Breaking 2 Hours, Say What!?

"I did it! I ran three miles. I RAN THREE MILES!!! This was my big running goal... man oh man!!! I'M A RUNNER!!!!!"
~Me, May 2008

What a difference 10 years makes!

There is no use trying to build anticipation in this recap. I can't hold it in. So, spoiler alert: I broke two hours, I broke two hours, I BROKE TWO HOURS!!!

In the four or so days since I ran the RussVegas Half Marathon, my mind has gone back and forth between ecstatic giddiness and total denial. Did I really do that? No, it can't be. Oh wait, I did. I really did!!

Last year when I ran RussVegas for the first time, it was a last minute decision (registering just 5 weeks before the race) but for some reason, I got it in the back of my head that I'd see how things went and maybe try and break 2 hours. It was a goal that followed "just finishing" and then "getting a PR". It wasn't a goal I had ever had before. I'm not sure what my thought process leading up to that made me think to add "break 2" to my list.

I didn't break 2 and when my next half training season arrived later in the summer, again in the back of my head, I thought I'd just tuck that goal away for a possibility. I trained with a break 2 plan "just to see how it worked". I was not at all confident in my ability, and wasn't sure why I wanted it as a goal in the first place. Soaring Wings Half Marathon happened and while I did PR I didn't break 2. But that was the race where I knew with all my heart that I wanted to. It needed to be my number one goal. And I needed to make it known to anyone who would listen.

I registered for RussVegas in February after much consideration. One thing being, how in the world was I going to train for a half marathon while on our cruise vacation?? Seems silly to take that into consideration, but I had to. I had a big goal I wanted to make. If I was just running the race for the experience and didn't care about time, I wouldn't concern myself as much with speed days and long runs while on vacation. The answer to the question, in case anyone is wondering, is lots and lots of laps. Or a treadmill of course. Who wants to run on a treadmill when there's an amazing view to be seen from the track though!?

So from the very start of training, I made it known that my number one goal this time was to break 2 hours. Having people know gave me a lot of accountability. It also terrified me. My heart would skip a beat any time I thought about it. In training, I'd visualize myself crossing the finish line after a big race to cross the line at 1:59:59. My long runs all went well (ok except one. We don't talk about it though. lol ) My speed days were awesome. I can't get enough of those. I was feeling confident and quite prepared by the time race day arrive. Not once had I told myself I couldn't make this goal. There was no doubt, only questioning. I knew a sub-2 was in my future, but I did tell myself that it MIGHT not be this time. I feel like I have to leave that little 1% of realism in the mix so that if it didn't happen I wouldn't be devastated. Which is laughable. OF COURSE I'd be devastated!

Race morning I was so nervous. I tried to tell myself it was just another long run. A long run with some speed work thrown in. No big deal! Ha!! Yeah right. :) I went back and forth on what layers to wear. We went back to our car two separate times for things that were forgotten. Thankfully the car was only two blocks from the start line, but still. I tied and retied my shoes half a dozen times. Anything and everything that I thought could affect my race, I messed with. Maybe I just needed to fidget.
About 7:15 we joined the pack of runners behind the 1:55 pacer. While my number one goal was to break 2 hours, my number 2 sub goal was to get Scott a PR, and my number three sub sub goal, that I knew was pretty unrealistic, was to stick with this guy. Turns out, his method of pacing is to take off pretty fast, and then, it seems, slow a bit in the end to reach the goal. I don't know that for fact, but I know that that I held a pace close to what is needed for a 1:55 finish for quite a while and I lost site of him pretty early on, and I know that based on pictures I have seen, he did get his group across the finish line at 1:55. It's interesting to see different strategies.

As I mentioned, I was holding a pretty fast pace. I kept surprising myself whenever I'd look down. For the first half of the race I felt fairly comfortable. I try not to look at my watch too much, but I kept thinking I'd slowed down too much, but then I'd see that I was still holding steady... at an 8:51 average! Knowing that my watch would likely measure the course longer due to weaving and not cutting corners, I had to compensate my pace for that. Standard calculations say a 9:09min/mile is needed for a 2 hour half marathon. I felt like anything under 9:05 would be good for me, but I was hoping to get it around 9 even. Soooo to see 8:51 and I was almost halfway through the race had me pretty stinking excited. :-D And then things started to feel hard.

