Disney World Marathon 2012

Wow, what a week it has been! Ready to catch everyone up on the amazing Disney World Marathon...

Okay so back to Saturday a week ago. Jill and Steve, aka. Grandma and Grandpa, rolled in on the Disney Magical Express at 12:30 AM. They hit the hay and were literally up 3 hours later ready to run their half marathon. Both of our races started bright and early at 5:30AM each morning. So we sent the half asleep Gma and Gpa to the start time and waited patiently for Miss Lily to awaken. We didn't have to wait to long as our 5:15 alarm went off with tears and everything. So we got up, got on the transport and headed to the finish line. Considering that there were over 25,000 runners, it took us a long time to get to the finish and get to a spot that wasn't 10 people thick along the course.

We found a prime spot right in front of the famous Epcot Ball.


What a way to start the morning! We watched and waited as runners crossed the finish line anxiously looking for Grandma and Grandpa. Finally we spotted them! Lily was a bit overwhelmed, but she saw Grandma and a big smile crossed her little features.




After we waded through the sea of spectators we found the runners and Lily got lots of snuggles and kisses. She especially loved playing with Jill and Steve's Donald Duck Medal.

After showers and a much needed breakfast, we spent most of the afternoon just hanging out and resting our legs and feet. We toured through the expo, took a nap (with the baby of course) and headed down to Downtown Disney for dinner.




The one really great thing about Disney is that you have free transportation anywhere on the grounds. After dinner we headed to bed, Marathon, here we come!

3:30AM rolls around.....I was so nervous and anxious and just excited to get going on my 26.2 mile journey. Bob and I snuck out of our room and headed to the bus. The bus dropped us off a mile from the start line which added to the nerves. We made it to our corral with 15 minutes to spare and got ourselves all warmed up. The Start Line was complete with Mega Screen, Disney Music, Mickey, Donald and Goofy! 5-4-3-2-1......Fireworks, music, lights.....and we were off! Boy, Disney goes all out!



The run started great, but at mile 4 my bad toe started to hurt, OH NO! So I pulled into a medical stop, put a bandaid on the toe and prayed that would work. Okay, back on the road. Then all of a sudden a years worth of nerves, excitement, stress and anticipation hit my stomach. Lets just say, it was a good thing they had pit stops every mile because I visited every Potty between mile 5 and mile 10. Good Times.....By the time we entered the magical Magic Kingdom, I was finally feelin' good. Its a good thing too because I got to enjoy a trip through Cinderella's Castle and past my most favorite ride, Splash Mountain! A great mile 11.



The miles were long, but so much fun. Besides the water and Powerade stops every mile, the entire Disney cast was out in all their glory including a Pirates of the Caribbean set up with a big pirate ship! We headed down to the Animal Kingdom next and then onto the Hollywood Studios. As we exited the Hollywood Studios we were around mile 18, I couldn't believe I only had 8 more miles to go. At mile 20 I had to stop and snap a photo.


2 was finally the first number!!! By mile 23 we had entered into the Downtown Disney area and headed towards Epcot. I was tired, but so fired up! I was almost there!


We arrived in Epcot to a glorious mile marker 25, only 1.2 left to go, Whoo hoo! Running through the Worlds at Epcot was the most fun I have had in a long time! I was almost there! We got up to the ball and there was the finish!



I crossed the finish line and felt awesome! What an accomplishment! Bob finished ahead of me after having run all of those miles completely barefoot!


We picked up our Mickey Bling and displayed it with pride.


Lily couldn't handle all the excitement and once she saw me finish the race, she crashed, HARD! Sweet, Sweet Baby!



We did it, the Walt Disney World Marathon! On to the next challenge!

14 Months......Yesterday

I have officially broken my untarnished monthly update record. For 13 of Miss Lily's beautiful months I have written to update everyone right on the 6th. With all of the hustle and bustle of the Disney atmosphere and Marathon excitement, I woke up this morning to the realization that it was the 7th! and I hadn't written her blog! Oh well, Like I said a month ago, I knew these month updates were going to be a little different this year.

Disney is pure and simple MAGIC! That is really all that I can say. There is something about landing in Orlando and entering the Disney grounds that give you kind of an other worldly experience.


The people, the places, the settings, the characters, it really is MAGICAL and, as you can see from my late post, very distracting!

The few days leading up to our travel, Lily was busy, busy, busy helping me pack. Aside from using the bags as a baby jungle gym, she managed to learn how to scale the blanket chest to reach the peak of her favorite place...Mom's bed.




We arrived on the Disney grounds yesterday around 4:30 with a very, VERY, VERY tired and fussy little girl on our hands.


She was pooped and with all of the new things to see, she simply refused to sleep. We hurried into our room and, while waiting for her pac n play and our bags to show up, made a makeshift bed in the corner of our room. Once she realized that Mom and Dad were giving her the quiet opportunity to catch up, she crashed and crashed hard.


Once all napped up we headed over to the Health Expo to pick up all of our race goodies. So many runners!! We picked up all of our race numbers and mosied on through.




We decided that it was time for our nightly routine so into the bath we went.


We knew that bed time was going to be challenging because there was no "other" room to put Lily in, so we set up the red neck version of the "Canopy Bed" (ie, pac n play with a blanket on top) and said good night. Not but 5 minutes later, we turned around to find a very unhappy Lily attempting an escape from her digs.


Oh dear. So we had to shut all the lights off, and go to bed with her. Lily, Lily, what are we going to do with you!

At 14 months, she still is a little sleep fighter getting a stronger will with each passing day. Just love her.