runDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon

That time I ran a half of a half marathon.

You see, I've known myself for 26 years so I've learned a lot about myself in that time. One thing that I've learned is that if I want to achieve something, I need to plan for my inadequacies. When I sign up for a race, I know that I need to train for it. Some people don't need to train at all and I think that's awesome. It's also not me. I will say this again, I am not a runner. I am just not a natural-born runner. Running is HARD! It encompasses the mental game, that I've never been a strong player in. For this race, I decided to stick with the amateur training plan that I've used twice before. I didn't have a time goal in mind, just wanted to run the whole thing. runDisney races are for fun though and so you don't even have to feel bad if you stop to take pictures! I wanted to train so that I wouldn't need to walk any of it. A girl has to have some type of goal, right? 

My first training run was on August 13, 2015. I think that was actually my pre-training run. My plan had me running 5 days a week but I've always found it hard to motivate myself on Saturdays. Early on I started skipping those. I quickly noticed that my runs were awful. No point in making that sound better. They stunk. My legs were constantly tight and I felt tired all the time. A few weeks in, Maria yelled at me for not stretching and once I implemented some pre and post run stretching, I noticed that my legs finally felt normal. 

My week day runs were going fine but I was struggling with my long runs on Sundays. Running can be super lonely for me. A couple of hours with nothing to do but cardio. No thanks, I'd rather be home alone watching tv. Maria offered to do my 7 mile long run with me on September 20th and it was a game changer for me! We had a great run, the weather rocked, and it was super nice to have someone to keep me going. This is also ironic because I've never been someone who is good at running with people. I guess it helps that she runs whatever pace I want to run! After this week, I was about halfway thru and so my runs continued and were quite uneventful. Until the 12 mile run. I mean I laid in a field and ugly-cried at 3 miles in. The run took me a ridiculous amount of hours because of all the times I thought I needed to stop. And I was just DONE. I pushed through and finished the run. The two weeks after that were great! I finished my training strong and was ready for race day. 

The week we spent in Florida was hot! On Friday, November 6, we went to the expo to pick up our bibs. For whatever reason, and maybe it's just all the time in Florida, the weather was changing constantly. The weather had been looking just fine for race day and honestly, I didn't even look at it on Saturday. Oh, I do want to say that our big sister had mailed cards to the hotel for us and when we got back to the hotel to rest before the race we found them waiting in our room! Thanks, Debbie!! 

We got dressed as Sulley and Mike from Monsters Inc! and headed down to the lobby. (Thank you Holly for the amazing custom-painted shirts!) We were waiting outside our hotel for the bus to the start line and Lindsay and I were commenting about how hot it was. The bus ride took about 45 mins due to traffic. We kept seeing these flashes and I thought other runners were taking pictures on the bus. I soon realized it was lightning. When we got off the bus, Linds and I made our way to the bathroom line. It was long! By now the wind was picking up (I was cold) and the lightning continued. And then the announcer came over the speakers saying that a severe weather alert had been issued and we needed to evacuate the field. So 15,000 people made their way into the Fieldhouse at ESPN Wide World of Sports. Of course, I had no service so I just waited on the floor and talked with Linds. Finally we were given the go-ahead to move back outside. It didn't even rain! Someone who was sitting near me showed me the storm on the radar on her phone and it looked like it was going to slam Orlando! I prayed and asked God to turn the storm and it never rained, the winds calmed and the lightning ceased. I'm just sayin'...thank you God! We walked back outside and used the bathroom and then hugged each other goodbye because we were assigned different corrals. Being the selfish sister that I am I decided I needed to just get going (in my earlier corral) before my anxiety killed me. I tried to text Linds in the start line but nothing would go through. People started talking and that's when I found out that the race had been reduced to just over a 10k. It is 11:00PM at this point but ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! A 10k!!

People, I trained for 3 months, running over 220 miles to run a 6 miler. I'd be lying if I didn't say that a small part of me felt relief. I was going to earn a 13 mile medal for 6 miles. Half the work for all the reward. The American Dream, right?! I kid. I mean I was getting HUNGRY because I thought I'd be running an hour earlier and I had an entire hour to sit in my anxiety. Could I have even run 13 after all that? I'm not sure. I reminded myself that at least they didn't cancel the entire race. 

I started the race at 11:22pm and I was moving! I mean, for a girl who didn't have a goal pace, I felt like I was bookin' it. I was passing hundreds of people. When you run by yourself, you pass no one. On race day, it feels like you pass everybody! There are clocks at every mile marker but I quickly lost track after mile 2. (Two of my friends were receiving my race updates so I guess they knew my pace. Thanks Jamie and Julie!) Mile 1 was marked as such but the next mile was marked as 8. Needless to say, I ran the fastest 7 miles ever between those mile markers ;). All the miles were turning out to be flat. There was a slight incline around mile 3 but I just kept on moving and then it was all just flat again. Which rocked! I took water every chance I could because it was HOT and HUMID! We ran a few roads in Orlando before entering Hollywood Studios! It seemed like we ran through that park for at least a mile which was awesome because usually you only get to run the parks for a hot minute.

After exiting that park we ran The Boardwalk into Epcot and ran under the big ball and back out of the park to the finish line. 

The announcers could see the names of the finishers on their computer screens and every once in a while they would read them over their microphones. I heard them say my name as I crossed the finish line, so that was cool! I got my medal, finisher photo (which came out dark and unfocused), Powerade, water, and food box before meeting up with my dad. I just hung out while we waited for Linds to finish. After we met up with her, our dad went back to the hotel and Linds and I got our free wine and headed into Epcot for the after party. It was like 2:30 by the time we were in line for food at the festival and the lines were so long! We ate some but then we called it quits at 3:30. I just couldn't make it until 4! We got back to the hotel and showered and I went to bed at like 4:45am! 

It was fun and I would always do a runDisney race again! If you've never done one, you should! In the days following the race, I just couldn't get over that I hadn't really earned the medal. The entire race was out of my control and there wasn't even one thing I could do about it. I had to remind myself that I had definitely trained enough to run 13 miles and on race day I was prepared to do it. Then I felt like I had wasted all of that time training, but that's ridiculous because I needed to be ready to run 13! Plus, I always learn a lot about myself when I put all of those hours into running, so it wasn't a loss. I ran the course and earned the medal. It simply is what it is. 

So I guess that is where that story ends...for now. Running has always been more about the journey for me. The journey from the first training run until the moment I cross the finish line. The sweat, the victories, the frustrations, the weather, the injuries, the hours, the PRs, the tears, and mostly importantly, the miles: they're good for me. Running is hard. I think, for me, it will always be hard. I've never been someone who is attracted to challenges. There is something about running, and I don't know what it is, but I just can't stay away. I'm not signed up for any future races and I have no idea what 2016 will hold, but I kind of hope it has some Nikes pounding pavement, chasing dreams.