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

I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed a great vacation with your family. At the end of the day, that's a HUGE positive, regardless of anything else.

I think showing our kids that both the ups and downs of running play into the ultimate experience is a real challenge, but can be really rewarding when we manage to do it right!
 
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.

Thanks!

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.

Thanks! It just wasn't meant to be on that day.

I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed a great vacation with your family. At the end of the day, that's a HUGE positive, regardless of anything else.

I think showing our kids that both the ups and downs of running play into the ultimate experience is a real challenge, but can be really rewarding when we manage to do it right!

Agreed. I'm VERY thankful that my running injury had no ill effects on the vacation as a whole. Because we had back loaded the trip so it would have been a major downer to be incapacitated in any way.

Agreed as well. Running is something I do for fun, but it doesn't always go the way I want it to. All I try to instill in G is that you have to work hard for your dreams and that setbacks will happen. We just need to learn and grow from them the best we can. How you react is what defines you as a person.
 
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.
I love that insight. I struggled a bit at the end of the marathon coping with the necessity of shortening the course and what meaning, if anything it held for me that day since I was among those that did not run through Blizzard Beach. For a few minutes, I was down about it, but seeing the bigger picture helped me make my peace with it, accept what happened, and understand that I still got 26.2 in that day albeit in a different manner.
I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed a great vacation with your family. At the end of the day, that's a HUGE positive, regardless of anything else.

I think showing our kids that both the ups and downs of running play into the ultimate experience is a real challenge, but can be really rewarding when we manage to do it right!
Adversity, though extremely difficult, can be an excellent teacher.
Running is something I do for fun, but it doesn't always go the way I want it to. All I try to instill in G is that you have to work hard for your dreams and that setbacks will happen. We just need to learn and grow from them the best we can. How you react is what defines you as a person.
You know that I like to quote movies, so here are a few from one of my favorites not named Star Wars.

Batman Begins:

Alfred: Why do we fall Master Bruce? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up again.

Different point in the movie:

Batman/Bruce Wayne: It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.

Showing G that you keep on persevering even in face of disappointing setbacks sets a far more powerful example for her than always achieving everything on your first try.
 
I love that insight. I struggled a bit at the end of the marathon coping with the necessity of shortening the course and what meaning, if anything it held for me that day since I was among those that did not run through Blizzard Beach. For a few minutes, I was down about it, but seeing the bigger picture helped me make my peace with it, accept what happened, and understand that I still got 26.2 in that day albeit in a different manner.
Adversity, though extremely difficult, can be an excellent teacher.
You know that I like to quote movies, so here are a few from one of my favorites not named Star Wars.

Batman Begins:

Alfred: Why do we fall Master Bruce? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up again.

Different point in the movie:

Batman/Bruce Wayne: It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.

Showing G that you keep on persevering even in face of disappointing setbacks sets a far more powerful example for her than always achieving everything on your first try.

All great stuff and important things to keep in mind.
 


2020 Disney Marathon Trip Report and Race Recap

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Training Plan
Training Recap
Prediction Contest

Thursday, January 9th – Flight to Disney World
Friday, January 10th – Magic Kingdom, Bon Voyage, Expo, Hurricane Hannahs, and EPCOT
Saturday, January 11th – Mom’s Half Marathon, Sanaa, and Kids Race
Sunday, January 12th – Disney Marathon Recap, Magic Kingdom, and DHS
Monday, January 13th – DHS, Animal Kingdom, DATW, DHS, and Animal Kingdom
Tuesday, January 14th – DHS, Swimming, and EPCOT
Wednesday, January 15th – Magic Kingdom
2020 Disney Marathon in Review

Apologies as I never took notes throughout this trip and so this is exclusively from memory.

This was my 6th runDisney weekend and first Disney Marathon as a solo event. The five times prior (2014 to 2018) were all a part of the Dopey Challenge. I had had great experiences running each of the five prior Disney Marathons as part of Dopey and was eager to try the race weekend out with only the marathon on my race calendar. I had only one real racing goal for the weekend – run the marathon in under 3 hours.

In addition to the racing weekend, this would serve as a Disney vacation for my wife (Steph), daughter (Gigi) and mother. My mom was doing the HM on Saturday and my daughter was doing her first one mile race, also on Saturday.

Next Post: Thursday, January 9th – Flight to Disney World
 
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Thursday, January 9th – Flight to Disney World

I had my last heat acclimation training run to complete on Thursday morning. So I was up at 5am and out the door at 5:52am. It was just a nice and easy 30 min run around the neighborhood. A total of 3.25 miles in 9:25 min/mile pace and HR of 124. The feels like was only 12F and the wind was howling at 16-29mph. It was definitely a tad slower than expected, but I wasn’t terribly worried since it’s race week on tapered legs.

I got home and cleaned up. My mom arrived at 8:30am and we were out the door towards the Madison airport at 8:45am. Whenever we can swing it, I always prefer to fly out of Madison. It’s super close (about 15 min) and has competitive pricing on the right destinations. Every so often they’ve got non-stop flights to Orlando and we were able to make this one work for us. So we got to the airport a little after 9am and all checked in at the desk. But in the process, the agent informed us that the flight had been delayed. It wasn’t going to take off at 10:50am anymore. No biggie… Except now it’s scheduled for 3:20pm! Yikes! There comes the downside of a small airport. When something goes wrong with the flight your alternative options are very limited. So we pondered what to do about the time between 9:30am and the flight time at 3:20pm. We could have gone home, but the bags were checked and we had no idea when the flight would actually take off. I did some mental time math and decided at best we’d gain like 2-2.5 hrs at home vs at the airport. So because of the unknowns, we just hung out in the airport after going through security.

So, much of the time was spent just watching my iPad (History of Marvel on Disney +) or drawing with G. We were given $10 meal vouchers each by Frontier and one $50 flight credit to be used in the next 90 days. So we ate lunch at the airport. Because of the delayed flight, we were unlikely to make it to the Expo before it closed at 7pm. So that was a bit of a bummer and would certainly infringe on the Friday plans.

Eventually, Frontier did send a different plane and I think we boarded around 2:40pm. The flight was uneventful and I’m fairly sure I watched “Breaking 2” and “Avengers Endgame”. Just trying to get the pre-race juices flowing. I think we landed around 6:00pm. Only about 4-5 hours later than originally scheduled. But then there was another plane parked at our gate so we sat for another 20 min on the tarmac before we could get off the plane. Finally got off and loaded on DME by around 6:50-7:00. We got super lucky with our DME timing though because the bus was literally about to pull away as we were walking up to it and then the driver stopped and let us on.

For this trip we stayed at POP. We got there around 7:30pm. Ate some dinner in the cafeteria. I think I had sliced turkey with mashed potatoes and green beans. Headed over to the luggage pick-up and retrieved our Garden Grocer delivery. The bottled water is significantly cheaper using GG than it is to buy anything at Disney. And to me, the water at Disney just tastes really bad.

