Race recap

The 2013 Disney Princess Half Marathon was awesome! I am so proud of myself and all of the other princesses, especially Erika, Heather, and Heather. We worked so hard and didn't fail! We all finished and we weren't injured. That in itself is a huge accomplishment.

Since I did this race two years ago with my sister, walked almost all thirteen miles, and enjoyed every moment taking in all that Disney has to offer, I decided to actually run almost all 13 miles this time. I toyed with the idea of completing the run in under 2 hours but after a smack of reality, I changed my goal to under 2:20. This was more realistic with the training I had completed. I finished under my goal time with a chip time of 2:15:59! I am super stoked with that time given the conditions. The week before the race I came down with a cold. Sudafed and coffee were my best friends, plus Matthew decided that sleep was optional...again. Come Saturday morning and Erika was ready with my chariot (thanks Larry) and off to Orlando we went. Thank goodness Erika pumped the theme of hydration into my head throughout Saturday. We must have drank 100 ounces of water (lots of bathroom breaks). We hit the race expo got our packets, shopped the expo, ate dinner, and were home in bed by 8 and ready for race day. As a side note, rundisney merchandise at the expo was gone by the time we got there, so no fun disney race memorabilia. But I discovered Yurbuds, the most awesome earbuds for music. I digress.

I finally got into a good sleep and then bam! 3 am the alarm went off. We were up, dressed, and geared up to get on the bus to our start area by 3:30 am along with 22,000 other princesses. It was almost 100% humidity and rain was forcasted somewhere in our day. I am so thankful for training outdoors in south Florida so I was use to the humidity. We all started in Coral B and at 5:41 the fairy godmother said her rhyme, the fireworks went off, and off we went. The start was choppy being there were so many women jockeying for a space and room to run. At least for the first mile, I was bobbing and weaving to get enough room to not trip over or elbow another girl. Once you pass that point, Disney has all sorts of photo ops with character, scenes, and other disney-like stuff that everyone stops for. If you keep running you can break away from the crowd and have room to run. So I did just that. I ran for 4 miles before I slowed to a walk to eat my Gu gummies and keep up my energy. Already at this point, I saw women limping, throwing up, and holding on to each other for support. The humidity was already starting to get them. I decided to play it safe and stop at every water station from that point on.  Boy am I glad I did. At mile 7, it was porta potty time and there was no line. Luck! I continued the race running about a mile and a half at a time and then walking through each water station taking both a powerade and a water cup. Before I knew it I was at Epcot and close to the finish line. I almost couldn't believe I was at the end.  I saw the big purple sign for the finish and tried to run faster (I really didn't though). I high fived Minnie Mouse and ran straight through the finish cute. YAY!!! I got my sparkly medal and a box of food and drinks and parked my tired butt on the concrete to stretch.


We regrouped once we all finished. Discussed our individual races. And off to shower. Erika and I decided to walk around Hollywood studios, which was so weird without kids. Fun! My legs were tired but felt ok. But I felt my cold coming back to haunt me. I found some Tylenol and we had a great time as big kids.

Once we got home, all hell broke loose. I was home for five minutes before the school was calling to pick up Ethan because he had a fever. So back to mommy duty. The house was still standing (although it desperately need to be cleaned), children were fed and clothed, and mike wasn't pulling his hair out. I think they did ok. After everything was back to normal, my body crashed. I came down with the worst sickness ever! Laryngitis, sore throat, cold, cough, headache, pink eye. You name it, it hurt! It's has been a week and a half I have not been able to run! It's a little devastating, but I'll get back. As a matter of fact, I think I may have been bitten by the running bug...I am doing the Coral
Spring Half Marathon on March 30...as long as I'm healthy.

I did it! I am proud of myself for following through. Proud of myself for all that I did to get to this point. Proud to have the support of everyone  around me, encouraging me that I can do it. Just because I'm a wife and a mom is not an excuse to not do something. Yes I am tired. Yes I am busy. But yes I can do things. I can be the best wife and mother while being anything else that I strive to be. If I can do it, anyone can.

It's a crazy feeling that over a week ago, I ran my run. I planned for so long that I kind of can't believe its over. It was a great race and a great journey.