Oh Krista, you silly! Don't you worry!
Krista - I wouldn't worry too much, Judy seems to have the EMT's come and hit on her.
Bill
2007 Marathon Weekend Race Reports
- Thread starter chimera
- Start date
Krista - I wouldn't worry too much, Judy seems to have the EMT's come and hit on her.
Bill
aladdinsgirl
She's a rebel. She's a saint.
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2002
- Messages
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Krista - I wouldn't worry too much, Judy seems to have the EMT's come and hit on her.
Bill
True. Very true.
aladdinsgirl
She's a rebel. She's a saint.
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2002
- Messages
- 1,865
I will try not to be too long winded, but I have a degree in communications and my concentration was in broadcasting. You have been warned. 
Expo
Stephen, my parents, sister (Jessica), and I got into Orlando a little after 10:00 on Friday morning and headed straight for the Wide World of Sports. Things weren’t quite so chaotic as last year was, we could actually find a parking space on asphalt and not on the grass. During the long walk up to the Milk House, I was surprisingly calm and excited about the marathon, but walking into the Expo Center and seeing the “runners” sign and the marathon packet pick-up hit me like a brick wall. I was overcome with emotions, a pretty even mix of excitement and fear and I started crying right in the middle of the room. I walked over to look down at the merchandise and vendor booths until I could get my emotions under control. Once that was done, I walked over to the booth corresponding with my race number to pick my race packet up. This year I was careful to inspect my race number and chip; last year I was given a race number for someone named “Kristen”, but didn’t notice until I went to sign the waiver form. How bad would it be to have the wrong race number and not notice until the morning of the marathon?
While I was picking up my marathon packet, my parents were getting their half marathon packets and Stephen was picking up all of his Goofy packets. My Mom found out on Thursday that she would not be able to run the half, she had bronchitis and has asthma; her doctor would not clear her to run because her lung capacity was only 12%. Marathon weekend was disappointing for her because she trained so hard over the past year and then at the last second could not participate.
Once everyone had their packets, we met up in the center of room and then walked over to scan our chips. Seeing Krista Fulkerson, Full marathon was enough to make my heart stop!! I took a picture of Stephen’s wrist with his orange Goofy Challenge 2007
and we also took a picture in front of the hours counting down to the marathon start. 41 hours to go!!
We went directly to the Official Merchandise Booth this time, last year we saved it for last and they were out of the sizes we needed (small for me and medium for Stephen). I don’t know if that extra 30 minutes looking at other booths mattered or not, but we didn’t want to take the chance. Thankfully we found lots of merchandise to blow our money on and we found all the sizes we needed. It was nice this year that Disney had more feminine looking clothing and women’s sizes, instead of making us buy men’s clothes. I think Stephen and I spent about $250 in about 20 minutes time, but this was all the souvenirs we were planning on buying all week, so I didn’t feel too badly about it. Right before we left the merchandise booth, we saw Cam and Howard and had hugs all around. Cam told us that Colleen was there somewhere, but we never did find her.
We left the merchandise area about 12:30 and made our way over to the room where John Bingham was schedule to talk at 1:00. There was already a session going on in the room, so we slipped in the side of the room and sat on the floor. I’m not sure who was leading the session, but he was with Team and Training and what he spoke about was wonderful. He lost a daughter to leukemia, so TnT was very near and dear to his heart, hearing him speak about his daughter was heartbreaking and that of course started the water works again. I would love to run with TnT, but I just don’t know if I could raise the funds and donations that is required, but I think it is a wonderful organization (although I do have to admit was SO sick of hearing “Go Team” by the end of the marathon ). John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield came into the room right at 1:00, there were so many people waiting to get in that we had to sit on the floor and crowd around them. Stephen, Mom, and I had a wonderful view, right in the first row, Dad was a little further back in the room, and Jessica stayed out in the hallway, as she really didn’t care about hearing John and Jenny speak. John was hilarious, talking about how miserable last year’s Goofy was and how the marathon should start at midnight, since we have to get up 3:00 in the morning anyway.
After John spoke, Jenny came up and concentrated mostly on the health aspect of the marathon, in particular the extreme heat that was being forecasted. All too soon their 45 minutes were up and we were filing out of the room and back towards the chaos. On the way out, we saw Heather and Kevin and Cam and Howard again, we only had time to wave, but we knew we would get to spend time talking later in the weekend.
After seeing John and Jenny speak, we made our way to the goody bag section to get our race bags and official shirts. I love that full marathon shirt! I think I wore it every day of our vacation. On the way out of the Expo, Craig stopped us right by the Flying Pig marathon booth. Somehow he recognized me, and we spent about 5-10 minutes talking to him. It was great to meet Craig and his words were very calming to me, after walking away from Craig, it felt like a huge boulder had been lifted from my shoulders and I was no longer scared of the marathon. I had trained for this, I worked hard for this, I didn’t skip any runs, and yeah I had my fair share of injuries, but I cross-trained through them. If I had to crawl the last few miles, I would do it. I had too much time; effort, blood, sweat, and tears already invested in this marathon and it would not defeat me. Walking out of the Expo Center I was light hearted and excited, without any fear or nervousness what so ever, I just had the feeling of “git ‘r done”.
Friday Night Wish Meet
The Friday night meet at Pop Century was absolutely wonderful, way better than last year at Trails End. Being drug into the center of the room by Anne was wonderful, I wish I had her enthusiasm!! I’m not really a shy person, but I tend to be quiet in large groups of people, so I didn’t get a chance to get around and talk to everyone, but those I did get to talk to was great. I really feel like I’m getting to know many of you and that we are so much more than just an on-line training group. We are friends and we are family and I am so thankful for each and every one of you.
The Night Before
My parents, Jessica, Stephen, and I headed to MGM for dinner at Mama Melrose. They were very cooperating with the carbo-loading and Stephen and I were able to get spaghetti, even though it wasn’t on the menu. The spaghetti was okay, certainly not my first choice at Mama Melrose, but it was pasta. Stephen and I left Mom, Dad, and Jessica at MGM and headed back to All Stars before 6:00.
Once we got back in the room, we started repacking our suitcases, we were checking out of the All Stars in the morning and into the Boardwalk Villas after the marathon. Once Stephen and I repacked our suitcases, we took them down to the car to load them in, one less thing for parents to do tomorrow morning at 4:00. I grabbed my Garmin before we went to the car and after we loaded the suitcases, we walked over to the far end of the parking lot to get a signal. I remember how clear the sky was and how brightly the stars were blinking in the black sky. Once I got a signal on my Garmin, we walked back into our building to start getting ready for bed.
Stephen and I started getting ready for the run tomorrow. I started by packing my Amphipod running pack, and it was packed to the gills! In there I had: 6 Clif bar halves (one for every 4 miles), chap stick, headphones, resort ID, $ for post marathon massage, a chunk of emergency Body Glide in a zip lock bag, salt packets and tissues. I clipped my mp3 player to the pack, which was my salvation for miles 18-23. After my Amphipod was packed, I moved on to pinning my race number onto my singlet. I was very precise with the exact location of my race number, but I shouldn’t have put so much effort into it, as I had to re-pin my race number the next morning.
. After all that was done, I put my Champion Chip on my shoe, securing it with 2 zip ties and then I got everything I would need for the morning and put it on a chair.
After I had everything together, I took a shower, since I knew I would need every bit of precious sleep in the morning. I dried my hair and got ready for bed while Stephen took his shower. Before I brushed my teeth, I took a salt packet and drank some Power Ade. Wow! Is that nasty!! We laid down in bed (I felt like the Flintstones, we slept in separate beds so we could both get some sleep) a little before 9:00. We turned on the Dallas-Bears game for some background noise, but I was asleep before 10:00.
Full Marathon 1/7/07
The alarm went off bright and early at 3:00. I should say the 3 alarms went off at 3:00, Stephen set the clock radio alarm, my cell phone, and he also got a wake-up call. We did NOT want to be guilty of over sleeping. I was doing okay when I first woke up, a little butterflies in the stomach, but not too bad. I was okay until I walked over to my stuff and saw that Stephen had laid a card on top of my gym shoes. It was a marathon card that was signed by everyone in both of our families and inside of the card was a 26.2 bumper sticker for my car. I always said that was the first post-marathon thing I would buy. While Stephen was very sweet, it started the nervousness and the tears!! Oh well, they had to come sometime.
The first thing I did, when getting ready marathon morning was slather myself down with sunscreen. I had so much sunscreen on me, my body was glowing!! Up next was the Body Glide. If there was an inch of the end of clothing touching my body, there was Body Glide smeared on. (Let me tell you how fabulous I smelled between the two!!) Once I was all greased up, I started getting dressed and then pulled my hair back into a bun. I was ready before Stephen was, so I walked next door to my parent’s room, they were all up and getting ready for the day. I don’t think Jessica was that pleased to be doing a mulligan of yesterday, but she put on a smile and pretended to be thrilled about it. I gave my Dad our carry-on to put in the car when they left and I also gave my Mom a bag of things Stephen and I might/would need during the race as we would be seeing them at mile 9 and mile 13. In the bag we had: our sunglasses, extra socks, Body Glide, sunscreen, water, Clif bars, and a towel to wipe the sweat. By the time I gave Mom and Dad everything, Stephen was ready to go, good thing too as it was about 3:40 and we were planning on being down to the bus stop by then. Jessica took a picture of Stephen and I in front of our door
and we told everyone we would see them later.
The walk to the lobby was surreal. It was completely quiet and Stephen and I were all by ourselves for the short walk. It was already hot and humid at 4:00 in the morning; the day could only get worse. We walked into the World Premier food court and saw runners in there eating breakfast and drinking Power Ade. There were 2 buses sitting outside of the resort lobby, waiting for runners to board. Stephen and I got on the first bus and we were on our way in a few minutes. On the way over, I ate a banana bread loaf (getting sick of bagels), drank a Power Ade, and took a salt packet—still nasty! Stephen and I talked to each other for a little bit, but I mostly used the time to pray and collect my thoughts. Like the bus ride over to the half last year, it was very quiet and hardly anyone was talking.
