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I did a freaking HALF MARATHON last month. There’s really no better way to say it than that. I never thought I’d do one in my life. Actually, the only reason I ended up doing it is because my friend Eric who was in Orlando with me (even though I only hung out with him a grand total of 4 times in the 5 months I was down there) was talking about signing up so I figured, why not? I paid the fee and even paid extra to get a special pin. Then it dawned on me I had just dropped $xxx.xx on doing a half marathon and I had barely done a 5k. (I did two or three 5ks a few years ago and that was it.) What was I thinking? So, in a panic I signed up for a gym membership at Lifetime which is a great facility if you know how to work all the fancy equipment but I don’t, so I waste money every month for an unused membership (luckily it’s a student one so I only pay full rate for summer months). I also went to Fleet Feet and got a new pair of shoes to run in because apparently I overpronate? So that was even more money. It went from a fun activity to a “Well, now that I’ve shelled out $xxx.xx (I honestly have no idea how much I ended up spending) I have to do this.” And off I went. I visited the gym a few times but it was a good drive away from my house.

Then the DCP happened. I spent my days off in parks, I spent my days working in parks, and inbetween I would sleep. I didn’t make time to run and then the half snuck up on me.

And here’s how that went down. I didn’t train at all. I ran approximately twice for the entire 5 months I was down there. Once with a friend, once on my own. I found it a little difficult because my work shoes were not supportive enough for my schedule and it would hurt just to walk if I sat down even for a few minutes. I was discouraged and almost didn’t even bother doing the half marathon. But, I did. Tony and I went to the expo and checked things out. I got my bib and shirt. While wandering around I treated myself to a sparkly headband to keep my hair out of my face while running and a new arm band for my iPhone. Tony bought me some Cliff Bloks and Cliff Shot Gel. (I’ll review my products on a separate post.) We had dinner at Steak and Shake and were in bed by 6pm.

We woke up super early (4ish probably) and arrived at the EPCOT parking lot quite a bit early. We stayed in the car for a while because it was FREEZING outside. I was definitely not prepared for the weather. It had been such a nice winter until about a week prior. I even ended up being a loser and wearing my race shirt that day because I had no long-sleeved running clothes. I’m just lucky I had pants. Eventually I met up with Eric and Madison and we headed to our corral.

Madison was placed in a higher corral than us, but hung back so we could all start together. We were in corral F. Finally, Donald told our corral it was time to go! And off we went. We started out at a walking pace just to get through the starting line area. Then, Madison said it was time to go and we all started jogging but I knew I wouldn’t be keeping up long. I think I managed to stay with them for a good 4 minutes before I trailed off and kept at a slower pace. I did pretty great for the first 5 miles. Not record-breaking pace, but I wasn’t dead yet. I was doing a combination of walking and running. We got to Magic Kingdom and ran backstage some and got to Main Street and ran down it, through Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and when we got to about where Country Bears Jamboree is, I had to make a pit stop. I highly recommend this area because I was in and out quickly. It’s the bathrooms between Frontierland and Adventureland. In my hast, though, I managed to cut my thumb knuckle on the toilet paper dispenser. And I was bleeding pretty heavily. I wrapped it up in toilet paper and kept trucking.

When I finally thought the bleeding had stopped, I tossed my blood soaked toilet paper in the trashcan. About 4 minutes later, it was bleeding again. This time, though, because I was running, the blood was running down my arm. So, I had to keep holding it down on my pants so the blood would stop. Miles 6, 7, & 8 were me being preoccupied with that fiasco. Mile 9, I booked it as best I could. I told myself I had to run the entire mile and I did. And then I hit my wall. Between the blood, not wearing the right socks, and constant need to blow my nose (I was recovering from a sinus infection) I just couldn’t take it anymore. For the last 3.1 miles I just walked.

My best mile was 12 minutes, my worst was 20 minutes 37 seconds. At the end I could barely walk and I had blisters on my feet, but I. Did. It.

And now my plan is to do the Tower of Terror 10-miler. Here is what I plan on doing differently this time:

1. Actually train. I want to be able to run the entire thing. I’m not saying I’ll beat any records, but I want to do my best to not stop for walking breaks unless absolutely necessarily.
2. This goes with #1 – get photos with characters! They have rare characters (I’m KICKING myself because I couldn’t get a picture with Darkwing Duck… I almost cried.) out so if I can keep my pace at something around 13, then I can stop for photos!
3. Have actual running clothes. I only had a pair of yoga pants and the shirt they provided. I was lucky I even had a sports bra with me.
4. This goes with #3, but deserves its own number. ATHLETIC SOCKS. I happen to feel with 100% certainty that my blisters could have been prevented if my socks weren’t bunching up in the exact spot they were formed at.
5. Become more educated on the gel and bloks and how to eat before the race. And how to successfully use them during the race. During the last race I basically waited until I saw a lot of the wrappers on the ground from earlier runners and figured then was as good a time as any to open one and chug it down.
6. Better playlist. I only had 10 or so songs, so lots of repeats. And putting it on shuffle meant I heard a lot of 1 or 2 songs and not many of a few others.
7. I’ll also be saving up to buy a ticket to the after party. Because I can.

Do you have any suggestions or tips? I’m all ears!