getnthinr
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2006
- Messages
- 1,008
Get a cup of coffee, gang, this is a long one! 
So, the kids had a 3-day weekend (out of school for Veterans Day), we had an extra timeshare week to swap, and my coach had recommended the Richmond Marathon (that just happened to be offering a special commemorative 30th anniversary medal and shirt and hat and poster to all marathon entrants - a deal-sealer for me!). Add all these up and it puts us in Williamsburg for the weekend so I can do the race. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I realized that the OBX Half (Outer Banks Half marathon that I'd done last year) was scheduled for Sunday, so if I could manage packet pickup for both races, I could do the marathon on Saturday and the half on Sunday and get in some meaningful Goofy training OFF the treadmill.
Williamsburg is between Richmond (1 hour) and Kitty Hawk (2.5 hours), so a doable drive in both directions.)
I never really appreciated the wonder of doing back-to-back races at Disney - one location for packet pickup, easy transportation to the start, a short trip back "home" and your shower. I missed all of that this weekend.
Packet pickup was much more of an ordeal than I realized. On Friday, I left as soon as I dropped the kids off at school (DH Leonard would follow with them later) and drove 8.5 hours
scared1
JUST to get my bibs and chips - first to Richmond, then to Kitty Hawk, then back to Williamsburg to check in. I've never been terribly fond of driving and the heavy traffic around Norfolk and on 64 always unnerves me. When I finally got to Williamsburg at around 9PM, I was exhausted, and I had to wait until the rest of the family arrived to help them unload - so at 10:30PM I'm finally getting to bed, and I need to be up at 4:30AM to get race-ready and make the drive to Richmond.
It gets worse. Every time I asked anyone at the expo in Richmond where to park, they'd answer, "Anywhere - there are parking decks all over."
That is true, but even when I got there just after 5:30AM, roads were closed. (The race didn't start till 8AM, so I didn't expect that.) What this meant was that because I'd encounter a closed road with no idea how to get back on track. After a lot of driving around and around through construction, detours, and closed streets, I finally found a parking deck and pulled in. I noted a Marriott sign at the entrance to the lot and the doorway to the street was labeled "6th street entrance" and opened right at a light for a mid-block crosswalk. How hard could that be to find post-race? I knew the race ended at Cary St and 5th, and started at 10th and Broad, so I thought this probably wasn't a bad location.
I followed a small band of runners to what I assumed was the start. Wrong. They were members of the Sportsbackers marathon training group and were headed to Main Street for photos. From there I got directions to the start and sat and waited and chatted with a really nice older guy who told me all about the many Richmond marathons he'd done, and how the race and course had changed, etc. A great way to relax before the race.
The race itself was pretty uneventful. The temps were cool (perfect for me) but I was a bit ambivalent about the course - it had long gradual uphills, which I've determined I like less than the "rollers" in Raleigh. Some areas of the course were quite beautiful though - sections down "Monument Avenue," and along the river, and through some gorgeous row houses -- and the Fall colors were lovely. I finished well ahead of the street closures, which is all I was worried about, since this weekend was really about the long back-to-back mileage practice. I finished and collected my medal, then I grabbed a bottle of water and headed for the car. (I thought.)
I walked uphill to 6th street and into a parking deck. Wrong deck. I walked further up the block. Nope, another wrong deck. I asked a policeman where the Marriott was. Five blocks up and a block over at 5th and Broad. That seemed wrong. I was pretty sure I hadn't been that far from the start, but I have no sense of direction -- and I had gone to Main Street first -- so I head to 5th and Broad. A block away from my destination, I encounter a construction zone and a chain link fence that closes the entire block. No, no, this isn't right. I don't remember this at all. I turn around and go back down 6th. I check two more decks. It's been almost an hour since I finished the race, I've had no food and no rest, and I have no idea where my car is. I start to cry. I try walking around the construction zone block. Still nothing looks familiar - but there is the Marriott. There's no parking deck, though. I try to think - it was dark when I came in, so maybe nothing is going to look familiar. I turn around again and walk through a parking lot. A car pulls up beside me, "Are you okay?" It's a nice young couple - one of whom did the marathon. They are from Richmond. I explain that I can't find my car and tell them what I remember. They drive me to another deck after crisscrossing between blocked and one-way streets - nope, wrong. Suddenly, the guy says, I'll bet I know where you parked and heads up 6th. As soon as he reaches the gate, I know this is THE deck. I say, "I'm so happy I could cry" - and the guy says, "Don't bother, you've already done that." We all laugh and I thank them profusely.
It's been 2.5 hours now, but I am back in my own car and headed to Williamsburg.
