We spent the entire week after Disney vacationing &
I'm just now having time to sit & type. I'm back in the land of clouds &
gloom. I miss the Florida sunshine already. I have to laugh....after
saying yesterday that only 2 of you were really interested in receiving
this report, I got exactly 2 replies off list saying that they were
interested. So, Gini & Kelly, this is for you.
Contrary to whatever Anne from Cedar Rapids may try to tell you, I'm not an
organized person by nature. That's why I get especially anal & stressed
over anything that involves planning. The most difficult part of this race
was actually getting to the starting line.
Getting (all 6 of us) packed, car loaded, drive to Omaha, shuttle bus from
hotel to airport, flight down, getting rental car (where they lost my
reservations & of course I couldn't find my confirmation number), finding
way to Disney Sports, getting race packet, finding vacation home, were all
uneventful, but stressful. Had dinner with the Disney Dead's...good food,
good people, too tired & stressed out to enjoy it much. I already had a
headache & my ears were ringing from the plane. Got in a fight with Jim,
mostly from stress on my part. Went to bed at 8:00. Bed was hard as a rock
& the pillow was worse. Actually slept well after I did fall asleep.
Jimmy (16 year old son) & I got up at 3:00 (That's AM!, 2:00 central time).
Hugged my stuffed penguin & kissed his Donald medal for good luck. (Thanks
Sheryl!) and followed the signs & the few cars that were out at that time
of day...straight into the volunteer's parking lot! OOPS, luckily other
people had done the same thing & we eventually made our way to the correct
parking lot. The ambiance was amazing. It was already warm enough to be
wearing shorts & a singlet. I wore my handy-dandy garbage bag (THANKS
SHERYL!!) until the start. Jimmy refused to wear his nipple guard
band-aids, but we both lubed up well with runner's lube. It was dark &
foggy & the trees were dripping with spanish moss. Wild herons were
everywhere. LOTS of wild, exotic birds. Very surreal. Jimmy commented
that it made it seem more like a dream than reality. Saw Suzanne, Nangel &
her husband and Jaqueline Fein briefly. The 2 hours between when we
arrived & when the race actually started flew by. We met & chatted with
Sue Zooper, Pamsy & Larry James. I have a great picture of Pam & Larry at
the start. The race officials "walked" us all to the start...a good mile
through the dark swampy woods of Florida....way cool! That's where I ran
into & chatted with Sean Walsh awhile. I showed Jimmy where the original
inspiration for the tattoo came from (Sean's calf). They left us at the
porta potty line. I wasn't nervous at all...the hard part was already over
& I'm not talking about the training, either, LOL....I'm talking about the
logistics & stress of actually not getting lost & making it to the start
line on time. The corrals weren't too crowded...there were lots of people,
but not claustrophobically close. A big booming voice came over the
speakers...something about world peace in the new millennium, I think. I
don't really remember, but it was properly impressive at the time.
Fireworks went off & here we go! Took us almost 2 minutes exactly to cross
the start line. Jimmy kept the splits for awhile because I never figured
out how to start my watch. But we didn't write them down, so of course
they're long since lost in the mish-mash of oxygen deprived brain cells. I
do know that miles 1 & 2 were right around 14 minutes each. Jimmy was
antsy to go faster at the start, but I wanted to start slow & finish
strong. We went into Epcot at about mile 3 & that split was closer to 13
mins...we got carried along on the excitement. It was beautiful. It was
still dark & all the "countries" were outlined in lights. The big Epcot
ball was lit up across the lake. I tried getting pictures, but they didn't
turn out. As we were leaving Epcot to go into the first of many parking
lots & highways, a fire truck & ambulance came by, forcing all the runners
off to the side for a minute. Found out later about the man who had a
heart attack & died at mile 1. It was sad, but I guess he had a history of
heart problems & probably went out as he wanted to go. Felt GREAT up to
about mile 6.5. 6.5 to 10 we felt OK, but they were llllooonnngg miles
along the highway. Boredom & drudgery were setting in. We probably could
have gone faster during these miles...I think we averaged about 13 to 13.5
for the rest of the race...but the course was crowded enough we dodged
people the whole race. (And they dodged us). I have a picture of mile 9
(2:02:28) and mile 11 (2:29:30)..so pretty close to 13.5 pace between
them...I don't do math well enough to know whether that was faster or
slower to the end! Mostly we went slow enough to really enjoy it. Not once
did I start to breathe hard. Someday I think I'd like to push myself on a
race this long, but I was scared to death that I'd go too fast & burn out,
so we just chugged along & had a good time. Got LOTS of comments on our
Penguin singlets. This is one of the first races where I was actually
running IN a pack instead of behind it...it was kinda cool. I really don't
remember where we entered the Magic Kingdom, but the crowds (mostly
tourists who had no idea what was going on) and the Disney characters were
very motivating. I stopped for a picture with Cruella Deville...she was
great. I also had Jimmy take a picture of me at mile 11 just for Anne. I
made a point to smile & be happy for her since she so graciously
volunteered to be in my thoughts then. I know my legs were getting tired &
I was ready for it to end, but I don't remember really hitting the BMZ...I
just loved it all too much. Jimmy was a real trooper. I can't tell you
how proud I am of him. I spent most of the race bossing him around.
