In my start corral, I start between the 4:15 and 4:30 pace groups. My plan was to run the first couple of miles at a 9:40 to 10:00 pace and see what my HR was telling me. The race started, fireworks went off, we walked for a little bit and then started running.

Almost immediately, my HR started to climb. I didn't feel like I was working that hard and I finished the first mile at 9:58. Perfect. My HR was a little high but I figured that was prerace jitters and it would settle down.

During the next few miles, my HR didn't come down at all. I still didn't feel like I was working that hard. Going into the race, I had a notion that my HR zones might be off. They are setup based on a 10k I ran in May. However, I don't feel like they are materially off so I went with it. At this point, I was having trouble keeping my HR in zone 2.

At mile 6 things still looked great. I was averaging 10 min miles. I was sweating a lot and started to think that this race would end up like Chicago.

I pulled over to pee at mile 8. At this point, I was starting to get concerned. My HR has skyrocketed to zone 5. Mentally I was still in the game but physically my body was all over the place. I was sweating up a storm. I felt like I was well hydrating despite the heat. People around me didn't seem to be as effected by it. Still, I plugged along.

I saw Ninja and the college funds at mile 12. They lifted my spirits. Jamie noted that I was more wet than everyone else. I commented how hot it was and she replied that it was no hotter than Chicago. This didn't help. I continued on though Animal Kingdom.

Starting around mile 15 my body had had enough of zone 5 for the day and told me I was done. REDUCED TO WALKING. Ouch. My spirits started to sink. Everyone around me seemed to be doing great.

Knowing I would be walking for maybe 10 miles, I really had my doubts of finishing on miles 16 to 19. I was hurting. Even the walkers were passing me. It sucked. All I could do was put on foot in front of the other.

At mile 17, Granola Girl came up behind me. She had done the 1/2 the day before and was now attempting the Goofy. She looked great. We had done our long runs together. "Why was I in such bad shape?" I asked myself. She walked with me for a little bit and then we tried to run together. Within minutes, I was back into zone 5. I stopped running; she kept on. My mind was giving me all sorts of lip: "at the next medical tent, I'm dropping out", "I don't care about the medal. I'm not walking 9 miles.", "This sucks.", "I guess I can't handle the distance", "My training must not be good enough". etc., etc., etc.

At the next medial tent I did not see a sag wagon. I decided I was just going to continue walking until I found a drop bus. With the Disney course, you are out in the middle of nowhere for miles on end. I knew if I stopped, I would be sitting for hours which would be worse than my current condition.

At around mile 20, a spectator told me I was in the home stretch and I could finish. At this point, I told myself that I was going to finish just for the sake of pride. My mind thought of Rutger Beke and Desiree Ficker, who finished 4th and 2nd in Kino 06; Rutger walked the marathon this year and Desiree finished 600th.

In MGM, I tried to chear up and smile at folks. This helped and I tried to run a few steps. No go. So I just kept walking.

Back in Epcot, for the last 2 miles, I probably ran 3/4 of a mile of it. My goal became just to beat my Chicago time (5:43). I ignored the emotional and physical pain and just kept running.

I crossed the finish line at 5:40 on my watch and through my hands up. I truly was glad to be finished with this race.

Just like in Chicago, once I crossed the finish line, the emotion of finally being done came over me and I pulled over to the side to cry. I got my medal, went to bag check and eventually found Ninja.

College Fun #1 was extremely upset that she didn't get to see me finish. Later I found out they got to the finish like at 4:30 race time. They say Granola Girl finish at 5:11 and though I finished early so they left to go look for me. She got 1 update on her phone and though I was going great. Granola Girl told them when she saw me at 17, I didn't look so good and she started to get worried.

I know the drill from here; the next 4 weeks will be about recovery. It's time to focus on Gulf Coast and put this experience behind me. I have no doubt that I can run a sub-4 hour marathon and that I will do great at IMFL. I will try to find a marathon in 2009 and test myself against the distance again.

Race data is as follows:
Miles Pace AHR MHR
1 9:58 167 176
2 9:52 170 178
3 10:04 168 174
4 9:49 173 179
5 10:07 175 178
6 10:13 172 182
7 10:01 176 182
8 10:41 176 183
9 10:12 175 179
10 9:54 187 193
11 10:23 184 190
12 10:10 186 190
13 11:03 184 192
14 11:18 182 186
15 13:45 170 183
16 14:50 155 179
17 14:28 162 179
18 13:57 158 192
19 17:08 146 183
20 13:50 161 181
21 16:58 147 172
22 19:36 139 173
23 19:59 131 143
24 18:26 136 167
25 12:40 164 191
26 13:41 163 192


After talking it through with Ninja and my coach, I think I can draw the following conclusions:

- My training was right on. I was as prepared as I could be and fully tapered.
- It was a little hot and humid but I don't think this was a major contributor. I saw a few shirts of runners that said they trained through sleet and snow to come do the Goofy. They looked great.
- I don't think the sleepless night before was a major contributor.
- Getting a cold and then subsequently taking all that medicine was my undoing. I was doped up like the lead singer of an 80s hair band. Psudephede makes your HR skyrocket and it dehydrates you. Nyquil has antihistamines that also raise your HR and also dehydrates you. Airborne contains Echinacia which also... you get the idea. Although I tried to hydrate, these products probably had me so much in the hole that my muscles thought it was the Saraha.

Disney puts on a great race and it's one of the marathons you should do to check off the list.