It's funny how easily my perspective is swayed. Last year the stretch of course from almost 5 1/2 to a little over 7 miles was so nice. It was one nice long road. It smelled like honeysuckle. It was beautiful and green. It had lightly rolling hills. This year, it was long, all on the same road. There was nothing good to smell. And those lightly rolling hills had grown. By mile 7 I knew I had started to slow. Scott had kept a place a little ways ahead of me almost the whole time. He'd fall back to check on me, but he knows that if he's in front of me, that's the way to push me. I'd see him look over his shoulder now and then. A couple times he'd run backwards. Because, you know, it's that easy right? lol

At about 7 1/2 miles he pulled back to let me know we had dipped into current paces in the mid 9's. I picked it back up and told myself to focus on just a section at a time. This was only the second time I've done this race, but being a very visual person, I remembered a surprising amount about what was ahead. Including exactly where I hit my wall last year. It's hard to not think about that feeling, knowing that area is coming soon. Mile 8 may have been the hardest for me mentally. Looking back at my splits, it shows. Miles 8 and 9 are basically tied for my second "slowest" mile. The wind picked up in this section. There were cows on either side, which meant all the smells that are associated, there was also a short, but decent hill. Because this was where I hit my wall last time, I tried to push extra hard. In this middle section of the race, I was pretty convinced I didn't care to try and break 2 again.
My average paced started to slow and I started to wonder if the 9 minute average I as hoping for would be fast enough. We turned onto the campus of Arkansas Tech and wound our way through many groups of students who had spirit stations set up for spectating. All spectators are amazing, but I think it's pretty cool that these college students do this when they could be studying... or sleeping. :) I found my flow again around mile 10. My pace at this point was fluctuating between 8:57 and 8:59. I just needed to hold it here.
Somewhere in the middle of the course, we had started to pass the runners and walkers that did the early start. It's awesome to see how happy they were when we'd give words of encouragement, that they'd then pass back. At one point, I was among a bunch of ladies and as we passed a walker I heard her say "Wow, the women are really kicking booty today!!" Yes, yes we were. Including anyone who was walking.

I was 11 miles in when I realized that I had not seen the 2 hour pacer. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. That 1% of realism sneaking in I guess. This is the point where I realized as long as I kept moving, I was going to make my goal! Only problem was, the water bottle I was carrying was empty and I was so parched it was distracting. :-O I didn't want to take any time to get water at an aid station because I knew I was cutting things close and the worst hill of the course was coming up, so I played my "Princess" card and asked Scott if he'd be able to catch up to me if I kept going while he filled my bottle. So we go through the aid station, Scott pops off to fill my bottle, and I run through a crowd of volunteers spritzing runners with misty water. It was barely 50 degrees outside, but that mist was incredibly refreshing and so very welcomed!

This aid station leads right to the hill, the train track overpass, that is so steep. Scott caught up as I got to the base. I took a big swig of water and charged up the hill. I made it about 3/4 of the way before I felt like my heart was going to leave my chest. My legs and breathing were fine, fine enough for being a mile from finishing anyway, but my heart was hurting and I really needed it to slow down. I called up to Scott that I was walking for just a second. He turned around and shouted at me to not walk. I hated to disappoint him, but I had to. While walking there was a little boy on the side with a spray bottle. He looked hopeful so I held my arms out and told him to go for it. He smiled so big and went to town. :) It was a short walk, but at this point seconds are precious and I had to pick things up if I wanted to make it. My pace was sitting right around 9:00, but again, I was doubting if this was good enough.

The last mile was my slowest. Which is crazy to me considering my walk was in mile 12, not 13. A majority of mile 13 is on one straight stretch of road, with a gentle incline. Throughout the course there are many inclines. I hesitate to call them hills because for some, they are probably hardly noticeable. I notice them them though. Every. Single. One. The short ones, and definitely the long ones. The ones that go on for blocks and blocks. It felt like this is how mile 13 was. I'd like to drive it sometime and see how it actually is. :) What I did know, was that this was the last stretch, and the next turn I made I would see the finish line. I don't remember seeing a lot on this road. I know it was a busier section of town. I was just so focused on finishing that I wasn't looking around. I do remember, about a block or so from the last turn I saw a man with a medal. I had seen the medal online, and then in person at the expo, but seeing it ON someone was a blast of reality. That was going to be mine!! I congratulated the man, and he told me to keep it up I was almost there.

