DISNEYJennifer NguyenMay 04, 2016Running, Florida, Disney Half Marathon, Disney

Running with the Dark Side

DISNEYJennifer NguyenMay 04, 2016Running, Florida, Disney Half Marathon, Disney

I've learned that one of the greatest feeling you can experience in life, is accomplishing something you never thought you could do. Accomplishing it twice, is even better. Growing up, because of my scoliosis & it's affect on my lung capacity, I've always felt that I just wasn't made for running.

Inspired by Chris Guillibeau's book, The Happiness of Pursuit (best read of my life), last year I decided to wield my own happiness through traveling & physically challenging myself. Through consistent & gradual training, I was able to run my first half marathon.

Last month, I flew back to Florida, for the purpose of running my second ever Disney half marathon. Below is some of my pre-run swag I picked up from the ESPN Wide World of Sports. I generally don't like printed t-shirts, but I love these! They're something to be proud about.

With this being my second experience with Run Disney, I felt a lot more confident in what I was doing & how I approached the half marathon. I decided to stay at a Disney World resort for the first time, as suggested by my friend Colleen, to streamline my morning transportation to the run (5am start). It also allowed me to have access to an extremely convenient wristband that was the key to my room, my park tickets, fast pass, photo pass & credit card in the parks, all-in-one. I would highly recommend this to any Disney World goer. Everything in the world should run this way!

As for the run, while I didn't train as much as did for my first half marathon (whoops), somehow it was easier.

With any challenge you face in life, I would like to emphasize that how you approach it mentally, will be the biggest factor in your success. Your mentality can become your greatest obstacle, or your best catalyst.

It was knowing that I once thought I couldn't, but I did. It wasn't thinking about how I had 13 miles to run, but thinking about just doing one mile at the time. The only person I was competing with, was myself. When there was music, I ran to the music. When there were characters I ran a little faster. When I needed to slow down, I did. It's not how fast, but did you finish?