My First Marathon - Jan 12th 2003
I ran my first marathon - 26.2 miles - on January 12th 2003
I use the qualifier "first" because it is entirely conceivable that I will run another someday. I'm loosely targeting the 2005 Walt Disney Marathon as my next full marathon... we shall see :-)
The tale begins in June of 2002 when, as I was home sick, a pamphlet arrived in my mail advertising the American Stroke Association's "Train to End Stroke". (You should know that a number of fairly significant decisions have I made while at home sick after receiving an unsolicited phone call, house call, or mail. Our security system, for example - signed up for free installation after answering the door to an ADT salesman while home sick. Our replacement of all of our single-pane metal windows with double-pane insulated top-of-the-line vinyl windows? Decided after answering a phone call from an Andersen Windows salesperson while home sick. The marathon? Decided after reading a pamphlet I received in the marathon... while home sick. I have regretted none of these decisions, and they all have turned out QUITE well, I must say. An equal number (if not more) of my significant decisions have been made while completely healthy, so I'm not terribly worried. But I find it an interesting phenomenon, none the less. :-)
I received this pamphlet in the mail in June of 2002. I have no idea how it is that I got on their mailing list. I don't believe I had made a donation to them previously. In fact, I don't think *I* was on their mailing list, rather "current resident" for my house is how the pamphlet was addressed. At any rate, I opened it, and read it, and by the time I finished I was convinced that I could walk a full marathon without a problem, that it was a good cause, and that it would be a lot of fun to go to Jamaica.
Hmm... you're scrolling up to the top of the page, re-reading that first sentence, and thinking "Hey - what's this walk a marathon in Jamaica thing? i thought you ran a marathon in Florida". I have to admit - running had not been my original plan. And, I had thought of the two destinations (Walt Disney, or Jamaica) that Jamaica would be the more fun (certainly more exotic).
If any of you knew me in high school, and more precisely, had the misfortune to share gym class with me in high school, you'll remember from those days that a runner (or any other kind of athlete), I was not. I was one of those students in high school who hated gym class more than anything else because it brought down my grade point average. I was NOT one of those girls who would fake her period to get out of gym class - I'd grit my teeth and get through it. But I did NOT enjoy it. Any aspect of it. I did not enjoy getting beat across the legs with a broomball stick in the winter. I did not enjoy playing volleyball in gym class and getting glared at by my team mates every time I missed a volley. I did not enjoy running the laps around the track and feeling like my teeth were going to fall out . I did not enjoy falling behind the pack while cross country skiing. I definitely did not enjoy having 5 minutes to to get out of my stinky sweaty gym clothes, redo my hair (Remember - I went to high school in the eighties - there was a lot of hair spray involved) stuff my bag in my locker, collect my books, and run to class. And, perhaps more than anything, I did NOT enjoy not being the best (or even being average) in gym class.
But, as with all stories on this web site, I digress :-)
I looked up the ASA web site to find out when and where the information meetings for our area were being held so that I could learn more about this marathon. I found an information session scheduled for July in Bellevue and immediately signed up. I then thought it might be fun if I could find someone to do the marathon with so I called my friend Jenn, told her all about it, and she signed up for the information session too.
It was Jenn who set us on the path of running the full marathon. Her reasoning was twofold - 1) that if we're going to go to the trouble of training for a marathon we might as well run the damn thing and 2) if we ran it, it'd be over with quicker (she had done the math to back this up - calculating precisely how much time it would take us to walk it vs run it). I could hardly argue with such logic, so I agreed - let's run it.
At the information session we learned about how much money we had to raise in order to qualify for The marathon (I don't remember the exact totals), learned about how we would be trained, and we heard from some stroke survivors - which I found truly inspirational. By the end of it there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to do this.
We ended up signing up for the Jamaica marathon and over the coming weeks attended our first preparation session where we met the rest of the Seattle-Tacoma "Train To End Stroke" (TTES) team and our coaches, received our training schedules and started learning about equipment, nutrition, training, and fundraising.
