First, I want to thank all the posters to this list. It was extremely
helpful and informative in preparing for the big day. Now, on to the report.
This was my first marathon, and I followed the "Final Race Instructions" to a
tee. This included arriving at EPCOT by 4:00 so I could sit in my car for an
hour waiting to go to the staging area. It was pretty cold (I live here in
Orlando, so mornings below the 50's classify as cold). Off to the starting
line, where I crossed about four minutes after the gun.
The first 20 miles or so of the marathon went pretty well for me. I was
looking to finish in about four hours, and was on pace through that mark.
Then, at about mile 21 (which involves a nice little loop by Wide World of
Sports), the leg cramps began. They hit me as a surprise because I never had
any cramping at all during training. The low point of the cramps came when I
stopped to stretch out, reached back to grab my leg to stretch, AND MY ARM
CRAMPED UP TOO! So those last five or so miles were very much a struggle. I
could only run in about 3-4 minute intervals, walking and stretching in
between. This part was MUCH harder than I had anticipated.
But I moved on and was able to finish the marathon at 4:32. Running through
the finish was a trial as I'm pretty sure my body was one big cramp as I made
it across the line. It wasn't the time I hoped for, but I was just so
excited to reach the goal. I don't know when I'll do this again, I'm just
happy to have done it at least once in my life.
A few observations about the race --
- I have never seen so much roadside urination in my life. I've been telling
friends and family about this all day, and they just don't believe me, but
it's very true as everyone there can attest.
- Even though the Disney literature says no headsets, there are plenty.
- Animal Kingdom was by far the most fun park to run through. The employees
there seemed the most pumped up, and the drum band and mc at the end really
got my adrenaline racing.
- I trained for this marathon using Hal Higdon's beginner marathon training
schedule. I would DEFINATELY add at least one more long run of 20 miles or
higher before the marathon. I think that would have helped with much of my
cramping problems. As one of my fellow crampers told me, "There's no
substitute for muscle memory."
Thanks again to all the participants on this list.
Rob
