I can't believe marathon weekend is over. Wow, what an amazing time and such a great experience!!! I'm going to do a condensed report about the expo...then a full half marathon report...and then an even more condensed full marathon viewing report.....
Nate and I arrived at MCO ahead of schedule and were at Pop and checked in by 11am. Somewhere along the way I noticed that my left ankle was swollen and hurt pretty bad. What did I do to it? I HAVE NO IDEA! At allll! Pretty frustrating actually, and I was getting really nervous that it would bother me during the run. No time to dwell then though so we quickly dropped our stuff off, grabbed some gross food in the food court, and then found a bus waiting for us to get to the expo. (We're thinking the food was gross b/c it was 11:30am and the breakfast food had been sitting out for awhile....boo!)
We were on the bus with a fellow ROTE (I'm having a brain fart as to who it was...I'm so sorry! I'm HORRIBLE with names) but we parted ways when we got off the bus and Nate and I headed to get in line.
Seeing this sign totally made me realize that...THIS WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!
We ran into more ROTErs on line (Gracie, Pam, Stef, and a bunch of others that I can't remember right now...I'm sorry!) and chatted for a bit until they opened up the doors.
After getting in, Nate had to reprint his waiver and then we headed downstairs to pick up our race numbers. It was quick and painless since there weren't too many people there. Probably 2-4 people in front of me for my line. Then I quickly ran over to Christina's line and picked up her bib as well. We browsed in the little store they had set up but were told by a CM that there was a lot more selection and more registers in the actual expo so we left and headed over there.
Before starting to shop, we picked up our race goody bags and shirts. Not sure how much stuff they had in them in previous years but this year we got a disposable camera, sample KT tape, biofreeze, Cliff Shots, a Sharpie marker, a TON of flyers, and probably a few things that I'm forgetting about.
We headed to the official race merchandise next and were overwhelmed with everything! I know I wanted the V-neck 2010 1/2 running shirt, as well as the long sleeve Champion zip up. I quickly grabbed those in my size and wandered around a little bit. The whole time I was texting my friend Steve, who I met through Flickr. He's the official reason why I registered for the race to begin with! He talked me into it and I'm forever grateful. We met up by the check out line and chatted for a few minutes. Then after buying my items, we started wandering around to browse the other vendors.
I ended up buying a 'Run Like a Girl' tee-shirt at the Sistas Shirt table, which I love! They had some other great shirts as well. We kept on wandering and getting some free samples here and there and then decided to head back to the hotel and drop everything off.
While in the room, I decided to ice my ankle a little bit...don't I look thrilled?!
We decided not to go to a park that day and just bum around all of the monorail hotels before heading to dinner at The Wave. Wandered around Pop for a little bit first to snap some pictures...
We jumped on a bus to the MK and then walked up to the monorail to head to the Polynesian and the Tambu Lounge. I had always heard of their signature drinks...the Lapu Lapu and the Backscratcher so that's what we ordered! OMG these were GOOD!!!
We headed to the beach to explore the Poly some more with our drinks and sat on the beach and just enjoyed the view. Perfect way to start our Disney adventure!
After finishing our drinks, we decided to keep on trucking and headed over to the Grand Floridian to check it out. After wandering for a little bit and browsing the bar, we realized we should probably get to the Contemporary for our dinner.
Checked into our reservation and grabbed some drinks at the bar (Spy Valley Pinot Noir for me, yum!). Before we paid, our buzzer was going off and we headed into the dining room for dinner.
We started off with the Avocado and Citrus Salad with Local Greens and Orange Vinaigrette, 7.99. This was pretty tasty! It was a little different than I expected but still good.
For entrees, I knew exactly what I wanted. I've been craving it ever since I saw a review of it on the DIS. Cinnamon-rubbed Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Spoon Bread, Wilted Rainbow Chard, and Corn Nectar, 21.99.
WOW this was amazing! The pork was perfectly cooked, and the cinnamon gave it a fabulous flavor. Not spicy at all, slightly sweet, but had a 'kick'. Hard to explain. The chard, which I've never had before, was also very good. Reminded me a little of spinach. The spoon bread and corn nectar went well with the pork as well. I could eat this over and over again, yum!
Nate had the Chili-marinated Flat Iron Steak with warm Fingerling Potato Salad and Avocado Mousse, 21.99. This was also delicious, and he kept raving about it. Coming from someone that went to culinary school, it should mean something, haha! I tried a piece and it was definitely amazing, but I did enjoy mine more.
Now here is were in the report the photos end, sadly. I had taken photos of dessert as well as a few hours after. Well for some reason they didn't get transferred to my computer and I accidentally erased them. SO upset.