We made the last turn and Scott was no longer ahead of me. He'd done his job. My own personal pacer. Now we were going to finish this thing together. I looked up and all I saw was the finish line. The clock read 1:58 and some amount of seconds. I felt like we were alone. I didn't see anyone. I heard everything though. Every applause, every shout of encouragement. Those were for me. My finish line kick showed up. Boy, did it show up. I watched the clock turn to 1:59 and tick closer to 2 hours. I knew I had my goal because my chip and watch time were started after the clock, but i NEEDED to beat the clock. I ran harder. I heard the announcers, and realized they were counting down. 10... 9.... 8... They got to five, and somehow I managed to pull from even deeper. I felt like I was going to fall face first over the finish line. At least I would make it though. 3... 2... 1.

1:59:59 I crossed that line.

Chip time: 1:58:50, avg pace 9:04
Garmin: 1:58:51, avg pace 9:01, 13.2 miles
Placement overall: 215/1262
Gender: 61/839
Age group: 11/140

My Garmin tells me I was coming in at a 6:55 pace. I could not contain my smile as I crossed the finish line. I LOVE a good finish line kick, and that kick was AMAZING. I smiled my way to the most precious little girl (a patient at Arkansas Children's Hospital, where race proceeds and fundraising support go) and received my medal. That's when the tears came. Big, happy, sobs. Mixed with a little bit of making sure my breakfast didn't make a return appearance. :-O
I was still in the finisher's area going back and forth between laughing and crying when another runner came up to me and said, "You look like you need a hug! Are you ok?!" I tried to tell her that I was great, but because this complete stranger cared enough to come over to me I started crying again. She hugged me and then said, "You did fantastic. You OWN THIS. You should be so proud" and on and on. When she pulled away I insisted they were happy tears. Scott told her I had just broke 2 hours for the first time. Her eyes opened wide and she exclaimed, "EXCELLENT!" while giving me a fist bump. Her excitement for me was just like a family member or friend would have shown. (Or, at this point, HAVE shown. :-D )

This lady with her caring hug and excited fist bump, the encouragement between runners and walkers, the man with the medal as I was closing in on the finish, the spectators, this is what the running community is about. Age, pace, man or woman, height or weight... none of it matters! We all trained. We are all working hard for the same purpose. It makes me so happy.

Speaking of spectators... I just have to say, no race that I have done has had spectators as good as Soaring Wings. Except this one. Not only were there volunteers at the aid stations who were fantastic, but there were groups of people all along the course. I don't think we went more than a few minutes without seeing at least a couple people. At one point we saw an elderly lady, on her walker all alone, clapping and cheering as if she knew every one who went by. On the complete opposite end of her being a lone spectator, there were multiple sections that had massive groups of people. The whole thing is just so amazing!! It was in these sections with the bigger groups, that I saw a friend and her two kids, who happen to be past students of mine. They were there cheering for their dad, but it was awesome to see familiar faces around the course.

Once the adrenaline rush wore off, the cold set in quickly. We took a few pictures, and started to head back to the car. I kept getting drawn to the finish line chute though. I so badly wanted to stay and cheer and watch people finish. I couldn't get enough. However, shaking from being cold isn't really a good thing, so I forced myself away.

I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out. This was such an awesome experience. And even though mid-race I was seriously thinking I wasn't sure I wanted to try and break 2 again, I'm already considering what more I am capable of doing.
10 years ago I ran three miles for the first time and it wasn't until then that I considered myself a runner. I had no idea what I was capable of at the time. My goal was only to complete a 5k 6 months later.
I once read that a runner will peak 7 years after they started running.... I don't remember what the source was, but I do remember being surprised by the statistic. And of course because I was, and still am learning (one is always learning, right?), I believed it.
I would say I have not peaked yet. The last year has shown me how false it really is. Who decides when a runner peaks anyway? What does it mean to be at my peak? As long as I keep trying, and putting in my best effort, can't I always be at my peak? I don't think it has to mean I've reached the point in my running career where I have gone as fast as I possibly can, and will never get another PR. Maybe this IS it. Maybe the one time I break 2 will be the only time.


