bike rental.  She’d gotten some free coupons with her conference so again I lucked out by being her tag-along.  We set out to explore the Broad Ripple area.  It was about 8 miles from where we picked up the bikes which didn’t really give us much exploring time but that ended up being ok because we really just ended up aimlessly wandering again…

If there was fun shopping here, we missed it…

We did stop in a couple of store but the kind of shopping district I was picturing was not quite what met up when we got there.  We did find a couple of dog store to try to find something for our pooch but were not successful in finding something his picky little butt would appreciate…

He probably would have shared this cookie with us…

We also spent about 20 minutes trying to get our bikes locked together and to a bike rack… sounds easier than it ended up being when we just had one solid U-lock to try to use for two bikes + bike rack…

We wandered around a health food store in the area that was pretty cool and reminded me of one we went to in Kauai.  It had floor to ceiling supplement and healthy foods!  We found a few scores – namely peanut butter ginger chews!!! – and a good granola + some cookies and then ventured on to try to find a cupcake place that had gluten free cupcakes, called The Flying Cupcake.  (It sounds like we eat nothing but sweets on vacation and to be honest, that’s kind of the way we like it – lol! Not so healthy but live’s too short!)

Our cupcake after it’s 10+ mile bike ride to our picnic location!

We just took one to split later when we had our picnic lunch, a Maple Pecan.  Then we headed back since we were not sure how long it would take us to bike and we were quite a  ways away and figured we could eat lunch after we’d returned the bikes.

The not as paved part of our journey…

We made the 10ish mile loop back along the trail (the Monon Trail) and realized this trail was not quite as pretty as the downtown Cultural Trial but it was still nice to have a trail to ride along.

Almost back… just wanted to make it at least 20 miles!

We made it back to the Bike Hub, turned in our bikes and then walked the City Market real quick to try to find some drinks!  We ended up with just some Snapples but they tasted so good!

Most beautifully photographed lunch ever!

We ate our little random picnic lunch outside the Bike Hub – lunchmeat turkey, pretzels, sweet potato/carrot chips applesauce + our cupcake/cookie desserts.

Then we made the 1ish mile walk back to the hotel to rest a little and allow sister to shower and get ready for a few hours of working this afternoon.  I typed up a few posts, watched a few episodes of Angel and lazed around for awhile to wait for sister to finish working.

Once she was done, we went out walking again and decided to climb this monument but it closed at 5:30 so that will have to wait for another trip.  So we walked around a little more and then ended up at dinner at Adobo Grill Indianapolis.  They had a specific gluten free menu which initially brought me to their website but the very unique set of offerings convinced us we needed to give it a try!

I

We shared the guacamole to start and then I had pumpkin and black bean enchiladas.  They were really good but I’d eaten so many chips + guac that I could hardly eat any of my main meal… oops!

After dinner we walked around some more and then ventured back to the hotel for an early bedtime.  Sister was beat from working so hard and I was tired from being lazy so it worked for us – lol!

After dinner, we strolled the canal a ways and got to view a beautiful sunset!

Only a small portion more to recap and then it’s back to regular vacation-free posting for awhile

Indianapolis: Day 3

I missed posting yesterday but I’ll try to catch up eventually… this recap is from yesterday but I’ll have adventures from today to recap at some point also.

Yesterday was another full day but it included sister as she had a much longer break from work on Tuesday! She had to help with some morning items but by lunch time, we were free.

Boring + Healthy Breakfast

We started with lunch at cafe patachou. This place was excellent!! It was a farm to table type place that made most items from scratch or were as locally sourced as possible. I had split pea soup + half a turkey sandwich. It also came with a little side salad. Everything was fantastic!

After lunch, we head off to check out the zoo. Sister knew she got in free but I was planning to pay but when we went to get her voucher, the checker asked if I was her guest and said I’d get a free ticket too! Score.

The zoo ended up being kind of boring and it was really hard to see the animals.

One of the good exhibits.

I think we have one of these at home. We call him Crosby.

