Last year at this time I was too heavy, too uncomfortable with my body, and never imagined I could run more than a mile.
In October, I was scared to death to run my first half marathon. I was thinking about how I wouldn’t be able to finish – I couldn’t possibly do it. I was doubting myself the entire time, all the way to the finish line.
This weekend, I was nowhere near as nervous. As I was getting my outfit ready for Sunday morning, my friend Todd had the ending of Illuminations playing in their kitchen – and I was giving myself a pep talk.
I can do this.
I was excited and pumped when we got to Epcot at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. I was even sporting hip and leg hugging pants (a rarity for my body).
At my starting time, I was in a corral by myself, but surrounded by thousands, all eager to get the race going.
When the fireworks went off, I was ready – I pushed myself ahead of the crowd and met up with the corral that left before mine. I was passing people more and more, and I eventually warmed up enough in the 48 degree weather to shed my fleece on the side of the road like so many others ahead of me.
I was confident enough to stop and grab a few interesting pictures along the way.
And as I arrived at the Magic Kingdom and paused in front of the castle – I teared up.
While I may not be an amazing runner, I am a runner.
I am someone who is able to run 13.1 miles.
I am proud of myself – and I am capable of doing it again and again.
I am surrounded by amazing friends who cheered me on via text messaging the whole way, and who met me at the finish line with a grin, a hug and a, “I can’t believe it’s over!”
I am a completely different person from where I was at this time last year.
And I’m kinda liking that.
Kelly at The Turnip Farmer
Jenni at Jenni From the Blog
Stephanie at The Adventures of Goober Grape & Monkey Man
Alison at O My Family
Jessica at The Unemployed Mom
Mariana at The Domestic Buzz
*FTC Disclosure: My husband and I receive free product in order to evaluate and comment on our experiences on the Medifast program. Medifast products and the Medifast program are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or illness. Any medical improvements noted while on the program are related to weight loss in general, and not to Medifast products or programs. All thoughts written here on my blog are 100% mine, unless some zombie is standing next to me screaming ‘brrrraaaiiinnnsss’ and then there might be some mumbo jumbo on here that doesn’t make sense…then I can’t be held accountable for that. But there is no zombie here right now, so these thoughts are totally and completely my own.
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Steph has run:
Kelly has run:
since February 1, 2012.
Together, Kelly & I have run:
so proud of you steph
Thanks <3
Congratulations! You are such a rock star!
Thank you!
You totally rocked it! You’ve obviously come so far, not just physically but mentally too! Great job!
Thanks!!!!
Good for you! What a fantastic accomplishment! Congratulations
Thank you!
You ROCK Steph!!! I’m so happy for you!
That is awesome………..good for you!!
Thank you!!
Good for you! I love reading about other runner’s success stories. So motivational! I took up running about a year and a half ago and ran my first half marathon last May. It was amazing (hard, but amazing). I ran with a good friend of mine who has MS. Before every race, she writes “I run because I can” on her hand. Now you can too!
Dude, you are awesome! I am so impressed. I used to be a runner, but haven’t run in years. Maybe I’ll take it up again someday.
amazing…I am off to run Tinkerbell half marathon in 2 weeks!!!
You are a runner and you are AWESOME!
Great job on the race! Love all the pics!
You are a freaking rockstar