Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - Half Marathon

Last time we talked, I was off to bed with visions of sweet PRs in my head.   The task seemed easy enough.  I trained at paces that would allow for a PR, so a PR should be attainable during a race.  The biggest piece of contention was the weather.  I had been training in the 30s and 40s.  The temps were to start in the 60s and increase to the 80s.  Factor #2 was the humidity.  It was Florida, after all.  I could train indoors to simulate the heat; however, the gym would surely frown upon me taking the treadmill into the sauna.

Pre-Race
Alarm buzzed at 2:45am and I was off to the showers as my physical wake-up call.  Today I had planned to wear my orange barrel outfit (see bottom of this post). All fretting about the weather aside, I was quite happy to put on my running singlet again.  I downed my usual bagel and banana.

Today's running crew was Joe VI, Lauren, Rebecca, and Jaimee; however, everyone kept to their respective hotel running mates.  Mine was Jaimee.  We left for the buses shortly before 3:30 am.  Buses for runners started at 3:00am.  After 4:00am, the busses were for spectators (although I'm sure they would still allow runners to board). For our hotel, we only had to wait for 2 buses and it was not long.  I counted 8 buses lined up waiting to pickup runners.   Joe VI reported they waited for 18 buses from their resort.

By 4am, we had arrived in the Epcot parking lot and proceeded to walk about 5 minutes to the bag drop off.  Given the time, I couldn't really get my bearings compared to the day before.  It was not the same place we were staged for the 5k.  Jaimee dropped her bag in the bag check tent and we hit the port-a-potties.  This place was CROWDED.  It wasn't claustrophobic, but extremely crowded.

I had read and heard that there was a 20 minute walk to the start corrals; however, I had no freaking clue if we were at the start corrals or not.  The day before we were waiting right by the start corrals but I couldn't see anything that resembled a start line.

I finally asked around and was told by a volunteer that we were going to head in "that direction" once they opened a gate.  So Jaimee and I popped a squat and just waited.  People were literally stepping over us, it was that crowded.

Right in the middle of the port-a-pots in the distance is where all these people were headed.

Eventually they opened up the gate and there was a slow half mile hike to the start.  It was nearing 5am at this point, which is when corrals were to be closed, or so the pamphlets said.

Once out of the port-a-pits, you marched to the start corrals.

Jaimee was in a different corral, so once we got the corrals we wished each other luck and off we went our separate ways.  The corral was probably at 50% capacity so I managed my way all the way to the front.  Even so, I matched up with the 2:00 hour pace group.  Not a good sign for someone wanting to go sub-1:45, but I knew I would be toeing the line for our corral start.  Plenty of open space.

I do not envy these people carrying pace signs.

Once corral "A" moved forward to the start, I saw a couple people jump out of our corral to join them.  The RunDisney people were on it and forced them back into our corral.

At about 5:30am, corral "A" was released and about 8 minutes later we were too!

Miles 1 - 3

Goal: 8:00, 7:45, 7:30
Actual: 7:52, 7:45, 7:32

(Note: these are GPS miles.  I forgot to change my watch to manual laps.  Oops)

These miles were pretty boring and slow.  It was dark and we were running on the highway system within the Disney parks.  Considering I was at the start of the corral, there wasn't much in front of me.  A couple guys took off to catch the first corral (see ya!) but it wasn't long before I started to catchup with corral "A" myself.  Mostly walkers (not sure how they qualified for the first corral).  It was around mile 2 that they started having photo stops.  Aid stations were about every mile.

Close to the end of Mile 3 is the entrance to Magic Kingdom.

I hit my timing pretty much right on and I was feeling great.  PR is in sight.

Miles 4 - 6

Goal: 7:15, 7:15, 7:15
Actual: 7:21, 7:25, 7:39

It took two more miles before we actually entered the park.  Roads were starting to become narrow and harder to pass people during mile 5. I was in the thick of corral "A".  It was still dark out and actually eerie because of the fog.  It was like Disney had fog machines going for the photo stops.

Going through Magic Kingdom was pretty cool.  It was too early for a ride on Space Mountain though!

By the time I hit the end of mile six, we were out of the park and it was still dark.  I hit mile 6 in about 46 minutes. While not hitting my planned goals due to the park being hard to navigate at speed with the turns and people, I'm still on target for a great PR.    Let's just not lose it.

