Can I really do this?

Can I really run a marathon?  26.2 miles.  Roughly 30,000+ step…

I wonder how the 10 year old me who absolutely HATED running the mile in gym class would have answered this and what that girl would have thought of this 26 year old me running 26 of them?

I wonder how the 15 year old me would have answered this when my only preferred way to spend my time was playing Nintendo INSIDE?  And heaven forbid I go outside and “ruin” my hair…

I wonder how the 22 year old me would have answered this when I was just starting to run 2 minutes at a time?

I wonder how the 24 year old me would have answered this when I had to switch out of the Fox Cities Marathon for the Half Marathon because I just couldn’t run longer than 15 miles?…

As this is posted, I am likely lining up at the start line for my first marathon.  I am positive I am nervous.  I am positive I am excited.  I am positive I am there.  I will run.  I will hurt.  I might cry.  And I will finish.

The 26 year old me says …

Yes.

Race Prep: Nashville!

Today is a very special and exciting Friday here!  Sister and I are going to be leaving in a few short hours for our road trip to Nashville to run the Country Music Rock n Roll Half Marathon!!  It’s really hard to believe we signed up for this race WAY back on 11/11/11 while we were in Hawaii!  (I know, our lives are so rough… kidding!)

We are hoping to get into Nashville this afternoon with plenty of time to pick up our packets and then explore a little bit tonight.  I am guessing tomorrow is going to be an early morning (don’t ya love racing?!) so we’ll probably try to hit the hay early tonight (sorry had to get that one in there in the theme of all things Country!!).  To start off this exciting weekend, how about a random Friday post full of way too many !s and emoticons?!  (If this drives you nuts, please click the “x” in the corner now because I am EXCITED!!! :O)  So excited, in fact, that I could not sleep last night…

1) Despite the fact that I am overly excited for this little get away, I am actually very nervous for the running portion of this weekend… I feel like I have been taking things really easy the past week or two and am worried it is going to catch up with me tomorrow around mile 10.65.  I imagine I will also start out much too fast and then also be regretting that choice at this exact same point.  I have yet to actually “race” a run in 2012…

2) While in Nashville, we are hoping to have brunch at a place that has make your own pancakes!!  How exciting is that?!  And to have gluten free ones on top of just the make your own fun!  Hopefully they are not closed and/or overly busy this weekend… Sadly, I am not sure there is anything that excites me as much as pancakes… If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, I am pretty sure it would have to be these guys

Speaking of Hawaii... miss this syrup!!! (that's totally normal to "miss" a syrup, right?!?!)

 3) I’m torn between wearing my Garmin tomorrow and leaving it behind.  I have only worn my watch for Disney and the 10K that went to crap so I can’t really say if it helps me or hurts me.  I am leaning towards hurts because of the ease of giving up when the average pace drops below what I am aiming for.  I can guess I would somewhat give up at that point even if it was not warranted.  Might just leave it behind and see what happens!  This is all for fun, right?

4) Also – to bring the iPod or not… I am not sure if the course will be distracting enough without my own tunes if that might take away part of the fun or not.  Hmmmm…..

5) If I would have waited to sign up for the WDW Marathon until this weekend at the expo, I would have been able to get a free sling bag from RunDisney.  Totally not fair… maybe I will bring my bling and see if they will let me have a bag anyways?

See, I really did run this!

6) It is three weeks until Marathon Day and I feel less and less prepared each and every day… I am REALLY hoping the RNRCM will be what I need to boost the confidence slightly!  I can run, I really can?!? :S

7) Sadly, there is no Sweet Tomato’s on the way to Nashville/in Nashville. I looked. #bummer

8) Sister and I got suckered into the Platinum package for this race weekend!  VIP Potta-Potties – Whoot

9) It’s going to be sad not having our #1 fan along this weekend…

 

Happy Belated B-Day Mama ChEARer

10) I have not taken a car trip in a REALLY long time… and now between last weekend and this weekend, I will be spending an entire day in the car.  Hello leg cramps…  At least the legs should be well “rested” tomorrow!! Ha

Apparently nothing else happened this week that stored in my memory because all I can think about is the run this weekend!  And getting out of town!  I refuse to be worried by the Nashville forecast and will just be keeping my fingers crossed those “storms” are very isolated and do not occur before 12pm on Saturday.  If I am feeling chatty, I might be back tomorrow with a race recap, otherwise, you might have to wait until Monday or Tuesday!  Most likely I will want to type it out sooner rather than later because I forget thing.  Really quickly.

