So Far, So Good...

It's best to begin at the beginning... unless we are talking Long Race... then the END is the best part!

The Finish Line...

Ryan told me a week before the marathon to make a "Mile 26" playlist on my ipod.  What a clever man, it was a GREAT idea!  It really got me through Mile 26, which I ran the whole way!  Well, I did stop ONCE to tie my shoe (ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!??! Don't think I didn't squat down REALLY FAST to tie it, and as I'm tying it I thought "WHAT was a I thinking?!?!  I REALLY hope I can get back up again!" HA!)  When I started this last mile, I SO BADLY needed to get to the finish, I ran the whole way.  This after NOT having run for the past 5 miles.  At all.  When I saw the  "Mile 26" mile marker, I know I laughed right out loud, I was so very happy... I quickly sent a text to Ryan "26!!!!" so he would know I was coming.  Hi-Five'd a volunteer who said, "You are doing great!" and this is what was playing in my ears... "So Far, So Good" by Truth:

It's getting harder to remember feeling lost and lonely
cause it seems we've been together for so long
but I've been living in the moment
so I never stopped to measure
all the miles that pass the places where we've gone
but when I try to count the ways your love has carried me
it doesn't take me very long to see...

that we have come so far,
you have been so good,
when I trace the road that we have travelled
I've got to tell you, Lord
I look at where we are, and see where I could have been
I need to say again: You've been so good
who would have guessed that we would come so far?

Then, this part was playing when I turned the corner and the Finish Line was a straight shot!  Of course I was singing and yelling "I DID IT" and generally being a complete dork:)  I'm ok with that.

There may be others who have wondered
why you kept on believing
in the person that You knew I could become
but even though I wasn't worthy
You're the One who's love was faithful
to complete the work in me that You'd begun
I don't know all the mountains that are left for us to climb
but I know when I reach the end I'll find....

we have come so far, you have been so good...

Totally ran around people to High Five Donald...

Right after crossing the Finish, I saw Ryan, and yelled to him "I DID IT!!!  I DID IT!!!"... I love this picture of us yelling at each other:)  It was such a fun moment, and I was really excited to finally (7 hours, 1 minute, and 29 seconds after starting) get to STOP!  And, I was really excited about accomplishing something so NOT ME, and realizing that the only way I could have done it, was with God.  Loved that.  Right after I got my medal, I leaned against the fence and thanked the One who is so very faithful.... 

Miles 20-25

Ugh.  These miles were really hard.  I will be honest and say that I was kind of worried about not finishing IN TIME mostly because I was getting so tired and going slower and slower.  I prayed a lot.  My ankle hurt.  I saw the "Pick up Bus" for people who couldn't finish and it scared me:)  Around mile 23 you go into Disney's Hollywood Studios... I really did NOT want to go!  No matter how much I tried to "re-live" the fun we had with the kids there last month, I did NOT love it.  I had a lot of heart-to-heart chats with myself, and was so very thankful when I finally entered the side gate into Epcot and the volunteer said, "Welcome Back to Epcot!" and there was Mile Marker 25!  That's when I started running again...

Almost to Mile 18

The Animal Kingdom... where my family was waiting for me. 

I was so glad to know they were going to be there!  I felt really good at this point, and I wasn't too tired, but I really needed to see them!  I'm so thankful they were able to be there... here's a photo credit shout out to my brother, Steve, who took the above picture and many of these, also.  Also, my dad and Laurie took LOTS of pictures.  (Is that good, Steve?) 

I really appreciated my sister Laurie coming down from NH with her girls to be with me... I called her back in March to ask her to come because we needed someone to take care of Ben and Carly for us.  I wasn't sure if my Nomad Parents would be in the country or not, and well, let's be honest, I needed my big sister with me.  Turns out, my parents WERE able to come, and my brother, too, which really made it nice for us to have such a support system.  And Rodney.  Ryan's best friend.  I say he was there for Ryan (since I had a posse of my own!), but really, he helped us BOTH with encouraging text messages during the race, plus he took Ben and Carly into the Animal Kingdom for a little fun while waiting!  THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you! 

Mile 10 The Magic Kingdom

Ok, so fun!  By the time I was running into the parking lot of the Magic Kingdom, it occurred to me that this was going by REALLY fast!  Not just saying that because it's over!  There was so much entertainment along the way and just the excitement of everyone around me, it was truly going by quickly.  I heard someone running past me tell their friend, "Soak it all in, just enjoy every moment of this!" and that really stuck with me.  Also very fun, when you run into a new park, the workers at the gates hi-five you and say, "Welcome to The Magic Kingdom" or where ever you are... HA!  That was fun for me!

Pictures I took with my cell phone... I stopped to take pictures!  It was just such a cool experience, I couldn't help myself.  The top left is running down the street into Tomorrowland.  Running through my mind was all the times I came here when I was little, and particularly going with my BFF Sue.  Next is Space Mountain, then a shot of running down Main Street towards the castle.  The park was not yet opened when I ran through, so it was pretty fun to be there when it was so deserted (except for the workers cheering!)  Bottom row, running through the castle!  Reason enough to run this marathon.  Especially if you are a Disney nut, like I believe I must be.  The middle shows the men dressed in Cinderella livery on the balcony, heralding our arrival with trumpets.  Lastly, I turned around for one more shot... 

The Start...

Ryan and I got up at 3:15am, got ready and were on the Marathon Bus at our resort (Pop Century) by 3:45am.  There was a video playing on the bus with last minute marathon information.  It was FREEZING outside.  No really, like 25 degrees.  We had an old blanket and left over mylar heat blankets from his previous races to keep us warm.  We were actually pretty warm while we waited to get going.  For 2 hours, we stood around, talking and laughing.  It really kept me calm being with Ryan, I know I would have been too nervous if he weren't with me!  We ate chocolate covered coffee beans and cliff bars to get our energy going for the race.  Finally, we made our way to our starting corral and enjoyed the festivities with everyone else who was running.  Fireworks heralded the start of the race, and we were off.  First park, Epcot.  While I was running through, I thought to myself, "When I'm back here, it will be to finish!"...

Back to the FINISH

After crossing the finish line, getting my medal, and thanking God, I stood around waiting to see Ryan and the fam.  This woman came up to me and said, "Honey, your shoe is untied, I'd hate for you to fall after running!" and I said, "it's ok, I'm waiting for one of my kids to tie it for me, I might not be able to get up again!" and she offered to do it for me, which I let her since she hadn't just run (yes, I checked with her first...) so RANDOM lady, THANK YOU for tying my shoe! 

and a close up of those medals:

Ryan got the Mickey marathon medal, a Donald 1/2 marathon medal, plus this one for the Goofy Challenge...

He's pretty proud of this one!  For 39.3 miles, he should be! 

Kristin and Laurie, who stayed very cold for us!

Laurie and Amanda.  After this, Laurie took her girls, and Ben and Carly to the Magic Kingdom for a fun afternoon. 

The Night Before...

Ok, now you know why there are titles in this post... I'm jumping all around!  The night before, we ate dinner at the Olive Garden (tradition!) then the kids made posters for us...

Kristin made this one...

Ben made this one for Ryan... it was a pretty well known fact I just wanted to finish!  I appreciated the "Tick Tock" in the upper right corner:)

Whew!  Fantastic memories!