Thank You Disney Podcasts

My dad's doing very well, and hopefully will be leaving the hospital on Thursday. Physically he has made great strides, but he's been stricken with what is called "sundowners."

At night, when the sun goes down, he gets disoriented and his brain creates an alternative universerse that he lives in until the sun comes up. Last night we seemed to be taking orders at the weekly church hot dog sale, and then making deliveries. Some of it is funny, but it's tough when I know he should get some sleep, but his brain won't let him.

When he's dozing (15 minutes out of every hour), I listen to Disney podcasts, Disney music and BNL music on my iPod. Since my routine right now is so drastically different than my real life, listening to the podcasts -- the familiar voices, the "escape" to attractions, the BGM as podcasters are walking thru the parks, hearing forum friends' names mentioned -- is my connection back to normalcy.

Normally Disney is an escape from my real world, but right now it's also an escape back to my real world! If only my dad's brain would take him to Disney World tonight -- now that would be a fun version of sundowners!

Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts. It's been a great comfort to me this week to know that my Disney friends are pulling for us!

Another Reason Not To Run On Grass

I'm in NC, so I headed to my favorite neighborhood park today. It has a great winding walking trail through the edge of some woods by a small stream. And it was 74 degrees and sunny today. Perfect!

I did a two-mile walk, and then a one-mile run. It was great to be outside after spending 24 hours at the hospital (more below).

At the end of the trail, I continued walking up a hill to the park area where the tennis courts and picnic areas are, but there was no sidewalk up the hill, so I walked up on the grass by the driveway. When I got back to the trail to head back to my starting point, I realized I had a little tiny sticker burr in my shoe -- it got in thru the mesh on top of my shoe!

Luckily it was a small one, and fairly soft, so it didn't bother me enough to have to take my shoe off and get it out and get my shoe back on. So no running in the grass at the big race!!

My dad's surgery went well, his recovery room time was good and he was sent to a regular post-op room, not the ICU. So -- so far, so good! Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts -- it really makes a difference!

He's still got a painful, hard week ahead of him. And I'm sure we'll be faced with some unexpected setbacks this week -- that's to be expected with health situations. But we're trying to focus on the good things, and keep looking forward.

Friday Prayers

I drove to NC from Michigan on Thursday (today), and did four laps around a really nice NC rest stop to get some mileage in for the day! Gotta be creative so I can stay in Jonathan's April challenge!

I'm in NC for a week or so. My dad's scheduled for a serious surgery on Friday, April 25. A year ago when he experienced the original emergency, he was in intensive care for two weeks, and on the heart floor for a week. We saw prayers and good thoughts work their magic during that time.

Now, a year later, he's going back for what will hopefully be his final surgery. If any of my new Team Voice buddies can send up a few prayers and/or good thoughts to the heavens on Friday, I'd really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday AK!

I love, love, love the Safari, the gorillas trail, the tigers trail and Primeval Whirl!

I like Kali River, the bird show, the Lion King and the Nemo show.

I usually skip Conservation Station, Dinosaur, Pochahontas, Triceratop Spin, bug show and Everest.

And do you remember the boat ride on the river the first few years the park was open? I rode it once when it was just a ride from one dock to another. The second time I rode, there was a CM on the boat with various small animals/insects in containers, who did a little nature talk. Will the boats ever return? I hope so!

AK is a great park, and I still want to explore more of the nooks and crannies. And I've got to see the parade next time I'm there!!

Song Of The Day

It's amazing how hearing a certain song on my iPod while I'm running will enable me to pick up my pace, feel re-energized, and distract me -- for at least two minutes!

And there are a lot of lyrics that are so applicable to Team Voice, and the journey we are all on. Here's one of my favorites, "Son of Man" by Phil Collins from "Tarzan":

Oh, the power to be strong
And the wisdom to be wise
All these things will come to you in time
On this journey that you're making
There'll be answers that you'll seek
And it's you who'll climb the mountain
It's you who'll reach the peak

Go Team Voice!

TGIF

It's Friday, and it's sunny and 70 in the great white north! So now it's the grayish green north!

Happy Spring everyone!!

Do You Remember ... Tarzan Rocks

Tarzan Rocks was one of my all-time favorite stage shows at WDW! It was in Animal Kingdom, in the Theater In The Wild, which is the theater that now houses the Finding Nemo stage show.

My favorite thing about the show was the monkey rollerbladers! They were so cool, and so fast. The stage had ramps that went off to the left and right, and then up onto and across the upper level of seating. They would take off and zoom 360 around the theater! If you were seated on the front row of the upper level, it was quite a breeze they created!

They also had ramps at one point in the show on the middle of the stage, where they did various stunts, flying up and over each other, crossing in the air. Fabulous!

The Tarzan/ Phil Collins music was great, and the show featured a "rock" band that sang all the songs and hosted the show. Although it was that "loungy" kind of rock, it was still a nice change of pace, and the performers had great voices.

The show retold the movie story in 30 minutes. The arena was open air, with a netting-type covering on the roof -- very jungle-y.

Although I like Nemo, I really do miss Tarzan Rocks! It was a really great show!

I'm In The Magic Kingdom!

