Disney World Marathon 2010 Race Report

In December of 2008 I decided I was going to run a marathon in 2009. I had run a half-marathon in November of that year, and I really felt that I could do a marathon, so I began looking through Runner's World trying to determine exactly what marathon I would do. I began joking around with my family that if for whatever reason I couldn't do one in 2009, then maybe we could all go down to Disney and I would run that one in early January of 2010. Two stress fractures later, I was not able to run a marathon in 2009, so Disney 2010 it was. The marathon training program that I was following called for 16-weeks of training, however during the first week of the training I was still wearing a walking boot from my last stress fracture. Anyway, if you've been following this blog at all, there is no need for me to bore you with the details of the training.

I had heard so many great things about the Disney marathon. I had heard about the great entertainment along the course. I had heard about the fantastic finishers medal that you'd get. I had heard about how flat the course was. And best of all, I had heard about how in January you could go to Florida and run in warm weather in the middle of the winter!!! Yeah, it only happened to be the coldest Disney marathon ever run, with a starting temperature of 26 degrees!

My family and I planned on leaving for Florida last Thursday, but we actually got a little excited and went ahead and left Wednesday night and drove 5 hours down to Georgia. We all just couldn't wait to get down there. First thing we did when we got to Orlando was head straight over to the Wide World of Sports where we had to go to pick up my registration info and packet, and then got to walk through the Runner's Expo. I had heard it was a good idea to go early in the week, because the closer it got to the race, the more crowded it would get. I think whoever told me that lied. It was absolutely SLAMMED in the expo, and we could hardly walk anywhere. But it was really cool to be in the midst of that many idiots, umm - I mean runners, who were all there for the same reason. After we left the expo, we checked in to our resort (Disney's Caribbean Beach), and off we went to the Magic Kingdom. We spent all day Friday at the parks, and by the end of Friday I was beginning to have a new understanding of the word "cold." Saturday morning began with snow, changed to sleet, and eventually changed to rain. I can honestly say that I NEVER guessed I would see snow or sleet in Orlando, but sure enough it was there. My heart really went out to the people who were running the half-marathon on Saturday, because they had to run in that crazy stuff.

Saturday I was starting to be filled with nervous energy. I could NOT stay still. We hit Hollywood Studios early that morning (it was only light rain at that time), and were completely frozen and headed back to the room by 1:00 PM. The family was all tired and wanted to nap, but I just could not sit still, so I went off for an hour-long walk around the resort - just thinking about the race ahead. I had so many things running through my head, worried about what I would eat that night, what time I should go to bed, how many layers of clothes should I really wear to the race, etc. After my walk I probably should have settled into the room for a while, but no - I convinced the family to head out to Epcot for the night. I have no idea how many miles I ended up walking that day, but I would guess it was pretty close to the half-marathon distance.

When I got back to the room that evening, I began laying out all that I would need for the marathon. Because of the early start time, and the large number of participants (24,000 had signed up), Disney said you had to be on a bus leaving the resort no later than 4:00 AM to be able to be on time for the start. I got everything out, tried it on to make sure I was good to go, set my alarm for 3:15 AM, and went to bed. I think because I had been on the move so much that I was really able to sleep remarkably well - I was already worn out!

When the alarm went off, I got up no problem and quickly got dressed. As I went out the door of the resort, my first thought was "hey, it's not all that cold out here!" I was wrong - very wrong. I was wearing a base layer sleeveless shirt, an outer layer tech shirt, a sweatshirt, and a hoodie sweatshirt. Disney had said to wear layers and when you got hot you could take off a layer and throw it on the side of the road, and they would come and pick it up and donate it to a homeless shelter. I wore my outer layers planning on donating those, but things don't always go as planned. For my legs I had on a pair of shorts and running pants.

The bus ride over was really pretty cool. You knew that everyone getting on the bus was getting ready to experience the same thing you were, and there was great camaraderie. When we got to gathering area I was a bit overwhelmed. Port-a-johns for miles (or so it seemed)! There was a DJ and lots of bright lights that made you feel like you were at a dance club (though I didn't necessarily start dancing). I heard the DJ making all kinds of announcements of the "house" music, and one of the announcements was: "OK marathon runners! We need everyone to start making their way to the baggage check, because very soon we will start making our way over to the start!" I heard that announcement, and since my watch was several layers under all of my clothes, I just followed what he said, checked my bag, and realized I still had over an hour and a half to go before the start. :-( I walked around a bit, and talked to some random people, stood in line at the port-a-potties, and eventually just found myself sitting on the ground, balled up and cocooned with my outer sweatshirt stretched over my entire body - and I was shivering. I have a new appreciation for homeless people. I have NEVER been so cold in my entire life.

