Completed Races

Princess Half Marathon February 24, 2013 3:04:11
Arbor Day 5K May 18, 2013 31:35
4 Mile Race for the Free Clinic June 9, 2013 40:45
Pink Feet 10K October 20, 2013 58:57 (2nd place in age division)
St. Augustine 10K November 17, 2013 1:00:36
Feet to Feast 15K November 28, 2013 1:26:58
Starlight Half Marathon December 27th (re run) 2:20:09 (2nd place age division)
WDW 10K January 10, 2014 58:32
Tinker Bell 10K January 18, 2014 58:27
Tinker Bell Half Marathon January 19, 2014 2:16:10
Daytona Beach Half Marathon February 16, 2014 2:12:13
Enchanted 10K (Glass Slipper Challenge) February 22, 2014 1:12:09
Princess Half Marathon (Glass Slipper Challenge) February 23. 2014 2:29:50

2013 Princess Half Marathon

The weekend I had been looking forward to for months finally came and I was sick! Sick as a dog most of the week before it. Friday afternoon we headed to Orlando. After checking into our hotel we made our way to Downtown Disney to catch the bus to the expo to pick up our race packets. The expo was a zoo! It was too crowded to really see or buy anything so we picked up our packets and headed out. 

They had a wall with all the participants names on it.

My bib!!!

Race day we were out the door by 3:45 a.m and on our way to Epcot

After walking probably 3 miles we finally made it to our corral where we waited, and waited, and waited.....you get the idea. Lets just say we were at our corral around 4:45 and our start time was 6:15. We were there forever! It wasn't bad though. They had music blasting through there and everyone was having a good time.

The view from our corral. A big sea of people, bright lights and a jumbo screen showing the starting line which was around the corner. 

They released corrals every 7 minutes, complete with fireworks every time. Though I think the first one had more of them. We were about half way back in our coral and we were still this far from the starting line when it was our turn. 

Main Street in Magic Kingdom, it was about mile 6 I believe. It was PACKED! I am not sure why I envisioned open streets while I was running. I guess I thought I was an A corral runner with a 6 minute mile pace in my head. It was so crowded you really could not run which ended up working out since I was still very sick and having difficulty breathing so we walked over half of the race. I felt horrible that Crystal and Kevin had to wait for me. :(

Half way point! They were blasting "Girl on Fire" It is a women's race after all. Out of 26,000 participants only 1,000 were male. 

I cried when I crossed the finish line. I am not sure if it was because of the pain, the fact it was over, not being able to breathe, being happy that I actually finished the race, or upset that it did not go as planned, but I cried. Right now I am happy with the outcome now that I have had time to digest all that went wrong and the fact that I was able to finish. For a while I was upset that I had finished much slower than I thought I would, that I held them back and I was just plan upset that I had trained so hard for it to all go wrong. But I did it. I did a half marathon and I am pretty proud of myself and ready for the next! 

Final time 3 hours, 4 minutes and 11 seconds. I came in 12,779 place out of 22,721 finishers. 

Monday Miles 7/29

Week of 7/22-7/28
Monday:
Tuesday: 3.2
Wednesday: 50 minutes elliptical
Thursday: 3.2
Friday:
Saturday: 3.2
Sunday: 5

Highlights:
New 5 mile PR 44:37

Totals:
Weekly: 11.4
Monthly: 69.2
Yearly: 240
48% of my goal of 500 miles for the year is complete!

My Running Story

I always hated running. I was that girl in elementary and middle school that always walked the mile and I am pretty sure was told to stop before I finished since I was taking so long. To say I hated running would be an understatement. Then I met my husband who is a runner. I never understood why he would wake up early and run....willingly!!! In 2010 he signed up for the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon. I decided if he could do 26.2 miles I could surely do 3.2 so I signed up for the 5K and started the couch to 5K program. A few short weeks later and still unable to run a mile straight I gave up. I figured I would be able to walk/jog it under the 16 minute mile required pace. Well, that magical weekend never came to be since my husband was sent out of state on military leave.

Over the course of the next year + I tried a few more times to start the couch to 5K program and would quit out of frustration either due to not being able to breath properly or because my knee hurt so bad. Then I found out about the Princess Half Marathon, a race in which grown women get to run in tutus and it is at DisneyWorld!!! I just knew I had to be a part of it so I signed up. Yep, I signed up for a half marathon when it had been 8 months since I had attempted to run and at that time running 20 minutes straight was my current record! 

I got some new shoes and a couch to 13.1 plan that I thought would work for me. I started my training in October of 2012 and everything was playing out perfectly. I was running one mile, then 2 and wow did I just run 6 miles straight?!? I was ecstatic! The the beginning of December I started a long battle with injuries. Shin splints to be exact. I did my first half marathon, which was my first official race ever too, with no shin pain, but had to walk the majority of it due to a really bad head/chest cold I got days before the race. I still managed to finish in 3:04 though. I could barely walk later that day, but I was already planning my next race. 

I had a 3 month long health battle after that race which prevented me from running along with shin pains when I did attempt to. I decided rest was best and took those months to try to heal my body. In May I started to get better and have been running since! I have several races lined up for this upcoming race season and if I didn't have to get someone to watch my kiddos for me while I race I would probably be registered for one every weekend! 

If you made it this far, moral of the story...don't give up! I was thrown curve ball after curve ball the past few years, but I am happy to say I finally stuck with it and I can now call myself a runner! I love running, I love the runners high, I love those moments getting lost in your own thoughts as the miles pass by, and I love the bling!!!