I knew the night before the full that getting up was going to be hard to do on race morning.  I had just run a half marathon the day before and tried not to spend much time resting during the day because I wanted to make sure the legs didn’t get tight.  When the alarm went off on Sunday morning at 2 AM I had to fight the urge to roll back over and go back to sleep. 

Once we got rolling I woke right up.  The wind outside was enough to cut right through you which kept you on your toes.  Margaret, Mike and I piled into the minivan and drove over to Port Orleans Riverside to pick up Jen and Dave to head to the start.  When we got there Dave hopped out of the car and headed over to his Race Retreat.  This was one of those years where it really paid off to have it.  We stayed in the car longer this morning trying our best to stay warm as long as we could. 

We got out of the car to make a stop at the “H” tent again before heading to the start line.  Jen checked her bag and we headed over to the start line this time with enough time to hear the entire National Anthem.  At this point time seemed to start flying.  We made our trip around the outside of EPCOT and then up the promenade.  Because of crowds we seemed to spend most of our time around the outside of the circle which I knew was going to come back to bite us later on distance wise.   Before mile 5 we were already over 1/4 mile off from the mile markers.

We left EPCOT and made our way towards the Magic Kingdom.  At the TTC we saw Andi and Margaret’s paretns.  As we approached the Contemporary I saw my aunt, uncle, and cousins all out to cheer me on.  We then turned and went down Main Street.  The ROTEr Rooters group was much smaller this time, but they were still there.  Compared to previous years the crowds were much smaller because of the cold.  People didn’t hang around to cheer after their own runners left.  As we rounded our way out of the Magic Kingdom the course narrowed and it was difficult to run without a lot of zig zagging.  This is about where we found Roger and started leap frogging with him for a very long time. 

We soon saw Andi and Margaret’s parents again as we neared the Polynesian.  Then we were approaching the water stop my parent’s were at.  I tried to look strong running through so that Mom wouldn’t worry.  I didn’t need to act much because I really did feel surprisingly good.  Seeing the ROTE water stop was a big adrenaline rush as we entered a boring part of the race.  

I was still feeling good.  Almost too good.  It was making me nervous.  We wound our way through the Animal Kingdom and then out onto the toughest part of the course.  Miles 18-23 are on the highway with a 1/2 mile out and back in the middle.  As we were doing the out and back I looked for runners from ROTE and WISH to cheer them on.  I was wearing a green shirt with an oval on the front like a bumper sticker with a 39.3 on it which was a gift from my friend Jen.  It certainly helped at this point as I was getting comments from the people running towards us on my shirt. 

As we exited the out and back we passed the are where Mr. Dave had told me to throw my water belt two years ago.  Knowing how different I felt this day brought a smile to my face that I was having a hard time getting rid of.  Before we knew it we were entering MGM and the final stretch of the race.  As we ran through I saw my friend Scot leaving to Commissary and yelled to him.  When we exited WISH was there handing out pretzels and twizzlers.  I grabbed a couple pretzels from Tracy before heading off to EPCOT for the finish. 

We were all getting quiet at this point as different aches and pains started to set in.  My legs still felt strong but the bottoms of my feet were really starting to ache.  Margaret was having trouble with the side of her foot and Jen was having a problem with her KT-Tape rolling up on her.  I glanced down at my watch as we were nearing Mexico and got a lump in my throat as I saw that we were at 6:59 minutes already.  We had been staying well on pace until we entered MGM I think but I just neglected to watch my watch after that.  I declared the next walk break as our last and then we ran in for home.  As we came down the home stretch we saw ROTErs cheering us on.   Andi, my Mom and Dad were screaming for us as we headed for the finish line.  We did it!  I finished Goofy and my running partners, Margaret and Jen, finished their first Full marathons!

I grabbed some water and powerade and then made my way for the Goofy tent to get my third medal.  It was put around my neck.  As I left the area I saw Roger standing there wearing his and congratulated him.  Then I found my girls as the food tent.  We made our way back to the “H” tent which had benches underneath it this year instead of a table and a couple chairs.  I sat down and enjoyed the release of not having weight on my feet. 

Mom and Dad made their way towards us and Mom wrapped me in a blanket.  Once we were all present and accounted for we made our way to the car to head  back to Port Orleans Riverside where I had a scheduled massage.  The therapist really worked on my feet and by the time she was done I was walking normally again.

