2009 Walt Disney World Marathon

Walt Disney World Marathon
Orlando, Florida
MAMFAY Race #4 – Age = 50.28 years old

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ok, now I’m pissed . . .

I got my race number for the Walt Disney World Marathon on December 9th, a little more than a month before the actual race. I’m number 101, Corral A. The numbers up to 100 are in the Elite Corral. I’m the fastest of the riff-raff. I’ve done Disney four prior times, finishing 26th, 14th, 19th, and 23rd overall those times. I don’t know if they save 50 elite numbers for the guys and 50 for the gals, but I don’t know how, with a seeding time of 2:46:01, I’m not one of them. It’s not a real big thing. Well, I guess it is since I’m starting my story with a moan session. Plus, everybody knows that a three digit bib number is heavier than a two digit one. It’s that extra ink that weighs things down. Guess I’ll just have to show those folks . . .

I realize that I probably start off all my reports by saying that whichever one I happen to be writing is not going to be as long or as detailed as the prior stories. And I always end up writing long and detailed rehashes of the marathon I just completed. Well, let’s see what happens with this one. I’ll make no bold or rash statements here at the beginning.

Oh, and there were a bunch of people taking a bunch of pictures and I managed to get everything mixed up and I’m too lazy to figure things out, so I can’t (won’t) properly credit pictures to photographers. Most were taken by Rachel and Nicole, two of my nieces, though Renate, Valerie, and even I have a few scattered here and there. I don’t think I got any from Roger or Dave and Cate.

The Noone siblings invade the land of the mouse . . .

There were 17 people in our party – I think Disney called us a “gathering” – and here’s a scorecard of sorts. Renate and me. My oldest brother, Jeff. Roger, a middle brother, and his wife, Mary Ivy. Valerie, our favorite sister, and her daughter, Nicole. Morgan, the youngest of the siblings, and his wife, Lori, and their kids, Rachel and Ryan. Debbie, Lori’s sister, and her boyfriend, Dave, and her son, Joey. Dave and Jeanne, our neighbors, and Cate, their daughter. Got that? (There is one other brother, Ray. He was up in Rome helping out our Dad. Thanks for that, Ray. He’s planning on his first marathon in Rochester this coming September.)

Eight of the gang were racing. Roger was doing the half on Saturday as his first career half marathon. Valerie was going to run the full on Sunday as her first full marathon. Renate, Mary Ivy, and Jeanne were going to walk the full as their first (and only!) marathon. I was also running Sunday’s full marathon. Jeff and Morgan were doing the Goofy Challenge (the half on Saturday followed by the full on Sunday). The others were along for moral support, sherpa duties, and just as an excuse to skip school.

Now, the reason we’re in Disney is because Renate’s turning old in February (the big 5 – 0) and she got to pick the race. So the trip was mostly her fault. And, it started off, well the Disney portion of it, as a pretty big negative. The folks at Disney just couldn’t seem to get stuff right and it was quite a hassle to get all the things attached to our room keys that were supposed to be there. I’m going to say that I had five different key cards before things finally got squared away Friday afternoon. That might be an exaggeration. But not by much if it is.

Thursday . . .

Thursday was travel day and all the pain in the rear stuff that goes along with traveling. Nothing major, just kind of tedious. Valerie and Nicole and Morgan and his family were at the hotel when we (me, Renate, Roger, Mary Ivy, and Jeff) arrived. It was decided that Renate and Lori would venture out and do the food shopping. The Noone siblings (Jeff, Roger, Morgan, Valerie, and me) would head on over to packet pickup and get the stuff for everybody, including Jeanne. The kids (Nicole, Rachel, and Ryan) would head on over to a park for rides and such. They were to meet up with Lori’s sister so there would be some sort of adult supervision.

I guess the packet pickup aspect went about the smoothest. Renate and Lori bought out the supply of Guinness at the local Walmart, as well as a ton of food. But the kids, specifically Rachel and Ryan, ran into some difficulties trying to get into the park. This was the first card key snafu. It eventually got straightened out and the kids went in search of rides.

The hotel we’re staying at . . .

I’m not really sure why, but Morgan, Valerie, and I drank too much beer after packet pickup. Then more at dinner, where it was just the 11 Noone relations. It ended up, because of the key card screwups, being an almost free dinner, though we had to pay for our beer.

Friday . . .

As planned for me, I ended up doing very little during the day. Mostly just an excursion over to Animal Kingdom after my easy three mile run. The worst part was trying to get a card that would get me into the park. I generally don’t get too upset at things, but it was good that Valerie was standing next to me, keeping me a little under control as the Disney weeniette was trying to get things squared away. I’m really glad the Disneyite didn’t tell me to “Have a magical day!” as I left the customer service window.

And then Valerie and I joined the herd and we had our first full gathering of the 17 members of our group. The great majority of them went on the dinosaur ride. I didn’t really feel like it, so I hung around outside and people-watched. The group imploded after that and folks went in various directions. Renate and I opted to have lunch and then head back to the room.

That evening, Renate and I and Valerie and Nicole met up with Dave, Jeanne, and Cate in Mexico for dinner. Jeff, Roger, and Morgan were racing the half the next day and they, I think, ended up with pizza for dinner.

