If U Had Wings
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 24, 2007
- Messages
- 4,223
I am probably the least athletic person you will ever meet.
Honestly.
I learned early on as a kid, that I had practically no talent at all when it came to anything that went on in gym class. In grammer school I was never able to get myself up on a balance beam. I never caught or hit a softball, and I could never even hang on the pull up bar let alone do an actual chin up. In high school I virtually gave up. I'd participate in the select few activities I could do without embarassing myself (swimming and floor hockey) and then skip as many gym classes I could before they'd fail me. When I'd run out of excuses for why I couldn't participate, I'd throw myself on the mercy of my gym teachers to be excused from softball, volleyball, lacrosse, flag football etc. if they'd let me run.
Not that I'd actually run.
Me and the other small handful of gym class rejects would walk up and down the pool hallway chatting, only running in front of the doors that opened up to the gym in case the teacher happened to be looking out. Invariably we'd get caught not running and be forced to run a lap under supervision and then return to our leisurely walk as soon as we were out of eyesight again.
Because honestly running was the worst activity possible in my mind. I'd run about 5 steps before doubling up with a side stitch and be gasping for breath. I hated it with every fiber of my being.
Which is why none of my longtime friends or family can believe that the entire point of my October Disney trip is to run the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon. Really though, no one is more amazed by this fact than me.
About a year ago I started reading the WISH forums here on the Dis boards, and became fascinated with all the "normal" people training to run the Disney races. It intrigued me enough to do some research, where I found out about the book The Courage to Start by John Bingham. The more I read it, the more I wanted to try to run. I've never identified with a book so much in my life. Maybe it's the point in my life that I'm at. I feel like I've failed at so many things. At age 39 I'm nowhere were I thought I'd be in my life. I feel like I'm passing through life, failing at most things, and skimming by on the rest. I never thought I'd end up alone, in a brainless job, living paycheck to paycheck, finding nothing that really fullfills me.
I want to cross a finish line. I want to have that moment when I actually succeed and do what I set out to do. I don't think I ever really realized how much I need to feel that. I have no delusions of winning. I don't even care if I'm dead last. (Honestly I expect to be dead last). I just want to cross that finish line. For me, because I always told myself I couldn't do it.
I finished the C25K program back in September. I cried when I ran for 30 minutes straight, because I never thought I'd ever be able to do that. Now I'm ready to start training for the 1/2.
I'm going for 13.1 miles before I hit age 40.
While this thread is going to mainly be about my trip planning, it will probably touch a bit on my training along the way. If anyone is at all interested in the training part, I'll be keeping up with that primarily on my blog. I've added the web address to my profile, so if you click on my name over my avatar you can access it that way.
Honestly.
I learned early on as a kid, that I had practically no talent at all when it came to anything that went on in gym class. In grammer school I was never able to get myself up on a balance beam. I never caught or hit a softball, and I could never even hang on the pull up bar let alone do an actual chin up. In high school I virtually gave up. I'd participate in the select few activities I could do without embarassing myself (swimming and floor hockey) and then skip as many gym classes I could before they'd fail me. When I'd run out of excuses for why I couldn't participate, I'd throw myself on the mercy of my gym teachers to be excused from softball, volleyball, lacrosse, flag football etc. if they'd let me run.
Not that I'd actually run.
Me and the other small handful of gym class rejects would walk up and down the pool hallway chatting, only running in front of the doors that opened up to the gym in case the teacher happened to be looking out. Invariably we'd get caught not running and be forced to run a lap under supervision and then return to our leisurely walk as soon as we were out of eyesight again.
Because honestly running was the worst activity possible in my mind. I'd run about 5 steps before doubling up with a side stitch and be gasping for breath. I hated it with every fiber of my being.
Which is why none of my longtime friends or family can believe that the entire point of my October Disney trip is to run the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon. Really though, no one is more amazed by this fact than me.
About a year ago I started reading the WISH forums here on the Dis boards, and became fascinated with all the "normal" people training to run the Disney races. It intrigued me enough to do some research, where I found out about the book The Courage to Start by John Bingham. The more I read it, the more I wanted to try to run. I've never identified with a book so much in my life. Maybe it's the point in my life that I'm at. I feel like I've failed at so many things. At age 39 I'm nowhere were I thought I'd be in my life. I feel like I'm passing through life, failing at most things, and skimming by on the rest. I never thought I'd end up alone, in a brainless job, living paycheck to paycheck, finding nothing that really fullfills me.
I want to cross a finish line. I want to have that moment when I actually succeed and do what I set out to do. I don't think I ever really realized how much I need to feel that. I have no delusions of winning. I don't even care if I'm dead last. (Honestly I expect to be dead last). I just want to cross that finish line. For me, because I always told myself I couldn't do it.
I finished the C25K program back in September. I cried when I ran for 30 minutes straight, because I never thought I'd ever be able to do that. Now I'm ready to start training for the 1/2.
I'm going for 13.1 miles before I hit age 40.
While this thread is going to mainly be about my trip planning, it will probably touch a bit on my training along the way. If anyone is at all interested in the training part, I'll be keeping up with that primarily on my blog. I've added the web address to my profile, so if you click on my name over my avatar you can access it that way.
Great start to your PTR, you really can't start those early enough! I think it will be a great motivation for training to have this going on! 
I will need to check out your blog as well! I am still thinking about the 1/2 marathon (which I would think of as 21 km coming from a metric country 
I wish I could be there to cheer you on. 
The only one I haven't stayed at yet is the Yacht Club. Right now I'm leaning towards POFQ. I'll be touching on my overall thoughts on AsSp later in my current trip report, but for now I'll just say that I enjoyed it there, but as this trip is really celebrating my 40th birthday I'd like to stay somewhere a bit more relaxing and plush if possible. I've pretty much ruled the Poly out due to cost. It tends to be higher than the rest of the deluxes other than the GF and I really can't justify spending that much. 
