A Christmas Carol 3D

Over the weekend, my wife & I went to see Christmas Carol 3D. We both enjoyed the movie, but we were not blown away by it. I guess maybe it was because we have seen A Christmas Carol many times in many versions. The 3D effects were outstanding & Jim Carey did a great job playing all of the parts he did.

A Christmas Carol has always been one of my favorite Xmas movies. My two favorite versions of the movie are The Muppet's Christmas Carol & the movie version starring Alastair Sim. I watch both of these 2 every year.

Next 3D Disney movie is Alice in Wonderland set to be released next spring. I look forward to seeing it. The only drawback to 3D movies is the cost to see it. This seems to be a Disney trend right now, making 3D movies.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

One week down, Nine to go

I have completed the 1st week of my training. It was a pretty easy week, I only ran 13 miles, which is what the schedule calls for. Next week 15 miles. Also, next Sunday is our local Jingle Bell 5K. I have run this race for as many years as I can remember. It is a good time for a good cause.

I finally joined D23. I bought the fall issue of the magazine, the one that highlighted the Haunted Mansion, and decided I would pay the membership fee just for the magazine at least for a year. I have thought a lot lately about our trip to Disneyland this past September. I can not wait to go back, but I gotta wait until next September.

Went to our local running store yesterday and got my wife properly fitted for a new pair of running shoes. She has been mixing a lot of walking with some running and she needed a new pair of shoes. While there I bought a new pair of Asics 2140's. I got them for a fantastic price. I will save them and start wearing them after the WDW 1/2 in January. I will post next week and let you all know how the training and the Jingle Bell run went.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

WDW 1/2 10 weeks & counting

Wow, it is finally here. Today I started my training for 2010 WDW 1/2. I was really ready to start my training. I was pretty darn bored with the maintenance running I was doing. Now I have a goal, get ready for the race.

I am going to follow the same training program I used for all 3 of the 1/2 marathons I ran this year. It is a ten week program which tops out with a 12 mile run as the longest one. I am really looking forward to not only running at WDW again, but just being there again. It seems like it has been ages since I was last at the World, and it was only last July.

Today was a 3 mile run which I completed in 27:37 according to my Garmin. That is a little slower than normal, but that's OK. My goal at WDW is 2:20. I know I can do that if I don't stop and take a lot of pictures, but I love taking those pictures. We are staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. I think I can walk to the start line from there instead of having to get up way too early and ride the bus to Epcot and then stand around for hours before the race starts. I hope I made the right call and that one. I will try to post regular updates on my training.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

Toy Story 3D

This past weekend we went to visit our daughter & her husband. On Saturday we all went to see Tory Story 1 & 2 in 3D. The 3D rendering was OK but not great. There were obvious times when the 3D popped out at you, but is was nothing spectacular. It was still nice to see both movies again. We are looking forward to next summer when Toy Story 3 comes out.

I did a 5 mile maintenance run this morning. The sun was out, for a change, and it felt really good. Two weeks from today I start my training for 2010 WDW 1/2. I am looking forward to running at WDW again. With the announcement of the new Wine & Dine 1/2 marathon next October, I would love to do that one also. My ultimate goal is to run the Goofy in 2011. I would really like to run it with my buddy Gordon from Run to Disney. That's all for now.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

Running at Disneyland Part 3

Day three was an easy day, as it was the day before the race. We went to DCA and rode some rides, watched the Aladdin live show and pretty much took it easy. We ate dinner in Downtown Disney at a bakery which was serving a special pasta meal meal for the race. The lasagna was outstanding. It was off to bed early.

Day four, Race Day. We got up at 4:45 to eat some breakfast. The night before we bought some breakfast items at White Water snacks. I got dressed, ate breakfast and about 5:30 we walked outside. The weather was perfect for running. The sky was overcast and it was not to terribly hot yet. I said good bye to Pam and walked with a crowd of runners to where my start corral was on Disneyland Drive. At 6am straight up the start gun went off. It took me about 12 minutes to get to the start line. Mickey & Minnie we there. Just after the start line, Goofy was waving to us from the monorail which was parked on the track above the drive


We ran down Disneyland drive turned left onto Katella Ave, then left onto Harbor Blvd. We then went into the backstage of DCA. We wound our way through DCA across the esplanade and into Disneyland going directly backstage.

