Disneyland Half Marathon

This past weekend was by far one of the most memorable things I've done in my life. Coming back to a normal, regular day is so difficult when you've had an epic weekend. If you've been following along, you'd know that I ran a half marathon. I ran a half marathon - that's 13.1 miles!!! When I first started training, I could barely run a block. I was literally wheezing because my lungs would burn and my legs would ache. Not even kidding. But I did it. I ran a half! Okay, more like walk/run. Still... I'm pretty proud! MG and I signed up for the Disneyland half marathon, inspired by my sister and her boyfriend who ran the half at Disney World in January. We trained during the month of August (yup, in one month). We ran 5 miles the first week of August and decided that if we could run 10 miles by the third week, we'd be ready. And we were right! Remember my last post (DIY costume materials)? Were you able to guess what our costumes would be? It's from Monsters, Inc. Ming-Gih was Mike Wazowski and I was his counter-part, Sulley. We looked like this when running: It was a blast! We ran with our friend, Sang (he did the Dumbo Double Dare which means the 10k and half marathon). We got up at 3am to get ready because the race started at 5:30am. To make things fun, we took many pictures, with as many characters as we could. I'm a slow runner, but Sang stayed by my side and encouraged me the whole time (Thanks!). With all the water stops, character pictures, and my slow jog, we were close to where racers are cut off (you must keep a 16 minute per mile pace). If you past that time limit, you get picked up and cannot finish the race. Once we saw where the cut-off was, we would run from that point! ^^^ Ready and not sweaty... yet. We're all Pixar characters - Russell, Mike, and Sulley ^^^ What we look like at 5am - ready to run! Lots and lots of people in our corral - we were the last to go ^^^ About to run through the park So cute!!! ^^^ More than halfway!!! We even ran through the stadium 1 more mile to go! And then we did it!!! The finish line!!! ^^^ This guy is a beast! He ran the Goofy Challenge (5k, 10k, half, and full marathon in January at Disney World). And now he did the Dumbo Double Dare (10k and half). Look at all 10 of his medals - including the Coast to Coast where you must run everything within the year. Amazing!!! We finished the half but with a small injury. MG hurt his knee by mile 8 and couldn't run the rest of the way. With a bit of bio-freeze lathered on, he could power walk the rest of the way. But YAY! We finished! My knee was a little sore but more importantly, I was starving at this point! Sang knows me well... He motivated me by telling me that there were snacks at the finish line! Teheh I even did my nails for the race. If you're not a runner (I promise you, I am not), sign up for the Disney run. Characters cheering you on. Cheer squads encouraging you. Bands playing to pump you up... It doesn't get any more fun than this! The Disney run will be a great motivator to work out and train. Plus, you get this shiny thing! Epic weekend is an understatement. Words can even begin to describe the memories I have from this past trip. Because of MG's bum knee, we didn't get to go to Disneyland after the race. But we went the next day! That's a different post for different day! Stay tuned... Jay