But it all became worth it when we saw the baby elephants!!!!! Elephants are my favorite animals but I’d never seen a baby one at a zoo before so this was extra cool. I think sister and I sat there for like 10 minutes saying “awwwwww it’s a baby!”

The two smallest ones are sisters I think!

After the zoo, we headed to find Whole Foods and lululemon in a mall in north Indy. Both turned into major busts… Whole foods was so run down and small and lulu was just not worth it to us today. No shirt there seemed worth their ridiculous $80 price tags. They all seemed worn or weird or something… I know that’s probably sacrilegious to say on a blog but oh well.  The mall was also a total dump construction zone. Total waste of a trip.

Then we spent about 20 minutes trying to find a dinner location. So annoying. But ended up at Cheeseburger in Paradise so we were pleased in the end! I had an all American cheeseburger, fries, side salad + a piña colada! Yuuuum!

I’ve missed cheese

Even though we’d had a largish dinner, we both still really wanted ice cream but struggled again with finding a good place so we ended up getting sundae makings at the grocery store. We ended up throwing a lot away but oh well, it was delicious and still cheaper than going for froyo or something like that. And was exactly what we wanted!

We had our “little” sundae back in the hotel room, watched a few castle episodes and hit the sack. Lots of steps again even though I was shooting for a rest day… Try 12,600!

Only one more full day

Indianapolis: Day 2

Today was an exhausting day… but fun!  I had another laid back morning, eating breakfast in the hotel and also doing a little Jillian Ripped in 30 (in the hotel room – lol).  I decided to attempt the 3rd week on the DVD and man, it was a butt-kicker.  My legs felt dead which was not my intention at all when doing the DVD because I was supposed to have my bike ride this afternoon that I needed my legs for… I swear the other weeks I’ve tried are more tiring to your upper body…

Crunchy Flax Cereal + banana + banana bread + almond butter

I had to shoo the housekeeping staff away mid DVD so when I was done, I decided to let them get in the room and go for a little walk.  I didn’t end up walking too far but ended up just chilling in the park for a few minutes.  By the time I got back, they were done with the room though so it worked!  I showered quick and ate lunch and then wandered towards my afternoon biking tour starting point.  I left quite early but it ended up working out fine and I think we got to leave early since I ended up being the only tour-ey.

Lunch – Lettuce + turkey + almonds + sweet potato chips + Mary’s Gone Crackers Pretzels + applesauce (actually consumed this part today!)

DESSERT!

I found Active Indy kind of randomly by just looking on the Indy tourism site but it ended up being a very good find!  They offer bike, walking and running tours all around Indianapolis.  I chose to do the Automobile Heritage tour because I wanted the chance to get to the Indy Speedway Museum without having to drive there.  I suppose driving would have been a lot less work but it was pretty cool to bike this tour instead.

Time to bike!

We started out in Downtown Indy and took a tour of their awesome urban trail system.  I am seriously so jealous of this path system!  It’s so nice to be able to walk and bike downtown without the fear of traffic (which for me is very intense…).  Our first stop was the Stutz building which used to be a car manufacturing plant.  Now it’s being repurposed as a rental space for small manufacturers, artists, etc.  The building is really massive, a whole city block + four floors.

Some of the oldies.

After that is was a longer trip on the bike path and then we got to Marian University which happened to have acquired the mansions of the 4 men who founded the Motor Speedway. Their houses were incredibly ornate… don’t think I will be taking any decorating advice from these fellas…

Top left – outside of the Wheeler Mansion; top right – inside the Allison Mansion, a creepy large aviary room; bottom left, Wheeler mansion walkway to what used to be a heated 7 car garage; bottom right – inside Allison mansion

A few miles of biking later, we came upon the back side of the Speedway and biked up one of the straightaways.  It apparently took us about 4ish minutes to do that small .6ish of a mile portion of the track when the race cars can do the full 2.5 mile loop in about 40 or so seconds.   And here I though bikes were as fast as race cars Kidding!

