Disney Marathon Recap

I ran the Walt Disney World Marathon for the first time last year. I did Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge and hated it. It was miserable. Partly because I didn't get to train properly (my last long run(s) were a 10 miler and then The Jacksonville Bank Marathon the day after. Did the 10 miles then proceeded to eat bad tacos and woke up doubled over in stomach pain the next day, unable to move...food poisoning is a bitch). Long story short, I was unprepared. Also, I ran a half marathon 6 days before Goofy and my legs were not fully recovered. I had a bad impression of Disney and their races just because I did not enjoy my first experience. I was not a happy runner. Disney and the volunteers, course, etc. were AWESOME, I just couldn't appreciate it because my legs had revolted.

So I swore that I wouldn't do another Disney race...but then registration opened and so many of my running group buddies (aka "Team Ed," named after our awesome Marathonfest group leader) were signed up, so I figured what the heck...I would give it another shot. My sister was also doing it and I am a sucker for races.

I honestly was not that excited for this race until the expo. Any expo gets my blood pumping. I love them. I want to buy all the things and eat all the samples. Plus, Cigna and the AT&T Fam Cam were there, giving us the opportunity to take pictures and then have them printed out and sent to our email. Pretty dang cool! My favorite is the 360 photo that my boo and I took together. He was a good sport and put on the pirate hat with fake braids attached that I suggested forced him to wear. Hehe.

I also liked this Cigna one (quality is bad, sowwy). The quote is so true.

I think I was also excited about this race because it had been a full two months since my last marathon, thanks to my Space Coast fail. My last completed full was the Savannah marathon in early November. I was ready to run long this time. Mentally I was refreshed and my body had been able to recover and take time off from running long. My last longer/faster run was the Jacksonville Bank half that I ran last minute with my sista two weeks prior to Disney and it was a PR, which was a good mental boost for me. I knew I could finish Disney comfortably. I figured I would run it with all my friends and have a blast.

And I did just that...sort of.

Race day morning:

2:15 am was our wake up call since my sis and I were meeting two of my friends Rick and Mike to follow each other to Epcot. We wanted to make sure we parked next to each other and didn't want to deal with the hassle that trying to track someone down at Disney can be. So at 3:15 we met up and moseyed on over to Disney. The drive was not bad and we were parked and walking up to the bag check area by 4:10.

We used the porta-potties (3 times for me), ate, and complained about how freaking early it was. Then we went back to our cars to nap for 30 minutes since we had so much time to kill. After our shuteye, we started the cattle herding walk to the corrals.

Rick, Mike, myself, and Sarah before our nap.

Ed, our group leader, had agreed to meet us in Corral I and start with us. He is a perfect Disney marathoner (has done all 21 marathons!) so this was extremely nice of him. If you are a perfect Disney marathoner, you get the very nice amenity of starting in Corral A. So Ed is a saint for coming back to Corral I. This also meant we could run on autopilot and not focus on pace so much. Ed is so great about keeping our splits consistent and making sure we don't go out too fast.

Team Ed from left to right: Steve, Mike, Rick, me, Ed, and Bill

We met Ed, took some group pictures, and waited for it to be our turn to run across that start line! Carissa, the best race announcer ever, gave Team Ed TWO special shout outs before the start. I have to admit, it was like being a local celeb for five minutes. Everyone around us was like, "Who's Team Ed?" and we got to respond, "It's us!" So that's my rise to stardom. I doubt I will ever surpass that notoriety.

The race:

So the start line loomed closer, Mickey gave us the go ahead, and we were off! It was just as crowded as I remember, which was a little frustrating, but it pans out around mile 5 and got a lot better. Miles 1-5 flew by. I seriously wish my running group could come to every race with me. Chatting with them and laughing as we run makes it so much fun. We passed the 5 mile checkpoint at 52:10 with a 10:26/mile pace. A little slower than I anticipated, but it was early. We had a lot of time to speed up.

On our way to the castle! Photo credit: Rick

Mile 6-7 are some of my favorite miles because you go through Cinderella's castle and Main Street. There are TONS of spectators at this point and I felt so pumped up! We decided to stop for a group photo in front of the castle. Normally, I am against photos during a race but I did not plan on PR'ing and so I figured, why not? Might as well get my money's worth. I am SO glad we stopped - our pictures are amazing!

So pretty!

My favorite picture

Before the castle scenes, I took a Powerbar Performance Energy Blend gel at mile 5 (my new favorite race fuel), even though I was not hungry. I knew I needed to fuel before I felt like I needed to. I also took a salt stick at mile 4. My fuel plan for the race ended up being like this:

Powerbar Performance Energy Blends/Cliff gel: Miles 5, 11, 14, 17, 19.5, 23
Salt sticks: Miles 4, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19.5, 23

My fuel plan worked like a charm. I was never exhausted, hungry, or tired during the run. I had a LOT of energy and felt great after the race. Also, the next day I was not nearly as ravenous as usual. Not sure if I can attribute it to my fueling, but I definitely think fueling properly and so efficiently made a big difference.

