How I Got Started

In 2019, my husband and I were at Disney World (again) with our one year old son during marathon weekend. At the time, I was not a runner but being the Disney fanatic that I am, I decided that I would add doing a Disney half marathon to my bucket list. My husband was skeptical about my ambitions couch to half marathon plan. Sometimes I dream big so he’s pretty much used to it. Instead of squashing my dream, he encouraged me to try running a 10K first before registering for a half marathon. 

When we got home from Disney, I talked about training and kept talking about the race but it wasn’t until April that I started to train. I began running with my husband (who typically ran 3 miles 3-4/week). I was slow and I couldn’t run more than half a mile without stopping to walk. It was discouraging and frustrating at times but I was determined to stick with it. I began incentivizing myself with “if you run 2 miles without stopping, then…” “if you run 5 miles without stopping, then…” The ultimate incentive was still, if you can run a 10K, we’ll head back to Disney.

So, 6.2 miles was my first hurdle I had to jump before laying down the monies for the runDisney 13.1 registration, airfare, park tickets, hotel, etc. You know I couldn’t just go to Disney to run and not go to the park 😜. 

On the July 4th, I ran my first 10K in Nashville. This was my first race and my first medal. This also meant that I could register for my Disney race. 

As I continued with my training, I signed up for more races along the way to help keep me on track and excited. One race I signed up for had a three race challenge, so I signed up for all three. The first was a 5K in September, second was a 10K in October and the last was a half in November. To get prepared for my half, I was nervous on how I could get my mileage up. So I read a lot and asked more experienced runners for advice. All the reading and advice I had heard said “if you can do 10 miles, you can do 13!” So I got to 10 and it was true! 

In November of 2019, after 7 months of training, I did my first half marathon 🫶🏻. I still remember how proud I felt to cross the finish line. Once I got to the 10 miles, I kept thinking “wow, this is the furthest I’ve ever ran!” and that really kept me going.

In January of 2020, I ran my Disney half and checked it off my bucket list. Then I decided to replace that with doing the Dopey Challenge before I turn 40! For those that don’t know, the Dopey is a 5K, 10K, Half, and Full within four consecutive days. You get a medal for each race, plus a Goofy challenge medal (half and full) and a Dopey challenge medal. 48.6 miles and 6 medals. Stayed tuned to see how that bucket list item goes 😬.