A big welcome to Pamela, who will be sharing her runDisney story today! Take it away Pamela!

My running story starts almost exactly one year ago.  Due to the fortuitous timing of the school calendar and Disney Marathon Weekend, my husband signed up to run the half and we took a week-long family vacation to WDW.  Being around the atmosphere of the races, seeing people of all shapes and sizes walk through the parks proudly wearing their bling, and witnessing the sincere joy and congratulations from one stranger to another was very inspiring. I dreamingly said to myself (so I thought), “I wish I could do that!”  My husband overheard me and said, “You can absolutely do this!”  So he set out a challenge with a reward for me.  He told me that if I could run 5 miles by June, he would take me to run any race I wanted, anywhere.  He knows me well!  I love a good challenge, and I especially love a good reward!  :-)

I knew I wanted to run a Disney race, but which one?  I looked over the races and evaluated each one.  A 5K?  Too short.  A marathon?  No way, I need to work up to that one!  What about a half-marathon?  Maybe, but isn’t there something in between a 5K and a half-marathon?  Ta-da, there is!  The Tower of Terror 10 Miler!  I had found my race!  What really sealed the deal was that the Tower of Terror is one of my favorite Disney attractions, and the race was very close to our 15-year wedding anniversary.  We would make a celebration out of the event!

I started my training as soon as we got home.  I found a 9-week Couch-to-5K program through Cool Running that looked ideal.  I liked how there was flexibility in the schedule, requiring 3 training sessions per week but not dictating which days I had to train.  With my very busy life, I embraced the flexible training schedule. All I had to do was follow the program on any three days during the week, and I was good.  It was ideal.  I usually did my runs at night after the kids were in bed.  I found that I really enjoyed the quiet, alone time at the end of the day.  I found running to be relaxing.  The stress in my life slowly melted away whenever I ran.

About halfway through the program, I decided to publicly declare my intent to keep the pressure on myself to complete my mission.  I joined a running team (WDW Radio Running Team who raises money for the Dream Team Project, which helps fund trips to WDW for children through the Make-a-Wish foundation) and introduced myself to the online community through their Facebook page.  I was warmly welcomed into the fold, and was happy to discover that the team also had a running coach that gladly volunteered his time to coach anyone wishing to join the team.  His name, most appropriately, is Happy. He introduced me to the concept of the Galloway program, which sounded great to me.  We set a goal of running in a 5K shortly after the end of my 9-week training.  My husband ran it with me in March, and the joy I felt after the completion of the race was indescribable and I was hooked!

Happy put together a running plan for me every week, which I followed to the letter.  One day in April, I was scheduled to do a 5 mile run.  My husband ran it with me at my pace and encouraged me the entire way. He counted down the last half mile, and when I reached the 5 mile mark, and said “Congratulations!  You did it.  You earned your race!”

I wasted no time in registering for the Tower of Terror 10 miler, which was a good thing because the race sold-out not many days after I registered.  My mom agreed to come stay with the kids, allowing my husband and I to truly make our race the cornerstone of an anniversary trip.

Training continued as planned all summer long.  Training in our hot, humid Indiana summer ended up being a blessing, considering the weather that would ultimately reveal itself during the Tower of Terror 10 Miler.

All was going according to plan until the middle of August.  To this day, I still do not know what happened, but one day my foot just stopped working.  I was in a lot of pain.  I went to see an orthopedic specialist, who examined me and told me he could find nothing wrong.  He advised me to take a week off before continuing with my running.  After one of my long runs a week or so after I was running again, I found myself to be completely lame.  I couldn’t put any weight on my left foot without a significant amount of pain. Our neighbor is a physical therapist, and I turned to him for help.  He started me on a physical therapy program with the goal being to get me to a point where I could run in the Tower of Terror 10 Miler without causing damage to myself.  Between his therapy and Happy’s advice, we got me to a point where I would be able to finish the race, not get swept, and be able to stand afterwards.

They designed a strategy for me to follow race weekend.  I was to stay off of my foot as much as possible before the race.  During the race, I followed a 20 second run, 40 second walk interval.  My foot and ankle was wrapped and braced, and I used gel heel inserts.  The weather, as everyone now knows, was brutal.  Luckily, I was used to it.  It was just like any training day I had all summer long.  My husband and I stayed hydrated.  At every water stop, he would run ahead and get me whatever I needed.  He told me to just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, and that he would take care of everything else.  There was unfortunately no time to stop for any pictures, as I was on a mission and needed to stay completely focused.  I had to run through the pain, which peaked at about the 2 mile mark but never got any worse after that.

