I have been waiting for this day ever since I signed up for Disney World's Half Marathon back in August. We left our home on January 5 headed down to Orlando (took detour to Jacksonville to drop my baby off). After 4+ hours of driving, we finally got to ESPN World Wide of Sports to pick up my race packet. I was excited! I was just here a year ago picking up my packet. . .but this time, it was my HALF marathon packet, not 5k!! When I picked mine up and looked at my bib, I started freaking out because I was in corral F! That's 2 corrals from the last corral! So I immediately went to the race relations (or something like that) and asked the lady if I can switch the corral. When switching corral at Disney, you SUPPOSED to have an official race time printed from an official 10k (or more) race. Well, I DID have an official 10k race result, but was not happy with the time. So instead, I told her I just ran a 10k and that I had it on my Nike App (the resolution run - unofficial race but had the BEST time for 10k). I pulled it up and showed it to her hoping this would be good enough to switch.
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| Corral D. . .for DETERMINATION!! |
She glanced my Nike app, looked at her chart and slapped the corral D sticker on my bib! I got moved to corral D! WOO HOO! After switching the corral, we went to Jonsten center and got my shirt and the bag. That's when it hit me. . . .I'm REALLY doing this! There's no more turning back now!
Let's fast forward to the day of the race. I went to sleep around 10pm the night before and woke up around 2:45ish. I felt like I slept good. I got up, drank a whole bottle of water and ate my breakfast (protein wafers). Then I put my clothes on (and my tutu), and made sure I got all my running gears before I left the room. The sky was still dark, and the air was a bit chilly, but it was a perfect morning for a race. I got on the bus feeling embarrassed (I was the only one wearing a tutu!! OMG!!) but my embarrassment disappeared once we got to Epcot because there were several people wearing costumes (GUYS and gals in princess outfits) and tutus! Once I got there, I walked around some and used porta potties several times (can't you tell I was NERVOUS?!?!?!) before we had to walk towards the starting line. After about 15-20minutes of walking, I finally got to my corral. After waiting for about 10-15 more minutes in my corral, the race officially started with fireworks and the elite runners and wheelchairs started their race. 6 minutes later, corral A started....6 more minutes, corral B went off....another 6 more minutes, corral C took off. . . .now 6 MORE minutes of waiting time and it was FINALLY my turn! I got my apps ready and my music ready. . . .I was surprisingly VERY calm because I kept telling myself that I was just going for a run. I didn't think of this as a race...I thought of it as BUNCH of people got together and decided to go for a run. I think that might have helped me from freaking out the whole time. When the firework went off, the herd of people in corral D moved forward. . . .and the race had BEGUN!
I kept my 1/1 intervals even thought it was too tempted to keep running and kept up with people in front of me. . .but I knew I had 13.1 miles to go and if I started too strong, I may not be able to keep my endurance for that long. The road was very quiet with people running. . . and it was still dark. I saw MANY runners past me, but I kept my intervals and kept God in my head (my mile dedication). When I saw the mile marker, I couldn't resist to stop and snap a picture of it! LOL I thought about taking a picture of every mile marker, but decided to stop doing that at mile 3 because it was taking a lot of time! So I kept running. . .
After running for 3 miles, I saw the entrance to the Magic Kingdom parking lot and I got so excited! I have drove this road many times but to be able to run through it (without paying! hahaha) was even better!! Of course I had to snap a few pictures! I knew then that Magic Kingdom was only a few miles away. Again, I kept running, and running, and running. I have never felt so good while running! I seriously believed that the magic of Disney made me a happy runner the whole time!!
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| Entrance to Magic Kingdom Parking Lot |
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| Close up |
Not long after I ran through the parking lot gate (about 2 miles later?), I saw the Space Mountain building. Now I knew I was about to run through Magic Kingdom! It's not like I never been there before, but feeling of running through it was so much different than just walking around Magic Kingdom. soon after I took this picture, we turned to the left, ran through Cast Member's parking lots, then turned to the right. . . .and guess what I saw?
THE CINDERELLA CASTLE!!
