WDW Marathon Weekend 2014 - Epilogue

Several from the Team remained to watch us finish:

Afterwards, Phil and Evelyn DeLuccia offered to drop some of the runners off at their resort, and Steve and I took them up on the offer.  Steve hopped in the shower first, and I jumped on Facebook to start getting caught up.  I was overwhelmed with the likes, well-wishes, and congrats from everyone on there…I was rendered speechless.

After getting cleaned up, we headed out for the bus for Epcot and had to wait about 25-30 minutes.  A bunch of friends were meeting up at La Cava del Tequila, but I initially passed as I wanted to stay on my feet.

I know…the horror!!

The bus stopped at several other places in Caribbean Beach, and I struck up a conversation with another marathon finisher from Alabama.  It was funny because I remembered her saying she was planning on eating around a side of beef at Le Cellier.  While that in itself might not be funny, I checked Twitter while in a queue line at Epcot not long after arriving there and saw someone who I followed that looked a LOT like the girl I was talking to on the bus tweeting about eating a huge hunk of steak.

Yeah, I was talking to @BamagirlRUNS aka Kristin Long on the bus without even knowing who she was!  We exchanged tweets over the incident and laughed it off.

After a couple of attractions (Gordon Harvey reminded me to move around and not sit too much…but Living With the Land was SUCH a niiiiiiice, calm, peaceful boat ride…), I still had about an hour or so to spare before my ADR at Biergarten.  I decided to head over to La Cava and toast our collective races for a few minutes.  Sure enough, they were all still there, and a seat was still open!  I was only able to stay for about 25-30 minutes, but the servers were overwhelmed with runners “rehydrating”, and the check took quite a while to get here.  I won’t name names, but one of the members there ended up picking up the tab for everyone’s queso/flights/shots and refused to take any money.  More on that later…

I knew that Brian Swann and a friend had an ADR at Biergarten about 30 minutes after my ADR, and we agreed to meet up.  I left the Mexico pavilion about 5 minutes after my ADR time and slowly strolled over to Germany.  About 15 minutes later, Brian and his friend show up, and we asked the CM manning the front to see if I could just be seated with them.  YEP!

Brian and I (and his friend, who hailed from Indiana) were seated with a larger family from somewhere in Europe (can’t remember…sorry!), and we immediately started taking care of our runger (runner’s hunger).  I was able to talk to Brian briefly the previous April when a large group of friends met up at Via Napoli for a mini “Moose Meet” (Go back to the first installment of this saga to read about that), but he wasn’t able to stay then.  It was great catching up with him.

After that was the Main Team AllEars Dessert Party and meet-up.  Back in 2012, I initially wasn’t going to do this, but one of the Team members wasn’t feeling good and let me use their wristband (again…they wouldn’t take any money).  I absolutely loved this, and there was no way I was going to miss this one.  There were lots of smiles and laughs, and, yes, even a few tears shed as most of the group was together for one last time (while there was a breakfast the following morning, many had to catch earlier flights and couldn’t make it).  The line of the night had to go to Laura Smith Ozo, who, while talking to me and Ed Russell, mentioned something about “K-Y tape” instead of K-T tape. 
 

After having a beer at Biergarten (when in Rome…or Munich, as the case was), I didn’t want to push the gout potential, so I steered away from my beloved Mickey Rice Krispy treats.  I stuck to coffee and a couple of cookies, while cursing my big right toe for all it has done to me.

All-too-soon, Illuminations was about to begin, and I decided to stream the show for those at home to see it.  I’ll readily admit that I initially was not a fan of Illuminations, but, as I watched it more and tried to understand the story line, it has become one of my favorites.  This one was probably the best…during the show, I took some time to look around and watch the rest of the Team.  As I was moving the phone around to take it all in for the live stream, I paused to get Deb…to get the Troosts…to get some of the Nerd Herd…to those helped get me through some of the tough parts of the training.  Near the end, I paused when I noticed the captains, Mike and Michelle, along with Beci, together near the back of the area, smiling as they watched the fireworks.  It was a perfect visual to wrap up the night.

