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Oct 22

2019 Chicago Half Marathon

Oct 22

I spent the last weekend in September in Chicago. The purpose of the trip was to meet a friend to run the Chicago Half Marathon but since the race was in Chicago, it had the added bonus of meaning I got to hang out with my brother who lives there!

After a flight that was diverted due to a medical emergency and then delayed for hours thanks to storms causing a ground stop at both Chicago airports, I finally made it to the hotel late Friday night (or technically, early Saturday morning).

After a few hours of sleep, I was happy to meet up with Matt and grab breakfast! We spent the morning wandering around Chicago while I waited on Sam’s flight to get in. Once Sam arrived, we headed to the race expo to pick up our bibs. The expo was really well organized and in just a few minutes we had our shirts, bibs, and bags full of freebies.

After way too much walk walking and finally just deciding on ordering a pizza to the room for dinner, it was time for our 4:00 am alarm! Unfortunately, we woke up to pouring rain, thunder, and lightning. We made the 5 block walk to the shuttles in the rain and got there just in time to sit….and sit….and sit! The shuttles were supposed to leave at 4:45am but as you can from the screenshot, we were still waiting at nearly 5:30! We definitely appreciated being kept safe and once the storms finally cleared we were able to get to the race start and still started on time!

After a very muddy walk to and from bag check, we were off! It was rainy for most of the race and after starting in soaking wet shoes and socks, my feet were pretty much shredded after mile 3. That (and being undertrained) resulted in more walking and the slowest half I’ve ever run. I tried to take a few pictures along the way, but mostly kept my phone in a waterproof bag in the front pocket of my Nathan Hydration Pack so they’re pretty water spotted and not great quality! You can see the mud that the finish area was covered in and in the picture with that huge medal, that isn’t a brown sock, but yep! It is mud thanks to a fall on my way to grab my bag from the bag check tent.

Even with the horrible weather pre-race and the rain during the race, neither of which could be controlled, the Chicago Half was an amazingly organized and supported race! I would highly recommend this experience!

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Posted by admin
Filed Under: fitness, travel Tagged: chicago, half marathon, race recap, running

Apr 23

Surviving a Kidani Christmas

Apr 23

Kidani Christmas

Even though it has taken 4 months to start writing about this trip, it was so fabulous that it has be documented!

Anyone who knows me is well aware of my love for Disney World, evident in the number of times I’ve managed to visit in the last few years.  One thing I never thought I’d do was spend Christmas at Disney. Well, last year, my family did just that. That’s right- my parents, my brother, and I braved the Christmas week crowds to celebrate the season at Disney.

And you know what? It was wonderful. In many ways, it was the best trip we’ve ever taken. I could never put into words just how wonderful our trip was, but I do want to document a few thoughts and highlights about our trip, which took place December 21-27, 2014.

