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…

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.

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

.

Hello...Is This Thing On??

Wow...time flies when you're having fun...and it flies even faster when you're completely overwhelmed and have little hope of getting caught up!!

Yes, the blog is still alive...I've just had one of the most intense few months I've had in a long time.  I took on quite a bit more than I could handle, and some things had to "go to the back burner" for a while.  The blog was one of those items.

While I still am busy (we all are), there appears to be a little respite from all that has been going on: the training for the half-marathon (and the corresponding fundraising efforts) is wrapping up; the job search is over for now (I didn't get the tenure-track position, but I learned a lot in the process, and I know that there will be another position opening up in the next few years at the same institution); I am now so close to having the proposal of my dissertation taken care of that I can almost taste it; some of my A.D.D. projects have been finished; my Committee work for Cub Scouts is over for now (I'm still Aaron's den leader and the Tiger Cub partner for Eric, but the really time-consuming portion as Tiger Cub Coordinator is done until next September)...and the popcorn sales/distribution is DONE; my night class is done (I LOVED teaching that class...most were MBA students, but I left for work as soon as Sheri got home and didn't get home until after the boys were in bed); my role as academic advisor has slowed down for a bit (it will pick back up in February/March, but I'll take the break!); ...the list goes on and on!  For the most part, I absolutely love what I do, and, as many friends and family members tell me, I'd probably be bored out of my mind if I weren't overwhelmed.  This was one of those times, though, where, despite my best efforts, I just couldn't keep all the balls in the air at the same time without dropping one or two.


One casualty of all that has been going on is the set of posts for the Disney podcast updates.  As you can probably guess, this, sadly, is something I just can't do any more.  I feel bad, because I had a few readers who really looked forward to seeing those.  There are a few others in the Disney Universe who are doing similar things with regards to keeping people in the loop on what's going on with the podcasts, and they are able to keep it more current than I would be able to.  To those who do the shows (Lou, Ricky, Matt, Mike, Mike, Len, Rikki, Mike (lots of Mikes), Paul, Shawn, Katie, Scott, Tracey, Mortis, Matt, Nate...I could go on for hours listing y'all), keep up the great work!  To the Betamouse crew...happy trails!  While I will definitely miss hearing the shows, it sounds like many of the hosts are moving on to new and better things.  Best of luck!

I'll work on getting some more posts up here in the coming weeks.  I still have 1.5 trip reports to get up here, and there will be another trip coming in over the next couple of weeks (Marathon Weekend).  If nothing else, I can post chapters of my dissertation for you to critique :)  .


Hopefully everyone has a safe and happy Christmas and New Year!


Mush

We Interrupt This Trip Report to Bring You This Public Service Announcement

Well, technically, this is somewhat of a continuation of the June 2010 report, but there's a more important theme.

The cast members at the Walt Disney World resort always seem to go above and beyond what you would expect at any other place…that’s one of the main reasons we love going there over and over again.

But then there is the rare diamond in the rough who is so amazing at what he or she does that you will remember them for a very long time, if not forever.  This post is part trip report and part acknowledgement to one such cast member.

We were introduced to Aladdin by some good friends of ours.  Mare and I hung out at an online community and first met in-person in December of 2005 at (where else) Epcot.  You can read about that one here.  We quickly became friends with Mare, her husband Mark, and their daughter, Renee (we affectionately call them the Badelves family...inside joke).

In October of 2007, Sheri and I were down at WDW for a great meet-up with nearly 70 friends, all from the same online community that Mare and I hung out at.  During the main meet-up, we walked around with Mare’s crew as well as with another close mutual friend (Debbie, Dan, Lexie, and Austin).  It was this trip that we first met Aladdin.  He didn’t know me from Adam, but, taking a cue from Mare, he starts interacting with us like we’re close friends (i.e. talking with Genie about how the Moose Meet was going, repositioning the order for the pics so I could be next to Jasmine (THANKS, MARE!!!), etc).  It was a very brief meeting, but it was the first of several memorable ones.

Fast forward 2 months.  In a record number of trips to WDW that has since been unmatched, the entire Mushfam found themselves back down at WDW in mid-December.  We met up with Mare’s crew and Debbie’s crew on our arrival night.  After touring DHS that evening, we met up with the Badelves again the following morning along with Todd and Maureen’s family (another online friend) at MK.  Our boys think it’s totally awesome being in the parks with friends, so we try to find a time to meet up with others again.  The goal was to meet up with Mare and Renee at MK on our last night.  While we were coordinating via text, I mentioned that we were going to do the AAA Storytime, and Mare replies that she thinks that “our Aladdin” (that’s what everyone started calling him) was doing that.  Sure enough, he was…you can read it by clicking here.  The funniest thing was that Mare talked to Aladdin prior to the Storytime, and he joked around with me about Jasmine not being there, called Sheri by name, etc.   That is one of his special gifts…he makes every meeting a personal event with whoever he’s with.  Check the top of the blog page, and you'll see the pic from that meetup.  Oh, and the boys still have the bookmarks signed by him.