Thanks to the generous contributions of my co-workers, friends, and family, and to the charitable donation matching program of the company I work for, I was able to raise the necessary minimum and then some quite early on in the program, which really helped to put my mind at ease and allow me to focus on the physical and mental preparation, and not worry about fundraising the whole time (thank you, all of you, who donated!)
Starting Saturday August 2nd 2002, the team met every saturday at a different point along the burke-gilman trail for our weekly "long run". They didn't start out very long - I think my first run was 3 miles - and then they incremented by a mile each week until we got to 20 miles (early december), after which we started backing off 1-2 miles per week. Prior to our first run, the longest I had ever run was a mile, and that was back in highschool. And I hated it then. I wasn't sure what to expect for this 3-mile run. I was in pretty good shape - had been doing high impact aerobics and 4-mile walks almost every day for the 2 1/2 years prior to starting the training for the marathon. But I had never really put myself to the "test" to see just what all that walking and aerobic activity had done for my cardiovascular system. I still had images of myself at the end of the 4-lap mile run we'd do in gym class, out of breath, lungs hurting and gums stinging. Let me tell you - that first 3 mile run we did? It was a BREEZE! I was SO excited. At the end of the run I was feeling GREAT! Energized. No sore lungs or gums. No out-of-breathness. All that exercise I'd been doing for the prior 2 years actually WORKED! I was FIT! Even more fit than I was in high school (which wasn't all that fit I'm thinking now ;-)). I really felt like I might just be able to run 26.2 miles! Woohoo!
And that was how I felt every saturday just about, up to and including our 10 mile run. I hit a bit of a hiccup on the 12 mile run, but then sailed through the 14-mile run the following week. 16 was tough, but 18 was a tad bit easier... and I was finding throughout that the amount of exercise and my eating habits for the week played a fairly significant role on our "long run" saturdays... if I worked out on Friday, I'd perform poorly on Saturday. So I made Fridays my day off. If I ate red meat the night before, I felt more sluggish so I'd usually have pasta or chicken friday nights for dinner. There was one week where I had taken the week off from work. And I was so excited because I planned to work out every day (except friday)! I roller-bladed 13 miles on monday; I went for a 6 mile run on tuesday; I worked out for an hour and a half on wednesday and thursday alternating between weights and the cardio machine. I took friday off. But saturday - the day of our 12 mile run - I was exhausted. I ended up walking about 4 of those miles and realized that even though I had taken Friday off, I was still recovering from the rest of the week. I was a total slug that day.
It was really quite an interesting experience to put my mind and body through these paces every week while training. Some weeks were good weeks, and some weeks were bad. And I learned that even careful attention to nutrition and training schedules, etc. doesn't guarantee a good run on saturday morning. Sometimes you just have bad runs. Maybe it's stress, maybe it's lack of sleep (or too much sleep), and maybe it's boredom or lack of inspiration some days. But I got through them all, and the feeling of personal accomplishment after each run (because each run I did became the furthest I had ever run as it was always at least a mile more than the previous week) was like nothing I had ever experienced before.
Amazingly enough (especially for Seattle), it rained only one Saturday morning the entire time we were training (August 2nd - end of december). It got cold towards the end of the year, and it rained many other days, of course. But we only ran in the rain once on a Saturday that whole time!
The Jamaica marathon was scheduled to happen in December 2002. the Walt Disney marathon was scheduled for January 2003. The decision to run in the Walt Disney marathon, as fate would have it, was a decision made for me and not by me. While on one of our Saturday runs in October 2002 I fell off the running trail and severely sprained my ankle. I want to point out that the reason I fell off the trail was because I was attempting to avoid a large flock of cyclists who were coming up behind me at what sounded like an alarming speed. I moved over to the right to make room and they swarmed past me - they sounded like angry bees. There were so many of them and the noise was so startling that I lost my footing, and rolled onto my ankle and off the trail. I was in excruciating pain and within seconds my ankle had swollen up to the size of a watermelon. The cyclists didn't stop. Even when I shrieked, fell, and started crying. But a number of very kind and concerned pedestrians did, and tried to help. One of the runners on my team also came by and ran ahead to let the coach know where I was. I ended up having to walk to the nearest road intersection to be picked up. I was miserable. I was unable to train for weeks, and there was no way I was going to be ready to run a full marathon in December, so I worked it out with our coordinator to switch to the Disney Marathon in January. Someone was looking out for me up there because in retrospect I think it was probably the more fun of the two and the better of the two for a first time runner like me. Everything happens for a reason :-) I had a great physical therapist who got me back up and walking (and then running) and eventually I worked my way back up to where the team was at that was preparing for the Walt Disney Marathon.
