As my fellow runners' running seasons came to an end, the worst of my training began. Oh, the Halloween horror of running long runs on back to back days, once a week, for 2 months. I came into the Goofy training after recovering from the Chicago Marathon on October 10, so my legs could still handle the long miles. In the middle of the Goofy training, I ran the Gobbler Grind Marathon as a training run. (How sick of me to say that casually, I know.) The other training runs involved my getting up at 5:00 a.m. on weekdays to shluck out 5 to 6 miles in the darkness donning my head lamp, orange don't-hit-me jacket, and my pink container of pepper spray. Weekends were easier when I'd hit my long training run with Runner's Edge and then follow up with a 5 to 8 mile run in my neighborhood on Sundays. By Christmas, my total mileage for the year topped out at 1,000 miles. Goofy just couldn't get here fast enough.
Thankfully, Galen (my boyfriend and #1 marathon cheerleader) agreed to run the Walt Disney World Half Marathon with me. We arrived at Disney World late on Wednesday night before the race. (I'm a Type A marathon traveler, and I wanted to be at the Expo first thing when it opened on Thursday.) This was his first trip to Disney World since the 1970s and my first trip since 2001.
Things have changed quite a bit since I was there last: namely Disney picks up resort passengers on the Magical Express. The Magical Express also retrieves luggage and delivers it to your hotel room, so we were excited about that little convenience. Why do I mention this? Well, what Disney doesn't tell you is that your luggage will go to luggage jail if you arrive after 7:30 p.m. As we arrived at our hotel room at 11:00 p.m. we had no luggage. We'd stashed our crucial running gear in our carry on bags, but I had a few items in my check on bag that I needed for the races. Every hour on the hour, I contacted bell services for our luggage that was supposed to be delivered "within half an hour." At 4:00 a.m. I finally fell asleep. At 4:30 a.m. bell services said our luggage had just arrived at the resort. :/ At 7:00 a.m. we attempted to bail our luggage out of luggage jail. Around 7:45 a.m. our luggage was finally released. Lesson learned: when you are running a big race NEVER leave ANY of your luggage in the hands of someone else.
So Thursday we went to the Expo and picked up packets, and then we spent the rest of the day at the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney. On Friday we spent the day at Epcot and MGM Kingdom. We did all the big rides: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Test Track, Rock n Roll Roller Coaster, etc. All day. Both days. On the go. I was so pumped up to see the parks I forgot about these little races I had signed up for.
Saturday was the half marathon. The race starts at 5:30 a.m. EST so we got up bright and early at 2:30 a.m. EST to catch a bus from our resort at 3:00 a.m. to the start of the race in an Epcot parking lot. I was all decked out in my Minnie Mouse ears and my Half Fanatics shirt. Once we got to the starting area, there was a lot of waiting around for about an hour until we were released to walk to the starting line. The starting line is a 20 minute + walk down a narrow road with 20,000 of your closest friends. The road appeared to be some sort of a boneyard for old parking lot trams, so that was interesting...walking in the dark through cemetary of trams past.
Finally around 5:45 a.m. EST, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy started the race with fireworks. We were off! And, oh, how tired my legs and feet were from walking the parks for two days. The first five miles of the half marathon were not very interesting. It's basically running through the dark on highways from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom. Along the way, I had my photo taken with Tigger & Eeyore near Mile 3. The coolest part of the half marathon was Mile 5 through 7 when the course took us through the Magic Kingdom. In the Magic Kingdom, we ran down Main Street, took our photos with Cinderella's castle, ran through Tomorrowland, met Alice in Wonderland and her friends, met Peter Pan & Captain Hook, said "Hi" to Cinderella before running through her castle, met the Princess and her Frog Prince, and sang along with the Country Bears. It was truly a magical mile that made up for the first five miles. I loved every step of it. Running out of the park, I had my photo taken with Mary Poppins. By Mile 8, we stopped to have our photos taken with Goofy & Donald on a golf course.
