Say Please in French - A June and Sept. 2018 DLP TR *Updated 4/22

Amazing! What an accomplishment! And I'm sure your kiddos will remember that moment for a long time!
 
What an amazing accomplishment! I can't imagine how tough and mentally exhausting it was, but you did it and that's something to be so proud of! And to have your family at the end cheering you on, that's just so special!
 
I will start off by saying I HATE running. Can't stand that burning in my chest. So I'm amazed at others who enjoy it. Congratulations on your race and fulfilling a dream. GO ALICIA

Since the race weekend was villains themed, I picked an Ursula quote – Poor Unfortunate Souls - and changed souls to SOLES.
Funny & cute

A few of my friends texted me while the video ended, and that almost got me going again. I had so much support over the summer from friends and family that I realized a dream like this was only feasible because of others believing in me and encouraging me.
How sweet.

I saw him standing there, clapping us along, then heard him go, “Just a little bit farther guys. You’re almost there. Really, you’ve made it past the worst of it. Push through a little bit longer. Hang in there!”

:sad:

I almost lost it.
This actually made me tear up.

So proud of you.
 


Congratulations on accomplishing your goal and finishing that half-marathon! It must have been such an amazing feeling. What a positive role model you are for your kids. :goodvibes
 
Congrats on finishing! There's nothing quite like that first half marathon! Welcome to the club!

And of course my emotional self started crying!:sad: I was worried I would tear up a bit when I crossed the finish line but apparently, I had it backwards. I leaned against that fence, watching as runners from previous years crossed the finish line and couldn’t help but think: “My gosh, that’s about to be me!”

A dream five years in the making was about to come true. I was about to cross off a bucket list item.

Been there, cried there. It's a lot.

I had reached the part of the course everyone dreams of when they register for a Disney race…

The Main Street portion!

I have to say, I ran the Star Wars races last week, and even though I knew we wouldn't go into the Magic Kingdom, it was so sad to not run down Main Street.

Half marathons bring about some crazy emotions, guys. I’m telling you, I am a pretty mellow person. I am not much of crier (except for brutal This is Us episodes) nor do I get overwhelmed with big feelings. I kind of live in a neutral calm where I don’t swing drastically one way or the other. Never overcome with anger nor blown away with exuberance.

So this half marathon was proving to be exhausting more mentally than physically.

But you did it!

The race was more emotional than I expected, and I swore I would never do one again. But now I am itching to return to the Disneyland Paris Half. Crazy....

It's amazing what happens when the pain subsides!
 
Hi! I've been horrible about commenting on your duel TR, so don't feel bad! But I've been reading along; I was bummed to see your DD didn't get the character gig. Hopefully that just means something bigger and better will come her way.

I'm still trying to get caught up. No worried about our report. We're on the last park day. We're all very disappointed about the DCP for Danielle but she's ready to try again in August.
 


I started when the girls were 20 months old and was doing 16 min with the jogger, 12:30 solo at that time. Now, my normal 5k when I don't push myself is about a 10-10:30 but, with a lot of concerted effort and training, I was able to get my to get my half in at an 8:48 mile.

An 8:48 mile...that's incredible! I think the fastest my mile has ever been is 9:15 and that was max speed.


For me, a Disney race is pie-in-the-sky. I'd love to do one, my friend is running Princess in February next year, but when I start actually looking at the costs to fly down, stay there, enter the race, etc I realize that I'm not going to spend that kind of money on myself. Maybe when the kids are a lot older but, right now, I start looking at that dollar amount and saying, "But we could xyz with the kids with that money."

The WDW races are pretty expensive. The half at Disneyland Paris only cost 90 dollars (I think) so it's made everything else a lot more affordable. Hopefully one day when the kids are older you'll be able to sneak down for a race weekend. Or maybe one of them will allign with a holiday, and you'll be able to incorporate a race into a trip. (The Star Wars half fell on our Spring Break, so that's how our friends were able to go from a Fri-Fri without the kids missing any school.)



I'm so so proud. It was like you in Rocky for a moment there, things looked bleak and then ya kept going to the bitter end. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the half marathon.

I did feel very Rocky-like that day. And also very relieved the whole thing was finished!


SO Proud of YOU! I am in tears! What an amazing experience- thank you for sharing your trials with us, and then- AH seeing your babies so excited for you! What a race you had!

