One Month Down, and the Results Are In - OR - What You Learn at the Local Hooters Restaurant

I can't wait to see how many new readers we get with THAT title!


Well, the month of March has been over for a bit...the end results were good!  I ended the month down 12.5 lbs from the beginning of the month (WOOT!!).

Soooo....how do I tie in our local Bloomington Hooters Restaurant into this?

Well, I took a day off from the diet to partake in some of the best wings in the world.  Our server (Tory) comes over to get our initial drink order and comments on my Mickey Mouse watch.  She then notices that all of us have Disney clothing on and mentions that she is also a Disney freak...in fact, she was just down there for a week in January.  Our interest was immediately grabbed.

"So was I" (as I'm starting to contemplate giving her the smolder look a la Flynn Ryder).  "I was there for (in my lowest voice) Marathon Weekend.  I ran down there during (low voice) Marathon Weekend. 

About this time, Sheri is scooting over around the table to be within kicking distance of me.

"ME TOO!!" Tory tells us.

She tells us that she did the marathon and was dressed up as Snow White for the race.  I say (too quickly) that I remembered seeing her running and that Lou Mongello even caught her on video running by; actually, there was another girl running the marathon in a similar outfit that Lou mentioned in his live broadcast.  Still, I saw about 85-90% of the marathon runners, and I do recall seeing a couple of Snow White's out there running, so I'm pretty confident that I did cheer for her out on the course.

All of us now know that we could talk to each other for hours about Disney and running, but we also know she has at least one other table, so we release her from our talons for a few minutes.  She's back in a couple of minutes, though, to pick up where our conversation left off.  I ask her what she finished at.


"Around 3:47."


Thud (the sound of my fainting body hitting the floor)


Her pace was around 8:40, and she stopped for a few pictures, from what it sounded like (I was still trying to wrap my head around her pace when she was talking about it).  It was her fourth or fifth marathon...that prompted me to ask her if she hoped to qualify for Boston.

"Actually, I'm heading out there in a few weeks to run it for the first time."

Thud

She qualified in Chicago last year and ran even faster at the San Francisco marathon (got her PR there at 3:37).

Thud (TKO!!!)

Long story short, we all agreed that Tory rocks!!

Over the rest of the meal,we discuss running, Disney, WDW dining, etc...all the fun things I love to talk about.  She's a student at ISU (and, no, I probably won't see her as a student...she likely won't need an Econ course any time soon).  She'd love to be able to work down there at WDW in restaurant management or being a sous/head chef.  I can't remember if she did the College program or really wants to do the program (I don't think she has done it).  We talked to her about Team AllEars, and she recalled seeing several of the blue team shirts on the course as she ran (WOOHOO!!!!).

Since she's a BQ, she had to know what a fartlek was, so I gave her the address for our blog as I thought it would be something she'd be interested in reading.  I jokingly said that it felt like I was giving her my phone number with my wife right next to me.  I even got her number, too...her bib number for Boston so I can follow her progress.

When we got our total, see signed it with the standard Mickey head in place of the 'o' in her name...Sheri, Aaron, Eric, and I all immediately fell in love with her.

Hopefully in January 2014, I'll be on the same course as her in Lake Buena Vista, watching her marathon finish time notification come in to my phone as I pass the mile 8 marker.