WDW Marathon Weekend 2014 - MARATHON DAY, Part 5

Part IV can be read HERE.

We turned left back onto Osceloa and awaited our meetup with Laura.  Laura never disappoints!  She had signs posted a good 100 yards before her post with her thingimajig.  We got there with tons of smiles waiting for us!  She was handing out oranges, which tasted absolutely amazing.  She let us know that Tom Troost had just left here and was only about 3 or 4 minutes ahead of us.  We told her that the Nerd Herd would probably be coming up in the next 10 minutes, too.

We gave hugs and said our goodbyes, but then I heard a “MUSH!!!” behind me.  Laura raced to catch up with me for a selfie! 

After the pic came Mile 21 (16:14 and 162)…the oranges helped, plus, I had a new goal…to get us to catch Troost to try to finish with him!  First, though, we had to do battle with the Ramp-from-Hell onto World Drive.  It has a significant uphill portion in order to clear the main entrance to DHS before dropping down to World Drive.  Sarge, from the Green Army Men, was placed there, and I contemplated dropping for 10 push-ups; however, I feared not being able (or having any desire) to get back up to finish the race.  I gave my best salute as I went by, though.

After much cussing and gnashing of teeth, we made onto World Drive, where RunDisney had another music selection near the Mile 22 marker (17:04 and 162).  This one was the online poll, where we could vote for which song would be played.  The options were Let it Go, Don’t Stop Believin’, and Firework.  My vote was for Let it Go, but the votes were so close that RunDisney decided to play all 3.  I got to hear two of the songs…

Guess which one I didn’t get to hear.

Ellie was nearing “back teeth are floating” stage, so we stopped near the medical tent on the off-ramp from World Drive to Buena Vista.  There were a couple of porta-potties there, and Ellie hopped in line.  The line was only 3-deep, but we think that people fell asleep in there, because the line crawled. The wait helped me, though, because I was able to drop my heart rate to below 150 for the first time since Mile 15.

As we passed the medical tent near the on-ramp to Buena Vista Drive, I started taking inventory of where we were and what we had to do yet.  We had Hollywood Studios, and we had Epcot.  We knew there would be crowds in both, and we knew that we’d have 2 cheering squads near Yacht & Beach as well as by the Mexico Pavilion (the Nerds and their margaritas…).  We had a chocolate stop by Tower of Terror soon.  I was nearly out of Gatorade and was going to hold off on PowerAde as long as possible (to avoid any chance of a gout flare-up post-race).  I was definitely tired, but, thus far, my body was holding up.

While waiting for Ellie, I paused to check Facebook for more of Sheri’s inspirational message.  I noticed that Ellie had posted something on my wall.

It simply said: 18 I heart Chris Mushrush

…

That one got me.

Little did she know that the tables were about to turn.

Darrell was still with us, and, after Ellie made her way back to us, we all started motoring up the onramp towards DHS.  Right as we made the right turn to enter Studios backstage, my left calf gave me a little indication that it didn’t really appreciate all that I was asking it to do…it gave me sort of a “mini-cramp”.  It was about 15 seconds into our 30 second run, and we all shut it down and skipped a run interval.  A couple of minutes later, I tested out the leg on another run interval, and it seemed to hold.  Ellie asked if she should drop out at the Studios, and told her that we could almost moon-walk it the rest of the way…besides, once we made it past the Studios parking lot, we were pretty much home free as they likely wouldn’t sweep us past that point.

We entered backstage and started praying for a breeze to help propel us to the next stop…I also said a silent prayer that they had not yet run out of chocolate!  After 2 more mini-cramps in my leg, we made it to the water stop, where I finally broke down and grabbed some PowerAde to replenish my empty water bottle (I also topped off my water in my belt).  I nearly kissed the kids handing out the mini chocolate bars.  I got 3 of them and immediately wolfed down the first with water.  The second one soon followed…then I was full.

Seriously?  Free candy bars, and I can’t even eat them??!!!  I asked around if anyone wanted my last one, but nobody around me bit (rim shot), so I grudgingly threw away the last one before it started melting. 

Mile 23 came and went (19:40…bathroom break added the time…average hr was a little lower at 158), and I realized that we only had about 5K to go.  About 5 minutes after eating her chocolate, Ellie…well…how do I put this…let’s just say that I think her blood sugar levels were a little low just before taking in the chocolate.  She got this HUGE surge of energy and looked like the Ellie from Mile 3!!  

At the exact same time, my right calf decided that it was also being neglected and started micro-cramping too.  We took a left and entered the air-conditioned, enclosed, perfect, costuming area from the Backlot Tour.  Ellie was on a mission now, and she was starting to pull away…I told her to keep going…I’d catch up after I walked the span of the air conditioning.  Darrell positioned himself between Ellie and me to keep tabs on both of us.

I was starting to get a little mad at my legs…yeah, even I think it sounds stupid.  I was starting to slow down the other 2, and told them to go ahead and finish…I’ll be able to complete it.

The tables had turned that quickly.