By Mile 8, I also started getting grumpy. I kept thinking about getting to run the marathon the next day, and I would mentally figure out how many miles of the Goofy challenge I had left as I passed the mile markers on the second half of the half marathon course. I felt my quads starting to cramp up, and my feet were hurting, and I was just tired. Around Mile 10, I just wanted to finish. I tried to focus on the Donald Duck medal I'd get when I finished the half marathon, but I just felt this marathon sitting on my shoulders.
Galen stuck with me through the entire half marathon, for which I am incredibly grateful. I must have been a joy to run with, as every other word out of my mouth had to do with getting to run the marathon the next day. However, he reminded me to have fun on the half marathon course and he never once complained about how slowly I ran the half marathon or how many photos I stopped to take. We finished the half marathon in 2:42. This is about half hour slower than a "normal" half marathon for me, and probably a little under an hour slower than Galen's normal pace. However, it was critical to take the half marathon slowly so I could save my legs for the marathon.
Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment. After we cleaned up from the half marathon, we went back to Epcot for a few hours. It only took a few hours for me to realize how thoroughly exhausted I was, so we went back and laid around the pool until it was time for dinner. Then we went to the Magic Kingdom for dinner, where we saw Mickey's Philharmagic and I had some Mickey ears embroidered for me. We turned in early Saturday night.
And then it was 2:30 a.m. EST on Sunday. To make sure I slept well, I took a gamble and took some Tylenol PM. I was pretty groggy and out of it when I woke up, and I was also incredibly sore. My feet hurt. My quads were cramped. My calves were a mess. I was just exhausted. I did some stretching and used The Stick on my legs and feet before I took my trek to the bus stop. I caught the first bus to the starting area again on Sunday. Unfortunately, the bus driver was clueless and drove around the resort a time and a half before he even left to go to the starting area. At the starting area, a volunteer had to come and bang on the door so he would let us out of the bus. Seriously. Let's just say there was some serious non-Disney approved language flying around the bus that morning.
Sunday morning I had a ticket to the Race Retreat, which was worth every mouse dollar covered in gold. They had food, water, Diet Coke, chairs, mats for stretching, changing rooms, sex-specific port-o-lets, Diet Coke, and Toy Story characters. And Diet Coke. I stayed in the race retreat for about an hour, and then I repeated the 20 minute + journey to the starting line with my sore feet and throbbing quads.
I decided my mental strategy would be to attack the marathon in two halves. I was going to push myself to make it to 13.1 miles without taking many stops for photos and to just try to get through the race. Miles 1 and 2 took us to Epcot. I didn't feel good mentally or physically. Then at Mile 2, I saw Spaceship Earth and some of the floats from the Main Street Electrical Parade. Epcot was playing the music from the Main Street Electrical Parade, and maybe some music from Tron, and it was very energizing. Running Miles 3 and 4 through Epcot was mentally distracting, and I started to loosen up a bit. Miles 4 through 10 were the long trek to the Magic Kingdom. Oddly, these miles didn't seem as long as the miles did during the half marathon. Kudos to the marching band playing "Bad Romance" along this stretch, by the way. Running through the Magic Kingdom was just as fun as it was during the half marathon. I stopped to have a volunteer take my photo with the castle, and this time I got to meet Cinderella's fairy godmother who wished me well with a Bibbity Bobbity Boo!
Before I knew it, I was at Mile 13.1 in 2:32. Again, this is 5 to 10 minutes slower than where I would be during a normal marathon, but this was not a normal marathon. I took a longer walk break to call Galen and let him know I was at the half. Then I updated my Facebook status. I had bribed myself for miles that I could get in touch with civilization at the halfway point. It made sense to update my Facebook status at the time, and it really helped me push through those miles in the race. I would update Facebook again at Mile 20 and Mile 23. I also discovered visually the Goofy medal and all the wonderful food I would eat at Epcot after the race helped motivate me to continue running onwards.
