WDW Marathon Weekend 2014 - MARATHON DAY, Part 4

You can read the previous installment HERE.

The next part of the course, to me, seemed like the killer portion.  We were to head out of the AK parking lot and make a long loop arc via the Osceola Parkway onramp.  It was then straight east into the sun for what I anticipated to be about 75.3 miles, on two overpasses and back down before finally, mercifully, turning into the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, where we make about 4,375 lefts and rights around various fields before FINALLY making our way back towards a theme park.  The cheering was going to be pretty sparse in this area, too.

Yeah, you could say I wasn’t looking forward to this part of the course.

Darrell, Ellie, and I were all getting a little tired, and there wasn’t a whole lot of talking by us (or anyone else around us, for that matter).  Ellie tried again to get me to go ahead and finish without her, and I again reassured her that the sweepers were nowhere near to us (we’re still < the 16:00 pace, plus we have the padding of the corrals that started after us and before the sweepers).

Mile 14 was in the books at 16:08 (hr 155), and Mile 15 (on the first overpass) was at 15:46 and 157 hr.  We were looking forward to the top of this overpass, because we knew that there would be a Team AllEars contingent waiting for us up there!  Bryan and Melanie Camphouse, along with Brian and Laura Thompson.  Man, we NEEDED that cheer squad!!!

(Photo courtesy of Darrell Burgoon) 

We stopped and talked for a couple of minutes with the 4 of them.  Bryan handed a Coke to Ellie (who had requested one before the race) and asked if I wanted one.  I declined, but he looked at, paused, and asked if I really wanted to have a Coke.

I again said, “nope…thanks, though!” … then I noticed his smile and his head-bob towards Ellie.

Yeah – I was a little slow on the uptake.  I’ll hold it for Ellie for later down the course.

All too soon, we said our goodbyes, and we started back down the overpass.  The Coke did Ellie some good, as she got some more bounce in her step.  I kept the other Coke hidden from her as we hit mile 16 near the top of the World Drive Overpass (16:26 and 158…pace was slower from stopping at the McDonald’s Team AllCheers group…SO WORTH IT!)  As we crested the second overpass, we finally were able to see racers returning from the Wide World of Sports on the Ramp-From-Hell near mile 21.  Well-known (and absolutely insane, in the best way possible) mega-cheerer Laura Smith Ozo was near mile 20.7, on the other side of Osceola…once I found her, I went back into military drill-instructor voice and gave a rather loud show-out to her.  Laura definitely heard it and waved/shouted back to all of us.  It was a good thing she saw us; she sent out a FB post mentioning that she saw us; it was the first update on our progress since the half split, and some folks (Sheri) were getting a little concerned that something had happened to us.

Sheri was definitely relieved, and she started posting Disney quotes on my FB wall (though I didn’t see most of them until I was a little outside of Hollywood Studios and finally took a minute to check FB (Troost…no comments!).  

Examples:

“Just keep running. Just keep running, running, running. What do we do? We run, run. (channeling my inner Dory)”

"Keep moving forward."- Walt Disney”

“I am on my way, I can go the distance. I don’t care how far, somehow I’ll be strong. I know every mile, will be worth my while. I will go most anywhere to find where I belong. Hercules”

Ellie had just about downed her Coke, and I pulled out the second one and gave it to her, with Bryan’s blessing.  She nearly hugged me right then and there.

I was also looking for Joe Taricani broadcasting on the course, but we didn’t find each other.  The excitement factor was increasing again as we turned right onto Victory Way towards WWOS.  Most everyone was high-fiving the outgoing runners as we passed each other.  About halfway to the WWOS entry, Ellie spotted Bob and Barb Kennedy on the outbound side.  We all stopped for quick hugs and updates.  Barb was looking simply awesome, with that smile on her face!

We left and immediately found the Mile 17 marker (16:15 and 159).  Soon after, we turned right and headed into WWOS!  Finally…we’re off the road.

…and we’re on a bunch of walkways…with the first one seeming to go on for-evah!!!

Darrell peeled of hit a restroom.  We offered to wait for him, but he said he’d catch up.  Honestly, I thought we wouldn’t see him again.  A couple of minutes later, Ellie and I saw a sight that may as well have been Nirvana; RunDisney was handing out towels soaked in cold water.  We both grabbed one and nearly kissed the RunDisney folks handing them out.

