Marathons and Mickey Mouse

It's been a while! Almost too long. You may have thought I died, considering my last post talked about running a marathon and how unprepared I was. But, great news. I am alive! I survived. The marathon was hard. Probably one of the hardest things ever. Not only physically, but mentally challenging. 

We woke up for the race at about 4am. The race was not til 6:30, but seeing as we slept in a camper right by the starting line, the music was blasting loud at 4, so we were up. Whenever I hear the song Daylight by Maroon 5, my toughts immediately turn to the morning of the race. That is the song that woke me loud and clear. It has a whole new meaning for me.

Amy and I stayed with some of her dad's friends the night before. They had all run marathons before. Let's just say this, watching them prepare to run and talk about their training made Amy and I want to pee our pants a little. I realized how totally unprepared I was. But, too late for that. So, I followed their lead, shoved some bagels in my mouth, took Motrin, lathered up with muscle rub, and pretended to stretch. 

I was going strong til about mile 15. Amy and I were laughing and joking and having a gay ol' time. Then, it got hard. The sun came out, our conversation died, and we realized that we still had 11 miles to go. It took lots of water stations, bananas, oranges, and chewy blocks to keep me going. Disclaimer: chewy blocks seem really great at the time of running, but they will make you physically ill the second you finish running. I never want to see another chewy block in my life. Some of the water stations also offered muscle rub. At one station the kid asked me, where does it hurt? Where do you want me to put it? EVERYWHERE! I told him. 

If I had not been able to physically see my legs, I would have been unsure if they were still attached.

Amy and her father crossed the finish line about 5 minutes before me. I finished in 4 hours and 27 minutes. On top of that, none of us walked!  But, let's be honest, I would have been proud of anything, as long as I finished. If you tell someone you did a marathon, no one ever asks, oh did you walk at all? What was your time? Oh, that's not very good. Everyone just responds, Wow! I hate running.  Well ladies and gentlemen, so did I that day. So did I.

 After the race, I thought I would want to eat the world. False. The thought of food made me want to throw-up. And I actually did. Chocolate milk was the only thing that I could stomach for 2 days. In addition, walking was nearly impossible. I avoided sitting because I knew I would never be able to get back up. When I landed back in Salt Lake, it took me 30 minutes to get from my plane to the pick-up station. Normally, it would take 10. People were staring at me always. But, I wore my marathon shirt for 2 days straight hoping people would see and understand.  Have I convinced you to run 26.2 miles yet?

Oh, and for weeks following, after I got my appetite back, I continued to eat like I had ran a marathon. I figured 26.2 miles would keep calories away for a while, right?! 

Since my marathon, which was on March 2nd, I have only ran once. I have done some other workouts, but I just have no desire to run right now. Hopefully that desire comes back. If not, I will be forced to  take up some other physical activity- gymnastics? water polo? trapeze walking? Or maybe I will just become a famous singer and never do anything physical again. 

In other news, I recently turned 23. To celebrate, we went to Disneyland! I had never been before...only to Disney World! World of Color blew my mind and my love for the Tower of Terror was rekindled.

Also, since it was my birthday and my first visit, I got to wear pins around the park all day. The pins clanked together and made their presence known the entire time. 52 Happy birthdays were said to me from random park employees. "Happy Birthday, Abby!" I felt like a champ and looked like a total tourist and a 5 year old.

Oh, and apparently when you turn 23, the teacups give you motion sickness. WHAT?!