Mom's Take on Every Mile is Magic

I have been struggling with my training for the Tinkerbell 10k.   I’ve been doubting myself and wondered why the heck I signed up for this.  It has been an awful winter.   Snow after snow, and in between that, single digit and even negative temps.  This does not agree with my arthritic knee and back.   I would get up to go to the gym and easily convince myself I could start tomorrow.  I actually kept searching for new, shorter, training programs.

How did I get here?  In 2012, Alyson decided it would be a wonderful Mother’s Day gift to give me an entry in the 2013 WDW Marathon weekend 5K.   During the race, at mile 3, I told her to go on without me …I couldn’t do it.  She actually had to shake me and point out the finish line up ahead.  This was my “aha moment”.  The gift my daughter gave me has changed my life. 

I knew I had to do something, so I went on a strict diet and lost 70lbs.   I realized I needed to get healthy.  I wanted to see if I could do this 5k thing again.  I did.   Alyson and I did the Jingle Jungle 5k and I did much better.  I realized having this race goal kept me focused on healthy eating and

exercising.  I decided to tag along with the rest of the family in 2014 during the Disneyland Half Weekend.   I did even better at that 5k.

I thought about runDisney’s tag line “every mile is magic”. To me every mile IS magic.   I love Disney.  I have lots of family memories at WDW and I’m making new ones with .my daughter and “son” in law at both WDW and Disneyland.  I've adopted this as my running mantra.

I found in order to continue my healthy lifestyle, I need to have a goal.   For me, Disney races make the perfect goal.   Each mile reminds me of how far I’ve come.   Each mile holds a memory dear to my heart.  My love of Disney gives me incentive to want to do this.   And, frankly, running through Disney distracts me from what I’m actually doing.  I find myself enjoying the atmosphere, marveling at everyone’s costumes, soaking up the cheers from the spectators.    As a reward for signing up for a race, I get to go to Disney!     

So, when I’m asked how I keep the weight off, I talk about how I am training for another Disney race.  Alyson has given me a training program for March and April.  I’m trying to stick with it.  I’m not sure how I’ll do at the 10k.   Maybe I should be happy doing the shorter races.   But I signed up for this one and I’m not going to back down.  Finish or not, I’m going to try.  So if you see me on the course, say hi and know I'm enjoying every magic mile!