Before I knew it, it was December. December 2002 was a pretty cool month, and a pretty busy one! We closed on our property (5.6 acres that is the site of our future dream house!) on December 12th that year. And Tim proposed that same night (obviously, I said yes ;-)). My birthday was on the 13th of December. My parents arrived around the 16th or 17th, and my Sister a couple of days later. We had Christmas, I went dress shopping with my mom and sister for my wedding dress and brides maids dresses, we hired a wedding consultant, Celebrated new years. Oh - and I worked out and trained and continued getting ready for the marathon in January ;-).
Before we knew it, the time had come to head to Florida! The marathon was on Saturday the 12th. We arrived Thursday morning, I believe. I spent Thurs and Fri registering, getting my number and my shoe chip (that is what determines your official time), browsing through the sports & fitness exhibition, and generally trying to relax before the big day.
We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge - it was FANTASTIC! What a great hotel! Had a lot of fun walking through the grounds and watching the giraffes and rhinos and elephants and gazelles and exotic birds going about their business all around the hotel.
The night before the marathon, ASA held a pasta party for the entire ASA Train To End Stroke team - which was a few thousand I think. Teams from cities all across the US. Great food and a lot of fun, if slightly overshadowed by some nervousness and anxiety for the big day.
We were supposed to be at the starting line by 6:00 the next morning. Buses were coming to pick us up at our hotel at 5:00. Which meant I wanted to be up by about 4:15am. Which meant I wanted to get to sleep around 7:30pm! We left the pasta party early, headed back to the hotel, and I got everything ready for the morning - laid out my running clothes, after-marathon-clothes & bag (they let you bring a bag that they store for you. One of the BEST tips I got from our coach was to put a pair of sandals in your bag (along with fresh socks, pants, shirt, couple of apples, gatorade, towel, brush/comb), set out my breakfast which consisted of 2 energy bars, gatorade, and an apple for the bus ride (I had discovered during training that having gatorade and a couple of energy bars for breakfast was the perfect way to start off a long run day for me. Everyone is different, but this worked for me). And then I climbed into bed.
As luck would have it (for Tim), there was a football game or baseball game or something on tv to keep him occupied. He was very sweetly watching it at very low volume but it proved to be enough of a distraction that I wasn't able to fall asleep. Tim took my not-so-discrete tossing & turning and mumbling as a hint, and headed down to the bar to watch the rest of the game :-) When he came back up I still wasn't entirely asleep, but close enough.
We had called the front desk for a wakeup call at 4:15. The phone was on Tim's side of the bed. So at promptly 4:15 when the phone rang and woke me from a very very deep sleep, I bolted upright and reached over Tim to make a grab at the phone. However in my half-asleep-but-startled-awake state, I neglected to reach over Tim and ended up punching him in the eye. Really hard. That woke him up pretty fast.
Feeling really bad, and after apologizing profusely and trying to make his eye better, I finally scrambled around Tim and answered the still-ringing phone.
I had forgotten we were in Disney World. I answered the phone expecting a concierge-like voice to tell me that it was my 4:15 wake up call. Instead I got Mickey Mouse, telling me to "Rise and Shine" in that chipper Mickey voice of his. It was perfect :-) This was going to be fun!
I showered (have to start the day off with a shower!), got dressed (2 layers; it was in the mid 30s around 5am), ate my breakfast, and headed down stairs.
