Disney Marathon Race Report

Walt Disney Marathon Race Report

I am still coming to terms with the marathon I ran last Sunday in Orlando Florida. In record cold temperatures and winds of 15-20 mph, I crossed the Finish Line with leaden legs and a very relieved frozen brain 4 hours 47 minutes after my start at 5:40a in the morning.

I fell far short of my goal of 4:20 or better, but I’m determined to improve my time and the experience I gained in training I will build on in 2010.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I was on pace through 20 miles to run within 4 minutes of my personal record of 4:26. At mile 21, however, I hit the wall and lumbered through the final miles.

Let's go back to the start of the trip:

My wife, son and I arrived in Orlando last Friday afternoon and I quickly got in touch with my friend and co-worker Jackie, also running the marathon with her boyfriend Vincent, a first time marathoner. I had run Cape Cod in 2008 at Jackie's suggestion and now Jackie was running Disney at mine.

Jackie, Vincent and I met up at their hotel bus stop and took the shuttle over to the Expo. While busy, it was not as packed or crazy as I expected it to be. Pickup of our number, goodie bag, and chip verification was easy. And, bonus, I found out later, I received TWO nice technical Disney race shirts in my bag! The rest of the goodies were fairly lame, but I would MUCH rather get a nice T and medal than any chotskies or samples in my bag. The bag also doubled as a baggage check bag too, so it came in handy.

After getting my goodie bag, I went to runner relations to see if I could improve my corral placement. I was assigned to "C." Jackie and Vince had been placed in " B." I only had to show a couple of race results and without much fanfare or hassle, I was given a bright pink sticker to put on my bib, "Corral B." This was for runners who expected to run in 4:30 or less, and based on my May and July race results, I qualified. The race staffer was great about it.

We checked out the merchandise and I picked up a couple of small things, a t-shirt for my son and one for me.

After the expo, I went directly to Magic Kingdom to meet up with my wife and son, who had already hit the parks for some character greetings and we had dinner at the Castle with the princesses. My son has a thing for them so we indulge him with it. The pictures are going to be great to show his date to the prom a few years from now.

I hit the sack early with the family that night-9pm and slept until 730p. I felt pretty smart doing that and with me working nights, it’s no small feat to go to bed early.

Saturday morning I laid out all my stuff for next day-shorts, tops, socks, hats, extra layers, bib, gels, etc. I took my time and laid it all out on a chair and shelf in the hotel bathroom. I have to do that before a race or else I'm a mess. It makes the morning go a lot easier. We did Dinner at the food court at the hotel-early at 5:30pm. I had been thinking we might want to go off property to avoid crowds. In talking to a friend at the expo, I decided against it. The trouble and time it would take to get to an Olive Garden would not be worth the time. I'm glad we made that call. We were back at the room by 730p and in bed by 8. 245am would come quickly.

At 245a, I woke up, hit the coffee maker and got dressed. I had an English muffin with peanut butter and a drink of water after the coffee. By 3:25, I was at the bus stop and five minutes later on the quiet shuttle to the staging area with Jackie and Vincent, who strolled up just as the bus arrived.

We got off the bus and walked about half a mile to the staging area, which reminded me of a frozen "Burning Man" festival from Black Rock, Nevada. Runners were wrapped in layers of clothing in the sub freezing winter-fleece, jackets, garbage bags, those throw away plastic getups they sell at the expo that look like haz-mat suits. House music blared through the crowd as the lines to the portal potties started to form.

Jackie, Vincent and I checked bags and milled about the parking lot, desperately seeking out areas of warmth.

At 430, I went to one of the baggage tents and was fortunate enough to meet up with some nice twitter runners, @maddyhubba, @marathonchris and @runningrealtor. The ladies were doing Goofy and had braved some BAAAD weather the day before. Sleet, rain, wind, cold. They waited an hour in that weather to get their checked bags after the race. Ugh. Not good.

@marathonchris had a couple of comments and tips that proved to be helpful, at least-to me. She reminded me of the out and back at 20. Not the best place to have one and I had forgotten about it from the maps. When I saw it come up later that morning, I was at least mentally prepared for it.

The other point she mentioned was to run on the grass on the high points of the overpass to lessen the camber of your run. I found this to be very helpful. It sucks to run on a steep incline.

With some final pit stops at the porta potties, the three of us made the half-mile walk from the staging area to the starting corrals.

