DisneyRunning.com- Your Guide to Running at Walt Disney World

Arriving in Orlando

I had to wake up at 4:45am on Friday, January 9th for my flight to Orlando. I left the house around 5:15am and picked up Julie on the way to the airport. Our flight down was pretty smooth and we landed in Orlando just after 10am. We met up with the 4 other participants from Pittsburgh that were traveling with us and caught the shuttle bus to our hotel, the Disney Yacht Club Resort (my picture). Even though it was barely after check-out time from the previous night, we were all able to check-in to our rooms.

Friday in Orlando

I needed to head over to Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, where the Marathon Expo was being held, to drop off my registration form and pick up my race number. I was a little disappointed with the marathon merchandise, but ended up buying a grey long-sleeve t-shirt with the marathon logo and "I DID IT!" on the front and the course map on the back.

After heading back to the hotel and catching a quick nap, Julie and I caught a bus over to Downtown Disney to meet my parents for dinner. We ended up eating at Fulton's Crab House, which was very nice.

Saturday in Orlando

The next morning, Julie had a meeting until 10:30am, so I went to Epcot with my parents and we rode the new Mission: Space ride. It was great! After this, we walked back to the Yacht Club, met Julie and headed off to Disney-MGM Studios for the day. It was my first time visiting MGM and I had a great time. The highlights for me were the Tower of Terror and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, though everything was good.

Julie and I had to head back for a final-instructions meeting and the pre-race pasta dinner on Saturday evening. The dinner was fun and included an inspirational speech from a Stroke survivor who was participating in the marathon. We took a picture of the Train to End Stroke team from Pittsburgh. After the dinner, Julie and I headed over to Epcot to watch the IllumiNations show. I don't think we managed to get to sleep until about 11pm, which is pretty late when you have a 2am wakeup call scheduled!

Sunday in Orlando - Marathon Day!

Woke up at 2am and finally dragged myself out of bed around 2:30am. I took a shower and got ready for the race. I had hoped to wear shorts and a CoolMax shirt for the race, but the weather forecast was not cooperating. On the one hand, the 30% chance of rain that had been predicted earlier in the week was gone, but so were the calls for a high of 71 degrees. It was to be in the mid to high 30's for the start of the race and get up to the low 50's by the time I was hoping to finish (noon). I decided to wear my shorts and shirt, but to wear long pants over my shorts and a fleece top. This was definitely the right decision!

The team started gathering at 3am and at about 3:30am, we decided to try and walk over to the start line which was at Epcot Center. We made it as far as the gate into Epcot before discovering that we could not enter this way. We walked back to the hotel and got in line for the shuttle bus over to the start line. This was at approximately 3:45am. We waited in line for what seemed like forever before getting on a bus around 4:20am. Things started out okay as we moved fairly quickly for a couple of minutes, but then we got stuck in race-day traffic and it took over an hour for the bus to drive the couple of miles from the hotel to the race start. Everyone on the bus was getting rather nervous, but we finally made it to the parking lot in what we hoped would be enough time. I quickly headed over to drop off my bag of dry clothes for after the race and headed out to find my start corral.

I made it to the start corral at about 5:50am (the marathon started at 6:00am). I quickly stretched and contemplated taking off my long pants, but quickly (and correctly) decided against it. The national anthem was sung and then the wheelchair participants started off at 5:55am with a huge cheer from all 25,000 participants. Next it was our turn. Another huge cheer as the marathon was officially started for runners and walkers.

The marathon

Here's a PDF course map of the marathon course if you'd like to follow along with my descriptions. The times are from my watch, which I used to track each mile.

Pre-mile 0

It took almost 10 minutes for me to make it to the official start line. The race clock was at 00:09:53 when I crossed the line, but no worries since they provided a race chip for me to wear on my shoe which would provide my exact time.

