Yeah, but how are you gonna get there?

So running a marathon in another state involves more planning and details than your average jog in the park. Throw in 2 parents, 2 friends, multiple travel agents and a fickle airline industry and you can see how the 20 mile training run might just be the easiest part of this whole endeavor.

The Parents
My parents were nice enough to agree to come down and watch me run. I'm glad because no matter how old I get, when I'm running a race I just always enjoy it more when my parents are on the sidelines. My dad is in super good shape this year and decided he'd like to run the 1/2 marathon. Despite gentle warnings from me that the race closes early so he'd better register, he did not do it early enough and got shut out. (When are they gonna listen to me anyway?) So now he's running the 5K which is 2 FULL DAYS before the marathon. If I want to watch him run (and I do) I need to leave with them on Thursday. I have been explicit that I do not want to visit the Disney parks before I run as to save my legs so I'll be down in Florida for 3 days sittin' around. Oh - and my parents recently informed me they have to leave on Tuesday so that's one day in the parks with them. Hmmm...

The Friends
I'm super excited that my friends Bridget and Jennie are coming with me to cheer me on and play in Florida. Since we're all watching our budgets, I tell them not to come down until Saturday and I'll meet them at the hotel. So we're all trying to plan our trip and discover an awesome airfare of $74/each way to Orlando. I tell Bridget and Jennie to jump on it and book the flight and call my parents. However, for some inexplicable reason they aren't ready to book their flights. In order to get on the same flight back with Bridget and Jennie back on Thursday (instead of my parents' Tuesday departure) I want to book at the same time. Mom's suggestion: book the flight home and wait until they are ready to book the flight down. So now I have a flight home from Orlando but no flight down to Orlando. Hmmm...

The Travel Agents
The one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that a travel agent is the way to go to get the best deal on Disney packages. Problem is, everyone has a travel agent. My friend Wendy suggested one that specializes in Disney trips, my friend Jennie has one she likes that she used for a previous Disney vacation and my parents have one that is in my dad's running club. I'm sure they're all good, but I don't care who we use. Hmmmm...

The Fickle Airline Industry
Pretty much everyone knows that you never know what you're gonna get with the airlines. Remember that half of a flight that I've got booked? Well, I'm pretty sure it's gonna cost me more to book the other half. But my mom assures me she'll pay the difference if (read "when") the rates go up by the time they decide to book. Well, at least that's not my problem anymore...

I'm tired just thinking about all of this. We haven't even taken a stab at booking the hotel yet. Why don't you guys handle that while I go for a run?