Bright and early tomorrow morning I will be running my first ever half marathon. More accurately I will walking-at-a-slightly-heightened-pace my first half marathon.
When I tell people that I’m going to be doing this, their first question is how I’ve been training for such a physical feat. The answer: I haven’t been training. This is most likely a mistake. For some reason I’m hoping that my weekly walks to the mall a mile away from my apartment will translate into me being fit enough to do that times 13.
In my defense, runDisney requires you to maintain a pace of only 16 minutes a mile, which I feel is probably around my normal walking speed. Plus when my wife and I were in Tokyo just a few months ago we would walk 5 kilometers to Shibuya, spend lots of time strolling and exploring there and then walk the 5 kilometers back to our hotel. So that’s a decent start, no? Not to mention I’m pretty sure I walk at least a marathon when spending the day in the parks anyway.
Not only is this my first half marathon but also my first runDisney event. It just so happens that this is also their first Marvel/Avengers themed run. Incidentally when I told people I was doing a Marvel Marathon back in May of 2012, this is what they assumed I meant and not me sitting on my butt watching movies all day in Century City — I’ll reserve judgment for which I find to be more enjoyable.
So now you ask why on earth I suddenly decided to run walk-at-slightly-heightened-pace a half marathon with no experience. This query can be answered in two words: my wife.
No, this does not mean my wife is by any means forcing me to do this nor is she “strongly suggesting” I do it. I’m doing it because she wants to and I want to be there with her.
My wife is a Disney fan but not really on the same level that I am. Granted this might have something to do with the fact that she worked for them for four years. Her and her family would take plenty of trips to Walt Disney World growing up that she enjoyed enough to want to apply for the Disney College Program. After finishing as a CP she was hired on full time at the Boardwalk Bakery. While she lived in Florida she made plenty of Disney diehard friends and would spend a considerable amount of time in the parks. All this is meant to convince you that she likes Disney, but unlike our friend Aaron Wallace, she’s not going to go write a book about it.
You’d have to ask her how it happened, but at some point she got interested in the runDisney events and first participated in the Tower of Terror 10-miler in Walt Disney World a couple of years ago. Then last year — a month after we were married, since she had to register before she even knew she wouldn’t be living in Florida anymore by race day — she flew to Orlando to do the Wine and Dine Half Marathon which she absolutely loved.
It seems like a lot of the time we end up doing what I want to do. We see the movies I want to see, go to the restaurants I want to eat at (which are limited due to my toddler-like diet preferences) and do the nerdy Disney things I want to do. I don’t mean for it to be this way, it’s just that she’s laid back and honestly doesn’t care what we do (though, if she does, she’ll tell me).
As soon as I told her about the Avengers Half she lit up; she was downright giddy. Even if running or whatever it is might not be at the top of my “fun activity” list, I’m excited to do something that my wife is excited about doing. Not the mention that the entire thing is put on by, themed to, and taking place in or around Disney, so I have no right to complain anyway.
With that, we’re off to Anaheim. If I don’t die, I’ll be back next Saturday to let you know how it was and share another story from “The E-Ticket Life.”
Thanks for reading! This was funnier, right?