WDW Marathon 2017: Non, Je ne regrette rien

Well another marathon weekend has come and gone. I was signed up for the Goofy Challenge which is where you run both the half marathon and the full marathon...back to back like a totally and completely insane person.

I'm gonna be honest, I was not ready. I got some miles in, but not nearly enough. I was sick to my stomach going into the weekend because 39.3 miles is a lot. My plan was to run the half with my friend Carrie because she was coming off an injury. I knew we would be slow and I was good with that. 26.2 after that though? Oooooh Lordy.

Then mother nature was like....

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The radar was tracking heavy storms with a ton of lightning for Saturday at race start. The decision was made by runDisney to cancel the half.

Cancel.The.Half.

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Yes. That happened.

Since the decision was made that night Cathy and I were able to sleep in, and by sleep in I mean I woke up at 6:30 and started tracking the weather to see when I could sneak in a run. I found a window and took my chances. I am so glad I went because what I saw was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed.

Runners, running and cheering and celebrating. Disney may have canceled the half but these runners were out there earning their bling. They had on their bibs, they were in costumes, you name it. When I made my way to the main building of Riverside there was a group of people handing out water and Powerade. It was amazing.

I only ran 2 miles because I knew the rain was coming back and I really did not want to get stuck in it. Plus, Cathy and I were going for breakfast!

Heck yes we were matching, you wanna say something? 

After breakfast we headed back over to the expo because Cathy needed to pick her race reimbursement option (yes, they offered 4 options which is completely unheard of!) and I wanted to swap out my Goofy Challenge stuff for marathon gear. 

Literally everyone was doing the same thing as us. It took forever to get there, five seconds while we were there and a lifetime to leave. Seriously we waited longer on the bus than most people waited to get on the new Frozen ride. But did the people on the Frozen ride have this kid photobomb their selfie? No...no they did not.

The whole expo debacle really screwed up our day because by the time we were done it was time to head back for dinner and get some sleep.  There was no time for popcorn OR cotton candy. Ridiculous.

Before I knew it, it was upon me....

Marathon morning was cold. And I'm not just being a Florida wimp, it was 30 with a windchill in the 20's.  Thankfully I was layered to the high heavens and had some hand warmers. 

I was pretty okay going into the full since I saved my legs the day before, so my nerves were pretty good when I started. My only issue was that I was cold. I finally started to warm up around mile one and a half and decided to shed a layer. This was all fine and dandy until I turned the corner and hit a head wind. Yeah, that was awesome....NOT.

I had to just keep moving, it was the only way I was going to stay warm. I made it to Magic Kingdom not long after the sun came up and it was a much welcomed sunrise. I was still feeling pretty good and tracking to finish in under 6 hours (for reference last year I finished in 6:38). 

How fun is this security cast member? I went to take my selfie and saw him walking up to me, he asked if he could take the photo and I said, no you should be in it!

Have I mentioned I love running through Magic Kingdom? It's my favorite and one of my favorite parts is usually the mile 7 mark. Last year the mile marker was Bambi and I lost my mind (I LOVE Bambi and I love the song "Little April Showers" which was playing). This year I almost lost my mind because who was at mile 7?

Sam Motha Lovin Eagle.

I love Sam Eagle. You don't even know. If I could have scaled Hall of Presidents and kissed his beautiful blue beak, I would have and then run from my security friend.

Sam Eagle y'all! Ah!

Okay, I'm back...(SAM EAGLE)...

I was still clipping along coming out of Magic Kingdom and heading towards Animal Kingdom. This stretch was a little different as far as entertainment this year. For instance, they had this gem:

No, not the woman dressed as Dory, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride vehicle. It is my brother Kevin's favorite ride. Okay, marathon detour...on one of the first trips to the World (maybe it was the first, I don't know, I wasn't there) my family waited some ungodly amount of time to ride this ride because Kevin wanted to ride it. Upon arrival at the front of the line my brother said he was not going on the ride because it looked stupid. My father being the calm cool and collected person that he is threw him into the submarine and the rest is history.

The course changed a little before heading into Animal Kingdom, which I anticipated because of the construction at Hollywood Studios. But LORD is it boring on that stretch of highway. Thankfully we had some entertainment in the form of barnyard animals when we entered the park.

I was still doing pretty well in Animal Kingdom as is evident by this photo:

Look at my jazz hand smiling face behind this poor woman. 

Once we left Animal Kingdom the stretch of highway I despise was upon me...Osceola Parkway. Snoooooooze fest with a head wind because that sounds amazing. 

