Best Race EVER! | Tuesdays on the Run
We are talking about the best race we’ve ever run for the Tuesdays on the Run topic.
Come link-up with hosts April, Erika, and me below. It only takes a second to add your post.
If you don’t want to talk about your best race, feel free to add any running related post!
Best Race EVER!
I thought a lot about this today. It was hard to come up with my Best Race EVER! Because I don’t have a lot of “good” races.
There’s a number of factors playing into this issue: some nerves, some self doubt, some poor training, and of course, always starting in the back. Those lead to a little extra stress that often means I over think and can’t just run my race for fun.
I think way too much. Holy mental crap on a cracker.
But it wasn’t always like this.
The first Tinker Bell Half Marathon I ran was a beautiful race for me.
This was way back in 2013 when runDisney wasn’t really all that big a deal. In fact, I was in B corral that year with a 1:19 10K.
#TrueStory y’all.
Here’s the race re-cap from Tink 2013.
Read it. If you can. Ahem.
It’s a bit long and wordy (and I wish I could go back and edit but I sorta feel like I need to let the old me stand, you know?).
Beyond it just being a good race for me, it changed how I saw running. It became social.
This was the first race I ran with strangers I met on the internet: fast forward two years and I’ll move into the same neighborhood 2 states away as this one!
Tinker Bell gave me a community.
I officially felt connected to other runners and wanted to be part of their world. Even if it meant running 13.1 miles multiple times a year.
It was the first race I channeled my old stage performance days and picked out a costume.
I loved running as a Fireside Girl at Disneyland. I certainly stood out: there was a lot of green fairies that year!
In short: the Tinker Bell race of 2013 can be blamed for it all.
It’s why I run.
The weather was great, the running was fun, I felt strong the entire race, and I finished about where I expected.
And I got one of the best medals runDisney has made to date:
What’s your best race EVER? I’d love to hear your story!
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Patty Holliday has been running Disney since 2011. She knows just about every tip, trick, and hack there is to cover the runDisney Magical Miles at Disney World and Disneyland. She knows every mile isn’t *always* magical- but with training, tips, and a little bit of pixie dust, they can be a lot of fun! You can also find her at noguiltlife.com and noguiltfangirl.com
Gosh, did Disney races get that big that quickly? I figure I was just late to hearing about them. So great that you had such a great experience to kick off your running life! I think running does foster the strongest relationships.
Yes! It was pretty mellow in 2011 when I first started. By princess 2013 things were getting crazy! Mostly because of bloggers like me starting to get the word out via social media.
We ran our first disney race in 2011 and back then we knew nothing about run disney because we were not into social media. To tell you the truth we didn’t even know it was called “run disney”. We thought we were just running a race at disney world! We will be running our first Tinkerbell this week. I hope it is as fabulous as everyone says!
I love the course and the people out there. I will be mighty sad if the red hat society isn’t there for you. Have a great race!
I recently ran my first RunDisney event earlier this year at the Princess Weekend, it’s definitely built up quite a hype…What a great post you share today in regards to the topic. Hearing how this race made you feel more social and part of a community definitely make for a best race. Thanks for hosting this weeks topic 🙂
Oh yes. Princess is a monster race! Lol.
The Minnie Marathon 15K at Disney World back in 2007 was what really got me hooked on running. I found a great forum (WISH on DISBoards) where I found a lot of support as I was starting to train. It really did help to build a feeling of community.
I’m running my first Tinker Bell this weekend…I’m looking forward to it! I love that Tink medal.
Awe- the Minnie! Wish was also where I started learning about rd!
It’s amazing how fast the Disney races grew! On 2012, Christine signed up for Princess two weeks prior to the race. We are excited to be at DL for Tink this year. Sorry you won’;t be there.
I love that old post. I remember reading when I was first looking into Disney races and trying to get as much information as humanly possible. It was so valuable! I have heard such consistently great things about Tink – it definitely has to go on the to-do list!
My first rD race was 2013 Princess, and I was able to sign up for it about 2 months after registration opened…unheard of today!
I think the best race ever is more than just your performance. I’m slow, but there are some races that I consider my best even if they weren’t my best time.
There are so many it’s hard to pick one. But, I guess I’ll go with 2011 WDW half (not princess). It was my first and started my crazy addictive journey. I do love that Tinkerbell medal!
That Tinkerbell medal makes me want to participate in the next runDisney race. When is the next one going to be? So I’ll have to put off playing golf for a while and prepare for it instead.