In Mile 13, most of the Goofy runners celebrated for being over 2/3 done with the Goofy challenge, and I ran with another Goofy gal for about 2.5 miles. I appreciated her company, but at the same time I felt that I was missing out on some of the Disney experience. We ran past Davy Crockett, or Daniel Boone, Zorro, and a guy from Indiana Jones with a "magic skull." (Yes, I touched the skull. I needed as much Disney magic as I could get.) Somewhere in Mile 15, I took a walk break and let the Goofy gal go on ahead.
I reached Animal Kingdom at Mile 16. Mile 16 through 18 took me through the park, and they were two energizing miles. I met Chip n Dale, Minnie, Mickey, Baloo and King Louie, and saw the Tree of Life and Expedition Everest. Thankfully no Yetis chased me. (What is the plural of Yeti anyway?) The Animal Kingdom had just opened to tourists for the day, and Expedition Everest was open for riders. A few marathoners actually jumped into the Fast Pass lane for a quick ride. Wow! As I headed toward Mile 18 I ran past some grave diggers. Seriously. I guess these were some leftover crew members from the Haunted Mansion crew, but I did have to look twice to make sure I was not imagining them...
I was starting to cramp up quite a bit from Mile 18 through 22. Walk breaks became about a minute longer. However, my time was very consistent with other marathons I've completed, so mentally that gave me a really strong boost to keep pressing forward. At MGM Studios (Mile 23) I had my photo taken with Doug the Dog, Sculley, and Mike. It was a lot of fun running down Hollywood Boulevard. And then at Mile 24, I just stopped, and I walked. For 2 miles. I had stopped at a medical tent to Biofreeze my knees, and I just couldn't start again. It was a beautiful part of the course that went through the Disney Beach and Yacht Clubs. I ran on a boardwalk and past sand covered beaches. It was a nice distraction.
Just before Mile 25, I saw Galen in the UK. Oh, by the way, I ran from the boardwalks and beaches straight into the United Kingdom of the World Showcase at Epcot. Then I walked through Canada. I thought about running through France, but I kept walking. Then I stopped to have my photo taken with The Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Mile 25. I had 1.2 miles to go, and I just could not move forward very quickly. I waddled around the world from Morroco, to Japan, to Italy, to Germany, to China, to Norway, to Mexico. (Mmmm...margarita please?) The course took me back to Future World at Epcot where I saw Galen again before heading to Mile 26 (or should I say Mile 39.1?). Turning the corner and seeing the finish line was a beautiful sight. I high-fived Goofy & Donald and then I turned on my Goofy medal radar. Yeah, yeah. I got my Mickey medal, but I wanted that Goofy medal....
Note: Disney provided so much entertainment on the course. I never needed my iPod once, even though I had brought it along. While this is one of the most expensive destination runs I will probably ever do, it was worth every single dollar. Despite what it sounds like, I've never had so much fun during a half marathon or a full marathon. It was spectacular. I wanted to capture several of my thoughts that I had while I was running in this blog. You see, I may run this again in 2013, and I need to remember some of the pain that was mingled in with all of the exceptional Disney magic.
So I did it! 39.3 miles! I have my Goofy, Mickey, and Donald medals!! Now I'm in recovery mode...and I think I may be in recovery mode for weeks. The first week after the race, extreme soreness lasted about two days and I was exhausted for a solid week. Narcolepsy anyone? Zzzzz. I tried a 3 mile run/walk on Saturday, followed by a 3 mile run/walk on Sunday. Now my feet are cramped and my quads are on fire again. I think I've underestimated the recovery from this little jaunt. I would actually be okay with not running for a while, except those little Girl Scouts had to release their cookies right in the middle of my recovery. Darn the Girl Scout cookies!
Another happy note: I am officially a Marathon Maniac! Running Chicago, Gobbler Grind, and the Disney Marathon within 90 days qualified me for the bronze level with the Maniacs. So my previous post about not being a maniac, only a little goofy? Well, I guess I am Fanatic, Goofy, and a Maniac!!
Until the next race!
Amy
