(Broken promises.)
So yeah, I promised a new post "next week" a few weeks ago. I got sidetracked by my vacation plans, and my job trying to get me to wrap up a million loose ends before that vacation, that I was never able to squeeze in the post. But hey, one of the beauties of having an infinitesimal readership is that when you break promises like that, you have nobody to answer to!
So let's get to the race report! This was for the 2014 Goofy Challenge, which is running a half marathon through Epcot and Magic Kingdom on Saturday, and then turning around the next day to run a full marathon through all four Disney parks the next day. I'll start a couple of days before on Thursday, when we finally hit the road for Orlando. My wife has a fear of flying, so we always drive to our vacations, and this time was no different. We started right after the kids got out of school that day and drove straight through the night into Disney, getting there around 10 AM. The reason we drove straight through was (1) we are cheapskates who don't like spending money on dinky hotel rooms somewhere in South Carolina, and (2) we were so freaking excited to get there we didn't want to stop! We made it to our resort, Coronado Springs, was able to get an early check-in, and after a few hours of gawking at how pretty the resort was and unpacking in our room, we hit Hollywood Studios on no sleep. The kids loved it, but I knew I'd be paying for it in the morning at the HM starting line. I kept trying to drop subtle hints that hey, maybe we should leave the park early and call it a night, but the family was having none of it. And they were having such a good time that I didn't have the heart to tear them away.
(Hannah, in her self-described "movie star pose".)
So we finally crawl back to the room for me to get a few hours of sleep. My original plan was to wake up at 3:00 AM for the shuttle (the HM started at 5:30), but I decided to sleep in to 4:00, figuring I had just enough time to make it on the last shuttle if I did this. And it worked out pretty well: I woke up, ate a bagel with peanut butter for breakfast, washed it down with cold coffee, got my running clothes on, and made it out the door by 4:20 and on the shuttle at 4:40. The only problem was, in my sleep-deprived haze, I forgot my running bib and didn't realize it until I was on the shuttle! For any non-runners reading this, the running bib is the sheet of paper with your number that you pin onto your clothes when running a race. It has the chip on the back that lets the officials track your time as you cross checkpoints and the finish line. I had no idea if I would be allowed to run the race without my bib, and I didn't want to find out. So when we got to Epcot for the start, I told the shuttle driver I would need to go back and get my bib, and would there be any way for me to get back once I got it? The driver said sure, he would wait for me to go back to my room and take me there himself (what an awesome guy!) So that's what happened: I sprinted back to my room (a warmup for my race, I told myself), got the bib, and made it back to Epcot a little bit after 5:00. After walking a half-mile to the park itself, going through security and bag-check, and walking another mile or so the starting corrals, I got there barely in the nick of time. I didn't even have time to fully stretch before our corral was walking towards to starting line and we were off.
Originally, I had planned to make the half marathon the race I would go all out for, and then take it easy on the marathon the next day. But the conditions for the half marathon were miserable: 75 degrees (before the sun was even up) and 100% humidity with no rain. So after a few miles at my goal pace, when I felt myself already flagging from the muggy weather and lack of sleep, I made a decision to conserve myself on the half and put more effort into the full. I skipped the extra caffeine and slowed my pace to something easy, just focusing on keeping myself moving and getting to the finish line. Unlike my series of unwise decisions in Philly, this turned out to be the right decision. While my splits were positive, I was able to finish the race without bonking.
While my Garmin showed my time as 2:08:01, my official chip time was 2:12:27. Since my race PR for the half is 2:09:58, I'm not sure whether I PR'ed this one or not. It's the first time I've seen such a huge discrepancy between Garmin and chip time. Considering the bad conditions, I'll give myself a PR, but with a Barry Bonds style asterisk beside it. I know I can run a sub-2:00 HM, so hopefully I can shatter both times sometime this year and quiet the critics ;)
(Next on Sportscenter: was the Garmin illegally tampered??)
So after crossing the finish line, I got set up to take the traditional "I just finished my race, look at my shiny medal!" selfie, when I looked down and noticed the little trails of blood on my chest. That's right, kids: I forgot to pack the nipple guard! So rather than subject my Facebook friends to the aftermath of my chafing, I decided to take my shirt off (it was drenched with like 10 pounds of sweat anyway) and took my pictures shirtless.
(HEY LADEEZ)
After recovering and stretching for a bit, I made it back to my resort and spent the rest of the day maxxing and relaxing at the pool with Hannah. The clouds broke, the day settled into what would be a nice summer day for Jersey, and I found an awesome water slide at the resort, so All Was Well.
After a huge buffet meal that evening at the Grand Floridian, where I loaded up on pasta and bread, I finally got a decent night's sleep ahead of my marathon. I woke up a bit earlier on Sunday, had a more relaxed time getting ready, and didn't forget the bib this time! But I did forget to wash the bloody tech shirt from yesterday's run, which I was planning to wear again for the marathon. I decided to go shirtless for the whole run this time, despite the fact that today was going to be a bit cooler than yesterday. I got a few stares on the walk to Epcot, and one of the crossing guards asked me "Aren't you cold?" I guess 55 degrees is frigid weather if you're from Florida. I said "No, I'm from Jersey!" and got a few laughs from the people around me.
Once I got through security, I was able to meet Damaris, one of my RWOL and Facebook running friends. This is one tough lady. She runs through asthma, runs through leg pain that will take surgery to fix, runs through the death of her pets - runs through everything, basically.
(Damaris, pictured alongside some creepy shirtless dude.)
Soon enough, we were off and running. I felt a lot better at the start of this race than the race the day before, but I still knew I'd be paying the price for those 13.1 miles the day before at some point. So I decided to start off reeeal slow, walk all of the water stations (whether I felt like it or not), and gradually increase my pace between the water stations. Now, walking water stations is something I never do, because once I stop running, it is really hard for me to start running again. But I was hoping a slow start combined with this strategy would help make it easier for me to start running when I needed to. And it worked out great! The splits below speak for themselves.
I was really starting to fade once we hit Hollywood Studios near the end. But I didn't bonk! And I set a new marathon PR by a solid 10 minutes! (Chip time was 4:28:19, Garmin time was 4:28:27)!
I wish I had more pictures from the race, but almost all of them came out crappy on my phone. Except, randomly, of this one I took at Animal Kingdom of a goat:
(The bib was a cute touch.)
This picture serves as proof that I was not the goat of this race. <rimshot>
So I had a great time! I know that I could potentially run much better than 2:08 for a HM and 4:28 for a FM, but they're both better than I've ever done in race conditions, and especially in these conditions (horrible weather on Saturday and running after a HM on Sunday). This proves I learned from my blowout in Philly and became a better, more adaptable runner for it. I feel really strong and confident heading into 2014 that both of these records will fall. My attitude is totally different than it was a couple of months ago, and I'm really excited to get back out on the roads running while the weather's still cold.
Unfortunately, I still don't have solid plans for what race will come next. We're saving for a house this year, so I might not get to run a race at all until 2015. But I'm hoping to sneak at least one half and one full into my calendar, just to give me an endpoint for the training I want to do (and to give me a shot at new PR's in both races, maybe even sub-2:00 or sub-4:00 times). I also want to break 2000 miles in running this year (I ran 1528 in 2013). And above all, I want to stay injury free and lose the mini-spare tire around my waistline (so I'll probably have to shop around for an ab workout to do around my running).
My running future looks as bright as the Florida sunshine! More to come later - I promise. ;)
(Obligatory picture of the bling.)
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