Well, here's what actually went down.
First of all, I should say that the inspiration to run never really hit me. The training I did for this half marathon was a fraction of what it should have been. In fact, when I actually did run, I only made it to 7 miles. To refresh your memory, a half marathon is 13.1.
Fast forward...here comes our long weekend.
Wednesday night, Kim and I pick Des up from school and head right to the airport where we find our flight is delayed. That sucks. But, it's not the end of the world. However, by the time we land in LA, get our rental car and drive to Carlsbad, CA (where Legoland is) it's about 12:30 AM. Desmond is super excited! We stayed at the Legoland hotel (highly recommended!) and he was instantly bouncing off the walls. The room contains a treasure box. To find the code, you have to complete a bit of a scavenger hunt. With some help from Kim while I parked the car, Des had all the numbers he needed. He opens the box to find 2 Mixels and a Lego Magazine. OMG! He's never going to leave.
Finally, we convince him to go to bed. It's about 1 AM or so.
6:00...he's awake and ready to get started!
Desmond doesn't really like it when I make him take pictures, but he was a trooper for this one. And, in case you were wondering...yes...it did feel just like you would suspect lying on a pile of legos would feel.
We get breakfast and we hit the park. Here's some pics.
Des and Kim at the Hotel, ready to hit the park!!!
Des and Kim picking Lego Einstein's nose.
Lego Deathstar, just slightly bigger than the one Desmond built at home.
These ladies asked to have their photo taken with me.
This red guy has a name, but I don't know what it is. Red Ninja Dude, or something.
And...that's about all the pics I have from Legoland. Why don't I have anymore, you may ask. Well, around noon it started to rain. And not just a little drizzle. I can handle a little rain. But, a "we're closing all the rides" kinda downpour. Also about this time, Desmond asked to take a break from the park. Which seemed weird to me. He doesn't love rides, so I wondered if this was to get out of me pressuring him to go on a roller coaster. But, he wasn't just asking not to ride the roller coaster. He was asking to leave the park.
Well, turns out the reason was because he was getting sick. We went back to the hotel and Desmond fell asleep. Again, we didn't yet think he was feeling bad. We figured it was the late night/early morning. We woke him up to go to dinner. He didn't eat much dinner. We went back to the room, stuck him in the bathtub and he was asleep by 7:30. Out cold. Woke up in the middle of the night crying.
Yup...totally sick. Fever and everything. The Legoland nurse came to visit him in the room. Declared it the flu.
(Side note...the Legoland nurse is an actual person...she did not look like this)
Our Friday pretty much involved resting in the Legoland hotel room for as long as we could and then driving to Anaheim. Des seemed to recover a bit on the drive. But...guess what...Kim got sick.
We were set to meet Joey and Andy for dinner. However, Kim was down. Des was back up, but that didn't last long. At dinner, he looked like he was ready to keel over. We got back to the room and he was out cold super fast.
The next morning, Kim was worse. Desmond seemed to be better. But, that was just an illusion. Disneyland quickly got nixed. Kim was bedridden for the day. Desmond and I hit the pool for a bit, but not too long because I was concerned about his cold. After the pool, Kim slept some more, Desmond pulled up his iPad and I snuck out to watch the Seahawks. Daddy needed a break.
Oh...and the Seahawks lost. That sucked.
Ok, evening rolls around...Des seems totally fine again! So, we go the the Skinner's (Joey and Andy) for dinner. No prob! Des plays with the girls, I chat with my friends. A fine evening. We leave so we can go to bed. I have a half marathon the next morning.
1:00 am...Desmond wakes me up. He's whining in his sleep. After a while, I get up and rouse him. He starts to cry. His nose is 100% plugged up. And, he's been blowing it so much that it's raw. We throw some vasaline on it, give him some Tylenol and put him back to bed. He's asleep instantly and the next morning says he doesn't remember any of it.
4:30, my alarm goes off. I start getting dressed to go run my run. I look at my phone and notice I have about 5 text messages from Joey. Turns out, Disney wants all the runners there by 4 am. Oops. Oh well, I still made it on time.
Here are some pics from the run. These are from my phone. They had professionals taking photos, as well. Haven't seen those yet.
Joey and I at the staring line. It's amazing how smiley we are at 5 am after such little sleep.
Lots of people there for this race.
I confess...we cheated. We used speeders.
This is not the double chin you are looking for.
The line for BB-8 was long, but I made Joey stop.
Capt. Phasma had her eye on us.
R2D2
Part of the course passed our Hotel. Kim and Des came out to meet us!
Joey probably could have ditched me 100 times. But, she stayed with me and we finished together. Thanks, Joey! My knee wasn't very happy with me. Of course, if I didn't have 40 extra lbs pounding on it...and if I had done the training I was supposed to, it might not have been so mad. My bad.
In the end, I finished and I didn't die! That was my only goal. I have no clue what my time was. But, for runs like this, time is hard to determine because you stop for photos so often. I walked more than I wanted to but I made it to the finish line.
I don't know if I will do another Disneyland race. Take all the sickness out of it. I was surprised at just how much was spent outside of the park. When I did the Goofy challenge 4 years ago at Disney World, the entire marathon (26.2 miles) was inside the Disney facilities. That was awesome! There were more character photo ops, there was more music. It was just a more fun experience. This one was great for the first 30-45 mins. After that, it was just meh.
We're home now. Kim and Desmond both took Tuesday off of school and work because they're still sick. I am surprised I haven't been knocked out, yet. Knocking on wood.
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