Thanks to the support, motivation, and charitable donations I was able to find the energy to finish my first marathon on January 11th at Disney! It was even sweeter because my sister was also in her first marathon and she finished it too! It was 10 months of serious blood, sweat, tears, injuries, and bruises that came to an apex for both of us. The whole experience was very surreal, so I wanted to be able to write about it in my blog while I remember all of the details (and maybe reminisce years from now!)
The night before the race I was totally amped up, but I had to somehow force myself to sleep early. In order to get to the race on-time, my sis & I had to be up by 3:30am in Lake Buena Vista. Needless to say, when that alarm went off at 3:30am I was probably functioning on a maximum of 3 hours of sleep. It didn’t matter, I was wide awake just purely on adrenaline.
During our drive out to Disney there was a ton of traffic. The race began at Epcot so we had to go park there. This is where we encountered our first piece of humor for the day. You know how Disney is very methodical about making sure everyone drives all the way down so that parking is very systematic? Well, this one guy parked halfway down to where he was supposed to go. Wow, you are about to go walk for 2 miles to the starting line and then run 26.2 miles and you are worried about not having to walk too far from your car? This guy was in serious trouble!!
The area where we dropped off our items for check-in was like a party in the middle of the night. There was a huge open area surrounded by baggage check-in tents. All around you could see thousands of people all hanging out, drinking water, sitting down, and socializing. Meanwhile there are spotlights in the area and really loud music. If I had bad eyesight I would think that I am at a rave or something?!
I put my bib & chip on, and hung out with my sister and her friend Kasey for about half an hour until they started announcing that it was time for us to start proceeding to the corrals. It was about a 2 mile walk just to get to the corrals which were a hundreds of yards from the starting line! All along the way there were hundreds of overly hydrated people peeing everywhere – in the bushes, port-o-lets and anywhere they could find (remember it is dark out at this time – still only 5:00am!). I had heard that a lot of people drink a lot of liquids because of jitters and that everyone would be peeing like crazy the first few miles. So, I made the conscious decision to not be overly hydrated but to make sure and drink at every spot during the race.
At around 5:30am the corrals were all getting quite full, and 22,000 people were ready to go! All the meanwhile there is loud music being played, huge video screens where they interviewed the VP of Cigna (one of the sponsors of the race) and other festivities that I mostly disregarded. At around 5:45 they sung the national anthem, shot off some pyrotechnics, and the wheelchair competitors took off. Shortly after they began the rest of the race and all the corrals were opened. The huge crowd slowly started moving forward and walking faster and faster until we began running at the starting line. There were huge flames shooting up at that point which was great because it gave us some quick warmth in the cold morning.
The first 5 miles went by very quickly. I spent a lot of time trying to get around people and it was very frustrating to me. This was my first race and I did not fathom how many people would be all around me. I ended up running a couple of miles in the grass on the side of the road so that I could get past people, but then sometimes I’d have to veer back on to dodge others on the side. I was not sure at what pace I was running at this point, but I wanted to just play it smart and just use it as a warm-up until a lot of the slower runners who got out too fast start falling off. During the first 5 miles we ran through Epcot which was cool. We went by the big globe, down the right side, and by the countries. There were spots that were wider and I tried to utilize them in order to get better positioning.
Miles 5-10 were running on the roads in between the Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. This is the point where the sun began to come out and the sky began to reveal more about the race, racers, and course. The roads were a bit wider at some points, I was able to begin moving further up without having to zig zag. Along the way there were DJs, bands, and cheerleaders to motivate you. It was at this point that I started doing some estimations in my mind about my pace and how I wanted to try and run the rest of the race. I made sure to keep getting water and Powerade at every stand and try to stay as hydrated as possible. I only had to go to the bathroom during mile 5, and that ended up being the only time I went the entire race. This probably means that I was not hydrated enough at the beginning, but I do not think it ended up being detrimental to me. I trained while only having limited access to liquids so having people on the side with drinks for me every mile or mile and a half was a luxury.
Mile 10 was through the Magic Kingdom. We entered the park through the front and went straight down Main Street! There were thousands of people cheering on both sides and above you on the overpass coming into the park and also all along Main Street (gotta look out for those trolley tracks though!). We went to the right, went around the back and through Cinderella’s castle. Exiting near Thunder Mountain we had to go through some narrow spots which were also quite frustrated. We were then out on the roads again and the crowd was definitely thinning out.
I had reached the 13 mile marker and I knew that I was halfway done. I realized that right next to me was a guy holding a “4:00” balloon which meant that he was a pace runner for those who wanted to finish the marathon in 4:00. I looked at the corral letters on the runners going with him and realized that they had started before me (the race starts, but your time doesn’t start until the computer chip in your shoe gets triggered passing the starting line). I had to have been tracking for a sub-4 hour marathon which was extremely encouraging, but realizing that I still 2 hours left I knew that it was going to be a serious battle of wills. Since I was running the race based purely on “feel” – a bit arbitrarily – I decided that I would just follow the balloon and try to keep up.
The sun finally hit me in the eyes and I realized that the cool morning was over and things were about to get progressively warmer. Miles 13-16 went fine, I kept up with the pace runner without a problem. Every time I would grab some liquids, I would slow down to drink it, and then have to pick up the pace to catch back up. Being the pace runner, he was obviously and experienced runner – and he would barely slow down to get the liquids and just keep going. No bathroom breaks or anything. He would just keep a steady pace.
