Marathon Recap

In January of 2010 the hubby and I ran our first marathon and in Disney World no less!

We have decided to start training for another marathon in March which means that the long run trainings start....this weekend...oy vey! Only a month off from races and we are back at it. There are going to be a lot of very cold runs. Hopefully we don't get hit with 6 ft of snow again, definitely makes it hard to get in long runs!

We committed to doing the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Our friends The Reeces are doing this for their first marathon and we told them we would support them. Hopefully we can run the race together, we'll see where we are all at. I don't want to slow anyone down. So my knee hurts and is stiff but I have some strength exercises that will hopefully work. I am super excited to do this race and cheer them on to their accomplishment (hopefully at the same time!)

So in the spirit of training for another marathon here is a reprint of the postings I had on Facebook after the marathon was over. I look forward to highlighting the events of our next marathon and I plan to post them here instead of annoying my Facebook friends! Sorry to those whose News Feed was bombarded. Looking back that was pretty obnoxious but I was really excited about our accomplishment and wished that my family and friends had been able to be there.

Highlights (good and bad)

Highlight 1: getting up at 2:50am to get on the monorail

Highlight 2: seeing people in shorts on the monorail and feeling even colder, btw monorail doesn't have heat!

highlight 3: impressed by the amount of porta-potties in the waiting area

highlight 4: huttling with random people to stay warm

highlight 5: mickey and friends in track outfits!

highlight 6: fireworks at the start!

highlight 7: a woman from Canada asking us our pace, saying she was gonna stay with us and gone within a mile!

highlight 8: after 5 miles wondering when we were going to enter a park

highlight 9: finally entering epcot and thinking how cool it looks at night! wasn't in epcot for too terribly long

highlight 10: watching the sun come up! (it got warmer!)

highlight 11: kept backtracking feeling like we were continually going towards epcot then realized the epcot ball we were seeing was a hot air balloon

highlight 12: kept waiting for magic kingdom to go to the bathroom but couldn't wait, found porta-potties with no wait!

highlight 13: feeling better but still running and wondering when we were gonna see magic kingdom

highlight 14: ice hazards! yes there was ice in Florida! mainly at the water stations from spilled water. also frozen layers in our drinking cups

highlight 15: finally getting to magic kingdom!

highlight 16: running down main street of magic kingdom to lots of cheering people and CHRISTMAS decorations!!

highlight 17: the trumpets as we ran through Cinderella's castle

highlight 18: long boring run to Animal Kingdom

highlight 19: live piano player-playing rocky song

highlight 20: dude standing in the middle holding a staff with a skull you could rub for good luck!

highlight 21: running through animal kingdom - only owls and goats as we entered highlight 22: long run time, needed to stop at porta-potties again, ugh line this time! highlight 23: running by the smelly waste water treatment plant! at first it smelled like chocolate

highlight 24: ditching my outer layer (from Walmart) which a guy earlier said my sweat on my upper back had frosted over!

highlight 25: after ditching my fleece felt my hair and realized the sweat on the ends were icicles!

highlight 26: now that my Baltimore half shirt was noticeable found a lot more people from Maryla...nd, one dude was running in a 52 Ray Lewis jersey! Go Ravens!

highlight 27: DJ yelling less than 6 miles to go!

highlight 28: entering Hollywood Studios BEHIND the best ride ever of the Tower of Terror and seeing the space between the faux front and the real building

highlight 29: candy stop! jeff had a krackel

highlight 30: running around Hollywood Studios in the real working sections!

highlight 31: lots of cheering in Hollywood Studios that continued even out of the park!

highlight 32: running down boardwalk and around the lake by the beach club and yacht club, still lots of cheering!

highlight 33: excitement building all the way to epcot

highlight 34: running around epcot! still cheering!

highlight 35: sharp pain in my left pinky toe, either was bleeding profusely or just broke it

highlight 36: still running around epcot (eying all the places we know they sell alcohol!)

highlight 37: hitting 26.2 according to the GPS a quarter mile PRIOR to the finish

highlight 38: passing by the cheering bandstands!

highlight 39: grabbing Jeff's hand

highlight 40: crossing the finishline hand in hand with my running and life partner!

highlight 41: hugging after finishing our first marathon!

highlight 42: going to the self medical tent for knee on the ice, the lady wrapping it so tight I could barely walk

highlight 43: taking a picture with our medals!

highlight 44: getting our bag and putting on sweatshirts!

highlight 45: checkign out the merchandise tent and seeing the jackets we want still only in XXL

highlight 46: getting on the bus to return to the hotel

highlight 47: coming back to our phones and seeing so many nice messages from our friends and family! you all rock!

highlight 48: celebratory CHAMPAGNE! we bought it yesterday

highlight 49: showers!

highlight 50: watching the Ravens score 24 points in the first quarter