Both Ellie and Darrell said they’d pick me up and haul me over the finish line if they needed to.   I buckled down and started focusing on giving them both the RUN and WALK intervals.  Ellie was about 25 yards ahead of me as we worked our way through Studios.  As we were about to take a left off of the Streets of America onto Commissary Lane, I started about 5 seconds before the run to try to close the difference a little.  When the “official” time to start running came, I hollered out a “RUN!”, not realizing that the Streets of America facades made for a really good echo chamber.

Everyone around me jumped and wondered what was up with me.

I think I had 4 or 5 spectators in the park start running.

Ellie could definitely hear it – she turned back to see if I had donned a drill sergeant’s uniform from the costuming area earlier.

After hearing how loud that one was, I started laughing and apologized to those around me whose heart rates jumped about 20 beats per minute.  

Ellie was getting stronger by the minute and was running GREAT as we made it to Hollywood Boulevard.

That blue blur at the beginning of the video was Ellie streaking by.

Darrell mentioned that his wife was near the entrance to Studios.  I asked him what her name was and told him I’d make sure she knew we all knew her.  Ellie slowed down to wait for us as we approached the entrance.  We passed through, and, as we weaved to the Boardwalk Pathway, Kerri (Darrell’s wife) appeared.  We let out this huge barrage of KERRRRRIIIIII!!!!!!  WE LOOOOVVVE YYOOU!!!!!!!!!  Embarrassed but happy to see her husband, they talked for a quick minute, and she gave Darrell a shirt to hold up at the finish line (the “I DID IT” one).

I started ahead of the others a bit because I knew I’d be slowing them down in no time at all.  Ellie ran next to me again for a while, and, as we passed the last point where the busses could be at to sweep us, I told Ellie that there’s no sweeping us now.

That got all three of us a small surge of energy.  The only real problem that my surge was smaller than the other’s.  The course REALLY narrowed at this point, and we more or less had to go single-file as we worked our way towards the Boardwalk Resort.  Despite the time, there were still a LOT of people out cheering on the walkway, which really helped.  Many items of food, as well as a couple of beers, were offered our way.  We made to the Mile 24 marker (16:38 and 161).  Our next source of inspiration was just across the bridge by the Swolphin…Deb was going to be there with a bunch of people cheering.  Ellie saw them and kicked into 4^th gear.  I told Darrell that Deb was going to be at this one and that we’d probably stop for a second.

As Darrell and I made it to the top of the Swolphin bridge, I spotted Team AllCheers, who were all starting to do the MUUUSSSHHHH MUSHMUSHMUSHMUSH! Chant.  I took the downhill part of the bridge quickly and immediately cramped up again, so I glided into Team AllCheers rather gingerly.

  I gave Deb a quick but huge hug.  Team Member Kim Scharoff held up a Gatorade and asked if I wanted it.  I just stared at her for a second in bewilderment…how the heck did she know??!!  I talked about carrying Gatorade to her in passing because of the gout issues, and she went out and bought one for me to have for the finish.  I nearly kissed her for that…thanks, Kim!!!!

Before we left, I inquired about how far ahead Tom was, and they mentioned that he was about 5 minutes ahead but that Molly and the girls were camped out by the International Gateway (and then quietly…and they had a beer for us).  Depending on how much he chatted, we might be able to catch him.  We said our goodbyes and threw the run/walk interval out the window.  We decided to stay together and run as long as the three of us could until we had to walk…usually 15-20 seconds.  We saw another small Team AllCheers contingency between Deb’s crew and the Troost clan.

Then we saw Molly and (I think) Maggie up ahead. We had just finished a run portion and walked in (well, Ellie soared in…still on the chocolate high). 

Molly’s smile was just awesome, and, before I could even say “HI!”, she pointed to the cooler with our selection.  I initially declined (with the AllEars logo on my shirt, I didn’t really want to be seen with a beer can in my hand), but Molly said they had Red Solo cups for us to take.  As expected, I started singing the song.  I looked at Ellie, who didn’t want a full one, so we popped open a Mich Ultra and poured it into 2 cups.  I handed one to Ellie, and we toasted the Troost family for their awesomeness.

Photo Courtesy of the Troost Clan!

That was seriously the best-tasting beer I have ever had in my entire life.  I immediately regretted having only half of one.  Tom was only about 2-3 minutes ahead of us and feeling good…it was going to be close on whether we would be able to catch him or not.

We parted ways and approached the hill for the International Gateway.  The beer was gone within about 45 seconds of leaving them, and I was feeling good…no…GREAT!  I needed the carbs, and the beer seemingly supplied it instantly.  We entered that backstage area of Epcot and approached the final water stop – the volunteers made a big deal about it being the final stop…both for the fact that we were almost finished and for the fact that this was the last opportunity to get water/Powerade.  I passed on the water and wanted to get to the U.K. gate as soon as possible…I remember when I cheered at this spot 2 years ago and saw how big the smiles were as the runners entered the final park of the marathon.

The carbs in the beer apparently were used up, and I hit the wall in the span of about 25 seconds…about 25 seconds after we passed the last water stop.

Grrrrr.

