Dreams Do Come True – Never Give Up!

Those are two expressions that I totally believe in and I teach my kids to believe these things as well.

This blog post is going to be broken down into 4 sections to recap the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.

The Expo
Kids Races
The 10K
The Marathon

This weekend was my second time attending the Walt Disney world marathon weekend and it was more memorable than my first. It was special and full of many surprises both for me and for my family. I am so proud of my slowest marathon because I was with my friend Kimberly who is battling breast cancer and had her last chemo the week before the race and she ran the Dopey Challenge! She finished this marathon and her journey through chemo with a smile!!!! I am honored to have been there with her. What an inspiration!!!!!  It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.  That’s what I want my kids to learn.

I flew to Orlando a day before my family did so I could go to the expo and pick up my race packet for the weekend. I was able to get the kids off to school then my dad drove me up to the airport. The flight was great and I picked up my rental car and drove to the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs to have dinner with Kim’s family and friends. That was a lot of fun!  They made grilled chicken Cesar salads which were a great pre-race meal.  Then I went over to the Boardwalk and got settled in and prepared for the family’s arrival. I face-timed with them then got to bed.  I was excited to head over to the expo and purchase my marathon and 10K items.

The Expo – Thursday

The next day I face-timed with the kids and Kevin and I surprised them and told them they were going to fly down that afternoon to see me. They were stunned! They were so happy and I was so happy to surprise them. While they were making their way down I went to the expo at ESPN Wide World of Sports.

That was a lot of fun. I picked up my race bibs and shirts and did some shopping there. I bought Adrienne her first sparkle skirt for the kid races. I also picked up the race bibs and shirts for their races. At the expo I bought a marathon jacket, shirt, 10k inaugural and I did it shirt, a sweaty band, a sparkle shirt and tiara visor and arm sleeves. Since I heard that Sunday was going to be cold I decided to get the arm sleeves. I am very glad I did!

The expo was broken into two buildings at ESPN WWS and at first the first building I went into was not crowded at all. Then I went to the second building where you go to pick up your shirts and that’s where the majority of the vendors were.  It was great.  It was like a giant runner’s mall.  Many great vendors were there all in one place.  Sparkle Skirts, Sweaty Bands, Dr. Cool, Fit 2 Run, Cigna, runDisney, New Balance and many, many more.

Before leaving the expo I wanted to check out the kids races and met up with Kim and Nicole there. I am glad I did so I knew where to go and how the races were run.

On the way out, I met Jaqui who is a wheelchair racer and also the past winner of the races. We met because I was talking to her about the runDisney New Balance sneakers. I was never one for the sneaker hype but once I saw them in person I have to admit that I am sucked in. I have to get a pair at princess.

I went back to the room and dropped off all my stash and set up some surprises for the kids and then headed out to target for food and supplies for the room. It was a rainy day but the forecast was looking to improve. I was enjoying driving around and learning my way around the world. After shopping at target and lugging all the goods up to our room I had a beer and chilled in the room for a little bit then went to the airport to pick up the family. It was great to see them and they enjoyed riding in a car without booster seats. The first night we chilled out and I had to get to sleep because I had the 10k Friday.