2 Days and Counting – Thursday, January 5th

Wow after months of training, I finally made it to Disney World!!! Well, at least I made it to Orlando International Airport. At the rental car counter I gave the reservations guy a hard time because even though everything was paid for up front he said he needed to charge me airport tax. I'm thinking he's making this up. Doesn't the package deal include airport taxes? But he said that reservations made through vacation packages do not include airport taxes, which was a total of $47. Yikes. Next time I'll leave the rental car out of he package and find a deal on my own.

So we finally get to the resort and I gave the woman at the check-in desk a hard time. Why should the guy at the rental car counter have all the fun? I specifically reserved a non-smoking king and they checked me into a non-smoking double. But a room is a room. I really wasn't going to make a big deal about it, because we were a little tired. After all I've been giving people a hard time all day. Plus Al and I played 3 games of Su Doku on the way from Dulles airport and we were exhausted. Despite our mental fatigue we found the room, had a bite to eat at the hotel and headed to the expo.

Something to note about Disney World... they hire a lot of retired people. I guess retirees head south for the winter and need something to do during the day, so they end up working for Disney. Almost every other Disney employee that we encountered was basking in the sunset of their lives. This included the 60-something grandma that accosted Al and I as we attempted to bypass her at the check-in table on our way to the registration booth. After we managed to get passed grandma gatekeeper, I got my bib number, my timing chip, my oversized shirt and my disappointing goodie bag, which was full of pamphlets and brochures for other races. The only actual goodies were a Clif bar and a pack of Tylenol 8 Hour, which came in handy around mile 4. Then we wandered around the expo for a while. The expo wasn't too bad, but I've seen better. I ended up buying some GU, some socks and a luggage tag. Al bought a bunch of stuff including a pair of shoes. After we left the expo, I decided we should go for a run. I discovered the lake in the center of the resort had a path around it. We ran 3 loops around the lake and walked the final loop. We came back to the room, showered and had dinner at the same place where we ate lunch. We came back to the room and watched TV until we fell asleep. The big day is almost here. I'm really starting to get pumped.

- Happy Trails