Going for Disney Gold!

They say the hardest part of running is actually not striding it out that last half mile or maintaining the 7:45 min mile pace. Its waking up, grabbing your running shoes, putting on your gear, and actually getting up to the starting line. Believe me, when you are fighting just to show up, there are about a thousand reasonable excuses that go through your mind begging you to reconsider why you’d sign up for such a crazy task in the first place and to find the easy way out.

Never was this more apparent to me than January 8th, the day of the Walt Disney Half-marathon in Orlando, Florida. While I had been training a few months for the big event, I certainly didn’t sign up to run in one of the coldest days in Florida history. This is where accountability to your ECLP family really came in handy, since I knew all of my friends would have given me grief if I were to bail. As we met in the lobby at 3:45 AM to take the bus over to Walt Disney world, and it was snowing outside, we all kind of wondered what we were thinking. After all, heading back to bed, ordering some room service, and maybe catching the hot tub all sounded like a much more attractive proposition.

But, once we started actually running, all of these thoughts quickly faded away, and it became all about getting to the finish line. Along the way, it was an outstanding time. Disney really went all out. There were countless volunteers cheering us on through the rides of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot center. And there were many highlights – Pirates of the Caribbean float, the Orlando High School band playing the “Rocky” theme as we ran by, a Gospel Choir bringing their inspiration, and even people taking a quick break to get their picture with Mickey. For the ECLPs that signed up, it was truly a bonding experience and not one that we’ll soon forget. And with our collective marathon crew raising money for a great nonprofit organization like Nuru (http://www.nuruinternational.org/), we knew our commitment and training would pay off to affect the lives of others.

Its been a few weeks now since the run, and I’m actually looking for the next half-marathon. But after getting burned by the cold temps in Orlando, this time I may try hedge my bets. Hmm… I wonder if there are any good half-marathons in Arizona?

Posted by Jared