Mile 0 - 00:00:00

I was very excited when I crossed the start line as was everybody around me. The participants were all packed closely together at this point and were moving a little bit slower than my pace. I figured out that it was easier to pass people on the outside of the course, so I moved over and slowly started moving past some of the slower walkers. For the first mile, I couldn't really see where Epcot was and I spent a lot of time time staring at the moon which was very low in the sky and extremely bright.

Mile 1 - 00:14:02

I was a little surprised that the pace was so quick for the first mile. This was a tiny bit faster than the pace that I had trained at during my long walks, but it felt much slower to me at the time. I took that as a good sign. At each mile marker, they had erected a big sign with the official race time, a Disney character, and an inspirational quote. Something to look forward to each mile :)

At around the 1.5 mile mark, we rounded a large bend and could now catch glimpses of the huge globe at Epcot.

Mile 2 - 00:27:31

Again, I was surprised at the pace. This was about the pace that I had been hoping to maintain for the race and it still felt surprisingly slow to me. I think this was probably due to the fact that all the participants were tightly bunched together. I really had to pay attention to both people ahead of me and behind me, since I was both passing people and being passed quite regularly.

We headed straight down the road that splits the Epcot parking lots and entered Epcot through the main gates (the thought occurred to me that it can't be often that you can do that without a ticket!) There were quite a few people lined up in the parking lots to cheer us on. Once we got inside, I was surprised to see so many Disney employees lining the course cheering us on.

We walked straight through the Future World part of Epcot and into the World Showcase. The countries looked amazing. It was still dark and they all had the white lights lit up as they do during the IllumiNations show as well as the sparkling colorful lights as well. We started around the countries clockwise, but once we passed Norway, we turned out of the park via a side entrance just before the 3 mile marker.

Mile 3 - 00:40:57

Still keeping up a good pace. This was the beginning of a 7 mile stretch outside of the parks before getting to the Magic Kingdom. It was a little disheartening to think that I had 22 more miles before I would be back in Epcot for the home stretch. We walked through the back lots of Epcot for most of this mile, including going right by the Test Track course.

Mile 4 - 00:53:41

My first (but definitely not last!) sub-13 minute mile. The course was still very crowded, but I had enough space to feel comfortable now. I was passing far more people than were passing me at this point, which scared me a little... was I going too fast?

It took me a couple of minutes to register that we were back on the same road where we had started the marathon. We passed the spot where we turned back toward Epcot in Mile 1 and I took a quick look over my shoulder to see Epcot for the last time in a few hours. Next stop, Magic Kingdom!

Shortly before the 5 mile marker, I saw my coach, Marie, on the sideline. She was jumping up and down and cheering on another Train to End Stroke participant. I called out to her, but I don't think she saw me. This didn't bother me as I knew I would see her later on the course when she moved to her next post and I would make sure to catch her there.

Mile 5 - 01:06:18

My pace is still getting faster and I keep passing people. Just after the mile marker, I saw the husbands of two other people from the Pittsburgh team (actually they saw me and yelled out). It was great to see someone I knew on the sideline! More on that later.

Towards the end of Mile 5, we could see participants ahead of us crossing under the roadway that we were on. The people up on the bridge cheered to the people crossing underneath and vice-a-versa. I wondered how much longer it would be before I would be passing under the same bridge and wondered if there would still be people on the bridge...

Mile 6 - 01:18:55

Once again, each mile is getting faster, but I'm feeling great and have no problems keeping up the pace. The Mile 6 marker came up quickly around a bend and I shortly after, I was underneath the bridge that I had seen in Mile 5. No worries about whether there would still be people up there, I could see quite far back along the course and it was still packed with people. Another fun moment cheering the people up on the bridge and being cheered back.

For most of this mile, we traveled along what seemed like the main highway heading to the Magic Kingdom. It was nice because it was quite a few lanes wide and allowed the participants to spread out more than so than at any time so far in the marathon. It was still quite crowded, but I no longer had to worry as much about bumping into people as I weaved around people.

Mile 7 - 01:31:10

Another mile, and you guessed it, another faster pace. I was beginning to get both worried and excited by my pace. This last mile took 12 minutes and 15 seconds. The fastest that I have walked for over a mile or so is about a 12 minute mile. I really didn't think I would be able to keep up this pace, but I still felt great so I figured I would see how long it could last.

