My family and I were invited by Washington Family Magazine to spend a weekend at the Gaylord National Resort in order to experience the hotel’s much celebrated Christmas on the Potomac.  As former Gaylord employees (My husband and I met, fell in love and ultimately both worked at the Gaylord owned Opryland Hotel in Nashville.) we knew well what to expect: top notch service, personable employees and luxurious accommodations and amenities. And happily the hotel did not disappoint. (The walls in our room were leather tile, for goodness sake.) To quote my nine year old, “We’re living the life, Momma!”

Christmas on the Potomac is, in a word, spectacular. From the 18-story atrium illuminated by “Northern Lights” to their Brightest Star fountain show, from Breakfast with the Grinch, Brunch with Santa, to Dr. Suess themed sculpture gardens, dive-in pool movies and fireworks (Not to mention holiday milk & cookies and hot cocoa!) it is a fantastic family holiday treat.

The decor of the resort is a spectacle in and of itself featuring a whopping two million Christmas lights (12.27 miles of light string) and a 7,000 lb, 60-foot tall suspended Tree of Light made entirely of “candy” glass.

And that, my friends, is only the beginning.

If the resort in and of itself doesn’t propel you into holiday bliss, ICE! will. Gaylord National’s ICE!, a separate attraction, is an interactive indoor wonderland created entirely out of clear, white and colored ice. ICE! features 10 scenes from the Dr. Suess tale “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.”  The impressive structure took  40 Chinese artisans no less than 40 days to carve the two million pounds of ice needed for the holiday spectacular.

There have been only a handful of times in my life as a parent when I have had the privilege of seeing my children visibly in awe. ICE! was one of them. They were mesmerized. I mean, when was the last time your family got to travel down a two story ice slide? Or gaze upon the wonder that is the largest PEEPS tree ever created?

So, would any of you like to experience your own holiday adventure at Gaylord National?!

THE DETAILS: Washington Family Magazine is giving away two prize packages to experience Gaylord National’s Christmas on the Potomac and ICE!

Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Go to Washington Family’s contest website page and follow their instructions.
• OPTIONAL WARM FUZZY /Do one of the following:
  • “Like” Hip As I Wanna Be” on Facebook.
  • Tweet out: I just entered to win @gaylordnational ‘s Christmas on the Potomac  from @mammamania & @familymagevents http://bit.ly/94kPkY
• Come back here and leave a comment confirming that you have completed those tasks.  Good luck!

FTC Disclosure: My family and I received the weekend package from Washington Family Magazine. Gaylord National provided us with tickets to Breakfast with the Grinch and Brunch with Santa. All opinions expressed are mine. Really, kids. It is a phenominal experience. The prize is being given away by Washington Family Magazine. I am not involved in picking the winner. And to clarify -  optional warm fuzzy FB & Tweets are just that…optional.  They help spread the word about the giveaway.

Can you guess the significance of the following number?

3: 37

That is the amount of time that I spent running on Saturday morning… 3 hours and 37 minutes.

Another significant number?

4

That is the time I got up in order to begin the 3 hour and 37 minute run.

A final number for you to ponder?

15

That is the number of minutes that I missed of my son’s soccer game because of my 20 mile training run.

But at least I made it. I was a pungent but PRESENT mother. And because that mattered to my son, it mattered to me.

I’ve tried from the beginning of this training program to not let it interfere with my family life. I get up at ridiculously early hours of the morning to train so that the my husband and kids feel like they are a priority over the running.  At least, I hope they feel that way.

It is now six weeks until the New York Marathon.  I have two weeks left to raise $1,500 for the ING Run For Something Better Charity. It is truly an honor to help them fulfill their mission for children. Won’t you please consider donated a couple of dollars to my cause? Even $5.00 can make a difference to a child. Believe me, it is true.

As I have mentioned before, I am in training to run the ING New York City Marathon with Katie (@rjmommy) this November.  I’m a charity running working towards raising $2,500 for the Run for Something Better (@orangelaces) charity.

As I mentioned in my first post, there are so many reasons why I SHOULDN’T be tackling this.  Of course, I’ve ignored every one of them. I’m stubborn that way.

From here forward I plan on documenting my training for the marathon each week: the good, the bad and the ridiculous. I welcome your advice or support.  Comment away!

17 Weeks Out:

My running schedule is pretty basic.  I generally run three times a week and cross-train on off days.  This past week I ran four times, keeping my mileage pretty low for the majority of the runs.  We’re talking 3-4 milers at a very slow pace.  I’m afraid of starting speed work because of my IT Band injury last year.   My physical therapist said that speed work was a definite no-no.  (If you are wondering what speed work is, let me fill you in: you run in intervals at stupid crazy speeds. If you can’t breathe then you are on the right track.  Sounds like fun, no? Honestly, I’m not in a hurry to begin that.)

Our long run this week was 12 miles.  Yeah.  We ran 12 miles IN THE POURING RAIN.  If you ask me, the whole thing was debacle to begin with.  Problem #1 – I couldn’t find my Body Glide.  Problem #2 – I was out of GU.  (I am addicted to GU, a subject I will no doubt discuss in a later training update.) Problem #3 – I was exhausted.  Not a good combination.

Let’s talk about the beauty that is Body Glide for a moment, shall we?  You put on this handy product where clothing irritates so that you don’t chafe.  CHAFING HAPPENS (especially for women) when you run long distances.  When you don’t have it, well, you can only imagine. Rain only exacerbates the problem.  I’ll spare you the details and just say that my body looks like I’ve been the victim of torture at this moment.  My husband is none to thrilled because it has affected one of his favorite parts of me.  Ahem.

Despite the rain, the run was kind of symbolic.  It was the benchmark.  Running is officially no longer recreational. From here out our runs will be no shorter than a half marathon distance.  (Holy crap!) They will be an investment in time, planning and sheer will.

For the record: my husband thinks I am crazy.  I’m inclined to agree.

BY THE WAY: Interested in supporting me and my charity in the NYC Marathon? 

If you are an individual who thinks I am bonkers and would like to donate to help support the craziness and to erradicate childhood obesity, then please do so here. I need to raise $2,190 before October 1st!  However, if you are a business who would like to sponsor me monetarily or otherwise, please email me directly at jlgerlock@comcast.net and we can chat.

So this is what my front yard looks like right now. (8:30am)  And it is still snowing and snowing and snowing.  I’ll do the follow up Vlog to this tomorrow as promised.

So we are literally STUCK HERE. Nowhere to go. Luckily, we still have power at this point.  I have heard some of my Twitter pals up the road are dealing with outages already.

That would be awful.  (And what if the Internet connection went out?  GAH! THE HORROR!)

So I am going to use this opportunity to tackle two projects – my blog redesign (yippie!) and to write the copy for my new businesses website.  (Which I fully plan to share with you once it is up!)

And can I just say that I have the coolest neighbors in the world?  We are hoping to have a snow party later on today.  We’re hoping to build ourselves an ice bar in the cul-de-sac.  How awesome is that?