Fastest Olsen (in the Disneyland Half Marathon)

My second of three goals was completed on Sunday as I crossed the finish line of the Disneyland half marathon!

My time was not even as good as I had hoped (2:14 when I was hoping for 2:10), and slower than I have run on even training mornings. I was not the fastest Lisa, or even close to the fastest in my division. But leave it to my dad to find something that I could claim as a feat in this race, and of the eight people with my last name who ran in the race, I was the fastest of those.

I was really surprised when I saw that I was in the first corral out of seven, since I am really not that fast, so I purposely stayed towards the back of that first group, and there were a ton of runners there that day (17,000)  so I always had people in front of and behind me.

It was a pretty neat experience running through California Adventure and Disneyland, and it was really neat running on the field of Angel Stadium, possibly even more exciting than the other two since I had been through the parks before, but never on the field of a major league baseball stadium.

In between those main events, it was mostly just running on streets, parking lots, or the river trail near all of those things, but I saw the effort that Disney put into it by having cheerleaders, girl scouts, dance teams, hula dancers, and others along the road to cheer for us. I really loved the fact that my name was on my tag, because it meant that they could cheer for me by name, and it helped me keep going, especially towards the end. Note to spectators, I also truly appreciated the "Go stranger" type of signs, because unlike "Go Mary" I felt like I was getting supported and cheered for along the way, even when "my people" weren't at that spot. Of course have signs for your people, but having a sign to support the random person was a really nice touch.

My dad did go out of the way to cheer for me, and I really appreciated that. The first spot that he waited, I didn't see him amongst the crowd, and we hadn't broken up at all, so he didn't see me either in the pack of people (at that point there was no more than a couple feet around me on all sides). I did see him around mile 7, and he was in Angel Stadium and I saw him there too, then he was close to the finish line and of course I saw him afterwards. Blake was at the start when I began, then he waited at the end, and I didn't see him during the end part, I guess there was too many people.

As it was my first big race, I really didn't know what to expect, but if I was to do it again, I would make specific plans with family members of where to be, and tell them that if there was a lot of spectators in that area, to be at the very beginning or very end of that group of spectators so that I would be able to spot them. For them to be able to spot me, it would have helped my dad to know what I was wearing, or for me to be wearing something unique (instead of just running clothes).

There were people stopping and taking pictures, but since I did want to have a good time, I only stopped once in Angel stadium to get a picture without moving.

I have no idea why I have my hand the way I do, lol, but it does bother me that it looks like that!

I took a picture at the start, but my photobucket app on my phone somehow hasn't upload it yet, so oh well, it wasn't that great of a picture anyways. Though, the next ones I will post aren't that great either, but they are chronicaling part of the race, so you will get to see them in all their blurry glory. Keep in mind, I took all of these while still running...


Thunder mountain


Me, while running (Kind of artsy lol)


Approaching Angel Stadium








They would put our picture up on the big screen as we ran by

Overall, I am glad I did it, and it was a fairly interesting course for a half marathon. But from mile 12-13, I was really considering throwing in the towel for training for a marathon. I was beat, and ready to be done, and the thought that in just a few more months from now I plan to do a whole second half marathon from that point was honestly depressing and overwhelming.

When Blake and I talked about it later that day, I still was hesitant about the thought of training, where all my long runs are that distance plus some! But not to worry, I am still going to press on and do the marathon. It came down to two things. First, though I haven't gotten many donations yet for my charity of choice, I did get some money raised for that, and I am still hopeful for more, and those donations were made for me completing all of it, not quitting halfway! Secondly, and more importantly, I went back over my original blog post about why I made this crazy goal.

As I re-read that post, I was reminded how completing a marathon has been a bucket list type goal of mine for a long time, and how when our child finally comes home I won't have the energy to put into those training runs and how my Saturdays are likely to become filled with her activities, and won't be able to be used for doing a marathon.

Besides these primary motivations, there was also the simple fact of wanting to live a life without regrets. I can almost guarantee that if I don't follow through, and cover 26.2 miles on that February morning, that I will walk around thinking about how I was going to run a marathon, and when people run marathons I will think, "I almost did one of those." Did it hurt to run 13 miles? Sure. Was I sore the next day (today)? Of course. Will the pain and soreness last forever? No!

I don't doubt even a little bit that while I am walking/running for 4+ hours I will be thinking that I was pretty foolish to come up with the idea and plan to run a marathon. But I am also confident that when I cross that finish line, I will enjoy a sense of accomplishment that will make my difficult weekends leading up to it worth it.

Also, there is something kind of cool about the fact that every long training run I finish, I have been able to think to myself that I have never run that far before. I compare my endurance with my running ability this time last year as I was working up to running for just 3 miles. I think about how I used to believe that 6 miles was a long, challenging distance for me. All these things have gotten me through my 9, 10, 12 mile training runs leading up to the half marathon, and I hope and believe that these things will also help me get through my (sigh) 14, 16, 18, 20 mile training runs leading up to the marathon (I have read to not do more than 20-22 miles before the actual race because it is more detrimental to do such big distances than helpful as training.)

^{1 Corinthian 9: 24} Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! ²⁵ All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. ²⁶ So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. ^27a I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. (NLT)

Philippians 3:14b I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.
 ^15-16So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.(The Message)

*note- I fully realize that those verses are taken out of context as they both refer to the analogy of treating God's will for our lives like training and our lives like the race, but I think they both apply well for me choosing to keep going towards the marathon.