I go directly to Kingsmill Resort, where a former massage therapist from some baseball "farm team" gives me an absolutely perfect sports massage while regaling me with tales of his experiences at the Boston marathon giving post-race massages. I could write pages about this place - ladies, if you ever get a chance to go to the spa at Kingsmill, go!!! It is frou-frou to the max - showers stocked with ritzy spa shampoos and shower gels, chilled cranberry juice cocktail with orange slices or hot tea while you wait in your super-soft snuggly warmed robe for your massage, squishy Croc-ish slippers. I left feeling great and headed back to the condo. (I thought.)
What I didn't realize was that I entered Kingsmill on one road and exited onto another. I still hadn't eaten and it was after 7PM now. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed. I knew I wasn't on the same road but I assumed I could go to the next intersection and find my way back. After an hour of driving, I pulled into a gas station and called my husband to come and get me. I was less than a half-mile from the entrance to the condo.
"What time do you want to get up?" he asks, once we're back in the room. The race starts at 7AM and I'll want to get there at least an hour early, so that means 6 - if I allow myself an hour to get ready, that means 5AM. Heck, let's say 4:30AM. And I go to bed. (Anyone recognize what's wrong with the math here?) At 3AM, I wake up and sense something isn't right. I need to park at a designated lot and catch a shuttle to the race start by 6:15AM. It's 3AM now - and I have a 2.5-hour drive!!!!! I'd forgotten to add any time for the drive! So I pull on my clothes and drive like a maniac to Kitty Hawk. I catch the shuttle to the start with no problem. Again, the race itself is uneventful. The worst part is the stiff wind off the Sound in the last third of the race. I feel sorry for the marathoners who have to face the bridge and that unceasing wind at mile 23 of their race. I finish the half and collect my medal, which isn't nearly as nice as last year's, in my opinion.
I make it back to the condo without getting lost -- Hooray! -- clean up, and take my teenaged girls shopping at the mall nearby. (A mom's work is never done.)
So, if I had it to do all over again, I'd get more help. More help with the packet pickup; more help with the driving. It was too hard to do on my own, and so not a lot of fun. But I got the miles in and the medals packed away -- so it wasn't a total loss. I'll be infinitely more appreciative of the Disney races and what a wonderful opportunity that is from now on. The simplified logistics are a bonus I didn't fully appreciate till this weekend.
Sorry this was so long.
So, the kids had a 3-day weekend (out of school for Veterans Day), we had an extra timeshare week to swap, and my coach had recommended the Richmond Marathon (that just happened to be offering a special commemorative 30th anniversary medal and shirt and hat and poster to all marathon entrants - a deal-sealer for me!). Add all these up and it puts us in Williamsburg for the weekend so I can do the race. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I realized that the OBX Half (Outer Banks Half marathon that I'd done last year) was scheduled for Sunday, so if I could manage packet pickup for both races, I could do the marathon on Saturday and the half on Sunday and get in some meaningful Goofy training OFF the treadmill.
Williamsburg is between Richmond (1 hour) and Kitty Hawk (2.5 hours), so a doable drive in both directions.) I never really appreciated the wonder of doing back-to-back races at Disney - one location for packet pickup, easy transportation to the start, a short trip back "home" and your shower. I missed all of that this weekend.
Packet pickup was much more of an ordeal than I realized. On Friday, I left as soon as I dropped the kids off at school (DH Leonard would follow with them later) and drove 8.5 hours
scared1 JUST to get my bibs and chips - first to Richmond, then to Kitty Hawk, then back to Williamsburg to check in. I've never been terribly fond of driving and the heavy traffic around Norfolk and on 64 always unnerves me. When I finally got to Williamsburg at around 9PM, I was exhausted, and I had to wait until the rest of the family arrived to help them unload - so at 10:30PM I'm finally getting to bed, and I need to be up at 4:30AM to get race-ready and make the drive to Richmond. It gets worse. Every time I asked anyone at the expo in Richmond where to park, they'd answer, "Anywhere - there are parking decks all over."
That is true, but even when I got there just after 5:30AM, roads were closed. (The race didn't start till 8AM, so I didn't expect that.) What this meant was that because I'd encounter a closed road with no idea how to get back on track. After a lot of driving around and around through construction, detours, and closed streets, I finally found a parking deck and pulled in. I noted a Marriott sign at the entrance to the lot and the doorway to the street was labeled "6th street entrance" and opened right at a light for a mid-block crosswalk. How hard could that be to find post-race? I knew the race ended at Cary St and 5th, and started at 10th and Broad, so I thought this probably wasn't a bad location. I followed a small band of runners to what I assumed was the start. Wrong. They were members of the Sportsbackers marathon training group and were headed to Main Street for photos. From there I got directions to the start and sat and waited and chatted with a really nice older guy who told me all about the many Richmond marathons he'd done, and how the race and course had changed, etc. A great way to relax before the race.
