2009 Walt Disney World Marathon; Part 1 (Ver.3)

Lake Buena Vista, FL (Part one: Pictures to be added later.)

Everyone talks about the lack of sleep you usually get before your first marathon; not I. I had been up early Saturday with Household-6 kicking her out of the hotel room so she could go race the "Donald Duck" WDW Half Marathon. I had a hard time getting back to sleep after she had left. Would she have a good time? Would everything go smooth for her? The time to get the little Spartans up came quickly and I got them ready so that we could get to the road to see their favorite parent run past. After a long day of watching my wife get all her glory (she does deserve it) and taking care of the chillin's when she passed out, it was all I could do not to get some sleep.

After watching the "Wishes" fireworks show, I was out cold by 8:30 …

"It's two-forty! You're late," shouted Household-6!

"Ummph." I looked at the clock. 0238 … (that's AM). I still had 2 more minutes, but the fright of being late to my first marathon started the blood flowing through me like a freight train with a jet engine. I went into my get food and dressed routine that I had planned in my head. Everything was going good, then I looked in the mirror. I didn't like where I was wearing my race number. I can't believe that would throw me off my game, but I had to change it. Systems check: pre-race food down, fully dressed, spare clothes incase it is colder than I thought it would be and out the door I went. At this time I should note, I was wearing bright squint-your-eyes orange with the DisneyRunning.com logos on it. As you can see, the shirt nearly glows in the dark!

The bus to take fellow racers from our resort (Shades of Green) to the EPCOT parking lot was half full and I hopped right on. After a few quiet moments, a couple of other guys got on that just somehow looked like the type that would be able to share some jokes. We went through a few "fast-pass" quips, then one guy said something about the bus for the Wal-Mart sale. That got everybody laughing.

When we got the EPCOT parking lot, I was pretty pumped, so I let out a few battle cry's, which seemed to loosen some people up. The pre-race area was festive enough with the 80's cover band doing a good job and mixing it up with some videos. I started in on some pre-race chow and linked up with some great people I had "met" from DisneyRunning.com at the "Rrrr" tent. (Think "pirate talk" when saying "R"!) I wish that I'd have met more of the "Orange Army" before I had to turn in my goody bag and take a turn at the port-a-john, but I really did run out of time talking with the guys I first ran into.

Bag check was easy enough, I thanked the volunteers and got mine checked-in before 5 AM. Then I was in line to meet pooh and I'm not talking about the stuffed bear. By 5:30 I was on my way doing a quick stroll to my corral with a last minute hit of Powerade. I made it to "corral A" around 5:40ish and staked a small spot not far from the front. I was even with the Clif Bar Pace group guy I wanted to stay just ahead of, as he was located on the other side of the corral. I took my hat off for the national anthem and when I looked over, the Clif Bar guy had moved up. I'll have to catch him around the first loop.

The fireworks went off and then it was time to go! I have only seen video of the fireworks from last years race, but I thought they were better than what I'd seen and they were very inspirational and helped get the adrenaline up! I was pumped and was running really comfortably, even with the huge amount of runners around me. With the huge crowd, it still felt like I had more space than when I had run 5K's. I immediately started running along near the crowd and giving them the hang-loose "Shaka" sign. Guy in bright orange, shaking a hang-loose and yelling out motivational quips: the crowd got louder and I felt great.

Mile one came and went quickly and we started heading towards EPCOT and the big golf ball known as Spaceship Earth. The route I was on would wind us around the western backstage of EPCOT behind The Oceans' and Soarin' until we entered the World Showcase at the UK. Seeing the countries lit up, the characters out and Spaceship Earth across the lake was really awesome. In chalk on the ground in the UK was written "Welcome to the UK". Princess Aurora was out just past France. Near Morocco stood Princess Jasmine, Aladdin and the Genie. Then just past Germany, we cut back into the back stages, out to the roads and then onto the freeway again.

I was right behind the Clif Bar pace group guy and his cronies were 3 deep and four wide at mile 4. I finally got passed them and did what I know million times over I shouldn't do. I got ahead of them and hoped that if they caught me again, I would be able to suck it up and stay with them. Awww, the classic "banking" technique. My mind should have been screaming, "NOOOOooooo!" *Lesson to be learned.

Ahead I went. I kept to some of the good points of my race strategy. Never pass up a water/Powerade stop. Check. Even the first one in which I thought briefly, "I don't need this" I did grab a hit of Powerade. The first one is the shocker because it's the one that reminds you of how much you can drink, and how much is too much. A sip too much and you'll be gagging instead of hydrating. I was lucky and sipped the right amount. What I didn't do is get enough of the cup in me before I tossed it away. This would happen time and time again. *Lesson to be learned.

I was keeping a steady pace for now, and I was doing well on all fronts. Hydration, motivation, body warmth, body function. On the overpass and cloverleaf down to World Drive that takes all the kiddies straight to the Magic Kingdom, I did all my system checks, and the systems were good. As I was on the overpass, I had fun trading quips with the runners who were below me after completing the loop down to the underpass.

Also of note was that I was not wearing a MP3 player. There were so many people and a lot of entertainment that I didn't need it. I'd hit my first gel before the overpass and I passed some quips with a few runners getting up to the main parking lot while on World Drive that time seemed to pass quickly. I removed my light gloves as I started into the parking lots; one stayed in my waist band, the other flew off into the early dawn light.

I was still feeling great and was still trading fire with the crowds through these early miles. I tilted down towards the road cones like a speed skater when they came to a sharp turn. I just felt "switched-on!" The water/Powerade volunteers were great too, and I said so many "thank-you's" and "great job's" that I hope they got at least one a-piece. This race wouldn't be such a great event without them, and they were really doing a good job.

Around mile 8.5 I met "Bill from Boston." We exchanged a few words, then a few more and then we really a got good conversation going. He was a really good guy and the next thing I knew we were going in the side service gate of the Magic Kingdom and minutes away from Main Street, USA. He told me this was his third WDW marathon and asked me about what I'd done. He thanked me for being in the military and I thanked him for supporting the troops. Then he told me about the crowd noise that we were about to hear would pale out everything else we had already experienced. We were at mile 10 and we were cruising. "Wait until you get around this corner," he said.

Next: Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom.