gone goofy, again

this time, as a spectator.

back in the spring of 2011, josh got a wild hair and decided he wanted to do a marathon. (he ran his first half in the fall of 2010). he entered the nyc marathon lottery (unsuccessfully) so of course the next logical thing to do was sign up for the goofy challenge.

poll: who needs psychiatric help?

a) someone who runs their first marathon in cotton spandex and only a 14-mile long run under their belt
b) someone who runs their first marathon the day after running a half-marathon but did actually complete a good amount of long training runs
c) both a and b
d) neither. these are both perfectly wise actions.

we arrived in orlando late thursday night, and hit up the expo first thing around 10am friday before spending the day in hollywood studios.

saturday we woke up dark and early at 3am, got stuck in traffic on the 7-mile drive from the hotel to the epcot parking lot, and arrived at the start/finish area just in time for josh to take the additional 20-minute trek to the start line.

half-marathon day

for the half-marathon, i spectated at the start and mile 13. due to josh's anticipated pace, there wouldn't be enough time to catch him up by magic kingdom. while i waited, i took a few random photos and chatted with an older woman who's husband was running the half-marathon after having suffered a heart attack last fall, pretty amazing.

half marathon - 2:02

josh was aiming for a sub-2 (he can easily run this) and ran pretty much on target, but he had to deal with a lot of congestion in the early miles of the race due to being placed in corral d. ultimately the 3 extra minutes weren't a big deal since he still had 26.2 miles to go.

marathon day

for the full-marathon, i spectated at the start and mile 4 (same viewing area), mile 9, mile 12.5-ish, and the finish. the only way to see your runner between miles 12 and the finish is if you have a park ticket to animal kingdom, hollywood studios or epcot (i wish disney could improve upon this).

josh's goals for the marathon were a) survive, b) sub-5:00, c) 10:00/mile pace. it was his first marathon afterall, and the day after a half no less.

at the start/mile 4 i stood next to a guy holding up his ipad with "inspirational running slogan" typed on the screen (great idea to use the ipad as a "sign" in the dark morning hours). i also chatted with two older women both watching their husbands. after josh passed, i took the monorail to the ticketing center/mile 9 and josh wasn't far behind.

as josh ran on into magic kingdom, i walked over to the polynesian resort to mile 12.5-ish. all this walking and i hadn't had anything to eat yet, i was tempted to buy a $14 muffin (disney extortion fees) but was able to resist. they're all sugar anyway.

josh ran by one last time - i told him he was running sub-10:00-miles and that he could "relax" a little. i had suggested before the race that he 'just run' the first 20 miles and then pick up the pace if he felt like it for the last 6.2. he ran two 20-mile training runs and was a big baby after both of those whining about his aching legs, but they paid off. his knee was bugging him a little at mile 12.5-ish and he said he might slow down, but he held on to the 10:00/mile pace for the remainder of the race.

i met up with his parents after seeing him around mile 12 and we took the monorail back to epcot to wait on him at the finish. i commiserated with fellow clemson fans standing near me about the recent basketball bowl game and soon we saw josh coming down the homestretch of his debut marathon. i was proud.

marathon - 4:22

back-to-back races at goal pace, he must've had a pretty good coach.