We were planning on rope dropping at extra hours at Magic Kingdom in the morning. Our luggage didn’t arrive to the room until about 10:20pm. So, it made for a quicker turnaround than we would have wanted otherwise. Per my Garmin, I was in bed by 10:36pm.

Next Post: Friday, January 10th – Magic Kingdom, Bon Voyage, Expo, Hurricane Hannahs, and EPCOT
 
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Friday, January 10th – Magic Kingdom, Bon Voyage, Expo, Hurricane Hannahs, and EPCOT

Up at 5:00am for a low for me 6:22 hours of sleep. MK opened at 8:00am for extra hours, so the goal was to get there by 7:15am. So, got showered and G prepared and then off to breakfast at the POP cafeteria. I had eggs and waffles. Met my mom at the POP bus stop and off to MK we went.

I think we got to MK around 7:15 am and was some of the first people let into the holding area underneath the train station.

PICTURE

Our FPs for the day were all at EPCOT, so we were going to try and get as much accomplished during the 60 min as possible. The goal was to ride Peter Pan since the line is always crazy there. So we headed towards PP. Rode that, and then It’s a Small World.

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Then while Steph and G rode the carousel, I put on my Zensah calf sleeves.

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Then we walked over to Fantasy Land and rode the Tea cups, Dumbo, and Ariel’s Adventure.

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I think we got all of that done before the park opened to regular guests at 9am. G had never ridden on the Speedway and it had been years since I had been on it. So G was my driver around the course. She had fun. Although sitting there at the end waiting to deboard our car was loud and lots of vibrations. I want to say from there we headed over to the Laugh Floor. Then Enchanted Tales with Belle. G was Felip this time.

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Then we made a last stop at the dress store to get some pixie dust.

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And that might have been it before we made our way to our Bon Voyage late breakfast reservation. I think we boarded a Boardwalk bus around 10:30am and made our 11:45am reservation with lots of time to spare.

The Bon Voyage experience is one of our favorites. It’s a real person meet and greet (Rapunzel, Eugene, Prince Eric and Arielle), it’s a quiet room so the interactions are good, and the food is good. So it’s almost always a must do for us. G had fun meeting each of the characters. Rap and Eugene asked G what her dream is, and she said “To meet a unicorn in person”. To which Eugene replied, “Well we could put a horn on Max, but I’m not sure he’d like it too much.” Gotta love the quick wittedness of the characters. The experience overall met expectations. Steph wanted the Triton calzone and I wanted that but something healthier. So, we shared an avocado toast dish and the calzone. The calzone was the better of the two.

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G and Steph headed to swim at POP while my mom and I went to the expo. We just missed the expo bus and had to wait around for another 15 min or so. I think we boarded around 12:20pm. Went to the expo and it was as expected. The lines for bib pickup were short and sweet. We got our race shirts and then headed towards the runDisney merch in the third building. My mom walked around a lot searching for things and I only got a run Mickey doll for G’s race. Made our way to the Boardwalk bus to head towards the Hurricane Hannahs meetup. I think we arrived at the Boardwalk around 2:20pm, so all in all it was a 2 hr ordeal from getting on to getting off. Then I walked over to HH and got there around 2:40pm. My mom went to EPCOT and then eventually back to POP to sleep.

Like others say, attending this weekend is like a class reunion as much as it is about racing. The people are really what make the race weekend a next level enjoyment. The next 2 hours at the meetup are a blur for sure. I met a lot of people there. Some old friends and some new ones as well. From memory, I met with @Baloo in MI, @FFigawi, @Bree, @garneska, @DerTobi75, @Jason Bryer, @jmasgat, @kirstie101, @sourire (and mom!), @TeeterTots, @lhermiston, @Disney at Heart (and husband), @michigandergirl (and friend), @PaDisneyCouple (both of them). I’m sure there were way more, but like I said memory is fuzzy during that time since it was a flurry of activity. Steph and G came from the pool for a bit and bounced in and out of the meetup. Around 4:20pm, things calmed down and everyone went there separate ways.

Steph, G and I headed over to EPCOT. We met with Minnie Mouse and then headed towards Spaceship Earth. The line wasn’t moving and we had a fast pass for later. So we left that and did Nemo and Crush instead. G was the only kid sitting on the carpet for Crush. So like 50% of the show was G and Crush conversing. Then we did Soarin and then headed back towards Spaceship Earth. It was getting late so we decided to make our way back to our resort and get some dinner. We decided to take the skyliner back and eat at Riveria. The skyliner made it super convenient to eat there.

The Riveria hotel was BEAUTIFUL. On the ride over G was falling asleep and hadn’t eaten dinner yet. So we did our best to keep her awake and it made for a grumpy kid. We ate at Primo Piatto which is their QS option. There were only two cashier stands and only one working. So the line took quite a long time. I ordered a special marathon weekend pasta dish and a pizza. The food was pretty quality. I’d say it was like a QS in the manner in which we ordered, but the quality of the food was on par with a sit-down. It was a nice balance of the two. It did take quite some time to get the food though, but when it arrived it was awesome. From there we made our way back to POP on the skyliner.

I had a FedEx package arrive from Germany that I was super excited about. I got bounced around quite a bit to get my hands on it. In the end, it ended up being out for delivery to my room and so about 90 min was wasted trying to get my hands on it. But once I got my package it was everything I could have ever dreamed of. A new singlet special for race day.

Looks like I made it to bed around 9:40pm.

Next Post: Saturday, January 11th – Mom’s Half Marathon, Sanaa, and Kids Race
 
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Saturday, January 11th – Mom’s Half Marathon, Sanaa, and Kids Race

Last run before the Marathon on Sunday! I was up at 5:45am so that I could get finished with the run and head out to the HM finish line to see my mom. I was up and out the door by 6:20am. I got a text alert from my mom and she started about 8 min earlier than I expected.

I just decided to do some loops around the Hourglass Lake. Each lap ended up being around 1.25 miles. So, in total, I did 2.5 miles in 21 min (8:25 min/mile pace). It was a nice and toasty morning at a T+D of 138 but it did have a nice breeze to keep things cooler. My HR was a little higher than expected on the first 1.4 miles before the strides started. The strides were good. A 5:54, 6:33 and 6:15. I felt very smooth and strong throughout those. I was really happy with how good the legs felt and was super confident heading into Sunday’s race.

I got back in the room and cleaned up. My mom had crossed the 10k mat and was a little ahead of schedule. So we needed to pick up the pace to ensure we would see her finish. We made it to the cafeteria, and I had eggs/waffles again. We headed over to the runDisney transportation and got there around 7:50am. Unfortunately, the first bus that came apparently someone had just puked on it and then decided we wouldn’t want to ride on that. So we had to wait for another bus. I want to say we got on around 8:05-8:10 and I knew we’d be cutting it super close. Got to the finish line around 8:30 and I was expecting her to finish around 8:35am. As we just cleared security and turned the corner towards the finish I got the text alert she had finished. We got up to the spectator gate and within a minute or so saw my mom and waved her in. She looked in good condition despite the conditions.

