We arrived home Wed night after a great week in CA. We flew into LAX last Thursday morning and arrived at DL midday so we immediately headed for the park. Since we were there for 6 days we found it best to purchased annual passes. This also got us 10% off on all of our meals.

I really liked the parks. They were larger than I had expected with alot more attractions than in FL. My major dissappointment was that the Matterhorn was closed. I had also wanted to compare the Haunted Mansion, but they were decorating that for Halloween.

I missed the river ride on Sunday but rest assured the vessel was still afloat on Tuesday when I took my turn. Made it thru pretty well, just a little wet on the left side. Actually I got wetter on splash mtn, both times I rode it I ended up in the front seat.

I enjoyed the race even though I didn't acheive my goal. I had wanted to start out at about 7:45 pace and finish around 1:42-1:43. The first two miles were at 7:40 which felt a bit too fast for me. I think I was tired from a couple of busy days at the parks. I eased off a little but kept my pace under 8 min up thru 8 miles. My quads started to tighten and I was feeling tired so I had to decide whether or not I should try to push it to keep the pace. I wanted to enjoy the rest of the course, including the run thru the stadium, so I kept the same effort but saw the next 4 miles slip to about 8:30 pace. I did run the last 1.1 at just under 8 min pace to finish in 1:45:25, good for 415th overall.

Met Jack Eckles at the D Tent while waiting for the rest of our group to finish. Saw Eileen's finish on the big screen and went to meet her. Our friends Joe and Patty finished a couple minutes later and then we headed back to the hotel for a shower and a rest. At 2PM we headed over to the House of Blues and picked up our certificates. Pretty impressive that they had the 9,400 finisher certificates finished and in alpha order just a few hours after the race!

I was feeling pretty good Monday morning so I went for a run and met up with Tom. We got a nice 5 miles or so in. Spent Monday and Tuesday at the parks before heading home on Wednesday.

It was great seeing everyone. The 5K on Saturday was a riot - arrgggghhh. The dinner at Mimi's was great. Thanks again Julie for setting that up. Had a nice time at our first and probably only trip to DL. It's just much easirer for us to go to WDW.

This same weekend next year we are planning on going to Philadelphia for the Distance Run. Another really nice half marathon. It would be great if we can get a good turnout of DD's for that.

ORN: Resting today for my first 20 miler tomorrow. It's supposed to be mid 60's, raining with 15 mph winds. I miss the CA weather!

Dave Lawrence Buffalo, NY