After what felt like forever I made it into Wide World of Sports. Last year this is where my stomach gave me the middle finger and I had to do a lot of walking. This year I was doing pretty well and met up with the 6 hour pace group. 6 hours was still better than 6:38 in my book. 

Except I hit my wall. Mile 21 my body and mind were like, "Oh, this is cute." 

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Then I saw Shelly (MRTT ROCKS) around mile 22 or 23 and all was right in the world. We walked and talked our way through the final few miles. We even ran the last .2 and I didn't look like I was dying, so bonus.

I came in at 6:14 which was a 24 minute PR. That's huge and I should be insanely proud, but part of me thought if I trained a little better I could have been sub 6. But no matter what I had this waiting for me at the finish:

Something about getting my bling from him makes it that much sweeter.

This marathon went a lot better than I could have imagined and I am eager to actually complete Goofy next year.

A huge thank you to my sister who also braved the cold to cheer me on and who wrote encouragement signs in French, a language neither of us speak. This is our jam though and throughout my training Cathy constantly sent me this as encouragement:

I am thrilled this marathon is behind me and like I said, I cannot wait to really commit to next year. I pushed myself harder this year and it totally paid off. 

Now I will leave you with this...proof that no matter how old you are you will always be the baby sister that the older sister photobombs at Cinderella Castle.

So...Goofy 2018 training starts now, right?

I am a marathoner...and not just the Netflix kind

I completed my first marathon over the weekend and I still cannot wrap my head around it. Michelle talked me into this race in the spring and we started training not too long after. It has been a long journey filled with more than 500 miles, countless hours in the gym, things that cannot be unseen along the trail, blood, sweat, tears and so much more. It all culminated in that one race.

My sister, niece and my niece's childhood friend were also in town for the weekend. Cathy was running the half marathon and Lorren was running the full with me. I love our race weekends together and let's be honest, Disney is not the same when the Bednarek girls are together.

We spent a rainy morning at the Expo and after changing into some dry clothes, headed to Hollywood Studios for the day. We called it an early night since Cathy was running the following morning and we were her cheering section.

Yes, we were all set to cheer Cathy on along the course. We had our own course plotted out and ran our own little half marathon to meet her along the course. We also had signs, glorious, glorious signs.


Yes, I Photoshopped my sister's face on Queen Bey. 

Our cheering almost didn't happen though. We tried to follow the rules and not board the bus until after 5 am. What we didn't realize was that the last bus left at 5 am.  So there we sat with no way to the race with our awesome signs. Thankfully, between my wonderful husband and some ladies that were part of the cheer squad, we scored a ride to the start line. Second best part? The coffee stand at Epcot was open. Success was ours. 

Our first stop was the Magic Kingdom parking lot. We saw a ton of great costumes and inspirational runners. Then I got the text alert that Cathy was at the 5k mark so our eyes were peeled. Once we saw her we booked it for the monorail to head to Magic Kingdom.

I have always wanted to cheer on runners on Main Street. This is usually mile 5.5 for the race and everyone can always use that extra push. Plus, who doesn't want to run up Main Street towards that big beautiful castle?

After we saw Cathy we hopped on the monorail for the Polynesian. During the ride Lorren had the grand idea to find a Donald Duck whistle at the gift shop. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) she did find one just in time. We ran over to the roadway, that smelled like delicious delicious bacon, and Lorren cheered everyone on with her new duck bill. 

Since we had been running all over, we had to make a food stop. I mean, come on, those runners were getting clif shots around the corner, the least we could do was stop for a delicious pastry to refuel on our way back to Epcot.

Once we arrived back at Epcot we headed for the mile 12 stop and cheered on the runners. This is another one of my favorite spots along the course. It is the final mile of the race where everyone needs a push. I was thrilled to see my sister come around the corner and head into her final mile. 

After we saw Cathy we booked it across the parking lot for the finish line. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see my sister round the corner and head into the last .1 of the race!

 I am so proud of her!

We decided to Skype with my parents after Cathy's race, which included my Mom yelling at Lorren about the duck bill whistle. It was magical.

Magic Kingdom was next on our journey and included a carb fest at Tony's. My nerves were really starting to set in at this point and even the most delicious bowl of spaghetti was hard to stomach.

We only stayed for a few hours and then headed back for an early night.

The alarm went off a lot sooner than I had hoped. I had a rough night of sleep, mainly because I was worried about oversleeping. Lorren and I got ready and headed for the buses.