I know none of this has any real meaning to most of you folks. I just wanted to get it down on the slim chance we venture back to Disney in the future.

Saturday . . .

I did even less. Mostly I just sat around and read. Renate had the cab ride from hell as she tried to get over to the Epcot area to watch Jeff, Morgan, and Roger finish their half marathons. She never did make it over, mostly just being taken on a thrill ride as the female cabbie kept getting loster and loster as she searched for “Elcot.” Renate finally ordered the driver to just return her, hopefully in one piece, to the Boardwalk. She did pay the cabbie $20 for the $40 ride. Renate was pretty frazzled when she walked back into the room. Not really a good way to be the day before her first marathon, but she settled down after I held her tight. At least, as she said, she didn’t have the kids with her.

Jeff, Roger, and Morgan all survived their half marathons. Roger was relieved to be done racing for the weekend (according to him, done racing for his life) so he grabbed a beer. Just kidding.

After the three racers got cleaned up, I decided to do the all you can eat breakfast at Spoodles with them. I didn’t pig out too much, but I got a good amount of food in me.

I spent a fair amount of time out on the Boardwalk, reading and people watching. One annoying group of about a dozen stood right in front of me while a couple of them went into one of the stores. They were loud and they were all talking at the same time. And then two of them sat on my bench next to me and started fidgeting and arguing. I got up and moved to a different bench. Where I was soon annoyed by a smaller family group. Well, at least I chatted, enthusiastically I believe, with the little girl as she showed me her ice cream.

Most of the others in our group went to one park or another. Renate did a bunch of work stuff on the computer and then sat by the pool. Valerie sat around and got extremely bored. Maybe Jeff sat around the room also, but I don’t remember.

Oh, for what it’s worth, the Noone clan (which includes the Imans, Valerie's married name) had a couple of two bedroom suites right next to each other. In addition to the two bedrooms, there was a small kitchen with a family room type of area that also had a pull out couch. I guess each pair of rooms had enough sleeping space for eight people. We had six in ours (Renate and I and Morgan, Lori, Rachel, and Ryan) and there were five in the other suite (Roger and Mary Ivy, Valerie and Nicole, and Jeff). It seemed like our common area was the main hangout place.

We had our own pre-race pasta dinner. And it was quite the extravaganza in our room, with nine Noones, two Imans, and three Maugles (Dave, Jeanne, and Cate) over for spaghetti. Thanks to Renate for doing the cooking and to Valerie for doing the cleanup. Morgan still owes me a dollar since Jeff didn’t clean up his plate.

Pre-Race Pasta Party

Sunday . . .

Renate picked last night to start hacking up a lung with a cold, so I got even less sleep than normal.

Disney is one of those pain in the butt mornings. You can’t just roll out of bed and saunter to the start line like in Richmond, or even Chicago. At Kiawah Island, I had to get a ride from my host, but at least I didn’t have to be there 2+ hours before the start. I mean, most of the times I am at a race well before it starts, but they usually say “Go!” at a civilized hour like 7 or 8 in the morning. Disney starts at 6 AM (actually, 5:50 AM) and they like you to start heading towards the corrals about 4 AM. It’s really just an early, dark morning with a lot of sitting around.

Pre-Race Pictures
The gals . . . all virgins and smiling.	The guys . . . all experienced and grim.
The sherpas . . . all bundled up and sleepy.

There are two starting lines for the race, the red line and the blue one. I’m in the blue start, corrals A, B, and C. Morgan is with me in corral A and Jeff is in B, but I never saw either of them after I left the group after pictures. Valerie is in D (right behind the Elite corral where I should have been, not that I’m carrying a grudge) and Renate, Mary Ivy, and Jeanne are in corral F. The three walkers were very happy to have two full corrals, G and H, lined up behind them.

I don’t like the blue start. The two courses are slightly different for the first three miles and the red course goes over the bridge from Epcot proper into the World Showcase. First thing in the morning, it’s all lit up and it looks great. Us blue folks are winding our way on the back side of the World Showcase and entering through some service road. But, we in the blue start made up for that slight . . .

The start at Epcot . . .

C’mon Morgan, act like you belong in Corral A . . .

. . . We cheated. I’m at the very front of corral A and when the corral guards remove the netting, we scurry right up to the start line timing mat. We can’t hear any of the announcements being announced over the loud speakers. The fireworks go off and so do we, figuring that was, basically, the starting shot. Apparently the fireworks were just preliminary stuff and there was an actual countdown. I kind of thought things were a little off. Especially when a huge boom booms as we’re running along. Mind you, we still hadn’t reached the start line for the red folks. Well, I figured, they’d either figure things out or a whole lot of us were going to be disqualified. I briefly thought about stopping and going back to bed.

(After checking with my fellow racing Noones, Jeff remembers a countdown, but didn’t hear the guy ever say “go.” The others don’t recall hearing any kind of countdown. Valerie, being right behind the elites, said the fireworks were still going off as she crossed the start line. I’m not sure what any of this means.)

It’s a bit crowded, back here with the runners from corral A, but I’m having no difficulty settling into a rhythm.

