The Accidental Marathon (Part 1 of 3)
Friends and fans, I know you've been waiting for this and here it is - hubby has finally (!!) blogged about his experience of running the Disney World Marathon earlier this month. It's a lot of great information and PRO TIPS, so I'm breaking it up into three parts. Here's part 1.
IT was very, very early and very, very dark. I had woken up in my own room at Caribbean Beach Resort (adjacent to my family’s, but with interior door closed so I wouldn’t disturb them), eaten, dressed in my running clothes, then walked out to the bus stop. By the time I arrived there, if was just before 5AM.
My first hint that I wouldn’t make that morning’s half marathon was when I arrived and was the only one there. It didn’t matter that there were no other runners there – what worried me was that there was no Disney representative there to keep track of passengers. They had a representative at the bus stops for all the other races I’ve done with runDisney – I didn’t know why they wouldn’t have one for this one.
I felt a little better a few minutes later when a few more runners showed up – they also confirmed that they had used this bus stop to go to the runner’s expo the previous day, so there was no reason to doubt that this was the correct bus stop.
The half marathon was scheduled to start at 5:30 that morning. With Caribbean Beach being a resort in the Epcot orbit, I could hear the pre-race festival, the national anthem, the call to the corrals. Then I heard the fireworks – the first wave of runners had started.
I can’t say I was worried at this point – my wave wouldn’t be starting for at least another half an hour – but I can say that I was concerned. Concerned enough to call the front desk of the resort, let them know where we were and that a bus hadn’t arrived. The cast member on the other end let me know that she informed runDisney.
More time passed, more people (now spectators) arrived. Each of them had taken buses from this stop to other races and the expo, and each was puzzled why one wasn’t coming now.
I called the front desk again. This time, the cast member informed me that (1) the buses to the half marathon didn’t stop at here, and (2) the buses wouldn’t be running again until 630AM. She told me I could take a regular Disney bus to the Transportation and Ticket Center, then take the monorail to Epcot. I hung up just in time to hear the last corral go off.
Stunned, I walked back to my room. I made a cup of coffee and listened to the other side of the interior door. I heard movement and voices, so I walked out of my room, unlocked my family’s door, and muttered “Surprise.”
Pro tip #1: When visiting for a race try to stay at the more “contained” hotels (i.e., Contemporary, Boardwalk) instead of the spread-out resorts
Pro tip #2: Spend some time reading ALL the fine print about the weekend, and if you have ANY questions make sure to ask them at the runDisney booth when you arrive at the Expo
AFTER spending an impromptu (but fun) morning at the Magic Kingdom, I drove over to the Expo – my third trip there in three days (the first to pick up my race number, the second to buy, ironically, my half marathon finisher shirt). After discussing with a friend who is a cast member, my wife told me I should go to the race information booth and push them for a credit or deferral.
I reached the booth in the Visa Center. I let them know my situation and that I was looking for a credit or deferral. They told me they couldn’t help me and that I had to go to the runDisney booth in the expo building.
I walked out of the Visa Center, walked into the expo, and found the runDisney booth. I explained my situation again.
“You’ll have to go to the race information booth in the Visa Center,” they said.
I told her that they had told me the opposite. She had me fill out an incident report and asked me to wait for her supervisor, who was just returning from lunch.
I filled out the report and waited a few minutes. Andrea, the supervisor, introduced herself and told me she had been briefed on my situation. I asked her for a credit or deferment.
“We can’t do either of those things, unfortunately,” she told me. “We had to stop doing them a few years ago.”
“Then how can we make this right?” I asked, with a surprising amount of conviction considering I was somewhere between partly and totally to blame for my situation since I had never read the fine print.
“All we can do is offer you a bib for tomorrow’s marathon,” she said. “Do you want to take it?”
What a stupid make-good! I thought. I came here prepared to run a half marathon, and can still count on one hand the amount of times I’ve run over ten miles – the last time was in July, and I was barely able to do twelve. How could I possibly be expected to run twice as far as I’ve ever run before on one day’s notice?
“Sure,” I said.
Pro tip #3: If you have any questions on any aspect of the race, make sure to visit the runDisney booth (and if you have questions about the buses, the transportation booth is right next to it)
Pro tip #4: What are you capable of? What can you actually do? There are so many things out there that we see people do that make us say “I can’t do that”. But if you take things apart Lego by Lego and remember how they snap together, can you do some version of it yourself – even if the bricks are the wrong color and one arm is a little longer than the other? Don’t wait for someone to ask you – start thinking about it RIGHT NOW.
YOU can tell from the above that running a marathon was rather unexpected. Considering I hadn’t trained for it, it would be grueling, and I would do terrible at it.
But just because you would be terrible at something doesn’t mean you can’t do it. That’s where you have to separate the physical and mental aspects of any challenge. Physically, this is not something I was prepared for. But that’s not the same as saying I couldn’t do it. Mentally, even knowing I would do terrible in this race, and that it would likely suck the life out of me, would it still be worth doing? To run through the happiest place on Earth? To run with thousands of other runners, including many who would likely be running at my pace? And at the end of the day, be able to say that I completed a marathon?
Additionally, it’s important to be clear about what I was doing. People will say “I’m going to run a race”. Oftentimes, they’re not outright lying, but definitely using shorthand.
Let’s take the word “race”. In most events, there are really very few people who are actually “racing” – usually the ones near the front who have the chance to win – their goal is to reach the finish line first. Most of the other participants have other goals. Some want to break a certain time limit (“I want to finish this 10K in less than an hour!”). Others just want to take a light jog with a group of friends. And some have the simple goal of just completing the distance.
Obviously, for me, just completing the marathon would be my goal – there’s no way I could put a time on it. Since my goal was just to complete the distance, that threw a modifier on that other word: “run”. If the distance was comfortable, I could run. If I had put in the training, I could run. But for an immediate race at twice the distance I had ever gone, when my goal was just to complete the distance? There’s no way I could possibly hope to “run” the race – running, jogging, walking, crawling – anything that would move me forward was acceptable. Instead, in order to complete the distance, my strategy was as follows:
Slow jogging to start
Walk at each water station and always take something
Walk up any steep uphills
Slow down to a walk at the slightest hint of an overuse injury
If all steps are followed and I still incredibly have something left by the time we re-entered Epcot, turn on the jets
With my game plan down, all I needed was a chicken-and-fries basket at Hollywood Studios and a cupcake from the hotel and I was ready for my first marathon.
Pro tip #5: Before undertaking any serious training or event, make sure you’re checked out by a doctor. Seriously – I know this is a disclaimer you see just for lifting a 5-pound box, but if you’re going to be undertaking a grueling physical endeavor, you need to be sure you don’t have any underlying problems with your heart, lungs, etc. Don’t be that guy.
Pro tip #6: Make a reasonable goal/objective (“I just need to complete the distance”), strategy (“I just need to move forward”), and tactics (“So what I’m going to do is….”). Make sure they are actionable and achievable, and make sure the juice is worth the squeeze – if the event no longer sounds fun, make a new goal.
Pro tip #7: Make sure to carbo-load. The science is iffy, but there’s still enough of it that you can eat a gigantic slice of cake and tell your partner “I’m fueling up for the race.” Don’t let this opportunity go to waste!
