The short story, I FINISHED!!!
The long story...
I thought the start of the race was awesome! Compared to last year's (a
few sparse fireworks) they did a great job this year. I too ran past
the guy who coded, but realized that there were many people helping him
already and that unfortunately there was nothing I could do. It really
upset me for most of the race, and I actually found out that he didn't
make it at around mile 13 when we stopped at an aid station. I felt
really bad when I read about his wife. You would think that someone
could have found her after she crossed the 1/2 marathon chip map. My
heart and prayers go out to them.
I pushed on, despite not feeling well for most of the race. I had some
sort of stomach thing going on, and made a total of 5 potty stops! The
first 1/2 was just miserable. Thanks to Linae and the scream team at
mile 4. They perked me up for a while! Mom met Dad and I at the Magic
Kingdom, and later she said she was really worried because I looked
pretty bad. Well, I felt pretty bad!
At mile 16? right before Animal Kingdom, I started to think that there
was really no way I could go on. Dad was trying to give me the pep
talk, but I was pretty miserable. We stopped in the nice air
conditioned bathrooms (my third stop!) at Animal Kingdom, and I think I
spent close to 10 minutes just sitting (ha ha) in there getting cool.
Anyway, I perked up after that, and the cold sponges at mile 17 helped a
lot.
I thought the highway between Animal Kingdom and the Sports complex
would be the hardest, but I perked up seeing the other runners running
back to exit to MGM. Plus the music there was great. By this time, my
dad's blister, which he had put a band aid on at the mile 13 aid
station, broke. So another aid station and potty stop for us. By this
point, I was a bit concerned about time, but we were almost to mile 20
at 4 hours, so we had 2 hours to cover 6 miles, no problem since we were
by then walk/running 15-16 minute miles.
Well, mile 22, dad's foot was a mess. We stopped at the aid station,
and the medical guy got out the scalpel to get dead skin and ripped
bandage out of his foot. Then they had to put iodine on it (ouch) and
wrap it all up. They figured Dad was done for, but I know him better
than that, and 15-20 minutes later we were at it again, dad limping
along.
Of course, we were running really late! Also, since I was more worried
about dad than myself, I was jogging along, not feeling too bad any
more. I passed Marsha along the way in Epcot( I had seen her earlier
too), but at that point we were just pressing on to the finish. I was
grabbing ice out of the vendor's soda bins along the way to cool down.
Crossing the finish line was the most awesome feeling in the whole
world!!! Getting my medal was even better! I have dreamed of this and
worked for this for so long!!!
Till all was said and done, Dad and I spent 50-60 minutes in
non-forward-moving activities. I had anticipated finishing in 6-6:30,
but we ended up at 6:54:10. All that mattered was that I finally
finished my first marathon!
Till then, happy running!!!
Deb Tucker
