Oh my GOODNESS!
The love fest around here is out of this world!
The first thing I have to say is that you all inspire ME. That is why I chose to sneak down to Disney the week before my planned marathon in Houston. It's just impossible to not want to participate in an event with all of you wonderful people. I've been on a lot of sports teams growing up, and I can't remember being on one that had this positive and cheerful an outlook, or was this supportive.
The weekend began for me in a bizarre way as Jeff mentioned, getting off a plane that had finally arrived home from a deployed location. It had been close to three months as usual, so I was quite excited to be back in the USA, and the support that came out for us even though we landed at 0300 was great. I can't even remember what morning that was, I just remember going to sleep, waking up, and having to unpack my deployment bags in order to access the things I would need to pass my Disney bag such as my running shoes and Garmin.
Shortly after that we were headed to base Friday morning to take care of the required post deployment appointments such as immunizations and getting my blood drawn.
As usual we managed to arrive at POP just in time for most people to have left. There were still a dozen or so people eating though so in between bites (I was ravenously hungry by then) I managed to say hello to some folks. First names I have to mention are
Cam and
Howard without whom I might not have made the trip. In mid December while pondering it as it sat at 99% full it was their PM's that talked me into it, and the fact they still had a way for me to secure a room at that late date made it all possible.
The sleep schedule for me all weekend (and actually still now) was pretty bizarre. I tend to sleep in 3-5 hour chunks twice a day. I wanted to get the FULL ON spectating experience on Saturday morning since its rare I get to "give back" and cheer on some of the people who normally are cheering me on as I run.
As such I was on the very first bus out of pop at 0300 the next morning, having been up since 0130. Was good that the food court opened at 0230, pretty handy! Pop tarts, breakfast of champions!
After a short wait to fill up the bus we were off to Epcot and arrived around 0320. I staked out a spot by the SM-Z (W is in there somewhere) tent while some WISHers went through the baggage early to snag prime holding area and corral spots. Over the next few hours there was a steady stream of WISHers into that area and I did my duty and checked them all for chips and bib numbers. I won't name any names, but the only "goof" was someone wearing their marathon bib instead of their half.
They had the right chip though so no big deal.
Near the start time I started to jog out towards my first course spectating spot. This involved essentially migrating the long way around police cars, and totally ignoring a large flashing "no spectating beyond this point" sign.
It ended up being right before mile 2 I believe, as the road came down a hill through a water stop, then bent right under the monorail to hook up with World Drive at a water stop with what sounded like a high school cheerleading squad. I was slightly elevated so I was able to get a pretty good view of WISHers as they came by. But man is that tough in the dark! I kept my "light show" going in my hat
hoping that at least WISHers would see ME and be able to call out. People were spilling off into the grass and were about 10 across at times, but I'm pretty sure I managed to accost most of the WISHers as they went by. This early in the race everyone was looking great, maybe just a little apprehensive about their pacing.
After this I climbed a couple guardrails and made my way over to the cloverleaf area. Since they changed the half course and it no longer went down the cloverleaf, the west bound lanes were essentially empty after the course bent right near my first position, so I had easy access onto the overpass. This was my pre-planned "super secret" position, as I knew that throughout the course at the TTC, MK, and Poly/SoG areas there would be plenty of crowd/WISH support but there would be big gaps towards the later miles, and I wanted to fill one. Sadly there was a big sign that blocked most of the overpass from view until the runners were about 20 yards from it, so I did a lot of pacing back and forth to the sides to scan the distance for WISHers while also cheering for those passing under. This was just prior to the right turn up the cloverleaf, which mean the course would then pass behind me and I might get a second chance to chEAR.
The problem was as runners passed behind me they too would be yelling at runners down below, so initially I thought they were yelling at me and I'd turn and find out that wasn't the case. So if I "ignored" you when you passed behind me, its just that I thought you were yelling at someone else probably unless you called me by name. I had to focus on that one spot below me to not miss anyone, and was panicing that if I spent too much time looking behind I would.
Highlight of this spot for me was seeing Team Hoyt. If you don't know who they are, google them for some amazing inspiration.
