a race and a ring: the best day of my life

***BREAKING NEWS***

I have soooo much to tell you it could fill up a book so I'll try to get in the highlights of the craziness of the past week!

1) I ran a 10K race last Sunday morning up in Port Orange.  It was at the same location as the upcoming triathlon and looking out onto that river did nothing to excite me about it.  The sunrise was pretty, though.  It was easily close to 80 degrees at the start, humid, with no breeze.  Awful!

Rick and Emily were there- it was his first ever 10K race so of course we were all excited!  I started near the front- nothing was super-organized and the group was kind of small, 300 or so runners sooooo....whatever.  The gun went off and the race began.  

Dear sweet baby Jesus it was hot!  Like running in a steam room!  I just wanted it to be over with.  I was coming off that sickness crud so no PR hopes for me, especially with the temps.  The scenery was pretty along the waterfront, and the course took us through some neighborhoods.  There were plenty of water stops, and the road was mostly out-and-back.  Not the most interesting race by a long shot, but nice.  Rick is going to be floored the first time he runs Disney!

The last mile or so, I started taking my walk intervals.  It was just too hot!  I finished in a respectable 55:16 and promptly found the ice water bin that was holding the bottles and shoved a handful of ice down my sports bra.  I sweated more standing around with Emily waiting on Rick that I did running the race.  

So. Gross.

My customer I'd originally planned to fly with at work had called in sick so I was able to stick around and try to enjoy the after-party.  It was just so hot and humid though!  Rick came in 2 minutes under his time goal and we grabbed some paper fans and tried to find some shade to celebrate with some nibbles and sports drink samples from the vendors.  At some point that morning, the awards ceremony started but the 3 of us were hanging out in the back so we missed most of it.

Until I heard my name.

They called it again.  

WHAAAT?  Hot damn, I won 2nd place in my age group!  Yay!  I was so thrown off that I just stumbled up to the front of the crowd laughing.  They gave me a medal!  It almost felt ridiculous because I've some nowhere near placing with much better times than this one but WHO CARES?  What a great way to start the day!!!!

Congrats to Rick on his 1st 10K race!

Ok, moving on...

2) This one is short- after Scot got back from visiting his family up in PA around 1, I ran off to meet a friend for lunch.  She is one of those that I haven't seen in probably a year because we all get so busy and then LIFE happens and then one day one little thing makes you think of that person and you can't remember the last time you spoke.  But you meet up and it's like you're old friends again, and it's fun to catch up over brunch and mimosas and relax together for a while.  Because of my work schedule and every other commitment I have myself wrapped up in, I forget to just hang out with people sometimes.  Girl time was much needed, but I had to get back to the house eventually because Scot and I were going to Epcot to see the U2 coverband, 2U (Is that clear at all?  I can't make this up, promise).  It's part of a summer concert series of cover bands at Epcot.  We saw them last year so I guess we're fans now?

And now....

3)  Scot was ready to get going when I got home.  He was wearing a short sleeve button-down shirt, which was odd for him.  I had worn a dress to brunch so I offered to change if he would feel better in a t-shirt but he admitted that he actually hadn't done laundry so... 

We rolled into Epcot a little after 5pm.  We went backwards this time, starting at Canada.  I didn't care, I was enjoying myself- I was on a mission to get some gelato from Italy.  Epcot is my favorite park!  Scot made himself a new friend- a marginally intoxicated man who heard his text message alert (the beginning bars of the Jetsons theme song) and thought that was the greatest thing ever.  As we approached the UK pavilion, the line to meet Alice in Wonderland stretched out into the path so we cut around to go through the little garden behind the tea shop.  As we wandered around the back, this happened:

"Will you be my princess?"

Holy shit.

You could have knocked me over.  I was floored!  I may have blurted out some colorful language in shock.  5 years together, and he can still knock my socks off!

I looked over and Alice had broken away from her photo line to wave at us and congratulate us

So who took the pictures?  Out of the corner of my eye when he knelt down, I saw some people bring their phones up to their faces on the other side of the bushes.  It took me a couple minutes to get my breathing under control, shakily try on my gorgeous new ring, and make out with my man for a quick second.  He led me over, weak-kneed, toward the shop.  All of a sudden, 5 of our friends walked up and I swear to you, it did not even register that it wasn't a coincidence that they were there.  

He planned the whole thing.  

It took a month and a half to orchestrate the where and the who among our friends would be able to make it.

He wore that shirt on purpose.  

He guided me toward Canada first so we'd pass this way.