We met her at the reunion area and I informed her that she beat her 2018 Disney HM time. Given the hotter conditions for this race versus the 2018 race I considered it a big win. She was kind of delirious and had a hard time understanding what I meant I think. Regardless, she seemed to have a good time.

I saw @PaDisneyCouple at the finish line and learned about their races. Mrs. PA had a phenomenal race and lowered her PR by quite a bit. So that was exciting.

Then we made our way to the POP bus so we could make our Sanaa reservation in time. Got on the bus and back to the resort in short order. My mom showered and got cleaned up. She was ready to go fairly soon and we were able to head to AKL Sanaa sooner than expected. So we jumped on an Animal Kingdom bus to head towards AKL. Got lucky with both the AK and AKL buses and was to AKL in record time. I think we got there around 10:45am for our 11:30am reservation.

Although something was screwy with our reservation. We got a text saying it was ready. So then we went to the desk and they said we hadn’t checked in yet. Then Steph showed them the text and they were very confused. Then we got another text and they took us to our table. Then during lunch Steph got a call from the desk asking us whether we were coming to our Sanaa reservation. And she was like, we’re already here and seated. So then the person came walking around trying to figure out which table was the table she called. But she never asked us, she was just commenting to the servers that she couldn’t figure it out. So eventually, I asked our server if the hostess was looking for a table that she had called and confirmed it was us. So confusing. No idea what kind of craziness happened with the Sanaa IT that morning.

The bread service was delicious and I had a rice based lunch. All good. The lunch took a little longer than expected and so we had to make good time to make it to G’s race on time. So I pinned the bib to her at lunch and then we raced to the expo/kids race bus. It did finally arrive, but not with much wiggle room. The Kids race was scheduled to start at 1pm, and we got on the bus around 12:45pm. I think we arrived around 1:02pm and then G and I raced over to the start. They were just starting wave #2 (of 3) when we got there so no biggie. Snapped some pre-race pics of G!

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G decided to do a Dead Last Start (DLS). I kept telling her I had a special surprise waiting for her at the finish line so she was super excited. Plus, with a DLS, we would know who we passed based on who finishes after us at the finish line! This was her first mile race.

We started off like a flash. She was weaving in and out of the crowd from the start and not holding back. She kept yelling back to me, keep up dad! She had her determined face on. I just let her do her thing through the crowd. Looks like she got up to a 7:20 mile pace and was around 8 min/mile for the first 30 seconds or so. The T+D (154) and sun were brutal for the race. So the aggressive pace quickly caught up with her. Looks like we took our first walking break at about 4 min in covering just over a 1/3 of a mile. So around 12 min/mile pace. From there it was lots of walking and little spirts of running. She primarily started running again whenever she’d see a photographer because she wanted a “blur” photo where she was moving so fast you couldn’t tell it was her. Just a flash of colors. Once we got close to the finish line she was off again. Looks like she hit 6:56 min/mile pace for a few seconds and finished off around the 8s-9s. She had a blast and got her Mickey. Then she took a dramatic, “I’m tired” finish line photo. She finished the 1.02 miles in 17:26 for her first mile race.

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This race was definitely the highlight of the trip. Getting to enjoy running with my daughter is a dream come true. I realized during the race I really should have carried water for her. It probably would have improved her experience. Separately, this race was meant as a barometer test to determine our plans moving forward. We had circled Princess 2021 for our first 5k together, but after this one miler, I’m thinking we shouldn’t rush it. She’s not quite ready for a 5k yet. So we’ll probably stick to a mile or less for now.

We made our way back to POP and just chilled for the rest of the day. G and Steph went swimming, my mom took a nap, and I prepped for the marathon. I watched some Endgame as well to get the juices going again. We met up with my mom and had dinner at AOA cafeteria around 5pm. I had a simple pasta and turkey meatball dish. Then we headed back towards POP and the campfire. G, Steph and my mom stayed there, and I headed to bed. Apparently, G was a showstopper at the campfire and movie. The cast members loved her. They gave her a sketchbook, “How to draw princesses”, and director’s piece. They’re looking forward to what she does next in life.

I was in bed by around 6:30pm, but honestly had trouble sleeping. Not a huge surprise really. I just kept laying there waiting to fall asleep. Steph and G came into the room around 8:30pm and I was still awake. G was cute because she was trying “not to disturb me”. Funny enough, or not, G and Steph fell asleep before I did. Based on Garmin, I probably didn’t fall asleep until sometime between 9-10pm.

Next Post: Sunday, January 12th – Disney Marathon Recap, Magic Kingdom, and DHS
 
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Sunday, January 12th – Disney Marathon Recap, Magic Kingdom, and DHS

Finally, the day had arrived. Over a year + of training solely focused on this singular race. Countless hours spent on the road and the indoor trainer. A significant amount of resources spent in training and getting to this race. As Steph repeated many times during the early portion of the Disney trip, “You get the BQ, or you don’t get on the plane home.” She wasn’t being serious, but what she truly meant is, “Don’t let any negative thoughts get in your head. You WILL do this.”

The big question for the week leading into the race was surrounding the unpredictable Florida weather. Well except this time around… The weather was essentially forecasted as warm from the beginning of the 10-day and really never moved. The conditions were not ideal. Based on the T+D of 135-141 from start to finish, it would end up being the hottest marathon I’ve ever run. So the odds of sub-3 were already low, but in these conditions it was going to be darn near impossible. But I had done heat acclimation training for the last three weeks to prep for this. So I was going to just see what happened on race day.

The alarm went off at 1:30am, and I was up and adam. So maybe 4-5 hours of sleep in total. But I didn’t feel overly tired. The adrenaline was flowing. I showered and got ready for the race. Ate my bagel/PB/honey and banana at 2:00am. I also drank 16oz of Liquid IV in prep for the warm conditions. I was out the door at 2:20am and at the bus by 2:30am. I got on the second bus to leave for the morning from POP. I saw @Disney at Heart and DH and chatted with them on the bus. It was an uneventful ride and we were there around 3:00am. But given what I learned post-race about the traffic, I’m glad I had an uneventful trip to the start.

I made my way through security and to the meeting spot. I put on my DIS sign and my lighted hat. Let’s see who I can remember from the meetup: @Disney at Heart, @camaker, @MissLiss279, @dtrain, Joshua from Canada, ughhh I’m blanking. I know there were more there… Forgive my lack of memory. I almost approached several Captain Marvels because that’s what @Nightriders19 was wearing since she was also in Corral A. But after seeing three different ones, I realized I probably wasn’t going to guess correctly.

At about 3:35am they opened up the walk to the corrals and I headed towards the portas outside Corral A. @dtrain and I continued our conversation and strategy about the race. He made some comment about how finding people interested in Disney and running was a hard combo. So it was nice to find people who had such a unique combined interest. A Captain Marvel made a comment about how her local running group had many runDisney racers. I would find out after the race this Captain Marvel was actually @Nightriders19!

