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2003 Walt Disney World Marathon Report: Jerry Worthing

2003 Jan 12 - Florida, Disney Marathon 3:17 PR

The omens during the run-up to the Disney weekend were looking distinctly threatening: Illness over the new year had prohibited proper training. The airline lost the suitcase with running kit and the promised Mozartkugeln in transit (eventually to be returned Sunday afternoon!!). My brand new cell phone got forgotten in an x-ray scanner in Amsterdam (duh! – still lost). In Miami it took 5 hours standing in lines to clear immigration and report the missing baggage. It was a great relief to finally reach the Orlando exit of the Florida Turnpike before midnight after the long 27 hour journey from Austria.

I was really looking forward to seeing Nangel again, so once she was safely collected from the airport Friday morning, and we were enjoying a much needed brunch at Boardwalk, the idea of a great marathon weekend ahead started to seem like a realistic proposition. After the visit to the expo to collect our numbers, buy replacement running shoes + shorts and get another chip to replace my lost one, all of the preceding hassle was forgotten. It was now time to enjoy a really fantastic weekend with Nangel, the Deads, the Disney magic, the mild Florida weather and of course the marathon itself.

Sharing the excitement and the stories at the many encounters throughout the weekend with friends old and new reminded me how helpful the support and comradeship of the great people on the Disney Dead list has been over the past year. Without the Deads, running marathons would not be nearly as much fun. Special thanks go to Jakson Badenhoop and Craig O'Neil for maintaining the list & providing the special Disney-Dead T-Shirts, to Bob Chapman for organising the highly enjoyable APD with its good food, to King & Queen Sosnowski for the T.L.Challenge ribbons, to Bill McDonough for the Friday encounter, to Tom Laux for the Monday morning jog, not forgetting Holly Thompson (sadly missed) for the tattoos.

Getting up at 3 a.m. on marathon day is actually not that bad if you happen to live in Europe. While it did not exactly feel like a sleep-in, the old body clock seemed quite happy to let itself be kidded along that it was in fact 9 a.m. (why was it so dark though?) At the family reunion "D" tent we chatted to Sheila & Stan, Wendy and Nikki before moving to the starting corral, dancing to the music to keep warm in the ideal running weather conditions. The starting fireworks went off and after crossing the starting line it was time to say "Hasta pronto" to Nangel and get into the usual rhythm, this time with the help of an mp3 player, which I liked so much that I never want to be without it on long runs again.

The day slowly dawned, and my energy levels were feeling much better than in the previous few marathons. Maybe the lack of training had allowed me to conserve energy reserves? Was this proof that the six 20 milers in 3 weeks prior to NYCM had been too much? Hhhhhmmmm, will have to reconsider training strategy for Boston. The run continued lightly through Animal Kingdom, past the World Sports (unfortunately missing the Hashers with their red cups) and on to MGM before the tiredness slowly took over. Managed a lively sprint over the finishing line and a PR chip time of 3:17. So maybe, as advised, less training can be beneficial, and even lead to a PR!

After the race I took the bus to Boardwalk to cheer along the other runners and enjoy their smiling faces as they saw my medal. At Epcot Nangel came over the bridge looking fresh and lively. We hugged and continued the final mile of the course, crossing the finishing line together. Altogether it had been a truly great race. The best marathon experience so far.

Thanks for reading this far, and look forward to seeing you at the Boston encounters in April.

Jeremy Worthing (Still enjoying FL before returning to Austria for the final 2 months prior to the Tokyo move. Does anyone know of an apartment share in or near the Shibuya district of Tokyo?)

Chip times so far: 
May 2001 Vienna 3:59 
Jan 2002 Disney 3:25 
Apr 2002 Boston 3:22 
May 2002 Vienna 3:21 
Sep 2002 Wachau 3:18 
Nov 2002 NYC 3:27 Jan 2003 
Disney 3:17 
Apr 2003 Boston 
Future goal: Double the length of my regular runs from the current 30 minutes to 60 minutes. This will hopefully improve my poor split times and help me get a guaranteed place in New York 2005, for which a qualifying time of 3:15 for ages 50+ is required.

Jeremy's Running Homepage