Merry (Late) Christmas!

Hello and Merry Christmas!! I know I've been MIA for a while but I really haven't been doing much besides running and spending time with my family. I've also been trying to get my blog switched over to WordPress and it is almost there... almost! So I am here to share some pictures from Christmas and to announce some VERY exciting news. At least I think it's exciting, if you don't think it's exciting sorry for getting you all hyped up for nothing!

Meeko waiting patiently to open his stocking

Me looking very sleepy with my stocking

My cute preggo sister and BIL

Aaaand I did a little photo shoot of my parents... my dad is quite the character! Like father like daughter?

I had just opened up my new Garmin Forerunner 210 watch (you can kind of see it on my lap) and I thought that was my last present because my mom always saves our "big" presents for last. Well much to my surprise I had one more present that came wrapped in a Mickey bag...

I look all puffy and red because I literally started balling. I found out my mom and I are running the Dumbo Double Dare in Disneyland in August and then the Wine and Dine Half in November which means we will finally get our coast to coast medals!!!!

This was the last thing I expected to receive and I feel so incredibly blessed and lucky. I can't even begin to explain my excitement, even though it is 8 months away I already want to start planning my costumes! I'm not going to though I promise... ahhhhhhh!!!! Okay I'm done.

For the next week or so if my blog seems a little crazy it probably has something to do with me switching over so please just ignore it for the time being. I'll get it figured out eventually (hopefully).

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas filled with lots of family, food, and fun!

My Last Disney Post

Sadly this will be my last post from my time at Disney World. This one is going to be all about my time at the parks!

After our long drive to Florida Jen and I arrived to our hotel when it was dark outside. We were both exhausted, but quickly woke up. It was amazing!

 

 

We stayed at the Art of Animation Hotel. There are four different parts to the hotel. A Cars section, a Nemo section, a Lion King section, and a Little Mermaid section. After we got our keys and put our stuff in our room (which by the way was amazing, I should've taken pictures) we walked around the whole hotel to see everything.

We stayed in the Cars section, or the Cozy Cone as it is called in the movie! It literally looked like we were in the movie it was incredible.

Next was the Nemo Section.

 

Each section had these characters everywhere. They were so cute!

 

It was literally a little kid's heaven or for me a 21 year old's heaven!

The hotel had 3 pools, a gift shop, a food court, an arcade, and probably so much more!

After we had checked everything out Jen and I were still wide awake so we made a pit stop at the pool bar and got a couple yummy drinks :)

The first day of parks was spent at Animal Kingdom in the morning.

 

We got to meet Mickey and Minnie!

 

And Dug and Russel from UP!

 

Oh and I got engaged... to a dog... story of my life.

 It was here that I got some of the most exciting news of my life...

 

MY SISTER IS PREGNANT!!!! I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!! Ever since my sister and brother-in-law Trevor got married last September I've been bugging them to have a baby. I love babies, and I know they will make great parents. I am not an emotional person at all, but I started crying when I found out the news. She is due in the beginning of July and I cannot wait! I see a lot of trips up to Ohio in my future.

After Animal Kingdom we went to the ESPN Wide World of Sports for packet pick-up and to do some shopping at the expo. And then it was on to Hollywood Studios... No time for resting at Disney!

 

Once again I fail at taking pictures... Jen and I are the ones in the middle row on the left with our hands up. My aunt, uncle, and cousins are behind us. The Tower of Terror is one of my all time favorite rides. I always get so scared before we drop, but it is so much fun!

The next morning we got up for a 7:00 breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey's.

 

Can you tell we are exhausted? I could barely open my eyes for pictures, but the food was delicious! That girl in the picture with Donald and I is my pregnant sister :)

After Chef Mickey's we just chilled by the pool and rested until it was time for half marathon!

Sunday morning I woke up super sore and wasn't quite sure how I was going to walk around Magic Kingdom all day, but it is my favorite park so I had to!

 

Clearly I was too busy riding rides to take pictures but here is one of the castle and one of my mom with my wittle baby cousin! We were here from 9 AM to 11 PM, I don't know how I survived that long. We rode almost every single ride in the park, saw the parade with all the lights (I can't remember what it's called) and we watched the fireworks show in front of the castle!

My time at Disney was much too short! I love it there and was definitely sad to leave and return to the real world. I know we will be back in the future!

I also had a great surprise waiting for me when I returned to Wilmington...

