2017 Races in Pictures (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas!  Next up is New Years an that has us thinking of the past year and what we want to do with the next year.  Looking back to my races last year, I stole this idea from the ladies at Fairytales and Fitness and created these race collages. 

I enjoyed taking the summer off from running.  The Baltimore Relay was a perfect distance for a fall race.  I wouldn't have been able to handle any distance that was longer then that, but still had a race to look forward to.

I only have two Disney races planned for 2018.  I'm not sure what races will be in my future, but whatever I do, it will be a good year.

Do you have a way to capture your race year?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Short Weekly Update (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

I'm not quite done with my next recap of my Star Wars Dark Side Weekend.  In the middle of my Epcot recount, which is getting long enough to turn into two posts.  But work and life and just wanting to sit on my couch yesterday kinda got in the way.  So here are just some things that happened.

I signed up for Princess Weekend.  I have done this race once in 2014.  My friend said that she wanted to do it again to do the Glass Slipper (or is it Fairy Tail) Challenge on the anniversary year.  I had said I would do it with her, so we signed up.  The funny part is that she was so busy that day that she forgot to sign up.  Yup, the only reason I signed up was now not able to sign up because the challenge was all sold out.  But the good thing was, she was able to get in with a travel partner.  So we have our bibs, a room, and park tickets.  Half the planning is now done.  It all worked out well in the end after a few stressful moments.

And four days later I signed up for the Star Wars Dark Side Challenge.  They had a special link sent out to past participants to be able to sign up early.  I took advantage of that, and the $10 discount, and signed up for that weekend too.  Better start saving my money. :)  Just now waiting to see if they will ever get the Star Wars Light Side weekend on sale.  Somethings up with that and no one knows.  Will there be a change or will they cancel the weekend?  No one knows.....

I hurt my left quad last week.  Not really sure how it happened, but it started hurting Thursday night.  Probably did a little too many weights.  I took the weekend off from running and was going to run this morning, but it still hurt.  I know I have to get my butt in gear if I want to do that triathlon.  I did swim for the first time in a year for about 20 minutes which was good.  But my leg was bothering me and I didn't want to push it.  And if I don't get out on my bike soon, I may just bag the triathlon.  It's just hard to get on the bike this time of year.  The weather just fluctuates too much.  I hope to get back in the swing of things by the end of the week (cross fingers).

I've been reading Robin Robert's book Everybody's Got Something on my lunch breaks and I LOVE it.  She seems so real on Good Morning America and this book just makes me want her as a friend.  She is amazing dealing with all of her health issues and still being such a positive force.

I also spent a bit of time cleaning up the back end of this blog this weekend and how I wanted it connected to YouTube and my email.  Google has a ton of features and it got to be confusing on the back-end on what I was updating and what I was messing up.  But for now, I'm happy on how it is all connected.

My mom is having a knee replacement next Monday.  Which also means my dad (who has dementia) will be going into respite care for the first time.  A lot of unknowns and just a bit of stress next week.  And I hate that we won't know the time of her surgery till Friday evening.  It makes it hard to give a schedule of my time off for work.

And my birthday is tomorrow.  I usually take the day off, but since I have no vacation time with the new job, I'll be working.  I'll be going to Ruth Chris' on Saturday with a friend and then Brunch at the Jefferson on Sunday with my parents to celebrate my birthday and Mother's Day.  So it will be very low key this year.

How was your week?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Universal Studios Hollywood 2017 vlog (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

I haven't been very good about running this week.  I'm back to thinking running is bleck.  Monday and Wednesday wasn't too bad, but it took a bit to get out the door.  Friday I woke up and my back really hurt.  So that was my excuse to not run.  I had a 12 mile run this weekend and yesterday I woke up and really didn't want to go.  My back still hurt a little and I was just a little hung over so I decided that I wasn't going.  I did get my act together this morning, but it took me a bit to get out the door.  By the time I got out there at 10 it was already 63 degrees.  By the time I finished it was in the low 70's.  I should have just got my butt out the door.  It was such a hard run.  I hated literally every step of the run.  The only thing that got me through is the book on tape I was listening to.  I still feel like crap.  But it's done and my last long run till my next half.  Really am glad I am not signed up for any more halfs after this one.  I'll be happy to not run more then 6-7 miles for the summer.

On other fronts I got a job and will be starting Monday - as in tomorrow.  I'm a bit nervous.  I'm a bit excited.  And more then anything I'm going to miss my time off.  But it will be good to get back into a new routine.

I have my last vlogs to share with everyone.  From my day at Universal Studios.  I took tons of video so both are pretty long.  But if you ever have any thoughts of going, it should give you a good idea about the park.





