While you may not like to see something like this come across your Twitter and Facebook feed the night before the race; it was kind of a sigh of relief for me.  I was doing the Dopey Challenge this year; which meant I had to run four races in a row. But it was nice to be given a pass for one of the races.

That didn’t come without a lot of mental struggles, though.  I was there to do the Dopey Challenge, but my training wasn’t as good as it has been in the past. I had been dealing with a lot of emotional pain, so my focus wasn’t on the races at the time.  I didn’t have as much energy as I usually have so I was worried that I didn’t have it in me to get the job done. But I was also relying on our friend Lyla’s strength and courage to get me through these races.

When we got the word the race was cancelled I was with my son at Splash Mountain. Knowing that I didn’t have to get up at 3:30 the next morning meant that we could spend a little more time in the park. So that was a nice bonus with some extra family time. It also meant that I could enjoy time at the pool and hot tub with the kids after the park before the storms rolled in. And the big bonus was that I could catch up on some sleep the next morning.

I did sleep in, but not extremely late, and then there was the element of all the race chatter and what runDisney was offering as a refund and options all over social medial. People were running mock half marathons all over Disney World. They were at their resorts, the Boardwalk and guests were even setting up water stations for the runners. I felt guilty that I wasn’t getting in my 13.1 miles. But I was trying to justify that I was going to earn those miles as I walked through the parks with my family all week. But then I would think to myself that I always did the parks, as well as the race so I was taking the easy way out and my Dopey Challenge wasn’t truly going to be earned.  See the struggle here?

I had to give myself a break. We had a major life event happen to all of us in the family so I needed to let myself take this time to rest.  My friend PK was running his first marathon the next day, so I wanted him to have a good experience and I didn’t want my slower speed to cause him to not enjoy the race. There were some variables I just wasn’t sure of for the marathon. He hadn’t done the Jeff Galloway method like we do, so I was worried it would bother him.

I finally decided to head out to tackle the traffic and go to the expo around 2:00 and check things out there. I wanted to return my Goofy shirt I purchased, and exchange Kevin’s 5k shirt. So at least I got something accomplished. I shopped the expo quickly, saw my friend Anne and went over to Walmart after sitting in traffic for 30 minutes.  I needed to get some warm weather layers for the full marathon.

A men’s XXXXL sweatshirt and a women’s fuzzy zip up and I was ready for the full and the predicted 20 degree weather with windchill.

When I got back to the hotel we cooked chicken tenders for dinner and had cut up veggies and hummus and I went to the hot tub early for a quick soak before heading to bed. I wanted to be in bed by 9:00 and I believe I fell asleep at 9:45, with my alarm set for 3:00 a.m. for the marathon.

Stay tuned for the full marathon recap next!