Official race report

Thursday night (Jan 4) I never fell asleep. I was so nervous about waking up at 3AM for our flight that I couldn’t sleep. I figured I would sleep on the plane. That didn’t work either. By the end of the flight I wasn’t sure if I would be able to walk off the plane, my buttock and leg pain was so bad. A man wearing a Boston Marathon jacket sat in front of us and said, “you must be running this weekend, too”. I stood there fighting back tears of pain and said, “oh, yes”. I felt insane, I wasn’t sure I could walk. We arrived at POFQ around 1PM and our room was ready- Yeah! After freshening up we went to the Expo to pick up our packets. I had a migraine by that point and found it difficult to walk all the way to the building and up and down the stairs… “I’m going to run a half marathon tomorrow?????” I still hadn’t committed to Goofy.

BUT, I was registered as a Goofy, so they put the orange bracelet on my wrist and my bibs said “Goofy”. Now I felt like a poser. It was looking more and more like I was going to have to have to make it to the start line on Sunday. We made it back to the resort by 3:30PM. I wanted so much to join the WISH meet, but by that point I hadn’t slept since Thursday 6AM and I felt really sick so the thought of taking two buses to get to Pop was just too much, plus we’d arrive very late. I really regret not making it to the meet.

Our half plan was to walk over at 5AM. I set our wakeup for 4AM and we were both ready to go by 4:40. We sat in the room until about 4:56 and decided to head out. We hit the lobby with about a dozen other runners. As we exited the other side, men in yellow shirts were yelling at us “hurry, get on that bus, it’s the last but to the race, RUN!”. One runner said, “we’re walking over” and the yellow shirt said, “I can’t let you do that, you have to get on that bus if you want to make it to the race”. I looked at Paul and shrugged and we ran towards the bus.

I met Anne, Judy and a couple of other’s who I can’t remember names, now (I’m SO SORRY)! It was soooooo great to see WISHers!

We got to the staging area after they had called our waves (I was in A and Paul was in B and we both were going to run B). We didn’t realize we could start walking to the chorals and by the time we did, we were behind a giant line of Cs. They started playing the Star Spangle Banner before we were anywhere near our choral. When it was finished, I started being aggressive, pushing my way through people, apologizing profusely and saying “we missed our wave”. I heard my name and turned to see Kristi! We exchanged good lucks and Paul and I continued to push through the crowds. We squeazed in to a spot big enough for one in the B group right as they started the countdown. This was Paul’s first race other than the little home-town 5K we did in May. He looked at me and said, “wasn’t that the start? How come we’re not moving?” I laughed and said it will take a few minutes.

We jogged at about a 14mm for the first few miles. Paul kept refusing fluids and I was getting worried. At one stop I said, “if you pass out I’m just going to step over you” which brought quite a few laughs from runners around us. I think it was mile 4 or 5 that he finally grabbed a cup and choked and coughed and snapped at me “that’s why I don’t drink”. I forgot drinking while walking/running is a learned skill. About a 100 yards after the Contemp. Hill I said, “keep going, I need to slow down”. I was very hot and feeling a bit queasy. He said he’d slow down, too but I insisted, “No! go on, I’m going to walk for a while”. So he did.

The Magic Kingdom was awesome! Seeing the WISH scream team on Main street absolutely made the race for me. I heard many screams for “Sunny” that brought gushing of tears. I caught a glance of Paul leaving the Magic Kingdom and that’s the last I saw of him until the W tent. I walked pretty much the rest of the way with little jogs here and there. I had the great opportunity to meet up with several WISHers during the way back. It was so exciting to see a WISH shirt up ahead and make it my goal to catch up to say hi. The heat/humidity was brutal. I felt much more worried about the heat than my legs holding up.

I finished 3:06 chip time. I was too queasy to eat the muffin, but I did take the banana and oranges. I got in line for my photo and then caught up with Paul at the W tent. He finished 2:48 chip time, so he had been standing a long time waiting. I saw a group of WISHers about 100 yards away, but I didn’t go over. I had neglected to tell Paul about taping his nipples (I feel a bit guilty, but then again, I learned about chub rub the hard way myself!). His shirt was bloody and he was self conscious so we just headed for the bus. Again, I truly regret the opportunity to meeting up with my best buddies in the world.

