I shall call it X-Wing

Today was pick up my new Ford Escape day....I started grinning the moment I woke up.

Then I realized I was a total idiot. I told the dealership I wanted to pick it up at 9:30am not realizing that my WW meeting ends at 9:30am, duh.

So let me start with the WW meeting.

I walked in this morning and it was so sad, everything was packed up as starting Tuesday it moves to a new location.

My WI was great I was down 3 lbs.

The good part is that the new location is 5 minutes from house, the bad part is it's now at 12:30pm instead of 8:30am. We are not happy.

The whole thing that the people in my meeting like about early is because one you can weigh in before you eat anything and two you get it done early. Oh please if I need to weigh in at 12:30pm I'll be sleeping and still not eating beforehand.

We love our leader so we're all conflicted and gutted. and the calls to weight watchers shall begin to complain. Originally we were told 11:30am but they were still negotiating now it's 12:30pm...I'm torn. I hate the time, love the people plus my WW Trecker group is still working their way across Canada, we just passed Brandon, MB.

Yes there are other locations in the city with earlier meetings but that means the group will be broken up. So I'll go at 12:30pm next week and see how it goes. If I find difficult I'll change and really want to find a meeting close to a grocery store.

The meeting itself after we all stopped complaining was strangely aligned with what I was talking about yesterday.

We talked about anchors and we talked about focusing on the feeling of success, that would be the reward of the cue, routine, reward cycle I talked about yesterday.

What popped into my head was when I weighed in a few years ago at 168, that was my lowest weight ever and I felt fantastic.

Here is the Anchor I was talking about yesterday, yes that's two 10% key chains and a 25lb token. I've done it before I can do it again.

I bought this mini journal ages ago as I love lego but I realize it's perfect to record my "fall of plan" cues and I wrote When, What, Why on the top of the first page.

When does the cue hit?
What am I doing?
What rationale is running through my head?

After the meeting I ran to the dealership realizing my stupidity and called to apologize.

I did get there and got everything sorted out then had to wait a bit for my plate as the dealership faxed in the paperwork yesterday but I guess the closest registry agent has issues on Saturdays. There was another person waiting for their plate too.

I picked up my baby and I named it X-Wing, the Star Wars stickers will go on the back sometime next week. It's so pretty. I attempted the park assist but messed up and wound up parking 2 houses down, then I read through the manual and moved it to in front of my house. I want to run out and buy car accessories - is that silly or what. I'm imagining a plaid steering wheel cover at the moment.

Tomorrow is the Calgary Half Marathon so no shopping, I'm charging everything right now - as in the Garmin, ipod and iphone. Then I'll lay out everything and figure out what time I need to get up. Right now I'm thinking 3:45am so I can have a cup of coffee, use the bathroom and then go. I'm taking the C-Train as I suspect parking will be stupid with 30,000 people taking part this weekend. The Ultra Marathon, Marathon and Half Marathon all have the same start time of 7am, the 10K starts at 7:30am, the 5K starts at noon. Bag Check opens at 5:30am, so right now I'm planning to leave at 5:00am, I have switch trains downtown so I'm thinking it shouldn't take longer than 40min to get down there.

The corrals are A, B and Open, my bib says B. I 'm getting the feeling it  has nothing to do with expected finish time. At the expo I was actually surprised how long the line was for late registrations. The signage was horrible at the Expo so I'm hoping it's better on race day, still debating on bringing a check in bag. It just hit me there will be no Mickey Waffle after this rate. I guess I could take my sweaty self out for breakfast afterwards - in a booth by myself. I'll have to see what amenities will be there. I have a friend doing the 5K and I'd love to stick around and cheer her on.  Perhaps I'll bring a jacket, flip flops and body spray. The weather should be fantastic.

Hope your Saturday was great.

Cue, Routine, Reward

Cue, Routine, Reward

As I mentioned before I've been reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. 

I'm really enjoying it thus far and it's given me a lot to think about. 

It intrigues me that we can overcome a bad habit by creating a new one but the old one never truly goes away. 