I definitely called them out by name and he managed a smile as he went by. This portion of the race was pretty blurry for me, as it was just a solid stream of people for over two hours. It was a lot of
, but given my outfit I definitely had to do a lot of
as well. I essentially was recycling similar lines over and over, but delivering them as if they were unique to each runner.
It seemed to do the trick, as I actually saw more smiles in this area than I did in the first one. Many many MANY WISHers got chEARed, and if I missed you I do apologize. I wasn't limiting my voice to just green, I tried to get somethin out there for everyone. I'm glad I brought a bottle of water, as my voice sure got raspy by the end!
After the sweepers finally made it to that section I realized every WISHer that had made it to that point had a solid lead on them and would have no problem finishing. I then jogged by way paralleling the course back towards Epcot. I cut underneath the monorail which led to some jeers about how I was cheating, I guess I looked like I was a racer even though I had no bib. The funniest thing for me the rest of the day was having people come up to me at the POP food court or randomly around the finish area or restaurants and saying they saw me on the overpass, or underneath the monorail as they rode over. My favorite comment was someone who said I "pulled them back from the depths of hell."
A few more chEARing spots along the road toward Epcot and then I headed toward the W tent again. Some had already left, but many were still taking it easy and enjoying the atmosphere, as well as waiting to cheer on the very last WISHer. All in all my spectating day was amazing, although there's no way I could have given out as much support as I've received over the years in return.
I crashed soon after arriving back at the hotel, and slept weird hours on and off for the following evening. Then it was back to my usual routine, sleeping in as late as possible, driving to Epcot (bit more traffic coming from POP vs SoG) arriving around 0520, and walking over to the start. As Jeff mentioned my plan was to stagger my pace throughout the race to accomodate covering the distance with as many WISHers as possible. My late arrival to the corrals meant I was unable to run up and down the center of them going crazy for all the WISHers I saw like I have previously, and they had it fenced off pretty well to prevent that anyway. Cheryl was positioned in the big screen area to let me know how long it took for the last runner to cross, which ended up being 17 minutes, so I could pass on what the medal cushion was to people out on the course. She then moved to just before the TTC and then the turnaround, if you ended up seeing her at any of those places with her Minnie ears that are basically the complete top half of Minnie's head.
Now for the fun part, calling people out! If I butcher your name I'm sorry, it wasn't always easy to read bibs next to me while running if I didn't know you by sight. I will say I met a TON of new faces this year which was great! Even more importantly, I know there were some out there not wearing WISH green, and thus you avoided being accosted by me as you went by. And there's nothing wrong with that! I don't take it personally, everyone gets what they want and/or need out of WISH and its different for everyone. It's no secret that wearing the green will earn you an instant amount of support from both spectators and fellow runners, but not everyone wants that as a part of their experience.
I started the race off with
Howard and
Steve who were going to be running about the same pace as I wanted to for my "taper." Coming out of Epcot as the red course met up we caught up to a man in an orange hat who I think was
Ken. Just barely managed to avoid having
Bill sneak by me unnoticed. After finally letting that group go and settling into a sort of interval I was passed by
Claire for a second time, who had been cooking right along in the 4:40ish pace. On my way over to the cloverleaf it was
Scott and
Carrie with
Roxanne who I ran with, in a particularly crowded section. Coming down the cloverleaf I was out in the median going bonkers for WISHers I saw above me, and was soon caught by
Chester and
Chet. Let them go after the next water stop and soon
Laurie appeared and I did intervals with her up to the TTC, right before which we spotted
Marcia even without WISH garb due to the massive amounts of pics that
Jeff who had also blown by us has posted. There was one more WISHer in here, who said he was also active duty military, but I don't seem to have his name.
I hung out at the TTC for a while with WISH scream teamers awaiting the next arrival, which turned out to be
Eva. For a first time marathoner, she had a great steady pace goin and was keepin the smiles up even though we were headed over the Contemporary hill. I dropped her off at Main Street which was bizarrely nearly vacant of WISHers other than one near the entrance, probably due to the fact we were still movin at a pretty fast average mile by that point. Through MK I ran into
Tracey and
Colleen, and shortly after that
Dennis caught up to me. At that point I decided my "taper" run was complete and I better walk the rest of the way. He gets the award for letting me talk his ear off the most. Basically the entire stretch from MK to AK we were babbling about all manners of topics while continuing to walk at a sub 16 min pace.
