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2002 Walt Disney World Marathon Report: Jerry Worthing

2002 Jan 6 - Florida, Disney Marathon #2. Time 3:25

It was wonderful, fantastic. The almost overwhelming impressions of the past few days still haven’t sunk in yet. Meeting everyone for the first time at the encounters (especially the encounters) was great fun. The (We) Disney-Deads are truly the best family of running enthusiasts I have met anywhere!

A big thanks to Bob Larson for the room-share on-property, it was much better than expected. And an even bigger thanks for expertly answering those 101 questions of a newbie visitor to the States.

Congrats to all Deads who took part and finished. Special honour to our very own Disney-Dead champion race walkers!

The race went incredibly well for me... 3:25:31 was a genuinely unexpected mega PR, up 35 minutes on last time! The prior weeks of good advice and support from fellow Deads during training under increasingly snowy conditions helped enormously.

The frequent refreshment stops were really great for keeping fluid levels up. And my first time consumption of 4 Powergels? Did that also help a little bit? (I know the valid advice: "….Don't try anything new...", Yes, I did often burn my hand in the fire as a child)

Boston Marathon? Would have been a nice thought, but it’s unfortunately 31 seconds outside the qualifying time for my age group. Sorry about that, Ellen.

The weather during the actual race was in fact ok for me. The downpour started just as I crossed the finishing line. The sudden cold of the wind and rain caused my whole body to shiver uncontrollably. A medic saw it and advised me to go home and warm up immediately, so it was a shame to have to miss cheering in the other Deads.

The weirdly humorous signs along the way reminded me of Monty Python. I sympathize with runners wanting to kick them down. Maybe the Disney people who thought them out are non-runners, and they wrongly assume that it is the right psychology for us masochists, who supposedly thrive on suffering and pain? Disney: Try to make the signs more encouraging. It would help in the struggle of mind over body.

And a final word of warm thanks to Holly: Thank you for making the Disney-Deads listing happen. Without the Deads it would not have been half as much fun. Look forward to meeting you next year!

P.S. Bob: On reflection, I’m raising next year’s 80% to 95% probability. The remaining 5% is just in case some emergency gets in the way.

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