It's true! I was a princess for an entire 2hrs and 16mins. The Disney Princess Half-Marathon was a wonderful way to spend time away from Jacksonville with Steve. He truly treated me as a Princess the entire weekend. Friday late afternoon we headed down to Orlando and straight to the expo at Wide World of Sports. I was absolutely elated to learn that I was assigned to Corral A. Can you believe it?!?! Running became a "serious" hobby less than a year ago and I have already worked my way up. Okay, so it's a little skewed because it was nearly 99% females running, the majority of which were first time half-marathoners, but hey I did it! Oh and I was truly a Princess and my race bib says so "Princess Terikay." After the expo, Steve took me to Portobello at Downtown Disney for wine... I mean carb-loading. We split a fantastic bottle of a red blend. Thanks Dad for turning us on to blended wines! The anti pastas were fantastic, my entree was unbelievable (Chicken Meatballs with broth), and the Chocolate Paradiso cake... magnificent. It was a wonderful evening with Steve!
Saturday was a lazy day hanging out at our hotel room. I'm not sure it can be classified as a hotel room as we are truly spoiled at the Hilton with a kitchen and wonderful balcony. I read while Steve completed some programming. We had brought lunch from home and then headed to Downtown Disney to meet my Spark buddies. A little history here... I joined SparkPeople three years ago and it truly brought a lot of joy and peace into my life. About a year ago, I joined a SparkTeam through SparkPeople of ladies training for the Princess Half-Marathon. We have develop virtual friendships and this would be the first time I would meet the members face-to-face. It was amazing! There were several ladies that I felt as though I had known all my life. We even made plans to see each other again at both Disney and non-Disney running events. It's such a cool feeling to show up to a running event and already know people. Steve and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed back to the hotel to sleep. It was daylight savings so I would already be losing an hour. 
Sunday morning, I woke up feeling a little terrified. This would be my first run without Steve. I wasn't really sure how I would feel being alone. I had spent several hours earlier in the week creating a "Princess Half" playlist for my iPod. I put some of my favorite songs with Steve on there including the song he proposed to (You Are So Good to Me by Third Day) and our ceremony departure song (It's Not Unusual by Five Irony Frenzy). Steve stayed by my side until I departed for the corrals. Immediately, I became sad but knew that I had trained for this event. It became a mind game to stay focused and I started repeating phrases I used for swimming "My lane my race my time," "Alone with my thoughts you choose will they be positive or negative," and "You are only against yourself." Once the run was underway, I felt fine. I stuck to my training and ran a smart race. I had a very tough mile four and five when my left shinsplints started acting up. I just kept repeating "Pain is temporary, quitting is forever" over and over again until I realized sometime during mile 5 that the pain was gone. Now, I had mile 6 and jelly beans to look forward to. Yes, I run for my Jelly Belly Energy Beans because they are just that good! Before I knew it I was entering Epcot and heading toward the finish line. One of my pet peeves about organized races is that the beverages at the end are never cold. But there was Steve with an ice cold red Gatorade. Ah... instant joy!
So here's a little confession... at the end of every race I cry. I release every emotion in my body and let it all out for one beautiful minute. Yes, running is my therapy. Unfortunately, this may be the healthiest addiction in my life but could quite possibly be one of the most expensive. It's pure joy!
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