The race itself was pretty uneventful. The temps were cool (perfect for me) but I was a bit ambivalent about the course - it had long gradual uphills, which I've determined I like less than the "rollers" in Raleigh. Some areas of the course were quite beautiful though - sections down "Monument Avenue," and along the river, and through some gorgeous row houses -- and the Fall colors were lovely. I finished well ahead of the street closures, which is all I was worried about, since this weekend was really about the long back-to-back mileage practice. I finished and collected my medal, then I grabbed a bottle of water and headed for the car. (I thought.)
I walked uphill to 6th street and into a parking deck. Wrong deck. I walked further up the block. Nope, another wrong deck. I asked a policeman where the Marriott was. Five blocks up and a block over at 5th and Broad. That seemed wrong. I was pretty sure I hadn't been that far from the start, but I have no sense of direction -- and I had gone to Main Street first -- so I head to 5th and Broad. A block away from my destination, I encounter a construction zone and a chain link fence that closes the entire block. No, no, this isn't right. I don't remember this at all. I turn around and go back down 6th. I check two more decks. It's been almost an hour since I finished the race, I've had no food and no rest, and I have no idea where my car is. I start to cry. I try walking around the construction zone block. Still nothing looks familiar - but there is the Marriott. There's no parking deck, though. I try to think - it was dark when I came in, so maybe nothing is going to look familiar. I turn around again and walk through a parking lot. A car pulls up beside me, "Are you okay?" It's a nice young couple - one of whom did the marathon. They are from Richmond. I explain that I can't find my car and tell them what I remember. They drive me to another deck after crisscrossing between blocked and one-way streets - nope, wrong. Suddenly, the guy says, I'll bet I know where you parked and heads up 6th. As soon as he reaches the gate, I know this is THE deck. I say, "I'm so happy I could cry" - and the guy says, "Don't bother, you've already done that." We all laugh and I thank them profusely.
It's been 2.5 hours now, but I am back in my own car and headed to Williamsburg. I go directly to Kingsmill Resort, where a former massage therapist from some baseball "farm team" gives me an absolutely perfect sports massage while regaling me with tales of his experiences at the Boston marathon giving post-race massages. I could write pages about this place - ladies, if you ever get a chance to go to the spa at Kingsmill, go!!! It is frou-frou to the max - showers stocked with ritzy spa shampoos and shower gels, chilled cranberry juice cocktail with orange slices or hot tea while you wait in your super-soft snuggly warmed robe for your massage, squishy Croc-ish slippers. I left feeling great and headed back to the condo. (I thought.)
What I didn't realize was that I entered Kingsmill on one road and exited onto another. I still hadn't eaten and it was after 7PM now. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed. I knew I wasn't on the same road but I assumed I could go to the next intersection and find my way back. After an hour of driving, I pulled into a gas station and called my husband to come and get me. I was less than a half-mile from the entrance to the condo.
"What time do you want to get up?" he asks, once we're back in the room. The race starts at 7AM and I'll want to get there at least an hour early, so that means 6 - if I allow myself an hour to get ready, that means 5AM. Heck, let's say 4:30AM. And I go to bed. (Anyone recognize what's wrong with the math here?) At 3AM, I wake up and sense something isn't right. I need to park at a designated lot and catch a shuttle to the race start by 6:15AM. It's 3AM now - and I have a 2.5-hour drive!!!!! I'd forgotten to add any time for the drive! So I pull on my clothes and drive like a maniac to Kitty Hawk. I catch the shuttle to the start with no problem. Again, the race itself is uneventful. The worst part is the stiff wind off the Sound in the last third of the race. I feel sorry for the marathoners who have to face the bridge and that unceasing wind at mile 23 of their race. I finish the half and collect my medal, which isn't nearly as nice as last year's, in my opinion.
I make it back to the condo without getting lost -- Hooray! -- clean up, and take my teenaged girls shopping at the mall nearby. (A mom's work is never done.)
So, if I had it to do all over again, I'd get more help. More help with the packet pickup; more help with the driving. It was too hard to do on my own, and so not a lot of fun. But I got the miles in and the medals packed away -- so it wasn't a total loss.
I'll be infinitely more appreciative of the Disney races and what a wonderful opportunity that is from now on. The simplified logistics are a bonus I didn't fully appreciate till this weekend.Sorry this was so long.
And you kicked butt in your double. I think next up for you is a 100 miler. All you have to do is move forward for 30 hrs. Easy after this kind of training
Wow!!!! 
I'm just training, that's all. 
