zoegirl
DVC Wannabe
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2005
- Messages
- 290
I decided to run the full after having my son in November '06. I wanted an incentive to get back into shape. I have 3 Mickey medals, and one Goofy, and will do just about anything to get to WDW including running a marathon.
I went to sleep the night before the race questioning whether or not I made a wise choice signing up for the full this year.
Lucas (my 14mo) had been sick with an ear infection since we left Charlotte. The coughing (along with the vomiting from coughing) kept us all up from the beginning of our trip. As my alarm went off at 3am race day I calculated that I had had approximately 12 hours of sleep in 72 hours. Great! What a day this is going to be! Actually it's coming back to me that he was sick the night before my last race 6 weeks ago!! Does he secretly not want his mommy to run???
So I get ready and catch the bus in front of ASMu. It was full, and there were the usual super chatty folks doing the same banter I've heard every other year I've run this race. I choose to sit quietly and eat my bagel w/pb, and drink my water. I am not in a racing frame of mind. I'm irritated that I've gotten no sleep and I'm worried about Lucas and second guessing why I brought him, or any of us for that matter down here.
We get to EPCOT parking, and as I walk towards the festivities I realize just how humid it actually is outside. Again...not going to be a good race day.
I walk in and immediately start looking for fellow Wishers. I wasn't wearing my super cool day glow shirt this year since it molded after I wore it running the goofy in '06 so it was up to me to seek them out.
No luck finding them before the porta potties. I use it and hang a bit looking for my wish team mates, then give up and head to my corral. I was put in corral d. This miffed me a bit since I've been in corral c in the past, plus I put that I could finish in 5:00 (ha! wishful thinking) so I would be put in a higher corral. Oh well, I'll just have to elbow my way up the the front of d/ back of c. As I did this I realized, and must have forgotten that they split up the race with a red and blue line starting in different areas then meeting up in a few miles. Corral d went right on up close to the start line, and right there towards the front are a couple of wishers! My attitude brightens a bit. I introduce myself to Martha and Craig. Craig remembers me right away and that I had Lucas last year, and gets a little confused telling Martha that I'm fast. BLESS YOU!! but no, that's Christa, not me. We try to chat a bit but we were in front of very loud speakers and all we could manage were a few huhs?! and whats?!
We count down from 15 and the fireworks start, Mickey and Minnie are there, and we're off. Wish I would have brought a camera. As I start I'm realizing that my tummy feels a bit off. I shouldn't have eaten that big plate of pasta last night. UGH! I could wretch! Ok don't think about it, just run. Made it to the first mile marker ok. Now onto the second. I check my phone and see that my sweet friends Christa and Sommer have left me messages wishing me luck and they're praying for me. That's some good encouragement, that should get me to the next mile or so. My stomach never lets up, so I've started weighing the pros and cons of throwing out my water belt. I think the pressure of it is making my tummy worse. I run for an hour with the thing on, take a gu, seriously almost vomit, and decide to put my phone in my pocket, my other two gu in the other pocket and toss the belt in the woods. This helps tremendously. I do however hold onto the water bottle for a couple more miles.
This race started with me wanting to pr, but has become me wanting to just finish. I decided I'm just going to run the best I can to the half way point then if I feel real bad then I'll walk the stupid thing the rest of the way. I want to quit, but the allure of the top secret medal is keeping me upright and moving. My FIL (my running guru) has sent me a text encouraging me. So sweet, but so not working at this point. I'm hot, and sick, and tired, and worried about my baby!
Somewhere between thoughts of quitting, and Magic Kingdom I meet up with a fellow Wisher named Jen from GA. I have to say that if it weren't for her I don't know what I would've done. The rest of the race is a blur of characters, long miles, hot weather, and conversation. I would tell her what I remember about the race from years past, and she would tell me that each step we took was one step closer to food, and a cold diet coke...a woman after my own heart!
