I read many, many race reports about this and other marathons and the common thread among those that bonked was that they didn't stick to the "plan". Almost always this led to disaster. My job was to stick to our plan...the "Upright and Ambulatory" Plan. We had NO time goals and to finish healthy was our only focus...that was my job to get us BOTH there. It worked perfectly.

Miles 1-10 went by easily and we were using a run/walk split of 4/1. The weather was nice and cool but not cold. At about mile 12 we picked up a 3rd to our party (Cathy) who was having some ITB issues and wanted to run/walk with someone...this worked out GREAT. This allowed us to keep a focus on something besides ourselves and our pain and was a very positive distraction. We went to 3/1 about mile 14 and maintained that through mile 18. Mile 19 was tough for the good Dr. and Cathy so I dropped the pace to 2/1 for a while so that Cathy could ease up a bit and Dr. GH could deal with some GI issues.

The Dr. had gotten friends and family to pick a mile to think about her and those miles that were not picked she "assigned" a friend. She put these on a list and had them with her. At each mile marker I would ask her "who is next"? She would check the list and begin thinking about that person and this helped a GREAT DEAL to get us through the miles. At mile 24 Cathy said she was going to walk on in so we went on at about a 2/2 pace and we were able to finish VERY STRONG. Crossed the line and got our medal and felt awesome.

I have been very fortunate to have done some very neat things in my 56 years on this earth but outside of the Fire Department stuff and getting married/having kids things....this tops them all. Not just the race but the entire process of the training and the responsibility to get someone else trained and across the finish line. I am so proud of this accomplishment, especially at this stage in my life. And thank you to all of the BT folks that helped me get there mentally and emotionally.

I don't believe I would do anything differently for my first race. This was about BOTH Dr. GH and I finishing...nothing more...and we accomplished that.

Walked around and put some ice on the lower back that had tightened up a LOT around mile 10. It is so amazing how much pain adrenalin will mask. Ate some fruit, drank some Coke and had pictures takes.


Nothing besides being old and slow. But who cares. I will do another one of these and will train and shoot for a time goal. When that happens I will worry about limiters and try to train for then to be minimized...but for this race...not a factor.


It is frickin DISNEY. They can put on a show. I would HIGHLY recommend this as a first marathon for anyone. Great destination, great course, great weather and organization...what more can you ask for for a Virgin Mary ;)

Several people were talking in our coral about this race being so HUGE...22,000. We do the Peachtree RR in Atlanta on July 4th with 55,000 close friends so this was big but not overcrowded.