My WAY TOO LONG Marathon Report

[skfulkers]

Ok, here's what happens when I have a whole week and a round trip flight to California to write a marathon trip report. Sorry it's so long, but I just got caught up in all the details of the weekend and couldn't stop typing.

So, if you make it past the first paragraph and are still reading, enjoy.....

Expo and WISH Dinner

We arrived at the expo around 12:00 on Friday and proceeded to check-in. The lines for the half marathon check-in were huge, but I’m assuming that’s because the half was the next day. I got my race number and chip for the full fairly quickly, verified the chip, and then it was off to the expo floor. The expo seemed crowded this year! Maybe it was just timing, but the aisles seemed much more congested on the main floor than in years past. And it also appears Disney tried to cram in as many booths as possible, which made the aisles even narrower.

Made a trip through the official Disney merchandise and picked up the obligatory race apparel (we always tell ourselves that we have enough WDW marathon merchandise and we don’t need more, but somehow always end up leaving this area with a receipt of over $100). After picking up my race shirts—another test of crowd control—we headed outside to pick up Krista’s volunteer packet. Are we the only ones who had a hard time finding the volunteer trailer? It didn’t seem to be too well marked. When we did find it, getting her packet was a snap. She received her final instructions and access badge (more on that later) and we were ready to head out. We saw Judy and Charlie as we were leaving the main floor and chatted for a few minutes. Judy, if you were nervous about the race on Saturday, you sure didn’t show it Friday afternoon!

On the way out of the expo, we ran into Lynne, Kathy and Erin as there were heading in to pick up their packets. We chatted about the weather for the weekend and Lynne pulled up the Orlando forecast on her phone (I should have known Lynne would be on top of that!). We said our goodbyes and it was off to check in at the Pop Century.

Fast forward a few hours and a pool-nap & swim later….we made our way over to the Food Court at the Pop for the WISH meet. Wow, there were a lot of people there! We had such a great time. We all chatted and laughed and hugged and rang cowbells and looked at pictures (why did this feel like a family reunion??). We got a chance to see a lot of old friends and meet a lot of new ones, too. By the way, thanks to Karen and John for the backpacks. They are way cool! After way too many group pictures, we headed into Pop for some food. Krista talked me into the lo mein noodles (since I guess I really should think about carb-loading), which ended up being really good.

After dinner, we took a quick trip over to the MK to catch Wishes and ride a few rides. Made it back to the Pop and were asleep by 11:00.

Saturday, Jan 12

Saturday morning, we decided that instead of trying to scream team on Main Street for the half, we’d set up camp around Mile 12 so that we could sleep in a little bit and still make it to the race course. We got up around 6:30am and were dressed and out the door before 7:00. I was a little worried that we may hit some traffic delays heading into Epcot, but we actually cruised right down World Drive and into the Epcot parking lot without any problems. We were out of our car and over to the Mile 12 portion of the course by 7:20. I remember seeing the racers coming through the area (still on a sub-1:30 pace), and they looked VERY hot. Great, so much for the cooler temps this year! We cheered for the racers as they came through, looking for the first signs of any WISHers. Then, about 7:40, we saw the first one. It was Mike, and he was cruisin’ pretty fast! My quick math told me that he was on pace for a 1:50 half. Wow, with a full to do the next day. I’m in awe, Mike! Then, sure enough, the crowds started to get pretty big. More WISHers, and more cheering! Eventually, we saw that our WISH faithful scream teamers who had been on Main Street earlier were now about 200 yards down the course from us. I’m not sure how long we were cheering without seeing them. Or maybe they saw us and decided not to say anything. It’s all coming together now. We met up with Scott, Carrie, Cam, Colleen, Sara, Mike, Bill (and Billy & Timmy), Heather and others. It was so great to see all the WISHers come through. And is it just me, or do the people with the NF jerseys look remarkably like WISHers? I think we’re a big enough group now that we need to formally ask them to change their colors so that we have the only obnoxious lime green/yellow out on the course!