As soon as we pulled into the Epcot parking lot, we were blinded by lights and we could hear a band playing. When we got off the bus, someone made the comment, “look, there’s the finish line”, and sure enough, there it was. I took a good, hard look at it while my stomach did flips. Stephen and I made the long walk up to where the action was; we looked for Wisher’s before crossing thru the baggage claim, but didn’t see anyone. I didn’t check a bag, so I stayed with Stephen while he checked his bag in the “S” tent. As soon as we walked through baggage claim, we started looking for everyone and there you all were!! I was so excited to see you guys and it was wonderful having that down time with you, it really calmed my nerves. Let me think if I can remember everyone who has there: Carrie, Scott, Melissa, Phil, Colleen, Cam, Howard, Howard’s friend, Lynne, Rhonda, Lisa, Dana, Claire and then Christa and Sunny walked up right before we left for the corrals. I hope I didn’t miss anyone!!! As soon as we walked up and said our hellos, I headed straight for the port-a-potties, I didn’t really have to go, but there was a line and I knew I would need to use one later, so I decided to use it now. Stephen and I stood in line and it moved pretty quickly, I was thankful the port-a-potty wasn’t too dirty yet, as I’m not really a port-a-potty type of girl and I usually gag while using them. After that deed was done, Stephen helped me re-pin my race number as I pinned it too high and my Amphipod was not sitting comfortably under the number. Once we got that straightened out, we sat down on the ground and talked to Colleen and Cam while we waited to go into the corrals.
Everyone started disbanding a little before 5:00, but not before Cam got a picture of all of us, I can’t wait to see that picture! Stephen and I followed Carrie and Scott out to the road, that is a really long walk to the corrals, much longer than the walk for the half. We got to the split and followed it for corrals A, B, and C; Stephen was in corral B and I was corral C, but Stephen stayed in C with me. We passed a set of port-a-potties on the way back to the corrals and I wanted to stop one last time, but the line was super long. Stephen and I were discussing whether we should wait in the line or not, another runner over heard us talking and reassured me that it was very dark back in the woods. I thought to myself “I don’t like going in port-a-potties and now you expect me to go in the woods???”, but it was dark and heavily wooded, so I agreed to go to the bathroom in the woods. We walked further down the corrals before we found where everyone was doing their business, we walked down the slight incline and Stephen jumped over the drainage part first. He didn’t quite clear the gulley and ended up with a wet and muddy sock, after seeing that, I decided I could hold it until I found a real bathroom. I know he was so mad at me, but I didn’t want to end up with a wet sock too! Mama didn’t raise no fool.
After the bathroom escapade, Stephen and I made our way up to dry ground and began stretching. It was hard doing some of the stretches, because I needed to lean against a pole and all the poles were in the grass on uneven ground, but I stretched out the best I could. When Stephen was stretched out, he took off his sock and shoe and tried to get both to dry out the best he could. We stayed on the outskirts of the corral until about 5:45 when we joined the masses and started politely pushing our way to the front of the C corral. We ended up next to Stephen’s nemesis the 5:00 hour pacing lady, I found it humorous that she was reassuring everyone that she was a great pacer and to check out her credentials on her website. Because we were all carrying laptops with us on race morning. While we were standing there, we saw Cam, Rhonda, and Wendy in our corral; we waved to them as they moved further up in the corral. Right before 6:00, a man jumped the fence and stood next to Stephen, and another guy was standing there with a Bears hat on and they all started talking about football and the new guy would not shut up, even when Stephen and the Bears fan stopped responding back to him. You all know I love football and I love to talk football, but I was trying to focus on the marathon; praying and getting the right mindset and all the unnecessary chatter got old. When they started singing the National Anthem, the guy finally shut up and I was so thankful! Of course I started to cry during the National Anthem and then during the marathon shuffle, my emotions were out of control. Between the tears, I laughed to myself when I thought about what John Bingham said on Friday about Mickey Mouse getting set on fire at the marathon start. It took Stephen and I just over 3 minutes to get to the start line, a lot better than the 13 minutes it took last year. Stephen and I held hands over the start line, kissed, and then we were off. Like Stephen said in his report, we both run our own races and we know that and respect that going in.
I trained for the marathon doing run 5 minutes around a 10:30 pace and then walk for 1 minute around a 13:00 pace. That morning I decided to run the marathon doing r4/w2, to keep the pressure off of my IT band. I hurt my IT band in the spring when I was training for the Flying Pig half marathon, it healed completely and never gave me any problems until my 18 miler. I felt a twinge in my knee at mile 11 and stopped running at mile 13. I ran exclusively on the treadmill for 2 weeks at a slower pace and walking more. During my 20 miler, 2 weeks later, my IT band started hurting at mile 9, I tried to push it, but could only get to 10 miles before I had to stop running. I ended up walking the last 10 miles. For the 3 weeks between my 20-miler and the marathon I did not run at all, instead I did all of my training runs on the elliptical. I was worried about my IT band and that it would start hurting again, so I tried to take things as easy as possible. The first couple of miles were awesome and I was having a great time. I stopped at mile 2 to use the bathroom in the United Kingdom, I felt a little silly stopping so early, but I definitely wasn’t the only one. Running around Epcot was surreal. It was gorgeous. It was what I had been training for the past year. I tried to remember every second of it. The countries were lit up in white lights, like they are for Illuminations. As a huge Beatles fan, I was excited to be running to “A Hard Day’s Night” (and other Beatles songs, why were they played at every mile marker?), but I gotta say I was a little disappointed to not be hearing something more inspirational, like the music from Illuminations.
After we left Epcot and were running backstage, I was completely lost as to where we were, and I was completely surprised to come out in the middle of Test Track. Stephen told me quite a bit about the course, but he left that part out. And how cool was it to be running in the fog? That was completely awesome, but truth be told a little eerie. One interesting thing did happen during this part of the course, there was a race walker that I guess considered himself something of an expert on race walking. There was another couple that was also race walking next to the "professional", but they were not together. The professional race walker started critiquing the other couple, telling them to stand up straight, keep their head up, etc At first the couple tried to ignore him, but he just kept on and on and on until finally the man was very rude with the professional and he finally left them alone. All this was going on during one of my walk intervals, I started running out of turn just to get away from the guy, I didn’t want him to start picking on me! I finally lost him somewhere in the crowd and thankfully I never saw him again.
I didn’t know quite where the merge would happen, I knew it was somewhere after mile 3. I didn’t realize that we would come together but not completely merge for a little bit. The merge was a bit congested and it took until mile 4 until the crowds started to thin out. I laughed to myself at mile 4 and mile 5 as we passed the mile markers earlier on the course and here I was already back again. I ate half of a Clif bar around mile 4.5, I try to eat every 4 miles, but I was so caught up in the marathon that I completely forgot to eat. I really wasn’t hungry yet, but I knew I had to eat, because as we all know once you are hungry, then it’s too late. I had another chuckle at the expense of a fellow runner around mile 5, it was man and he was wearing white running shorts and a white t-shirt. I don’t know if he was heavily sweating or if he had just poured water on himself, but his shorts were completely see through from the back and he was putting on quite the show. When I passed him, I was very tempted to turn around and see if the front was see through as well, but I didn’t want my corneas to be seared! Somewhere around mile 5 I started singing praise and worship songs to myself, one chorus that I especially clung to was one that says “You are my strength when I am weak, you are the treasure that I seek, you are my all in all. Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I’d be a fool, you are my all in all”. I would sing that song to myself many times over the next 6 hours, sometimes as a praise and many times as a prayer.
When I hit mile 6, I did a little dance to myself, as I knew I only had 20.2 miles to go and I had already run 20 miles before. I was feel better when I get to a milage I have already conquered. Running across the overpass was so neat; I loved waving down to the people below. As I went around the cloverleaf and then I was the one on the bottom, I loved waving up to the people above me. It was around this time that I noticed I was running pretty even with Claire, we ended up staying together for next few miles. Around mile 7, I started feeling twinges in my knee, my first thought was “you have got to be kidding me”, it wasn’t necessarily my IT band, at least if it was, it was hurting in a different spot. My leg was hurting on the outer side, like the IT band, but it was hurting below my knee and behind my knee. It stayed in that area for a little bit before moving to under my kneecap. I wasn’t completely sure if it was my IT band or something else. Between miles 7-9, I started alternating running 4/w2 and then r3/w2, to see if I could lessen the pain in my knee and hopefully keep it localized. That worked for a little while. Other than my knee, I was still feeling pretty good, the sun was coming up, but it wasn’t that hot yet, but my shoulders started breaking out in a heat rash that looked lovely! I knew my parents and sister would be standing at mile 9, knowing that they were only a couple of miles away was a morale booster.
I loved running through the Pick Your Decade, that was really cool, is that new this year? I ran in the 70’s tunnel, because truth be told, I was closer to the 70’s tunnel than the 80’s tunnel. I got to run to “Rock the Boat”, which made me really hungry for M&M’s!!! After the decade tunnels, by the motor speed way, I looked to my left and saw many runners who were already at mile 13 and getting ready to turn down Bear Island Road. I was very jealous of them!!! Making the turn at the water stop at the TTC was amazing; the roar of the crowd was tremendous and so uplifting. I loved the people who cheered us on; I especially loved the people who called me out by name. The pain in my knee was not going away and I needed a boost as I had a long way to go. As I made it up the TTC hill, I thought of Judy, as she was so worried about the TTC hill. Once I got up the hill, I started looking for my parents, as I knew they would be standing on the left hand sign past mile 9. Around mile 9.2, I heard my name being called and there were my Mom and Dad and Jessica!! I only stopped for a minute to grab my sunglasses and for a quick picture.
My Mom later said she was very worried about at mile 9 as I looked hot, tired, pale, and in pain. I lied and told them that my knee was fine when Dad asked how my knee was holding up. I guess a mother’s intuition can see through all of our white lies. Soon after I left my scream team, I stopped at the port-a-potty, I didn’t really have to go too bad, but there wasn’t a line, so I took advantage of that!
