runDisney Kids Races 2019

During the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend, Brayden participated in his second 100m dash as part of the Kids Races.

Although we had a lot of fun, this experience was quite different from our last 100m dash (from January of 2018). I have a very cautious kid who likes to see things before he's convinced that it's ok. Although I felt as if I prepared him well for this race experience by watching the video recap from 2018, he got a little confused as to what was going on mid-dash...but more on that later.

The runDisney Kids Races are held at the Track & Field Complex at ESPN's Wide World of Sports.  The races follow a schedule and you'll see the various race times noted in your event guide. Also, the races almost always begin with the 100m dash and go from there.

We picked up his bib the day before when we visited the Expo for our Wine & Dine races. He was super sleepy when we visited the Expo and not in the mood for pictures!

We arrived at the Track & Field complex a few minutes early and headed straight for the "corral" area. I loved that they had cups of water available for the kids to drink while waiting!

A perk to arriving early and hanging out near the corral area is the crowd. You definitely get an early jump on getting in line and being one of the first ones to finish the race.

This is the crowd that was in front of us (maybe 2 waves of runners)...

...and this is the crowd that was lined up behind us...

Also, please note that there are activities going on this entire time for kids to play so you don't HAVE to stand in this line. One thing that Carissa (the announcer) kept encouraging parents to do was go play with their kids, then return once the line died down a bit. I believe there's at least an hour time frame for the 100m dash and it does go fairly quickly.

Now, here is where I made my mistake. Because we had friends waiting on us at one of the parks, we knew we were a little strapped for time and wanted to get in and out fairly quickly. We were stationed in line where we were not able to watch any of the runners/kids from waves ahead of us and that's what I should have done differently. Oh well, I know better now for next time!

We lined up on the yellow line and before we knew it, it was time to run!

Brayden did GREAT running at the start, but midway down the track, he got a little scared and maybe a little confused as to what was going on and he wanted to hold my hand the remainder of the way. (Not a problem with me, I'm just sharing our race experience.) Once I pointed Mickey out to him though, he let go of my hand and ran right over to him for a high five!

Priceless and definitely the highlight of the race!

Next time, I'm going to let him actually watch other kids running down the track before we line up for his race. Don't get me wrong, he did not have a bad experience at all, he wasn't screaming or crying, etc...I just think a little preparation ahead of time will help him better understand what's going on and prevent any scared feelings or confusion on his part.

So, if you have a cautious kid like mine, that's my tip - let them actually see what's going on before they get on the track to run for themselves.

After the finish line, kids are handed their medals as well as a banana and other goodies!

Brayden LOVED wearing his medal the rest of the day!

After the race, we didn't hang out long and said goodbye to another 100m dash!

For Princess, I'm going to take my own advice with the line up on the day of the race and see if it makes a difference in our running experience! I'll keep y'all posted...

Have your kids ever participated in a runDisney Kids Race event? If so, which one? What were your thoughts? 

Goodbye 2019, Hello 2020!

Gosh, it's hard for me to believe that the year 2000 was literally 20 years ago. There's a tweet floating around out there that says something along the lines of 20 years ago being 1980 and YES, that's exactly how I feel! I graduated high school in 2000 - our 20 year reunion is this year! All I can say is HOW? Mind. Blown, literally.

Well, since we are saying goodbye to 2019 and we are already two days into the new year (I'm a slacker, sorry), I figured it was time for a recap of all the fun/interesting/crazy moments of the previous year.

Side note: I had every intention of putting up this blog post yesterday, but I spent the majority of my day taking down the Christmas decor. Oh yes, and eating black eyed peas with cabbage at my mom's house and you know what? I didn't hate it as much as I did as a kid! I'm not a bean or pea person at all, but this was a delicious one!

Ok, now on with the year...

I know I say this all the time, but I'm so very grateful (and it's true). There may have been a few rough patches in 2019, but it overall turned out to be a great year!

 

Health

Most recently, I am grateful for the status of clear lungs. I shared in one of my vlogidays videos this year about having a possible diagnosis of asthma. Thankfully, after a full PFT and Methacholine testing (along with blood work), it was determined that I do not have asthma! Yay! I have had issues with breathing for several years now, so we just have to figure out the culprit. (Getting my heart checked again is next.)