Miles 16-18 were through Animal Kingdom which offered some shade and scenery, but also a lot of twists and turns which can be painful because of fatigue. It was at this point that I tried some of this BioFreeze stuff that they had people stationed with. This is like some blue-ish white cream that is like an icy-hot semi-anisthetic. I put it all over my knees and it really helped to take the edge off. I made sure to always grab some at every chance I could get and started wiping it throughout my legs since every muscle in my leg was starting to feel the twitchy and a bit enflamed. It was during this stretch that I grabbed some bananas also. It is funny, I never tried any of this during training but I figured it would be a good idea since the event organizers had set up stations – so I grabbed some!
When I first looked at the map with my sister I realized that Miles 19-23 were going to be some of the most grueling. We were right. These miles were on the roads outside of Animal Kingdom and the sunshine was bright in the cloudless sky. There were no Disney characters cheering you on, people screaming, and only the drink & medical stands with volunteers holding out things. This is when I started to see a lot of people walking, limping, puking, and getting medical attention with IVs. A lot of people were walking through the water stations and there were hundreds of cups people just dropped instead of throwing to the side. I was very worried about slipping on them so I had to navigate through it a bit cautiously. Up until Mile 21 I was right with the 4:00 pace balloon. I had spent 8 solid miles keeping up with him, but the fact that the pace runner did not slow down to drink liquids was beginning to hurt me badly. I was not hydrated enough and I knew that I had to slow down and drink multiple cups to compensate for the temperature (which was now in the 70s). Around Mile 21 & 22 there were some steep inclines on overpasses which included the road tilting to the right. This did NOT feel good on my legs. My knees and left foot were beginning to yell at me. I knew that at this point I would just need 4 more miles of running to just get it over with. I started picturing in my mind what the 4 mile run is like in my neighborhood. It is nothing! Piece of cake! Problem is, I don’t start the run with legs that feel like this!
Mile 23 was through MGM Studios which for some reason I do not recall too well. I just remember being focused on keeping up a decent pace and trying to keep my legs moving. I knew that the 4 hour pace balloon was not too far ahead and if I could finish close enough to him then I will be right around that time. I was picturing myself mentally laying on my couch hours later, showered, relaxing on my pillow, and watching football! Seriously!
Mile 24 was through the boardwalk along the Swan & Dolphin, Beach Club, Yacht Club, etc., and there were a lot of people at those hotels cheering you on like crazy. They were yelling words of enouragement letting you know how close you are. My legs were becoming increasingly heavy and my neck was beginning to tighten up and throb. At this point I just wanted to get the race over with so I took my last water and was not going to stop for anything until I finished.
From there we entered Epcot and ran around the world , off to the right of the globe, past the 26 mile market (which meant only .2 miles to go!). There was a choir singing “HALLELUJAH” for us. I had picked up the pace the final half mile knowing that I was so close. The Finish Line was great because you turn this corner and there are thousands of people cheering you on from the sides, in bleachers, and from all angles. I had friends & family in the stands and it was a great feeling (literally) to cross that line.
I had never run a marathon before, actually I never even ran a race before (Not a 5k, 10k, or anything). It was my first time with a bib on. When I started training I could not run more than a mile and a half without being totally winded. So, the only basis for expectations that I had was from my training. During which, the longest run I had done was a 16 miler and a 20 miler. Based on those, I had wanted to finish the full 26.2 marathon in 4:30, I would have been very happy with anything under 4:15, and my “reach goal” was under-4. I ended up finishing it in 4:03, so, I am very satisfied. I felt like I had sub-4 in reach, but, again, this was my first race and I did not know what to expect during those last few grueling miles. I did not want to be one of those people limping in – so, I had to be a little bit cautious. All in all, it was a great experience and when I finished I felt a great sense of accomplishment and euphoria. Only those who have gone through the training and finished this race can truly understand how much sacrifice it took. It was very special being able to share it with my sister who trained with me (albeit in a different city) during the whole time – and we shared weekly if not daily updates on our progress and health. A few of our friends thought we were joking or were probably thinking “yeah right – we’ll see in a few months” when we said that we were going to run a marathon. The one thing that these naysayers did not figure out was that these siblings are not talkers – we are doers. Besides the amount of sheer time it took to train, there were massive amounts of effort & discipline that went along with it. During our training some people would say things like, “I don’t have the time to even exercise regularly much less train for something like that – must be nice!”. My sister has a child and works multiple jobs (she did all her runs before 5am) & I am self-employed and often work both during the day and then hours into the night (did my runs around 5:30pm as a halftime break for work!). Obviously, neither of us “has time” – but – we “made time”. The reality is, no one has time in this day and age. A lot of us are working 24/7 because of our smart phones. This should be all the more of a reason to take up running or exercising! You will get some time away from all of that.
If I could motivate a few people to exercise with discipline, run a race, or “make time” to reach their audacious fitness goals then I will feel like this journey was an even bigger success. I have gotten to a fitness level that I never thought I would be in again, and I have reached my goal of raising 17 wheelchairs for my charity (which will be distributed to disabled people in the third world this Spring). These things have made it all worth it. Thanks again to everyone who gave me their support & contributed to my charity. Excuse me now, I think I need to go take some more ibuprofen ☺
My Results:
4 hours 3 minutes .03 seconds
Out of 22,000 people who started the race: #2,268th fastest time.
Out of 7,081 men who finished the race: #1,722nd place.
Out of 1,073 males age 30-34: 247th place
Split times:
5 Mile: 47:06
10 Mile: 1:30
Half-Marathon (13.1 Miles): 1:58
20 Miles: 3:01
Marathon (26.2 Miles): 4:03.03
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