This past weekend, my family, minus the brother, piled in the car up to Orlando for a ridiculously exhausting vacation. My mother, sister, and I would be doing the Donald Challenge - a 1/2 marathon (that's 13.1 miles!) though the disney theme parks. My father, the expert runner and chronic overachiever, would be taking head on the Goofy Challenge - running the Donald 1/2 marathon on Saturday, with us, and then the Mickey FULL marathon on Sunday. Back to Back. Yikes!
Not only is this task daunting in and of itself, we also had the weather to contend with. Central Florida was experiencing some of the coldest weather ever. It was actually snowing on Saturday morning when we headed to the start at 4am, clad in cheap sweats that we would throw away right before running. Disney collects the clothes, and donates them to charity, so we didn't feel so wasteful.
As for my training, I got shin splints (they were awful, so awful that I think they were stress fractures!) in Tokyo, and had about a month off of running. After Christmas, I only had 2 weeks to get in shape, and was struggling to run even 3 miles. Starting the race, I was sure that it would take me at least 3 and a half hours to finish. I surprised myself - I ran 9 miles without stopping, ran/walked 2 miles, and the ran the rest. I finished in 2 hours and 20 minutes - a time I never dreamed of getting!
My body was shocked as well at this feat- and I came down with some kind of flu that day. I've been sick, and with the sorest body I have EVER had (it was hysterical watching my family walk together the next day! We were limping, and pulling ourselves along... people must have thought we were crazy). 3 days later, I actually feel semi normal again.
My Dad did really well, finishing both races with great times, with an injured calf on top of that! My uncle, who had come down to run with us (bringing my cousins along, too) beat him in the Donald by 3 minutes. My mom did great, and my sister didn't stop running once. I was so proud of them all!
I'm signing up for the Chicago Marathon this year - I simply love running, and races are great. Hopefully my training goes a bit more smoothly this time!
On another note - I leave for Istanbul today. On to another adventure, another land of unknown and new experiences. Wish me luck!
1 comment:
Amy!! That is great! Can't wait to hear of your arrival in Istanbul, too. I will be glad to come down and cheer you on at the Chicago marathon...I'm a veteran at it and will be glad to play camera girl for you if you wish!! Stay well and start snapping!!
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