On the other hand, maybe not.

Goals are Scary

Two and a half weeks. That's it. In two and a half weeks I'll be celebrating my birthday by going for big break 2 hour goal at the RussVegas Half Marathon. I'm super excited! I'm also terrified. I want it so badly. I've been training so hard. Hard enough that I was even willing to do my runs, speed included, on the track of a cruise ship. 21 total miles- 147 laps. (PR's don't wait for vacation ;) ) I know I'm not the only one to be training while on vacation. I know I'm not the only one to badly want a goal. I also know that anything can happen.

My heart races when I think about the race. I visualize myself crossing the finish line before the clocks turns to 2 hours. I imagine staying with the pacers who will get me there. I only have to take off a minute and 36 seconds from my best half marathon time. But of course there's doubt.

I know I can do this. I CAN do this!

But I. Am. Terrified.

Break 2, here I come!!

Just Keep Swimming at the Walt Disney World Marathon

I'm just going to go ahead and say, right here at the start, you can have a spectacular training season, but that doesn't mean race day will be just as spectacular. Except, it still can be.

... Do you see how much sense that made? No. Because it doesn't make sense. How could my training go so well, but then race day arrives and I struggle from the very start. Mile 1. ONE! And then just like that, a few hours later it was not all forgotten, but maybe things weren't so bad after all.

This was not the race I expected.

Let me back up. I'll attempt to make some sense.

When I first started training back at the beginning of August, I was actually training for the Soaring Wings Half Marathon and didn't know I would be doing this marathon. I was following a break two hour plan, despite a sub 2 not being my initial goal. It wasn't until the end of September that I committed to the marathon. The break 2 plan has speed work every week. I'd done speed work before. Sort of. But this was a whole new level. It was challenging. It was hard. Many times I'd finish in tears or wanting to be sick. I. Love. It. So when I registered for the Walt Disney World Marathon I found a plan that had speed work included. However, I had no plans to make this a fast race. No PR intended. I wanted to keep the speed work because I got a crazy thrill out of it, and I wanted to maintain some semblance of speed so that after recovering from the race it wouldn't take too long to get it back. I don't know if that's how it works. I've never been a runner that cared about speed that much. lol
Anyhow, so Soaring Wings came and went and before I knew it I was in the thick of marathon training. Mid week runs were going great and I was feeling mostly good about my long runs on the weekends. Most of them I ran about half the distance, and then at that point I would walk for a minute or so at each mile until the end. Even with the walking, my times were putting me in a place where I could potentially PR, but it was not at all my goal. I actually fully planned on the race taking over 5 hours. My friend Jenny signed up to do the marathon a week or two after I did and we planned to run it together. Only, she had not been running as much, and with just over three months, and little to no base, we figured we would do what we could on race day and very likely do intervals for however many miles necessary to finish happy and injury free.

In the couple days leading up to the race Jenny and I were talking about race goals. She said she had three staggered goals. A good goal, a great goal, and an amazing goal. I have done similar in the past, but I like having exciting words rather than "goal one, sub goal 2, etc". Jenny's Good Goal was breaking 5 hours, which would be a PR for her. The Great was hitting 4:30, and Amazing was anything under 4:30. Mine were slightly different. My Good was anything faster than our marathon time from last year, which was about 5:15 or so. My Great was anything under 5. I really wanted to get Jenny her PR! And my Amazing was a PR for myself which would be anything under 4:50. My expectations were noticeably different. Even though my training was telling me I could do it, I was definitely worried about Jenny. I didn't want to push things and have her end up with an injury. Then there's the crowd factor. Over 20,000 participants were at the marathon. We were in Coral E. From my experience last year I knew how full the course would be. And of course, there's just doubt, period. Could I really do it? I just didn't want to count on keeping a pace fast enough to PR knowing all that. However, Jenny's confidence can be infectious. :)

For the second year in a row, it was a cold start on race morning. Though, not as cold as when I did this race last year. We had a 3am wake up call, which gave us time to get ready, arrive at Epcot, sit in the warmth of the car to do final adjustments and still do all the walking that is involved to get from the car to our corral. It's about a mile or so from the security check point to the corrals! I don't want to get technical or anything, but that makes my total mileage over 27, and doesn't even include the walk to and from the car or other walking after the race before going to the car.... That's A LOT of miles!!

