I admit, I am one that very rarely will say anything beforehand whenever I do these kinds of "crazy things" as my hubs tends to call them. But I decided today to just be big, and brave, and say it out loud.
One of my big bucket list dreams is ... to do a live RunDisney weekend. There's the StarWars Race Weekend, the Disney Princess Race Weekend, and the Disney Marathon Weekend. Last year, I decided I knew I could never afford to register and travel and do the "real" weekend at Disney - but I could live vicariously through other runners who were, and I could train and do my own little virtual version... in my basement.
And I did. And it was super hard, but fun... although no great selfies with any Disney characters or any of the true charm and excitement from being live and in person... but it was my #disneyonadime option.
And I finished that full marathon... 26.2 miles, in my basement, alone, without actually moving more than about 5 feet the entire way... and I swore I never needed to do that again. Until I decided to do it again. #ugh
All races everywhere basically were canceled, or went virtual, in 2020. Including - all the big RunDisney weekends, which then started extending into 2021. I got caught up in it all and admit, I almost clicked the register button for the 2021 virtual RunDisney Marathon weekend. And then I remembered that the medals never arrived last year for my RunDisney Virtual Summer Shorts (5k's in June, July, Aug) that I signed up for - until well after summer. And well, I am not going to run a race, on the scheduled race weekend, without having the medal(s). So I backed up... deleted my credit card number... and closed the tab.
But my mind had begun to turn.
Last year, I had ended up using the not-mailed-in-time RunDisney Virtual Shorts metals for my own virtual Marathon Weekend. I used my late-to-arrive summer metals (can you tell I'm NOT at all bitter about that am I? lol) in January, and trained and ran the same distances at the same times as they were running live in person in the parks.
So I went online to try find the 2020 RunDisney Virtual Short medals again.
Except registration was already closed for that race. But I was getting some hits for some of the medals that were now for sale, used on eBay and Poshmark. The mind continued to turn.
And in the end... after hours and hours and hours (did I mention HOURS of time I spent on all of this #lovineveryminuteofit) here is what I came up with for me, myself, and I....
Dream Big Princess Challenge. Jan 7-8-9-10, 2021. Progressive 5k / 10k / Half Marathon / Full Marathon distances (same days and distances as the "official" RunDisney Virtual 2021 Marathon Weekend) BUT ... I will be crossing the finish lines to medals, real medals, official Disney medals...
Only the medals are all used and from the 2018 RunDisney Princess Marathon weekend race. Yup some beautiful soul out there ran those races and then plopped all their medals for sale on eBay - and I got them for a steal of a deal (well, in comparison to what it was going to cost me to register for the 2021 Virtual race).
But I didn't stop with the medals.
I spent more hours and hours searching for just the perfect race day outfits to go with each medal. Ebay, amazon, poshmark, etsy ... I scoured them all for all my options and compared prices with ultimate favorites, made bids, decided what I would settle for prices (I have a personal $5 "limit" on most of my used online shopping/bidding) I was willing to spend and got completely caught up in the thrill of the hunt and creative building of this entire thing.
I also didn't stop with just the medals and race day outfits.
I spent more hours searching for the perfect race day mug to go with this whole challenge. Yup, I'm one of those odd people that has started treating myself to a new coffee mug each time I train and finish for a large scale race (typically 13.1 miles or greater distance races, because I carry all these stupid self-imposed rules on myself).
So back to Ebay, amazon, poshmark, etsy again... and in the end, I found an almost perfect mug... but not quite... but thank you all things etsy and I was able to custom order the exact mug design I decided to go with, along with the exact verbiage of the race name I also decided to go with.
And then I designed and printed some custom race bibs to match it all.
And thus we have my "unofficial" virtual RunDisney Dream BIG Princess Marathon Weekend Challenge. Yea, a lot of creative, crazy, thrifty stuff I know... but in the end, it's exactly what I wanted, all the way around.
I trained and am planning to do the same weekend and distances again, the perfect outfits, the perfect mug, the perfect medals, the perfect name.
And I can't help but smile as I think about why I even started running years ago... how I found myself so incredibly lost after the loss of our little #faithmaryjo that I didn't know if I'd ever find my way back up to the light. Granted, I'm still staggering forward towards the light of healing, but I have pushed, grown, fought, pulled, drug myself through this super incredibly hard #journeytofaith and found running and miles and training to be something so much more than I ever imagined. I do still consider myself a #runningnonrunner because I don't consider myself any kind of athlete... but I do know, deep inside, I really maybe am a little bit of a "real" runner deep within.
What can I say, I find excitement in planning to run #twentysixpointtwomiles for fun... in my basement... alone... on a treadmill (assuming that makes me "real"ish anyway).
So, as I officially enter another "race week," I dedicate all of this one to my own little princess in heaven, and say one huge thank you to her for giving me the inner grit to Dream BIG Princess, to allow myself to believe I can do hard things, and to push myself harder and deeper than I ever dreamed I would be able to go before that day I had to say hello and goodbye to her all at the same time.
I'm sad that the only princess stuff right now in our house are these medals, shirts, and race bibs... but I will tackle this challenge with hope and pride, taking the pink and princess magic any way I can take it right now, this side of heaven.
And Lord willing, all the mile magic and mercies will be sprinkling it's glitter down on me as I attempt this challenge this week.
Previous blog post { Where Am I Now - Covid Month Nine } HERE
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