Disney Marathon Jan 7, 2007

Temps 72 to 75.

I left 20 minutes earlier than last year and exited I-4 at 4am. There was no bumper to bumper traffic and I created a second lane into the Epcot parking lot. I guess there were first timers that didn't know that Disney parks 2 lanes at a time.

I saw Nina, Jen and Karla at the staging area as well as Jeri and Amber from Saturday's group. Where was everyone else?

I was in the first corral but there wasn't much room to warm up. There was wet grass to run on but runners were in the way heading toward the bushes to take pottie break. I think there was more paved areas to warm up in previous Disneys.

I had a tight left hip flexor from track on Tuesday so I took 3 Advil at the water stop and felt no pain for the next 20 miles. I was running 10:10 miles for the 1st 5 miles.

I caught up with our Sunday runners around mile 10; I thought about cruising with them but didn't see anyone I could torture and push to a PR -- so I moved along.

There was a bunch of spectators that yelled out - some whom I recognized, many that I did not. My number was on my right hip; sometimes the cheering came from the left.

The heat not as bad as last week at the 50k. There was more cloud cover than I expected. I didn't have the heat exhaustion that I suffered last week and ran about 26 seconds faster per mile.

I tried some new gadgets for keeping cool but they didn't seem to work in humid weather so I left them with Diana at the mile 17 aid station and picked up a pre-arranged bag of potato chips.

I ran shirtless for the first time in a race; I think that helped somewhat.

I got to the half at 2:02 and decided to take it easy but still break 4 hrs. ( I ran this one in 3:42 last year) I was ahead of schedule at mile 26 so I stood still for a while and kicked it in at a 6:15 pace. My chip time was 3:58:52 (9:06 average pace). My clock time turned out to be 3:59:59. I couldn't have timed it better if I tried!

I thought about waiting at the finish or running back on the course but it was too hot so I decided to go home.

It took 20 minutes for find my silver/gray Highlander hybrid. I noted the letter E sign but forgot the number. There was a bunch of Highlanders and a lot of silver/gray SUVs in the parking lot.

While I was waiting for the fire department to finish up fighting a multi-car fire at the airport parking garage in White Plains, I chatted with a TNT runner who ran the 1/2 and trained in Connectiut. She actually preferred running in the heat over 40 degree weather. I mentioned that the faster you run, the more body heat you generate, the greater need for cooler temperatures. She wants to break 4:30 in her next marathon.

There is no real soreness other than what was ache-y before the race. I guess getting a deep tissue massage 21 hours before a race was not a great idea.

Did anyone have a great race or a peak experience? I thought Jeri did well with the Goofy - 4:46 finish on Sunday. She was busy throwing up when I called her Sunday afternoon -- so I need to call her tonight to see if she had a great race (and if the vomiting was unrelated).