This is the anniversary of the weekend where I literally THREW CAUTION to the WIND!!! I Dr. Renee Matthews severe ASTHMATIC who spent 2 months of the year for about 10 years in and out of the EMERGENCY ROOM ran a half marathon! I LOVE WALT DISNEY especially Mickey Mouse!! so this was the best because it was thru DisneyWorld Magic Kingdom. If I could do this GOD KNOWS the things I am working on for 2014 are EASY AS PIE!!

I DID IT…… Well sort of ……….

January 29, 2011 at 6:25pm

 
 
I did it… well sort of? Last year my sister ran the Disney World Half Marathon alone, and I felt terrible because no one was there to cheer her on or anything. After a little bit of thought and a few conversations I said, “maybe I will join you next year”. Well I convinced a good friend to join me, and we all signed up for the race. I started my training program in July doing the Couch to 5K program. It helped me ease into the idea of long distance workouts.  And after getting through many workouts I was able to workout without the use of my inhaler and I was breathing fine and toning up. I ran my first 5K on September 11, 2010 and it was monumental. I have severe asthma, so it was fitting that I was running in The Lung Run. Upon completion of the 5K I called my mom crying, “I Did it!”, that is how monumental it was.  She said “You finished?” and I said, “Yes it was pouring rain the whole time!! I did it.” After the lung run I felt like I could do anything, so I signed up for more races, I did another 5K and 2 10Ks and started couch to half marathon training. Well, January 8, 2011 we got up at 3am and headed to the start line. The entire time when I read the material for the race I understood I had to finish in 3.5 hours. Somewhere I missed the information that I HAD to keep a 16min/mile pace.  Well after our wave finally started a lady told me I needed to stay in front of the women holding balloons or else I would be picked up. So during my entire race I would get in a good rhythm and then I would see the balloon ladies.   At the half way point, I thought to myself “I am going to finish!”.  Well somewhere around the 8^th mile the balloon ladies got in front of me and I could not out run them anymore. All of a sudden I saw big buses blocking my path and I was picked up at 8.2 miles….. Everyone knows I am not a quitter so I was rather disappointed that I did not get to finish the race. However, I was able to get my medal, and greet my sister at the finish. Although I didn’t finish, I am in better shape than I have been in a very long time and it was a great experience.  I am not sure if I will try this again, but it was an AMAZING experience with my sister and our “Sister W”.