Near the end of this mile, I could see something off in the distance. I thought it might be the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, but looking back now, I think it was the Disney Transportation and Ticket Center.

Mile 8 - 01:43:09

Wow, a sub-12 minute mile (barely). I knew I couldn't (and shouldn't!) keep this pace up, so I made an effort to slow down a little bit for the next mile.

At this point, I took out my cell phone (marathoning in the 2000's :), and called my dad's cell phone to let him know (incorrectly, it appears), that I was entering the Magic Kingdom. I knew that they were planning to see me somewhere in the Magic Kingdom.

I could see the Polynesian Village off to my left halfway through this mile and could also see runners coming the other direction. At first I thought that maybe I would be turning around soon and heading off in that direction, but then noticed how fast these runners were going. I was very impressed and wondered what mile they were at!

Soon, I started hearing names and cities being announced. I finally figured out that this was from the half-marathon finish line. Wow! Those runners were at least 5 miles ahead of me. Turns out that the leaders were actually a few miles ahead of those runners as well. Amazing!

Towards the end of this mile, I gave Julie a call to let her know how I was doing and when she might expect to see me. I think I was actually on the phone with her when I crossed the 9 mile mark, so my time may be off slightly.

Mile 9 - 01:55:37

This was the first mile time that was slower than the previous. As I explained above, I think this time is actually a little slower than it really was because I think I was on the phone and didn't click my watch right at the marker. In any case, I still felt great at this point and was looking forward to getting to the Magic Kingdom and seeing my parents.

We passed the Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary Resort during this mile and walked alongside the monorail for most of the mile. As monorails passed, they would honk their horns and people onboard would wave at us.

Mile 10 - 02:08:05

I had slowed down a little the previous mile and was happy with the pace. We entered the Magic Kingdom next to Space Mountain via a side entrance and headed off toward Main St. across the back lots of Magic Kingdom.

Once we entered the Main St. area, I start scanning the crowds for my parents. It didn't take too long to find them. They were at a point where we turned off to the right, which made it easy for me to see them. Unfortunately, I was on the right side of the road and they were on the left, so I took a quick look behind me and veered over to them. It really made me feel great to see them both there and they took a few pictures and my mom asked how I was doing. I still felt great and gave her a thumbs up and then that quickly they were gone and I was back to concentrating where I was going.

The road was pretty narrow at this point and the participants were getting bunched up once again making it difficult to pass people. This didn't matter so much because I was grouped with a number of people going a similar pace to me.

We passed through Tomorrow Land and into Frontier Land. We went right past one of my favorite Magic Kingdom rides, the Thunder Mountain Runaway Railroad. I asked a Disney employee who was cheering us on if I had time for a quick ride. I didn't catch her reply :)

I believe that it was at the end of this mile (though it might have been the beginning of mile 12) where we walked through a back lot that had all of the floats for the Magic Kingdom parade. It was neat to see these just lying around.

Mile 11 - 02:20:23

We were leaving Magic Kingdom here and starting the 4 mile walk over to the Animal Kingdom. This mile was fairly uneventful.

Mile 12 - 02:32:44

Another quick mile. I was happy with this pace and was able to keep it fairly consistent between the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.

We were alongside a golf course for much of this mile. Nobody seemed to be playing, though it was warming up slightly and would probably have been a nice morning to play.

I realized that we were nearing the half marathon finish line. Near the end of this mile, the half marathoners were being guided to the left side of the course because they would be turning off towards the finish line by the next mile marker. I still was feeling pretty good at this point, but it was hard to believe that I was still less than halfway done. Again, I began to hear the names being announced at the half marathon finish line. I could not see anyone still on the course where I had been earlier in mile 8 when I had seen the runners where I was now. I guess people that would still have been there were going too slow and would have been picked up off the course (you had to maintain a 16-minute mile to be safe).

