5. From Couch to Marathon: My Running Journey

What happens when you push past self-doubt and step out of your comfort zone?

In this continuation of the previous episode, I dive into the rewards and challenges of participating in fitness activities, with a special focus on the supportive community surrounding Disney races like the Dopey Challenge. I share insights on the training hurdles, the encouragement for non-traditional runners, and how these experiences led to personal growth and lasting friendships.

Reflecting on significant milestones in 2023-my husband's NYC Marathon, our daughter's first birthday, and moving into our dream home—| emphasize the importance of perseverance.

Join me as I celebrate these achievements and look ahead with excitement to future running goals.

Plus, grab your free downloadable training guide to help you kickstart your running journey and overcome any obstacles along the way! Download Here.

Transcript

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You're listening to the attract breakthroughs with Alex Baldwin podcast. I'm your host, Alex Baldwin, and I'm here to help you attract everything you've ever wanted in your life. I know it sounds so easy and hopefully that's the way that we're going to make it feel. This podcast is designed to help you level up your life in ways that you never thought was possible. I'm going to give you the strategies, the tools and the resources. To make the positive changes that you desire to bring your life to the next level. I'll share my pain, my struggles, the things that I've overcome to get to where I am today. The Attract Breakthroughs podcast starts right now. Yeah. So good for you if you are taking on any sort of fitness challenge, cause it takes a lot to like step outside of your ego. And sometimes these fears and these limiting beliefs that we have about ourselves, like I'm not a runner, I'm not active. I can't do this. I'll never be able to do that. It's not possible for me. All these things are just beliefs that we have that are not true. And to see past these things. And push ourselves out of our comfort zone is a commendable thing and I honor anyone that does that. And so, that's one thing that's awesome about Disney and their races is that they really encourage people that maybe are not your typical runners to, to go out and try these challenges. So. You see, and there's a ton of people with anything out there these days, like you can join a Facebook group. So we had like a dopey challenge, 2023 Facebook group. So everyone in the group was also doing the dopey challenge and talking about training strategies, tips, things to know. There was a ton of people. What's really cool is some people have done it like every year. I think it's only this year that we did it. It was special because it was the 10 year anniversary. So, I think it was 10 years. I might be messing that up. I want to say it was 10. Now I'm questioning it. But, okay, so I think, I'm pretty sure it was the 10 year anniversary of the Dopey Challenge. And, like, the 50 year anniversary at Disney. And so there was a lot of people that, they call it Perfect Dopey, where you run the dopey every single year. So there was, like, a small, select few people that were Perfect Dopeys and they had done it, this is, like, the 10th year in a row doing it, which is just amazing. Like, I wish I could do that. But it's too late because I cannot go back in time currently. But that's a super cool thing to do. I just can't believe some people do that. I'm super jelly. So there's a lot of people in the Facebook group that are either doing the Jeff Galloway method or they're just not runners. They're really out of shape and they're like have never even run like a 5k in their lives and they're trying to go from literally couch to marathon and it's, it's a challenge. Like sometimes it's just people don't have the fitness, the base fitness level. To push themselves into that sort of challenge and a lot of people like you can complete a marathon the 26. 2 miles But you might do it where there's not a time limit like at Disney where it's 16 minutes a mile So if you can take your time and walk, it's not as stressful. I've got a another sort of marathon maybe so these people are Struggling during their training you can see and they're training like every day You know, you'll be doing like a 15 mile run. And if their pace is not less or faster than 16 minutes a mile, these people are stressing, like, am I going to be able to finish this within the cutoff time? Cause you'll literally get pulled out of the race if you're not keeping up because. It's Disney, that's why they do the races so early, because you're doing it before the parks open. So, they have to get people out of there by a certain time, since the marathon is such a long race. It goes through all four parks. It's super awesome, by the way. But, so like, if you're not keeping up that 16 minute mile pace, then You have the risk of getting pulled out before you even have a chance to complete the marathon. So, there's a lot of people that are stressing about that in the Facebook group. And it was really interesting because my husband had like a totally different experience where he had trained super hard. He was like getting pretty fast before we went down there and I was Obviously struggling because I was like 50 pounds overweight and just part of it too, honestly, was I didn't have the motivation to run fast. I wasn't like, I'm going to bust my ass. I am going to run so fast. I'm doing this. I'm going hard. No, that was not my attitude. My attitude was, dear Lord, just help me get through this. I don't care how long it takes me. I would rather be done faster, but I have zero motivation to run fast. I literally just want to plug along, listen to a podcast, listen to an audiobook, zone out, and just plug along at a 13, 14 minute pace and just not care. Like, at least I'm out doing it. I don't need to worry about being fast. So that was my whole attitude in training for Dopey. And luckily I had a friend from the area, we weren't friends really before the Dopey Challenge but we both ended up doing it and we met for the first time. We lived in the same area, we meant to run together, but we ended up going down to Dope Disney and we met for the first time during those races, like the race morning. It was super fun because we basically got to know each other. During the half marathon, and she was doing the run walk method, and she was averaging about 11. 45 pace, which was A little fast for me, honestly, but it was like my ideal, I would have liked to go that pace. So it worked out awesome because we ended up talking the whole time and it was super distracting and I went really at her pace and the miles just clicked on by because we were distracted talking to each other and like telling each other our whole life stories. So. Shout out to Stephanie, that was so fun. And that was part of the experience, like, it was the funnest thing I've ever done. And racing, like, it was such a way to start off the year, juxtaposed to previous years of, oh, let me try to make a New Year's resolution. And then don't do it and quit like this year, I was already trained. I was ready to run a full marathon and the dopey challenge right at the beginning of the year. It was literally like January 2nd through the 6th or something. So it was like a huge accomplishment and it was such honestly the high of my year or one of them. It was amazing. So it was really a great year, like 2023, just reflecting on it. Like, my husband ran the New York City Marathon in November, just this past month. My daughter turned one. We moved into our new house. I honestly feel like I manifested this house, and it was insane. And I looked back later on my Journal of what I wanted in a home and I was blown away by everything I wrote down and I kind of forgot about exactly where we are now. So it's just amazing. So that was in April, we got our first home together and it was the perfect place. That's exactly what I envisioned. Then my daughter's first birthday in June, we got to have in our new house. I started training for the second marathon. It's just been a really good year. So I just wanted to say that we're all on a journey. And don't ever give up, because you never know where that first step could take you. Like, me and my legs on fire during that one mile run, I never would have thought would lead me to where I am now. Running 25 miles a week when I was pregnant, and training for the second marathon, and then also getting into my third marathon today. I got into Chicago. So, I am going to be running Chicago next year in October, assuming everything goes according to plan. I am super excited to see where else my running journey takes me, and I'm very proud that I've been able to have this commitment and just prove to myself that I can do hard things. Attract Breakthroughs with Alex Baldwin Podcast. Thank y'all so much for listening to the Attract Breakthroughs with Alex Baldwin Podcast. I hope you found something valuable out of what I've shared with you today. And if you wouldn't mind, go ahead and leave me a review on Apple iTunes and pay it forward because The universal law of reciprocity says that what you give you shall receive. So if you want more love in your life, then go ahead and show some love for the show today. And I hope that you will carry this on your journey and just keep paying it forward and making the world a more positive place. Peace out y'all.