As mentioned in my previous post this past weekend my father was signed up for his first half marathon.  His training started out really strong this summer.  We had him up to 8 miles and we were finishing them together strong.  Unfortunately he ended up developing a nagging case of shin splints.  There was a question for a while whether or not he would be participating this weekend, but thanks to a last ditch effort we got two 8 milers under his belt.  This had him ready to approach the start line and attempt the half marathon distance.  His goal was to stay with me as long as he could and then walk the last few miles into the finish.

We arrived early on race day and I hopped out to go join my friends at the “H” tent.  Dad opted to stay in the warm car a little longer.  It was great catching up with my friends but as we got closer and closer to the start of the race I was getting anxious that Dad wasn’t there yet.  Finally he rolled up with his friend Mike and I got us moving on towards the corrals.  We stopped at the port-a-potties and then started the 20 minute walk to the corrals.  At this point it had been snowing for a little while.  People were gathering around the base of the spot lights Disney had brought in to try to keep warm.  Luckily we had trained in this stuff so we were a little more acclimated to the cold.  With us we had the Godfather pacing team – a group with the goal of moving at a steady pace to try to get my father to the finish line.  With us we had Dad, Andi, Steve, Tricia, Crystal and myself. 

As we approached the start line we could hear the national anthem being sung.  We got into our corral just before they counted down the first wave.  A few minutes later we started shuffling our way closer to the start line as the second wave went off.  Then it was our own turn.  We counted down and off we went.  

The first few miles seemed to just fly by.  The slow pace was feeling good on the legs and was leaving me with the confidence I needed to feel like I could actually double the distance the next day.  Dad was looking really strong and seemed to be feeling great as well.  It seemed like time just flew by and then we found ourselves entering the Magic Kingdom.  We found my Mom about half way up Main Street bundled up and looking adorable.  I think it helped calm her nerves that my father looked so strong when she saw him.  Towards the end of Main Street we came upon the ROTEr Rooters which included my running partners.  The time in the park flew by and then we were back on our way towards EPCOT.  This is where the course gets tough because not only are you in the later miles but you are on a stretch of boring highway. 

I could feel Dad falling back away from me and getting quiet shortly after mile 9.  I know myself when I get like this and I don’t really want anyone to talk to me.  So I let him hang back a little and tried to just keep him in my sights.  Unfortunatley he wasn’t dressed in any distinguishing clothing, so shortly after mile 10 I lost him.  I eased off on the pace in hopes that he would catch back up.  At about mile 11.5 there is a sharp turn that takes you onto a ramp leading into EPCOT.  This gave me an oppurtunity to look back along the course.  I spotted my friend Roger by his red ROTE hat and right next to him was Dad.  I could feel the relief wash over me.  Looking at my watch we still had plenty of time so I opted to walk from there to the finish line to give Dad a chance to catch up with me. 

Around mile 12 we were entering EPCOT and came across the ROTE water stop.  I was running to the right but spotted my friends Chris and Mark on the other side of the street so I jogged over there to get some water from them.  We were soon doing the out-and-back on the promenade in EPCOT and I got another glimpse of Dad and got to cheer for him.  As we made our way back stage again I decided to wait for Dad so that I could cross the finish line with him.  He came around the corner and I joined him and Roger and got them to start jogging so that we were running across the finish line. 

As we approached the finish I grabbed Dad’s hand and put his arm up in victory as we crossed the finish line.  I am SO proud of him.  He did awesome for his first half marathon with so much trouble in his training.  I can’t even imagine what he could do with good training behind him, but we should be finding out in September when he runs the Disneyland Half Marathon. 

This year I once again attended the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend and even though this was my fifth year attending there are many things that set this particular weekend apart from the others. 

This was the first Walt Disney World Marathon weekend since the conception of RunningoftheEars.com.  There were several ROTE rallies planned throughout the weekend to ensure we spent plenty of time with friends.   There was a group gathering at Port Orleans Riverside, a group trip to Downtown Disney, a catered dinner at the Contemporary, watching fireworks from the Polynesian and the annual trip around the World Showcase at EPCOT to celebrate our accomplishments.

This year my father was signed up for a distance greater than the 5K.  Yes, we got him to sign up for his first half marathon.  Though his training didn’t go as planned we did get him to the start line, healthy, and as ready as he could be to take on the distance.

My father’s family came down to participate in the weekend for the first time.

And last but not least, I gave into peer pressure and signed myself up for the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge.

My planned approad to the MCM was to treat it as a 20 mile race and a 10K fun run, but it turned into a 20 mile race and a 10K walk, but I will get to that later. Let’s start from the beginning.

