"Why I Run"- Welcome Guest Author Ellen Cusack

Disney’s 1/2 Marathon: 

Why I Run My Race

Meet Ellen Cusack Mother, wife, Teacher, Disney enthusiast 265:) Love Walking, country music, and believe in faith, trust, and Pixie dust! This week Ellen is here with us to share her story of why she runs. Welcome Ellen-we're so excited to have you join us!

Let me start from the beginning where running was just something I did everyday as part of my exercise routine. I was always athletic, played soccer in High School and still kept running just a few miles a day to stay in shape especially after College for I was planning a wedding and a Honeymoon in no other than Disney World.

 Fast forward to the year 1995 when I was running in a race for Breast Cancer at a local gathering in a nearby town. I was in great physical shape and running was still a part of my daily routine. I taught kindergarten, ran and was happily married to my high school sweetheart.

   The race on June 10, 1995 ( my 28^th Birthday) had around a few hundred runners and I wanted to be in the top of my age group finishing. But somehow there was another plan for me. I started off the race a good pace but shortly into the first mile I experienced the most excruciating headache I had ever had, it brought me to my knees and then that was when I collapsed. I was rushed to a local hospital where they did a CT scan and determined I had a brain aneurysm, a what? I was 28 and a runner, what happened? Well after being taken to Philadelphia for the top Brain surgeon in our area, my life seemed to come to a screeching halt. Tests where done, pic lines placed and surgery set up. But, to everyone’s surprise after further testing the subarachnoid hemorrhage in my brain had sealed itself off. After a sigh of relief from my 6 siblings, parents, friends and new husband I would spend 15 days in ICU until I was able to return home.

  Home, so glad to be here but my life changed over the next 12 years, 2 children a new home to build and a future that seemed bright but running was no longer part of my routine, it was walking my babies and taking long strolls on the boardwalk contemplating my life.

  In 2007 after years of thinking and dreaming of completing a 1/2 Marathon, I decided to register for the Disney 1/2 Marathon in January 2007. I started walking everyday with my best friend Lorraine and each week added a mile or two to work up to the 13.1 we needed to complete the challenge.

Scared and a bit apprehensive, this was the first “big” race and I wasn’t sure I would be able to finish, I still had that thought of 1995 in my head and couldn’t seem to shake it.

The local newspaper came and did an article on my past experience and my Half Marathon race, this gave me the added motivation I needed to move forward and just go for it.

 So, at age 40, yes 40, you’re never too old to dream and make it come true. Lorraine, me and our families traveled from N.J. to Disney for our first runDisney race.

We went to the Expo. got our bib numbers and 1/2 Marathon shirts. We were excited to be in Disney and even more excited to be running/walking our race.

  Race day came on January 6, 2007. It was amazing, bands were playing music at 5:30 am, Mickey and Minnie were there at the start of the race and it gave me the adrenaline needed to do this thing. We started off running but soon realized there was too much to see running through the Magic Kingdom and stopping at every photo opportunity we decided a fast walk was the way to go. Excitement at every turn we were totally engulfed by the magic of Disney and that we were actually going to finish this race.

  Epcot came and so did the end of the race, the excitement grew as we past the finish line with our families waiting for us as well as Disney characters our finisher medal (Donald Duck) and tons of hugs, tears and a sense of accomplishment. We did it!

 The journey was long but the love of Disney races is in our blood now, we ran for several more years in the Disney 1/2 Marathon Weekend, Disney Princess 1/2 Marathons; each race bringing along several more first time Half Marathon Disney runners, Wine and Dine ½, a few 5k races a relay and next year, 2015, my first Enchanted 10k.

  A Fairy Tale ending, I believe so. For me it was.

Ellen M. Cusack August 10, 2014

Guest Author Sunday

Guest Author Sunday

Welcome Robert Eckman-This week's Honorary "Gal"

Disney Gals is pleased to welcome Robert "Hit It Bob" Eckman as this week's Guest Author. Recently retired from a life of managing a college university bookstore, this highly gifted and talented professional keyboard player came into the Disney way later in life but now has taken the plunge into the deep end of the pool with both feet and no floaties. So how does someone go from a Disney newbie to a full fledged, card carrying annual pass holder? Read his story of how Disney has changed his life!

Guest Author Sunday

Guest Author Sunday

Leanne Tomala

Guest Author Leanne Tomala is back to talk about her experiences in her quest to have dinner with Marty Sklar.  Be sure to stay tuned to the Disney Gals as our own Disney Gal 

Judy has been selected as one of the Media Correspondents covering the event in Chicago!

"The belief in a thing makes it happen."  - Frank Lloyd Wright.  I really like this quote.  It affirms what I have thought all along that sometimes wishing makes it so, especially since today is my birthday.  I am on a quest this year to have dinner with Marty Sklar.  I'm hoping he doesn't think that I am some kind of cyber-stalker.  I'm just a middle-aged woman who has loved Disney her entire life and would like to have a conversation with someone who was there with Walt Disney from the beginning.

