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 i can't believe i did this.
i ran the marathon.
the disney marathon. me, the queen of
"let's sit down, shall we?",
ran a marathon. it all began as a whim.
sure i said to my friends, why not?
{and i get a medal when i finish,
right?}...
well, january 7th, 2001 at 3:45 am that
"why not?" became
"why?" why was I getting up
this early? oh yeah, because i was going to run
26.2 miles! insanity, that's what it
is, i got old, i got insane, that's all there
is to it. {no, you already were insane}
i met my friends at 4:15 at the ymca
so we could carpool over to the marathon start
line. did i mention that it was about as cold
as it gets in orlando, florida that morning?
it was about 35 degrees when i left the
house wearing my favorite shorts and a sports
bra, a long sleeve t-shirt, an old pair of sweats
and my daughters oldest sweatshirt - i was going
to have to dump these items as i warmed up. ha!
(no, no gloves or old socks for my hands, no
old hat for my head. how was i supposed to know!
i'm not used to
marathons or cold!)
we arrived at the scene at just after
5 a.m. and checked our 'extras', you know,
purse, clothes for after the race, etc.)
and then walked as a huddled mass trying
to keep warm to the starting line.
and we walked, and we walked and
we walked. hello? the race is 26.2 miles
not the walk to the starting line!!
{i am
so never doing this again}
there were 5 of us running the race,
linda, toni, peter, ginny & me,
(well and 11,000 other people,
but for the sake of argument,
it's just us).
anyway, there were two starting lines -
red and blue. blue was for people who were
intending to complete the marathon in less
than 4 ½ hours and red for those over.
all of us except ginny had blue, so all of
us stayed with ginny at the red line except
peter who went off into the cold by himself.
we thought perhaps we might bump into each
other (ha!) at the meeting point of the
two sides (mile 3.1). so ginny, toni, linda
and i head to the red start and shiver
until the race begins. (by the way, the
fireworks suck at the red starting line).
mickey said "go" and we went.
ginny and i run at a faster pace than
toni & linda so we split up into two groups
right away. the first 2 miles of the
marathon went by so fast i was shocked
because i'm usually a real wussy at
the beginning of a race. then comes the first
water break and... and... and...
well, it all goes downhill from there.
i grabbed a water and ran with it
because ginny doesn't like to stop for
water. ginny stopped for water because
ginny knows i like to stop for water.
9830573439480 people got between us
and i ran ahead looking for ginny while
ginny hung back looking for me.
fast forward to mile 9ish,
still no ginny. my I.T. band is
starting to act up. it's getting really sore.
{i'm never running again when this is
done} i'm feeling a little downhearted
because i'm lonely and cold and
tired and i have no one to
talk to. did i mention it was cold?
{but i get a medal when i finish, right?}
we kept running through little cold fronts
where the temperature would suddenly dip
10 degrees and all our sweat would turn to
frost. It would have been pretty
funny if it weren't so cold.
i walked through magic kingdom
and kept stopping to stretch
my IT band, i walked from magic kingdom
almost all the way to the grand floridian
where my husband and kids were supposed
to be to cheer me on. my leg was hurting
so badly at this point (only mile 10!!!)
that I was ready to cry.
{"Lord, give me something. someone to talk
to, something to focus on, some sort of
inspiration because i can't do this anymore"}
and ginny tapped me on the back.
"didn't take us too long to get separated
did it?" i burst into tears.
ginny ran with me until the half-way
point where i struggled not to give in
and just collect a donald duck medal
{don't be a wuss, you've already done
a half marathon} i figured if i did
the first half in 2 ½ hours, i could finish
the rest of it in under 7, even if i had
to walk (under 7 hours gets a medal).
there was no way i was going to let
anyone think, "i knew she couldn't
do it". i was here to run a marathon
and i was going to
finish the marathon.
for the next two miles
{when i'm done, i'm never running again}
i walked and jogged and stopped
and stretched and walked and jogged
and stopped and stretched and then
when i looked up from stretching toni &
linda were running by. {angels from
heaven hallelujah!} "don't leave
me!"
i yelled.
toni was just starting to wear down
and was looking forward to putting on her
headset and zoning out so linda was
needing someone to talk to.
linda would not let me quit.
how about some ibuprofen she says.
{yeah, duh, how about some ibuprofen??}
So at the next medical tent the girl hollers
out "vaseline, biofreeze, advil"
and i am all over that advil!!
"only two?" says linda, "take more"
so i
take another of hers and swallow it dry!
at mile 16
linda reminds me that we've
only got 10 more miles to go.
it's a short sunday run.
i can do it right? {yes, and when i'm done,
i get a medal, right?
and then i'm never
running again.} at the next medical
tent i take two more advil.
{this is great stuff this advil, why
didn't i think of that?} linda says,
"money is no object, what's your ideal
vacation?" at mile 21 i finally take the
sweatshirt and sweats off. (i did mention
it was cold, right?). linda says,
"money is no object, what is your ideal
house?" by mile 22, i can no longer
stop. it hurts too much to
start again. {i am never running again
when this is done} linda picks people
from the crowd, "where do you think
he's from?" {the only states i can remember
are new york, virginia, michigan,
and california}.
at mile 23, linda and toni stop for water
and i can't stop. i keep going,
singing to myself.
"Imagine me and you, i do {i}
i think about you day and night {am}
it's only right {never}
to think about the girl you love {doing}
and hold her tight {this}
so happy together {again}"
(happy together, by the turtles - my pet song
for my youngest daughter). as i was
coming through the boardwalk i followed
a girl with the coolest t-shirt i
ever saw - it said something along the
lines of "for all of you who said i couldn't
do it, for all of you would said i didn't
have it in me, etc. etc., i'll see you
at the finish line." {stop that,
you're making me cry!}
(if anyone knows where i can get this
t-shirt please drop me a line.
i really want it.)
i lost her as we were coming into
epcot and i tell you, the hardest part
was taking a right to go around the world
showcase when i knew taking a left
would get me there faster! {and i
get a medal when I'm done, right?}
mile 25, at mexico -
just over a mile to go.
just a walk around the block.
{just a walk around the block and then i'm
never doing this again}. mile 26,
just past the ball and i can hear the
crowds {and then i get a medal
and i'm done}. mile 26.2 in 5:12:14
and there is no one to greet me
and i'm sad, but nothing can keep the
smile off of my face when they give
me that medal and take my picture.
{i have my medal
and now
I'm done.}
linda & toni are exactly
one minute after me;
ginny finished
in just under 5 hours and
peter did it in 4 hours 20 minutes or so.
we collect our things from the tents where
we'd dropped them earlier and go off to meet
our families. mine is sitting in the "t"
section of the family reunion area.
we sit and relax for a while, buy a t-shirt
, have a snack, change the baby's diaper
and head for the monorail. i look
over at the finish line as we leave....
{oh yeah, I can beat that
time next year, easy.}
* * *
Special Thanks to Jodi
for her help in building this page.
Courtesy of Raylene Taskoski and Raylene's Body for Life Page
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