Disneyland 1/2!

So, the Disneyland 1/2 has come and gone. That entire weekend was incredible. Incredible company -- I had a BLAST with Tricia and Dawn, incredible sights, incredible experiences, incredible running.

The 5k on Saturday was super fun, with great sights to see and beautiful weather. It felt like one of those perfect training runs where you feel great and alive and like your body really wants to run. 

Sunday, on the 1/2. The city of Anaheim put on a race that was just amazing. Since Disneyland is much smaller than WDW, the course goes far off Disney property and into the surrounding streets, down to Angels Stadium and back to the House of Mouse. Having run a couple of 1/2s in WDW, where Villains and Heroes are scattered throughout the course to keep runners entertained, I worried that just running down non-Disney roads would be boring or would allow my mind to remember that I was slugging through a long run.

I needn't have fretted.

The entire course was supported by the community in a show of enthusiasm and positive energy that any town would be proud of. Local high school marching bands and cheerleaders lined almost the entire course, calling runners by name, shouting encouragement and high-fiving anyone who needed a boost. Cultural groups in the community showed their support by providing on-course entertainment like mariachi bands and Polynesian dance performances. And when we got to Angels Stadium and it was filled with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts cheering... well, that's a moment I won't soon forget. Thank you, Anaheim, for the most positive energy I've ever experienced in the course of 2.5 hours!

Which brings me to my time. As I've said before, I had a magic number in my head that I had set as a goal -- a new year's resolution, actually -- for a 1/2 marathon time this year. I've been kind of afraid of the possibility that if I didn't make that time in Anaheim, that would only leave the Wine & Dine 1/2 to make it. And there would be less than 4 weeks between the two, so I'd be fighting fatigue.

I was never sure, on course, of where I was, time-wise. There are clocks at every mile marker, but because I didn't see what time I actually crossed the start line, I could never tell if I was going to make my goal of a sub-2:30 race. I knew I was close, so close that I could easily be a little under or a little over.

When I finished, got my medals (oh, Coast-to-Coast medal, how I love thee!) and routed through the maze to the tent where the girls and I had planned to meet, I had about 20 minutes alone (in a crowd of thousands) to think about the race and my stiffening muscles and wonder whether I had met my goal. When Dawn appeared, I almost cried, just so happy to see her, and just so tired (which is a state which always leaves me weepy). She told me Brian had texted her some of the updates he had been getting through runner tracking, but she hadn't heard from him in a little while. Once Tricia joined us, we ambled back to our hotel room (how NICE it was to have a room just a brief stroll away from the finish line!) and I tried calling my beloved, but got no answer. I forgot that he had planned a DragonCon photo shoot for work that morning, so I assumed he must be there.When I finally spoke to him later that morning, he excitedly told me how proud he was that I finished at 2:30 on the dot. Hmmmm. I wanted to run this thing in UNDER 2:30, darn it. I know, at that point, it's a tiny, tiny technicality, but while I was super proud that I was 4 minutes and 34 seconds faster than my last race, I couldn't help but be bummed that one second faster would have achieved my goal.

I kept thinking about that second. I replayed every time I took a walk interval, wondering why I didn't run just a tiny bit more. I debated with myself and others about whether or not this meant I had to work to meet the goal at Wind & Dine, or if this was close enough. Exhausting just to think about.

And then, a few days after I returned to Atlanta, I checked my results online to see where I had landed in relation to the rest of the pack. Lo and behold, my official finish time was 2:29:59! The universe gave me my second back! I felt so elated, so relieved, so blissed out. Up to that point, I kept telling myself it was no big deal, but the way my heart soared at seeing my official time made me realize that one second was, to me, a huge deal. It meant the difference between a goal met and a goal nearly-met, and that gap can be immense.

Thank you universe!