It’s hard to put my Disney World experience into one, reasonably-sized blog post.

So, I’ll break it into three parts.

1) The Race.

Because of my location, I trained on my own while the rest of the Kansas chapter trained together. Needless to say, they were pretty in sync when it came to how they’d be running, and I just tried to keep up. The three of them (Donna, Krystle, and Niki) were extraordinarily patient and encouraging, and never left me behind for a second. I know that had it not been for them, I would have let my mental hurdles get the better of me and wouldn’t have finished as strongly as I did. I’m happy with the way the race turned out…I didn’t PR and my time is nothing to brag about, but I did get pictures with characters along the course, which is way better, I think (I’m still waiting on most of those).

I also thought a lot about why I was doing the race, and those names written on my heart (literally and figuratively). I believe that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is making great strides for blood cancer patients and treatments and I’m so honored and thrilled to be able to be a part of that difference-making. On Friday night, we heard from the dad of a now-eight year old that was able to go through a brand-new course of treatment that involved the HIV virus attacking her cancer cells. It was moving, and encouraging, and reminded us all of exactly why we had worked so hard for the last several months.

By the end, I was exhausted, proud, covered in sweat and had to pee like the proverbial race horse.

2) The Food.

In my experience, Disney was great about letting me know what was gluten free and accomodating me when I asked. At the Friday dinner, a server brought me a plate of gluten free pasta. At the Sunday night party, almost everything on the buffet was gluten free, and they brought me a special dessert.

And when Susi, Nicolette, Laura and I went to the Kona Cafe in the Polynesian Resort on Saturday night, the chef personally came out and asked me what I was in the mood for. He even made me a custom sushi roll, and it was delicious.

I also called room service on Thursday night, in an emotional state after navigating the airports, hotel, and race expo alone, and ordered gluten free pizza. It may have been the best gluten free pizza I’ve ever had, because of, you know….emotions.

3) The Company.

I already mentioned that I was lucky enough to meet Floridians Nicolette and Susi while I was in town, and that was awesome. I also met another native Floridian and long-time bloggy friend Amanda. I felt like I knew her already, from the years of following her on social media, but I was so, so happy to meet her in person finally (and her husband and handsome little man!).

But. Perhaps the most overwhelmingly positive thing about the weekend is the real life quality time I got to spend with an online friend, Laura. She was the reason I signed up for Team in Training in the first place, and from the first time we sat and talked in my hotel room Thursday night, it felt like we had known each other forever. Over the course of four days, we conquered Magic Kingdom, indulged in Marathon Madness cocktails and Dole Whips, laughed until our faces hurt, and took a whole lot of selfies. I’m so very grateful for her.

Robin at Farewell, Stranger and I want to see your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite phone photos of the week. All you need is a blog post containing at least one photo from any phone camera. Link up below!