I made it to the portas right around 4am which was right on time. Headed into Corral A and found a nice spot up near the front. Saw some familiar faces like guy running as Minnie, RunArnoRun, Hilton, and Martins to name a few. @dtrain and I sat and chatted some more in anticipation of the race. Around 4:45am the activity started to pick up. I did some quick stretching in the corral, and then drank Maurten 320 at about 4:50am (10 min prior to start). And then a few minutes past 5am, Carissa announced the race would be slightly delayed. There were apparently issues with traffic and since the new race course crossed the EPCOT parking lot it was going to be a problem. Not great news right after consuming the Maurten and having my bladder timed out so there wouldn’t be any issues. All I could do was cross my fingers. But the time kept clicking by until we finally got started at 5:22am. Thankfully, the delayed start didn’t cause any problems for my bladder. Game time!

Conditions - ☁ Mostly Cloudy, Wind 5mph to 15mph
Start: Temp+Dew = 68°F + 67°F; FL - 69°F
End: Temp+Dew = 72°F + 69°F; FL - 69°F

Marathon PR to beat – 3:14:05
BQ time to beat – 3:05:00

MILE – SPLIT
Mile 1 – 7:05


And we’re off. And almost immediately my left and right quad right above the knees were screaming. I was completely thrown off by the signals my body was sending me. It felt so unusual to feel so off and in pain so immediately soon in the race. I chalked it up to a stagnant body and once it was warmed up everything would feel smooth again. So I just kept at it and tried to be honest with the pacing. I had originally considered setting a HR limit of 153 for a single lap (mile), but late on Saturday had decided I wasn’t going to do it. I would run purely by pace and what felt right. So, while the quads were hurting, I was happy with the first split coming in at 7:05. I knew today was going to be hard. I carried 5 oz of Liquid IV and drank little bits of it until I hit the first aid station.

Mile 2 – 7:01

Well the good news is that the ~7:05 pace felt right, but the bad news is that the pain in my quad wasn’t feeling any better. But the goal was to continue to hold the effort and see whether the pain would subside. Still holding good. Post-race analysis shows the HR of this mile was a 153. So even without the watch feedback I was essentially right where I wanted to be (at the top end of what I’ve shown to be physically capable). It also shows that it would have been unrealistic to expect anything faster than this pace (at least this early on).

Mile 3 – 7:05

Now with two consecutive miles at even paces, I was feeling more confident that today’s pace was going to be around the 7 min/mile barrier. This would put my finish in the 3:07 – 3:14 area which was nearly spot on to what I would have assumed going into it. I was actually feeling comfortable in the T+D and lack of sun. But it was only going to get hotter and sunnier as the race went on. Entered the backside of EPCOT and was seeing a consistent 7:05 pace still. HR of 153 again and right on target.

Mile 4 – 7:06

Ran through EPCOT in this mile. Pretty sure I remember something Figment related. Then a fairly tight path that wasn’t too bad since there weren’t that many runners around me. Then I saw Phineas (or was it Ferb?). And just as soon as we entered EPCOT, we were out. As I was just starting to make my way on the pathway, we previously used to get to the corrals I could see a group of people still heading to the corrals. Then as I got to the corral area, they were on either the last or second to last corral release. I was hugging the tangent as much as possible. I was hurting but holding on. The starting line crowd was kind of nice right here because they were so close to the running path in this year’s edition. So, I could feed off the energy. But nothing was making the quad feel any better. HR of 151 and still right where I expected to be.

Mile 5 – 7:11

It was becoming evident during this long turn that my left quad was not going to improve. The right one still hurt too, but not nearly as bad as the left one. But with a lack of improvement it was going to become a goal of do what you can to finish and keep on trying hard. Other than the band, I’m not sure I remember anything in this area. With the slight drop in pace came a slight drop in HR as well to 150.

Mile 6 – 7:15

Ran through the EPCOT parking stalls and then made our way to yet another large turn. Had 2oz of my Tailwind during this mile. Keep on trucking. HR of 148 now. Now we’re venturing into average marathon HR.

Mile 7 – 7:16

Now I was making the large turn again and the slant of the road wasn’t doing me any favors. I felt like it was really slamming my leg hard. It was interesting to run on the opposite side of the road here. HR still falling now down to 146. This is the low end of marathon HR.

Mile 8 – 7:18

Alright, I can hold on to a ~7:15 pace. This can work. I can tolerate this level of pain for this payoff. Well, actually maybe I can’t. Why can’t the pain go away… Ugh… I’m never doing another marathon. HR of 145 which is pretty low now. In retrospect, given the HR the aerobic conditioning even in this T+D was quite good. Something in the 3:07-3:14 area seemed completely reasonable even in these conditions. But clearly was something wrong with the non-aerobic part of the equation. Had my Maurten Caff gel during this mile.

Mile 9 – 7:19

I promised myself if I saw Lightning McQueen that I would stop for a picture. Given I had bib #95 it felt like an obligation. So when I saw him during Mile 9, I knew I had to stop for a quick pic.

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So I finally accomplished something I hadn’t done in a runDisney race yet – get a character pic during a race. Checked that one off. J For a moment, I started feeling better and maybe the quad would finally loosen up and feel normal again. But alas, it must have just been adrenaline, because the pain returned soon enough. HR of 146.

Mile 10 – 7:25

Making the final stretch towards Magic Kingdom. Through TTC and past the Contemporary. The uphill and downhill was killing my quad here. I was really feeling the slow down now. Doing whatever I could to make my quad feel more comfortable. Came to the realization in this mile that the goal needed to change from any time goal to just finishing. Today was not going to be my day. HR of 145.

Mile 11 – 7:29

Magic Kingdom and running down Main Street! @disneygpa and let me know that his DW would be cheering from there. So I kept my eyes open. When I was making the turn towards Tomorrowland I heard, “Billy” and turned to see @disneygpa DW. It was a pleasure seeing a friendly face and it gave me a momentary boost. Running through MK was nice, but it was kind of hard to enjoy it because of the quad. HR of 145.

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Mile 12 – 7:37

And now that we’re out of MK and heading into Cone Alley, things weren’t feeling as good anymore. The pace continued to fall in order to maintain a tolerable pain in the quad. Seemed like the cone alley area was a little different, but I couldn’t put my finger on how. HR of 141.

Mile 13 – 7:52

Making the last stretch of cone alley past the GF and Poly. The crowd was nice, but I was really feeling it. Everything else felt so comfortable and easy. I was barely breathing and the effort was relatively low. But the leg just wasn’t holding up. HR of 139. Now we’re moving into the high end of long run pace.

Mile 14 – 7:57

Crossed the HM point around 1:36 if memory serves correctly. That’s in line with when I’ve run a 3:14 and 3:16. So, despite the quad pain, things were going ok. I had no expectations on finishing time anymore. It was nice entering the area where the waste treatment plant is because the trees made it super cool in there. A nice relief from the T+D elsewhere. Granted the T+D was still manageable and I don’t even think I was even sweating that aggressively anymore since my effort felt so low. HR of 137.

Mile 15 – 8:05

Temps still feeling great back here. I was literally counting down the miles to finishing now. It was just a goal of forward momentum now. HR of 136.