The above excerpt was from my blog written on February 1, 2012.  I always thought that if you said things out-loud to the universe, the universe would respond, and it has!

Through my quest with the Disney Moms Panel for 2014, I was touched by so many people in the Disney blog-o-sphere and elsewhere.  Disney Gals, home to one of the new “Moms”, brought me into their fold as a guest blogger. for which I am grateful.  A recent post on Facebook by Disney Gals caught my attention: 

"Do you live in or near Chicago? Would you love to see a Disney Legend? Now is your chance, Marty Sklar is going to be at Museum of Science and Industry on Sunday, February 16!! Check out the information on this upcoming event!"

I live somewhat “near” to Chicago, in St. Louis, and can easily travel by Amtrak.  Here is my chance to meet Marty Sklar!  There will be no dinner involved, but a lecture and book signing are good enough for me and maybe a picture too!  Not wasting any time, I booked the train tickets and told my husband that we’re off to Chicago on February 16^th.  My husband will be with my grandson looking at the trains, the submarine and the coal mine.  I’ll be in the lecture hall listening to Mr. Sklar and getting his autograph on my copy of his book, “Dream It, Do It.” 

Wishes do come true!  Sometimes you just have to wait a bit…  

Guest Author Sunday- Welcome Back Leanne Tomala

Guest Author Sunday

Welcome Back Leanne Tomala

Disney Gals are thrilled to welcome back Leanne to our Guest Author Sunday Writer's Chair. This week Leanne shares a special magical encounter from her recent Disney Cruise.

You Just Never Know…
 

I recently returned from a seven day cruise on the Disney Fantasy.  The trip was everything I hoped it would be and more.  I planned, and planned, and planned, from the time I booked in January 2013 up until cruise day in November 2013.   Dinner and brunch reservations were made, as well as port excursions, almost to the point that I knew what I would be doing every single day.  The magic, however, came at a totally unscripted moment. 
 

After a mid-afternoon nap in my stateroom, I was craving those delicious Mickey pretzels that are served on Deck 11 at Flo’s.  I popped out of my stateroom and hit the “up” button for the elevator.  The bell dinged, the door slowly opened, and I am face-to-face with none other than Mickey Mouse!  He’s all alone in the elevator, except for his cast member escort.  I am so taken aback by this discovery that I’m not sure what to do.  I regain some semblance of composure and hop into the elevator cursing to myself that I am without my phone/camera to capture this moment. 

While riding up to four floors to Deck 11, I’m feeling like a school-girl who bumps into her crush in the school hallway and is at a loss for words.  Mickey “asks” me if I am having a good time, and I really don’t remember what I said because the moment was so surreal.  Being the gentleman that he is, Mickey kissed my hand when the elevator door opened at my destination.  I did not want to get out because I wanted Mickey all to myself for just a few moments more.  I floated out of the elevator and wanted to shout “he likes me!” just like I would have done at thirteen years old.  It was not quite my fifteen minutes of fame; more like fifteen seconds. 

Guest Author Sunday

Welcome Leanne Tomala

Our Newest Honorary Gal

Meet our newest Honorary Gal- Leanne Tomala! Leanne shows each and everyday that it's all about being young at heart. Leanne is hooked on runDisney having completed two 5K events and now is in training for the Princess Half.  Her love of Disney showed through as she was one of the chosen few to advance to Round 3 of the Disney Parks Mom's Panel this year.  Leanne currently resides in Saint Peters Missouri and is a proud mom, grandmother and has been married to her own prince charming for the last 38 years.  Welcome Leanne-we're so happy to have you as an honorary Gal!

#DisneySide at Four
This week's inspiration comes from a 4 year-old boy, my grandson. He stays at our house a few nights a week and part of our bedtime regimen is reading stories from the many books left over from my children. Tired of reading the same old Mercer Meyer Little Critter series, I decided to improvise the other night and tell a story about a little boy and his grandparents that fly on an airplane and go to Disney World.
Taking the details from our own recent trip, and highlighting the best parts of the vacation, (leaving out the part when Grandma's back goes out and she's unable to walk) I wove a magical story that captivated his attention and invited him to participate by asking "and then what did they see?" The surprising part for me was that he remembered the little details that made this vacation so special.  I hoped that he fell asleep with visions of Mickey Mouse dancing in his head.
The next night, I went back to the Little Critter books but he stopped me mid-sentence and told me he wanted to hear the story about the "little boy" again. After each re-telling of the magical moments of the trip, he jumped out of bed and ran to Papa to tell him the story, too.
Show us your #DisneySide is for the young, old, young at heart and everything in between.  For this 4-year-old, #DisneySide becomes the stuff that sweet dreams are made of when he sleeps over at Grandma and Papa's house.