The key to overcoming a bad habit is to  be aware of the Cue – what triggers it and keep the Reward – what you get out of it but change the routine – what you do. 

So my:

 Cue – I’m bored

Routine – Eat crap i.e. Ben & Jerry’s 

Reward – feel happy (though it is a short lived happy then remorse kicks in)

                           

Needs to change to:

Cue – I’m bored

Routine – go for a walk, read a book, paint my nails, something

Reward – feel happy 

In fact the thing that keeps most people on track with the good habit and not so likely to slide into the old habit is belief. 

Now to be clear changing a routine is far from easy but I’m finding this is helping me figure out my triggers and behaviours.  I’m still figuring out my day to day routine in my new job as while I’m finding the day’s go by fast I know this routine will change. This will be aligned shortly. 

The Half Marathon on Sunday which I haven't really trained consistently for. While my WW tracking is better it’s not where it should be or has been in the past.

It’s not that I don't believe I can be successful but for some reason that belief is suspended for moments or fades for a moment. 

I do remember when I had established good habits and I can track that back to coming back from site when those habits shifted. Which was also when my father passed away. 

The mission now is shift them back and back on track. I keep thinking this Sunday will be the pinnacle as during that half I'll have a whack of time to think and it kicks off a new month in which I turn 42. Not to mention the one year anniversary of Dad's passing is rapidly approaching. This birthday will be my first birthday without home, though he did tend to get the day wrong. I was actually born when he was away for work. 

I don't want to be 50 and still battling my weight. In so many other areas of my life I've been tossed out of my comfort zone that this so feels like the last big battle. 

So I’m considering this Sunday the baseline as my next half is 6 weeks later. That doesn't mean a free for all between now and Sunday just sort of a mental preparation to get serious. 

Saturday morning before I leave for WI, I will take measurements as another base line. 

I’m going to start carrying an index card around and note when I feel like snacking or going off my food plan for the day and see if I can define triggers. 

Refocus on a vision and anchor to keep me focused.  I think the big key is focusing on one thing at a time. Not lose focus by trying to focus on too many things. It’s like back in the day when you joined WW the first thing you did was track, you weren't encourage to track activity points till a few weeks later. 

The biggest part is finding the cues in order to change the routine and still have the reward. 

I know I can do this I need to focus on setting myself up for success. 

Race at home

It's been a long time since I did a race at home or didn't involve a Disney property.

This Sunday I'll be doing the Centaur Subaru Half Marathon as part of the Calgary Marathon, actually the 50th anniversary of the Calgary Marathon.

 Race pack pick up was at the Calgary Stampede Grounds

 You could smell these blossoms before you could see them, gorgeous aren't they

 A bit of  a random selection of past race shirts.

 Vintage sign, but the funny part was as I was walking up to the building no real signage. More like a piece of paper on a stair well telling you to go upstairs.

 Kind of cute touch at bib pick up.

 I'm officially spoiled by RunDisney expos as I found this one very meh. Couple of places selling race stuff and just a whole lot of charities and other runs trying to get your interest.

 My addition to the large sign

 The course map, while I'm not sure how this race will go, worst case scenario I walk it. It will be a very scenic walk/run that's for sure as bit parts go along the river.

 As I was leaving I noticed this vehicle

 Got home and had to take a picture of my tulips, that I've spent zero effort on since I planted them. Strangely the grouping next to this one all the flowers have been plucked off.

 My bit and race instructions.

 Front of race shirt

 Back of race shirt

 What was in the race pack

 Of course I could not resist a jacket above is front and below is back.

Plus I picked up a new run hat :)

In other news my Ford Escape is here and I get to pick it up on Saturday, a mere 4 days before my birthday. Man it was a crazy few days as I coordinated the insurance so the dealership could get my plate.

Oh yes I'm super psyched about the newest RunDisney event, I'm so planning on registering for the Rebel Challenge and even taking a half day at work as the registration site is blocked at new job.

Hope all of you are doing well, I'll be back to give a race report and of course gush about my new wheels.

Hugs!!

