The Accidental Marathon (Part 2 of 3)

Hello readers! Here's Part 2 of the three-part series on my husband accidentally ran a marathon during our recent trip to WDW. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, catch up here.

WHEN I woke up at 4AM the morning of the marathon, this time I did so in the same room the rest of my family was staying in – paying for a second room for another night was too expensive. While Caribbean Beach is a nice resort overall, one shortcoming is that the rooms are rather small – most of the size is taken up by the two twin beds, and with my son sleeping in the pullout there was very little walking room, especially in the dark. One thing the room did have, though, were sliding doors separating the bathroom from the sleeping area; I had set up my pre-race materials there before going to sleep.

I slowly got out of bed and using the light of my phone crept towards the bathroom (loud enough to wake my wife, though, based on her kick to my behind). I shut the sliding doors as quietly as I could, flipped on the lights, and sat down on the chair I had placed next to the sink the night before. I ate a bagel with peanut butter and drank some water and coffee as silently as I could, then got dressed. Grabbing my race-ready bag (banana, water, beet juice) I flipped off the lights and walked out of the room.

This time, I knew exactly where to get the bus, and saw the cast member with the clipboard standing by. I waited for a couple minutes with a few other runners until the bus reached us, then grabbed a seat onboard for the short ride to the Epcot parking lot.

After letting us off, I walked over to the festival area to eat my banana and use the restroom one final time. By the time I exited the port-o-john there was around 10 minutes to go until the first wave went off. I looked around for the corrals but didn’t see any. Then I overheard another runner asking the same question to a cast member.

“The start is about a half mile that way,” she said, pointing to the back of Epcot.

I joined a few runners in speed-walking the distance – while I was in Wave F I was in no real danger of missing my start, but I did want to move the morning along. After 15 minutes we reached the corrals – by that time only the first few waves had gone off. We trudged along as the waves started, watching the fireworks launch, hearing the Disney music send them off, and then waiting to inch closer to the starting line. Once Wave D went off I found a little space to do some warmups – it was almost time for a twenty-six mile run. Wave E went off…then Wave E2 a few minutes later…then Wave E3.

Finally, we lined up for Wave F. The fireworks went off. I started walking towards the starting line; I never start running until crossing the starting line, which turned out to be a good thing because they were divvying up this wave as well. Wave F2 went off – I started walking quickly without knowing if this would be my start or not – we stopped just short of the finish line. This time, though, I was only a few rows of people from the starting line, so I knew this would be my start.

After a few minutes of waiting, we received the thirty second warning. I jumped in place to stay loose. Mickey Mouse gave us the “Runners ready…set…” and the fireworks went off.

I walked quickly to the starting line, and once over it picked up my feet. The run had begun.

Pro tip #8: If possible, try to stay in a one-bedroom room, or anything that has partitions, on race-day to avoid waking up other members of your party

Pro tip #9: While there’s hardly ever a reason to get to the corrals as early as runDisney suggests (they had recommended being there by 3AM for a 5:30AM start), make sure to save extra time in case you need to walk an extra distance to the starting line (which is usually hard to tell from their maps)

IT was still pitch black out when the fireworks went off. We switched through a few side roads until hitting World Drive to the Magic Kingdom.

One big difference between the marathon and other Disney races I’ve done before is pace. Disney races are the best races to do when you’re trying out a distance for the first time – if you try your first 10K at Disney but bonk with two miles to go, you could wait to get your picture taken with Goofy while you rest up. The problem is when you return to Disney races after you know you can do the distance – they are full of first-timers slowing or stopping with no warning, changing direction without looking, walking with a group across the entire road. I’ve had that experience up through both of my past half marathons. But at the marathon, everyone was working – even when the roads were narrow, everyone kept moving – nobody wanted to be caught and pulled off the course by the balloon ladies.

With the pace moving, I had to force myself to stick to a slow jog – my legs had no grasp of what a twenty six mile race would feel like, but I knew I had to save something for the end. This was much harder to do on World Drive, where the lanes open up and the first monorails of the morning drove by. After a turn through the TTC, with the sun just starting its ascent, we entered the Magic Kingdom.

We entered through the main entrance, with cast members and supporters flocking Main Street USA to greet us. After turning right into Tomorrowland we ran past the Speedway and Cosmic Ray’s and entered Fantasyland. We ran past new Fantasyland over to Gaston’s (where I took a quick bathroom break), then around the Carousel and straight through Cinderella’s Castle. After running through the castle you could keep running to the right or stop and get your picture taken in front of the castle – feeling good, I stopped and jumped in the air for the photographer (although I have yet to see that picture – probably lucky for me).