Each time we would come across a wisher either yelling for us or running with us, it would perk us up a bit. I don't remember where it was, but we got cold wash cloths along the way. Those things were like manna from heaven! It was so stinking hot, and the wash cloths were so cold. AAAAHHH! Way better than the sponges the race provides along the way. I didn't eat any of the twizzlers, my tummy wouldn't let me but what a great idea. Jen really enjoyed hers.
Jen was having a terrible time with her it band, and would stop for bio-freeze at each med tent. Most of the time it would just slide off her knee and onto her shoe. I bet her shoe still smells like bio-freeze. We started off just running to the mile markers then walk then we would run to the mile markers, then walk, and the water stops, then walk. Then it became run to the mile makers, walk, run to water stops, walk, run to hill, walk. Hey, you gotta do what ever it takes to get you to the end right?
We came upon the backside of AK and saw (and smelled) a farm full of animals. We stopped to get our picture with a parrot a woman was holding. Hey Jen you're right in that we must've been out of our minds not to even comment on having a conversation with that bird!
We saw my sweet hubby, my mom, and my Lucas outside AK. What a welcomed sight. Lucas made me a sign that said "Go Mom!" with a little help from his dad. We stopped to get a picture with Mickey. I mean come on, you gotta get a picture with Mickey right?
After this I told Jen it's the out and back then on to MGM ('scuse me Disney Studios). We saw Helen during the out and back, and saw Martha in MGM. She said she was in pain, and just wanted to finish this thing. I hear ya sister, meeeee tooooo!
Onto BW/BC and to see Jen's sweet family cheering for her. That was a good little pep to get us to the end...of BW that is.....UGH does this race EVER end???!! We did also see quite a few wishers along the BW, bless you all for cheering us on. You have no idea how appreciated you are!!
Back into EPCOT, and around the WS, and ugh! the smell of food...oh good golly get me to the end before I wretch! Just keep running, just keep running, just keep running. Hey look at that kid with the big medallion around his neck. Wait! Was that the medal? Cool, let's keep running. There it is..the big ball, not much further now, just keep running. 26, and the gospel choir.2 to go, just keep running. Man disney knows what they are doing there don't they? I have run this race 4 times and I know the choir is coming, yet I still choke up every time. Maybe it's delirium. FINALLY the finish line. Ok let's finish this thing. I think Jen's blog said our time was 5:42. Who cares, we finished. Which is 26.2 miles more than I thought I was going to be able to do. On through the chutes, and our Mickey medals. #4 Mickey for me, and it's way cooler than my other ones. Onto another chute for Jen to get her goofy (oh yeah did I mention that? she ran the goofy! - Go Jen!) they won't let me in to take a picture of her getting her medal, I guess they think I'm going to steal one or something. So I have to stand outside the tent and take a pic of her getting her medal. We go on to meet up with our families and I didn't see her again. I squatted on the ground to wait for my fam. I didn't sit b/c I stupidly didn't grab a mylar blanket and I don't want to snag my super cool running skirt. I meet up with DH, DM, and a sleeping DS, and walk back to the truck. Along the way a horrible nausea creeps up, and I get on all fours and dry heave. My poor mom is freaking out. I tell her it's ok, I just need to cool off, and get something cold to drink. We get back to ASMu and I head directly to the pool and sit soaking my legs until the storm rolled through. That was a great idea. I, and my legs felt a lot better after. I cleaned up took a short nap, went to Boma and chowed down. What a day! It definitely did not go as I envisioned it would go.
Jen you were a true life saver, thank you so much for sticking with me!
I loved your race report on your blog, you are so funny. I hope to run a race again with you some time. Can we just run the half next year and cheer for fellow wishers during the full? I think it'd be much more fun dancing in a grass skirt, and handing out cold wash cloths don't you?
Anyway. This wasn't my race to pr. But as my dear FIL says: "Some days are good race days, and some are not." I hope to pr on my next full, I have no idea when that will be. But I did accomplish what I set out to do, and that was to get back into marathon shape a year after having a baby. In fact I have run 2 full marathons a year after having a baby. So I've gone beyond my goal right?
