Happy Disney day!

I owe my PR of 1:54:05 to so many people! First and foremost, my own personal running coach! With out his continued support and encouragement and rigorous training schedules this never would have been possible! He made me push my body to limits I never knew were possible! When people tell new runners that running is more mental than physical, that is the absolute truth! There a song I like that has this verse in it "even on my weakest day, I get a little bit stronger!" Those words are so powerful! Even when you haven't had your best run, you still ran, you quieted that evil mean voice that told you stop, you can't do this...and you did it! I asked Kenyan if 8 years ago, during our first run, that I made all of 1/4 of a mile with out stopping, if he thought I'd run a sub two hour half marathon, he said I knew you could do it but I never thought you would, he giggled:)

The next person I owe this amazing victory to is my lightening bug! I cried When I saw her coming across the finish line of her mile, and with a time of 14 minutes and a pep pee pit stop in the woods! She had a false start on her first 100m, it was a sight to see! She gleamed with pride as they put "her medal" around her neck! She ran 3 races herself the day before! I can't wait until she is 14 and can run her first half with me! Here at Disney!

I was very concerned about the start time and the early wake up, I even think I was half asleep for the first two miles! The start was very congested for 4 miles! There was a lot of negative talk about how the race was run, and rude people; personally I thought the early start was just crazy, but I would totally run this race again! With that being said Kenyan said I probably finished more like 1:52;) God I love this man! I am truly blessed to have such an amazing husband and daughter! Would I say this race was magical??? ABSOLUTELY! I cried when I saw my bugs face at the finish line, and she screamed run faster mommy!!! I can not wait for my next race because I know I have so much more to give! I really think, actually I know I could've done the whole thing at a 8 min pace, the congestion of the route did make keeping pace difficult, but I look at every race as a training race, so I took a lot of lessons away from this race. I hydrated at every other mile, which I do not typically do, but Kenyan said he does do thats what I went with.

I have never felt so strong mentally running a race, even with thinking I had to pee for the first 3 miles! I just kept picking it up as I crossed each mile marker and did the math in my head of where I needed to be, from mile 4-13.1 I was faster at each mile, I never slowed down! And the messages from kenyan certainly helped! He said at mile 3 I needed to pick it up or I want gonna break 2 hours, well I started dodging princesses left and right, bobbing and weaving! Overall it was an amazing experience!

I also want to thank Deni who set an alarm to cheer me on before the race! & wrote a sweet blog of encouragement to me!! She has been a huge motivator to me with my training leading up to the princess half. I can't wait to see her as she hits a huge PR at the end of Rock n Roll NOLA!!!