Freakin’ November? ALREADY? Wasn’t I just bitching about the South Florida summer blues, like, roughly four seconds ago?

Man…

Well enough of that claptrap. It’s that magical time once again, where we’re heading into the holiday season and the weather has been cooling off nicely. No kidding, either. The last two weeks in South Florida have been pretty damn nice, especially for late October/early November. We did a 23-miler last Sunday in 53 degree weather — in Fort Lauderdale… in early NOVEMBER! — and it was pretty freakin’ nice. We’re talking “Erin Gray” nice! Did I ever mention I met her about 9 years ago at a con and she looked as stunning as ever? I mean, breathtakingly hot. I was a babbling fanboy mess, but she was entirely gracious and sweet. Gil Gerard, now he looked like The Skipper. Fried chicken can be your worst nightmare and– I’m getting sidetracked, aren’t I?

Le sigh…

FOCUS, Hokeydude.

OK… anyway, the reason for today’s post is to get excited for this weekend’s Disney Wine And Dine Half Marathon up at Walt Disney World. Yes, longtime Hokeyfolk are entirely too aware of our constant obsession with running, Disney, and running AT Disney. But I’ve never attended this particular race at Disney before, so I’m insanely excited for it. I mean, (1) it’s a Disney race, which are (almost) always great fun, (2) it’s at night, which means cooler temps and colorful lighting, (3) it takes you through THREE theme parks — Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot, (4) holiday decorations are all over the course, and (5) the after-party at Epcot with food, drinks, booze, rides, spectacle, entertainment, and all kinds of fun that will run until around 4 in the morning or so. The race starts around 10:30 and I plan to be sufficiently beer’ed up by 1 AM… even if I’m still running.

And gang, I hate to disappoint but… there won’t be any custom Disney running shirts for this race. The reasons for this are simple: I’ve already done three this year, and while they are fun they are also an added expense to an already “not cheap” excursion. Plus, in all the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks, I sort of forgot. Some Run Disney nerd I am. Feh.

I don’t NEED these…

Still, we have a pretty solid (if brief) trip planned. Boots and I are taking off Friday night after work. We’re already checked-in online to the All Star Sports resort, which means we can mosey on up and get our room keys without too much muss or fuss. Saturday morning we’re meeting my awesome buddy Sarah from the most exquisite Sparkly Runner blog, along with her boyfriend Matthew with the kickass rockstar hair, and the rest of her entourage for a ginormous breakfast carb-load over at Boma, where we will discuss many things of extraordinary magnitude that will affect readers of BOTH blogs (insert mysterious cackle here). Afterward it’s Expo time, where I’ll be grabbing my bib and spending too much dinero on merchandise I entirely don’t need but will end up purchasing anyhow, because I’m sheeple like that.

Then it’s showtime that night, and I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to meeting up with and grabbing pics with my FIT buds, Mickey Miler running team pals (I’ll be rocking the team jersey), and the Hokeyblog faithful (what’s up Trishah!) I’ll most likely be Facebooking and Twitterizing up a storm after the race if you want to track me down at Epcot. I missed the after-party at the 2012 Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler due to food poisoning, so I plan to make up for it bigtime this time around. Sunday will involve a LOT of sleeping in and catching Big Hero 6 at the AMC Downtown Disney. There’s something sort of awesome about seeing brand new Disney animated flicks while on Disney property. We did the same last year with Frozen, so we’re going two-for-two.

And that’s it! Look for a big write-up to come next week… somewhere. Until then, the video, ya está:

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