We all stayed at Mile 12 until the last racers came through. I had never stayed that long before. It was pretty amazing to see. We even thanked the guys on the sweeper bikes (even though most people probably hated them along the course) as they passed through. When we got to the finish line, it was quickly realized that Disney pulled the ultimate taboo. They “misplaced” some of the half medals for the second year in a row! I won’t even go into that, but at the very least I plan to write a strongly worded letter about it. Inexcusable.

We chatted with everyone for awhile, gave congratulations, and then headed back to the Pop with Pat and Jim. Krista made plans to meet Jim in the morning (they were both working Water Stop #2 on the full marathon course) at 2:30am. So our alarm clock would be going off at 1:50. Is that bed time or a wake up call?? We lounged around for a few hours and had lunch at the Pop food court again, which to this point had been our only source of meals at Disney. Yum!

Later that afternoon, we swung by Cam & Howard’s villa to say hi. Had a great time chatting and looking through pictures of last year’s races. Thanks guys! We then headed over to Spoodles where we had a great dinner with Colleen, Sara, Lisa, Mike, Kathy, Jodi, Steve, Chester, and a lot of their families. You know, all those Philly Marathoners? You guys are great. We had such a good time, and I’m assuming there are a lot of great pictures since the server was busy for about 10 minutes snapping pictures left and right for us. We left Spoodles around 7:00 and headed back to the Pop. Re-organized the race stuff and packed up our carry-ons, since we were checking into SSR tomorrow, and it was lights out before 9:00. I was asleep immediately, and Krista said she was not far behind.

Up next...marathon day....

 

[skfulkers]

Sunday, Jan 13

1:50am. Let me repeat that. 1:50am. You know, even when I complain about early morning flights for work, I rarely have to get up before 4:00am. The alarm clock, the cell phone, and the wake-up call all came within about 30 seconds of each other. Did I mention that we’re obsessive compulsive about wake-up alarms? Amazingly enough, we both slept pretty well, and combined with the good night’s sleep we got on Friday night, this was the most rested I have felt for a marathon yet. While Krista got ready, I decided to step outside to check the temperature. So, in my boxers and t-shirt (good thing the door didn’t lock behind me), I walked outside to semi-warm temps and HUMIDITY. Hey, this feels a lot like last year. I was pretty much dressed by the time Krista was ready to go at 2:20, which is a good thing since she was planning to take the carry-on luggage with her and I would be left with nothing except my race-bag and the clothes on my back. I walked her down to the car and she wished me luck, and then she was off. I headed back up to the room and was planning on taking my bagel and banana down to the Pop food court to get some coffee and relax for a half hour or so before heading to the busses. This was not to be. Around 2:50, Krista called my cell to say that she had gotten over to WWOS only to realize her access badge was not attached to the lanyard around her neck. She checked the car to no avail and said she was heading back to the Pop since they wouldn’t let her into the secure area without the badge. I searched the entire room, which was easy since there wasn’t much left to look through and also searched the parking lot. No badge. Krista got turned around on the way back to Pop, and instead of coming straight back, she ended up taking a tour of a vacant (but very coned-off and re-routed) AK parking lot. Eventually, several cell phone calls later, she made it back to the Pop. She said she could drive me over to the start since she didn’t have anywhere else she needed to be. As soon as we got back into the car and she reached to put on her seatbelt, she found the access badge between the seat and the console. It was 3:45 now, and the WWOS people told her that if she wasn’t back by 3:30, it would be too late. Not wanting to get halfway there and be stuck by closed roads and no way to get to the volunteer station, she decided against going back and we went on to Epcot. She decided she would go scream team at the TTC and catch up with the other WISHers before heading over to the YC/BC at Mile 24. We said our goodbyes (again!) and I headed over to the start area to check my bag. Got through to the other side and found the WISHers near the end of the port-o-let oasis. I almost didn’t see you guys because I thought we were going to be closer to the baggage claim tents. We spent awhile milling around and took turns watching each other’s stuff while we went to the port-o-lets. Headed to the corrals around 5:00, and somehow I ended up getting separated from the others who were going over to Corral C. It was much lonelier walking over by myself, so I decided I really wanted to catch up with the WISHers when I got to the corral. I got over to C (and the race coordinators almost didn’t let me go into C since I had a B bib on. I thought you could always move back in the corrals??) and positioned myself right at the entrance so I wouldn’t miss the others coming in. Sure enough, I eventually found Howard, Steve and Kevin and we all stretched and chatted for awhile. I felt out of place since I was the only one of the four of us who hadn’t run a half marathon the day before. Or maybe I was the only sane on. Apparently, we had enough fun chatting and goofing off that another guy ahead of us in the corral asked if we were going to keep up this humor for the entire race because if so, he wanted to stick with us to take his mind off the pain of the race. And our humor isn’t pain enough??

