Wow! A lot of fun!
Lucky for me I am normally an early riser, otherwise two consecutive days of getting up before 4:00 am might have been a problem. After a strong cup of tea I was wide awake and ready to go. My biggest concern at this point was how to dress. I had laid out my Bucks County Road Runner singlet and shorts the night before, even though I knew that the temperature at the start would be in the 30's.
I caught the monorail to Epcot around 4:00 am. I noticed some porta-potties with no lines just past the station and made a quick stop. It was a good thing, because after the bag-check I entered the "runners only" staging area where the lines were 30 or more deep. By 5:00 am I had checked my sweats and was shivering in my throw-away t-shirt and trash bag. It was COLD and we still had an hour until the start. From the staging area, I followed the mass of runners for nearly a mile walk to the starting gates. Along the way I saw people trying to stay warm by huddling around the exhaust of the generators for the portable spotlights. I was starting to regret my decision to dress light!
At the gates, I found some more porta-potties with short lines... lucky me! Somehow I ended up assigned to Gate A with the fast guys. I guess that Disney doesn't attract a real strong field. Anyway, I was hoping that would allow me to get out to a good start without getting too boxed in. I had heard that the course was a bit tight right after the start as it passes through Epcot. In fact, this year they split the start into to two groups to ease the congestion. The two groups started at the same time, but ran different courses for the first three miles before merging back together.
Other than being cold, waiting for the start wasn't too bad; there were nice people, some good loud music, and a huge video screen where they showed, among other things, one of my favorite scenes from the movie Caddy Shack.... "So I got that goin' for me... which is nice."
I planned on trying to stay with the 3:10 pace team as long as I could. I looked around once I was in the gate and spotted the balloons about 30 yards behind me. I thought about working my way back but decided to just go out at a decent pace and then try to stay with the pace team if they caught me.... If. Yeah, I know it sounds stupid now....
The start was right on time at 6:00 am. I had to do a bit of weaving through the crowd to keep a decent pace but it wasn't that bad. We were on a two- or three-lane access road outside of Epcot so there was some room to maneuver. I hit the first mile at around a 7:20 pace by my watch. As we entered Epcot, I was in the clear and was able to pick up the pace quite a bit. After about three miles I felt warm enough to ditch my throw-away shirt and was very comfortable, temperature-wise, for the rest of the run. There were a lot of whiners along the way crying about the cold.... Southerners, I guess. I came across some poor soul around mile 12 who was scrounging for other runners' throw away gloves. By that time, the sun was up and I was thinking that the conditions were perfect.
The course overall was almost completely flat with the occasional gentle slope of an overpass to cross. There were a couple of long stretches on access roads where the crowd support was light or non-existent and the scenery wasn't much to look at or too dark to see. But, running through the theme parks was a complete blast. What a boost to come out of a back alley onto Main Street in the Magic Kingdom to a large screaming crowd and then run down to and through Cinderella's castle. Wow!
We went from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom, past the resorts, through the Animal Kingdom and MGM, past more resorts and back to the finish in Epcot. There were also a lot of Disney characters out on various points of the course. My favorite were the green plastic soldiers from Toy Story who yelled at me with a bullhorn: "You will not break stride, soldier!" I also got a kick out of giving a high-five to Goofy in the Magic Kingdom.
I felt really strong for most of the race, even after 15 miles when my pace slowed a bit. I think that I felt so good in part because I kept eating through the whole race. Unlike the other two marathons that I've run, there were four or five food stops along the way with gels, bananas, and grapefruit (and Hershey Kisses, which was a little strange). The handouts along with the gel that I carried with me, kept me pretty well fueled. Oh, all the volunteers at the food and water stops were great also!
In the end, I crashed a little bit around mile 25 when the 3:10 pace guy (there was no team left that I could see) finally passed me. It was a bit of a mental let down. Funny, considering my plan in the starting gate. I tried for a few strides to stay with him but ended up slowing down even more. That was my slowest mile, by far.
After the race my family and I had the best vacation ever in the Disney Parks. By the way, the food at the Disney resorts and parks is great. This is probably the only place where you can run a marathon and still gain weight by the end of the day!
T. B.(Holland, PA)
