The race started with Fireworks instead of a starting gun and we were off. It was a few minutes before we reached the start line, and the fun was just beginning. We were in a tight group for a while. The first mile was just dark and fun. In the second mile I had an old friend come say hi. The problem is Mr Side Stitch would listen to me when I told him I was running with Jess. He continued with me for much of the race. Jess was an angel trying to take my mind off of it. Regardless of the pain in my side we had lots of fun. The first drink station was complete chaos, but after that everything was very well organized. We saw Jeff and Terri as we came upto Magic Kingdom, the whooping in that tunnel was surely annoying everyone else. But hey its all about us today. Soon after that we were coming in the back side of Tomorrow Land and we were high fiving everyone on the left side of the road. As we were going along a little girl decided to stick her face out to see other runners and my hand met her face. Jessica and I nearly ruptured something from laughing so hard. Once we were inside MK the pace picked up from the adreneline. People were lined everywhere cheering us all on. Not too long out of the park the adreneline wore off and I felt the pain in my side again. We saw Jeff and Terri again around mile 8 or 9 just as I got my first cramp. I quickly learned I should have taken a gel much earlier and that those things are nearly impossilbe to open during a race. The next few miles were filled with pain with spots of agony. I truely believe if Jess wasn't there with me I would have DNF'ed. There were many times that a single step was almost unbearable. But here she came with 2 handfulls of biofreeze for my calves and massaged each calf until I was about to cry. There were times where I knew I couldn't run and she told me to, so I managed to shuffle my feet a little faster. In the pain of the cramps I could no longer feel the side stitch. Finally we made it through to the mile 12 marker and the sea of surporters began in the Epcot parking lot and continued through the park to the finish. Again the adreneline kicked in and Jess began to point at people we needed to pass. At one point she asked if I was going to take off just before the finish. Hey I maybe an A-Hole but I'm not even that bad. We passes the last few at the 13 mile mark, high fived eachother and held our hands high to the finish.

Train more consistantly. Get more long runs in. Find the cure to Side Stitches and Cramps.

Just across the finish line Jess and I gave eachother a big hug, I owe her big time. I couldn't managed my foot on the milk crate so they could get my chip, but I did manage to make the walk to the ice bags, mylar blanket, (I didn't know they handed these out at 1/2 Marathons!) and my finishers medal. I was calling my family to meet up and Jess was off to the Goofy tent. Soon enough I met up with Jeff, Terri, and Jess then to find Colette and James again. In the mass confusion after the finish I managed a few minutes off in a corner to sit and stretch my legs some, if anyone passed by and saw tears I think I managed to pass it off as sweat.


Lack of training, side stitches and leg cramps.


I learned a lot today, one thing was to avoid the porta potty that is rocking and don't wipe sweat out of your eyes after just applying biofreeze. The memory of the pain from my side and the cramps will eventually fade, but I will never forget how much Jessica did for me. We talked alot and had more laughs Thank you Jess, you offered to drag my lifeless body to the finish and I'm glad it didn't come to that.