In the same category comes my hamstring. Y'all, this thing is a doozy. It feels fine one day then doesn't the next. I'm so nervous about overdoing it or tweaking it in the wrong way. I know for certain that dead lifts right now are absolutely out of the question as are running on inclines at Orangetheory. It's a funny feeling when you're halfway between an injury and an improvement. You notice every little stitch and movement. I spent several months this year with physical therapy and have had VAST improvements since July. Hopefully things will just keep looking up from here.

I'm also insanely grateful for a healthy child. Twenty nineteen brought so many new experiences, words, knowledge, and growth for Brayden. I also realized that I never posted a three and a half year update so I'll do that very soon. (I know, I'm a slacker!) Also, how is my child already three and a half?!

Travel

This year, we were so blessed to be able to take several trips and we loved each and every one of the experiences we shared!

In February, we visited Disney World with my parents and had our very first Vacation Club stay! We checked into Boulder Ridge and loved it! This trip also doubled as the Princess Half Marathon Weekend where I ran both the 10K and the Half and Jason completed the 10K. We all had a great time!

In June, we traveled to Alaska with Jason's family for a 7 night cruise out of Vancouver. This was Brayden's first cruise and I'm not kidding when I tell you that he's just as hooked as we are on cruising. For this trip, we decided to take different experiences than ones we'd taken on a previous cruise, so we went whale watching and dog sledding. By far, dog sledding was my favorite excursion of them all! Brayden loved it, too! At the end of our trip, we even had a chance to visit the Alaska Zoo which was super neat to see as the animals there aren't your typical "lower 48 zoo animals". Also, a lot of the animals they've come to take care of were either abandoned or in a hazardous situation and were rescued. I thought it was a very neat experience.

In August, my little family took a super quick 3 day trip to Walt Disney World. We already had AP's, extra DVC points, and we found super cheap flights! (Score!) We stayed at Old Key West and had a blast! I also ran the Beignet Dash and although I was in the middle of my hamstring injury, I still enjoyed the fun run!

Last but not least, in November we visited Walt Disney World again but this time with our friends. We ran the Wine & Dine Half Marathon/Two Course Challenge, rode the Skyliner a billion times per Brayden's request, took a cruise on the Disney Dream (a first for most in our party), and we took part in the first Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party of the year! It was a fabulous trip and one I didn't want to see come to an end.

Racing

This year was a interesting one as far as running goes - with several highs and several lows. After the Princess Half Marathon Weekend, I knew I wanted a better shot at higher corrals for Wine & Dine. So, I trained hard in the spring and somehow managed to PR in both the 5K and the 10K distances in the same weekend!

After all that hard work though, came an injury. Sad times. Thankfully as I mentioned before, things are now looking up!

Something good that came out of it, though? I managed to land in corral A for the Wine & Dine 10K and corral B for the Wine & Dine Half! Woohooo!

Getting Good

There's a new single by Lauren Alaina that really hits home for me every time I hear it and it brings me to tears. It's called "Getting Good" and if you haven't heard it, you need to go listen to it. Trust me on this one.

This song is an excellent reminder for me that even though things may not be just as I want them to be, my life is as it SHOULD be right now. I'm learning to live in the moment and enjoy it instead of worrying about what the future holds or even the inevitable.

This is one of the reasons that my blog has sadly fallen to the side a little this year. I love love love to blog and share with you guys, but I only have Brayden as a three year old once and I don't want to miss out on time with him. Although I love my job, working as a full time mom takes a lot of that time away from him. I also love spending time with my family, so I'm doing that as much as possible, too. Working as an oncology nurse has taught me a lot of things, but one of the most important is that time is precious and oh so short. Enjoy your loved ones as much as you can while you can.

So, my goals for this year are just a few and can be taken from the lyrics of this song:

• Learn to grow where I'm planted
• Soak up every moment 

Last but not least, although it's not a part of this song, I'm also looking forward to spiritual growth through the Fire Bible initiative that our church is participating in right now.

I hope that 2020 is a year of fresh starts, new adventures, health, and amazing opportunities for all of you!  Happy New Year!

 "Once I learn to soak up every moment, I'll realize my life's already good."