First Marathon Disney Report (Very Very Long)

Mightygator · Jan 15, 2008

Disney Race Report 2008. Summary: First Marathon. Goal time: Anything sub 4 hours. Finish time 4:09:29. Minor Quad cramping in the last 4-5 miles forced a run-walk pace. 65-68 degrees and very humid until 9:00 AM. Long Version – (Skip Down 2nd post for Part II for race day) 
Part I Prerace training: I started running in October of 2006 as a way to begin loosing weight that had accumulated mostly since my two kids were born. The milestone to get me active again was getting my second child to sleep through the night regularly to allow enough sleep to get up an hour earlier each morning to workout and still get off to work on time. After getting over the 5k hump without pain and discovering that my body could handle 5-6 mile runs, I set my sights on training for the Jax River run 15K in March of last year. The week before that race I noticed a half marathon an hour a way from my house that I though I would do as a slow training run to prep for the 15K. I of course forgot to slow down and that half in 1:51 for my first “training” run of 13 miles. I ran the 15K the next week at same pace but was very sore the week before for overdoing it the week before. I then set my sights for a winter marathon and signed up for Disney. I planned on upping my mileage base during the summer to hit a good marathon training plan in the fall. Unfortunately, in June I was struck be plantar’s fasciatus. I did not run at all for 6-7 weeks. The PF slightly healed but was still bothersome at the end of August. I then had to decide whether to sit out Disney or see if I could train through it. I of course elected to train though it. I peaked at 53 miles a week and had 3 runs of 20 and 1 run of 22 during my fall training. My tempo runs were feeling strong and I ran a sub 22 5K at Thanksgiving so I thought I could at least go under 4 hours. Well so much for the best laid plans. Race Weekend: I should have known my goal was not meant to be as soon as we tried to leave town on Thursday. My wife, who ran the half, came down with bronchitis last week and ended up calling in sick to work on Thursday morning and going to the doctor. She got a script and the Dr shook his head when he found out she still intended to run Saturday. After we left the house to drop the dogs at the kennel and to pick the kids up from school, I remembered that I forgot the Disney Park tickets and race bib cards in the kitchen. Then my wife’s cell phone rings and my daughter’s school tell us the she threw up and we need to come get her. So we drop the dogs off anyway, call for a pediatrician appointment, pick up my daughter, pick up my son and then go to the pediatrician. Daughter has an ear infection so we get a script and scrub our Thursday evening arrival for Disney and leave Friday morning instead. On Friday we arrive at Disney at 11:30, and I drop my family to meet my sister (she was helping watch kids) and begin the checking into room at Boardwalk, pick up race stuff at the expo, and quickly go grocery shopping. Then I met my family at the Magic Kingdom in time for the 3:00 PM parade. (Note: lots of walking between expo parking lot and park) On Saturday, my wife ran the half. The kids get up fairly early so I thought we could catch a marathon shuttle bus to Epcot and catch the monorail to see her come out the back side of the magic kingdom near the Polynesian. The race shuttles were suspended when we got to the bus stop so we drove to watch for her at that location. We probably walked 1.5 of miles round trip from our parking spot to where we could watch for her. We stand around for 45 minutes for so waiting on her (thank goodness someone with a laptap was next to us and helped us track when she should be by based on start time and splits). We saw her pass and drove Animal Kingdom to entertain the kids. Even though lines were short we did a lot of walking on Saturday. We met up with my wife late afternoon and then quickly went to the Studios for a couple of hours. My calves were hurting and fatigued that I scrubbed my dinner plans for Italy in Epcot that night (due to walking to and from) and ordered the runners special room service from Spoodles in order to rest somewhat. Before going to sleep a rainstorm comes in about 9:00 PM. After it was over I checked outside hoping it was the cold front arriving early that was due in on Sunday. It was not to be though as it very humid. I then checked the hourly forecast at weather.com and as disappointed to see the low in the morning was projected to be 66 degrees.

