Walt Disney World Marathon, Pregnant

As you are aware, I ran with my dad, husband and sister in the Walt Disney World Marathon a few weeks ago. And no, I didn't do the whole thing--I couldn't have even if I had wanted to. Which I didn't. I ran about 12.5 miles and it took a little over 2.5 hours. I ran without a watch and didn't ask my sister the time when I jumped out. It is kind of liberating and calming just to run for fun and not be checking my watch every few minutes.  We run in a normal fashion... and my t-shirt wasn't quiiite as long as I thought it was.  Hello little baby!



A little about the race--we had to be at the parking lot at 4:30, and the race started a little after 6.  They had 7 separate starts to spread out the runners and each one had fireworks.  It was cold, so we wore funny things and ate really healthy snacks on the starting line.

The race goes through all of the four major parks and some of the resorts on Disney Property.  It is a BLAST--while there are very few spectators (due to the insanely early start), every character is on the course multiple times and the park employees are all out cheering through the parks.  The roads connecting the parks get a little long, but then you find your self by a hot air balloon replica of the Epcot ball, which resembles what you are hiding under your shirt.



Laura and I were at a super fun point in the race, where the runners were enjoying themselves and not taking it too seriously.  I think I stopped to pee 5 times, which is less that I would have anticipated.  We didn't wait in line to take pictures with any characters--just the bootleg picture of other people with the Pirates of the Caribbean.  It had a very long line.

If I had been running my normal pace I wouldn't have enjoyed it near as much because I wouldn't have stopped to take a picture at the castle or enjoy all the fun things we saw.  (PS I love Disney World, can you tell?)



I was so proud of my family--my dad, sister and husband all finished and all PRed.  Sol and my dad both got injured and slowed down the last few miles but were able to finish.  While my dad initially swore he would never do another one, I think he is beginning to change his mind.  Marathons are like a drug.



It was such a great time.  As for the running pregnant part of it--I was so glad I was able to do it. I was always within 3 feet of my sister, who is almost a real live doctor, so I was safe.  The only thing she told me I shouldn't do over the weekend was go on the Harry Potter ride, and I ignored that advice. Nobody said anything to me about being pregnant, which was nice. This was probably because it was dark for most of the time I ran, which was weird. I thought about making a shirt that said "I'm hoping this race takes less time than labor!" or "It's ok, she's a doctor!" with an arrow to my sister.  Or my personal favorite, "You just passed/got passed by a pregnant girl!!!"  But I decided I didn't want to talk about it or worry about it, I just wanted to run. My knees were killing me by the time I stopped--apparently they aren't used to carrying all the extra weight.  I ran slowly and comfortably and loved every second of it.

(I stole these pictures from the professional website... can you tell?)

I'm planning on continuing to run 3+ miles a couple times a week (possibly with a longer weekend run) and do some Jillian Michaels (the parts of it I am capable of doing) to keep my muscles from thinking they can go away.  I had some hip issues after my last pregnancy, and so far the strength stuff I've been doing has really helped at keeping that injury from resurfacing.  Hopefully staying in shape a little bit better this time will help me start back up at something a little faster than 13 minute miles.  It's just really hard to motivate yourself when your child can walk faster than you can run.

I'm really excited to get to run fast and race again (I mean, fast for me, not like I'm going the Olympics).  I'm excited to pick out a fall race (with Marie!) and a Spring one to hopefully Boston Qualify at so I can retire from marathoning and run some shorter distances.  Did you know a half marathon is still really far, but only half as long as a full?  Crazy!

That was a long post.  The end.