….in which I finally detail Steve’s first marathon at Disney…..

Before I start – I owe an apology to all those 5 fans who read this blog….including Steve. Since the Disney 1/2, I’ve run a grand total of 6 miles.  Yup – barely an 8K. The pain in my foot has nagged me and beaten me down a bit and I’ve avoided blogging. But – that is for the next blog post. Right now – I’m documenting the last day of our Disney Marathon weekend…..

After the 1/2 on Saturday, we all crashed for a little bit in our hotel rooms. Then the plan was to get over to Downtown Disney in search of toys and food and back to the rooms pretty early.

Getting out the door to the buses proved a bit challenging to me – the foot was aching even after an hour or so of icing. So in order to get things put together, I sat on the end of one of the beds and barked orders at the kids. Or as Steve put it – I “held court”. Overall the kids were rather affable about the whole thing and were very willing to help out. (Maybe cause they knew that a trip to the LEGO store was on the line….)  We finally got it all together and I managed to hobble out to the bus stop.

Downtown Disney is one of our family’s favorite places in Orlando.  We often meet up with friends and family there to grab a bite and not have to pay the prices to enter the parks. I’m pretty sure the kids occasionally think that Downtown IS the real Disney….such is the life of a Floridian. We got to explore a new restaurant there and checked out Wolfgang Puck’s Express in order for Steve to carb load. The plate of pasta he had was bigger than his head. The rest of us were rather relaxed and reliving the moments of our races from earlier in the day (kids included as they had run in the kids races).  Then we managed to get the kids in and out of the LEGO store rather quickly and with minimal damage to our wallets.

The key to that night was getting everyone (read: kids) settled down while helping get Steve prepped. I kept telling him to focus on him while I battled over excited kids. We did manage to get to bed at a decent hour….and Steve got great sleep – till he woke up at 12 or so and thought it was 2.  I do think he managed some more sleep though before the 3am alarms started ringing. I felt bad that his send off party was just me – but it did seem silly to get everyone else up to see him off.  And I quickly hit the hay again after he left.

My morning started again at about 6am….as I was getting the kids up and moving, I tried calling the front desk for late check out.  Unfortunately every other runner had already called to do the same and we were out of luck for getting that option. And thus began our morning….and our daughter told Aunt Stacia that “Mommy’s in crisis mode!”  Actually I was concerned about how fast I could move (the foot hurt a lot) and how quickly Steve would finish so we could get him back for a shower before we checked out.

Thus, the kids and Stacia and Rob and I started getting everything packed up and organized. We were getting texts that Steve was going faster than we anticipated….which would have been good for getting a shower – not so good for us getting over to him if we didn’t run just as fast. We decided to pack everything in the car and pack clean clothes for Steve separately. Managed to get it all sorted out and hobbled on down to breakfast. I did check at the front desk and discovered that Steve could shower at the pool if necessary.

The bus trip over to the finish line was a lot shorter than Steve and the kids had experienced trying to get to the end of the 1/2 on Saturday. The best part of it for me was watching the kids have such fun with their aunt and uncle.

And then the hilarious part … Stacia was watching out the window as we made our way to the Epcot area for the start/finish of the race. She was explaining to my daughter that it looked a lot like where we had started the race yesterday.

I said, “Well it should – it is the same place.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes it is – we ended the race near where we were dropped off by the buses.”

LOL. From the height of the bus, and the daylight that was absent when we had made our way to the start line the previous day, Stacia finally figured out that they didn’t actually move the bag drop off location….but the drop off and meet up and finish area were all the same thing.  (Gotta love chances to laugh at your baby sister!)

We did have a lot of waiting around for Steve….ventured into the merchandise tent (You are not at Disney if there is not a store within 30 feet)….wandered….and then finally made our way to the spectators area next to the finish line. We couldn’t find any seats but stood on the sidelines while the kids sat on the ground.  We weren’t sure exactly how far off Steve’s time was from clock time….so we started looking carefully when we guessed he was likely to finish.  He had been on track for a 3:45 time or so…..he finally crossed in 3:55:37!  WOO HOO Steve!  Of course with all the crowds and the roar of the past 26.2 miles still echoing in his head….he didn’t hear us.  Stacia managed to run down the fence and catch his attention….but barely.

