noBOLOGNA

Do you have any questions??

First off, I want to thank all the WONDERFUL ladies who congratulated me on my second half-marathon!  It is always very important to me to have people at my races to know there are people who love and care about me enough to be there, unfortunately I didn’t have that at this race, so some family and friends signed up through e-mail and text to get updates as I ran the course, but it also gives me a new appreciation and love for blogging because I also feel like I had some supporters from different parts of the country and that just excited me to see all the lovely comments and congratulations!  So thank you girls!

I’ve seen a lot of people do this, so I thought I’d give it a try for once… if it doesn’t work, no big deal, I’ll just try again later when I have more followers!

I wanted to give YOU the opportunity to ask me ANYTHING!  If I can’t answer it, I’ll let you know.  I know you read about me on a daily basis and you know a good bit already, but I know there are questions out there that go along the lines of personal quirks, personal beliefs, my personality, certain things I like and don’t like, etc.  So ASK AWAY!! I’m so excited to offer this opportunity for a chance to help you get to know me a little better.  I already feel like I’m developing friendships through this blog and I’m loving every new day!  I’ll give you until the end of the week, and I’ll post up my responses this Friday or Saturday!  I hope to get some really great questions! 

Disney Princess Half-Marathon Race Recap!

{ONE}
Pre-race Dinner

The plan was to make dinner the night before the race, I’ve been wanting to try a three cheese tortellini with lump crab meat (It’s my top choice at Amerigos!).  Well, lucky me, I got a whole package of unopened four cheese ravioli in a hotel room earlier this week and then my lovely roomie, Nic, offered me her marinara sauce.  So between a pricey 20 dollar meal and a FREE meal, you can guess which one I chose!  The pasta was delicious though and the perfect thing before my race!


{TWO}
The Outfit

I’ve been working on my outfit for a few weeks now!
My tutu- $8 (Cast Connections- a Disney cast member discount store)
My crown- $2.50 (Cast Connections)
My purple top- $12 (Walmart)
My perfectly matched compression capris in purple- $33 (Nike Store)
My shoes- $140 (Newtons, they are wonderful!)


{THREE}
The Crowd

Apparently there was something like 20,000 people registered for this race, it seemed like a never-ending slew of people constantly filing into their placement letter.  At the start of each section of the race, they had fireworks, it was really great!


{FOUR}
The run

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good pictures during the race, I just wanted to get to the finish line, and when you’re running a race by yourself, it’s not as fun to stop and get your picture taken haha.  The race went VERY well (A lot better than the MS Blues, read about that here).  I started off pacing myself really well, no pain at all.  I started feeling pain around mile 7 or 8, but not as bad as my last race.  When I got to mile 10, I was in one of those “Wow, I actually just ran 10 miles” kind of moods!  At the last mile or two, I was booking it, I was pushing as hard as I could because I knew I was soo close.  I remember at the MS Blues, the last 5 miles were the worst, it was horrible!  This race was so much better!! 

{FIVE}
I’m a finisher!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t have any family at the race, and Nick was unable to come to the race, and none of my roommates were able to make it due to work, so I was solo on this one.  Disney did this awesome thing where friends and family could sign up to get text and e-mail alerts during your race to stay updated, so my dad, Nick, and a friend from work all signed up for that and kept up with me throughout the race.  Even though I didn’t have anybody there in person, I had a lot of people there in spirit- and that meant so much!  I had to ask a volunteer to take my finisher picture because I didn’t have anyone else to do it!


{SIX}
The good stuff

We got lots of goodies after the race
Crackers and Hummus (my new favorite snack!)
Yeah, I already devoured that!

{SEVEN}
The prized possession



{EIGHT}
Some lessons learned

1. At MS Blues, I didn’t wear compressions, I wore running shorts, and I had the worst chaffing ever!  I learned from that and wore compressions this time and I swear it made a WORLD of difference!
2. At MS Blues, I didn’t take a pack with me to hold my water and snacks, I did for Disney and it made a huge difference with time, I didn’t stop at a single water stop because I had my own with me.
3. Research your race first! At MS Blues, it was the hilliest race you could probably go on and that wore me out quicker than the actual race, this time the only hills I encountered were going up circular ramps to get on another road, I was much better prepared for this race on the simple fact that there weren’t so many hills.

