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