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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

RunDisney: My First 1/2 Marathon

This gold shiny thing is what I trained for months for.... On Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend, I ran my first half marathon at Disneyland. RunDisney is a half marathon which begins at Downtown Disney, runs through Disneyland and California Adventure, through Anaheim and also through Angels stadium. I really had doubts about going through this journey. I have never been much of a runner, but my brother and cousins run it every year so they kind of gave me the push I needed. I first thought there is no way I can run 13.1 miles, NO way! But thought I would register in order to force myself to at least train for it. When I signed up in February, I figured I had months to train so I was not worried about it.. But as time flew and the day grew closer, I was starting to dread the big day. I thought, "What if I pass out?" "What if I don't maintain my pace?" "What if my legs are too weak to finish?" I basically thought of every bad scenario you could think of. But once I was out there with my brother, as we were able to start in the same corral, I was pumped up and so excited to finally go through with it. It was an incredible experience. I think all the runners and the atmosphere with Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse giving us the green light to start really gave me the motivation to keep running. I was able to run through the sixth mile straight without walking. From there I tried to be aware of my pace and I ended up finishing in 2 hours, 39 minutes, which is a lot better than I expected for myself. All in all, it was a great experience and the feeling of accomplishment once I crossed the finish line is something I could never forget. I think I have felt that feeling on very few occasions, my college graduation being one of them.I am definitely hoping to run more marathons.I wish my boyfriend was able to run it with us but he had knee surgery this year, so it was out of the question. He was there to support me though, and seeing him and my dad at the finish was very uplifting. My mom, aunt and cousins all ran this one with me and the experience of having so much family there was really special to me. I feel like it has brought us all closer together because we all pushed each other and really kept each other inspired through it all. I really recommend signing up for something like this with people you care about because it is a unique journey that you can experience together.