Back to the race...

Miles 7-14 were filled with the Richard Petty speedway, Animal Kingdom, Everest, and knowing that there was a long stretch of highway ahead of us. We hit the 10 mile checkoint in 1:43:10 at a 10:19/mile pace. Faster, but not as fast as I thought we would be by that point. I thought we would be in the 9:5x range for overall pace. It was not something I was concerned with though, because I wasn't feeling too well during these miles.  I was honestly getting cranky and was upset I still had a half marathon left to run. I stopped for a picture with Rafiki with Mike and Rick just because I figured I would get done around 4:45 and that is not even close to a PR - so a picture wouldn't hurt my time at all.

Don't I look awkward?

We hit the halfway checkpoint in 2:15:31, with an overall pace of 10:21/mile. Our pace was dropping, and I could feel it. Rick asked me how I was doing, and I told him I was tired. Ha. Well, too freaking bad because we were only halfway done, he told me. I let him know I didn't plan on PR'ing and that we could all have fun together and finish whenever we finished. Might as well enjoy it! That was my plan, anyway......

Then came mile 14. I am not sure what happened. We were going through a water stop, and the group stopped to walk, and I continued to jog. If I walk through a stop, I will walk the rest of the race. I have to keep my legs moving. So, I did. According to my Garmin, mile 13 was 10:49. Mile 14 for me was 10:03. I could feel that I was moving faster. But I felt okay. Actually, I felt great. So I started running faster. Mile 15 was 9:53. Mile 16 was 9:50. At this point, I had lost my group. They were behind me and I thought to myself that I had to take advantage of how good I was feeling. I was experiencing second wind, which is so rare for me. I felt ON TOP OF THE WORLD.

I put my headphones in at Mile 16 and told myself that I had a ten mile training run. I was so pumped. My music playlist was new and the songs were getting me hyped. Mile 17 was 9:20. Mile 18 was 9:23. Mile 19 was 9:46. Mile 20 was 9:43. I was running faster, passing people, and feeling so awesome. Never before have I felt so alive while running, so happy and free. Yes, it sounds cliche, but that's how it went down, people. I was killing it. I passed the 20 mile checkpoint in 3:23:20, with an average pace of 10:10/mile.

I realized at mile 20 that I could PR. Not by much (my current PR was 4:34:37), but maybe by a minute. I made that my goal. I could not stop to walk these last 6 miles. I could not focus on the pain. I just had to run. AND I DID.

Pictures that Rick took around mile 24-25 during the final stretch in Epcot.

The last 10k of my race (or the last 6.60 if you are going by my Garmin) was an average 1:08:30. Average pace of 10:22. Incredibly fast? Not even close. Off my 10k time by quite a but. But the last 10k of a marathon is where I usually bite the dust. As in average mile splits in the 12:00/13:00 minute range. Not a pretty site. But this race was different. Yes, I hurt. Yes, I wanted to be finished. But I kept going. I didn't stop to walk once. I pushed through it all. And when I looked at my Garmin at mile 25 and realized that I could negative split this race, I ran hard. I gave it all I had.

I finished in 4:29:22. First half: 2:15:33. Last half: 2:13:49. I RAN NEGATIVE FREAKING SPLITS.

AND I GOT A 5+ MINUTE PR.

I still can't believe it when I think about it. The PR I knew I could make happen around mile 20. 5 minutes is great, and I ran a sub 4:30 race, which I am proud of. But nowhere near as proud of the fact that I ran a SMART race. I paced myself correctly. I fueled perfectly. I listened to my body. I ran the last half of a marathon faster than the first half. That feeling is so incredible, and I am still on a runner's high.

Finish photo with Team Ed!

I am not an elite athlete. I am not fast by most people's standards. But I am a marathoner and I am so proud of my accomplishments. This was my 11th marathon and by far, my favorite. It has ignited my love for the distance and for the sport of running right when I needed it. It has made me excited for 2014.

Congrats to everyone that finished any one (or all four) of the Disney races last weekend! BE PROUD of what you accomplished!

OUC Orlando Half Marathon Recap: My first pacing experience

This recap is late, but you know what they say...better late than never. 

I signed up to be a pacer for the OUC Orlando Half Marathon that was put on by Track Shack back in the summer. I absolutely love Track Shack - I am part of Marathonfest, a marathon training program that Track Shack hosts, and it is unbelievably awesome. Seriously, I would not get half my runs done without Marathonfest. I'm a co-dependant runner.

Only a few of the large Marathonfest group before the race. Can you spot me?

I ran my first OUC race last year and it was a PR. Loved the course and loved the medal, shirt, etc. It is a really great race, and seems to be turning into a destination race for Floridians. This year is was on December 7, and the weather conditions were sucky, for lack of a better word. It was HOT, and HUMID, and to be honest, if I was trying to race, there was no way I would have PR's (so congrats to everyone that did!)