 

Then it was a brief walk through the Motor Speedway Museum.  They have many of the winning cars from all years since it first began in 1911.  One thing I found kind of funny is that the first year’s winner averaged about 75ish mph and now that speed limit can be found on regular highways (or close to it!).  Now if only we could figure out how to get rid of traffic, I would say we are really making technological progress  We also watched a short video on the history of the area which was kind of a summary of what I’d been learning all day.

1911 winner + 2011 winner; row of cars

After that it was a quick trip back to the starting point to drop off the bike.  This tour was really an awesome way to see the city and I would highly recommend it if you are ever in Indianapolis.  I am trying to figure out how to possibly fit in their running tour in my week!

By the time I got back to the hotel, I was tired + hungry.  I had a bowl of cereal to tide me over until Sister got back which ended up being a really good thing because Sister and I wasted way too much time trying to figure out what to do for dinner so we didn’t have time to eat before she had to leave again which put me on my own for dinner again.

Snack time! Chocolate Chex + almond butter <3

Dining alone is annoying, dining alone + dealing with food allergies when you are trying to eat it is so depressing and overwhelming.  Sometimes the thought of not eating sounds much more appealing…

I did end up finally coming up with a good option!  Weber Grill Restaurant!  I got carry out and they had a gluten free menu which is awesome!  I am pretty sure they take food allergies pretty seriously at this location because the manager type worker ended up bringing me my food and assured me it was gluten free.  It’s also so nice to get that kind of respect when you know all it takes is someone at a restaurant picking croutons off your salad to make for a very sick couple of days…

So good! Chicken Chop Salad + Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon Maple Butter

After that, it was just chilling in the hotel room because I am incredibly exhausted and a little headachey likely from dehydration + lots of sun today.  Not sure what I will do tomorrow but I am thinking it’s going to be a little more low key than today!

Total steps for the day = 14,500 + 20(+/-) miles on a bike!

 

 

Indianapolis: Day 1

So late last night after my long bike ride and sister got home from her yoga training, she and I headed to Indianapolis for a few days.  She’s actually here working but I just tagged along for a relaxing getaway from work in a new city!  We left at 7:30pm so we didn’t make it to Indy until 1am-ish Eastern.  Blech.  Needless to say, neither one of us was in a spectacular mood on the drive because we both just wanted to be in bed after our busy day!

Sister’s conference is at JW Marriot Indianapolis and this hotel is ridiculous!  Even though it was 1am, we were met at the door with a luggage cart and were helped to our room.  We also were able to request a fridge right away since I’d packed food to eat this week and non-feather pillows!  It really worked out pretty cool!  I am not used to this kind of service at a hotel, that’s for sure

Clean room!

After a few very short hours of sleep, the day had to get started for Sister and by default got started for me because Sister was repeatedly yelling at me this morning, thank you very much, Sis!  But oh well, we’ll catch up on sleep later this week (me more so than her ).  I had a very leisurely morning with breakfast and lunch in my room from my packed food and a quick 20 minute swim in the hotel pool + 5 minute soak in the hot tub.

Chocolate Chex, Flax cereal bits, banana + almond milk for breakfast (banana bread did not get consumed at this point) – Salad with tuna + carb sampler for lunch (applesauce never got consumed)

Then it was time for me to get to venturing for the day!  I am not used to traveling alone but after wandering around today and just doing whatever the heck I wanted without having to worry about pleasing/displeasing anyone else, I decided it’s not really as bad as I thought it would be.

On my way!

Indianapolis has this really beautiful path system for walking, biking, jogging, etc. that runs all along this canal that is right downtown.  It’s super close to our hotel so I walked all around that this afternoon and took tons of pictures.  This walkway area is so beautiful I could really get used to working near this so I could walk it every day at my lunch break!  The loop has to be pretty long because I ended up walking over 5 miles doing what portion I did and I didn’t even walk all the paths in this area, I will explore those later this week!

As a side diversion from my walking, I ended up stopping in the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.  Don’t ask me why I picked this one today but I think it had to do with how cool the building looked on the outside!