I had a mini-break down right before mile 10 and the infamous Contemporary Hill. The hill was too steep for me to run without pain and I had to walk it. I cried the whole way because the pain was starting to move up my leg and I knew it was my IT band and that I wouldn’t be able to run much longer. When I came out from the The Hill, I saw Jen standing in front of the Contemporary. I yelled to her, but she couldn’t hear me, but just seeing her in the Wish shirt reminded me that I was not out here alone and there were a lot of people cheering for me and praying for me. Remembering that put the marathon in perspective for me; yes my knee was hurting, but I would run when I could and then walk when I couldn’t run anymore. I bargained with myself that I could walk until I got to the Magic Kingdom and then I would run down Main Street. And that’s what I did.
Turning onto Main Street, USA was unreal. My heart breaks for my fellow Wishers who were robbed of the opportunity of running down Main Street. There were SO many people there; too many people and I felt claustrophobic. Cinderella Castle was gorgeous, there was still a light fog and I was reminded of the song “Castle in the Clouds” from Les Miserables. Oh, I have a gripe here on Main Street, as I was running down, I saw the photographers, I got my smile all ready and I was cheesing big time. Out of nowhere this woman jumped in front of me and spread her arms out—she stole my shot??!! I was not pleased, more on that later. Once I made it through Main Street and into Tomorrowland, I continued with my r4/w2 intervals, my IT band still hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable, so I pushed through the pain. I think I was running on pure excitement and adrenalin. Running through Fantasyland was neat and there were no lines!!! I was coming up on the Castle again and again my smile was huge. I came through the Castle and down the ramp, I spotted the photographers and again got ready for my picture, when should come along but my little friend and she again jumped in front of me and sold my picture. I was SO mad!!! I gave her the dirtiest look, what makes people think they can do that to other people? Like they are the only ones around. So I’ve done 2 Disney marathons (half 2006 and full 2007) and I have zero Castle pictures. Grrrr. Once I made through the Castle, I again went back to doing intervals. Running through the Magic Kingdom was cool, but not nearly as exciting as last year when it was brand new. Plus last year I knew the end was in sight, this year, not so much.
The course veered back stage at mile 11, I was thankful that there was a piece of green carpet over the bridge, as running over the bar grating seriously freaked me out last year. Once the excitement of leaving the Magic Kingdom was over, the marathon become very hard for me. I could not ignore the pain in my leg and I decided to run whenever I felt like it, I was able to run for about 2 minutes before the pain was too much and then I walked for about 3 or 4 minutes. Running past the Shades of Green resort was great with all of the service men and women dressed in their fatigues and cheering us on. I was on the left hand side of the road, I tried to make it over to give one of the soldiers a high-five, but I couldn’t make it over there in time. There were a lot crowds around the Polynesian and their excitement was infectious. And speaking of excitement, guess who I saw right in front of the Polynesian, but everyone’s best friend Anne. Seeing her gave me enough energy to run until I saw my parents, right by mile marker 13.
I made a pit stop with my Mom and Dad, long enough to poor water on my head and to reapply Body Glide on my legs. You know my dad got that on camera. 
Thanks, Dad!! I told my parents my IT band was starting to hurt I suspected that I couldn’t run much longer, so it was going to take me longer than I anticipated. They told me take my time and they would see me at the finish.
I continued doing my 3/3 intervals until Bear Island Road, when I realized that I could walk faster than I could run/walk and the extra pain just wasn’t worth it. Somewhere between mile 13 and mile 14, I decided to walk the rest of marathon and I was okay with that, I tried to keep my pace between 13:00 and 14:00. At mile 14, we hit our first food stop, they had bananas and oranges, I grabbed an orange section; nothing on earth tasted better. The stretch on Bear Island Road (roughly miles 13.5-16) was awful, probably the worst part of the marathon for me, it was just so boring! In retrospect, I should have pulled out my mp3 player, but we were running along side trees and I was so sure that Animal Kingdom was just around the corner. That was a long corner!!! I was entertained by a fellow runner who was listening to his mp3 player and singing “Sexy Back” along with Justin Timberlake, very loud and very off key, that was a nice diversion and took my mind off the marathon for a few minutes. At mile 16, I made my last potty break, this was when I realized that I was covered in salt crystals, and started taking only Power Ade at the water stops instead of alternating between water and Power Ade. Coming into the Animal Kingdom was cool with all the animals out, I didn’t take the time to pet them or visit with them. The coolness of running in the Animal Kingdom was short lived as I officially hit the wall at mile 17, in Asia on the path to Expedition Everest. I just started crying and crying; I was in so much pain and I knew I had so far to go and it was so hot. There were so many people in the park who were annoyed with us, mad that our marathon was interrupting their vacation and that bad vibe wasn’t helping matters either. There was never a question of quitting; I just didn’t know quite how I was going to finish.
As we were coming around Everest and into Dinoland, CM’s were telling us that the photographers were up ahead. I was so thankful for the warning! I put a smile on my face and started running. Deceptive? I don’t know, but I didn’t want every picture of me to look like I was defeated and miserable, so I took some artistic liberties. I grabbed a wet sponge at the stop right before we left Animal Kingdom. I squeezed the water all down my back and neck. I really wanted to suck on it, as I was so thirsty, but I refrained as I wondered how clean the sponge was. When we left the Animal Kingdom, I put my headphones on in anticipation of the long trek between Animal Kingdom and MGM and the out and back. Immediately the music lifted my spirits and while the miles didn’t fly by, at least I had something to divert my attention. Of course we all know about the water/Power Ade catastrophe at miles 19 and 20. I was so thirsty, but there was nothing to be done and the volunteers were apologetic. I think mile 20 was even worse because there was water and Power Ade, but not any cups, the volunteers were filling up water bottles if people had them, but I didn’t have one, so I continued on. I little while later there was a food stop; I again grabbed the oranges as I needed something wet and a banana wouldn’t do. I noticed there was a water stop before mile 21, but I can’t figure out how that happened, was that a converted medical tent? A make shift water stop? Was I delirious and imagined it? I don’t know, but that Power Ade tasted wonderful after having nothing since mile 18.
The out and back between miles 20 and 21 were tough (although I loved hearing the British Invasion); I had no idea it was so long. On the way out and back, I looked for Wishers, but I didn’t see anyone. I was so thankful to be turning into MGM; I knew the end was in sight! Who else was disappointed with the red carpet? I was expecting a long, red movie premiere carpet; instead it was a bath mat red carpet! MGM was a blur, nothing really stuck out to me, and I was just wishing the marathon were over. When we went through the movie costume tunnel, my Garmin lost its signal and I somehow ended up a mile over. I can’t tell you how disappointing it was to be in the World Showcase and see 26.2 miles on my Garmin and knowing I still had a mile to go (I ended the marathon doing 27.26 miles). The photographer in MGM caught me in a weak moment, dragging my feet and tears streaming down my face. I saw him, but at the point I just didn’t care. Leaving MGM I saw a man coming in wearing his Mickey and Goofy medals, I wanted to beat him with those medals!! How could he be done and had time to clean up and make it to a park and I’m still trudging along. I admit, MGM wasn’t my finest moment of the marathon. Coming out of MGM and taking the Boardwalk path was so hard, I KNOW that path like the back of my hand and I KNEW how much further I had to go. People were shouting, “Come on, you can do it! Only a 5K left”, they were trying to be helpful, but that was awful to hear, I knew walking my pace it would take about 40 minutes to do a 5K and 40 minutes seemed so long. Knowing that the Wish team was at the Beach Club was huge and I started crying when I saw all the lime green, you guys were like angels from heaven. I know I freaked Mel out when I walked up crying and limping and I am so, so thankful that she held my hand and walked with me down to the next Wish station. I needed that so bad, thank you SO MUCH!!!!!!
Coming into Epcot, I felt much better, even though the hills by the Beach Club and the International Gateway were killers!! I knew that I was going to finish the marathon, the end was so near. There was a guy in the American pavilion yelling, “you are now joining the 1% of the American population that has finished a marathon”, that made me cry with tears of joy!!! Running in Future World between the flags and the international CM’s was amazing, but I did lose a little of the Disney magic when a man cut on the course in front of me with his double stroller. I yelled to him “thanks a lot!!”, but he just kept walking.
Turning the corner backstage and hearing the Gospel choir brought even more tears to my eyes. How did I have any fluid left in my body? I was crying so hard I had a hard time catching my breath, but there was no better feeling in the world. I remember the choir was singing “Awesome God”, which is one of my favorite songs and I raised my hands and sang with them, my God is an awesome God!! He brought me through the most difficult day of my life and even when I didn’t have the strength to lift my legs, He gave me the strength, the willpower, and the determination and I am so grateful and so thankful!!!!
The roar of the crowd in the grand stand was overwhelming and I half limped and half ran with my hands in the air. I saw my parents and sister standing along the fence as I went sprinting past.
I crossed the Finish Line (I just have to capitalize it ) with my hands in the air. If I could do a flip, I would have flipped over the finish line. My chip time was 6:23, over an hour longer than I thought it would take, but I didn’t care, I was finally done. I walked over on shaking legs to get my chip cut off my shoe and then went to get my bling!! The CM, put my medal over my head and said, “Congratulations, Krista”—I felt like I had just won the Olympics!! I went over to the food area and got an orange and a water before limping to the massage tent. In retrospect, I should have grabbed a can of Diet Coke as my blood sugar dropped too low about a half an hour later and I almost passed out on the Boardwalk. Thankfully Stephen grabbed me an ice cream cone and that helped immensely. But back to the massage tent, there was only a short line, maybe 3 or 4 people in front of me, the lady at the desk took one look at me and grabbed the main doctor and said “she needs the machine now!”. I thought to myself, how bad do I look? They put me on this machine that shakes your legs, when I laid down on the ground on my stomach, I hurt so bad, I had tears just running down my cheeks and all over my medal. After a couple of minutes, my legs began to relax and I felt better. After my machine time was over, another guy came over and helped me get out of the contraption. He asked if I wanted to go on the machine again and I said I was okay. He then pointed me to an open table. The massage was wonderful, more stretching than actually massaging, but it still felt great. After the massage, the guy who helped me off the machine grabbed me on the way out and suggested that I get on the machine again, and this time I took him up on his offer. I laid face up this time and it wasn’t nearly as painful. Once I was finished being shaken and massaged, I went over to the picture area and had my picture made. That smile was the real deal! I finally left the runners area and immediately found Stephen, my parents, Jessica, and my Wish team. Wearing that medal and seeing everyone else with their medals was the best feeling ever.
