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-In Brief-<br><br>
Half= 1:27:59 66th overall (8th age group)<br>
Full= 3:08:02 67th overall (8th age group)<br><br>
Met my goals of 1:30/3:10 and to aim for the best aggregate performance.<br>
The half was a PR (granted, previous PR was 3 years old and soft).<br>
The full was just about 5 mins slower than my PR.<br>
In brief, I was VERY happy. Now for the details...<br><br>
-The Trip Down-<br><br>
Sunday the 6th, we took our two daughters down from PA using the auto train. So drove 3-4 hours to VA for the 16+ hour train trip and then the short drive from Sanford to Orlando Monday morning.<br>
Our 1 year old is a very mellow baby, but there was still a lot of pacing up and down the train to get her to sleep. The pacing was actually a good thing, because some nagging knee pain I have had on and off for months was starting to flare up and all the sitting in the car/train was not helping.<br><br>
-The Week In The Parks-<br><br>
We spent all week hitting the parks hard. My wife and 5-year-old are Disney fanatics and like to go all day in the parks, hitting as many rides as possible. All the walking actually seemed to help my knee, but my legs and feet were definitely feeling it, especially since I was alternating carrying 25lb and 40 lb weights (aka my daughters)! I ran an easy 3-4 miles each morning just to try to keep loose. We spent the week staying at Pop Century, but transferred to Animal Kingdom Lodge on Friday so there would be more distractions over the weekend that would not require more trips to the parks. It was great there and we all really enjoyed being so close to the animals. Friday we went to the Animal Kingdom park and ate lunch at the buffet there. I literally ate until I was dizzy and thought I would pass out. Three heaping plates of vegan goodness!<br><br><br>
-Pre-Race 1-<br><br>
Friday night my wife took our 5-year-old to Epcot for the late hours (they did not get back until close to midnight), thereby greatly increasing my chances of getting some sleep. That left me with the 1-year-old so had to get up with her a few times through the night, but was not too bad. Got the 3AM wake up and ate some granola bars with peanut butter, a banana, and drank some Gatorade and water. Took the bus out and hung out in the parking lot making several trips to the bathroom and trying to unsuccessfully distract myself with Sudoku. Walked out to the start and hung out some more, taking in a gel and doing some stretching and jogging.<br><br>
-The Half-<br><br>
Soon we were off! It was dark but still a bit hot/humid. I could never quite get comfortable. For one, I had to pee the entire race! I also could never quite decide how hard to go without going too hard. I stuck to about Marathon Pace for the first 8 miles and then started to push it the last 5. I mad a new goal during the race to beat the guy dressed up as Snow White in front of me, final catching him close to mile 10. My knee was bothering me, but not hampering me at all and I just wanted to get this over with. the final mile I got carried away with the crowds and trying to catch as many runners as possible -- running at a 6 minute pace -- oops! Here were my splits:<br><br>
-Pre-Race 2-<br><br>
Hung out the rest of the day at Animal Kingdom Lodge with my family, taking an ice bath, and trying to eat and drink as much as possible. We had an early dinner at Boma and again I ate a disturbing amount of food. When our server realized I was vegan, she asked the chef to make me something special. Of course, by the time he came out, I had already again shoveled down three heaping plates of food, but somehow managed to finish off the plate of tasty BBQ tofu he made me. My wife again took my eldest daughter out for a late night at Magic Kingdom and I had a similar night with the 1-year old. By this time I was having serious buyer's remorse about the whole Goofy thing and wondering how the hell I was going to run a full marathon.<br><br>
Did the 3am wake up again and went through pretty much the same routine. It was nice having gone through the dress rehearsal with the logistics so did not have to worry much about that. Met a nice guy named Pete on the way to the start and chatted with him for a while. He ended up finishing just a couple of minutes in front of me, so we chatted some more at the end. I saw PacerChris at the start (hard to miss with the 3:20 balloons) and said a quick hello. Then I got closer to the 3:10 group and hung just behind them for the start.<br><br>