Corrals were a little different this year. Last year there were something like 17 corrals. This year there were 9. Within each corral mini waves still happened, so I'm not sure why they cut the number of corrals. I had seen on social media some concerns over the new system. Having done both ways now, my only complaint would be that with fewer corrals there is a much wider range of paces in each one. And with no designated place for each pace or estimated finish time to be, there's potential for faster paced runners to be "stuck" behind a slower pace. I want to make it VERY clear that I don't think being faster makes me (or anyone else) better than another. Everyone is out there and it's a huge accomplishment no matter if you run the fastest or walk the whole thing. But, it does complicate things.

My proof of time had me placed in corral C. Since Jenny had not done a race, the time she submitted was from last year's marathon, which placed her in E. Runners can move back corrals, but not forward. We noticed there were pacers in the corral. They were not official pacers for RunDisney. Knowing our typical pace, and also the goals Jenny had in mind, we moved towards the front of our corral. We found ourselves somewhere in front of the unofficial 5:15 pacer, but behind the 5:00. Runners are supposed to be in their corrals by 5am, so we did have some standing around to do. We stayed warm not freezing with our layers of sweatshirts, snuggies, hand warmers, and body heat from everyone around us. Time passed fairly quickly for me. Just before 5:30 the wheel chair wave was sent off. Every couple minutes after that a new wave began with fireworks. Every 5 or so minutes our group moved closer to the start line. It wasn't more than 20-25 minutes before we were at the front waving at Mickey, Donald, and Goofy!

As mentioned before, I struggled for various reasons from the start. The last couple months I've been dealing with an ache that I can't explain in my calf. It takes anywhere from one to three miles to work out. Unfortunately, the race was one of those three mile times. Those three miles passed quickly, but I was in a mentally frustrated rut. I knew the ache would go away, but I was worried it would not. The first few miles were also still dark and pretty quiet. Two of the character stops I expected to see were not there, and due to road closures there aren't really any spectators. We did pass the 5:00 pacer early on so that was encouraging. About mile 4 we went through the transportation and ticket center and that was the first big crowd we came across. And a band too! It was a perfect pick me up. Knowing what was coming in the next couple miles certainly helps. I don't have any pictures from the first half of the race, but Jenny and I spectated at the half marathon on Saturday and I got basically the same stuff then that I would have gotten at our race. Only, they are better because I wasn't moving. :)

There was a course change from last year to this year. Last year we ran down World Drive until we were in front of Space Mountain and then made a hairpin turn to make our way back towards what I assume is a cast member parking lot and side entrance onto Main Street USA. This year we turned much sooner and entered Magic Kingdom from the front at the guest entrance. I LOVED this change!! Although, I did miss not seeing Space Mountain closer up. :)
I had told a few people that I was going to try and go live on Facebook while running into Magic Kingdom. I probably should have practiced or something beforehand because it didn't go as smoothly as I hoped, but it was still fun. You just can't help smiling, okay, and in my case crying at least a little, going through here! Three RunDisney races and this is still one of the very best parts of the course. Since we spectated on Saturday I got to experience the other side of the rope and I'd say the same thing about the course. It's just so amazing. Hundreds of people are cheering for people they don't know. As a runner, watching the half marathoners go by not only pumped me up for my race, but also reminded me of all the reasons I love running.

