Physical Therapy - Days 8 & 9

We had another beautiful weekend and I'm holding onto summer with both hands. I did my exercises on Saturday and took Sunday pretty much off. Brent and I went to Wildwood for a quick 1.25 mile walk before heading off to dinner with friends. If you like Italian food and haven't tried Dolce Vita in Enola, give it a shot. It's BYOB and the food was pretty good.

Things were a bit tight on Monday. I struggled with seat setting #6 on the Nu-Step and my knee was killing me on the bike. I just cannot get my stinking left knee around without sacrificing form. I always think about what my yoga instructor, Cindy Zubritsky always said. Push it a little further, as far as you can with no sacrifice to form. That would be me on the bike. I'm reconciled to the fact that for now at least my left hip is going to come way up, I do my absolute best to keep my knee coming straight back rather than compensating by bending it in, and my ankle/foot just can't do exactly what it's supposed to.

Tuesday was a really good knee day. The right leg was great and the left leg was at least loose enough that it didn't feel like I was dragging a weight around the middle of my leg. By 7:30-8:00 at night they were tired and a bit stiff, but on the whole, it was a good day. I have my home exercise regimen down pretty good. It takes me about 40 minutes in the morning to do the exercises on my stomach and back. During the day I am very conscious about pulling my knees in as far as I can while I'm sitting. I try to do 30 of the exercises where my knees are pulled in and I stand up and sit down. Then, at night, I do the standing stretches and the ones on my stomach. I am going to start trying to at least rock them on the bike trying to get them around.

Today seems to be another good day. My knees were pretty loose going to PT this morning. Jeff commented that he's puzzled as to why the left knee isn't doing better on the bike. Apparently you need between 100-105 degrees flexion to make it around okay. He feels that I'm very close to getting that with this stinking left leg, but I am really struggling. At the end, he thinks it's the hamstrings being so darn tight. He asked what I did yesterday at home. I went through everything and he was stunned. He said I am certainly doing more than I need to and that he wished even half of his patients would do as much.

I have approved PT sessions 3 days a week through November 18. I guess I just keep pushing on and hope this knee comes around.

Phystical Therapy - Day 7

Today marked my 3rd PT day this week and now I'll be going 3 days a week. Jeff said I'm easily getting about 110 in my right knee; don't know about the left but I'm sure it's not close to that. That being said, however, he's not displeased with the progress I'm making on the left.

He approved my exercise plan for non-PT days, just adding the bike in for those days. I tried the regular bike today and it was a real chore. I have to concentrate on every movement my left leg/ankle/foot makes. Whew, it's a lot of work! It's getting closer, but even if I keep my knee coming back straight, get the correct ankle/foot movements (all of this really makes my knee bend and it hurts!) my hip is still rocking to compensate. Oh well, I guess it just takes time.
Not to mention I'm supposed to take a day off over the weekend. Wahoo! Another guilt-free day off. The important thing is that Jeff feels I'm definitely making good improvement so I think I'll just bask in that for awhile!

A Good Knee Day

Finally. For the first time in a very long time I can honestly say I'm having a pretty good knee day.

Last night was achy and a bit painful so I popped some Advil and Tylenol before bed. I slept pretty good from 11:30-5:30. I know there were a few times I sat up to turn over and a few heat flashes in there, but all in all, it was pretty sound sleep. I gingerly got out of bed like always and was surprised that the knees were feeling pretty loose. I did a series of exercises, got a shower, and now, at 3:00 today, they are still feeling pretty loose.

I spent most of my day in meetings, trying to keep my legs pulled in as far under the chair as I can manage for as long a period of time as I can tolerate it. I'll go through another set of exercises tonight and then hit PT hard again tomorrow.

I'm afraid to hope I'm on the right track and things are finally going to start improving!

Physical Therapy - Day 6 - Tuesday

And another day begins in PT. I prefer doing it in the morning. Perhaps I just became accustomed to it right from the get-go following my surgery. But, despite not being a morning person, I seem to be able to force myself to get up and get 'er done without too much trouble. It's later in the day that I struggle.



The squat machine may not be a hack squat machine. It may be one of these. Regardless, no matter how much time goes by I still don't like it any better.

We picked up my dog collar last night so I was able to do the knee bending and knee extension exercises. Today I learned a trick that might just keep my crazy wacky feet going in the right direction. Since my feet want to turn to the inside, if I position the strap on the inside of my leg it forces the foot to turn out a bit. Not that I can see it of course!