So, that’s how the marathon was for me: very difficult, very draining, the hardest thing I have ever done. But also so rewarding and meaningful. I think, what can stop me now? And I know I said just last week, never again, but I have a feeling I’ll be at the start line 2008 and I’ll get another Mickey medal.
Expo
Stephen, my parents, sister (Jessica), and I got into Orlando a little after 10:00 on Friday morning and headed straight for the Wide World of Sports. Things weren’t quite so chaotic as last year was, we could actually find a parking space on asphalt and not on the grass. During the long walk up to the Milk House, I was surprisingly calm and excited about the marathon, but walking into the Expo Center and seeing the “runners” sign and the marathon packet pick-up hit me like a brick wall. I was overcome with emotions, a pretty even mix of excitement and fear and I started crying right in the middle of the room. I walked over to look down at the merchandise and vendor booths until I could get my emotions under control. Once that was done, I walked over to the booth corresponding with my race number to pick my race packet up. This year I was careful to inspect my race number and chip; last year I was given a race number for someone named “Kristen”, but didn’t notice until I went to sign the waiver form. How bad would it be to have the wrong race number and not notice until the morning of the marathon?
While I was picking up my marathon packet, my parents were getting their half marathon packets and Stephen was picking up all of his Goofy packets. My Mom found out on Thursday that she would not be able to run the half, she had bronchitis and has asthma; her doctor would not clear her to run because her lung capacity was only 12%. Marathon weekend was disappointing for her because she trained so hard over the past year and then at the last second could not participate.
Once everyone had their packets, we met up in the center of room and then walked over to scan our chips. Seeing Krista Fulkerson, Full marathon was enough to make my heart stop!! I took a picture of Stephen’s wrist with his orange Goofy Challenge 2007
We went directly to the Official Merchandise Booth this time, last year we saved it for last and they were out of the sizes we needed (small for me and medium for Stephen). I don’t know if that extra 30 minutes looking at other booths mattered or not, but we didn’t want to take the chance. Thankfully we found lots of merchandise to blow our money on and we found all the sizes we needed. It was nice this year that Disney had more feminine looking clothing and women’s sizes, instead of making us buy men’s clothes. I think Stephen and I spent about $250 in about 20 minutes time, but this was all the souvenirs we were planning on buying all week, so I didn’t feel too badly about it.
Right before we left the merchandise booth, we saw Cam and Howard and had hugs all around. Cam told us that Colleen was there somewhere, but we never did find her.We left the merchandise area about 12:30 and made our way over to the room where John Bingham was schedule to talk at 1:00. There was already a session going on in the room, so we slipped in the side of the room and sat on the floor. I’m not sure who was leading the session, but he was with Team and Training and what he spoke about was wonderful. He lost a daughter to leukemia, so TnT was very near and dear to his heart, hearing him speak about his daughter was heartbreaking and that of course started the water works again. I would love to run with TnT, but I just don’t know if I could raise the funds and donations that is required, but I think it is a wonderful organization (although I do have to admit was SO sick of hearing “Go Team” by the end of the marathon
). John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield came into the room right at 1:00, there were so many people waiting to get in that we had to sit on the floor and crowd around them. Stephen, Mom, and I had a wonderful view, right in the first row, Dad was a little further back in the room, and Jessica stayed out in the hallway, as she really didn’t care about hearing John and Jenny speak. John was hilarious, talking about how miserable last year’s Goofy was and how the marathon should start at midnight, since we have to get up 3:00 in the morning anyway.
After seeing John and Jenny speak, we made our way to the goody bag section to get our race bags and official shirts. I love that full marathon shirt! I think I wore it every day of our vacation.
On the way out of the Expo, Craig stopped us right by the Flying Pig marathon booth. Somehow he recognized me, and we spent about 5-10 minutes talking to him. It was great to meet Craig and his words were very calming to me, after walking away from Craig, it felt like a huge boulder had been lifted from my shoulders and I was no longer scared of the marathon. I had trained for this, I worked hard for this, I didn’t skip any runs, and yeah I had my fair share of injuries, but I cross-trained through them. If I had to crawl the last few miles, I would do it. I had too much time; effort, blood, sweat, and tears already invested in this marathon and it would not defeat me. Walking out of the Expo Center I was light hearted and excited, without any fear or nervousness what so ever, I just had the feeling of “git ‘r done”. Friday Night Wish Meet
The Friday night meet at Pop Century was absolutely wonderful, way better than last year at Trails End. Being drug into the center of the room by Anne was wonderful, I wish I had her enthusiasm!! I’m not really a shy person, but I tend to be quiet in large groups of people, so I didn’t get a chance to get around and talk to everyone, but those I did get to talk to was great. I really feel like I’m getting to know many of you and that we are so much more than just an on-line training group. We are friends and we are family and I am so thankful for each and every one of you.
The Night Before
My parents, Jessica, Stephen, and I headed to MGM for dinner at Mama Melrose. They were very cooperating with the carbo-loading and Stephen and I were able to get spaghetti, even though it wasn’t on the menu. The spaghetti was okay, certainly not my first choice at Mama Melrose, but it was pasta. Stephen and I left Mom, Dad, and Jessica at MGM and headed back to All Stars before 6:00.
Once we got back in the room, we started repacking our suitcases, we were checking out of the All Stars in the morning and into the Boardwalk Villas after the marathon. Once Stephen and I repacked our suitcases, we took them down to the car to load them in, one less thing for parents to do tomorrow morning at 4:00. I grabbed my Garmin before we went to the car and after we loaded the suitcases, we walked over to the far end of the parking lot to get a signal. I remember how clear the sky was and how brightly the stars were blinking in the black sky. Once I got a signal on my Garmin, we walked back into our building to start getting ready for bed.
Stephen and I started getting ready for the run tomorrow. I started by packing my Amphipod running pack, and it was packed to the gills! In there I had: 6 Clif bar halves (one for every 4 miles), chap stick, headphones, resort ID, $ for post marathon massage, a chunk of emergency Body Glide in a zip lock bag, salt packets and tissues. I clipped my mp3 player to the pack, which was my salvation for miles 18-23. After my Amphipod was packed, I moved on to pinning my race number onto my singlet. I was very precise with the exact location of my race number, but I shouldn’t have put so much effort into it, as I had to re-pin my race number the next morning.
After I had everything together, I took a shower, since I knew I would need every bit of precious sleep in the morning. I dried my hair and got ready for bed while Stephen took his shower. Before I brushed my teeth, I took a salt packet and drank some Power Ade. Wow! Is that nasty!! We laid down in bed (I felt like the Flintstones, we slept in separate beds so we could both get some sleep) a little before 9:00. We turned on the Dallas-Bears game for some background noise, but I was asleep before 10:00.
Full Marathon 1/7/07
The alarm went off bright and early at 3:00. I should say the 3 alarms went off at 3:00, Stephen set the clock radio alarm, my cell phone, and he also got a wake-up call. We did NOT want to be guilty of over sleeping. I was doing okay when I first woke up, a little butterflies in the stomach, but not too bad. I was okay until I walked over to my stuff and saw that Stephen had laid a card on top of my gym shoes. It was a marathon card that was signed by everyone in both of our families and inside of the card was a 26.2 bumper sticker for my car. I always said that was the first post-marathon thing I would buy. While Stephen was very sweet, it started the nervousness and the tears!! Oh well, they had to come sometime.
The first thing I did, when getting ready marathon morning was slather myself down with sunscreen. I had so much sunscreen on me, my body was glowing!! Up next was the Body Glide. If there was an inch of the end of clothing touching my body, there was Body Glide smeared on. (Let me tell you how fabulous I smelled between the two!!) Once I was all greased up, I started getting dressed and then pulled my hair back into a bun. I was ready before Stephen was, so I walked next door to my parent’s room, they were all up and getting ready for the day. I don’t think Jessica was that pleased to be doing a mulligan of yesterday, but she put on a smile and pretended to be thrilled about it. I gave my Dad our carry-on to put in the car when they left and I also gave my Mom a bag of things Stephen and I might/would need during the race as we would be seeing them at mile 9 and mile 13. In the bag we had: our sunglasses, extra socks, Body Glide, sunscreen, water, Clif bars, and a towel to wipe the sweat. By the time I gave Mom and Dad everything, Stephen was ready to go, good thing too as it was about 3:40 and we were planning on being down to the bus stop by then. Jessica took a picture of Stephen and I in front of our door
The walk to the lobby was surreal. It was completely quiet and Stephen and I were all by ourselves for the short walk. It was already hot and humid at 4:00 in the morning; the day could only get worse. We walked into the World Premier food court and saw runners in there eating breakfast and drinking Power Ade. There were 2 buses sitting outside of the resort lobby, waiting for runners to board. Stephen and I got on the first bus and we were on our way in a few minutes. On the way over, I ate a banana bread loaf (getting sick of bagels), drank a Power Ade, and took a salt packet—still nasty! Stephen and I talked to each other for a little bit, but I mostly used the time to pray and collect my thoughts. Like the bus ride over to the half last year, it was very quiet and hardly anyone was talking.
As soon as we pulled into the Epcot parking lot, we were blinded by lights and we could hear a band playing. When we got off the bus, someone made the comment, “look, there’s the finish line”, and sure enough, there it was. I took a good, hard look at it while my stomach did flips. Stephen and I made the long walk up to where the action was; we looked for Wisher’s before crossing thru the baggage claim, but didn’t see anyone. I didn’t check a bag, so I stayed with Stephen while he checked his bag in the “S” tent. As soon as we walked through baggage claim, we started looking for everyone and there you all were!! I was so excited to see you guys and it was wonderful having that down time with you, it really calmed my nerves. Let me think if I can remember everyone who has there: Carrie, Scott, Melissa, Phil, Colleen, Cam, Howard, Howard’s friend, Lynne, Rhonda, Lisa, Dana, Claire and then Christa and Sunny walked up right before we left for the corrals. I hope I didn’t miss anyone!!! As soon as we walked up and said our hellos, I headed straight for the port-a-potties, I didn’t really have to go, but there was a line and I knew I would need to use one later, so I decided to use it now. Stephen and I stood in line and it moved pretty quickly, I was thankful the port-a-potty wasn’t too dirty yet, as I’m not really a port-a-potty type of girl and I usually gag while using them. After that deed was done, Stephen helped me re-pin my race number as I pinned it too high and my Amphipod was not sitting comfortably under the number. Once we got that straightened out, we sat down on the ground and talked to Colleen and Cam while we waited to go into the corrals.
