I know it's a big no-no, but this was my first race! My training has been
very scant these past few months, so I knew I would have to stop at the
half. (Actually, I knew that I would be so slow that they would make me stop
at the half.) I wanted to come to the APD, but Mom and I were so tired from
being at the airport soo early that morning, that we just went to bed.
Whoever said you wouldn't sleep the night before a race was wrong!
We woke well-rested and ready to go. I don't really remember a lot of the
early morning stuff because it was so exciting and there were so many more
people than I imagined and it was really dark, but I remember the countdown
fireworks at the start, and not being able to understand anything Donald
Duck said. *laugh* I also remember when the elites came around mile 4 when
we were on the first mile still. What grace they have! Epcot at night really
was magical, especially since we didn't see any of the parks beforehand. Mom
took about two dozen pictures in the dark of massive crowds of runners
before I saw her for the first time around mile 5. I didn't really like the
"villains" theme they had going on, especially since the villains themselves
were nowhere to be found by the time I came by. I walked mostly by myself
until the 7th mile, when the 7 hour pacer guy started to pass me. Unlike
most people who just started running to stay far ahead of him, or started
begging him to go slower, I stuck to his side like peanut butter on the roof
of your mouth. I helped him calculate what times we should be crossing each
mile marker, and he was dead on the money with 16-minute miles! It wasn't so
tough to stay up with him through mile 10 (since I had done enough training
to make the first 10 miles pretty easy). Mom took several pictures of me and
the 7 hour guy (Frank) in the Magic Kingdom. He sped up after a bathroom
break, though, and I couldn't keep up with him at miles 11, 12, and 13. I
could still see him just ahead, though, so I sprinted just before the
half-marathon turnoff to say bye to him and wish him luck for the other 3.5
hours he still had left. :^) I didn't see the clock when I crossed the line,
but I knew I was on the 16-minute mile pace with a 13-minute start time, so
it was under 4 hours. I was really really proud of my finish time! I hadn't
been able to keep up a 16-minute pace for that long in my training, so this
was really a surprise to me! I would have even been allowed to go straight
at the turnoff and try to complete the full marathon! I didn't get picked up
by the van! The finish line was a bit confusing, since it was my first race,
but I got the SPACE BLANKET!!!!! and medal, and some food and drink and
found my way to the Epcot busses finally. (Through my training, often the
thing I would chant to keep me going was "Ventura, Ventura, SPACE
BLANKET!!!" which is a corruption of a line from Urusei Yatsura. I've
imagined that space blanket for months now.) I wore my medal for three days,
and really enjoyed meeting Donald at a character breakfast on Tuesday with
it.
The one thing I wish I had had with me on the course was some of that lotion
that washes your hands without water. I felt so dirty the entire time, and
the rain did not help at all. I got blisters from the last few miles with
wet feet, and my ankle was swollen and sore on Wednesday and Thursday (more
from walking around Disney than the race, I think), but I had a blast at
Disney, and I finished a half-marathon before the cutoff!!!! Woohoo! Will I
ever do a full marathon? Maybe. But it won't be at Disney, I can tell you
that! The parks are just too much fun to be hobbling around after a race,
and seeing the parks beforehand would just wear you out for the race. I
don't know how you full marathon folks did it all! *laugh* It's hardly
possible to just do the marathon without doing Disney, I think. I will be
doing another half, anyway. I've almost convinced Mom to walk the Nashville
half marathon with me in April. I hope it's not too late to sign up! :^)
Thank you all for being such a great inspiration the past year. I would
never have crossed the finish line without all of your support and wisdom.
:^)
---Dana
