Run Disney Marathon Weekend - Day 1

 It's finally here - the MARATHON!!  AHHH!!  Brendan and I have been training for this weekend for MONTHS and it's really hard to believe that we're here in Florida.  It's been such a fantastic journey - I mean I started this all back in March and I could barely run a mile without stopping and here I am getting ready to run 26.2.  Our bodies are incredible!

My parents came down to VA to watch the kids and Brendan and I got on the plane on Friday morning early.  We got down to Orlando with no problems - I slept the entire way on the plane(!!!) - and we arrived at our hotel.  We stayed at the Beach Resort which is right next to Epcot.  The marathon starts in the parking lot of Epcot so we thought it would be good to be close, especially since it starts so early.

We spent the rest of Friday walking around Epcot.  It was actually not super warm but it was nicer than DC!!  We ate lunch at Marrakesh which is the sit down restaurant in Morocco - it's way at the back but totally worth the walk.  The food was amazing and the service was excellent.  The head chef even came out to say Hi and we discovered that he had lived in Arlington before he moved to Florida.  We ended up getting our meal for free which was so nice but I would have willingly paid for it  - the food was very very good.  I can't wait to visit again when we go back!

After lunch we went on a few low key rides and then headed over to the running expo to pick up our packets.  It's starting to feel real now!!  We had dinner at a great steak restaurant in our hotel and then had a great night's sleep!!

Running

A few months ago Brendan thought that it would be a fantastic idea if we signed up for the Disney Marathon together.  I was very hesitant - to say the least - and I had never run more than 2 or 3 miles in my entire life.  I was terrified of the idea of 26.2 and as I thought about it, I became more and more panicked!
I needed a plan.  Jeff Galloway is the Disney Marathon consultant and he designs all of the training programs for all of their races.  I bought into the run-walk-run method of endurance running and I haven't looked back!  Declan and I run twice during the week for 30-45 minutes and then I run without the stroller on the weekends.  I have increased my fitness and endurance boundary to a point that I NEVER thought was possible and now I'm very confident that I will be able to complete 26.2  miles at the beginning of January!  It's pretty exciting!!