.: bistan.net :.

I’m too lazy to rewrite my weekend recap for this blog, so below is an article I wrote for my local running club’s newsletter.  It’s long, but stick with it because lots of pictures are below.

Those of you who know me are aware of how much I love all things Disney.  In fact, I share the same story told in previous newsletters by several other Macon Tracks members:  one main reason that I started running almost three years ago was to run the 2009 Walt Disney World Marathon. Of course, I didn’t stop with that race.  In fact, I’ll participate in my third Disney Marathon this January. 

Disney is packaging their race series under a new “brand” called runDisney and Jeff Galloway has signed on as the official training consultant.  When Disney announced that they were combining the Tower of Terror 13K with the Race for the Taste 10K to create the new Wine & Dine Half Marathon, and I knew I had to participate in the inaugural event!

A few days before leaving for Orlando, I saw a twitter post that said “Check the Disney Parks Blog at 11:00 for an opportunity to go on a training run with Jeff Galloway”.  I checked the blog, quickly submitted my name, and waited.  At 2:00, I got the confirmation that I was one of only 20 people chosen!  Needless to say, I quickly modified my travel plans to be there.

On the morning of the training run (the day before the half-marathon), the other participants and I arrived at Epcot at 6:30am.  We checked in and signed waivers allowing Disney to photograph and video the activities.  We also received a nice moisture-wicking runDisney shirt, which is currently not available for purchase.  Then, Jeff Galloway arrived.

Some of us chatted informally with him, while others jumped at the chance to take photographs of the beautiful sunrise over the closed theme park.  After a little while, we were told to warm up for our training run.

The training run consisted of a run through Future World followed by two loops around the World Showcase, which was bustling with activity in the early morning hours in preparation for the first day of Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival. We had the option of running at our pace, staying with Jeff (and his run/walk/run method), or falling behind.  Of course, I stayed within earshot of Jeff.  It was amazing to be able to run in such a small group through such a beautiful place with an athlete like Jeff Galloway. Of course, you can’t run at Walt Disney World without Mickey Mouse.  He was on hand too to welcome us back to Future World. 

After the run, there were numerous photo opportunities.  The photos of our group with Jeff Galloway will likely be used for future race publicity.  It was surreal having my photo taken with the world’s most famous mouse and one of running’s best known athletes.

Jeff Galloway is a great guy.  After even more photo opportunities, he took over an hour to answer all of our questions and share tips and strategies.  The most popular topic by far was how to properly eat before a night race, because running in a long-distance night race is something that most runners have yet to do.  As expected, stretching and injuries were discussed as well.  Did you know that Jeff has not had a running-related injury in 31 years?  That’s my entire life span!  And as for stretching, Jeff doesn’t do it!  He told us that current research shows that stretchers are more likely to get injuries than non-stretchers.

Other Disney Sports administrators were on-hand as well, including Disney’s well-known race director Jon Hughes.  They told us that Disney is actually planning a fourth race for the 2012 series to complement the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, WDW Marathon Weekend, and the Princess Half Marathon.  That’s great news, but not for my wallet!

After the Q&A session, Jeff gave us each an autographed photo.  He even offered his email address in case we had any additional questions.  Then, we all exited the park, which was about to open to regular guests.  The training run with Jeff Galloway was, by far the highlight of my weekend.

Later that day, we were off to the expo.  Although it was smaller than the expo held during the regular marathon weekend, it was still very good.  That afternoon, my kids participated in the Disney Kid’s Races.  I constantly tell people that the kids’ races are the best deal at Disney.  For $10, each child gets a shirt, a nice finisher’s medal, snacks, a goody bag and lots of fun.

The next morning my wife Kimberlie, one of Macon Track’s newest members, participated in her first 5K ever: Mickey’s Halloween 5K.  It is currently the only short race that goes through the Magic Kingdom.

The Wine & Dine Half Marathon was later that evening.  With a starting temperature of 74 degrees at 10:00pm, it was the hottest long-distance race that I’ve participated in.  During the run, I actually caught up with Jeff Galloway at mile 11!  He was pacing someone using his run/walk/run method.  I ran (and walked) and chatted with them for a while before they left me at mile 12.  The race wasn’t my best half-marathon, but it wasn’t my worst either. 

The course started at the newly rebranded ESPN Wide World of Sports, and followed Osceola Parkway to Animal Kingdom where we ran through the park.  Animal Kingdom almost always closes to guests at 5:00, so it was extremely rare to be there at night.  There was a “Jurassic Park” feel as we ran through the darkness, knowing that animals were nearby but unable to see them from the darkness.  We then ran back down Osceola to Hollywood Studios and continued through the resort area to an Epcot finish. For those who have run the Disney Marathon, the last eight miles of this course nearly mirrored the marathon course.