Those texts, pinging Jetsons on his phone?  Updates from our friends on where they were hiding.

He lucked out on Alice's line blocking the way and on me wearing a decent dress.  

Our friends had kept this secret for a month and a half!

And the kicker?  He'd asked my parents for their permission IN JANUARY!
I couldn't stop the giggles.  I tell you, June 14, 2015 was shaping up to be the absolute best day of my life.  Our friends were congratulating us and I could barely hold myself up.  Scot asked me if I'd like to go get some champagne in France- HELL YES- so off we went.

celebrating with our wonderful group!

we even got buttons!

I remembered that because I have a Disney Visa card, I get a free photo at a special shoot in the Innoventions building.  We all went back to Future World and took a group picture with Minnie Mouse and Pluto.  I was showing Minnie my ring and she was acting super jealous of it!  There were hugs all around and, as we were getting ready to leave, the cast member attendant called us back over.  "There's someone else who wants to see you!"

 OMG it's Mickey Mouse!!!

 He does not make regular appearance in the Visa card photos so we felt honored!

 He did shake his finger at Scot for getting him in trouble with Minnie though!

We did eventually make it over to see 2U and they were pretty good.  We didn't really ride anything, but went to Italy for some tapas for dinner.  We ordered a bottle of wine for the table and told the waiter we were celebrating and to bring us whatever was good.  We got some amazing meat and cheese boards and everything was delicious!  I'd wanted to try out this little restaurant for a while but Scot had always resisted.  Turns out, he loved it.  And even though he doesn't like wine, he admitted to really enjoying the one we had.  It was a perfect evening!

 balloons and cookies from our run club the next afternoon!

awesome mug from my aunt and cousin!

So what's next?  I have no idea!  We'll pin down a date and details and stuff sometime soon.  I promise this won't morph into a wedding blog- there will be a triathlon training update next time!

down but not out

Triathlon training got slightly off track this past weekend.  On Thursday afternoon, my throat started hurting and by Friday morning I'd completely lost my voice.  After one flight with a student who could fortunately handle my communicating with him via pen & notepad, I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Centra Care and walked away with some antibiotics.  I haven't slept well since Thursday night, my sinuses are killing me, and my Sunday customer (with whom I'd flown on the previous Wednesday as well) cancelled because he was sick.  AH HA!  THAT'S where I caught it from!

So, I haven't felt like doing much is what I'm saying!  After opening up my nasal passages with some spicy crawfish on Sunday, I decided that on Monday I'd go to DeLeon Springs State Park where they have a big ol' swimmin' hole in the fresh spring and do some swimming.  I'd drag Scot along and bring the bikes with the intention of hopping on and getting some mileage after the swim.  I also wanted to try out my new triathlon outfit!

I did purchase road tires for my bike but didn't manage to get them on before we drove up to the spring.  I paid for that mistake later!

DeLeon Springs has a big natural pool that's about 60 yards across.  It ranges from 3-30' feet deep in the middle where the spring bubbles up.  The water is 72 degrees year round!  It felt wonderful!

And dayum, 500 meters is a long-ass way to swim!

I did 6 laps back and forth across the pool for a total of about 360 yards/meters/same damn thing.  I was whupped!  I took a break between each trip back to the entry steps, and was breathing pretty hard by the time I finished.  I gulped down my Nuun and parked it on the edge of the pool for a while.  Good god, swimming is hard!  A lot harder in real water than in my pool at the house!  I did like swimming in the spring, though.  The water felt amazing and I wasn't grossed out too badly when my toe hit the sandy, algae-y bottom.  I could see easily in the crystal-clear waters.  I'll definitely need more work with this part, I think we're going to try Blue Spring, which is closer to our house, next.  

The biking thing?  Turns out, there was no where to ride a bike here!  We had to pack back up and drive to the Lake Beresford trail to ride, which meant my "transition time" was almost 30 minutes.  Yeah, gotta work on that.  I did 7 miles on the bike before I felt too exhausted to do anything more.  I had full intent to go to Abbey Run Club that night but after being sick for so many days my body told me I'd done enough.  Scot went to run later, I stayed home and watched a rerun of Say Yes To The Dress with a pile of snotty tissues.  

It's pouring down rain right now (typical Florida, yeah?) so I'm kind of glad I can't get out and do anything.  I'm planning to run tomorrow morning because I have a 10K race on Sunday- the Remarkable River Race up in Port Orange.  It's actually at the same place the triathlon is going to be so I'll be able to go check it out!