I’ve become so enamored with running! Obviously not as much as I am with Disney, but it’s seriously becoming a close second. My run yesterday was such a struggle for me because I just didn’t feel like running after the long day at work I had (no…I don’t get up early and run in the morning- yet). I went anyway and after only a mile of my planned 3 1/2 miles, my knee started to swell and get stiff and painful all at once. Keep in mind that I’m still having to walk parts of my training, but even when I decided to walk a bit more to complete my distance my knee pain worsened.

It was at this point that I deployed my “finish even though I don’t want to” motivation. I literally pretend I’m at Disney World! If you’ve been to Disney World before, you’ll see how this works for me. If I feel myself slowing down or I start getting tired, I imagine one of two scenarios. First, I pretend I’m at one of the parks at rope drop trying to get to a favorite attraction. Even though the Cast Members don’t allow actual running to get in lines or for FastPasses, I pretend I have to run and beat the crowd of people wanting to get to the same attraction I’m headed for. The only problem with me imagining this scenario is that I don’t really freak out about getting to most rides enough to want to run to get there.

My second scenario is the one that really gets me going. I pretend I’m rushing to the WDW bus stop to catch a bus that’s about to leave for my resort. This is super effective for me! If you’ve never stayed at a Disney World resort or you just don’t use their transportation, let me tell you that after a long, fun-filled day at the parks, you are just ready to get back to your room and you do NOT want to wait on the next bus! There has been many a time that at the end of the night me and my boys saw a bus already at our resort stop (you know….that very last one that’s far, far away from the exit because we like to stay at Pop Century…) and we did indeed hightail it as fast as our tired legs would carry us so that we wouldn’t miss the waiting bus. Twenty minutes feels like an eternity when you’re tired and have to wait for that next bus to show up! I really get the pace up when I think about missing that imaginary bus during my runs!

Well, sadly this didn’t help me last night. I mean it did, but I had to stop just shy of 2 miles because my knee was hurting so much. 😦 I was disappointed that I couldn’t finish but I really didn’t want to hurt myself and have to skip my next run. I’m nervous that I’m already having issues with knee pain when I’ve got so far to go to do a half marathon! I want to do the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in November, so I have time to get this under control, right??? I hope so! In the meantime, I’ll continue to let Disney be my motivation to finish!

See Ya Real Soon!