As we approached AK I started pondering doing what I heard was a great idea, riding Expedition Everest during the race. I decided to base it on the line so when we came by and it was 5 min, it was a no brainer. Better yet, they actually handed me a fast pass and let me go through that line instead, and then basically just hop on the very next train. Had to take the hat off for fear of losing it, but saw a great pic of me and my mickey hands on the way down the drop. Never mind all the real bizarre looks I got from people while heading in and out of there. The cast members seemed to act like many people were doing it though so who knows.
After that I really had to hustle to catch back up to Dennis so I could make sure I didn't miss anyone. This took all the way out past the parking lot onto the main road eastbound. Let him take off as he'd started running again and hung out in the shade until
Scott #2 and shortly after
Scott #3 came by. Over an overpass we went, and
Jennifer arrived, somehow still taking massive strides and leading the way over another overpass. I stayed with her until the turnaround where we had a venerable army of WISHers passing out everything and anything to everyone. Made a stop there to await the arrival of the next WISHer who turned out to be
Becky. She'd been having some knee issues but would later become a multiple time Goofy finisher, always impressive.
Erica passed us back and forth a few times in this stretch on the way to HS, and after wishing them both luck it was
Wendy who arrived, looking like she was about ready for her 30th marathon to be in the books. When she gets to her 100th, I'll be able to say I was with her for her 30th. We soon caught back up to the previous two WISHers so I let them go as a group and waited just outside the tunnel in the costume area for
Mike to come by. I continued to be impressed by how strong everyone was moving even at these late stages. Halfway through HS I stopped and soon after ran into
Jeanne who I took out to another throng of WISHers outside HS. There I picked up
Kim and we made our way down the sidewalk to the BW where I waited for
Lily. We enjoyed the BW softness on the way into Epcot and saw quite a few people totally hoarse from cheering over the last several hours. After escorting her around the World Showcase I was keeping an eye on the clock but managed to steal some quick sections with
John as well as the DisneyRunning pair of
Robert and
Linda on my way over to the finish.
Although I was under strict orders to finish over 7 hours clock time to save my race for next week, I realized too late that although there was a 17 minute cushion for medals, I better make sure I get under 7 hours chip time to make sure I'm an official finisher. I'd started my watch with the fireworks instead of when I crossed, and conveniently hadn't taken down how long it took me to cross the start line. Realizing this and noticing it would already be a few minutes after 7 hours by the time I finished which was about how long it took to cross the start, I motored through the finish chute. Well wouldn't you know it my chip time was 7:00:11. So it remains to be seen if I get a certificate. Either way, I have the BLING!
Cheryl had stayed inside Epcot while I was finishing up, and I was sad that she said she spotted and chEARed for at least 3 or 4 WISHers who came by after I was on the way to the finish. From what I heard they also ended up finishing under 7 hours chip time, and given I ended up over 7 anyway I probably should have stayed to make sure we got everyone across. It's amazing how crossing the finish tells your mind "ok shut everything down now" and your legs just go to mush.
All in all I managed to enjoy the race with about 30 WISHers of all shapes and sizes along the way, and had an absolute blast doing it. I've never felt that good at any stage of a marathon, nor had the miles fly by so fast. It's funny how running faster can actually make it go by slower, and make it more miserable. Barring future deployments during this race which are always possible, it's going to be tough to keep me away, even if I have to break the land speed record on the way down there to make it in time.
If you made it through this whole report, wow! I hope you saw your name and realize how much you all inspire ME with what it is you do and the challenges you overcome.
And now here we are at 0415 and I'm wide awake and typing this report. I guess I might as well stay on this sleeping schedule until Sunday's race.
If you're wanting to track me in Houston check the thread for next weekend's races for info!
And THANK YOU again to EVERYONE! Gooooooooooooooo WISH!
I was about 7 minutes behind you, in the end. Congratulations on finishing! I had no idea you were feeling so poorly.
Now I think I may try again, hopefully next year, but I'm not sure yet. Next race I do anywhere, I'll actually train for. 
. I do wish the team leaders were better informed. That's all I will say about that. Oh, one more thing... Street sweepers?????
