Disney Half Marathon/Marathon (The Goofy) 2010

By: Darryl Strack

A bit of history. When I joined this group in ’06 most of you know it was b/c I lost a bet and had to do a marathon. Doing a marathon was one of the craziest (good for you) things I’d ever considered. The more I learned and hung out with the group the higher the bar seemed to be raised. Hazel was an early mentor and had done THREE marathons! Why in the world would anyone do more than 1? I was fascinated. That evolved into multiple marathons, back-to-back weekends, Marathon Maniacs, triathlons, full Ironman competitors and now a large inductees of ultra runners! The extraordinary for most people has become ordinary for this group.

If someone were to tell me they were going to sign up for a marathon with 3 weeks of training, I’d call them an idiot. If they followed up by saying that their long run would be 12 miles, I’d call them something worse than an idiot. Follow that with doing a ½ marathon the day before and being injury plagued all year, there was absolutely NO reason for me to move forward with trying the Goofy Challenge (1/2 marathon Sat, full on Sun). Except for 1 thing. Principle. Disney has a no refund, no deferment, no transfer policy. I was left with the option to watch Kathy do the marathon, or try it and just DNF when my body started telling me to back off. Michelle, Jonathan and Stacey were the most vocal on their concerns for my long-term health and it was actually their advice which helped me proceed cautiously enough to complete the task successfully. I was amused with all of the politically correct ways everyone came up with to call me a jacka$s, but I knew better than anyone how absurd my goal was, so it was nice to know people were as concerned as they were.

On to the races!

Day #1 – The Strack family running weekend started with Kathy and Conner running the 5k. I had originally signed up for this race, but thought it prudent to let K run it with Conner. They ran it in 33 min’s which is 4 min’s longer than Conner’s PR, but a VERY solid performance for a 6 year old in very heavy race traffic. He wore his medal to school today and loved the Up (Disney Movie) theme so much that he even had a blast in the cold.

Day #2 – The ½ marathon. I had acid reflux for about he 5^th time in my life the night before and slept a grand total of 0 hours. I was stressed and second guessing my decision, which I am sure, was a contributor to the reflux. This wasn’t even the big race; this was 2 nights before…. I was running the ½ with Hazel’s friend Pam, who I’d run with a bit at MCM in ’07. Pam is one of the few people that thank race volunteers on the course as much as I do. The freezing rain started about an hour before the race. BTW, this race is in Orlando, which is still in Florida. Freezing rain? Seriously? The year Stacey and I ran it, I was drenched in sweat by m1. Not to be this year. I went 15 minutes faster than my pre-race goal of 2:15, but felt good. Today was about getting through it and on to the marathon tomorrow. The freezing rain turned to rain by m4, and was pretty light with a pleasant breeze based on how I’d layered. I was sore later in the afternoon. Not a good prelude to a marathon but conditions were not bad thinking of what my, “Frosty friends” were going through!

Day #3 – with a full 3 hours of sleep and no nap the day before, I was 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th guessing my decision. Was I actually as stubborn as I now appeared to be? Just let it go Darryl. Roll over and go back to sleep. You aren’t going to be able to keep up with Kathy anyway. Brian Poplin’s story of a messing up his IT band and WALKING 15 miles at Disney to finish, and Stacey staying with her sister as she would run, stop and throw up, and run again, motivated me. I’ll walk if I have to. If it takes 7 hours, I WILL finish. I got out of bed and limped to the bathroom. Wow. I was a LOT sorer than I though. This is really bad. Good. Its 26 degrees with a 15mph wind. Colder than freezing rain morning yesterday. I said goodbye to Kathy @ m1 as I decided to run 1m then walk 1min, implementing an ultra-philosophy Jonathan had shared with me and others doing the 50k. I caught back up with Kathy about m4 and we ran together for a while, but my knee started bothering me. I walked for a few minutes and introduced ibuprofen into the formula (goodbye liver, but the bourbon was probably getting to ya anyway). Kathy and I ran together on/off with me walking/running and running with her all the way up to mile 16 or so. It was at this point I had decided that my body was pretty loose and I actually felt better now than I had all day. I was going to finish. We did the last 10 side by side and crossed the finish line together at 4:48, 12 minutes under her target, despite the on-line clock saying I beat her by a minute. Kathy had finished her 1^st marathon smiling the whole way, without hitting the wall and put up with my jabber the entire time. And me? I got away with probably one of the silliest decisions I’ve ever made based on a year of injury and poor pre-race training. Good thing there’s no refund policy @ Disney I guess!

Lessons learned

• With the inability to train and add mileage, I focused heavily on fueling before during and after the race. Far more so than I ever have. I was actually less sore after the race than beforehand. It could have been the pace, but I also recovered very well and am without soreness already (Wed morning).
• When in doubt, BRING IT! For an out of town marathon, I tend to over pack. Good thing. As weather was predicted to be in the 50’s on Sunday, it was 16 with the wind chill. Fortunately I had stuff to layer with!
• Don’t throw water on the course at water stations if it’s below freezing. While skiing is fun, it’s more fun with a lift ticket than during a marathon. be considerate of runners behind you and mindful of temp’s.
• Enjoy the journey. Looking back on the short amount of time I’ve been running, I need a race to keep me focused. I have always focused on the goal, instead of making getting there the fun part.
• Take free advice. While I’ve always welcomed it, I haven’t always embraced it as much as I intend to moving forward. Even the smart-a$s advice resonates.

From now on, “Goofy” will not just be a playful character reference, but a reference of pride, principle, advice and a little stupidity having once again overcome common sense and sanity. ONLY possible with the guidance I received from those generous enough to share it with me. The remainder of 2010, I resolve to listen to good advice from those wiser than me, and keep the same ultra-crazy, designated drinking, maniac friends that help me continue to redefine what is possible and make the extraordinary, ordinary.

Looking forward to seeing you guys “on the run!”