kennethecoates
01-18-2008, 08:56 PM
I'm a "little" late with this report, but I just read another WDW marathon report, so hopefully this will inspire someone else.
Ken
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WDW Marathon Trip Report
January 10, 2005
I signed up the first day it was possible. I had been thinking about running the WDW marathon for a number of years now. I’ve run 8 marathons before, but the last one was in 1989. My best time was in 1986 when I ran 3:21:45 in the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon. That is a beautiful run among the redwoods of Northern California.
I’m turning 50 this year and I decided that going to WDW to run the marathon was going to be my “mid-life crisis”. It was also a reason to get into shape after many years of being overweight. Since our kids were born in 1997, my running has been fairly regular at 3 times a week, but my eating habits have deteriorated. So the first order of business was to start eating right. I cut out dessert except when we go out to dinner and stopped going out to lunch. By doing this and making sure I run 4-5 days a week, I was able to lose 15 pounds. I’ve got another 5 to lose if I want to get down to my 1986 marathon weight of 167 pounds, but I’m not going to push that. I’m just going to see where I end up after I increase my miles in the four months before the marathon.
My plan is to keep running 4-5 times a week for total of 12-15 miles until mid year and then start increasing it until I’m at 40-50 miles/week starting on Sept 1st. To avoid changing my evening schedule very much, I’m going to be waking up early (5:00) to go running. I figure it will help me adjust to Eastern Time so I’ll be used to running early.
When I signed up, I checked a box for them to send me offers for accommodations. I’d really like to stay at the Beach Club since it is near the start and I’m guessing I can just walk there so I don’t have to wake up so early (this turned out to be impossible). I’d also like to use the great pool (Storm-a-long Bay) after the marathon to relax my muscles.
I’m planning on flying from the West Coast on the Thursday before the marathon. That will give me two days to get over jet lag and by visiting the park before, I’ll get some walking in which should help keep my muscles loose. I may stay one day after the marathon, but I’ll probably fly home on Monday.
May 10, 2005
Disney offered me a stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but I really wanted to stay at the Beach Club so I’ve been checking the WDW web site to see when they open up reservations for arrivals after Jan 1, 2006. So far they aren’t open. I’ve decided to fly on the Wednesday night red eye to give me another partial day (Thursday) at the parks and stay an extra day to relax after the marathon. I’ll fly back on Tuesday.
June 4, 2005
My training is going well. I’m up to 21 miles per week. I run 4.2 miles five times a week. I’ve been beating most of my old records for the routes I’ve run in my neighborhood.
July 15, 2005
They finally opened reservations on the WDW web site, but all they have are suites at the Beach Club for the week of the marathon. The AAA web site shows a regular room available, but their web site doesn’t work that well for doing a complete package, so I decide to go into the local AAA office to reserve the trip.
July 16, 2005
It turns out that AAA uses the same Disney & AAA web sites as me, so there is no advantage going into the AAA office. Oh well. The Disney person the AAA travel agent got on the phone thought that the AAA web site didn’t have the latest info. I can see that I should have called Disney right after I signed up for the marathon. I don’t know if they could have made reservations that far in advance or not, but at least I would have had a better chance to get a regular room.
So since I really want to stay at the Beach Club, I’m stuck with a suite. Oh well. :) This turned out to be a great decision since I spent a lot of time at EPCOT (which you can walk to) and Disney/MGM Studios which is easy to get to by boat.
September 15, 2005
I developed tendonitis in my left foot. It isn’t getting any better, so I started using the stepper and the NordicTrack machines instead of running. This is not the ideal way to train, but I can only take what my body will give to me.
October 12, 2005
I made all my priority seating arrangements. I’m going to be using counter service most of the time, but I decided on doing the Fantasmic Dinner package at MGM the evening of the marathon. Sitting down sounds like a good idea. I picked the Brown Derby because I probably will never go there with my family (too fancy). A steak will be nice after all the carbo-loading. My three other priority seating reservations are
SciFi Diner for lunch on Friday. I always wanted to go to that. Even though I’ll be carbo-loading, I can have the BBQ Chicken Breast sandwich with fries. For dinner that night I’m planning on going to the ABC Commissary for a Tabbouleh Wrap which will be almost all carbos.
Cape May Seafood Buffet Monday. Another place my family probably won’t want to go because I’m the only one who really likes seafood.