Thank you so much. The race was more emotional than I thought it'd be, but it was an incredible feeling, knowing I'd accomplished a dream.
 
Omg! Not only does running half bring out the emotions apparently read it it does too I cried!!!

So happy for you! You did amazing and it was amazing reading about it!

It inspires me to rub more too !

Thank you; it was definitely a unique experience and one I'm grateful I got to go through at Disney.
Hope if running is something you enjoy, you can find a system that works for you and allows you to do it!


Half marathons are super emotional experiences. So I completely get everything you were going through. But you did it. You are officially a half marathoner! Congrats!!

Also … chafing is pretty terrible, but also fairly inevitable when it rains. Clothing that’s totally comfortable for long runs suddenly becomes terrible about a mile into a wet run. It sucks.

And I need to start finding races that give out cappuccinos post-race. I usually have to get my own coffee and I’d much rather get a cappuccino than a Powerade.

I hope I never encounter bad chafing on a race again. It was almost ridiculous how much it hurt. I'll take a blister on my foot or knee pain any day to that.

That bottled cappuccino was amazing. I know a lot of people grab beers on their runs, and while that sounds fun, too, I much prefer the coffee.


Wow I'm so impressed reading about your race experience! I was cringing when you got to the chafing part - I might have said OH NO out loud :confused3 How great you persevered and finished the race. I'm sure your kids were proud of Mom!

Thank you for reading. I had gone in to the race feeling somewhat selfish; running was something I did to get myself some "me" time and it had allowed me to have long stretches of time where I wasn't fulfilling mom duties. So to see my kids at the end and realize I was setting a positive example for them felt very enriching.



I'm still trying to get caught up. No worried about our report. We're on the last park day. We're all very disappointed about the DCP for Danielle but she's ready to try again in August.

Writing about the last day is a mix of emotions. You're sad having to almost relive that dreaded Disney departure day but also happy that you've almost completed another report.

Yay :yay: you did it! Congratulations! That has to be one of the best feelings.

Thank you, it was a very fulfilling experience. Made me take a look at other goals and figure out ways to cross them off my lists next.
 
Amazing! What an accomplishment! And I'm sure your kiddos will remember that moment for a long time!

Thanks! I hope I was setting a good example for them, finding a goal and seeing it through to the end, no matter how hard it might be. Plus, I think it's important they saw me doing something outside of the usual "mom roles."


What an amazing accomplishment! I can't imagine how tough and mentally exhausting it was, but you did it and that's something to be so proud of! And to have your family at the end cheering you on, that's just so special!

I felt silly, being so happy to see my family, but they allowed me to end what was a tough run on a high note and that's probably what I will remember the most from the race.


I know this is very late - but Congrats! I'm glad you got to see your kids on the run!

Thanks! They made getting through that last mile a lot easier than it would have been had I hadn't gotten to see them.


I will start off by saying I HATE running. Can't stand that burning in my chest. So I'm amazed at others who enjoy it. Congratulations on your race and fulfilling a dream. GO ALICIA

Thank you so much. Alex absolutely hates running (kind of ironic since it's required for his career) and I've heard him complain about it enough to know that some people don't find joy in it in any way. I feel that same way about driving; absolutely cannot stand the chore whereas Alex loves to cruise through the mountains on a lazy afternoon here. It's funny how something someone can enjoy can be something someone else hates. What I'm trying to get at, is that I understand where you're coming from on the whole running front and appreciate the kind words of congratulations.


Congratulations on accomplishing your goal and finishing that half-marathon! It must have been such an amazing feeling. What a positive role model you are for your kids. :goodvibes

Thank you! Yes, that feeling of accomplishment was something else. It made me take a look at what else I want to try and achieve and start planning out how I'm going to do that.


Congrats on finishing! There's nothing quite like that first half marathon! Welcome to the club!

You're absolutely right, it's a one of a kind feeling. How did you enjoy the Star Wars weekend? Are you going to write a trip recap? If so, please let me know so I can follow along; I'd love to hear how it went!


Been there, cried there. It's a lot.

This made me laugh, glad I wasn't the only one who had a wave of emotions hit at the starting line!!
 
How did you enjoy the Star Wars weekend? Are you going to write a trip recap? If so, please let me know so I can follow along; I'd love to hear how it went!