No more excuses

This week at WI we celebrated the 50 lb loss of one of my WW buddies, F inspires me tremendously. Not only has she lost 50 lbs but has had consecutive losses for the past 20 weeks.

Now let me be quick to say I don't believe in comparing our weight loss progress as our bodies are all different. We are all different.

But I think about what I've been doing for the past 20 weeks. I certainly haven't had the same sense of dedication not by a long shot. 50lbs would get me very close to goal.

This week's quote seemed directed straight at me - "We can't reach our goals if we stand in our own way."

My last 24 weeks have been bouncing around within the same 5lbs. Yup I'm admitting that as just based on the comments from the past few meetings I'm not alone in that. That's almost half a year of bouncing - no more standing in my own way. In fact let me 100% accountable and share the carnage.

Note the craziness of the chart now, especially that crazy zig zag over the past few weeks.  I'm conscious that's it been a pretty emotional 24 weeks with dealing with a large amount of change. My father passing away and going into a new role right out of bereavement leave and yet a new job starting now. I was a bit concerned in the back of my head about my transition into the new job and what I need to do to make that successful.

Since the most recent period of change I've been on a self improvement mission. I mentioned before I was reading Robin Sharma's Greatness Guide but that got me intrigued about earlier works.

So I read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, what I liked about this book is it's written like a story. Goodness knows there a bizillions of books about self improvement and 99% of it you've heard before but to me the important part is finding it in a format that sticks with me.

I then went on to "The Leader Who Had No Title" once again in story format. Now I read both of these books on my Kobo but I'm picking up the paperback versions as I see myself referencing them. The Leader Who Had No Title is a good book for me right now with my changes in job and looking at a new slate. However this book also made me think how I can be better at leading myself including on this weight loss journey.

Right now I'm reading this:

While I'm only at the start of this book a few aha moments have kicked in about habits. Yes we can replace bad habits with good habits but if the cues are right it doesn't take long to go back to a bad habit. We all probably now that but to realize how our brains are wired to almost guarantee it.

In my last post I felt I was making excuses. What I've really been doing is failing to plan and therefore planning to fail. So no more excuses.

My gym bag is packed for tomorrow. While the weather has been lovely I must face facts. If go home between work and working out there is a 90% chance I'll talk myself out of the workout. So the plan this week is I go straight from work to the gym.

Last week I bought my lunch everyday and made less than fantastic choices so it's packing lunch this week for at least 4 days. My lunch bag is on the counter and everything that needs to go in is ready in the fridge.

Last week I was also getting into the habit of grabbing a muffin for breakfast. This week no buying breakfast. Right now everything I need to make breakfast is laid out.

Getting back to the WW meeting, our location is moving as the current place is up for lease. Now the new location is a mere 5 min from my house but this week we saw the tentative new time. 11:30am - What????? No one was happy about that, myself included. My preference is weighing in first thing in the morning. I like my leader and the folks in my meeting.

Now to be fair it is tentative and they do need to negotiate with the new venue. My Escape should be here soon so I would have means to go to another Saturday morning meeting if necessary. I want the current crew to stay together so I hope it works out for us.

So the goal this week - plan for a good weigh in

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well Hello,
I've now completed Day 3 of the new job and it doesn't feel like Day 3 maybe more like week 3.

The first day was orientation which was fine but one of the other new hires had a question that our facilitator couldn't answer so I jumped in. The question was about social media at work, my advice never ever post anything with your company name in it online....ever.

I knew it would be an adjustment going from a Canadian owned big company to a foreign owned smaller company but whoa a part of me thinks these people need me and it feels a little like going back in time. Not to be obnoxious by any means but with their rapid growth plans I'm finding a lot of stuff that will need to be brought up to speed to handle that. I guess that's good but I'm being very conscious of it's my first week. As there are lot of new people on the team I'm finding them looking at me for guidance. Mmmm...ok.

On my way out today I was walking with another person who came from a big company and he made a really good observation. At big company you get to work on one piece of something, at this company you get to work on 25 pieces. In fact I see it exposing me to stuff that I would never had an opportunity to do in my old job.