Tim went back to bed for a couple of hours before heading over to the park so that he could watch the marathon and look for me :-)
The bus was late getting there, which added to everyone's nervousness. But they finally arrived and took us to the marathon starting point. From there we checked our bags and walked out to our "corral". Because most of us were amateur runners, we were in one of the last corrals which was a good mile and a half walk from the starting line, I swear. The faster you are (using official times from other official marathons) the closer to the start line your corral is. This is so the slow people don't trip up the fast people. Makes sense. A couple of more experienced runners on our team decided to go to a closer corral. I went to the one I was assigned to. I think it was "K". Then proceeded to warm up with other members of the team that I was with, stretching, etc. They were playing peppy music on huge speakers all along the starting line, and every once in a while goofy or mickey or minnie or donald or daisy would talk to us or to each other about the marathon and how exciting it was, and how cool we all were, and what great athletes we all were. Sounds cheesy, but it worked! I was feeling excited, and healthy and ready (if still a bit nervous!!!) And finally - the countdown started. Mickey and Minnie and the gang started counting down, and so did the rest of us, and then with a blaze of fireworks and crescendo of music we were off! Now, there were about 18-22 thousand people there. So we started off at a slow walk, which gradually turned into a brisk walk, which gradually turned into a slow trot, and then a slow jog and eventually we were almost up to normal marathon running speed - but it took some time
How to describe the marathon itself? There are no words! But I'll see what I can do.
We started running in the dark - it was 6:30 and just above freezing. But I barely noticed. The first part of the route took us through Epcot Center and was truly inspiring and energizing. They had all of the buildings lit up - coloured lights everywhere, and all kinds of disney-esque music from all over the world blaring through speakers that lined the running path. It was so cool! Really set us off on the right pace.
26.2 miles is a long way to run and it is impossible to not have to stop to go to the bathroom along the way. the course is prepared for that with port-o-potties at every other mile marker, but 21,000 people is a lot of people to compete with for the dozen or so bathrooms they had at each location. And when you gotta go, you gotta go. Especially given how much liquids I had been consuming over the last week in preparation for the big day. So it was just shortly after the start of the marathon that I learned the secret to marathon bathroom breaking from those who had clearly been-here-done-that before me. In retrospect it is actually quite an entertaining sight - marathon countdown ends, race start is signalled, and everyone starts to run... straight towards the woods off to the right of the running path, guys dropping their running trousers to take a leak, women squatting next to or behind a bush. En mass I swear, hundreds of runners made a break for the tree line within 5 minutes of the start, and there was a steady stream of back and forth of this for the first 5 miles I kid you not. And if you thought yourself above all that and resolutely determined to make it to the port-a-potties at the next mile marker to pee in dignity, you only stood in one of those lines once before casting aside your inhibitions and squatting in the tree line with the rest of them.
For the first 9 miles, I had to pee non-stop. It's not a very glamourous image, is it? Marathon running is not glamourous :-). Our coaches told us to expect that we'd have to constantly "go" for the first few miles of the marathon. I thought that constant feeling of my bladder about to explode would never end. It's bad enough when you've gotta go and you're stuck in traffic, or somewhere sitting down. Try having to pee and running at the same time. Your bladder will love you. But, despite the fact that I would just turn right around and pee it out, I consumed replacement drink and water at every location. Better too much than too little.
After about 9 miles your body, I think, starts to realize "Hmm... she's not going to stop this running thing any time soon, is she? And she's going to keep pumping us full of this water and gatorade stuff every couple of miles, no matter what, isn't she? We might want to hang on to some of this stuff if she's going to keep it up - we'll probably need it. Who knows what other hell she's going to be putting us through and for how long. Ok everyone - She's in it for the long haul. Let's not let this stuff go to waste. Time to grin and bear it."
Then the constant need to go to the bathroom diminishes, and you can settle down and just run, which is nice.
