Race Report, finally

This is really long. Really long. Here goes.
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RACE DAY

Predictably, I slept only a few hours on Saturday night. I woke up around 2:00, and knowing I would have to get up in an hour, I didn’t really try to go back to sleep. I had laid my clothes out the night before, so I was pretty much dressed and ready to go by 3:15. Breakfast was a bottle of water and a super-yummy bagel with Nutella. I now swear by this meal before a run - my digestive system was once again a champ on this run. I took the shuttle from the hotel to the staging area, and I think I was there well before 4:00.

I thought the area was set up nicely. They had a live band playing. I heard two of my favorite songs while I was waiting - “A Girl Like You” (Smithereens) and “Superstitious” (Stevie Wonder). There was a super abundance of porta-potties. I made use of these about three times before we even started walking to the starting line. I didn’t have to go of course, but I had time to kill and I was hoping to get lucky.

It was about a 10 minute walk to the actual starting line. I was in Corral C, which is fancy-talk for “the back.” This was fine by me. Besides, Corral C had an excellent view of the fireworks that they shot off when the first Corral started. Although I had peed three times already, about 5:45 I got nervous bladder and had to go again. The starting line area was also well-stocked with porta-potties, but there were about 7,000 (literally) people in line for them, so I put another notch in my “now I’m a runner” belt and made my way to the woods to drop trou. I like to think that my high school days of “party in a field” helped prepare me for that moment.

At this point, the reader can refer to my post about "The Gu-ing."

Epcot was beautiful – it was still totally dark out and they had everything all lit up for us. Lots of support from Cast Members who had already arrived. I especially enjoyed running through one of the backstage areas and seeing the big globe thing that they bring out into the middle of the lake during the nightly fireworks show, Illuminations. I don’t know why I enjoyed that, but I did.

Miles four through nine were mostly uneventful. Aside from trying to remove more Gu residue with water from the water stops (I drank the PowerAde, washed myself with the water), I don’t really recall much. We were between parks, and the scenery was a bit on the dull side. Somewhere between mile 4 and 5, I actually consumed a Gu, as opposed to just wearing it.

Mile nine-ish brought us into the Magic Kingdom. Going through the parking lot, the course actually split for about 200 yards. One side was playing country music, the other side 80’s hits. I chose the 80’s, and I think that something by The Cars was playing. But I might be wrong on that. The run down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom was amazing. There was a good crowd, and for the first time during the race I heard some random fan cheering for me. Just for me. It was a great feeling, and it was the second time during the day that I got teary-eyed. (And thanks to the Disney folks for putting our names on our race bibs – I’ll not run another race without my name on my person for the crowd to see.)

We came around the backside of Cinderella’s Castle, and then we did the fabled run-through. I’ve been to the actual castle in Germany that they based her castle on. It was nice and “real” and everything, but running through this one was much cooler. She was there, and she had some trumpeters there to greet us as well.

I was starting to lose some steam at this point. Consumed another Gu. We left the Magic Kingdom and entered what was to be the longest stretch of the race for me. I am quite thankful that I didn’t know how boring miles 11-15 were going to be. I had told myself to get to the 13.1/halfway mark, and then I could take a decent walk break. I must have decided to push onto mile 14, though as my split time for mile 13 was 11:44, and the split for mile 14 was 14:01 (my slowest split of the day).

There were some speakers set up along the way, I got to hear some several songs, but only for about 15 seconds at a time. The only song that I specifically remember hearing during this stretch was “TubThumbing” by Chumbawumba. Hell sí. Actually I remember one other song, and that was from the Fort Lauderdale Road Runners Club, who had a several places where they set up to cheer. They had a stereo blasting “Hot in Herre” by Nelly. I remember this one really old man (who probably could have smoked my marathon finish time) that was dancing rather graphically in a grass skirt to the song.

Mile 16 – Hello back gates of Animal Kingdom! There were several animal handlers out with goats, a snake, a big red bird, and a few other petting zoo-esque animals. Once again, I wished I had a camera with me. I do think it would have been really cool had they had one of the tigers out. Then again, with 18,000 already tired people passing by (most very slow, by tiger standards), maybe it was a conscious decision on the part of the Disney folks to NOT have a tiger out.

By this time, there were already guests in the park, and you could easily spot the people who had no idea that there was a schedule marathon that day. They looked quite confused. But there were several good sports in the bunch who put down their five dollar sodas and cheered us on.

Mile 18 was right as we were leaving Animal Kingdom. I saw a nice looking man next to me on his cell phone. Once he finished his call, he let me use it to call the Hubs for an update. I was overly giddy about this, but Hubs (was in the bathroom and) missed the call. The nice mystery cell phone man said that if someone named Brian called back he would let him know that I was doing well and was heading towards mile 19.

I was feeling, well, good at this point. I was very shocked by how good I felt. My family was supposed to be somewhere between miles 23 and 25 cheering me on, so I think I was getting a lot of energy off that, just knowing that I would get to see them in a few more miles. And I felt like I was over the hump. I never once thought “Oh my god, I can’t do this.” I have wondered if I was cheated in some way by NOT feeling that, and subsequently pushing through, but I know that I should just very thankful that it went as well as it did.

I did much more walking over the next few miles, averaging a 12:58 pace for miles 18-23. I was feeling okay enough to keep running, but I was also hoping to preserve that feeling. I was also afraid that some blisters might be coming on, but I just kept telling myself that I would stop at the next aid station to check it out. At each station I would come to, I would decide that it wasn’t bad and that I could stop and the next aid station, which would only be a mile away.

Mile 20 had a DJ set up. As I approached it some really grating Disney song about a small world was playing. There was a turnaround ahead at mile 21, and as I came back towards the DJ, I heard the ever-familiar beginning notes of “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. For the third and final time that day I got all choked up. Not because of the song's message to keep on believin’, but because I knew that my husband was somewhere in the crowd around the 24 mile mark – he is a huge Journey fan. I think an actual tear came out that time. I remember thinking “Are you kidding me? Is this going to be what turns on the waterworks today?”

We next went through Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM). It was really cool and all, but I had blinders on by that point to just get to the finish line. I do recall hearing the score to Remember the Titans playing somewhere in there, and I was very happy to hear it.

Mile 24 was almost back into Epcot, and where I was expecting to see my husband, my parents, and all of my in-laws. THAT is why I was saving all that energy. My split time was 11:35 for mile 24. I guess I wanted to make sure that when they saw me, I was running. Sadly, they weren’t there. The executive decision had been made that if they had been there, they would not have made it to see the finish. But there was still tons of crowd support and I heard lots of random people cheering for me, so it was all good anyway.

Mile 25 and back into Epcot. I passed the last aid and water station. I was probably alternating 100 yards of running and 100 yards of walking by then. I really wanted to run the entire last 1.2, but I just didn’t have it in me. My pace bounced around anywhere from 9:20 to 16:40. Then I saw the big nut (as my husband calls it). The big Epcot golf ball. I had to run then. At the mile 26 marker there was a full-on gospel choir. Awesome. Finish line ahead. Running. Off to my left, I heard something I haven’t heard since my last high school soccer game almost 13 years ago. It was my mother cheering and screaming for me, somehow stretching my short, four-letter name out into about 12 syllables. I caught a glimpse of her and then my mother-in-law. My pace when I crossed the finish line was 7:59.