Walt Disney World Marathon - RunMarathon

First and only marathon last April was 4:26:55. Based on my training I was hoping for something sub 4, but knew weather would play a factor. Temperature at start was low 40's. Perfect racing weather!!

I arrived at the start and entered my corral about 30 minutes ahead of time. 10 minutes before the start I jumped the fence and headed for the woods for one last bathroom break. I got back to the corral just before the National Anthem and countdown to the start, which featured fireworks.

My race plan was 9's for the first 18-20 miles and then figure it out from there. So off we went. The start was crowded and my first mile was 9:58. I figured I could make this up a little over the next 3 miles. Miles 1 & 2 did a loop around the outside of Epcot with nothing really spectacular, but I enjoyed running in the darkness of the morning. Mile 2 was 9:07 and Mile 3 was 8:30ish. Mile 3 brought us through Epcot in the dark. All I can say was it was awesome! Epcot was lit up like a Christmas Tree - both literally and figuratively. I am sure no other race can top that.

After Mile 3 we left Epcot and took some of the main roads towards the Magic Kingdom. At this point, I discarded my my long sleave shirt and popped on my I-Pod headphones. Miles 4 - 8 were all between 8:15 - 8:37. I knew I was going a little too fast, but I didn't feel like I was working very hard. Somewhere in these miles, someone turned the lights on and it was daytime. Mile 8 brought us to the Magic Kingdom parking lot where I turned off the I-pod to soak in my surroundings. I also took some Powerade for the first time in the race.

Right before the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, we hit Mile 10 at 1:27.22 on my watch. This was about 2 1/2 minutes ahead of pace, but I felt great. My girls were waiting for me on Main Street USA in Disney and I soon as I turned the corner up Main Street I saw them. I gave them both a high 5 and continued on through Cinderella's Castle. Upon leaving the castle, I smiled nicely for the photographer and gave him a big thumbs up. I hope they got that picture.

We left the park around Mile 11 and headed down some back road towards Animal Kingdom. Once again, I turned on the I-pod for support. Miles 11 - 15 were actually quite nice. It was like running down back country roads in the early morning, with a little fog hanging over the scenery. I hit the half marathon point at 1:53.45. I was still feeling great and started to do some math in my head. I figured if I could keep up this pace I could go sub 3:50, which I didn't even have in mind at the start of the race. I even slightly toyed with the notion that I could go sub 3:45, but I knew this was probably out of the question.

Somewhere around Mile 14, I grabbed half a banana and an orange. Both hit the spot. I also started taking advantage of most water stops at this point mixing water with powerade at every other stop. These water stops were the first time I did any walking in the race race. After Mile 15, nature was calling so I pulled over to the side of the road to get rid of any excess water weight. I quickly jumped into the crowd and before I knew it I bumped into my friend who I saw before the race. He was planning on going for 3:45 and was quite surprised to see me. He was about 2 minutes off his goal pace and I was about 5-10 minutes ahead of mine. To this point, I was still right on 8:30 - 8:45 miles, even with water stops.

I turned off my music and ran with my friend through Animal Kingdom and took a gel somewhere around Mile 16. We chatted through the park, but I felt like I might be slowing him up a bit and told him to run his own race. We seperated, but I had him in my sights for most of the race. Leaving Animal Kingdom around Mile 18, I started running with a group that included someone dressed as SpiderMan. That was fun as people we passed in the crowds were continuously singing the SpiderMan theme song. We were judging everyone's renditions - good and bad. After that, back to the I-Pod.

I think Mile 18 or 19 was 8:05. I don't know what happened, but I started running besides a 'cute' women in a bright yellow top and we were passing people left and right. Actually I know what happened and why I was running besides her. Anyway, we would split and both pass a group of people and meet on the other side. It seemed our water stops were pretty much in sync too. We ran beside each other for about 4 miles (all in low 8's) and never said a word to each other until around Mile 21 where we saw a man in a ditch doing #2. That I have never seen before - right there beside the race course. It was not a pleasant site. Well we were both looking at the 'train wreck' and managed to bump into each other. We both said sorry and commented how you don't see that every day. Right before MGM (Mile 22) I decided I needed to slow up the pace and she dropped me. It was a beautiful relationship while it lasted. ;)

Arriving at MGM, I removed my headphones for good. I was also finally starting to feel the real effects of the race. That being said, I did pass "Miss Bright Yellow Shirt" at some point inside MGM. I also hit the 5k left point and wondered when it would all be over. My mind was starting to do tricks and I had a hard time calculating my projected pace. I couldn't figure if I was still on pace for sub 3:50 or sub 4:00.

I remember leaving MGM and waving to Pocohontas and Jasmin when my world came tumbling down. The run through the hotel boardwalks was brutal. I even gave in and walked a little. At one point a medical volunteer asked if I was ok. The one nice thing is Disney puts your name on your race number and the crowd could tell I was in trouble and kept giving me words of encouragement. "Miss Bright Yellow Shirt" passed me for a final time.

We entered Epcot just before Mile 25 and I could hear the announcer saying we were almost done. I think Mile 25 was close to 10 minutes, however I couldn't find the marker. It seemed like I ran 3 miles inside Epcot before seeing that Mile 25 marker. Knowing I was almost there helped. I also knew that my girls were waiting for me towards the backside of Epcot. I saw them with about a half mile to go and I could barely wave. All I could do was throw them the gloves I had been carrying since Mile 18. If they got any pictures of me at that point, I am sure I looked like death (my brother in law confirmed this fact later in the day).

When I got the the Epcot Ball, I could hear the finish line. Once I left the park and saw the finish I found a second wind and sprinted towards the clock. I heard them call my name just before I crossed the line. I tried to smile for the finish picture but it was no use. I was spent.

Upon crossing the finish, I hit stop on my watch - 3:48:34 (chip time). I was a bit out of sorts, but I still had a true runner's high.

WOW - a PR by a long shot! I could not have imagined this time. I can't wait until next year!


Nothing......much better than expected.

Walked through the finish area while a couple of Medical people asked me if I needed help. I was a littled dazed and confused for a while. One volunteer said I looked very shaky and could use some ice. No real warm down as any extreme movements would have resulted in muscle cramps.



Nothing - I think I ran an almost perfect race for my ability.


Course, race, volunteers, water stations were perfect! Absolutely great race. Most mile markers had there own music and inspirational message, which I enjoyed.

I am doing Goofy next year!

(more race day pictures are available in my photo album. I will post actual race pictures when I receive them)

Time to figure out what race I am doing next..........Gasparilla maybe???