{NINE}
The time!

My goal was 2:30
My time was….

2:31:04

What’s a bad day to you?

Recently I’ve been having a string of awful terrible days!!  Let’s just say, work is not all it’s cracked up to be.  I know, I know, work is work and you do it to pay the bills, but let me just tell you… housekeeping… is an extremely underpaid job!  Before I go into my emotional spill here and a huge revelation I had yesterday, let me give you a few pointers for the housekeepers while you stay in a hotel!

1. Tip, I know, seems crazy, you just spent a ton of money to stay there, but I can assure you, the housekeeper isn’t getting paid enough for it.  It doesn’t have to be much, just a little 5 dollar bill would be nice, it just really brightens up our day! (I’ve gotten 50 twice, now that was a fabulous day!)

2. If you’re in your room, ALWAYS put the privacy sign on the door.  It is so frustrating trying to figure out if people are in the room.  We don’t want to bother you, we don’t want to disturb, and if you’re still sleeping (we start at 8:30am!) we don’t want to walk in on you thinking you’re gone for the day, so just put privacy up, and take it down when you’ve left so we know it’s safe!

3. Don’t throw all your towels in the tub when you leave… I know you think it’s polite to get them all in one place, but it, for some reason, is a lot easier to pick them all up off the floor, then bending over a bathtub.

Those are my small rants for the day! Now back to the topic!

So… like I said, I’ve been having bad days!  Back in highschool, I was never this negative.  I had a friend who if one tiny thing went wrong for the day, her saying was “It’s not my day!”  Every single day, there was something that didn’t go her way that made for an awful awful day!  That was so sad to me back then because the stuff that happened wasn’t a big deal, it could be fixed.  I remember telling another friend that it’s frustrating to see someone have a bad day over such stupid stuff because for me, a bad day is when someone dies.  So that line ran through my head yesterday as I was having yet another awful day (My girl time was not my best friend yesterday and my work shoes are so crappy, I’m pretty sure they’re injuring me, and with my race tomorrow, it’s stressing me out!)  I started thinking though… besides hating the job I have here at Disney, there are still so many things to be thankful for, and I want to go back to the days when I didn’t let a bunch of little stuff define whether or not I had a good day or a bad day.  I then started listing the reasons why I still was having a good day… I have people who love me (at home and in Orlando), No one has died today (that I know and love), everyone I know is in good health, I have a healthy body that is able to do the work I’m given, I’m about to run a Half-Marathon and not everyone can do that, I have a job that provides money, I have wonderful friends who care about me and check on me daily, I’m not in bad health, the biggest health scare I had was successfully taken care of, I could go on and on!  

It’s my goal to let these define my good and bad days, as long as my friends and family are taken care of, they are all healthy and alive, I consider that a good day… because in the end, that IS what matters!!  Another thing I’m really thankful for at the moment is knowing that I have a good college education, when I get done with Disney in August, I’m not going to be a housekeeper my entire life, and thank goodness for that because I honestly think it’s already aging me, and I don’t want help in the department!  These older women who do this all day every day… I don’t know how they do it, I understand they are just providing for their families, but they seriously deserve more because it is NO walk in the park, I tell ya!

What defines a bad day for you?  Are you letting the small things get to you in a bigger way?  What are some things you’re thankful for?  
I’d love to hear answers to all of these!

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The views and statements expressed on No Bologna are my own. You are reading No Bologna at your own risk and I am not providing any type of professional advice. Unless otherwise noted, all material on No Bologna may not be used, reprinted, or published without my consent. I do occasionally have affiliated links on my blog - this does not raise the price of the product, I simply get a very small commission from the regular retail price if something is purchased using an affiliated link on my site. I appreciate any support by you in regards to affiliated links.