Today was the last of my week long appointments following the MUA (manipulation under anesthesia). Jeff wants to go to 3 times a week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the insurance will extend the therapy. So as of now I'll be going again Thursday morning this week and then M-W-F next week.

I really wish I could go every day. I need the structure and reinforcement I get there to keep me not only physically on track but mentally with the program too.

Conversations With Gwen

Every time I have Gwen, I wish I could record our conversations. Here's a brief sample from Sunday.

We took bread down to the pond to feed the ducks and geese. One duck came flying in from the left, skimmed across the water, but was still separate from the rest of the water fowl:
Gwen: Come on duck, get in there with the rest of the herd!

You may know about the drama of Gwen's latest hair cut. She's such a girly girl and was not happy that her hair ended up way shorter than she wanted it to be.
Me: Gwen, something looks different about you today. Did you get your hair cut?
Gwen: Grandma, that girl just didn't know what to do with naturally curly hair like mine. She didn't even know that it's long when it's wet but the curls make it shorter when it's dry.

We talked about the fact that it's a good thing that hair grows so even though she wasn't happy with it right now, it would grow. On the way home from lunch, Gwen was looking in my rear view mirror:
Gwen: Grandma, I think my hair looks a little longer already. My hair grows really fast. Really it does.

In preparation for the Daily trip to India, Gwen has been struggling to take some pills for typhoid. The pills seemed to be a good option as opposed to a shot, but she is really having a hard time swallowing the things. She got some of them down, but still has a few to go.
Gwen: Grandma, I just can't take those pills. I tried taking them with tic tacs, raisins, and yogurt. Then applesauce worked. But now, those pills just go to the side of my mouth and won't go down my throat.

Yeah, those crazy pills have a mind of their own. As does the lovely Miss Gwen.

Physical Therapy - Day 5 - Monday

I wasn't sure how things would be after taking Saturday off. Sunday I did the general leg lift stuff, and when I went to bed I did the bending stuff. This morning things were tight, the left leg especially.

I find that PT is a very strange thing. Sometimes when you think things aren't going so well, they really are going okay. Perhaps this has been a continuing theme with me, but since I had to have the manipulation, I do feel somewhat vindicated. Anyway, my left knee struggled with the closest seat setting on the Nu-Step machine this morning. Very tight, somewhat painful. The other exercises, with the exception of the squat machine went well. I have a hate/hate relationship with this machine. Same problems as Friday: legs don't bend enough, butt doesn't go down far enough to increase the bend, and $#@! legs struggle to push myself up. Grrrrrr. The balance ball thingy went great. No problems standing without holding, and I was able to go from side to side without holding on much. Going back and forth required some holding on, but I think I'll do okay with that too.

Then came the stretches on my stomach. The therapist was giving me a little extra push which hurt, but he seemed really pleased. He said he thought for sure I was over 90 degrees on the right and very close on the left. That's a good thing.

Jeff worked with me then and as expected is very pleased with the right knee, not as pleased with the left. But, he did feel as though we've made good progress on the left knee. I have to buy a dog collar tonight to use as a strap. Jeff wants me to do the "lay on your stomach and bend your knee up using the strap to bend it more" exercise three times a day.

Ugh, there's a couch thing in the ladies room, but the thought of laying on that for anything is like a germophobe's nightmare. I guess I can bring a sheet or something in to cover it. I'm supposed to do this morning, noon, and night and I suppose I can bite the bullet and do it once at work. Yuck.

Tomorrow morning is my last scheduled PT session but Jeff is hoping to get it extended so I can go in 3 times a week. I really hope this is approved because I finally think I'm making some progress. I'd like that to continue. I'm clearly not where I need to be yet and seriously, I need to continue.

Relaxing Weekend

Wow - a Saturday where I didn't have to get up and get with the PT program. A night where I didn't have to kill myself yet again. Where to start. Hmmmm. How about the hot tub for breakfast. Putter around with some laundry, run a few errands, yes a leisurely day. Out to El Rodeo with the neighbors for dinner and then to the movies to see Secretariat. A good, clean, interesting family film. All in all, a great day.

Sunday morning was spent with the lovely Miss Gwen. A chatty breakfast at home, a word search, and a few puzzles in the puzzle book done together. We gathered up all the lawn ornaments and made a parade on the picnic table before putting them away in the garage. Gwen brought bread and we fed the ducks and geese. I can tell the migration started. Lots of geese and honestly, I don't think we ever fed them at the pond before. Quite a noisy bunch! Gwen sketched out two halloween cards she wanted to make and we did get one done before leaving for Isaacs for lunch. Gwen loves Isaacs...and Old Country Buffet. I picked the lesser of two evils! LOL! It was a great start to the day.