I am not normally one to explore museums but I figured it would be a good way for me to kill some time and I ended up really enjoying it!  Something I would not normally think I would enjoy but that’s what happens when I look outside my comfort zone – shocking, right?  The museum was mainly Native American art on the bottom floor and then a small portion on the top level that had more artifact type exhibits with the history of settlements in this area.

The better pictures are on my phone…oops.

I ended up walking around there for about an hour or 90 minutes and then made my way back to the hotel.  I ended up back in the room right before sister got in for a short break so we had a little snack and then walked around a little bit more so she could get some fresh air and wind down from her busy morning.

After out little walk, she was off to a special dinner thing and I ended up ordering PF Changs and eating it in the hotel room – classy stuff right there!  But honestly, I don’t really think I would be up for much else after the busy last couple of days anyway.  Even though we are on Eastern time vs our normal Central, I still think I will be in bed pretty early tonight.  Being a party animal is not something I have ever been accused of, unfortunately!

So good!

I’m excited for my day tomorrow!  I booked a bike tour through the city and out to the race museum so I will be sure to take pictures and recap that tomorrow!

Daily steps = 14, 500 + 20 minutes swimming!

Weekend.

I am a huge fan of doing nothing over the weekend.  Probably because I am an old lady at heart and start fading at about 8:30pm  But this past weekend, I did something two nights in a row.  Epic Shit there!

On Saturday, my sister one of her friends and I went out to a relatively new place near us called ParkSide 23.  It’s a farm to table type restaurant that actually grows as much of it’s produce as it can at a place right across the street.  We had a really awesome meal here!  And since we were too close to a new frozen yogurt place in Brookfield, of course we had to go there as well  It’s been way too long since I had self-serve froyo after getting sick from it last summer!  But I think I am back to being not scared of it which is likely a bad thing

Picture collage from Sister!

I may or may not have ended up falling asleep on the floor this night using my foam roller as a pillow.  Such a freaking party animal.

On Sunday, I had another busy afternoon and Sister and I met my mom and dad at Stack’d for some burgers!  A certain little dog also came along since they are allowed on their patio!  He approved of the outing very much!

What is this? It looks alarmingly like a bathtub…

Grass-fed beef burger + gluten free french fries

After dinner since it was very hot out and we still had the taste in our minds of frozen yogurt, we had to try out another new place that was 1 block away from where we ate dinner!  This is dangerous stuff!  It was much safer when I was afraid of getting sick from it… Two bowls of froyo in ONE weekend, living on the edge I tell ya!  Ha!

 

Chocolate + Blackberry yogurt with m&ms, peanut butter cups, blackberries, coconut, caramel, chocolate chips = best combo thus far!

The main event of Sunday evening was going to Billy Elliot with my mom and Sister!  Sister and I gave mom tickets to this for her Birthday (and Mother’s Day maybe?!?!) and tonight was finally the night!  Sister had seen this show in London and I had seen the movie but I was blown away by how awesome of a show it was!  The kid that played Billy was amazing!  To see a kid dance with such emotion was really pretty amazing.  If you ever have a chance to catch this show, I would highly recommend it!

 

Now that the weekend is ancient history, I still feel like I’m trying to catch up on all the yucky stuff I avoided over the weekend (i.e. laundry) but luckily another weekend is only 4 days away… man, that seems to far!

What was the best thing you did last weekend?

Tennessee Living.

So when we went to Nashville to run the Country Music Rock n Roll Half Marathon, we quickly learned that Nashville gets over run with runners…it was nearly impossible driving around downtown so sister and I decided to head out to the country and get a different view of Tennessee.  I looked a little online and found a place called Franklin, TN so we headed that way after cleaning up after the race.  Franklin is about 30 minutes from Nashville and the drive was beautiful and very scenic.  I officially want to buy a plantation and live here.