-The Full-<br><br>
We were off again and it was very humid. My legs felt like complete shit. I was real worried. The 3:10 guy passed mile 1 around 6:52 and received much heckling, but I think the 1-3 mile marks were off. I tried to keep the balloons in sight and slipped back a couple hundred yards behind them. Around mile 6 I started catching up (despite a quick pee break). I soon faded back again though and spent much of the race a couple hundred yards back. Chatted a couple times to a guy going for a sub 3:15 for a new PR and a BQ -- I hope he made it! Luckily the humidity got better and it really was not too bad as the morning progressed.<br><br>
I just got used to running on dead legs with an aching knee and just kept plugging away. I remember being downright giddy in miles 16-18 as I realized I was actually going to pull this off. I soaked up the whole spectacle much more than in the half. High-fiving characters, waving, etc. I passed the guy who was in the Snow White outfit for the half around mile 12, only this time he was dressed as Mini Mouse! Around mile 20 I started to slowly creep up on the 3:10 pace group and finally passed them at 24. They had dwindled down to a much smaller group at this point, with just 4-5 people. I tried to catch as many people as I could in the last couple miles, but it was really thin at that point and there weren't may runners to catch. I passed one more right before the finish and kicked as hard as I could, with literally a goofy look on my face -- pretty sure my tongue was hanging out! My splits:<br>
-Post Race-<br><br>
After a quick trip back to the hotel for a shower, we headed off to Magic Kingdom one more time to stay until near closing time. I was ready to pass out by the end of the night and collapsed into bed. The train ride back on Monday/Tuesday was interesting to say the least -- but was quite glad to get home!<br><br>
Was definitely quite the experience and I was very happy with how things turned out. I am going to try to take two weeks off from running to reboot and hopefully get my knee happy again. Then will decide what my racing plans will be for the Spring and whether I am doing Boston this year or not...
Half= 1:27:59 66th overall (8th age group)<br>
Full= 3:08:02 67th overall (8th age group)<br><br>
Met my goals of 1:30/3:10 and to aim for the best aggregate performance.<br>
The half was a PR (granted, previous PR was 3 years old and soft).<br>
The full was just about 5 mins slower than my PR.<br>
In brief, I was VERY happy. Now for the details...<br><br>
-The Trip Down-<br><br>
Sunday the 6th, we took our two daughters down from PA using the auto train. So drove 3-4 hours to VA for the 16+ hour train trip and then the short drive from Sanford to Orlando Monday morning.<br>
Our 1 year old is a very mellow baby, but there was still a lot of pacing up and down the train to get her to sleep. The pacing was actually a good thing, because some nagging knee pain I have had on and off for months was starting to flare up and all the sitting in the car/train was not helping.<br><br>
-The Week In The Parks-<br><br>
We spent all week hitting the parks hard. My wife and 5-year-old are Disney fanatics and like to go all day in the parks, hitting as many rides as possible. All the walking actually seemed to help my knee, but my legs and feet were definitely feeling it, especially since I was alternating carrying 25lb and 40 lb weights (aka my daughters)! I ran an easy 3-4 miles each morning just to try to keep loose. We spent the week staying at Pop Century, but transferred to Animal Kingdom Lodge on Friday so there would be more distractions over the weekend that would not require more trips to the parks. It was great there and we all really enjoyed being so close to the animals. Friday we went to the Animal Kingdom park and ate lunch at the buffet there. I literally ate until I was dizzy and thought I would pass out. Three heaping plates of vegan goodness!<br><br><br>
-Pre-Race 1-<br><br>
Friday night my wife took our 5-year-old to Epcot for the late hours (they did not get back until close to midnight), thereby greatly increasing my chances of getting some sleep. That left me with the 1-year-old so had to get up with her a few times through the night, but was not too bad. Got the 3AM wake up and ate some granola bars with peanut butter, a banana, and drank some Gatorade and water. Took the bus out and hung out in the parking lot making several trips to the bathroom and trying to unsuccessfully distract myself with Sudoku. Walked out to the start and hung out some more, taking in a gel and doing some stretching and jogging.<br><br>