We walked right on to a bus and headed to the race start. It was finally sinking in that we were about to run 26.2 miles. Michelle met up with us at the corrals and we waited for our start.

It was really humid at the beginning of the race. By mile three I was literally pouring sweat, which honestly, only happens in the middle of August. This was also the point where we saw Cathy and Maggie. I will show you the photo of my sister's sign later. I just can't even right now...

I have to say that running in the marathon was a lot nicer than running the Princess half. I feel like it wasn't as crowded along the course. I didn't have to stop as many times as I normally have to during Princess.

Running up Main Street was amazing. Main Street is always a special place for me (it's where Scott and I met) so every time I get to run up the street, I savor the moment.

The course changed a little once we were inside Magic Kingdom. We were able to run through the new Storybook area and next to Big Thunder Mountain. I loved the new course and I hope they keep it for future races.

Once we left Magic Kingdom I knew we were about to enter unchartered territory. Somehow on the back access road, I lost Lorren.  I literally turned around and she was gone. I'm not sure how I lost someone wearing hot pink, but it happened. I did happen to run into my friend Chelsie though, which was unexpected and amazing!

This was also around the time I saw my first text from my friend Tim. It was like he knew I would need encouragement along the route. Seriously, every text came at the exact moment I needed a push.

Running into Animal Kingdom was pretty cool. Many moons ago I worked there and have a special place in my heart for this park and its animals. Some of the trainers were on the course with animals, including a vulture that had a sign that said to "look alive." There was also a turtle, a goat and a ferret. It was really awesome.

We came into the park through Africa, ran past the backside of the tree of life and then into Asia. A few runners cut off the course and hopped into the single rider line for Everest. Maybe if I was in an earlier corral I would consider that.

We left Animal Kingdom through Dinoland and ran through some of the parking lot. The next stretch was going to be my own personal Everest. I have a bad relationship with running on Osceola Parkway. It was the death of me during the Tower of Terror 10 miler a few years ago (granted I had a sinus infection from hell).

The stretch was long and blah. There were people along the route cheering us on and handing out french fries (which I passed on) and that definitely helped.

My favorite moment though of the Osceola stretch was running into my pacer from Lake Nona and OUC. I love her to pieces and literally jumped into her arms at the water stop. She kept yelling "You're a marathoner!" It was so fantastic and just the push I needed as I entered ESPN's Wide World of Sports.

Oh Wide World of Sports. You big beast you. I honestly did not realize how large the Sports Complex was until I was running through it. The best part of it though was the cold sponges they gave us. That was like a gift from the heavens.

We walked a bit inside ESPN though because I made the mistake of taking a GU. I had not taken one that late into a run before and should have known better. My stomach does not handle anything other than water and electrolytes after mile 16. Rookie mistake.

I did feel better once we hit the baseball field though and I have to say it was pretty amazing to be able to run around the field. We rounded another corner and I saw my sister and Maggie and it was just what I needed to continue to push through.

On the road out of ESPN we saw the SAG vans. We had a 2.5 mile head start on them, but the pressure felt very real. The road to the Studios included a biofreeze stop. Again, nectar of the gods. It also included very poor karaoke to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing."


Stepping foot in the Studios was perfection. I knew the end was near. We entered through the Streets of America and I was even able to kick along to "New York, New York." Not too shabby, right?

When we were running out of the Studios we passed MSG Cedric King. He’s a military veteran who lost both legs in Afghanistan. He was struggling and leaning on both of his guides to keep going. He was amazing and an incredible inspiration.

I knew once we hit the walkway to the resorts we were in the home stretch. This was it. The marathon was mine.

It was hard to not get emotional during this final stretch. As we rounded the Yacht Club I saw a Peggy Sue cheering section. After the race I saw that someone in the group was holding her actual "I'm Proud of You" sign. I did receive some extra cheers from them as I ran past and it truly meant the world to me.

Entering the countries in Epcot made it all so real. Seeing mile 25 in France was amazing. This was it. I was 1.2 miles away.

The tears started forming as I ran towards Spaceship Earth. I held them back the best I could and then someone holding a sign of Peggy Sue holding her sign pointed at me and maybe one or two fell out. This was as we made out way to mile 26 with the gospel choir. That final turn  seemed surreal. I do not know where the final push came from but I ran down last stretch with everything I had. I could not believe it happened.

I was a marathoner.

