We returned home after a wonderful week at Disney. The weather finally got
nice on Wednesday so we got to spend a few days in the sunshine. First it was
great meeting everyone at the encounters.
The race went better than expected for me. My plan was to start out at about
9:45 pace for the first 6 miles and then try to pick it up on the flat section
leading to the Magic Kingdom. I ended up walking 9:21 pace for the first 6
miles, and was still able to pick it up the pace, averaging 9:05 per mile from
there, except for the mile thru the MK which was my slowest of the race - I
was too busy high-fiving the characters :-)
I finished in 2:01:22 and was 2nd overall racewalker and 1st in the 40-49 age
group. Curt Clausen (1996 and 2000 Olympian) was there and won easily, finishing
9 minutes in front of me. I ran into Bill Rogers on Monday and told him that
I had finished 2nd in the racewalk and he knew that Curt was there! I was impressed.
After finishing, Eileen was there to meet me and we took the bus to the Epcot
lot. I went to the massage tent and had 4 people work on me. One of the perks
of doing the half marathon is that not many marathoners had finished yet and
so there were a lot of masseuses just standing around. I had one on each leg
and then the instructor told another to work on my shoulders. The instructor
then came over and was explaining to them what sciatica was and she dug into
my piriformis, which was painfully wonderful!
After the massage and a change of clothes, we headed to the marathon finish
and that's when the rains came. I started shivering so we took the bus back
to the Boardwalk to change - again. Then I went out to the 24 mile mark and
cheered for everyone. We saw several deads and lots of racewalkers. I walked
some with Tom and Colleen Laux and thought they were doing great considering
the rain. We stayed out cheering until the last runners came by. There were
3 volunteers on bikes following the last group.
This was my 6th Disney; I now have 3 Mickeys and 3 Donalds. Next year it's
back to the full marathon for the 10th anniversary. I've enjoyed reading everyone's
reports and want to congratulate all on a great job, especially to those that
had to endure the rain.
BTW when we got back to Buffalo, we were surprised to see that a lot of the
snow had disappeared. You could even see grass in places!
Dave Lawrence
Buffalo, NY
