To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[KevM]

Hope your quad heals quickly. Awesome job!

 

[KSellers88]

So sorry about your quad, Billy! Hope it heals up fast and that you and your family enjoy the rest of your time at Disney! Congrats and great work!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I'm sorry about your injury flaring up. I feel like the weather was not PR friendly either. I have know doubt you'll find another marathon soon to get that sub 3:00 time.

 

[Barca33Runner]

I was following along and was wondering what the circumstances were. Sorry about your quad. Hope it heals up. I know you’ll get that BQ in the future.

 

[SarahDisney]

Bummer about the quad, but great job persevering and finishing despite the pain. Heal up and I'm excited to see you crush your next BQ attempt!

 

[dtrain]

The long and short of it is that my left quad just completely gave up on me. It was pretty painful early on. So the run became a do what I can to finish. Because of the slower effort I was fairly unaffected by the T+D. Ended up with 3:35 unofficially.

Fantastic effort regardless, you should feel proud for keeping your head held high and encouraging others. Very nice meeting you and I know that sub 3 is in the cards very soon. Stay strong bud, would love to run with you another time.

 

[bovie]

So sorry about the injury. You’re an inspiration to all of us. Congrats on a season of amazing work!

 

[huskies90]

@DopeyBadger I passed you, waved and said hi on the two lane stretch entering / exiting Animal Kingdom - I was heading in you were heading out. It is hard to tell when passing in the opposite direction but I had a feeling you were hurting. Sorry you didn’t get the result you wanted but the great thing about sports is we often get another opportunity. We all know you have it in you!!

 

[Jules76126]

Congrats on finishing. I know it was not the result you hoped for, but finishing is still a win. Hopefully, you can find a spring race and get that BQ.

 

[BikeFan]

Sorry to hear you missed your goal. I know how hard you've worked for this, but Sunday was just a tough day out there. 3:35 was an impressive result given the temperatures and other factors. Hope you heal up soon and can take another crack at it!

 

[michigandergirl]

It was nice to see you again Billy. I'm sorry to hear your body didn't cooperate. And that heat & humidity was absolutely brutal!

Keep at it - we all believe in you!

 

[BigEeyore]

Sorry you didn't make your goal time! Hope your injury is minor and you can find a flat, fast spring marathon to get that BQ! That weather on Sunday wasn't anyone's friend, and I am thoroughly impressed at your finish time given everything. Given your dedication and persistance, I know that you will make that BQ happen!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Sorry you didn't have the race you hoped for, but great job on still pushing through the pain and finishing. Please know how much we appreciate your efforts and hard work in helping us get to the starting line and powering through to the finish line when things don't go the way we hoped they would.

 

[DopeyBadger]

And now I'm back in WI. Steph asked that I take some time away from the DIS and just enjoy the remainder of the vacation. I certainly spend a lot of time on here, so she just wanted some dedicated family time where my focus wasn't be pulled in multiple different directions. So don't let my absence or lack of comments back be any indication of my feelings on the weekend.

Sorry to hear you experienced pain out there but impressed with your time pushing through that. congrats on the finish and hope rest of your day is magical

Thanks! Given that things felt incredibly off so early on, I certainly won't complain about a 3:35 marathon. The trip was overall a success and G had a fabulous time.

If your quad hadn't given up, would the late start have affected your nutrition strategy? I didn't know if it would have thrown things off.

No matter what, great race!

I was concerned about the Maurten 320 15 min prior to start the most. I time out the drink such that I won't have the urge for the bathroom. So to have 15 min turn into 35ish min was a concern. Thankfully there weren't any issues there. I don't think I'll ever know if the late start played any role in exacerbating the quad issues that came up.

@DopeyBadger Great job out there. I definitely know the pain of having injury take you out of a race like that. It obviously wasn’t the outcome you were hoping for, but you did what you could and got it done. Way to get through it Billy.

Thanks! Once it became clear that the quad was never going to feel any better, then it just became a mission to finish.

Wow, you did a great job with the quad injury! I love your pictures! I agree with others that hopefully you can transition to a Spring marathon. I know one at the end of March that you would crush!

Thanks! We'll see about the next one. Obviously, I need to see how my body reacts to training again on 1/27 and beyond and whether the quad is going to be a long standing issue or a one-off. But depending on how things go, I probably won't do another marathon until late Fall 2020 or maybe Spring 2021. The training will certainly be different, but I'm not sure it would be fair to my family to jump into hours upon hours of training so soon again for a Spring M. We'll see. The schedule is open except for Hot2Trot in June.

Wow, way to power through, Billy. So impressed!

Thanks!

Sorry about the quad but great job pushing through given the injury!

Thanks!

Congrats coach! You may not have done as good as you hoped but you still rock!! And you created another marathoner and Dopey finisher today!!! Can't thank you enough!!

Thanks! And it brings me tremendous joy to see others succeed.

Great job out there today! I hope your quad is feeling better!

Thanks!

Amazing job. Hopefully your quad stops giving you trouble soon!

Thanks! I'll know more once I start training up again later this month. It's unlikely to be a tear which is what I feared in the moment given how painful it was. But the pain in the left quad is still higher than the right at the moment.