Mile 13 - 02:45:00

At this point, I realized that I was a full 15 minutes ahead of where I was hoping to be. I could actually walk two minutes a mile slower than I had planned for the rest of the course and hit my target of 6 hours! No need for that though, I still felt good and wanted to see how fast I could finish.

I had a little depressing moment as I watched the half-marathoners turn off the course, but I stopped watching them and just looked ahead again. It got strangely quiet for most of this mile. For the first 13 miles, there was constant noise from people chatting with each other as they went and from people along the course cheering us on. For about a 10 minute stretch now, it was almost silent. Very eerie. I wonder if other people were feeling as I did when we passed the halfway point and realized what still lay ahead of them.

Mile 14 - 02;57:20

I was still keeping up a good pace, but it wasn't as easy as it had been earlier in the race. I concentrated on finding people going at the pace that I wanted to go and trying to stay with them.

I also started noticing the same people passing me over and over again. I figured out that they were combination runners/walkers. They would run for a couple of minutes and then walk for a couple of minutes to rest. As they ran, they would pass me, but once they started walking, I would pass them.

It was around here that they started having more frequent drink stations. All the drink stations had both water and Powerade. I was noticing that the Powerade was helping me much more than the water. The night before the marathon, I decided that I would fill my water bottle with Powerade instead of water, just in case I needed it. I bought a bottle of lemon-lime Powerade in the hotel and filled my water bottle in the morning. As luck would have it, they were also serving lemon-lime flavor at the water stations. I made sure to drink a cup of Powerade at every drink station. Occasionally, I would also get a cup of water. I also made sure to drink slowly, as my coach had advised. I had trouble with stomach cramps a couple of times during training after gulping down water too quickly and didn't want that to happen now.

Mile 15 - 03:09;38

Another mile down with a good pace going. I was starting to get hot now though. I had rolled up the sleeves on my fleece earlier in an attempt to cool down and was beginning to think about taking it off. Unfortunately, this wouldn't be easy as I had my race number attached to my fleece with 4 safety pins. I would have to unpin all 4 pins, take the fleece off while holding on to my number, then tie the fleece around my waist (or throw it away) and re-attach the number to my shirt. I decided to hold off for now.

I had learned before the race that any clothing thrown to the side of the course would be picked up by volunteers and donated to Goodwill.

At the beginning of mile 15, we entered the Animal Kingdom grounds, but it wasn't very exciting as we were in the back of the Safari part of the park and couldn't see any animals. Still, it was nice to know that the rest of the park was near and that I would be reaching Julie's station after leaving the park.

At the end of mile 15, I decided that I was getting too hot and slowed down almost to a stop for a couple of minutes as I took off my fleece. I decided to keep the fleece tied around my waist.

Mile 16 - 03:23:13

We crossed over into the public portion of the Animal Kingdom for this mile. The paths were somewhat narrow, but we had finally thinned by this point, so it really wasn't a problem. This was the first park that we had visited that was open, so there were quite a few people in the park along with the Disney employees cheering us on. As well as being narrow, the path also winded around quite a bit and had small hills which made for some challenging walking!

Mile 17 - 03:35:45

The first half of mile 17 was still inside Animal Kingdom. Then we exited through the front gate and headed out past the parking lots to the main road to head over towards the Wide World of Sports Complex. Just after leaving the park, there was a drink station along with a tub full of sponges. I took a sponge and squeezed it on my head. This was probably a mistake :(

Right after this, there was a right hand corner and I could see the Train to End Stroke volunteers standing at the corner. Julie was in the group and she came out to walk with me for about 10 minutes which was great! She told me afterward that she was worried because I looked like I was drenched in sweat. I told her afterward that was because of the sponge station right before I saw her. She said that I was going very fast and that she was having trouble keeping up. She also told me that the two people that were running the full marathon from Pittsburgh were ahead of me and doing okay. I was glad to hear that. The time walking with Julie passed way too quickly and soon I was back alone again.