At 5:40a, the sky was lit up by a flurry of fireworks, the first wave started and we were off in the frigid darkness. I was amazed at how many spectators there were that early to see us off. I was happy to know that Caroline and Liam were spending their morning sleeping in, warm in their beds. I wouldn't want them freezing their butts off just to see me start!

The first six miles were slow but steady. At about seven miles, I could feel a slight "burn" in my left ankle, the one I had rolled on New Year's Eve and I had some concern. However, it proved not to be much of a factor as the burn was manageable and never got any worse.

Jackie and Vincent, though stronger runners (Vincent had run his first half marathon in October at 1:51), wanted to start out conservatively slow and finish strong so they planned to stay with me for the first 10 miles and then see where we were. John Ellis, my marathon advisor from teampointtwo, had recommended doing the first 10 at 10:06/mile pace. Most of my early miles were slower than that, but I was saving myself for the late stages.

The run through epcot was all in the dark. It was surreal and cold. There were twists and turns through tight corridors so my goal was just mostly to navigate the crowd and be as steady as I could. Disney Characters and early rising employees shouted and waived to us.

At around mile 6, I got concerned that I felt a burn in the ankle I twisted on New Year’s Eve. However, this never got worse so I was relieved later on in the race when it didn’t materialize as an issue.

By the time we got to the Castle at Magic Kingdom, I was in a pretty good rhythm, averaging about a 10:15/minute mile After going through the Castle, I attempted to unlock the bezel of the Garmin so I could switch from virtual trainer to the training field where I could see the current lap rate. In doing so, I stopped the watch by accident and couldn’t find the field to resume training so I re-set the 405 and re-started the process at mile 12 and stayed with that until the finish.

Throughout the course, at all the water and PowerAde stops, the ground was slick with ice from the spillage. This slowed us down as bit as we bit threw the ice chips in our cups.

From miles 12-14, we increased our speed around 10:00 or just under. After Vince and I had a quick nature call at mile 17, I felt good for a couple of more miles, but little did I know “the wall” was coming.

At mile 20, Jackie let me know that she and Vince were going to speed up. I saw them get ahead of me by a couple of minutes at the out and back on the highway on the course. They waved to me and encouraged me to fight on. I was starting to labor, not with my breath, but with my legs. They began to move slowly. Jackie had given me some tips to fight through fatigue-to bounce on my heels, to pick up my knees. Run tall. They seemed to work for a minute, but the hard part was coming.

The last few miles are blurry in my memory. I had to stop and massage my calves at mile 23 in Hollywood studios and say to myself “Three more miles.” I breathed deep breaths and somehow managed to get going again.

By mile 24, I was completely fatigued out, running in quicksand. I wanted to finish. I wanted to quit. I just wanted to be done. This wasn’t fun anymore. DNF was not a possibility, so I had to continue on.

The crowds at Epcot helped some. The park was open by this time and Disney visitors were alternately cheering us and crossing our running path. What really kept me going was the Olympic music them. I remember that vividly and thinking that was really cool.

I saw the finish line after turning a corner at mile 26. I had no kick but I could make it. I knew I’d finish. I saw the clock in the distance. 4:45:00. I would cross minutes later at 4:50 and change. My net time was be 4:47:50.

As I rounded the corner towards the finish, I scanned the crowd for my wife and son. The crowd was dozens deep and if they were somewhere behind that chain link fence I would never connect with them. Seconds after I heard my name on the loudspeaker and after the beep of the chip crossing the finish line, I heard Caroline yelling to me from the stands, “Chris!” “Daddy!” Liam and Caroline were waving and shouting and I could hear them clear as day. That was the moment that made it worth it. That’s what took some of the pain in my legs and the pride in my heart as I saw 4:50 on the clock.

I was done. Never have I been so glad to be done. The wall had hit me again. It was disappointing, but I wouldn’t trade the experience. It was too much fun and satisfying along the way.

Here’s what was so great about training for and running my 5^th marathon:

· I met my teammates and advisor from teampointwo via twitter and social media.

· I raised over $700 for the CT Make A Wish Foundation. (Thank you for your support!)

· I started listening to podcasts and reading more blogs about running

· I ran with friendly people

· I met some twitter folk in person that I had corresponded with before

· I built up another layer of fitness that is my responsibility to keep, build upon, and maintain for future marathons.

· I ran a marathon in a destination that my family could enjoy DESPITE the miserable weather.

· My son told me he heard my name on the loudspeaker as I crossed the line and he said, “I heard when you won Daddy.”