For dessert we chose to share the Decadent Flavors ($7.99):
Blueberry Compote with Yogurt Gelato
Lemon Cornbread with Vanilla Panna Cotta
Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel Sauce
All 3 of these were delicious! I enjoyed the blueberry compote the most, and Nate really liked the chocolate mousse. The caramel sauce went perfect with it and ensured that it wasn't too sweet overall.
We also split a french press pot of coffee....mmmmm! Real coffee at Disney! :)
Instead of going back to Pop, we decided to go back to the Poly for another Lapu Lapu...these things were good! :) We made friends with our bartender, Walter, and had a great time just chatting and relaxing. I asked Walter when the next Electrical Light Pageant was starting and when we said in a few mins, we headed back out to the beach, to our normal swing, and hung around until it started. I SWEAR I had some fabulous photos of alllll of this but um...lost them to the photo gods. :(
Christina texted us saying she had just landed so we headed back to the room to greet her when she arrived. I started icing my ankle again since it was getting worse and not better. By the time she arrived, we were exhausted so we quickly got ready for bed and called it a night!
We were on the bus with a fellow ROTE (I'm having a brain fart as to who it was...I'm so sorry! I'm HORRIBLE with names) but we parted ways when we got off the bus and Nate and I headed to get in line.
We ran into more ROTErs on line (Gracie, Pam, Stef, and a bunch of others that I can't remember right now...I'm sorry!) and chatted for a bit until they opened up the doors.
Before starting to shop, we picked up our race goody bags and shirts. Not sure how much stuff they had in them in previous years but this year we got a disposable camera, sample KT tape, biofreeze, Cliff Shots, a Sharpie marker, a TON of flyers, and probably a few things that I'm forgetting about. We headed to the official race merchandise next and were overwhelmed with everything! I know I wanted the V-neck 2010 1/2 running shirt, as well as the long sleeve Champion zip up. I quickly grabbed those in my size and wandered around a little bit. The whole time I was texting my friend Steve, who I met through Flickr. He's the official reason why I registered for the race to begin with! He talked me into it and I'm forever grateful. We met up by the check out line and chatted for a few minutes. Then after buying my items, we started wandering around to browse the other vendors.
I ended up buying a 'Run Like a Girl' tee-shirt at the Sistas Shirt table, which I love! They had some other great shirts as well. We kept on wandering and getting some free samples here and there and then decided to head back to the hotel and drop everything off.
We decided not to go to a park that day and just bum around all of the monorail hotels before heading to dinner at The Wave. Wandered around Pop for a little bit first to snap some pictures...
We jumped on a bus to the MK and then walked up to the monorail to head to the Polynesian and the Tambu Lounge. I had always heard of their signature drinks...the Lapu Lapu and the Backscratcher so that's what we ordered! OMG these were GOOD!!!
After finishing our drinks, we decided to keep on trucking and headed over to the Grand Floridian to check it out. After wandering for a little bit and browsing the bar, we realized we should probably get to the Contemporary for our dinner.
Checked into our reservation and grabbed some drinks at the bar (Spy Valley Pinot Noir for me, yum!). Before we paid, our buzzer was going off and we headed into the dining room for dinner.
We started off with the Avocado and Citrus Salad with Local Greens and Orange Vinaigrette, 7.99. This was pretty tasty! It was a little different than I expected but still good.
WOW this was amazing! The pork was perfectly cooked, and the cinnamon gave it a fabulous flavor. Not spicy at all, slightly sweet, but had a 'kick'. Hard to explain. The chard, which I've never had before, was also very good. Reminded me a little of spinach. The spoon bread and corn nectar went well with the pork as well. I could eat this over and over again, yum!
Now here is were in the report the photos end, sadly. I had taken photos of dessert as well as a few hours after. Well for some reason they didn't get transferred to my computer and I accidentally erased them. SO upset.
For dessert we chose to share the Decadent Flavors ($7.99):
Blueberry Compote with Yogurt Gelato
Lemon Cornbread with Vanilla Panna Cotta
Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel Sauce
All 3 of these were delicious! I enjoyed the blueberry compote the most, and Nate really liked the chocolate mousse. The caramel sauce went perfect with it and ensured that it wasn't too sweet overall.
We also split a french press pot of coffee....mmmmm! Real coffee at Disney! :)
Instead of going back to Pop, we decided to go back to the Poly for another Lapu Lapu...these things were good! :) We made friends with our bartender, Walter, and had a great time just chatting and relaxing. I asked Walter when the next Electrical Light Pageant was starting and when we said in a few mins, we headed back out to the beach, to our normal swing, and hung around until it started. I SWEAR I had some fabulous photos of alllll of this but um...lost them to the photo gods. :(
Christina texted us saying she had just landed so we headed back to the room to greet her when she arrived. I started icing my ankle again since it was getting worse and not better. By the time she arrived, we were exhausted so we quickly got ready for bed and called it a night!
