Yesterday was a bad, bad, day - but at least I finished my 8th marathon! Kris K, I got your message WAY too late. SHORT VERSION: Mindy Magee finished the regular way this time! OK, here it is...
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A rough day on the road, or in which Beth and Mindy suffer,but Mindy kicks
the Mouse's ass, anyway
Well, it's Monday in Daytona Beach. I'm esconced in front of a roaring fire
at my mom's house, margarita at my side, laptop on my knees andmy sisters,
mom, niece and sister-in-law around me. I have a happy new haircut - my reward
for letting my hair grow out for six months so I could tie it back for marathon season.
The nasty pain in my quads and the shiny, big-ass medal inmy backpack are now
the only hints that yesterday's race was the second worstof my eight-marathon
running career.
Short version: 5 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds. Wonderfulfirst half (2 hours,
30 minutes), but torrential downpour at mile 17 not onlywashed out any hopes of a PR, but also any hopes of having a good marathonexperience yesterday. Up side: Spending the entire race with Mindy Magee,wonderful friend formerly
from Philadelphia and now from California - and seeing her get her first
Mickey Mouse medal (after finishing her first attemptat the Disney Marathon
in an ambulance).
Long version: If I were a superstitious person, I might have considered the
omens on Saturday fairly ominous. Not only was **my** plane an hour late, so
was my sister's. Then my mom's car broke down after she picked
mysister-in-law at the airport (and before she picked me and my sister up).
It was easily remedied with a jump-start from AAA, but it meant an hour delay
a nda scramble to get my chip number and bib at the Expo. Our hotel (Shades
of Green) was wonderful, but we discovered that the Weather Channel wasn't
really showing local forecasts, just national radar (which wasn't very
helpful).
Dinner with friends (including Gary and Jan Stearns, Donna McGraw, Farol
Thompson, Mindy and family, my ex-laws and my family) was wonderful, though.
Add to that the fact that I got a wonderful night's sleep and you can
understand why I went to bed Saturday night feeling good about the race,
despite my paltry training in the last seven weeks and one-too-many racefall
schedule.
It seemed even more promising when I woke up on schedule after only one of the
four alarms I had set went off, dressed quickly, ate my breakfast and was out
the door by 3:30 a.m. without waking up anyone in theroom. I joined a busload
of other marathoners sucking down coffee out of Styrofoam cups and water out
of Zephryhills sports bottles. Once at the start, I was delighted to discover
it was pleasantly cool and clear, the moon still shining brightly. It promised
to be a great day for a marathon. The wind was picking up, which meant it
might stay reasonably cool despite the sunshine.
I got a little concerned when I discovered that none of the race volunteers I
talked to seemed to know where the medical tent was (I had promised, at Kris'
suggestion, to meet several running buddies at the medical tent at 4:30).
Finally, I caught up with Mindy, her sister-in-law Beth, and Adrith in front
of the tent. We decided to make one more porta-potty stop, then line up to
walk to the start. We had just started arguing about what time i twas, and I
had pulled my cell phone out of my shorts to double-check when the phone
**rang.** It was The Nice Guy, aka Bob, who had set his alarm to get up and
call me before the race started. My friends rolled their eyes, but
grinned their approval.
Then we were off on the loooooooong walk to the start (every year I hear
someone bitch about wanting to count the walk in the marathon distance).
Adrith and Beth split off from Mindy and me to head for the
half-marathon start, then Mindy and I stopped once more at the potties. I was
relieved when they let Mindy into my start corral (I was assigned farther back
than Mindy). Mindy and I danced around in the corrals, tried to shake off our
nervousness, I called Bob, and Mindy peed under the bridge. Finally, the
fireworks (a lot less spectacular than in the last two years) went off, and so
did we.
The first 13 miles were spectacular. Mindy and I nailed each mile at exactly
11:30 (our goal for splits in the first half), even at mile 9,when we stopped
in a bathroom outside the Magic Kingdom and lost a minute (we made up it up by
running a faster mile). The run through EPCOT just as the sky brightened was
as memorable as always E28093 the music playing, a few Disney employees standing
along the course cheering. I high-fived Mindy and said, That medal is going
to be yours, baby. As we neared the Magic Kingdom, we had a good laugh when
three women ducked behind a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves Diamond Mine
on the median strip. They meant to get a little privacy to pee. They forgot
that there were cars on the other side, whizzing by with a full view of their
sweaty posteriors. We had an "aww" moment when three great blue herons soared
overhead, their bellies backlit by the rising sun (the last hint ofsunlight
we would see until noon).
