I did it.

I did it.

Plain and simple.

I did it.

A 5:30 AM start meant a 3 AM wake up. I wadded through the hordes of runners to my corral. Disney Races are so massive that people have to be placed in corrals so they don't trample each other. People in corral A have the fastest anticipated finish and the corrals get slower and slower as you go back. Of course, I was in the last corral, H.

Disney fun started early with characters even at bag check areas.

After the bag check we started the long crawl to the corrals. It took me almost an hour to walk to mine!

When I finally arrived it was 5:20. I thought to myself, there is no way this race is starting on time. There are still so many people walking to their corrals! But sure enough at 5:30 we sang the national anthem and Disney started things of in the only way Disney can. With fireworks.

I was busy watching the fireworks at the starting line that I wasn't even expecting fireworks to start going off behind me! That really got my heart racing and I was ready. I was ready to start. Confident that I was going to finish this race.

Being in the last corral however meant that I had to watch all of the other runners get to start their race before me.

We begin to relax again...

Before we knew it we were moving forward. Around 6:30 we were finally off. The days leading up to race day I was scared and nervous. But by the time I hit that starting line I was confident. I knew I wasn't going to be swept up for not keeping pace. I knew I was going to finish. I didn't care what my time was. I was surrounded by people who were just as slow as me. We were all run/walkers. I felt like I belonged there.

Disney races use these great pace teams. The pacers hold up a flag with their finish time. This woman's finish was 3 hours 30 minutes. For the time that I was able to keep up with her she was making each mile exactly 16 minutes. Not a second faster or slower. She was right on the dot. Unfortunately when I stopped to go to the bathroom I lost her and was never able to pick back up with her. I was always able to see her flag though.

We approached the gates of the Magic Kingdom and I began to get really excited.

We had a great view of Space Mountain

We entered through a back lot off of Main Street.

Out on the street... Turned the corner and...

Castle.

I stopped a moment to get a picture.

I loved all of the amazing spectators and signs. Random people cheering you on is a pretty incredible feeling. I stopped for one picture. There were characters all along the course but I only needed my picture with one.

It was worth waiting in line.

And then I had to big moment. The moment I had been waiting for. I ran through Cinderella's Castle.

And I came out the other side ready to finish this race.

When I began seeing signs for Epcot I knew my big finish was around the corner. This was about the time that I realized how swollen my hands had gotten. This was something that I had never experienced at any training run before and I wasn't sure how or why it was happening. I ran and walked for a bit with my hands above my head. I was shaking them out trying to get the blood flow to start up. I was assuming that they were swollen from being in the same position for so long.

I stopped by a medic tent and he told me that I needed to walk the last 3 miles and that the swelling was caused by a lack of electrolytes. He gave me a poweraid and I was on my way. This was when I realized that I couldn't even grip the bottle to open it.

I finally crossed the gates to Epcot and was ready to finish. Unfortunately the finish line has you go around the giant ball and back out before you cross the line in the parking lot... along this route I saw a woman in a motorized chair holding a sign that simply said: "I don't know you. But I am so proud of you."

This is where I lost it. I started crying. I was less than a mile away from finishing the run I've been dreaming about for a year. I've run 250 miles to train for this day. I've been through knee and hip injuries. I've woken up early every weekend all summer long. I've spent hours upon hours upon hours out on the trail. It was all coming to the big moment. I was going to make it across the line. I was going to get that medal.

And I did.

It's shiny.

It's mine.

Now you're probably asking yourself, So you've run your big race Rachel. What now?

This.

I'm planning on running this half next. Will I ever do a full? Maybe one day. But until then I'll keep with my halves and I'll keep going just as slow. (Ok maybe I can quicken up the pace some)