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| STITCH!! |
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| Castle Background |
Oh it was so MAGICAL! The sight of this beautiful castle always put a BIG smile on my face no matter how many times I have seen it! From this point on, I was running! It didn't matter what my interval says! Now my mission was to enjoy running through the park! I ran through Tomorrow Land, then through Fantasy Land and through the castle (which was very narrow with hundreds of people running through it!) and then through Frontier Land! The feelings of running through the park was unbelievable! I cannot express how I felt the whole time! You just HAVE to be there to experience it! However, the run through the park didn't last as long as I wanted to. . .as soon as I passed the Frontier Land, I was back on the road again. . . I was now on Floridian Way, running by Polynesian Resort and Disney's Palm Golf Course. At mile 8, I started looking for Jeff but realized that I got there earlier than what I had told him I was going to be there. . .but I was hoping I would see his face and hear his voice...unfortunately I didn't see him nor heard his voice. I was a little disappointed.
As soon as I passed mile 9, I hit the road block! I started doubting myself that I can't finish the race! I had 4 more miles to go, and I just felt like I couldn't make it that far...my shins started to hurt (even though I put BioFreeze on at every med tent stop) so I stopped at med tent and got some more BioFreeze and Tylenol (they were handing them out). There was nothing around me but runners and a very LONG stretch of road ahead of me...but I kept moving, I kept running, and kept thinking about my nephew (my mile dedication) and finally saw mile 10 marker. Now I only got 3 more miles to go. . .but I was mentally exhausted. I was trying my best to fight back with my negative thoughts that were running through my head, and couldn't keep up with my intervals. . .I walked a bit more than I wanted to and truly felt like I was about to give up. I don't want to run any more. . .there was no more excitement in me that got me through the first 8 miles. . . .I was emotional wreck and I was fighting so hard not to cry. . .
Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and a very sweet lady said, "Congratulations on your first half!". . .that was it. . . .I broke down and cried. . . . in front of a stranger! I told her "I don't think I can do this any more!" and she said "but you're doing a great job! You're doing it!!" and went her own way. That's when I saw mile 11 marker about 1/4 mile away. I thought of my best friend Christine and ran all the way to the mile marker because I knew then I only had 2.1 more miles to go!
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Here's the back of my shirt...got several congrats
and word of encouragements from other runners! |
Thinking of my best friend and the stranger's encouraging words helped me regained my strength. . .Now it's time for me to run this whole mile dedicated to my friend/coach Betsy, who inspired me to run this half marathon! Mile 12 was the HARDEST part of the race because of the ramps. I was running on the bridge and finally saw Epcot! I am getting close! I can do this! Now I felt like that Little Engine in the book, but instead of thinking "I think I can", I was thinking "I know I CAN, I know I CAN!"
I FINALLY reach Epcot's parking lot when my music changed to "Eye of the Tiger". . . then it changed to "Push It to the Limit" once I got inside Epcot and "Now or Never" came on as I was getting closer to the finish line...I felt like God was telling me "you can DO THIS!!" by playing those songs! I ran and ran and ran. . .I stopped once to take picture of the Epcot ball and kept running some more. Now I hear the choir singing. I remembered reading someone else's blog that choir was there RIGHT before the finish line. . .so I knew I only had 1/10 mile to go! Sure enough, I saw the mile 13 marker right after the choir! I stopped and took a picture of it, and turned to the right. Now I see Mickey, Donald, and Goofy right before the finish line! I ran, and ran, and ran towards them, got high fives from Mickey and raise both of my hands up in the air and crossed the finish line!!!!
I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!!!
I JUST FINISHED MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!!!!
My official time was 3:17:33 but time didn't matter! What matter is that I had the courage to start and finish the race! It is so hard to describe the feeling that I felt after receiving my medal! I still couldn't believe in myself that I have done something that I thought it was IMPOSSIBLE or something that I thought I could NEVER DO! But now I know, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE in my life as long as I BELIEVE in myself that I CAN DO IT!
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My first Half Marathon Medal!
"She believed she could, so SHE DID IT!!" |
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| With my wonderful friend/coach, BETSY with her 3rd half marathon medal! |
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| With the Jones and theMcElroy! |
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