Orlando moms train for OUC Half Marathon with stroller runs and ‘starting from square one’
ORLANDO, Fla. —
Sanika Dange and Meaghan Mackey are preparing for the OUC Half Marathon in 2026, each approaching the race with deeply personal motivations and challenges.
Dange, who is more than a year postpartum with two young children, described how this race feels like a new beginning for her.
“In a lot of ways it feels like my first half marathon because training is different, I’m different, my fitness level is different, so in a lot of ways I feel like I’m starting from square one,” Dange said.
“It’s been a really humbling experience in that way. And then also, this is my life, you know I’m stroller running a lot. This is the only way I can get those long runs in, and I’ve never done that before, so I’m also learning how to run differently,” she added.
Mackey explained that her decision to run the half marathon was influenced by her recent milestone birthday and her family’s health challenges.
“Honestly, last December, I turned 30. And when I turned 30, I felt my body kind of start to slow down,” Mackey said. “Also, in the last year, like my family’s gone through some health things; both my parents have been diagnosed with cancer in the last year.”
“I’m so sorry, Meaghan,” Dange said.
“But it just makes you realize, you know, how lucky we are to have our bodies and our health, you know, and like, I’m so young. I see all you mamas out here like crushing it, I’m like, I can do this, you know?” Mackey said.
For Mackey, the race is about appreciating her body’s capabilities, especially after watching her mother fight breast cancer earlier this year. For Dange, it’s about rediscovering herself.
“Fitness was almost my whole life prior to having kids. I’d lift weights, I would be counting macros, I remember feeling amazing,” Dange said. “Since having two kids, 3- and 1 years old, I feel like my whole identity has become mom. And I think in some ways I was expecting that, because that’s just the stage of life I’m in. But I also feel like I’m ready to figure out again like who I am.”
Dange’s training is woven around her children’s naptime schedules, while Mackey incorporates evening runs with a local run club and Pilates into her routine.
“I live in downtown Orlando, so it’s like this is my community, you know? Like I see people running all the time around Lake Eola, and it’s right in my backyard, so I feel like it just makes me even more embedded into this mission and what people are doing, and I’m excited to be a part of it,” Mackey said.
Dange expressed her excitement for the partnership with OUC, which she said fosters a sense of community among runners.
“This has been an amazing partnership with OUC. I remember when we first announced it. I’ve been at WESH now for almost nine years, so almost a full decade, and I’ve never been more excited for a partnership than when they announced this, because it was right up my alley, and it really gives you an opportunity to run side by side with your community members as you’re all chasing the same goal,” Dange said.
“There’s something so beautiful about that. Like when you’re on that track, and you’re dying, and you’re looking over, and they’re also dying, but you’re like, We got this. We can do this together. I think nothing brings a community together faster,” she added.