I really enjoyed it! I think we structured it well for a race trip and took advantage of a lot the parks have to offer. I think it was probably my last visit to the parks until after the hubbub of the 50th dies down (but never say never), and I have no "wish I could haves." I will say, I learned that I will never not stay after a race again -- it really saved my feet and legs to not do all of the go-go-go beforehand!

I do have a trip report - barely started - linked in my signature below!
 
What a great description of your race, I felt like I was running it with you! (Except you were actually running and I was reading this while sitting on my couch!) Your chafing sounds painful, good for you for finding a way to get through it. I also loved your comment about getting emotional -- when I did my one and only half a few years ago, I got teary during the last mile when I knew I was going to finish. Such a great feeling of accomplishment. I'm impressed that you found the time and discipline to train with two young kids. Congrats!!!!
 
What a great description of your race, I felt like I was running it with you! (Except you were actually running and I was reading this while sitting on my couch!) Your chafing sounds painful, good for you for finding a way to get through it. I also loved your comment about getting emotional -- when I did my one and only half a few years ago, I got teary during the last mile when I knew I was going to finish. Such a great feeling of accomplishment. I'm impressed that you found the time and discipline to train with two young kids. Congrats!!!!

I remember reading about some people getting emotional during races, but I never thought that would be. It's surprising how many feelings rush through you throughout the course. I think I'll need to prepare myself mentally as well as physically for the next one!

Alex was so incredibly supportive during my training; I think that's the only way I was able to do with two little ones. Some days I would go to the parent room at the gym, other times I would let them play soccer as I ran around the track, but most of the time Alex hung out with them while I went for my runs. We've created a system where I get up and run while Alex is still asleep and I'm back in time to get them up for school. Then Alex does his workouts after work while I cook us all dinner. So far, the schedule has worked out pretty well but who knows what it'll look like when we move and Alex gets a new work schedule.
 
Then the course took us into a wooded dirt trail, and that was one of my favorite parts of the race.
I would enjoy running on a wooded path too. Taking a side trip in the woods seems like a nice break from the rest of the course.

Congratulations on finishing the race. What a great accomplishment!
 
I would enjoy running on a wooded path too. Taking a side trip in the woods seems like a nice break from the rest of the course.

Congratulations on finishing the race. What a great accomplishment!

Thanks! The woods was a nice diversion; I'm pretty sure all the WDW races are run only on roads, the WWoS track, and the parks so this was a unique feature to Paris.
 
Sunday, September 23rd, Part 6:


After such a long and tiresome race there was only one thing left to do.

….....

Eat!
I wanted to order the biggest, greasiest burger and dip hot, salty fries in vats of ketchup. A celebration meal was in order!

Two issues with that, though.

First off…you don’t get “vats” of ketchup in Europe. You’re lucky if you can buy a single packet for 50 cents. So dreams of soaking my fried potatoes in delicious condiments would have to be curbed.

Second… I needed a shower. I also needed band-aids, lots and lots of them. And a place to plug my phone in, because its battery was limping along.

Essentially, the burger had to wait.
:sad2:



My family made the slow walk back to the Sequoia Lodge, where I cheered on the last of the runners passing by. Back in the room, I showered off, realized the hot water felt nothing short of heavenly and turned it into a bath. Alex thought I had fallen down and couldn’t get up and came rushing in to the room to save the day. Then laughed uproariously when he realized I was vegging out at 11 o’clock in the morning.:rolleyes:

No judgement, husband!


Convincing myself to face the world again, I got dressed and packed our suitcases. We had the room until Monday morning, but I had decided to check out early and make it home late that night. Landon would be able to go to school the following day, and Alex could save a day of leave.


I checked my activity app on my phone to see what my split times looked like. I was curious to see where I lost the most time and where I really pushed myself, but unfortunately the splits weren’t there. I did a little digging later and learned that sometimes the Apple Watch will fail to record splits during half marathon distances.

Super frustrating, and I am counting down the days until my watch comes to the end of its run and I can replace it with a Garmin.


I did get to see the map of my run, though, which was fun to look at:

0094.PNG



I thought this one was especially cool:

0095.PNG

Seeing all the attractions that I was able to run around.



As you can tell from that picture, we had been in the room for over and hour and Ashley had begun messaging me. They had already made their trek back to their AirBnB and had returned to Disney property. After talking about the best plan, the two of us agreed to meet up in Disneyland Park for pictures on Main Street and a late lunch at the Lucky Nugget.