We met up again with Mark/Mare and Dan/Debbie in December of 2008, but we didn’t see our Aladdin during this trip, unfortunately.  Well, technically, we did see him at Epcot, but we didn’t get in line as we were on a mission to do an attraction.  Still, I paused for a quick minute to watch him interact with a family.  Sheri saw me stop, and she also paused for a moment to see what he was doing.  We both left the meeting area with smiles…the people who just met him were all smiles, and the children were wide-eyed with excitement – they had just met the real Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie.

Now we come to June of 2010...this is where the trip report picks up.  After returning from DHS (the previous installment of the trip report can be found at this link), we returned to Epcot, knowing (thanks to Mare), that Al was currently in Morocco.  The boys protested vehemently as we told them that we were going to check out Morocco.  Mare told us when he’d be there, and we made it to the meet-and-greet area in the Nick of time as Aladdin was coming out for his last set before heading back to Agrabah for the night.  While we waited, I was in a text-fest with Mare.  I mistakenly told her that I thought Jasmine was drop-dead gorgeous…she replied with “I’m going to have to find out who’s there today and let her know.”

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the Badelves know a lot of the cast members at WDW.

His time to be off-shift was just about to be up before we even made it near the front, but he and Jasmine stayed out there to make sure every guest got their time with them.  As we made it to the front of the line, I got to see the family in front of us talk to them.  One of the girls in the party was wheelchair-bound.  The attention that he and Jasmine gave her was unparalleled, and you could see tears welling up in her parents’ eyes.  The best part was that they were having fun while they were talking with the family.  For example: both girls had coloring books that they were hoping to have Jasmine and he autograph.  Aladdin flips through to the page he was looking for and said that the girls colored in Jasmine really well.  Then he opens up the book for everyone to see, and it’s turned to a page with Maleficent.  Jasmine, of course, puts her hands on her hips and turns away (I think trying to stifle a laugh).

I was so awestruck at what he did for the family before us that I almost forgot that we were next.  We let the boys go up by themselves, while we stood back to watch.

Aaron brings up Renee, and they get to talking about them a little.

(someone on Facebook thought Aaron was checking out Jasmine in that last pic…he truly is my son).

As we talked, the BeeGees tribute band started up nearby in the America Gardens Theater, and he paused momentarily to comment on a garbled refrain that got me, Sheri, and the Photopass guy laughing.  We hopped in for a family Photopass pic and, as we say our goodbyes, I quietly said to him that it was absolutely amazing what he does and he truly is Aladdin to so many people.  We talked a bit about Mark/Mare/Renee before thanking him, saying goodbye, and relinquishing them to the next excited family ready to meet them.

Sheri and I just turned to each other, smiled, and watched the interaction of the next family out of the corner of our eyes as we started towards the Japan pavilion.

I recall Mare posting an emotional entry  where “their Jasmine” was leaving WDW to head to the Theme Park in Hong Kong.  While the Badelves have come to know the alter egos of Aladdin and Jasmine outside of the parks for a while before that day, reading what Mare wrote and seeing the pictures with Renee inside Epcot shows that, while it can be just a job for some, the tears being shed by everyone shows that the cast member makes the character.  It was the last time Jasmine was going to be Jasmine, and it was like a part of her was going to be gone forever.  I then realized how much personality “our Aladdin” puts into Aladdin.  He makes Aladdin who he is because he, in essence, becomes the character.  I have seen it in others, too…not just face characters.  Bus drivers, food service workers, attraction operators, janitorial staff…I have seen a remarkable job done by all sorts of cast members.  They create and evolve the role that they do in ways that get what needs to be done actually done while still entertaining those around them.

All too often, I see guests in the parks take the cast members for granted.  Some think that, simply because they paid money, they are entitled to 100% perfection in an imperfect world.  There have been times where I have seen so many members in Guest Services having to patiently accept being screamed at because the weather forced the parks to cancel an event.  I have read on discussion boards about how mad people are because they heard one family having “X” (where “X” is a ‘cool’ event) happen, but, when they tried it, they didn’t have “X” occur.  The things that most would consider special about Disney are expected to be routine to them.  They fail to see the magic.  They also fail to realize that it’s the cast members who are responsible for the magic.  Imagine trying to be a magic maker when only one or two out of every hundred guests are disinterested or upset, yet it’s the one or two who are upset that you hear about rather than the other 98 who are happy.  Aladdin breaks the mold when it comes to creating memories for people.  I hope that he, and all cast members, see the appreciation and gratitude in the guests’ eyes and expressions, if not in reviews.

If you see a cast member do something that meets that “wow” factor, please take the time to thank them and, if you have time, stop by Guest Services to give them some positive feedback (trust me…they’ll appreciate it as 98% of those in there will be giving not-so-positive feedback).

This post is also for those anonymous CMs who go on stage every day without fail and create the magic that is Walt Disney World.  This post is a reminder for those guests in the parks who take what the CMs do for granted in the hopes that they’ll appreciate what it takes to provide you with the experience that makes us go back over and over again.

But mostly, this post is for you, Al…you rock!!!