Well, I guess this will be one of the last, if not the last entry for this blog. LMM will be starting soon and we will all have new blogs to set up and write in. I'll always be lisathehornplayingturtle, but I'll have a new tittle. ????
The trip to Disney was great. My friends, Hallie, Carol, T'knesha, and Susan were so much fun and so crazy. I got to spend time with my California friend, Jackie and also a former housemate from college at FSU, who lives in Orlando. It was weird having the old college world of Jackie and Jim, and the marathon friend world of the gals collide in Orlando.
The marathon was great. Yes, there are some dead times on the route, but getting to run through the parks and seeing all of the characters made up for them. The crowd and volunteers were so supportive. And seeing Carol, Hallie, and Susan screaming and cheering at mile 24 was the best. I didn't finish in the time that I wanted. I chose friendship over running my own race. My friend, Jackie (who I ran with the whole way) started hitting the wall at mile 18. Being very fortunate, I have never hit (knock on wood) the wall in any of my three marathons, so it took me about a mile to realize what was going on with her. She claims she would have been picked up by the "paddy wagon" or have given up if I hadn't pushed her the last eight miles. Sigh, who knows. I kind of felt responsible for her, since I encouraged her to travel cross country to run this marathon with me. In the end, we crossed the finish line together in 6:59:08 and got a beautiful medal. All three marathons I've finished just under the hour. Hopefully, next time I can finish under six again. This LMM isn't only about losing weight or finishing a marathon, it's also about the lifelong friends you will meet and the experiences you will encounter during your running journey. I looked at the whole Disney experience, (friends, the race, the trip) and realized it all began with hearing Mark Simpson, by chance, on the radio four years ago talking about running a marathon, going out on a limb by going to the first meeting, and then actually joining up. Can't wait for the first meeting to start training for Chicago.
