Well,
It was nice seeing at least some of the group at the D tents! Alas, time and transportation constraints affected some of our other meetings, grin. For the Kali River Rapids meet, my daughter and I waited from 9:50 to 10:15, holding up a sign saying Disney DRS, while I was asking anyone who was standing around if they were with the Disney Dead (with many strange looks). Next year we need to schedule it a bit longer time after the fun run. Without our loyal captian's experience, my daughter and I were completely soaked.
My goal time for the half marathon was 1:25 to allow me to qualify for the Chicago time group 1. Starting in group A-1, I thought that 1/3 to half way back would be a good place for me to start. I anticipated being slowed down to 6:30 per mile instead of my usual 6:00 or faster start (which is too fast, but I get over enthusiatic sometimes). Alas, even with running on the grass, my first mile time was around 8:20 or so. Not losing hope yet, I increased my pace to 6:15 or faster to try and make up the almost 2 1/2 minutes lost at the start. Alas, having trained at 6:30, I bonked in the middle of the race with all the weaving to get around slower runners who started toward the front of the A-1 group. Feeling lousy, I slowed down to an easy 7:00 or slower pace thinking that I had blown all chances of winning anything in my age group. As it turned out, I was 7th in my age group! Had I not kicked back when I was feeling lousy and losing enthusiasm, I would have at least gone home with an age group award. As a "matter of principle," I did run the last 10th of a mile at a fast sprint (better than 5:00 per mile), just to keep anyone from passing me at the end. Alas, another sign that I had much too much energy left at the end.
The moral of the story is: Just because you have a lousy start, you shouldn't throw in the towel (like I did). Losing over 2 minutes at the start, I wouldn't have made first in my age group, but I would have placed had I just run the pace I trained at for the rest of the race. As I like warm temperatures (and run daily in Atlanta during lunch time), I can't use the warmer temperatures as an excuse.
I ran the marathon the next morning for just a fun run and had a wonderful time posing for all of the characters along the course and stopping for all the snacks, goos, and drinks along the course. I even posed with the Walt Disney Sewage Processing Station behind me (no Disney photo collection is complete without a picture of the sewage processing station!).
Jack Eckles
Atlanta, GA