The staging area and pre-race activities were surprisingly the best I’ve seen at Disney.  At that point, I was impressed that an inaugural race was that well organized.  However, the finish line area at Epcot was a logistical disaster.  To retrieve a bag from baggage claim, the tired runners were funneled into a very long line down a relatively narrow hallway. 

A post-race party was held in the world showcase and each runner was given vouchers for “one drink” and “one taste”.  However, when you divide 15,000 runners (and the many others who purchased party tickets) among only 26 food stands, those lines were excessive as well.  The lines were so long that I didn’t have the energy to stand in them.

Although overall I had a great time, I doubt I’ll continue participating in this race annually.  It always takes a few years for a new race to work out all of the problems, even at Disney.  Also, I typically do much better racing in cool mornings than warm, humid evenings.  Next stops for me: Chickamauga Half Marathon in November and back to Disney for marathon weekend in January!

Yesterday, while Kimberlie was in a training class at Emory, I decided to take the kids to the Georgia Aquarium.  They went before, but Tristan wasn’t quite 3 and Mackenzie was barely 3 months.  First of all, I am NOT an aquarium fan.  I would much rather see the fish fried and on my plate.  We did, however, have a good time.

The strangest part was the number of signs at the entrance that include “No Fishing Poles” in the list of prohibited items.  At first, I thought it was a joke, but it’s also clearly noted on all of our tickets as well.  There are other items that, in my opinion, would be more important to list such as wheeled shoes, nuclear materials, laser pointers, etc. I’m amazed that the aquarium has such a repeated issue with people taking in fishing poles that they have to specifically ban them on their signage.  Only in Georgia!

The kids enjoyed the few hours that we spent there and they really liked showing Kimberlie all of the pictures and telling her about each one.  Of course, here is a small sampling of some of those pictures:

This past weekend, before I ran the Labor Day Road Race, we snuck away to the beach.  I somehow managed (after much persistance) to score an awesome deal on Hotwire for Jekyll Island during Labor Day weekend and off we went.  It was our last chance to get away since our fall schedule is totally packed, thanks mostly to soccer.

Since I neglected to post the Myrtle Beach pictures from our July vacation, I thought I might post a few from this getaway:

This morning, after running a quick 7:30AM 5K, we met some of my colleagues for a trip down the Ocmulgee.  We went with Ocmulgee Expeditions, which is one of the best kept secrets here in town.

They put us in the river at Water Works Park and we paddled/drifted for about 4 miles to the Riverwalk.  The kids loved it.  It was amazing how we were right in the middle of town, but it seemed like we were out in the middle of nowhere.  Even when we passed by the trails, you couldn’t see anyone because we were so low in the river.

I highly recommend taking a trip sometime soon!

I have a new blog reader, which just *might* bring my readership up to a total of 3.  She sat down the other night and read this site from top to bottom. She gives me plenty of feedback on my posts, though you wont see any of it in the Comments section.

To protect her identity, I won’t disclose her name, but we can refer to her “wife” for short.

Here we go again. I blog about how I resolve to blog more. Then I make about 3 blog posts. Then you don’t hear from me for a few weeks. Then I make an excuse about why I haven’t been blogging and then I resolve to blog more.

I guess that means this is the excuse post. Let’s see . . . I’m swamped at work, swamped with class, and swamped in my personal life.

Work: I won’t bore you with the work stuff.  I doubt you care about Windows 7 imaging and Drupal modules anyway.

School: It was stupid to commit to doing this masters degree in the first place. My first masters degree didn’t get me anywhere, yet I sign up for another one. My classes this semester are Object Oriented Programming II and Advanced Graphic Design. “Advanced Graphic Design” is what Mercer calls a video game programming class when they want employers to pay for it.  Since my language of choice for the program is C#, I’m developing a game in XNA Game Studio 3.1.  I have a project in OOP2 due next week on secure code and wikis and a project in the game class due the following week on 2D game programming.  My game is pretty sweet and when I compile it, I’ll publish it here and you can download and play it too!

Running: My heel is still freaking killing me.  I can barely walk when I get out of bed in the mornings. I only ran 7 miles this week, but I need to knock out at least 5 tomorrow to exceed 70 miles for the month.

