Proudest Race Moments (Also, My 300th Post)

Holy Smokes, this is my 300th post! Where has the time gone?! In honor of my 300th post, I'm totally going to steal an idea from someone else. The girls over at Fairytales and Fitness just posted about their proudest race moments. I enjoyed their stories, so I'm going to share mine.

The first proud moment that springs to mind is, of course, when I crossed the finish line of my very first half marathon. It was the 2010 Disneyland Half Marathon. I had never run a single race before, not even a 5K, but I heard that my favorite place had a half marathon, so I signed up immediately. Can you believe that I signed up in April or May for that race? I don't think it ever actually sold out.

I trained for my first half in the scorching AZ heat, which was horrible. I had never done any sort of distance running before in my life and I think I only managed to get to 9 miles in training. I was scared to death that I wouldn't actually finish. 

Luckily, the morning of the race was actually overcast and foggy with temperatures at least 20 degrees cooler than what I had trained in. I loved every moment of that experience. And I cried like a baby when I crossed the finish line. Having never been a runner or any sort of athlete, I never thought that I was even capable of finishing a half marathon.

My second proudest moment was also at the Disneyland Half Marathon, but this time in 2012. I was in training for the NYC Marathon and I took training for that very seriously. Despite the fact that the NYC Marathon was cancelled that year, my hard work paid off in that I got a PR (still my current PR since my training has been so irregular since then!) at the Disneyland Half. 

I pretty much busted my ass the very last mile to cross the finish line under 2:40 (yes, yes, I know most people still think that's slow) and managed to do it by the skin of my teeth in 2:39:53. It was a 5 minute PR.

My third proudest moment was completing the Goofy Challenge in 2013. Since the NYC Marathon had been cancelled, Goofy Challenge ended up being my first marathon. 

The 2013 WDW Marathon was the 20th anniversary and from what I heard afterward, the temps were the highest that particular year. It was pure misery. The fact that we were sweating at the start line at 5:00AM in January, was a bad sign. And I mean really sweating.

I literally sobbed for half an hour after I finished. It was a double whammy - my first full and first Goofy Challenge.

As a funny side note, my friend Debra, had come to spectate. At the time she lived in Florida. Once the race was over, she met me at the finish area. Not only was I an incoherent, blubbering mess, I was also starving. So she got me back to the Art of Animation's (our hotel) food court, sat me at a table and proceeded to go get me some food. She came back with a burger and fries and then went to a different line to get herself something. 

I was so delirious, over heated and exhausted, that I didn't even think, I just started shoveling food in my face at lightning speed, while sitting alone. 

Here I was scarfing down food like I was a homeless person (and most likely smelled like a homeless person) when I stopped and glanced at the table next to me. There was a family of four just staring at the spectacle I was making. 

They looked like regular vacationers not as all associated with Marathon Weekend, so I'm sure it was confusing for them to be watching a stinky girl in a sparkle skirt wolfing down food. Ahhhh, memories. I wish I had a picture of that.

Who else wants to share their proudest moments?