I loved meeting up with the W.I.S.H. team at BW bakery on Monday after the race. You all are so sweet, and a good bunch of people to be teamed up with.
~bree~
I went to sleep the night before the race questioning whether or not I made a wise choice signing up for the full this year.
Lucas (my 14mo) had been sick with an ear infection since we left Charlotte. The coughing (along with the vomiting from coughing) kept us all up from the beginning of our trip. As my alarm went off at 3am race day I calculated that I had had approximately 12 hours of sleep in 72 hours. Great! What a day this is going to be! Actually it's coming back to me that he was sick the night before my last race 6 weeks ago!! Does he secretly not want his mommy to run???
So I get ready and catch the bus in front of ASMu. It was full, and there were the usual super chatty folks doing the same banter I've heard every other year I've run this race. I choose to sit quietly and eat my bagel w/pb, and drink my water. I am not in a racing frame of mind. I'm irritated that I've gotten no sleep and I'm worried about Lucas and second guessing why I brought him, or any of us for that matter down here.
We get to EPCOT parking, and as I walk towards the festivities I realize just how humid it actually is outside. Again...not going to be a good race day.
I walk in and immediately start looking for fellow Wishers. I wasn't wearing my super cool day glow shirt this year since it molded after I wore it running the goofy in '06 so it was up to me to seek them out.
No luck finding them before the porta potties. I use it and hang a bit looking for my wish team mates, then give up and head to my corral. I was put in corral d. This miffed me a bit since I've been in corral c in the past, plus I put that I could finish in 5:00 (ha! wishful thinking) so I would be put in a higher corral. Oh well, I'll just have to elbow my way up the the front of d/ back of c. As I did this I realized, and must have forgotten that they split up the race with a red and blue line starting in different areas then meeting up in a few miles. Corral d went right on up close to the start line, and right there towards the front are a couple of wishers! My attitude brightens a bit. I introduce myself to Martha and Craig. Craig remembers me right away and that I had Lucas last year, and gets a little confused telling Martha that I'm fast. BLESS YOU!! but no, that's Christa, not me. We try to chat a bit but we were in front of very loud speakers and all we could manage were a few huhs?! and whats?!
We count down from 15 and the fireworks start, Mickey and Minnie are there, and we're off. Wish I would have brought a camera. As I start I'm realizing that my tummy feels a bit off. I shouldn't have eaten that big plate of pasta last night. UGH! I could wretch! Ok don't think about it, just run. Made it to the first mile marker ok. Now onto the second. I check my phone and see that my sweet friends Christa and Sommer have left me messages wishing me luck and they're praying for me. That's some good encouragement, that should get me to the next mile or so. My stomach never lets up, so I've started weighing the pros and cons of throwing out my water belt. I think the pressure of it is making my tummy worse. I run for an hour with the thing on, take a gu, seriously almost vomit, and decide to put my phone in my pocket, my other two gu in the other pocket and toss the belt in the woods. This helps tremendously. I do however hold onto the water bottle for a couple more miles.
This race started with me wanting to pr, but has become me wanting to just finish. I decided I'm just going to run the best I can to the half way point then if I feel real bad then I'll walk the stupid thing the rest of the way. I want to quit, but the allure of the top secret medal is keeping me upright and moving. My FIL (my running guru) has sent me a text encouraging me. So sweet, but so not working at this point. I'm hot, and sick, and tired, and worried about my baby!
Somewhere between thoughts of quitting, and Magic Kingdom I meet up with a fellow Wisher named Jen from GA. I have to say that if it weren't for her I don't know what I would've done. The rest of the race is a blur of characters, long miles, hot weather, and conversation. I would tell her what I remember about the race from years past, and she would tell me that each step we took was one step closer to food, and a cold diet coke...a woman after my own heart!
Each time we would come across a wisher either yelling for us or running with us, it would perk us up a bit. I don't remember where it was, but we got cold wash cloths along the way. Those things were like manna from heaven! It was so stinking hot, and the wash cloths were so cold. AAAAHHH! Way better than the sponges the race provides along the way. I didn't eat any of the twizzlers, my tummy wouldn't let me but what a great idea. Jen really enjoyed hers.
