So Disney has come and gone. It has been two days and I am still recovering. My legs are sore, mostly when I sit for a while or try to walk up the stairs. But race day was fantastic and honestly the marathon at Disney is one that you should try to get to if you ever plan to do a marathon!

Ready!

So I got up at 3:45 that morning. I slept well the night before, considering, getting about five hours. I had everything laid out on the kitchen table in the condo where we were staying and I dressed in about 5 minutes flat. I grabbed breakfast (a muffin, a bagel and a banana) and headed out the door.

Set!

I got to the park in no time, as we were only five miles away and traffic was nowhere as bad as I thought it would be. The morning was nice and brisk, so I wore the marathon shirt they gave out on top of a longer sports bra. I knew i’d warm up when we got moving but wanted to be warm until then. I stood in line at the porta potties first thing. I met a few girls who were doing their first marathon and one high schooler who had done her twenty mile training run on a treadmill – at a 7:35 pace (are you KIDDING me?!)

We went down to the corrals about twenty minutes prior to the race and I peed again! While waiting we watched the full moon, which was pretty awesome. At 5:50 the marathon began. Here’s a shot from the start line:

Go!

And off we went! Mile three found me hanging out with Sleeping Beauty:

What a great sport all of the characters were considering we were a sweaty disgusting crew!

I stopped along the route to take tons of pictures for my daughters. Going into this race I knew I just wanted my time to be around 4:30. Anything under that and I would have been amazed as much as i stopped and anything over 5 hours I knew would upset me.

For the first eight miles I did really well, averaging about a 9:20 pace. For me in a long race this is really good. From miles 8 to about 16 I slowed down some. I stopped for a few more pictures, like this one:

and this one:

I knew my girls would love this shot as our favorite movie ever is Mary Poppins!

Then at mile 18 I went to step down in stride and my leg totally froze up. Don’t ask me what happened. I only know that I couldn’t straighten it out and had to get over ont he side of the course. Luckily I always run on the side of the pact so that was easily done. I massaged it out, tried to stretch, and tried to recover. I stopped at a station for tylenol and Biofreeze. I’d never tried the latter before, but they say it helps soothe sore muscles. For my issue it didn’t work though; in fact, by mile 20 my leg was freezing up every half mile or so. I would ahve to stop, rub and stretch, walk a littl e(I was fast walking at about a 14 minute mile pace) and then I would try to jog again. Sometimes it worked and I could jog for half a mile or so, and sometimes it was just too painful or my leg would not straighten completely and I would have to keep walking.

At mile 26 I snapped this shot:

I was in quite a bit of pain at this point and didn’t think I’d be able to jog across the finish line. I was actually hoping I would simply make it there, walking even. But then of course I started to cry. The emotions and the fatigue and the frustration with my leg got to me.

It is hard to explain,t he marathon experience. You put so much time and effort into training-months and months-and then the day comes and you are totally prepared for just about everything until something like this happens.

My mom was waiting at the finish line, as were my husband and children. I tried to explain my disappointment to my mom and she said, “My Lord, you went 26.2 miles, that’s more than many people will ever do.” I understood that, but I also understood that I was over 5 miles and in looking back at my Garmin I found this:

At mile 20 I was at 3 hours, 29 minutes, which means i could have made my goal of 4:30 if my knee hadn’t frozen up.

I still averaged 11 minute miles, but this was the time I was actually moving. I had to stop and my Garmin turned off, so it was actually more if you count the entire race.

I had trained really well for this. I know I put in the miles and preparation, and so the knee issue was a disappointment.

But today I feel differently. I finished my second marathon, even though I had to walk. I did it! Number two is down. I feel good, my knee appears to be doing okay. I am sore, but that is to be considered, and not really any more sore than I was after my first marathon.

In terms of the entire experience I was much more prepared and refreshed this time. I knew what I was doing and I had put the miles behind me for the training runs. I knew how to handle the mental exhaustion of the race as well, whereas last time it was a bit tough. I didn’t use the porta potties more than twice on the course, woo hoo! Last time I stopped at least six times and my stomach was a wrenching mess.

Here are a few finishing shots:

Me at the finish line with my medal

My mom and me

The girls meet Minnie Mouse!

I have a few posts to do about the marathon. It was a fantastic one and I highly recommend Disney for a marathon stop if you are going to run one. I would like to do it again next year and enjoy the parks after the race. In the meantime I’m going to try to ice up the knee some more and get back into shape. I need to figure out what went wrong this time, why my ;leg did what it did, and make some changes so that it doesn’t happen again.

After:

So the past few days I have been recovering. I was really super tired the night of the race and slept about ten hours. I slept on the way home, too. I didn’t end up nauseous much, and  I didn’t overheat or dehydrate, which were my greatest concerns. I’ve just been really hungry and thirsty the last few days, and sore of course! I plan to go out on my first walk tomorrow morning and will try to jog a few paces but don’t know about the knee or my muscles. It may take a few more days to get into the groove. Last time I ran two days after the marathon but I didn’t hurt my leg during the race so I was in a better position.

I’ll post more soon!