I don't even know where to start!! The journey is over in some ways and just starting in others. I will apoligize now for the length of these posts, even though I am just starting, because I know a few words just will not tell the story.
I guess I will start where I left off last time. Even getting to the rental house on Thursday evening did not give me the proof I needed that it was about time to run 26.2 miles. We settled in and then grabbed a bite to eat and went shopping. Though it doesn't really matter in the scheme of things, the huge house we rented was amazing and the nice bathtub and hot tub did help me to relax when I needed to. A lot of my family came too, my mom and Gene, my sister, brother-in-law and nephew Colin, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law, and then a couple of surprise guests, my sister-in-law and her husband, and of course, my kids and husband. We had a great weekend together and everyone agreed that this should be an annual gathering.
Friday morning was the first time everything started sinking in. We drove to the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex to go to the expo and pick up my race packet. As soon as we took the exit from the highway, we could tell that this was going to be a busy place. We had been talking about how many people were going to be running that weekend but we didn't have an actual figure. As we began the trek to the entrance, the excitement rushed over me!! Now I felt that the race was emminent and a sense of pride for just being there was overwhelming. I picked up my bib and shirt and we walked around for a while among the crowd. As I walked away, I was pumped, but I still had to wait another day.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing games and grilling and then my sister and brother in law showed up as a surprise. Jen said while she was here, "I hope you feel loved" and I totally did. My family was my biggest support system and I could have not done any of this without them.
Saturday we spent a few hours at Downtown Disney. The kids had been having some fun, but they finally got to do something geared towards them. They could have spent hours playing with the legos outside the lego store and looking around at the Disney store. They bought a few things, we ate lunch, and walked around a little bit more before going home to relax again. There were only a few hours left before I needed to eat my pasta and try to get to sleep.
Waking up at 3:00 in the morning is not something I ever wanted to do, but that was the plan for Sunday morning. We were warned that we needed to allow extra time for the traffic getting to Disney that morning, so I figured I needed to go to bed around 7:00 to make sure I got enough rest. Of course, I never thought that I would be able to get to sleep at that time and I thought that so many thoughts would be running through my head all night. Thankfully I was wrong!! I went to bed around 7:30 and probably got to sleep by 8:30 and slept well all night. Just to make sure, I set the alarm on my phone for 3:00, 3:05 and 3:15 to make sure I was up on time. I was out of bed by 3:05 and ready to go by 3:50. I thought my hubs would be dropping me off at the starting line and coming back to see me finish, but some of the family decided to wake up to wish me luck and then some went with us to watch me start, see me a couple places along the way, and see me finish.
As we drove into Epcot on Sunday morning, I said my goodbyes, hopped out of the van, and made my way to the starting area. It was crowded and it took quite a while to arrive at my corral. I settled in to wait for the starting gun and found a few people to talk to. One man warned us of the curves in the roads as you were taking the on and off ramps on the highways. Now this is something I warn others about!! A few minutes before the start, the Anthem was sung, Mickey roused up the crowd and fireworks went off. It was time to run.....after I waited about 20 minutes for my corral's turn.
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