I get the feeling I'll see very little of my boss who is insanely busy but I adore my co-worker and the people who sit around me.

Tomorrow will be interesting as I'm on my own for Day 4.

I'm trying to adjust to the new schedule. I work 8.5 hrs from Mon - Thurs and 8 hrs on Friday to earn a Friday off per month. In my old job I got 15 days just given to me. The good news they're considering changing this as most employees came from similar arrangements I came from.

Right now I'm doing 7:30am to 5pm, it's sucking the life out of me. I'm a total morning person.  I prefer starting at 7am, so I've been told that's fine so in the next few weeks once I know the client group I'll be supporting I'll transition myself to 7am to 4:30pm.

Oh and I need to get back on track food wise, I've been acting like I'm on vacation, next week it's back to packing lunch and only buying once a week. I'm making stupid decisions food wise.

I foresee walking most of the Calgary Half on June 1 and then getting back into the swing for Dumbo Double Dare. Oh I ordered T25 from Amazon and it arrived today. I figure I can squeeze 25 min into my day. Well soon anyway....hahahaha

Hope everyone is doing well.
Hugs!!!

Nothing is impossible

Whoa this was an interesting week.

The other day I bought a new journal with  Nothing is Impossible on the cover, a quote of Audrey Hepburn. My original intention was to use it as a training journal as I cleaned up my iphone calendar to focus on getting back on track for the runs. Then I opted to use a smaller portable journal to note feedback as then I can take it with me and make notes even at the gym. Then I thought to start over with my regular journal but decided against it. I've certainly started over journals time and time again. I started my current journal in January and I'm going to see 2014 through. The new journal might just wait till 2015.

So I went for the 2nd interview on Wednesday where I met the manager (who this job reports to) and the one other person in the same job.

I was waiting in the lobby 15 min before the interview time and at 10 min past the hour I was still waiting. That had me a bit nervous. 3 people called reception to see if I was there, the two people I was meeting with plus the recruiter. My concern was this wait was eating into my interview time.

The manager fetched me from reception and to me that's the moment the interview starts. When I was a recruiter I could pretty much tell if we'd hire the person from the trip from the lobby to the interview room.

The conversation went well, they have some exciting stuff going on. I really liked both of them but I left not sure how it would turn out. The 1st and 2nd interview two days apart is pretty rare, super nice as waiting is awful.

I popped over to the mall for some breakfast and then headed home. Spent some time with the neighbour, my God dog and their new puppy.

Then at 7pm I got a call from the recruiter. She started asking me if I wanted to come in for another interview but then said we want to offer you the position......what...did you say offer me the job. She emailed me the offer.

I did accept and I start on Tuesday. I never thought I'd find another job this quickly and that after they've been looking for so long they'd choose me. Well I'm ready to start and embrace this new adventure. I love that it's a smaller team, with less levels of management and I think I'll be super busy. Love all of that.

I totally surprised my outplacement consultant, first with starting the search so soon as the advice was take some time off.

I'm so pleased and feel this is that whole new chapter that I keep talking about but this is really the new chapter the other stuff was the preview.

Thursday was a lovely day catching up with a good friend who's in town for awhile. Friday was lunch with the other person from my group who got packaged and had a great time. Lovely few days for sure.

Today I went to WI and I was actually down 1.6 which puts me back where I was before I left for Expedition Everest. I'll confess I didn't track at all last week, I was in vacation mode.

We were chatting before the meeting started and a challenge was put forth. Another member bought a 3 month tracker and suggested getting a new tracker and then every Saturday we bring them to show what we've tracked. So far 4 people are on board. Her goal is she needs to be in a swimsuit. I'm thinking this lines up with Dumbo Double Dare really well.

Heck I like meetings due to the accountability of the scale so why not have a little public accountability for the tracking.

My meeting is moving as the location is up for lease and we found out where it's going. Exactly 5 minutes from my house and they move on my birthday.

I feel like I'm in a special place in my life. I feel like there's a whole new world out there for me.
The new job, the new car and of course really a new life with only me to worry about. I'm so ready to embrace it, forget fear, break out of the cocoon and fly.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Out of routine

I have no place to really be each day so my routine has changed pretty dramatically.

