Finally home! Cold, icy, bleak home =P The Florida weather has spoiled me... But now for a long-winded race recap that no one will probably read unless they are really curious. I am limping a bit, with stiff legs and blisters the size of extra toes, but I still havent stopped feeling amazing about what I did yesterday. Wore my medal out to victory dinner, and wore it for the flight home today. Finally took it off when I got home, to hang it proudly on my medal rack. As for the race experience.... It was amazing. Scold me if you must, but I didnt stop to wait in line to take pictures with the characters or ride the roller coaster.... I know Disney isnt really a competitive marathon, but after all my training and build up, I really wanted to know how well I could do. I took a few drive-by photos, and I certainly enjoyed seeing the characters and scenery they had set up for us. They even had fake snow falling around the castle where the Frozen characters were hanging out! I do think I still had the full Disney experience - I certainly high-fived every extended hand I passed, responded with a whoo! to every spectator who cheered for me by name (which was an amazing feeling), and accepted every powerade, banana, and tiny chocolate bar handed to me. I also waved to almost every camera, because Im a ham like that (photos to follow when they are all uploaded on the official site - the previews indicate that my finishing picture, in particular, is glorious). Tactics.... I sort of went in with very few and very simple race tactics. Start running. Try not to stop running. If you must stop running, at least keep walking. I kept almost exactly to the pace I worked out for myself, and amazingly held it steady for almost all of the race (except for the bit where I stopped for the bathroom.... that mile has an extra couple of minutes tacked on to its pace lol). As nervous as I was, I was always pretty sure I could finish. That is, sure I was physically capable of at least walking the distance, if worst came to worst. But I thought it would take longer, that there -would- be a lot of walking. Amazingly, I walked only briefly at drink stops (found out early that I could not gracefully drink powerade out of a paper cup while running) and at the med tents the two times I accepted Ibuprofen and a bit of biofreeze, but otherwise ran the whole way. What I am now feeling, however, is the results of having perhaps more willpower than physical preparedness. Here comes the cliche: I could have/should have trained more/harder/better etc. My cardio endurance is great - I was never once winded or panting or anything during the run, and my technology tells me my heart rate never really hit higher than 80% exertion. But my leg muscles were so not up for this. By halfway through my shins were screaming, my hips were radiating pain, and my knees were swelling up. But I figured that going slow hurt almost as much as going fast, except that it would hurt for longer that way. So I went fast. I think thats part of why I kept running - anytime I slowed to drink powerade, starting up again got harder and harder. Those short breaks would allow my legs to start stiffening up, and only more running kept them loose. Near the end, I stopped breaking for drink stops. With five miles to go, my legs finally just about went numb. By the final mile, I was so hopped up on adrenaline that I felt nothing. I actually flat out sprinted the last quarter-mile. The finish line, the medal hung around my neck, amazement and joy.... Then, bam. Limping like a boss, unable to sit down or stand up again without help. The swelling has gone down today, but Im still achy and stiff. And my blisters are still trying to kill me. So now, into a hot epsom salt bath I go. And tomorrow, a glorious glorious sports massage. And so. much. sleep.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 00:20:44 +0000
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