We made a right-hand turn, and we caught our first glimpse of on-stage Epcot.  The torches were burning, and the music was blaring!  YES…we’re here!!!!!   Right as we entered the U.K. Pavilion, we saw a photographer clicking away.  Ellie and I had the same idea at the same time and got this pic:

(best pic of the marathon!!!)

After the pic, I turned to Ellie and said, (paraphrasing to keep this G-rated), “Ellie, we’re in Epcot!”

She repeated the exact (paraphrased) words back to me.

It was right at this time that I realized we were going to finish it.  I had to fight a couple of allergies that suddenly came up as I heard the supporters cheering and the inspirational music in the background.  Darrell took a moment to read a note that his niece wrote to him, and he was fighting back tears.  He showed it to us, and more allergies just about got to me.  I looked around for the WDW Radio Cheering Team (Lou, Deanna, Beci, and many of the Team often set up a cheering section in the U.K., too), but I wasn’t looking at the right place and missed them.  The U.K. was behind us, and mile 25 appeared on (what I never realized until just then was) a hill on the way to France. Mile 25 had us at 17:01 and 165 on the average heart rate.   Not a bad pace, considering we stopped a couple of times for Team AllCheers. 

The hill to France (again, I don’t ever remember it being there until now…I think they put it in for the race) nearly did me in, and I got sluggish heading up the bridge.  As we started the trek, down, I heard a voice calling out for Ellie and me – Team AllEars runner Rhonda Speer was out cheering for us on the France side of the bridge.  She was at the perfect place, and I really needed that.  I don’t think she realized it, but her presence gave me an absolutely huge boost…thanks, Rhonda! 

I realized that the energy was completely gone, despite another loading of energy beans and Gatorade.  I again told Ellie and Darrell to finish…I wouldn’t be too far behind.  Darrell again threatened to toss me over his shoulder across the finish line in order for us to complete it together.  I laughed and then entered a stage where I started reflecting.  I took in the music, but I also took a few minutes to think about the journey to get to this point.  My mind started going to the reason I joined the Team, and I got to thinking about those who we’re raising money for.  I looked at those around me doing the same thing and wondered about their stories.  That got me from Morocco to Japan.

Again out of energy, I trudged past the American Pavilion to the support of many people taking time from their vacation to cheer us on.  I thanked them and tried a couple more 10-15 second run intervals.  Ellie was checking up on me every few minutes, and Darrell maintained a distance between the three of us.  I really focused on the music being played for what most WDW marathoners call the “victory lap” around World Showcase Lagoon.  I looked over to Spaceship Earth and then just looked ahead.

“YOU’RE DOING GREAT CHRIS…ALMOST THERE…KEEP IT UP!!!!”

What the…

I snapped out of my trance and looked over to my right.  Jay Griffith had been waiting in the Italy Pavilion for me to make it past.  I gave him a big smile and a, “Thanks, Jay!” as I gave a thumbs-up sign.

There it was…the next surge.

That carried me to the Outpost.

Now it became a Country-to-Country battle.  Every time I tried to start a run interval, my calf would cramp up within 5-10 seconds, and I was starting to get into my head and beating myself up.  I hobbled past China and looked for a cast member from Norway to try to lift my spirits.   I started doing the “You are not de virst to pass this vay…nor vill you be the last” phrase as my mantra as I passed Akershus and Maelstrom.  Darrell slowed up to make sure I was still alive

As I transitioned over to the last country, I knew some of the Nerd Herd would be there, and, after having been standing there for a few hours with margaritas nearby, I knew it was going to be interesting.  Sure enough, when one of them saw me, the “MUUUUUUUSSSSHHHHHH!!!” chant began again.

Photo Courtesy of Erinn Casazza

Have I ever mentioned that I Love the Nerd Herd?

That got me to near the bridge and on my way to Future World.  Right about here was when my Garmin told me that I had done 26.2 miles…we definitely did some weaving around.  Mile 26 split was slower (talked to Rhonda, Jay, Nerd Herd, plus walked a ton…18:07 pace and 160 heart rate).  As I walked, I took a moment to look up at Spaceship Earth and take in the setting…yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

Julia Mascardo had just exited the Electric Umbrella as I passed.  She acted quickly and grabbed her camera:

 Thanks, Julia!!!

Ellie was still going strong about 10-15 yards ahead of us.  The crowds of those cheering was getting thicker, which again provided another boost.  We took the right turn just before Spaceship earth for the final quarter mile.

We passed the Mile 26 marker, and we were off-stage a minute later.  I could feel the smile that had been forming on my face becoming more permanently affixed as I knew what was coming up around one of the upcoming turns, and I could start to hear them.

Post by Darrell Burgoon.

I have always been a fan of live Gospel music, but WOW!!!!!  I applauded them at the end of the song and then turned to Darrell and Ellie, as we now only had a right-hand turn and then the final chute to the finish.

The crowds thinned just a bit at the turn, but then we all saw it…the Finish Line!!!  

We all agreed to have Ellie in the middle as we crossed the finish line.  We all went to a walk so we could cross the line at a run.  We crossed the ID strip, and I finally got to hear my name over the P.A. system as Carissa read the name that popped up on her screen. 

