Marathon Weekend 2018

[McNs]

Sorry to be late to the party. I had a fever break at midnight and debated right up until time to head to the bus whether it was a good idea or not. Good ideas not being my forte and with all the words of encouragement here, I decided to give it a shot.

I didn't think the corrals were nearly as cold as they had been the last couple of days, but once we got going, man, that north wind was biting! In an attempt to avoid the 7 mile crash and burn of the half, I cut the intervals back to 1/1 and really focused on nutrition and hydration. I was very dehydrated after the half. By comparison, I felt much better at the MK point today and after we left the park we got some shelter from the wind.

By the time AK rolled around, I felt pretty confident that I wasn't going to crash and burn like yesterday. For me, AK was the point where it started to warm up to acceptable temperatures and ditched the last of my throwaways. As the temps got warmer from there, I got faster and faster. WWoS still felt like it went on forever, but the time from the WWoS exit to the entrance of Epcot flew by and I knew nothing was stopping the train today.

Where the trip through Epcot and past the choir yesterday was demoralizing (it really sucks having someone sing We Are the Champions to you when you think your race weekend is done), today they were uplifting and affirming! I crossed the line at 5:33:33, my 2nd worst marathon result, but I don't care! It was great to have Billy see me come through and have a quick conversation from the chute.

I am also particularly happy with my splits from this race:

1st half: 2:56:08
2nd half: 2:37:25

Thanks again to everyone here whose support, encouragement and words of wisdom helped get me through my disappointment yesterday and not make a decision I would have second guessed forever!

Because:
I.AM.DOPEY

Awesome!!! I was wondering what you were going to do, pleased it all worked out well for you!

 

[McNs]

I need to give a huge thanks to @Keels and another disboard member whose name I didn’t know. (So sorry for that, part of my anxiety is that I don’t retain information in social situations very well). I was having a very rough time after mile 8, including several 20+ minute miles. By WWOS I was worried about health issues and had decided to quit. First, my unnamed angel stopped and asked how I was doing. I know that I was very abrupt and could barely speak; it was still a boost for me. Despite that I stopped at the medical station in mile 19 and was waiting to quit. @Keels was nice enough to stop and encourage me and just being so nice was enough to get me off my butt. I owed it to myself and everyone here to leave it all on the table. Fortunately, I was able to finish.

My nose was stuffed for the entire race, I was still working on low sleep and heavily medicated, but my primary problem was my lack of training. I don’t know how long it took me, but I know it was a PW (a PW that I had thought was impossible). Somewhere in the range of 7:40. Still, I can’t thank the board and my family enough for the encouragement to finish. I know I’d feel worse if I had given in and quit. My legs and feet aren’t thanking me for it, but I’ll live.

Awesome effort, must have been tough, but well done to keep going right when you thought you were done!

 

[hauntedcity]

While I have heard stories about the race busses getting lost, I had never experienced that ...

... until today.

We left SSR on the second bus today, but the driver turned left, instead of right. I thought maybe he meant to loop around and pass OKW, but no, he passed that road. Luckily I was seated near the front, so when we ended up in an area with warehouses, I could speak up and ask where he was going.

He insisted he was going west, but I was pretty sure we were headed towards the MK, so I kept gently and politely arguing. Finally, he figured it out, and we made an amazing u-turn.

It only ended up adding about 10 minutes to the drive, but I earned the satisfaction of saving the marathon for everyone on the bus.

Doug

 

[Dis_Yoda]

We made it home around 8PM.

So glad we had a room booked for tonight even though we didn't stay over night. Getting two naps in before and after our delayed lunch was worth it. Made the drive home reasonable!

 

[sourire]

Way to go @camaker and @Barca33Runner!! Glad you guys both made it!!! Well done!!!

Glad to have met so many dis-ers at HH and this morning pre-race.
Big thanks to @michigandergirl for keeping me calm on our walk to the corrals today. I was very nervous, but that whole “trust the training” thing is the truth.

Shoutout and HUGE thanks to @DopeyBadger for guiding me through this marathon journey. (And for yelling to me after the finish! I was feeling a bit disoriented and in disbelief even with the medal around my neck!) And congrats on all of your accomplishments this weekend!!!

 

[camaker]

I haven’t seen much discussion of the Mile 25 special commemorative anniversary photo op. Did it live up to everyone’s expectations?

 

[rteetz]

I haven’t seen much discussion of the Mile 25 special commemorative anniversary photo op. Did it live up to everyone’s expectations?

Lol

 

[WDWfeelslikehome]

While I have heard stories about the race busses getting lost, I had never experienced that ...

... until today.

We left SSR on the second bus today, but the driver turned left, instead of right. I thought maybe he meant to loop around and pass OKW, but no, he passed that road. Luckily I was seated near the front, so when we ended up in an area with warehouses, I could speak up and ask where he was going.

He insisted he was going west, but I was pretty sure we were headed towards the MK, so I kept gently and politely arguing. Finally, he figured it out, and we made an amazing u-turn.

It only ended up adding about 10 minutes to the drive, but I earned the satisfaction of saving the marathon for everyone on the bus.

Doug

I left SSR on maybe the first bus at 325, and he also took a strange route to EPCOT. Skipped the usual turns even though other buses were heading that way and took us though the roundabout way through the main gate car line at first, then finally turned over to bus lane. I guess they are are outside employees and doing the best with the information they are provided. My thought/guess is that WDW dispatch should have given them a clearer set of directions for runner drop off routes, but at least we all made it.