If you missed, here are the other vlogs from the weekend.

• Arrival and Expo
• 5k and Disneyland
• 10k and Half

Make sure you read my post from Universal.

This first one is getting into the park and the Harry Potter Wizarding World.

This second one is the rest of the day in the park.

I hope everyone enjoyed the vlogs.  I have enjoyed editing them together and plan on doing the same for the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Weekend.

Have a great week!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Star Wars Light Side 10k and Half 2017 vlog (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

It's been a busy week here.  Not too much in the workout world.  I skinned my knees last weekend and between that and the rain on Friday I only got two runs in.  Both not very fast.  I did run the Ukrop's 10k yesterday and did really well.  I'll have a recap on that on Tuesday.  For now, I want to get a couple more vlogs out for your enjoyment.

If you missed, here are the other vlogs from the weekend.

• Arrival and Expo
• 5k and Disneyland

First up, the Star Wars Light Side 10k.

Click here to read the 10k recap.


And then to wrap up the running portion of the weekend, the half.

Click here to read the half recap.

Make sure you check out my vlog of Universal!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Star Wars Light Side 5k & Disneyland 2017 vlog (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

I'll be continuing on with more of my vlogs.  If you haven't seen the previous ones, here they are:

• Arrival and Expo  

Today I want to share with you the 5k and the time we spent in Disneyland afterward.

First, the 5k.

Click here to read the 5k recap.


And then our time at Disneyland.

Click here to read the Disneyland recap.


And for those of you that are Star Wars fans, we saw the original trailers for Episode IV-VI.  I only caught Empire and Return of the Jedi as I wasn't expecting them to start with.  So here are the two of them.  They are very interesting to see how they advertised these movies back in the 70's and 80's before it became a whole thing.

Make sure you check out my vlogs about the 10k and Half!

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Star Wars Light Side Arrival and Expo 2017 vlog (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Hey guys - finally got all my videos from the Star Wars Light Side Half Marathon Weekend edited together.  I separated them into shorter videos so that they were not too long to watch at once.  I had fun editing these together, so I hope you have fun watching.  First up is my arrival to Disneyland and the Expo.

Here are the links to the posts about each part of the trip.

• Expo
• 5k
• Disneyland Park
• 10k
• Half
• Universal Part 1 
• Universal Part 2

Make sure you check out my vlogs about the 5k and Disneyland!

Have you ever stayed at the Disneyland Hotel?  Have you ever eaten at the Jazz Kitchen?

Enjoy!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Universal Studios Hollywood 2017 Part 2 (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Another boring week so I'll finish up my day at Universal Studios.  If you haven't had a chance to read the first part, take a moment and do so.

If you want to catch up on the previous posts, here are the links.

• Expo
• 5k
• Disneyland Park
• 10k
• Half
• Universal Part 1

At the top of the stairs was Springfield (from The Simpsons).  This is a ride that doesn't move like a roller coaster like the rest of the 3-D rides, but moves the car you are sitting in around to make it feel like a roller coaster.  And this ride spits on you as well.


I headed to the Studio Tour.  I had been looking forward to this all day.  It's the only thing I remember from the time I was there when I was 9 years old.  Probably the only original ride left.  And the only thing I remembered from the ride was Jaws.  I really hoped that they still had it on this ride.


At this point my phone was not only running out of power (it wasn't even mid-day, I was sad) but also running out of storage space.  I needed to delete some things to be able to take any more pictures.  This ride was a tram with several cars.  Each tram has a tour guide, who explains the things that we are seeing.


There was the sign from the neighborhood of Back to the Future.


There was the town from The Good Place.  "What the fork?!?"

Then we went into a building (still in the tram) where the King Kong experience was.  It is 360 (all around you) 3-D of King Kong fighting T-Rex.  It was cool to look anywhere and see part of the fight.  Until it spit on me.  Bleck.

The ride continued on and we saw other city streets.  And then we headed into another building.  Here they made it look like we were in a subway station and an earthquake happened with a huge flood.  They did make it look like the water might come up and get us.  It looked real.


Then we headed out and around and there was the lake from Jaws.  What I was so excited to see.  And just before Jaws was to jump up and "attack" the tram, my camera died.  But it was exactly how I remembered.


 We came around and saw the Bates Motel.  They had an actor come out with a "dead body" and put it in the trunk of his car.  Then he would see us and chase us with a knife as we drove off.  I wish I got a picture of that, as it was a fun idea to have an actor out there.

Then we headed into another building to see the Fast & Furious.  This is another 360 degree 3-D experience.  While I have never seen any of the movies, it was fun to see the car chases all around.  Of course till they spit on me.