The MCM weekend started with me picking Andi up at BWI. When she was coming down the escalator I noticed a bump, where I did not expect to see one. She walked up, put her hands on her belly and grinning announces “BABY!” If that wasn’t enough good news she said her race plan was to stick with me. Yay! A partner in crime!

We headed down to the expo straight from the airport so that we could avoid the Saturday rush. We decided to take the metro in and met Margaret and the lovely Ms. I for the ride down. When we were walking into the expo we ran into Erica, Jen and Sean. Lots of screaming and hugs followed and Andi shared her news with them as well. Then we parted ways and tracked down Kelly for some expo shopping. The packet pickup went extremely smoothly. Despite the streams of people walking into the expo there were no lines at any of the pickup locations we went to. We then hit the official merchandise store where I optimistically purchased a jacket, water bottle, pin, sticker and gloves for myself as well as two shirts for Dad. The one shirt I purchased Dad was just like my MCM In Training shirt but where I had In Training Dad’s has Support Crew. Too cute!

From the expo we headed back up to Baltimore where we picked up some dinner for Dad, Mr. Mike and ourselves. We had to do a small packet pick-up at Dad’s house so that Mr. Mike and Mr. Dave could get their packets. After a very busy and exhausting day we headed to my house and went to bed.

Saturday morning we spent relaxing. I did some packing and made us some pasta for lunch. We got a call from Annie that she was headed back to the hotel so we hopped in the car and started our drive down to Crystal City, VA. It was pouring down rain for much of our ride, which we were not going to complain about because it meant that the weather system was moving through and would be gone before the start of the race the next morning. After checking into our room we met the ROTE crew downstairs in the lobby to head to dinner. While we waited for everyone to arrive Erica presented me with a small red canvas bag. When I pulled out the contents I found a framed picture from the Cherry Blossom race. She told me it was to remind me of all the people I had supporting and believing in me for the race. I gave her a huge hug. I don’t know what I did to deserve such a great group of friends.

Mustapha worked his magic and talked the gentleman who drove the shuttle for the hotel to drive us to and pick us up from dinner. It was a tight squeeze but we did manage to get everyone into the car. The dinner was delicious and there were many laughs had among friends. After dinner we took our group picture and stood around chit chatting. The shuttle came back to take us back to the hotel. Now it was arts and crafts time.

From the idea of buying tubesocks to keep our arms warm at the start line and Ernie’s imagination the idea of arm warming sock puppets was born. So we all sat at a table in the breakfast area of the hotel and we made sock puppets to wear the next morning. We had Mickey, Minnie, Beaker, a Prince and a Princess, a witch and a vampire. All sock puppets were complete with googly eyes. After we burned our creative energy it was bedtime.

I quickly realized when arriving back to the room that I had forgotten my PJs, so I was stuck sleeping in my street clothes. Oh well! Could have forgotten worse things right? I sat my framed picture on my bedside table and attamped to get a good night’s sleep. At about 3:45 AM I woke up and rolled over to look at my picture. I started cracking up laughing because attached to frame was one of the googly eyes from our sock puppet arts and crafts project. I snapped a picture when it got to be a little later and sent it off to Erica and Jen when the caption “Sometimes I feel like somebody’s watching me…”

Our alarms went off and we prepped for the race day. I realized I had accidentally grabbed the almost empty bar of Body Glide so I was trying my best to make it last. We had some PB sandwiches, loaded our gear, and headed down to the lobby to meet everyone for the shuttle ride to the start. Luckily Mr. Mike found us and was already in the lobby when I got down there. We all made the short walk over to the shuttle and hopped in line. The bus ride to the start was fairly quick. Nothing more than 5 minutes I would say. We hopped off the bus, checked bags, used port-a-pottys and walked to the start. I have to say the start area was ran just as efficiently as the expo. I was very pleased.

Kerry found us at the start when we were lining up in the corrals. We were under orders to stop him if he tried to pass us because he was recovering from a stress fracture and I had planned to take my job seriously. Right before the start he ran off to use the facilities one last time. It took about 15 minutes to cross the start line, which I knew was eating up my time to Beat the Bridge. For those that don’t know about the bridge: There is a 7:30 cut off for the MCM course with one exception. You have to make it across the 14th St bridge before the 1:15 PM cut-off. That roughly works out to 14 min/miles for the last person to cross the start. If you start earlier the pace requirement varies.

Andi, Annette, myself and Tricia ran together for a while. The hills for the first 8 miles or so were tougher than I expected. The elevation chart did not show that much change, but some of these hills were really steep. Annette, training in TN, was much more adapt to the hills so I spent much of the first few miles chasing her and Andi up them. I started to feel like I was using way too much energy getting up them. At one point when Andi slowed to check on me we ended up losing Annette altogether. With the crowds I was only able to track her for a minute or two and she was gone.

