ToT Report: Awesome, in a word. If that's enough for you, delete now.
Details below.

Dawn and I left northern Michigan Wednesday night (leaving envious husbands
at home), caught a plane in Grand Rapids on Thursday morning, and were
happily on our way! Her son and DIL picked us up at the airport, so I
missed the Magical Express experience which I thought I'd be trying out for
the first time.

We spent Friday in Magic Kingdom, which was dressed to the hilt for Hallowe
en. I had hoped we could go to the party, but her obligations with her kids
made that a no-go. We went to DTD to pick up packets in the afternoon, and
was very surprised at the lack of organization there. I didn't bother with
the long line for "merchandise", but the line to pick up the unlimited ToT
pins was short as was the packet registration line (thankfully). I ended up
with two bibs in my packet, so I had to return later to give one back and
check on MY number, making sure they had it right in the computer, and I had
the right one. The extra number that I had belonged in the next number's
packet, which fortunately had not been picked up yet. Can you imagine
picking up your packet and later finding out there's no bib in it??? LOL!
Magic Kingdom was awesome all decked out, and I took lots of photos (which I
haven't loaded into the computer yet)........and was very crowded. We did
several rides (liked the new Pirates ride), and had lunch before we headed
downtown for packets.

Saturday morning we had breakfast with a group from another list (the Disney
Deads) - breakfast at GF was awesome, and most definitely a MUST DO at
future encounters. When I walked in to GF, I was approached by a hotel
person who questioned my DD shirt (designed by one of the "Deads", black
tech shirt with a running skeleton with Mickey ears on the front, and on the
back was the same skeleton from his back running, and Carpe Viam written on
it -- Seize the Road) ! With my punky spiked (sort of) hair and "evil"
black shirt, she must have thought I was some freaky person she didn't want
in her hotel! LOL! I explained the shirt, she didn't throw me out , and
thankfully there were others arriving in the same shirts a bit later! I
totally enjoyed meeting members of the list that I'd read for so long.
Finally, I put faces (and personalities, LOL) with names. The Disney
characters (Pooh, Tigger, Pluto I think, The Mad Hatter, and Alice from
Wonderland) were awesome, and the waiter told me they must have liked our
group because they were spending more time with us that anywhere else! The
Mad Hatter was an absolute stitch! I forget what I ate, but I didn't go
away hungry and it was worth every penny. I couldn't quite do blue martini
s with glow cubes at 8 am tho! LOL! There was 19 in our group, 2 kids, and
we had a blast. Definitely a must do for future encounters.

The rest of Saturday, we just kinda vegged. It was drizzly outside, so I
took a nap in the afternoon, and got ready for the race. Fortunately for us
we had transportation (Dawn's kids had tickets to the party, and they lived
about 30 minutes from WDW), and having experienced those traffic issues at
RFTT and the Komen events I insisted we arrive early because I knew there
would be a traffic jam. The race was fun, altho I was cautious about
running/walking/overdoing because of the newly diagnosed torn meniscus. I
had the ok from my orthopod to go and do (he said "go ahead, but you'll
probably pay for it the next day" --- so I WORRIED, for a MONTH). I hadn't
reveiwed the MRI results fully yet with him (did that when I got home -- no
surgery at this point unless it really bothers me). Fortunately, the knee
held and I had no significant problems because of the tear before, during,
or after (dr was surprised) (just struggled from lack of training for the
last month, worrying about "blowing" my knee out). I finished considerably
slower than the last 8 mile I did. That was ok. I worried that I wouldn't
be able to walk on Sunday, but it was FINE and I worried for nothing!!!! I
should have run faster and longer and not worried about it! We were ready
to get out of the perspiration soaked clothes after the run, so we didn't
hang around for "rides" that were open. It was 96% humidity and about 73
degrees.........a sauna for this thick blooded northerner! We just wanted
showers, QUICK! Dawn's son saw Joey Fatone at the finish -- I was bummed to
have missed that!