Mindy saw her hubby and her boys just before mile 9 - a big boost for her. We
stopped long enough for me to snap her picture with BuzzLightyear in the
Magic Kingdom. We saw my sister Kelli and sister-in-law outside Shades of
Green just prior to the half-marathon split, then Mindy's family (again) just
past the split. As we approached the split and heard the recorded Half-marathoners, please finish to your left; full marathoners,please
continue on the right, Mindy muttered, people, please finish to your
left. Stupid people, feel free to continue on to your right.
After hitting the halfway mark at 2:30 (our goal), we were feeling great for
about two more miles. Finally, one of us (I don't know who admitted it first)
said we were tired. We acknowledged we probably wouldn't break five hours.
Roundabout mile 16, we agreed that we would walk a little bit when we hit mile
17, and we agreed (a bit sheepishly) that we probably wouldn't be setting any
PRs, either.
Then, it started to drizzle. Then, it started to rain. Then, as we rounded the
corner into Animal Kingdom and passed mile 17, it started to pour, Central
Florida-style. You know, horizontally. Torrentially. Straight into our eyes.
Soaking our shoes, our socks, right through the bandana on my head. Only,
unlike the summertime Florida rain, this rain was cold, going full bore into
our warm legs driven by a cold wind. I was running until I caught sight of my
ex-laws as we left Animal Kingdom. I stopped to kiss each of them and suddenly
realized how miserable I felt. I started walking and kept walking for 200 more
yards until I caught sight of the rest of my family. They yelled encouragement,
and each of them kissed me, and all I kept thinking was, Their faces are so dry. You can do it,
they said. My mom sweetly offered
me her umbrella. I just looked at her and then we both started laughing.
Mindy and I moved on. I looked at her and said, let's run for 10
minutes, then we can take a one-minute walk break. She nodded, we took a deep
breath, and we started off at a shuffle. I could feel my leg muscles cramped
up as they cooled rapidly with the rain. We laughed bitterly as we passed the
guys handing out sponges.
As we hit the deadlands between mile 17 and mile 23, Sheila (as in Sheila and
Stan, fellow Disney Deads) racewalked past us. I can't**believe** Sheila
recognized me, but she did, and yelled encouragement as she passed us (then,
and again just past mile 20). Mindy and I realized, at somepoint, that it was
just going to be a bad race. Once we had accepted that fact, we decided
Screw it. We're going to at least enjoy ourselves. So we stopped frequently to
walk, complain about how badly we were hurting, what we were going to eat
after the race, count the number of times we using the word, how happy
she was that she wasn't passed out in an ambulance this time,
men, relationships you name it, we talked about it. The rain let up, and
we started to dry a bit.
We hit the on-ramp at mile 22 walking, but after Mindy hadme take her picture
with the Queen of Hearts, we decided to run more. We foundthat we actually
felt better than we had since mile 17, and somehow, we managedto run (very
slowly) the last 4.2 miles. The guy who is there every year justpast mile 22,
wearing his medal and yelling encouragement, was there. We hitthe Boardwalk,
and there was Gary Stearns! He joined us at a jog, and ran us**all the way
in** (after having already run the half-marathon himself). Atmile 25, Mindy
looked at me, grinned, and said, I think I'm going to set off the metal
detector at the airport tomorrow. I will say, though, that the World Showcase
never felt so f***ing big. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, wewere
crossing underneath the EPCOT globe. I looked at Mindy, held out my handand
gave hers a squeeze and said, Congratulations, Mindy Min. Mile 26 is
rightaround the corner. You're about to become a Walt Disney World
marathoner.
Oh yeah, she said. That mouse's ass is mine. I laughed, then started
crying inexplicably (I don't know if it was joy or relief) as we came up on
mile 26. Then I heard my ex-laws' cowbell, saw my father-ex-law first, then
everyone else cheering, as I rounded the bend to the finish line. I grinned
through my tears as I waved to them, called love you, and watched Mindy
sprint ahead. I really, truly, expected her to punch Mickey on the way across
the finish line, but instead, she high-fived Goofy, then hit the mat running.
I came in right behind her and we hugged, crying. All I could say was, You
did it, Mindy. You did it. I made her get her medal while I took her picture
(it was so funny all Mindy could say was, Where the hell are the medals? I
want my mouse medal, damn it.).
Last night, as I reflected on the day, I started to feel a little sad about my
spectacularly bad about my finish. Then, I started to think about how lucky I
was to be there with Mindy when she got her first Mickey Mouse medal, and how
she said, as we walked away with our medals around our neck, That s it, you
know. After surviving this together, we're going to be friends for life.
That's it. That's what running is about. It's not about your time. It's not
about how many medals you have or the shoes you buy.
It's about the friends you make along the way.