I finished in 2:38:44.  I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face, running the whole way!  Some members of my running team that had finished before me came running up to me and hugged me. What a wonderful, supportive group!  My husband and I got our Finisher Photos taken, and then set out to find a place to sit and recuperate.  After an hour off of my feet, replenishing fuel and fluids and getting cleaned up (as best as I could with babywipes and a fresh set of clothes!), I was ready to enjoy the after party.  I had worked darn hard to get there, and I was going to enjoy every possible minute of it!

 

There is no way I could have done it without the support of so many wonderful people.  My husband was my rock and foundation.  He took care of me when the going got tough, and he continually inspired me.  My running team and my running coach were my cheerleaders. They supported me, listened to me, and advised me.  My physical therapist helped me when no doctor could.  He strengthened me to the point that I knew I could physically complete the race and not cause damage to myself.  I was proud of myself for meeting the challenge, but I was profoundly grateful for everyone who helped me to succeed.

I have since been diagnosed for my foot pain and am excited to get the go ahead to start training again. I would love to run Wine & Dine! In the meantime, I will continue to stay motivated by cheering on my WDW Radio Running teammates from afar!

Thank you Pamela for your fantastic runDisney story! We can’t wait to hear more about your magical miles! If you would like to have your runDisney story featured, please send an email to info@runnersguidetowdw.com!

It’s no secret that many runDisney participants are new runners. Here is the runDisney story from a new runner – Carlee!

 

I love Disney. We live about 45 minutes away from Disneyland and love visiting whenever we get the chance. I also love being active. My husband and I find fun ways to enjoy the beautiful California sunshine.

Yet I was looking for an activity that could be mine. I thought running could be that for me.

Therefore, a runDisney race seemed like just the motivation I needed. I figured that even if I wasn’t good at running, that even if my time was horrible, my body ached every mile, and if I never wanted to run another race, at least it was Disney and I could keep a smile on my face. Not to mention, I wanted the bling.

I actually started training for my runDisney event about 9 months before the race. The first month I started by adding walking on my lunch breaks. The second month I started hitting the gym My office is in a hotel, so one of the perks of our lease is that we can use the little gym down there.

Since I hadn’t ‘run’ for a few years, I started on the elliptical for the first month or two. Once I felt like my cardio was at a decent level, I started running outside. I was following the Jeff Galloway plan at that point.

About half way through my training (probably month 4 or so) my IT band started to flare up, so I needed to change my training regimen.

My boss was a GREAT resource. He is an amazing athlete (winning his division in triathlons frequently, etc). He helped set up a training schedule that worked for me. It consisted of a lot of cross training (since I needed to give my IT band a break from pounding the pavement).

The cross training idea was one that was pretty hard for me to grasp. In my head, if I wasn’t running it meant I wasn’t training. During those last 4 or 5 months I was doing a lot of biking, elliptical for interval trainings, circuit workouts with weights in the gym, etc. I was increasing my mileage outside, but again, being smart about it so that my body was not overexerting itself and causing more strains to my IT band or anything else.

Before I knew it, I was at the start line of what I had been training months for.

On September 2, 2012 – I completed the Disneyland Half Marathon.

 

My favorite thing about it was all of the support. I could not believe how many people came out to cheer us on.

I think I had a HUGE smile plastered on my face just about the entire race. I couldn’t say THANK YOU to enough people. It was amazing.

From the volunteers in the water stations, to the boy scouts and girl scouts that filled Angel Stadium, to the classic car drivers that lined some of the streets along our course, to the employees that would give us big thumbs up when they saw us.

I was extremely thankful and humbled by the amount of love and support we received, and that we received it from complete STRANGERS!

I have officially caught the runDisney bug, and the Princess Half Marathon is the next runDisney event on my calendar. This will be my second half marathon, so I already know what to expect, but it will be my FIRST at Disney World. (I haven’t been to Disney World since I was young, so it will be fun seeing everything again) Even more exciting is that some of my family may be joining in the runDisney fun!

So for my fellow new runners, my advice is this: Stick with it! YOU CAN DO IT! And cross train. I would have NEVER done as well in my first half marathon as I did if I hadn’t strengthened my entire body. Not only does it break up the monotony of running, but it also helps to prevent injury, works different muscles, helps your form, etc. There are so many fun runDisney events to choose from, so set a goal and run YOUR race!

Thanks Carlee! We can’t wait to hear more about your runDisney story!

 

We want to showcase YOUR runDisney story! Email us at info@runnersguidetowdw.com for more information!