 

Aren't my boys at STRIDE the sweetest? I know I've said this a million times, but I love coaching more than anything! I am so lucky to be a part of the GOTR and STRIDE organizations!

What is your favorite ride at Disney World?

What is your favorite park at Disney World?

Any tips for a soon to be Auntie :) ?

What I Learned in Disney

Hi! Just popping in for a quick post from my phone in between classes. I've been so busy the last few days and I didn't bring my laptop to Disney with me, hence the lack of posts. I honestly don't think I would've had time to even if I did bring my laptop!

So here is what I learned from my 4 short days in Disney...

1. I'm a kid at heart. Okay so if you know me you already knew this, but being at Disney just brings out the child in me even more.

2. There is awful cell service in Disney World. I think I sent 5 text messages the whole time I was there. There was no cell service in the hotel we stayed at, and so many people were on the phones in the park that it took hours to post a picture to Insta or send a tweet. Most people would freak out about this but it was actually nice to turn off my phone and just spend good quality time with my family.

3. It doesn't matter how fast or slow you run. You are a winner as long as you finish. I had a pretty rough race at the Wine and Dine half this past Saturday (more about that later) I didn't get the time I wanted at all but I finished and I am proud of that.

4. Disney is EXHAUSTING. I don't think I got more than 4 hours of sleep a night while I was there. There's just so much to do and no time for sleep! It's so worth it but I am feeling the exhaustion now.

5. Walt Disney is a genius and I wish I could meet him. If I could pick one person to meet it would be Walt Disney. What he created is amazing, and I would love to have a conversation with him.

And last but not least...

6. I'm an awful photographer. Whenever I see something cool I just stare at it. I never think to take a picture. This is why there will be no pictures in this post. Okay so as I'm typing this I just decided to add one picture but that is it! I have to save the rest for my other posts. Anywhooo I need to start taking more pictures!

My experience at Disney was great (for the most part) and I'm definitely sad to be back in the real world. I'm going to leave you guys with a picture of Cinderella's Castle at night. GORGEOUS!

Hi-Ho Hi-Ho It's Off to Disney I Go!

The day has finally come! In about an hour my friend Jen and I will be on the road to Disney!!! I can't wait to see my family and for everything else that comes along with Disney!! I tried to start packing last night...

 

 My method of packing is to throw everything on the ground that I want to bring and pray that it fits in my suitcase. I have a major issue of over-packing, but you never know what you're going to feel like wearing!

 

I managed to fit all of it into my bag! Well most of it... Good thing I'm driving, not flying!!

 

Next I painted my nails to match my running costume. Any guesses on who I'm dressing up as?

From the second I woke up this morning I turned on Disney Pandora and jammed. Disney music just brings me so much joy no matter what! I'm almost done packing and just waiting for Jen to get out of class and then we will be on our way! A 9- hour drive is the only thing standing in between me and Disney!!

 

This is the first selfie I have ever taken of myself and posted... I had to I mean come on it's Mater! No Shame.

Now It's time to zip-a-dee-do-da on to Disney World :)

Fastest Run Yet!

After a long weekend of working and having too much fun I was planning on relaxing on the couch last night... Then Jen my running buddy texted me asking me to go for a run with her and of course I couldn't say no. I was already exhausted before the run so I didn't think it was going to be a good one. We ended up running 6 miles in 1:02. That is the fastest I have ever run. We ran the cross-city trail around campus which is about 3 miles long twice. The first time around we did it in about 28 minutes. (I don't have the exact times because I use a GPS app on my phone and I can't remember all the times. The second time around was a little slower because I lost some of my steam but all-in-all it was a GREAT run and I am so glad that I went!

My Results!

Only 39 more days until the Disney Wine and Dine Half! Happy Running!

-Court

Disney Princess Half Marathon

As I prepare for my second Disney Half Marathon,  I can't help but think back on the memories that the first  one brought me. First of all I just casually mentioned to my mom that I would love to run the Disney Princess Half, I never thought she would take it seriously. 2 months after mentioning it I had successfully suckered my mom and uncle into registering for the race with me (Princes are allowed too). Now comes the hard part training... the farthest I had ran during a training run before the race was 9 miles. Needless to say I was very nervous. I honestly did not think I could get through 13.1 miles alive. 2 hours and 40 minutes later I was crossing the finishing line with a HUGE smile on my face. I have to thank the magic of Disney for getting me through the race. It was a slow one, but I finished and that is all that matters!