Waiting and wanting the phone to ring is also a bit nerve racking.

I did get an email from my car guy to say my Escape has shipped and is on it's way to me. That's exciting

Today I ran errands, I went to the library, went the post office, went to the bank and picked up a few things at Walmart.

Then I did a webinar on LinkedIn but I pretty much knew most of what they said so I guess I'm above basic level.

Then I got my patootie outside for a walk, it's weird to be at home during this time. I was watching all the school buses pull away from the elementary school and they only had a few kids on each bus. I went to that elementary school and while I walked to school when those buses left they were full.

Mind you the school system sure has changed since I was in school.

Tomorrow morning I have the 2nd interview and I'm really looking forward to it. This is where I'll get a really good idea about the expectations of the role as I'm meeting who the role reports to and the person in the same role. They're adding a position. Now the fact that it's been posted on LinkedIN since February makes me wonder. In Interview #1 I did ask about that and not for lack of trying they just haven't found the right fit.

I'm not super comfortable tooting my own horn at any time (the introvert in me) so I do wonder if I'm the fit but again tomorrow I'll meet the people that will let me answer that question for myself.

Maybe after the interview I'll go find a matinee as I have movie passes I need to use. I should really go to the  gym and get back to weight training. That Calgary Half Marathon is coming up very very soon.

Thursday might be a coffee date with some of my favourite people. I'm expecting things to be very quiet on the job front starting Friday as it's May long weekend so I expect many people are taking Friday off to make an extra long long weekend.

I saw geraniums at Walmart in small pots so after the long weekend I think I'll get a few. Normally after every May long weekend my Dad would bring me geraniums to plant. I think he'd like that I continue that tradition.

Hope you all had a fabulous day.

Well one interview under my belt

Just a quick drop in to let you know how today went.

Had the first interview and I think it went well the hour flew by at any rate.

30min after I left the office I got the call to book a 2nd interview for Wednesday.

Tomorrow I have errands and preparing for interview #2

Exciting times my friends.

The joys of job hunting

So I've been officially unemployed for 2 weeks this Tuesday. Which isn't really all that long.

I've been applying as there seems to be an abundance of jobs in my field at the moment. This surprised my outplacement counsellor, who I'll call L, she was thinking I'd take some time off. Actually that's what a few people have said to me. While that is an option I also know it's not often there's an abundance of jobs in my field.

As my field is HR I also now the job market can ebb and flow so there was no way I was waiting as the whole hiring process can take some time. I consider myself to be lucky as it's far more frustrating to be looking and not see much in your field.

I started applying before I even had my first chat with L, she asked me to send her my resume which I did. She sent it back to me in a completely different format suggesting that the new format would make me stand out from my competition. I like it it, it was fancier than my original one which was a fairly simple chronological format.

The funny part is I've had some reaction back from applying based on my original simple resume.

One company called to leave a message the day after I sent it to them, I called them back left a message. The next day they called back to say they filled the position... I appreciate them telling me as opposed to leaving me in limbo.

I got a call yesterday from a company which surprised me as yesterday was Saturday, I have an interview with them tomorrow. There's a potential it will need to be moved to the following week but they'll tell me tomorrow morning if it needs to be moved.

I'm hoping for a few more calls next week.

I started my prep and got a haircut on Friday, today was a mani, pedi and eyebrows. Picked up some new clothes and shoes for the interview tomorrow. I didn't want to wear a suit as the weather should be really nice so I'm going classic cardigan business look.

Time is flying which surprised me as I've had no where to be. This week flew by well I did come home Monday night and on Friday I got a few things done like the clearance certificate stuff sorted, had my annual skin check and met my friends new baby.

Weigh in was interesting this week, I knew I'd have a gain as it was pizza for dinner but we had some really frank discussions about getting what you put in.

While immediately after my layoff my weight went down, I then went on vacation and since I've been home I've been off the wagon. That needs to end, I've doing the bouncing between the same 3lbs and that's a vicious cycle. I'm treating WW as my favourite charity.