My folks came over for dinner and as the "gentlemen" had their cigars and drinks, Mom and I opted for hot fudge sundaes at 3B. Yummylicious.

Oh, and I also finished watching the Blind Side. I started it Saturday before dinner and finished watching last night. What a great movie.

All in all, a fantastic weekend.

Physical Therapy - Day 4 - Friday

I'm sore. I think it's because I'm trying to consistently sit in my chair with my knees drawn back as far as I can get the little suckers. Not to mention the challenging PT!

Hit PT this morning and worked with Juanita and Jeff overseeing. Someone else set up the Nu-Step this morning and I wasn't really paying attention. She started the seat at position 8. I did my 3 sets of 5 minutes each, moving the seat forward each time. By seat position 6, I was grimacing. While the pain in my left knee wasn't terrible, it was definitely challenging and my left knee was really stretching tight with some pain. Afterward Juanita told me that yesterday I did them at position 10-9-and 8. No wonder it was challenging today! But, it is progress isn't it?

Two new items were added today: a hack squat machine and a bosu ball.

This squat machine isn't exactly like what we used, but close enough. I hated it. It was hard to keep my knees at 90 degrees, hard to keep my feet from turning out, and hard to get my butt low enough. My legs are typically pretty strong, but I had a really hard time moving and then getting low enough. And did I mention it hurt?

I've seen the bosu balls before but never used one. Obviously the rounded part is on the floor and you're standing on the flat part. Good for core work. Actually I had pretty good balance on the sucker, and then I went side-to-side and front-to-back. It wasn't bad.

You wouldn't think it would be hard to lay on your stomach and bend your legs up to your butt. But, aside from the obvious knee issues, my traitorous feet just don't go right. I couldn't figure out what it should feel like so I could repeat it, but it appears as though my feet were turning in. I don't know. Actually I'm confused about this other than the fact that they just weren't coming straight back. It's hard to fix something when you a) can't see it, and b) can't tell what it should feel like.

I finished up on the Sci-Fit on seat position 8-7-6. Jeff was really pleased with the form on my left leg. Hip down, knee straight, and the ankle moving the correct way, with the knee flexing the way it is supposed to - a good finish. He said it's the first time that my knee was flexing on this bike the way it should. I'm really happy with my progress there.

The best part of the whole morning was Jeff telling me I did a great job and that I should take tomorrow off and have a light day on Sunday. He's definitely high on my list of favorite people right now, although he did end by saying we'd hit it really hard again on Monday. This never happened during my previous therapy and I drove myself crazy trying to do two sets of PT every single day for four months until I was just physically and mentally beat. Jeff said sometimes it's best to let the inflamation settle a bit and that I wouldn't suffer any setback this way. I am so looking forward to the weekend and I will be ready to do whatever it takes again on Monday.

Physical Therapy - Day 3 - Thursday

I think things are going well and the therapist seems pleased. Walking requires some thought to get that left leg straightened out, but it's coming along. I don't expect to undo 56 years of funky walking right away!

Today we stretched out the hamstrings and then got on this thing called Nu Step http://www.nustep.com/. I try to concentrate on keeping my left hip down on the seat, the knee coming back straight, and not rolling my ankle. I did 5 minutes each at 3 different seat locations, continually moving forward. It was a little ouchy at the end.

Then I laid down on the table and bent each leg up 10, then lifted the leg straight for 10 and repeated it for 2 sets on each leg. So far so good. Then he added a strap to my leg and had me bend it as far as I could then pull the strap and hold for 15 seconds. Not too bad, right? Yeah, until you continue to pull the strap 2 more times and hold for 15 seconds each. I did 3 on each leg and I have to tell you I left 3 wet marks all over the sheet where my forehead and wrists just sweat ....um...wait, lightly perspired...yeah, that's better. Holy moly.

Then I sat up on the table and he stretched them. This was nothing like my previous physical terrorist where I would end up crying, but it did stretch until it hurt. I was able to help stretch it back further, and Jeff was pleased.

