Disneyland 10k 2013- Part 1- The Days Before!

This past weekend my husband and I did our first runDisney event- the inaugural Disneyland 10k!

I had read about a few bloggers' experiences doing runDisney events the year before and it made me start considering doing one myself!  Since all these blog posts helped me learn what a runDisney event is like, I decided I'd document my experience as well in the hope that it will help others also.  So here goes- let's start at the beginning!

When I told my husband about wanting to do a runDisney event early this year, I was happy to find out that he had interest in it too because it's so much easier getting yourself to train when you have a partner!  We wanted to start off with a 5k since we hadn't done any kind of running event before but we were tempted by the 10k because this is it's inaugural year at Disneyland. On the morning we had to make our decision, my husband randomly received an email about the Angels 5k and that was what ultimately helped us choose!  We would do the Angels 5k in March and the Disneyland 10k in August.  We were hoping that by doing the 5k in March, the 10k would be slightly less scary when the time came.

For our training, we really didn't have a lot of time for it with our work schedules but we tried to go for at least one walk/jog on the weekends.  We weren't really focused on setting any records at the 10k because we planned to take full advantage of the run through Disneyland by taking lots of photos while we were there.  In fact when we'd go for our jogs we'd yell "photo spot!", stop to take a picture, and then continue.  I guess you could say we just trained to be able to finish despite our lots of stops for photos.  :)

Training- photo stop while running by Angel Stadium!

We did this for a few months and August snuck up on us quick!  Before we knew it, we reached the week before the 10k!  Unfortunately this was around when I started to feel a tickle in my throat.  Before I knew it the tickle turned into a stuffy nose and a lot of sneezing.  I even sounded like Batman or at least that's what my hubby kept telling me! 

I stayed positive and tried to get extra sleep.  I was going to do the 10k with my summer cold if I had to.  I got a little nervous when the the cold hit my chest but I spent the Thursday before the 10k taking medicine regularly and dressed super warm despite the hot weather outside!
 
I don't usually stay this positive when getting sick has such bad timing but I had a happy memory that kept me going.  When I was younger, there was a year when my dad trained for a full marathon.  Shortly before the event he caught the flu!  He decided he would still try to carefully run that marathon anyway.  I still remember him grabbing my hand when he ran by my family near the end of his run.  I linked arms with him and we crossed the finish line together. It was such a huge achievement for him to finish that marathon while he had the flu but he did it!  I didn't quite understand what a big deal it was at the time but I definitely do now!

When it came time for my 10k and my cold hit me a week before the event, I didn't worry too much. I just kept thinking of my dad and that time he finished that marathon despite all odds! 

So that was how my days leading to the 10k went!  My runDisney weekend started with the Expo on Friday when we went to pick up our running bibs.  I'll write about the Expo in my next post!