The final chapter

Ok first off I DID IT!! What a great time, worth every penny (which is quite a few).
First off I went to bed at 6:30 and my awesome husband did the same so the room would be dark and quiet. I got up at 1:30am and was on the bus to the start line at 2:30.  For those of you who know me my bus was the first one there! I paid extra to be in the retreat tent and it was worth it, it was warm, had it's own bathrooms and had breakfast for us.  When we returned they gave us flip flops and a brunch.  Doug also was able to use this tent and he was very happy with that.

Back to the race, it took about 20 minutes or so to get to the start corrals.  Of course I made a friend but she was in corral F and I was in E. Made 2 other friends once I got to my corral. The best part was that the Fairy Godmother started every corral with a count down and there were fireworks every time- AWESOME!!!

I decided to follow the Jeff Galloway way of running and it worked out well, I ran for 1:30 minutes and walked for 30 seconds. The first mile just flew by- Doug did see me at the start but I didn't see him.  Disney had a marching band, characters and different things along the way. When we finally got to mile 5 you could see the Magic Kingdom arches- talk about emotional.  We came in down an underpass and to see that many women (and a few men) was incredible. We went through the back of Space Mountain and then cam onto Main Street- I think I had a permagrin on the whole time.  I saw Doug on Main Stree and gave him the thumbs up cuz I was feeling great. We went through Fantasy Land and tomorrow land- THEN it was castle time.  It was amazing to go through the castle yelling- BEST DAY EVER!! from there we went through Frontier land, past Splash Mountain and back out of the Magic Kingdom.  At the half way point there was a sign that said we were half way there and the song Stronger by Kelly Clarkson was BLASTING! nice touch. Mile 8 was a milestone for me- I had never run that far before. And then I just kept cranking them out- 9,10,11,12 and finally 13.  At mile 9 I became pretty emotional- I started thinking of my daughters- and how I could tell them that if I could do this they could do ANYTHING they put their minds to.

Miles 10 and 11 I thought of everyone that was watching my progress on line and I was thankful for the good thoughts. I thought about my parents when the song on my ipod was "for good" from Wicked- I wished that they could have known of this accomplishment in my life.

From 12 on I tried to zone in on my songs. It was hard I am not going to lie, but as 12 approached I knew I could do this.

Mile 12 is right outside of EPCOT.  We came in and there were guests in the park who cheered us on.
I took a picture of every mile marker- it was important to me to mark them down.

Crossing the finish line was unbelievable.  They called out my name and I gave them a big woo hoo. I couldn't wait to find Doug- it was then that I cried.

Will I do this again- NO not right now.  But maybe someday.

Thanks again to all of you have followed this time with me.  I appreciate all your love and prayers and they did not go unnoticed.
One last time
TTFN

PS I am exhausted need to go to bed.

Hello again

Ok first off yesterday was Friday not Saturday as my blog stated- sorry but when on vacation days run into each other.

So it is now really Saturday. I just got done sitting on the grass waiting for Doug to finish his 8 miles- I was the water girl, only fair since tomorrow he will have to wait at least 3 and a half hours for me. We are going back to the expo to find a long sleeved shirt or something that is waterproof in case of rain which the forcast is calling for. I am bummed. I want the whole Disney experience here and if it rains I don't know if all the characters can come out.  So please PRAY that it does not rain until AFTER everyone finishes. I don't care if it rains while I am at the parks.

I woke up this morning at 6:15 and though oh wow tomorrow at this time I will be running, I have been thinking that way all morning.

It is so nice to know that so many people are going to be monitoring my race and then again it scares me cuz now EVERYONE is watching my race.  THANK YOU all in advance, your love and support is overwhelming.  I know I will finish because I know that you are behind me.

Well we are leaving soon- I will blog again later today- hopefully the butterflies will start to go away but I doubt it- actually I think they are supposed to be there.

TTFN

Two more days

Today is Saturday and it was the Princess Expo- it was AWESOME!!! first while waiting outside Cinderella's coach and footmen were there for pictures which of course I got mine taken.  We then went into the  first room to pickup our bib numbers. There was a clock there that said 44 hours and I don't remember how many minutes- it was scary! After standing in the longest line(please tell me why I had the longest line everyone in it signed up on ;the first day!) I picked up my bib, necklace and pins.  THEN there was a red carpet that took us to the EXPO. Inside were three fairy godmothers in training who glittered us up! yep glitter in the hair AWESOME again.  The Disney merchandise was outstanding picked up quite a few items including four sticker for my car- no matter what I drive for the next few years it will have a 13.1 Princess Half marathon sticker on it!! There were so many booths and so many cool things.  I decided not to wear the tutu I made- instead I have a FABULOUS pink sequined skirt to wear instead. I AM STYLIN!!!!

It was so much fun talking to all the other princesses on the bus ridesd- everyone is so friendly and everyone has a smile on their face.  Don't know if it will still be there at 3am on Sunday morning but I am guessing that was what the fairy dust was for. I cannot wait for Sunday, I know it will be very hard to sleep-kinda like when you were a kid the night before Christmas.

Tomorrow is a relaxing day- no Downtown Disney tomorrow- just resting probably taking a nap and after dinner at 4:30 probably in bed by 9pm.

See you all tomorrow-gotta get my beauty sleep.
TTFN

T-minus 3 days

Inreally don't know what T-minus means but there are onlynthree days before the race! I am goingmto the Disney hotel today, after spending two great days with my brother. I have been trying the carb loading thing where you eat hardly anyncarbs Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then CARB up Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Today starts carb days, actually looking forward to that. Karl has been great with meat and veggie meals, he is a great cook who remonds me so much of my Dad when he cooks(sigh and slight tear, miss my parents at times like these) sorry back on track. Tomorrow is the Expo where you get to spend even more money on running stuff with Disney all over it-i am psyched! It just took me three times to spell that correctly. I will fill you in tomorrow about the goodie bag you get and will tak endlessly about the Expo. My tiaramis ready and I want that medal so bad. TTFN

In Orlando!

Reality is sinking in, I only have 5 days til the big day! I have the tiara, the sneakers, the outfit, and the ability to finish! I really can't waitnto run, I want to prove to myself that I can do this. It has been a journey to , I know an over used phrase, but it has. I started out not being able to run for more than a minute and now I have run for two hours! Who would have guessed. i will keep you informed on the weeks doings. TTFN

9 days, oh my!

Boy time has gone by fast, it seems like just yesterday I had my finger poised over the submit button to register for this race.I am really getting nervous, I know that I did the 6 miles last week in an hour and 40 minutes but I am just getting nervous that I won't finish. I have spent lots of money to get ready for this I reaaly pray that I don't waste it. I will be running 6 miles again this Saturday, it is supposed to be ok, no snow, no rain and a decent temperature.I know that I will feel better knowing how it goes this weekend. Maybe I should have run more, been more serious, I don't know, so many doubts.

Let it snow!

Yesterday was the day to run 6 miles, I really wanted to see what would happen, since it is half of what I will be doing in two weeks. Well let me tell you it was around 22 degrees and snowing, which in itself was not great but the footing was horrible. Today my quads are crying. It was so hard to push off to run. I decided to try thr run walk thing. I ran for three songs and walked for one, it worked. It took me one hour 40 minutes. I figure I should be able to do the half in about 3 and half hours, I will be happy with that. Yesterday I burned 1300 calories, that was the up side. I am getting a little nervous for the race, but excited too. I wish I could share the day with my daighters but they will be with me in spirit and I think they can keep track online, not sure. Well I will keep you up to date this week.