Kewl!!

About 100 yards before the finish, we saw Rudy Novotny jumping off the Announcer’s stage.  He immediately saw the Team AllEars logo at the same time we saw him, and Ellie and I hollered to him just as he hollered to us.

Yeah, I’m about to finish my first marathon, but meeting Rudy is also on my bucket list!

We stopped for a brief moment and talked to him…he was curious if we heard this year’s total for TAE, and we let him know that we broke $100,000, with over $330K for the total over our 5 years.

Rudy gave us a hug for that.

He let us go, and the three of us turned back to the finish line…around 75 yards out. 

The three of us looked at each other…

…clasped hands…

…and…

 (it’s my first marathon finish…deal with it!)

(I love how you can see Rudy in the background of that last picture - as well as in the video - cheering on the runners for those last few yards)

DONE!!!!!!!!!

26.2 miles. (26.73 miles, according to the Garmin)
7:10:20 

WDW Marathon Weekend 2014 - Half Marathon Day, Part 2

Part 1 can be found HERE

I hoped that a friend of mine from the Lodgeboards days (PixiePat…now known as Patricia) would be working at Kona, so I could catch up with how she was doing, but she was off at that time.  I knew that I was a bit later than my usual dining time at Kona (I’m militaristic…7:35 ADR…done eating by 8:15…quick bathroom break…on the monorail by 8:25, and at through the MK turnstiles for the opening show by 8:35-8:40), so I put in my request of (what else) Tonga Toast as soon as the server showed up.  I was absolutely parched from cheering, so I had around 4 glasses of water down before the food even showed up.  I was afraid that they were going to pull a Whispering Canyon on me and drop off a gallon-pitcher with a straw.  The breakfast was there in a flash, and I was stuffed in no time flat.  Bill paid (with a tip that hopefully made the server smile for being so awesome…I was a server at one point in my life, so I tend to empty the wallet a bit more), bathroom run done, dash to the monorail, and BAM…I was back on my MK schedule.  Actually, I was there earlier than expected.  I checked in on FourSquare at 8:32.

I had some time to chill before the MK Welcome Show, so I hopped on Facebook (and promptly got a growl from my wife for checking in on FourSquare and posting it).  I went to Twitter and noticed that I had a couple of messages.  Apparently, Jay Griffith and co-host of the Be Our Guest podcast Rikki Niblett were about 200 yards away cheering at the half.  I kicked myself for not seeing this message until it was too late, but they assured me that they would look out for me during the full.

We all sang the Good Morning song, and I promptly made my way up Main Street.  I knew that my friend, Judy, was off today, so I didn’t dart into the Emporium to look for her.  Instead, I bypassed all the Photopass Dudes/Dudettes and went straight through the castle to try getting a pic with Rapunzel.

Okay…I had better stop here for a minute, though I doubt anyone will believe what I am going to say.  I have two nieces that are Disney-Princess obsessed (yes…more than me).  One of them is a bit shy around me, so I decided that I was going to try getting some of the Princesses’ autographs for them in the hopes that they might actually stay in the same room as me at the next family get-together.

Honest…that’s why I was doing this.

HONEST!!!!

I made it to the rope and found that there was nobody here.  I assumed that most had probably made a beeline for Tomorrowland to hit Space Mountain, but I thought there would at least be a few from the Crystal Palace or Cinderella’s Royal Table ahead of me.  Nope…I was 1 deep at the rope, and that was with no pushing/shoving at all.  The cue music played, and I expected to get trampled by screaming Pre-K girls and their parents as they rushed to see the Princesses.

Nope. 

2 people entered the line to see Cinderella, but nobody went to see the haircut-averse princess.

Oooookay…this is a little weird.  I’m a grown man…by myself…first in line to see Rapunzel…

I expected her to have pepper spray in one hand as I walked up.  To make matters worse, there still was nobody behind me as I entered the room.

We talked a bit about the race and my nieces (which, I am guessing, she considered classic overcompensation).

Of course, Snow White was also in there…and still nobody else!

After I left the room, I put the camera away and just laughed at what had just happened. 

I made my way toward Tomorrowland and gazed at the construction of the Seven Dwarves Mine Train as I passed by.  My personalized touring plan told me to head over to Buzz next, but I chanced it and went straight to Space Mountain in anticipation of a decent wait.  The only “problem” was that I felt like the only person in the entire park.  The wait for Space Mountain was just about AFAYCW (for those who have not read any of my previous trip reports, “AFAYCW” stands for “As Fast As You Can Walk”…basically, there is no wait).  There were maybe 15 people ahead of me, and I skipped ahead of most of them thanks to them needing a single rider.  I did a stupid sleeping pose for the on-ride pic and actually missed hearing Sheri scream her lungs out during the ride.

I went to Buzz next and, since there are no witnesses to confirm or deny it, I scored 999,999 points! (I don’t think I broke 50K…one of my worst scores ever).   I made my way back towards Fantasyland and noticed that there still were no crowds at all in the park…I walked by Alice near the Tea Cups, and there may have been 2-3 families in line to meet her.  I was about 12 minutes ahead of schedule, according to Lines, so I decided to see how long the line was for Cinderella in case I wanted to grab a couple more autographs for my nieces.

