chasing dreams & making things happen

This half marathon PB comes with a fun anecdote that I thought I’d share for today’s Monday Funday. Let’s call it: Chasing Dreams and Making Things Happen. Because Elche wasn’t just a place to race—it was a place I once chased a dream. And then chased another.

a dream, a place, a full circle moment

Early in my creative career, I had a very specific dream: to work for Nike’s soccer shoe line in market research. In Spain. So, naturally, I did what a fierce and driven 20-something Megan would do—I moved to Spain, became fluent in Spanish, and hustled my portfolio to ad agencies and marketing orgs, hoping to land a gig.

With just one month left on my student visa, I scored an interview at a company that created  soccer video games. Not quite soccer shoes, but the role was a marketing position. And, funnily enough, in Elche—a town famous for its shoemaking, just next door to my Alicante stomping grounds. I didn’t get the job (their abogados said hiring extranjeras in an economic crisis was a no-go), but I walked away with a magical brush against my adolescent dream.

Flash forward 15 years. I’m searching for half marathons for spring 2025, and what do I come across? A race in that same town—Elche. And not just any race, but the oldest half marathon in the world!

Obviamente, I had to sign up.

race day magic

And here I am—running it. With a PB (meeting my A goal) and having the most fun I’ve had in a race. In Spain. (Making my C goal.) There weren’t familiar faces in the crowd, but if there’s one thing about Spain, it’s that people will come out to cheer for anyone with enough ganas, and you feel like part of the familia.

The weather? Couldn’t have been more perfect. Blue skies, sunshine, crisp air.

I hit Runner’s High weaving through palm tree forests, across bridges with sweeping mountain vistas, past fountains that seemed on fuego and over glittery marbled pathways.

I was so fueled up by the sheer beauty of it all that I danced while I ran on a few different occasions. I even laughed out loud. I also teared up at how insanely magical it was.

I was in paradise. And I made this happen. To be here. Now.

For a moment, I forgot everything I had overcome to get here. Because in that moment, running through the palm tree forest, nothing else mattered.

I was happy. Free. With me.

a familiar sign

Mid-race, I had a déjà vu moment.

During the Berlin marathon this past September, I looked up mid-struggle and saw a bird soaring up above. I thought of my bird-loving friend who passed too soon, and it gave me the strength to keep going.

Yesterday, in Elche, it was a Spanish seagull. And just as it flew overhead, that same song I heard in Berlin—a song that reminds me of my dad—started playing. 

And that’s when it all hit me: I make things happen, even in hard times.

That’s what got me through Berlin. Through a recent bureaucratic mess. Through this race. Through life.

I’m a true believer in the power in sport and in places. But more than anything, there’s an empowerment in trusting yourself to make it all happen.

running full circle

This race felt like closing a circuit on a dream—just like that dream job years ago. I believe life bring us back to places for more than just nostalgia. It brings us back to teach us something. And to remind us what we’re capable of.

So, gracias, Elche—for bringing me back, for the PB, and for reminding me that I always find a way to make it happen.