All Done

Over the past couple of weeks I have thought of at least 10 ideas to blog about. But because of limited time and motivation to actually sit down at the computer and blog, I haven't done one of them. But as I just completed one of the greatest accomplishments of my life, thus far, I decided that I would write about that.

Last Thursday I traveled with my brother and sister to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The sole purpose of the trip: Complete the Goofy Challenge.

We signed up for this challenge back in January of last year. At the time it seemed like a good idea. But as the training began to be more intense and my knees wanted to function less and less, I began to wonder what I'd been thinking when we signed up for the race.

In October I hurt my knees in an 8 mile run. This preceeded to put me back BIG TIME on my training. When we left for Florida I had only trained up to 12 miles. The least you should for a full marathon is 18. And I was about to attempt 39.3 miles in 24 hours. I wasn't ready. But I was ready. I felt great after my 2 twelves that I ran and I was optimistic for the race.

After spending all of Friday walking around The Magic Kingdom, the nervousness for what I was about to do set in. Saturday morning we arose at 3 am and went through the pre-race motions. The race began, and we began strong.

We somehow missplaced my sister after mile 6 (she thought we kept going when she stopped for the bathrooms when we really had stopped, but she just booked it out of there to catch up). So Tom and I completed the 13.1 mile race in 2 hours and 45 minutes or so. We felt great! We even enjoyed Epcot the rest of the day, and retired early as we had a marathon in the morning.

So again, Sunday morning we arose at an incredibly early hour to run yet again. Though this day, was not the ease the 13 miles gave the day before, but this day was a long 26.2 miiles that had to be endured. And endure it we did. We did enjoy the stopping for photos with Disney Characters throughout the parks. The miles did wear on me a bit. I was ready for the race to be done about 13 miles before it was. =) With about 8 miles to go it was only the thought of finishing the race and getting the Goofy Medal that kept me going. I actually cried each time I thought about the medal. I wanted it so bad!! And you know what!? I got it! As we finished the 25th mile and were finishing the .2 that were left, I sprinted when I saw the FINISH line. I had to slow down to be able to have Tom and Teresa at my sides as we crossed the finish line. And finish we did! Yes, it did take about 6 hours and 4 minutes, but we did stop and take many a photo to document our race. We all hugged and cried and were overjoyed that we were going to be getting our Goofy Medals. So we hurried over to be awarded with the coveted medals. And now am a proud owner of One Donald Duck Medal (for completing the half) One Mickey Mouse Medal (for completing the full) and One Goofy Medal (for completing both....that's 39.3 miles in 24 hours!!)!

We finished the trip with a few days at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. I can't say I was walking so great. Getting onto the rides was a chore, but it was a good time. Other than the fact that my husband was back at home, the trip was great! We enjoyed the magic of Disney and completed the race that was the reason for the trip.

I came home to a surprise! My sister and parent deviously planned to have Timothy pick us up from the airport. I was so thrilled to see him! The poor man was so bored without me, we are now the proud owners of Battlestar Galactica due to his boredom. =)

It's good to be home again, and its good to be done with the race. I enjoyed sleeping in on this fine Saturday morning for the first time in a long time.

Races have saturated my blood and I can't seem to stop running them.