I think it was around 5:30 AM that they began making the announcement that we needed to start walking towards the starting line. It was about a 10-15 minute walk (at least) to the start from where we were, and it was hilarious to watch so many people who could no longer wait in the port-a-potty lines just run to the woods to take care of business. As we walked, you could really begin to taste the excitement in the air. At a race this big, they have you somewhat divided up according to you estimated finish time, and I was a little anxious as I had to walk past so many corrals to get to mine. And once I finally found where I was supposed to go, before I could even realize what was happening, fireworks were going off and the race had begun!

It was so crowded all you could do was go with the flow, as Crush would say in "Finding Nemo." It was a little slower than I wanted to run - I mean, I was still FREEZING!!!! I needed to get some blood flowing!!! About 5 or 6 miles into the race I began to notice what appeared to be frost on the shoulders and arms of the runners around me, and I really began to notice it on some of their hats. As I ran past one dude I saw ice on his beard, and I thought, "Huh! That's funny!" I thought it was funny until I reached up and realized I too had ice in my goatee, and my outer layers were also covered in ice. Our sweat was freezing, along with the condensation in the air, and it was an amazing site. We had to be careful at every water stop, because as people would drink the slush (because the water and PowerAid was freezing), they would spill or just drop some on the pavement, which would immediately freeze. They were trying to throw out salt and sand on the ice, but it still was treacherous at places.

Around mile 8 we were approaching the Magic Kingdom, and you could see to our left as some of the elite runners were already exiting the park. In other words, when I was at mile 8, some of them were already at mile 13.5. It was an amazing thing to see for me - just to realize how fast those guys really are. I joked with the people around me as we all watched them with amazement that those dudes were probably just looking at us, and we were making them jealous with how easy we were making it look. When I hit mile 13.5, I looked over, and all you could still see was people running to mile 8, and I realized I was THAT far ahead of so many other runners. It was a surreal feeling. My family was trying to get to Magic Kingdom in time to see me run through the castle, but I was SMOKING at that time, and they missed me. I had taken my phone in a special belt I had so that I could text and call her along the way so that we could be sure to meet up, and when I got a text from her telling me where they were along the road I was running, I just really began to get emotional. As I passed them and I heard them call out "Dad!", tears definitely began to flow because it became real that I was achieving something I really wanted to do. And that was only about halfway through the race!

I finished the first half of the race in 2:06, which is only 7 minutes off of my best half-marathon time. I knew I was probably going too fast, but I felt really good and I just wanted to keep going! It was not too long after that that I bonked. Hit the wall. Seriously hit the wall.
Below is the text messages that were sent back and forth from 8:09 AM to the finish.
Me: Hitting wall - started too fast.
Jennifer: U were making great time. Walk a little. U can do it!!!

At 9:35 I sent the following text: Hardest thing I have ever done. Hurt so bad. So disappointed. May have to walk to finish.
Her reply to me was just what I needed: So? U should feel proud to finish. It is hard! Boys said u can do it!!!

I could tell you about the horrible smells as we passed by the sewage treatment plant between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. I could tell you about the people I saw fall. I could tell you about the amazing crowd support, and the awesome appreciation I have for all the Disney cast members who were out there early in the cold to encourage us. But above all, I'd rather tell about the strength that I was able to gain from the other runners. The way we would encourage each other, help each other, and just pull each other along was amazing. It didn't feel like it was something I was doing on my own - it was a giant body working together.

When I hit Epcot again at the end and I knew the finish was very near, everything changed. There was no pain, and I was not tired. All I knew was that I was about to do something that I was not even certain that I could do. And when I crossed the finish in 4:50, I knew I had met my goal of finishing within 4:30-5:00. And yes, I'm already wanting to run another. Come run with me!

There is so much more I could tell, but this is really long. Maybe I'll tell more in the next few days. I know I've got pictures I'll want to add, but for now I think that's enough. Thanks for all the encouragement and support!