Disney Marathon 2011

Since you all have endured my journey this far, I figure I best give you the details of the Marathon (some now, and more of the "fluff" later)
To start with, it was a VERY long  26.2 miles (actually it ended up being 26.72 miles per our Garmins)...but who is counting?? Although it was a very long run, I have to say that if you ever want to do a marathon, then Disney is the one you should choose. Not only (almost every mile) are their characters along the way that you can stop and get your picture made with, there are fireworks at the start, and they have the process / organization of putting together a marathon down pat!!
We started out the day on race day at 0230, yes that was 230 in the morning!! We arrived at Epcot at about 0345 where Frank and Michael dropped us off to start our adventure. We  were then "herded" (almost felt more like a death march...haha) to our starting areas where they started the first group of runners at around 0540...yep they were a little behind schedule, but you didn't think about time to much at that point because they had  music, DJ's, and fireworks...although it was a very cool 40ish degrees (and for florida that is COLD). I was in one of the last groups of people to start so our group did not start the run until a little after 0600. Thank God they had plenty of port-a-potties located strategically around the starting area as well as along the course!!
So the run began and I was feeling really good. I was able to keep a pretty good pace and had no pain. BUT apparently I over hydrated the day before and that morning, and that along with a nervous bladder, I had to make a pit stop at miles 3, 6, and 9. After that my bladder seemed to calm down....but unfortunately, my legs didn't. At about mile 8 I hit the "wall", which means everything hurt, and I felt exhausted...like I could not take one more step because someone had placed concrete blocks on my feet!! I have had this happen before and  read about "hitting the wall" from many runners, so I knew it was something I just had to push through. Because when you hit that wall, you have only two choices....quit or push through it, and I was not quitting!! Miles 8, 9, and 10 seemed to last forever, like they were never going to end, but they did. And when I look back at my times, amazingly it was during those miles that I had some of my best run times!!
Miles 11-15 now seem like a blurr, I think because they were not very eventful. I was feeling good again, except for the blister I could feel growing on my right foot. I did have to finally stop at the medical tent and put some tape on my foot to hopefully prevent it from getting any worse, and it seemed to work.
Miles 16-20, I just kept telling myself: "you have run this many miles before and survived, you can certainly do it now", "the last time you ran this many miles it was sleeting and snowing...at least today it is sunny and the temp is great for running", "I can do all things through Christ....", and any other thing that I could think of to push me through!!
Miles 21-25 were a true test of mental and physical endurance. My entire body hurt with each step, but I knew that the end was very near. It was during these miles that I thought about my sister and all she endured with her leg, and the pain she suffered through before she passed away, and how proud she would be...it was near mile 22 or 23 that I noticed a gentleman who had this on the back of his t-shirt: "if you think running 26.2 miles is tough, you should ask my mom about her chemo treatments"...that hit home, because my own mom had to endure chemo therapy and radiation.....so at this point I heard my mom say what she has told me many times before...to put on my big girl panties and pushed on!! So I did....
Mile 26 was all about rounding the corner and seeing the finish line and my husband!!! I had run / jogged the majority of every singe mile so far and I was not going to end it walking....so here is a snip it of how I ended...I am in the orange shirt and white hat.... **special thanks to the Jamieson's for the video!!