I walked in…just me…nobody else…more pepper spray was on the ready as I walked in.

Cindy and Aurora were in the room.

I had a lot of explaining to do when Sheri saw the pics uploaded from my camera.  The first 14 pics from this day were of the Princesses and me.

The next stop was Philharmagic…this has always been one of my favorite ones, mostly because I love watching people experiencing it for the first time.  This one was a little odd because of the lack of people.  I counted around 22 people in the entire theater.  When I posted my requisite “Opera Glasses” pic, several friends mentioned that I needed to prepare because the throngs were on their way to the parks after running/cheering for the half.  I used my first FP+ for Peter Pan and then hopped over to sing along with Mary Blair’s dolls.  I made sure to time my waits for Fred Hazelton and the rest of the TouringPlans.com stats whizzes.  I was still a good 15 minutes ahead of schedule, so I toured the Tangled bathrooms and slowly walked around Liberty Square, because my FP+ time for Haunted Mansion was still a good 15 minutes away.  I looked to see when Sleepy Hollow opened up, because I had heard of nothing but amazing things with their Fluffernutter waffles with fruit.  They weren’t open yet, so I decided to try getting a pack of cards from the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game for my boys. While doing this, I noticed that Tiana was out and that nobody (none…zero…nada) was in line to see her; she was just carrying on a conversation with the Photopass dude.  Another Princess autograph to get (and even more consecutive pics of Princess pics on the camera).  Since there was nobody else in line, I stuck around and talked with Tiana for a bit (she was out there early for the half and was going to be there bright and early for the full, too).  We said our goodbyes, and I got a text from Steve that said he was on his way to MK.  I hopped into the Haunted Mansion AFAYCW and positioned myself right in front of the wall that opened up to the Doom Buggies.  I’ll freely admit that I was singing most of the attraction…I gave Thurl Ravenscroft a run for his money in the graveyard scene.

After Phineas blew my head up and popped it like a balloon, I headed out and made a beeline for Sleepy Hollow for my waffle sammich.  I made the mistake of grabbing the chicken one instead of the Fluffernutter one (I was worried that it would have gout-inducing high-fructose corn syrup).  The chicken one was okay, but I’m not a fan of slaw.  I called home to make sure the boys remembered to wish their Mother a Happy Birthday (they forgot) and to have them give her a present.  After that, I cut across over to Adventureland and hopped in line for the Tiki Birds.  Steve texted and mentioned that he was at the gate, so I hopped out of the pre-show and waited for him.  About ten minutes later, he strolled up, and we got in line for the Tiki Birds. We talked about how the half marathon went and messed around/tested changing FP+ times on the mobile My Disney Experience app – we were able to sync up FP+ times for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad later on.

The birds eventually kicked us out of their lair (again), and we hopped on Pirates.  I think we set a record for most people taking flash photography in one boat.  We contemplated throwing one or two of the cameras overboard during the small drop, but we restrained ourselves.  After Pirates, we looked into possibly trying the Pirate’s Adventure attraction but decided against it and went straight to Big Thunder.  I knew about the Goat Trick on the Disneyland version, but I didn’t know if it worked on the east coast.  I told Steve about it, and, at the top of the second hill, there wasn’t exactly a goat, but I did find something to focus on as we entered the drop.  I think it worked, but I hope to test it at my next trip to Disneyland this summer.

I wanted to get off my feet for a while to rest for the race.  Steve had just arrived and wanted to tour a bit more, so I headed back and prepped for the Team Meet at the Swolphin.

(Continued)

WDW Marathon Weekend 2014 - PreTrip (Part I, Chapter 1, Subsection A)

Okay…I’ve had about 6 weeks to reflect on Walt Disney World’s Marathon Weekend, and it’s still something that I haven’t let go yet.  I feel compelled to do a series of blog posts so that A) I can revisit what it was like; and B) hopefully others can read this and understand that they can do it too.  I initially planned on doing a single blog post; however, I think that, knowing how wordy I can get, it might rival a Tolstoy novel.  The initial goal is to do a pre-trip report and then go from there, whether it be a post for each day or several posts (I can see the latter happening very easily).  This entry starts the process with the events leading up to the Weekend.

After the 2012 WDW half, I knew that I needed to take a break from running. I injured myself both before the race (fairly significant pain on the outer part of the left knee…all together now… “it sounds like the IT band”) as well as during the race.  I only made it about 4 miles or so into the race before it flared up and sent me walking the remaining 9+ miles.  I don’t know if it was just ITBS or something else; all I knew was that the knee was feeling some fairly moderate pain for 2-3 weeks following the race.

I took 5 months off from any form of running in 2012 and started back up with short runs with my sons for a July 4^th 5K.  After the race, I shut it back down and started working on losing weight for the rest of the year.  Marathon Weekend 2013 came, and tons of friends headed down for an extremely HOT race weekend.  I got to relive the feelings that so many of them were experiencing, but it also got me longing for those feelings and emotions again.  I knew in the back of my mind that 2014 might be the year for my first attempt at a full marathon.  I also missed the camaraderie from my Team AllEars buds.  Alas, however…my body was telling me that I had been treating it pretty crappy by treating me to my first ever gout attack in mid-January.  That sidelined me for a couple of weeks.  This pause from running allowed me time to focus on my doctoral dissertation, and I successfully defended it at the end of January.