It was also right around the 9 mile marker that I noticed I was running 10 minute miles. Me. 10 minute miles. Sustained. For 9 miles! I was running 12 minute miles (5 miles/hour) at the start of training. At my peak in training I was running 5.5 miles/hour. Not that I kept close track of that stuff - my goal was to finish; I had set no time goal. But I did want to try and keep a consistent pace throughout the run, so that I didn't start out too fast and end up burning myself out early on, and so that I could gauge how I was doing and feeling (compared with training). Each mile marker had a digital clock so that I was able to tell how fast it was running based on how much time elapsed from one mile marker to the next. And I noticed at about the 9 mile marker that I was consistently arriving at the mile markers at xx:y2 (eg 06:42, 06:52, 06:62, etc). I was amazed and shocked, proud of myself, and in complete awe of my body and what it was capable of doing for me - I wasn't out of breath, I didn't feel like I was running too fast, in fact I felt GREAT! So I decided to slow down a little bit so I could prolong this feeling and make it to the end of the marathon :-). That's when I learned how easy it is to get caught up in the energy and excitement of 21,000 people running with you, adreneline flowing through you, music everywhere, people cheering you on... I often wondered what if any effect fans had in a stadium cheering on their team - if the players even noticed it and if so, if it really gave them any sort of lift. There were people lining the marathon path almost the entire way, cheering all of us on ,extending their hands to high-five us as we passed, shouting jumping and waving. And they were all total strangers to me, but that didn't matter - it gave me an extra boost of energy every time we ran through such a crowd - I found myself feeling stronger, running faster, and gravitating towards the sides of the path so I could touch the outstretched hands. It was so cool.In football, this effect is called "the 12th man". I don't know what it's called in running. But whatever it is - it works. It makes a difference!
Disney did an incredible job hosting the marathon, from the planning of the course, to the lights, music, decorations, to the AWESOME volunteers who lined the path and were there cheering us on at every mile marker and beverage stop, and all of the big and little details in between. IF I had to use one word to sum it up, it would be "Magical". Which I think is appropriate. It is the Disney marathon, after all. All of the disney characters were out for the marathon - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh (and piglet too!), snow white and the seven dwarves, Cinderella and her mice, Simba, and Lilo and Stitch, Peter Pan and Wendy, and every other Disney character you can possibly think of. They were jumping and waving and cheering. Many runners came prepared with disposable cameras and stopped and snapped photos of themselves with each of the characters. I might do that next time :-) All in all, it provided a wonderful distraction from the running - having the characters out there, wondering who you were going to see next. And during the parts of the run where people were unable to congregate (ie parts of hte freeway) to cheer us on, Disney had placed bug bulletin boards with disney trivia questions and answers on them to distract us. "Name the 7 dwarves in Snow White"... by the time I had figured all but 1 of them all out, the answer bulletin board appeared with "Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful and Doc". Doc. That was it. I always forget Doc.
Well, I will spare you the mile-by-mile commentary. You've heard about the first 9... miles 10-16 were similar. around mile 16 I was starting to look forward to the 19 mile marker where I knew our seattle coaches and mentors would be waiting for us. That thought distracted me and kept me going at the same time... I think for miles 16, 17, and 18 I was constantly thinking to myself "not far now to the 19 mile marker; you can do it; only 3 more miles to go; only 2 more miles to go; not far now to the 19 mile marker; you can do it; only 1.5 miles to go; only 1 mile to go; you can do it; don't stop; almost there; you can probably hear them; is that them? Waving? It's them! Wave! run! Keep running! You can do it". Rebecca, our coordinator, snapped my picture as I ran past and waved; one of our coaches volunteered to run with me for about a mile which was awesome - I needed it. And then, the 19 mile marker was behind me and I was at the 20. The coach had gone back to run with someone else. And now I noticed my feet hurting. Not unbearable; but they were definitely sore. I had passed the 19 mile marker. The end was still 6.2 miles away and I didn't really relish the thought of spending 6 miles thinking "only 6 more miles to go... not far now" considering how long it had felt getting to the 19 mile marker from the 16 mile marker. That's when I started thinking of Tim, my Mom, my Dad, my sister, all the people who donated money to me because they believed in what I was doing, and believed in me. I started imagining Tim along the side lines somewhere cheering me on - I knew he would be there but didn't know exactly where, so my thoughts turned to trying to spot Tim in the crowds that I passed, while trying desparately to ignore my hurting feet. My mantra for miles 20 and 21 when I wasn't trying to spot Tim was "my feet DON'T hurt. Feet, you do not hurt. You do not hurt, feet. They do not hurt. My feet don't hurt. My feet feel fine. They feel great. Feel great, feet. You must feel great. Do not hurt. I can do this. I can finish this. I'm almost there. And my feet do NOT hurt."