Payback:
As I told you all before, Paul didn’t train for this. He went on thee runs 6, 8, 10 miles all before Thanksgiving. He outraced me by 18 minutes… BUT he didn’t heed any of my stellar post-race advice. I wanted to stretch so he showered first. After stretching, I made several trips to the ice machine with my gallon-sized zip lock bags to recreate my own “Iceman” soak. (I rememberd from last year that Disney’s “cold” water is luke warm at best). I downed a slim fast which was really hard to do because I was so queasy, took my Tylenol and soaked in true ice water. By the time I got out, Paul was sound asleep. I was way too revved up to sleep so I grabbed my cell phone and book and headed to the pool area to talk and read. Here’s the payback: I had NO stiffness or soreness. I mean NONE! Paul could hardly walk for two days! (I don’t mean to gloat and be mean, but anyone who can run a half marathon without trying deserves some sort of payback!).

Nothing appealed to me for dinner. I orderd a Cobb salad. Duh! I never eat vegetables or high-fiber food before races or LRs. I ate a few bites and didn’t want it. I decided to get a sundae at Gharidellis instead. I ate a couple of bites and couldn’t eat that, either. Now I knew I must have a touch of heat sickness—nothing stops be from eating ice cream. I didn’t end up carb-loading or even eating adequately before the full. We were back to the room by 8PM and I did my pre-race setup, including a wakeup for 3:15AM. I was in bed by 9PM. Here’s the great part. I still hadn’t committed myself to the full, I was going to decide when I woke up. As a result, my ridiculous nervousness didn’t keep me awake! In fact, when the phone rang, I thought I was at home and wondered who would be calling me at that time of the night. I woke up, grabbed the phone and a wave of fear, dread, indecision swept through me. Am I going to do it? I didn’t decide, but I got up and started the pre-race ritual. Paul walked me to the 4AM bus. He has been totally against me doing the full ever since my spine issues began. He finally said, “I understand now, why you have to do this, just be careful and stop if if you have to.” I assured him I would.

The Mindset
I couldn’t task the IC with the full race, I just couldn’t. So I went through different goals: beat as many sweeps as I could, or make it through as many parks as I could (there are 5 since Epcot counts twice), or just take each mile as a victory unto itself. The first WISHer I saw when I got off the bus was Dave. TG for WISH shirts! (I didn’t wear my WISH shirt for the full because I thought the material was too heavy, but I regret that now). We then found Wendy and after walking through the baggage tents met up with the team at large. Oh I’m so happy I saw you all! I’m not sure I said a personal “hello” to each and every WISHER there and I apologize if I didn’t. It was a bit hectic and I didn’t have my glasses on so you were all a bit blurry! I split from the group to find water to take a gel and then met back up with Rhonda and Cam. Rhonda gave me two salt packets and instructed me to take one at the start and one at mile 17, “don’t forget”. Thank you, so much, Rhonda! Cam and Rhonda were shocked that I ripped the packet open and downed it in one gulp. After I did it I was surprised, too. I said, “that was probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done” (a few miles later I learned differently). I got into Choral B. I was scared to death. I breathed. I prayed. I finalized my goal: as many parks as I can manage. I decided to jog ~14mm as far as I could and accumulate “roll over minutes” for when the heat and miles intensified at the end. The race started and for about 2 miles massive waves of runners passed me as I waddled. (My choral placement was based on my last year’s 4:33 finish). I saw Dave and Melissa pass me somewhere between 1-2. I don’t know if it was a Disney glitch or Powerade wasn’t planned for a few miles of stops, but here’s where my next most disgusting thing happened. I traveled light, no ‘ade on my body. After a couple of stops with nothing but water I was getting scared. It was hot and I was drenched in sweat and no electrolytes were coming in… I actually licked my arms! (Remember, what’s said on the boards, stays on the boards). In fact, by the time the race was done I was amused at how horrendously disgusting things get after we have spent weeks of being germ-phobic. At the combo stops, I was taking 2-3 ‘ade cups and 2-3 water cups and not feeling sloshed.

