Disney Marathon Weekend days 5&6!

 On  Thursday we checked out of BLT and headed over to Animal Kingdom park just to hit some highlights. The Christmas tree there is so rustic and gorgeous! We felt lucky that we got to see it.

 We had a nice morning in AK. Rode the Safaris, Everest, and a few other attractions, but mostly just enjoyed each other and the beautiful theming.

 We saw "Flights of Wonder" again too, such a favorite!

 This guy swooped down right over our heads!

And I got to be in the show!

We ate lunch and the CM at the counter was so impressed that I lived in South Africa and had an Annual Pass that she gave me 2 free cupcakes to celebrate! That's what I'm talking about! Then I got a hair wrap and it was off to the Expo! The Expo for marathon weekend was twice the size of any other Disney Expo I have experienced. With 64,000 runners showing up for Marathon Weekend I guess it would have to be right? It was kind of overwhelming but we got our bags and our bibs and shirts, I got moved up to B corral with my Disneyland half time, and I got to meet Niki and Leslie, 2 of my LLL girls that I have been friends with online for 2 years and finally got to meet in person! It was awesome and I get to see them again in less than a month for the Princess.

 And Jeff Galloway signed my bib. He is so wonderful. I bounced up with my goofy bib and he goes "Heeey!!! All ready? Are you set?" He is so enthusiastic and supportive and I really would not be where I am in my running journey without his literal voice in my ear during all my runs! What a hero!

 Jeff is ready to rock this. First half marathon!!

It's been a long road to the Goofy and I still love ya big guy!

 When we finished up at the Expo we headed over to the Wilderness Lodge, our Marathon Weekend home! Wilderness Lodge is amazing. Pictures do not do it justice. Why anyone would stay at BLT when they could stay here is beyond me. The only thing that the Contemp has over the WV is proximity to the MK and the monorail.

 The lobby of the villa area was just as nice on a more intimate scale. There were roaring fires, gorgeous carvings, and some of Walt's train collection!

 The outside is as magnificent as the inside!

 That night the whole crew was exhausted from the Expo and the crowds so they decided to stay at the resort and eat counter service at Roaring Fork. So that left Jeff and I all alone to use our reservation at Flying Fish. SCORE!! We had a really nice mid-trip date night and Flying Fish did not disappoint. It's still my fav WDW restaurant. When we got home it was time to get 6 people ready to run the 5K! We all started organizing our race gear and I got my first look at the THREE tech shirts that came in my goody bag since I was running the goofy. Gotta love swag!

The next morning the alarms went off around 4:30. We had to get to Epcot and get runners into their starting corrals by 5:45. It was an early start but we were only out front about 5 minutes when the bus came.

 And here's where I had to leave them! They headed off to the start and Dad and I went to grab a spot to watch it!

 What a start!!

Papa, Jeff and the kids are off and running!

 And there's the grandmas! They went by so fast that I didn't get them in focus but you can still see their big grins!

 Dad and I then headed to grab a spot by the finish line so we could see them come in.

 Jeff and Teddy had a great race. Here they are almost done, just coming around Spaceship Earth.

 We spotted them!

And Jeff and Teddy are off to the Finish!

 

 Jeff made this finish line video:

Next we saw Sasha and Papa, they were running strong and looking good!

 And then the Grams! Who's more excited to see each other, us or them?!?

My friend Leslie was right behind them! Way to rock that Minnie Skirt girl!

 We all caught up with each other and got to admire the 5k medals.

After that we all got cleaned up and took the boat to the Contemp to celebrate with breakfast at Chef Mickey's!

All the characters were great and very proud of our runners and their medals!

 Jeff told Donald that he would be getting HIM on a medal tomorrow!

 Donald was hysterical and made a big fuss over everyone!

 And Teddy just loves Pluto. He tackled him and got a huge bear hug!

 And of course I had to give the big guy a squeeze. 2 more days until Goofy medal!

 After that we headed back to WL to just relax at the resort. We swam, read, hot-tubbed and chased ducks in the pool!

Then Papa, Teddy, Jeff, Sasha and I decided to rent a surrey bike. We pedaled all the way over to Ft. Wilderness and looked all around the stables where they keep the big Disney draft horses. Teddy rang the bell and made sure all the riff-raff stayed out of our path. You can't see in this pic but the bike has 4 spots for people to pedal. The kids couldn't reach the pedals but the 3 adults were able to cruise along pretty quick. I wouldn't want to tackle hills in this sucker though!

 After that we got cleaned up and headed over to Artist's Point for dinner. But on our way we saw that they were roasting marsh-mellows around the fire pits so we had to stop for an appetizer.

 Artist's point is in my top 3. This salad was beyond words. Then I had the salmon which was perfect, and a truffle infused mac and cheese side. Carbo loading!

 And the kids got the now-legendary Mickey puzzle dessert!

 He actually assembled and painted it before scarfing it down this year!

 The whole gang. Why do iPhone photos give everyone "white eye"? at least red-eye can be fixed! Drives me crazy.....

 We headed back to the villa and Jeff and I set our alarms for 3:30 am. I had such butterflies but I knew that once the half was under my belt I would feel so much better. It was time to start knocking out some distance!