Mile 16 – 8:09

Only 10ish miles to go. I can do this. Almost to Animal Kingdom. Pretty sure this was where the out/back portion was. I got to see a few runners on the other side. They looked like some of the top runners. Then I saw Martins and a group of guys around her. Kind of cool to run opposite the female leader. Then I saw @dtrain not far behind Martins and he was still looking strong. HR of 136.

Mile 17 – 8:19

Entered Animal Kingdom. It was around this time that I was really REALLY starting to hurt. I was worried I had done some serious damage. I wasn’t positive exactly what the problem was, but the quad felt horrendous. I wasn’t positive at this point that I could finish. I wasn’t thinking about mile 20 or 25 anymore at this point. At this point I was more concerned about mile 17.1 or 17.2. The HR had now dropped to 134 which was a low-end long run pace from this training cycle. Passed Everest and was ready for the run back.

Mile 18 – 8:24

Just keep running. I was on my way back to the turnpoint. HR of 133.

Mile 19 – 8:26

Hooray, made it to the out/back section! Thought I saw @Jason Bryer in this section. @huskies90 was in this section as well. The nutrition was still on point. The effort was low, but the leg just literally hurt with every step. HR of 133.

Mile 20 – 8:44

This was an interesting stretch of road towards Cornando. Although, admittedly I don’t remember a ton about this section. HR of 132.

Mile 21 – 9:06

Now I’m really hurting even more. It’s becoming a will of just getting to the finish. I never honestly felt like quitting, but man did this experience suck big time. I’m pretty sure this is where @Nightriders19 passed me. Headed towards Blizzard Beach and was interested to see how it would be designed. HR of 130. Falling HR into easy zone now.

Mile 22 – 9:18

Blizzard Beach was an interesting loop. I don’t know how I’d feel about it if I were trying to run full speed. A lot of tiny twists and turns. I ran through some bubbles and even muscled out a smile for the cameras. I was hurting on the inside, but I could still manage a smile on the outside. HR of 130.

Mile 23 – 9:17

Hey, look at that. The first mile that was faster than the proceeding one since Mile 2! LOL! I didn’t know in the moment that I was running a near perfect slowing progression run. Now quite the right direction… Just a nice and easy ascent on one of the only true hills in the run. Still on 12 feet though. Jaime Dawes finally passed me here. She didn’t recognize me at first, but I was keeping an eye out for her since I knew she was aiming for around a 3:25-3:30 marathon. She said I should follow her in to the finish, but I let her know that I felt seriously injured and couldn’t possibly increase the pace. Just need to make it to the finish. HR of 130.

Mile 24 – 9:21

Home stretch! Once you get to DHS it’s all easy street from there. So many things to look at and enjoy. So now I could just sit back and coast into the finish. Passed through DHS (that was quick!) and then past the Skyliner. On to the path towards the Boardwalk. HR of 129.

Mile 25 – 9:20

It’s the Boardwalk! Hey there’s @MommaoffherRocker. She offered me an ice bag, but I knew at this point I couldn’t stop running. If I stop, I may never start back up again. Through the Boardwalk. Hey there’s @Wendy98! She was yelling for me to keep going. There was also another girl’s family yelling for her to keep going and she started to push it. By the time we were clear of ESPN she started walking again. But when the 3:30 pacer came up to us she started to push again and run with him. That downhill towards the International Gateway was absolutely horrendous. I was having to swing my left leg outwards because it couldn’t take the force head-on normally. HR of 129 as I entered the back of EPCOT.

Mile 26 – 9:22

At this point I knew I could finish. I just kept continuing to coast to the finish. Saw some princesses and some guests walking around. Passed the Norwegian girls and knew the finish line was within striking distance. Alright, only about 2-4 min to go. HR of 130.

Mile 26.34 – 17:22 min/mile

Almost as soon as I passed the 26-mile marker, the leg just completely gave up. It was completely locked up and in just absolutely killing me. I got approached by several medics asking me if I wanted to continue. I said I made it this far, I was going to finish. Whether that’s running or simply walking to the finish. I was ugly crying like a beast at this point. This last portion of the race took me almost 6 minutes. The leg just had nothing left to give me. So, I just dragged it behind me to the finish line. It certainly hurt my pride as soon as I turned the corner and saw the crowd. I wanted to run, but I knew my leg was not going to hold up for much longer. So, I waited until I hit the straightaway to the finish to give my last little bit. As I got started back up again, the crowd got louder. It probably wasn’t for me, but it felt like it. Then Creigh Kelly called me out. Said, “We’ve all been like that guy in the yellow singlet. That’s William Blaser from Cottage Grove giving his all to the finish. You’re a marathoner William!” And then we gave each other a high-five. And finally, it was over. So many tears. Crossed the line in 3:35:00.

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Overall Place – 236th/14106th
Gender Place – 208th/6577th
Age Group Place – 40th/971st

I continued through the finisher’s chute. A medic asked me if I was ok, and whether I needed help. I just motioned towards the medals and kept walking. After I got the medal, I saw Steph and family and mouthed that I needed ice. So, I shuffled back over towards the medics and said I needed ice on my quad. So, I sat down and they strapped the bag of ice to my leg. They told me to drink an entire bottle of water and I was like, I’m fine really. This isn’t heat related, my leg is just killing me. As soon as they turned their back I got up off the bench and shuffled through the rest of the finish chute. Got my hat and handed another bottle of water. Really, no, I’m fine. The ice was slipping so I had to walk with one hand on my leg. Got through the whole thing and saw Steph and family. G had a special surprise for me. A GIANT DOUGHNUT! YUM!

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I went and got re-taped and then demolished the doughnut. We decided just to head back to the resort. We met “Flashlight” at the POP bus stop and he said he works all the runDisney weekends. So maybe we’ll see him again in the future. I got on the bus. Slowly. And sat down in the first seat. The leg was still killing me, but the ice was helping. We eventually made it back to POP and I just shuffled my way back to the room.

LINK – My thoughts on the race.

No rest for the worry. I got cleaned up and showered and then it was time to head to Magic Kingdom. My waistband was all cut up by my Nike shorts. Glad I didn’t realize this until after the race was over. Yikes!

Shuffled to the Magic Kingdom bus stop. Holy crow it was hard to sit down. May never stand up again once I sat down. I actually don’t remember a ton about what we did at MK. I know we ate at Skipper Canteens (first time). It was decent and the server was funny. We met Mickey on Main Street. Other than that, it’s a blur.

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After MK, we headed over to DHS. G really wanted to do Alien Saucer Swirls at night. We did the Ariel show. Then, we did Star Tours (G’s first time). She’ll never do that again. She was screaming the whole time, “Why did you make me do this!!!” LOL! We made our way through Star Wars land. It was cool and we were really hopeful we could swing a ROTR boarding group on either Monday or Tuesday morning. We also met Chewie (first time), Vamparina, and Fancy Nancy. Fancy Nancy went crazy for G because she was wearing her jacket and had a stuffed dog that looked like Frenchie.