I had signed up for the Illinois Half and started training for it in February, so I started ramping up the miles again.  One of my most memorable runs ever happened during a conference in Del Mar, CA.  Being in Southern California but used to Central Standard Time, I was wide awake by 4 am every morning of the conference.  I decided to do something that everyone said was amazing…I did a run on the sand next to the waves.  I listened to the waves crashing and felt…alive.  I was the only one out there for nearly an hour…the moon glistened off the water and provided plenty of light out there.  As the sun rose and Del Mar awoke, I enjoyed running by dogs and their owners enjoying the morning.  I didn’t want to end that run, though I knew the conference was going to begin soon.

This beach run was one of the first times I felt comfortable running.  Though I had run dozens of times before this particular run, I never really felt comfortable…I didn’t feel like I belonged out there.  This run set the tone for an amazing day.  The conference went exceptionally well; I witnessed one of the most amazing sunsets I had ever seen:

I had an awesome AWESOME dinner with fellow Economics-teaching cohorts from across the country, and, while I missed what sounded like an epic night at the hotel bar, I made tons of progress on final revisions of the dissertation.

Wait a minute…isn’t this blog post supposed to be about getting ready for the 2014 WDW marathon???  Well…that run did something for me.  It proved to me that this could be friggin’ fun!   Still, amid the training, I had IT band issues starting up again.  Unlike the last time, however, I stopped running and, thanks to the advice of many friends, started working on strengthening my core muscle area.  I even purchased my first foam roller and cussed more than I have in a long time as I started using it.

Around the same time, Team AllEars 2014 was preparing to form.  There was a shocking announcement, however – this was to be the last year of the Team.  I immediately knew I had to be on the team this year, and, since I more or less got the blessing from Sheri to do a race (when she heard it was the last year for TAE, she knew I was going to ask), that thought in the back of my mind about doing a marathon was thrust to the front of my mind.

Yeah, I’ve talked about the bucket list marathon, but actually signing up for it?  Training for it?  Surviving it?  Finishing it?  Those are all questions that I’m guessing most everyone has bouncing around their heads before they submit payment for their very first marathon.  My first attempt at seeing how I was doing running-wise was going to be that Illinois half-marathon, but I was worried about the Team filling up before I saw how the half went.  I bit the bullet and, when the early registration for AP and/or Visa holders opened up, I filled out the entire form…

…and stared at it…

….for about 5 minutes…

…just stared…

Was I really going to do this?  Once I pressed SUBMIT, I couldn’t go back.

“click”

“gulp”

To quote a rather famous haunted Disney theme park attraction, “There’s no turning back now!”

Okay…the next three weeks were an absolute blur.  I started working on things for the Team, setting up fundraising goals (I was going big…shooting for 3 times the minimum $500 amount required for the team), doing final dissertation formatting, and watching some friends’ updates from the 2013 Boston Marathon.  I remember that I was talking in my ECO 103 lecture hall about my friends running Boston and where they were just as class was starting…I went to the computer console and looked for an update when I saw the breaking news about the first bomb going off.  I didn’t have the computer screen directed to the projector, but I was constantly flipping between CNN on the console and Facebook on my phone as I was (attempting) teaching on the two overheads.  There were a few students who I could tell were also checking throughout the class.

The entire running community, heck, the entire nation paused to watch the events unfold.  Luckily, everyone who I was following was a safe distance away from the finish line and were okay.  Suffice it to say, it was the talk of most of my circles for quite a while.  This was around 2 weeks before the Illinois Marathon weekend, and a bunch of us running were wondering how this was going to change the experience.

The Mushfam made a trek to Disney World during the weekend that followed the Boston Marathon bombing, and it was definitely a bittersweet trip.  I usually try not to watch the news while I’m on a Disney trip, but I felt compelled to with all that was going on.  The Friday that we were at Magic Kingdom was the day of extraordinary sequence of events all around Boston that culminated with the eventual capture of the last remaining suspect.  With many friends in the area, I felt terrible posting updates about being in the Magic Kingdom.

Later on in the afternoon, though, as we were just about to start our first experience with Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom for the boys, I received an e-mail from the Graduate School with a simple message:

The Graduate School received your final copies and they have been approved for processing. Congratulations on completing your dissertation, and best of luck in your future endeavors.

I showed the message to Sheri and let out this tremendous WHOOP!  With all that was going on in Boston, I didn’t know if I should post something on Facebook with the news, but Sheri insisted that I do it.  178 likes and nearly 90 comments later, I think she had me do the right thing by posting it.  We met up with a bunch of friends from the group that is affectionately called the “Moose”, and it was great to see everyone…many whom I have not seen for several years.

