Very short marathon weekend trip report
Posted: Feb Mon 17, 2014 5:33 pm
I will begin by saying that nobody does Run Disney trip reports like WWDRH, but I thought that I would submit my abreviated version.
First, some background information. Since the first race of our Dopey Challenge quest was early am on Thurs 1/9 our plan was to leave for WDW the am of Wed 1/8. This would give me enough time between our arrival and our 6:30pm dinner at Trail's End to get over to the expo and secure all necessary items to begin my Dopey quest. Now, let's back up a little further to Friday 1/6, 6 days prior to our departure date. Awoke early Friday am, went out and ran for about an hour...felt fine. Came in, shower, dress, off to work...felt fine. Arrived at work around 8:00am...felt fine. Around 10:00 noticed I was not feeling fine. Went to lunch...really not feeling fine. Around 4:00pm left work early. Kept looking all the way home to see if I could find the truck that had just run over me. No sign of it. Walked into the house, upstairs to the bedroom, fell onto the bed and did not move for about 24 hours. Finally late Saturday afternoon my very wise wife stronly encouraged me to go to the urgent care to find out what was going on. Still no sign of the truck that had now run over me 2 or 3 more times. My condition was summed up by the urgent care staff in one word...FLU. Happy feeling gone. A short time later arrived at the pharmacy to pick up the Tamiflu that was called in for me, only to find that the pharmacy had closed 13 minutes earlier. Sunday 10:00am was waiting at the pharmacy when it opened. Took the first dose before I left the parking lot. Back home and straight to bed.
Monday - got up and went into work for about 90 minutes. If I was going to be gone to WDW for a week, I had things that needed to be done. My employees finally ran me off fearing that I would spread the love to them. Back home and feeling a little better.
Tuesday - Back to work for about 3 hours making final preparations to be gone for a week. Again, run off by employees. Feeling a little better. Arrived home only to have wise wife share her plan for me for marathon weekend...skip the 5k, skip the 10k, attempt the half, and don't even think about the full. Being the sensible man that I am, I totally blew that plan off.
Wednesday - My parents who were going with us arrived at our house at 5:45am and we were on the road by 6:00am. 13 degrees as we pulled out of the driveway. Arrived at A of A resort around 3:00pm, checked in and I was off to the expo. This was our first stay at the A of A resort. Our reasoning was that the 2 room family suite would be excellect for our situation... my wife slept in the bedroom with her own private bath and I would sleep out in the living area on the pull out sofa so that I could wake up around 3:00am each morning and not disturb her.
Thursday -
Totally ignoring my wife's plan for my marathon weekend, I awoke early, took my last day's dose of Tamiflu and headed off to the 5k. My plan was to take this as a very slow "test run" to see how I felt. This was a good plan since there were so many walkers and small children, I had no choice other than take it slow. Felt surprising good and finished a little over 34 minutes. A very poor 5k time, but it told me that I felt good enough to plan on the 10k the next morning. Spent the rest of the day at the MK and was in bed by 9:00pm.
Friday - Up again around 3:00am. Bannana, bagel Clif bar and Garorade for breakfast and off to the bus stop. (If you like or want Gatorade, bring your own. Since it is not a Coke product you will not find it on Disney property.) Started the 10k at a relatively slow pace and felt surprisingly good. Actually ran the 2nd half of the 10k a little quicker than the first half. Finished in just over 1:01. Spent the balance of the day at Epcot and at the WL Villas just hanging out. Went to the Pasta in the Park party at EC and back to the hotel and in bed by 9:30pm.
Saturday - Same routine...same wake up time, same breakfast and off to the half. Told myself that I would take this VERY EASY with the full looking at me the next morning. Followed the plan ran very easy, even took a short walk/powerade/energy gel break for 3-4 minutes. Finished in 2:14+. This is approximately 25 minutes slower than a previous Wine and Dine half time but I was just fine with it. Spent the balance of the day hotel hopping (can you say self serve Dole whip at the Poly?) and hanging out at Fort Wilderness resort. In bed before 9:00pm.
Sunday - Blah, blah, blah...same routine. Moved into coral K and began the waiting process. The gun and the fireworks went off and I was on my way. This was to be a real adventure since I had never run a full marathon without 2-3 days rest before, not to mention just getting over the flu.
Arrived at the MK...feeling ok. Around the WDW speedway... still ok. The long stretch over to the AK was staring to make me feel the effects of the last week or so. Exited the AK and saw my wife and mom cheering me on. Actually stopped since wonderful wife had brought me a fresh Gatorade. 2-3 minutes later I was gone again. Long run to the WWoS complex...starting to really tire out. Left the WWoS complex heading to the DHS...happy feeling gone. Entered DHS with only one heart's desire...PLEASE LET THIS BE OVER SOON. Left DHS past the Boardwalk, YC and BC and then into EC. Too close to stop now. Around world showcase and I was on the home stretch. A few minutes later the finish line was in sight...THANK YOU LORD. Finished in 5:07+. Wanted to be sub 5 hours but considering all, I was fine with that. Wife and mom were there at the finish, picked up my Dopey bling and back to the hotel for an afternoon of chillin'.
Which brings us to this question...come April when registration open for next year, what to do? My first, thought is to skip the 5k and the full and just run the 10k and the half, but I know that I would regret that decission. Do I skip all the shorter races and just do the full? Can't decide. I guess I have several weeks to think it over. So, for now, I guess this saga is...to be continued.