Landon was really excited to eat at the restaurant again. Maybe it was because we’ve eaten there every Disneyland Paris trip or maybe it was because we would be inside the park, I don’t really know. I just knew he loved the idea and was willing to stand through photos to get there.


Alex and I put Evie in the stroller, where she promptly fell asleep, and we all walked towards Disney Village. We made it through security and got all the way to the Lego store when Alex realized we had forgotten our backpack back at security.

Oh jeez!

Alex ran back to retrieve it while I let Ashley know we’d be a few minutes late to our meetup time.

Alex came back in possession of the bag, and we laughed it off.

What a silly goof up we made.
Could have been worse, though.

My family made our way to the bottom of the Disneyland Hotel and pulled our tickets out, ready to shoot them into the ticket machine.

I went first and got a red light.

Hmmmm.

Alex tried his at another machine.

Another red light.

Interesting.

Landon’s produced the same result.

Something was up.

The Cast Member waiting to let us pass through the stroller/wheelchair door walked up to help; she scanned the paper tickets with a handheld machine then furrowed her brows.

She called another Cast Member over.

The two talked in furtive hushed tones.

Uh oh….this isn’t good.

I probably imagined it, but I swear they played Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who should address us. The girl who was called over lost, because she turned to Alex and held up the back of a ticket.

“You don’t have any more days.”

WHAT?!

“It says here you went into Disneyland Park on Friday and the Disney Studios Saturday. That’s all you have.”

My heart froze. What was this woman talking about?

Alex squinted at the spot the Cast Member was indicating to with her finger. Then I heard him say:

“Well I’ll be…..”
*you can insert the word he ended with here.*

My husband thanked the Cast Member, apologized, and then turned to face me.

“She’s right. We only bought 2 day tickets.”

:scared1:

Our Disneyland Paris race weekend was bought through a travel agency the previous fall, and when we booked the races we also picked how many nights we wished to stay and how many days’ worth of tickets we wanted.

And because everything was booked almost a year ago, guess who forgot what we bought??

:wave2:

This genius.

Who also apparently forgot to refresh her memory at any point between the booking and that weekend.


You wanna talk about the dumbest Disney move any DISer has ever pulled…I think this right here wins the gold. There’s nothing more embarrassing than standing at the entrance to a park, inserting your ticket into the machine, completely sure you’re in the right and the machine is in the wrong, only to find out you didn’t buy enough tickets.

Good grief!


Alex and I walked away shocked and mortified.

And suddenly tasked with the job of telling Landon we wouldn’t be eating lunch at the Lucky Nugget nor riding coasters with his friends.

As you can imagine…he took that well.


It was a rough ten minutes, getting him through his emotions and coming to grips that there would be no Small World in his afternoon. I felt terrible; the kid had stood around in the rain for hours waiting for me, and then I couldn’t even take him on a Dumbo spin to show him my appreciation.

I aced the parenting gig that morning, let me tell you.


While Alex was talking Landon through his disappointment, I was messaging Ashley with the news. Her and I have a fond love of Arrested Development, and she sent me my favorite gif as a reaction to the news:

0097.PNG

We decided that I probably couldn’t do anything else in our friendship that would match the accuracy of this meme.


When Landon finally settled down, Alex and I discussed where to eat now that our options were restricted to Disney Village. I told him I would be fine getting something quick and simple since the mess up was mostly my fault. I was the planner and organizer in my family, I should have known our ticket days.

Alex, however, wasn’t hearing any of that. He wanted me to have a big celebratory meal, something to make up for the mix up. A couple back and forths, and we agreed to try Annette’s Diner.

Right as we were walking into the very long line at the front door Evie woke up and we were forced to go through the whole meltdown process again as she learned the news.

It was almost comic, the way we had to go through the comforting parent motions for a second time because she was napping during Landon’s tidal waves of sadness. Next time we have to break bad news, Alex and I are going to make sure both kids take the hit at the same time!


The wait to get seated was close to an hour; it was bad only because I was starving and ready to eat anything in sight. Our server was slow, but he was also swamped so I didn’t blame him too much. A ton of other runners had the same idea as me and were seeking out a big meal after their run.