After Illuminations ended, many of us stayed around as long as the cast members would tolerate, and we slowly made our way out of the park.

I don’t remember much after getting back to the room…I packed a little bit and crashed on my bed, snoring within a few minutes.

The next morning had us up surprisingly early…I think we were awake before the wake-up call.  We finished packing and headed to the Custom house for our airline check-in.  That took a little longer than anticipated, so Steve and I hopped on a cab to the Poly for the good-bye breakfast.  We bustled around the entrance to Kona Café while we awaited it to open.  I was fortunate to sit next to one of the Team members that I simply hadn’t had a chance to get to know too well…Dan Fulk.  

As was with the dessert party, there was a lot of laughing and hugging at this meal, as an occasional Teammate departed for a park or a plane.  Since I had the tonga toast only 2 days ago, I opted for my second favorite…the pineapple-macadamia nut pancakes.  The person who paid for La Cava the previous day and I split a pressed pot of the 100% Kona coffee, and I told him/her that it was going on my tab to offset some of the tequila.

As luck would have it, the server didn’t separate my check from the person across from me, and he/she offered to just pay for it.  I could tell by the faint glimmer in his/her eyes, however, that I don’t think it was a mistake.  You know who you are…I know I thanked you there, but I wanted to do it again on here.  I sincerely hope our paths cross again sometime!

Soon it was time for all of us to go as we had monopolized about 40% of the restaurant’s seats for quite a while.  I got one last pic with Ellie:

Steve was heading to Animal Kingdom with some of the Nerds, while I decided to head back to Epcot.  We all got in line to give Deb and Linda our best wishes and hugs, too.  There were also long lines to talk to Michelle and Mike one final time.

…and then…

…Team AllEars was done.




I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the runners of Team AllEars over the years.  I want to name them individually, but I know I'd miss several.  From my first time on the Team in 2011 to our final Team in 2014, please accept my heartfelt "thank you" for helping raise money to defeat cancer; for giving me many, many laughs as well as a few tears; for helping each other out on the bad days and for cheering each other on the good days; and for so much more.  I consider all of you friends, and I hope we get to see each other again!

The group of runners…we were the visible portion of the team.  Dave Aulen made a great compilation of this year’s races, which you can see here:

There is a hidden part of the Team, however, aside from the family members who have also sacrificed (Love you forever, Sheri!!).  I may have run the race, but the real heroes are the ones who gave their money in the hopes that we can make progress on cancer.  Here is the final roll call of my sponsors:

DONATIONS FOR TAE 2014

Anonymous......................................................$250
Sheri, Aaron, & Eric Mushrush..........................125
Jim and Karen Guglielmo................................100
Vicki Killus.........................................................100
Dan and Jen Metsch.........................................100
Chris Mushrush (Match contest).........................100
Avanti's Dine to Donate Program.........................80
Patrick and Julie Miller........................................70
Jim and Jean Beierlein......................................50
Brad and Emily Griffin..........................................50
Susan..................................................................50
Thia Wagner........................................................50
Joe's Station House Fundraiser...........................50 
Denise Frederick.................................................30
Tom and Rebecca Bingley...................................25
Double-C Boutique..............................................25
Barb and Bob Gilhaus.........................................25
Kristen.................................................................25
Michael Mayers....................................................25
Meatheads Restaurant Fundraiser.......................25 
Robert and Cynthia Miller....................................25 
The Mouser Family..............................................25 
Dan and Jayne Mushrush.....................................25
Sandra Perkins...................................................25
Heather Sullivan................................................25
Louise Wallace...................................................25
James and Carol Kunce......................................20
Andrew Miller.......................................................20
Kurt and Tricia Williams.....................................20 
Sara Rhodes......................................................10










TOTAL: $1,575

.