I have to admit I was a bit worried when I saw him cross. He wasn’t limping or anything….but his whole body read “weary”.  And I wasn’t sure he was actually aware of his surroundings.  But then again – remember I’m an expert worrier.

We finally caught up with him after he got his medal and post-race food.  We got him to a bench quickly and tried not to hug him too much (he was pretty smelly after all!).  I think he was happy with his time….but at that moment, Steve just seemed happy to be done. He had been worried he was going out too fast too soon. But he really managed to keep up a decent pace for awhile. While he didn’t use the words “boink” or “wall” – mile 18 and on were a bit of a struggle.  Later when I was looking at his Garmin results – he lamented some of his slowest paces….I lost sympathy when I realized his slowest were still faster than my fastest!  🙂   But he was moving better than I had been…..and he was rather quick to perk up….

No matter that he met his goal of under 4 hours but not his “real” goal of 3:45 or so…..no matter that he struggled a bit in the final miles…..he did it – my hubby has run a whole marathon – in one morning. He’s got the medal and the t-shirt to prove it.

We did get back in time for Steve to shower in our room….whew!  And he actually looked a lot better then. 🙂  For an hour or so  we all hung around outside at the resort – enjoying the sunshine and asking Steve questions about the race. The funny signs, the course route, the candy stop that he passed by cause chocolate didn’t seem like a good idea…..the kegs of beer they ran past in Epcot!   (We also learned during this that Rob had no recollection of any of the sights along the 1/2….he and Stacia are WELL suited to one another!)  We also kept saying “Congrats” to the runners who would walk by – still in running clothes, sporting medals.  The ones with Goofy medals on would clank past us – leaving us shaking our heads….running a 1/2 and then a full in two days??!  Wow.

But as we watched them walk by – we started to make plans for Disney Marathon weekend 2013!!  Steve’s actually considering the Goofy….???  And he tried to talk Rob into it…..We didn’t actually firm anything up – but we all talked about the possibilities and the best options for all of us – and for keeping an eye on the kids!

We finished off the day with a big meal at IHOP and then a bit of shopping at a local outlet mall. When we made our way back to the cars (me still hobbling)….Stacia and Rob were going to drive over to see Stacia’s best friend from high school.  I could not stop hugging her goodbye….and actually sobbed when we finally got in the car to go.

That weekend was amazing…..such fun to be with Stacia and Rob….to spend time with the kids and watch them with their aunt and uncle…..to manage to accomplish what we set out to do so many months prior. One of the best ways to start the new year…..running together as family and being there for each other…..I’m thinking we were right to start planning for next year already!

The biggest fear I had about running a 1/2 marathon was not being able to finish. Yet once we got to Disney and started picking up race packets and such – I never really gave it another thought. I was getting that darn medal for finishing.

Truth be told, my biggest fear (as usual) was speed. My sister, who is a very good runner, kept telling me pre-race that she was expecting me to run the last mile in 10:30.  Ack. I wasn’t sure she realized just how slow I can be….so I tried to psych myself up to getting some strength to keep up a better pace than usual.

One of the first things I need to learn better about races is how to get sleep the night before. I tossed and turned from 10pm till 3am (wake up call). I’m not sure I got quite 3 hours of sleep in there….and I could feel it at one point on the course. Early mornings are not actually much of a problem for me – particularly as I was so excited and eager to get my medal to get the race started. In fact I think we (Rob, Stacia, and I) were all excited – Rob especially after we found the Disney food court open at our resort and fully stocked with coffee. Steve took pictures of us all and admitted later being a little envious. (Of course he needed to get more sleep as the marathon was still 24 hours away.)

The number of people waiting for buses to the race start was a bit overwhelming to me. While I’m sure the whole resort was not there for marathon weekend, it certainly was clear just how popular the Disney races are. The number of Goofy bibs we saw was also surprising and we liked joking with a few of the people wearing them.

The Goofy is when you pay and purposefully sign up to run the 1/2 marathon on Saturday and then the full marathon on Sunday. You get a medal for completing each race – and then an additional Goofy medal – for basically mastering the insanity of running 39.3 miles across two mornings. After the race on Sunday, you could always tell the Goofy runners as they would be wearing two medals (Mickey and Goofy) and would be clanking their way along.  Three medals, three t-shirts, one weekend – I’m pretty sure I would have renamed it after a different Disney character:  Dopey!

