Marathon Weekend Trip Report
Day 4: Sunday, January 9
Marathon Attempt
And, almost two weeks later, it is time to reflect on the marathon. I had originally signed up for the marathon only, and then when my neighbors were doing Dopey I decided to upgrade my registration for Goofy. A part of me wonders if I would have been able to finish the marathon had that been my only race… but I am getting ahead of myself.
Training for this race was not great. As I said in my last post, my longest training run was 12 miles. I started a new teaching job last fall and between that and trying to work on my dissertation, training just wasn’t my top time priority. Eventually in late October or November I had started to get a handle on things better. I had registered my DH for the half marathon and hired a virtual coach to try to help keep me accountable. I told her I was training for the full, and she scheduled my long runs, but I started to get foot pain during them and after a REALLY bad 18k trail run (it took me almost 4 hours and I was dead last by a lot… granted, it was on a trail) I felt defeated and told my coach I just wanted to focus on the half marathon and forget about the full. We did that for awhile, but as hype started to build for the race I felt like I really wanted the pretty marathon medal and that I would be mad at myself if I didn’t try. I talked to my coach and we decided to continue working on the half marathon training and add some long speed walks on the days after (I think the longest I did was 2 hours). I would focus on having a fun half marathon and then show up at the start line for the full and just see how far I got that day.
And show up to the start line I did. I slept a little better than I had the previous night— 3 hours and 54 minutes plus the 4 hour nap from earlier in the day. My alarm went off at 2:15 am and this time my DH got to stay in bed warm and cozy. He was going to play golf again that morning. I wasn’t feeling too sore, but the blister on the bottom of my foot worried me. I did not feel confident that I would be able to finish the race and contemplated just going back to bed: why try if I was going to fail? I could just sleep and maybe get an extra park day. But something inside of me motivated me to walk out of the door and down to the lobby… where I discovered they had no bananas that morning! I was depending on the bananas and thankfully I had a spare in our hotel room. So I rushed back to the room, grabbed the single banana and a protein bar, and once again resisted temptation to go back to sleep.
The lobby was a party again but this day I was by myself. On the bus, which left right on time at 3 am, there were two friendly girls sitting in front of me and they were dressed like Zenon characters— adorable! Made me want to do that costume for a future race. I ate my protein bar on the bus. Once we arrived around 3:15 am ish, I met my neighbors in the same spot as yesterday. It seemed busier at the time than it had the day before, and I was anxious to get to my corral (S6) to put as much room as I could between the balloon ladies and myself. I skipped my yoga/stretching warm up (a mistake, I think) and began the long walk to the corral without my neighbors, filled up my hydration bladder with the provided jugs and added 2 tailwind packets, and stopped at a porta potty. I had brought a sweatshirt with me just in case but was already feeling hot and took it off. I could feel my blister on the walk and was worried but had taped it and knew there wasn’t anything I could do.
Once in the corral, I drank my water plus Precision Hydration 1500, ate my banana, and attempted to stretch but there wasn’t much room. Despite my efforts to get there early, I wasn’t that much more up front in the corral than I had been the previous day. It seemed like everyone had arrived early. I chatted with a friendly local college student who also worked at Disney. I hope his race went well! 5 am came quickly and we were already moving toward the start line. I was a bit disoriented because unlike the previous day we had no access to the screens/speakers and I didn’t even really realize the race had started. It felt like we were moving quickly, and we were— I crossed the start line about 30 minutes earlier than I had the previous day. I wasn’t expecting this and while I was grateful to wait less, I didn’t feel like I had mentally prepared myself for what was to come yet and was not really feeling amped up due to the lack of National Anthem (which I usually love) and pre-race show.
Side note: my costume for the race was Ariel because I knew I would be walking a lot and she has the line “up where they walk, up where they run” in my favorite Disney song ever. I wore a purple Athleta top, the mermaid Sparkle Athletic skirt, green capris, a red sparkly visor, and my purple running vest. I also had a little Max tsum tsum attached to my shoulder. I grew up with sheepdogs and Max is one of my favorite characters. I was supposed to have cute little Flounder and Sebastian shoe clips, but they didn’t arrive in time.
I had decided to do 30 second run, 90 second walks because I was worried my speed walk wouldn’t be fast enough and I wanted some running intervals in there. Almost as soon as I started running my blister popped and it hurt very badly. I would later find a disgusting bloody mess in my shoe and am low key amazed I made it as far as I did. I ran through the pain, felt it less on the walking, and kept up with the intervals for probably 7 miles. I really enjoyed getting to run through Epcot so early on and the lights on the water were really pretty. I wish I had taken a picture. The course felt less congested than it had the previous day, and even moreso once I finally decided to just start speed walking which for the first couple miles of that did not slow me down tremendously. I started the race feeling really hot and sweaty but after Epcot it felt like I had cooled down a bit. I was taking one Clif blok per 2 miles, drinking my Tailwind water every mile, and also drinking a cup of water at every water stop. My stomach felt upset and I really had to go to the bathroom but was avoiding it because I was falling so far behind. That was another mistake, for sure.
According to my text messages, at 6:37 am I texted my mom that I didn’t think I would finish so she and my dad didn’t have to worry about trying to come to the finish line. They live in Tampa and were going to come see us that afternoon. I somehow made it almost 2 more hours after that because I texted my parents again at 8:37 am saying I had been swept. But first…
So, I was not feeling mentally into it. I didn’t think I could push fast enough with my foot pain and had slowed to a walk. There were plenty of people around me going the same pace who would say things like “we can do it” and such and I remember thinking to myself that we were only at like mile 6, there was no way we (I) could do it. I basically gave up mentally and being by myself probably didn’t help. The course was getting less and less congested as I was falling farther and farther behind. I was told that the balloon ladies were getting closer and closer— first 7 minutes behind me, then 4, then 90 seconds. When I saw the sweep bus outside MK, I asked when the next major sweep point was and they told me past MK. So I knew I could make it through the castle and then I would probably be calling it a day. Despite the failure I felt okay mentally and decided to have some fun.