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Made it over to Aliens and rode that. G liked that a lot better. Then I’m pretty sure we called it a night not long after that. Headed back to POP on the Skyliner (did I mention that this is so convenient!) I’m pretty sure we ate dinner at the cafeteria that night. Hit a step record 59,000 and estimated distance of 37 miles. The leg actually held up fine for the day. Which makes the experience during the race only that much more confusing. It surely wasn’t torn as I had originally thought. I actually didn’t even know if anything was actually seriously wrong with it at all. So why the bizarre feelings. Ugh! Finally made it to bed at 8:30pm. No rest for the wary though because we’ve got a ROTR boarding group to get tomorrow!

Next Post: Monday, January 13th – DHS, Swimming, and Animal Kingdom
 
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Monday, January 13th – DHS, Animal Kingdom, DATW, DHS, and Animal Kingdom

Up at 5am and ready to secure a ROTR boarding group. Did anyone get the number of that truck? I actually didn’t feel any worse than I do after a normal marathon. So that was a positive. I couldn’t really tell a pain difference between the two quads. Got cleaned up and out the door. I think we made it to the DHS bus stop around 6am. It was super busy! And no buses had apparently arrived yet. So, the line actually kept getting shorter as people were calling ubers. But around 6:10am the first bus showed up and people crammed on. I think we ended up on the second bus there. Got to DHS around 6:30am I think. Through security and MB tap in no time. Got up towards the Chinese Theater around 6:40am and then just waited.

Just sat there constantly refreshing the MDE app. Then as soon as it hit 7am there was a buzz in the air. You could hear an audible gasp, and then cheers here and there. Steph had gotten in first and started to cheer. A few seconds passed and then I looked at her phone and said, “Hey you’ve still got to select people! You haven’t done anything yet!” So, she quickly selected and then we ended up with BG 52. Not quite what we were hoping for. Actually, it was pretty bad timing because based on past days that was probably going to get called between 12-3pm. Right smack in the middle of DATW or run into our AK FP which were in the afternoon. UGH! We decided to head over to TSMM since it would just be opening and have the least wait now. The park was super nutty though and super busy for a 7am opening.

We rode TSMM. We didn’t do well because Steph wasn’t able to clear her side of the spaceship to get the robot to appear. Told her we were going to need to ride TSMM again on this trip to redeem ourselves. Then we had to make a choice of what to do next. I quickly checked the MDE app and saw we could switch our FP for the art experience at AK to early morning. Since we really wanted to make sure G could do that, and do DATW, and do ROTR, we had to shift the plans. So, we decided to head to AK.

Funny enough, when we arrived at AK it was extra magic hours. So, the park wasn’t open for day guests yet. So, we decided to ride the Safari since that was our other FP for the night. Got on before the crowds showed up which worked out great. Then we walked through the animal walking paths to see the new baby gorilla. SO CUTE!

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By the time that was done, it was time to board the train towards the art class at Rafiki’s Planet Watch. It was an interesting re-do of the space for the art class. We were taught how to draw Scar step-by-step. I feel like G had fun with this since she’s taken such an interest in art these days. G went and played with the animals and this is when I realized there was no way I was going to make it to DATW on time.

We had been keeping an eye on the ROTR BGs and it was clear the ride was down. Because for a while there was no movement on the BGs being called. I think by the time we got to the bus stop for EPCOT, the BGs were finally moving again. I think as we were pulling into EPCOT we were at like 45 or something. By the time we cleared Boardwalk, it was at 49 or something. And when we got to the France bridge we got the notification that our BG had been called and we had two hours to make it back (11:49-1:49pm). Ugh. Like literally when we were making our way to DATW. It was such a bummer because I really wanted to spend more time there.

Walked through each of the countries in search of the group. Think we found them around 12:15 outside of Norway (at the second country). Met up with several friendly faces again. I think I talked with @disneygpa and DW, @FFigawi, @lhermiston, @Beastmode2020, @WDWfeelslikehome, @croach, @flav and DD, @SleeplessKnight, @camaker, @Keels, and a surprise guest @jennamfeo. It was fun to catch up with everyone but the time felt like it passed by so quickly. I only made it to China before it was already time for us to leave to make our BG in time. I think it was around 12:50pm and I had pre-predicted that we needed to be getting on the Skyliner no later than 1pm to make it in time. So, we rushed to the Skyliner and got on around 1:05pm. Then finally got to DHS around 1:25-1:30pm.

We just had to make it to the back of the park by 1:49pm which I felt like was doable. So, through security and the tap. Down the boulevard and made it to Star Wars land. I think we got there around 1:42pm. So only a few minutes to spare. Steph asked the cast members whether G and my mom could stand in line but not ride the ride. But they said that really wasn’t doable on this one. So, we said goodbye to them and Steph and I got in line for ROTR. I think this is when I also ran into @Mickey Momma.

The line went quick. I think we were in the first pre-show in like 25-35 minutes. Robert Wang from Facebook was live streaming behind us which was funny. I’ll avoid spoilers for those who haven’t ridden yet. I thought the ride was pretty cool. What made it next level for me was the cast members. They were REALLY into their roles. Like a next level above Jungle Cruise, TOT, or Haunted Mansion.

After ROTR, Steph and I found G and my mom. They had just met Edna Mode.

After that we headed back to the resort for some swimming and then to Animal Kingdom for some night-time activities. We wanted to see the Rivers of Light night-time show. G was wearing her Tinkerbell outfit with lighted wings. She kept telling people Tink was on break and she was filling in. So you could take pictures or get autographs with her. I was apparently the PhotoPass Photographer. We rode on Navi River, and then had dinner at Flame Tree, then Steph and G rode Triceratop Spin. Then we headed towards Dinosaur. It had been forever since Steph and I had ridden it. So, we weren’t sure what to expect. At the last minute I had a moment of clarity and thought this ride might be a little too intense for G. So, Steph and G walked through the ride vehicle and my mom and I rode. GOOD DECISION! G would have been terrified by that ride and never trusted us again. It was dark and 90% of the dinosaurs were scary looking. That would not have gone well. Whew!

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From there we headed over to the FP for River or Light. We’ve never seen it before. I thought it was pretty meh. It was ok, but not something I’d schedule my day around again. From there, we headed back to POP.

Next Post: Tuesday, January 14th – DHS, Swimming, and EPCOT
 
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Tuesday, January 14th – DHS, Swimming, and EPCOT

Since we had gotten to do ROTR yesterday, we weren’t in any rush to get to DHS in the morning. We had a FP for TSMM at 9:30am. So we enjoyed a slow morning and made our way over to DHS.

We signed up G for the Jedi Experience for mid-afternoon. Then we went and rode TSMM. Steph was able to clear her side of the rocket this time so we did much better on our scores. I think after that we went and rode on the Lightning McQueen experience. It was another first for us. It was ok, nothing special. Then I think we made our way to Star Wars land. The line for the Falcon was 80 min which was a bit too long for us. So, I got in the single rider line. It took about 40 min instead. I got an Engineer (which is pretty much a guarantee for a single rider). The pre-show was messed up (at least I don’t think it was intentional) because the audio/video was not in sync. So that was annoying. I thought the ride overall was super hectic and hard to pay attention to. There was SO MUCH going on. I was responsible for flipping some switches to keep the ship repaired. I ended up with a score of Pirate which seemed decent enough. I think driving it would be an interesting experience based on what I could see in the brief moments my attention wasn’t pulled away.