-The Half-<br><br>
Soon we were off! It was dark but still a bit hot/humid. I could never quite get comfortable. For one, I had to pee the entire race! I also could never quite decide how hard to go without going too hard. I stuck to about Marathon Pace for the first 8 miles and then started to push it the last 5. I mad a new goal during the race to beat the guy dressed up as Snow White in front of me, final catching him close to mile 10. My knee was bothering me, but not hampering me at all and I just wanted to get this over with. the final mile I got carried away with the crowds and trying to catch as many runners as possible -- running at a 6 minute pace -- oops! Here were my splits:<br><br>
-Pre-Race 2-<br><br>
Hung out the rest of the day at Animal Kingdom Lodge with my family, taking an ice bath, and trying to eat and drink as much as possible. We had an early dinner at Boma and again I ate a disturbing amount of food. When our server realized I was vegan, she asked the chef to make me something special. Of course, by the time he came out, I had already again shoveled down three heaping plates of food, but somehow managed to finish off the plate of tasty BBQ tofu he made me. My wife again took my eldest daughter out for a late night at Magic Kingdom and I had a similar night with the 1-year old. By this time I was having serious buyer's remorse about the whole Goofy thing and wondering how the hell I was going to run a full marathon.<br><br>
Did the 3am wake up again and went through pretty much the same routine. It was nice having gone through the dress rehearsal with the logistics so did not have to worry much about that. Met a nice guy named Pete on the way to the start and chatted with him for a while. He ended up finishing just a couple of minutes in front of me, so we chatted some more at the end. I saw PacerChris at the start (hard to miss with the 3:20 balloons) and said a quick hello. Then I got closer to the 3:10 group and hung just behind them for the start.<br><br>
-The Full-<br><br>
We were off again and it was very humid. My legs felt like complete shit. I was real worried. The 3:10 guy passed mile 1 around 6:52 and received much heckling, but I think the 1-3 mile marks were off. I tried to keep the balloons in sight and slipped back a couple hundred yards behind them. Around mile 6 I started catching up (despite a quick pee break). I soon faded back again though and spent much of the race a couple hundred yards back. Chatted a couple times to a guy going for a sub 3:15 for a new PR and a BQ -- I hope he made it! Luckily the humidity got better and it really was not too bad as the morning progressed.<br><br>
I just got used to running on dead legs with an aching knee and just kept plugging away. I remember being downright giddy in miles 16-18 as I realized I was actually going to pull this off. I soaked up the whole spectacle much more than in the half. High-fiving characters, waving, etc. I passed the guy who was in the Snow White outfit for the half around mile 12, only this time he was dressed as Mini Mouse! Around mile 20 I started to slowly creep up on the 3:10 pace group and finally passed them at 24. They had dwindled down to a much smaller group at this point, with just 4-5 people. I tried to catch as many people as I could in the last couple miles, but it was really thin at that point and there weren't may runners to catch. I passed one more right before the finish and kicked as hard as I could, with literally a goofy look on my face -- pretty sure my tongue was hanging out! My splits:<br>
-Post Race-<br><br>
After a quick trip back to the hotel for a shower, we headed off to Magic Kingdom one more time to stay until near closing time. I was ready to pass out by the end of the night and collapsed into bed. The train ride back on Monday/Tuesday was interesting to say the least -- but was quite glad to get home!<br><br>
Was definitely quite the experience and I was very happy with how things turned out. I am going to try to take two weeks off from running to reboot and hopefully get my knee happy again. Then will decide what my racing plans will be for the Spring and whether I am doing Boston this year or not...
