Run Disney Day 2

If you haven't read day 1.5 I will link it HERE.

Day 2 started as perfectly as day 1 had ended.  Kellie and I had bought gf muffins on the boardwalk the night before so we saved them for breakfast!  They also had pretty good coffee in the room.  So hot coffee and an AMAZING gf  blueberry muffin while laying in bed was just perfect!! The best part was the news kept saying that a cold front was moving in and it would be dropping to 60!  They acted like a blizzard was coming.  I still put on shorts for the day!

The BEST muffin ever!!

Friday (day 2) was packet pick up so off to the Expo we went.  We found these awesome champagne cut outs to grab a quick picture with! When we saw these again on race day they line was CRAZY long.  I'm so glad we got this picture when we did!

This the half of the expo!  It was crazy how many people were there!  Lots and lots of venders! 

They had Jeff Galloway come in and speak.  We listened for a little bit.  He is really interesting, inspiring, & generally positive!  Gotta love that in a coach of any kind!

When we left the expo this was our view!  Seriously?!?! Palm trees & blue skies!  Does it get any better?

After the expo we thought it would be fun to explore some of the other resorts on Disney.  That is one of the nice things about staying at a Disney resort.  You can visit any other resort and see what they have.  If you don't know each resort has it's own theme and there for different restaurants & gift shops. The first resort we went to was the Polynesian! This was a Hawaiian themed resort.  It was so cute! We decided that if we came back this would be a good one to stay at!  I know my mom would love it!  My parents went to Hawaii on their honeymoon and speaking highly of it often!

This was where we were really heading in the resort!  The Pineapple Lanai!  This is where you can get dole whip! Dole whip is some sort of magical pineapple concoction that Disney whips up and makes people addicted.  You can get it alone or mixed with vanilla ice cream. I'm also heard a rumor that in the actual Animal Kingdom park they mix it with rum.  YUM!!  It really is a great treat and I can see why people love it! On a hot day it would be the perfect way to cool down!

Next up we hit up the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  This place was really beautiful.  It was built like a HUGE log cabin. With the most beautiful fireplaces and rocking chairs.  You felt right at home the moment you walked in! Everything was very rustic.  If you have ever visited the cabins in Pigeon Forge Tennessee then you will understand what this looked like but on a much bigger scale!

And just outside was this bison bush.

Of course by this time we were both ready to relax.  So back to the resort for our afternoon drink (with no leaf!)  and to rest for a bit before we headed to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Christmas Party!

Love, Lacey

Run Disney Day 1.5

In case you missed the first part of day 1 you can read about it HERE.  So let's move on to the second half of that day!

When we got to the Caribbean Beach Resort at Disney we decided to try to check in early.  We had been told if our room wasn't ready that we could at least change & go to the pool. But again we got blessed and our room was ready!  She also let us get a late check out since the race was a late one and we thought we would sleep in. The wonderful lady at the front desk also informed us that our room had been upgraded and asked if that was ok:?  Um YES!!  She said "Oh you have been upgraded to a pirate room" WHAT?!?!?!  She also told us that our room was on the second floor and there were no elevators.  OH WELL!!  We got a pirate room.  I'm pretty sure we floated up the stairs we were so excited!

So here it is!  This is a pirate room!  This is my bed!  It's a pirate ship!! The lights on the mast turn on for reading or whatever. It was so neat! We joked several times about 2 girls having a pirate room.

On the end of my bed were some towels in the shape of MICKEY!

This curtain was separating the bedroom area from the sink/bathroom area.  Such a cool room!

This barrel was actually a refrigerator!  WHAT?!

After we checked into our room we decided to go relax by the pool.  We both wanted to rest but it seemed like a waste of a beautiful day to spend it indoors.  Sleeping by the pool was a great way to spend the afternoon!

We found some fruity drinks, a gorgeous beach, and some comfy chairs by the pool. This is the life! After the pool we had dinner reservations so we got ready and headed out! 

Our table wasn't quite ready and I owed Kellie some money and she told me I could buy her a drink so we headed to the bar.  These drinks had light up ice cubes in them.  How could we not order them? Mine was even set to blink different colors.  My drink also had another leaf in it!  I thought it might be a theme to put a leaf in my drink?!

