I've been missing for a few days now. I had every intention of keeping up with the blog while I was out of town. Then I discovered that the resort did not have high speed wireless inclusive in our bill. So, I went tech free for a few days. We left 
Saturday morning and drove down to Orlando, four women with no husbands, no kids and no worries. We made a quick stop for Chic fil A when we were almost to Orlando and I discovered that within my wallet there was no driver's license and no debit card. I had left them in my evening handbag that I had taken with me to the Jay Fund Wine Tasting Gala the night before. This resulted in a frantic call to UberGeek. I was thinking he could fax a copy of my driver's license to the hotel and wire me some money. Instead he offered to drive the two hours down to bring them to me; this is why I married him.
When he arrived with kiddos in tow we had already checked into our hotel, the Caribbean Beach Resort, and had unpacked our tutus, tiaras and other luggage. I found Disney coloring books to surprise the kiddos with for their ride back. UberGeek acted as if it was no sweat to drive two hours there and two back. I was so angry at myself and I know I probably deserved to have him angry with me too, he just isn't that way. It's times like these that all the little annoyances of married life fade away, I really see him for who he is and I know I still deeply love him. At our wedding, one of the Bible verses was 1 Corinthians 13. Although my husband is not necessarily the most church going person, or the person who reads the most Bible verses in his spare time, I often think that he certainly lives Jesus' message in his heart and with his actions pretty well.
After UberGeek and the kiddos headed home we put on our bathing suits and headed out to the pool to soak up the sun. We had a few hours to enjoy the resort before heading back to our room. When we got there and opened the door I saw a big vase full of flowers on the table with a princess balloon. They were for me from UberGeek and the kiddos, the card read "For our favorite princess." I couldn't have been more touched. UberGeek used to always send me flowers when we were dating and early in our marriage but it's not very often these days, as is probably the case in most marriages approaching the decade mark. They were beautiful and I figured I would not be able to fuss at him, once I got home, for at least a week. That night, we four princesses had dinner at the resort's restaurant and went to bed early to get ready for the race. The clocks changed that night and we had to be on the last race shuttle at 5AM, which meant getting up at 4 in the morning.
On race morning we donned our tutus and tiaras and were looking fabulous. There were four of us, Cinderella, Snow White and Superfuzz who was dressed as Belle, as was I. Cinderella hadn't trained for the race, although she is an experienced runner. Like many princesses she prefers a warm climate and so her training sometimes drops off in the winter. In addition to this she was not feeling well. The rest of us felt OK, except for the ungodly early hour that we were awakened. We arrived at the race site and mulled around for a while in the cold until the start. Cinderella began to feel worse and worse. We had decided that we were running this half marathon just for fun as a group and not for speed. We told Cinderella we would stick with her and all finish together. Gate River Run is next weekend so none of us wanted to run fast and be injured anyhow.
The race began and it was so dark and crowded that we did not even hear the gun go off. Superfuzz 
had forgotten to enter her most recent race time when she registered so we were in the last corral with all the walkers and slowest runners. We spent the first part of the race weaving in and out of walkers and very slow joggers. This is exhausting and can add a lot of distance onto your race. By the time we made it to the Magic Kingdom Cinderella was in need of a quick pit stop so we had our first photo opportunity. After that, we realized that this would be a very slow race. There were so many characters we wanted pictures with, or attractions we wanted to stop and see. We decided right then we would not stress about our time at all. It definitely wasn't a race to attempt a PR in unless you get in Corral A and wear blinders with no interest in getting great pictures to share with your family.
When we hit mile 9 or so Cinderella really felt ill and we kept trying to keep her spirits up. It was amazing she did as well as she did. She confessed to us that she had not run more than three miles since soon after Christmas. Cinderella and UberGeek must have the same running coach since he ran his last half marathon with a similar training plan, one week before his race he did one long run and then ran a half marathon. He had an injury that plagued him but was determined to run the race so he just rested it until right before the race. I personally would die if I attempted such a thing. Maybe it is their height?
We finally finished the race in a time none of us will ever brag about or share with anyone but we had a really good time. I have never been in a race where I stopped, then waited in line to take my picture with a character. "Oh wait," we would say, "my daughter loves Tinkerbell, we have to take a photo with her, let's stop here."Or, "look there's the castle, let's get one right here!" After the race we headed back to the resort for some much needed R&R at the pool and lots of water. Then we all took naps, showers and had a frozen drink at the cabana bar before heading to dinner and the after party at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
We arrived and got to walk across the red carpet at Hollywood Studios like real princesses. Then we 
went to ride the Rock n Roller Coaster once before our reservations at the Brown Derby Restaurant. What a fast ride; we loved it! After a wonderful dinner we finished out the night by riding the Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror five times each. Finally we started winding down and finished our evening by watching the Fantasmic show. I typically am not a show person but Snow White recommended it and she knows Disney, so I took her recommendation. I'm glad because it was great! We took the shuttle back to the resort after the the show and all fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows. The next morning we had a fantastic and entertaining breakfast at the Wilderness Lodge on our way out, again, Snow White's recommendation, and then it was back to reality.
When I got home, two little people ran out to the driveway to welcome me. It was good to get away and it was good to be home.
