4 Parks~One Day Birthday Scavenger Hunt!

     I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last blog post. There's so much I could talk about but this post is about the amazing birthday surprise my friends did for me for my 41st birthday. Once again I was in Walt Disney World for my birthday since that is also marathon weekend. This year I took it easy and only ran the Inaugural Minnie Mouse 10k race. I'm not going to talk about the race other than to say it was hot and I finished.

     The real fun began after the race when my driver called to tell me to be in the lobby at 8:45. I only got back to my room at 8:00. After a very quick shower and throwing some clothes on I was out the door (and still a few minutes late). My friend, Matt was waiting in the lobby for me to take me to my first destination. I received a clue via text from Mitch saying "As one becomes older, they must pay respect to their elders. Proceed to the giant Triceratops head." Matt asked where we were going and I said Animal Kingdom. So off we go in his fancy rented red Mustang. Let me just tell you I feared for my life during this 10 minute ride. It was like he was 16 again and just got his driver's license. I'll let your imagination fill in the rest. Regardless, I know I'll be crazy enough to get in a car with him again some day.

     After we arrived at Animal Kingdom I got a text with the rules: 1.Take pics of each thing. 2. Do what you're told. 3. Have fun! 4. Do what you're told 5.Enjoy the day. At this point, Mitch and Julie joined us and I received my next clue.. "You have wild red hair, go visit the one with wild white hair at the top of the mountain"....EVEREST!!! Off we go to ride Everest. We lucked out and only had a 5 minute wait and got the last 2 cars. Let's just say trying to take a picture of the Yeti didn't work out too well. "As you are an old goat, you must go see another and pet him"....Conservation Station!! It's been years since I've been there so I was really excited to go out there. After looking around a little, we went into the petting zoo and I found a goat worthy of a selfie. While we were leaving, I spied Chip and Dale and just had to get a picture with Cassidy's favorite characters. Time for another clue, IT'S TIGGER TIME!!!!..."Pay respect to the striped cat and his yellow bear". Being the Tigger fan I am, this is one of my favorite spots in Animal Kingdom. Lot's of pictures were taken of my favorite bouncy friend!

     Upon leaving Tigger my phone goes off, it's clue time.."Celebrate your birthday in style by seeing one of the first movies you saw as a child". Time to hit Hollywood Studios and The Great Movie Ride. We arrive at The Great Movie Ride and there is a 20 minute wait. Ok, no big deal until Mitch pulls out his phone and books us Fastpasses that are good in 3 minutes. We get out of the queue and I mess around looking at the footprints. Thanks to the Fastpasses we walk right on. I just have to say how much I LOVE when Jack Sparrow is so huge on the screen during the movie clips at the end of the ride. "Kiss Yensid's hat while it sits atop his apprentice" is the next clue I receive. Sorcerer Mickey time!! While Mitch is taking pictures of me with Mickey the cast member beside him starts laughing like crazy. So I ask what is going on and so does Mickey. Mickey points to his ear to get Mitch to tell him. It turns out that as Mitch is taking pictures of me with Mickey he turned the camera around and started taking selfies of himself. I start laughing and look at Mickey and say "you see what I have to put up with?" By this time, we're starting to get hungry and eat lunch at Fairfax Fare. I've never eaten there before but the pulled pork sandwich was pretty good.

     "See how far we have come since you fought Woolly Mammoths with spears" is my next clue. We grab a bus from The Studios to Epcot and ride Spaceship Earth. Got to love the smell of Rome burning. It reminds me of burned bacon. After Spaceship Earth I'm told to "Go ride a boat". Since there are a few to choose from I pick the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico but on the way there we stop at Club Cool for some yummy Beverly! After hanging out with The Three Caballeros I had to "Go see the 150 year old dude". At first I thought this was Mike Scopa but then figured out he was a little younger than that.  Duuude, this is where I forgot to take a photo of Crush on the Nemo ride. It was now time to "Pay respect to the striped cat and his yellow bear" again!! My friends know how much I love my Tigger time!! This time Pooh was pouting because I love Tigger more but I showed him that I do have a tattoo of him too. Tigger and I tried to get Pooh to make a heart with his hands but he just couldn't do it. Poor Pooh bear!  After seeing my favorite bright orange cat it was time to get a drink from The Pub and then "Spend some time with Scopa and ask him how it feels to be oldish". The Mickey Miles Podcast was having a meet-up so we headed over there to see Scopa and a few friends.