Everyone started disbanding a little before 5:00, but not before Cam got a picture of all of us, I can’t wait to see that picture! Stephen and I followed Carrie and Scott out to the road, that is a really long walk to the corrals, much longer than the walk for the half. We got to the split and followed it for corrals A, B, and C; Stephen was in corral B and I was corral C, but Stephen stayed in C with me. We passed a set of port-a-potties on the way back to the corrals and I wanted to stop one last time, but the line was super long. Stephen and I were discussing whether we should wait in the line or not, another runner over heard us talking and reassured me that it was very dark back in the woods. I thought to myself “I don’t like going in port-a-potties and now you expect me to go in the woods???”, but it was dark and heavily wooded, so I agreed to go to the bathroom in the woods. We walked further down the corrals before we found where everyone was doing their business, we walked down the slight incline and Stephen jumped over the drainage part first. He didn’t quite clear the gulley and ended up with a wet and muddy sock, after seeing that, I decided I could hold it until I found a real bathroom. I know he was so mad at me, but I didn’t want to end up with a wet sock too! Mama didn’t raise no fool.
After the bathroom escapade, Stephen and I made our way up to dry ground and began stretching. It was hard doing some of the stretches, because I needed to lean against a pole and all the poles were in the grass on uneven ground, but I stretched out the best I could. When Stephen was stretched out, he took off his sock and shoe and tried to get both to dry out the best he could. We stayed on the outskirts of the corral until about 5:45 when we joined the masses and started politely pushing our way to the front of the C corral. We ended up next to Stephen’s nemesis the 5:00 hour pacing lady, I found it humorous that she was reassuring everyone that she was a great pacer and to check out her credentials on her website. Because we were all carrying laptops with us on race morning. While we were standing there, we saw Cam, Rhonda, and Wendy in our corral; we waved to them as they moved further up in the corral. Right before 6:00, a man jumped the fence and stood next to Stephen, and another guy was standing there with a Bears hat on and they all started talking about football and the new guy would not shut up, even when Stephen and the Bears fan stopped responding back to him. You all know I love football and I love to talk football, but I was trying to focus on the marathon; praying and getting the right mindset and all the unnecessary chatter got old. When they started singing the National Anthem, the guy finally shut up and I was so thankful! Of course I started to cry during the National Anthem and then during the marathon shuffle, my emotions were out of control. Between the tears, I laughed to myself when I thought about what John Bingham said on Friday about Mickey Mouse getting set on fire at the marathon start. It took Stephen and I just over 3 minutes to get to the start line, a lot better than the 13 minutes it took last year. Stephen and I held hands over the start line, kissed, and then we were off. Like Stephen said in his report, we both run our own races and we know that and respect that going in.
I trained for the marathon doing run 5 minutes around a 10:30 pace and then walk for 1 minute around a 13:00 pace. That morning I decided to run the marathon doing r4/w2, to keep the pressure off of my IT band. I hurt my IT band in the spring when I was training for the Flying Pig half marathon, it healed completely and never gave me any problems until my 18 miler. I felt a twinge in my knee at mile 11 and stopped running at mile 13. I ran exclusively on the treadmill for 2 weeks at a slower pace and walking more. During my 20 miler, 2 weeks later, my IT band started hurting at mile 9, I tried to push it, but could only get to 10 miles before I had to stop running. I ended up walking the last 10 miles. For the 3 weeks between my 20-miler and the marathon I did not run at all, instead I did all of my training runs on the elliptical. I was worried about my IT band and that it would start hurting again, so I tried to take things as easy as possible. The first couple of miles were awesome and I was having a great time. I stopped at mile 2 to use the bathroom in the United Kingdom, I felt a little silly stopping so early, but I definitely wasn’t the only one. Running around Epcot was surreal. It was gorgeous. It was what I had been training for the past year. I tried to remember every second of it. The countries were lit up in white lights, like they are for Illuminations. As a huge Beatles fan, I was excited to be running to “A Hard Day’s Night” (and other Beatles songs, why were they played at every mile marker?), but I gotta say I was a little disappointed to not be hearing something more inspirational, like the music from Illuminations.
After we left Epcot and were running backstage, I was completely lost as to where we were, and I was completely surprised to come out in the middle of Test Track. Stephen told me quite a bit about the course, but he left that part out. And how cool was it to be running in the fog? That was completely awesome, but truth be told a little eerie. One interesting thing did happen during this part of the course, there was a race walker that I guess considered himself something of an expert on race walking. There was another couple that was also race walking next to the "professional", but they were not together. The professional race walker started critiquing the other couple, telling them to stand up straight, keep their head up, etc At first the couple tried to ignore him, but he just kept on and on and on until finally the man was very rude with the professional and he finally left them alone. All this was going on during one of my walk intervals, I started running out of turn just to get away from the guy, I didn’t want him to start picking on me! I finally lost him somewhere in the crowd and thankfully I never saw him again.
I didn’t know quite where the merge would happen, I knew it was somewhere after mile 3. I didn’t realize that we would come together but not completely merge for a little bit. The merge was a bit congested and it took until mile 4 until the crowds started to thin out. I laughed to myself at mile 4 and mile 5 as we passed the mile markers earlier on the course and here I was already back again. I ate half of a Clif bar around mile 4.5, I try to eat every 4 miles, but I was so caught up in the marathon that I completely forgot to eat. I really wasn’t hungry yet, but I knew I had to eat, because as we all know once you are hungry, then it’s too late. I had another chuckle at the expense of a fellow runner around mile 5, it was man and he was wearing white running shorts and a white t-shirt. I don’t know if he was heavily sweating or if he had just poured water on himself, but his shorts were completely see through from the back and he was putting on quite the show. When I passed him, I was very tempted to turn around and see if the front was see through as well, but I didn’t want my corneas to be seared! Somewhere around mile 5 I started singing praise and worship songs to myself, one chorus that I especially clung to was one that says “You are my strength when I am weak, you are the treasure that I seek, you are my all in all. Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I’d be a fool, you are my all in all”. I would sing that song to myself many times over the next 6 hours, sometimes as a praise and many times as a prayer.
When I hit mile 6, I did a little dance to myself, as I knew I only had 20.2 miles to go and I had already run 20 miles before. I was feel better when I get to a milage I have already conquered. Running across the overpass was so neat; I loved waving down to the people below. As I went around the cloverleaf and then I was the one on the bottom, I loved waving up to the people above me. It was around this time that I noticed I was running pretty even with Claire, we ended up staying together for next few miles. Around mile 7, I started feeling twinges in my knee, my first thought was “you have got to be kidding me”, it wasn’t necessarily my IT band, at least if it was, it was hurting in a different spot. My leg was hurting on the outer side, like the IT band, but it was hurting below my knee and behind my knee. It stayed in that area for a little bit before moving to under my kneecap. I wasn’t completely sure if it was my IT band or something else. Between miles 7-9, I started alternating running 4/w2 and then r3/w2, to see if I could lessen the pain in my knee and hopefully keep it localized. That worked for a little while. Other than my knee, I was still feeling pretty good, the sun was coming up, but it wasn’t that hot yet, but my shoulders started breaking out in a heat rash that looked lovely! I knew my parents and sister would be standing at mile 9, knowing that they were only a couple of miles away was a morale booster.
I loved running through the Pick Your Decade, that was really cool, is that new this year? I ran in the 70’s tunnel, because truth be told, I was closer to the 70’s tunnel than the 80’s tunnel. I got to run to “Rock the Boat”, which made me really hungry for M&M’s!!! After the decade tunnels, by the motor speed way, I looked to my left and saw many runners who were already at mile 13 and getting ready to turn down Bear Island Road. I was very jealous of them!!! Making the turn at the water stop at the TTC was amazing; the roar of the crowd was tremendous and so uplifting. I loved the people who cheered us on; I especially loved the people who called me out by name. The pain in my knee was not going away and I needed a boost as I had a long way to go. As I made it up the TTC hill, I thought of Judy, as she was so worried about the TTC hill. Once I got up the hill, I started looking for my parents, as I knew they would be standing on the left hand sign past mile 9. Around mile 9.2, I heard my name being called and there were my Mom and Dad and Jessica!! I only stopped for a minute to grab my sunglasses and for a quick picture.
I had a mini-break down right before mile 10 and the infamous Contemporary Hill. The hill was too steep for me to run without pain and I had to walk it. I cried the whole way because the pain was starting to move up my leg and I knew it was my IT band and that I wouldn’t be able to run much longer. When I came out from the The Hill, I saw Jen standing in front of the Contemporary. I yelled to her, but she couldn’t hear me, but just seeing her in the Wish shirt reminded me that I was not out here alone and there were a lot of people cheering for me and praying for me. Remembering that put the marathon in perspective for me; yes my knee was hurting, but I would run when I could and then walk when I couldn’t run anymore. I bargained with myself that I could walk until I got to the Magic Kingdom and then I would run down Main Street. And that’s what I did.
Turning onto Main Street, USA was unreal. My heart breaks for my fellow Wishers who were robbed of the opportunity of running down Main Street. There were SO many people there; too many people and I felt claustrophobic. Cinderella Castle was gorgeous, there was still a light fog and I was reminded of the song “Castle in the Clouds” from Les Miserables. Oh, I have a gripe here on Main Street, as I was running down, I saw the photographers, I got my smile all ready and I was cheesing big time. Out of nowhere this woman jumped in front of me and spread her arms out—she stole my shot??!! I was not pleased, more on that later. Once I made it through Main Street and into Tomorrowland, I continued with my r4/w2 intervals, my IT band still hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable, so I pushed through the pain. I think I was running on pure excitement and adrenalin. Running through Fantasyland was neat and there were no lines!!! I was coming up on the Castle again and again my smile was huge. I came through the Castle and down the ramp, I spotted the photographers and again got ready for my picture, when should come along but my little friend and she again jumped in front of me and sold my picture. I was SO mad!!! I gave her the dirtiest look, what makes people think they can do that to other people? Like they are the only ones around. So I’ve done 2 Disney marathons (half 2006 and full 2007) and I have zero Castle pictures. Grrrr. Once I made through the Castle, I again went back to doing intervals. Running through the Magic Kingdom was cool, but not nearly as exciting as last year when it was brand new. Plus last year I knew the end was in sight, this year, not so much.