First, some background information. Since the first race of our Dopey Challenge quest was early am on Thurs 1/9 our plan was to leave for WDW the am of Wed 1/8. This would give me enough time between our arrival and our 6:30pm dinner at Trail's End to get over to the expo and secure all necessary items to begin my Dopey quest. Now, let's back up a little further to Friday 1/6, 6 days prior to our departure date. Awoke early Friday am, went out and ran for about an hour...felt fine. Came in, shower, dress, off to work...felt fine. Arrived at work around 8:00am...felt fine. Around 10:00 noticed I was not feeling fine. Went to lunch...really not feeling fine. Around 4:00pm left work early. Kept looking all the way home to see if I could find the truck that had just run over me. No sign of it. Walked into the house, upstairs to the bedroom, fell onto the bed and did not move for about 24 hours. Finally late Saturday afternoon my very wise wife stronly encouraged me to go to the urgent care to find out what was going on. Still no sign of the truck that had now run over me 2 or 3 more times. My condition was summed up by the urgent care staff in one word...FLU. Happy feeling gone. A short time later arrived at the pharmacy to pick up the Tamiflu that was called in for me, only to find that the pharmacy had closed 13 minutes earlier. Sunday 10:00am was waiting at the pharmacy when it opened. Took the first dose before I left the parking lot. Back home and straight to bed.
Monday - got up and went into work for about 90 minutes. If I was going to be gone to WDW for a week, I had things that needed to be done. My employees finally ran me off fearing that I would spread the love to them. Back home and feeling a little better.
Tuesday - Back to work for about 3 hours making final preparations to be gone for a week. Again, run off by employees. Feeling a little better. Arrived home only to have wise wife share her plan for me for marathon weekend...skip the 5k, skip the 10k, attempt the half, and don't even think about the full. Being the sensible man that I am, I totally blew that plan off.
Wednesday - My parents who were going with us arrived at our house at 5:45am and we were on the road by 6:00am. 13 degrees as we pulled out of the driveway. Arrived at A of A resort around 3:00pm, checked in and I was off to the expo. This was our first stay at the A of A resort. Our reasoning was that the 2 room family suite would be excellect for our situation... my wife slept in the bedroom with her own private bath and I would sleep out in the living area on the pull out sofa so that I could wake up around 3:00am each morning and not disturb her.
Thursday -
Totally ignoring my wife's plan for my marathon weekend, I awoke early, took my last day's dose of Tamiflu and headed off to the 5k. My plan was to take this as a very slow "test run" to see how I felt. This was a good plan since there were so many walkers and small children, I had no choice other than take it slow. Felt surprising good and finished a little over 34 minutes. A very poor 5k time, but it told me that I felt good enough to plan on the 10k the next morning. Spent the rest of the day at the MK and was in bed by 9:00pm.
Friday - Up again around 3:00am. Bannana, bagel Clif bar and Garorade for breakfast and off to the bus stop. (If you like or want Gatorade, bring your own. Since it is not a Coke product you will not find it on Disney property.) Started the 10k at a relatively slow pace and felt surprisingly good. Actually ran the 2nd half of the 10k a little quicker than the first half. Finished in just over 1:01. Spent the balance of the day at Epcot and at the WL Villas just hanging out. Went to the Pasta in the Park party at EC and back to the hotel and in bed by 9:30pm.
Saturday - Same routine...same wake up time, same breakfast and off to the half. Told myself that I would take this VERY EASY with the full looking at me the next morning. Followed the plan ran very easy, even took a short walk/powerade/energy gel break for 3-4 minutes. Finished in 2:14+. This is approximately 25 minutes slower than a previous Wine and Dine half time but I was just fine with it. Spent the balance of the day hotel hopping (can you say self serve Dole whip at the Poly?) and hanging out at Fort Wilderness resort. In bed before 9:00pm.
Sunday - Blah, blah, blah...same routine. Moved into coral K and began the waiting process. The gun and the fireworks went off and I was on my way. This was to be a real adventure since I had never run a full marathon without 2-3 days rest before, not to mention just getting over the flu.
Arrived at the MK...feeling ok. Around the WDW speedway... still ok. The long stretch over to the AK was staring to make me feel the effects of the last week or so. Exited the AK and saw my wife and mom cheering me on. Actually stopped since wonderful wife had brought me a fresh Gatorade. 2-3 minutes later I was gone again. Long run to the WWoS complex...starting to really tire out. Left the WWoS complex heading to the DHS...happy feeling gone. Entered DHS with only one heart's desire...PLEASE LET THIS BE OVER SOON. Left DHS past the Boardwalk, YC and BC and then into EC. Too close to stop now. Around world showcase and I was on the home stretch. A few minutes later the finish line was in sight...THANK YOU LORD. Finished in 5:07+. Wanted to be sub 5 hours but considering all, I was fine with that. Wife and mom were there at the finish, picked up my Dopey bling and back to the hotel for an afternoon of chillin'.
Which brings us to this question...come April when registration open for next year, what to do? My first, thought is to skip the 5k and the full and just run the 10k and the half, but I know that I would regret that decission. Do I skip all the shorter races and just do the full? Can't decide. I guess I have several weeks to think it over. So, for now, I guess this saga is...to be continued.
Extremely impressive and with the flu!? 
They should have given you an extra medal for that one!
I know one of these years we will be back!
