Wednesday, December 7, 2016

WWU - Walking in Orlando

I knew we'd be on our feet a lot in Orlando, and I planned for that by bringing two pairs of my Hokas so I could alternate shoes each day.  I also, on the advice of my orthopedist, got a lidocaine injection in the bony arthritic part on the top of my left foot - this was what had hurt so badly when I was in California that I had to stop walking, and that was definitely not an option for our theme park trip.  I went in on the Monday before we left for that shot...side note:  getting a shot into the bone hurts a lot.  But it was worth it, because that part of my foot didn't hurt nearly as much as it could have.

Leading up to the trip, I debated bringing my Garmin with me, just out of curiosity to see how many miles we'd be walking each day.  I ended up deciding not to bother with it, but then, when Sam was here the week prior, he bought the latest version of the Apple watch and gave me his (not very) old watch - all I needed to do was to buy a new watchband, since he'd still be using his other band at times on the new watch.  Well, that was quite the gift/deal for me, and pretty much the only way I'd end up with an Apple watch, so I took him up on his offer and ended up using the activity tracker - why not, right?
I put the Minnie Mouse watch face on for our days in Disney - so cute!  She will speak the time to you if you tap the watch, which was pretty entertaining to me.

So this is why I know that for the six days we spent at Universal Studios and Disney World, I walked a grand total of 110,860 steps, which equates to 48.5 miles.  That's not even counting our two travel days - this was just theme park walking.  Holy moly, I knew we'd be walking a lot, but those numbers surprised me.  And while I knew my feet would be tired, I figured I'd be OK, because I run and walk and am a reasonably active person. 

HAHAHAHA!  Can you tell it's been a long time since I've visited a theme park?  I had no idea what I was in for, which is probably a good thing.  What I didn't count on was the time spent on my feet - since we stayed at a Universal resort, we were able to get into the park an hour early, which meant that we were at park by 7:30 - 7:45 each morning...and the parks closed at 7:00 in the evening, so you can pretty much figure out that we were on the go for 12+ hours most days.  Universal Parks also have a lot of stairs in their ride queues compared to Disney, so we weren't just walking, we were also climbing. 

By day three, the bottoms of my feet were feeling pretty tender - but no blisters, thankfully - and that's with wearing super-cushioned Hoka shoes!  We ended up making day four a shorter day, but even with that, I was still over 16,000 steps and 7 miles.  Kind of too late, we realized that with a full week, we should have planned in a couple of lighter days, but who knew we'd actually walk that much?  Now we know.

As sore and tired as we were at the end of each day, I have to say that in seeing so many people in wheelchairs and on scooters (especially at Disney), I'm glad we all were physically fit enough to walk on our own through the theme parks.  I know for a fact that I could not have done this, to this degree, back when I was at my highest weight.  I would have been a sweaty, miserable mess - and I would have also slowed down our group in walking to the rides (and let's not talk about not fitting into the seats, eek).  While it's been quite a few years since I was that overweight, out-of-shape person, I'm still glad for the reminders of how much harder life was for me back then compared to now...and I'm very grateful that when we were planning for our trip, I didn't have to fret about making it through the day because of my limitations.

15 comments:

  1. Holy cow! 48 miles!? That is amazing to me! I've have never been to a theme park so I can't imagine all the things to do there!!

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    1. NEVER??? Wow. You should go, but you really really REALLY have to be able to tolerate crowds.

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  2. Too bad you didn't get any running in.... bwahahahahaha!

    Active vacations are usually filled with fun, but boy howdy are they tiring. I know you're glad you flew home instead of driving for two days!

    Now you need to go to Hawaii and just rest.

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    1. Can you believe Jeff actually asked me when we were going to run while we were in Orlando? I was all "never, crazy person" - at least, not this time!

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  3. Holy moly! THAT is a lot of walking. And that is the disadvantage (or advantage) depending on your point of view) of traveling with young people. So much energy! So much enthusiasm! But also, like you said, a great reminder of what you CAN do now.

    And a shot into the bone? ouch. How long do those lidocaine shots like that last? They give one to me before the steroid shot and it lasts one day, and I LOVE it!

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    1. LOL, yes on the energy and enthusiasm - but it was all good. :)

      The shot is supposed to last 2 - 3 months, but this one took a while to really work - even a week later, I was swollen and bruised in that area (of course all that walking didn't help, I'm sure).

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  4. Wow, that is a lot of walking! Try walking around the park for 2 days and then running a race! Yea, that's how we use to do disney and disney races before I finally wised up and didn't do the parks all day before the races. Now I wait until after the race. Oh and for the reason I do see a lot of people in scooters and wheel chairs and half of them are runners...lol

    How long do you think your shots last before you have to get them again?

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    1. I don't know how you managed to do a race after even one day at a park! That had to have been so challenging.

      The shot should last 2 - 3 months, hopefully.

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  5. Wow! You walked almost 2 marathons - amazing! And isn't it a blessing to be physically able to take on that kind of activity? I remember at my heaviest how tired my feet would get just standing in the kitchen making Thanksgiving dinner :-( Glad you had a good time being a park rat!

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    1. Gee, when you put it in race distance perspective, I'm even more impressed! ;) And I remember the same thing, being so incredibly tired from standing in the kitchen during Thanksgiving. So nice how that's changed for both of us. :)

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  6. That is a lot of walking! And you're right, what isn't counted in there is all the standing around you do as well. Alternating shoes was the best advice I ever got for doing a theme park vacation. In fact, I do it for all vacations now as we usually walk a lot.

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  7. Even though you were at a fun vacation, it turned out to be a great exercise vacation too. Great job on the many miles and steps.

    It must have felt so good knowing that you are in good shape now to do this with your family.

    Now bring on the things you did at the park :)

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  8. Whenever I go anywhere we do a lot of walking, I always feel grateful that I can do the walking. How bad would it be to be restricted? Sounds like a fun trip!

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  9. Sounds like so much GREAT walking! OMG...Minnie Mouse talks to you when you tap the watch????? FUN!!!!

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  10. I am totally not surprised you walked so much - theme parks are intense and tiring! All that standing and being on your feet is not something most people are used to! I am happy it wasn't even a second thought when planning this trip if you'd be able to do it or not :)

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