There are a ton of spectators lining the left side of the road. “You’re almost there” a couple of the wise-assed variety of spectator yelled. Ah, I guess I can cut them some slack. Sure, we’re a bit on the strange side for running a marathon that starts in the dark. I guess the roadside people had to find some way to amuse themselves.

I had decided that I was going to be a little aggressive for this race. Heck, it had been five weeks since my last marathon. I should be well rested. I had been focusing on “If you don’t take a chance, then you don’t stand a chance” as my philosophy for the day. I call it The Rule Of Risks, but I don’t know who’s responsible for it.

Anyway, I wasn’t going to necessarily worry about individual mile splits, but I wanted to do the opening five miles right around 6:15 pace. That meant seeing a 31:15 on the big clock at the five mile marker. It was really too dark to see my watch, but I was going to punch the split button at every mile marker so I could see things in the future.

My feeling was that we had about a ten second head start on the red folks, but I didn’t know what I’d see on the big clocks. Our first three miles were separate from theirs, so, maybe, our first three clocks would be on our time. Seeing a 5:50 for the first mile told me it was going to be a bit of a whacked out day. At least as far as clocks went. As usual, I’d be flying a little bit blind. I couldn’t read my watch and I couldn’t trust the big clocks. I really didn’t think we jumped the gun by thirty seconds. I really wasn’t sure how to run the thing at that point. I’m not especially good at running by feel. As demonstrated last month at Kiawah Island, I tend to go a little easy if I’m not being pushed by numbers.

(When I downloaded my split data from my watch after the race, the first mile came in at 6:09 so it appeared that we had about a twenty second advantage over the red start. Jumping to the end of the race, the time in my finish line photo is nine seconds faster than my “official” time. So, my gut feeling of a ten second head start was pretty accurate and I don’t know why the bigger difference with the mile 1 clock and my split. As it is, I might have to re-program my GPS to have a screen with just elapsed lap time. Or else invent a magnifying screen to attach to the GPS so my old eyes can see it. As I said above, I don’t really do a good job of racing by feel, I’m much better seeing the splits for each mile.)

Oh, did I mention that the temperature was in the high 50s expecting to climb to the mid-60s by the time I finished? That really turned my Rule Of Risks into a Rule Of Stupidity, but I’m pretty good at being stupid when I race so I pressed onward.

I remember there was a Disneyite standing guard somewhere in the second mile. Sort of in the middle of nowhere. The runners are a bit strung out, so I’m kind of alone. This Disney person said something as I went by and I really wanted to remember it for this story. Problem is, I don’t remember. It wasn’t the typical “You’re doing great!” or “You’re looking good!” comment. It was something on the silly side. Along the lines of “You’re almost there!” but not quite that stupid. Man, I wish I could remember what she said.

During mile 3, we got to run for about a half mile in the World Showcase. For those familiar with the World Showcase at Epcot, we enter somewhere near the United Kingdom and exit after Germany. The other guys got to enter by crossing the fancy bridge and they went clockwise for a few countries before leaving near China. Did I mention that I was upset that I didn’t get to cross over the fancy, lit up bridge?

Ok. I guess I can get un-upset now. Renate just informed me that the fancy, lit up part of the bridge was actually a Christmas decoration and she saw it lying in pieces in one of the back lots. Come to think of it, none of the Christmas decorations were up anywhere. In the previous years we visited Disney, all the hotels and parks had still been decked with boughs of holly and lots of other decorations. Until the day after the race. All the other times, we’d go to bed Sunday night and when we got up Monday morning, it was as if a whole army of grinches de-Christmastized the entire place. It was weird. But, not this year. There weren’t any decorations when we got there. And no Christmas music playing, either. So, as I said in the beginning of this paragraph, I guess I was upset over nothing. And, isn’t that usually the case? I might as well keep running.

Shortly after leaving the World Showcase, about 3.5 miles into the race, we join up with the red runners. Well, we’re actually running side by side with them. They’re on the left side of the road and we’re on the right, with cones down the middle. There are four guys traveling together when the red runners first come into sight. Our side is a little bit strung out, though lots of runners are visible to me.

Oh, I forgot to mention something. The big clocks are there at every mile marker, but, for some reason, they’re not all that well lit. I can kind of see numbers, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking at. But, after seeing a strange number on the very first mile clock, I’m not really thinking too much about them. I continue to hit the split button on my watch.

Towards the end of mile 4, we get back to where we started. A whole lot of running to get nowhere. Kind of like on a treadmill. Which meant that mile 5 was, more or less, a duplicate of mile 1. That treadmill thing, again. I’m going to say that there were quite a few spectators still in place when we returned. But, I may be just transposing mile 1 data into my mile 5 data storage area. I don’t recall hearing any “You’re almost there!” comments. I do remember that it was about mile 5 where a loose pack of 12 to 15 runners formed. It was surprising as the group came together relatively quickly out of, what seemed, thin air.

At the big 5 mile clock, I saw, what appeared to be, a 31:20. Which meant I was close to target for my aggressive goal. Except I didn’t really know if I was or if I wasn’t. I warned myself that I probably wasn’t at 6:15 pace. It just didn’t feel like I was running that fast.