Andi, being the AWESOME friend that she is, stuck right by my side. We finished the hills, headed through Georgetown and then back to downtown DC. We passed the Washington Monoument the first time and headed down to Haine’s Point. We could see some great crowd support for the runners leaving this area and I was excited to get to it. The only aggrevating this is the spectators in line for our port-a-potties. WTH??? This is where things started to turn for me. I was getting annoyed by everything. My belt was bothering me, the wind was annoying, and I could have done without the constant helicopters buzzing over my head. This area of the course is not the place to get annoyed. Unfortunately Andi was started to sense my frustration, especially when I asked to please stop talking to me, lol. I think miles 12 through 16 were harder on my emotionally than the first 8 were on my physically. Around mile 14 I started to realize that I was going to be really close to the bridge cut-off and I didn’t want Andi to get swept on my account so I asked her to leave me. She looked at our average pace and seeing that we were right on top of the 14 min/miles she aggreed.

Once Andi was gone I was able to withdraw back into myself and concentrate. When I got to where we had seen the awesome crowd support when we were heading towards the tidal basin I found that it was gone. I gutted it through the new few miles just trying to keep on pace. I know I lost some time here, but I think I also was able to recover some. Around mile 17 1/2 we came up to the mall and started heading towards the Capitol Building. From here you could see the turn to the bridge on the other side of the mall. It gave me a new shot of adrenaline especially when I looked at my watch and saw that I had a good amount of time to make it over there and still beat the bridge.

I charged toward the Capitol Building, rounded the two turns started heading back down the mall. At this time I heard a siren behind me and a police officer come on speaker announcing, “I am the official MCM pace car. If you are behind me at this point please move to the sidewalk.” I just about crapped myself when I glanced over my shoulder and noticed they were only about 1/10th of a mile behind me. The adrenaline definitely kicked in and I gave up on my pre-defined run walk intervals and just started running as much as my body would let me. I kept glancing back over my shoulder and watching he distance between me and the car increase. I heard the announcement two or three more times, but before I knew it I had turned the bend and had the “Mile 20 Beat the Bridge” sign spinners in my sights. You could tell there was a renewed energy in people when we saw them and everyone picked up their pace heading towards them.

The official timer at mile 20 was announcing the clock time and then announcing how much time we had left to beat the bridge. I heard him say “You have 5 minutes left to Beat the Bridge!” Someone asked him where we had to be to Beat the Bridge. The time got a big smile and said you just have to pass me. At this point we were only about 10 feet away from him. As we passed him I decided I needed to hug someone and picked a random stranger next to me. We made friends and chit chatted as we started walking across the bridge. My body was beat and I was exhausted. I tried several times to get running again and my body just wouldn’t do it. My hamstring started getting tight. I stopped several times to stretch it some and had people walk up concerned I about my safety. I guess my stretching didn’t look too poised, lol.

Part way across the bridge I saw a bunch of police motorcycles lined up and I panicked thinking we hadn’t really beat the bridge and I tried again to run towards them as they started up their engines. They ended up driving back towards the time guy to be the blockade for the bridge opening. I have to say this bridge was LONG and I was thirsty. My water belt had been long depleted. I knew the ROTE support crew was up ahead and they would have water, so they became my next goal after the bridge.

As I was coming near the end of the bridge I saw a group of supporters in the middle of the bridge. I had trouble focusing my eyes but then I recognized Jen L and threw my arms in the air. Jen H and Margaret, my looper running partners that helped me train for this race, came running towards me and gave me big hugs. I told them I just needed water. I walked up through my water belt into Margaret’s wagon and downed a bottle of water. I ended up taking two more for the road and asked them to take care of my friends that were kind enough to hug me after I crossed the bridge and they did.

I spent some more time with the ladies from the bridge before getting seperated from them. The bridge was finally over arond 22 miles and now we were heading into the out-and-back. I have done races with out-and-backs before. Disney has an out-and-back between miles 20 and 21. This particular out-and-back seemed cruel. We it just seemed to take forever. However it did lend to some great spottings. I got to see Mr. Dave, Mr. Mike and Annette all running back towards me. Whew! We all made it! Then I spotted Andi and Erica at a port-a-potty right in front of me. I yelled Andi several times but she didn’t hear me. So then I yelled “Erica! Princess!” and she spun around. Andi came running towards me and gave me a big hug telling me she had been so worried since she had left me. I was very happy to hear that Andi had run into Erica shortly after leaving me and they two ended up sticking together all the way to the finish.

