Selfish Mom

From bad, to worse, to great with runDisney

Feb 25, 2012 What's Going On

I’d been sick for several days before heading down to Disney World on Thursday for the Tangled Family 5K and Princess Half Marathon. By Friday morning, when my alarm went off at 5:30, I was feeling terrible. I’d woken up every fifteen minutes or so all night until 4:30, then finally managed to get one solid hour of sleep. And even though I just had a cold, it was a bad one, and I wasn’t sure I could walk to the lobby, let alone do a two mile walk/run.

Our meet-up that morning was with Jeff Galloway, a training consultant with runDisney and someone I have a huge amount of respect for. I first met him before last year’s Princess Half, and he introduced me to his Run-Walk-Run method. This was a revelation to me, because I know a lot of runners and they all seem to see it as a failure of some kind if you have to walk part of the way. But here was this amazing athlete, who in the early 1970s competed in the Olympics and ran 10 miles in under 48 minutes (only slightly longer than it takes me to “run” 3 miles), telling me that it was OK to alternate walking with running, that it’s a completely legitimate way to complete a half or full marathon.

Jeff Galloway

 

We gathered just inside of EPCOT as the sun was coming up.

 

Jeff led us on an easy run/walk through EPCOT as the park’s workers were getting things ready for opening. Well, it would’ve been easy, but I was feeling awful. By the end of the two miles I felt like I was going to pass out. I was getting really worried about the rest of the weekend.

I stopped to take this picture on the way. Partly because it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen, and partly because it gave me an excuse to stop for ten seconds.

We were met at the end of the run with tiaras and breakfast, and really, I’d like someone to arrange for that to happen when I get back to my house from a run. OK? Every time, please.

As we ate we got to hear from an interesting group of speakers: Rachel Booth has won the Disneyland Half Marathon twice, and is going for a win at Sunday’s Princess Half Marathon. We also heard from Betty Wong, editor in chief of Fitness Magazine, Lori Stultz Lovell, the current runDisney mom on the Disney Moms panel, and Suzy Favor-Hamilton, an elite runner who has battled depression and anxiety and is now a motivational speaker.

Rachel Booth

Honestly though, it was kind-of a blur because I felt so awful. But I couldn’t pass up some very special Disney photo opps.

The best part of these Disney press trips is the private time with the characters. You’ve never seen a bunch of grown-up women so excited. We were beaming. And the characters made each one of us feel special, just like they would have with little kids. :-)

When I got back to my room I crawled back into bed, sweaty and exhausted. I really started to think that I had made a big mistake getting up so early and heading out sick. When I woke up from my nap, though, I started to feel better. That was the turning point, and things got better very fast.

Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 7, 8, and 16. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.

Want to catch up on my runDisney adventures? Here are the other posts (newest first):

Disney’s Tangled Royal Family 5K

Disney’s Fit for a Princess Expo

Tangled Family 5K: Done!

And then a few zebra wandered by

A half marathon that fits on a t-shirt

From couch potato to 26K with runDisney

Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 2

Disney Princess Half Marathon: Done

Diary of a Disney Princess Half Marathoner – Part 1

ESPN Wide World of Sports

I just designed my own shirt!

So this is what Disney does to me

Tags: Disney Princess Half Marathon, Disney World, jogging, Travel