Leaving Main Street, we went into Tomorrowland, then took a loop through Fantasyland before getting back to Cinderella's castle, a little run through Adventureland and then through a back lot, and shortly past the 6 mile mark we had left Magic Kingdom. Overall, it's about one mile full of cast members and character stops from the entrance to the back lot. :-D

The next 6 or so miles were, for me, pretty quiet and focused. I didn't see many characters to distract me. I could have missed a couple, but I also know it's a pretty empty stretch. There are a couple DJ's that were doing a wonderful job of keeping the excitement going. This is the stretch where I started hurting. It was pretty early considering the amount of miles we had left and it frustrated me. Mentally I knew I would finish. There was no doubt about that. I was even pretty confident that I could break 5 hours. However, I was not confident I could keep going without starting intervals. Jenny was keeping us at a steady pace. In the excitement at the beginning of the race I forgot to start my watch properly so I didn't really know our time. Every mile marker has a clock, but it was too much work for me to figure out our time based on when the clocks started versus when we started. So I just went along with Jenny. A couple times she would say we were holding a good pace of about 10:30 or so. Way back in the back of my head I knew that was a PR pace for me. But it wouldn't come to the front. I was happy with it, of course, but as the miles went by, the more pain I was in. I kept waiting for Jenny to tell me she was ready to start intervals. Somewhere around mile 12, I think, we were talking and I told her I knew I could do at least 2 or 3 more miles without intervals. Maybe more, but I'd see later.

Between 12 and 13 miles we get into Animal Kingdom. There's a section in here where they have live animals along the side of the road. Knowing we were about to be inside the park where I knew there would be park guests cheering helped get me through the end of this long stretch. Also, just past the Tree of Life we hit the half way mark, and that made me super happy! :) Last year I missed seeing Expedition Everest. For some reason, I have no idea why, this was important to me. It's silly how much I wanted to make sure I saw it. So I asked Jenny about it and she says, "It's right there!" All I had to do was look up. I was so focused on looking down, making sure I didn't stumble over my own feet, or the slightly uneven path, that I didn't realize there was a mountain directly in front of me. lol
The time we spent in the main part of Animal Kingdom was a little short of a mile, as best I can tell. It's a fun time in there, but it passes too quickly!

Miles 14 1/2-ish to almost 18, feel MUCH longer than 3 miles. It's a long stretch of road for most of it. Also, in these miles we have one of the two big hills on the course. There had been little ones up to this point. Little ones that I had not really noticed last year, but felt every part of this year.
16 miles in and I was still waiting for the intervals to start. That's about when I told Jenny I was going to have to start my own intervals. Thinking back, I know I would have still done intervals in those last 10 miles, but I remembered that sometime in the 15th mile I had to pull over and actually sit down to get stuff out of my shoes. I can't help but wonder if that sit down, even though I tried to make it as fast as possible, impacted how I felt at least some.
When I got up I was running faster to catch up to Jenny, and it just happened to be on that hill I mentioned. Up to this point, I had done very fast walks through the water stops. I have yet to master the art of drinking from a cup while running without choking. :) The walks were just long enough to grab the water (with a thank you, of course!) take a couple gulps and then toss the cup. So I'm not counting those as walk breaks. ;) When I finally caught up to Jenny, after fixing my shoes, she had just started a walk to let me catch up. She told me she didn't think intervals would be a good idea for her because the walking made her knees hurt more. I so badly wanted to stay with her the whole time, but the pain I was in was making it really difficult to keep going. There were more than a couple times when I felt my leg give a little, like it was about to give out completely. I wanted to finish the race. I did not want to fall down, possibly injuring other runners in the process. So I made the decision to keep the intervals. I didn't have any structure to what I was doing. I would run with Jenny until I felt like I wasn't moving anymore, and then pull off to the side and walk. My goal was to not let Jenny out of my site before I'd start running again. Which is difficult on this crowded course. I'd run a bit faster to catch up and then match pace with her again. And that was my cycle for the next few miles. In this cycle for a good 5-6 miles I played leap frog with the 4:45 pacer and his group. They were doing short intervals. By the time we got to ESPN we were ahead enough that we weren't getting caught in the group anymore.

