26.2

Alright! Race reports!

Let’s start with the kids’ races on Saturday. It was rainy and cold on Saturday but we headed to the Wide World of Sports Complex so the kids to take part in Mickey’s Marathon Kids’ Fest. Cameron was scheduled for a 100 meter run and Lily had a 200 meter run. I can’t go so far to say the kids had a good time but I think there were parts of the event that they liked. Overall, it seemed like things were pretty disorganized which really surprised me since it was a Disney event. I don’t know how much the weather had to do with it though. The different age groups were lined up at the appropriate start lines around the track; 100M, 200M, 400M. There was a lot of confusion about when a particular group should start and they had to restart some groups a couple of times. Had the weather been typical Florida weather I think it would have been better.

Anyway, on to the pictures!

Race numbers!

Waiting for the 100M dash to start

Lily and Grayson lined up for their 200M race

Victory!

We spent some time at the Magic Kingdom that afternoon and all turned in early because…

Jason and I had to get up at 3:15 IN THE MORNING to catch a bus from the resort to the race at 3:45 IN THE MORNING so we could be on time for the marathon. It was kind of an odd thing to leave our sleeping kids in the hotel room when we headed to the marathon. We had connecting rooms with Nate and Kelly so we just opened the doors between the rooms so the kids could go in there when they woke up. But STILL…totally weird to leave your kids in basically the middle of the night.

Moving on…

We got to Epcot at 4:00 and settled in the pre-race area to wait for the start. It was a little surreal that morning. Again, I think the weather played a huge factor in our overall experience. There was loud music and one of the Green Army Men (from Toy Story) was trying to get everyone PUMPED UP! Most of the race participants were just huddled together trying to stay warm. I know I was despite my running tights, sweat pants, tech tee, two long sleeved tech tees, long sleeved t-shirt, trash bag, gloves and headband I was still shivering too much to take part in any of the pre-race fun.

(Please note: that is NOT a giant roll of belly fat just beneath my race number. It’s my race bag that is filled with my phone, Shot Bloks, etc)

We were herded from the pre-race area about a half mile to the actual start line. Quite a cattle like experience. Jason and I kind of screwed up with our registration and ended up being placed in the last start corral. When we registered for the race back in August we anticipated finishing the marathin in about 4 hours 30 minutes. Since we entered a time less than 5 hours we were required to substantiate this time by turning in results from another race. I had yet to run a race long enough to qualify but expected to do so during the fall. After I had the stress reaction my plans to run another race got scrapped and we never did submit substantiation. So, we were placed in the last corral. Quite a bummer, really but we ended up starting about three corrals up. I think they were being pretty lax on things due to the weather.

After about an hour in the corrals they started releasing the racers in waves. First the wheel chairs and then the elite runners. We finally got started at 6:05 which was about the same time the elite runners were crossing the 4 mile mark…about 22 minutes after their start gun. There was a general feeling of, “Well, obviously they’re going to TOTALLY smoke my ass.”

Mickey and the gang saw us off at the start line.

The first 4 or 5 miles were pretty congested and we kept about a 13 or 14 minute pace; just barely jogging, really. It was too crowded to do much else. Epcot was the first park at about the 4.2 mile mark and the feeling came back to my toes around then.

I ditched my trash bag right as we were getting into Epcot and there were a few times over the next couple of miles that I regretted it. The next few miles took us along the Disney road system (highway) en route to the Magic Kingdom at mile 10. Not much exciting for those next few miles. There were several spectators out on the course and they were fantastic at cheering for the runners! We started to fall into our pattern of walking through the water stations even if we weren’t getting anything to drink at a particular station.

The sun came up as we made our way to the Magic Kingdom which is where the fun really started! We entered the Kingdom through a back stage are and poured on to main street. We ‘lost’ a lot of time in the Magic Kingdom because we stopped to soak it in and grab some pictures with the characters.

Captain Hook and Smee

Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen and Louis

We even got to run right through the middle of Cinderella’s castle!