I have to give a quick shout out to the head chef at The Wave on the Contemporary Resort at Disney.  I'm sorry I don't remember his name but he came to our table to help us order since we are both gluten free. He told us a little about each dish and what would be best and then told us that he had gluten free rolls for us.  The rolls came our WARM and with sea salt butter.  We almost cried they were so DELICIOUS!! 

Next came dinner! I had steak with green beans and mushrooms.  It was AMAZING!!

Kellie had pork chops with polenta and I can't remember what the green was? She said it was DELICIOUS!  

After dinner I grabbed a to go coffee and we walked around the Boardwalk.  We had so much fun.  We even took a keepsake picture for our mom.  I will have to take a picture and share that with you because it was really funny.  After the boardwalk we headed back to our pirate beds for a good nights sleep!!

Love, Lacey

Run Disney Day 1

Hey there!  It's been almost a month ago I went to Florida to run Disney but I'm FINALLY getting around to telling you (and showing you) all about our adventure!!  So here we go . . .  WARNING!!!!!  This will be picture overload!!

As you may or may not know, I am NOT a morning person.  And when I say I'm not a morning person I mean when I wake up don't try to talk, don't make jokes, and do NOT touch me!  I get up early with the kids each morning but everyone knows if I haven't had coffee don't talk!  So a 2 am wake up call was just RUDE!! I was worried I would sleep through the alarm so I set a couple.  Turns out I barely slept so it wasn't a big deal. Kellie picked me up at 2:30 and off we went!

We got to the airport in plenty of time so we decided to grab some breakfast that I ate entirely too quickly to take a picture !  Don't worry though there are so many food pictures in Disney you will be tired of them.  But here is a nice picture of my backpack I carried on!  It held so much stuff I loved it! Pink and Camo that pretty much sums me up in general!

I hit up the Copper Moon Coffee Co to grab something with an insane amount of caffeine in it and off we flew!  Thank goodness for my mom's Nook to keep me company!

Here we are!!  And yes we did wear our ears through the airport and onto the plane!

We were super blessed and got an upgrade on our rental car!  Say hello to the 2015 Chrysler 200S.  OH MY GOODNESS this was a gorgeous car!  Reminded me a lot of my old Camaro.  Nice and sporty and made cruising around Florida so much fun! I think we only used the air conditioning a hand full of times because I just wanted to cruise around with the windows down!

We stopped at the local running store because that is what runners do! They were really friendly and we each bought a few things there!

The best part was the Track Shack knew where there was a SONIC!!  I have a Cherry Limeade obsession and they closed all of our sonics at home so it's now my vacation treat!  OH it tasted amazing!! #sonicselfie

After Sonic we headed for our resort.  I can't tell you how exciting it is to see this sign.  I almost cried!  It had been a VERY long day already and it was only noon! The weather was gorgeous!  In fact Kellie and I changed clothes in the car at the Track Shack because jeans were just NOT acceptable in that sort of weather.  Blue skies and palm trees what more could you want?! 

Love, Lacey

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  It's that time of year again that we gather together to eat more food than humanly possible and then go try to run over others to save $5 on that stupid movie that your Great Uncle Ned wants! No offense to Great Uncle Ned (I wish I had one!) but I am not going Black Friday shopping this year!  Especially since it starts at 5pm on THURSDAY!!!  It's called Black FRIDAY for a reason! Now I have gotten up at 4am to meet my husbands family at Khols to look for something stupid that someone wanted (I honestly can't remember what it was now?!).  But the older I get the less I care about saving those $5 and the more I care about spending time with my family just being a family and being thankful! Also the fact that most of what I want can be bought online for the same Black Friday price is a big draw to me.  So I'm sure while you are reading this (if it's Thursday or Friday) I'm sitting on the other side of the screen shopping my little heart out!  Bless you Target for free shipping and 5% off with my red card!

