48.6 is the new 40: Marathon of a post about the marathon

The morning of the marathon, I woke up with pain in both of my legs right around my Achilles and a very sore inner right knee.  I have gotten used to random pain in my knee after the Charlotte marathon, but Achilles pain was something brand new.  As I hobbled to the bathroom a little after 2am, I found that I could walk on it, and I could feel it working its way out.  

I was in a weird mental state--dreading the race before me and also feeling relieved that I would be done with it by lunchtime. There was a part of me that just didn't want to do it.  26 miles is a LONG way and I knew it was going to take everything I had left to run that--and more.  I reasoned that I could run as long as I could and if I needed to walk then I would have enough time that the Balloon Ladies wouldn't catch me.  I also knew that I would be running this race alone, so I was mentally preparing myself for enduring a very, very long run.   

I had decided that this race was going to be in honor of my husband and I wrote his name on my left hand.  I'm a left-handed girl, so writing his name neatly in Sharpie using my right hand was not easy for me.  My husband and I are opposites in so many ways, but we've learned that we balance each other other in our strengths and weaknesses.  He is my right hand guy--I can always count on him. I was so proud he was running his first marathon today as well as completing the Dopey. 

On my other hand I wrote Isaiah 40:31--one of my favorite verses by one of my favorite writers. 

but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

I think about this verse a lot.  My hope has to come from the Lord because my body will fail (even though I'm doing everything I can to chase that away until I'm a very, very, very old lady).  Discouragement is easy to find, but I want to run and soar in my life with renewed strength.  I know that the hardest parts of my life have taught me to lift my head and wait to see what God is doing in all of the madness.  He has never left me, and He has never let me down--even when things did not work out the way I expected them to. 

I selected a different tank to wear because of the chafing--I wanted one with bigger arm holes and the lightest one I brought because we had begun receiving warnings about race conditions and the heat.  As the days progressed, the warnings became a little more specific in regards to making sure we were properly hydrated, not trying to run a PR, slowing down the pace, etc.  We knew the day was going to be hot--and even though we were starting at 5am, the temperatures were going to rise throughout the event.  

I applied plenty of Vaseline to my underarms and knew I would need to keep an eye on the chafing.  I also wore a running belt (I normally do not do this, but I needed something to hold a lot of fuel) and filled it with gels and some Sports Beans for the course.  There was going to be some fuel on the course, but I did not want to hit the wall with nothing to eat.  There was also going to be about 12 miles on the highways before we hit the first park, so I needed to be prepared.  I brought water and I drank a small Gatorade before leaving the room.  I brought some coffee from the room and a croissant and a banana to eat on the bus.  

The mood on the bus was not quite as perky as the other days.  Everyone seemed a little more focused on the task ahead of us.  When they dropped us off at the starting area, it appeared that security was very thorough in checking bags and gear and there were even more people running today.  They were checking pretty much every bag, belt, and purse coming through the gates. 

We met my uncle and my cousin, Allison, who was joining us for the marathon and then went over to the porta potties and self-care medical area.  I applied some Biofreeze to my knee and my Achilles tendons and it immediately washed off the words on my hands.  Awesome.  After that, we began making our way to the corrals.  It was an insane amount of people and most people were sitting, stretching, or in their own little worlds.  The announcers were still giving very specific heat-safety advice--even adding things like slowing down your pace by a minute or two, symptoms of heat-related illness, etc.  They were taking it very seriously.  

The race was supposed to start at 5am, but they made an announcement that the roads were still not clear and they needed to delay the start of the race.  This caused some grumbles in the corrals because we had all prepped our bodies (i.e. fuel, bathroom, mental games) to start at 5am, but we just stood there a little longer.  Finally, they announced the roads were clear and the race was ready to start.  

In the previous races, it took about 20 minutes or more for the wave of people to start in each corral.  We had been told that 20,000 people were registered for this race and it takes a while to move that many people.  This time, we could tell they were hustling to get us started and we were running about 5-10 minutes after the start of the race.  Our foursome wished each other luck and took off.  

Dan and I found each other pretty quickly and it was decided that we were going to run the same intervals for the entire race--4 minutes run and 1 minute walk.  I had not anticipated running this race with anyone from our group, so it was a change in my mental strategy.  I really thought I was facing the next 5-6 hours on my own.  It was a relief to know I would have someone to talk to and someone to keep an eye on me in the event things turned south.  I was also surprised he wanted to keep my pace for the duration.  Dan is life-long runner and can run much faster than me--but he was also recovering from a recent knee surgery.  I knew that he needed to find a pace that would work for him so I wasn't expecting him to hang back with me for the entire race because I was planning on slow and steady.  But, I was glad to have someone there with me, so we went with it. 

The first 12 miles were straight grinding on the highway.  There was not a lot to look at and my Achilles were aching as of mile 2 when I switched from run to walk to run.  I could also feel some blisters forming on the sides of my toes and feet.  It was really warm and humid already, and I made a point to grab sports drink at every single water stop and walk through them.  

Dan kept an eye on our pace and we were hovering around 12:30 at this point which was much slower than usual, but good for the conditions.  He and I remained pretty faithful to our intervals for the first half of the race with the exception of a large incline just outside of the Magic Kingdom (when you run under the river overpass).  It was a relief when we finally made it inside and down Main Street (cue the tears again).

I knew that I was going to have to use the restroom pretty soon, and I announced my plan to Dan that I wanted to stop at the first porta potties right outside of the park.  I had stopped there the day before and they were relatively clean and very little wait because a lot of people stopped in the park bathrooms.  We quickly took care of business and then hit the roads again to Animal Kingdom.  I normally have to use the restroom twice during a marathon, but that was my only stop until I got back to the resort from dehydration.