Somehow, since I apparently have a habit of doing this, I ended up getting separated from Howard, Kevin and Steve when I made a last minute bathroom stop. I never did find them again because everyone had started to move forward in the corrals. I began to prepare myself mentally to run this thing by myself. In the weeks leading up to the race, I had just assumed that I would end of with some WISHers around the same pace and we would run it together, as I knew I had such a great time last year doing that very thing. But it appeared that given the circumstances, I was going to be on my own for at least a little while.

Soon enough, we counted down from 15, tried to dodge the shrapnel from the fireworks on the bridge, and we were off. I crossed the start at 6:04, which was a little sooner than last year. I saw the port-o-lets for Mile 4 and almost used them, but decided to hold it for awhile. I figured if I stopped now, I would be behind at least 1,000 additional people, and it was congested enough as it was. The crowds at the start were surprisingly quiet. There were a ton of people lining the left side of the road, but almost none of them were cheering. It was somewhat weird running like 5 feet away from these people who were all just staring at you. I honestly think all the spectators were taken back by the sheer number of runners at the start and they were all looking desperately for their needle in the haystack that they were ready to cheer on. And of course their needle was probably wearing black shorts and a white tank top like 90% of the other runners.

The first miles through Epcot went very quickly. I settled into a pace around 10:00,and I was careful to walk every mile for 30-45 seconds since I had gotten used to this in training and it really seemed to help the stress on the knees. Before I knew it, I was through Epcot and back on Epcot Center Drive heading towards World Drive and the MK. Sara passed me at some point through here and wished me luck. I reminded her that she told me Saturday night that she was a very slow runner and she was now passing me, so that must make me extra slow. I could swear that I saw Howard around mile 5 on his cell phone, but he was all the way across the highway and I just caught a quick glimpse, so I’m not sure.

Around Mile 7 on World Drive, I stopped to use the bathroom, and I discovered that running around the back side of the row of port-o-lets instead of waiting in line was much quicker. It was definitely getting warm out here. Actually, not so much warm, but very humid. The fog was starting to clear slightly, but running down World Drive this morning and seeing the parking toll plazas in the early morning light definitely reminded me of the fog and humidity of last year. I passed some cheering people wearing WISH shirts around the Speedway, but I didn’t recognize them, so I’m assuming they were someone’s parents/scream team. I really liked the split of 80’s music/country music before the TTC. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the split until too late and I ended up on the country music side. I spent this quarter mile trying to strain to hear the great 80’s music on the other side of the course.

The TTC was loud and great as usual. As soon as I ran under the “tunnel,” I saw Anne and others along the left side. It was so crowded that I quickly shouted out, “Hi Anne!” as I passed, and trying to give her a high five, I think I almost took her arm off (sorry, Anne). I knew Krista would be here somewhere, but I wasn’t sure where. Almost immediately, I saw Kathy with other WISHers on the left hand side, and she had Twizlers. Yum! I thanked her as I grabbed one as I went past, and all of the sudden, I hear Krista yelling, “Stephen!” She was with Kathy and the rest of the group, and I almost didn’t see her! I ran back to her and assured her I was doing well. She handed me my sunglasses (I was so glad I didn’t have to carry them for the first 9 miles of the course), gave me a kiss and I was off. As soon as I put my glasses on, they fogged up immediately. Ok, so I wasn’t hallucinating. It WAS a little humid out here.