That was the end of this ride, probably the most exciting of them all so far.  I rebooted my phone and thankfully that helped give me a third of my power back.  I decided to keep an eye out to see where I might be able to buy a charger for the dang thing.

As I was walking around to the next ride, I saw the Animal Actors show was about to start.

 

This was a show about the animals in different movies and TV and the tricks that they teach them.  They had everything from dogs to cats to birds and even rats.  The dog that they had on stage is the same breed as my parents' dog.  Just as crazy as my parents' too.  I wasn't sure if the misbehaving was part of the show or not.


 I then could tell I was really getting in a bad mood.  I needed to eat, my blood sugar was dropping fast.  I walked around for what seemed like ages trying to find just some sort of sandwich and fries.  I finally got what I wanted and headed to the last few rides left.

They had a Walking Dead exhibit.  I really wasn't sure what to expect at all and it turned out that it was more like a haunted house maze where things jump out at you.  And it's more scary if you don't have a line of people in front of you so you would know where they are jumping out at.  And I didn't have anyone in front of me.  That was some Halloween fun!


 As I headed around I found Scooby and Shaggy.


And Beetlejuice.


I passed the Shrek 4-D and decided to do that one.  This is a huge theater where they show a 3-D show and move your seats.  And as part of the 4-D they spit on you.  The show itself wasn't all that great and then the spitting made me hate it.

I decided to head to the Special Effects Show.  

 

This was really cool as they showed different things from sound effects, to fake fighting, to even a man on fire.

Yes this is a real man on fire, walking around for about 18 seconds till they put him out.  And no harm no damage.


And then I headed to the Despicable Me ride and saw the girls from the movie.



I went into the Despicable Me ride and as they were getting everyone in their seats, they started to entertain us.  It was looking like there was a problem and they were trying to get it fixed.  But in the end they decided to just give us a fast pass and have us leave and come back. 

I went out and got a picture with some Minions and went back into the ride since it was still open.  I ended up on the same side and it seemed to work right.  It's a big room where they have about 6 rows of 15 and a big 3-D screen.  The seats moved up and down but did not go anywhere.  The 3-D was fun and the story OK.  And then it spit on me.

By this time I had done all the rides and I was thinking it was getting to be time to head back to the hotel.  My knee was holding up fine, but I was really getting tired.  I ran into Dracula then and was swooned.



I decided that I wanted one of the smaller versions of the doughnut from the Simpsons and a hot Pumpkin Juice from Harry Potter.

The one in the case is the full size.  The one I got was still bigger then a normal doughnut.

As I was standing in line for the hot Pumpkin Juice I saw this kid sitting and reading.  He looks exactly like Draco Malfoy.  Seriously.  We all wondered if he just happens to be there or if he is an actor that looks like him and gets paid to sit and read a book at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant.



On my way out, I ran into the Mummy and told him a "That's what she said joke" and just kept laughing.



I ended up walking back to the hotel as I didn't want to fuss with waiting for an Uber.  It was really a nice evening and it was fun to see the real world outside the park.  I ended up getting my pizza that was promised to me and ate part of that doughnut for dinner.  I repacked everything and crashed.  I had another early morning to head home.

All and all I really do love Universal.  Most of the rides are the same between Hollywood and Orlando.  What I did hate about it was every ride except one spit water into my face.  Is that really necessary?  I was thinking of doing Universal Studios Orlando as part of my trip to Disney World in April, but all the rides are almost the same.  Maybe next year I'll do Florida again as it is defiantly a park that is tons of fun!

Check out my vlogs of the trip, including the ones for Universal!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Universal Studios Hollywood 2017 Part 1 (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

So it's been another boring week for me, so instead of hashing out those details, I thought I would get into the last day of my trip after the Star Wars Light Side Half.

If you want to catch up on the previous posts, here are the links.

• Expo
• 5k
• Disneyland Park
• 10k
• Half

I left the Disneyland Hotel on Sunday night and headed to Universal City.  I found a hotel, El Royal Hotel, less then a mile from the park and got an Uber there.  I got to the hotel and they told me that I didn't have a reservation.  What?!?  I had my reservation email printout with me.  They said that they did have a smaller room and they would knock some off my bill and buy me a pizza for dinner.  I asked to have the pizza the next night since I had already eaten at the Catal.

The hotel was nice, and my room was tiny.  Like enough room for a bed and a desk with not a lot of room to walk around the bed.  I didn't mind since I was really just there to sleep.  I got my plan together about what rides to hit when and what is a not to miss.

