Throughout this post, I’m sharing Run Disney photos from some of my favorite bloggers. They are all amazing and if you’re not reading their stuff, you SHOULD be! Thanks, Friends, for your gracious sharing of amazing images!! Hugs!

So, a lot of us are training for big races. Some of us, races longer than anything we ever imagined being able to do. Distances that, when we flip forward a few weeks in our training plans, make us slightly nauseous.

Me before the DL Half 2013 I think? I felt great that morning! And I look weirdly thin in this picture so of course, I love it;).

I get it. Even though this is my 3rd marathon, I still feel that way. I’m excited about my upcoming marathon (elated even!) but there’s so much that can go wrong, right?? And not just in my training. What happens on race day can make or break that “perfect race” you’ve hoped for in your brain.

But the reality is the “perfect race”? Yeah, I hate to tell myself, but it doesn’t exist. No matter how hard I train, no matter how much I “listen to my body”, no matter how great my nutrition, cross training and stretching and foam rolling . . .stuff is GONNA go wrong.

So, I thought it would be fun to put it out there: my perfect Run Disney race day experience. The extremely unrealistic dream that’s still fun to think about.

Just imagine . . . .

I wake up feeling crazy well rested. Because despite the fact that I’m at a Disney hotel and people tend to be loud in hallways, I’ve put in my ear plugs and drifted off to sleep at 8pm the night before.

How adorable are Pam and Christine? My sweet blogging friends from We Run Disney!

I wake up and have my coffee and take care of my business with NO GI ISSUES WHATSOEVER. Wow, what a treat! I properly hydrate (but not too much so I don’t have to pee a million times), have my pre-race powdered donuts and cliff bar (sorry, it’s a thing) and me and my great roommate and friend Sara head down to a waiting bus that is neither too cold nor too warm. I’m SO THRILLED with my costume – it’s combined just the right amount of creativity with comfort and I am ROCKING it.

Kimberly and Gail from Run All The Races dressed amazingly as some character from the stretch room in the Haunted Mansion. Genius. I especially love the props!

The other runners are friendly but not in a creepy way. I say something funny and we all laugh (again, this is MY perfect race;). We’ve timed our arrival at the race retreat

PERFECTLY so we have JUST ENOUGH TIME to top off with maybe a half a bagel and a banana.

This is my great friend, Stephanie, from Food and Fitness 4 Real! Love her and would LOVE to run a race with her again very soon!

I head to a port a potty that’s been USED BY NO ONE and emerge ready for the miles ahead.

The walk to the starting corrals goes SO FAST because, again, I’m being just chatty enough and everyone is happy and excited BECAUSE (wait for it)

It’s a very dry 55 degrees. With an anticipated high of 65 with some clouds but low humidity. We are all elated because this is SO WEIRD for Florida!

this is Patty from My No Guilt Life! Does she know how to have fun DURING a race or what??

We’re in the corrals, and we hear the national anthem and we have a moment of silence and we all pray for world peace. OK, maybe we don’t pray for that. But we do pray that we don’t poop our pants.

And then we’re off. The first 7 miles fly and before we know it we’re in and out of the Magic Kingdom. I’m felling so great (because of the great night sleep and the lack of heat and humidity and because I’ve ROCKED my training) that I can truly look around and enjoy and be grateful. I easily navigate the stinky part where the waste processing plant is, the long haul out to Wide World of Sports (which isn’t nearly so bad when the weather is this nice!) and the lovely jaunt through AK and Hollywood Studios.

I can strike up short, chatty and wise conversations with my fellow marathoners, and almost before I know it, we’re on our way back through Epcot and the gospel choir is singing and then THERE IT IS! The Finish Line! (if you want to see a fun video all along the course, check this out!)

I gather my medal, I cry a bit, and I find my friends and family and we celebrate (after I’ve gone back to the hotel on a waiting bus and taken the BEST SHOWER EVER because everyone knows that the shower you take after you’ve finished a marathon is the BEST SHOWER EVER).

This is my cousin, Kimberly, and my friend, Kierstn with The Fairy Godmother herself! Princess 2013. You can read all about that race (her first half!) here!

Wow. Such a beautiful day. We have a great celebratory meal somewhere and swap stories from the course and then, just like that, I’m back at home. And it’s a Saturday. And I don’t have a long run scheduled.

The End

(how’d I do? Close to your perfect Run Disney race day? What did I miss? Please comment and let me know!)