It's been an interesting fall

Tuesday I was out walking the dog.  We were walking the neighborhood, I was listening to a podcast.

And I fell.  And fell hard!

I learned a few things as I lay on the ground:

1. Thank goodness I put the loop of Misty's leash through a belt.  If she was in my hand, i might have been hurt worse.
2. My poor knees.  My right kneecap is still hurting.
3. I don't know how the hell I fell, but I DO know that it was hard and fast
4. I bent my fingers back, and must have snapped my head back as I hit the ground.

I left work early that day because my beck was killing me.

The next morning I woke up and could hardly move!

I went to the chiropractor.  Yes.  I gave myself whiplash.

This is not the first time I've fallen so hard that I've injured myself.  A few years ago I fell in a parking lot and busted by face.

I hate to say it, but I've not been out for a long walk or a run since.  I'm a little scared to.  Thankfully after this weekend I don't have another race to train for.  I can focus on inside workouts that have a soft carpet for me to fall on.

#HamilTrip2018

Saturday, my Best friend and I took a road trip!

We drove from Newport News, Virginia to Durham, North Carolina.

Why?

Because we had tickets for HAMILTON!!!!

The BFF found us a great deal on a room at the 21C Museum Hotel.  Not only was the hotel (which contained an art gallery) really cool... it was 2 blocks away form the theater!

Yes, the hotel supplied a rubber duck.  If the bathtub could have been stopped to take a bath, it would have been perfect!

After a dinner of pizza at a local place, we went to see the show!

I picked up the tickets, and had to sign a paper acknowledging that the seats had limited view.

That's not TOO bad a view!!

I even managed to talk myself into some swag!

Now, what everyone is here for:  The Show!!

My Takeaways:

• This show is an amazing piece of stagecraft!  I love the way the choreography helps propel the narrative.  Most knows with dance breaks (I'm looking at you Anything Goes) the narrative takes a rest during the dance number.  Not Hamilton!  And the use of the turntable is amazing!!!  I also think having Burr narrate the show AND be the "villain" (in an unreliable narrator kind of way) is brilliant!
• As a theater nerd, I'd LOVE to get my hands on some of the costuming (especially the female dancer's outfits).  I want to see how they are put together!
• I SO want to learn the Yorktown Choreography!
• I've never seen the Broadway version, but just hearing variations between the actors is very cool!  
• The guy that plays Burr in the Philip Cast is Nik Walker, and he's hilarious!  
• I loved the Jefferson/Madison duo of Kyle Scatliffe and Fergie L. Philippe.  They played off of each other and it was a delight to watch! 
•  I spent most of the performance knowing that I'd seen the person playing Washington (Marcus Choi) before.  I have.. He was on Luke Cage!
• The Eliza/Hamilton duo of Shoba Narayan and Joseph Morales were simply amazing!  the dept of emotion these two brought was incredible.  
• I'd LOVE to see the show again.  I'm sure that I have more thoughts, but I was so wrapped up in everything I think my brain stopped working!

At least I finished!!

Yesterday I ran a race!

Well, run might be too strong a word.  I walked a race rather quickly.  And of course, this race was full of the super fact runners... so I got the police escort.

I finished, but I was dead last.

I had a few things against me:

• I have cold induced asthma, and it was just barely above freezing
• Since up until yesterday, the weather had been warm, I've had zero time to train in the cold
• And I was under trained.

So one third of this was my fault.

I had opportunity to be pulled from the course.  The medics knew of my distress, but instead of asking if I wanted to quit, they told me to breathe through my nose.  

I kept going.  I apologized to every road marshal and police officer that I ran across.  I was sorry that I was keeping them so long.  Everyone responded that they were happy to be here, and to help me on my way.

The course was long, and at times, very confusing.  I couldn't see the finish line until I was almost there.  When I was almost out of steam, a rather nice lady walked with me until I caught sight of the finish.

(I'm kinda upset that I didn't get played in with the Rocky Theme, like most last runners do!)

But I finished!  I ran across the finish line.  I got a medal and a hug from my vet (who also is a runner).

Then I skipped the free food and beer and shuffled to the car.

The next few hours were simply horrible!  I had to take breaks while walking, showering, going upstairs.  My arms were almost too tired to comb my hair.  My poor dog wanted to play, but I was so exhausted, that simply did not happen!

It was a long, exhausting day.  But in the end....

The joy of not planning everything!

At the end of September, the Spousal Equivalent and I went to Disney World!

Anyone that has ever been to Disney knows that it can be the most planned vacation that you've ever had!  Between Fast Passes and Dining Reservation, your vacation can be rather scheduled.

We got there during a stretch of 90 degree, 1000% humidity days.  We quickly threw most of our plans out of the window.  We decided to only do what we REALLY wanted to do!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Wednesday~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We got to the resort on a Wednesday afternoon.

We snagged a room in Bay Lake Tower (which is walking distance to the Magic Kingdom!).  But we weren't there long!  As Disney Vacation Club Member, we were off to our first DVC Event!  Moonlight Magic!

Moonlight Magic a wonder event where Disney shuts down a park for the night and only lets in a limited number of pre-registered DVC members.  The people that don't get in are jealous.  

But it was great!!  We had a free dinner!  Free Mickey Bars!  Our own special showing of Fantasmic!

We sat in the front fricking row!

We got a little wet...

The lines were short for most of the rides too!  And there were characters there that people normally don't get to see!

 Like Rey!

Oswald!

And Captain Phasma!

We ended the night in the new Toy Story Land.  it was great!  And then I had a panic attack on Slinky Dog Dash (damn coaster is VERY tall!).  

In the name of spontaneity, we decided to see if we could get a Chef Mickey reservation for the next morning.  

~~~~~~~~~~Thursday~~~~~~~~~~

Staying at the Contemporary has some perks.  One of them is Chef Mickey!

Thursday was one of our Epcot Days.  It was miserable.  I was tired.  We peaced out quickly, then road the monorail to the Polynesian to eat at Captain Cooks's!

~~~~~~~~~~Friday~~~~~~~~~~

I found out that by a great act of coincidence, one on my High School BFFs and her family were going to be at Disney at the same time!  They invited us to Blizzard Beach for the afternoon!

After Blizzard Beach, we attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! 

It's another hard ticketed event.  The lines weren't as short as Moonlight Magic, but there was free candy, exclusive characters and one hell of a parade!

~~~~~~~~~~Saturday~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday was our Magic Kingdom Day!!

The Spousal Equivalent decided to play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom as we walked around.

Much fun was to be hand, and the SE managed to beat the game!  But the highlight of the night was dinner at Be Our Guest!

And I even got to see the Happily Ever After fireworks!

~~~~~~~~~~Sunday~~~~~~~~~~

This was our Animal Kingdom day.  By this time the SE and I were both DONE.  We rode the 2 rides that we wanted, came back and took a nap!

~~~~~~~~~~Monday~~~~~~~~~~

Monday was the day that I was waiting for!  Breakfast with Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder!

The SE is trying to steal the satchel

We ended our vacation by eating our way around Epcot/

We had a fantastic time!  And I think the difference was the fact that we only made an effort to get to our dining reservations and the rides that we REALLY wanted to get to.

Next time, Star Wars will be open!