Goals:
Somewhere around mile 4-5 the LSD runner kicked in. I forgot about parks, sweeps, pace, miles. I listened to my music with one goal: the next foot fall. And then the next, and then the next… For me, that’s the way to run. I re-thought the slogan of one of my cafepress shirts. It says, “26.2: a state of mind”, I smiled and thought, it’s really “26.2 a mindless state”. Speaking of shirt slogans. I saw one that overwhelmed me. It said, “Marathon: The triumph of desire over reason”. That one line could really be my whole race report. Every ounce of reason in my being told me I didn’t belong there. But desire trumped reason!

Magic Kingdom was wonderful (again). I saw WISH scream teams and screamed out “WISH”, but many had no idea who I was because this time I was wearing a white shirt, black shorts and not one spec of lime green on my body. Some WISH ST looked a bit disoriented, like “I thought I was the spectator and you’re the runner?!”. Oh well. Next time, it’s WISH shirts for all races. The WISH support over the entire race was phenomenal. I can’t say enough of how proud and happy I am to be a member of this incredible team. You guys rock!

In addition to taking in a lot of ‘ade and water, I was downing my gels at a good clip. At the banana stop I took a banana piece that was almost half a banana. After that, I started to have some major digestive problems. I made 3 very lengthy potty stops which really upset me because they were eating up all my “roll over” minutes that I worked so hard to acquire in the beginning. The port-a-potties were out of Purell by then. I had little “moist wipe” packets which took more time to open and use and didn’t give me much reassurance. Yuck.

I made it to Animal Kingdom! Two parks down! By this point I was mostly walking with some short jogs. I made it to mile 19 before I started using my “roll over” minutes; which I defined as miles slower than 15 minutes. I think it was outside of Animal Kingdom that I saw Anne again. She was so great! She loaded me up with encouragement and ran briefly with me. Promptly at mile 17 I pulled out my salt packet and downed it in one gulp with water. This time it didn’t faze me. Thank you again, Rhonda!

The Switchback
Actually, the switchback wasn’t as bad this time psychologically because I knew what to expect. But this time I was bitten relentlessly by those little bugs. I actually had to stop several times to scratch my ankles because I couldn’t take it. I was scratching wildly and looking around me; no one else was scratching. Why me? I saw Wendy blow past me with a rock-steady pace. I called out but she was tuned into music. Lilly and I passed going opposite directions. No time to chat, but it looked like her IT was hurting. That caused me to take time to start praying for all the WISHers on the course. I started with Lilly and ended with me. I was starting to feel pretty lousy in the heat. My feet were getting pretty soar and my legs were quite fatigue but no sharp pain anywhere. When I saw Wendy I wanted to try to match her pace, but I couldn’t.

I made it to MGM. I really didn’t want to be doing this anymore. I was totally miserable. I was starting to get a bit scared, wondering if I would know the warning signs of heat stroke because I was having intermittent chills and very, very queasy. I kept doing the math, “ok, at this point I can do 20+ minute miles if I have to”, but that really wasn’t any consolation because that just meant more minutes in the heat. I felt so sick. Once through MGM, the only thing that was keeping me going was knowing the strong WISH support that was up ahead on the Boardwalk. I managed to assume a jogging form (I think) as I passed the WISH support. I cried as I saw them. Someone asked, “how are you feeling, Sunny?” and I yelled out “AWFULL”! which brought about many spectator laughs followed by encouragement.

The Fifth Park:
Entering World Showcase this late in the race was actually nice because there were spectators along the course. I could see what the runners around me looked like, so I can imagine what I looked like. The encouragement shouted from the sidelines and the hi-5s were so genuine. I felt like these people were our life-line, fusing into us everything they could to get us to the finish. By mile 23 I knew I should stop. I knew I was at the point of breaking many, many promises to “be safe”. BUT, I was also 36 miles into this STUPID race (that was the word that came to mind at the time), how could I not go 3 more? By this time my back hurt in a bad way, my feet were beyond pain, I felt confused and I was scared. I kept telling myself, “you can do three miles under any conditions, c’mon, do this, you have to”. At mile 24 I did the math again. I had 45 minutes left to make it 2.2 miles and finish officially (chip time), I had a few more minutes to finish and get my medals but not certificates due to my choral start. I cried and cried and cried. I wanted out so badly. There was no way out. I guess the IC is still around after all. If I had hit this kind of agony before the half-way point, I definitely would have kept my promise and not risked my health, but surely even if I collapsed my family would understand at mile 24 you can’t quit.