(Mini Moose-Meet...MNSusan & Hubbie, Badelves & Renee, Edcrbnsoul, Linda, & boys, DaisyDebbie & Dan, Squid & Ragtop, Monarchsfan16, Mush & Mrs. Dumbo (& boys), along with a cameo from AUPH...Brian and Wendy (argh..couldn't remember your ID over there!)).

The celebration was on, but I still had to remember that I had a half marathon in just about a week.  The following week was a blur, though the Econ Department had fun celebrating it (and poking a little fun at me, too). I headed down to Urbana for the Expo and met up with friend and fellow Team AllEars teammate Stan Harris for a bit.  We agreed to meet up prior to the race as we were both wearing our new tech shirts from The Marathon Show.  We also met up with fellow Team AllEarsians Sara and Dana, who were also running that day.

The weather was perfect and the course was flat…oh, and there was a lot of support and entertainment all over the place.  As I made the last turn to enter Memorial Stadium, I finally got to hear my name called over the loudspeaker (I never heard it at the WDW half marys).  When I crossed the finish line, I knew that I had PR’ed the run, but I wasn’t sure how much.  I looked down at my Garmin:

2:54:50

Was that right?  If so, that was a PR by ov-ER TWENTY MINUTES!!!!!!!!

I guess you could say I had a pretty good week or so there.

Summer quickly turned to fall, and the training for the marathon had begun.  I was doing a 26-week plan that was in Jeff Galloway’s books.  I took a week off of running in late July to do a much-needed adults-only trip with Sheri to Napa Valley.  It had been nearly 3 years since we had more than a night to ourselves without the boys, so I mean it when I said “much-needed”. 

As luck would have it, the training plan called for 13 miles the exact same weekend as another half marathon that I signed up for: the We Care Twin Cities half.  This was a smaller one and was local.  I treated this as nothing more than a training run.  The only problem was that I didn’t treat it as a training run…I came out of the chute too quickly and ran out of steam quickly.  I did slow down to help someone who seemed to be struggling (it was her first half, and she was out of water and food, so I stayed with her, got her doing intervals, and shared food/water for a couple of miles).  I was just barely under the 3:00 mark, but it was okay…in my mind, it was still a training run.  I had a bunch of friends running this one, and I had a blast high-fiving them on the out-and-back course.  I also had one of the traveling Team AllEars Muppets with me…Kermit!  One of the volunteers, Pam Harris, made sure to give Kermie a shout-out!

From here on out, though, every long run would be a new “longest run ever” run for me.  I hit 15 miles a couple of weeks later, and I started changing my intervals to follow my heart rate instead of how tired I was, and it started paying off benefits as my fatigue got pushed back quite a bit without a significant drop in pace.

My 17 miler scared me a bit as I felt my IT band twinging a little bit in the latter part of the run.  Three weeks later, I broke 20 miles for the first time with a very conservative pace…and not ITBS issues!!!  I did, however, hit the wall for the first time…around mile 18.5, I lost all energy and didn’t want to run another step.  I received several words of advice from the veteran runners out there regarding the wall…Gordon Harvey, a friend and podcaster who helped plant the seed for me to try distance running, may have said it best in a post: “nicely done, Chris. The wall is there and you have met it. Rest of training is recognizing before you get to it, pushing beyond it. WTG!”   Another three weeks came and went, and another long run was planned…I’ll let my Daily Mile entry tell the story:

Planned 23, got 22.2 in (had to get the boys from school). :30/1:00 ratio for the first 15 miles, then :30/1:30. Didn't like that, so switched again to :15/:45 to the end. 5:40:43 time, giving me a 15:22 overall pace. I think 22 at this pace gets me past the last sweeper spot (coming into DHS), & I'll have 1.3 hours to finish those last 4 miles to finish in under 7 hours. Barring injury, I think I'll be able to finish my first marathon (HOLY CRAP!!!). Cloudy, windy, mid-20s, and snowing (miles 14-20). Fueling: toast w/ PB 1 hr before. Honey waffle 20 minutes before. 3 Gatorade primer gel packs at 4, 8, and 15. GU at 16 & 20. Sport beans throughout (around 3.5 packs). 200 calories of PowerAde throughout (ran out of water/sport drink around mile 12...dry for 2 miles ARGH). Didn't really feel a wall, so yay me.

You can see that I’m really working the energy and the paces here in an effort to avoid hitting the wall.  It seemed to work, except for my idiocy of running out of fluids for a couple of miles.

The weather was starting to warm up in Lake Buena Vista, and, after reading the updates during the 2013 marathon with the heat, I decided that I would be best served to do a little training in warmer and more humid conditions, so I grabbed a one-month complimentary membership to the award-winning ISU Student Recreation Center to work on their inside track (8 laps to a mile).  I started off with a 6-miler (including my last magic mile that Galloway has us do in training…basically, it involves you tiring yourself out a little bit and then running a mile hard – there’s a formula that is used to estimate race pace).

