Not Quite a Princess Part 2

Otherwise known as... A Whole Lot of Runnin' Goin' On...

 When I wrote Not Quite a Princess Part 1, I was getting ready to wind down and go to sleep.  After completing the post, I closed my laptop, watched a little bit of The Wedding Planner, turned off the television in my Disney hotel room, and... waited... and waited... and waited... to fall asleep.  I think I slept about 2 hours-- tops-- that night.  So many thoughts raced through my mind and I just couldn't get to a peaceful sleepy place.

Plus, at two in the morning, I heard someone in the building belting out Alicia Keys "Girl on Fire".  Awesome song.  Just not at two a.m.

At 3:15 my alarm went off.  I put on my running gear, walked out the door, stomach flip-flopping, and took part in the race of my life.  I didn't get a personal record, I had to stop a couple times to take short walking breaks, but I finished the Princess, not racing for anyone but myself and the girl I was before the grief and pain took my joy away.

I'm back.  

I would like to recognize all of my other friends who raced for their own reasons this weekend:

My friend Spring and her mother ran the 5K at Disney Saturday morning.

Melissa M., Linette, Nicole H., and Monica (none of whom know each other to my knowledge!) participated in the Gasparilla Half Marathon on Sunday morning.

Min and Sara C. ran in the Princess.

Mac and Doug M. ran the New Orleans Rock-n-Roll Marathon on Sunday.  Doug finished under four hours.  Incredible.  Mac and Doug don't know each other but I think they should.  They are both running fools, in the best sense.

Some of this weekend's runners are married with families of their own; others of us are single.  We were all out there, pounding the pavement, supporting each other, getting stronger every step of the way.  We all received encouraging messages from friends that day who were following our progress-- brief affirmations of love, inspiration, and fortitude. Those messages, even those as simple as a "like" on Facebook, meant the world.

For now, I am creaking and hobbling and having the worst time walking down stairs.  Friday night I'm returning to salsa (as long as my Ed. Leadership assignments are complete-- they'd better be!!!).  I'm going to continue to run... but I am finally ready to dance.  This girl is on fire.