After leaving the Magic Kingdom we started our 4 mile trek to Animal Kingdom. Much of this leg of the race seemed to be on more behind the scenes roads. Not too much exciting here either. I remember seeing some accordian players and a piano player (not at the same time) and there were more ‘cheer stations’ for spectators to shout encouragement. We went past the half way point feeling pretty good and our pace had picked up to more like 11 or 12 minutes per mile. Pretty soon I shed my long sleeved tee and my sweat pants so I was down to respectable running gear!

I was really liking the walking through water stations strategy and we grabbed some bananas at around the 14 mile mark to try to sate our increasing hunger. Overall, it felt like the miles were ticking by pretty quickly at this point. We made our way into the back part of Animal Kingdom which was open to the public by this time. It was kind of funny running past all of the vacationing families!

Shortly after Animal Kingdom is where I started to really feel like I was running a marathon. I suppose that makes sense given that we’d
already completed about 18 miles which made this my longest run ever. Around mile 20 is where I really started to feel it. My left knee really started to hurt during the 4 miles between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We did a two mile out and back near the Wide World of Sports that felt endless and then we shifted our walk break so we were walking up and down the highway ramp. This was a very flat course except for those damn exit ramps. Not only were we running up an incline but the pavement was ramped which really messed with our gait. We kept running to the top or bottom of the road to try to find a more level surface.

Mile 22 brought us to Hollywood Studios but I don’t have any good pictures to share from that park. By that time we were in ‘finish this’ mode and just concentrating on placing one foot in front of the other. I’m pretty sure that the course measurements were screwed up during the last 4 miles of the race because those miles seemed A LOT longer than the first four miles. Obviously a measurement error on the course. Right? Anyway…

We left Hollywood Studios and headed along the walk way to Epcot. I was dealing with dueling pains now. My knee felt better when I was running but my muscles felt better when I was walking. And those first few steps running again after walking for a minute? HOOOBOY! I was a little bit afraid of my knee just deciding to stop working and leaving me in a huddled mess on the course. We finally made it to the World Showcase are in Epcot and ran through several countries though I can’t really remember which ones. I know we ended at Mexico and went to the front of the park. All along the way people were telling us “Only 1 more mile!”, “Just around the corner!”, “You’re almost there!” It was nice for inspiration but I was craving something more exact. Tell me how many more steps I have to take or how many more minutes. We had passed the 25 mile marker not long after entering Epcot and were were convinced that there wasn’t going to be a 26 mile marker…they would just do the finish line at 26.2. Wrong. We finally came on the 26 mile marker and got energized that we only have 2/10 of a mile to go! My muscles and mind wanted to pick up the pace but my knee wouldn’t let me.

We rounded the final corner to see the finish line and bleachers filled with spectators cheering for us. A pretty cool feeling really! I gave Goofy a high five on my way to the finish and Jason and I crossed the line with our hands together and arms in the air! We collected our medals and headed straight to the medical tent for some ice for my knee. Victory was ours! Well, kind of. Depends on what your definition of victory is. The ACTUAL victory went to a guy from Brazil who crossed the finish line at about the time we crossed the half way point. Maybe even before we were half way. We finished in 5 hours and 57 minutes which is good enough for me. Here are our split times:

5 Mile: 1:10:08
10 Mile: 2:10:28
Half Split: 2:59:59
20 Mile: 4:29:55
Finish: 5:57:08

Our goal with the race was to complete it. It was our first marathon and given my injury and lack of training for the 10 weeks leading up to the race I’m pretty pleased with the outcome. As we rode the bus back to the resort Jason turned to me and said, “I know we just finished and I’ll give it a few days but I’m never running one of those again.” At the time I completely agreed with him but a few days later I know I heard myself saying that maybe I would try the Goofy challenge next year (half marathon on Saturday and full on Sunday). I am curious to know what kind of time I could get if I was able to complete a marathon training program. We’ll see. Maybe next fall I’ll try a local marathon and see how that goes.