Free to Be Me!!!!

“I’ve got a couple dents in my fender, got a couple rips in my jeans. I try to fit the pieces together, but PERFECTION is my ENEMY. On my own I’m so clumsy, but on Your shoulders I can see, I’m Free to Be Me!!!!”

…A line from one of my favorite songs by Francesca Battistelli, which was my motivation song that got me through the last race I ran!

Some people might not enjoy running, but do it for exercise nonetheless; others don’t enjoy it, therefore don’t partake in this activity whatsoever; I on the other hand, get some kind of weird adrenaline rush from putting a couple miles under my feet daily! Weird I know, but it is like my nicotine fix, I just gotta do it!

I speak highly of running because there are worse things in life that someone could be addicted to! I have even convinced several people to love running as much as I do. This last weekend marked the year anniversary of my very first half marathon. I ran the Rock and Roll half marathon last April in Nashville, Tennessee with 3 other friends. And I have to admit, that even though I have been running since junior high, nothing could prepare me for the fulfillment that came from running a half marathon! Crossing that finish line felt like such an accomplishment and one that I could not wait to do again. Almost 2 months ago, I ran my second half marathon, and it was even better! I beat my previous time by 20 minutes!!! (This could have been in part, due to the fact that it was chilly outside, versus the blistering sun that I ran in during my first race in April! The heat always slows me down.) The second race I ran was the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Orlando, Florida. It was a perfect excuse to take advantage of Disney World one more time before we move from Florida.

Not only did we have two days of Disney park hopping and site seeing, but the actual race was a run through Magic Kingdom! The race was for “princesses” only, meaning it was thousands of girls!!! Many of the runners were dressed like Disney princesses, which was fun to witness and kept me entertained throughout the run. Also, as we ran the 13 miles, there were Disney characters all along the way for the runners to stop and take pictures of and with!

I have been meaning to post pictures for forever and have promised the two girls who went with me that I would.

Welcome to Disney!!! We stayed in the Sports Hotel, we were in the tennis section....

Boomer!!!

First day at the parks...gotta have a Disney treat! Yummy!

Dinner at Downtown Disney with Stacey and Alyssa...

Stacey ran a 5K the day before Alyssa and I ran our Half Marathon. Stacey's not a runner, but wanted to come with us and since there was a "fun run" the same weekend, she signed up and ran the 3 miles with no training! So proud of you girlfriend!!!

Day 2 at the Parks...Beautiful Magic Kingdom in the background!

Stacey's "celebration" cupcake for running her race that morning! Gotta have a reason to run right?...nothing better than a sweet treat to make it all worth it!

A bit too early...we had to get there at 4AM!!!

Ironically, Alyssa is a fan of Francesca Battistelli as well, so our wake-up song that morn was, "Free to Be Me"! There's nothing like a good tune to wake you up!

Each runner had to pick a Disney Princess to be...naturally, I was Belle!

Belle and Ariel!

Gotta have a shoe shot...

Post race...we're smiling, but sore!

Nick, not one to be upstaged, also ran his first half marathon this year. He wanted to run the Disney one with me, but couldn't (duh, he's not a princess!). However, the following weekend, he ran the Jacksonville 15k (9 miles) with a few friends. I have to admit, I am very glad we didn't run together, he would have left me in the dust.