lsucm10

I need some TD GEAR!!!!

Laurel Falls Trail is currently closed. It was a 2.5 mile paved trail to a nice waterfall, but they have been repaving it for a while now. I highly recommend downloading AllTrails and looking for trails that would interest you. Pack a lunch or prep some burgers / hotdogs, charcoal and get out to the trail heads early before the crowds build. Spend the morning on a trail or two and then go to one of stops near a stream and bbq pits and have a nice lunch and let your kids play in the stream. Theres a easy trail that you can access from the main welcome center called Cataract Falls (1 Mi). Unless you prepurchase youll have to stop there to get a parking pass.
These are some of the trails and places we stopped in the park:
Peregrine Peak Via Alum Cave Bluff Trail - 4.5 mi - 1161' Elevation Gain
Cataract Falls - mentioned above - flat
Chimneys Picnic Area - Lunch Spot
Rainbow Falls Trail - 5.1 mi - 1617' elevation gain
Twin Creeks picnic Pavilion - Lunch Spot
Metcalf Bottoms Trail - 1.4 mi
Theres plenty of other trails but those are the ones we did.

We spent one day at Dollywood. The cinnamon bread is awesome! The park is busy early in the morning, but by mid afternoon the wait times went way down and a lot of the rides had very short waits. Avoid going to the bubble show or whatever its called as it was lame. We went July 3, 2024 for reference.

Hope this helps some.

Anyone running Zydeco Marathon Half on March 8? I was planning on running the full since I had the flu before my marathon in January and did not have a great race. So I just picked up training and kept up mileage somewhat until I saw the crappy forecast. Current forecast is a low of 64, 60% chance of rain, south wind of 5-10 and humid. For extra fun, race day is also DST! Going to just run the half like a wimp because thats not looking like good marathon weather.
Guess I will have to look forward to Fat Boy 5k to attempt a pr or maybe the Tiger 10k.

shite the bed at the WDW marathon. Before the flu and warm weather I had a 3:30 goal. After the flu and adjusting a little for weather I decided anything under 3:40 would be acceptable. Slow death on the second half and finished around 4:10. Going to rest a week and start training for zydeco full march 8 to attempt to redeem myself.

It’s been a long time since I last posted but here to report in. I’m running the Walt Disney World Marathon 1/11/26. I know it’s not for everyone and I understand. Having said that, my last marathon was also at WDW in 2019. I set a PW that year very undertrained with 60 degree weather at the start. Finished with a crowd pleasing 6 hour time. First and only time with such a poor showing. Stopped running shortly after and got very unhealthy. I’m 6’-5” and in April of 2024 I topped the scale at 268.5. Between 2019 and 2024 I became a slob with multiple health issues. Iven mentioned them before, but with go over them again. After a round with Covid I ended up in the ER with AFib in 2020, once I got that under control I started c25k and tore my meniscus. Surgery and recovery took forever. Then was diagnosed with fatty liver disease. That was rock bottom! Started just walking and then added running here and there. Well, I’m back to my old running form from 10 years ago. I’m down to 191 as of today!
Marathon training has gone well until I got the flu on Christmas Eve. It kicked my arse!! I’m still dealing with this damn cough but got a few runs in. I was aiming for a 3:30:00 marathon but between the flu and expected race day temps at 62 I don’t see that happening. Revising my goal for a 3:35:00 to 3:59:59. Those race times would be a PR for me. I’ve done Disney twice and the weather has been crap for both (70 and 60 temps). As a back up I’m planning on ramping up for another marathon in March for the Zydeco marathon. I’ll train and wait last minute hoping for better weather. If not better conditions I’ll just run the half. It’s been a hell of a ride over the last two years to get here and have come close to PR’s in the half and 5k this year but just missing them. I’m not sure what I’m really getting at here, but just venting a little about my luck but also trying to be positive about how far I’ve come over the last several months. Going to give it my best and hopefully I have a good day.

I was running the Boston Marathon (for charity / not fast) in 2013 and was less than a half mile to the finish. My wife who was a few months pregnant was sitting in the bleachers at the finish line across the street from the location of the second bomb. That was a long day until I found out she was ok.
Few things I learned that day. The press will find a way to contact you and where you are staying in record time and the local Boston folks are very kind.

Went back in 2014 to run the whole 26.2, baby stayed with in-laws. Environment was like no other sporting event I attended before and since on race day. Red Sox vs Yankees game is a fun experience.

The cutoff time for Boston recently came out at BQ -4:34. This is after they lowered the times as well. When I was 30 the BQ time was 3:05:00 which is around a 7 minute mile. 10+ years later its still 3:05:00 for my 41 year old arse, plus almost another 5 minutes... So nearly a sub 3 hour marathon for a 40-44 year old man. I am not saying I am close to getting a BQ, but it just seems so out of reach to even pretend to have it as goal at this point. Old guy is done ranting about the BQ status.

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Not sure why you'd need to replace stainless pans at all

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We had crappy teflon pans. I have a few cast iron pans, but my wife doesn't really like using them.

Take a piss whenever you can, but never trust a fart.
Older guy told me that at the duck camp when I was in my early teens.

Grew up taking car of the lawn and solving lawn problems. Also worked at a golf course in high school and learned about lawn stuff there. Anything inside the house I had to google or call a friend for tips. My dad changed the air filters and thats about it. I dont recall him fixing stuff that broke. Either someone came to fix it or a new one was installed. So 2/10 for me. I've leaned a lot but still have much to learn. I will not touch electrical stuff though.