The Race
Short...I completed the half in 3:09:06. Slower than I hoped last month, but
faster then I expected given the flu.
Long
I changed to the half marathon on 12/1 due to an ankle injury. I was bummed
out beyond belief. However, believing there is a silver lining around all dark
clouds, I continued. The silver lining here was the flu bug. I got it the week
before Christmas and didn't really get over the respiratory problems until the
week before the marathon!
We arrived at WDW on Friday and toured the parks heavily through Saturday. We
elected to do the family thing as much as possible and therefore did not attend
any of the disney-dead functions. After reading the reports from the disney-dead
encounters, we will be there next year. My ankle was tender Saturday night to
the point that I thought my wife would hide my shoes. The good news is she
didn't. Like many others, I couldn't sleep Saturday night. I moved to the floor
in an attempt to allow Mary to get a good night's sleep.
I had set my alarm for 3:15, enough time to shower in the event I was groggy.
I woke up hearing showers running and doors through the floor. I jumped up and
ran across the room thinking I'M LATE! I looked at the watch and it was 2:50. I
decided to get ready, as the rush of adrenaline would not allow sleep now. I
dressed and went outside to the courtyard to eat. Most every light in our
building was on. What a bunch of crazy people I thought.
I boarded the Disney Bus and made it to the Epcot Parking Lot around 4:30. In
general, I found the Disney Marathon transportation to be excellent. I would
suggest to anyone thinking of this race to catch an early bus on race day! The
later busses were crowed and had traffic problems!
I milled
around for a while then sat down to people watch. I made it to the start line
with 15 minutes to go. At the start line, I made a couple of friends who I
played tag with during most of the first half of the race. I don't know if they
wanted to talk as much as I was talking, but I needed the energy release to calm
down. At the start, I saw the Millennium Drummers and thought, "Isn't that neat"
I didn't realize they were real people until I passed the bridge and looked
back.
The morning was cool at 56ºF and foggy. It was a great day to run a long
distance, as long as the sun didn't come out too early. Crowd control at the
start was excellent, but this is Disney, so I wouldn't expect anything less.
I skipped my first walk break and only walked half of the next two. I was
pumped coming into Epcot due to the surreal setting the fog provided as we
toured the World Showcase. Finally, when we joined the full marathon and I began
get into a routine. As we were leaving Epcot, we had to get off the road to let
an ambulance through. It was the Reedy Creek responding to the scene where the
unfortunate runner collapsed from a heart condition. We didn't realize what was
going on at the time, but what a jolt of reality.
I didn't really realize how boring the run to the Magic Kingdom was until we
hit the Exxon station. I just remember the regular swoosh of the monorail
passing during this period of time. After the Exxon station, two things
happened. We could see the full marathon runners turning right on their way to
the Animal Kingdom. My thoughts being a little confused, I began to get anxious
as I wondered how long it would be until I got to that point on the course (I
didn't realize these runners had already been to the MK!). At this point we also
moved from the main road and all the outside influences were gone for a while.
This section of the course moves along the WDW Race Track, located at the south
end of the MK parking lot.
We ran in the parking lot for what seemed like an
eternity. We passed the Ticket and Transportation Center. That is where I found
Mary. It was fun seeing the excitement on her face. Only 1.2 miles to the MK!
I made it the Kingdom in fine shape only to find Mickey and gang were on
break! Oh well, the emotions were running HIGH at that time. When I turned on
Main Street "When You Wish Upon a Star" was playing. Boy did I choke up!
As I was leaving the Kingdom, I had a thought of turning to the right where
the two races split and running the full marathon. I felt great and was on a
constant pace. However, the logical side of my brain said, "Wait a minute! I can
walk and still get a duck head!" (Slang for the Donald Duck shaped finisher's
medal). I could not get back to a run from mile 11 through 12.5. At that point,
I saw a Disney photographer and I thought there is no way I am getting a picture
where I am not running! I got back on pace and ran it into the finish. I felt
great. I knew in my heart that I had done something great. It wasn't the longest
race I have run, but definitely the most thrilling!