(The downloaded splits for this five mile block were 6:09, 6:22, 6:24, 6:19, and 6:18 for a total time of 31:32 which was a 6:18.4 pace. So, though I didn’t know it at the time, my running time was about 10 seconds off of clock time. As a bit of a disclaimer, with all the splits that I’m using, I did fudge things a second one way or the other to match up with the “official” intermediate splits from the results site. And, again, because of the head start, the official times aren’t going to match the big mile clocks that I saw during the race.)

The road to the Magic Kingdom . . .

After leaving the Epcot complex, we got to spend a few miles on the highways and overpasses and a parking lot as we traveled towards Disney’s Magic Kingdom. And, with highways and overpasses and a parking lot, there’s really not much to write about. Our loose group stayed loosely together for a few miles. There was a girl with us, the second place girl as one course marshal informed her, and it was funny in that it seemed to bother some of the foreign guys. (I’m guessing they were foreign as they had something like Brasilia on the back of their shirts.) They’d surge a little bit ahead and then slowly fall back into the mix and then surge again and fall back again. That went on for awhile until the girl slowly faded back and the guys just settled down.

I was trying to take in plenty of water at each aid station and, though I wasn’t really warm, I was also dumping water over my head. I still couldn’t see the splits on my watch, sunrise wasn’t for another half hour, give or take. I was looking at the big clocks at each mile, and I was semi-processing the numbers, semi-doing a little math. I knew I was off my 6:15 aggressive pace. I decided that I’d see how close to 6:20 pace I was at the ten mile clock, I would be looking to see somewhere near 1:03:20. I had decided that, maybe, we didn’t cheat after all and the time I saw on the clock was my time.

It’s a sharp, almost 180° turn at the 10 mile marker. By this time, the loose group of runners had kind of disappeared and I’m running with three or four other guys, including the guys with Brasilia on the backs of their shirts. I reach the big clock and see a 1:03:25 or thereabouts. If that’s really what it is, I’m only five seconds off 6:20 pace, which I know to be a 2:46 marathon. I’ve faded a bit for this second five mile block and I’m not really sure if I can maintain what I’ve just run. I’m really a little out of sorts.

(The downloaded splits for the second five mile block were 6:22, 6:20, 6:27, 6:25, and 6:28 for a total time of 32:02 which was a 6:24.4 pace. I guess they’re fairly consistent, though not really what I wanted. I’m “officially” at 1:03:34 for ten miles, 6:21.4 pace.)

I know I can say this, from the comfort of my chair, with a pint of Guinness next to me, but, if my concentration level during the race is high, I’m really pretty good with the math. For the first ten miles, I can calculate that, if I ran the first five miles at 6:15 pace and my total time up to ten miles is 6:20 pace, then I’ve run the second five miles at 6:25 pace. It’s really pretty simple. And that means that I’ve faded quite a bit. A ten second per mile drop off is quite significant this early in the day. Now, in reality, it was only a six second differential between the average pace for the two five mile blocks and not ten seconds. Still, it wasn’t the even pace I had originally been hoping to run.

As I said, I’m a little out of sorts. It is starting to get a little lighter out. I know we’re heading towards the Magic Kingdom, which is a good spectator area. I anticipate hearing cheers from the family.

There’s a down and up, kind of an underpass thing, and some guy speeds by me on the down then struggles to keep with me on the up. He’s working a bit hard. Just for grins I give it a little more gas. The guy stays with me to the top of the up then disappears into the background. “That was mean,” I think to myself.

I make the right turn onto Main Street, right where I’ve known the family to hang out. I don’t hear anything, but Renate is not there to yell “Go, Steven!”. The others probably call out “Yay, Steve!” or some such and it just doesn’t perk up the ears like a Steven! does. I go spinning down Main Street and make a little right hand bend towards Tomorrowland. Some guy jumps out of the crowd on the right hand side. Hey! I know that guy! Randy and I slap hands as I go running by. He tells me I’m looking great.

I’m just a figment of the imagination . . .

Main Street in Disney’s Magic Kingdom (about 10.25 miles into the day)
Look, Jeff’s winning . . .	Morgan’s not having much fun . . . (Valerie is on Morgan’s right shoulder.)	Valerie is . . .

I get through Tomorrowland without going off-course. Next up is Cinderella’s Castle. I’m not really where I want to be as far as official photographers goes. I’m trailing a few guys. Oh, well. I don’t generally buy the pictures, anyway. A little over a mile in total and we’re out of the Magic Kingdom and back onto the highways of Disney World, on our way to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The road to the Animal Kingdom . . .

There are other runners around, but I’m not really running with anybody. Having others nearby is kind of unusual for my Disney trips. It seems that, in the past, by the time I was out of the Magic Kingdom, I was pretty much all alone. Not so much this time. No major deal one way or the other. There was some course marshal at some point who mentioned that I was in the top 60. Ok. That seems to be a little far back, but I’m not going to worry about it.

It’s really kind of a desolate stretch of Disney, the five miles between parks. There’s a golf course over on the right, but that’s about it. No spectators. Not that that’s really a factor for me. And I don’t need much for scenery, either. But, these miles border on cruel and unusual punishment. Which, considering how cruel a marathon can be, just adds to the mental and physical misery.

