Ali, I can't comment on a single thing about the condition of the runners before, during, or after the race, because 2009 will be my first WDW race. What I can comment on are a few other things.
First..the WISH team. They are, quite frankly, the most supportive and welcoming group of people I've never met (yet!). I started running less than one measley month ago, and already they have welcomed me into their fold with open arms, offering encouragement and warmth and accepting my offering of friendship. Please, if you haven't had a chance to do so, take some time and read through some of the older threads and you'll see what I mean.
Second...in response to:
Geez, what is far more irritating than the snubbery I experienced is the fact that a few of you have totally misconstrued my post and turned it into something it was not.
Forgive me for being a bit irritated. It's just that I specifically mentioned the snubbery I felt BEFORE and AFTER the races as being the moments that were a bit DISappointing. And yet I keep getting responses from people waxing poetic about the difficulty of a full marathon simply because I have never run one.
In your first post, you started by mentioning how you cheered at AK and how "each passing team member made me feel like there was no point..." Then, you said that "almost ALL of those people rudely ignored me or grumbled!" Mentioning the "before and after" times came much further along in your post; it sounded almost like an afterthought.
So, explaining why exactly they may have been "grumbling" or confused during the race are completely valid responses.
I thought I made it very clear that I was perfectly aware of the fact that "the distance does not come easily for many of us." I made it very clear that I understood why people were not smiling by the time they got to the AK.
You actually didn't mention this until several posts later, and since many people on the DIS repsond to the first post in a thread before reading through all of the responses, they may have either overlooked this or, if they did read through, that may very well have remembered what you said in your first post.
I also specifically made it a point to make clear that I WAS NOT LOOKING FOR GRATITUDE FOR CHEERING
Again, looking at your first post, you did say that only one person thanked you, which would lead most people to believe that you wanted more people to have done so.
It always says volumes about a person's character when they can take something that might be percieved as criticism and respond to it without being defensive.
I didn't read any of the responses to you as being defensive, just trying to help you understand what happened out there. In fact, almost every poster who ran thanked you for your time and for your support of them, even if they never saw or heard you. I hope you take the time to get to know the folks here, and realize what a great group it is. And as a future runner, I'll add my thanks for supporting people out there, and my admiration for the fundraising you did with TNT.
I hope I smiled at everyone. My wife says I am always smiling even though I didn't feel like it.
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