What is even happening?
Who do I want to be?
What do I want?
You would think that those questions are easy to answer. Which is odd because time and time again it’s those questions that take the longest to answer. It was the years before that were the most difficult and trying.
Ten years ago started a time period in my life that was the beginning of “survival mode”: divorce, a long distance move, and health concerns. Life became all about getting through the days with the kids as a single mom: feed them, bathe them, and raise them.
Work. Because the bills need to be paid.
Then seven years ago I was hit with the reality that my health needed to be put front and center.
Figure out what healthy looks like.
More survival mode.
Exercise, eat better, and lose weight.
Keep Moving Forward
Eventually got healthier: learned about nutrition, started taking supplements, probiotics, and meds.
Started being more physically active. Participated in a holiday 5k, Sea World’s Reindeer Run.
Three point one miles is a lot when you just get started.
My muscles had no idea what it felt like and my “training” was doing any mileage at any pace usually with kids in tow.
The first few training runs I ran maybe 2 miles in 45 min. I can walk faster chasing the kids, so it was really getting into the head space of running for exercise and activity. It was running as a choice versus saying that regular life was exercise. That was a huge mental shift for me having never been a student athlete and learning to take care of my physical body later on in life.
At the actual run I didn’t run to get a personal record, I ran to finish. That was it. Just finish the race. Along the way, I took a photo at the dolphin nursery, stopped to watch the sunrise (the sky was gorgeous), and any other reason I felt like stopping (flamingoes!).
I ended up getting a personal record, because any first run you do is the personal record (whoop, whoop!). The version of me five years ago, even the year before, would have never considered it, much less go through the effort of doing practices runs with kids in tow, finding childcare to participate in the run itself, and working through the mental shift of getting off the couch and doing something active.
I felt so proud of myself for doing it that I signed up for another run shortly thereafter.
How do you top the high of a proud accomplishment at Sea World of all places?
Do it with Disney.
So I signed up for a Disney run. The 5K and 10K were both sold out by the time I was on the registration page, so I signed up for the 5K and 10K combo. The first one on a Thursday morning, the second on a Friday morning.
It was Disney. How bad could it be?
Do you know what a 10K actually is?
It’s 6.2 miles.
(Which makes sense because it’s double a 5K which is 3.1 miles.)
And, do you know how running a 10K actually feels when you are new to running? New to being active?
Like your legs are on fire and heavy as lead. Like you can’t get enough air in your chest. Like you don’t know what to do with your arms because, hey, the legs are doing all the work.
What was I thinking doing 6.2 miles after I just did over three miles yesterday?!
(Ignore the time in the background. That was the clock from when the first runner started the race, and that was definitely not me. 🙂 )
Well, I didn’t die.
The energy a Disney race has is amazing. The people you meet, the costumes, the start line, the music, the experience – it was well worth it.
I was able to see back areas of some of the parks that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
And you know? Even though there are plenty of real “runners” in the mix, a lot of people were doing it for the experience and also newer to running. There was a lot of camaraderie in getting those miles done. Mother daughter duos. People with physical disabilities challenging themselves. Couples working together on health goals.
It wasn’t the Disney run specifically that I was proud of; it was that I wanted to get more active, made a choice for me, and then did something, even though it wasn’t easy. Especially because it wasn’t easy.
Run Disney was the motivation for me to take the next step and it was a huge help.
Completed a Disney 5k and a 10k combo weekend. Whew.
Good, but there’s more, they said.
Physical health is only a part of it. One side of the coin.
Keep Going They Said
Ok, so next up then: mental health.
What works? What doesn’t? And WHY?
What does good look like? Even, what does “good enough” look like?
New territory for sure.
Better get those running shoes on again because getting through old values and beliefs is a longer haul than most.
At least I have some race medals to keep me motivated.
Looking for something to motivate you? Maybe try a Disney run for yourself.
People make a trip of it to Orlando to do the race and get some Disney magic in too. It’s a whole thing.