After leaving the castle we ran up through Frontierland and backstage through the passageway next to Splash Mountain. Once there we ran past a few parade floats and then out to Floridian Way.

Over the course of the route there were many opportunities to stop and take a photo. On the way to the Magic Kingdom they had the Guardians of the Galaxy, inside the park they had the mime from Tangled, in the backstage area they had a collection of villains, and outside the Grand Floridian they had the penguins from Mary Poppins. While these were great to see, I didn’t have any reason to stop for them. But whoever put the race together must have circled Bear Island Road as the “40+ section”, because they included two opportunities I couldn’t pass up. The first was a collection including a submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the See, a cart from Snow White’s Scary Adventures, a cart from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and an orbiter from an older version of the Astro Orbiter. The second stop was to take a picture with the Adventurer’s Club (Happy New Year!), who’s inclusion always makes me laugh. Not only did these two stops speak to me, but since none of the younger runners knew what they were there were no lines either.

With the sun moving higher in the sky, we continued down Bear Island Road past…the garbage dump. But right after the dump was the back entrance to Africa in the Animal Kingdom. We ran out past the African Safari entrance, then turned left towards Asia. We passed the bird show (where you could get a picture with Kevin from Up) and Expedition Everest, which was open to runners (although it was a 10 minute wait, and I’m too scared of that ride anyway!).

We exited the park outside of Dino Land USA, swept through the parking lot, and went back out on the road. The sun was high, and the air was heating up, but my legs kept moving. I took a quick picture at the mile 14 marker – longer than I’d ever run before – and kept on going. The next few miles melted away at a slow and steady pace. I was amazed to see the mile 15 marker (15 miles!!!), and even more so the marker for mile sixteen.

Then, right after that marker, my right calf started to twinge.

Pro tip #10: Use the bathroom as close to race time as possible, and try to have some idea of when the race will take you through the parks – the bathrooms are all open, and are much cleaner and nicer than using a port-o-john

Pro tip #11: Hydrate

THROUGHOUT the race runDisney had set up aid stations – I would guess none were farther than two miles apart. At the start of the race, with the run still young and the sun yet to rise, I took Powerade at every stop. This continued until right before the Magic Kingdom, when my stomach started to ache and I switched to water. I kept having a cup of water right up until mile sixteen.

We all have limitations as runners, and mine is a propensity for charley horses at the slightest sign of dehydration. I actually live in some fear of this – while calf cramps usually occur at night, I once had one in my living room after a race and watched my calf muscles curl up upon themselves until they were the size of half a tennis ball. Since then I’ve taken pains to avoid charley horses, including hydrating and wearing compression socks for long runs.

For the compression socks, I’ve got to give them credit – they held my calves together for sixteen miles. But the hydration problem was on me.

In order to fight through this cramp I had to make a few changes. The first change was in regards to my form: when I run, it’s more of a “hopping” motion, relying on ankles and calves. With my calf failing, I had to rely more on pumping my knees up and down to run. That led to change #2: I ran a whole lot less. I started taking extended walking breaks each time I felt the cramp flare up; feeling refreshed, I would then start running again, rely on my knees, at some point switch back to my normal gait, and start cramping up again.

The third change was to drink a lot more at each aid station: I switched to two waters and one Powerade per station. At this point it was clear I was dehydrated – not only was I cramping up, but when I touched my face I could tell that I was barely sweating anymore.

This was dangerous not only because of the rigors of the race, but also because of a nuance I hadn’t considered. Like most runDisney races, this race began in the total darkness of the early morning. If it had been a 5K or 10K it would have been over by dawn. If it had been a half marathon it would have ended with a morning sun. But by mile 17 it was approaching 80 degrees with the sun high and no clouds in sight. I had not thought to bring sunscreen (again: total darkness) and wrongly figured they would have some at the aid or medical stations. After finding none, I had to struggle on in the rising heat with nothing to protect my skin.

Shortly after mile 17 we entered the next park. I had hoped for Hollywood Studios – I would definitely feel a boost from running past Star Wars and Slinky Dog – but this was a different park. This was the ESPN complex, which we had no connection to besides it being the expo location. A DJ was playing peppy songs near the entrance, and told both us entering the park as well as the runners on the other side of the road leaving the park that those entering were just past mile 17, while those leaving were almost at mile twenty one.

We would be running roughly a 5K in an area with no significance and, more importantly, little shade, under a blazing sun in order to put twenty miles behind us. It was here that I brushed up against The Wall.