Of course I'm sorry about your quad, and your ability to be positive is a shining beacon to us all. At least me

Thanks! I feel like this one hurts emotionally a lot less than the 2017 Lakefront M. In 2017, I truly felt like it was going to happen. At least this time the circumstances outside of my control dictated that it was going to be a herculean effort to reach the main goal. So staying positive post-race was easier. Don't get me wrong though, with the amount of time I spent on training, it does hurt a little that the race didn't go better.

Awesome job, Coach! Hope the quad feels a bit better now.

Thanks!

Hope your quad heals quickly. Awesome job!

Thanks!

So sorry about your quad, Billy! Hope it heals up fast and that you and your family enjoy the rest of your time at Disney! Congrats and great work!

Thanks! We did finish out an enjoyable trip. And my injury did not hamper our ability to do so, that was a definite positive.

I'm sorry about your injury flaring up. I feel like the weather was not PR friendly either. I have know doubt you'll find another marathon soon to get that sub 3:00 time.

Thanks! Agreed. The weather was not "A" race friendly. I haven't sat down with the data yet, but based on the first few miles I'm 99% positive that a sub-3 would not have happened on that day. We shall see what the future holds.

I was following along and was wondering what the circumstances were. Sorry about your quad. Hope it heals up. I know you’ll get that BQ in the future.

Thanks! Appreciate it.

Bummer about the quad, but great job persevering and finishing despite the pain. Heal up and I'm excited to see you crush your next BQ attempt!

Thanks! Haven't quite figured out when/where that will be yet, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.

Fantastic effort regardless, you should feel proud for keeping your head held high and encouraging others. Very nice meeting you and I know that sub 3 is in the cards very soon. Stay strong bud, would love to run with you another time.

Thanks! It was a pleasure meeting you in the morning. Congrats on your excellent race. Maybe our racing paths will cross again.

So sorry about the injury. You’re an inspiration to all of us. Congrats on a season of amazing work!

Thanks!

@DopeyBadger I passed you, waved and said hi on the two lane stretch entering / exiting Animal Kingdom - I was heading in you were heading out. It is hard to tell when passing in the opposite direction but I had a feeling you were hurting. Sorry you didn’t get the result you wanted but the great thing about sports is we often get another opportunity. We all know you have it in you!!

Thanks! I remember saying hi to someone in the out/back stretch. I thought it was @Jason Bryer, but maybe it was you too. Definitely hurting at that point in the race. Just doing my best to will myself to the finish line.

Congrats on finishing. I know it was not the result you hoped for, but finishing is still a win. Hopefully, you can find a spring race and get that BQ.

Thanks! We'll see what comes next.

Sorry to hear you missed your goal. I know how hard you've worked for this, but Sunday was just a tough day out there. 3:35 was an impressive result given the temperatures and other factors. Hope you heal up soon and can take another crack at it!

Thanks! Time to sit back, review the information, rethink strategy and prepare myself again.

It was nice to see you again Billy. I'm sorry to hear your body didn't cooperate. And that heat & humidity was absolutely brutal!

Keep at it - we all believe in you!

Thanks! Congrats on your weekend as well! Hopefully you and your friend had a successful end to the weekend.

Sorry you didn't make your goal time! Hope your injury is minor and you can find a flat, fast spring marathon to get that BQ! That weather on Sunday wasn't anyone's friend, and I am thoroughly impressed at your finish time given everything. Given your dedication and persistance, I know that you will make that BQ happen!

Thanks! Hope you had a great weekend as well!

Sorry you didn't have the race you hoped for, but great job on still pushing through the pain and finishing. Please know how much we appreciate your efforts and hard work in helping us get to the starting line and powering through to the finish line when things don't go the way we hoped they would.

Thanks! It's my pleasure to help others.

 

[mrsg00fy]

Congrats Billy!
Glad that you had an enjoyable family trip. You WILL get that BQ. Excited to see how the journey continues to unfold.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats Billy!
Glad that you had an enjoyable family trip. You WILL get that BQ. Excited to see how the journey continues to unfold.

Thanks! Hope you had a wonderful trip as well!

 

[garneska]

i am glad you still had a great family vacation. I hope you will do a write up of the race. Its always nice to hear your lessons, sometimes good takeaways for others.

I listened to you and @canglim52 about the humidity. Was not the race i hoped for but, I am not worse for it coming out the other side. I did take the week off and started my exercise today with a swim.

 

[DopeyBadger]

i am glad you still had a great family vacation. I hope you will do a write up of the race. Its always nice to hear your lessons, sometimes good takeaways for others.

I listened to you and @canglim52 about the humidity. Was not the race i hoped for but, I am not worse for it coming out the other side. I did take the week off and started my exercise today with a swim.

Thanks! Still planning on a write-up and talking about the trip. Although I didn't take any notes this time around, so the accuracy/extensiveness of it is questionable. But I definitely like writing down my thoughts on the race and specifically what to do next.

Sometimes a race weekend can be more about keeping the big picture in mind. This race weekend ended up being like that for many people. Now it's time for you to turn your attention towards your next victory lap.

 

[StacyStrong]

Your positive attitude is such an inspiration! I’m glad G (and family) had a great trip! Hopefully your quads start feeling back to normal soon.

 

[jmasgat]

Sorry to hear about your quad. We were tracking you while we were doing the full and wondered what the story was.

Hope the quad issue is not serious and that you can figure it out to make it a one-of.