Disney & Charleston : Dec 21-Jan 1

After driving to Charleston where I met my parents and sister, we drove down to Orlando.  The next day, we did a ton of walking from 8am to 10pm, visiting Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom.  My dad estimated that it was about 13 miles, with his pedometer.  I felt kind of depleted by the end.  It was fun, though!

 

 (Buzz Lightyear shooting game ride @ Magic Kingdom)

 

(Shake It, Move It Street Parade)

 

(Log flume ride)

 

(Mission: Space - surprisingly fun for the family!)

 

(Shuttle Boat from Hollywood Studios to Epcot)

 

(Street performance in "France" at Epcot)

(Epcot ball)

 (Giant smoked turkey leg @ Magic Kingdom - our favorite)

 

(A very cool night show that turns the Castle into a bunch of different things by projecting onto it)

 (Main Street USA)

The next day, we went to Busch Gardens.  Legs woke up tired, but once we got walking, they got back to normal.

 

(Cheetah Run roller coaster - pretty sweet!  The main part of it looks like a tree, and the back end races through some animal reserves and winds back and forth like a cheetah)

(This thing takes you way up, then turns you 90 degrees so that you're face-down looking at the ground, then drops you - quite a thrill!  Probably the scariest ride I've been on, because there's not much keeping you from falling... just the two bars.)

(Cheetah run)

(My favorite - feeding kangaroos!  It was cool just to watch them move/jump/eat/interact)

Tuesday, December 23:

 4.4 in 35:44, 8:10 average.  Got in only 2 laps around my neighborhood before it started raining hard, and it got too dark to make footing easy.  Oh well, least I got in something.

Wednesday, December 24:

Pyramid workout at the track!  5.7 in 42:57, 7:32 average.  800 warmup in 4:30, 4x100 with 100 jog, 3x200 with 200 jog, 2x400 with 400 jog, 800 with 400 jog, and back down.  Harder than it was last time over Thanksgiving break... got through it mentally by thinking "this is the last time I have to do a rep for this distance".  

For Christmas, got my parents some pretty rocks from Brazil...

 

Played lots of home-made "Princeton Carcassonne"...

Saturday, December 27:

8.8 in 1:12:08, 8:12 average.  After drinking decaf and eating a biscotti.  2.25 mi splits. 19:06, 18:11, 17:51, 16:59.  My dad biked next to me as I went.

Sunday, December 28:

55 min Body weight strength session.

Visit from a dog friend:

 

Monday, December 29:

60 min recumbent bike session, followed by some arm weights.

Tuesday, December 30:

6.6 in 1:02:01, 9:24 average.  My hammies were sore from doing squats 2 nights ago, I think.  Definitely a recovery run.  Took it easy, although I did feel back to normal by the third and last 2.25 mi lap.  Splits> 22:11, 20:45, 19:05.

Wednesday, December 31:

Needed to get in some runs before traveling again at the end of the week, so I did 6.6 in 57:35, 8:43 average.  Ran on tired legs... don't know why they're so worn.  Last lap got iffy.

At night, the annual New Year's party at a friend's house.

(I'm on the lower right corner)

On New Year's day, we went to Folly Beach to look for shark teeth, and we came back with some great finds!

 

 (Can you see it?

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It's 1/4 of the way from the top, kind of in the middle.)