Disney's Princess 1/2 Marathon!!!!

Last Sunday I completed my first ever 1/2 marathon...all 13.1 miles of it! I wish I could say that I thoroughly enjoyed every last single step that I made. But then I'd be lying. :)

I had a terrific running partner that I trained with religiously in preparation for this event. We really paced our runs well, slowly increasing our mileage. I really thought I was going to make it to the start line without any injury. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I did a number on my knees and by race day I KNEW I wasn't going to be able to run it with the zeal I had during training.

We spent the night at Disney's All Star Movies Resort. Luxury it is not. BUT it's one of the hotels on the bus route so that's the one we chose! We had to be at the bus by 4am. It was FREEZING too! We got shuttled over to Epcot and walked quite a ways to get to our corral. By 4:45 we were in place and had to wait over an hour and a half until 6:14am when our time was up to begin the race. BRRRR.... we kept saying who in their right mind volunteers, let alone PAYS to do this to themselves! LOL

But by 6:14 when the fireworks blasted we were raring to go! Unfortunately there were lots of slower people around us and the first mile was spent just weaving in and out of all the congestion. Finally got into a good pace and by mile 2 I could already "feel" my left knee starting to throb. Oi vey. 11 more miles to go.....

We stopped for a "quick" bathroom break, which ended up not being so quick with the long lines already forming. 10 minutes later I got back on the road and ran on. For the next 8 miles I had to alternate between running and walking whenever my knee got to be too much for me to bear. By mile 10 though I thought there is NO WAY I can run one step further. But 3/4th of the mile gone and I got my second wind. Ran my way into the finish line.

My family was there to cheer me on but unfortunately all I saw was my husband with his camera...my boys were up in the stands with my mom and I couldn't see them thru the crowd.
As you can see we got all "princessed up!" for the event. LOL

Here I am with my running partner, Amy, and a friend, John Helton, whom I made a "manly" tutu for!! too funny!!!

My cheering section!!

When we got home I immediately took a long hot shower, then iced my knees with a bag of peas. We reclined in our theater for a marathon day of Star Wars (the old trilogy). While laying around and resting was enjoyed, I think keeping my legs idle was the WRONG thing to do b/c I was seriously, and I mean, seriously, crippled for the remainder of the day. I was walking like a 90 year old woman. This can't be good for me!!!

I'd like to say that this run lit a fire in me to conquer bigger and better and longer runs, but I think it actually did just the opposite! LOL While I'm super proud of myself for setting a goal, training for it, and going thru with it despite my knee issues...I'm just not thinking that long distance running is for me!

But....who knows. Maybe it's like childbirth, and once the "pain" memories wear off I'll be first in line to sign back up for more torture! :)