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  • Motherhood: I Didn’t Quit My Office Job For My Kids
    Life

    Motherhood: I Didn’t Quit My Office Job For My Kids

    ByLisa August 28, 2018August 28, 2018

      As I continue to write here about the day-to-day life that we create and my choices and experiences leading up to any given moment, and as more and more mothers from every walk of life read this ongoing story, it becomes more and more important to me for you to understand not only why…

    Read More Motherhood: I Didn’t Quit My Office Job For My KidsContinue

  • Life

    Our Dialogues with Pain: Ovarian Torsion, Surgical Menopause, and Identity

    ByLisa August 26, 2018

    Today we’re going to change tack. A lot. And talk about that day last spring when everything and nothing changed. It was April 5, 2018. My husband was traveling for work and it was otherwise a normal Thursday morning before school with the boys. I’d woken up a little crampy but dismissed it as muscle…

    Read More Our Dialogues with Pain: Ovarian Torsion, Surgical Menopause, and IdentityContinue

  • Beating the Heat in Disney World: Comfort and Beauty in the Happiest Place on Earth
    Beauty | Disney

    Beating the Heat in Disney World: Comfort and Beauty in the Happiest Place on Earth

    ByLisa August 24, 2018August 24, 2018

    If you’re like most (women), at some point in planning your Walt Disney World trip (or, in the case of a local, in planning to leave the house), it’s probably going to cross your mind that your beauty routine is going to have to stand up to the – hottest – place on earth. Even…

    Read More Beating the Heat in Disney World: Comfort and Beauty in the Happiest Place on EarthContinue

  • MNSSHP 2018: Everything You Need to Know for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
    Disney

    MNSSHP 2018: Everything You Need to Know for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

    ByLisa August 20, 2018August 20, 2018

    All you need to know for this year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

    Read More MNSSHP 2018: Everything You Need to Know for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween PartyContinue

  • Anatomy of a Magic Kingdom After Hours Event
    Disney

    Anatomy of a Magic Kingdom After Hours Event

    ByLisa August 14, 2018April 20, 2019

    A review of the various Magic Kingdom after hours events this year.

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  • Celebrating One Year: The Shortest and Longest 365 Days in the History of…Home
    Disney | Life

    Celebrating One Year: The Shortest and Longest 365 Days in the History of…Home

    ByLisa August 11, 2018August 11, 2018

    I went to bed last night knowing that I was waking up to the most wonderful of Facebook memories in the morning. One year ago today we closed on our lovely little home in…Home. One year ago today the “See ya real soon!” sign at the exit to Magic Kingdom became true, instead of something…

    Read More Celebrating One Year: The Shortest and Longest 365 Days in the History of…HomeContinue

  • runDisney Registration: 5 Tips for Using the new runDisney Registration System
    Disney | Running

    runDisney Registration: 5 Tips for Using the new runDisney Registration System

    ByLisa August 3, 2018August 3, 2018

    Race registrations for the runDisney 2019 race weekends were held back for quite some time as Disney changed its registration system from making use of Active.com to being handled fully within the runDisney site. Registrations finally started to roll in again with Marathon Weekend becoming available in late July, and now runDisney devotees everywhere are…

    Read More runDisney Registration: 5 Tips for Using the new runDisney Registration SystemContinue

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Sunday morning run + after. Sunday morning run + after.
My watch lied to me this morning. The first mile My watch lied to me this morning.

The first mile buzzed early. So did the next two. My Garmin had decided that I’d run farther than I had. And if you know Garmin, you know it doesn’t just throw around kindnesses.

For half a second, if I’m being totally honest, I almost took it.

But then I took a beat and thought—why? I’m not doing this run for anybody but myself. Why cut it short for a tech error?

So I ran the full five miles anyway. Tacked the “extra” on at the end, in the heat, to make up the gifted distance I hadn’t actually covered.

I know I’m probably overthinking this, but this little act stayed with me. I’m coming back to a strict running schedule after many months of downtime with my head buried in writing and publishing my book. And it’s amazing how fast I’ve switched back to this version of myself that would finish the actual mileage without a second thought.

No one was auditing my tracking data. The only person who would ever know whether those miles were real was me—and I ran them anyway. My legs decided before my brain had the chance to weigh in. My inner negotiator didn’t even get to start talking.

I should be clear that this wasn’t willpower. Willpower is exhausting and sometimes I don’t have that much of it. It’s something quieter that training builds in you over time: the habit of keeping a promise that you made only to yourself.

You practice it in small, almost silly ways—four-tenths of a mile in the Florida heat. Doing laps in front of your house because it has to end at an even 3.1 or 6.2 or 10 or 20. And then one day you notice it’s followed you home. You stand up a little taller because you’re somebody worth keeping promises to. And you start doing the other, non-running things. The work you kept saying you’d do. The version of your life you kept promising yourself you’d build. It’s sort of my original story, I guess—harnessing running like this—but it’s very much still happening now and it’s hardly unique to me.

If any of this sounds familiar, or appealing, it’s the thread running through Chapter 17 of The runDisney Companion. That chapter was always the seed of something big
Scrapbook from the first day of Food & Wine: 1. Scrapbook from the first day of Food & Wine: 

1. Entrance

#TasteEpcot

2. Seoul, South Korea Bo Ssam Pork Poutine (La Poutinerie)

3. Cinnamon Pretzel Cold Brew (Sommerfest 🇩🇪)

4. Cute new train set details 🇩🇪

5. Spicy Temaki Hand Roll - This and the Wagyu were both excellent. 🇯🇵

6. Wasabi-Soy Sauce-flavored Potato Chips 🇯🇵

7. Before it rained.

8. Katsura

9. Dumplings Trio 🇨🇳

10. Exit

11. Almost home
Update: This contest is closed. 🐊 GIVEAWAY: I’m Update: This contest is closed. 

🐊 GIVEAWAY: I’m teaming up with Wild Florida to give one of you 4 passes, valued at a total of $980, to their Ultimate Wild Florida Experience—a full day exploring a completely different side of Central Florida.

TO ENTER:

✨ Follow @thecastlerunner and @wildfloridairboats
✨ Tag a friend you’d bring
✨ Tell me: which animals are you most excited to meet—the sloths, porcupines, lemurs or capybaras?

Enter up to 3 times with separate comments.

You’ll arrive at 8:30 a.m. and spend the morning getting up close with sloths, porcupines, lemurs AND capybaras with their trainers. Then you’ll break for lunch, followed by a one-hour airboat tour through the headwaters of the Everglades.

After that, you’ll have the rest of the day to explore Wild Florida’s Drive-thru Safari Park and Gator Park, including exhibits, shows, an aviary, and more.

The boys and I did it a few weeks ago and had the best day. My favorites were the airboat tour and hand-feeding a lemur. The boys were huge fans of feeding the birds in the aviary.

Giveaway closes Monday, August 24 at 6pm ET. One winner will be selected at random and contacted first by DM from @thecastlerunner. Once confirmed, the winner will be announced in a pinned comment here. Watch for impersonator accounts. I will never ask you for payment or CC info.

Details: Prize includes 4 Ultimate Wild Florida Experience passes ($980 value). Participants in the Ultimate Experience must be at least 12. All 4 guests must redeem their passes together. Reservations required. Transportation not included. Experiences subject to weather & animal availability. Passes are valid for 12 months.

Open to residents of the 50 United States and D.C., age 18+. Entrants must be following both @thecastlerunner and @wildfloridairboats when the winner is selected. Void where prohibited.

By entering, entrants release Instagram from responsibility relating to this promotion. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.
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