I cross over the halfway mat. I don’t recall if there was a big clock there, but a glance at my watch showed that I was at a bit under 1:24. (“Officially,” I had a half marathon split of 1:23:41.) Things weren’t going all that hunky-dorily and I wasn’t entirely sure I’d get my sub-2:50. The sun was up and shining, but, even though it was a bit warm for my preferences, it wasn’t hot. I knew I had about three more miles until I got to the excitement of the Animal Kingdom. Nothing much to do but put my head down and run.

I’m not entirely sure what kind of time to expect at 15 miles, what kind of time I’m looking for. I know I’m not running 6:20’s. I know I haven’t been running them for quite a while. I know I need to be faster than 6:30’s to break 2:50. That means I need to see better than 1:37:30 on the big 15 mile clock. When I see that it’s at 1:35:3x, I’m pretty happy. I also figure that I can now run 7:00’s to the end and break three hours.

(The downloaded splits for the third five mile block were 6:31, 6:26, 6:28, 6:21, and 6:26 for a total time of 32:12 which was a 6:26.4 pace. Again, I seem to be fairly consistent, discounting the 6:21. I’m at 1:35:46 for 15 miles, 6:23.1 pace. Now, those whose eyes have not glazed completely over, or who have not skipped to the end of the story, may recall that I saw a sub-1:35:3x on the big clock. C’mon people, it was just in the previous paragraph. Anyway, you guys have to remember that the big clock didn’t start until 10 to 15 seconds after I started.)

But I still have another mile and a half, or so, to actually get to the Animal Kingdom. And part of that is in the waste treatment area of Disney.

As I mentioned a little earlier, every other time I’ve run the Disney Marathon, I’ve been pretty much alone by this time. There’s usually a runner or two in sight up ahead, but, for the most part, those races often seemed like I was out for a long run all by myself. Not this time. There are quite a few runners in sight. And now I have a few right with me. Two of the guys seem to know each other and one of them asks our pace. I tell him that we’re right around 6:22 per mile. What can I say? I’m pretty good with numbers. Heck, for mathematical purposes and using the big clock, I said I was two minutes, or 120 seconds ahead of 6:30 pace at the 15 mile mark. 120 divided by 15 is 8 subtracted from 6:30 leaves 6:22. Though my niece Nicole (the Red Sox fan) probably would have done the calculation differently and more quickly. By the way, she’s really a Yankees fan. She’s also a Mathlete. Other than those two things, she’s really not a bad kid.

I’d really been running with these guys (Elite bib numbers 39, 41, and 51) since the Magic Kingdom as we’re all in each other’s pictures. The two guys, numbers 39 and 41, were Brazilian, at least going by the “Brasilia” on the backs of their shirts. Looking up the other guy, number 51, shows he’s Austrian. A real international quartet running the streets of Disney World. (Guess it’s time to throw in a chorus of “It’s a small world, after all.” Ok. I apologize for getting that stuck in your heads.)

Finally, it seems, we reach Disney’s Animal Kingdom. And it’s kind of nice. There are some trolley tracks to avoid tripping on. There are some twists and turns. And there are some things to see (if you happen to look around). After the monotony of getting there, on the highways of Disney, it’s a good change of pace. Unlike the initial part of the Magic Kingdom, there really are no spectators. There are a handful of Disney characters gyrating here and there. And some workers clapping and cheering. Mostly it’s just us runners and a bunch of yellow cones. We lost one of the Brazilians prior to entering Animal Kingdom, his friend would keep looking back, but eventually he gave up on him.

Then it’s all over, we’re really only in the Animal Kingdom for about a mile total. And then we’re back onto the highways and overpasses and a parking lot (well, the parking lot came first) as we head off on the last eight plus miles of our journey.

More highways and overpasses . . .

Shortly after leaving the Animal Kingdom, it’s down to just me and the one Brazilian, the guy who asked about the pace earlier. For some reason, he felt the need to run a bit closer to me than I would have liked.

We have the entire road to ourselves. We’re running side by side. I don’t have any problem with that. But, there’s really no need to have elbow contact. I guess I was on the inside and maybe that’s where he wanted to be. I’d slow down and let him take it, then move up on his outside. Far outside. Then we’d make a new bend and I’d be back on the inside. With him right on my elbow. It was a little disconcerting. But, he was a nice guy. He asked my age. Honestly, I didn’t bring up the subject. He seemed a little incredulous when I told him I was 50. He told me I was going to win my age group. I just replied that I’d wait and see what happened at the end. I did ask him his age, just to be polite, and he told me he was 30. And we continued to run side by side, elbow to elbow.

And I continued to drink lots and pour lots at each aid station. It was starting to get a little warm. We’re out in the open, no shade, and there’s no breeze to speak of. And on the highways and overpasses, but no parking lots, of Disney World.

It’s really one of the toughest parts of the race, miles 19 through 22. For whatever reason, it doesn’t feel as desolate as that stretch between the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, but being later in the day and the race and being a pretty straight shot of highway makes it a bit tougher. Heck, except for the last half mile which is World Drive, we’re running on Osceola Parkway. It is bizarre that something can be called a Parkway and there not being anything really resembling a park anywhere around. Maybe it’s that stretch of grass between the two wide roads. Anyway, it’s kind of tough mentally. And it’s also at that physically tough stage of the day. Well, it’s got to be run and I’ve got to run it. Just me and my shadow.

