On September 2, 2012, I will be embarking on a different
type of journey… a physical journey requiring endurance, muscle, water, oxygen
and lots of mental toughness. Per the Chinese proverb, it will
not be a thousand miles, thankfully – but it is 13.1 which is long enough. On Labor Day weekend 2012, I will be
participating in my first-ever and likely last-ever Half Marathon starting at
Downtown Disney, through Disneyland & California Adventure, out onto the
streets of Anaheim, by Honda Center, around the bases at Angel Stadium (or
whatever you are supposed to call it now), beside Interstate 5, and then ending
across the finish line at the Disneyland Hotel.
I must admit that I really never had a desire to run a full or half marathon. I am not a natural runner and I have never run that distance in my life. I will usually run on the treadmill at the gym for 20 minutes as my cardio workout, but running for a second longer usually bores me. If given a choice, I much prefer biking, hiking, doing stairs or even the rowing machine for cardio. So on February 1, when my cousin Tammie who now lives in Maryland, asked if I would consider running the Half Marathon at Disneyland with her, I at first paused. She has done half & full marathons before as witnessed by a quilt made of her race t-shirts, but she wasn’t 100% sure about doing this one. In one of her emails, she typed a numbered list of her reasons for doing it, likely as a way to logically convince herself and her husband. As I reviewed her detailed list - yes, she is Type A like me - one of her points was that it would likely be her last-ever marathon. If that is the case, how could I say no? Tammie and I have experienced a number of memorable events together – we endured a grueling hike to the top of Mount Fuji and back down, we finished the Avon Walk together, we ran the Cherry Blossom 5K in DC, and I have visited her many times in the numerous places she has been stationed while in the military. So although I did not prepare a list, I figured that committing to doing it would be my impetus to leave work timely and find a better balance between work and exercise. In my second-ever blog attempt, I plan to document the preparation and experience of a newbie’s journey to run a half marathon. The first step has already begun...
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| Disneyland 2012 Half Marathon Course Map |
I must admit that I really never had a desire to run a full or half marathon. I am not a natural runner and I have never run that distance in my life. I will usually run on the treadmill at the gym for 20 minutes as my cardio workout, but running for a second longer usually bores me. If given a choice, I much prefer biking, hiking, doing stairs or even the rowing machine for cardio. So on February 1, when my cousin Tammie who now lives in Maryland, asked if I would consider running the Half Marathon at Disneyland with her, I at first paused. She has done half & full marathons before as witnessed by a quilt made of her race t-shirts, but she wasn’t 100% sure about doing this one. In one of her emails, she typed a numbered list of her reasons for doing it, likely as a way to logically convince herself and her husband. As I reviewed her detailed list - yes, she is Type A like me - one of her points was that it would likely be her last-ever marathon. If that is the case, how could I say no? Tammie and I have experienced a number of memorable events together – we endured a grueling hike to the top of Mount Fuji and back down, we finished the Avon Walk together, we ran the Cherry Blossom 5K in DC, and I have visited her many times in the numerous places she has been stationed while in the military. So although I did not prepare a list, I figured that committing to doing it would be my impetus to leave work timely and find a better balance between work and exercise. In my second-ever blog attempt, I plan to document the preparation and experience of a newbie’s journey to run a half marathon. The first step has already begun...
