This past weekend was absolutely wonderful. A very good friend of mine competed in the Walt Disney Marathon on Sunday. Wow.. wow.. wow.. she is amazing! She makes it look so easy and I know it is NOT! She is an amazing woman. Strong and gentle, such a kind heart. It was the coldest day of the year in Florida and we are having record breaking lows. It was about 27 degrees outside when she started the race. She did not complain or say one negative thing all weekend. Not about the weather, the time, nothing... all smiles, as always! She is such a beautiful amazing woman. Our group consisted of five supporters and two runners. Some of us stayed out at Disney the night before the race to minimize the driving time since the race started at 5:30 AM. We had a wonderful dinner together, then it was an early lights out. My roomie and I laughed until 1:00 AM... made for a fun night but we were a little tired the next day! Sunday the runners took off to the starting line up and we (the cheer squad) attempted to meet them at the 9 mile marker. Well... that didn't go exactly as planned. We failed miserably.
I won't go into all the silly details, but let's just say we did some turning around (directions provided by hotel, but we won't blame), we did some sprinting and waiting. Transportation was a little funky as we had to be blocked off from the runners. Needless to say, we missed our checkpoint at the 9 mile marker. I think it was harder keeping the cheer squad in line and on time than running the race. Maybe not.
We then raced over to the 12.5 mile marker viewing area. It consisted of a walk from Magic Kingdom Ticket and Transportation Center to the Polynesian Resort, then we continued on to the far side of the resort to find the runner's path. There we were able to see our runners and give them there much needed protein shakes and cheers! They were doing awesome!
Then we walked back to the Magic Kingdom TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center) and then to the car (because we forgot something) then back to the TTC. From there we rode the monorail over to Epcot were we walked to the far end of the parking lot to cheer on the runners approaching the finish line.
Watching all those people (over 20,000!) come in.. it was amazing. What motivation and determination each person has to train and compete in a marathon. 26.2 miles! WOW! I have so much respect for each of them for waking up, showing up and making it happen. My friend is amazing... I know she has been training for awhile for this race and she had a smile on her face when it started and she was smiling when it ended. I know it wasn't easy in the middle.. but she did it!! I have so much admiration for her and her strength and determination. Both runners did awesome, I am so proud of them and proud to call them my friends!
You inspire me.
She believed she could, so she did.
Love & Peace,
Kim
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