I forgot to mention, way back when, but I’ve been running, pretty much since leaving the Magic Kingdom about mile 11, with a bit of discomfort in my left leg. It started out as a cramping feeling in the lower hamstring, kind of where it attaches to the back of the knee. It never locked up completely, it just felt very tight. And, though it would subside on occasion, it never entirely went away. I mention this now, because the pain (yeah, I’d call it pain) has spread down and now includes the upper part of the calf. Basically the top and bottom of the back of the knee are not having a whole lot of fun. I know my stride has shortened a bit, but it doesn’t feel like I’m all that whacked out. Not that it would matter. I’m going to finish this thing.

I’m not sure when I told my running shadow to go on ahead and not to worry about me. I think it was halfway into the 20th mile as we’re scaling the mountain where Osceola Parkway goes over World Drive. It’s getting to be time for that last 10k and I’m not feeling all that perky.

(My fourth five mile block shows some deterioration as the splits were 6:25, 6:33, 6:30, 6:26, and 6:35 for a total time of 32:29 which was a 6:29.8 pace. My time through 20 miles is 2:08:15, 6:24.7 pace. That is my “official” time through 20 miles. As I mentioned earlier, my “punched” splits have been pretty close, but I’ve adjusted them just a little to get thing to add up to the “official” times. My watch actually had 2:08:16 through 20 miles, but the big clock would have had something in the neighborhood of 2:08:05.)

The final 10k . . .

I figure I need to run the last 6.2 miles around 41:30 to get my sub-2:50 finish. I am aware of a discrepancy between the running time on my watch and the running time on the big clocks. I can’t see my watch well enough to know exactly what I’m dealing with, but I’m going with about 15 seconds of cheat time. I hoping, again, that the official time-keepers can figure it all out. I want to be enough under 2:50 that it shouldn’t really matter. But, mostly, I’m just trying to finish the thing.

There’s an out and back near the Wide World of Sports complex. It’s kind of a pain in the legs, but ya gotta run the entire 26.2 miles no matter how they lay them out. It is a bit of an opportunity to see who’s ahead and who’s behind, but I didn’t worry about any of those folks. Either the aheads or the behinds.

By the time I get to MGM (or Hollywood Studios as it’s now called), running on the red carpet, I’m ready for the thing to be over with. Well, I’ve been ready for it to be over for quite some time. But, it wasn’t then and it’s not now. I’m running alone, which is not necessarily a problem, but it does mean I have to focus on the course. Not that that’s a problem, either, with all the yellow cones marking the way. (So, how the heck did I manage to go off course a few years ago? Back in the Magic Kingdom, with lots and lots of yellow cones.)

It’s another short visit to a Disney park, and after about a mile, I’m out on the sidewalk bordering the waterway between Hollywood Studios and the Boardwalk area. I know the 24 mile marker is right near our hotel room, we’re staying at the Boardwalk Villas. Hmmm, I think. Do I have my room key with me?

I know the 25th mile is the worst one of the race. It’s just long. It has to be. Plus there are several bridges over waterways. Plus the odd pedestrian. But, it has to be covered, so I cover it. And I’m mildly upset when I don’t see the mile marker and the big clock signifying the end of it. Finally I come to the conclusion that, yes, I did miss the marker and, yes, I am in the last mile of the race. I trot around the World Showcase of Epcot, kind of like I started my morning way back ago.

This time I don’t leave near Germany, but instead I continue all the way around and cross over the main bridge. Which may or may not have been lit up. There are quite a few cheering spectators and/or park visitors here. I know I’m nearing the end. Like Kiawah Island, I’m looking at my watch to see how close I am to 2:50.

There’s the choir near the 26 mile marker. Now it’s time for my guts to start their normal, at least lately, attempted foray towards freedom. Run, run, run. Heave, heave, heave. Like Kiawah Island, nothing materializes. These seem to be a little more violent than those from last month. Man, I think, breaking 2:50 sure is painful. I’d better keep pushing because I’ll really be upset if I don’t break it and I’m going through all this pain and suffering.

I come around the bend and see the big clock. Yeah, I’m going to make it. I’m only focusing on two things, the finish line and keeping my guts inside. I cross under the big clock which reads 2:49:34. I punch the button on my watch and see 2:49:49. Guess we had about a 15 second head start. I’m really hoping that things are figured out correctly and I get that sub-2:50.

My shadow is waiting near the chip removal folks. We shake hands. He tells me he finished with a 2:46. I congratulate him.

(I did achieve my goal of about a 41:30 final 10k with a . . . 41:30. The mile splits were 6:17, 6:33, 6:38, 6:29, 7:04, 6:57 and 1:32 for the last two tenths of a mile. The 41:30 is a 6:41.6 pace. I did manually figure the 7:04 and 6:57 for miles 25 and 26 since I missed the mile marker.)

My official time ends up being 2:49:45, so I managed to sneak another one in just under the 2:50 time. I placed 37th overall, getting chicked once, and I finished first in the M50-54 age group.