The hardest part of the Disney race is getting from the buses to the start corral – as it seems as if you walk around all four parks to get there.  The start/finish is essentially a section of the Epcot parking lot (and yes, Stacia, they are in the same location! – see Disney Part I). Any non-runners can come with you – but once you go to check your bags, it’s runners only. I suppose a few brave souls could stick around – especially if they have a VERY fast runner to cheer for. But there seemed to be few of those around.

Ah – bag check. So we knew it would be cold at 4 in the morning. And any clothing you want to wear pre-race and then shed gets picked up and donated by Disney. Last year Steve ran the 1/2 and he just bought some sweats at Wal-Mart. This year Stacia happened upon sweats for her and I at Target – on sale for $2 each.  Hello!  Great deal.  Problem though?  They were COMFY!  So we debated the whole “these are awesome sweats that we want to keep” vs “it’s wiser to stay warm before the race”.  Comfort won out – long term comfort that is.  We checked our bag of cell phone, extra snacks, and comfy sweatshirts (we hadn’t needed the pants).  Yes, this could be seen as silly. And yes it could be seen as … well silly. Although frankly the cold wasn’t as bad as it could have been. (I’m typing this days later mind you.)

Next up – port-a-potty line. I only mention this because I never have used a port-a-potty before. Never. And while everyone complained about them – the lines were incredibly long. So awful but necessary. I was stunned that there was no light inside. Nor were there any hidden Mickeys inside – come on Disney! But I have now used a port-a-potty. Or in other words – I’ve learned to hold my breath above water.

Moving on…you do move on. A giant cattle call to the start corrals. We were at least moving and keeping generally warm. And my anxiety would shoot up (and thus bloodflow and warmth) every time Rob would say, “The papers say you have to be in the corral by 5am. We’re not going to get there in 5 more minutes….they’re not going to let us run!”  I’m not sure if he was seriously worried – but the crowds behind us seemed to suggest that Disney was not about to enforce that ….I hoped.

I’m not sure what time I had predicted on my entry form – but I thought it was 2:50 – which got me placed in corral E. Stacia and Rob were assigned D – you can move back but not up. So we said goodbye to Rob at the split and Stacia came to start in E along with me.

On a related side note, I didn’t realize till after the race that Stacia probably could have run the 1/2 in about 2:15.  I guess I had never really thought about her pace and her potential time. I just kept telling her I was slow and kept worrying about that. As she is my sister, Stacia might point out that makes me selfish….I like to think it’s just that I was worried about the abstract not the specific. Either way – I will always be grateful that she ran her first 1/2 with me. She totally could rock a new PR in the 1/2 easily….her willingness to not meet some time goal means so much to me. I truly don’t know that I would have made it in under 3 hours if it weren’t for her.

Waiting is the worse….but eventually the corrals started moving forward…..we cheered on the wheelchair start (man they are fast!), the elites, and corrals A-D. (We cheered on Rob – I’m so sure he heard us.) By the time Stacia and I got near the start line, I was pumped. We had spent much of our time talking to this nice lady whose husband was up in corral B. But once the gun and the fireworks sounded, it was all about Stacia and I….and avoiding all the people around us.

People will tell you that Disney is challenging because of the number of people running. Thousands of people. It’s hard at points to get yourself to pace just because there are so many bodies in one place….and some of the paths get a little narrow. (Like running down Main Street in Magic Kingdom – so cool but 1/2 the road is roped off and it gets tight in terms of elbow room.)  Steve had said that last year he felt like it took 2 miles to get himself up to pace.

Amazingly – we didn’t seem to have that much difficulty getting into our pace early on. In fact, the first 5K was my best 5K time ever. Something like 34 mins.  We were doing 11:15 miles or so for the first several miles. And I felt good. I was high-fiving all the cheerleaders (tons of people on the sidelines – including high school bands and cheerleaders) and thanking people. And I didn’t lose Stacia. (Although yes, I might not have always paid attention to when there were slow people in front of her….my apologies again!)