WDW Marathon Weekend 2014 - MARATHON DAY, Part 2

(Part 1 can be viewed here)

We crossed the start line, and I remembered to start my Garmin.  I looked down, and I must have been a bit excited as my heart rate was around 120 with my first step off.  MJ was the official timer for our Galloway group, and we all tried to keep together and to raise one of our arms to signal to the people around/behind us that we were slowing from a run to a walk.  It was a bit impossible to NOT have an occasional last-second lateral dart to avoid us, though.  Though I was worried about having my heart rate increase quickly because of the run/walk interval, I noticed that it leveled off fairly quickly, and the first mile came in at 14:49 with a 138 average HR.

The first mile was a special one because there were a number of Team AllEars folks manning the first water station.  As we approached the first table, I went into my Search and Rescue military voice and started shouting, “JAMISON!!!!!!!!!  OH JAMISON!!!!!!!!” in the hopes of embarrassing someone who is pretty much unembarrassable.  I think he heard me because he just shook his head as I went by (he had a smirk on his face, though, so I think he was amused).  We all shouted out to the Team AllEars volunteers as we flew by them.

As we settled into the pace, we started talking about everything under the stars (literally…it was still dark out).  We’d occasionally have someone outside of the group run up and chime in about something.  Whenever that happened, Ellie would shout, “STRANGER DANGER!!!” and, after having him/her tell us his/her name, put them on a 1-mile “probation” where, if they were still in our good graces, we’d let them run with us.  It led to a number of laughs and additional probations.

I had the intention of trying to get a picture at every mile marker, but, after seeing the pick of the first mile, I decided against it; it was so blurry that one could barely read the number!  We kept on going and were having a blast out there as we came up on the Mile 2 marker.  Because we started mile 2 in the middle of a walk interval, our time was a bit slower, but still fine (15:02 with a 145 HR).  Before we knew it, we started hearing the “Caution Runners…Speed Bumps Ahead…Please Watch Your Step!” announcement as we approached the MK toll booth.  After the 87^th time hearing it, that announcement sort of becomes your mantra, and I found myself chanting it unconsciously.  As is my tradition, I made sure to tap the toll booth as we went through it. Soon after this point, Steve dropped back for a moment as he was dealing with a minor issue, but he took care of it quickly and was caught back up.

The part from the MK Toll Booth to the TTC is somewhat of a boring one, so I took a bit of time to check some of the runner split updates I had received.  The first one I received was Bloomington/Normal native Karin Watts, who I met at our local Fleet Feet Sports.  Karin was doing the Dopey, and she looked REALLY strong, coming in with a 12:15 split at 5 miles.  The first Team AllEars splits came from Rich Gairing and, at the same time, Co-Captain Michelle Scribner-MacLean (there was a large group of the team running together).  Breast Cancer survivor and runner-adopted-by-everyone-down-there Kimberly Torres Markey’s message came a few minutes later.  Fellow Moose Brian Swann was doing well with a sub-14 time, and Podcaster and friend Will Jensen was right at a 13:00 pace at 5 miles. 

This part of the course was cruel in that we could see and hear all the runners on the Speedway, knowing that we were a good 5.5 miles away from being at that point.  Mile 3 was at a 15:11 pace with a 147 avg HR.  The talk among the group really started getting interesting (remember…what is said on the marathon course STAYS on the marathon course)…let’s just say that we had dozens of people around us cracking up.  Somehow the discussion turned to podcasts, and I mentioned that I always wanted to do an intro for Mike and Michelle’s show, but with a twist.  I wanted to do a Mickey Miles: After Dark intro.  I got into my Barry White voice and…well, let’s just say the terms “the Stick”, “Chafing”, “Body Glide”, “Nipple Guards”, “Marathon”, and “Six Hours” were all used in the intro.