Today flew by as well. Tomorrow I meet an old coworker for lunch and then have the interview but my plan is to go for a run when I get home. Then for the rest of the week also check the drop in classes at the gym.

Enough I need to take better care of me and while I have all this time there is no excuse, actually there is never an excuse.

My focus returns to this business of losing weight.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and hope everyone had a good weekend.

Expedition Everest Weekend - The parks

Well Hello,
I can't believe how fast time flies even though I'm not working, applying of course, but all day yesterday I thought it was Tuesday. On Wednesday I met with the person helping with the clearance certificate for my Dad's estate and I discovered I had to collect some information before I can complete that.

Today I went to the library and renewed my card and did a bit of grocery shopping.

I covered the race and expo recap but thought I'd share the outside the race details of my Disney World trip.

For one thing this is my first trip that I experienced and abundance of Florida rain.

On Friday I did do a bit of park but I wasn't enjoying the rain so much and wound up buying another poncho as I foolishly left the one I brought with me in the hotel room. When I headed out it just looked cloudy.

 This was at the expo on Friday, it went from light drizzle to torrential downpour. Of course no one in the expo was selling ponchos, not even the small Club House store inside the stadium. However the bigger one next to parking lot thank goodness as it was a long walk to the hotel transportation.

 I decided to venture out to Epcot later on in the day and Flower Garden festival was going on, while wet still festive.

 While I've been to Epcot before I haven't truly explored all of the countries in the World Showcase, I was surprised by Japan as I saw the original of this store in Tokyo, at the back of the store they have a Kimono section but more tourist Kimono. I'm thinking when I go back in October I might look into that as it's an excellent go to costume and they had a huge selection including the sandals and special socks.

 On Saturday I went to Magic Kingdom but wasn't feeling it. The cheerleading competition called The Summit had over 450 teams of cheerleaders in Disney World so the park was outrageously busy. Thought it was best to lay low anyway as Expedition Everest is a night run and I knew I'd need my wits about me for the scavenger hunt puzzles.

 On May the 4th, May the 4th be with you :) I headed to Hollywood Studios where I discovered Darth Mall. Which was essentially a room with t-shirts and pins and a long line. I had no idea there were tshirts and special pins each year for this Star Wars holiday. People in line were concerned the pins were sold out but alas no worries they were available at the cash. One day I need to go back for their Star Wars weekends.

 I tried out one ride I've never been on before, the Studio Back Lot tour.

A bit of warning, don't sit on the extreme left side of the train if you don't want to get wet. 

 I ventured back to Magic Kingdom as this is my favourite park and got there just in time for fireworks. The park was again ridiculously busy with long wait lines for everything so I just walked around.

 On my way out of the park I caught a parade :)

What I love about Disney World is every time I go I discover something new and I'm already looking forward to the Tower of Terror 10 miler.

Tomorrow is a busy day for me as I have my annual skin check, need to meet up with the fabulous lady helping with the clearance certificate, get a haircut and meet my friend's new baby for the first time.

Hope you had an amazing day.

Expedition Everest Challenge 2014 Recap

Last night I got back from Orlando and my Expedition Everest weekend.

Let me start with when I left.

I was flying Westjet from Calgary to Toronto then Toronto to Orlando.

Imagine my delight when I saw the plane for the flight to Toronto

It's the Magic Plane!!!! In fact I almost did the happy dance in the middle of the gate area. I couldn't get a better shot due to the angle of the windows.

and you get Disney snacks on the Disney plane :)

By the time I got to Pop Century Resort it was late close to 1am.

The next day I took a few pictures I was in the 1950's section which was fine, it was close enough to the main building. At Pop Century the gift shop and cafeteria are in the same place unlike the All Star Resorts where they are separate rooms. Room are identical to All Star but the theme is fun and colourful.

The RunDisney transportation to the event was different too. There was a massive cheerleading event going on at the same time.

The RunDisney bus was picking up on the same side as the rest of resort transportation unlike All Star Resorts where it's usually closer to the baggage area.

