So, with over a third of my weekend running done, I made sure to really focus on my recovery after the half marathon to be ready for the next day. My legs felt great and I was totally ready for the full marathon…I wasn’t quite ready for what happened that night at dinner though…
Long story short, I ended up in the bathroom throwing up during dinner. No idea why.
Gross, I know, but unfortunately it’s part of my marathon weekend. As I was in that bathroom all I could think was, “you have GOT to me kidding me! I have a freaking marathon to run tomorrow!!!” The weird thing is, just as quickly as it came on, it went away and after 10 minutes of being violently ill, I was fine. Now my only problem was that I was going to be starting a marathon with nothing in my stomach since I hadn’t eaten dinner.
So, when my alarm went off at 2:30 in the morning I started off with some oatmeal to try to give myself a little fuel and then I headed up to the lobby to meet Pat for the bus again. Once we got to the starting area we met up with the rest of our friends…
Me, Keith, Pat, Dan, Adam, Scott, Marc and Jenn
During my training I had really been hoping to PR this race, but because of the unexpected crazy heat and humidity I changed my plan and decided to just take it easy (runDisney even had heat advisories and warnings posted all over!). While we were in the corral waiting for the start Jenn, Dan and I decided we’d run together and just have fun (company for 26.2 long, hot miles…ummm, yes please!).
The National Anthem was sung (we didn’t miss it this time!), the fireworks went off, and we were on our way! Jenn and I both had family that would be along the course in different places to pass us snacks, cheer us on and take pictures! Our first stop right around mile 4 was Jenn’s family by the Transportation and Ticket Center where her dad passed us the BEST mid-race snack EVER…
Why yes, that IS a mid-race Dole Whip! Thank you Jenn’s Dad!
After our Dole Whip (which we did manage to eat while running!), we headed into the Magic Kingdom…
(photo by Daniel Wanderman)
…where we met up with my mom and sister on Main Street!
Christina, Mom (in the orange shirts), Jenn and Me (photo taken by Dan)
We continued down Main Street…
View running down Main Street…definitely my favorite part of the race!
…and followed the same route of the half marathon through Tomorrowland, the castle, and out Frontierland.
(Note: I have a TON of pictures (it was 26.2 miles after all!), so I’ll try not to over-do it in this recap and I’ll do another post with more pictures in a few days.)
At mile 8 we got to the Walt Disney World Speedway, which was new to the course this year. This was actually really cool and the track was lined with lots of cool vintage cars and even some Disney celebri-cars!
We also literally “ran” into fellow blogger friend Heather on the speedway!
A few miles after the speedway we got to Animal Kingdom (really, at how many marathons do you think you can stop and take a picture with a donkey!)…
…and on the way out we saw my dad who gave me my snack of pretzels and OJ!
After Animal Kingdom there was about 4 miles of highway and then we entered the ESPN Wide World of Sports for miles 17-20.
I don’t know how I’ve gotten to mile 20 without mentioning the heat, but OH MY GOODNESS it was freaking HOT! (You may be wondering why the hell I’m wearing long pants then…compression. I decided wearing the compression was worth it for the full marathon.) At mile 17 they were handing out wet sponges, which was AMAZING! I kept mine (which is the white thing tucked into my sports bra in all my pictures after mile 17) and kept re-wetting it at the water stops and squeezing it over my head, that little sponge was seriously a life saver!
Mile 21 – my favorite race picture EVER…
Yup, that’s me doing push-ups with the green army guy at mile 21. Jenn’s idea, but I LOVE it, seriously best race photo ever!
Mile 22 brought us to Hollywood Studios where we saw Jeff Galloway who was nice enough to take a quick photo!
Out of Hollywood Studios we ran along the Boardwalk and into Epcot for a lap around World Showcase…
…before heading out of the park, past the mile 26 choir…
…and towards the finish!
Finish line photo taken by Dad!
Goofy Challenge complete!
Live, Run, Grow 
I LOVE all your photos….fantastic way to spend the race since you decided against trying for a PR. The sponge was awesome and I too had it for the duration of the race and actually was surprised at the few people who had kept theirs. My skirt was soaked by the finish line from the sponge but I am convinced that help me push through the last 4-5 miles. Awesome that you had all your medals at the finish. Congrats on Goofy Challenge!
Thanks Pam, congratulations to you too! That sponge was AMAZING, I just wish I had remembered to pull it out of my shirt when I took pictures…it looks so silly! Oh well!
Great recap! I’m glad your illness went away quickly; I’ve been reading about quite a few people who are now sick after the race 😦
Luckily I (knock on wood!) haven’t gotten sick after the race! I think it’s just a lot on your body and probably weakens your immune system.
I was very close to signing up for the 2013 Goofy but then opted out to “just” the marathon. Congratulations on killing it! I’ve suffered through the misfortune of having an upset stomach the day before a race and it didn’t go so well for me — glad to see you made it despite the speed bump. Great pictures too. I would have most likely fainted after doing some pushups mid-race.
Congratulations on the marathon!
The funny thing about the push-ups is that Jenn and I were both saying how EASY they seemed in the middle of the race since it was a break for your legs! It’s not like my arms had been doing much the past few hours! : ) It was totally worth the picture, it’s one of my favorites!
I actually did the full (my first) at WDW this year, and on the inspiration of my son, dropped and pulled out 26 push-ups in front of the family at mile 26.1… and it was, very surprisingly, fairly easy. My son did 1 at Mile 1, 2 at Mile 2,… 13 at Mile 13 for the half. Not sure I could do that yet for the Full. We’ll see.
YAY! It was so great to run into yall on the race track! The dole whips crack me up. Congrats on goofy and I am glad I got to see you a couple times!
Haha, I know…I LOVE that Jenn’s Dad got us Dole Whips! We actually had one when we went by the Poly too!
My wife *very* badly wants to know how you managed that… I’d love to get her that for her next race down there!
Congrats again on the Goofy! Just wow, awesome, amazing! Can’t wait to get to try it myself…I mean, if Joey Fatone can do it lol
And glad you were able to recover in time for the race! Maybe just pre-insanity, I mean race jitters?
I actually took a pic with Joey Fatone mid-race, but it came out terrible, all blurry!
I honestly think it was something I ate that made me sick…I don’t really get nervous at all before races, I just sort of pretended it didn’t happen so I didn’t over think it and stress about it!
Love that picture of you doing pushups with the army soldier too! Even with the hot humid weather, seems like you had a great race and a great time overall!
I love that picture too, totally my new favorite race picture! I really did have a great time, the hot humid weather just added to the challenge!
Yea! Congrats and loved the recap! Im sure we were running together for part of it as I finished just minutes in front of you! Congrats!
Too funny! I’ll have to keep an eye out for you next time : )
Hands down the most fun I’ve had during a marathon! 🙂 Have my two running partners to thank for that definitely.
I know! I never thought I would refer to a marathon as “fun”, but I had a blast and honestly can’t wait until next year!
Great recap! 🙂
Great recap!! How awesome that you guys had a dole float during a marathon? I love the picture of you doing pushups with the green army man! Congrats!! What an amazing accomplishment!!
Thanks Emily! The Dole Whip mid-race was SO yummy! Too bad they don’t have them at the water stops, they would be perfect especially with the heat this weekend!
Such a cite pic of you and your Dad! Congrats on Goofy! Such a fun race. Thinking about doing Goofy next year…
Thanks Karla! Goofy was a lot of fun…the more Disney running I can get in the better : ) I’ll definitely be doing it again!
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