Fire and Ice

About a year ago, I finished a marathon and I am very , very proud of that accomplishment. I still feel that my head goes a bit higher when I tell people about it, when they see my photos and when I show my medal off. Sure, my time wasn’t fast but I finished didn’t I? This year I feel like I’m finishing another marathon, of sorts. In a few days I will, if all goes well, give birth to a little girl and these last few weeks have been like the last stretch in the marathon. You know, you start off strong and confident (but a little queasy inside), until you find your pace. Slowly you feel that you can definitely do this, it’s actually easy and you’ve already covered so much mileage. You feel yourself smiling and think “hey, I look quite good!” Everyone cheers you on. But somewhere in the last third you start flagging again: suddenly not only your legs hurt but everything seems to. The really comfortable pace you’d set is becoming too much so you slow down. You feel heavier and heavier. T...

Yet another set of questions but these ones come from one of many Disney blogs I follow. Imaginerding have a series where eminent Disneyphiles answer these questions, which I thought was fascinating. I’m not enough of a Disney fan to feature in their blog but I thought it would be fun to answer them in my own blog! So, with thanks to Imaginerding here we go: What is your earliest Disney memory? I have vague recollections of Disney characters in my nursery when I was a baby – but these memories could come from seeing photos of what my nursery used to look like. I was apparently conceived while my parents honeymooned in Disneyland and my first trip to WDW was when I was very, very little: 2 years old. For the record, I was terrified of Mickey Mouse! What is your single favorite attraction? This is one of those questions where the answer probably changes daily but a trip to WDW doesn’t count if I don’t get on Spaceship Earth. I haven’t yet experienced it post-refurb but everythi...

Here are a few more layouts from my marathon album... As I mentioned before , I tried to bring the sunrise colors into my album as I progressed through the course so here is a great example: We're getting close to the Magic Kingdom and the excitement is high - and so are the colors. What a great race... sure, there are more prestigious marathons but how many let you see Woody and Jack Sparrow? The whole album does have a lot of journaling because I actually don't have that many photos (I carried a disposable so only had 26 shots that had to last the whole race). Besides there are a lot of thoughts and emotions I want to remember and this layout is a good example. I knew that The Wall was out there somewhere around mile 20 and it was also a possibly quite boring part of the course - with a long out and back on a straight road. In the end I didn't meet any 'walls' and the out and back was quite interesting so I wanted to be able to recall this. Ahh, finally in The St...

There is a reason I don't upload my layouts to galleries more often - it's pure laziness. I do so many of them at once that then I would spend lots of time photographing, cropping, uploading, writing descriptions, etc. But I am pretty proud of how this marathon album is turning out so I've made the special effort to share some more layouts with you! The first three are about some of the more interesting places I ran while training over 2007 - Holland, Florida, London, Paris among others. As part of the training I also ran in Milton Keynes, of course, as that is where I live. I even ran in our local half marathon as part of training. It was a low point in training as I struggled so much with the half marathon that I thought I could never do a full. I nearly quit at this point... ...But of course I didn't and eventually marathon weekend was here! This is more of a pocket than a layout but I wanted somewhere to hold all those precious documents. Collecting my number - I ha...

Pretty much since I came back from Florida I started working on layouts for my WDW marathon album. I think I spent a lot of those long training runs planning layouts in my head for such an album, even though I really didn't know then what photos I would have or what products I would use! Here's a small sample of the layouts I've done so far (all 9x9): I love this layout below - I think it shows that this was one of my favorite parts of the race! The layout below is all about 'Sharpie signs' which were little signs placed along the course on one of the most boring parts of the race. These signs ranged from funny to interesting to make-you-think signs. I wanted to convey on the layout that miles 13 to 16 were really all about the Sharpie signs as there wasn't anything else to look at. Most of the album so far has been put together using a few elements: Bazzill or DCWV cardstock (cut down to 9x9), Christina Cole, Scenic Route and DCWV papers, journaling block sta...

A month ago I completed the WDW marathon. In that time I’ve had a chance to reflect on this experience, so what have I learned? All that training was definitely worth it – I remember thinking this at about 19 or 20 miles, while I was still going and knew I would finish. All those endless loops, treadmill sessions, cold days… all SO worth it on the day. Marathons are hard work but they can be fun and also very inspiring. I was expecting the atmosphere at WDW to be a little more competitive but I felt more camaraderie than competition. Well, at least way back where I started. All during my training I was scared of being swept or of being last. Neither happened, I’m happy to say. I didn’t even SEE the sweepers or the back of the pack! Music was a huge influence on my mood and motivation. I knew this from training but on the day it was great to have my MP3 on me but also to turn it off sometimes and enjoy the music from marching bands or speakers around the course. The right song at the ...

Here are some photos I took during the marathon: It was a dark and foggy start to the race... I couldn't NOT stop for Snow White, now could I?! I saw her in Epcot just outside Norway. There were LOTS of people behind me! But also lots in front! In the hazy distance you can see the monorail track, the Contemporary hotel and I could also just about see the spires of Cinderella's castle in the distance. Backstage in the Magic Kingdom before coming in through Main Street. Me in my favorite moment - running down Main Street with the Castle in front! Ran into Alice while in Fantasyland... ... and then Pooh! We got the full fanfare as we approached the castle - and a right Royal welcome! Woody and Jessie (with friend) awaited us in Frontierland. And a boatload of pirates bade us farewell in backstage Magic Kingdom! The man (or mouse) himself was cheering on us at the Animal Kingdom While Buzz and soldier welcomed us to the Disney Hollywood Studios (not MGM anymore!) I had NEVER seen K...