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First let me say….What
an absolutely fantastic race weekend!
John & I arrived in
WDW very late on Tuesday. I am very glad we came in early as it gave
my body a chance to get a little bit used to the heat & humidity. My
asthma was not really liking the humidity at all. Took it very easy
the next few days so as not to tire out our legs with a lot of
standing.
Arrived at the Expo
on Thursday at 3pm and was very surprised to see the line to get in
snaking back and forth all over the place. Thankfully it moved
pretty quickly. Picked up our bibs & chips (had no problem also
picking up Sean’s with the letter signed by him & photo copy of his
driver’s license), made our way downstairs to pick up our shirts &
goody bags. Then went straight to the Official Merchandise area
where we spent way more then we probably should have. By this time
it was almost 5pm and we had to pick Sean up at the airport for
5:35, so we did a very brief tour of the rest of the Expo.
Friday I returned to
the Expo to listen to John “The Penguin” Bingham and Coach Jenny
Hadfield speak (while John & Sean played mini-golf). They were GREAT
speakers! It was also great to see so many Wishers there. Coach
Jenny gave some very good advice for dealing with heat. I took her
suggestion of taking a salt packet before the start of the Half and
I really think it made a difference in how I felt throughout the
race. John Bingham’s advice was to slow down your race pace by a
minute or so because of the heat & humidity. It was great advice but
it also scared me….alot. It’s great if you are fairly fast, but……if
you are a back of the packer already doing 15+ mpm, you don’t have a
minute or so per mile to slow down…unless of course the sweepers
were slowing down too…..ugh!
I was a bit nervous
about meeting everyone on Friday night at the Pop Wish Meet, but I
think getting to meet some earlier at the Expo helped. The meet was
GREAT! It was nice meeting everyone and putting faces with the names
I see on the Dis.
Back at the Poly it
was time to prepare for race day. I pulled out mine, John, & Sean’s
race gear, pinned bibs on our shirts, & put chips on our shoes. (Ok,
I don’t want this to sound like John & Sean don’t do anything. They
are more of the laidback no worries type of personality and I am the
compulsive Type A personality. I new they (especially Sean) would
wait until morning to get their stuff together, which would have
driven me crazy & stressed me more then I needed to be, so I offered
to get their race gear ready for them. It was for my sanity!) John &
Sean then turned in for the night and I went to watch Wishes from
the Poly Beach. It was just what I needed to help relax.
Saturday morning the
wake up call & alarm go off at 3am. We get up, have something to
eat, & get ready to go. We leave the Poly at 4am and walk over to
the TTC to get the Monorail to Epcot. It was already HOT & HUMID!!!!
We each have a bottle of water & a throw away blanket to sit on and
John has 2 bags of ice with him to ice his knees on the Monorail. As
we walk past the Finish Line Spectator Area, there are very few
people at the port-a-potties, so we make this our first potty stop.
We get into the first holding area which by now is pretty empty, put
our blankets down, do some stretching and John slathers his knees in
biofreeze & puts on his knee braces. We make our way through the bag
check tents and are directed to the Wave C holding area. There we
see Judy & Charlie. It was great to see familiar faces. We sit with
them for a while and it really helped to pass the time and calm the
nerves. It was off for one last potty stop, then start moving
towards the start line. (talk about feeling like a herd of
cattle….LOL) Before long we hear the National Anthem & the
wheelchair racers, then the elites are off. Wave B is then off and
next it is us. We move up, take our salt packs (which by the
way….yuck!) and finish our last sips of water. We countdown, the
fireworks go off. Here we go…. Our plan was to step across the start
line together, but the girl in front of Sean hesitated, so Sean
actually stepped across 1 second after us. We start to run, but find
we really aren’t moving anywhere, so walk instead, work our way over
to the grass where we can start getting around people. Before we
even get to the big jug handle, John tells us to go on ahead that he
can’t keep up at our pace. He is already sweating and doesn’t look
too well. We tell him we will stay together, but he insists he is
fine and to go on ahead. We wish each other luck and Sean & I are
off. I’ll tell you, you never realize how sloped a curve is til you
walk/run one…Wow! It was so crowded we almost don’t see the Mile 1
sign. We continue to do a lot of walk/running on the grass. Around
Mile 2 we see the elites making there way back already. Very Cool!
Still doing a lot of on & off the grass to try and get around
people. At this point feeling hot but very good. Not really keeping
close track of intervals, just going by how we feel. Sean is helping
me to run a little faster & a little farther, and it feels good.