Other than the transportation issues, I thought Disney did a pretty good job
with the run, although I expected a bit more spooky prank type stuff from
WDW on this run as it was advertised. The shirts were advertised as "glow
in the dark", but had just a few small spots of reflective material on the
ToT logo on the front -- disappointing. I wore my Disney Deads shirt, which
was much more fun and provoked many comments and requests for information to
buy one (not available). There were 4 water stations, the last two were
supposed to have GatorAde (or maybe it was PowerAde), but I found it only at
the last one, which was kind of late. I liked running the track at WWoS.
The first 3 miles were very congested it seemed to me, but I'm very solitary
runner, and Unaccustomed to "running in a pack". I kept trying to get over
to the right edge and stay out of the way, but they just kept coming up on
my right! It made me a little nervous that I would crash into someone! Or
be in someone's way! And I have such tunnel vision when I run, that I miss
a lot of "scenery" that other people see! All in all tho, it was a fun run.
..........and I'd do it again if I can affort to get to WDW more than one
time a year! I'd have enjoyed it way more without the knee worries!

I met one of my kids (son, wife, 2 grandkids) from Jacksonville on Sunday.
Had a great lunch at Rainforest, and shopped for a few things to take home,
just spending as much time with them as I could. DIL is registered for the
Goofy with me, and it was fun to see them. We don't get to see the
grandkids enough! I went to EPCOT after they left, but it was so crowded
that all I did was see the new CircleVision at Canada and then went back to
my room to watch the fireworks from the balcony of Aruba.

We flew home late Monday morning..................with a LONG layover in
Memphis (which we knew about).............then at departure time we had
delay after delay after delay. Ended up changing planes.........and pilot
too, since he had timed out by then. We arrived in Grand Rapids 3 hours
late (12:30 am instead of 9:30 PM). Our intention was to drive home (3.5
hours) and work on Tuesday. NOT! We stayed over with my daughter and her
family (who, thankfully, picked us up at the airport and gave us beds to
sleep in --- my grandson has the BEST BED IN THE WORLD!!!). Another fun
thing: I picked up my suitcase from the carousel, and the zipper popped
open ----------- clothes sprawling all over. People were grabbing my
clothes and throwing them on the floor so they wouldn't take a trip aound
the carousel! Note to self: pack all dirty laundry in a bag and THEN put
it in the suitcase. Sheesh!

When I got home, my husband's assistand fire chief had died suddenly (same
day as our race) and we had visitation/funeral responsiblities. It was very
hard on him, he was truly his right hand man and will be very difficult to
replace. Friends just can't be replaced at all, but he's going to have to
have a new assistant chief. On top of it all, he was sick. Every try to
give a eulogy when you can't talk, and you're grief stricken too? I've seen
my DH cry just 4 times in the 47 years we've been married. This was one of
those times.

Then Ryan Shay. The funeral is Saturday, 20 miles from my home, actually it
s in my HOME TOWN where I grew up. It will be huge. Northern Michigan is
in shock. This is just so sad. And, it makes me wonder .......... If this
can happen to an fit elite athlete like him, what am I trying to do???? I
know, it was a freak thing, but it sure is sad. My condolences to the
family..........and the running community!

I missed a couple of encounters that I had anticipated............why is it
that time flies by SO fast when you are at WDW??? Unbelievable. I'm still
planning on the Goofy in January. I'm probably going to be doing either the
half or the full, likely not both. Just haven't decided which way it's
going to go. I lucked out and revised my room reservation while at WDW,
and got a 30% discount on our reservation for January!!!! I had to change
from CBR to POR (requested Oak Manor Mansion), but that's ok. And, although
I didn't HAVE to, I changed from 6 nights to 5. My reservation went from
just over $1000 for 6 nights, to $586 for 5 nights (104 per night, plus
taxes - 117 per night at a moderate!). I can sure handle that!

So is it time to set up encounters for Goofy?? Or are there some already
planned that I don't know about?

My ToT photos are at www.asiorders.com bib number 417 if you want to see..
...........

Louise, MI