Costume Conundrum

Two weeks ago when my family and I headed out for our vacation at Walt Disney World, I had one mission. No, not to have a magical time with my family, but rather to find myself one of those nifty princess costumes I saw all the runners wearing during last year’s Princess Half Marathon. Now anyone who knows me knows how much I hate to spend money—I mean really hate to spend money. So the fact that I was willing to plunk down some hard earned cash for something that in all likelihood I will only wear once in my life was in and of itself a bit of a miracle.

I started my hunt at, where else, Magic Kingdom—home of all things Disney-y and princess-y, right? Wrong. I went into the first store and wandered around. Sure, there were tons and tons of princess dresses and skirts--for little girls. In the adult section? Not so much.

“Excuse me,” I said to one of the workers. “I’m going to run the Princess Half Marathon in February and they always have such cool costumes. Where can I get one of those?”

I expected her to immediately whisk me off to the princess costume section that I obviously had missed on my first look around. Um, no. Instead I got a big ol’ blank stare.

O.K., maybe I just had the wrong store or the wrong worker. After all, she did seem a little young. Or maybe it was because she was seasonal and didn’t really know the merchandise.

I tried another store, and got another blank stare. Or maybe it was more of a “What kind of sicko are you?” kind of stare. I’m not really sure.

Not to be deterred, though, I pressed on. Two more stores. Two more stares.

Finally, in desperation, I grabbed the XL size of the kids skirt and tried to stuff myself into it. I quickly discovered that I apparently haven’t been training hard enough. In fact, I don’t think anyone has ever looked more un-princessy than I did in that Snow White skirt.

Most magical place on earth? Yeah right. If it was that skirt would have fit.

And so this princess left Disney--costumeless and a little uninspired knowing that if I was going to become a princess for this race it was entirely up to me. Not a pleasant realization for someone who was the only Girl Scout in the troop who had her badges stapled on. And the last time I used a sewing machine I accidentally put the needle through my finger. (Did you know that sucker comes flying down if you accidentally press your leg against that thingy underneath the machine? Yeah, take it from me, it does.)

So here I stand, costumeless, but undeterred nonetheless. Stay tuned for what comes next. It could get interesting.

Why I Walked

This past weekend, I took part in Walk MS here in Cincinnati. It's the first year that I've done the walk, partly because I really never felt like I fit before. In hindsight that seems pretty stupid to me, but I remind myself it's all about the journey. I'm in a different place this year than I was last year...and the year before that.

Seeing as it was my first year taking part in the walk, I must confess that I came less than prepared--both emotionally and logistically.

Knowing that MS affects people in so many different ways is one thing. Seeing it up close and personal is another. Wheelchairs, walkers, canes were aplenty. A tricked out wheelchair accessible van was on full display. Booths for  a wide range of services were all over, as were teams with memorial shirts bearing the picture for who they were walking. To say it was a bit overwhelming is an understatement.

Logistically, I didn't do much better. I didn't manage to raise much money, my team was small--but mighty--and we didn't have nice matching T-shirts like a lot of the teams, but you know what? It was O.K.

Maddie, walking for and with her mom.

I realized that when I filled out the card saying who I was walking for. I did this for me. No one else, just me. I would have walked it all by myself if need be. And that's because this is my journey. Slowly I'm learning that. (Luckily I didn't have to walk alone because I was surrounded by my family and my BFF, Teri, and her two daughters.)

In short, I'm learning on this journey that as much as I appreciate the love and support of those around me, I can't look to them to make this O.K. This is my journey, my challenge. And that is why I walked--and even ran the last quarter mile or so to the finish line leaving my team in the dust--and will walk next year and the year after that. It is why I will run the Disney Princess Half Marathon--either alone or with my hubby if he feels so inclined.

Through this journey, I'm learning a lot about myself. I'm stronger than I thought, I'm more capable than I thought and I can do this. This walk was another step along the way. As the walkers headed out, this was one of the songs they played. I don't think they could have made a better choice.

It's So On

Yesterday I went on the Run Disney site to see if the dates for the 2012 race had been set yet. Lo and behold, they were. (Race weekend is February 24-26, 2012. Woohoo!) Thanks to the handy dandy clock they have on the site, that means I now officially have 342 days to get my butt--and the rest of this pathetic body--ready to run.

But then, to make matters worse, I decided to check out some of the pictures, videos and times from this year's race. Big mistake. As I perused the times, I wasn't bothered so much by the insanely short times of the race winners. These are obviously hardcore runners/athletes after all. Looking at their times in relation to what I'm capable of was apples to oranges.

And then I saw it--the drop box in the upper left hand corner titled "Age Groups and Divisions." Stupidly, I clicked the drop down menu to discover age groups ranging from 13 and under to...wait for it...Women 80 and over. Yes, you read that correctly.

Surely they just have to have that age category for equal opportunity purposes, right? Um, no. Turns out there was an entrant in that category and at the age of 82 she finished the race with a chip time of 3:21:59.

Oh, and just FYI, there were 12 finishers in the 70-74 category and 2 in the 75-79 category.

Sooo....if I had any thoughts of being able to talk my way out of this one, those old ladies just squashed them. Thanks. Now I'm stuck. There's no turning back. I have to do this now. I refuse to be outrun by someone more than twice my age.

I'm only kidding, of course. I am amazed and in awe of these women's accomplishments. I pray that one day I'll be the one that the young whippersnappers are grumbling about because I just kicked their butts. No, those women whom I have never met, have given me inspiration that even this horribly out of shape, mostly unmotivated, fountain Pepsi addicted, brain-lesioned 38 year old can do this. I think.

Off and Running

In two weeks, women are going to be lining up very early in Magic Kingdom getting ready to run--mothers and daughters, sisters, friends. They're not going to be running to be the first on Haunted Mansion. They're going to be running in the Disney Princess Half Marathon. God willing, next year I will be one of them.

I know, I know. I'm not a runner. In fact I don't do much of any type of exercising these days. I am one of the people for who those couch-to-marathon programs were invented. So what do I know about running a half marathon? To answer that question, "Absolutely nothing." But I need this.

In the next couple weeks I will be starting my Copaxone shots in the next step toward battling my MS. And while I know it is the right thing to do to treat my disease, it's still scary as hell. To say I've been a little bit bummed is an understatement. And then I found this link when I was researching this year's summer vacation to Disney.

I LOVE Disney. I've loved it since the first time I saw my kid's eyes light up when they saw Cinderella's castle. I wrote about that experience here. So what better place than the Most Magical Place on Earth, I thought, than to take on this challenge that will probably leave me broken and vomiting at the end? But I can wear Mickey ears or a Tinkerbelle costume while I'm doing it. How cool it that?

That is if I even make it that far. I'm just hoping I don't get picked up on the first mile by the running police who determine I'm not keeping up my promise of a 16 minute mile and whisk me off to the finish line. Still, would that be so bad? I'll still be in Disney. But I digress.

I'm going to be blogging about this journey to keep myself accountable--and, quite frankly, to make you all feel better about yourselves when you read how horribly out of shape and unfit I am. I hope you'll all come along for the run.