It was neat getting to see what it looks like backstage. We ran through fantasy land, through the Castle, around New Orleans square, pass the Haunted Mansion and left Disneyland through Critter Country. We ran the streets of Anaheim until we got to Angel stadium. Man was that cool getting to run inside there

There was huge crowd of people in the stands cheering us on. We left the stadium and only had about 3 miles left to finish. When we got back to Disney, we ran again backstage at DCA coming out near the front entrance of the Grand Californian. Pam snapped a picture of me as I exited DCA heading for the finish.
We ran down and around the Paradise Hotel and finished the race on a service drive near the Disneyland Hotel.
I ran it in 2:21:08. I got my finishers medal, the castle medal, then got in line to get my C to C medal. I was able to keep the wristband as a souvenir. Next I got my picture taken by the Disney folks and then began looking for Pam in the family reunion area. Once we found each other, we made our way back to the Grand Californian. We both put on clothes we did not care about getting wet and went directly to the Grizzly River ride in DCA. It was really neat that we could get into DCA from the Grand Californian. We rode the ride, went back to the room, I showered then we were off to the park again. We spent most of the rest of the day going between the 2 parks riding rides and shopping. We finished our trip by watching Magical again at Disneyland. We had an 8am flight the next morning home.

We both had great time on this trip. It had been 8 years since our previous visit to Disneyland. A lot had changed and there are many changes in the works at DCA. Before leaving to go to Disneyland I told Pam I only wanted to do this one time. On our flight home I expressed to her that I wanted to do it again next year. The picture below says it all!!!

In just a couple of weeks, I will start my training for the 2010 WDW 1/2 marathon. I can't wait.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.

Running at Disneyland Part 2

Day 2 continued. We went to the convention center at the Disneyland hotel to pick up my race packet. We were directed to go down to the basement, which required us to go outside, walk along the hotel and walk down a ramp to underneath the building. When we got to the ramp, the line was very very long just to get inside.

Once we finally got inside, we had to find the right station according to my bib number. After I gave them the waiver and signed in I was given my bib and timing "D" tag. Since I was doing the Coast to Coast I had to go to another station, sign in and have the C to C wristband out on. I was given the instruction DO NOT TAKE THIS OFF UNTIL THE RACE IS OVER.

When then went back outside, up the ramp and back into the convention center to get the goody bag. We stood in a long long line which snaked its way through the expo vendors. I got my Disneyland tech shirt and goody bag. In the goody bag was a copy of the premiere issue of the D23 magazine. That was cool. I bought some gel packs, new socks and several 1/2 marathon shirts. By then it was time to get out of there. We took all of the stuff back to our room out on our swimsuits and headed to the pool to relax for awhile. About 5pm we went back to the room changed our clothes and headed to Disneyland for supper. I know I said in my first post about our trip we watched Magical on the first night, but I was wrong, we watched it this night. When we left Disneyland we walked through some of the shops in Downtown Disney and the went back to the room for a good nights rest. More to follow.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time run strong & enjoy the moment.

Running at Disneyland

My wife and I left for Disneyland on Sept 3rd. We flew from Indianapolis to Vegas & then from Vegas to Orange Co. We were met by this guy at the airport.

It was really warm when we arrived. I grabbed our luggage and then we found the Disneyland resort Gray Line express bus and rode it to the Grand Californian hotel. Wow, it was fantastic. We walked into a huge beautiful lobby. It looked just like a lodge right out of the old Pacific Northwest. We got checked in, went to our room, put up the luggage and headed for Disneyland. Of course the first thing I had to do, was get a picture of the castle.

We ate lunch at the Carnation Cafe and then started riding the rides. We did Small World, Matterhorn bobsleds, Space mountain, Mr Toad, Peter Pan, Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain & Haunted Mansion. It had been 8 years since we had been to Disneyland, so we did a lot of walking around and taking in the sights. I have to say I really like the intimate setting of Disneyland. We went back to our room and rested. Ate some dinner and then went back to Disneyland for the fireworks. The show is called Magical, and it really is, especially when you get to see Dumbo fly. And of course we got to Tink fly also. After the fireworks we walked the park some, had to get a dole whip, then headed back to the Grand Californian for the night.

Day two, we went to DCA. We headed straight for Toy Story Mania. We had a blast riding it, then went straight to California screaming. That is really a cool coaster. I love the fact that it is outside. You get some pretty cool views of the park on the ride. We also did Soarin, Tower of Terror & went into Blue Sky Cellar. That was really neat. We got to look at the upcoming attractions for DCA. We had lunch, I don't remember where, then walked to the Disneyland Hotel where the race packet pick up and expo where.

More to follow.

Thanks for reading.

Til next time, run strong & enjoy the moment.