... 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
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. :)