Before I knew it, I was at the MK. Main Street always gives me goosebumps.
I tried to take it all in this morning, as I usually am so careful to avoid other runners, photographers, spectators, etc that I miss the details. It was WAY crowded with cheering spectators, which was great. Through Tomorrowland, then the castle (yes, I made sure to get a clear castle photo), then out through Frontierland and we were backstage again. It was cool to see the new Pirates float with Jack Sparrow just behind Splash Mountain. I made my way across the grated bridge, which thankfully was covered this year (nothing like trying not to fall on a grated bridge deck). It always gets crowded outside the MK on Floridian Way, and this year was no exception. Even though everyone should be pretty spaced out at this point, merging all the racers together into one lane always thickens up the crowd. This is the first point on the course that I noticed the Sharpie signs, which are always a nice diversion. Speaking of the Sharpie signs, there seemed to be a lot more of these this year between here and the AK. I only remember a few last year.

Before I knew it, I was turning off onto Bear Island Road and the halfway point of the course. I stopped again at the port-o-lets, only this time there was no line so I didn’t have to sneak behind them . I got back on the course and checked my Garmin. 2:15 for the first half. Not too bad, I thought. This was definitely faster than my other marathons at this point. I did a quick body check to see how I felt. Amazingly enough, I felt really good. My heart rate was in the low 150’s, which was good given the weather conditions. For the first time in any marathon, I actually thought about picking up the pace for the second half of the race. I was a little concerned that doing so may cause me to crash and burn, as I usually am very conservative while racing, but I told myself that if I started to feel any big pains or cramping (or if my heart rate started climbing quickly), I would back off. I hit the medical tent somewhere before AK to grab some Tylenol. I wasn’t feeling any particular pain, but I didn’t want to be bothered with leg pains in the second half of the race. They took my bib number before they gave me the Tylenol. I guess this is so that if I keeled over on the course, they could say, “Oh, well it was obviously the Tylenol that did him in.” They were handing out the infamous Clif Shots before AK, bar-none the nastiest tasting race food I’ve ever tasted. Either they were really marketing the Clif Shots well this year, or just trying to get rid of as many as possible, because they had every flavor known to man along the tables and the volunteers were calling out the flavors as the racers passed. I’m pretty sure I even heard such exotic flavors as tofu and smoked salmon.

AK always seems to be an interesting park to run through. First of all, every year after the race I try to look at a park map and figure out where we’ve just run in the park, and I can never map it out. And then I always seem to miss Everest, you know, that big 200 foot mountain with a roaring roller coaster and screaming riders that we run literally 50 feet in front of? Yeah, it’s pretty easy to miss. And then when you finally make it out of AK and run around the park entrance, cast members are dealing with a logistical nightmare because the marathon course blocks off the main entrance to the park and there are throngs of park guests all crowding at the tram exit waiting to sprint across the course in between the racers. I managed to see Kristi and Jim (Pat’s DH) here cheering everyone on. Kristi asked me where in the world my wife was, and I told her she was doing just fine after the morning escapade and was heading over to the BC at mile 24.

Post-AK. Yeah, this is the tough part. I was running next to a couple of first-timers on this course, and they were talking to each other about how much further they had left in the race and that the toughest part was already finished since they had made it on the back stretch from MK to AK. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that this stretch of course before MGM is, in my limited experience with distance races, by far the toughest stretch on any course I’ve run. The heat always starts to catch up with you here, the sun is beating down, you’ve already been through 18 miles so the fatigue is setting in, the stretch of highway is very boring, and the overpasses seem like small mountains to climb (almost like that Everest thing that apparently is located somewhere within the AK). By now, I was stopping at every water stop and grabbing a cup of Powerade and two cups of water, one to drink and one to dump on my head. Since I was starting to get tired, I kept reminding myself of the sequence, “Drink Powerade, drink water, dump water” and trying to not confuse that with, “Drink water, drink water, dump Powerade .

After the two or three mountains and lots of open stretches of road, I made it to the out-and-back. I’ve never really minded this stretch of the course. It’s short enough that it always seems manageable, and I always get a kick out of cheering on the runners on the other side of the course. I got near the end of the out-and-back and who did I see: Anne of course, and Heather was with her. I stopped quickly to say hi and they were both great with the cheers and offering encouragement. They gave me some ice and a wet washcloth, which might as well have been gold at this point. THANK YOU Anne and Heather! I dumped the ice down the front of my tank top, and since I had a race number belt on, it trapped the ice on my chest which felt absolutely wonderful for the next mile. I put the washcloth around my neck and watched my heart rate slowly drop. That was nice.