          After the meet-up we headed to O'Hana's for dinner. Perfect place to eat with "my family". Got to say that I was disappointed that they (the cm's) didn't give me a cupcake for my birthday. Once dinner was done I had to "Visit your sister, the other redhead". Aye it be time to ride my favorite attraction but sadly it was down when we go there. Instead I had to "Make arrangements for your final resting place". No worries though because when we came back through Pirates was open and I got to yell "WE WANTS THE REDHEAD!" We got off Pirates just in time to watch Wishes and see the Celebrate the Magic. Of course I cried during both of them because I had just spent the day with people that mean the world to me. They are my family and I cherish every moment I get to spend with them because sometimes I only get to see them once a year. After Celebrate we were going to ride Ariel but we noticed that Enchanted Tales with Belle was only a 10 minute wait!! We get in line and the CM tells us that they need 20 people to have a show. So what do Brain and Mitch do??? They go rustle up more people so we can see the show. I was laughing so hard because the CM couldn't believe they were doing that. After they got enough people we got to go in and Brian was picked to be a guard. Of course I was pointing at him to be chosen. He makes a great guard! As always, a perfect way to end the night is walking down Main Street USA with your friends and laughing about all the fun you had that day.

         One other thing I was doing for my birthday was collecting 41 birthday kisses. Here are just a few!

     I've never done 4 parks in one day before but this was a perfect way to do it. I had so much fun and I'm very thankful that my friends took the time to do something so special for me for my birthday. Like I said before, they are my family and mean the world to me. I can't imagine my life without them in it.

Sharing The Magic of 42.4 Miles

If you have about 12 minutes to spare please watch the slideshow I put together from the races over marathon weekend.

I hope you enjoy the show!

This picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Day 3 of 42.4 Miles of Fun: Full Marathon = Goofy

Today was the day! My first full marathon. My first Goofy. My first time running anything longer than 17 miles. Surprisingly I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would and should be. Here are some highlights from that day.

*Started the morning at the Race Retreat. A birthday present from Mojo. Ran into a few friends there. That always calms the nerves.

*Met up with Brian again. I needed him to get me through the next 26.2 miles. He had been coaching me for months and today was the today I wanted to make him proud. Can you tell how proud he is?

 *Once again it was a warm morning and we wanted to get in as miles as possible before the sun came up.

*Right when our corral started Brian was video taping and said to me "Lori you just finished the Goofy what are you going to do next?" and I screamed back "I'm getting drunk!!!"

*The first few miles were uneventful. We stuck to our intervals and were pacing pretty good.

*Cassidy sent me a text quoting my favorite Bible verse, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And then the tears came.

*The Magic Kingdom is always a highlight when you know you're going to see friends there cheering for you.

*This year we got to run around the WDW Speedway.

*I didn't like this steep down and up ramp.

 *We were still feeling pretty good considering the sun was starting to come up. After the speedway came the road to Animal Kingdom. Not much going on back there but we did find some villains.

*Are my muscles bigger than Gaston's?

 *We weren't in the Animal Kingdom long but I can say that you don't realize how uneven the ground is  there until after you've done 12 miles. For me, I couldn't run on it.

*I was glad I wasn't dead when we came across the Grave Diggers!

 *The stretch from Animal Kingdom to Wide World of Sports was tough. It was hot! The sun was beating down. Brian had gotten a bad blister on the bottom of his foot. But I did turn around and see Bonnie running towards me. It's always a good thing to see friends out on the course. That way you know they are okay.

*We went from interval running to picking out landmarks and running to them. None of us wanted to become overheated. A few times you saw people on the side that you could tell were pushing too hard and were getting too hot.

*On the way into the WWOS we saw Steve and Deanna running the other way. It was hard not to just cross over the grass and join them.

*This was also the first time the marathon ran through WWOS. I didn't really enjoy it. All you did was go back and forth it seemed. The banana stop here was much needed.

*Disney said there was going to be something big at Mile 20 and we avoided looking at Twitter to see what it was until we got there. While it was cool, I think it could have been better. Hand out Mickey bars, chocolate or even pretzels! Although Tigger was pretty cool though!

*We did a little off and on running for the next mile but by mile 21 I was done running. I was done with the sun. I was just spent! I just wanted to finish! We decided from then on we would just walk. I rather walk and finish than push myself and not finish because I passed out. At least I can walk fast.

*I was disappointed that all the chocolate was gone when we got to The Studios.
*Most of the characters hardy had lines but I was in "just finish" mood. Out the door went photos.

*The best part about leaving The Studios was knowing that once we hit the UK in Epcot I'd see friends and family again and that is a great pick me up. And it's also about a mile to the finish line.

*While heading to Epcot I received another great text from Cassidy,  "Go faster, I have rum for you."   That's some great inspiration there!!