I finished up on this funky recumbent bike, or at least one very similar. It's different than the recumbents I've used at the gym before. It sits more upright but your legs are stretched out. As no good deed goes unpunished, and I did so good yesterday, I started with my seat position one more notch forward. Good so far. Another one of these deals where you go 5 minutes and then move the seat forward again. So, at the end I was as far forward as I've been so far. He liked it so well that for the last minute we moved it up yet one more notch. Yikes. Yeah, that hurt, but I was glad I could do it. I practiced actually pulling my toes up as I made the revolution up, and that really made the knee stretch. Again, Jeff was happy with my progress


Tonight we iced since it was a pretty strenuous workout. I'm scheduled for 8:30 in the morning tomorrow. Just another day in paradise!

Physical Therapy - Day 2 - Wednesday

I continue to be impressed by Jeff Conforti. Despite the surgeon telling me he bent my knees to 120 degrees during the manipulation, they are getting roughly 95 degrees flexion when cold right now. We have discontinued me pedaling my spin bike at home until I get 100 degrees flexion in the left leg. This is because while I have managed to spin, I have sacrificed form to compensate for the fact that I don't have the flexion to really spin correctly. By lifting my left hip, bending my left knee inward, and dipping my ankle down I was able to make the revolution. But I was not making the revolution by correctly bending my leg and not compensating. I hope what I just wrote makes sense when you read it.

Anyway, today we tried to start out on the elliptical but it was evident within the first 2 minutes that it wasn't working due to the lack of flexion. Again, I had to compensate too much form to do it correctly. We nixed that and began doing some stretching exercises, again trying to stretch the hamstring. While I was face down doing one of the exercises, I sensed someone coming to my side. She said, "Donna Gault, I know that's not your last name now. How are you?" It is a small world. Who knew little Shannon Benner would grow up to be such a beautiful physical therapist?!! But I digress. We then went to some equipment and ended up on that funky bike. The good news is that we were able to move the seat forward one more notch at the end. Jeff thinks that we reached 95 degrees flexion today and I'm happy with that. I've got to take every little bit of progress I can as I feel I am all but starting all over.

Physical Therapy

I mentioned before that I was going to try a new physical therapist. I met with Conforti today and I have nothing but good to say so far. He has his PhD. and what a different appointment this was. This wasn't like my other PT sessions where I wamred it all up and the therapist bent the hell out of me. He spent a lot of time checking out the biomechanics of my legs and explaining how things work. I've known for a long time that my legs are funky and that things don't necessarily work the way they should. He just confirmed it and while technically the new knee and all the muscles and everyhing line up, the way they really work doesn't. When he twisted my thigh out and my calf in, amazingly everything bent without pain. I don't completely extend my left leg when I walk. Undoing 56 years of walking a certain way is going to take a lot of concentration.

We talked about how I walk and how I sit and I will be trying to make adjustments. I don't know what kind of bike he had me on today. It wasn't a spin bike and it wasn't a recumbent. Regardless, we worked on form and making my hamstrings stronger. I know that when I'm on the bike my right leg does the work and I compensate on the left because it doesn't want to bend correctly.

I had first appointment on Tuesday, October 12 and will go every day this week and Monday and Tuesday next week. We'll see how I'm doing and more importantly what insurance will pay for. Crazy world where the right thing is determined by an insurance company and not the condition of the patient or the recommendations of the professionals. This will only get worse under Obamacare and was one good reason for doing this now.

Manipulation Under Anesthesia

I was scheduled for this procedure at the Surgical Center in Allentown at 6:15 AM on Monday, October 11. I love it when holdiays like Columbus day come at such a convenient time. We arrived home from Disney, went to GAWT in the Finger Lakes, then home again home just in time for this procedure. The surgeon assures me that this will break down the adhesions (scar tissue) and will give me 120 degrees flexion. I hope he's right.

I think the procedure itself took less than 5 minutes to perform. It took longer to do the IV and knock me out! I do know that he shot the anesthesia stuff into the IV, I kissed Brent good bye, and I don't remember going out the doors from the holding area. That's some powerful shit!

It was a long trip home. I had the ice bags from the surgical center, and Brent brought others so we switched them out on the way home. All day it was 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. I know I cried for about 2 hours straight because my right leg hurt from the ankle to my hip. About an hour into it I took 2 darvocet which knocked me out and took care of the pain. I wasn't in any pain really for the rest of the night. I took one pill before bed just to insure a good night and really, I had the best night's sleep in a week.

All I can say is that I really hope this does the trick.