Soon we made the turn away from the Speedway and into the MK parking lot.  We were approaching where I was cheering at the previous day, so I knew the character picture location (Jack Skellington) as well as where the cheering section would start picking up.  I didn’t even realize that our gaggle of runners was on the “wrong” side as we made our way to the TTC (the very thing I was complaining about when cheering yesterday…I missed a few Teammates because they were over there…and now we were too!).  The thing that made me realize it was that I heard my name being shouted to our left.  I peered over and saw Jay Griffith and Rikki Niblett screaming for us right where I was located exactly 24 hours earlier.  I had a big smile and acknowledged it and hollered a big, “THANKS!!!!” as well as a “Hi Rikki!!”, though we had never met in-person before.  Around the same time, Teammate Amy Frank flew by us with her daughter, Dani, who was completing her first marathon, too.

Mile 4 was close to the monorail station.  14:50 and 149 for the data…getting faster with no real increase in the heart rate.  The cheering section was PACKED at this part of the course, and the course narrowed quite a bit (we knew because we heard another announcement about 236 times).  One of our running crew expressed concern about back teeth floating, so we started strategizing for the first bathroom break.  I recalled Nerd Christine (ermahgerd) Griffin mentioning almost never-busy bathrooms by the Tea Cups, so we all agreed to try to make it there as it was just 50-100 feet off the course.

We were coming up to a part of the course that I was honestly a little nervous about…the water bridge by the Contemporary.  During my first half marathon back in 2011, I ran down this underpass way too quickly, which resulted in sore quads the rest of the race.  I wanted to make sure that this didn’t happen this time, so we all agreed to take it slow.  Luckily the vast majority of runners around us were thinking the same thing.  It was either that or they wanted to watch the DJ with the largest set of Mickey Hands ever seen waving to us on the water bridge.

One runner I was paying particularly close attention to was a fellow blogger named Amanda Tinney, who was dealing with IT band issues in the weeks before the race, and she was doing the Dopey Challenge.  I knew that she was also starting in Corral M, and I let her know that, if I saw her near the end struggling with the knee, I’d try to help running a bit with her.  Amanda’s 5 mile split came in about 4 minutes before we were to hit the 5-mile split mat, so it looked like she was doing okay!  I also had some Nerd Herd friends that started a corral or two behind us, and they were catching up to us quickly.  Our group’s 5 mile split was 1:15:50, giving us a pace of 15:10.  The Nerd Herd was about 2-3 minutes behind us.

The next part of the course is a favorite for most…about to enter the Magic Kingdom!  Steve asked if I could help out with a picture once we got to the WDW Radio cheering area.  He has a tradition of getting a picture with Beci Mahnken, who owns the well-known MEI- and Mousefan-Travel sites (Steve is a vacation planner under MEI).  We told the rest of our growing group to go ahead and that we’ll try to catch up around the Hub, where a large contingency of Team AllCheers folks would be.  We entered MK by Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, and head straight to the WDW Radio group:

(Photo courtesy of Steve Cantafio)

I was trying not to laugh as I was taking it because Valerie Drew was doing everything she could to NOT be in the pic (behind Steve).  

Once the pic was done, I extended my hand to Lou Mongello to say a quick “HI!”.  Katie McNamara, who was standing right behind Lou, looked right at me and screamed “HUG HIM!!!!!!”  Immediately, 2-3 other WDW Radio Cheerers joined in with the "HUG HIM! HUG HIM!" chant, and I finally remembered the fundraiser that MEI was doing.  Lou had a look of fear at the prospect of yet another sweaty hug from a hairy guy, but he offered it up.  Katie caught the precious moment:

(Photo courtesy of...well, you JUST read it in the previous sentence, didn't you??!!!)