So, after my Space Coast fail I was a little nervous about pacing the half marathon. (The half was 6 days after Space Coast). I signed up to pace the 2:15 group. The pace per mile is 10:17, which is a good minute slower than my long run pace. I was worried about being inconsistent, but that morning when I woke up, I decided that I was going to try my best to be the best pacer possible, and have a lot of fun. Ended up doing both. Boo ya.

The race started at 7am, and I had to be at the Track Shack tent by 6:20 to get my pacing sign, meet everyone, and be available for questions for anyone that wanted to run with me.

All the pacers before the race.



I was getting really pumped when I saw all the people that planned on running with me! Some of them were running their first half, and some were trying to PR. I told them that we would have fun and explained my strategy (run straight through, no intervals) and that my goal was to get them through the finish line about 30 seconds under 2:15:00.


Before I knew it, it was time to grab my pacing sign, and line up in the crowds. 

One of my favorite running buddies, Rick, found me before the start of the race and told me he would run with me. I was so happy to have someone from my running group there. Rick and I usually stick with each other for long runs and he is awesome.

The national anthem was sung, the horn blasted, and we were off. I knew the first mile would be slow, and it was (10:34), but I warned everyone who was running with me about that. This race had almost 4,000 finishers and the first mile was very packed. We picked it up the next two miles (just under 10:00 each), so that our average pace was just about 10:15. I wanted us to be able to finish strong, but to have some extra seconds in case something happened during the race.

The miles seriously flew by. Rick helped me so much with pacing because my Garmin (though I love it dearly) tells me my overall pace per mile, but only for the mile I am running. It does not tell me overall pace for my entire run. Rick made sure we were sitting around a 10:15 pace the entire time. He was awesome.

Before I knew it, we were passing the 10k, and then we were at the halfway point. I was feeling good because the pace was pretty comfortable and I wasn't pushing myself. I loved carrying my sign and I thought my arms might be tired by the halfway point, but they weren't at all. Everyone was chatting away and really enjoying the crowd support and volunteers. They were SO cheerful and positive! So many residents came to support the runners, which really helped morale. Much of this course is through residential neighborhoods, and seeing families, dogs, children, etc. really made the run enjoyable.

We passed the 15k and had a great pace still. Right after that we came to a tailgate that I had heard about through Facebook and they had.....BEER!

They were giving it out in these lovely cups. 

Rick and I shared a cup and the beer was delicious. It was cold and definitely hit the spot. I love beer on race courses. Usually I skip it if I am trying to run fast and "race," but since this was more of a fun run, I helped myself. The people there were probably wondering who the alcoholic pacer was for the 2:15 group.

Miles 10 and 11 passed pretty quickly after the beer stop, but there were some "hills." More of inclines, but that's all we have in Orlando. We kept our pace consistent and still had a 10:15 pace. 

Rick spotted a race photographer just after mile 12, so we turned on the smiles and posed. 

We are just so photogenic.

I saw the finish line just around the lake, and knew we would finish strong. We were passing a lot of runners, but our pace was consistent. By that time, it was almost 9:15 so it was miserable outside (the understatement of the year) and you could tell a lot of people were hurting. We tried to pump them up and have them run in with us, which was cool. Runners are so nice to each other. 

We crossed the finish line in 2:14:29. 

Looking good.

I was so happy! I had done it. I paced perfectly and got in thirty seconds under. The race announcer even commented that the "2:15 group is awesome, coming in within a minute." Seriously, that made my morning.

What did NOT make my morning was the line for free beer after. We had two Mich Ultra vouchers but the line was like 30 minutes long. I love beer, but I'm also impatient and I knew I had some in my fridge, so we said forget it. Rick and I took some photos, got some chocolate milk, and hung out for a bit before leaving. The race had a good after party with massages, ice, beer, and chocolate milk. My kind of perks.

Rick and I after the race. We make an excellent pacing team.

Some things I loved about the race:

1) I was able to run with one of my former student's mother and she ended up with a 20 minute PR! She had to ditch us around mile 8 for a bathroom break, but she found me after the race and that alone made me so happy. 

2) People cheering, "There's the 2:15 group! Go 2:15 group" everyt ime we passed supporters. I felt like a celebrity and it was AWESOME. It really kept me going and gave me more excitement. I think it helped other runners too.

3) The thanks I received after the race. I have never in my life felt so appreciated! Tons of people told me thank you for pacing. Some told me I helped them make their goals. I had some who PR'd and others who told me thanks because they stuck with me for half the race and then went on to finish faster with negative splits! It was one of the most rewarding experiences. 

4) The free race swag. Well, duh. Track Shack hooked it up. Free Brooks pacer tee, event tee, the awesome medal (see below), and a gift card to Track Shack, plus free race entry. I will definitely pace this race again next year if I have the chance!

 Lookin' fine with my bling.

All in all, a SUPER fun race (the race I have had the most fun in to date) and an excellent event put on by Track Shack. Run this race next year if you are able to - it is worth it!