This year we are having my parents & Kellie over for lunch!  That's it!  Just the 8 of us! Do you think we will make any less food?  NO!  But it will be special because it is just the 8 of us!  I hope you all have somewhere to go this year!  I tried to make sure all my single and out of town friends had somewhere to go!  I can't stand the thought of people being alone on a holiday. (I am ! crazy today! look at all of them in this paragraph. Apparently I'm excited!) Any ways!  Make sure you follow me on Instagram as I will be posting pictures of our food, the table and our family all together! And wait until you see Miss V's dress!!  I'm kind of jealous!

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? What is your favorite thing to eat?

Love, Lacey

Leave of Absence . . . SORRY!

I am SO sorry I have been missing for so long!  Life got absolutely CRAZY right before I left for Florida and then after I got back I had "post vacation depression".  I'm not sure that is a real thing but I swear I have it every time I come back!  But I am BACK!!!  I am currently working on putting together my Disney trip on to the blog.  But for now here are a few picture to keep you occupied!

The first palm tree we saw when we got there!!  

There was an actual island on our resort!  AN ISLAND?!?! 

More blue skies and palm trees!

And then my favorite day of all times!!  We went to the Magic Kingdom and it was SO magical!  I can't wait to share this day with you all!

Also if you don't already go like my Facebook page! I post on there a lot more because I can do it quickly from my phone.  I share inspirational pictures and some funny pictures.  I also talk about my daily runs or whatever I'm up to!  You can also follow me on Instagram (I post a LOT!).  I'm also on Twitter although most of those are reposts from FB or Instagram!

See you soon!  Love you all!!

Love, Lacey

Vacation Packing List

We leave in 2 weeks for Disney!  That's 14 days!  That's not much time to get accomplished all I need to get done! When I leave on vacation I make lists, and leave lists, and lists for my lists! One of the things I stress about it packing!  If you are anything like me your suitcase looks like this . . .

I'm always scared I'm going to forget something! So I pack and pack and pack.  I know there has to be a better way!  SO I went online and found this website with a list of vacation packing essentials!  I felt it was pretty close to what I have listed.  I thought I would share with you what I have listed and give you an insight into my mind! 

Because of my race I have to pack a little differently and so I make sure I have my race clothes packed and ready to go!

Race Items

Skirt

Tank

Bra

Socks

Shoes

Aquaphor

Headband

Watch

Road ID

Hair ties

bobby pins

Huma gel

Bathroom

Hairspray (it is Florida!)

Brush

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Makeup

Moisturizer

Face wash

Flat iron

Texture spray

Clothes

Maxi dress - bra

Shorts - 2

jeans - 2

Tops -4

Jacket

Swimsuit

Shoes - tennis shoes, sandals, & flip flops

Socks

PJ's

Carry On (I always like to know what is going where!)

Chap stick (my lips are always chapped!)

Travel purse (no need to carry my giant mom purse!)

Race clothes (I will NOT take a chance at these getting lost being checked in)

Makeup (not sure if I will check this or take it with me.  I will probably do my face on the plane)

Nook (I don't want to drag a full sized book on the plane)

Hand sanitizer (obviously planes aren't the most sanitary places)

Shaker bottle 

Dramamine

Nexium

Snacks

Camera

Chargers - Phone, Camera, Garmin

Head phones

Randoms

Trading Pins

Beach towel

So what did I miss?  What I do I need to take for Disney?! What is the one thing you CANNOT travel without?  

Love, Lacey

PS. I do NOT know what this blue stripe is or how to get rid of it?! LOL

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Running Adventure Reveal!

The time has come to tell you all about my next running adventure!  I hope you all had fun guessing where I was going and what I was doing.  So here is the big news . . .  I will be running . . .

That's right!  In just a few shorts weeks I will be hoping on a plane and going to the HAPPIEST place on EARTH!  I'm so excited to be running this race and especially to be running it with Kellie!  I love that our training runs have turned into vacation planning runs and talks about Disney.  We have matching outfits and Mickey ears! 

I think the thing I'm most excited about is that this particular race is run at night!  The starting time is 10pm!! We are going to go slow and take pictures and enjoy so my best guess is we won't finish until close to or after 1 am!  And then they have an after party until I think 4am?!  Oh dear!  I hope I got our flight home late enough! I am beyond excited and blessed to be able to go on this adventure! I also can't wait to take you along! If you don't already, go and follow me on Snapchat!  It's LoveLacey365  You will get a sneak peak into not only trip but my every day life! (you can also find me on Facebook and Instagram!)   