As our luck would have it, it just so happened to be a Main Street Festival in Franklin and therefore not quite the quiet experience we were hoping for but still a far cry from Nashville congestion.  We didn’t do much but walk around and look at a few of the craft tents and then find a nice sunny spot to sit down and people watch.  Oh, also we had a little Starbucks tea/water break!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

The Festival

Coolest building ever!

This water tasted SO good!

A medal photo shoot also took place!

I want to go back to Tennessee soon and explore some more! Life definitely has a different pace in the south and I think I kind of like it

Friday?!

Really?!  Man, this week went fast.  No complaints by any means, just an observation  Probably helped I was a slackey who did not work on Monday!  I could most certainly get used to 4 day work weeks every week.  In fact, I think that might be the best idea ever!!  But since I do not control the work week concept, I will probably have to settle for 5 days weeks for the time being… but anyways, since it’s Friday, it means its time for me to list off a bunch of random crap!  I know you are excited, Or not?

1) I am breaking up with Starbucks.  I have to just cold turkey quit.  I get lured over there, week after week and then get a drink, can’t sleep, etc., etc.  For the past few months, I have been getting decaf but that still spins me up.  Like really bad… either Sbux’s “decaf” is not so de or the barista’s at the sbux near my work are easily confused between full and de?  I have $3.20 left on my sbux card that I will save for “emergencies” but for now, I’ve just gotta quit…

Good bye my love. It was good while it lasted. It’s not you, it’s me. Promise.

2) Acupuncture is going really, really well. My back pain is like 5% of what it was a few months ago and my anxiety seems to be about 15% of my original feelings.  I am now also taking a serotonin supplement so that ought to make me spit out rainbows and butterflies here shortly…  or maybe just not fire and flying monkeys…

3) Tomorrow is my last long run in training for my upcoming marathon.  How did this happen already?  I swear I just signed up for this thing… I don’t really plan on setting any new land speed records tomorrow but hopefully I’ll at least finish in one piece?!  Maybe the happy pills will kick in right about mile 15 and carry me through!

4) Speaking of coffee, (we were, weren’t we?) Dunkin Donuts is the best.  I love it.

I REALLY want a glazed old fashioned to go with my Dunkin’s in the mornings… darn it!

5) Can computer routers go bad?  I have had mine for 5ish years and I have to reset it almost every single day… it’s really annoying.

6) What’s not annoying you ask?  Coming home to a freshly mowed lawn that you did not have to worry about!!  Best money I will ever spend!  (Yes, I am THAT lazy about yard work…)  Although if I had this, I would be half tempted to “mowcycle” my own lawn…

7) Sister and I are still totally obsessed with Lost.  It terrifies me to the point I don’t want to leave the room/fly over an ocean again yet also makes me kind of wish I lived on a deserted island all at the same time.  Like Hurley said in one episode “We get to sleep in every morning so that’s a plus!”

Not to mention you would have a terribly attractive doctor there to take care of you

8) Last weekend on our road trip, sister and I played the license plate game.  We spotted 40/50 states.  I have still been looking for the last 10… Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Delaware, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Nevada.  Come on people from these states.  You NEED to get out more.

9) I have so many things I want to blog about related to running but I have been totally lacking the time to type anything out!  Maybe this weekend I will be able to get a little ahead of things so I can document my taper time adequately!

10) Remember last week how I mentioned Pfunky Griddle make you own pancakes?  Oh my goodness.  If you are every going to Nashville, please do yourself the ultimate favor and EAT HERE EVERYDAY FOR BREAKFAST!!  These pancakes are the best pancakes I have ever had in all my life.  And they were gluten free!  (they also have regular cakes too though!)  I have been dreaming about these cakes for a week and I want to move to Nashville just so I can eat here again and again and again.  I am now on a quest to recreate these pancakes at home… and build a table that has a griddle in it…

Drooling… I want these NOW!

11) Clearly I am a fan of coffee and pancakes.  Together that would be an even better thing.  Maybe, just maybe, I will go make myself some pancakes now!  Friday breakfast time!  And obviously I am out of stuff to randomly type so I will just quit now before it gets more pathetic…

Have a good weekend!