Except, they did hurt. So I walked miles 22 and 23.
Mile 24 found me some renewed inspiration. I only had 2.2 miles to go. I could DO this. I was almost done! How many times have I run 2.2 miles in the last 6 months? Well hell! I'd run it 10.9 times today alone (math provided to be a great distractino throughout the race - I'd calculate my precise pace from marker to marker and the precise time I'd expect to cross the finish line if I maintained pace, and by the time I had sorted that out, I'd have run a mile and would start again). What was 2.2 miles? It was NOTHING. And that became my new mantra. I picked up my feet and started running. And they didn't hurt! The crowds were getting bigger and louder. I was almost there! The trail started to turn back into Epcot Center. We were almost there. Finally I could see the big ball in the distance. The finish line was just past that. I passed the 25 mile marker. 1.2 miles to go! I can DO this! I was starting to feel great again. I wasn't moving very fast, but I was running, and I was smiling, and I knew that I was going to finish this marathon running!
As we entered the main center of Epcot, the trail passed under a huge arched arbor and lining the inside of the arch were all of my friends who had started the race with me - Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, and everyone else - they jumped up and down, and clapped, and waved and held out their hands and gave me a high 5; overhead I could here majestic disney orchestra music thundering my welcome to Epcot; At the end of the arch a huge fountain blasted water and a rainbow appeared overhead in the mist as the orchestra was reaching its frenzied crescendo and my heart welled with emotion and my eyes started to blur, and I was feeling so triumphant as I ran, choking back tears of pride love and awe and...
then I stopped being able to breath. I couldn't breath! I was here, 0.2 miles away from the finish line and I couldn't breath. I tried to breath. Nothing. I couldn't take in air. Oh my god! I'm not going to finish the marathon because 0.2 miles from the finish I got choked up with emotion and couldn't breath. I was going to pass out 0.2 miles from the finish. I was NOT going to do that. I had to get a hold of myself. Get a grip, Heather. You did not train for 6 months, and raise $3500, and fly all the way across country, so that you could pass out 0.2 miles from the finish just cause you got a little emotional. Stupid stupid stupid. So I kept running, I forced myself to calm down, and I breathed. And then I breathed a sigh of relief.
So - it is important to remember that a marathon is precisely 26.2 miles. That 0.2 miles becomes very very important towards the end. Because you're not done when you pass the 26 mile mark. You still have 0.2 miles to go. And those are the longest 0.2 miles that you'll ever run. It takes forever. But you know you can do it. After all, what's 0.2 miles? And how many times have you run 0.2 miles today already? Well, 1300 times to be exact. What's another 0.2 miles after having run 1300 of them already? So I kept on running.
I turned the corner to run the last bit of the last 0.2 miles, and that's when I heard my name. "Heather!" "Heather!". They couldn't be talking to me could they? There must be at least a hundred Heather's if not more, running this marathon. Then I saw him - Tim. Tim! Tim was there! I started running towards him happily - "Tim!"... Then he pointed - "No, no - don't run this way - go THAT way - go, Go!" and I looked in the direction he pointed and saw it. The Finish Line. There it was! "Go, go!" he yelled and I started running towards it. He ran with me on the other side of the chainlink fence that separated the spectators from the runners. I could see the clock. I could see the photographers. I could see the big banner. And I could see Mickey Mouse waving me on! I picked up my feet and started running faster ("faster" is a relative term after 26.2 miles, of course), and I felt like I was flying! I was doing it! I was running across the finish line! I was DONE!
Tim ran over to meet him and I hugged him and cried and smiled and laughed and hugged him and kissed him, and I think I kept saying over and over "I did it! I did it!". We headed over to the finishing area where they were handing out aluminum blankets and then headed over to the medal rack where I was presented with my Gold Mickey Medal, and had my picture taken for posterity. I was DONE.