Since I am slow, when I normally do races I try to PR in how many dogs I can pet during the race. My PR for that is 29 dogs at the NOLA Rock N Roll Half Marathon. Obviously, there were no dogs to pet at Disney but I did get my first character photos from any Disney race— with Pluto and Goofy! I said I was sorry for not finishing your challenge Goofy but he seemed okay with it.
(Image description: Me posing with Pluto in the dark with a bus in the background.)
(Image description: Me posing in front of a patriotic Goofy.)
It was around that point that the balloon ladies were right behind me, and they passed me finally literally going into Cinderella’s Castle. It felt poetic, and I have a cool pic of the balloons going into the archway. They were kind, by the way. Not scary monsters. I kept a smile on my face, the sweepers told me that I needed to pick it up but I said I was just going to get on the bus after MK. I kept walking and found the bus at mile 11.7 on my watch. The bus was full and most people seemed to be in okay spirits. I was disappointed in myself for not training well but grateful that I tried. There have been many marathons I have registered for and have DNS’d (usually by moving down to the half distance). I had registered for the Portland Marathon in 2020 which was obviously cancelled. So, I had showed up to the start line of a marathon and that was something. If anything, it was a kick in the butt to motivate to train better for next time and to get my act together and try to lose some of the weight I have gained over the past decade… more on that in a different post, I think.
(Image description: The balloon ladies’ Mickey balloons entering the archway of Cinderella’s Castle.)
(Image description: Me, walking through MK with a balloon lady right behind me. I have a smile on my face somehow.)
(Image description: Me walking next to a bike sweeper. Still smiling.)
Once the bus arrived back to the finish area, they gave me a medal which I put away because I didn’t really want it. (I am actually selling it to help fund my next attempt… judge me if you want, lol.) I went to the medical tent where I discovered the bloody disaster that was my foot. I will spare you those pictures, but in addition to my popped blister I had accumulated 3 or 4 more blisters in the usual areas (metatarsal/ball region of foot) and a blister on my heel which was new. Next time I need to go with the blister tape instead of moleskine because the moleskine obviously failed me. The medic person gave me a special blister bandage, and I was on my way on the longgg walk of shame to the Epcot bus area. The sub 4 hour people were all finishing, and I was happy for them but it was very obvious I had failed because, well, they were all fit and I clearly did not fit in. On my walk, a girl came up to me and said “Did you finish the race, Princess?” I think she could tell that I obviously hadn’t but I said no and she gave me a little pep talk which was really sweet and told me I should try again next year. She was a little gift that I needed in that moment.
I waited for the bus with some of the fast people who had their medals and ears while I sat there (trying to avoid negative self talk and calling myself names here). I was happy I would make it back to the hotel with enough time to order breakfast room service since my DH was still golfing. Even though I didn’t finish the race, I had still gone 12+ miles (over 14, including all the pre and post race walking) so I was rightfully hungry. I ordered room service, took a shower, and chilled— mostly following my neighbors on the tracker. They had DNF’d Dopey during the marathon in 2020 because of the heat (they made it to mile 15 that year), and I was really rooting for them to finish. And they did!!! Yay.
My DH got back from golf, and shortly after my parents arrived. I was hoping we could bowl at Splitsville but there was no way I would be able to wear normal shoes for days with my blisters (I still have 2, two weeks later). I put my half marathon medal on since I had practically done another half that day and we headed to Disney Springs. My mom is a nurse and brought me some blister stuff to help care for my feet. She told me we didn’t have to walk much if I didn’t want to, but my legs were honestly feeling okay and my feet were tolerable in my Oofos, even though I had to go slowly. I felt silly walking like I was around DS while many people with marathon medals looked like they had fresh legs. I didn’t feel super hungry, but we ate at House of Blues. I ordered the plant-based burger and finished it all so I suppose I was hungry. After we walked around and shopped. My parents used to live in Orlando and my dad would come to DS and the various parks daily to just walk around and exercise. He hadn’t been back since they moved to Tampa a few years ago, I think, so he enjoyed seeing what was different. We went back to Sugarboo and also the big
Disney store, where I got a Hercules and Pegasus pin to commemorate our half marathon costumes.
(Image description: My mom and I wearing Steampunk hats that I regret not purchasing.)
(Image description:Selfie of me with my earidescent pin fanny pack. I have a memento mori pin, a fairy tale books pin, a MW pin, and a Hercules and Pegasus pin. My DH is peeking in on the picture.)
Eventually my parents drove us back to the hotel, and I don’t remember much about what I did that evening. I took another ice bath using my runDisney gear check bag hack and then an epsom salt bath because we planned on doing MK the next day. I read about people’s successful races on Facebook, Instagram, and here. I went to bed, grateful that I did not have to wake up at 2 am.
By the end of the day, I had 39,306 steps (18.9 miles). I failed at the Goofy Challenge but I tried. Would I have finished, despite my inadequate training, if the marathon had been my only race over the weekend? Maybe. I did make it 25.1 miles over the two days, and I would have been starting on fresh legs— and mostly importantly— feet. I obviously need to train better if I attempt again. And “get my head in the game.” If anyone has any other feedback for me, I welcome it!
(Image description: My split times. Overall, I made it 11.7 miles in 3:11:12 with an average 16:21 pace.)