Race Prep: Nashville!

Today is a very special and exciting Friday here!  Sister and I are going to be leaving in a few short hours for our road trip to Nashville to run the Country Music Rock n Roll Half Marathon!!  It’s really hard to believe we signed up for this race WAY back on 11/11/11 while we were in Hawaii!  (I know, our lives are so rough… kidding!)

We are hoping to get into Nashville this afternoon with plenty of time to pick up our packets and then explore a little bit tonight.  I am guessing tomorrow is going to be an early morning (don’t ya love racing?!) so we’ll probably try to hit the hay early tonight (sorry had to get that one in there in the theme of all things Country!!).  To start off this exciting weekend, how about a random Friday post full of way too many !s and emoticons?!  (If this drives you nuts, please click the “x” in the corner now because I am EXCITED!!! :O)  So excited, in fact, that I could not sleep last night…

1) Despite the fact that I am overly excited for this little get away, I am actually very nervous for the running portion of this weekend… I feel like I have been taking things really easy the past week or two and am worried it is going to catch up with me tomorrow around mile 10.65.  I imagine I will also start out much too fast and then also be regretting that choice at this exact same point.  I have yet to actually “race” a run in 2012…

2) While in Nashville, we are hoping to have brunch at a place that has make your own pancakes!!  How exciting is that?!  And to have gluten free ones on top of just the make your own fun!  Hopefully they are not closed and/or overly busy this weekend… Sadly, I am not sure there is anything that excites me as much as pancakes… If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, I am pretty sure it would have to be these guys

Speaking of Hawaii... miss this syrup!!! (that's totally normal to "miss" a syrup, right?!?!)

 3) I’m torn between wearing my Garmin tomorrow and leaving it behind.  I have only worn my watch for Disney and the 10K that went to crap so I can’t really say if it helps me or hurts me.  I am leaning towards hurts because of the ease of giving up when the average pace drops below what I am aiming for.  I can guess I would somewhat give up at that point even if it was not warranted.  Might just leave it behind and see what happens!  This is all for fun, right?

4) Also – to bring the iPod or not… I am not sure if the course will be distracting enough without my own tunes if that might take away part of the fun or not.  Hmmmm…..

5) If I would have waited to sign up for the WDW Marathon until this weekend at the expo, I would have been able to get a free sling bag from RunDisney.  Totally not fair… maybe I will bring my bling and see if they will let me have a bag anyways?

See, I really did run this!

6) It is three weeks until Marathon Day and I feel less and less prepared each and every day… I am REALLY hoping the RNRCM will be what I need to boost the confidence slightly!  I can run, I really can?!? :S

7) Sadly, there is no Sweet Tomato’s on the way to Nashville/in Nashville. I looked. #bummer

8) Sister and I got suckered into the Platinum package for this race weekend!  VIP Potta-Potties – Whoot

9) It’s going to be sad not having our #1 fan along this weekend…

 

Happy Belated B-Day Mama ChEARer

10) I have not taken a car trip in a REALLY long time… and now between last weekend and this weekend, I will be spending an entire day in the car.  Hello leg cramps…  At least the legs should be well “rested” tomorrow!! Ha

Apparently nothing else happened this week that stored in my memory because all I can think about is the run this weekend!  And getting out of town!  I refuse to be worried by the Nashville forecast and will just be keeping my fingers crossed those “storms” are very isolated and do not occur before 12pm on Saturday.  If I am feeling chatty, I might be back tomorrow with a race recap, otherwise, you might have to wait until Monday or Tuesday!  Most likely I will want to type it out sooner rather than later because I forget thing.  Really quickly.

Wish us luck!  And here is to setting a new PR for races run in Tennessee!  (PS, that means any time as I have never ever ran in TN before )!!!