Jen was having a terrible time with her it band, and would stop for bio-freeze at each med tent. Most of the time it would just slide off her knee and onto her shoe. I bet her shoe still smells like bio-freeze. We started off just running to the mile markers then walk then we would run to the mile markers, then walk, and the water stops, then walk. Then it became run to the mile makers, walk, run to water stops, walk, run to hill, walk. Hey, you gotta do what ever it takes to get you to the end right?
We came upon the backside of AK and saw (and smelled) a farm full of animals. We stopped to get our picture with a parrot a woman was holding. Hey Jen you're right in that we must've been out of our minds not to even comment on having a conversation with that bird!
We saw my sweet hubby, my mom, and my Lucas outside AK. What a welcomed sight. Lucas made me a sign that said "Go Mom!" with a little help from his dad. We stopped to get a picture with Mickey. I mean come on, you gotta get a picture with Mickey right?
After this I told Jen it's the out and back then on to MGM ('scuse me Disney Studios). We saw Helen during the out and back, and saw Martha in MGM. She said she was in pain, and just wanted to finish this thing. I hear ya sister, meeeee tooooo!
Onto BW/BC and to see Jen's sweet family cheering for her. That was a good little pep to get us to the end...of BW that is.....UGH does this race EVER end???!! We did also see quite a few wishers along the BW, bless you all for cheering us on. You have no idea how appreciated you are!!
Back into EPCOT, and around the WS, and ugh! the smell of food...oh good golly get me to the end before I wretch! Just keep running, just keep running, just keep running. Hey look at that kid with the big medallion around his neck. Wait! Was that the medal? Cool, let's keep running. There it is..the big ball, not much further now, just keep running. 26, and the gospel choir.2 to go, just keep running. Man disney knows what they are doing there don't they? I have run this race 4 times and I know the choir is coming, yet I still choke up every time. Maybe it's delirium. FINALLY the finish line. Ok let's finish this thing. I think Jen's blog said our time was 5:42. Who cares, we finished. Which is 26.2 miles more than I thought I was going to be able to do. On through the chutes, and our Mickey medals. #4 Mickey for me, and it's way cooler than my other ones. Onto another chute for Jen to get her goofy (oh yeah did I mention that? she ran the goofy! - Go Jen!) they won't let me in to take a picture of her getting her medal, I guess they think I'm going to steal one or something. So I have to stand outside the tent and take a pic of her getting her medal. We go on to meet up with our families and I didn't see her again. I squatted on the ground to wait for my fam. I didn't sit b/c I stupidly didn't grab a mylar blanket and I don't want to snag my super cool running skirt. I meet up with DH, DM, and a sleeping DS, and walk back to the truck. Along the way a horrible nausea creeps up, and I get on all fours and dry heave. My poor mom is freaking out. I tell her it's ok, I just need to cool off, and get something cold to drink. We get back to ASMu and I head directly to the pool and sit soaking my legs until the storm rolled through. That was a great idea. I, and my legs felt a lot better after. I cleaned up took a short nap, went to Boma and chowed down. What a day! It definitely did not go as I envisioned it would go.
Jen you were a true life saver, thank you so much for sticking with me!
I loved your race report on your blog, you are so funny. I hope to run a race again with you some time. Can we just run the half next year and cheer for fellow wishers during the full? I think it'd be much more fun dancing in a grass skirt, and handing out cold wash cloths don't you?
Anyway. This wasn't my race to pr. But as my dear FIL says: "Some days are good race days, and some are not." I hope to pr on my next full, I have no idea when that will be. But I did accomplish what I set out to do, and that was to get back into marathon shape a year after having a baby. In fact I have run 2 full marathons a year after having a baby. So I've gone beyond my goal right?
I loved meeting up with the W.I.S.H. team at BW bakery on Monday after the race. You all are so sweet, and a good bunch of people to be teamed up with.
~bree~
)
Awesome job.