The following day, I started experiencing a familiar pain in my right toe…right at the joint…on the outside.  Anyone who has had that pain is likely cringing and saying in unison: “GOUT!”  Unlike my first attack, where I had no idea what it was, I immediately went to the Doctor’s office and got on a fairly powerful NSAID.  At the same time, I switched to an almost-exclusive water drinking regimen, cut out all red meat, and quit snacking on high-fructose corn syrup-laden foods/drinks.  I had one more long run that I really wanted to get in…a 25-26 miler that I wanted to use as a dress-rehearsal.  The problem was that I was supposed to be on the medication for 2-3 weeks.  Couple that with the notion that runners are generally advised to stay off of NSAIDS 12-24 hours prior to a long run, and…well, you can see the dilemma I was facing.  I started weaning myself off of the drug 3 days before (and ended up with a couple of pounding headaches in the process) and was drug-free 18 hours before the run.  It was on!

I tried to make this final run as close to the marathon as possible…including various food breaks that were to be on the course.  I made sure I had PowerAde instead of Gatorade (as PowerAde was what RunDisney offered on the course).

Yeah…after the run, I noticed that PowerAde had high-fructose corn syrup…which explained why the gout came back quickly after the run.  

Argh.

The 25 mile run required 200 laps in the rec center…I contemplated drinking heavily to get the room spinning, and then I’d run the opposite direction.  I started off how I planned the marathon…:30 run followed by a 1:00 walk for as long as I could keep my heart rate down.  Throughout the run, I received texts from fellow marathon runner (and Moose) Brian Swann as well as from local running partner Emily Gomolochak throughout the run…they REALLY helped!  I had the bananas when they would be on the course, but I still ran out of steam around mile 22.  I started walking and was about to call it a day at 24…mile 23 had a pace over 17:00.  I took a chance and swapped out the podcasts and playlist that I usually run to over to a single song: INXS’s The Stairs.  As it ended, I threw it on repeat and bumped up the volume.  With each repeat, it got louder and louder.  The energy started coming back, and I started to feel like I did back in high-school/college…the killer instinct I used to love!  Mile 24 was about 45 seconds quicker than mile 23, and Mile 25 was an additional minute and a half faster than 24.  I felt absolutely alive at the end of that run.

I was as ready as I could be for this thing!

 Now all I had to do was be healthy and hope the weather was okay…

Team AllEars 2014 - Mush is Running With Purpose One More Time!!

If there were ever a good time to dust off the blog, now would be that time!

For those who don’t know, I am part of a running team that is dedicated to raising funds for the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.  This is my third year on Team AllEars - Running with Purpose, which is in its fifth and final year.  Over the past four years, the members of Team AllEars have raised over $200,000 – an amazing feat when you consider that there were only around  35 members on the Team the first year and about 65 the second year.  This year, we have just over 100 runners, and our collective fundraising goal is officially set at $85,000.

One of our members, Dave Aulen, made a great video of who we are and what we do (this is a recap from the 2011 Team):




For the 2011 team, I finished with around $870 in donations, and I am absolutely grateful for all of the support and generosity!!!  For a recap of the donations from that year, please visit this page.  I also have a write-up on the Team AllEars blog from my first half marathon..  My second year was on the 2012 team...I was fortunate enough to raise an additional $1,000 that year.  This link provides my fundraising recap of that year, and the video below (again, put together by Dave) shows some of the highlights from that weekend.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't include this other video from Dave.  It highlights one of the most anticipated meet-ups for Team AllEars...the YeeHaw Bob meet!





One of the requirements for being a member of Team AllEars is registering to run a race in January at Walt Disney World’s Marathon Weekend.  I have signed up for my first full 26.2 mile marathon and am currently about 13 weeks into my training for it.  The 15 mile run I have scheduled later on this week is already scaring me!  The other requirement for Team AllEars is to agree to raising a minimum of $500 for the Avon Foundation...my goal this year is to break the $1,500 level!!!  

 

Please consider donating to our cause..even if it's a single dollar (imagine how much could be raised if all the online Disney freaks donated just $1).    If you would like to donate online, please visit my donation page HERE. 

If you would rather donate without doing it online (and want it to count for my goal), you can send me a check (payable to the Avon Foundation for Women) to:


Chris Mushrush
P.O. Box 55
Downs, IL 61736


There is one other way you can help raise money for our cause if you live in Central Illinois: participating in a dining event that gives a percent of qualifying sales to us.  While I'm still working on getting a couple more set up, here is the upcoming event on the calendar:

• Wednesday, October 9th - Joe's Station House in Normal, IL will donate a percent of all pre-tax sales on diners who present THIS FLIER upon payment.

Thanks to all participating restaurants for offering to host these events - it truly is appreciated!!

DONATIONS AS OF 12/13/2013

Anonymous.......................................................$250
Dan and Jen Metsch.........................................100 
Avanti's Dine to Donate Program.........................80
Susan..................................................................50
Thia Wagner........................................................50
Joe's Station House Fundraiser...........................50
Barb and Bob Gilhaus.........................................25
Kristen.................................................................25 
Meatheads Restaurant Fundraiser.......................25 
The Mouser Family..............................................25
Sandra Perkins....................................................25
Louise Wallace...................................................25
Kurt and Tricia Williams.....................................20 
Sara Rhodes......................................................10










TOTAL: $760

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