One of our dear friends had made us little gift baskets with healthy snacks and encouraging notes so on the long road to Orlando, we permeated our minds with hopeful mantras.  As soon as we got settled into our hotel, we were off to the PHM Expo.  As we were on our way there, we read some of the fun number statistics about the race - youngest runner: 14. Oldest runner: 96.  International runners: 837. 34 participating countries.  36,420 bananas. Total number of people: almost 24,000!!!! No, you did not read that wrong.  Twenty four THOUSAND people were running in the race with us.  I knew at that moment that I was going to get completely lost and jumbled in all those bodies and may never see my family or anyone I recognized for that matter ever again.  Whew - first panic wave come and gone.  Back to the fun.  We were greeted by the most hilarious footmen who announced our presence and treated us like royalty.  We stocked up on goodies, tried the infamous "goo" (it's been described to me as swallowing a lugie but I rather liked it.  Mocha flavor was the best!).  After that we hung out in Downtown Disney for a while and treated ourselves to the most unhealthy snack we could find (there was a lot of justification going on that weekend, no judgement.)

The next day, probably as not smart as it was, Michel and I headed off to Hollywood Studios.  We can't help ourselves - this is what Disneyaholics do - wear themselves completely out by tromping around a theme park.  But hey, we had no kids which made our time much less frantic and we spent a LOT of time in the Art of Animation area perfecting our drawing skillz (<--- yep, I did that on purpose, yo).   We headed back to the hotel to call it in "early", prepping our running "outfits", fluffing our tutus and pre-gaming it with big bowls of pasta.  I had to take a screenshot of the time I had to set my alarm clock to - 2:45am.  A.freaking.M people!!  Not because that's when our race started but because we had to spend a ridiculous amount of time in lines on and off for the next 3 hours, waiting for our bus, going with the flow of all those 26,000 strangers like salmon, and dancing out all our race jitters at the before party.  I really wish I had snapped more photos of the party - a red carpet, characters and photo op areas galore, a DJ and dance music.  We gobbled down our bananas and reluctantly made one more pitstop at the port-a-potties before heading off to the corrals. 

It was about a 15 minute walk to the corrals and though we hadn't posted that fast of race times, we were fortunately in corral E which was closer to "A" than "H" was.  I tried to remaining stretching and/or moving at all times while waiting to keep from stiffening up.  The whole while we were entertained by a live DJ and hosts on a stage which was broadcasted on huge TV screens in the corrals further back.  We heard interviews from various race winners, the very first "Biggest Loser" winner and then, lo and behold, the Fairy Godmother made her way to the stage which signaled that it was almost time for the races to begin!  There was one wheelchair participant and the Fairy Godmother bibbidi bobbidi boo'ed them off at 5:30am sharp.  We knew it had started by the quick flashes of hot pink fireworks bursting from the stage.  From there, she released each corral every 10 minutes.  We slowly made our way closer and closer to the start line and the stage came more into plain view.  I was never nervous at any point but just very ready for it to start.  Very ready to know if I was actually going to make it out alive.  Ready to not fail, whatever failing meant.  At 6:03 F.G. waved her wand, the fireworks blasted and corral E was released to run.  Or actually, we started off at more of a fast walk since there were SO many feet trying to maneuver their way on the course.  Within minutes, I was completely separated from my little party, and though I had already had it in my mind that that would probably happen, I was immediately sad knowing I'd spend the next 2.5-3 hours alone.   I'm not completely against being alone, I rather enjoy alone time but the more time I spent on the course, the more I could tell: this race was meant to be shared with people as a fun, memorable experience.  Regardless, I steadied on, turned my music up a bit and got ready to enjoy the view.  Before I knew it, we were entering the car entrance of Magic Kingdom and soon I started hearing a loud cheer descend down through the crowd in front of me.  I thought maybe Prince Charming himself was sweeping women off their feet up ahead but no, off to my left I soon spotted, on the other side of the highway, a girl running BACK the way we had just come.  Could it be?  Yes, it was a girl from corral A - about to take the finish line by storm.  And I, and what felt like 20,000 other people, still have 11 more miles to go.  I remember looking over at a girl next to me, we exchanged exaggerated eye rolls and I mouthed "I wish I was her right now." Only moments later, I had reached the mile 3 sign and I quickly texted Isaac to let him know I had officially run a 5k now.  My first ever!  He was just waking up and getting ready for work at that point and I'd already been awake for what seemed like eternity.  I tried to take photos of characters I saw in my path - they were all scattered in various spots along the way - lots of people lining up to get a quick snapshot with them.  I didn't feel like chancing the time by stopping.  The second to last photo is of a group of us going around a bend in the highway and you can notice AAAAaalll the people coming up behind us.  That was one of the things that kept me going - knowing I was at least NOT the last one by any means of the word!  

I felt a surge of hope as we neared the castle around 5.5 miles.  It got very crowded as we crammed into the narrow paths surrounding the castle and I don't feel like I got to enjoy it very much as I was much too worried about getting lost (how could that even happen?!) and being made into one of the never-ending singing children at "It's a Small World" (if you've seen that episode of Family Guy, you'll know what I'm talking about!).  I had to stop in Frontier Land as I felt a blister forming on the pad of my foot, right underneath my big toe.  Thankfully, I had stashed a couple band aids into my pack as a last minute thought before I left the hotel that morning.  I kept a steady pace for the next several miles, just watching my surroundings and exchanging encouraging smiles with those around me.  There were a few of us that maintained the same pace and we would all unintentionally take turns passing one another every now and then.  I especially loved looking at all the creative t-shirts and costumes that people came up with - especially the husband and wife couples!  There were a few Tweedledee and Tweedledums, a few Chip and Dales, and more than a few Prince Charmings and Princesses.  After we made it through Magic Kingdom and some of the back roads of the theme park, I noticed  we were gradually making our way back the way we had come, which gave me a great sense of hope.  Not even hope.  What's greater than hope?  The transitive verb of the word "hope" is: to desire with expectation of obtainment.  I knew without a shadow of a doubt that that finish line would be MINE.  If only it would come quicker.  I spotted an area I had seen earlier that morning containing several Disney princes and since it was finally daylight, I quickly snapped a photo of some of these rare characters.   Then I realized, I really needed to pee.  Other than to quickly apply a band aid to my foot at mile 5 or 6, I hadn't stopped one time despite all the water and Powerade I had been chugging at every drink station.  I finally decided to "pull over" after I passed the mile 8 marker and did a little dance while waiting in line.  I immediately felt relieved and also full of regret - mile 8 port-a-potties are not as nice and fresh as mile 1 port-a-potties.  In fact, the toilet I randomly went into had a broken seat which I managed somehow not to slip and kill myself on.  All I could think of the whole time was "damn tutu" and hoped and prayed that I didn't get any *ahem* stuff on it, otherwise I'd be chucking it off to the side of the road!  Gladly, I report the tutu remained in tact and I was off again, if not a bit slower from my short minute of beautiful stillness.