It was somewhere along this section that we started feeling a little icky.  The heat was rising and there was nothing to see except for long stretches of highway between some of the resorts.  We occasionally took a longer walk break, but for the most part we continued along the road.  We passed some animals and decided to pass on taking a photo with an opossum (it's not like it's a rare species in my neck of the woods).  We ran into Animal Kingdom and I noticed the parrots were flying overhead.  The change of scenery was nice and we opted not to ride Everest mid-race (however there were many others hopping on in front of us).

After running out of the park, we once again ran down the highway.  I started to feel my hands getting a little tingly and I knew I needed some electrolytes quickly.  I could also feel a stinging sensation in my belly button (hello there chafing).  We had already passed people in stretchers being taken off the course in ambulances, so we were careful to not get to that point.  We were determined to finish this marathon!

Somewhere along this time we passed my cousin, Allison, who was killing it about about 2-3 miles ahead of us--and she had only run 12 miles in training prior to the marathon!  We walked through the hydration tables and made sure we were grabbing enough to replenish the gallons of sweat we were dripping with and headed on towards Blizzard Beach.

Cute Allison

In the past, there was a section of the marathon that went through the ESPN center and people hated it with an intensity.  This year runDisney changed the course and everyone was looking forward to running through Blizzard Beach.  I was sadly disappointed when we spent most of Blizzard Beach running through the parking lot in the sweltering heat.  The "run" around the parking lot turned into more walking and we found it a little cruel that we were running through a water park and unable to take a dip in the pools.  This was about the only time in the race that the grumpy set in--and probably the closest I came to hitting the "wall"--but I never got to that point.  I kept readjusting my attitude because I wanted to finish what I had started.

"Snow" at Blizzard Beach

After Blizzard Beach it was back out on the highway to make our way towards Hollywood Studios.  This was about the time Dan and I realized it hurt to run and it hurt worse to walk and then start running again and at the end of each walking interval I would ask, "Walk or run slow?" and most of the time Dan responded "Run slow" and I would groan and get running.  It was just miles of hot highway with very little shade.  We were given another banana at the next fuel stop which sort of turned my stomach, but I knew I needed it.  A little further down the road the volunteers passed out cold sponges and we gladly wrung them out on our heads and I stuffed mind in the back of my sports bra just to get some cool on my body. 

We eventually made our way past a medical tent and I immediately found the Biofreeze and slathered it all over my knees and legs.  I applied more Vaseline to my underarms, and then we kept going.  That was the whole idea of this event--just keep going.

We made our way to Hollywood and they were passing out bags of ice and Hershey Kisses just prior to the park.  I put the bag of ice in the back of my pants for my back (refreshing!) and killed those chocolate kisses--they were so yummy (and I was beyond hungry because chocolate is normally not something I crave).  Dan and I ran down that stretch of road in Hollywood and I felt myself catching a little second wind--we were so close to the finish line!  I also saw a lot of green tents with the PhotoPass people and I told Dan to glam it up every time we passed so we would look our best for these final miles.  Let me tell you, we were straight up model happy for those photographers--and it made me giggle each time we passed a tent (meanwhile dying a little more with each mile).

So glam

Fierce

 We made it through the Boardwalk area and it was full of cheering people and a lot of smells from lunch.  That was not the best smell to troubled runners' tummies, but we just kept running.  When we finally saw the outline of the World Showcase, relief started hitting me--we were going to finish!  Dan and I agreed that we were not going to puke, pee, poop, or pass out before the finish line!  I didn't care what happened at this point--we were dragging ourselves to the end!

We were SO excited to finally cross that finish line!  I had not planned on running this with anyone--but I certainly don't think I could have finished if Dan had not been right by my side the entire event.  Knowing that we were in it to finish and also there to keep an eye on each other gave me reason to keep moving all 26.2 miles towards the end.

We immediately headed over and grabbed some towels, our marathon medal, and a pair of 2020 Marathon Mickey ears and made our way to the Challenge Medals tent.  The staff checked our bibs and our photos to ensure it was really us, and then we were cleared to collect the Goofy medal for completing the half and full marathons and then the Dopey medal for completing the entire challenge.  My eyes misted when I lowered my head to receive the medal--all the miles, sweat, tears, and fears had come to this moment.  I could barely squeak out a thank you to the volunteer, and we made our way out to the area where runners could meet their families and friends.  Dan's family had come to meet him at the finish line and he wanted to see Allison to congratulate her on her first marathon finish, so we gave each other a final farewell and went our separate ways.

I checked my phone and saw that Chris was going to finish a lot later than expected for some reason, so I walked towards the bus back to our resort.  After I sat down on the bus, I saw a text indicating that runDisney had made the decision to cut 2 miles off of the race course towards the end because of the extreme heat (a humid 84 degrees).  Chris was with a group of runners who were the last ones to get through Blizzard Beach only to be greeted by thousands of walkers (sounds like The Walking Dead) who were at the back of the pack.  Chris spent the rest of the race walking because there was no way he could get around them.  This is after he turned his ankle on mile 2 and STILL FINISHED ALL 26.2 MILES OF THE MARATHON.

What a beast. 

Six medals

Chris made his way back to the resort, and after we cleaned up (aching, chafing, and blisters, OH MY!!!) and grabbed a snack, we met back up with our family in Animal Kingdom.  We rode a few rides and then headed over to Magic Kingdom to meet Dan and his family for fireworks, dinner, and a photo with all the runners.

Erin, Dan, me, Chris, and Allison
2020 Disney Marathon Weekend

 I love these people. 

to be continued...