One Wish Wednesday: 1/18

Is it really Wednesday today?  I could swear it should be Friday… This week has been one of those weeks where everything I touch has an issue.  Not necessarily something I did but something I need to fix.  Arg!  I am also in training for a new computer system at work and it is BORING!  I already know how to use it so I am still confused as to why I need to sit through 8+ hours of training on it… can’t I just test out of it?!?  No, ok, fine… at least I only have another day!

So anyways, back to my wish this week.  This week’s wish is not serious at all but it is something I have been thinking about non-stop since we got back from Orlando.  Get ready for this really deep, thought provoking wish……..

I WISH with all my heart that there was a Sweet Tomatoes salad bar in Milwaukee!  Deep, huh?  Maybe I should start saving my money so I can become a franchise owner and run my own?!?  Salads and fro-yo for lunch everyday you say?  I’m in!  I don’t know why I loved this place so much but I really did!  The salad was so delicious and I am not normally the hugest fan of salads (although I eat them all the time) but paired with their delicious topping and accompanied by my favorite, a sweet potato, and another favorite, frozen yogurt with caramel topping, I was in Heaven!

Hungry. Now.

I think Sister would agree with my wish this week as she just reviewed Sweet Tomatoes on her blog as well!  We are already planning a trip to one an hour away because we just so happen to need to go to Ikea for some stuff and it is conveniently “on the way”  Oh the things we do for food.  You’d think we never cook anything good in this house but that is not the truth at all!  So until I hear the announcement that one is coming to Milwaukee, I will just have to look back to the fond memories I have of this deliciousness and drool… ok, fine, MAYbe I should go find a snack or something because I am wishing about food.  #loser.  Sweet Tomato Dreams Everyone!

Disney Marathon Trip: Day 5

One last post on DisneyWorld and then it will be back to more running related stories – promise!

Monday was our last Magical day and we decided to spend it at EPCOT.  When we were here on Saturday, we stuck with World Showcase but we still wanted to get in the rides there so we decided to go back for a couple on hours Monday before our plane left.  We again did not get going very early but I did get UP early and went for a short run.  More about that on Monday but let’s just say my legs were sore.  We packed up, showered and ate breakfast and then attempted to drive to EPCOT.  Well, apparently there are alternate “EPCOT”s in the GPS and we therefore ended up at some employee entrance… oops.  Once we were finally turned around and headed in the correct direction, we got in a parking spot and started our walk to the park.  It’s always amazing to me how many miles you put on just walking TO these parks!  We also had to wait in a small line to get in but I guess that’s what happens when you get there in the morning?

As soon as we entered the park, we sprinted for Soarin’ because we knew we wanted to go on it and knew we were going to have to wait awhile… By the time we got there, FastPass was not even an option so we just got in line to wait.  The counter said 50 minutes but I don’t think we waited much more than 30 actually?  I forgot how cool this ride is and is a good addition to EPCOT for sure!

After Soarin’, we sprinted over to GM Test Track.  The wait there was out the door but single rider was only 20 minutes so we chose that instead.  Turned out to be a good choice!  This ride is fun and all but it’s not THAT great…

Waiting in line for GM test track

By the time this ride was over, I was kind of ready to just be done with the park and crowds and lines… but we did make one last stop in the Cool pavilion to sample some sodas (they have Kinley soda from Israel/Europe!!)

But then we just decided to head out because I wanted to get in another lunch at Sweet Tomatoes before leaving so that is what we did!  We got in one last round of salad, taters and fro yo and it was as delicious as the first time!!

It was then time to start heading towards the airport… again we ended up being led astray by our helpful GPS.  Somehow we ended up being directed into a quarry or something?!?!?  No clue what happened there… but we eventually did make it to the airport and through security without any problems.  Our flight also went well and we were home and in bed by 8:30pm… Vacation like a toddler, sleep like a toddler??  ;)  Can’t believe the trip is over but it sure was fun!  And Sister and I are already dreaming about the Mickey Marathon next year… we shall see about that one!

If you are catching up on vacation posts check out my recaps for Thursday, Friday, Race Recap, Saturday and Sunday!  So much fun!