As I passed Mile 21, I was immediately taken back to last January and I remembered that this was where I abruptly hit the wall in last year’s race. I remembered how much of a struggle it was from here on out, how horrible my legs felt and how much I just wanted to curl up and take a nap. But not this year. Not today. Not now. So when I passed this Mile marker, I pumped my fist on my chest, pointed a finger at the sign and picked up the pace. What’s up now, Wall?

At this point, I did a quick check and realized my pace was around 9:15 per mile and I was feeling fairly good. I had my sights set on a 4:30 overall time and it almost seemed reachable. Quick math told me that I could run a 9:30 pace and stop at the aid stations for 10:00 per mile overall and still make it under 4:30, but I knew I had to keep moving as it would be close. Made it into MGM and I joked around with the “street performers” who were along the course cracking jokes. There were two guys that I’ve seen before in MGM that were goofing around and telling runners which direction to run and getting good laughs from everyone. As I approached them, I started to veer off the course to the left and pointed and asked them if that way was a shortcut. They started yelling, “No, no, you can’t do that! Who do you think you are, Mickey Mouse? Who let this guy on the course?” Good stuff.

I took the candy from the volunteers at the aid station, which ended up being a Butterfinger and some other hard candy that I accidentally dropped. I carried the Butterfinger for about a half mile until I realized that no way did I feel like eating a chocolate bar right now, so I pitched it and kept going. MGM went by very quickly, and soon enough I was out in the parking lot and ready to head to the Boardwalk. I saw Kathy and Jen scream teaming in the parking lot, but they didn’t see me and I was too far away to say hi. I was really starting to get tired now, and my heart rate was well above 160, hitting 170 at times. I knew I probably couldn’t keep this pace for too much longer, but I also knew I was so close. “Just one more mile to the Beach Club. Just one more mile. And then a short 1.5 miles to the finish.” I kept mentally envisioning a 2.5 mile run at home, which takes me to the end of our street and back. I knew I could do that in my sleep. That made me feel good.

The trek around Crescent Lake always seems much longer on marathon day than it does when you take a stroll after an evening dinner at the Boardwalk. But it didn’t matter, because before I knew it, I was coming up to Stormalong Bay and I could see the WISH sign and hear the cowbells. Ah, the cowbells. I saw Krista and Angie and others from about 200 yards away, but apparently Krista wasn’t ready for me to come through, because I think I really surprised her when I ran up to give her a hug. She asked me what I was doing there so soon. I told her I was fine and on my pace, and that I thought I could hit 4:30. A quick kiss goodbye and she wished me luck and I told her I’d be back to see her. Wow, this quick stop really lifted my spirits. I kept moving and raced right over the hill before the entrance to World Showcase, which has always seemed very hard in years past. I saw Mike (Sara’s DH) with their girls as they were walking out of Epcot towards the BC. I yelled hi but I’m not sure he heard me. And then I heard a “Hey Stevo!” and tuned to see Jodi right beside me. Jodi! Wow, are you a sight for sore eyes! I hadn’t seen WISHers on the course in awhile, and it was great to chat for a minute or two. I asked her how she was feeling and she said fine. She told me to go ahead and I wished her luck and told her I’d see her at the finish line. Then I joked and told her at her pace, she could almost finish, get a shower, go to the airport and catch an earlier 12:00pm flight and get home even sooner.

World Showcase. It’s like a forbidden fruit. It’s so beautiful, but so evil too. This is a favorite part of WDW for Krista and I, but on marathon day at Mile 25, it is not your friend. The past two years, I have had to walk through most of World Showcase, not on a scheduled walk break or any intervals, but a slow plodding shuffle because of fatigue. Not this year. I ran through all of World Showcase and told myself that if I made it to Mexico, I could walk for 30 seconds. At some point in World Showcase, I must have passed Mike (Optimator) based on our chats later that day, but I honestly did not see him at all. Especially with the glowing WISH shirt and hat, I have no idea how we missed each other. Maybe a margarita from Mexico would have helped my vision at this point.