GAWT VIII

There is just nothing to a year, and with the Lost Summer, it seems like time is rolling along very quickly. It's gonna be Christmas before I blink. 2010 marks the eighth year for our family's Great American Wine Tour (GAWT). It is the best time to touch base with my cousins and keep those connections alive. This year we're doing Cayuga lake...you know...the one made famous in Cornell's song.

Here Bent, Rick, Dad and Mom contemplate their selections.
Memory and Marta were talking and comparing wines until I went to snap a pic and then I couldn't get them to face forward. Grrrr.
The guy doing the pouring was kind of funny until he slopped the wine all over my hand. Maureen, Paul, and Memory were intent on their next selection.

Only mine brither remembered to wear his GAWT shirt. Two years ago we had them made for everyone at Daily Screen Printing (a little plug).

We all gathered at the Cobblestone in Geneva for dinner. My cousins Jaqui, Paula and her husband Bill, and my Aunt Carolyn were unable to join us on the tour this year, but they did come for dinner.

Jaqui, or should I address her now as Dr. Brooks?, just finished her PhD. in physical therapy. Was this good timing or what? She made me feel much better about the upcoming manipulation procedure. She assured me that this was not the result of anything I did or did not do. She finds that the adhesions occur more with young patients who don't get the flexion due to scarring but regain their strength quickly. Unlike older people who regain flexion but take much longer to regain strength. She made me feel better about what was to come, telling me I would be very sore, but nothing like coming out of the surgery with the knee replacements. I pray she's right.

Disney's Wine and Food Festival

I attended this several years ago with Renee when we went to do the Everest Challenge. We had a total blast. We started on the Mexico side of the World Showcase and ate/drank our way to the American Pavillion. Thank goodness we wanted to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play because we were definitely feeling the effects of drinking our way 'round the world.

Brent and I began out day attending one of the Lafitte tastings. It was very interesting...and the price was right! Most of the wine/food pairing meals were out of our price range but we thoroughly enjoyed this lecture/tasting.

We began with beer. Strange, I know. 15 Beers 15 Years had samplers of 3 beers, so we were able to try 6 different ones. I'm not much of a beer drinker and honestly, I only liked one of them. Which meant Brent, my poor beleaguered husband, had to drink the other 5. Poor guy.

This year they have passports which include all the different kiosks and their offerings. You can then get your passport stamped at each stop. Disney makes it very easy for you to spend vast quantities of money without really realizing it with their gift card deal. Just load the card up with $$ charged to your credit card then you can swipe their handy-dandy gift card through the reader making your food/wine transactions much quicker. Add that to the allure of having each kiosk stamp your passport with their unique stamp, and it's the recipe for a very expensive afternoon.

Everyone is so very happy to serve you the food and beverages of their country.

I had no idea that there was a drawbridge and that they brought the Illuminations globe out into the lagoon early in the afternoon.

Hey, ya gotta take a little break from the food and wine or you'll never get around the world!

Wednesday in the Magic Kingdom

Brent and Loren went to the Space Center giving Deb and I a free day to indulge ourselves in the Magic Kingdom. Deb is a huge Tigger fan so she was quite thrilled to find Tigger and Pooh hanging out. And that Tigger was in quite a playful mood. He took Deb's ears and put them on Pooh's nose! Silly tiger.

We couldn't pass over a little shoot 'em up at Buzz Lightyear.

We had dinner at the Wave and out plan was to go back to the Magic Kingdom for the electric parade and Wishes. But honestly, we were just too tired so we opted to head back to our hotel for some champagne and a little hot tub time instead. Yup. Disney has something for eveyone!

I'm Sorry Mickey!

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a Walt Disney World junkie. I love it there. There is just so much to experience for everyone at any age. I like the different parks, the attractions, the hotels, pools, and great restaurants. This one time, I allowed myself to be seduced into going to Universal with the promise of the Harry Potter attractions. I'm sorry Mickey. I tried not to spend much (although the $121/per person fee for both sides of Universal and Islands of Adventure for one day was gasp-worthy), I tried not to enjoy it. Really. I. Did. But, Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey is just the most incredible ride I have ever been on. Ever. I'm sorry Mickey, really I am!

We arrived bright and early and Matt graciously sprang for the valet parking. Hey anything that helped save my knees even a little was most welcome. We started on the Universal side with a few pictures with some characters.

Although I'm not much of a Simpsons fan, this ride was very cool and definitely began the technology that would be used in the Forbidden Journey. Definitely worth doing this one.