Loved the spot near the TTC where they had the Rock ‘n Roll music to
the right and Country to the left. That was kind of fun. Going
through the TTC we see Krista which was motivating right before the
Contemporary Hill. I prefer to run downhill & walk uphill, Sean
prefers to walk down & run up, so I take off and Sean catches me on
the uphill. We make our way into the back stage areas of MK, when we
smell the bacon, Sean gets really hungry & wants to stop for some.
(what can I say…he is a 20yr old male...) We come around the corner
and there it is…Main Street and the Castle. All I can say is WOW!
What a beautiful sight! I started to choke up. We start to run
because I had wanted to run all the way up Main Street. We see Cam,
Carrie, & Scott and got lots of high fives as we went by. It was
fantastic! I feel so good we keep running all the way into
Tomorrowland. We walk in the back of Tomorrowland into Fantasyland
because I wanted to be able to run through the Castle. Again…WOW! As
we make our way out of MK I was glad to see the bananas cause with
Sean talking about food & being hungry, I was now hungry. LOL Now
for the long road back to the jug handle/overpass and Epcot. By this
point my knee is starting to hurt so we slow our pace down. We are
still doing a lot of walk/run on the grass to get around people. We
get to see Judy & Charlie and Kristi & her mom. It was great seeing
them and knowing they weren’t far away. My knee is now hurting
pretty bad so my runs were getting shorter. I start telling Sean,
we’ll run to the next sign, light pole, whatever. Loved the HS
Marching Band. Brought back memories of Sean from HS Band. We ran
before the jug handle/overpass because I knew we would be walking
that. On that run Sean’s calf muscle cramped. We had to stop for him
to stretch. It continued to keep cramping on him. With my knee
hurting & his calf cramping, it made for a very long finish. As we
were going around the jug handle and over the overpass we kept
slowing to look for John. We were really worried about him and hoped
we would see him. Since he didn’t call us on the cell, we figured he
had to be out there behind us somewhere. We continue making our way
towards Epcot…one step at a time…running a bit whenever we could. As
we approach Epcot we see Cam, Carrie, Scott, & Pat. What a sight for
sore eyes (and legs LOL). Seeing them was just what I needed. Then
it was up the hill in Epcot (Sean said to me “You lied, you said
there were only a couple of hills” LOL), out around the Christmas
Tree and back. That is when the reality really hit….I am doing
this….I am going to get my Donald Medal!!!! Make our way past the
Gospel Choir, which was very motivating. Then around the bend. The
Finish Line was in site. Sean and I ran it in crossing the Finish
Line together. What a very special moment for me. Not only working
the last 10 months to get here, finishing the race, knowing I will
be getting my Donald Medal… but getting to experience it with my
son!!! We get our chips removed, go to get our medals…we’re told
they didn’t have anymore. What???? I don’t have words to describe
how I felt. I worked so hard for that medal and even though they
said I would receive it in the mail, I couldn’t believe I wasn’t
going to have that medal now. Be able to see it, touch it, wear it.
What an emotional rollercoaster. Sean & I grab some water & food and
make our way to the “W” tent to meet up with Wishers and wait for
John. A few minutes later John arrives. Right after that someone
says they found more medals. Yea!!! We hobble our way back to the
Finish Line, get our medals, then stop and have a photo taken of the
3 of us with our Donald Medals. TOTALLY AWESOME DAY!!!!
Sunday John & I
become part of the WISH Scream Team. After leaving the Poly at
5:30am to get Sean to the airport, we head to the Beach Club for
breakfast and by 9am we are out by the course to cheer everyone on.
We were out there with Judy & Charlie and it was really nice getting
to spend time with them. It was also nice having 4 pairs of eyes to
look for members of our WISH Team. John & I stay until the last
person passes with the sweepers & medics behind. We cheered for
every single Full Marathoner. What an amazing experience to be out
there watching the racers go by, some making it seem effortless,
some really struggling, but all of them continuing to keep moving
forward…one step at a time.
Sunday night’s
Illuminations Dessert Party was GREAT! It was so nice seeing
everyone with their “BLING” and listening to everyone’s race
experience stories. We see Anne & her DH waiting for the Monorail.
Turns out they are staying at the Poly too. We get to ride to the
TTC with them then walk to the Poly. A perfect ending to a perfect
evening.
Monday morning’s
Boardwalk Bakery breakfast was also great. Again seeing all the
“BLING” and listening to stories. Reliving the weekend!
Finish Times (chip):
Sean 3:17:49
Karen 3:17:50
John 3:30:18
I am already looking
forward to WDW Marathon Weekend 2008!!!!!!
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