I knew from everything I read over the last several weeks that I needed special shoes for running. I had never heard of such a thing, but who am I turn to turn down an opportunity for shopping and new shoes? Therefore, I went to a local running store, as recommended by everyone on the internet, to buy special running shoes. I told the rep about my goals, and we got started. He watched my gait while I “ran” and determined I was a slight pronator in need of a shoe with moderate support to counteract my pronation. We tried several shoes, but the ones that felt the best were the Adidas Supernova Sequence 4s. Of course needing a women’s size 11 shoe for running meant there were not any pretty girly colors to choose from, but they were comfortable and that is what matters.

I got the shoes, time to start training.

I used a Jeff Galloway training plan that I found on runDisney.com and started following a beginners training plan. The plan called for two weekly 30 minutes runs, and then a longer run on the weekend, gradually increasing mileage until a couple of weeks before race day. I could do this. My first training run was on 1/12/12. I did short run/walk/run intervals, and finished 2.03 miles, with an average pace of 17:34 per mile. The pace was definitely not great, but not bad for my first time out there. One thing I knew well from all of my research on Disney races, is that runDisney requires a 16:00 minute per mile pace to stay on course as a runner and avoid the sweeper bus. I had some work to do.