Mile 18 - 03:48:23

My pace was starting to slow down slightly now, but I was still very happy with how I was doing. I was feeling a little down after leaving Julie, but that changed shortly into mile 18 as I saw Marie (my coach). She joined me and walked with me almost to the mile 19 marker. She said that she had also seen the two runners and they were doing well, but also that she had heard that two of the walkers had been pulled from the course for not keeping up the required pace. That was a little depressing to hear :(

Anyway, Marie said that I was looked great and asked how I was feeling. I truthfully told her that I was starting to get a little worn out, but thought that I would be okay.

As we neared the mile 19 marker, she told me that she would have to turn around and that they had food (oranges), candy, and drinks including water, Powerade and beer. I figured she must be joking about the last one... but sure enough, after I grabbed an orange quarter and a cup of Powerade, I saw a table with cups full of beer. I didn't see anyone take any, but I hear that quite a few people did!

Mile 19 - 04:01:11

This mile was where things started getting much rougher for me. To start with, shortly after the mile started, I saw participants coming back in the same direction on the other side of the roadway. I saw the mile 21 marker and got a little depressed that I would be making an almost 2 mile loop, ending up right back where I was now. I was starting to get a little chaffing in armpits and on my chest. Looking back, this was probably from the water that I splashed over my head back in mile 17... like I said, that was probably a mistake. They had first-aid stations every so often that were handing out, among other things, sticks with vaseline on them. I hadn't seen one in a while though, so I decided to put on some dry skin cream that I had brought with me to try and fight the chaffing. I put some on and instantly it began to burn. This lasted for about 10 minutes, and I was beginning to think that it might not end, but once the burning stopped, I felt okay for the rest of the marathon as far as the chaffing.

Near the end of the mile, we turned a corner onto a different road that headed off toward the Wide World of Sports Complex. I could see that we were making a u-turn not too far down the road and also saw the mile marker for mile 20 just ahead.

Mile 20 - 04:14:15

I (finally) took a bathroom break at the mile 20 marker. I had held out this long, but didn't think that I could make it the rest of the way. There was a bathroom with no line, so I took advantage of that and only took about a minute or so before I was back on track. As per Murphy's Law, there was also a first-aid station with Vaseline at the mile marker. Oh well, the burn was starting to go away at this point so there was nothing else I could do about it.

I quickly reached the u-turn and started heading back along the other side of the road. There was a gospel choir at the turn back onto the main street that sounded great and gave me a little boost of energy (I was searching for and extremely thankful for any such boosts by this point).

I realized that I was also in unchartered territory now. My longest training walk had been 20 miles, so each step took me further than I had ever walked before. As I walked back along the road where I had been a mile or so before, I felt bad for all the people who were watching me walk back.

Mile 21 - 04:29:02

I was impressed to complete the previous mile in under 15 minutes even with the bathroom break. Shortly after this mile started, we turned up an exit ramp onto a different roadway and past another Train to End Stroke cheering team. This one was led by Laurie from Philadelphia who I had met the day before. Another familiar face and I got a big cheer from someone else who praised my "power walking style".

There were a huge number of groups of Train to End Stroke coaches and staff along the whole route who cheered us along. I barely knew any of them, but they all cheered me on and helped out a great deal.

On the exit ramp, this Train to End Stroke team had written a bunch of participating cities names and messages on the road with chalk. Reading all the messages distracted me enough that I didn't notice the incline of the exit ramp, which was a good thing!

After merging onto the next roadway, which ran alongside Disney MGM Studios, I got another big boost of energy from a spectator. It was someone who had already finished the marathon. His race number was very low (145, I believe it was), so he must have been one of the top runners, and he had come back along the course and was showing his finisher's medal and encouraging everyone along. That really helped me out and I was determined to make it to the end as quickly as I could. I thanked him and continued along.

Mile 22 - 04:42:28

I was back at a decent pace again now. About 13 and a half minutes. As I said earlier, this was roughly the pace that I was hoping to keep to reach my goal of 6 hours, so I was excited that even now, as I was slowing down towards the end of the marathon, I was keeping at that pace. I started trying to calculate how much time was left given my current pace and realized that there was about an hour to go. On one hand, one hour doesn't seem so bad, but given how hard each step was becoming, it was hard to imagine keeping it up for another hour.