Not only was I a marathoner, my hubby was waiting for me with my bling. I literally jumped up onto him and gave him a big old kiss. I managed to scrape my leg on the barricade on the way up. I made it the entire race without a scratch. 26.2 miles with no injury and the damn barricade took me down.

After a quick visit to the ice station, I saw Michelle. The tears were a flowin' at that point. I am so proud of what we accomplished. Those early mornings and long runs made it so sweet.

I found Cathy and Maggie and sat my happy butt down to eat my banana and wait for Lorren. She crossed the finish line very close to Santa (no, really). I am so proud of Lorren and thrilled that she crossed!

I'm still in a state of disbelief. I cannot believe I finished my first marathon. I did not go in with a time in mind, my only goal was to finish and to finish strong. I did just that and could not be happier.

So, will I do it again? You bet. I have my eyes set on Chicago because that is my hometown. But, you never know you may see me at Disney again.

Thank you to everyone that supported me through this process. I could not have done it without you!

Oh...and here is the sign my sister was holding...

Seriously....

Thanksgiving Thursday

For those of you that don't know what Thanksgiving Thursday is, it is the one time during the week where you stop and basically count your blessings. Even if you've had one of those weeks, I promise you can find at least one thing to be thankful for, no matter how big or small.

This week I am thankful for...

• Scott who was my biggest cheerleader during this entire marathon training process. I had plenty of doubt going into this, but he constantly cheered me on and told me I could crush it. He had chocolate milks and bags of ice waiting for me after long runs and never said no to helping me foam roll my tired muscles. You are the best, babe! 

• Aaron, who even during challenging times, is the sweetest kid I know.

• Jillian and her determination.

• Family all around us.

• Bednarek girl weekends.

• My running buddy who talked me into this race and was the reason I forced myself to get up so early on Saturday mornings. 

• Everyone's support during the marathon. The posts, the texts, the words of encouragement truly me the world to me. 

• My winning cocktail of detox baths, oil diffusers, cough drops and hot tea that seem to be tackling the crap that I caught over the weekend.

What are you thankful for this week?

We've been busy...no really...

We've been busy and it's finally starting to slow down (God bless the end of the school year!).

Let's see... My sister sent me this awesome package for marathon training...

By the way, I'm training for a marathon. I may have forgotten to mention that at some point.

We completed another 5k as a family.

My office had a 5k for our foundations and we all ran the race, just not necessarily together. My friend Chelsie was there (she is now Aunt Chelsie to the kids) and she ran with Jill. Scott ran on his own and Aaron and I brought up the rear. Aaron took off like a bat out of hell at the beginning, so that last 1.5 mile was pretty rough.

We finished another season of baseball.

Aaron did so well this season and I cannot wait to see what happens in the fall.

We've done a whole lot more, but I'll be honest, it's all blurring together. I hope you are doing just as well as we are!

United We Run

I had planned to post a "what I see on my run" story yesterday. My friend Amanda recently did a similar post and I thought it was fantastic and told her I would follow suit. Then yesterday happened...

I couldn't bring myself to hit the publish button, so it sat there and I sat here, sad, mad and devastated. There is something so sacred about the finish line and to know that someone took that from all of those people and caused such harm to the people that support them is incomprehensible. Knowing that one of them was an 8-year-old boy that just ran back from meeting his father at the finish line hit all too close to home for me. I just ran the princess half in February and my whole family, my life, was on the fence at the finish line, just like all of those people. 

But then something amazing happened yesterday, people, humanity, acts of heroism. Runners crossed the finish line and ran on to the hospital to give blood. People ran back to move barricades to let EMS and rescue personal get to the injured. People just helped others. I tried to explain it to my Dad that it's the runners way. Something I have noticed since I started running is that people who run are just  genuinely nice people. When Michelle and I run on the weekends everyone we pass says, "good morning" or "have a good run."  It's just a part of our culture. We look forward to seeing each other succeed and cross the finish line, even if it's just the crack on the sidewalk when we return to our cars.

Patton Oswalt had, hands down, the best reaction to yesterday (and please pardon the language):

There really is nothing to add to that. While I still cannot bring myself to hit publish, I do know it will not stop me from running or make me fearful of my next race. If anything, this brings us closer and makes us stronger. Now we run for those who had it taken from them by one (or more) coward. I will think of you when I hit my favorite spot on my run:

I will think of you when the only sound is my feet hitting the ground. 

I will think of you when I wear my favorite race shirt, the one I wore when I crossed the finish line of my first half marathon.

I will think of you at the finish line.

From now on I don't just run for me...I run for and with you, too.