Overall – the good feeling lasted about 6 miles or so. I remember hitting 5 miles in about an hour – which was good for me. And was a goal I had. But somewhere around 7 or 8 miles, I started feeling off my pace – largely cause my Nike+ app was off from all the official race mile markers. Now – I love my Nike+ app – but I have no idea how it got so off during the race. I had worn Steve’s Garmin when I did my longest run in training (11 miles) in order to calibrate it. And at that time it was only off by about .32 miles.  Not bad at all.  So I am a little confused.  But the difference in mileage (which was about .7 miles!) started to throw me off in my calculations and my feeling good.

Overall, I think I could have finished stronger and shaken off the app issue…..until around mile 10. I took a funny step…and bam – my right foot did something funky. I could still run and walk but there was pain all over the top of my foot. The last three miles were bad…lots of walking (but my sister kept telling me it was okay). However Stacia made me run the last mile and anytime I tried to walk (3x) – she’d grab my hand and start pulling me. Rather than  start a sister fight in the middle of Epcot – I picked up the pace.  Thanks Stacia – I needed that.

Overall – good start to the race….moderately okay middle of the race…..and just unhappy with the last few miles. Stupid foot. But given that I already have plans to do better at DIsney next year….you could say that it clearly was a great experience.

Things I’ll never forget:

• Running through Cinderella’s castle
• Stacia grabbing me to drag me along those last bits of Epcot.  (Man her hands were cold, but she is an awesome sister.)
• Crossing the finish together with our hands up
• Getting that medal (I almost took my foot over to the medical tent – but I opted for the medal instead – good call)
• Not happy about the water stops – only cause the road was SOAKED by the time we got there….so afraid I’d slip and fall….which, if you ask my sister, was quite likely. Thankfully it never happened.
• Stacia’s surprise that it was mile 8 as she had missed the mile 7 sign.
• Wanting to jump over the cones and not actually run all the way down to the Christmas tree in Epcot…..but I didn’t.
• Getting that medal and crying – although briefly.
• Discussing Powerade flavors. I swear that lemon-lime tastes like piss. Stacia says that since I’ve never actually tasted piss, I can’t say that.  Younger sisters….
• But seriously – why do they only serve lemon-lime at the races?
• Hitting about mile 10 and realizing that I will indeed finish despite the pain.
• Seeing some of the elite runners run past us – nearing the finish as we were starting.  We cheered loudly for them.
• Looking down from the overpass near the end and seeing that I was clearly not in last place.
• Finishing.  Side by side with my sister. And thinking that next year, we’ll be coming in faster.  Together.

I have run a 1/2 marathon. I have run a 1/2 marathon and I finished it.  All in the same day – heck the same morning!

And now I can sport the new magnet on the back of my car.  (Thanks sis!)  Steve has one on his car – but that one says, “26.2”.

Whenever I run, even in the midst of races, I’m often thinking about writing and how to best describe what is going on around me. So I have had a zillion thoughts about the Disney 1/2 since this weekend. But I realize that you all probably don’t want me to share my every thought with you. (A long time ago I met a person who described in great detail every single tenth of a mile of that first marathon….I will spare you such details and boredom.)

And to be honest, while I will never forget it – parts of this weekend are rather blurry.  So I’ll just start with a bunch of categories of “stuff” to share:

Math – running by the numbers

• I discovered that my brain can not process simple math problems while running. When we hit mile marker 8, my sister said “Wow!  We’re at 8 – I never saw 7! We’re so close.” My response? “What plus 8 is 13?”  And I had no idea the answer. Yet I’ve probably asked this question of my kids during homework at least 13 times. I’m going to chalk up my inability to add to that extra .1 mile.
• Speaking of adding – I’m quite afraid to get our Discover card bill for the weekend. Food prices at Disney are …..well, it’s called Disney World, not Discount World.
• 13.1 miles apparently meant that I burned approximately 1800 calories – according to my Nike+ on my iPod. If you look at my eating habits since then – I apparently can’t distinguish between 1800 and 18000.  But oh my scale can add….
• Speaking of Nike+, it’s math was all off too. By the time I crossed the finish, the iPod was telling me that I had run 14.65 miles. Zoinks!!  I know I don’t always run the tangents, but clearly it was way off. So off that it was interfering with my ability to accurately gauge my pace and my distance. Time to save up for a Garmin, I suppose.