The cheerleading buses where stopping at the same location as the RunDisney bus.

Now I didn't get to choose my magic band colour so I wound up with grey but then I saw these cool villain add ons. Got these on Friday before I headed to the expo.

The Expo was pretty tiny and found the packet pick up to be a wee disorganized.

I picked up my packet and I had preordered the pin, at Princess they gave me the pin right when I got my bib but at Everest I was given a coupon that I had to take to the gift shop.

The gift shop was the small Club House in Champion Stadium  at ESPN. The store is small and Expedition Everest was limited. There was the pin, an I Did It tshirt, a mini medal for RunDisney Vinylmation and that was about it. There was other RunDisney merchandise like the jacket, and 3 different colour Sweaty Bands with the RunDisney logo, also a mini ear magnet with 3.1.

The rest of the expo was tiny compared the Half Marathon Expos.

 A handful of vendors like Fit2Run, Raw Threads, Sweat Bands but not too much else.

This was the line to get into the New Balance section, there was no pre reservation system like at Princess it was first come first serve. They sold out of all the men's shoes on day one. I did score the Cinderella shoes I've been coveting.

 Super adorable that they come with optional ribbon laces

I wore them all through the park the day after Expedition Everest and they were super comfortable. They run smaller as I normally take 7.5 in Nike and had to go with 8 with these.

It rained pretty much all day Friday and Saturday, weather reports said it would stop by 7pm but that wasn't the case.

My plan was to take the first bus at 7:30pm to the start area, it was a good plan except the first bus didn't show up until closer to 8pm. We were told there was traffic issues my bet it was due to all those cheerleaders.

 The other thing that was strange was there were no MarathonPhoto folks in front of the props. I made friends with a Wampa named Autumn on the bus so we took each others photos.

 Not sure if you can tell but the rain kept going and I was pretty soaked before the race even started.

What do you do when you're stuck in the rain waiting to get into the corral, you dance with 6000 of your closest friends to the fabulous tunes of the RunDisney DJ.

There were 10 corrals in all and I was in corral F, there was no one checking bibs as you entered the corral unlike Princess or Tink or any of the Half Marathons. I saw an I in my corral.

The good news the rain did stop before we hit the course.

The first mile and a half was in the parking lot, that's also where the first obstacle was which were hay bales. They seemed pretty low but I could see there were starting to fall apart and I know wet hay can be super slippery so I skipped it. Now 5 corrals where ahead of me and some had started the scavenger hunt by the time we entered the park. That was a little confusing as the scavenger hunt people and runners still completing the 5K where all in the same area. Then we were divided but it was a wee confusing.

The next obstacle where tires and there was no way to avoid those so I plowed through.

The final obstacle was a crawling under a cargo net, I skipped that one as well as my knees can get angry and didn't want to risk crawling with the scavenger hunt yet to come.

Crossed the finish line, stopped the Garmin and got my first clue.

 Now the satellite got cut off a few times in the park but Garmin didn't think it was a 5K.

 I got handed a map, the pen with flashlight and the first clue.

 I figured it was green for the bib or map, or blue for the pen. The correct answer was green so then I got Clue 2.

 You could find three and one in the green paragraph so the answer was 4. Then I got clue 3.

 Clue 3 took me forever but a lovely volunteer cheered me on and gave me a few hints. Then I got Clue 4.

 Clue 4 was incredibly easy. When you got to the spot to get clue 5 they gave you the sheet below.

 Well add 4 and 5 together and tada you have your answer, so when I crossed the finish for a second time I held up the clue 4 card

Now the girl who gave me the medal didn't even look at the card so not sure how diligently they were checking.

I did spend a little time in the after party but I really wasn't interested in any of the rides but there was a gift shop open so I got a memento. It sounds like the dancing didn't start till closer to 2am in Dinoland.

There will be another Expedition Everest challenge in 2015 but I don't think I'll do this one again.

Though now I know I need to train for the after party at Tower of Terror 10 mile and Wine & Dine Half.

Tomorrow I'll tell you more about the rest of the trip.