Getting Back in the Game

After about 5 months of pain, I'm finally on the mend. I'm in physical therapy now for a patellar tracking issue and my doctor has cleared me to do whatever activity I want to do (as long as I'm smart about it)!!!!

Now I'm looking at what race will be my comeback race. Any suggestions?

Next Steps

Thanks for all the love on the previous post! My x-rays came back normal so it's not a fracture, it's a soft tissue problem.

I schedule my first physical therapy appointment today with a German doctor for next week. So, I'll keep you guys posted. But for now, I'm just trying to find some exercises that don't bother me.

:(

It kills me to write this post. For a while, I have been experiencing knee pain while running. I saw a doctor about a month ago and he said it was just a tracking issue with my patellar tendon. So I did what he said, did some exercises, taped it, even wore a knee brace that was supposed to help it. Nothing worked. I took two weeks off of marathon training to hopefully heal it. I went for a run on Sunday and still massive pain. I can't even make it through 5 minutes without limping. So, I had another doctor's appointment Monday. New doctor. I explained everything to him, he preformed some tests on me and thinks it may be a torn meniscus. I had an X-Ray Tuesday (and I'm waiting for the results). If it comes back normal, then I'll have an MRI and start physical therapy. But the doctor flat out said no marathon in November. I am crushed by this as my husband and I have already registered for the Athens Classic Marathon (the Original!). I may be able to run the 10k but that will depend on how I progress.

Spain in Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Spain back in June and July

Hola

I realize it's been a while since I last updated so here's what's been going on. My parents planned their annual visit to see us and we all met up in Spain for two weeks. The weather was fabulous and sunny. I don't think it rained at all while we were there. I even came back with a tan!! I'll post more on Spain and our adventures later but since then, it's been back to the real world meaning Marathon Training has started. But that also means new skirts!!! Once they come in, I'll post pictures.

Disneyland Paris Day 2

The second day of DLP, we drove because we were going to be leaving to head home after our time at the park. We again arrived early so we could grab breakfast and then get in line for Crush's Coaster at Walt Disney Studios (the DHS of Paris). This coaster is so popular that everyone starts lining up before rope drop and it was totally worth the wait. You are basically riding a turtle shell through the EAC so you need to "Rip it, roll it and punch it" (not really, I just love that quote). The downside to this ride is, there are no Fast Passes. If you go, this needs to be one of the first rides you hit.

After hanging down under, we grabbed Fast Passes for Tower of Terror and then rode Rock n Roller Coaster. Unlike Disney World, Rock n Roller Coaster did not have a story behind it. It was a coaster that was in the dark with lights flashing like a concert and again Aerosmith music. Orlando's is better. Tower of Terror hasn't been updated yet so it's just the three drops. Again, Orlando's is better. So, after all this, we decided it was lunchtime. We tried out Cafe des Stars. This was pretty fun because there is a life size Remy that comes out under a waiter's tray and he can bust a move! <3

We meandered around, met some characters including Gaston, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumm, Remy and Emile. We then caught Lights, Motors, Action. I was a little disappointed because the videos I've seen made it seem more action packed. But it was interesting and good to get off our feet for a bit. We then caught the Stars and Cars parade.

Toy Story Car

Mary Poppins's Car

The Villain Car

After the parade, we had decided that it was time to make our way home. I think for our next trip, we will just ride Crush's Coaster and then spend the rest of the day at Disneyland Park. It was a wonderful birthday trip :)

If anyone has questions about Disneyland Paris, let me know. It was difficult to plan what to do when there is not a lot of information available.

Disneyland Paris Day 1

For my birthday, my husband took me to Disneyland Paris for the weekend!!

Too excited to keep my eyes open

Couple things to note: Fast Passes are only for 30 minute windows, there are no Mickey Ice Cream Bars or Dole Whips and ear hats are not as big of a thing. :(

Disney always makes me happy (who can't be happy at Disney) but visiting a new park just added that much more excitement. We attempted to plan our trip but there wasn't a lot of information available. So we did the best we could. Prior to our trip, Brian had made reservations at Cafe Mickey with a cake for my birthday so we had one meal set. We stayed off property because it was way too expensive to stay on property and then just took the RER, a Paris commuter train, to the park. We didn't sleep well the night before so we were up early and ready to go. We caught an earlier train and wandered Disney Village (DLP's Downtown Disney). They had a Starbucks, McDonald's, Earl of Sandwich, Rain Forest Cafe and several Disney shops and other Disney themed restaurants, including Cafe Mickey.

We grabbed some coffee and continued our exploration. We also saw a lot of people entering the Parks so we tried our luck at it.

We made it in and only got as far as the bridge to Discoveryland (Tomorrowland) before we were stopped. While waiting, we worked on our game plan. The plan was for me to take the tickets and sprint to Space Mountain for Fast Passes. Brian would come along at a normal pace and take pictures. We would then get in line for Star Tours. This was not everyone's idea as I was the first and only person at the Fast Pass distribution. Everyone else was running for the main line. We rode Star Tours (which has not been redesigned) and the took on Space Mountain, which is a real roller coaster. WOW! I loved it and yes, we rode it again.

Phantom Manor

We also took on Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion), which tried to be more spooky than fun and Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril (I wouldn't recommend it without a Fast Pass). By then it was lunch time. It had been so long since we've had a normal hot dog. We live in Germany, there are no hot dogs here, they'll all brats. With that in mind, we decided to eat at Casey's Corner. Not as good as the Orlando one but still hit the spot.

We then took to Fantasyland and It's a Small World. The teacups broke down just before we were able to ride as did the train. We decided to do Space Mountain again and ran into some interesting characters (literally!) like the White Rabbit, Frollo and Abu.

 

We also caught a ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is more popular because it the only kid friendly coaster.

We then made our way out of the park to Cafe Mickey for dinner!

Dole Whip shirt and wine

Cafe Mickey is character dining so we had fun being kids again. 

Dinner was good and Mickey presented me with my cake. 

We then went back to the park to watch the fireworks :)