AHHHHH Crossing the finish line of the Disney Princess Half Marathon is an exhilarating feeling! Especially after making it a weekend of running. My daughter and I decided it would be a great idea to fly to Disney World and run The Princess Challenge (insert eye roll). This consisted of several races finishing on the last day with a half marathon. Of course this came with beautiful “Disney themed” medals, cool dri fit tee shirts, and blisters on my heels/toes. Look at those BIG smiles in the picture posted above. (which by the way..we just ran 13.1 miles, we look gross and smell worse- Do not judge!) Well not everyone is all smiles, check out the dude in the gray shirt behind us. He clearly missed the memo! But in this picture, my daughter and I are holding hands and finishing the big race together. What a perfect picture! I posted this on my Facebook and got many many likes, loves, and comments.

Here is a little back story. I had ran the Disney Princess half marathon once before just “for fun”. I didn’t worry about time or PR’s. So this time, this half marathon was going to be for times. Not to win the race but for my own PR. I wanted to run it to see what this old lady could do! Now… lets speak truth! Truth is, we rocked the first few races and looked adorable doing so. So the morning of the half we were feeling really good. We started off strong. Good pace with good weather. Our Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck costumes were on point. MY GOAL was to not use a port a potty the WHOLE race and to have my best time. GOALS! My daughter had other goals in mind. She used EVERY port a potty along the race course. When she would stop to go potty, I kept running. I would slow my pace a little until she finished and caught up with me. It was working!

Mile 1, Mile 2, Mile 5, Mile 7, Mile 9 flew by then we got to Mile 11. Half way into Mile 11 is an interstate stretch. Despite the Disney characters encouraging us, my daughter decided she was done running. WHAT?!?! Yeah, you heard me! ELEVEN and a HALF miles out of THIRTEEN, she wanted to quit. I told her to get up multiple times, she refused. Nothing was physically wrong with her, the mental game made her stop. If you have ever ran long distance at my age you know that slowing your pace is ok but stopping is a NO NO! If you stop running, the “get up and go” is GONE. I begged her to get up. I yelled and begged her until I could feel my body wanting to recover and stop running. I then got angry. I had the best time I have ever had with a great pace to finish and she was RUINING it. I did everything but physically throat punch her (mentally I did) then decided to leave her standing in the middle of the asphalt with runners passing her. When I decided to leave her, she then decided to get up and finish. The only problem is that 35 minutes had passed by with me begging her to finish. We ended up walking the remaining 1.5 miles of the race, but at this point I needed her to finish with me. Reality… I paid for those gorgeous medals and we BOTH were getting one! When we rounded the corner at Epcot, we saw the finish line and started running. We held hands to cross the finish line and smiled like we meant it. I then posted our pictures on Facebook because you didn’t do it if there is no post, right?? Everyone on social media thought this was such a great mother/daughter moment crossing the finish line of a half marathon together. Some even commented “What a great memory”. Ummmm, No! What they saw on social media was smiles and joy at the finish line. What they didn’t see was the yelling, the frustration, the almost throat punch that I was envisioning in my mind as she sat still on that asphalt at mile 11.5 for THIRTY FIVE minutes!!!

I’ve looked at several social media sites of close friends over the course of this year. Beautiful family pictures. Beautiful pictures of smiling children. Beautiful houses perfectly organized and not one single flaw. Beautiful birthday and anniversary posts pumping up their significant other for how amazing they are. Beautiful pics of spouses gazing into one another’s eyes like they are a perfect married couple. Beautiful pics of multiple gifts given with lavish price tags. Beautiful posts of check ins at their church, homeless shelters, etc. To be REAL, 2020 sucked! I know of many marriages that have failed, bankruptcy claims filed, small businesses that have suffered a shut down, and not to mention loss of life due to Covid-19. I have also witnessed an indescribable amount of hate and terrible language coming from those posting check ins at their church.

Every time I see an amazing fake post, I think of the picture I posted of me and my daughter crossing the finish line with those BIG FAKE smiles as my blistered swollen toes are covered by my cute running shoes. I laugh when friends posts comments like we hang together or talk on a regular basis. When in reality, I sit alone at home, scrolling through social media sites, binge watching Netflix shows, and never having conversations with any of them. Well, unless it is an occasional call for medical advice. If I am being REAL, this year I have cried, thrown things, and have been tested (to which I have failed) but all you guys have seen are the good times, the laughs, and the smiles.

So 2021, LET’S GET REAL! Instead of setting new year goals as being debt free, losing weight, and eating healthy, how about we set a goal of BECOMING REAL again! Being REAL about loving one another and not being hateful. Being REAL on social media!

I once read a really cool quote and I can not find who it is from but it said, “Maybe just maybe the journey isn’t so much about BECOMING anything. Maybe it is about UN-BECOMING everything that isn’t really you so you can be who you were really meant to be in the first place”. My goal for 2021 is living a year of me UN-BECOMING everything that isn’t REAL.

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