Author: Erica

Disneyland half marathon 2024 medals

I Can Do Hard Things: Running My First (Disneyland) Half Marathon!

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My husband and I just completed our very first half marathon at the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland!

The race started at 5am – we woke up at 3am to get ready and it was about a 30 minute walk to the starting gates. We we in the last corral (the “party” group – aka. “business in front, party in the back”), so we didn’t actually start running until about 5:45am.

There were SO many people crowded into a small space – we started off at a slow pace, about 13-minute miles, but that was okay (the pacer car picked up people who were slower than 16-minute miles). There were a few times we bottle-necked on the race – at mile 3 where there was a narrow curve and they had conveniently also put a water station in the same spot, and around mile 4 as we tried to run across the Sleeping Beauty Castle bridge and pretty much came to a complete stop.

We did not wait in any lines to take pictures with characters on the route, because we were afraid we would lose too much time and get swept by the pacer car! Maybe next time if we’re more confident…

“Action shot” of Captain AmERICA
Waiting in our corral (the “party” group)

Miles 2-5 we were in the Disney parks, staring in California Adventure and then going to Disneyland – and the last 8 miles of the route were along the roads and highways of Anaheim (not super exciting, but that’s okay!)

The route was a bit treacherous – we were warned by multiple people and also on the Run Disneyland Facebook group to watch out for slippery spots and potholes on the trail. I think since we had a slow pace, we were not in as much danger of falling as the faster runners – we passed a spot where someone had wiped out and there was (what appeared to be) blood – more than what a simple scraped knee would have merited(!)

Miles 10-13 were the hardest for me. My pace slowed down, and my legs felt so heavy. My knees were killing me too. The farthest distance I had ever run previously was 12 miles, so I knew I could do it, but I was so ready to be done!

We had some spectators cheering us on, and some of the signs were pretty funny. Here were a few of my favorites:

“I’m sure this seemed like a good idea 11 months ago”

“Worst Disney parade ever”

“Run like your copyright is expiring”

At the finish line, they had announcers, and Mickey and Minnie were there cheering us on! The announcer literally said, “You weren’t the fastest, but you finished!” (I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be slightly offended – we decided to laugh!)

“The proof you can do hard things is one of the most powerful gifts you can give yourself.”

Nat Eliason

I am still a little bit in shock that I actually ran 13.1 miles. This is something I never thought I was going to be able to do – the task seemed so insurmountable. Especially because four years ago I had foot pain and swelling (a complication from running) which ended up with me needing foot surgery and with one of my doctors telling me that my feet were “not designed for running” and maybe I’d like to take up swimming instead?

It took me a year and a half of healing and recovery (cue the knee scooters, crutches, and physical therapy) before I could really start running again after that surgery.

So what possessed me to want to run a half marathon? What made me think I could even do it?

A year ago in January of 2023, I was going through a really dark time. I had a lot of anger and depression, and I guess grief too. I decided that running would be a good way to channel all those negative feelings into something positive. I fully expected to run out of steam, but I never did.

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collage of book covers

Erica’s Favorite Reads – 2023

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I read 52 books in 2023, which was an all-time record for me! I got invited to join a book club at the beginning of the year which really helped me get back into reading fiction.

I didn’t write as much this year, which I guess is a natural trade off – I find that I can only truly devote myself to so many hobbies at a time. This past year I focused on exercising (training for a half marathon) and reading.

Here was the breakdown of genres of books I read this year:

Religious/Spiritual – 14

Fiction – 20

Nonfiction – 12

Memoir – 6

Obviously “fiction” and “nonfiction” could be parsed out more, but I thought I’d leave it at that.

My top favorites for each genre were as follows:

Religious/Spiritual

Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith And Found It Again Through Science
Faith, Science, Spirituality

I really wrestled with faith this year, and this book was one that was very helpful for me to read as I processed my feelings and tried to make sense of things. Mike McHargue, also known as “Science Mike,” is part of a podcast, “The Liturgists,” that I had listened to in the past, and I always enjoyed hearing his perspective on issues. He is not a black and white thinker, but is very comfortable in the grays, and this was helpful as I tried to balance faith and doubt, and realized that they could both coexist at the same time.

A few other books in this genre that I enjoyed were Love Wins by Rob Bell and How the Bible Actually Works by Peter Enns.

Fiction

The Measure
Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fantasy

It was hard to choose a favorite for fiction, but this book was probably the one I was the most captivated by this year. This was one my book club picked out, and I knew almost nothing about it when I started it. But once I did, I could NOT put it down! Imagine if you could know the exact date of when your life would end… what would that change for you? What if everyone on earth had the opportunity to know exactly when they would die? Would you get married or have kids if you knew you were going to die in your 30’s? What if the person you fell in love with ended up having an early expiration date? I loved how the author really let the scenarios play out of what might actually happen if people knew exactly when they were going to die. It brought up issues of discrimination against people who were determined to die early. For example, would you be required by your employer to share your death date?

There were so many other fiction books I loved this year!

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Review of Britney Spears’ Memoir: The Woman in Me (Spoiler: I loved it!)

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I love hearing people’s stories – obviously I love sharing my own stories, but I also love learning about other people’s experiences. I’ve read a lot of memoirs this year including Michael J. Fox’s, Tom Felton’s, and Elliot Page’s – but the one that I surprisingly connected with the most was Britney’s The Woman in Me.

I was an OG Britney Spears fan. I was in 7th grade when her first album came out, and …Baby One More Time was one of the first cds I remember buying. I remember trying to learn the dance to (You Drive Me) Crazy with my friend Heidi. We practiced it over and over for hours! (Did anyone else have the VHS tape of Darrin’s Dance Grooves?!)

As I got older, I didn’t keep up with Britney’s music as much, but I definitely remember hearing about her in the news and tabloids. I remember when she shaved her head, and the media portrayed her as being “crazy.” I remember a guy in one of my high school classes talking about how he loved the Toxic music video because Britney was basically naked in it. Most of the talk I heard about Britney was either about how scandalous she was or about how people thought she was crazy.

I remember a few years ago when #FreeBritney started trending. My initial reaction was that it was just a rumor, that it had to be fake. But I remember wondering later if it could be true. And if it was true, how truly sad and terrible that would be.

It’s hard to separate truth from fiction – the news can obviously be a very biased source of information, and lately I feel like everything I read I have to take with a grain of salt. But I do think that we did learn that Britney had been trapped in some form or fashion under an abusive conservatorship. I can’t 100% know the truth behind her family’s motivation for doing that to Britney, but it sure does seem like they were taking advantage of her and exploiting her money.

When I heard that Britney had published a memoir, I immediately knew I wanted to read it. The day it came out in October, I searched for it in our library’s online catalog and saw that it already had a wait for it. I put a hold on it and was 5th in line to get it. I expected it to be full of drama and thought it would be more of an interesting read than anything else.

I didn’t expect to connect so deeply to the story. I didn’t expect to be stirred so emotionally by it. Honestly, I almost cried at one point while reading it. After reading it, I just wished I could meet Britney and give her a big hug!

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