Walt Disney World Marathon - RunMarathon

----WARNING: RR is inappropriately long. Sorry. ------

I dreaded today, dreaded this weekend and was certain that it would turn out very ugly. Since a stupid hip injury in July, I haven't been running consistently at all...and my longest run (in July) was 14 miles. I've done a few half marathons...but everything since July has been pitifully slow. Just one week before the race, I ended up doing something with my right arch that had me calling for a ride home after 6 miles. I was CERTAIN I would fail today . . . I was just determined to try and do the best I could give my (lack of) training.

On the way to the site, hubbie kept talking about things like running through the Magic Kingdom with such certainty...like he was sure he'd do it. On the other hand, I was thinking there was a good chance I'd get swept by the Mickey bus before the magic kingdom. Well, I thought I'd make it at least 13 miles, but I was afraid that I might not.

The race started with the usual Mickey Mouse fanfare, fireworks and such. As we were walking to the start, I ditched my 3X tent-sized sweater. This is the last of my really old clothes, and I said out loud, "I hope something like this never fits me again!" I started with about 4 min of solid running, then got into my routine of run/walk.

There was a bit of a bottleneck at the Epcot ball. It seemed that everyone wanted their picture taken under the lit up ball, so hundreds STOPPED to turn around and this jammed up everybody. At mile 7, the sharpie mile marker made me laugh out loud…..It was a craps table! And in what ever direction you looked at the dice, it was a seven-out. I said a little prayer that it wouldn't be a seven-out for me today.

Well, I made it to the Magic Kingdom...and to the half. I was very surprised though, cuz my half time was 2 minutes faster than last years. Hmm.

I ran a lot more last year, but I guess I ran slower. This year, I was running faster, but for only 2 minutes at a time...with 3 min of walking. My 'plan' was 1:30 run/3:30 walk...but I felt so good at first, so I made it 2 min run....this netted me about 15 min/mi.

I saw some of the funniest shirts! My favorite was, "I used to work here, now I RUN the place!" Also like the "beat the bus" that some girl had scrawled on the back of hers.

Around mile 14, things started to get a little ugly. An unknown muscle in my left thigh started whining about a bit...I skipped one of my run "breaks", and then switched to 1:30 runs...this held me for a few more miles. But I starting to feel very, very, very down on myself....and the most magical thing happened. At the exact perfect time, the exact perfect song came on and it changed *everything.* I've heard this song a couple of times, but wouldn't have called it a favorite at all...I'd never really listened to the lyrics, but at THAT moment, the song was written for me. It's Jimmy Eat World's "The middle"

Hey,
Don't write yourself off yet.
It's only in your head....
Just try your best,
Try everything you can.

[Chorus]
It just takes some time,
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride.
Everything, everything will be just fine,
Everything, everything will be alright. (alright)

This song caught me just as I was about to give up, and motivated me in a way I can't describe. I was determined to make it to mile 20 (that's where the sweep bus caught up to me last year.) I was now able to visualize a couple of successful outcomes. Mentally, it helped a great deal that I ran the Minnie Mouse race earlier this year. Since it uses the same course as the last half, I could see myself running the last part since I had done it already. I remembered that day and getting chocked up emotionally when running past disney's boardwalk. I also pictured my husbands face when I finished the 70.3 telling me how proud he was. I just kept playing these images over and over, and it worked!

Back to running. Along the way, I started having some serious cramping on the left side….shooting pain in the hamstring, followed by toe curling. I wasn't able to keep running for 1:30, but I could run for a minute at a time….just keep moving forward and stay ahead of that bus!

Around mile 19, the ball on my left foot was on fire. Too bad I dropped the moleskin I had planned to put in my fanny pack. I did find a big band-aid in medical and stopped to lean by a shady guard-rail to put it on. There were some cops & bus drivers lounging there…they looked at me funny as I headed toward them, and they said I didn't want to linger there…as they were the sag wagon. I put on the band-aid, hurried my shoe back on and took off. I knew I was safe until mile 20…and now I could feel good about my efforts today. I didn't really think I'd make it…..It funny how failure is, it becomes habitual…I was expecting to fail because I had done it before. Somewhere along the way, I overheard a TNT coach telling his folks that they just had to make it to the gate of MGM and you were home free. Everyone around me seemed unconcerned about the buses…except for the coaches. I just kept plugging away. As I approached mile 20, I could see that people were still running through…maybe I can make it too.

Surprise!…there was no-one there telling me I had to stop this time! I was able to run through!! Yay! What I didn't know was that until mile 20, I really was legitimately within the required pace! I arrived exactly one minute earlier than I did last year. That one minute made such a difference. Mile 20 was miserable but at the end of the turn-around they announced "Irene from NJ"…hahaha. Then I picked up a bag of skittles and moving on. I knew I had a teensy cushion cuz I saw so many folks that got let past mile 20 behind me, but I couldn't afford to lose too much time.

Now, I had to make it to mile 21…dig, dig, dig. When I turned the corner and crossed into the gate of MGM, I started getting really chocked up…and it was bad cuz every once in a while, a little sob would escape and then I couldn’t breathe. What helped was there was a sky-writer making a smiley face in the sky. Over the next few minutes, he wrote Jesus next to it and that distracted me from the pain and the emotions. I offered a pray of thanks. At mile 23, I entered the park with a 16:10 overall pace. However, once I know I was home free, I stopped running and my pace dropped over 18 min miles.


The good news was that I made it to MGM and now I would finish. The bad news was that I made it and now I had to walk another 3-4 miles on such tired, tired legs. Thank goodness I hadn't thought of the 'consequences' of making it previously! I don't remember much about the last few miles….except seeing a few people leaning way over, being held up by others. I was slow, but at least I was unaided. I wished I had the energy to run for the photo ops…or to respond more enthusiastically to the fans cheering. On some occasions it was all I could do to 'nod' at the ones that said my name. The Gospel group at mile 26 was a surprise…but I was soo eager to be done, I couldn’t really enjoy it at all.

The last 3 miles were all over 18 min miles and by the end, my final time was 7:20. Thankfully, I kept my own time since Dinsey doesn't seem to publish or acknowledge finishers over the 7 hour mark. I don't care. *I* know I did it!

I was so happy to see the finish! And to have the elusive Mickey Medal put around my neck. My husband had finished over an hour ago and had been waiting at our meeting place. He had been worried for a long time (he told me later, he expected me to get pulled at mile 18)…but as time marched on, he held out hope that I might still be out there running. And yes, he was very, very proud :)

I learned something about myself out there. I am sooo much more amazing than I give myself credit for! Can anything feel better than impressing yourself and exceeding your own expectations?


Train.

Those shirt we though were so ugly the day before...well after finishing, we had to have some!


Unless we get into NYC, we'll be back for the marathon again next year.