Gel at mile 5-ish.

Mile 7 - 9

Goal: sub-7:15 pace
Actual: 7:28, 7:26, 7:38

We are working our way through some of the access roads back towards the highway system.  Still dark out and we started running through some of the darkest parts of the route.  They did provide mobile lighting for some areas but there was about a half mile stretch that with the combination of darkness and fogged up glasses made it easy for me to run someone over.  Luckily, it never happened.  We were coming up on 6:30am.

I knew I wasn't hitting my paces but I knew I was going to PR if I could keep things under 8.  What did cross my mind is that, while I'd kill my PR, I'd probably miss some milestone, like going sub-1:40.  So I kicked it up.


Mile 10 - 12

Goal: Run to a PR!
Actual: 7:46, 7:47, 7:36

Finally back on the highway system and I could see people still running towards the Magic Kingdom.  Some of the later corrals didn't even start until after 6:30am.  The sun was starting to lighten up the sky and we were beginning to hit some real inclines as we were taking entrance ramps.

I was definitely looking forward to this being done.  We still had to run through Epcot.


Mile 13

Goal: Run to a PR!
Actual: 7:31

I knew I had started 7 or 8 minutes after the gun clock but I didn't know for sure.  This would have been nice to know since all mile markers had timing clocks.  I knew I would beat my PR by 5+ minutes at this point but now I was eyeing "that" milestone.  Would I be able to go sub-1:40?  It was going to be close.  I'm not sure what the weather was but it was pretty warm plus the humidity was killer, or at least that's what I remember.

We didn't run around the entire park of Epcot but just enough to fill out the remaining 13.1 miles.  Fortunately, the last .2 miles was the same as the 5k. I knew the distance and it was time to kick it up!

Mile .1 (.21 as my Garmin recorded)

Around a few corners and into the finish chute!

TKB and crew were there to see me finish but I couldn't hear them amongst the other spectacle going on and the fact that my ears were drowning in sweat.


Finish!

Time: 1:40:10
Division: 58
Overall: 461 / 23,125

Killed my PR by nearly 6 minutes but I missed that sub-1:40 by 10 seconds!!  Argh! I'm still thrilled get that PR though.

Everything post-race was exactly the same as the 5k in terms of the medal pickup, photos, food, etc.  I rested for a while trying to get use of my phone.  Everything was soaking wet in sweat, so it was a bit challenging to use a touch screen.  I drank all the fluids I could find and eventually worked through my goodie box before walking through the bag check to the other side.

The weirdest thing happened, or so it seemed.  The way bag check works is they have this 150 foot long tent with about 7 or 8 entrance.  You walk through the one with the letter of your last name to drop off and get your bags.  Only athletes are allowed in the bag check.  Even though I didn't check a bag, I walked through one of the tents to get the the athlete/supporter meet-up.  Everyone just slowly started clapping as I and another runner were walking through.  It was so weird... appreciated, but weird.

Almost immediately I found TKB.  That's the nice thing about the GPS tracking software I use on my phone.  By this time, Jaimee had finished so Jill, Jess, and Ron were walking around finding her.  We parted ways at this point to meet up later at the hotel room.

We were still waiting for Rebecca and Joe VI & Lauren to finish.  So I setup shop on the bleachers while everyone else was finishing.

Nice smile... dork.

Post-Race Saturday
Eventually I grabbed the change of clothes from TKB and found a handicap port-a-potty to change in. At this point my sweat was all dried up.  It would have been nice to take a shower, but we were getting too close to brunch time to go back to the hotel.

We watched Rebecca and Joe VI & Lauren finish.  Once Rebecca made her way out, we took off for brunch, which we had to go through Epcot to do so.  Luckily we purchased a 4 day park hopper to use.  Brunch was delicious and perfect for preparing for tomorrow.  Plenty of carbs and plenty of protein to repair the body.  The hotel that housed the brunch had a restroom with wash clothes, so I gave myself a little sponge bath while waiting for our table get ready.

Meat... potatoes.... chocolate milk.

Brunch was a character meal.  Got to hang out with my race's namesake!

We walked through Epcot a bit on the way out before we finally separated our ways.

TKB and I rested up at the hotel and then for a little swim so I could let my legs float in the pool.

Playing around with the waterproof feature of our new camera.  Hiding my hideous runners toes.