Personal life: We signed Tristan up for T-ball.  That should be interesting. I’m not particularly looking to spend 3 nights a week at a ballpark, but we want to get him involved in something.  Kimberlie is now up to 60 – 70 hour weeks so I have the kids by myself in the evenings for a while.  She works with two other Occupational Therapists.  One is in Africa for a month and the other just went out of maternity leave.  And then on Monday, as if we didn’t have enough going on, her mother died.  After this week, we are both certainly looking forward to a new week.

Today was Christmas Cookie Day at Tristan’s kindergarten.  Kimberlie and I, along with other parents helped about 120 kindergarteners make cookies.  Just imagine the biggest possible mess and multiply it by 100.  Kimberlie was covered in flour and had to return home and change before going to work.  I was a little more careful, since I had the fancy camera and all.

Enjoy the pictures.

Each Wednesday, Tristan brings home a folder from school.  It contains things like school work, behavior charts, PTA notices, notes from school, etc.  This past Wednesday, the folder included a request to “Help Light Someone’s Christmas”.  Basically, it’s the same concept as the Salvation Army’s angel tree: you sign up to purchase a gift for a specific amount and send the gift to the school.

Now we typically help various organizations, from giving in church to volunteering in various things, to sending canned goods to feed people who apparently only eat at Thanksgiving, to making donations, etc. Even with all of that, we have never received joy from giving.  In fact, we hate giving.  It’s like a chore.  We do it though for various reasons — whether political or religious or otherwise.  But because I love Heard Elementary School, I wanted to sign up immediately. 

Kimberlie tried to throttle me back.  We’re already room parents for Tristan’s class.  We donate classroom supplies and send paper money and sell wrapping paper and buy BBQ tickets and support the PTA, so I understood her concern. But being room parents, we’ve met all of Tristan’s classmates.  If there is someone in Tristan’s class, school, or our community who needs a token gift to improve their holiday season, I want to help.  I filled out the form and committed to purchasing a gift at the $15.00 level and returned the form. 

The next day, Kimberlie was picking up the kids from day care when Tristan handed her a paper light bulb.  It said “Jacket for a 6 year old girl, size 6/7″.  Her eyes teared up.  We don’t live in a wealthy community, but it is the suburbs and I never imagined that someone nearby might not even have a jacket.  We thought we were going to be purchasing a token gift for a child who might not have as many toys on Christmas morning as our kids, but instead, we were purchasing a necessity that in our household would never be considered a gift.  And so we were off — to find the perfect jacket!

Being the bargain-hunter than I am, we ended up with a $40.00 Old Navy jacket.  All of their outerwear was 50% off plus I used a 30% Stuff-n-Save discount to end up spending $14.00.  It could possibly end up being the nicest garment the unknown little girl owns.  Tristan’s birthday is coming up later this week and we actually enjoyed shopping for this unknown child more than we enjoyed shopping for our own child.  The jacket has already warmed our hearts — for the first time since I can remember, we feel good about giving.

Let’s hope the little girl can stay warm until Christmas!

When I was 18, it was cool to have a credit card.  Flashing that plastic was cool stuff.  Now that I’m 30, everyone I know has a credit card.  It’s just part of life.  Nothing special.  You would think that the days are gone where flashing the plastic impresses the chicks.

Not for me . . .

As any reader of this blog knows, I am a Disney Fanatic.  So naturally I jumped on getting a Disney Visa card when they debuted in 2003.  At least 1% of every purchase is returned in Disney rewards which are good for anything Disney.  Four years ago we spent a week at WDW for free and we went on a Disney cruise two years ago for nearly free.  And we bought Disney annual passes this year and paid for several nights at WDW with our rewards.  I put nearly everything on my Disney Visa (and yes, I pay it off immediately).

You can choose from about seven different card designs and for the last four or so years, I’ve had a Finding Nemo card.  Let me tell you that this card serves as an icebreaker with nearly everyone who I present it to for payment . . . especially hot chicks.

My coworkers couldn’t believe at first how fast I could melt a girl’s heart with my credit card.  Now, they just roll their eyes because they’ve seen it happen so much.  It’s unbelievable. Kimberlie didn’t notice as much at first, until I remarked one day that I should have had a Finding Nemo credit card before I got married.  It would have been so much easier finding girls.

When I’m paying for something with Kimberlie, the waitress/cashier/etc. aren’t usually as vocal about it, but they always mention it.  Some of them, however, could care less that my wife is with me.  Kimberlie used to get a little jealous, but now, she just rolls her eyes too because it happens so much.  Tonight, the very soft spoken waitress at Applebee’s returned my card, thanked us for dining with them, smiled, and quietly said, “Oh yeah, I like your Visa”.

So here’s a hint for all of the single guys out there: I’m happily married, but Nemo can have any chick he wants!