We had the best whirlwind of a weekend! Back in May, Craig, Blair, and I jumped online to try to snag a spot to run the Disneyland half marathon. I was able to get right on and got us all a place on the start line. It cost $250 per person to run the half marathon!! We then started training. I trained hard for a few months until I had my nasal surgery. This surgery slowed me down a bit and took a long time to build back up, but I built back up and had to fight through a lot of weird injuries. I also faced some serious fatigue. I ran with Stephen a few times and he seemed to be doing just fine with training. He wasn't taking any of it too seriously. A few weeks ago, I ramped my training way down because I felt like I was about to get an injury. My knees hurt and so did my hip flexors. I started doing more weight training focused on my knees and hips to avoid an injury.
Well the weekend of the Disneyland half marathon finally arrived!! I bought plane tickets for $250 a peace and reserved a hotel room for $500 dollars. Stephen and I bought costumes and dressed as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan! All this money started adding up. Before we even arrived for the race, we were already at $1500 dollars!!
Saturday, We flew in to Los Angeles a took an $80 uber ride to the expo. We walked around the expo with our bags and checked out everything they had to offer. We each bought a shirt for $50 dollars. RunDisney did have some cute designs but they wanted almost $100 for any good shirts. After checking in to the race we started walking toward out hotel. Stephen got mixed up in the directions and lead us about a mile out of the way before we realized we walked the wrong way. We got to our hotel and the I asked if we could check in early, and guess what?! They had a room ready for us at 1:00!! I feel so lucky. That hardly ever happens.
After we checked in, we walked to The Cheesecake Factory and at a delicious lunch. It costs about $80 We were both exhausted, so we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. I think we slept for two hours before we met up with Craig and Blair. They had flown in on Friday and went to Disneyland all day on Saturday.
We went back up to our room and went right to sleep. Our race started at 5 AM so going to bed at 8 PM wasn't completely crazy. I woke up at 3:30 AM because I can't sleep anymore. My hormones are all off base and I have had it. I wish I could sleep better but I just can't. Stephen slept in until 4:05, and then we got dressed and headed down to the race start at 4:40. I am glad we didn't go earlier because standing around waiting for a race to start is not my jam. I hate it.
The race started out great! I ran my normal 8:40 pace for the first four miles. Then my calf started hurting. Bad. I knew immediately that I wasn't going to keep up the pace I had started. I slowed down and told Stephen. Then I walked. All of mile 5. I walked. It was so sad. After stretching my calf, I decided that the pain wasn't going away AND that I did NOT want to WALK 8 miles of the race. That would be awful. Also, the rest of the race was outside of Disneyland. So we would be walking the worst part of the race. So, we ran. I ran through the pain. It hurt for every single step. At mile 9, I started my period. I felt it. I knew it was going to start that day and hoped I could outrun it. No luck! I had a tampon with me but if I stopped to use the bathroom I knew I would never be able to start running again. So, I ran. We ran fast and faster until we finally rounded the last corner of the race.
Once we crossed the finish line, we got in line to take a finisher photo and then walked straight to the hotel. My calf was killing me. We finished in 2 hours and 10 minutes. It wasn't my fastest race but it wasn't my worst. It could have been way worse. I had actually said a prayer begging God to help me finish the race. I had started thinking I wasn't going to make it because my calf hurt so bad. I am so glad I was able to push through the pain and finish the race.
Craig and Blair finished in about 2 hours and 50 minutes and their friends, Matt and Britney finished in about 3 hours and 30 minutes. We met them back down at the finish line after we showered and changed our clothes. We then went to the park ALL DAY! I limped through the park for most of the day until my calf finally loosened up. We went on all the big rides twice! Space mountain, the Matterhorn, and Thunder railroad. It was a blast. We ate some delicious food and laughed all day.
We even stayed for the fireworks and rode the tea cups while they were going off. I am so glad to have time with Stephen. I love hanging out with him. He really is my best friend. I am working through some of my own problems and most of them stem from not sleeping. Stephen has had a hard year, too. He hates his job and is ready to retire. He has 5 years left and is looking forward to his final day on his 50th birthday. Monday morning, we woke up at 6:00 AM and headed to the airport. We took another $80 uber. We probably spent $100 on food while we were in the park. All in all, I think we spent about $2500 for the weekend. So long Disneyland! It was fun. Someday, we will go back when we have grandkids! BTW: This will be the last marathon at Disneyland for a long time. So we were lucky to get into this monumental race.
