2018 was my first year running a full marathon and I knew I didn't train the way I should have. I am a flat out baby when it comes to running in cold weather-- and I live in Atlanta! So my mom asked me if I was up for doing the 2019 full marathon with her. I took her up on the challenge and I started training harder than I have in years. I am faster than I have been, in better shape, and just truly feel better! We did most our long runs on a Saturday then treated ourselves to Waffle House after! Kept me accountable and sometimes you need to bribe yourself to get the miles done :)
I flew in Friday night after work, I got that $30 Frontier flight-- what what! We were staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was just a nice perk! If you have never done marathon weekend you should know that this is the Super Bowl of RunDisney! So it was nice to have a relaxing setting with a hot tub and other amenities. A lot of time we have the Savannah view, which is breathtaking don't get me wrong! But this room was so much closer!
Saturday morning I was hoping to sleep in but no such luck! So we got up and headed to Epcot to watch the half marathon runners! We watched them for a while and decided to go see how long the wait was for Frozen. We walked over there and were SHOCKED to find out it was walk on. Yes you heard me right! We walked right on!! That's never happened to me before, not even early mornings. We went to the expo after to pick up our race bibs and that's when it started to get real for me. I kept thinking out of sight out of mind. I'm not comfortable with the full marathon distance yet so I was pretty nervous. After that we just went back to the room to lay low. I was tired so I took a cat nap by the pool, went to Hollywood Studio's for a bit and went back to the resort to indulge in their runners pasta special. But let me tell you, it was anything but special! hah. But it worked. We hit up the hot tub and went back to the room to sleep. If you aren't aware wake up calls for the running events are about 3a.m. earlier if you want to be on the first bus!
3a.m. came early of course, but I was feeling optimistic about what my 26.2 miles were to come. I get dressed, eat breakfast, and i'm ready to go down to the buses. One perk of staying at a deluxe resort for race weekends are the plethora of buses they have waiting! Anytime I have stayed at a value (which is a lot) we get crammed on the bus. So once again another great reason to stay deluxe on race weekends. It was a little chilly that morning so we took some pool towels from the resort (Sorry Disney if you are reading this ;)) We met with my friend Danielle and headed over to our corrals.
The nerves start kicking in a bit, and the temps are only rising at this point. I honestly wasn't too nervous, I kept just telling myself that I was running a half marathon. It was finally our turn to go, and the extra added stress to this was that we started in the same corral as the balloon ladies. If you don't know about the balloon ladies they are basically the pacers and if you fall behind them then you get "swept". Here we go!
The first few miles honestly just flew by! Which is always a good thing while doing any race. We got to the Magic Kingdom gates which is about 3-4 miles in. We are chugging along with our intervals keeping a great pace! We hit the castle and i'm all like "yeah!! Every mile is magic!" by the time we leave Magic Kingdom we are about 6-7 miles through. We run on this really congested road past the Grand Floridian and all of that. We were running 20/30 (20 run 30 walk). A nice lady asked what we were running and she asked if she could run with us. I said of course! She was the most adorable human I have ever met. It was her first marathon! We hit Animal Kingdom and I was feeling great still! Fueling properly, I was getting texts from friends tracking me saying how great and fast I was going!
Next park up was Animal Kingdom! We had a lot of high way miles in between. They had more than enough hydration stations and they had a banana stop! Animal Kingdom we hit the half way mark, which is obviously always a relief! Basically after we leave Animal Kingdom there is nothing else for about 6-7 miles. And even then we have to go through Wide World of Sports which is also known as the rat maze. Around mile 16-17 things just really fell apart for me. I was getting slow, could hardly keep up with my intervals and I was starting to feel sick. I have people texting me encouraging words but I really just wanted to quit. It was so hot, the sun was just beating down, and I was just unhappy. I saw the "parade bus" and nothing looked better than getting on that thing. But I had come that far I knew I had to finish. I had a friend telling me how far the balloon ladies were from me and they were about a mile and a half behind me. I'm just walking at this point-- I was at about mile 20. After WWOS you have about a 10k left. That doesn't sound so bad. Except I died somewhere in between WWOS and Hollywood Studios. I mean I had tears because I was in so much pain. I felt like I was going to puke at any given moment and my feet just flat out hurt so bad. Mind you my mom is like a spring chicken bouncing around. These next few pictures are not all cheerful. But it's the reality of how I felt. We get into Hollywood studios and we hit Hollywood Boulevard and my mom says just smile and run and you can walk after the cameras. Momma is always right! I faked it and got some good pictures. What the cameras didn't catch was right after me having to pull over because I thought I was going to puke. At this point I had a 5k left. I wanted to cry because I only had 3 miles left and I wanted to cry because I still had 3 miles left.
I got through the 5K somehow, unfortunately I don't have any finish line pictures. But I can tell you I cried. I ran to the finish line with my mom and I cried. Last year I didn't have one tear. This year I cried and walked over to medical because I felt so sick. They were so helpful and didn't leave my side until I felt better. I left got my snack box (hello fake cheese) and met my mom. I was scared to sit down because I was afraid I wouldn't get back up. But I did, sat there ate my applesauce and my fake cheese (not together of course). I actually felt a good deal better. So we get back to the room. I was so tired and sore. I couldn't even bring myself to shower when I first got back (gross I know)
I showered and got ready for my group meet up and dinner. My favorite thing about race weekends are the times I get to spend with all my other group members. It's always such a good time! We met at Beach club, and I had dinner with a couple of people at Via Napoli. If you have never been the pizza is a must!! Seriously so good!
After dinner we go back to Animal Kingdom Lodge and hit the hot tub. I was so tired at that point I almost fell asleep in the hot tub hah! We went back to the room and let me just tell you. I slept like a baby that night! Monday we got up and did extra magic hours at Animal Kingdom which was nice because it was so close to our resort! I unfortunately woke up with a very upset stomach. Things were just not sitting well with me. Nothing sounded good and I was just trying to get through the day. We had Boma with some friends. Headed off to Magic Kingdom for a little bit. Went back to the room around 4 and I didn't leave the rest of the night haha. Again, this is when it's nice to stay at a deluxe. I actually wanted to spend time in the room! We were leaving on Tuesday but decided to do breakfast at Epcot before we left. Mu current favorite spot is the bakery in France. Not many people know it's open so it's pretty quiet and omg. so delicious! I got the spinach feta quiche. It's a must do if you haven't yet! We did a couple of rides, did the DVC lounge, made a stop at the caramel shop in Germany and we were on our way home.
And that's a wrap on marathon weekend!!