After the Falcon ride, I met up with the family. They went shopping and bought a Loth Cat from the SW store. It was pretty cool. It did three different things. She carried it around with her for the remainder of the trip and got lots of comments on it. The other funny thing was the number of comments Steph got on her Max (dog from Little Mermaid) and dog backpack purse. Like every 10 min someone was complimenting her on the items.

We headed over to PizzaRizzo for lunch. It was ok. G had fun in the banquet room on the 2nd floor. It played music and had a dance floor so she couldn’t help herself. She tried to get other kids and adults to join her in dancing. She did eventually get another kid to join her.

After PizzaRizzo we headed over to the Jedi experience. It’s always fun to watch the kids during this. G had a blast again.

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We headed back to POP again for some more swimming!

Then, headed over to EPCOT for some nighttime fun. We went and got Gigi’s pearl. We get a pearl for every trip G takes so that one day we can make a necklace out of it. I think she’s up to 9 pearls now. After that we rode on the Mexico ride and then went to the future of EPCOT experience. It was interesting to see all the stuff they have planned for the future.

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Then we had dinner at La Hacienda. Never eaten there before. We ordered the Guac, the Queso, and I had a Costillas. It was AMAZING. Reminiscent of a French restaurant I used to visit in St. Louis. Although Mexican flavored. This place moved to a must-do on the next trip.

Afterwards, we headed over to Soarin again. G met a friend in line. After that we decided to head towards the Skyliner. The fireworks were about to start and G isn’t a fan usually of them. We made it to the Skyliner pretty much when they were starting. So, we got some pretty cool pics/view from our cabin.

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Then, off to bed for our last real day.

Next Post: Wednesday, January 15th – Magic Kingdom
 
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Wednesday, January 15th – Magic Kingdom

It was Steph’s last day. She was going to take an Uber from Contemporary to the airport. So, we made our way to Magic Kingdom for our last day. The park was actually fairly sparse. We thought we had finally ditched the crowds and could cruise at our leisure.

We rode on Buzz Lightyear. Then, we rode on Astro Orbiter. Another first for us. Man, I was not expecting such a wild ride. The Gs were noticeable because the ships tilt inwards. G really liked it a lot. I’m not sure I could ride it again.

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Afterwards, we headed to Winnie the Pooh. Then, the Carousel, and then the Tea cups. It was about this time that the crowds really started to pick up. So much for ditching everyone. Looks like it was just a late night for everyone.

We headed over to the Big Top and met with Daisy and Minnie. They loved the Loth Cat.

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I got a PB/Choc Cookie and demolished it. We met up with an impromptu Pluto meet. Then it was time for Steph to leave. So we walked her to the front entrance.

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Then my mom, G and I finished off our day at Magic Kingdom. We did the Laugh Floor again. G was really hoping her and the Loth Cat would be “that guy”. But she wasn’t picked. Then we headed over to meet Stitch (another first). He was wary of the Loth Cat.

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Then, I think we headed over to Dumbo and played around in the play area. I think after that we made our way over to the Hall of Presidents. G was expecting a literal hall and not a show. She seemed lukewarm about it. But it was another first for us. Then from there we ate lunch at Tortuga Tavern because G wanted a hot dog and I enjoyed the rice/pork dish. Then we made our way into the Country Bears show. Never done that one before either. G liked it, and I thought it was a bit nutty. After that we headed over to Haunted Mansion (G’s favorite). All the loves on this one.

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Then we had to fight through the parade traffic to make our way to Jungle Cruise which was our last FP for the day. I decided to see how getting a 4th FP would work since we’ve never done that before. I was able to get a FP for Aladdin carpet only 5 min after Jungle Cruise. So that was cool to skip that line. Then after Aladdin, I was able to get another FP for meeting Tianna and Rapunzel.

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So using the 4th FP option was pretty slick. Might have to reconsider our plans on FP moving forward to see if we can’t better utilize timing of these things.

Afterwards, we decided it was time to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom. So we headed back to POP so that we could make it to the campfire and see G’s friends. When we got there her cast member friends were there. They all had a blast laughing and sharing jokes. They were the best. Steph even sent an email to Disney to let them know how awesome that crew was. Super props to them.

We headed to dinner at the cafeteria. We had planned to eat at Riveria, but time got away from us at the campfire. Since we had a 5:05am DME bus we decided to eat at the cafeteria instead. G decided she wanted to get her teacher a present again (got her a pin during the December trip). So, this time she decided to get her teacher’s three kids PEZ dispensers. Then she really wanted to get something for her cast member friend. So, she found a heart pendant that separates in two. She would save half and the friend would get the other half. When we made it back to the movie, Gs friend was already off work. So, her co-workers took the ½ pendant and promised to get it to her friend.

Then the trip was essentially over. We made it back to our room, went to sleep, got up the next morning at like 3:15am and to the bus stop at 4:50am. The bus didn’t come until 5:35am. Then we got to the airport, through TSA pre-check, and then on the flight. No drama for the end of the trip.

Overall it was a pretty successful trip. We did lots of firsts on this trip. Which given we’ve been nine times in the last 5 years alone is saying something. The highlight of the trip for me was running the one miler with G. It’s the stuff dreams are made of. The marathon didn’t go as planned, but that’s just a small piece to the overall Disney vacation.

Next Post: 2020 Disney Marathon in Review
 
2020 Disney Marathon in Review

So, the obvious question is, “Why?” Why did I have quad pain on Sunday morning that started almost immediately, never let up, and increased in pain throughout the race. All that while never experiencing anything like that on Saturday during the last warm-up run.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m both at peace with this race and somewhat disappointed. I spent a significant amount of time training for this. In addition, I spent a significant amount of resources both preparing and completing it. So, it does hurt some to have that particular day. But in an honest retrospect, I think it would have been darn near impossible for me to crack 3 hours in the weather conditions of the race. It ended up being the hottest marathon and possibly one of the hottest races I’ve ever run in. That’s the way race day goes sometimes.

I don’t have a great answer. My gut instinct is that the training ended up being too much for me. Another situation of “Surviving the training instead of thriving because of it”. I was able to complete the entire training in full with little edits. But I think after the November HM I was just grinding myself into the ground.

The nutrition was good. I never really felt out of energy (albeit I was running much slower than goal marathon tempo).

The aerobic conditioning was good. While my pace was falling throughout the race, my HR was actually falling as well. Chicago 2018 only fell by 2-4 bpm from beginning to end, but pace fell by about 45 sec/mile. Dopey 2018 fell by 4-6 bpm, but pace fell by 50-60 sec/mile. Lakefront 2017 only fell by about 2bpm, but pace fell by 50-60 sec/mile. Compared to Disney 2020, which the HR fell by 23bpm, and pace fell by 140 sec/mile. So certainly, the pace fell considerably more during Disney 2020, but the drop in HR was huge comparatively. So, I do think aerobically I was well conditioned.