Mightygator · Jan 15, 2008

Part II Race Day Woke up a half hour before my alarms were set to go off at 3:00 and began getting ready. Breakfast was bagel with peanut butter and a banana. Stopped for coffee to drink on the way to the shuttle and arrived staging area around 4:00. It was just as forecasted, warm and humid. I bought a pass for the runner’s retreat during fall for insurance for cold or wet weather. It was not worth the price but I was nice nonetheless. Bag check was available there instead of with the mass amount people and the short potty lines were nice. I had half a clif bar and another banana there. I checked my bag, got in line for the potty’s and bumped into a friend that I thought was doing the half. (he was doing the Goofy). I was nice to walk with him to the corrals from the staging area. I had a decent corral placement (Blue start, B corral) and got in a far forward as I could and sat down for awhile until it was too crowded. I downed a Power Bar about 15 minutes before the start. Based on some Mcmillan times from my recent 5K and some good long tempo runs I had a Pie in Sky goal of 3:40 (8:24 Pace). I knew that since it was humid that this was not going to happen but thought I would run a few miles near that pace and then shoot for 3:50 as my pace dropped down and worse case 4 hours. I live in SW Florida and basically train in same humidity so I did not get worked up about it. Miles 0-5 (42:53, 8:35 avg pace) Fireworks go off and the race starts. I have a 1:30 lag to the starting line (not too bad). I start running and am able to hit pace fairly quickly (.25-.5 miles). Since the split starts are parallel but staggered in distance it was interesting to see the back half Red start still standing and waiting while the front of the blue start flies by. Epcot in the dark is neat to see with only runners cruising through. It was not too crowded that narrow turns did not affect me much at that point. We hit the split start merge and I was expecting it to get crowded but the other start generally has slower runners as a group so I was surprised to only see a few runners trickling out while the blue runners were much more dense. I took a gel at the 4.2 water stop as my water bottle was getting low. After mile 4.5, I realized that I need a biologic break and dash into the woods real quick. I felt better and was hoping that was all I would need. Miles 6-10 (1:25:53, 8:30 avg pace) This was fairly uneventful. I seemed to hold pace well. I was having discomfort with my Race Ready shorts though. The drawstring would not stay tightly knotted due to it being a loop instead of two strings and they kept creeping down. I kept having to retie. This was not a fun distraction, I did wear these shorts for one run previous with a few gels for weight distribution but it was not problem then. I saw SRLOPEZ in this stretch and chatted with him a bit. I missed hitting the lap button on the 6 marker. I could not find the 9 marker due to all of the spectators at the monorail station. This station was the first area other than the hard core folks at the start where there was a crowd. Miles 6-8 has some high school bands and cheerleaders bussed out to make noise though. The stretch between mile 9 and 10 is basically following the bus route to the Magic Kingdom and it was much shorter than I expected. Mile 10 is just outside the Magic Kingdom so the next fun sight is just coming up. I ate a power bar at mile 7. Miles 11-13.1 (1:53:18, 8:39 pace) We run though the back stage area and hit mainstreet. The crowd here is great and the runners are now spaced far apart enough to that you can look at people and characters from a distance. It is impressive the number of characters that are out in the them parks with a few on the roads outside the theme parks. Also no lines for pictures yet this early in the race but I was not into that for this race. While running through the Magic Kingdom I had a brainstorm about my shorts. I decided I needed to cut the drawstring. The next medical station I came to in the other back lot of the kingdom I stopped and asked for scissors. Unfortunately I lost about 2 minutes because I could not untie my knot on the shorts quickly but once I worked it out, cut the string and retied, no more problems the rest of the day from the shorts. I did take a gel around mile 11. I was looking for my family in the stretch by the Poly but I thought that it would be ambitious for them to get there in time due to logistics. Miles 13.1 – 20 (2:59:52) The back road to Animal Kingdom. I did not think this road was that boring like others. It is curvy and mostly wooded on either side so it feels like you are making progress. The sewer and recycling plants are a bit much though. I start noticing that my pace is falling. Miles 14 - 8:52; 15 – 8:57; 16 – 9:06. Mile 14 I got a banana. Mile 16, I worked on a power bar but only ate a 3rd of it. By mile 17 I was vaguely considering another biological break. While in Animal Kingdom, I saw another runner dart out of the permanent park restroom and that decided it for me. I lost about 2:30 on that stop but it was needed. Mile 18 – 9:08. Mile 19- 9:32. My first little walk came after mile 18 but I held it together a while after that. The stretch from Animal Kingdom to mile 20 was about what I expected but it did not make it easier. Mile 20 – 10:11, I walked a few more times probably on the up hill overpasses. Had a Gel and Banana during this stretch. Mile 20-Finish. (4:09:29) The next little stretch was the worse for me mentally. It is an out and back that seems to never end. Mile 21 - 9:42. I have a few walks in this area but think I still have a chance to break for. I basically needed to hold just under a 10 minute pace to make it in and did it for the first mile to 21. Mile 22 – 11:17, Mile 23 – 11:28, Mile 24 – 10:55. CRAMPS! As the splits show my walk breaks became more frequent. My inner quads would get crampy every time I ran more than 120 seconds. I switched to Power Aid but it was likely too late. Most of Mile 24 is in the Studio so the crowd got me moving better there though. My family was where I thought they would be near the Boardwalk. I thought I would miss them since I was a bit behind schedule and my 4 year old and 2 year do not have a lot of patience. I gave them a hug and struggled on. Mile 25 and 26 – 12:07 avg (I missed the 25 marker in Epcot). I was able to kick it up the last 0.2 to a sub9 pace again though. Post Race Thoughts The last stretch was hard. I am not sure it I hit a true wall but I was fatigued obviously before the cramping. I think I fueled adequately. I carry a bottle of water that I refill at most water stations to keep hydrated. I did not drink much Power Ade because it does not work well with gels. Maybe more Power Ade than water during humid conditions would help though. Walking the parks pre race was not smart either but could not be helped. The trip is for the kids also. I signed up for the Goofy on the way home today. The legs are sore today (Monday) but much better than the afternoon of the race on Sunday.