The course veered back stage at mile 11, I was thankful that there was a piece of green carpet over the bridge, as running over the bar grating seriously freaked me out last year. Once the excitement of leaving the Magic Kingdom was over, the marathon become very hard for me. I could not ignore the pain in my leg and I decided to run whenever I felt like it, I was able to run for about 2 minutes before the pain was too much and then I walked for about 3 or 4 minutes. Running past the Shades of Green resort was great with all of the service men and women dressed in their fatigues and cheering us on. I was on the left hand side of the road, I tried to make it over to give one of the soldiers a high-five, but I couldn’t make it over there in time. There were a lot crowds around the Polynesian and their excitement was infectious. And speaking of excitement, guess who I saw right in front of the Polynesian, but everyone’s best friend Anne. Seeing her gave me enough energy to run until I saw my parents, right by mile marker 13.
Thanks, Dad!! I told my parents my IT band was starting to hurt I suspected that I couldn’t run much longer, so it was going to take me longer than I anticipated. They told me take my time and they would see me at the finish. I continued doing my 3/3 intervals until Bear Island Road, when I realized that I could walk faster than I could run/walk and the extra pain just wasn’t worth it. Somewhere between mile 13 and mile 14, I decided to walk the rest of marathon and I was okay with that, I tried to keep my pace between 13:00 and 14:00. At mile 14, we hit our first food stop, they had bananas and oranges, I grabbed an orange section; nothing on earth tasted better. The stretch on Bear Island Road (roughly miles 13.5-16) was awful, probably the worst part of the marathon for me, it was just so boring! In retrospect, I should have pulled out my mp3 player, but we were running along side trees and I was so sure that Animal Kingdom was just around the corner. That was a long corner!!! I was entertained by a fellow runner who was listening to his mp3 player and singing “Sexy Back” along with Justin Timberlake, very loud and very off key, that was a nice diversion and took my mind off the marathon for a few minutes. At mile 16, I made my last potty break, this was when I realized that I was covered in salt crystals, and started taking only Power Ade at the water stops instead of alternating between water and Power Ade. Coming into the Animal Kingdom was cool with all the animals out, I didn’t take the time to pet them or visit with them. The coolness of running in the Animal Kingdom was short lived as I officially hit the wall at mile 17, in Asia on the path to Expedition Everest. I just started crying and crying; I was in so much pain and I knew I had so far to go and it was so hot. There were so many people in the park who were annoyed with us, mad that our marathon was interrupting their vacation and that bad vibe wasn’t helping matters either. There was never a question of quitting; I just didn’t know quite how I was going to finish.
As we were coming around Everest and into Dinoland, CM’s were telling us that the photographers were up ahead. I was so thankful for the warning! I put a smile on my face and started running. Deceptive? I don’t know, but I didn’t want every picture of me to look like I was defeated and miserable, so I took some artistic liberties.
I grabbed a wet sponge at the stop right before we left Animal Kingdom. I squeezed the water all down my back and neck. I really wanted to suck on it, as I was so thirsty, but I refrained as I wondered how clean the sponge was. When we left the Animal Kingdom, I put my headphones on in anticipation of the long trek between Animal Kingdom and MGM and the out and back. Immediately the music lifted my spirits and while the miles didn’t fly by, at least I had something to divert my attention. Of course we all know about the water/Power Ade catastrophe at miles 19 and 20. I was so thirsty, but there was nothing to be done and the volunteers were apologetic. I think mile 20 was even worse because there was water and Power Ade, but not any cups, the volunteers were filling up water bottles if people had them, but I didn’t have one, so I continued on. I little while later there was a food stop; I again grabbed the oranges as I needed something wet and a banana wouldn’t do. I noticed there was a water stop before mile 21, but I can’t figure out how that happened, was that a converted medical tent? A make shift water stop? Was I delirious and imagined it? I don’t know, but that Power Ade tasted wonderful after having nothing since mile 18.The out and back between miles 20 and 21 were tough (although I loved hearing the British Invasion); I had no idea it was so long. On the way out and back, I looked for Wishers, but I didn’t see anyone. I was so thankful to be turning into MGM; I knew the end was in sight! Who else was disappointed with the red carpet? I was expecting a long, red movie premiere carpet; instead it was a bath mat red carpet! MGM was a blur, nothing really stuck out to me, and I was just wishing the marathon were over. When we went through the movie costume tunnel, my Garmin lost its signal and I somehow ended up a mile over. I can’t tell you how disappointing it was to be in the World Showcase and see 26.2 miles on my Garmin and knowing I still had a mile to go (I ended the marathon doing 27.26 miles). The photographer in MGM caught me in a weak moment, dragging my feet and tears streaming down my face. I saw him, but at the point I just didn’t care. Leaving MGM I saw a man coming in wearing his Mickey and Goofy medals, I wanted to beat him with those medals!! How could he be done and had time to clean up and make it to a park and I’m still trudging along. I admit, MGM wasn’t my finest moment of the marathon. Coming out of MGM and taking the Boardwalk path was so hard, I KNOW that path like the back of my hand and I KNEW how much further I had to go. People were shouting, “Come on, you can do it! Only a 5K left”, they were trying to be helpful, but that was awful to hear, I knew walking my pace it would take about 40 minutes to do a 5K and 40 minutes seemed so long. Knowing that the Wish team was at the Beach Club was huge and I started crying when I saw all the lime green, you guys were like angels from heaven. I know I freaked Mel out when I walked up crying and limping and I am so, so thankful that she held my hand and walked with me down to the next Wish station. I needed that so bad, thank you SO MUCH!!!!!!
Coming into Epcot, I felt much better, even though the hills by the Beach Club and the International Gateway were killers!! I knew that I was going to finish the marathon, the end was so near. There was a guy in the American pavilion yelling, “you are now joining the 1% of the American population that has finished a marathon”, that made me cry with tears of joy!!! Running in Future World between the flags and the international CM’s was amazing, but I did lose a little of the Disney magic when a man cut on the course in front of me with his double stroller. I yelled to him “thanks a lot!!”, but he just kept walking.
Turning the corner backstage and hearing the Gospel choir brought even more tears to my eyes. How did I have any fluid left in my body? I was crying so hard I had a hard time catching my breath, but there was no better feeling in the world. I remember the choir was singing “Awesome God”, which is one of my favorite songs and I raised my hands and sang with them, my God is an awesome God!! He brought me through the most difficult day of my life and even when I didn’t have the strength to lift my legs, He gave me the strength, the willpower, and the determination and I am so grateful and so thankful!!!!
The roar of the crowd in the grand stand was overwhelming and I half limped and half ran with my hands in the air. I saw my parents and sister standing along the fence as I went sprinting past.
I crossed the Finish Line (I just have to capitalize it ) with my hands in the air. If I could do a flip, I would have flipped over the finish line. My chip time was 6:23, over an hour longer than I thought it would take, but I didn’t care, I was finally done. I walked over on shaking legs to get my chip cut off my shoe and then went to get my bling!! The CM, put my medal over my head and said, “Congratulations, Krista”—I felt like I had just won the Olympics!! I went over to the food area and got an orange and a water before limping to the massage tent. In retrospect, I should have grabbed a can of Diet Coke as my blood sugar dropped too low about a half an hour later and I almost passed out on the Boardwalk. Thankfully Stephen grabbed me an ice cream cone and that helped immensely. But back to the massage tent, there was only a short line, maybe 3 or 4 people in front of me, the lady at the desk took one look at me and grabbed the main doctor and said “she needs the machine now!”. I thought to myself, how bad do I look? They put me on this machine that shakes your legs, when I laid down on the ground on my stomach, I hurt so bad, I had tears just running down my cheeks and all over my medal. After a couple of minutes, my legs began to relax and I felt better. After my machine time was over, another guy came over and helped me get out of the contraption. He asked if I wanted to go on the machine again and I said I was okay. He then pointed me to an open table. The massage was wonderful, more stretching than actually massaging, but it still felt great. After the massage, the guy who helped me off the machine grabbed me on the way out and suggested that I get on the machine again, and this time I took him up on his offer. I laid face up this time and it wasn’t nearly as painful. Once I was finished being shaken and massaged, I went over to the picture area and had my picture made. That smile was the real deal! I finally left the runners area and immediately found Stephen, my parents, Jessica, and my Wish team. Wearing that medal and seeing everyone else with their medals was the best feeling ever.
So, that’s how the marathon was for me: very difficult, very draining, the hardest thing I have ever done. But also so rewarding and meaningful. I think, what can stop me now? And I know I said just last week, never again, but I have a feeling I’ll be at the start line 2008 and I’ll get another Mickey medal.
Mouse Skywalker
<font color=green>The Force is strong with this Po
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2005
- Messages
- 7,021
Krista- Great report! Remember, as Sunny once said, "the pain is temporary, finishing is forever!" You're a marathoner now. Did you put the 26.2 sticker on your car?
aladdinsgirl
She's a rebel. She's a saint.
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2002
- Messages
- 1,865
Yay! You are reading my race report!!! 
Was it too long? As you can see, I tend to get long winded.
Dave--I have not put the sticker on my car yet, but I dug it out of the suitcase last night and it's going on tonight as soon as I get home.
Was it too long? As you can see, I tend to get long winded. Dave--I have not put the sticker on my car yet, but I dug it out of the suitcase last night and it's going on tonight as soon as I get home.
scoolover
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,386
What I love about all the reports is they end something like this:
The race was awful. It was hot, I was cramping, the last 5 miles were misery, etc... and I got home and signed up for next year. I love it. I give a little fist pump every time I read that. Congrats everyone.
