This past Sunday I visited three amusement parks, got a suntan and ran a marathon: all before lunch. Not to mention going through every possible emotion and getting a blister so big it earned its own nickname (Pinky and the Brain).
I felt as though I was running for days, even though it was only for 5 hours and 47 minutes (and 3 seconds). It seemed so long partially because the race began a couple hours before the sun rose. The wake-up call came promptly at 3 am. I remember my first thought being: "whose idea was this?" But it didn't take long for the adrenaline to start flowing. Tying on my pink bandana and strapping on my shoes felt like putting on battle armor. By the time I walked out the hotel door, I was ready.
I joined my running partner, Laura, at the staging area where we chatted nervously and sized up the competition. After a final visit to the all-important Port-o-Potty, all the runners made the solemn 10 minute march to the starting line. Hip-hop blared from speakers while Laura and I waited with 15, 998 of our closest friends for the 2007 Walt Disney World Marathon to begin. Some people stretched, some talked, and one was actually doing a little run (what?! isn't 26.2 miles enough?!)...silly girl.
All the runners were divided into 2 groups and 8 sub-groups so that not all would begin in a frenzied crush at the same time. After a short speech from Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald; it was time. "Love you, girl." "Love you too," Laura and I moved forward expectantly as fireworks exploded above our heads.
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