Why the Princess Half-Marathon at Disney you say? Because I wouldn't have tried it otherwise. Anyone that knows me knows that we are Disney fanatics. We go at least twice a year every year, and have so since I could remember. I've lived there four different times. My brother, sister and I did college program internships there. It's the only place we've ever vacationed. I've never seen the grand canyon, D.C. or Mexico, but by golley I can show you where every bathroom is on Disney property. Now people ask me all the time, "why Disney? Do you not tire of it? Does it not get boring?" And here's where people miss the point. I could go to Disneyworld and not ride a single ride and be happy. We don't go there for the attractions. We definitely don't go because it's a cheap vacation. We go there because that's where mostly all of my family's memories have been created. If someone put together a video diary of my life, 90% of the pictures and video would be from Disney and the Beatles "In My Life" would be playing in the background. We celebrate everything there; birthdays, honeymoons, anniversaries; anything worth commemorating we go there to celebrate it. My son Jack went for the first time when he was a month and a half. I'm pretty sure he has been 10 times in his four short years on this earth. But more importantly, it's been our therapy. We also go there to recover. With any tragedy, big or small in our family, we went to Disneyworld. It was kind of our unspoken way of talking through our grief. My brother Chris, lost his wife three years ago to cancer. As soon as he was ready, we were at Disneyworld. Last May, before my Jack was diagnosed with autism, he received a (mis)diagnosis of a degenerative disorder that would cut his life short. My parents took us to Disneyworld that next week. My brother's son Cole was also diagnosed with cancer a year after he lost his mom. We couldn't go to Disneyworld for a year during his treatment. But everyday Cole knew as soon as he got that last treatment, he would be on a Disney cruise. He had a countdown poster in the kitchen, like we do with every trip. He would tell the nurses,"I've got three more months of chemo then we get to go to Disneyworld!" We had never been so excited for a trip, because we knew then Cole would hopefully be through with treatment. It would signal a new beginning for him, his dad, and for all of us.
Whether it was something positive or negative that brought us there, we always knew we would be leaving with a sense of renewal. It just made us happy. It's like Christmas everyday at Disneyworld. Everyone is on their best behavior and everyone is a little nicer to each other and on top of everything else, you get to have dinner with Mickey and watch fireworks every night. How could you not love that?
So when I first started this journey, I knew that the only place I could accomplish such a fete for myself was if I could do it at Disneyworld. They have characters at each of the drink stops, they have Disney marching bands along the course to keep you motivated and entertained. But most importantly, at every corner I'll be reminded of a memory that was made at some point in my life. Ones that include friends from my past and present, my family during good times as well as the bad ones, and times that I spent by myself when I lived there, trying to "find myself " and figure out what the heck I was doing with my life. I absolutely couldn't think of a better environment than Disney to challenge myself to do something great.
P.S. Our countdown calender on the wall is currently at 24 days.
Quote of the Day: "Around here...we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."-Walt Disney
Song of the Day: (Get ready for it, it's as corny and as beautiful as it gets but so appropriate) "You'll Be In My Heart"- Disney's Tarzan
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