Pro tip #12: Again, hydrate. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty because by then it will be too late. Take a few cups of water at each aid station to make sure you don’t dry out

Pro tip #13: If you have a spare pocket somewhere on your race kit, if you’re entering a race that will include significant amounts of daytime, buy a travel-sized tube of sunscreen and apply after the dawn – don’t count on the race to provide anything

WITHIN the confines of the ESPN complex are several fields for many different types of sports. All the way towards the back of the complex is their track and field stadium. The runDisney folks either thought we would be excited to run on this track or just needed to burn some miles, so we ran past the expo center, past the arena, past the football and soccer fields, all the way to the back of the complex so we could run three quarters of the way around the track. After that we looped around some paths until we came to the Brave’s spring training stadium, where we ran along the warning track and then out of the stadium. I’ve run on the warning tracks of Yankee Stadium and Fulton County Stadium before – it’s a pre-requisite to jump at the highest point in the outfield to see if you could snag a likely homer in case you’re ever called into duty. I made my leap in this stadium, rose two inches off the ground, felt my calf tighten up again, and walked the rest of the way.

By this time I had two additional problems. The first was my back. I hunch forward normally, but all this time running had absolutely drained my upper back muscles. It felt like the top half of my body was on a broken hinge, and it took a concerted effort to lift my head up just to see what was in front of me. The second problem was that my experiment with knee-driven running was over, as my knees were exhausted. Unfortunately, this didn’t just impact my running, but also my walking. I was reduced to shuffling with measured steps with my hips and abs throwing my dead legs in front of my body. My only semblance of running was when I pumped my arms when I did that, and I could only keep that up for a few seconds at a time.

I had always heard of marathoners hitting The Wall, the point you must overcome in a marathon where it overwhelmingly feels like you can’t go on. The Wall is not only a physical challenge but also a mental block – the feeling like there’s no way you could overcome this, no way you could possibly go the distance.

In the physical sense, I hit the wall at mile 16 when my calf failed – the rest of my body collapsed within the next couple miles, and I was reduced to slow shuffling. So slow, in fact, that after exiting the ESPN complex and trudging up a highway on-ramp, I was passed by a woman with a crutch. I had passed this woman only a few miles into the race and wondered how long she could keep that up and how much that would slow her down. Now, eighteen miles later, she was moving in front of me. I told myself that once the incline ended I would try to run for a bit and move in front of her again. The ramp leveled off, I pumped my arms into a run for a few feet, then shuffled back to a walk. I never caught up to the woman with the crutch again.

While I was physically at my limits, and I was definitely in pain and worried about dehydration, I cannot really say I had hit The Wall for one reason: I still knew I would finish this race. I had stuck to the plan I had made for myself the day before, and while I was clearly in a worst-case scenario, I could feel how close I was to doing this. For people who do hit The Wall, I think it can be easy to be overwhelmed on the total distance of the race, and even swallowed up by how many miles you have already run. To me, though, I kept thinking about how many miles were left, and how I had handled those distances before. At my first sign of calf pain, I realized that I only had about 10 miles to go – I had just run a 10 mile race in October, so I knew I could do that. Hobbling after exiting the ESPN complex, we had just under 6 miles to go – 10Ks are my favorite race distance, so I knew I could do that. I just had to keep moving forward.

As we moved up the road to Hollywood Studios, I walked alongside another fellow shuffler. “I think it’s only 5 miles from this point,” she said.

“Yes,” I said, trying to balance a bag of ice from a recent medical station on my head, “won’t be too bad. They’ll take us through Hollywood Studios, we’ll see some Star Wars stuff and some Toy Story stuff, then we’ll run out through the front, down along the water past the Boardwalk, into the World Showcase, then leave Epcot for the finish line.”

“Thanks,” she said, “you made it sound a lot easier.”

It was anything but easy, but it would also not be a surprise. We did enter Hollywood Studios near the Tower of Terror, then hit the main entrance and left the park. I’m sure they had a few characters out there, but it took so much effort to raise my back that I wasn’t able to see any. The one thing I did notice that was very unexpected were the cast members on the main road who were handing out…tissues. There had been cast members earlier in the race handing out food (bananas, jelly beans, and candy), but I didn’t know tissues were called for. Then I realized my nose was running – I guess I wasn’t alone. I took a tissue.

We were only in Hollywood Studios for a short time, then out to the walkway to the Boardwalk and Epcot. Along the path there was a unique photo opportunity – a bench with a few of the dogs from “101 Dalmations”. There was no line, so I thought about stopping for a picture. Then I realized if I sat down I may never get back up. I kept hobbling.

We ran over the Boardwalk and then backstage to Epcot. Upon entering the World Showcase, there would be only around a mile left to go.