Paul · Jan 15, 2008

Great job on finishing your race mightygator. I enjoyed your report and how it compared to my experiences on the course. Even though you've trained in the heat and humidity, it still takes alot out of you on race day when you are maintaining a race pace for the entire 26.2. Personally, when it's humid, I might as well subtract 30 seconds per mile from my goal pace. Toughing through those cramps at mile 24 was amazing. 
Once again, congraulations on a successful completion of a hot/humid Florida marathon. 
Paul

GottaRun · Jan 16, 2008

I enjoyed your report. I ran the half on Saturday and was thankful that the humidity wasn't too bad. Great job on your time; pretty impressive especially considering you had some obstacles to overcome. One thing I noticed - you eat A LOT before running! I don't eat anything before any run - even 26.2, and it's always interesting to hear about others' pre-run diets. I don't know how all that food stays settled in your stomach! 
Congratulations!

Mightygator · Jan 16, 2008

Thanks for your thoughts GR and Paul. 
I knew deep inside I should have tried a slower pace with the humidty but decided to be pig headed. 
As far as food, I weigh about 195 lbs now (I was 222 last year) and had energy issues on late in a couple of long training runs when I forgot to take a gel or two when I was feeling fine at the time I should have eaten. To compensate, I try to eat earlier and often and it seem to help on other long training runs. I am still learning how much I need to eat and will experiment more. 
I appreciate both of your comments.

Econo · Jan 16, 2008

The parallels between your pre-race situation are uncanny -- my half marathon time matches yours, my goal marathon time matches yours, I am training right through another season of plantar fasciitis, and my mileage will look like yours. 
So it was tough to hear that you ran a 4:09. My condolences on that....but! You did beautifully under the pre-race circumstances (all that walking around! And despite the during race nutrition issues. 2 nature calls is not good. I don't think you started eating gels soon enough -- try mile 8, 12, etc. perhaps? And electrolytes. You needed more. People say not to mix gels & gatorade but I ignore 'em.

mmoonptdeux · Jan 16, 2008

Your first marathon race experience sounds an awful lot like mine...'cept you were about 25 minutes faster than me <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> 
Great job for your firstie, Mightygator - congrats! Nnow that you have this experience under the drawstring (sucks when things like that happen), I'm sure sub-4-hours will be in your near future for certain

brown82799 · Jan 17, 2008

nice report and congrats on the fine effort!

Rainierun · Jan 17, 2008

Nice job, enjoyed reading your report!

rhoon phast · Jan 20, 2008

Enjoyed reading your report. Hope your recovery goes well and the next time you get the 3:50 it sounds like you could have run with a bit cooler weather.

missy1102 · Jan 21, 2008

congrats on finishing your first marathon!! i'm sure you will only continue to improve as you gain experience and pearls of wisdom. i'm always so impressed by those of you who manage to train for marathons with little kids <img alt="wink.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/wink.gif"> go you!

Mightygator · Jan 21, 2008

It probably made a training routine stick for me. I am a early morning trainer in order to get it done before the kids are awake. Getting used to the early hour was not fun but once done it was easy to stick to a routine run every day. The few evenings waiting on the kids to go to bed to get out to make up a missed morning run were tougher because I usually wanted to bag those runs.

First Marathon Disney Report (Very Very Long)

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