It was getting much more difficult to go on at this point. My legs were a little sore, but not too bad, but I was losing energy fast. I had been eating my GU packets every five miles, and also had a granola bar at mile 16, but I guess it wasn't enough. I kept concentrating on people that were going at the pace that I wanted to maintain and struggled on.

Shortly after the beginning of mile 22, we turned right onto a road towards the entrance to Disney MGM Studios. I could see the Tower of Terror looming large now and was looking forward to entering another park. There had been more people along the course inside the parks and more scenery to look at. Any distractions like these were welcome. We soon entered MGM Studios via a side entrance and made our way past the backside of the Indiana Jones show which I had seen the day before. Just past the entrance, they handed out small candy bars. I grabbed 3 of them. They were Nestle Crunch bars, which I love. I bit into the first one and almost spit it out... something was gooey inside. I realized that it was caramel though and took another look at the wrapper: Nestle Crunch with Caramel... mmmmh. I ate all three fairly quickly, hoping for an energy boost from the sugar.

Near the end of this mile, I remember thinking that I had about 4 miles to go. That's about what I walk each day at lunchtime. For the first time, I could visualize how much further I had to go and realized that I could make it.

Mile 23 - 04:56:07

We were still inside MGM Studios at the mile 23 marker. We walked right by the giant sorcerer's hat and then along the street lined with stores towards the front gate. There were a ton of people watching along the side cheering us along and for a few minutes, it wasn't a struggle to keep going.

After leaving MGM Studios, we past through the parking lot and walked along the lake towards the Boardwalk Resort. I knew that Julie and Marie were supposed to be somewhere nearby, so I got excited to see them.

I was lucky to find someone walking at a good pace for me. I stayed about 5 feet behind him and just concentrated on staying with him. I was just watching his feet and trying to stay in time with him. Again, I think this was a mistake, because I was looking down rather than ahead and my neck ended up hurting during the last mile or so. Oh well, now I know better.

Mile 24 - 05:09:48

I passed the mile 24 marker just before turning the corner to the front of the Boardwalk Resort. My pace had slowed, but was still comfortably under 14 minutes per mile, which I would have considered good pre-race.

As I turned the corner, I could see the giant globe of Epcot in the distance. The end was in site! There were people lined all along the boardwalk, and some were yelling out "Only 2 miles to go". After 24.2 miles, there's no such thing as "only" 2 miles! On the other hand, after 24.2 miles, there's no way I was stopping before another 2 miles.

I could see my hotel across the lake and it's probably a good thing that we didn't walk alongside it... I might have been tempted to make a pit stop at my bed :)

Near the end of this mile, we entered the Epcot Center park via a side entrance. At this point, both of my legs were very sore and I was very low on energy.

Mile 25 - 05:23:27

Shortly after the mile 25 marker, we re-entered the World Showcase part of Epcot near England and started the long walk past the rest of the countries, counter-clockwise this time. It was now that I realized that I hadn't seen either Julie or Marie along the Boardwalk. I wondered if they just hadn't made it there yet or whether someone else on the team had run into problems. Hopefully the former.

Just after we entered Epcot, I saw two ladders, one on each side of the path. On top of the ladders were photographers, which I think were taking official pictures. I later heard that there were 4 sets of photographers. I only saw 2 of them and I'm sure the picture(s) of me that these ones took must be pretty bad. I'm guessing I had a pretty impressive grimace on my face at this point.

Both of my legs were a mess at this point. I had to hold back on my speed because when I tried to pick up the pace, the hamstrings in both of my legs felt like they were going to seize up. I really struggled to make it around the World Showcase.

We then headed back to Future World, past the Epcot globe (here's a picture that I had taken the day before) toward the front entrance. We veered off to the right before the entrance this time and cut into the parking lot through a side entrance.