The hard part is over . . .

Steve on the homestretch . . .

I move pretty quickly through all the finish line stuff. The plan was to get back to the hotel and regroup before joining Renate, Mary Ivy, and Jeanne at the 24 mile marker and walking their last couple of miles in with them. So, I got my medal, posed for a picture, retrieved my clothes bag, posed for a picture with Minnie and then Mickey (the Disney weenies wouldn’t let me get one picture with the both of them), changed into dry clothes, then hopped on the bus back to the hotel. On the bus I went through all the text messages with the various splits for the various runners. I saw that my finish time was 2:50:03. I was mildly concerned.

I chose to get off the bus at the first stop, the Swan or the Dolphin, and walk over to the Boardwalk Villas. It’d give me a chance to see the runners as they started off on the Boardwalk section. I wasn’t sure, but there was a possibility I’d see Jeff or Morgan or Valerie. I didn’t and I headed up to the room. Where I called Renate, as the plan called for, and found that they were just getting to the Animal Kingdom, right about at the 16 mile marker. It was going to be at least two hours before they made it to the hotel. I popped open a Guinness and fired up the computer.

And found that the times appeared to be a tad screwed up. My chip time was showing up as the 2:50:03 that I saw as a text message, but the clock time was a couple of minutes faster. (I don’t recall, as I’m writing this, exactly what it was, but something in the 2:47 or 2:48 area.) Things were completely out of whack. And not just for us blue (early) starters. The red guys were also screwed up. Well, I thought as I drank my Guinness, I’m sure the powers that be will figure something out. (For the purposes of this story, I’m going to use the times that now appear on the results web page.)

This is my third big honkin' Mickey.
Renate won't let me put it above the fireplace with the others. She says two on the mantel is the limit.

I saw Jeff had finished in just under four hours. A good Goofy marathon following yesterday’s 1:39:36 for the half marathon. I don’t recall when I saw that Valerie had finished her first marathon, but she came across the finish line with a 4:34:36. And I noticed that Morgan had really imploded after the halfway mat and was probably not having any fun. I tried to get in touch with Lori, Morgan’s wife, to let her know that he was going to be a bit behind schedule, but I didn’t have the necessary cell phone numbers. Turns out that Morgan had gotten a message to Lori (by way of Lori’s parents back in Rome, New York) using an aid station volunteer’s phone.

I know that I had back and forth conversations with Roger and Dave and, probably, Nicole, trying to figure out where people were and what they were doing. I was going to stay holed up at the hotel for the time being. Actually, I went out to the walkway to wait for Morgan. And Roger soon joined me.

I realized, while walking over from the Swan, that I really wasn’t going to be able to follow through on the original plan of walking the last couple of miles with the girls. My left leg was bothering me quite a bit and I quickly came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the girls. And, since the three of them – Renate, Jeanne, and Mary Ivy – were still together, there wasn’t as much of a need to cause problems by interjecting another person into the group. So, after another phone conversation with Renate (she called me when they were near the 20 mile mat), it was decided that I’d stay at the hotel, at the 24 mile marker, while Roger would head to the finish line and cheer for the girls there.

Jeff on the homestretch . . .

In the meantime, Roger was going to wait with me until Morgan went by before going back to Epcot. He went up to the room for something, so I asked him to bring down another Guinness for me. (I had to work on replenishing my fluids, don’t you know.) I also had him get a can of Bud Light (Morgan’s flavor of choice) for Morgan, just in case a beer was what he wanted for the last couple of miles.

Morgan did come by, slowly, declined the beer, and trudged off towards the finish line. I was reasonably sure he’d beat the girls. Roger left soon after and I settled in for what I figured to be another 45 minutes or so. At some point, Nicole came out to join me. Valerie decided that a hot shower was much better than sitting in the hot sun (and, by now, it was hot with the temperature getting towards the mid-70s under a cloudless sky) and Jeff, as is his norm, was wandering around aimlessly somewhere.

I randomly cheered for folks streaming by. I notice a guy leave the course and fumble around for his room key. “Buddy,” I think, “you’re going the wrong way.” I try to do a little stretching. I contemplate heading up to the room for another Guinness, but I’d never hear the end of it if I missed the girls. I sit on a rock. I stand back up. I tease Nicole. I shuffle from one foot to the other.

And then they’re here. Smiling broadly and walking strongly. They pause momentarily as Renate gets a smooch. And then another as she tells Nicole to take our picture. And then they’re off towards the finish. Jeff materializes just as they start walking away. Perfect timing for LostOne, as usual. I call up Roger and Dave to let them know the girls are on the way and then I head up for a shower and more Guinness.

Congrats all the way around . . .

24 miles down, 2.2 to go . . .

Renate, Mary Ivy, and Jeanne on the homestretch . . .

Eventually the entire gang re-congregated in our room. Hugs, kisses, and handshakes all around. There were lots of ups, and a few downs, out on the highways and overpasses and parking lots of Disney World, but everybody finished what they started. And there was a ton of shiny gold medals to prove it.