I walked my 30 seconds past Mexico, and wouldn’t you know it, some well-intentioned spectator immediately started yelling, “Don’t walk now! You’re so close. C’mon, Stephen. You can do it!” So at the end of my walk break, when I started running again, he started clapping and cheering wildly since he was apparently the motivation I needed to keep from collapsing entirely into a slithering blob of goo on the ground. Hey, if it makes his day, I’m ok with that.

Spaceship Earth never looked so good. Ahh, almost there. The crowds were great as we exited Epcot and made our way backstage. I can’t say enough about the gospel choir. They’re amazing. Around a few more turns and then…..it starts to get really fun. Immediately thrust out into cheering crowds and grandstands and loud music and the DJ calling out names. And there, in the distance, are six magical letters. F – I – N – I – S – H. I checked my watch one last time and sprinted for the finish, which was more of a fast shuffle at this point. I crossed the mats, raising my arms in the air, and breathed one last sigh of relief. I’m finished. I looked at my Garmin and smiled. 4:27:08.

I got my chip cut off, wrapped in a mylar blanket, and went ahead to get my medal. Oh yeah, there are the special medals! I had completely forgotten about the top-secret medal. It was really cool, definitely worth all the hype and much better looking than I expected. I grabbed some food and made my way to the massage tent where I still contend that this is the best ten bucks you could ever spend.

I stretched and caught up with Mike and Kathy at the W tent, then decided to make my way back to the BC to scream team with Krista. Grabbed a bus and met her, along with several other WISHers, where we stayed at the BC and cheered for every single racer until the very end. It was so great to see all the WISHers come through. I was so very proud of our group and how far we’ve all come. The very last marathoner to come through was an older gentleman who was obviously struggling and there was a younger lady TNT team leader walking with him. The sweeper bikes were right behind him, but they were letting him keep going as long as he was moving forward. As he approached, we started cheering for him and the TNT lady pointed towards him to let us know to cheer extra loudly for him. His name was Joey and he was moving very slowly, shuffling along and he was crying. As he passed and we yelled, “Go Joey, you can do it! Way to go!” he looked over and said between lots of tears, “Thank you. Thank you.” Way to go, Joey. You go get that medal.

We left the BC after saying goodbye to all the WISH screamers, and spent the rest of the day resting and eating (Ohana never tasted so good). It was great to get to share the war stories with all of you the next morning at the Boardwalk Bakery. After talking, laughing, eating, and taking way too many pictures, we all knew it was time to go, but no one wanted to. It was like the last day of summer camp as a kid when Mom and Dad come to pick you up and you have to say good bye to all your friends. But as Krista reminds me, it’s not goodbye, only so long for now.

Four days later, I went for my first run. Just a short run, but it was wonderful. Like a breath of fresh air after being cooped up for a long time. I passed another runner wearing his XV marathon shirt, and I smiled and with a nod gave a “congratulations,” and for a brief instant, we both shared that mutual camaraderie that can only a small group of people can understand. That same camaraderie that we all share as WISHers, whether we just completed our first race or our 50th, whether we were at WDW last weekend or scream teamin’ from home, whether runners, walkers or shufflers.

And as I finished that run, I remembered again for the first time in a long time why I do this, and why I think a lot of us do this crazy thing that brings us all together. Running lets me have time to recoup, to rejuvenate, to make time for myself. It gives me time to reflect on the important things in life, and also to remember that all those little life worries are really not so important in the grand scheme on things. I feel like I can solve all the world’s problems after a 45 minute run, and I am ready to tackle life again. I don’t want to give that up. Running makes me a better person, a better husband, and I hope a better dad in the not-so-distant future.

We are all endurance athletes. And we are all teammates. And after these few years on the WISH team, I am so happy that we are all now friends. I’m privileged to have met each and every one of you, and can’t wait to meet even more. And so I’ll keep doing this crazy thing called marathoning, and we’ll probably keep trekking to WDW every January for as long as possible. Because I can’t imagine missing another weekend like this, which was one of the best weekends I can remember in a long time.

