Medal Monday #1- Neverland Family 5k 2012
Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for being patient while I finished a horrible final! Only a few more classes before graduation now.
Today’s topic is – Medal Monday!
This is a new topic but I was dusting my medals the other day and thought why not take a few Monday’s to share the story behind them.
First Up is the Neverland 5k – 2012
In 2012, the first Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend took place and the Neverland 5k was at night! It is crazy to think that it has now switched to being at 5:00 a.m. and is now in May instead of January.
The importance behind this medal, for me anyway is that it was my first race ever! This one really does take me back to where my journey began. Lets start from the beginning shall we….
My mom signed up for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in early 2011 at the prompting of a friend. Seeing as this was something new she was trying, my sister and I figured we would give the 5k a try. Keep in mind back then I was over 200lbs, in a terrible relationship and physical activity was not the top of my list of fun things to do. We signed our names on the dotted line and started to “train” as best we knew how. It is amazing to me now when I think back how little knowledge about running I actually had. I was training in cotton socks with shoes I had, had for years. The first morning I got up at 6:00 a.m. to walk outside….was not fun. It felt tedious to me to go out and walk around the neighborhood for a race that wasn’t for a few months. However, after that first walk…I felt good. I was amazed at how proud I was of myself for getting out there. As the weeks went on I kept getting out there and walking, even walking quite a few training laps with my mom on occasion. As I progressed I noticed some definite changes in my attitude and in my body. The closer we got the faster I noticed I could walk and for longer periods of time,I even found myself slightly sad I wasn’t doing a longer distance. Once we got to race weekend and I experienced my first race expo at the Disneyland Hotel, I was hooked. I had never participated in team sports and always assumed that running was a solitary sport. I realized quickly that was not true when I stepped onto the expo floor. I had never met so many like minded and kind people who were all there because we loved the same thing. Once we figured out where to go we picked up our race bibs and prepared for the day at Disney and the race that we were going to be running.
Once the sun set, the nerves set in.. I changed into my race night outfit which consisted of running capris (the one thing I got right!), cotton socks, cotton t-shirt, cheap sports bra and $20 shoes from Target. As we sat contemplating what we were about to do, my sister and I laughed wondering how we wound up here for this race. But we pushed through the nerves and lined up at the starting line on Main Street.
Once we got started I quickly realized what a huge mistake those shoes were and my feet KILLED me the entire race. However, being around all these encouraging people was amazing. I loved how enthusiastic and amazing the other runners were and knew that I had found my people. Plus, running through Disneyland and California Adventure wasn’t half bad either! We completed the race in a little less than 50 minutes and finally crossed the finish line hand in hand.
Once we finished the race and received our medals, I knew that this was the sport for me. As soon as we got back to the hotel I was already looking for another race!
While my medal collection has grown since then with a variety of medals from different distances, this one will always be special because it was the first.
What was your first race?