*Once we hit the Beach Club I sent a text to a friend so she knew we were close. And it was also the clue to get the drinks ready.

*Coming into the UK was amazing. I saw Alice and Elizabeth first at the corner.

*Then I saw Cassidy and lost it! I was crying. My mom was crying. And suddenly Brian and I had drinks to enjoy the last mile.

*The last mile was the best mile (BIG surprise!) A few people stopped and took our picture since we were carrying drinks. Many spectators held their drinks up as we passed by. I got to say that rum sure tasted good!

*For months leading up to that day any time I pictured getting my medals I would start to cry. I warned Brian that I was probably going to turn into a blubbering idiot. Surprisingly I didn't. I teared up like I always do when I cross and get my medal. When the waterworks didn't really flow like I thought, I figured once I got my Goofy medal I'd be done for.

*The tears didn't really flow after I got my Goofy medal either. Although the guy that gave it to me was trying to trade it for the rum. I told him I earned both of them. Brian made sure I got my Goofy medal picture taken.

*After we received our medals and got photos we headed back to race retreat to pick up our stuff. I had checked a bag with flip flops. Man did they feel good to put on. I was hungry but didn't take the time to eat since I needed to get back to the Boardwalk and get in the pool to cool down my muscles. I was about an hour behind what I wanted to be.

*As if my day couldn't have gotten any better, I found out later that two very important people in my life had gotten engaged after the race. Bonnie and Andy had both completed Goofy also. 

The experience was amazing and while I've said it was a once and done I can't say that for sure now. The thought of the 10th anniversary Goofy in 2015 is enticing. May depend on what the medal looks like. While I've done Disney races in the past I have to say this was the one I trained the most for. The only regret I have is that I didn't take as many photos as I would've liked. I only carried my phone and getting it out to take photos was a pain plus with the heat I just didn't want to deal with it.

After doing all those miles in the hot sun the thought of running the Princess half 6 weeks later wasn't sounding to good. I needed rest. I need to get out of the sun. I needed some more rum!

Day 2 of 42.4 Mile Of Fun: Half Marathon

Since this was my 6th half marathon and I've talked about my half marathon experiences in the past I'm just going to post some photos and highlights from that day.

Highlights:

*IT WAS HOTish!!! It was in the 60's when we started.

*Taking Matt's picture "peeing" in the bushes with his WDW Radio Running Team shirt on. (Picture was later tagged on Facebook as Lou Mongello).

*Starting the race with 3 great supporters.

*Matt stopping to direct the band.

*Losing Matt because he wanted to stop for a picture of Jack and Sally

*Seeing my family and friends cheering for me in the Magic Kingdom.

*As always, running through Cinderella Castle

*It really got hot once the sun came up and you were running towards it.

*Brian literally running circles around me.

*Matt catching back up with us.

*Thong girl. Somethings you should never see on the course.

*The guys doing push-ups for Sarge and Sarge never seeing them do it.

*Matt flying the bird. (Hard to describe)

*Phineas and Ferb with no line!! Love them!!

*The guys yelling/cheering for me in the restroom at Epcot. Me yelling back to shut-up!! When I came out, Matt high-fived me and asked if I washed my hand. I told him no because he was yelling at me. (You almost had to be there to really appreciate how funny this was)

*Finishing the race with friends. And somehow losing Matt again!

Day 1 of 42.4 Miles Of Fun: 5k Family Fun Run

     I know I'm behind on updating the blog from marathon weekend but I needed a few weeks to recover from the cruise and all those races. Most important part is I survived and I have medals to prove it!!

     Friday morning was Disney's 5k Family Fun Run. The fun run is just that, fun. It's not a timed race but they do like you to finish within a hours time or so since it does go through a park. We all met up before the race started so we could walk it together. I decided months ago I was going to walk since I still had 39.3 miles to do between Saturday and Sunday. This was Cassidy's second 5k race in Disney but Jeanette and Nick's first Disney race and I wanted them to enjoy it and take it all in.

    The 5k started in the parking lot of Epcot. This year because they increased the amount of participants they placed people in corrals instead of asking people to line up by the pace they thought they were going to do it in. This was fine but it also drug out the time until you really started, especially since we were in "D" and the only ones behind us were the strollers. As always they sing the National Anthem and set off fireworks when the first corral starts.

     When it was our turn to start we started out at a nice, relaxing pace. About half way through the first mile was the first character greeting. I told Cassidy the rule was she had to stop for one character photo since her first 5k she refused to stop at all. Lucky me, the first characters were her favorites, Chip and Dale.