ET wasn't open yet when we started, so we did Jaws and Twister. They're okay, a little dated perhaps, but hey, we walked onto every ride in these parks except for the Forbidden Journey. That definitely works for me. Since Jaws is one of Brent's favorite movies we couldn't resist this pic.

Over in Islands of Adventure you find the water rides, the roller coasters (okay, the Hulk was really a great coaster), and the kiddie stuff.

At Matt's suggestion, we had a wonderful lunch at Mithros. It was like eating in a cave. Very cool! Then it was on to Harry Potter. While I absolutely loved the Forbidden Journey, it seems to me that this area wasn't thought out very well. Although I loved Moaning Myrtle in the bathrooms, they didn't take into account the high powered hand dryers that would drown out everything in that cavernous echo chamber and poor Myrtle's moaning sounded like just another kid screeching. Many of the "shops" are just store fronts, not real shops and the real shops are waaaay waaaaay too small for the crowd. Olivanders had a huge line and even the main gift shop was tiny. What were they thinking? You can see from one of the pics below that this area was quite crowded.

We couldn't resist a butter beer even though it wasn't really beer. It had a head, and it tasted like a butterscotchy birch beer. Very sweet.

Regardless, when Kera asked what was the one highlight of our trip, I would have to say it was most definitely Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey. I'm soooo sorry Mickey!

Keys to the Kingdom

I have no pictures from this tour as much of it was behind the scenes where photography is a no-n0. This 5-hour tour was really interesting and included headsets that enabled us to hear our tour guide at all times, two rides, lunch, and tours of behind the scenes stuff.

Disney just pays so much attention to detail, and sometimes they are small things that you might not notice without someone pointing it out to you. Just walking down Main Street puts you on sensory overload so you really do miss many of the finer details such as the names of people and businesses written in the upper story windows. For example when the decision was made to build the theme park in Orlando, many dummy corporations were formed to purchase the swampland properties. Obviously Disney wanted to purchase the land as cheaply as possible and for most of it they were able to purchase the land under $80 an acre. When the word leaked out however, prices skyrocketed to $85,000/acre. Those dummy corp names are written in one of the windows.

There was a lot of talk about everything at Disney just being larger than life. In order to create that illusion, they used forced perspective in the architecture. For example, the spires on the castle are smaller than they really would be to create the illusion of the castle itself being much larger than it really is. They use different architecture and differnt colored pavement to delineate the different "lands" as you go through the park. When there are maintenance buildings behind the storefronts and attractions, they are painted "go away green" and "bye bye blue" so that they disappear into the landscape and sky and you really never notice that they are there. Disney wants you to be totally immersed in the fantasy.

This was a great tour if you have been to Disney before. Using your Disney visa gets you a 20% discount too!

Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon

We left the overcast Harrisburg weather to arrive in Orlando with beautiful blue sunny skies. While we enjoyed sensational weather the entire week, folks at home were inundated with three days straight rain. I'd feel bad about it but quite frankly I consider summer 2010 to be the Lost Summer. I felt like I finally had a week of enjoyable summer days.

Brent and Deb pose for a quick pic on the way into registration. While the expo wasn't as big as it is for the half/marathon/Goofy in January, we still managed to find some things. I picked up several Christmas gifts for Kera. They didn't have my Wright socks though!@#$.

They had samples of this sort of frozen chocolate concoction that wasn't bad. Matt couldn't resist the pose.

The race began at 10:00 PM at Wild World of Sports and finished just outside the International Gateway into Epcot. Brent, Deb, and Matt ran the race together, stopping for pictures with the characters along the way. They certainly didn't set any records, but they enjoyed themselves and saw some very different characters like the boy and dog from Up.

Meanwhile, Loren and I waited at the finish line where Loren hoped to capture some good finish shots. We agreed that the finish would be a cluster, so we arranged to meet at Morocco - hey any good Disney fan knows where all the best bathrooms are! Unfortunately, the line of women was so long it stretched out to the lagoon. I heard one guy comment that he was the only guy in the men's restroom. Soon attendants came and converted the men's room to women only and then the poor guys had to try to make it to the American Pavillion. Crazy. In fact, the whole after-race event was a mess.

I believe my ticket to the after-race festivities was $35 and was to include one food item and one drink item. Honestly, there was nothing I wanted bad enough to stand in any of those horrendous lines. My knees had more than enough at 2:00 a.m. so I left and walked back to the hotel and my uber comfortable bed. Sunday would be an early morning with the Keys to the Kingdom tour.