"Don't step on the reflectors, don't cut that girl off, cut through here"
And he didn't once tell me to shut up. He took one walk break at about
mile 12...I tried to walk with him, but my legs gave out when I walked, so
I jogged slowly beside him. Around one last curve, we hear the
announcer..."Let's try to get all these folks in under 3
hours".....WOW..our dream goal was 3 hours...was really expecting closer to
3:15. I picked up the pace a little, Jimmy's calf started to
cramp...there's the end!!! I grabbed his hand & ran for it & just under
the finish line, he pulls up....luckily he had more sense than me, I almost
pulled him across that finish line right into a pulled calf muscle! oops.
I guess I got caught up in myself & figured if I could still breathe (which
I could, easily!) I could go faster. I didn't stop to think of his achy
muscles. He's still a little sore, but luckily there doesn't seem to be
major damage. Clock time 2:59:26, chip time 2:57:23!!!!
Got our medals...they're even bigger than I thought...they're HUGE & HEAVY
& WAY COOL!!! I think the sun came out just after we finished. I don't
remember the heat or the humidity being a factor during the race at all,
but the sun was all of a sudden brutal in the finish-line parking lot. I
felt sorry for the people who still had hours of running to go. We were
MUCH more tired than I had anticipated. (But I don't think we were as bad
off as we looked) Jimmy had serious muscle cramps off & on all the rest of
the day. I should have paid the $10 to get him a massage, but truthfully
neither one of us thought of it at the time. My intestines started to make
themselves known when I started drinking after the race. (YES, we both
drank LOTS during the race...I had 3 power gels, Jimmy stuck with water
only as the powerade at the 1st mile marker didn't set well & he wasn't
going to chance more once that one settled...maybe that's why he cramped up
so bad?) Anyway...I was OK, but every time I took a drink, they'd rumble &
I didn't want to take any chances, so I took my re-hydrating very slowly.
We had originally planned on hanging out with the other Penguins doing the
half & heading to the Full's finish line, but we were totally wiped & went
back to the house instead. I'm really sorry we wimped out on the party. I
guess what I wanted to do & what I was capable of at that point on time
were two different things. I really regret not seeing more Penguins.
Molly...I saw you for a brief second before the race, but you were gone
before I had a chance to run you down. I wanted to give you a good luck
hug...looks like you didn't need it, you did GREAT! I'm so grateful I had
Jimmy running with me, I certainly can see how the lonelies could get to
you. I also heard on the local news that the girl who won the women's
division was running her FIRST marathon! How's that for inspiring?
Had a great time, in-laws not withstanding (huh? what does that mean?
maybe I didn't phrase that properly) I have lots of good stories about our
days "doing Disney" including the ride that broke down on us (eek). All
the walking must've really helped our recovery, because I was only a little
sore on Monday & felt great by Tuesday. Feet feel fine. Weather was
perfect. 75-80 and sunny the whole time. (well, Friday was only 48 & cold,
but it was still sunny!)
Unfortunately they actually expect me to get some work done today, so I
gotta go for now. It was a fabulous experience & I'm ready for more races
of this size...but I also know that a full marathon is still a LONG ways in
my future. Sorry...no MCM training for me this year. Maybe Chicago in 2
years. Maybe back for the Mickey in 2 years. We'll see.
Marce (back in SNOWY Iowa)