I ran the tangents really well. This marathon ended up at 26.34 miles which is my second-best Disney marathon (26.33) and 3rd best overall marathon (26.29 Lakefront 2017).

The issue I think was muscular. I think all the training pushed the muscles into a place I didn’t want them to go to. I had mentioned to Steph right before the November HM that my quads were absolutely popping. The muscle right above the knee was bulging and felt great. But a few weeks prior to Disney, that muscle seemed all but gone. Instead there seemed to be some small bruising in the area above the knee. Not anything concerning, but the lack of muscle seemed strange. In retrospect, maybe this was a warning sign that the muscle was not tolerating the training.

Let’s be honest, I chose the highest available training plan from TrainerRoad. The Ironman High Volume plan was really demanding. And it was written for cyclists with years of training trying to qualify for Kona. So, while I felt like I could do it, it was probably a case of where I shouldn’t of. I wanted to go full go on the training because it was going to be over a year of my life devoted on it. And I didn’t want to look back and say I didn’t do enough. But I think I’m now looking back and saying I probably did too much. I can’t say this with a definitive answer, but it’s my best bet.

So where to go from here? It goes without saying that I won’t complete the Ironman HV plan in full again. Because clearly that was too much. I also didn’t really enjoy riding the indoor trainer for much more than 4 hours. Everything past that seemed like a real chore and not all that enjoyable. I was hoping it would pay off, but I think moving forward I can probably do fine with less. I felt like I was in fantastic shape entering the November HM. So maybe consider doing a training plan but only the Base/Build portions since that’s where the November HM fell in the last plan (right before Specialty).

So, I think the plan at the moment is to aim for the November Madison Marathon as my next BQ attempt. It’s not flat, but it is nearly guaranteed to be cold. And I love running in the cold. And then hills of the HM didn’t affect me that bad when I took the GAP into account. Having a strategy like that might allow me to be in a good place. I haven’t signed up yet, so we’ll see how I feel about this plan going forward. I’m thinking of the following race schedule:

3/29 – First Call HM w/ some friends?
4/19 – Parkinson’s HM
5/23 – Brat Fest 5k
6/21 – Hot2Trot HM (marks end/beg of training plans)
8/23 – Madison Mini 5k?
9/20 – DoLittle HM (tuneup race)
11/8 – Madison Marathon

I think I might ease into training with 5 weeks of very easy riding/running (just to test the quad out). Then maybe follow the Sprint Triathlon training plan which is a much lower volume with lots of speed work. Then move into either the Full Tri or maybe HM Tri cycling with Full Tri running in late June. I might limit the brick workouts and make them longer marathon tempo workouts instead. But it’s still up in the air at the moment.
 
Thanks for your trip report and your honesty!! Running can be such a fickle sport - and I’m so sorry that last Sunday wasn’t your BQ day. But I have absolutely no doubt that you WILL BQ another day!! And will be cheering you along the whole way!
 
Thanks for your trip report and your honesty!! Running can be such a fickle sport - and I’m so sorry that last Sunday wasn’t your BQ day. But I have absolutely no doubt that you WILL BQ another day!! And will be cheering you along the whole way!

Thanks! The beauty of it is that I truly enjoy almost all the training I do. It really is the fun part for me. So while the outcome wasn't ideal, at least the training was mostly enjoyable. So now I just get to enjoy more training before my next attempt!
 
Like others say, attending this weekend is like a class reunion as much as it is about racing. The people are really what make the race weekend a next level enjoyment. The next 2 hours at the meetup are a blur for sure. I met a lot of people there. Some old friends and some new ones as well. From memory, I met with @Baloo in MI, @FFigawi, @Bree, @garneska, @DerTobi75, @Jason Bryer, @jmasgat, @kirstie101, @sourire (and mom!), @TeeterTots, @lhermiston, @Disney at Heart (and husband), @michigandergirl (and friend), @PaDisneyCouple (both of them). I’m sure there were way more, but like I said memory is fuzzy during that time since it was a flurry of activity. Steph and G came from the pool for a bit and bounced in and out of the meetup. Around 4:20pm, things calmed down and everyone went there separate ways.

First of all, it was great to see you at HH and at DATW, Billy. I'm leaning heavily toward doing Lakefront again, so holler at me if you decide to do that instead of Madison for your BQ attempt.

Second - and I know this isn't what you were going for, but I'll say it any way - my heart broke reading your marathon recap. I think others mentioned to you The Goof Troop Roving Road Party was watching your progress while we ran partied. Like you said, it just wasn't your day. But I respect the heck out of your ability to accept it, move on and have what appeared to be a great day with your family. Major dad props on that one.

Much respect for how much work you put into this race. I'm sorry it didn't go as planned, but I still think you have that BQ in your future. Keep up the good work.
 
First of all, it was great to see you at HH and at DATW, Billy. I'm leaning heavily toward doing Lakefront again, so holler at me if you decide to do that instead of Madison for your BQ attempt.

Thanks! It was great to see you as well. Lakefront is another possibility. Although, I'm leaning towards Madison even though the course is tougher because the weather is near guaranteed to be in the 20-30s. I really feel like that's my marathon sweet spot.

Second - and I know this isn't what you were going for, but I'll say it any way - my heart broke reading your marathon recap. I think others mentioned to you The Goof Troop Roving Road Party was watching your progress while we ran partied. Like you said, it just wasn't your day. But I respect the heck out of your ability to accept it, move on and have what appeared to be a great day with your family. Major dad props on that one.

Thanks! Unfortunately it was just the reality of the day that day. Injury or not, it was just not all that likely to happen. But the injury stole some of the luster of the day away.

And completely agree on the second part. The family vacation aspect of this trip was vital. So I'm happy my body gave me the ability to keep on moving and do the vaca thing.

Much respect for how much work you put into this race. I'm sorry it didn't go as planned, but I still think you have that BQ in your future. Keep up the good work.

Thanks! There was certainly a moment or two during the marathon that I truly felt like it was the end. I wasn't willing to go through all that training again to try for another BQ. It just sucked so much. But towards the end of the marathon, that feeling faded. The fire re-grew and I knew I needed to learn from this attempt and try again. And Steph felt the same way at the finish line. It's not a matter of "if", but "when" I break 3 hours.
 
Thanks! The beauty of it is that I truly enjoy almost all the training I do. It really is the fun part for me. So while the outcome wasn't ideal, at least the training was mostly enjoyable. So now I just get to enjoy more training before my next attempt!

Ive heard that said before - people enjoy the training the most. And now, I get it!! I miss the training part more than I expected!
 
Loved your report. It was not the race many of us expected, but you have a great attitude about it, and “positivity in the face of adversity” is an important lesson for your little one, just as “working hard to achieve goals” is. I love your fun family photos and especially love seeing G growing into such a lovely little girl! Keep searching for your El Dorado!
 

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