Saturday -- time for my weekly "test run" -- and what would the day hold, after my exciting, personal best 5 mile run last week? Could I do it again?

It was a tough run today, no telling why. The first mile was normal, second mile was good, third mile was harder than it should have been. Luckily starting at 4 miles, my gym buddy showed up and worked hard to distract me from the boredom of the treadmill.

And she did a good job -- I ran 5.5 miles instead of 5.25! But boy was it tough.

I thought at mile 2 about stopping momentarily for water, like we'll do in the race. But I've been drinking water without stopping on all my other Saturday test runs on the treadmill, so I decided I really needed to keep going and gut it out.

So I did. And there was no question that I was going to finish the 5.25, no matter how hard it was. I was breathing fine, no muscle cramps, so there was no real excuse for stopping. And before I knew it, I moved the towel off the display and I had made it to 5.5, averaging a 14 min mile pace!!

And if you look at the race map, that means I made it into the Magic Kingdom backstage entrance!! Woo hoo!!!

(If you are not testing yourself weekly -- give it a try by doing a timed walk/run. I started in January by running 1 mile at 4.0 speed (15 min mile pace), and then added a quarter mile each week. Now I'm up to 5.5 miles on pace. It's comforting to know where I stand so far!)

Watch Of The Day

The Donald

This is one of my favorite watches. You gotta love The Donald.

He's my husband's favorite character, and I love, love, love Philharmagic!

I have several clothing items that have this shade of blue, so I wear it once or twice a week.

The Big Five Oh!

As I mentioned before, I'm in NC hanging out with my dad while my mom is in Washington DC looking at the cherry blossoms with her sister.

I did my first run/walk outside a few days ago. But yesterday was the day I had targeted for my weekly test run, but this time outside. My target mileage was 4.75, but I would have been happy with 4 miles, since it was going to be outside.

So off I went to a park near the house. Ran the first two miles, pretty good. Third mile not too bad and as I was approaching mile 4, I thought I would shoot for 5. Now at 4.1 miles, I thought, maybe not. But another mile would only be another 15 minutes, surely I could do another 15 minutes. So I did!!

I ran 5 miles in 68 minutes, at a 13 1/2 minute mile pace!!!!!!

FIVE MILES!!!!

A new personal best!!! And a big milestone mile I had been looking at for awhile. But I did it!!

FIVE MILES!!!!

And Jeff W from Iowa immediately sent me my Darkwing medal! Thanks Jeff!

Moon Pies and Cheetos

So I'm in NC hanging out with my dad while my mom is visiting her sister in the DC area. Since we're baching it and I don't really cook, we're eating out once a day and mooching off my brother and sister at their homes.

A year ago, my dad had an emergency, almost life-ending surgery and then spent a month in intensive care. He's doing well, but his goal for the last year has been to build his weight back up. That means lots of snacking, and co-snacking by the rest of the family to encourage him to snack!

And that's where the moon pies come in. After returning from a lasagna dinner at my sister's, we sat down to watch Carolina play in the Final Four. After a few commercials, off he went to the kitchen and then I heard the dreaded question ... "want a moon pie? they are really good."

Well, I really didn't want a moon pie, but there is that co-snacking thing, so I said yes. (Luckily I live in Michigan, so my co-snacking is occasional.)

Now Cheetos are another story -- I am always happy to eat Cheetos, and that is one snack food that is always in my parents' house, 100% of the time. So yes, I've now had Cheetos (small portions, at least) for four days in a row. Only two more days to go before I go back to the no-Cheeto zone that is Michigan!

[Five workouts in five days so far, for the April challenge]

First Day On The Pavement

So I'm in balmy NC (visiting the homestead) instead of in chilly Michigan. But we've got an overcast, rainy pattern for a few days, so I had planned to go to the gym again today.

But our schedule got a little jammed and my only opportunity for some miles would be too short for the gym, so off to the park I went for my first outdoor, pavement run/walk since I started training with Team Voice!

I quickly realized it wasn't as chilly as I thought, so I had to take off my sweatshirt. So now I was about to run carrying a phone, a water bottle and a sweatshirt! But it was actually okay.

I did a 5-min walking warm-up, then a 20-min run, then a 5-min cool down. Two things I noticed right away: (1) It was waaaay more interesting moving forward and seeing the scenery change (unlike treadmill). (2) I could actually "feel" the small dips and swells in the pavement as I ran. That was pretty neat, because as a walker, I can't say that I ever felt that before.

I'll run outside again on Sunday, for a longer amount of time and a longer distance. I can't wait to see how it goes!

Going To Carolina ...

On Wednesday when I was leaving the office to head to NC to visit my family, the song "Going to Carolina in my mind ..." was playing in the elevator! How cool is that?

Thanks to Jonathan's April Challenge (30 days of mileage), I had to figure out a way to fit some miles in on my travel day. I was going to hit the gym before work, but had to go in at the crack of dawn to deal with some problems. So, after going thru security at the airport, I decided to do four laps around the concourse since I had plenty of time before the flight. It was small mileage, but at least it was mileage.

If the Challenge wasn't in place, I wouldn't have done any miles that day. But I could NOT be the first team member to miss a day in April, and on the SECOND day of April!!

This will be a very interesting Challenge for all of us to tackle! Let's do it!!