We took a left and a right through soccer fields and then found ourselves entering the track.  Our legs were LOVING the track surface.  I pulled out my inner engineer, and Ellie and I took the most direct route to the inner portion to minimize the distance.  AS we hopped off the track, we hit the mile 18 marker (16:36 and 160), and Darrell surprised us by catching up really quickly.  After a bunch of lefts and rights, as well as 1-2 shortened run intervals to help with the heart rate, we were all cussing this part of the course.  On more than one occasion, Ellie let out a “I HATE ESPN!!!!” to everyone around us.  Each outburst gained progressively more shouts of agreement by the runners.  The trek to the Mile 19 marker seemed to never arrive, but it finally did (16:47 and 159).  The mile splits were heading up quite a bit, but I think we all were losing motivation with the course. 

Just about that time, RunDisney must have sensed it, because we had another banana stop.  We each grabbed a banana and said “Thank You!!” to the volunteers (along with a “no offense, but WE HATE THE WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS!!!” – which was met with laughs) and trudged forward.  The next big cheering section (we hoped) was going coming up…the baseball stadium.  We entered, and I immediately got warning track gravel in a shoe.  

Grrrr.

I didn’t waste the energy to see my ugly mug on the jumbo tron, and, if you check out the video, I think you’ll agree that most people were not really feeling it.

We (mercifully) left the stadium, and I had to pause to get about 2.5 lbs of rock out of my shoes.   A few (dozen) more turns, and we finally made our way out of the WWOS.  We all nearly gave it an honorary single-fingered salute as we left, but decided against it.  Mile 20 was 16:40 and 159.  I lobbied for another reduction in the run/walk ratio, and all agreed (not sure if they liked the decision, but we all added another 15 seconds to the walk interval).  The mile 20 split notification came through, and we were still below the 16:00 pace, though barely.  We noticed as we got back on Victory Way, though, was that nobody was entering the WWOS. Street Sweepers were working on cleaning up the course.  Ellie went into a dead panic that we were going to be swept; however, we were in WWOS for 45-50 minutes, so we were still under 16:00; besides, once we got to Hollywood Studios, the chances of being swept were reduced to almost 0.

6 miles and ½ of a marathon to go!

The Finish can be viewed HERE.

The Crying Game?

I can be tough when I need to be.  In high school, my ankles were so bad during football season that I started and played as long as I could before the inevitable SNAP that would put me on the sidelines for the rest of the game.  At my Grandfather's funeral, I kept my composure, despite the fact that I more or less lived with him for several months.  Heck, I even remained stoic when Bambi's mother was taken down at 300 yards, as well as when Old Yeller yelled no more.

On the very remote occasion, though, I have shed a tear or two as an adult.  At Sheri's and my wedding, I had a couple of tears come out when I saw her walking down the aisle ("How could I be lucky enough to have someone like her be willing to spend the rest of her life with me?").  The tears came out again during the ceremony when, after meticulously planning to ensure that parents and step-parents were equally part of the ceremony, we realized that the florist forgot a third rose, which was to go to my Mother.  I can neither confirm nor deny a tear coming out at our first child's breath (as he screamed bloody murder).  The first ten minutes of the movie Up...well, that's a mulligan as the entire world cried at that part.  There was also a close call during "Rainbow Connection" in the recent Muppets movie (perhaps it was allergies...someone in the theater was wearing some strong perfume).

That's more or less it for my crying, though...


...until about 3 weeks ago.


I was set up to break the 20-mile barrier for the very first time during my marathon training in early November.  During this training run, I had Joe Taricani's "The Marathon Show" podcast playing through the earbuds, and I started off the run by re-listening to the last 20 minutes of Episode 213, which chronicled the 2013 Disneyland Half Marathon.  I heard a bunch of friends' voices on there, and it really got me in the mood for the run.

Episode 216 started around mile 5, which highlighted the Newport Beach Race for the Cure.  During this half-hour show, Joe interviewed many people who were survivors.  But he also interviewed family members of those who have lost loved ones to breast cancer. 


The Race for the Cure episode nearly did me in.  It started echoing thoughts that I had during training for my first half marathon.  I was stressing my body more than I probably should have; I didn't have a heart rate monitor for my first half, and I know that I was overdoing it with the pace...I finished most training runs with a pulse over 180, and the long runs found me exhausted around 8-9 miles in.  I struggled through the training, but I kept thinking to myself that what I was going through was nothing compared to what those in cancer treatment go through.  The miles I ran during this show were the fastest I ran that day.