That afternoon we went over to Joe VI and Lauren's resort where I had another bowl of pasta (same as the day before).  Joe VI did the same but ordered a pizza for the family and we went back to their room for the evening (we were putting the final touches on the costume).  TKB then left around 7:30 to go spend some time with Rebecca and Jake.  Around 8pm I went back to my room for bed.

Proof

My heart rate was running really high, which I think was actually a problem with the heart rate monitor.  I don't think I hit 213 HR during the race.

Rebecca coming in for her finish!

Lauren and Joe VI... in green behind the team in training (purple) people.

Rebecca displaying her medal with Donald!

Seen while we were hunting a frozen beer.

The "Bowling Pin" buildings of Pop Century.  My namesake!

Up Next ->  Completed the Goofy Challenge  -- Full Marathon Style!

Also... be sure to check out Jill's blog for her race/spectator reports!

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - 5K

Travel Day!

Travel day started at 6am when we left for the airport for our 8am flight.  One stop in Indianapolis and we were soon off to Orlando.

The result of over hydration: the need to use airplane bathrooms.  

We really had no issues with our flights but the anticipation of the weekend made them take forever!  We landed in sunny Florida around 2:00pm.

When Flying to Disney World, you have the ability to use the Magical Express.  Last time we used this service, it was amazing.  You walked to the buses, hopped on, and rode straight to your hotel. They take care of your luggage for you.

 This day was a little different.

Stop staring at me.  I'm just taking a picture.

This was the sign of times to come.  We probably waited around 45 minutes for a bus.  I was hoping to be close to the hotel by this time because I wanted to spend as much time as I could at the Expo.

Once we arrived at the hotel, the fun really started!  If you remember back when I first started talking about this in May, this trip was being planned with Jill (a friend through work), Rebecca (TKB's brother's wife), and finally Joe VI & clan.  All in all, we had roughly 18 runners and athletic support crew descending on Orlando.

One thing about Jill... we'd never met in person.  Even though we talk over the phone, IM, Facebook, Twitter, text, etc... we've never met in person.  Would she get tired of having to stare up at a 6'4" person all weekend?  What about her friends?  Maybe they wouldn't understand my dorkiness?  What if TKB couldn't stand their accents?! This might get real awkward, real quickly considering we all had adjoining rooms at Pop Century!  Fortunately, we didn't skip a beat!  We hit it off with Jill and Ron immediately.. whew!

Jill!

Ronnie!  Mentally preparing for his first marathon in two days!

Packet Pickup and Health Expo
We immediately took off for the Expo.  Jill and Ron had already taken care of business since they arrived much earlier than we did.  It was close to 5pm at this time.  We had to pickup Joe VI, Lauren, and Joe VII's packets since their flight was arriving later.  Joe VI was running the 5k with TKB, Jill, and me so I wanted to make sure he could get his bib.

Packet Pickup and Expo was in the Wide World of Sports Complex.  First stop was in one of the field houses to pickup the packets and change corrals, if needed.  You them move over to another building for race shirt pickup and wallet thinning.  It had taken about 1.5 hours to do packet pickup with all the lines and various packets we had to sign for (which was about 7 of them between the two families).  We had met up with Joe VI's clan by now.

At the Expo I did pickup another shirt, running hat, and my obligatory pint glass.

Panorama of the Expo.  Doesn't really do it justice.  For the amount of people this was a really small space.

About 6:45 we took off because we had reservations with Jill and her crew at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney.  Since we had one hour to take a bus back to our hotel then hop on one for Downtown Disney, we decided to take a taxi instead.  Considering all the free transportation, this wasn't the most fiscally-wise decision but there is no way we would have made it in time.

We had rather low expectations of Planet Hollywood for a dining choice but our meal was quite delicious.  We also met more of Jill's runner friends there as well:

TKB, Me, Maureen (marathon), Ron, Jaimee (half marathon), Jill

Look at all those waters.  We are such good, responsible runners.

Race time for the 5K was 6:30, which means an early alarm for me (and also for the rest of tomorrow's running crew, right?)

Family Fun Run 5k
I can't exactly remember what time my alarm went off but it was earlier than anyone else wanted.  I scarfed down a bagel and banana.  I donned my blue singlet and running shorts for today's run.  It was so weird to be wearing a singlet in January!