Scott
The race was awful. It was hot, I was cramping, the last 5 miles were misery, etc... and I got home and signed up for next year. I love it. I give a little fist pump every time I read that. Congrats everyone.
Scott
wtpclc
<font color=red>Has three great loves: Mickey, Po
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2004
- Messages
- 7,529
You stole my ending. Now what am I going to report?
princessmomma
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2001
- Messages
- 1,950
Yay, Krista, congratulations!
Yes, 1% of the population. YOU ARE A MARATHONER!
Colleen
Yes, 1% of the population. YOU ARE A MARATHONER!
Colleen
Mouse Skywalker
<font color=green>The Force is strong with this Po
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2005
- Messages
- 7,021
Nope, not too long at all. I really enjoyed all the detail, and it made me feel like I was back there running.Yay! You are reading my race report!!!
Dave--I have not put the sticker on my car yet, but I dug it out of the suitcase last night and it's going on tonight as soon as I get home.
...but apparently I have a reputation to boot! 
wtpclc
<font color=red>Has three great loves: Mickey, Po
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2004
- Messages
- 7,529
Judy - I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but your little episode may have saved many of us who did the full. It was a very scary reminder of what the heat can do. It could have happened to any of us Saturaday or Sunday. I know I was extra careful because of your scare. Not that I wouldn't have given anything for you to have been 100% healthy after your race, but it was a good reality check for many of us. I'm so glad you were ok after a little TLC. Nothing to be ashamed of!
kareneast
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2000
- Messages
- 1,860
Hi All,
First let me say .What an absolutely fantastic race weekend!
John & I arrived in WDW very late on Tuesday. I am very glad we came in early as it gave my body a chance to get a little bit used to the heat & humidity. My asthma was not really liking the humidity at all. Took it very easy the next few days so as not to tire out our legs with a lot of standing.
Arrived at the Expo on Thursday at 3pm and was very surprised to see the line to get in snaking back and forth all over the place. Thankfully it moved pretty quickly. Picked up our bibs & chips (had no problem also picking up Seans with the letter signed by him & photo copy of his drivers license), made our way downstairs to pick up our shirts & goody bags. Then went straight to the Official Merchandise area where we spent way more then we probably should have. By this time it was almost 5pm and we had to pick Sean up at the airport for 5:35, so we did a very brief tour of the rest of the Expo.
Friday I returned to the Expo to listen to John The Penguin Bingham and Coach Jenny Hadfield speak (while John & Sean played mini-golf). They were GREAT speakers! It was also great to see so many Wishers there. Coach Jenny gave some very good advice for dealing with heat. I took her suggestion of taking a salt packet before the start of the Half and I really think it made a difference in how I felt throughout the race. John Binghams advice was to slow down your race pace by a minute or so because of the heat & humidity. It was great advice but it also scared me .alot. Its great if you are fairly fast, but if you are a back of the packer already doing 15+ mpm, you dont have a minute or so per mile to slow down .unless of course the sweepers were slowing down too ..ugh!
I was a bit nervous about meeting everyone on Friday night at the Pop Wish Meet, but I think getting to meet some earlier at the Expo helped. The meet was GREAT! It was nice meeting everyone and putting faces with the names I see on the Dis.
Back at the Poly it was time to prepare for race day. I pulled out mine, John, & Seans race gear, pinned bibs on our shirts, & put chips on our shoes. (Ok, I dont want this to sound like John & Sean dont do anything. They are more of the laidback no worries type of personality and I am the compulsive Type A personality. I new they (especially Sean) would wait until morning to get their stuff together, which would have driven me crazy & stressed me more then I needed to be, so I offered to get their race gear ready for them. It was for my sanity!) John & Sean then turned in for the night and I went to watch Wishes from the Poly Beach. It was just what I needed to help relax.
Saturday morning the wake up call & alarm go off at 3am. We get up, have something to eat, & get ready to go. We leave the Poly at 4am and walk over to the TTC to get the Monorail to Epcot. It was already HOT & HUMID!!!! We each have a bottle of water & a throw away blanket to sit on and John has 2 bags of ice with him to ice his knees on the Monorail. As we walk past the Finish Line Spectator Area, there are very few people at the port-a-potties, so we make this our first potty stop. We get into the first holding area which by now is pretty empty, put our blankets down, do some stretching and John slathers his knees in biofreeze & puts on his knee braces. We make our way through the bag check tents and are directed to the Wave C holding area. There we see Judy & Charlie. It was great to see familiar faces. We sit with them for a while and it really helped to pass the time and calm the nerves. It was off for one last potty stop, then start moving towards the start line. (talk about feeling like a herd of cattle .LOL) Before long we hear the National Anthem & the wheelchair racers, then the elites are off. Wave B is then off and next it is us. We move up, take our salt packs (which by the way .yuck!) and finish our last sips of water. We countdown, the fireworks go off. Here we go . Our plan was to step across the start line together, but the girl in front of Sean hesitated, so Sean actually stepped across 1 second after us. We start to run, but find we really arent moving anywhere, so walk instead, work our way over to the grass where we can start getting around people. Before we even get to the big jug handle, John tells us to go on ahead that he cant keep up at our pace. He is already sweating and doesnt look too well. We tell him we will stay together, but he insists he is fine and to go on ahead. We wish each other luck and Sean & I are off. Ill tell you, you never realize how sloped a curve is til you walk/run one Wow! It was so crowded we almost dont see the Mile 1 sign. We continue to do a lot of walk/running on the grass. Around Mile 2 we see the elites making there way back already. Very Cool! Still doing a lot of on & off the grass to try and get around people. At this point feeling hot but very good. Not really keeping close track of intervals, just going by how we feel. Sean is helping me to run a little faster & a little farther, and it feels good. Loved the spot near the TTC where they had the Rock n Roll music to the right and Country to the left. That was kind of fun. Going through the TTC we see Krista which was motivating right before the Contemporary Hill. I prefer to run downhill & walk uphill, Sean prefers to walk down & run up, so I take off and Sean catches me on the uphill. We make our way into the back stage areas of MK, when we smell the bacon, Sean gets really hungry & wants to stop for some. (what can I say he is a 20yr old male...) We come around the corner and there it is Main Street and the Castle. All I can say is WOW! What a beautiful sight! I started to choke up. We start to run because I had wanted to run all the way up Main Street. We see Cam, Carrie, & Scott and got lots of high fives as we went by. It was fantastic! I feel so good we keep running all the way into Tomorrowland. We walk in the back of Tomorrowland into Fantasyland because I wanted to be able to run through the Castle. Again WOW! As we make our way out of MK I was glad to see the bananas cause with Sean talking about food & being hungry, I was now hungry. LOL Now for the long road back to the jug handle/overpass and Epcot. By this point my knee is starting to hurt so we slow our pace down. We are still doing a lot of walk/run on the grass to get around people. We get to see Judy & Charlie and Kristi & her mom. It was great seeing them and knowing they werent far away. My knee is now hurting pretty bad so my runs were getting shorter. I start telling Sean, well run to the next sign, light pole, whatever. Loved the HS Marching Band. Brought back memories of Sean from HS Band. We ran before the jug handle/overpass because I knew we would be walking that. On that run Seans calf muscle cramped. We had to stop for him to stretch. It continued to keep cramping on him. With my knee hurting & his calf cramping, it made for a very long finish. As we were going around the jug handle and over the overpass we kept slowing to look for John. We were really worried about him and hoped we would see him. Since he didnt call us on the cell, we figured he had to be out there behind us somewhere. We continue making our way towards Epcot one step at a time running a bit whenever we could. As we approach Epcot we see Cam, Carrie, Scott, & Pat. What a sight for sore eyes (and legs LOL). Seeing them was just what I needed. Then it was up the hill in Epcot (Sean said to me You lied, you said there were only a couple of hills LOL), out around the Christmas Tree and back. That is when the reality really hit .I am doing this .I am going to get my Donald Medal!!!!! Make our way past the Gospel Choir, which was very motivating. Then around the bend. The Finish Line was in site. Sean and I ran it in crossing the Finish Line together. What a very special moment for me. Not only working the last 10 months to get here, finishing the race, knowing I will be getting my Donald Medal but getting to experience it with my son!!! We get our chips removed, go to get our medals were told they didnt have anymore. What???? I dont have words to describe how I felt. I worked so hard for that medal and even though they said I would receive it in the mail, I couldnt believe I wasnt going to have that medal now. Be able to see it, touch it, wear it. What an emotional rollercoaster. Sean & I grab some water & food and make our way to the W tent to meet up with Wishers and wait for John. A few minutes later John arrives. Right after that someone says they found more medals. Yea!!! We hobble our way back to the Finish Line, get our medals, then stop and have a photo taken of the 3 of us with our Donald Medals. TOTALLY AWESOME DAY!!!!
Sunday John & I become part of the WISH Scream Team. After leaving the Poly at 5:30am to get Sean to the airport, we head to the Beach Club for breakfast and by 9am we are out by the course to cheer everyone on. We were out there with Judy & Charlie and it was really nice getting to spend time with them. It was also nice having 4 pairs of eyes to look for members of our WISH Team. John & I stay until the last person passes with the sweepers & medics behind. We cheered for every single Full Marathoner. What an amazing experience to be out there watching the racers go by, some making it seem effortless, some really struggling, but all of them continuing to keep moving forward one step at a time.
Sunday nights Illuminations Dessert Party was GREAT! It was so nice seeing everyone with their BLING and listening to everyones race experience stories. We see Anne & her DH waiting for the Monorail. Turns out they are staying at the Poly too. We get to ride to the TTC with them then walk to the Poly. A perfect ending to a perfect evening.
Monday mornings Boardwalk Bakery breakfast was also great. Again seeing all the BLING and listening to stories. Reliving the weekend!
Finish Times (chip): Sean 3:17:49
Karen 3:17:50
John 3:30:18
I am already looking forward to WDW Marathon Weekend 2008!!!!!!
First let me say .What an absolutely fantastic race weekend!
John & I arrived in WDW very late on Tuesday. I am very glad we came in early as it gave my body a chance to get a little bit used to the heat & humidity. My asthma was not really liking the humidity at all. Took it very easy the next few days so as not to tire out our legs with a lot of standing.
