DisneyRunning.Com
2003 Walt Disney World Marathon Report: Dean Greenaway(The Island Sun)
Nicholas Clark records lifetime best at Disney World Marathon
BY DEAN GREENAWAY
January 24 2003
Nicholas Clark would have been happy just to run the recent Walt Disney
World Marathon in Orlando, Florida in about 3 hours and 45 minutes.
Instead, Clark ran a lifetime best time of 3 hours, 38 minutes and 40
seconds, in his third time running at Disney, chopping two minutes from his
previous best.
When the race started, Clark said it was a chilly 40 degrees which helped
him. "On Tortola when you're training, you are very aware of dehydration
and the amount of energy your body is using just to keep yourself cool. I
think that the fact that I didn't have to expend that energy keeping cool,
allows me to put more energy into running," Clark explained. "I didn't
sweat till close to the end of the race. I was very pleased with my
performance and I managed to keep up an eight and a half minute per mile
pace virtually to the end and I was able to gain two minutes on my best of
3:40 from last year."
Clark who ran in the New York City Marathon in October said it is unique in
that almost every yard there are people cheering and you're running in a
big city. "In Disney World, there are the areas between the parks. There
aren't people there although they have a few characters entertaining you
along the way, but there are parts where it's just you and several runners.
If you have a city of several million cheering for you, it's a totally
different atmosphere. Nothing can compare to New York."
Clark who took this week off from running, said he has no marathon plans on
the horizon. "I woke up this morning (last Wednesday) thinking 'oh, I can
set my alarm for the normal time. I don't have to thing about a training
program and getting up early,'" Clark said after he returned. "I'm doing no
exercise whatsoever, then I'll do some gentle running, but no long term
plans at the moment."
Clark who ran the Disney Marathon for the third time, said it was a
wonderful seeing all the Disney Parks. "As usual, they put on a big show
for everybody," he noted. "There were more runners this year, 20,000 doing
the marathon and half marathon. Disney was very pleased that it was greater
numbers than they have ever had before."
Courtesy of SUN ENTERPRISES (B.V.I.) LTD
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