 

[JClimacus]

So what did they have on special for the 25th anniversary other than the Mickey Ears at the finish?

 

[rteetz]

So what did they have on special for the 25th anniversary other than the Mickey Ears at the finish?

Mickey ears was the gift at the end. During the race you had some decent characters and stops. Hades and his two little friends. Adventurers club people. Old ride vehicles. The 25th mile marker was basically a big banner of the medal.

 

[bellrae]

Congratulations to everyone who participated this weekend.

For me - today was painful. My lower back was really hurting for most of the marathon. I’ve also managed to get five blisters, but they were all on the same tiny little toe! How does that even happen?!?!

I think WWOS was the worst part for me. I had a few old injuries flare up as I got there, and I ended up walking most of that stretch. Thankfully I was able to pull it together as I was heading back towards Hollywood Studios.

I got caught up in this new silly no do not disturb signs rules at the hotel this afternoon. Despite having the room occupied sign up when I went to have a post race nap I had housekeeping banging on the door wanting to be let in and waking me up. Front desk got to hear alllllllll about that.

The best part? Not having to get up at 3am tomorrow!!!

 

[nervous1sttimer]

I haven’t seen much discussion of the Mile 25 special commemorative anniversary photo op. Did it live up to everyone’s expectations?

OMG - I just saw mine and they didn’t even frame the banner properly in the shot?! All you can see is Mickey’s leg and the date. I will try to figure out how to upload, but it is ridiculous.

 

[camaker]

Mickey ears was the gift at the end. During the race you had some decent characters and stops. Hades and his two little friends. Adventurers club people. Old ride vehicles. The 25th mile marker was basically a big banner of the medal.

Dude, your Disney expert and blogger credentials are in danger of being revoked for referring to Pain and Panic as Hades' "two little friends"! Consider yourself warned!

 

[rteetz]

Dude, your Disney expert and blogger credentials are in danger of being revoked for referring to Pain and Panic as Hades' "two little friends"! Consider yourself warned!

I was blanking. It’s been a long day...

 

[camaker]

I was blanking. It’s been a long day...

That's why it was just a warning!

You're not kidding, though! 2 am was a LONG time ago and I just realized I never even had dinner.

I did slip over to DS and have this done, though...

 

[nervous1sttimer]

The Mile 25 spectacular photo opportunity.

 

[TCB in FLA]

I will probably get slack, but the run-walk pacers need to go. The groups take up the majority of the course, stop to walk causing back ups, or crowding and over taking when running. If you are not part of their program, your pace and plan gets screwed because of those groups. Run only pacers or not at all. If you are doing a full you should be able to maintain your pace (whether run or run-walk) on your own, didn't have pacers in training. One lane on the course and maybe, maybe room for 2 people wide to pass them.. this needs to end.

I’ve just converted to the Galloway method, had success with it today, ran with the pace groups ... and I somewhat agree with you. I think there should be two pace groups, regular and Galloway, which would help. Also, each pace group had two “leaders”. I ran with the 2:30 group for a while for the half to calm my nerves and slow down my start — both leaders ran together and it was a crazy huge group. Today, I started w the 5:00 group. The leaders actually split at the start (same corral but different waves or one just started at the front of the corral, the other at the back), so smaller group. Much better!

Wow, I bet there’s a bunch of sad people today. I don’t understand why the goofy challenge isn’t the typical 10k/half challenge like the other weekends. It’s so strange that someone would only sign up for the goofy challenge and not go dopey all for a 5k. Is that just me???

I was a first time Goofy today. Would love to do Dopey, but my boys are both in high school, so home with Dad since they’ve had three days of school already. It’s tough after the holidays to immediately say goodbye to the family while I go run at Disney. I can get away for a long weekend but not the extra two days Dopey requires. I totally need to have a discussion with their school’s calendar scheduler about arranging their year around RD.

I haven’t seen much discussion of the Mile 25 special commemorative anniversary photo op. Did it live up to everyone’s expectations?

They still had it up this evening, so nice cleaned up photo op. But really underwhelming.

Overall, I’ve had a great race weekend! Felt good during yesterday’s half, decent today. Got a 10 min full PR even w three quick character stops and a margarita stop at mile 13 since Everest wasn’t open. Really enjoyed meeting folks this morning, and the character text thread is beyond hilarious. Thanks for such a great weekend!

 

[ANIM8R]

Mickey ears was the gift at the end. During the race you had some decent characters and stops. Hades and his two little friends. Adventurers club people. Old ride vehicles. The 25th mile marker was basically a big banner of the medal.

And lights...FLASHING lights! It was majestic!

 

[HooplaFan]

I was stoked to see Pamela Perkins and Fletcher Hodges from the Adventurers Club as one of the character photo op.

 

[Novatrix]

Congrats to everyone on their participation in today's race! Now everyone, sleep in tomorrow! (That means until 6am, right? )

Welp, took care of New Year's resolution 2018 today, "run 1st marathon" so now I get to be bad for the rest of the year.


For me, the race was tough and almost ended in a DNF if not for the magical properties of Tylenol and a Galloway pacing group. Ended up twisting my knee at mile 11 and didn't realize until mile 20 that the aid stations stock painkillers. So my pacing ended up being a reverse bell curve, with it dropping by 9min/mile post injury, then improving 7min/mile post Tylenol. Glad it's done, but there was a lot of mental anguish along the route, particularly during the purgatory that is hobbling through Wide World of Sports.