So this weekend, Columbus held its Capital City Half Marathon, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city of Columbus. Over 2000 competitors came to run in the marathon. 13 miles sounds grueling, and rightfully so. Yet despite this, over 2000 citizens came out and showed their stuff during the race.

Among these brave souls is Kay.

There were so many runners, that it was separated out into different completion-timed corrals. Here’s a few photos in the sea of runners:

Here are a few more shots of Kay’s Chorral.

During the run, there were various things that I learned… from the different ways people dress to ensure that their families could find them in the race…

… to the importance of cheering for our runners. Having completed over 8 miles, it was difficulty enough to keep your feet moving, but it was inspiring seeing little kids give cheers of encouragement and high-fives to runners. It’s never a wrong time to encourage people. I even had one lady come up to me and say “You’re the one. You’re going to be my supporter!”. So I cheered her on to the finish line.

And a few more general shots.

Kay was finished! Awesome job for the first half marathon! Tired, sore, and determined to do better, Kay rushes off for more training. A real trooper and champion!

Later that evening.. supermoon!

Moral of the day: You never know how you can encourage people whom are on arduous journeys. When we can, extend a helping hand to help those in need. Through your life and action, give others the strength to push forward!

And, of course. Run. Next year, I may find myself on the pavement with my best running shoes.

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I’m continuing my foray into gardening. Some of my plants have manifested, and others.. are works in progress. I’ve also realized that I need to plan out my planting much better. Failure to do so causes a ton more work later. I may even expand into a gardening section to just cover those elements. Who knows! But what am I growing, you ask? Anything and everything. Mostly vegetables, but also fragrant flowers. My recent interest in gardening and landscaping has inspired my mom to be more active in her plants on getting house scenery upgraded as well. We have some cherries and lilacs coming in soon. Should be very exciting!

Here’s the pictures!

So, my new partner in crime, Kay, invited me out to watch her friend Caroline’s Lacrosse team that she’s training. These girls are fairly new to Lacrosse (8th graders). It was my first Lacrosse game, so it was interesting. My brother played Lacrosse in high school, but I was in Kansas City at the time, and unable to see his games.

The team rally at half time.

Hello, Kay!

Coach Caroline addressing her players.

One last rally before the end of the game. Sadly, the girls did not win this one. Perhaps they will use this defeat as a cause for victories down the line!

Updates on the plants:

Herbs from the seedling kit that I shot a month ago.

Japanese radishes that are badly needing transplanting. Will do that soon.

These guys were transplants from store-raised plants. Despite the hot-cold weather we’ve had, it’s survived pretty well.

My experiment with strawberries in topsy-turvy kits. The weather’s confused the strawberries to form fruit way too early.

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I will update with any further news as it comes.

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Pictured here: Pork and veggie egg rolls, Columbus Box, and a kalbi piece from the Columbus Box.

The food was very good!

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Among the things that I’ve been working on is to make this year one of the years I can look back upon as the year I made things happen! During a conversation with a good friend of mine, we made a promise to each other that this would be the year we set out to do what we want to do, and not let anything hold us back. This was the year to not settle!

No start’s without its challenges. One of the recent things that has happened was being told by my doctor that I have been eating very poorly and really need to take my health much more seriously. As a result, I’ve been much more diligent in pursuing healthier eating habits as well as increased work outs. In the last three weeks, I’m dropped 10 lbs. It’s still a work in progress.

At any rate, 2012! The year for kicking ass and taking names! It must be an awesome year!

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Tomorrow, we head back to Ohio, so no updates about Orlando after that.

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The first stop is at the animation studios. They demonstrated how they illustrated the Disney movies that everyone have come to know.

After the short show about Disney animation, we made our way to the Pixar portion and onto the Toy Story shooting gallery. While a lot of fun, the ride wasn’t really worth the 70 minute wait time…

After the ride, we decided to run off to the Disney Special Effects Backstage Tour, which gave a behind-the-scenes look at how movies employ special effects to create action sequences. Included on this ride was a demonstration, and then a tram-guided tour of props and sets used in previous movies as well as in shows at Disney.

One of the things they pointed out is that they can replicate any cityscape seamlessly. In this example, the good folks at Disney created a replica of New York City. The actual cityscape is a cutout, and it seems like it goes for city blocks, but it actually ends a few feet after the police barricades.

We wanted to check out the star wars show and the indiana jones stunts, but we found the 70+ minute wait time per show to be a bit much, so we parkhopped to Epcot for lunch, then we  hopped off to the Magic Kingdom. As you can see in the background, there is Cinderella Castle.

After a few scenic pictures, we headed out to Adventure Island to check out the Pirates of the Carribean adventure.

A few more scenic shots…

After the park closed, the Disney cast did a quick show celebrating the holidays.

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