Is it really that time already?

It's that time of year again.

Where runDisney runners descend upon Orlando for the pinnacle race weekend of the year.

Marathon Weekend.

5 days of runDisney frenzy of expos, meetups and the 5k, 10k, half and full marathon races.  It's a crazy busy weekend, but one that runDisney enthusiasts look forward to every year.  The races historically sell out well before the race weekend arrives and people gather from far and wide to see the familiar faces of their running family.  To experience this race weekend is a real treat and truly showcases the runDisney ohana that has grown through the years.


Now for those of you that have been following me for a while know how tumultuous this weekend is for me.  It never seems to work out how I plan it to.

And this year seems no different.

I mean, I hate to be a Debbie Downer (sorry Mom), but I'm wondering if I should just stop going to this race weekend.

My first time going was 2015, the race would mark just shy of a year postpartum and my supposed "glorious return to running" and would also be my first marathon.  But my body would give me the middle finger and tell me to sit my ass down.

The year leading up to the race would be fraught with complications culminating in debilitating plantar fasciitis.  I would spend the next 10 months in physical therapy to correct and heal the damage done.  Therefore, during that time I had to own up to the fact that I would not be able to train and run the marathon like I had planned.  Luckily, runDisney still allowed the ability to downgrade your race distance if there was room in the registration pool.  To my luck, the half marathon was still open and I was able to downgrade from a full to a half marathon.

I was pretty defeated, don't get me wrong, my hopes and training had been to get me to the marathon distance, but I was still happy that I would be able to participate in the race weekend in some form.  Well as luck would have it, the night before the half marathon I came down with food poisoning and spend the next day and a half praying to the porcelain goddess and trying to sleep as much as I possibly could.  Needless to say, I collected my first DNS and I was just wrecked.  To come all that way, fight through the injury to get to run at all, then to get sick the night before the race just felt horrible and embarrassing. 


Fast forward to January 2019.  I made the plans to attack my marathon goal again, I was bound and determined to get out there and chase that goal.  As fate would have it, my body decided to give me the middle finger...again.

I started having issues with my right hamstring pretty early into my training to the point where I could barely get through a couple of miles without significant pain.  My foot would go numb, there was significant foot drop and pain.  Terrible, excruciating pain.  Knowing something was terribly wrong, I went back to physical therapy and found that my pelvis was tilted, elongating my hamstrings and shortening my quads, and impinging on my sciatic nerve.  

I had to completely stop running and work on retraining my muscles and correcting my posture.  My PT said that there is no real chance for me to run the marathon and that if I did, I would likely not finish the race.  This time runDisney did not have the option to downgrade your race distance, so I had to either attempt the race or forfeit the money and not run the race (again).  I decided to give it a try.  Attacking the race completely cold, not having trained a single mile for months prior, I went out there and attempted to finish the marathon.


I got swept in mile 16.


Yep, I got my first ride in the bus of shame.  But I was glad to be picked up.  I was done.  My legs were toast and I was in pain.  No amount of cheering, hydration or fuel was going to get me to the finish.  

It stung.

So. Damn. Much.

But I was proud of myself.  I got out there and tried, even when I knew it was a long shot, I never told myself that I couldn't do it.  I just wanted to try. 

Now here we are.  January 2020 Marathon weekend.

Am I running a marathon this weekend?   Noooooooo.  Not a chance.
What about the half marathon, get your revenge on that race?  Nope.  Not that either.
So...what are you doing?

I'm running the 10k this year.

Just the 10k.

So...why go all the way there for a distance like that?  Because as much as this race weekend seems to bring me pain in my body (and wallet, let's be honest), I enjoy the hell out of it.  This was my 40th birthday gift to myself.  I wanted to do something big for my 40th and it just didn't work out, so I decided to sign up for a race distance that I knew I could have fun with.  Talked some friends to come along with me and have a fun, relaxing race weekend with my running ohana.  

I. CANNOT. WAIT. to see everyone this weekend.

I have missed being around these people, logging some miles together, enjoying the parks and beverages together.  The community is what makes these weekends more than just the fun of the races.  You can run these distances in your local city races, but it's the community and setting that really sets runDisney races apart.  And I can't wait to be back in the mix.