I made friends with a guy that had a cramp in his leg around and his girlfriend around mile 23 and we chit chatted for a while. Then started the most lonely part of the race. The miles between 24 and 26 wrapped around the Pentago and the road was very wide with very few people. You could tell that everyone left on the course at this time was just hurting. I stopped a coule times along the way to stretch. Got a butt cramp at one point I think because of the tight hamstring. Came up to the last water stop and they were starting to break down some of the tables. The mile 26 sign spinner’s shift must have ended as they were walking towards me with their signs tucked under their arms and talking on their cell phones. Then I came across a marine that pointed down the road and said the finish is 400 yards past that white tower. I walked up until I came to an area where marines had lined the road. I slapped 5 several times and the last one said, “That white tent is the finish.” I looked straight ahead down the road for the white tent and I could not see it. I then looked up in the air slightly to the left and spotted the tent. It was at least 200 feet higher than the current roadway I was on and the hill to get there was STEEP!

I made to to the bottom of the hill and it was also lined with marines. At that point I was elated to have the finish line almost in site. The marines along the hill slapped 5 and it just brough a smile to my face. The last marine stepped out of line and said “YOU ARE THERE! YOU DID IT!” Put both hands up for a hight five and I almost started laughing. When the course leveled out again I started running, scanning the crowds for my friends. As I got close to the finish line the announcer called my name, so I threw my hands in the air and crossed the finish line. After the finish I was slightly confused where to go. I just wanted my medal, lol.

Finally after searching for a little while I noticed the chutes directly in front of me with a marine at the end of each with medals on their arms. I tried to pick a cute one and walked down it and got my medal. After I passed him a photographer snapped my photo. I did not make my way over to the official finisher’s photos because I was in pain and very tired. I heard peopel screaming my name and turned to see Margaret, Jen L, Jen H, and Stephanie running towards me. Margaret handed me a Diet Dr. Pepper. OMG it was SOOOO good. They then helped me find my way through the finisher’s area and to where the rest of the group was waiting for me. It was SOOOO nice to have all of them there at the finish. I know some of them had to wait a long time for me to get there. I snatched up my finisher’s coin and we started the long walk back to the shuttle.

I think we walked probably 2 miles after the finish before we were in the shuttle line. The shuttles were coming very slowly, so we waited maybe 45 minutes for it to get there. Then the shuttle ride back to the hotel was nearly 30 minutes itself. At this point Andi and I decided to just head home stinky and shower when we got back to my house. We waited at the hotel to tell everyone how proud we were of them and that we would see them soon. Andi drove us home as I have a tendency to get hip cramps when I sit down after a full marathon.

It didn’t seem to take us long at all to get home. We showered quickly and then had Dad drive us to dinner in my car (no way were either of us getting in and out of the back seat of either a BMW 1 series convertible or a Honda Element). We had been very much looking forward to crab cakes and we both were starving. We started eating and only made it half way through our meals. Jackpot for me as I have some REALLY tasty food for lunch at work today.

I have to say that overall I was impressed with the organization of the MCM. Packet pickup and the start line were both ran very smoothly. The on course support from the marines was excellent. Overall I expected more spectators on the course. I could really have used the encouragement in certain areas and it seemed to be lacking and I was very disappointed when we left Haine’s Point and the crowds there had dispersed. While I plan for Goofy to be my last marathon I have no regrets about this event and will hobble around with my marathon work at the office today very proud of what I accomplished yesterday.

BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME GET TO MY RACE TODAY! My parents of course. The Loopers who were there for all of my long runs this summer, cheering me on and pushing me to go further than I ever had before. Jen L, Erica, Sean, Kelly and Mustapha who I think had more belief in me than I had in myself. Margarent and Jen H who were with me on those tough long runs. I am looking foward to returning the favor as we train for January. Laura for bringing so many smiles to my face as my mobile support crew. Everone on ROTE for their encouragement, good luck wishes, and the smiles they brought to my face as I read their race day tracking thread. My run blogging friends that always had words of encouragement for me. I will admit I cried many times yesterday, not because of the pain, but because you all have been there for me so much as I trained for, ran and completed this race. I am very blessed. I LOVE YOU ALL!

I know that I am behind on race reports again. I am sorry. Much of my spare time has been spent helping with the new home for my Disney running friends. If you are looking to run Disney races, or even if you aren’t, this group is incredibly supportive and we have folks racing all around the world. Please join us…

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