    
     The first mile basically is through the parking lot and backstage area. The mile 1 marker is right at the back side of Test Track. When you enter the park you are in World Showcase by Mexico. Norwegian Daisy was out greeting everyone and posing for pictures. As we walked around the showcase we also saw Colonial Goofy, French Pluto and Canadian Donald. I've seen Goofy dressed like that before but never Pluto or Donald.

 

      Around the last mile, Cassidy decided that she was going to take off without us. While I knew she would be okay I was kinda concerned because there was a huge number of people this year and at one point we couldn't see her anymore. That is until we came into the finish line chute. There she was cheering for us with her medal. I just shook my finger at her because I knew Jeanette was going to give her heck for taking off. Jeanette is like an aunt to her and was her babysitter years ago. I just stood back and laughed at her.

     So now I had 3.1 miles in the books out of the 42.4 I needed to do. I love doing the fun runs because you can just laugh with friends and get a "medal" for doing it.

    

Rocking Out On Runs

We are 10 days away from marathon weekend and friends are starting to tweak their running playlist and some ask what I listen to while running. Here is my playlist:

You Shook Me All Night Long ....AC/DC
Thunderstruck...AC/DC
What The Hell...Avril Lavigne
I Gotta Feeling...Black Eyed Peas
Pump It...Black Eyed Peas
Locked Out Of Heaven...Bruno Mars
Jai Ho!...Cardio Workout
Call Me Maybe...Carly Rae Jepsen
Want U Back...Cher Lloyd
Show Me How You Burlesque...Burlesque soundtrack
You Make Me Feel...Cobra Starship
Saturday Night's Alright...Elton John
Dirty Dancer...Enrique Iglesias
I Like It...Enrique Iglesias
Club Can't Handle Me...Flo Rida
Wild Ones...Flo Rida
Some Nights...Fun
On The Floor... Jennifer Lopez
Touch The Sky...Brave soundtrack
Brokenhearted...Karmin
Tommie Sunshine's Megasix Katy Perry Mix
Tik Tok...Ke$ha
Blah Blah Blah...Ke$ha
Die Young...Ke$ha
Warrior...Ke$ha
Dirty Love...Ke$ha
Party Rock..LMAO
I've Got A Dream...Tangled soundtrack
Payphone...Maroon 5
Enter Sandman...Metallica
Spotlight...Twilight soundtrack
Animal...Neon Trees
Everybody Talks...Neon Trees
God's Not Dead...Newsboys
Here We Stand...Newsboys
I Am Free...Newsboys
Starships...Nicki Minaj
What Makes You Beautiful...One Direction
When Can I See You Again...Wreak It Ralph soundtrack
Good Time...Owl City
Are We All We Are...Pink
Here Comes The Weekend...Pink
Back In Time...Men In Black III soundtrack
Don't Stop The Party...Pitbull
Gangnam Style...PSY
Don't Cha...The Pussycat Dolls
Life Is A Highway...Rascal Flatts
Let's Have A Kiki...Scissor Sisters
Hero...Skillet
Monster...Skillet
Awake and Alive...Skillet
Dynamite...Taio Cruz
Sometimes I Get A Good Feeling...?? found on top 40 hip-hop hits
Spectromagic

I try to stick to songs that have a good beat to them. Some just having meaning behind them and some are inspirational. I'm always looking for good songs to run to so if you have any suggestions let me know. Race weekend is coming fast!!!

"Because you can’t smile on the outside without feeling better on the inside"

When I decided to participate in the Walt Disney World 2009 half marathon I also committed to raising money for children with serious diseases. I went out and raised around $800 for Make-A-Wish through the Dream Team Project. Not only was I doing something good for myself, I was doing something even better for someone that I would never meet.

A few years later I was lucky enough to meet a child with the money the Dream Team raised. She was an amazing little girl. Every so often I think about her and wonder how she is. Not only did I touch her life with helping with her wish, but she unknowingly touched mine.

Now as one of the Captains of the WDW Radio Running Team, I'm looking for donations to touch another child's life with your help. As you know in about 90 days I will be participating in the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge. While this has been a dream of mine for a few years, achieving it knowing that I helped another child achieve their dream will make it even more special. I'm not asking for much. Give whatever you can...$5, $10 or a dollar a mile which would be $39 (39.3 miles to be exact) or give $40 in honor of my 40th birthday. Any little bit helps. When donating please make a comment in the "special notes" section saying something like "Supporting Lori's Goofy Dream" or "Lori's 40th birthday wish", just something for me to be able to know the donation was in my honor and I can track it.

Please use the link below to donate:

http://friends.wish.org/100-100/page/Lou-Mongello/The-Dream-Team.htm

Thank you in advance!

Up next: A training update!