I did it!

"It" was Disney's Princess Half Marathon. It was amazing and emotional to fulfill this dream for which I had been preparing for so long. I burst into tears a few minutes after crossing the finish line!

This princess is still in training, though. I have a couple of 5Ks coming up (one here on the island in April, and my second Expedition Everest at Disney World (Animal Kingdom) with my sister in May. And I'm already signed up to run the Epcot Wine & Dine Half Marathon in November as well! Plus I'm considering running the Tower of Terror 10 Miler, too. (I think it's in late September.)

Yep, running is addictive. (And I'm already addicted to Disney World, so combining the two is even more addictive!) Seriously, I love it, although I definitely didn't expect to even like it! I also love the results, and not just the physical (weight loss, stronger heart, etc.) type things. It keeps me mentally and emotionally balanced to get some form of exercise most days. (I typically run 3 or 4 days a week, and do Turbo Kick and other things on the other days.)

Anyway, here are a few photos from the Half Marathon weekend.

Connor and I posed with Cinderella's coach at the Packet Pickup/Expo event.



Waiting in line to pick up my packet.



Signing for my bib.



Holy cow, it's official, I'm really going to run a half marathon!



Making a wish and being sprinkled with fairy dust. (Aka glitter.)



Posing with Miss Chiquita!



And with the sign!



My shirt! It's a bit small but luckily I hadn't planned to wear it for the race anyway.



There were family events on Saturday - a 5K (which my father ran).





And kids races - Connor came in third in his heat!





The resort had a "runner's special" dinner the night before the race - carbs and protein, good stuff.



I laid all my stuff out the night before, because I had to get up at - get this - 2:15 AM to get dressed and get over to the staging area. Buses started running at 3 AM.



Walking to the corral line up area.



Runners in corrals, waiting. There was a good bit of waiting!



This picture was taken just a few seconds before I burst into tears!



This is the official end of race photo.



We celebrated that night with dinner at Cape May Cafe. My sweet sister wrote a cute note on the paper tablecloth. In case it's hard to read, it says "Princess Kati ran 13.1 miles and is our hero!" (with an arrow pointing at me)



For dessert, we had a "kitchen sink" sundae at Beaches & Cream.



I got a caricature done as a remembrance.

I quit....

...blogging. But I didn't quit training. The secret/surprise thing for which I have been training for a year now is coming up soon. And I plan to post pictures once it's done. But for now, I found several OLD blogs in draft from when I quit blogging last year, so I'll post them now.

Finally!

I finally got in a run today. My muscles were a bit tight from the time off, so I definitely need to get back to my routine and not skip that many days in a row again! It seems to be true of so many things in life that if you do them regularly, you get better at them, and those things that you continue to do consistently will have the greatest effect on your life (for good or ill, depending on what the things are that you are doing!)

Jumping up and down

I still haven't managed to get back to my running routine, but I did do a lot of jumping up and down and cheering tonight when I saw a friend, Charles Temple, win $100,000 in the Jeopardy Teachers Tournament!

Another one of those days...

Well, I've done it again. Spent all day in the car, that is. This time, I arrived at my destination at midnight! Dang, it takes a long time to get back to North Carolina from Florida.

More walking...this time the Kingdom

Today, I walked around the Kingdom. I figure, the other day was the World, so the Kingdom seems like a good choice for another day! Yes, it was the Magic Kingdom. And yes, I'm still having a blast being at Disney World all by myself. I had a wonderful lunch today at Tony's Town Square restaurant, and then watched the afternoon parade from my table on the patio. It was a great viewing spot!

My first 5K event!

Tonight, I ran the Expedition Everest Challenge at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park with my sister. It was a blast!

My sister is an awesome coach. Even though I run as slow as Christmas, she encouraged me the whole way and was just generally wonderful and proud of me.

I finished the 5K distance in a new record personal best time. Not a particularly impressive time, but the fastest I'd ever run 3.1 miles, and we didn't come in completely last!