I gathered my bag from the checkout place, and sat down on the ground, and changed my shorts, and shirt (I had peed at least a dozen times in front of 21,000 people; I wasn't going to balk at changing my clothes in front of them too now. Besides - I was wearing my bathing suit underneath, which proved to be the absolute most comfortable undergarment to wear during the run - sweat absorbing and no chaffing). I pulled on my trackpants and sweatshirt, changed my socks and slipped on my sandals. I ate my apple and drank my water. I stretched. I ate my power bar. I stretched. I drank more water. I stretched. And then we got up and walked around and finally headed over to the ASA booth where I checked in to let them know I finished, and hugged my coaches and Rebecca.
Then - we headed over to the bus to take us back to the hotel.
First thing I did in the hotel room? I used a REAL toilet with toilet paper and a flusher and everything. I will spare you the details; suffice it to say I was in there for a REALLY long time. Next thing - I took a shower. A really long, hot shower. It was a beautiful thing. Third thing - I drank more water. And then? I went down to the gym room, hopped on a stationary bike, and pedaled with no resistance for 30 minutes. That was the other valuable tip I got - from my physical therapist no less - as I started getting into the 16, mile runs during training and finding my muscles tightening and waking up the next morning stiff and unable to move, he suggested in addition to stretching and walking around, I pedal on a stationary bike with zero resistance to help get rid of the lactic acid that had built up in my muscles, and to keep everything loosened up. So I biked for 30 minutes, and then? Then I went into the pool for a swim and a walk. The "weightlessness" of being in the water felt really good on my leg muscles. After about 20 minutes in the pool I headed upstairs for another shower. And then Tim and I headed into Downtown Disney to stroll around and help me keep loose. Then it was back to the hotel where I crashed on the bed and did some serious power napping before our victory celebration that night.
I was stiff. Really stiff. And really sore. When I woke up from that nap. It was all I could do to move. And I had to pee again. One thing I didn't mention was that by the end of my marathon my legs had swelled considerably with water retention. And my body was finally realizing I was done and that it could let go of all of the excess fluids it had been holding on to while it tried to figure out what I was doing to it. The swelling went down over the course of the next 2 days, and I swear I've never spent so much time in the bathroom ever. The other odd thing that happened to me - both of my big toenails were bruised. Apparently this is not uncommon for long distance running either. Interesting - it had never happened in training. And I was stiff. Really stiff. And really sore. Did I mention that already?
But I was still much better off than some of the other participants. I saw one woman in a wheelchair - she had stiffened so badly she couldn't move and had to be wheeled around. I mentally thanked my physical therapist for his sage advice as she was wheeled past me.
The celebration dinner was a lot of fun. Lots of people broke out the beer and wine, but there was no way I could consume anything but water and fruit juice - the thought of an alcoholic beverage made me feel dehydrated. And then it was over and we headed back to the hotel for a well deserved night's sleep.
The next two days were spent playing in the disney theme parks. We had a grand time, Tim and I! I wore the 10th Anniversary marathon jacket I had bought when we first arrived, everywhere we went, and was praised and complimented and thanked for my participation and given the warmest of welcomes everywhere. We had a total blast and it was over way too quickly. But I will never forget it. Any of it. Ever. It was one of the most magical and extraordinary experiences of my life.
Pictures of Tim and I enjoying Disney World after the marathon are posted on the crappymusic web site at http://www.crappymusic.com/DisneyMarathon/index.htm .
Below are pictures of me during the marathon. Taken by photographers who were located throughout the course; you could sign up before the marathon with any number of these companies who would take your picture throughout the marathon and then allow you to purchase them (they have to be able to see your number; so there are no pictures of me for the first 8 miles or so, when I was wearing my heavy sweartshirt due to the cold).
My official time was 5:23:39. (the clock in the pictures reflects the time since the starting gun; my official time reflects the time from when I crossed the start line, to when I crossed the finish line. Remember it took me about 12 minutes to get to the starting line given that I was in corral K).
I finished right in the very middle of my gender & age group. Not bad for a first timer, huh! ;-)
Check out photos of me during the race.
And in the days that followed the race, Tim and I had a great time exploring Disney World.