Disney Marathon Part 1: Expo

I am sure many of you have been hearing TONS about the Disney Marathon weekend! It was, without a doubt, the most amazing experience for me yet! My daughter and I left New Jersey on Thursday morning with my friend Colleen.

We arrived in Orlando at around 10:30 am and headed right for out hotel on the Magical Express. Everything went so smoothly, we had absolutely no problems! LOVE it!
We stayed at Disney's new hotel, Art of Animation in a Little Mermaid room. Even though we arrived super early, we got to check right in. Hooray!

Prince Eric stood guard outside our hotel!

Once we dropped of our bags, we were off to the Expo. My friend Colleen beat us there, so we were on the lookout for her! We stopped to get some food and then headed in to get our bibs, etc.

At the first building, we stopped and got Morgan's ChEAR Squad stuff, my marathon bib, and necklace. CIGNA had a table to make signs and buttons, and Morgan made me a cute sign :)

We kept it in the window of our room until the  big day :)

Next we went upstairs to get the 5K bibs and tees, and stopped at the mini RunDisney stand and bought a Marathon tee, VinylMation, magnet, and pins. Then we were off to the big building where all of the tables were.

It.Was.A.Mad.House.

Too many people, too tight between the stalls. I got my Marathon Tech Shirt and swag, found Colleen, and basically hightailed it out of there! UGH! I couldn't even shop, it was so crazy! I realized that I didn't have my Race Retreat bracelet, so we went back to the first building to get it, and then ran like the wind!

Back to the hotel, dumped our stuff and headed to the Magic Kingdom for some fun!

We had dinner at Downtown Disney that night, and then back to MK again. What a day! It ended with two tired girls, some fireworks,  and an Electric Parade!

 What an exhausting day!

Stay tuned for Part 2: Family Fun 5K

Elf on the Shelf Photo Contest Winner Collage

Jen Morgan's Ab Challenge and TransAmerican Run

I have been blogging this week about the different challenges I am doing to help keep me on track! Today, I wanted to tell you all about Jen Morgan's 30 Day Abs Challenge on Challenge Loop. Each week, Jen posts a workout for us to do, and there is a 30 Day calendar so that we know what to do and when. Lots of support as well, and I am loving how the workouts hurt make me feel stronger!

If you are looking to improve your abs, I definitely suggest jumping into this challenge!

Another challenge I have been doing, is the TransAmerican Run. I started this challenge *last* January, and it took me all year to get through Virginia. But wait, let me explain better! The TransAmerican Run is a virtual run across the country. After every run, walk, or bike ride you enter your mileage on your calendar, and it tells you where you are. You start in Virginia, which is a very wiiiiiiiide State, and it took me all year to get to Kentucky. What a party I had when I finally got there! And stayed there, lol. I will have another party when I finally get out of Kentucky, lol.  It is fun to see how far you get each month, and I always look forward to entering my runs!

Final Day of HBBC2012!

Today is the final day of the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge! This challenge really kept me on my feet, and had my working out, even when I didn't feel like it!
Despite a cold, I ended the challenge strong! I was no where near the highest in points, but I wasn't the lowest either!
This week's workouts were:
55 minutes of Yoga for the Warrior with Bob Harper
5 mile run
1.6 mile beach walk
45 minutes of Skinny Sculpt
7 mile run
PLUS I planked every day! Today is actually day 32!

Could I have done better in this challenge? I think so. I skipped a few runs (due to illness) and I never tried the Workout of the Week.

Thank you to Run to the Finish for sponsoring this challenge, and all of the ladies at the HBBC2012 Facebook page for their support!!!

What challenges are you participating in right now?

2013 Achievement Board

This is my Achievement Board for 2013! It has my goals for the year, and every time I reach a goal, I color in the space! By the end of the year, I hope to have a full color board! Most are fitness related, some are blog/Facebook related, and some are life related. I really look forward to coloring in the spaces!
Want to see how it is coming along? It will be the cover photo on my Blog's Facebook page. So far, I have 2 spaces colored in for Twitter and Blog followers. A few great Blogging friends shared my pages and I got crazy new followers to start the new year!

Did you make goals for 2013?

My One Year Blogiversary!

Today marks the one year Anniversary of my first blog post! I cannot believe that one year ago, I was starting to train for my first Half Marathon, and in just over a week, I will be running the Disney Marathon! What a difference a year makes!

I am fighting an ugly cold, and am starting to lose, so I will keep this short and sweet! Thank you to all of my amazing Blogger Friends, and all of my followers here, and on Facebook. You are so amazing! I look forward to stalking meeting some of you in Disney next week!
Have a happy Thursday!

To all my blogger friends, how long have you been blogging?

Winter Challenges!

I have joined a few Winter Challenges to keep me focused as the new year begins. One of my favorite was started by Run With Jess and is called Run Your A$$ Off. It is held at Diet Bet and is basically a contest against yourself!
You "bet" $10 that you can lose 4% off your weight in 4 weeks. She will be having 3 rounds, so if you miss Round 1 you can always jump in next month. Diet Bet will provide you with a secret word, and when you weigh in, you provide a pic of you in your airport attire (bike shorts and a sports bra is what I wore) and then immediately following, you submit a pic of your weight on the scale with the secret word in the picture on an index card.
Cool, right?
All you need to do is win the bet against yourself and you get your share of the pot at the end. Win the bet, and you are guaranteed at least your $10 back. Another cool feature? You can decide to keep or donate the money to your favorite charity! LOVE it!
There are message boards for the "game" so you can connect with other bettors!

So, what are you waiting for?
Head on over to Run With Jess, and bet against yourself today!!
And come on back here at the end of the month, and see if I won the bet against myself!

What Winter Challenges have you joined this month?