Fairy Dust

It was an awesome weekend for Disney Geeks everywhere with all of the news coming out of the D23 expo. I really don't know what to be most excited about right now. The "news" about the name of the Star Wars themed lands wasn't that revealing, and I had already heard rumors about the immersive Star Wars hotel, so I may have to go with either Shanghai Disney's "Tron" ride coming to Disney World, or the addition of three more ships to Disney Cruise Line's fleet.

Damn it, Disney. Thanks for providing a few more reasons to give you my life's savings. Here's hoping you take care of me in retirement. 

That reminds me, I need to add "Attend D23" to my bucket list. If you missed any of the big D23 announcements from this weekend, you can get the recap here. 

The only thing I was disappointed about was that there was no news about the Tinkerbell Half Marathon at Disneyland. 2018 was going to be my year to earn the pink Coast to Coast challenge medal from Disney, but I can't do that without running Tink... so here's hoping it's actually happening. 

Things have returned to normal-ish here, sort of. The patio crew cleaned up their mess, only... they didn't finish the project. They didn't do a portion of the project that was clearly outlined in the quote, and fixing their mistake is going to mean they have to destroy some of their previous work. So they are going to have to come back with their drills and saws and other noisy tools and make another dusty mess. You can see I'm clearly looking forward to this. 

In the meantime, though, I've been doing pretty well with food and exercise. I have not run in over a week, but am otherwise getting to the gym daily. I had two more check-in appointments with Dr. Livingston to keep up my progress with Never Binge Again. And as I mentioned last week, I had an appointment with a new doctor last Thursday to see if I could replace Dr. Paleo. 

That appointment didn't go so well. I'll save that update for another day, though. 

I am very much looking forward to a mini-vacay this week. One of my best friends is heading down here from Minnesota to celebrate her 40th birthday with me at Universal Studios. Because the best way to turn 40 is to chug Butterbeers, get fitted for robes, and ride the Hogwarts Express, obviously. 

Overzealous

This weekend was the St. Anthony's Triathlon here in St. Petersburg. I first learned about it last year, but wasn't able to attend as the entire month of April 2016 was kind of a shit storm for me. So I made it a point to get downtown yesterday morning to check it out. Yesterday's races were referred to as the "Meek and Mighty" races, and I noticed people of all ages, shapes, and abilities participating. I had no idea there was a mini-triathlon offered - I've only heard of a sprint triathlon, which is still a bit intimidating to me. But the Meek and Mighty race was shorter than a sprint:

• Swim 200 yards (in the town swimming pool - NOT in the bay)
• Bike 5.4 miles (some of the athletes were riding beach cruisers!)
• Run 1 mile

Guys, I could totally do this! I've always thought about triathlon, but have never jumped in because I'm not a strong swimmer and I didn't want to shell out $$$ for a road bike. The bike I have now is great for commuting - it's not as leisurely as a beach cruiser, but not as competitive as a road bike. But I see I could easily fit in with the other Meek and Mighty competitors. So I'm adding this race to the bucket list.

There's also a relay option for the triathlon. My husband hates running, but he doesn't mind biking or swimming. I'm sure we could easily find a third not-so-competitive team member. So that's something that sounds really appealing too.

But this won't be happening in 2018. I've already got the Princess Half marathon scheduled for February, and plan on doing the Tinkerbell Half in May. I don't want to risk injury in April next year. Plus it's better for my budget if I wait until 2019. 

Still, watching some of the races yesterday was super inspiring, and the race expo is one of the best I've been to. While wandering around the vendors, Ben and I were intrigued by a tent labeled "St. Pete Run Fest." We learned this is an inaugural running event that is finally bringing a half marathon to St. Petersburg this November! We have our fair share of 5ks here, but it's been ages since a half marathon has been run here.

The organizers enticed us with discounted registration rates, complimentary tickets to a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game, free sun visors, and images of the inaugural medal (it's a spinner!)

So I'm sure you see where this is going.

I signed up for a half marathon in November. (If you're wondering, I couldn't convince Ben to do the half with me, but I'm proud of him for signing up for the 5k.)

Shit. So here I thought I had ten months to train for a half.

And now I've only got six and a half.

This may sound like a long time to the average runner, but my followers know how I feel about preparation. There's just never enough time. 

DIY Gifts for Runners

If you know someone like me who must have #allthemedals, probably one of the most thoughtful things you can do for that person would be to help them solve the problem of what to do with those medals.

Let's face it, medals are pretty useless. Who decided that the award for completing a foot race should be a piece of jewelry that is way too big, too heavy, and too weird to wear the day after the event is over?

Medals are pretty good, however, at covering patches of bare wall in your house. You could hang your medals with a hammer and nail, easy enough - but that's boring. And puts a lot of holes in your wall.

You can also find medal hanging solutions at most race expos, but they'll generally run you $50 plus. I saw one vendor at my first runDisney expo during the Wine and Dine Half that sold a solution that would let you mount your medal, race bib, and a photo in one, which was awesome but had a hefty price tag of over $100! No thanks, I'd rather put that money towards running more races!

So I just bought a shadow box at Michael's craft store and made this myself for $20:

This worked as a great way to commemorate our first runDisney race. But, as you may know, we've done quite a few more races in the last three years. So check out what we made this month with things you can get from Home Depot:

Here are the things you need for this project:

Wood

Wood stain

Galvanized pipe

Metallic spray paint (galvanized pipe is pretty dirty - clean it well, then spray the heck out of it)

Flange

Guy with a drill

Do I really need to give step by step instructions on how to make this? Just make sure you measure appropriately to be able to drill into your studs, you want to make sure it's well supported so you can add all of your fancy runDisney medals to it.

Here's the best part - mine is already looking pretty full, right? But if I start running again and need more space, the solution is super easy:

I just need to unscrew the cap and add on another length of pipe! If I get an elbow fitting, I can really have this thing run all over my home office.