The park was open at 9 a.m. and since I bought my ticket online I got early admission.  I could get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at 8 a.m.  The only time I have ever been to an amusement park when it opened was when I went to Disneyland a few days earlier.  There people were lined up an hour early and they let us in to wait on Main Street for 30 minutes.  I assumed it would be the same at Universal so I got there about 7 a.m.  Boy was I wrong.

I took an Uber to the park even though it was less then a mile away from the hotel.  My knee had been hurting all weekend from my fall and I knew I was going to be walking a ton throughout the day.  I got to the front of the park and there was no on there.  At all.

I wandered around and found the gates and where I would need to be.  Then I wandered down to City Walk.  I was hoping that something would be open, like a Starbucks to get something to eat.  No one was around and nothing was open.  This sure was not like my experience a few days earlier.  It was odd.

I had been to Universal Studios once and City Walk once on a different trip.  The first was when my friend was getting married and one evening we all went to Universal.  They had a bunch of front of the line passes and we rode a handful of rides.  I don't remember much of the park except maybe the Mummy ride as I was just following everyone else around.  The time I was at City Walk, I was there with the same friends for a premiere of a movie.  Maybe I'll do a Throwback Thursday about that, as it was a lot of fun.

I got back to the front gates and sat on one of the walls and waited.  Slowly a few people showed up and finally they let us through security.  Then we had to wait some at the front gates.  I talked a little to the lady as I was still first in line (weird, right?)  She exchanged my printout ticket for a real ticket and my front of the line lanyard.  About 20 till we were allowed to head in.  But like Disneyland they stopped us at the end of "Main Street".  When it was about 8 a.m. they walked us to the entrance of  The Wizzarding World.

I made a beeline to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  I have been to Universal Studios Orlando twice and this is the same ride that they have there.  It is an indoor ride.  Through a seated ride, it takes you through the Hogwarts Castle and over the grounds.  It uses a ride you sit in like a roller coaster but incorporates the 3-D screens to make you think you are in a different place.

The line getting to the ride was really cool, it had a lot of stuff you would expect to find in the castle like the moving pictures, Dumbledore's office, and the sorting hat. 

This ride is great, I ended up riding it 4 times in a row since I knew that after that the lines were going to get long.  I didn't even use my front of the line pass, just the single rider line. The only thing I did not like about the ride was that it spit in your face.  In fact all rides I went on, except 1 spit water in your face.  It's irritating and gross.  They are trying to incorporate that 4-D crap and really that's not worth it.

After that I headed to the only other ride in the Wizarding World, Flight of the Hippogriff.  It also is a ride at Universal Studios Orlando.

It's more of a kiddy ride, and is a real roller coaster outside.  It was still fun, but only a one time ride.  The best part about this ride was that it didn't spit on me.

By this time it was about the time the park was opening for others and you could tell it was getting crowded.  I decided to get some breakfast at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant.  I had the french toast and it was good.  I tried Pumpkin Juice for the first time and I have to say that stuff is sweet.

I went into all the shops.  Everything was like you were in the Harry Potter world.  There was also Ollivanders where they pick a kid from the audience and had them pick out a wand.

And there was the Hogwarts Express.

I decided to get a Butterbeer as I walk to the next ride.  Mmmmmm is that stuff good!

I headed down to what they call the lower lot.  You take 4 sets of stairs (or escalators) down.  Down in the lower lot are three more rides, the Mummy, Transformers, and Jurassic Park.

I do have to say the views are amazing. 

I went to see the Mummy first, I remember this not only from my one other time there, but also from Orlando.  It's a fun ride.  It's a roller coaster type ride inside.  It includes some fire special effects which was different.  And guess what, it spits in your face.

As I headed to the Transformers ride two of the Transformers were having a meet and greet.

The ride is also inside and it is a car like coaster which also uses 3-D technology to think you are helping to blow up and save a city.  I believe that it's the same ride as the one in Orlando.  And yes, the ride spits on you.

I then headed to the Jurassic Park ride.  I was a bit hesitant on riding this as it was a water ride.  It was getting warm and I was hoping not to get too wet.

I didn't get too wet and some of the robotics for the dinosaurs were really cool.  This ride really doesn't spit, but you still do get somewhat wet.

I decided that I was done with the lower level and started to head back up.  As I was getting to the stairs one of the dinosaurs was coming out for a meet and greet.  It looked like someone in a puppet type suit and was really life like.  They even played at the fact that he was dangerous and needed chains to keep from killing everyone.

This post is getting really long, so I'm going to split this into two.  I'll have the second half up next week.  Please come back to hear how I wrapped up the day and my trip to California!

Read it here!!

Also, check out my vlog about my day at Universal!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.