WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Approximately 2,400 hundred people ran the Parkway Subaru Half Marathon, 10K and 5K races on Sunday Nov. 17.

For over two decades people have come from all over to take part in the annual event in downtown Wilmington.

This was a record year with 38 states, nine countries and every branch of the military represented.

Three of those runners were first-timers. Teamed up with the Without Limits Running Club, WECT has documented their progress over the past six months as they prepared for Sunday’s race.

“They had 20 weeks to work on this and the start is to just start running,” Coach Angela Downey said. “We start by tying our shoes. So it’s not looking too far forward. You got to take every little piece, make the puzzle happen. So we don’t look too far at what the end is going to be at. We take every single week and every day as it comes,” she said.

Getting to Sunday day hasn’t been easy. Michelle Carbonaro started training to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis.

“I wake up a lot of mornings and my legs hurt or, you know, I’m just not feeling good. Some days I can’t get out of bed,” she said.

But on race day, all three runners felt prepared.

“I’m feeling tired, but I’m feeling good. I feel ready. We worked hard for this. We followed the training plan, so I think we’ve got it down,” said Carbonaro.

“I’m feeling pretty good today, a lot stronger than I was when I started. So I’m really excited just to kind of see the views from the bridges, just kind of feeling all the excitement from everyone else,” said Victoria Broughton.

“As ready as I can be. Excited, anxious, proud. Yeah, great,” said Andrea Cherry.

The 13.1 mile race crosses bridges and heads up and down hills. All their training kicked into high gear as they experienced new challenges along the way.

“There’s a couple times where my feet caught on the walkways, especially at Greenfield, and I almost quit flying. Caught myself like mid air, kind of scrambling,” said Carbonaro.

“The last five miles. It was mentally tough, but Without Limits always kind of trained you to push past that, and that really helped,” said Broughton.

“The hills were tricky, especially the second bridge. I followed advice from the coach if I needed to pause and regroup. But I did. I did that so that worked out,” said Cherry.

And just like that, all three runners became part of something they weren’t sure they could do. They crossed the finish line.

“I had a goal of 2:30 and I finished it 2:07 something so, but 9:44 pace so I’m really, really happy with that,” said Carbonaro.

“Mix of emotion, amazing. I can’t believe it. I did it. I’m just so happy right now. I’m tired. I need to sit down,” said Cherry.

“I’m feeling good, feeling proud, a little glad it’s over, but I enjoyed the whole thing,” said Broughton.

Their coach was with them every step of the way.

“I’ve been crying at every corner and junction that I’ve seen them at, because I know how important this is, and just to see them do this, it just made my life as a coach that much more awesome,” said Downey.

It was then time to celebrate. Carbonaro, Cherry and Broughton walked away with a sense of pride and accomplishment, a new bond with a new group of friends they know they can count on. A win-win for all.

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