I had such a great time, I can't believe how hard that really was, AND awesome at the same time. Saturday we went to the expo and picked up our numbers. I showed my proof of time and was super surprised to be put in Coral B - which meant I was only the 3rd wave of runners to start (wheelchair, elite runners, then me! no way!). Race morning came quickly (up at 2am
). It was in the 40s which is great running weather but not so great stand around for 2.5 hours before the race. Since this was my first marathon I didn't really know what to expect. My sister was running it too so at least I had her to wait with. After all the pre race stuff it was time to go and I
couldn't believe it when my very best favorite song started just as I crossed the starting line (no lie - this exact same thing happened at my half) so I really started out feeling great. I thought there was no way anything could go wrong with a start like that. I was immediately impressed with all of the entertainment Disney had for us. There was something almost every half mile (maybe even more than that because I found out afterwards I missed a lot of the entertainment - I guess that happens when you are staring at the ground in front of you talking yourself into "Just 11 more miles"! At mile 4 a full band was playing Eye of the Tiger which made me feel like Rocky and I saw Joe and my parents just after that. I didn't actually warm up until about 5 miles in. Actually i don't think my hands ever made it to warm but my feet finally thawed at 5 miles. At the 5 mile mark I was running practically with the 4:15 group which was really cool since I felt so good but also scary because I knew I hadn't had the training to finish in 4:15 so I forced myself to not watch them anymore and slow down a little. I took a bathroom break at 8 miles because I saw an empty porta potty and since all the others I had seen so far had lines I thought I better use it while it was empty. The only reason I mention this is because I was only in there for a minute or so and when i came out it was daylight. Weird. i swear it was dark when I went in and I KNOW I wasn't in there long but voila...light.
Along the way they had people on stilts, music, bands, cheerleading squads, comedians, Disney charectors, everything you could possibly think of. I saw my family again at 13 miles and I couldn't believe how great I still felt. I was now on pace for 4:30. I was really excited about that - my main goal was to finish under 5 with my secret desire being a 4:30 finish. Then all of a sudden I got to mile 15 and WHAM the wall. I didn't expect it at 15, wasn't really ready for it at all but all of a sudden all i could think about was "How am I going to run 11 more miles? My legs are starting to get sore, my blister on my foot is bothering me, my gloves are too tight, i didn't eat enough this morning." and on and on. (My long runs this summer I usually got like that around 17 miles but by that point I knew I would be done soon. With the ITBS I only had 1 long run in the 3 months before the race and that was 18 miles a week and a half before the marathon). All of a sudden all i could think about was "Why am I doing this when my training got all off schedule" but i kept one foot in front of the other and all of a sudden i was at mile 16 and life was good again. That lasted about a mile and at about mile 17 I think it was right before entering Animal Kingdom I saw some of the "entertainment" ahead. I thought "What kind of dogs are those? wait, those aren't dogs, they're sheep, why would there be sheep out here? Does that mean something I don't get? Am I going crazy, maybe they are dogs" Haha, I think I was losing my mind. anyway, 17 - 20 was pretty normal for what you expect at mile 17-20. At that point my mind knew I could run a 10K but my body was saying "What are you doing? You've never run more than 20 miles - again, UNPREPARED!!) Then the 4:30 pace group passed me. dang. The ups and downs continued and I was holding at a 10:30 pace which I was pretty happy with until mile 23 when I felt like dying and my watch battery died. I think if i had had the energy I would have cried but I didn't so I just kept running, or somehow my legs kept moving one foot in front of the other - I don't know how, it must have been part of that magic of Disney I keep hearing about.
At mile 25 I was really going slow, I was still running but I think i must have been practically moving backward. The devil on my shoulder told me to walk, just for a minute but fortunately i thought of Geely's advice of never walking more than a couple of steps. I allowed myself 15 steps of walking which was the worst idea I ever had. If I thought I felt bad before I walked, starting running again was a nightmare. Now that I knew that was a bad idea I decided to keep running, unfortunately that resolution lasted about 1 minute and i took another 15 steps. That time I really did learn my lesson. When the 26 mile marker finally showed up I was so ridiculously happy and relieved that I actually sped up. I am sure it didn't look like it to anyone watching but I swear I went faster. Then the magic moment of rounding the corner to the crowd of people who it seems were all cheering for me. I know there must have been other runners (I see them in the pictures) but at that moment it was just me, bringing it home. I crossed the finish line and talked myself out of hugging the guy who gave me the metal. Joe saw me right away and called me over. I had some sort of aweful moment where I was trying to breath and not cry but both of those things require air and energy of which I had none so I just kinda stood there choking and making crazy faces. (Man I wish I could photoshop that part of the day to make a big smily face cuz that's how I felt). As soon as I was out of the shoot I KNEW I wanted to run another one. I can't wait. I wish I hadn't taken those two short walk breaks in the last mile of all places but they were short and this was my first time so I guess I have room to improve. I finished in 4:42 and I am happy with that. I can't believe how proud i am to have done it, i'm pretty sure that the mailman at my office doesn't care that I ran a marathon but I told him anyway. I tell anyone who listens, or actually anyone who happens to walk by me! Thank you all for your support - not just for the marathon but for all the running support that is on this forum. it's great. Sorry this race report went so long...probably feels like a marathon reading it - you just wish it would end!
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