Has anyone ever run a Disney race? Any tips for going to Disney? We are only going to the Magic Kingdom for half a day on Friday so we don't have a lot of time in parks other than running but I'm SO excited!

Love, Lacey

Running Adventure Clue #3

The third and final clue before the reveal on Thursday.  Are you excited?  Have you figured it out yet?!

THIS is where we are staying!!  Can you believe it?! It's like a dream come true!  I'm SO excited.  Do you see the beach? I'm totally going to get my toes in there!  Do you know where this is? Have you been there?

Go ahead and make your guess in the comments below! All will be revealed THURSDAY!!

Love, Lacey

Running Adventure Clue #2

Here is the average temperatures for where I live. We are traveling to our big adventure in November. So as you can see the average temperature here in November is somewhere around 40F. 

These are the average temperatures for the place we are traveling to.  As you can see the average temperature in November there is 79!!  I think I'll have to pack some shorts!

Have you guessed it yet? Are you getting excited for my big adventure?! What is the average temperature where you live in November?

Love, Lacey

Favorite Bloggers

I LOVE reading blogs. I also LOVE watching vlogs. I guess I just like to see what other people's lives are like and how different they are from mine. I thought it would be fun to tell you some of my favorite blogs!

First up is an awesome blog from a girl named Jillian! She is the author of ReFashionista. She refashions clothes.  What does that mean?  It means that she goes to her local thrift stores and buys clothes that no one else would probably buy.  She then takes them home and completely changes them into something really cool that you WANT to wear!

Would you wear this?  Go see what she does with this dress!  I promise you WILL want to wear it when she is done!

Next up is a running blog I follow religiously (and have mentioned here before) by an amazing runner named Janae! She writes The Hungry Runner Girl. She is an awesome runner and mommy!  She loves to eat (one reason I follow her) & always shows the amazing food she is eating.  She is really funny and I think we would be BFFs if we lived closer and she knew I existed. LOL

See!  Running clothes & food! How can you NOT love that?!?

Next is someone I actually know in real life!!  Ryan is a friend of a friend that I have met and hung out with a couple of times.  He decided a few years ago to sell everything, quit his job, & hike the Appalachian Trail.  He did the whole thing and has gone on a few other AMAZING adventures. Like hitchhiking across America?! But his latest adventure is him hiking across Ireland & now the UK.  I LOVE reading his blog and seeing his pictures.  He is REALLY talented and has a knack for meeting the most interesting people!   You can find him at A Backpacker's Life List.   

Because who doesn't want to see pictures like this as often as possible?!

I think that's it for now!  I have some other bloggers that I like and follow but these have to be some of my absolute favorites!  I'm not sure how you can feel like you know a person from their blog but I definitely feel like I know each of these people!  Go and check them all out!! You will NOT be sorry!!

Love, Lacey

Running Adventure Clue #1

That is one of my favorite running quotes by one of my favorite runners!  I had the absolute privilege of meeting the incredible Bart Yasso this past January.  You can read about it HERE. It really was such an honor to meet him and he is super inspiring!  If you haven't already, I would HIGHLY recommend reading his book "My Life on the Run" .  Even if you aren't a runner I think you will be inspired by him and the stories he tells are really funny.  Like the time he was the race marshall for a race in a nudist colony! Really funny!

ANWAYS!  I love this quote and it has stuck with me this year especially.  I had set some pretty big running goals for myself and self doubt and my mental game are things that hold me back.  I keep thinking of myself as the fat kid in gym class.  The one that got picked last and no one wanted on their team.  I don't blame them!  I was NOT good at sports and I wasn't fast at anything (except talking!).  But for some reason that "fat kid" seems to stick in my mind.  I don't believe that I can be fast or good at any sport even a sport that I absolutely love and work my booty off at.  But this quote reminds me that I am NOT that fat kid in gym class.  And that the sport that I love can take me so much far than just down the street.  I have already gained so much from running!  I have gone on adventures and run in places I would never have gone to if not for my love of running.