Upon checking into our Pop Century resort, they indicated that there would have some parts of the food court open early so we took off for the main building before making it to the event buses.  We quickly found out that the early opening was for Saturday and Sunday during the marathon events, not the 5k.  TKB had some oatmeal she was planning to warm up so I ran that back to the room.  Got my warm-up run in!  (2 hours early...oh well).

Today's crew:

TKB, Joe VI, and Cruella... er, Jill

After about 1.5 hours of waiting, the rest of the 10,000 participants showed up and we were herded into one of four corrals.  I don't know how they assigned them, but the four of us were in all the same corral (luckily, corral A).


The race started at 6:30am to Mickey Mouse and fireworks!  It started in the parking lot of Epcot and the first mile took us around the a service entry into the park.

We then ran clockwise around the countries of Epcot.  We did briefly exit the park and back in before making it under Spaceship Earth.  We all stayed together to take photos (most of which were kind of blurry due to the pre-dawn timing of the race).

The last photo of Jill is about .15 miles from the finish line.  TKB and Joe VI didn't stop for the photo, so as soon as I snapped this photo I booked it to catchup with TKB.  I was hoping to cross the finish line with her. Once I saw her kick it to the finish, I knew it wasn't possible...  even though I hit a 4:40 pace!   Next time!

After crossing the finish, you walk a bit before grabbing your medal.  Then walk a bit more to get water and PowerAide.  Then walk a bit more for the official finish photo with the fancy backdrop.  You then exit the chute to get your post-race grub:

Bananas!!!

High performance gummy bears (in blue) and box-o-goodies.

Inside the box was a protein bar, mixed nuts, dark chocolate, some chocolate turd thing, and crackers & cheese.  Those crackers and cheese were quite sought after.  I may have stolen someone's in the middle of the night and eaten them under the covers with the guilt of a two year old.

Before we knew it, we were back at the hotel cleaning up and resting for the days festivities.

NOTE:  No official time for the 5k.  It wasn't chip timed.

Hollywood Studies
We spent the day with Joe VI and Lauren's clan at the Hollywood Studios.  We also met up with Rebecca and Jake at the park who had just spent about 4 hours getting Rebecca's packet.  Packet pickup was much worse Friday.  We stayed until about 5:30 before heading back to the resort.  While we were at Pop Century, Joe VI and Lauren selected Art of Animation, which was just a quick walk over a bridge.  We had dinner with them at their food court because of the build-to-order pasta bar:

Some pasta carbonara thingy.  Yum!

After dinner we went back to our resort and met another member of Jill's crew.  Jess had arrived today and she was running the marathon on Saturday.  Our marathon wolf pack grew by one.

5K in the AM and a full day of the park?  I had no trouble sleeping until the 2:30am alarm..... zzzzzzz

More Proof

Eyeing Dalmatian costumes in the crowd.

Up Next: Saturday -- Half Marathon.  To PR or Not to PR.  Stay tuned!

Also... be sure to checkout Jill's blog for her race/spectator reports!

Hospital Hill Run Blogging Team!

I am very pleased to announce that I have been selected to join the Hospital Hill Run Blogging Team!  It's quite an honor joining the ranks of the other athletes selected for this team.  I'm hoping to provide a different perspective from the other amazing writer-athletes.

A real quick bio:

• 34 year old male age grouper
• Married to my lovely wife, known on the blog as TKB, for 11 wonderful years!
• Father to a grumpy old Beagle Lab mix, Brodie.
• Mainframe software developer by day and web site software developer by night (yeah, I'm a bit of a geek)
• I've been running in races for 3 years and participating in triathlons for the last two years.
• I wouldn't call myself competitive but I did manage to nab some podium finishes this past year.
• A fan of dumb humor (you've been warned)

I started this blog almost two years ago to the day to journal my entry into triathlons.  It's been fun writing about my experiences and I'm planning to write much more in depth about many of them as part of this series.

For those who are not "in the know."  Hospital Hill Run is the oldest road race in Kansas City and one of the oldest half marathons in the country!  Is running 13.1 miles not your jam?  Sign up for the 10k or 5k!!

While Hospital Hill Run Half Marathon is my "A" running race for the first half of the year, my goal for this year is to complete my first ironman triathlon in October!  Hospital Hill Run will allow me to keep my running in check as I start to ramp up my swimming and biking.

