After a fairly good night’s sleep, we were awoken by the cheering coming from directly below our room for the 10K!! Such an amazing way to wake up!

It was absolutely freezing (mid 30’s with wind) and I felt so sorry for the runners, but they honestly seemed to be having a great time:). I got my coffee and watched them (mostly from inside) and was so inspired and excited not only for my own half marathon on Saturday, but also for the full on Sunday when I’d be cheering for real (not in my PJ’s drinking coffee with the heater on).

We headed down to the new Ale and Compass restaurant for breakfast and it was SO good! I love what they’ve done with the remodel there and the food was very good. No reservation needed and there were plenty of open tables.

It was then off to Animal Kingdom! We almost always drive to the parks anymore. The buses are just very inconsistent and frustrating, and we like the freedom of having our own wheels. Also, at this point, I’m as familiar on Disney property as i am in my own home town so I don’t worry about getting lost anymore.

We decided to skip the safari because it was just so, so cold! Walking was better. But the bonus of the cold was I convinced William to do The Lion King AND Finding Nemo, the Musical, with me (since both are in heated venues), and I thoroughly enjoyed that. We also had another great meal at Yak and Yeti. Loved that we, once again, snagged FP’s for FoP which, of course, we loved (such an amazing ride).

And ya’ll, we saw the baby tigers!! They were just precious and the mom kept walking around the yard screaming/growling. I asked what she was doing and the cast member said “Oh, just yelling at everyone that she’s there with her babies and to stay clear.” Nice. Good to know it’s not only human mothers who run around screaming all the time when they have toddlers.

I was very aware of time on my feet and knew I wanted this to be a short day, so we were back at the Yacht Club by about 5. William went out again on his own to DHS and I sat in the room with my feet up and watched YouTube videos. I also grabbed a yogurt and a muffin for dinner from the quick service downstairs.

Runner’s note on that: I’ve gotten in the habit of eating a late lunch on pre-half marathon days at Disney and then just having a snack before bed. It helps my stomach on race day, which always tends to give me issues, to not eat a huge, carbo-loading dinner.  A big bowl of pasta at 6:30 or 7:00pm for a race that starts at 5:30am is NOT the best call for this girl.

I WAS, in fact, in bed by 8pm, my flat Jen all laid out and ready for race morning! Alarm was set for 2:15 and I was READY FREDDY!!

Up next: The Big Day! The Donald Half!