According to Jenny we were still holding a steady pace. It still wasn't hitting me what that meant. We talked about how we just had to make it to ESPN Wide World of Sports because once we got through that, it was just a 10k left in the race. A 10k is nothing, right!?
I like the part of the course through ESPN. There are many turns. It's a lovely break from the long road. We get about 2 miles in there and while we are there we get to see Minnie when we first get in, the Goofy on the track, and a short bit later Mickey and Donald are hanging out on a corner. Before leaving we run around the inside of a baseball stadium. Just before going onto the field Sadness and Joy from Inside Out are there. (I feel like that's extremely appropriate timing and I wonder if that's a strategic placement. :) ) The stadium is also were we hit Mile 20! I had a walk as I passed the 18 mile marker, and I don't think I walked again for over a mile. But then I walked 2 times close together and a third time before getting into the stadium. It was past the 20 mile marker before I caught back up to Jenny.
6.2 more miles...

20 to 21 1/2 or so is going back the way we came, so we passed people who were about to enter ESPN. Ordinarily I'd love to be cheering on people as I pass them on an out and back section of any course. I'm disappointed that I was so distracted with trying to focus on putting one step in front of the other, that I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I was also mentally preparing for the second large hill. The hill that is an onramp to an overpass where I know a Toy Story soldier always is. The hill where if he sees you walking, he will tell you to get down and do push ups. I did NOT want to walk on this hill. Except, I really did. So badly. Jenny doesn't remember seeing the soldier. But I do. We were an arms reach from him. I kept my eyes forward and pushed up the hill. As we past him though, I did not go unnoticed. See, my Dory inspired tutu was large. Way bigger than I cared for, to be honest. So the soldier says, no, shouts, "You're wearing a tutu? Who wears a tutu to a race? Where do you think you are, the ballet??" So I throw my arms in the air ballerina style and pretend to dance. But only for a second. It was long enough to get a laugh from a man behind me. :) This was probably a highlight of the race for me. Getting yelled at by a soldier. But I had a fun distraction and made someone laugh in the process. I hope it was a nice distraction for him as well.

After the soldier incident my focus was on getting to Hollywood Studios. It was only a mile. Trying to stay in the moment, in the mile, is something I tried really hard to do in the last few miles especially. Jenny and I ran through Hollywood Studios together. It's a short section, only about half a mile or so, but it's one of my favorites. By this point in the day the parks are definitely open. The street we run on through Hollywood Studios is PACKED with spectators... guests... I wonder if they knew the marathon was going on when they decided to go to the park that day?

Once we are through Hollywood Studios there's less than three miles to go. In those three miles, my intervals got closer together. I spent most of mile 24 being ok with the fact that I couldn't catch up to Jenny. I knew I'd break 5 hours, and that meant she would also. And not only that but she'd have a PR. I was happy with that, and only slightly bummed that it didn't seem like we would be able to finish together. I wanted to, of course, but I did not want to hold her back and with her not walking, and me walking more often, I didn't see how. Mentally I was still doing great. Through the awful pain I was excited that I'd meet sub goal #2- my "Great Goal".

The section between Hollywood Studios and the Boardwalk is on a wide sidewalk along a beautiful lake. I love running along water. I hardly noticed it this time. As we neared the Boardwalk by the Dolphin Resort I caught up to Jenny. Because she had slowed to a walk to find me. I told her she needed to keep going because I was walking quite a lot. She said no. So I tried to keep running. Around this time is when the 4:45 pacer group caught up to us. We heard them right behind us when the pacer called out it was time to walk. Jenny said NOPE and we picked it up just a little. At some point the did pass back by. I'm not aware of it happening, I had to check with Jenny. We were in front of the Beach Club Resort when I walked again, not even half a mile later. Jenny walked with me. I was adamantly telling her to go on because she shouldn't walk and she was adamantly tell me no. I had one of my running panic attacks here. I hate these things so much. What starts off as a little emotion, whether it's happy or sad, or frustration, quickly turns into tears, which even quicker turn into all out panic because I can't breathe. It comes almost out of nowhere and I have a hard time controlling it. I tried again to tell Jenny to go on. She said no, again. I asked her what our total time was. I don't remember the time she said, but I remember her saying I would PR. I just needed to go. I still didn't fully believe her, but I pulled myself together, resolved to run to the end. It was only a mile and a half.

