Well I’ve finally had a chance to catch my breath this evening after a great running vacation and then immediately repacking and heading back out on a business trip. What a fun trip Colleen, Maureen and I had to Disneyland! We traveled out on Saturday going right to the expo and buying yet more Disney running stuff that we don’t really need, picking up our race numbers and then heading to dinner at Mimi’s meeting up with all of out dead friends. As always, the encounters are almost as much fun as the race and it was great catching up with old friends. (I tried lighting Stan up again just for old time’s sake but then the manager reminded me we were in the no smoking section which put an end to that nonsense!) At dinner was the Alvero gang, John Bigenwald and Dee, all of the Druckenmillers (minus Mr. D who sat out this trip), Dave and Eileen Lawrence and friends, the King and Queen and of course Julie who did a great job of organization. Thanks Julie!!!

With the 3 hour time difference we had no problem getting to bed early and up early for race morning. Went to the “D” tent and met Andy Tart and Jack Eckles for a brief morning encounter and then headed off to the corrals. I was going to skip any mention of the corrals at all but I’m sure that my good friend John Bigenwald wouldn’t let me get away with that so all I’m going to say is that the early morning espresso was delicious and the girls who served them were top shelf. So after service was stopped and they took away the warm towels the gun went off and we had to get a running. I had high expectations for this race but also a bit of reservation as my legs have been acting up lately and leaving me sore most days. We get going and the plan was to quickly fall into a 6:45 pace (and maybe run a bit of the race with Jack). He and I got separated right off the bat but he was in my line of sight through the first 4 miles. But even though by the third mile I finally hit my pace right from the start it felt like someone had grabbed onto the back of my shirt and was holding me back. From that point on my legs tightened up and running fast got harder and harder. By about 8 miles my pace had slowed to 7:30’s but I managed to stop the slowdown and hold that pace through till the end of the race. To me it seemed like the run through the parks went by very quickly and I didn’t really notice too many of the attractions (although I DID see the hula girls in the street somewhere around mile 5 or 6 :-) The highlight of the course for this boy of summer was running through Angel Stadium, entering in center field and running the warning track, looking up and seeing all the seats from that viewpoint, hearing them call my name on the loudspeaker and then seeing myself solo on the outfield Jumbotron. It was very cool. Finished the race right at 1:37 in 186th place overall, a good 7 minutes off my last half and where I wanted to be, but my legs just wouldn’t cooperate and my right sciatic nerve was screaming by the end and I was glad to be done. Quickly got back to the Grand Californian, showered up and went back out on the course to look for my wife and friends. I waited at the 12.5 mile spot in Downtown Disney and saw Mark Druckenmiller, Wendy Sibley, Eileen Druckenmiller (who stopped to show off her war wounds courtesy of the warning track at the stadium) and then my wife and her sister. Heading back to meet them at the finish I ran into Dave Lawrence and his gang as they were heading back to the hotels.

After the race we headed to California Adventure but didn’t catch that first boat ride with Capt. Alvero as we opted for lunch instead. Later on our ride I just felt for the warmest seat, figuring Stan would still be smoldering and giving off heat. It worked as I stayed bone dry. My sister-in-law however looked as she’d been on that fateful 2nd voyage piloted by Stan. She made us run back to the hotel for dry skiveys after her adventure J Monday morning I went out for an easy run and soon heard my name called out. Dave was out for a nice run as well so we hook up and had another great get together and put in about 5 miles as well. Later in the day at Disneyland we ran into the D’s and the Lawrences again. That wrapped up our first and last trip to Disneyland for running. It was a great trip but a bit too far from Ohio to make an annual ritual the way the Orlando races are for us. Sorry for being long winded.

ORN: A couple of nice easy 6 mile runs this week from Pittsburgh.

Tom Laux

Cincinnati, OH