Mile 25
Ok, little problem with the spectators at this point. I hit the 25 mile mark and people are screaming “only one mile to go”. NO, THAT IS NOT TRUE! There is one mile POINT TWO. It counts; don’t give me a false sense of hope here. Once I finally reached less than one mile, I resumed a jog form (at least I think my body did something like that). I was going to jog it in, then hit the medical tent. I was so sick. I turned the corner and that glorious Gospel Choir was singing “God is good, all the time”. Oh no! There was no controlling the tears at that point. My Dad is a pastor and he says to his congregation every Sunday “God is Good!” at which they reply “All the time”. This was a miracle. This meant something big. I cried uncontrollably (as I am doing right now). I hit the stretch were the finish line is in site. I did it! A year of hell is behind me. I’m not an invalid. I haven’t lost all that I worked so hard for. I waved for the cameras. I don’t recall what the clock said, but my chip time was 6:51:36. I made it through the chip removal and over to the refreshments but there was no way I could eat anything. I didn’t want to drink either but I knew I had to. I took two orange segments, forced them down and one powerade and drank half. I went to the Goofy tent and got my medal. I didn’t really care. I bypassed the line for photos and headed straight for the bus. I looked over and saw Howard sitting on the ground about 100 yards away near the W tent. He was sitting with someone in a WISH shirt but I couldn’t see who it was. I wanted so badly to go over and say hi and recount the race and have fun… but I was so sick, I had to get to the bus as fast as possible. Since I wasn’t wearing any WISH attire or lime green I figured if he did see me he wouldn’t recognize me and wouldn’t think I was blowing off the WISH team. I was so disappointed I didn’t have it in me to meet up with everyone.

Post Goofy Recovery
I had intended to call Paul as soon as I could. I knew he would be worrying and I knew the live tracking wasn’t working all that well this year. But I couldn’t muster enough strength to reach into my fanny pack and retrieve my phone. Turns out he did get the messages. He was shocked I returned so quickly. He said, “I thought you’d hang out with your friends for a while”. I replied, “I’m okay, but I’m sick. I need your help. Fill as many zip lock bags with ice as you can.”. I went in the room and stretched as much as I could force myself. Then forced down a slim fast, took two Tylenol. He dumped the ice in the tub. I was already shivering uncontrollably, I didn’t know how I could get in there, but my legs won out. I soaked for 20 minutes. Paul turned the heat up to maximum for me. I put on all the clothes I could (I didn’t bring hardly anything and nothing for cold weather). I got under the covers and Paul wrapped himself around me to share as much body heat as possible. I shivered uncontrollably what seemed like forever. I was really beginning to wonder if I was too sick for self-help. Paul finally had to escape the heat. I finally settled down and slept for about 3 hours in the room which was probably about 90 degrees, in layers of clothes under the blankets.

But when I got up I was in good shape! All except my two second toes. But nothing band aids and Neosporin couldn’t fix. We headed to DTD for dinner and the post-race free admin. to Pleasure Island. I still couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites, but I drank a bunch of water. I felt much better, just digestive problems. We walked around a bunch and then hit the clubs and actually danced for a long time at Mannequin. I felt great! We got back to POFQ at 11:50 and I was starving, but all that was still open was the bakery so I got a brownie. Turned out I couldn’t eat it.

Monday we got up early for our flight. I was starving and ordered us a huge breakfast at the food court, but I still couldn’t eat! In fact, I wasn’t able to eat until late Monday. I guess it was heat sickness. The good news is I returned from a trip to WDW 5 lbs lighter than when I left! That’s definitely a first!!!!!

Along with my regret of not getting to spend time with the WISH team. I really regret not having ONE photo of me with my Goofy medal.

But I don’t regret the races, not one bit!