I plan to cover various topics based on my own experiences.  Topics such as:

• The Runner Community
• Cold Weather Training
• Heart Rate Based Training
• Gadgets
• Nutrition
• Recovery Techniques

I will plan to post about Hospital Hill at least every other week; however, check back in as I will also be discussing things such as my most recent race.  I just got back from Orlando running in the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge!  I'll also be finalizing my 2013 season here soon as well!

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

And with that, I shall leave you with this photo from this past weekend's activities!

Going Goofy!!  I'm sure you can figure out which one is me, right?

This was Saturday after the half marathon.  I was carb/protein loading for the marathon I was to run in about 20 hours.  It all seemed like a good idea at the time!

Race Announcement: Beach2Battleship 140.6

A few years ago when I started participating in endurance events, I did the right thing and scheduled a physical with my doctor.  I got my checkup in and discussed my plans to add a whole lot of exercise to my routine.  As part of the blood work I found out I had an iron deficiency.  So the prescription was to "eat more meat" and take a multi-vitamin with iron.  Easy enough.  Well, come October 26, my transformation to an Ironman will be fully complete when I complete the Beach2Battleship ironman!  (and you are now glad that this dorky, long joke is now over).

The choice to go back to Beach2Battleship was pretty easy.  It has the reputation of being one of the top 5 rated ironman triathlons by Triathlete magazine.   It's extremely well organized.  The water portion is known for being a steeeeeep downhill swim, so maybe that will help with my swim abilities. 

If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen a post about signing up for this race mid-New Year's Eve parting.  No.  This was not the results of too much libation.  It was a results of the race pricing going up after New Year's Eve.

The plan for this race will be the same as Beach2Battleship 70.3 in 2011 except it will probably require 6 times the effort, not just two.

 I have a lot of thoughts about this race and will post them through the year of training.... until then, I will leave you with this photo taken during the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.  The race report (or all three of them) will be coming in the next week:

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum!!

Week in Review - Dec 31 to Jan 6 & FINAL Costume Preview!

December 31 to January 6
I actually already chatted about Monday's run on last weeks Week in Review.  It was a fun 13 miler with Joe VI that involved some pretty photos and sore butts after falling on the ice.

That 13 miler was to get an advance on the calorie intake of that evenings festivities.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

A group of us went to Cafe Trio for dinner and New Year festivities where I enjoyed my favorite dish, the Mac Daddy.  I love adult macaroni and cheese!  The bottomless glass of bubbly was nice as well.  We stayed at a local hotel to keep our cars stashed from any driving activities.

While we did spend some time in the pool that day, I decided to not log it since.. well, it was about 20 feet across and I lose count easily.

Swim: 0
Bike: 8.47 miles
Run: 34 miles

I did manage a bike ride in the basement today.  I did an interval workout on Wednesday on the treadmill and then did a 7:30 pace, 5 miler on Thursday in the bluster 35 degree weather.

I met up with Joe VI yesterday and we did an 11 miler in the chilly, breezy weather as well.  After which we finished up the shopping for our costume.  One of the clothing articles is in the mail and the other is at Joe VI's house getting it's final costume details. It's almost come together!

So for 2012, I logged a total of 1,272 running miles:

I am planning a year-in-review post, so I'll dive into those in a bit more detail later.

Upcoming
I'll be doing one run this week and maybe I'll eek in another trainer ride.  If I really feel up to it, I'll hit the gym and do a swim.  Travel day to Orlando is Thursday, so I'll be working on my carb intake and, of course, packing!!!

Final Costume Preview!
Monday night I drove to Joe VI and Lauren's and "we" worked on the final costume touches:

Lauren Stitching

Joe Toupee-ing

Me Eating and Drinking (ie, carb loading) -- Helping with the duties the best I can.

Costume... almost complete.

Schedule
I'm also working on my race schedule for 2013.  I'm hoping to have it nailed down in the coming weeks.  The plan is quality races this year and the return of triathlons!!!

Race Preview - Let's get a little Goofy!

Up Next: Goofy Challenge + 5k

I'm marking off another bucket list item this season.  I completed a 50k and up next is the Goofy Challenge Race and a Half Race.  I'm also throwing in the 5k to make this the unofficial "Dopey" Challenge.  4 medals and 4 race shirts in one weekend?  Good thing we are flying Southwest because I'm going to need extra luggage.

