This post is part one of three. You can find part two here and part three here. Enjoy!

This was by far the fastest Disney trip EVER for me and Boy, oh Boy, did I pack a lot of fun into 2 days!!!!! There’s so much I want to tell you guys so I’m going to try to be precise and concise, but I’ll warn you that I took a ton of pics that are just too fun not to share. I also have LOTS to say about nutrition and night races, so although I’ll try to make this slightly shorter than The Iliad, may not be by much;).

If you’ve been reading for awhile and/or you’re on the FB page, you are WELL AWARE of how nervous I was about nutrition. I was pouring over everything I could get my hands on, and got some great advice (much of it on episode something of the Mickey Miles Pocast with Tara the Disney Nutritionist – crazy helpful!!). So here’s what I did:

NUTRITION for my first night race (10pm race start)

Friday (arrival day): This was my big meal night. We ate at Citricos and I had their tofu dish (YUMMO) and a small salad. Drank tons of water today. Had popcorn at Jellyrolls:)

Saturday: small breakfast of a bagel and cream cheese and some fruit, and then a large lunch at 11 of pasta and veggies (no salad) at Captain’s Grill at the Yacht Club (btw, the chef made this special for me. They are great about that there). Then around 5pm I had a tuna sandwich and pasta salad at the food court at Port Orleans Riverside.

Pre-race: In the room before I boarded the bus I had a cup of coffee and a banana. Nothing after that but my Energybits (and no, I don’t get paid by them nor do I get any free product from them. Just so we’re clear). I swallowed 30, 30 minutes before race start, and had 7 at the half way point. I had fully intended to eat a Cliff bar before the start but accidentally put it in my drop bag. Ended up not needing it.

Result???? ZERO GI issues, ZERO bonk, NO hunger. I really think the Energybits were a huge contributor as well as the fact that I avoided high fat, high fiber and cheese on Friday and Saturday and didn’t eat a huge meal after that 11am lunch. I will DEFINITELY do this next time (spoiler alert: yes, there WILL be a next time;)

The Expo – AWESOME. Fewer vendor than the bigger races for sure, but still very fun. Going Saturday was great. For one thing, due to a missed flight, my travel day on Friday was longer and more exhausting than expected, so NOT going Friday was awesome. Honestly, the whole weekend was just so stinking relaxing that I had to keep reminding myself I was doing a race! NOT my usual experience.

Race Prep – I’m convinced that a big part of my great energy on Saturday night was that I really took it easy Saturday.

I rushed NOWHERE, I took my time when walking and I left plenty of margin between activities (see above pic from the Beach Club for proof!) including an hour long nap at 3:30. I ran into many runners that had park toured or done the Food and Wine festival on Saturday and they were definitely tired at the start. I’m just not happy when I’m tired so getting good rest and resisting the urge to really park tour were key (I did get about an hour in Epcot and rode Soarin so that was awesome but wow it was crowded!)

New Friends!! This weekend was DEFINITELY one for meeting new friends!! I had so many great conversations! It was the biggest benefit of being by myself – I was way more open to having conversations with strangers;). So Pete, Michelle, Mary, Michelle, Angela, and especially Briana, it was GREAT MEETING YOU!! I loved our conversations!! I also saw Pam and Christine again (from www.werundisney.com). Photo with them in the next installment.

 Fun Stuff I Did to Kill Time Before the Race:

Wow. So much joy from so little time!! Highlights for me were walking into the Magic Kingdom late Friday afternoon all by myself and taking in all the beautiful Christmas decorations and music!!

I literally walked in, walked to Starbucks (AKA Main Street Bakery) and got a latte, and then walked around some more (soaking up the holiday atmosphere) and left. It’s the beauty of having an Annual Pass. Oh, and I spent plenty of unhurried time looking at all the window displays in the shops along main street which were my favorite things when I was a kid but seems like I never had enough time to really look at them. Such a treat!!

After that I headed to the Grand Floridian for our dinner reservation via boat (which btw, took longer than usual due to the monorail being down. That really mucks things up!). But I still had plenty of time and I sat in the lobby listening to this guy for awhile

Who was then followed by the great orchestra that plays in the balcony. Oh, and the lovely gingerbread house!! Amazing!! Our meal at Citricos was such a treat Friday night. My first time there but definitely not my last!! And the company was also top notch. Lynn, Deb, Selma and Alan you are true friends and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at dinner.

And who doesn’t love a post dinner, pre-race celebration at Jellyrolls, the dueling piano bar??? It was crazy awesome and I was hoarse by the time we left from singing EVERY word to EVERY song. This place is SO MUCH STINKING FUN and if you find yourself kid free at Disney I highly recommend going! But get there before 9pm if you want a table. It gets busy fast! It was also filled with runners, including a couple of charity teams, which just added to the fun!

(left to right) Alan, Me, Lynn, Deb (pic by Selma!)

 It was then back to Port Orleans Riverside where I slept uncharacteristically great. Seriously, I never sleep great in hotels and I was OUT as soon as my head hit the pillow! I LOVED this resort. So peaceful and gorgeous!!

The room was very comfortable and had everything I needed (well, except for lotion. Why can’t the moderates have lotion?? Makes me crazy!). I will definitely be back here. The carriage rides, the lighting, all of it just put me at ease. Just lovely! Oh, and the A/C worked great! That’s big for me in hotels.

I didn’t set an alarm for Saturday and slept until after 8 and then headed to the Expo. Walked up to get my bib and then walked up to get my shirt. Nothing else was crowded and they even seemed to still have plenty of official merchandise which was a nice change after the great “we’re out of everything in 10 minutes” scandal of Dumbo Double Dare Weekend (I may be a tad over dramatic;).

You already know what I ate (see above) so I won’t go into that, although you should know that my lunch companions were the awesome Pete and his wife, Michelle and their lovely daughter, Mary. Pete and I met through this blog and it was so fun meeting them in real life! Pete’s story is incredible and included quitting smoking and losing 100 pounds in his journey to the WDW marathon in January, but you can read his blog here for more on that. Definitely inspiring!!

After lunch with them and my beach lounging, I walked through Epcot. Yeah, the last Saturday of Food and Wine is just a tad crowded.

Wall to Wall people!!

I had made a couple of Magic Band FP+ reservations before I left home and clicked on the My Disney Experience app on my phone and guess what? My Soarin’ FP time was for RIGHT NOW! Wow! OK, so I’ll ride Soarin’! It never disappoints.

So all in all, a great Friday and Saturday with fun, music, friends and great food. But wait! Don’t I have plans for Saturday night? Well, YEAH! I’m running 13.1 miles, Baby!! But you’ll have to wait a couple days for that. Trust me, it’s worth coming back for.

Happy Running!! (click here for part two)

Jen