Mile 26 - 05:37:50

I was so glad to see this, the final, mile marker. I was still struggling along with almost no energy. I could hear big cheers from just ahead though which helped spur me along.

Shortly after the mile marker, we turned a corner and I could see a big grandstand that had been setup for the race and was filled with people cheering. This gave me a big boost and I picked up the pace a little. One more corner and there it was! The finish line was about 200 yards ahead of me. I instantly forgot about the pain in my legs and started going faster. I really do think that I could have run across the finish (I never would have believed that a couple of miles before), and people were passing me as they started running, but I had made it this far walking and was determined to finish as a walker.

My parents were near the finish line and said that they yelled out my name and that I turned and looked. I vaguely remember doing this, but I don't think I saw them.

Mile 26.2 - 05:41:00

When I crossed the finish line and heard the beep as it registered the chip in my shoe, I felt a rush of relief come over me and a weight drop off my shoulders. I even forgot to stop the timer on my watch, so the time above is from my chip, not my watch. I finally remembered and stopped it a couple of minutes later :)

After finishing, the first thing to do was stop and stand still as a race official took the chip from my shoe. Standing still is not as easy as it stands after constant walking for almost 6 hours! I had really wedged the chip into my laces as well because I was afraid of losing it. Finally, he got the chip off and it was time to go get my medal. I definitely shed a few tears as the medal was put around my neck. Next, I picked up a banana and Powerade and was given a blanket that looked like it was made from aluminum-foil to keep me warm.

The next step was to retrieve the bag of clothes that I had dropped off pre-race. Unfortunately for me, it was a long walk down to the tent that had my bag. It took quite a bit of time to walk what was probably only an eighth of a mile! I got my bag and then checked in at the Train to End Stroke booth to let them know that I had finished and was okay.

Post-marathon

I caught a bus back to the hotel and went to my room. I saw the cleaning lady working in the next room and hoped that she had just cleaned mine as I was opening the door. Unfortunately, the room was still a mess, so instead of just laying down, I went and sat on the porch to relax until she had finished with the room. It had turned into a beautiful day and I took a picture to commemorate my post-marathon routine. I also took a picture of my finisher's medal.

I spent some time on the porch and then went and laid on the bed and stayed there while the room was cleaned.

Celebration Dinner

My parents came over at 4:30pm and along with Julie and the rest of the team, we caught the bus that took over to Epcot and the post-race celebration dinner. I was walking okay at this point, though slowly. The dinner was a lot of fun and I got nice pictures with my Mom and Dad.

The same stroke survivor who spoke during the pasta dinner spoke again briefly. He finished the full marathon in a great time. I don't remember what it was, but it was very quick!

After the dinner, a group was going over to Pleasure Island (the night-club part of Downtown Disney). I decided that I would rather go to sleep! We walked (more walking!) back to the hotel and got to the room right at 9pm. I could hear the fireworks from the beginning of the Epcot IllumiNations show go off as we entered our room. They were quite loud! I was asleep before the fireworks from the finale and they didn't wake me. I got about 10 hours of sleep after waking up quite a few times overnight.

The Day After

My ankles felt very stiff when I got up on Monday morning. I was limping around. Julie and I met my parents for breakfast at 10am. I had to laugh when I saw all the people limping around the hotel and realized that I must look just like them.

The trip back to Pittsburgh was a little painful. All the walking around the airports was a little too much for me and my ankles were in quite a bit of pain by the time I got home. After a night's sleep, they felt much better though and are back to normal now a few days later. The only problem remaining now is a couple of blisters that didn't bother me during the walk, but have come up since. Not too bad though!

Would I do it again?

On the bus back to the hotel after the marathon, I met a lady who had just finished her 3rd marathon. I told that it was my first and she asked if I would ever do it again. At the time, I had to tell her "NO WAY!". Now just a couple of days later, I think that I will do it again. Tune in again later and we'll see...

Thanks to everyone for their support over the last few months. It's tough to believe that it's over now and that I did it.