For those who don't know, the Goofy Challenge is running a half marathon through the Magic Kingdom and Epcot on Saturday and then a full marathon the next day through the Disney World resort.  I'll also be running the 5k with TKB on Friday to get the leg juices going.

Training
Since I really had no specific goals, the training for this was to simply keep my base up and do what I could through the holidays.  I managed to log 134 miles in December, which is the most miles since September.  October included a marathon and November included the 50K, so pretty decent.

Race Plans
To have fun, really.  Here is the plan for each race:

5K - Run with TKB and have fun!  Since our paces are so different, I typically don't run with TKB when I'm racing.  Since this is a family fun run, I'm going to do just that!

Half Marathon - PR.  My PR is 1:45:51. This should be pretty easy with how well my training is going for the distances in the 10 - 15 miles range.  I've PR'ed my half marathon time on many of my training runs in the last month.  I'm planning to pull the Chicago Marathon playbook out and match the pace for the first 13 miles of Chicago.  I do want to be somewhat smart about it because I do have 26.2 miles to run the next day.

Full Marathon -  Running with Joe VI and have fun.  I haven't provided any more costume previews because we still have items to purchase and fabricate.  I'll post a photo next week.

So that's essentially it!  It's going to be a great time because the entire Jeppson clan will be there, as well as Jake & Rebecca, and I'll be meeting up with a long distance friend for the first time who I know through work, Jill!

Final Thoughts
This should close out my 2012 season (yes, I know.. it's actually 2013).  Unless I get a free bid for the Groundhog Run, it may be March before I race again and that will be a 4 mile race.  It's time to bring the bike and swimming back into focus.... maybe some iron pumpin'!

Weekly Report: Dec 24 - Dec 30 -- 1,250 Miles!

This post is a little late, especially since I need to update my previous post.  I actually wrote it on Saturday before the end of the week.  On Sunday, Kenny took me for a tour of Greensboro, NC on a 3 mile run around downtown.  After driving l,000 miles in two days, I need something to align my running chakras and this fit the bill.  Not only did we go for 3 miles, I did another loop.  Granted, I got a little lost so I took a larger loop on my own.  So add 6.25 miles to the previous post to make that week 30 miles.

Kyle, TKB, and Kenny enjoying some delicious Mellow Mushroom Pizza

After spending some awesome time in Greensboro we left for Valle Crucis, NC (it's next to Boone where Appalachian University is located).  We spent Monday, Christmas,  and Thursday in the mountains where I got a 4 mile run in at the park in Valle Crucis and did a 7 miler on the treadmill at the Boone Wellness Center.  That 7 miler put me over 1,250 miles for the year!

Mmmm... Christmas Ham!

The new age family photo!

Thursday and Friday we were in Charlotte, NC with TKB's brother and sister-in-law, Jake and Rebecca.  You'll remember Rebecca from the Krispy Kreme Challenge and Rock'n'Roll Las Vegas Race Reports.

While the weather was great in Charlotte, I didn't do any training.  Instead, I took advantage of all my training so I could go here:

IKEA!  You will be in KC soon!

This place is quite large.  Now I understand why they are tearing down a bunch of buildings to build this.

One final family fun games before we took off for home:

I may have schooled the family with my mad fake money skillz.

Saturday we took off around 6:30am in Charlotte and drove over 1,100 home to KC.  It was worth it to sleep in my own bed.  OK.  Stopping in at Kyle's brother's house for some of his BBQ at 9pm was much of the motivation.  Some of the best brisket I've ever tasted.

Sunday TKB, Ken, and I went to the YMCA for for the final run of the week (Yes, Ken and Kyle had flown home last week after we left their apartment in Greensboro).

So that's about 16 miles for the week.

Sunday evening Joe VI texted me about doing a run in the snow on Monday morning (we were both off from work).  We did a 13 miler around downtown, midtown, and the plaza.  I took some photos of some of the sites on the way:

Joe VI showing his age.... or snow.  I can't remember.

A nice little panorama

Around the gate of the arch these little gargoyles.  They looked pretty touched with snow.

It needed some fuel.

Part of the road to the arch was snow on top of ice.  We both had some fun falling on our butts.  (I may have pulled Joe VI down on this slip and slide)

You can see that sneaky ice under the freshly fallen snow.