October Charity of the Month: Pulmonary Hypertension Association

Charity of the Month is the way Team Tizzel is helping to support some very worthy organizations. As part of this program, we will dedicate a post to a charity that we will sponsor through the month by donating Holly's training run money

September: We sponsored National Brain Tumor Society - Orange County Brain Walk to support a friend's first 5K ever to celebrate her recovery after discovering and removing a brain tumor this spring. We are also supporting a young friend on her journey through treatment. Our donation of $125 will help research endeavors. To donate, please click this link.
Pulmonary Hypertension Association

Our friend Dan, whom we met through Team AllEars, is the greatest marathoner that ever lived. Well, those are his words. If you get beyond his amazing amount of humbleness you will actually find a pretty nice guy. Holly's shared a few miles of road with him in various races and he even helped Holly escort Dave into the Magic Kingdom for Dave's first half marathon. While Dave was violently ill one Disney Marathon Weekend he was part of Holly's lap around Epcot entourage. He loves to still remind us about Dave puking right before Fireworks in Epcot (due to violent illness not booze).



This year Dan is doing his first night race. He is using this race as a vehicle to raise funds and awareness for Pulmonary Hypertension. In his words from his fundraising page: 

This November, I will take on a new running challenge as I attempt to complete my first night race - the WDW Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I’m happy to announce that a new challenge brings a new cause to support - and this time it’s more personal for Team Rajnik.

Since 2010, Diane’s mother, Betsie, has been battling a rare disease known as Pulmonary Hypertension (PH). PH is essentially having high blood pressure of the arteries between your heart and your lung.

PH is a tricky disease; it is very difficult to diagnose and treatment is complicated, expensive and not always successful. We are fortunate and grateful that Betsie has access to the doctors she needs and has responded well to her medications. Many others do not have access to or cannot afford medical care, and that’s why we are big supporters of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA). PHA strives to make the lives of PH sufferers better through promoting support, education, research, advocacy and awareness.

This year, I’m dedicating my race and my fundraising to PHA – both to celebrate Betsie’s achievements and to recognize the ongoing challenges of PH. I’ve set a goal to raise $1,300 for PHA ($1,300 for 13 miles!). I’m hoping to get one hundred of my family/friends/people-who-pretend-to-be-my-friends to donate just $13 each (of course, more is welcome).

I know $1,300 is a lofty goal. So to motivate any potential donors out there, I’m offering to run the WDW Wine & Dine Half Marathon as a zebra, if I reach my goal. That’s right, for only $13, you too can be part of my most embarrassing race ever, and all for a great cause.

Why a zebra? In medical school, doctors are taught to associate common symptoms with common ailments through the saying, "When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." Pulmonary hypertension is a medical zebra. Just as a zebra sounds like a horse, PH often looks like something more common like asthma, COPD, sleep apnea or obesity. As a result, it typically takes years for a patient to receive their PH diagnosis and to begin life-saving treatment. The PH community uses the Zebra as its symbol since, for the PH sufferer, "sometimes it IS a zebra."

Let's make this happen. Click here for Dan's Crowdrise page.

Disney World September 2015 - Part 1

The last couple of years Labor Day Weekend has meant a long weekend at a marthon destination. During this time of year Holly has been in races in Oregon, Idaho, and Disneyland. We decided to switch it up this year and make an extended weekend trip to Disney World. We figured the late calendar placement of the holiday this year would lead to really low crowds. We knew rain/hurricane season could be a problem but decided to take the risk.

We spent our entire trip at The Polynesian Resort in a DVC (Disney timeshare) studio. Holly used TouringPlans.com fax service to request a specific room and it worked! We ended up on the third floor of Moorea with a Magic Kingdom View (we paid for the park view, the service helped to get us on the right floor and section far from the elevator and ferry boats) in the exact room number requested. This location is perfect for accessing the monorail to Epcot and ferry boats to Magic Kingdom.

 

We made it down to Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace in time to catch the Electrical Water Pageant and Wishes fireworks. We enjoyed the live music from the singer/guitarist. There are a few key tables for the better Wishes viewing and we kept moving up as people got buzzed inside to the main bar. We had our dinner from the Trader Sam's menu: tacos, lettuce wraps, sausages in corn dog batter, and pot stickers. Out of all of those items the sausages were the best. After eating we grabbed a buzzer to get a seat inside. When we were buzzed in we didn't have any seats - spare spots were at booths occupied by folks. Luckily people left the bar and we hunkered down in really uncomfortable barstools and ordered our Nautilus. This is a drink for two served in a vessel shaped like the submarine. We bought the souvenir glass to take home.

This was our second time visiting this Trader Sam's location (the original is in Disneyland) and we are kinda over it. The inside is cramped and a hassle to get into. When it is full the drink skits every two minutes get to be too much. A lot of the signature drinks taste the same and you can't get full bar offerings like decent bourbon. The Tiki Terrace offers a much more relaxing experience along with live music.

The next morning we had a huge breakfast at Kona then took off for Epcot. We arrived a few minutes after the turnstiles opened and we were able to just breeze in and get right on Spaceship Earth (golf ball). We had already decided Soarin' would not be on our itinerary so we took our time going over to The Living Seas. We made a detour at The Character Spot when we noticed a standby wait of ten minutes posted. It was actually a walk-in. Three quick character photos and off we went.

We took our time in The Sea Pavilion looking at the fish,dolphins, and manatee and even caught the Turtle Talk with Crush show. We headed over to Journey into Imagination for the obligatory ride with Figment. We then went over to Mission Space and Test Track before heading over to World Showcase.

We visited Duffy for what may be the last times. His meet and greet spot is going away but we are not sure if he is leaving as well. We decided to skip the La Cava margarita stop (shocking) in favor of having beers instead. Dave stopped in Germany for an Oktoberfest while Holly grabbed a Yuengling from The Outpost. We chose to enjoy our beers on a bench and watch the Friendship Boats go by.

Lunch was at Via Napoli. We found a formula of how to order just the right amount of food: order of calamari and one small quattro frommage pizza. We skipped the heavy La Rossa beers in favor of the frozen limoncello. Food was awesome but it took a long time to get our pizza.

We were debating whether to watch the Morocco band or the Scottish Folk band in England. Since we have never seen the Paul McKenna Band we headed to the UK Pavilion. They were good for the 8 minutes they played - Paul broke a string and cut the show short. With that, we left the park and headed back to the resort for pool time. When we arrived at the Poly we found the pool closed due to lightning nearby. Plan B: Tiki Terrace and a Lapu Lapu. Eventually the pool opened up and we spent a few minutes enjoying the break before heading back to Epcot.

Back in Epcot we took another World Showcase lap and made the La Cava stop this time. We took our time browsing some stores while sipping our Classic and San Angel. We stopped in the Rose and Crown so Dave could try the Macallan flight (12, 15, and 18 year old scotch). The Hat Lady was performing and the crowd was into it. While standing there some 80's hits were audible - maybe form outside? No, the guy next to us was playing his iPod through a speaker in his bag. Stupid hipsters.

Dinner was at Le Celier in the Canadian Pavilion. This is not one of our favorites but we figured we would try again. We shared poutine and had bison and filet mignon for main courses. The food was better than the last time but our server was a little lacking. Probably won't hurry back. Afer dinner the park was closed so back to the resort to relax and prepare for the next day.