Running on Vacation

Ed -

I went to Disney World last week.

Yep, that's the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, with Mickey's water tower in the background, as seen from the Oceola Parkway at about 7:30 in the morning.  I was running along it and crossing the overpass so I snagged a picture real quick.

You see I was running along the parkway to go to Walmart.  I had forgotten part of my costume for trick or treating that night in the part so I had to get to the nearest Walmart to buy the right shirt.

I was "John" from Peter Pan.  I remembered my top hat, round glasses and brown shoes, but forgot the over sized white shirt at home.  So dark and early on Sunday I was up and running a little over 7 miles to get to the store.

I am an idiot.

Because traffic was heavy even at that hour and on that day I kept having to hop off the road and into the thick, lumpy grass and mud that  counted as shoulders down in Florida.  I quickly became convinced of the advantages of running on a surface like that because it was work just to stay vertical and moving.  Lot's of little muscles working to keep me stable and pushing along.

I was hoping my early start would keep traffic at a minimum and I guess it did, but Orlando is a very populated place and people are driving into Disney EARLY.

This was a quiet moment and you can see the shoulder here is about 3 feet wide.  Huge compared to most of the way.  Especially, once I left Disney property.

But the run, while a slow pace, was a good one.  I got a good workout and thought of places I could go to get some decent miles in on trails and how I was going to jump back on the plyo stuff when I got home.  (I did the flamboyant workout this morning as a matter of fact.)  I got to Walmart by going through a toll booth backwards, hopping the barrier!  There was no attendant, just the stupid basket, which is too bad because that could've been really funny.

I bought my shirt and a drink then hailed a cab so I could get back to the hotel in time to head off to the parks again with the grandkids.

As far as running goes it was a very easy week.  A total of 14.5 miles in two runs is all, but an incredible week of memories and fun just the same.

Oh.  And the phone had a button on it that said, "Pizza."  I had to press it....