Visual Exercise

Ever done one? Ya know when you visualize yourself accomplishing something and sure enough, you can because you believed in yourself. Don't you think Lance Armstrong visualizes the finish on the Tour De France or what about the beloved (yes I am partial) Brett Farve? He is visualizing victory ever time he steps on the field. Now let's not leave it all up to your mind to accomplish something, you do have to do more than that. The reason I am writing this particular entry is because one week from today, I will have finished my first marathon. Before you marvel at my desire, please know this was not my idea. It was my dad's. You see, about 15 years ago or so, my dad ran his first marathon and he was hooked. I believe the race we do together, yes he is running with me, at Disney World next week will be his 25th race. He will be half way to his goal of 50 marathons in all 50 states. My dad wanted his children, my brothers and I, to share in his hobby. Both of my brothers have completed their marathons and I am the last child to do it. My brothers both completed the Phoenix marathon. I chose Disney because I wanted to share it with my daughters. Both Anna and Emma are all about the princesses so I thought what better way to have a reason to go than to sign up to run the marathon! So I signed up last January. There is irony to my choice to run the marathon in 2010. You see I signed up a year earlier than my "required" age. My dad asked all of us to run a marathon with him when we turn 30. I hear it is all downhill after that...ha ha. Well I signed up to run one when I turned 29. You see when I concocted this plan, my intention was to have another child around the age of 30 so I thought getting fit before that was a good idea. Ahhh, yes, I should have known that my plan would have some road blocks. One of which being MS. It was all bliss until April when I lost my sight and then in August, a diagnosis. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to do the race. I was scared though of not doing it too. What if I wouldn't be able to walk in a year and this was the last chance I had to do something great with my legs? What if I go blind? A lot of "what if's" rolled through my mind during that time but the one thing that stuck was that I could not quit. You see, my dad taught me that. He encouraged me to choose for myself but he thought maybe I shouldn't race and I wouldn't have it. There are few things I have quit in my life and this was a big one I wasn't going to quit.

I'll admit training has been a challenge due to the MS. Sometimes my vision goes blurry when I run and my right foot goes numb usually in the first 20 minutes or so but to me, those are small challenges. I have trained to about 15 miles and it has been rough. I have lost 26 pounds since I started the training so that has indeed helped. It's funny how the lighter you are, the easier exercise becomes.

Now back to my point. Visual Exercises. As I completed a 3 hour run about a month ago, I visualized the finish line at Disney World, my dad by my side. It moved me to tears... It is going to be a magical moment when we cross the finish line together. And what better place to finish a marathon, than the most magical place on earth.

I am nervous. I am worried about the sweeper. The person who kicks you off the course for not keeping pace. I am afraid my daughters and my husband won't see me finish or will miss me running through Cinderella's castle.

The thing is, I have to just relax and know that I have angels on my shoulder and my dad, an angel as well, by my side the whole way. I don't think I could do this without him.

Say a prayer, wish me luck...