Alex ordered a milkshake as his drink:

0098.JPG

But it was more of a European shake versus an American one where it’s mostly milk.



For my entrée, I went with the Onion Burger, which came with cheese, onion ring, grilled onions, and red onions:

0099.JPG

I don’t remember much of this burger, because I ate it in about five bites. It was gone before I could taste it…

I do recall feeling like I was the only person eating my burger with my hands. Everyone else was using their forks and knives to cut the dish into pieces.

Oops.

I just shoved mine in and watched it disappear before the onions could even think about cooling.


The kids each got a hot dog meal:

0100.JPG

Evie only wanted the tomato in her salad, so I ate the rest of it.


The couple bites of veggies made me feel moderately better about ordering this behemoth:

0101.JPG

The Cheesiest Choice of Cheesecake- cheesecake served with sautéed caramelized apples, vanilla ice cream, toasted almonds, cinnamon, caramel sauce, and whipped cream.


The dessert was okay. I’d give it 5 out of 10 ten stars. The ice cream was more cinnamon flavor than vanilla, and I didn’t care for it all. The cheesecake was kind of bland and didn’t hold together well. Overall, it didn’t taste bad, but I don’t have any desire to order it again.

The kids’ meals each came with a scoop of ice cream with Smarties on top, which was a big hit with them:

0102.JPG

Evie doesn’t like cold foods, but she enjoyed the smarties and was happy to pick them off and eat them. Landon, meanwhile, gobbled the entire dessert up before we could say he’d “had enough” and take it away.



Throughout our meal, the rain that had been misting me on my run turned into a deluge and began pounding the sidewalks and roofs. Thankfully, it let up enough when we were finished eating for us to run back to Sequoia and gather our belongings to leave.

We checked out of the resort, put our things into our car, and headed home. It rained the whole way out of France and didn’t start to let up until we neared home. Perhaps it was for the best that we didn’t get to go into the park that day. We would have felt compelled to stay as long as we could and endure the rain. At least this way we stayed dry and got home at a reasonable time.

Landon was put to bed near his usual bedtime, and when he woke up things were back to their normal self. I put him on the bus less than 24 hours after standing at the starting line to the half marathon.

Everything ended so quickly, the entire weekend felt like a blur. I blinked and we were watching the parade with friends. Blinked again, and I was looking at a photo of my husband standing next to Kronk. Another blink and my daughter’s pigtails were swinging over top a kids’ medal. Blinked, and I was running down Main Street.

Blinked, and I was waving goodbye to my son from the bus stop like the weekend had never happened.

I spent that day back from the parks talking with Ashley, each of us helping one another other get over our Disney blues while we picked up our dogs from the kennel and restocked our fridge with groceries. Ashley vlogged her trip, and we watched it several times over, wishing we were back in the parks and not facing another normal workweek.

The race weekend was an absolute blast, one made extra special by having friends to experience it with. I swore for weeks after I got back home that I wouldn’t do another half marathon, but the running bug bit me once more and I’m signed up for 2019’s Disneyland Paris Half Marathon.

I am pretty excited to see how a return to the course affects my time and overall experience; I’m also looking forward to another weekend with my friends at our happy place!


To keep myself occupied while I wait for that fateful return, I’ll be heading back to the states this summer to visit Walt Disney World with my family. If you have any interest in reading about what a mess I’ve become with planning for such a big trip, you can follow me over to the PTR boards and read my ramblings in Nine Nights- A 2019 PTR. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed my family’s adventures in Disneyland Paris in 2018 and hope our silly antics brought a smile to your morning. Thank you for reading and following along, as always it’s been a pleasure reading your comments and remembering the magic of Disney.
 
What an ending to your marathon weekend - a very emotional day for you and the kids. i can imagine the shock when you figured out you had no more park days :confused3 It's great you're signed up for another Disney marathon - I bet it will be a much different experience. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
 
Ugh that stinks about the ticket mix up! I'm sure not the way you wanted to end the trip, but it was an innocent mistake! I'm glad you were still able to get a hearty meal!

I am sure the weekend went by in the blink of an eye, but you have so many cool memories to look back on!

Thank you so much for sharing, I loved reading about it!
 
Thanks for reporting on your race weekend! Too bad it didn't didn't end so well with the ticket mistake, but I can see how that is easily done. I also always nervous that last day worrying that I miscounted the days.
 

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