Arrived at the Expo on Thursday at 3pm and was very surprised to see the line to get in snaking back and forth all over the place. Thankfully it moved pretty quickly. Picked up our bibs & chips (had no problem also picking up Seans with the letter signed by him & photo copy of his drivers license), made our way downstairs to pick up our shirts & goody bags. Then went straight to the Official Merchandise area where we spent way more then we probably should have. By this time it was almost 5pm and we had to pick Sean up at the airport for 5:35, so we did a very brief tour of the rest of the Expo.
Friday I returned to the Expo to listen to John The Penguin Bingham and Coach Jenny Hadfield speak (while John & Sean played mini-golf). They were GREAT speakers! It was also great to see so many Wishers there. Coach Jenny gave some very good advice for dealing with heat. I took her suggestion of taking a salt packet before the start of the Half and I really think it made a difference in how I felt throughout the race. John Binghams advice was to slow down your race pace by a minute or so because of the heat & humidity. It was great advice but it also scared me .alot. Its great if you are fairly fast, but if you are a back of the packer already doing 15+ mpm, you dont have a minute or so per mile to slow down .unless of course the sweepers were slowing down too ..ugh!
I was a bit nervous about meeting everyone on Friday night at the Pop Wish Meet, but I think getting to meet some earlier at the Expo helped. The meet was GREAT! It was nice meeting everyone and putting faces with the names I see on the Dis.
Back at the Poly it was time to prepare for race day. I pulled out mine, John, & Seans race gear, pinned bibs on our shirts, & put chips on our shoes. (Ok, I dont want this to sound like John & Sean dont do anything. They are more of the laidback no worries type of personality and I am the compulsive Type A personality. I new they (especially Sean) would wait until morning to get their stuff together, which would have driven me crazy & stressed me more then I needed to be, so I offered to get their race gear ready for them. It was for my sanity!) John & Sean then turned in for the night and I went to watch Wishes from the Poly Beach. It was just what I needed to help relax.
Saturday morning the wake up call & alarm go off at 3am. We get up, have something to eat, & get ready to go. We leave the Poly at 4am and walk over to the TTC to get the Monorail to Epcot. It was already HOT & HUMID!!!! We each have a bottle of water & a throw away blanket to sit on and John has 2 bags of ice with him to ice his knees on the Monorail. As we walk past the Finish Line Spectator Area, there are very few people at the port-a-potties, so we make this our first potty stop. We get into the first holding area which by now is pretty empty, put our blankets down, do some stretching and John slathers his knees in biofreeze & puts on his knee braces. We make our way through the bag check tents and are directed to the Wave C holding area. There we see Judy & Charlie. It was great to see familiar faces. We sit with them for a while and it really helped to pass the time and calm the nerves. It was off for one last potty stop, then start moving towards the start line. (talk about feeling like a herd of cattle .LOL) Before long we hear the National Anthem & the wheelchair racers, then the elites are off. Wave B is then off and next it is us. We move up, take our salt packs (which by the way .yuck!) and finish our last sips of water. We countdown, the fireworks go off. Here we go . Our plan was to step across the start line together, but the girl in front of Sean hesitated, so Sean actually stepped across 1 second after us. We start to run, but find we really arent moving anywhere, so walk instead, work our way over to the grass where we can start getting around people. Before we even get to the big jug handle, John tells us to go on ahead that he cant keep up at our pace. He is already sweating and doesnt look too well. We tell him we will stay together, but he insists he is fine and to go on ahead. We wish each other luck and Sean & I are off. Ill tell you, you never realize how sloped a curve is til you walk/run one Wow! It was so crowded we almost dont see the Mile 1 sign. We continue to do a lot of walk/running on the grass. Around Mile 2 we see the elites making there way back already. Very Cool! Still doing a lot of on & off the grass to try and get around people. At this point feeling hot but very good. Not really keeping close track of intervals, just going by how we feel. Sean is helping me to run a little faster & a little farther, and it feels good. Loved the spot near the TTC where they had the Rock n Roll music to the right and Country to the left. That was kind of fun. Going through the TTC we see Krista which was motivating right before the Contemporary Hill. I prefer to run downhill & walk uphill, Sean prefers to walk down & run up, so I take off and Sean catches me on the uphill. We make our way into the back stage areas of MK, when we smell the bacon, Sean gets really hungry & wants to stop for some. (what can I say he is a 20yr old male...) We come around the corner and there it is Main Street and the Castle. All I can say is WOW! What a beautiful sight! I started to choke up. We start to run because I had wanted to run all the way up Main Street. We see Cam, Carrie, & Scott and got lots of high fives as we went by. It was fantastic! I feel so good we keep running all the way into Tomorrowland. We walk in the back of Tomorrowland into Fantasyland because I wanted to be able to run through the Castle. Again WOW! As we make our way out of MK I was glad to see the bananas cause with Sean talking about food & being hungry, I was now hungry. LOL Now for the long road back to the jug handle/overpass and Epcot. By this point my knee is starting to hurt so we slow our pace down. We are still doing a lot of walk/run on the grass to get around people. We get to see Judy & Charlie and Kristi & her mom. It was great seeing them and knowing they werent far away. My knee is now hurting pretty bad so my runs were getting shorter. I start telling Sean, well run to the next sign, light pole, whatever. Loved the HS Marching Band. Brought back memories of Sean from HS Band. We ran before the jug handle/overpass because I knew we would be walking that. On that run Seans calf muscle cramped. We had to stop for him to stretch. It continued to keep cramping on him. With my knee hurting & his calf cramping, it made for a very long finish. As we were going around the jug handle and over the overpass we kept slowing to look for John. We were really worried about him and hoped we would see him. Since he didnt call us on the cell, we figured he had to be out there behind us somewhere. We continue making our way towards Epcot one step at a time running a bit whenever we could. As we approach Epcot we see Cam, Carrie, Scott, & Pat. What a sight for sore eyes (and legs LOL). Seeing them was just what I needed. Then it was up the hill in Epcot (Sean said to me You lied, you said there were only a couple of hills LOL), out around the Christmas Tree and back. That is when the reality really hit .I am doing this .I am going to get my Donald Medal!!!!! Make our way past the Gospel Choir, which was very motivating. Then around the bend. The Finish Line was in site. Sean and I ran it in crossing the Finish Line together. What a very special moment for me. Not only working the last 10 months to get here, finishing the race, knowing I will be getting my Donald Medal but getting to experience it with my son!!! We get our chips removed, go to get our medals were told they didnt have anymore. What???? I dont have words to describe how I felt. I worked so hard for that medal and even though they said I would receive it in the mail, I couldnt believe I wasnt going to have that medal now. Be able to see it, touch it, wear it. What an emotional rollercoaster. Sean & I grab some water & food and make our way to the W tent to meet up with Wishers and wait for John. A few minutes later John arrives. Right after that someone says they found more medals. Yea!!! We hobble our way back to the Finish Line, get our medals, then stop and have a photo taken of the 3 of us with our Donald Medals. TOTALLY AWESOME DAY!!!!
Sunday John & I become part of the WISH Scream Team. After leaving the Poly at 5:30am to get Sean to the airport, we head to the Beach Club for breakfast and by 9am we are out by the course to cheer everyone on. We were out there with Judy & Charlie and it was really nice getting to spend time with them. It was also nice having 4 pairs of eyes to look for members of our WISH Team. John & I stay until the last person passes with the sweepers & medics behind. We cheered for every single Full Marathoner. What an amazing experience to be out there watching the racers go by, some making it seem effortless, some really struggling, but all of them continuing to keep moving forward one step at a time.
Sunday nights Illuminations Dessert Party was GREAT! It was so nice seeing everyone with their BLING and listening to everyones race experience stories. We see Anne & her DH waiting for the Monorail. Turns out they are staying at the Poly too. We get to ride to the TTC with them then walk to the Poly. A perfect ending to a perfect evening.
Monday mornings Boardwalk Bakery breakfast was also great. Again seeing all the BLING and listening to stories. Reliving the weekend!
Finish Times (chip): Sean 3:17:49
Karen 3:17:50
John 3:30:18
I am already looking forward to WDW Marathon Weekend 2008!!!!!!
keenercam
Loves Mickey!
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2001
- Messages
- 10,466
Krista -- I am so choked up reading your report, sweetie! I cannot believe what you went through for so many, many miles to finish so brilliantly! I hope you put that bumper sticker on soon. You deserve it!
Karen -- I loved your report! It was great seeing you on Main Street and EPCOT. You looked very strong and confident (I have some awesome pix and will share as soon as I can get them loaded to a website that actually works!) Congrats to you and Sean and John on your Donald medals! And thank you once again for your awesome support on Sunday. Knowing our WISH scream team would be at BC was the only thing moving me forward from about mile 21 on. You guys rock!
Karen -- I loved your report! It was great seeing you on Main Street and EPCOT. You looked very strong and confident (I have some awesome pix and will share as soon as I can get them loaded to a website that actually works!) Congrats to you and Sean and John on your Donald medals! And thank you once again for your awesome support on Sunday. Knowing our WISH scream team would be at BC was the only thing moving me forward from about mile 21 on. You guys rock!
goofyguy1958
My son the dinoboy!!
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2003
- Messages
- 594
Holy Cow, I was a bit embarrassed with the length of my report and posted on a separate thread for fear of overcrowding this thread. After reading everyone elses reports I see that mine was no where the longest or best written. Everyone who raced then reported on this years heat fest should be very proud of the accomplishment. It was brutal at times but I can also say that the half was by far the most fun I have ever had in a race there is something to be said for letting the little kid in us all come out to show us just how much fun we can have. GREAT JOB BY ALL.
aladdinsgirl
She's a rebel. She's a saint.
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2002
- Messages
- 1,865
Thanks for pics, I love seeing them. If you look behind Jacob, on the last picture, you can see my hip. 
By the way, I gotta say I'm completely embarrassed by everyone's reaction to my report. We all were handed a difficult day (or days) and we did the best we could with the marathon we were given. In my book we are all amazing and we are all heros.
By the way, I gotta say I'm completely embarrassed by everyone's reaction to my report. We all were handed a difficult day (or days) and we did the best we could with the marathon we were given. In my book we are all amazing and we are all heros.
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