For the four girls, it was a terrific accomplishment. I think they were all a little afraid of the distance, of the commitment that would be necessary. But, they put in the training and they conquered their fears. I am very proud of them. I can understand the feelings of Renate and Mary Ivy and Jeanne never to do another one. The amount of training they had to do in preparation for a 6.5 hour day is a bit overwhelming.

And I’m happy that Valerie is already talking about wanting to go faster. She had an excellent debut marathon. Hopefully we’ll get a good weather day in September for Rochester as we all gather again for a marathon. Ray is planning on joining us for his first go at the distance. Renate is going to drop down and do the half, but I think Roger and Mary Ivy have retired from racing and will move on to other challenges and adventures.

The end . . . sort of . . .

The girls had pretty good timing with their marathon finishes and we were all able to sit down and watch the Eagles playoff game with the Giants. We ended up drinking our room dry. Well, not quite. We were close to dry by halftime when Dave and Roger went down to the General Store and spent a small fortune on another batch of beer. And then we finished off the remainder while going through every possible combination of people and medals for pictures following the game.

I got a nice card from all my athletes . . .

Medal Pictures

Renate, Steve, Jeff, Valerie, Morgan, Mary Ivy, Roger, Jeanne
(I think there were three different cameras we were looking at.)

The Medal Haul
(Three Donald Ducks, Seven Mickey Mouses, Two Goofys)

Following all the picture gyrations, the 11 Noone relations headed over to Hollywood Studios. The others wanted to do some kind of ride – what kind of ride is there in Hollywood Studios? – but Valerie, Morgan, and I wanted to find a bar. And, surprise, surprise, we did. And, better yet, it was at the same place we were having dinner, the 50’s Prime Time Café, so there was no danger of us getting lost. We were entertained by the bartender, originally from Minnesota. I’d like to say that we were entertaining as well, but I’m not sure we were. Valerie and Morgan did make sure to tell anybody who would listen that I won my Age Group. I think they were hoping for free beers.

It was kind of a bummer that they couldn’t get the second playoff game on the black and white TV, but that just gave us something else to get on the bartender about. It wasn’t all that long until everybody else returned and we went into the dining room for dinner.

And abuse. The Café advertises “old-fashioned fun and gentle ribbing that’s served up along with the food.” Our waitress started by giving everybody a nickname. We had Scooter, Sparky, Skippy, Stud, Mom, Cuz, Princess, Sweat Pea and several others. It really was pretty good fun and I think Morgan, Valerie, and I amused the children.

And then it was bedtime. Monday was going to be another big day with the second Epcot Shuffle.

Major kudos go out to Lori, sherpa supreme. She got up super early both Saturday and Sunday to support Morgan and she still had the energy to go park hopping with the kids.

Charts and Graphs and Links (Oh, My) . . .

This was my fifth trip around Disney. I'm in no real hurry to go back. The land of the mouse has lost some of its magic.

I'll include a table of the mile splits for Disney World. Here's a link to the mile splits for all my sub-3:00 marathons.

Walt Disney World Marathon January 11, 2009
Miles 1-5	Miles 6-10	Miles 11-15	Miles 16-20	Miles 21-25	Miles 26-26.2
6:09 6:22 6:24 6:19 6:18	6:22 6:20 6:27 6:25 6:28	6:31 6:26 6:28 6:21 6:26	6:25 6:33 6:30 6:26 6:35	6:17 6:33 6:38 6:29 7:04	6:57 1:32
31:32	32:02	32:12	32:29	41:30
6:18.4	6:24.4	6:26.4	6:29.8	6:41.6
First Half	1:23:41	6:23.3	Second Half	1:26:04	6:34.2
Total Time	2:49:45	6:28.7	Second Half as % of First Half --- 102.85%

Career Road Marathons

Event and Year
Philadelphia '94
Philadelphia '95
Philadelphia '96
Philadelphia '97
Philadelphia '98
Boston '99
New York '00
Dublin '01
Disney '03
Philadelphia '03
Boston '04
Disney '05
Marine Corps '05
Disney '06
Disney '07
MDI '07
Rocket City '07
Chicago '08
Richmond '08
Kiawah Island '08
Disney '09

Chip
Time
3:18:44
3:11:38
3:05:18
3:07:52
3:03:58
3:17:04
3:08:38
2:48:22
2:47:13
2:48:00
2:55:52
2:46:49
2:47:14
2:46:44
2:52:28
2:49:28
2:46:01
2:46:56
2:56:47
2:49:39
2:49:45

Average
Time
3:18:44
3:15:11
3:11:53
3:10:53
3:09:30
3:10:46
3:10:27
3:07:42
3:05:25
3:03:41
3:02:58
3:01:37
3:00:31
2:59:32
2:59:04
2:58:28
2:57:44
2:57:08
2:57:07
2:56:44
2:56:24

Age
36.14
37.13
38.15
39.15
40.14
40.55
42.10
43.08
44.28
45.14
45.55
46.28
47.08
47.27
48.27
49.03
49.19
50.03
50.12
50.18
50.28

Thanks, everybody, for reading. Hope you had a good time. By the way, if anybody has any comments, queries, suggestions, corrections, etc., please pass them along.

Return to Noone's Saloone & Golf Club.

Originally published on February 3, 2009.