My best friend, Bri, was in town this week, so we were very busy.  I picked her up at the airport on Monday and we had a late lunch at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill at Clearwater Beach.  I ran 5.49 miles that night.  The next day we headed to Disney, starting at Epcot for the Flower & Garden Festival and ending at the Magic Kingdom with dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant.  I am counting 14 hours of Disney as a substitute for 40 minutes of cross training.  ;)  We spent the next day at Discovery Cove, swimming and relaxing.  I wrongly assumed our hotel would have a gym in which I could do my "Tempo B" workout, but alas they did not.  I was going to try to run on the street that night (and even Thursday morning), but I was still exhausted from Disney - I also had the thought that it's not like I sat on a couch all day and watched TV.  Friday was her last day here and we were recovering from a raucous Thursday night (not having one of those until the marathon is over!) with a massage and then it was to the airport to see her off.  By the time I got home through poor traffic, it was late (and I was still tired).  I walked all the way to the gym and turned around - I did not feel like it was going to happen.  This morning I ran 8 miles in 80 minutes and it was a little warm, but felt good.

If not, it at least gives the illusion of being harder.  There is a small lake near his house and we run laps around it.  This is another refreshing aspect that reminds me of high school track - the laps, that is...not the small lake.  It does not look refreshing.

On Wednesday, I ran with my two friends with whom I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February.  We ran-walked 8 miles, which involved Victoria keeping the pace - 1 minute running , 4 minutes walking.  It was a different workout for me - I usually just run - and it was pretty challenging in terms of my body not being used to that kind of movement.  Aerobically, I was in great shape.  My other running friend, Morgan,  is running a marathon in about a week, so this method is how she is tackling the second half.  She plans to run the first half.  At our pace, with this method, I would finish a marathon in 6 hours, which isn't bad considering my tertiary goal for London is under 5 hours - the first two goals being finish, and have fun.

Yesterday was my first day of dog-sitting for a friend and co-worker.  When I got to her house, I leashed up Sherman and Stella - her two pitbulls - and headed out.  This was my second run with Stella and Sherman.  She just adopted Stella from a rescue a few months ago, so I had taken her out for a test run by herself that month.  I run with a leash in each hand, with one dog on each side.  I ran past a school where kids were walking around a track and the dogs got lots of catcalls.  Sherman especially always gets the compliments.  Overall, a nice, diverse week of running.

So...on my day of "rest" I woke up at 8 am, drove to Walt Disney World, went to Animal Kingdom, checked into the Art of Animation Resort - Lion King Suite - and then went to Hollywood Studios.  I hit the sack around midnight. 

But, I still got up to run the next morning...I just ran out of steam at 40 minutes (supposed to go for 50) and might have had a blister from some new flip flops I decided to wear the day before.  The map isn't super accurate because I ran in parking lots, sidewalks, paths and such - I'm pretty sure I ran over 4 miles - it was about 43 minutes.  I'm proud of still exercising while on vacation and everyone else was sleeping in.  For the next day, similar to the week before, I considered 12 hours of theme-parking to pass for my 30 minutes of cross training.