Just a few days before my 20 mile training run, I saw Angelo Merindino's photo essay where he chronicled his wife's battle with breast cancer - a battle that she ultimately lost in late 2011.  Let me warn you now that, if you have not seen the photo essay before, click on the above link with caution.  It is extremely powerful - it is not an easy page to look at as you know what the bottom of the page will eventually tell you.  The pictures streamed through my mind as I ran.  I then started thinking about a co-worker of my wife's who lost a similar battle to cancer over the summer.  I thought about members of my wife's family who have battled breast cancer and have won.  I thought about members of my running team who have fought breast cancer and are running farther than I ever will; about friends who have family members currently battling various forms of cancer;  about a young boy I know recently diagnosed with cancer and agonizing about what he and his family have to be going through; about my grandmother losing her battle with pancreatic cancer.

I re-found my determination from my training for my first half.  I buckled down and got down to business with this 20-mile run.  I was struggling to fight back tears, though, as I continued to listen to the rest of Joe's show.

Later on in the run came Episode 218 of the Marathon Show.  This episode had Joe interviewing runners in the 2013 MedTronic Twin Cities Marathon.  The first story that got me was the interview of a family of a man running his first marathon after a stroke, and the source of pride in her voice hit me hard.  Then, around mile 22 on the course (and around mile 16 for me), Joe interviews a woman completing her first marathon.  When he asked her, "What's the finish line going to mean to you?", she started to break down as she answered the question.  This episode inspired me for a couple of miles, and I had a surge of energy (the "runner's high").

The energy soon left, however, and I hit the proverbial "wall" around 18.5 miles in.  Despite my attempts to pick it back up, my pace slowed by over a minute.  The self-doubt and self-loathing that I am all too well-known for was bouncing around in my mind, and I wanted to throw in the towel; I was worthless.  I'm failing at the training.  I'm failing at my fundraising.  I'm failing at being a good teacher.  A good husband.  A good father.  A good person.

I managed to work up a mild trot for the last few feet until I heard the chirp that indicated I had completed 20 miles.  I stopped my watch, fully expecting it to tell me that I can anticipate being swept up by the RunDisney folks and not being able to complete my attempt at a marathon finish.

I looked down at the statistics.

To complete a marathon, I had 6.2 miles remaining after 20 miles.  According to my watch, if I start dead last with the balloon runner (the 16:00 pacer) at Disney World, I'll have 1 hour and 50 minutes to complete that last 10K.  That's over a 17:40 pace per mile.

I can walk a 17:30 pace.

As I stared at the watch while standing on the trail that I was running on, the realization hit me that, barring a major injury, I was most likely going to complete my first marathon.

The first tear followed about 3 seconds later.  It had to be the allergies.


As I write this, Team AllEars just unofficially passed the $60,000 raised mark for 2013.  We have all committed not just to running a race in Walt Disney World as we have the fundraising requirement, too.  I take the fundraising requirement just as seriously as I do the training for the race.  I set a lofty personal goal this year...perhaps too lofty a goal at $1,500.  With less than 6 weeks to go, your support has brought in around $400 so far on my behalf, and I am grateful for that.  Traditionally, the bulk of the funds raised come in during the month of December.  My fingers are crossed that this again happens...not just for me, but for the entire Team.  As we make our final push in our training and in our fundraising efforts, please consider a donation.  If you would like to donate on my behalf, please head over to my fundraising page.  The amount donated does not matter; Even $1 donated is $1 more raised to help fight not just breast cancer, but all forms of cancer.  While I would love to have your donation count towards my goal, you can also help others on the Team who may be struggling to achieve the $500 minimum.  If you want to help someone else out, please go to our Team Fundraising page and click on a name who has less than $500 raised so far.  Whether a donation comes in under my name or under someone else's name, the money all goes to the Avon Foundation.

I am sure there will be several opportunities for tear ducts to get a workout over Marathon weekend.  Most of you will think that crossing that finish line will be one of them.  Those who have been at a Team AllEars official Meet on the Saturday of Marathon Weekend also know what to expect.  With this being our last year, I can only imagine what the main Meet will be like.  This is an amazing, fantastic group of people who have dedicated countless hours trying to help rid the world of cancer.  These men and women, current members and past members, are living proof that we can make a difference.



Damn allergies.