But I have signed up for something SUPER exciting!  And I want to do a few posts with clues leading up to my big reveal.  Now some of you probably already know because we are friends in real life and I have talked about it on my person facebook page.  But I'm so excited that I wanted to share with you my blog family and wanted to try to make it fun for you!

So the first clue to my next big running adventure is that I'm going with my favorite running partner, Kellie.  And we have to fly to get there! There are your clues!  The biggest is the flying!  I love driving and I would drive almost anywhere but on this particular adventure we have to fly or we wouldn't never have time to do everything that we want to do.

I will give you 3 clues and will do my big reveal on October 16!  So keep coming back and watch this space.  See if you can figure it out before I tell you!  Let me a comment and guess what it is!

Love, Lacey

Half Marathon #3 Recap

My very exciting and busy half marathon weekend began with a great shake out run with Mr. S.  The Fall Festival has a kids marathon, senior marathon, 4 mile run/walk, 10k, and half marathon.  The kids & senior marathons go all summer with the final mile being on part of the race course and ends at the same finish line!  It's very exciting for everyone to see these littles run.  Mr. S. is not a sporty kid (he is super smart!) but he wanted to run this and I'm proud of him for sticking with it.  He got to run the last little bit of the race with one of his great friends.  His friend happens to be one of my best friends little guy and then she & I were running the half together the next day. It was so neat to see our little guys run together.  The best part was when Mr. S reached up, patted his friend on the back, and said "It's just you and me!".  I almost cried! 

The next morning I got up at the crack of dawn & got ready for my big race!  My pre-race breakfast always consists of a cup of black coffee and a gf cupcake from a local bakery.  The cupcake I had before this week was PUMPKIN!!  It tasted like a pumpkin roll and it was AMAZING!!!!!!! In case I haven't told you I had a goal to set a PR (person record). I wanted to run a 2:20 half.  Not super fast but it is fast for me! I read something once that said "Look in the mirror.  That is your only competition!".  I have taken that to heart.  I'm never going to run a sub 2 hr half.  I'm not super fast.  I have short legs and a mental block (which I'm working on).  But I'm ok with that!  All I can do is MY best and give it MY all!  So before I left my sweet kitty, Brady, gave me a good luck kiss!

And I was off.  I picked up Kellie and another friend of ours and we met up with the rest of our running group for our annual picture and a pre-race pump up! We then toed the line (or rather got in my corral towards the back) for a 8:20 am start time.  I decided to stick with the 2:20 pace group.  It would keep me focused on someone and I wouldn't have to watch my Garmin the entire time. I could just run and be happy.  For the first 10 miles everything went great!  My friend and I were chatting off and on and taking in the sights.  I was keeping up and feeling good. I don't know what happened at mile 10 but my body just started failing and then my mind told me to quit.  I think part of my problem was that I drank Gatorade during the run.  And that upset my stomach.  Somewhere around mile 11.5 I told my friend "Leave me"  but she wouldn't!  I felt extremely sick to my stomach. I had the same issue last year too.  So Gatorade on race day is a no for me! Miles 10-13 were extremely hard! I walked some and cried some and ran slowly. I struggled so badly through those last 3 miles.  So much so that my sweet bff laid hands on me to pray. I even stopped to hug (and cry on) another bff of mine!  

As soon as we turned the corner to go into the stadium (where the finish line was), I got it set in my mind that I was going to push to the end.  So I started to pray and point to Jesus and tell him it was for HIM! I pushed myself across that finish line with an official time of 2:24:54.

I may not have hit the 2:20 I was hoping for but I'm SO excited to have a PR.  I have done something that not everyone can say they have!  I have run my 3rd half marathon and set a PR.  My family and I went out that night to celebrate!  I will be back out there next year to get that elusive 220!!

Thank you to everyone who volunteered for this race!  This is an awesome race if you are in the area in Sept!  You MUST do it!  A HUGE thank you to Mr. J for the love and support while I trained for this.  Another HUGE thank you to my favorite running partner, Kellie, who constantly pushes me and cheers me on. I can't wait for our next adventure!  And THANK YOU to all of you for cheering me on and following me on this journey!  I can't wait to share with you all what my next running adventure will be!!