  1. For this trip, we rented points from The DVC Rental Store. This was my second experience working with Lauren, and it was great from start to finish! Originally we booked at Coronado Springs with free dining, but found that for about the same price, we could rent points at Kidani Village and just pay out of pocket for the dining plan. We booked a Savannah View Studio at Kidani, and it was amazing! There’s nothing like waking up to this view every morning! We did take an air bed with us, and we never really felt crowded in the room, even with 4 people staying in a studio. Of course, we didn’t spend a ton of time inside, and having the balcony and really helped!
  2. We went in with realistic expectations about crowds. During Christmas week, Disney is crowded. In fact, it is one of the most (if not THE most) crowded weeks of the year. We’ve been lucky enough to experience Disney during very low crowd periods and knew that this trip would be drastically different. We planned accordingly, making our dining reservations at the 180 day mark and Fastpass + reservations at the 60 day mark. We went in not really expecting to ride much other than what we had Fastpasses for and planned on spending a lot of time exploring resorts and taking advantage of things we wouldn’t normally do instead of fighting crowds in line for rides. This worked perfectly! We got to ride all the head liners thanks to our Fastpasses without waits.  
  3. We enjoyed a few amazing meals! We did the Deluxe Dining Plan, which was way too much food. But, it was great to have two meals a day scheduled so that we knew we had a break from crowds. As always, we tried to do an early lunch or late breakfast along with a signature dinner each day. This worked out well, and there was no way we could have eaten three meals every day! Not only was the food amazing, but it was great to end each day with a relaxing dinner where we could all just talk and rehash the day. 
    California Grill dinner
  4. We took advantage of what our resort had to offer. Kidani’s table service restaurant, Sanaa, offers free cultural tours each afternoon! Animal Kingdom Lodge does the same for their restaurants, Boma and Jiko. My family were the only ones in attendance the afternoon we toured Sanaa, and there weren’t many others for the Boma and Jiko tours. It was really interesting to learn more about these restaurants, meet the cultural ambassadors, and get to taste a few appetizers! We also spent time just relaxing at the animal viewing areas and walking around the resort. Usually we’re only in the resort long enough to change clothes or sleep, so it was really nice to relax a bit, especially at a resort as beautiful as Kidani!
  5. We were flexible. Remember how I said that all our dining reservations and Fastpasses were made well in advance? They were, but we also were open to change. For example, we ended up canceling a pre-park opening breakfast at Crystal Palace. After a long first day in the parks, we realized we weren’t going to want to get up and ready early enough to make our breakfast, so we cancelled it. We did it before midnight so that we wouldn’t be charged, and were even able to find a later breakfast in our resort so that we could sleep a little later and not have to travel to eat. My brother and I also spent a last minute late night in Magic Kingdom after dinner on Christmas night and it was one of the best decisions we made! We ended up there because it was the first bus that came after dinner, and even on Christmas night we managed to ride 8 rides in two hours! It was amazing how empty the park was after Wishes, even on Christmas! We rode Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder, Space Mountain, and the People Mover all between 10pm and midnight. In fact, the longest line we stood in during the whole trip was for Winnie the Pooh! We laughed at ourselves, but it was the only ride in the park that I had never ridden, so we waited 15 or so minutes to ride. During those two hours we also managed a stop at Starbucks, shopping, and Photopass stops. It was pretty magical! 

Spending Christmas at Disney with my family was a once in a lifetime experience that I’ll always be thankful for!

Posted by admin
Filed Under: travel, Uncategorized Tagged: Christmas, disney, disney resorts, disneytips, disneyworld

Aug 08

Chicago!

Aug 08

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to Chicago for a work conference. Since my brother lives in Chicago, my parents traveled with me and we got some quality family time in the city too! Now, I grew up in the country, and now live in a very small city. So Chicago is most definitely a huge change of pace…and I love it! Here are a few of the fun things we did!

Of course on the first night in the city, we had to be the ultimate tourists and visit The Bean! I think this is my new favorite family picture!

The Bean Chicago
We also ate a whole lot of great food! One night after dinner we headed up to the Grand Lux Cafe for dessert and coffee. And it was delicious, as you can see!
Grand Lux Cafe dessert

We also finally tried The Purple Pig! I’d wanted to eat here during my last couple of trips, but we never wanted to wait for 2-3 hours for dinner! This time, we decided to bit the bullet and just enjoyed drinks, conversation, and people watching while we waited to be seated. The Purple pig is a tapas-style restaurant that focuses on using the whole pig- snout to tail! We ordered 7 or 8 plates to split between the four of us, and it was a great experience! One of my favorites was from the smears section of the menu- salt cured Greek yogurt served with strawberry rhubarb preserves and sea salt. So simple, fresh, and delicious!

The Purple Pig Chicago

Our last evening together was spent doing what my dad has always wanted to do, checking out a Cubs game at Wrigley Field! It was so awesome! Well, the experience was awesome…the Cubs lost pretty badly to the Padres, but we still managed to have lots of fun!

Wrigley Field

And of course, what would a Cubs game in Chicago be without a Chicago dog and a local craft beer? Delicious!

Chicago Dog at Wrigley

 My conference finished Thursday afternoon, and our flight home wasn’t until Friday evening, so we took advantage of the extra time on Friday to take an architectural tour that showcased both the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It was easily my favorite activity of the trip!

My parents waiting to board

Chicago skyline from Lake Michigan

Even though my days were spent working, we managed to fit in a lot of family and fun time in the evenings, and it was a great trip!

Until next time, Chicago!
What’s your favorite city to visit?

Posted by admin
Filed Under: family, travel, Uncategorized

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2019 Chicago Half Marathon

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