With my man card now in the shredder, Steve and I make the classic mistake of catching up on Main Street.  This is a point to absolutely cherish the course…you’re running up one of the most famous roads, with the iconic Cinderella Castle in front of you…take the time to listen to the background music as you leisurely strol…OUT OF THE WAY…WE’RE ON A MISSION!!!  My heart rate skyrocketed to 170 as we flew to the Hub. We made the turn towards Tomorrowland and found our cheering squad.  Evelyn, MJ, and Ellie had just arrived there, and we said a quick “YO!” to everyone as we passed.  In hindsight, I should have asked one of them to get a pic of the 5 Teammates.  Yes, there is a video of this, but I'm holding off on posting it until the very end (you'll understand when you see it).  The goodbyes were said all-too-soon, and we crossed the bridge into Tomorrowland.  I honestly wish I were fast enough to be able to run this stretch in the dark so I could see the amazing lighting effects.  Oh well…maybe I’ll head over there on a night when the park is open and the crowds are really low…I’ll just run then.

We made our way past Cosmic Ray’s and let those that weren’t on the Team but were following along with us that we were stopping for a couple minutes to hit the bathroom, and Darrell said he’d be glad to wait for us.  As we peel off, I started to hear the tell-tale, “MUUSHHH!!! MUSH! MUSHMUSHMUSHMUSH!!!”  That told me that the Nerd Herd had caught us.  We all hollered back “ERMAGERD!!” as Julie Olson, EhrmaGerd Griffin, Dan “I ran a marathon” Rajnik, and Jeff “HellerYeah” Heller also exited off the course for the super-secret bathrooms.  It quickly became an impromptu meet-up, and there’s no way I’m going to divulge the conversations that went on during this!  While we were waiting for everyone to finish up, we grabbed a pic:

(I can’t believe I didn’t do the “Ears Up!” here…I know…Bad Mush…BAAAAD Mush)

With everyone properly relieved, we found Darrell, who graciously waited for us for several minutes, and we all started back up.  Dan was just ahead of Darrell, who was able to read the back of Dan's shirt, which he also wore in the 2012 marathon.  It has one of the best quotes ever on it!

  As we made the left turn in Fantasyland near Pooh, we nearly had a multi-runner pile-up when the girls all noticed Dr. Dribble waiting in line for a character pic….here’s why:

  (Photo courtesy of Laura Gilbreath)

Heading through the castle was a tight squeeze, so we walked most of that short section.  I saw a Marathonfoto dude at the exit, and I decided to remedy my faux pas earlier by not giving "ears up"...

 (MJ was framed perfectly in-between runners for the shot, too!)


As you can see in the picture above, we got spread out a little bit as we exited and made the turn to the forecourt area. 

This video actually captured everyone we were running with.  Evelyn crossed the strip at :18, with Ellie right behind her.  I can’t tell who the WDW Radio team runner is, unfortunately.  Julie, Christine, and Dan cross it at :22, and I’m crossing at :25.  MJ crosses at :27, and Steve and Darrell (who we are now considering to be part of the group) are about to cross at the end (Darrell is about 5 feet behind Steve).  Oh, before anyone gets up in arms, yes, I made a digital purchase from Marathonfoto, so I have the rights to the pictures/videos that I'm posting from them.

We all made the turn towards Liberty Square, and I looked for Tiana, but she was off-stage when we passed.  When we got to the bathrooms in Frontierland, everyone started yelling at Linda Eckworth, who was hopping back on the course.  Linda was supposed to run the 10K on Friday but was unable to make it to Orlando.  Someone on the team had a marathon bib that was going to be unused, so he/she offered it to Linda so she could take part in a race.  She started out with everyone else and was going to drop out once she made it to the 10K distance.  As a side note, someone even gave Linda their 10K medal since she did complete 10K during Marathon Weekend.

Have I ever mentioned that I love the people on Team AllEars?

Linda had this huge smile on her face as we all shouted her name.  She was running with Laura Gilbreath, who was right by her side.  Noting that everyone was screaming for Linda, I looked at Laura, and, in a quiet, subdued voice, I simply said, “oh, hi Laura.”  I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face as Laura gave me a sarcastic, “Gee, thanks, Chris…I really appreciate that”.  Laura said that Linda was doing great and should have a strong finish.

All too soon, we crossed the train tracks and were off-stage.  The marathon was about 25% complete.

(Part 3 can be viewed HERE)