Love, Lacey

Out of my zone

The other day I signed up for a race that is outside of my comfort zone!!  I'm usually a road race 5k or 10k type of girl.  I like the weather to be nice so some time between May or June to Sept or Oct.  But earlier this year I did a trail run that I really liked!  Go read about it here! Kellie has talked to me about running The Huff for a few years. It's actually an utlra trail run that you can choose to do one loop (10 miles), the whole thing (30 miles), or a 3 man relay (which I still think would be fun!).

So I did it!  I signed up for the 10 miler.  Just to give you a taste of what I could be in for, here is the link to the registration site with some pictures.  And HERE is a video from a few years ago (including the above picture).  Oh and did I mention this race is on Dec 20?  And is in Northern Indiana?  If you don't know anything about Northern Indiana, you should know that it snows and is COLD!!!! (see the below picture!)

I have no idea why I'm doing this race other than it's supposed to be really fun and a good experience. I guess you never grow if you don't step out of your comfort zone right?! Look our Huff 2014 here I come!!

Love, Lacey

Last long run before the half

So for a few years I have had horrible toe issues.  My toes are pretty crooked and nasty and running doesn't help that. For some reason the shoes I have always used have decided to keep shrinking their toe box. Well as you can imagine it is not good for my toes.  So despite all my best efforts (toe socks, bandaids, lube, tape) I needed to abandon my usual shoes and get new ones just a few weeks before my first half of the year. I'm so thankful we have an amazing local running store that is full of really awesome people to help! I went to see my favorite sales guy and told him show me shoes with the widest toe boxes. He brought out 3 different ones for me to test out and these were the winners.  They are the Adidas  Supernova Sequence Boost 7.  I picked the bold pink color and used some bungee laces that I already had to lace them up.  

This was actually my second run in these shoes and so far so good.  The real test will be next summer when my feet get hot & sweaty. My feet tend to swell and I think that is part of the problem that there just was not enough room in my old shoes.  This run felt pretty good.  I felt a little sluggish but that really didn't have anything to do with my shoes. 

With only 1 week left until my first half of the year (I'm running two this year!) I feel pretty good.  I have a time in mind and I will do my best to hit it but if it doesn't happen it doesn't.  Now I'm not saying I won't be upset if it doesn't happen.  I'm a pretty competitive person and when I don't hit a goal it is NOT ok.  But as I learned last year (I bonked during my half big time!!) life goes on! I've done some things different in my training this year and have a friend that I'm hoping to run with to cheer her on and keep me moving.  Another great thing about this race is they offer pace groups for the different goal times.  So I will be settling in with a pace group and just keep moving! 

I love to finish off my long runs with an ice bath.  I know this is kind of a debated thing but I love it.  I don't know if it helps me recover any fast but I can tell you that nothing feels better after a really long hot run than a tub full of cold water and ice. I try to sit in there for 10 min and usually cruise facebook or instagram (go follow me on both!  I'm LoveLacey365 on both).  The time seems to go quickly and after that I jump in the shower.  

This week will be full of short easy runs, rest, and lots of carbs.  It's time to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and prove that all these miles and training runs have been worth it. That's the funny thing about distance running.  You set a goal to run a certain number of miles on race day. But what you don't think about is all the hours and miles you will put in getting to race day.  Those training miles and hours are the ones that define you. The mornings that you get up pre-dawn to fit in a long run before you leave on vacation. Or the nights that you put the kids in bed and then jump on the treadmill because you didn't have time during the day.  The miles and the hours of training often are the ones you remember.  I definitely remember my races but I have had some of the best runs and times of prayer in my life on just an average Tuesday run.  Life is kind of like that too isn't it? It's not how long you live but what you do with that life. Running is a lot like life and has taught me more about myself and about my life than I could have ever imagined. In 7 days I will be here writing my "race day recap" for you.  I pray that I get to tell you that I got the PR that I'm looking for. But if I don't, I have had some pretty amazing breakthroughs this year and will choose to be happy with those (after I cry and be upset). 

Love, Lacey