I made it maybe a quarter a mile before I walked again, and then another maybe half mile when I was just overwhelmed with happiness. I saw all the guests still cheering us on. I realized how close we really were. But because I was crying AGAIN, I couldn't breathe AGAIN. And because that happened with less than a mile left in the race I then got angry. I hated that I was holding Jenny back. I hated that I could not make myself run. I just about had it under control again when a very sweet cast member called out, "Are you doing ok Dory??" Wearing Dory inspired ears and tutu was fun, but not as obvious as other costumes at the race. Last year throughout the course I was cheered on as Mrs Incredible. It was fantastic! This year, this cast member at mile 25 1/2 was the first person to acknowledge who "I was". I'm such a sap and it made me feel special. So of course it made me weep a little. lol I tried to say I was ok, but Jenny smiled and very encouragingly said, "She's great!" :) I wanted to be great. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to finish with a smile on my face. 3/4 of a mile to go...

In Mexico I practically begged Jenny for a 10 second walk. I felt like I was going to fall over. It may have been a mental thing. I don't know. I internally battled with myself before asking. We walked and I counted out loud. Jenny sacrificed a lot to finish with me. I needed her to know I really meant just 10 seconds.

We started back up and I refused to walk again. I knew there was only about a half mile left. A quarter mile to Spaceship Earth. A tenth of a mile to the Hallelujah Chorus. Round a corner, and there it is.

The finish line!! OH HAPPY DAY!!

My normal kick that always surprises me did not show up. I tried to force it. I think I picked it up a bit. Jenny and I crossed together right after she made a tiny detour to high five Chip or Dale. :) I knew we had PR'd. I didn't know what the time was though. It didn't matter. I believed Jenny when she said we had it. We collapsed into a side hug and more tears flowed.
We got our AMAZING medals and started walking towards heat blankets and food, but I was looking at my phone which was blowing up with texts from family and friends (being the best support team ever even from 1000 miles away!) and when I looked up Jenny had gone another direction towards the medical area. I followed unsure of what was happening. We sat on a bench next to another couple and someone came over to put ice on Jenny's knee. I was still crying. Crying from pain, from SO much happiness, from relief over being done, from the texts I was receiving. A volunteer asked what I would like and I tried to tell her I was just there waiting for Jenny. Jenny knew what I needed all day, more than I knew myself and told the lady that I did need some ice. The guy next to me said, "Listen to her. It's so good." I laughed and said ok. The lady asked me where I needed it. I didn't even know. I hurt all over and I was so cold. I couldn't imagine adding ice to anything. Jenny told her I needed it on both my calves. This is the first time I've ever been wrapped with ice. I hate cold. I could never imagine wanting to put a bag of freezing water on me. And yet, I can't imagine a better feeling than that moment. It was so good.

It was much later in the reunion area while Jenny and I stretched that I asked her what our finish time was. According to her watch, which happened to match exactly with our chip time, we finished in 4:41:31. That's TEN minutes off my previous best. I was shocked! I'm so incredibly thankful for Jenny's persistent attitude and constant belief, even if I kept my doubts quiet, that we would PR.
We walked over and got in line to have pictures with Mickey and possibly other characters. The lines varied and we were told the Mickey line was about 30 minutes. It was still warming up and we were pretty cold, but decided it would be worth it. It didn't actually take that long, or if it did time passed quickly. After Mickey, we noticed that the line for Minnie was really short so we decided to go there as well, but on the way over we saw the line for Goofy had almost no one. All these stops, really are worth it. It may seem silly. It's not. :) The way they interact with each person makes it feel like you are the only one around. I love it!

I feel like this isn't the happy and exciting race recap that should come with a Disney race. But if I'm being completely honest, that's because that's not the kind of race I had. There were times it was, of course. I hope I made those abundantly clear. But purposeful or not PR's are going to hurt. If I've learned nothing in my last year of training and multiple PR's, that is the biggest truth. Thinking back on it now, the fact that my shoes have over 600 miles on them had a lot to do with the extra pain I had. There are so many things that could have affected how I felt. In the end, I can forget all of that and just thoroughly enjoy the the result of the hard work.

I set a new record for my full marathon. And it happened at Walt Disney World. :)