Marathon Number 1 of 2009-Walt Disney World Marathon

What a wonderful experience. We had an amazing time!

Another 2:30 am rise and shine Sunday morning...that wasn't so amazing, but...

The moon was! Remember I mentioned something about the moon being so huge and bright Thursday morning when we were headed to the airport? Well...come to find out...it really did seem bigger and brighter for a reason. The full moon we had on Saturday was the closest the moon will get to Earth this year. That's why it seems so large and bright-because it was! It was beautiful. We should have been sitting in the dark at 4:00 am at the start line, but it was so bright from the moon, they hardly needed lights.

After walking about three quarters of a mile to the starting line, we started in our correct corral this go around. Luckily, not as much weaving in and out of walkers this time. My legs felt great and I was ready to go. We watched Mickey, Minnie and Goofy welcome us and the fireworks blasted as the race started. It was warmer and more humid than the day before which was okay with me as I thought the day before was just a tad chilly. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

We took it nice and easy and things seemed to settle into place fairly quickly. We took another disposable camera to catch all the excitement. Will get them developed soon and post. Crazy that you can take over 50 some odd pictures in two days over 39.3 miles-but we did. And had a magical time doing it. We stopped for almost every character in all of the 4 parks. I think we could have taken an hour off our time if we didn't stop for a gazillion pictures, along with the insanely long bathroom break that someone had to take. But that's what this was all about. Having fun. Enjoying every minute. Laughing and goofing around. And that's exactly what we did. We also ran into some TNT alumni which was fun being able to hang with them a bit.

The day flew by. We started off at Epcot, then ran through the Magic Kingdom, then Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and then finished back through Epcot. We came in right under 6 hours but it really seemed much shorter.

After we crossed the finish line, we received our Mickey Mouse medal and then we were directed to the Goofy tent where we received a huge congratulations and our Goofy medals. They are so awesome. I'm so glad we signed up for this. Not sure we will do it again. Simply because of the 2:30 am wake up calls. Now that was more brutal than the running itself. But it was so worth it.

After receiving our heavy medals, we then returned to the hotel to shower and change and then we immediately headed to the Magic Kingdom for some walking and roller coaster riding. We stayed all day and into the night. By the time the fireworks were over and Tinkerbell flew across the sky, we were toast. So we headed back to get some shut eye. Waking up at 2:30 am. Running a marathon. And then walking Magic Kingdom for over 8 hours will wear a girl out. Oh-not to mention waking up at 2:30 am the day before and running a half marathon :)

I knew Monday morning was going to be the test. A test of 39.3 miles of running plus 8 hours of walking within a two day span. So...how do I feel? Freaking Amazing! I feel the best I have after any marathon I've run. I'm not sore. I don't hurt. My legs feel tired, but I think that's to be somewhat expected.

Something interesting...Going in, Doug and I did little to nil back to back long training runs. I was a tad nervous about this, but once I got up on Sunday and realized how great I felt, I knew we easily had this in the bag. So when we kept getting congratulated time and time again, I felt kinda silly. It seemed so easy and everyone was making such a big deal. Then Doug brought me back to reality, that not everyone does this sort of thing. There are millions of people that would not be able to physically do what we did. And I realized that I'm so lucky to be healthy enough and in good enough shape to think this was a cake walk.

Tonight is going to be busy. School is starting soon and I need to get some things in line. Thinking about hitting the gym for a short run...maybe a 2 miler. Yes...indoors. It's too cold for an outdoor run right now. Laundry needs to be done-but I can probably catch up on that tomorrow while working from home. 24 is waiting...very impatiently. I can't wait to see what Jack has in store for us! And the Biggest Loser...oh so much to do. Glad it's recovery time. Oh crap...and get our pictures developed. How could I forget? I'll see about posting some pics tonight.