In April I thought this plane ride was a long ways off. It was, but I'm finally en route to Walt Disney World. Months of early wake ups, long days working and training, brutal weekends of back to back to bak (to back) runs, treadmill speed work, and gallons of sweat have me at this point. And now I'm staring the prospect of 48.6 miles (+1) over the next four days in the face. And I simply can't wait.
This morning at the airport it was a game of "who's a runner" while waiting to board our flight. I met a few other people Dopey enough to do the same race I'm doing. Apparently today is the travel day for the Dopey contingent.
I feel great. My taper coincided nicely with the Christmas holidays leaving me plenty of time to enjoy them. I got in my last long-ish run on Saturday (8 miles) but skipped the 2 mile shakeout run yesterday due to the ridiculous cold in Louisiana. So instead of running, I wrapped up my packing and made playlists for the races. I actually made my marathon playlist a couple weeks back. I did a spreadsheet based on my guesstimated half-mile splits, labeled it according to corresponding mileage, and the looked at the race course to determine where on the course each point is. Then I put songs in so the proper music plays at the right spot... Mickey Mouse March when I enter Magic Kingdom, the theme from Rocky when I get to the Wide World of Sports complex along with stadium music, The theme from Lion King and Nemo for Animal Kingdom, and the Star Wars Theme, You've Got A Friend In Me from Toy Story, and Aerosmith's Walk This Way for Hollywood Studios.
Nothing for Epcot though.. Just some good eighties heavy metal to get me to the finish line.
My plans for the races are simple. Run an easy 5K and a "spirited" 10K. For the half-marathon I plan to run to Magic Kingdom, walk through the park and get pictures, then run again to about the 11 mile mark, walk Epcot, and run the finish chute. Hopefully that'll get me through without abusing my legs too much. After that I plan to put on compression socks, hit Hollywood Studios since it's not a big park and there's a lot of shows, and then get an early dinner and hopefully catch the end of the Saints beating the Seahawks. The marathon is the only race I intend to 'race'. My strategy is to go out at about an 8:40 pace until I get to the Magic Kingdom (about mile 5), assess how I feel and adjust accordingly. Luckily most of the marathon can be broken up into 3-4 mile segments so I'll use the end of each segment to see how I feel and how I'm pacing. Weather is still a question mark, as the forecast had been calling for temps in the high 70s-low 80s until this morning. Now it looks nearly ideal. Hopefully it'll keep trending cooler and we can get a start temp of about 45.
Marathon goals?
A Goal: Sub-3:45
B Goal: Sub-4:00
If it's hot or obvious I'm not hitting my B goal I'm taking pictures, riding Rock N Roller Coaster, and getting a beer and a pretzel for the finish through Epcot.
Either way I'm having fun.
Wish me luck!
No White Flags!
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