Weather!! (& WDW Marathon Weekend!)

I LOVE this time of year.  I love love love it.

Christmas is my FAVORITE day of the year.  Always has been, always will.  I love the magic in the air, the spirit of the season….I could go on and on!  :0)

I look forward to Christmas day all year long…so you can imagine my disappointment every time it’s over! :0( 

Well, the past three years, I’ve had something else to look forward to right after Christmas!

Walt Disney World MARATHON WEEKEND!!!!

My very first Marathon Weekend experience was in 2009.  I was NOT a runner.  Before this, I ran cross country high school and a little in college.  Never after that.  The purpose for the trip was to root on a few friends who were running the Full Marathon and meet up with fellow Disney Bride friends that we had kept up with for quite a few years!

I travelled there with a friend that I had never met in person before…..

Little did I know, this trip would spur up a strong love for running and a great friendship!! :0)  This is Heather and I at Hollywood Studios!

We stood here outside of Hollywood Studios for about an hour so we could cheer our friends on.  Standing here, watching the love and support from people all around for random strangers stirred something up within me. 

THIS
IS
INCREDIBLE.

It gave me chills and literally moved me to tears.  These people had worked SO very hard for this moment.  They had sacrificed so much and now, here they are….living their dream.  Absolutely amazing.

Yay there goes Crystal!!! :0)

Right there, I decided something….I wanted to do this the following year (well, I would start with the Half! hah!). I wanted to be a part.  To train, to work hard for this and live for the very moment when I would cross the finish line and a medal would be placed around my neck.

Before I move on too much, I want to point this out….this was my original reason for this blog post….do you see the weather behind me?  Do you see what I am WEARING!?  This was JANUARY for crying out loud!!!!  Yes, January in Orlando….shorts and a t-shirt.

   Ok…moving on…

Walt Disney World MARATHON WEEKEND 2010!!!

The week of the Half Marathon, I checked the weather multiple times.  I could not believe that beautiful Marathon Weekend of 2009 would be transformed into sleet-y, freezing, slushy Marathon Weekend of 2010…but yes, it was.

 

The morning of the Half came EARLY…and COLD!  For a moment, we thought it was snowing (and I really think it did for a little while).

Do you see what I’m wearing?!  HUGE difference from the previous year!!!  We actually were pelted in the face with sleeting rain during this race.  After the sleet melted, we were wet.  Wet and cold.  I never even broke a sweat.  Crazy.

However, despite the cold, nothing could damper my excitement when I crossed that finish line!  13.1!!  I felt like I could do anything at that moment!  I just ran a Half Marathon!!!

 

My running buddy Laura and I after the race!  We were chilled to the bone but nothing could contain our excitement!!

I took my best friend Kim along with me for this trip.  This was her first time at Disney World and boy was she surprised at the temperatures!  We had a blast though and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

I said all of this to say….

January 9, 2011  Just a few short weeks away.

I’m running the FULL Marathon and I am praying, hoping, crossing my fingers that the weather will cooperate this year.  My brother and sister in law are there in Disney as we speak and they have text me quite a few times to tell me how cold it is!  This worries me. It’s December and they are having record cold temperatures. 

I hope we are graced with 2009 weather and not that of 2010!!! :0) 

Best of luck to all of my fellow Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend runners! I know you will do great no matter what kind of weather we have!! :0)