Wish us luck!  And here is to setting a new PR for races run in Tennessee!  (PS, that means any time as I have never ever ran in TN before )!!!

Whoops.

So I think I have officially done something stupid.  I have now signed up for a total of three marathons within the next year without actually running one.  I also still have some lingering pain in my back and foot that just refuses to go away when I keep running on it.  This could be a huge waste of money but I know if I didn’t register for this race and really try to make it work, I would regret it for probably my whole life.  What race did I sign up for now?

Well… the 20th Anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon, of course!

To give you the full picture of why this race is particularly important to me, I have to back track to about 2004…I’ve eluded to this in the past but this is the full scoop!

The first time I ever got to go to DisneyWorld, I was 19 years old.  Yes, I am fully aware of the fact that I am way too old for WDW but to be quite frank, I don’t care what you think. I love and will also love anything Disney.  When I was planning our family vacation to WDW, I came across an article about the WDW marathon.  At this point I had never even run one mile and was absolutely positive that I COULD NOT run but this marathon stuck in my head and I dreamed of being able to run it and cross that finish line someday.  That following summer (2005), I started “running.”  I don’t actually think I told anyone I was running for a while because I didn’t really view what I was doing as running but I would leave to go on a walk and then during the course of that walk, would run for a minute or two (I honestly don’t remember if it was that long… I remember feeling really badass but in truth I know it was probably not as hardcore as I told myself)  I don’t fully remember how long I went with this little spurts of running thing but I know by 2006, I would actually run for 2 miles or so at a time.  I don’t know if I was consciously thinking of running a marathon yet at this point but the seed was planted in my head.

A few years later (2009-1010), I started to really feel the urge to train for a marathon.  It was something I really wanted to cross off my bucket list before I was 25.  Needless to say, this has yet to happen and 25 was a few years ago… but anyways, to make a long (boring) story short, I signed up for a marathon in 2010, switched to the half, loved that distance, ran a few, decided I was ready to tackle a full but was terrified to do so.  That brings us to Dec 2011.  At that time, Sister and I were deep into half marathon training for the WDW Half in January 2012 but I just couldn’t get excited about it because it was not the “full” and I felt like I would probably never be a marathoner… so after one particular grumpy run in December, Sister convinced me to sign up for my first full marathon and I have been in training ever since.  Yes, this still was not going to be THE marathon I had always dreamed about running but it was still going to be A marathon and that calmed my mind for the time being.

Then WDW Marathon Weekend 2012 came and I was SO jealous of everyone I saw with their “Marathon” gear and wanted that damn Mickey Mouse medal SO BAD!  But I knew it was not yet time… So Sister and I ran the Half and got our Donald Medals aka Bling (which I think actually looked cooler than the Mickey Heads anyways) and had a great time but I was still Bitter.  I was bitter about the fact that I did not get to run Sunday…..By Monday or Tuesday of that weekend, Sister and I started talking about the 2013 Full… we went back and forth a few times and Sister talked all “I’m never running again” there for a while but then we just couldn’t shake it.

Last week, the emails started rolling in “Registration Opens Tomorrow”, “Registration is Open”, “Exciting Improvements for the 20th Anniversary Marathon Weekend”, etc., etc.  And we could no longer deny that come hell or high water, we were going to sign up for this marathon…

THE Marathon.  The 26.2 miles I have been longing to run since 2004.

And it’s now official.  1.13.13 I will (hopefully) be running a race I have been thinking about and dreaming about for years.  Almost a decade really.  To say I am excited is the biggest understatement of the year!

But I am also fully aware of the fact that I need to be careful.  I need to take a break after May 20th and heal up and do as much as I can to listen to my body while still training to run these distances.  I am fully aware that something might happen between now and then that prevents my running this race but I am going to do everything in my power to make this happen. I am going to pursue this dream… 20th Anniversary Mickey Mouse Medal! – I’m coming for you!

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

-Walt Disney