Notable quotables – aka things my sister said along the way

• My sister, Stacia, decided to not wear the compression sleeves she had purchased. After at least an hour of waiting in the cold and several miles of running,  she realized that her fingers were cold and that the lack of sleeves had been a poor decision.  Her comment?  “Well – insight is 20/20.”  And the more you think about it – the more true that statement is.
• At one point in the race my foot started to hurt. Not plantar pain – but due to a funny step I took that still aches. I proceeded to curse a bit and then count my curses out loud. In real life I don’t curse that much but my brain was toast, my foot hurt, and I was totally out of sorts.  My sister’s comment:  “Shh… this is a FAMILY race.”
• Later I mentioned that I hoped my foot wasn’t broken, but it would make a great blog story – about running the last 3 or so miles on a broken foot. My sister’s comment: “Your blog doesn’t need that much drama in it.”
• A quick glance to my right at about mile 9 made me almost stop in my tracks. Two runners side by side, one female and one male. The male was wearing a running skirt and pink (and I mean PINK) compression socks. When I shot a look at my sister, she simply said, “That’s one for the blog.”
• We took the bus to meet my husband, Steve, at the end of the marathon on Sunday. The meet up is near the finish line which is also where the bag check is and where runners for both races start the walk to the start corrals. In the light of day while looking out the bus window, Stacia came to a startling revelation. “Hey, this looks like where we started…..oh man this is where we started.  Wait, we finished in the same place we started? I had no clue. I thought they moved all the bags and the bag check.”  Have I mentioned that she’s blonde? Sometimes it shows…

The waiting game

• Disney races start at 5:30am. Which meant a 3am alarm and catching a bus at 3:30 or so. Which then meant waiting in line for a bus, then waiting for the bus to get there,  then waiting in line for the port-a-potty. Then walking to the start corrals, and then waiting around for your corral to go.  All in the cold.
• I’m not good at waiting. Nor am I good at dancing. Stacia filled the time in the corral with patience and dancing. Though I should point out that she has very little patience for me sometimes….especially when I’m dancing.
• Our kids were really really patient all weekend. They had to do an awful lot of waiting….and they were really good about it all. Hence the other charges on the Discover card – at the LEGO store.
• My brother-in-law, Rob, is a very patient fellow. (He’s married to my sis for one thing!) He finished an hour before my sister and I did…and Steve and the kids were stuck on a bus for longer than expected. So he did a lot of waiting after his race. Thanks Rob – for putting up with all of us.

Important things to keep in mind if you ever run Disney

• Definitely make sure you carry some money in your running shorts or fuel belt. As it turned out, the $5 bill I had tucked in my fuel belt was exactly what I needed to get two coffees for me and for Rob. You can always bump into an opportunity to spent money at Disney – especially for food.
• Don’t panic about the port-a-potties. That is, don’t assume there aren’t more ahead of you. We saw some guys run off into the woods as we walked to the corrals.  Not 50 yards later – there were another set of port-a-potties ahead. Of course, some people might prefer the woods….
• On a related note – this was my first ever port-a-potty experience. Yes, seriously. I’d lived 41 years without using one. Let me tell you – I can go another 41 years thank you very much. You’d think that Disney could spruce up port-a-potties somehow. But apparently that’s not a frontier they are willing to tackle with their imagineers.
• Definitely request late check out BEFORE the day you check out. Normal check out is at 11am. We were told we could request a 1pm check out that morning…which would have been helpful given Steve’s marathon. However, everyone else had requested earlier than us and we were out of luck….Thankfully Steve finished in time to shower before 11 thus he escaped having to resort to using the pool showers.
• If you bring kids with you to the races – two things to know.  First the kids races are AWESOME!  Definitely a fun time for everyone. And well done. Second be sure that at least one of your party has the legs to keep up with the kids. Either stagger your races or bring along a non-running party to keep up with them. (Preferably someone who is capable of running along with them – or at least not hobbling.)
• Definitely sign up for the text messaging about runners. It works so well – we’d get text updates on pace, predicted total pace, and predicted finish time. Very very helpful in getting to the finish line on time to meet your runner.

Next up in Part II……some thoughts about actually RUNNING 13.1 miles at Disney…..