A Medal 13 Years Late

The following is a dramatization of a conversation that occured early on the morning of May 22nd.  When possible, the original participants have been used instead of actors.

Me: Hey, we’re going to Florida for next year…

Steph: Oh, okay.

Me: In January…

Steph: That’s a good time to go. It’ll be cold up here in Iowa.  But weren’t we just there —

Me: To run the Walt Disney World Marathon.

Steph: SQUEE!

We are a very unusual couple.

Joking aside, this is actually a pretty big deal.  Back in 2001, I ran the WDW Marathon.   Disney was my first marathon and it’s been quite special to me.  Not only did I get a neat medal but I finished where I wanted and got to run through the parks of Disney like I wanted to when I was a kid but Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me.  So in short – awesome.

However … Steph was also supposed to run Disney but it didn’t happen.  She got injured and was unable to participate.  She was able to go to the expo, pick up a number and t-shirt but could not set foot on the course.  In short – not awesome.

Sure, she’s run two marathons since and some half marathons but none of them were Disney.  Last year on the surprise trip, I scheduled us to run a 5K at Disney.  It was nice and it got Steph a medal but it still wasn’t a Marathon medal.

This morning after her run, she came into the office and said, “I know what i want for my birthday. I want to run the Disney Marathon.”

So I said, “What the hell?” and signed us up.  I also promised her that I’d run the race with her.  So come next January 12th, she will finally get one of these of her very own: