26.2

On January 10th Wes & I ran the Disney Marathon (26.2 miles)!! We are super excited and super proud of what we accomplished TOGETHER. We trained together from July to January and it was worth every bit of the training. We drove down to Orlando, FL 2 days before the marathon so we could go to Disney World on Saturday (the marathon was on Sunday) because Wes had NEVER been! We woke up Saturday morning and went to get our race packets… at that point it was 30 degrees and raining, so we weren’t sure if we would get to go to Disney, but it stopped raining and we went for it! We were the idiots who went to Disney World all bundled up in 30 degree weather the day before we were supposed to run a MARATHON! BUT we were in fact not idiots because there were NO LINES and we got to ride everything and it was a blast.

My parents and sister came to cheer us on (and take care of us after the race) and I don’t know what we would have done without them there. It was 28 degrees on race day in ORLANDO and my family stood out in it from 5am-9am to support us… that’s LOVE! I gave my sister my camera to grab some shots of us and she did a great job considering the fact that there were 17,000 runners and tons of spectators. Finding us was like finding a needle in a haystack. We basically had to find them at the designated mile markers. Wes and I carried a disposable camera with us on the run and were able to grab a few snapshots (see end of post).  The race was great despite the cold (the water from the water stations was actually freezing to ground!). We finished in the top 25% with a time of 4:27:12. After about mile 22 my body pretty much stopped doing what I wanted it to and I was in some serious pain, but somehow we pushed through. Okay! Enough talk… here are some pictures!

Some details shots of the medals, shoes, bibs, etc…

we love the shirts that came in our packets:

the medals are so heavy-duty! So awesome!

my mom gave Wes this pin and he wore it ALL DAY the day before the marathon for his first time in Disney World. Precious:

SO many people. My only complaint was that there were so many people that if we wanted to pass anyone, it was a challenge in itself (thanks to Katie for the next 4 shots):

There I am in the purplish-blue:

… and there’s Wes taking a picture of my sister taking a picture

It was hard to run side-by-side due to all the people. Here’s us waving…

Here are the shots we got from our disposable camera:

Disney World still had everything decorated for Christmas complete with Christmas music!:

We ran through all the Disney World parks:

We stopped a few times to get some shots with some of the characters cheering for us:

Our good friend Susan was at one of the physical therapy tents toward the end of the race (she is in PT school in FL). She was a LIFESAVER because she gave me Tylenol just when I needed it! Thanks SuSu!!

Us right after we finished… you can tell I am in some serious pain by the look on my face:

I know this is so gross, but I bled through my shoe… lost a few toenails… Nice shot, KT!

Us with our amazing fans (my mom, sister, & stepdad- I love how he even carried my girly camera bag! What a trooper!) Thanks so much, you guys, for the support, place to stay, cake, and spaghetti! We love you!!

Check back in a few days for more fun festivities!!