Disney Day 4...the Marathon

Day 4 was a blast. This was the day we were doing a full marathon to complete the Goofy Challenge (half one day, full the next). Once again we got up very early at 2:15am and got ready. We left 15 minutes later than the day before, and still we arrived in plenty of time. Unlike the half marathon, they did not make us wait as long to head to the corral. Once in the corral we sat down for awhile b/c it was going to be over an hour wait. I was getting frustrated that I needed to go to the bathroom and all the boys just kept going over to the woods/trees to do their business. Finally I said screw it....off to the trees I went. I found some girls so at least I was not the only one. Much more efficient than going all the way out of the corral and back to bathrooms.

Here is a picture of us with our throw away shirts/jackets still on keeping us warm. The temperature was again in the mid 60's at the start (up near 80 at the finish) but instead of 97% humidity, it was 100% humidity for this one!

This year they changed the marathon course. Basically you start sort of near Epcot and then head to the Magic Kingdom where you pass through Tomorrowland and Cinderella's castle before leaving that park around miles 6-7. From there you go around the Walt Disney World Speedway around miles 8-9. Then you go to Animal Kingdom and run past Expedition Everest. Next you continue towards the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and spend several miles there. Then they have the 20 mile Spectacular before heading into Hollywood Studios from mile 22-23. Then we run by our resort the Yacht and Beach Club before entering Epcot toward the finish. Overall, I LOVED the course. Lots of things to look at. I loved going thru all the parks. Good crowd support.

Here is a pictue of the start of the race. I think there were around 25,000 people in this race. 10,000 were doing the Goofy challenge. This was the 20th anniversary of the marathon and 95 people who were running had done all 20. Impressive!

Our goal with this race was totally to have fun and cross the finish line. I was not sure how it was going to go. Again I had only run 5 total times since September. The only long run was the Monumental marathon in Nov. After that I did not have any work outs (bike or elliptical) that lasted longer than one hour. I did however have a steroid shot in my hip the week before. Totally helped I guess. I also took Mobic, Aleve and tylenol prior to the start. We started the race and it was much different than the half the day before. You were starting on legs that were already tired. I could feel them from the start. I was worried but figured we could walk much of it if needed. Clark was kind of killing me at the start b/c he made me stop so he could use the restroom less than 2 miles in. What??? Really?? I knew that he was going to be hanging back with me and doing anything I wanted so I really could not complain.  After that we just ran and stopped when there were characters.  Here are several pictures of us along the way! We had a wonderful time. So much fun! Aside from stopping for character pictures we never stopped running. No walking thru water stops or anything.

Here Clark took a random picture of me by the castle while we were waiting in line. This was around mile 6! Feeling good. Having fun

Here is a very fuzzy photo that I include only to remember we stopped with them. There was not a professional photographer at these characters for some reason so someone took this with my phone. Clearly they had no clue what they were doing. Oh well!

Here we were going around the speedway which was lined by all the cool cars including Lightening McQueen.

Here we are on our way to Animal Kingdom

Here we are in the ESPN Sports Complex. This was around mild 18 or 19 I think. Still smiling and having a great time.

Here we are at the 20 mile mark. Still going strong. Felt really good at this point (felt horrible at mile 14 but things got better)! Clark kept saying, "we can walk if you want." I had turned my music on at this point and just kept saying I would let him know if I needed to walk. Really by this point I had already convinced myself that I made it this far there was no way I wanted to walk. I wanted to say I RAN the Goofy challenge. All of it!

I will say that I was worried the last 2-3 miles that I would have to walk. It started to get hot...really hot and I was getting tired and grumpy. No cursing at Clark but he was on a joy run, and I was just listening to my music and trying to focus so that I could finish without walking. Not sure what it is with the guys I run with but they all seem to wait until the last few miles to get chatty and well, I simply can't talk at that point. I was still smiling and very happy but focused on the finish!

WE DID IT!!!!!! Our time was 4:30:08. I was thrilled with this time considering we stopped 17 times along the course for pictures or bathroom breaks! Our second half was faster than the first (first half was 2:18 but included more stops I think).

I love love love the Mickey marathon medal. The only reason it was different from years past and included color was bc it was an anniversary year. By far my coolest medal. I have decided I want to go do the Goofy each time they have some part of it as an anniversary so that at least one of the medals is special!

Okay I guess this was out of order b/c we had not gotten the Goofy medal yet. Oh well!

This race was a blast. I highly recommend it. The course is great. The characters along the course make it fun. I can't imagine ever wanting to do it for time b/c I like pictures along the way!!! These two days of running turned out better than I could have ever imagined. It was hard b/c I was out of shape, but I DID IT!  I talked to God a lot during both runs. I looked at the cross I drew on my arm during the marathon several times. My strength comes from God. That is all there is to it!!!

I will just have a separate post tomorrow with the rest of day 4. Right now my Alexis is waiting to work on a puzzle with me so she is a bigger priority! Also the reason there are so many more pictures of me is b/c we only bought my photos and they always seemed to crop Clark out. He really was by me the entire time!