Thanks for reading,

Steve

 

[KeenHo]

Steve -
Great report! So much detail too. I am happy to be mentioned in your corral story segment. It was great seeing you there and spending a few minutes with you before the race. I realized you left and it was time to move up (without you). I hung with Kevin (SoloTraveler) for the first 4 or 5 miles. I think you would have smoked me with your 10 minute pace for the race, but I would have enjoyed the challenge of staying with you. I think I could have done it. I ended up finishing with a 12:01 overall pace for the Marathon finishing in 5:18. I guess your "fresh" legs and youth made the difference. I had finished the half the day before in 2:24 (11:00 pace).

I hope you are considering Philly and the PM I sent your way a few days ago.

Great job with the Marathon, you made it look easy. Give Krista a for me.

Howard

 

[Kristi1357]

Fabulous report, Stephen!

 

[wfloyd]

Great report, we enjoyed talking to you that night at 'Ohana. Even if it kept you from getting a table for a while. Glad you were able to overcome the heat/humidity and meet your time.

Bill

 

[WDWFAN9]

Thanks so much for sharing! Great trip report!!

 

[Optimator]

Hey SteveOH! Great report. Even greater that you were able to stay strong throughout!

Looking forward to seeing you in Cleveland!

 

[ScoJo15]

Awesome report Steve!

Congratulations on an awesome run. It was a pleasure meeting you at POP...I'm sure our paths will cross again (already plunked down $$ for Goofy '09).

 

[Big Vic]

 

[Valentine]

Okay.. I officially cried... OY!!

 

[Creativebeth]

Great report Steve! Your 'Joey' story brought a tear to my eye. The strength that everyone shows on marathon day is awe inspiring wether you have a sub 4:30 marathon, or you are Joey bringing up the rear.

Thank you for reminding me why I go out there everyday, in the cold, heat, rain, or snow. It makes me a better person, not just for myself, but for my husband and children.

Beth

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Great report Steve. I WISH I could have been there running with you again, but you brought back a lot of memories for me. Great job!

 

[Honeibee]

Steve - I didn't even run this race and I got goosebumps reading your report! I loved the detail! Thanks so much for sharing.

And heck no, I wasn't nervous. Who me? Nahhh.

 

[escape]

Nice report, Steve! Congratulations!

 

[angietuck2]

Awesome report!!!

First - let me say thank you for giving me hope that we can reach our goal of 4:30 next year for a full. Well I know DH can at this point, me a different story with surgery, but we will see.

Second - I thought it was so awesome how you came and scream teamed with us after you finished. Seeing that very last guy go by had to be one of the MOST inspirational moments for me of the whole weekend.

Third - Thank you for all you said at the end about why we do what we do. Ever since I started running, every time we come back from a run I feel like I can conquer the world, and as I said in weekly thread, I have NEVER felt that way before. Everything you said there is exactly how I feel about running (that is why it has been so hard for me to not train)

Can't wait to see you guys again next year and believe me you will appreciate those runs even more when that sweet little bundle of joy arrives.

angie

 

[Maherae]

Thanks for such a great report, Stephen!! AWESOME job on your race!!

 

[CharityLynn]

I'm another one who got teary eyed. I just love reading these reports. I am hoping to do the half or whatever next May, I know Minnie is done but hoping rumors about a Princess half are true. I have never ran in my life..well I'm sure I did as a kid lol.

I'm using the half at Disney as my motivation to get fit and active. A very inspiring report, Steve. Thank you!

 

[crzy4pooh]

Loved the report!!!! Great job on the race!!!

--Lynnda

 

[Calcio]

Steve

I am so proud of what you did out there on the 13th. That effort and result in those conditions is great work. I especially found your heart rate monitor number in the AK interesting. Our ability to hold high heart rates is a function of age, so holding that number for so long is a testament to your fitness AND YOUR YOUTH! By the way, you'll need that youth in a few months when you and Krista become parents. Figure on at least 3-6 months before you get a good night's sleep.

So again, tell me how in the world you passed me at mile 14 and neither of us saw the other? We've known each other for how many years, and seen each other how many times, including the evening before? And we didn't even notice each other? Too funny.

We both must have had our "race faces" on.

Take care. You know, I'm not a Steelers' fan, but I sure like Steelers' fans.

Craig

 

[SilverE]

Nice report, Steve. Great effort out there on the course!