Kona Café for Breakfast on Tuesday (the day I leave for home). Got to have that Tonga Toast!!
I also signed up for the Segway Tour for the morning after the marathon. I’ve ridden a Segway at a science museum once and really liked it. This tour sounds like so much fun, and a good thing to do after running. I got a 15% AAA discount.
November 4, 2005
Just over two months to go! Final payment due on November 14.
My training is mostly back on track. I’m up to 30 miles per week: 5 days a week, 6 miles/day. My tendonitis is manageable. I’m icing it after every run. On the weekends, I’m running on the local high school track. Last weekend, my training pace was sub-9:00/mile. I started at 8:40/mile and slowed down to 8:59/mile for the last mile.
In all the marathons I’ve run, I’ve never used a training schedule with lots of varied workouts like the ones you see in books or on the Internet. What works for me is consistent running at my training pace for the same number of miles each workout. During the race, that is what you have to do, just keep plodding along at a steady pace, so that is what I do during training. In the past I’ve run 8 miles per workout in the three to four months before the race. This time my body is telling me that 6 miles per workout is what it can handle.
In 1985 I tried running a half marathon (actually a 25 kilometer race) a month before the marathon like some training schedules recommend. It just about killed me. My body couldn’t recover before race day. I ended up running 3:59:06, which was my worst time other than a year when I injured my knee and ran anyway.
My attitude is good. I’m dedicated to finishing the marathon, and my training is doing okay now. I’m hoping next month I can get up 40 miles/week. We’ll see. I realize now that trying to run a sub 3:30 marathon is not in the cards. That would qualify me for the Boston Marathon. It is just out of the question now. When I ran 3:21:45 back in 1986, I had run a 43:05 10k race 5 months before the marathon. This year (in May) I ran a 50 minute 10k. According to a pacing calculator I found on the Internet, a 50 minute 10k leads to a 9 min/mile (3:55) marathon. That sounds about right and is now the target of my training. I’m going to try and run 8:40 – 8:45 min/mile for my track training. I would like to be able to maintain that pace for 8 miles before the marathon. If I’m able to run a sub-4 hour race, I will have met my goal in every way. Qualifying for Boston was a nice dream, but reality has set in and now I can concentrate on my original goal.
November 6, 2005
I was able to run below 8:40/mile for 6 miles on both Saturday and Sunday at the track. That is a very good training pace for my 9:00/mile target. Sunday I ran all 6 miles on the track and averaged just under 8:37.
November 28, 2005
I received my Race Info packet. I ordered a souvenir “Champion Chip” for the race. This chip is used to record your time in the race.
My training is going well. I lost one day to rain, but the weather has been cooperating for the most part. It is getting very cold now. I’ve been watching the weather in Florida and it has been in the 40’s in the morning. Good running weather!
I’m going to try and increase my mileage in December to 40 miles/week.
December 3, 2005
I picked up my airline tickets and other reservation information today.
December 31, 2005
Well, increasing my mileage didn’t work out. My joints said 6 miles/day is all you can do during training. In the last week or so though, I’ve felt like I’ve got a lot left after running on the track. That is a good feeling. This last month of training has really paid off. At the start of the month I was mentally prepared to run the race, and I was a little depressed that I had a whole ‘nother month to go. Now I’m glad I’ve been able train one more month at high mileage per week.
It has been raining a lot this month. I didn’t let that stop me. Quite a few days I ran in the driving rain in the dark with only street lights to guide my way. I think it helped me develop the mental toughness I’ll need in the race.
Today is my last day of major training. Tomorrow (Sunday – one week before the race) I start the carbo-loading regimen of eating protein and fat until Wednesday. For breakfast I’ll be having bacon and eggs. For lunch, cheese and bologna. For dinner steak and other meat and fat. Then I Thursday I switch to carbohydrates. One the marathons I did, I skipped this strict carbo-loading regimen and I really paid for it late in the race – I hit the WALL.
I’m going to try and run 8 miles slow and perhaps work up to 10 miles by Wednesday if I can. I’m going to run before breakfast as part of my plan to switch to east coast time early to minimize jet lag.
Wednesday January 4, 2006
All my depletion runs are done. I ran before breakfast each time, getting up around 4:45 A.M. to help the transition to East Coast time. Yesterday I felt terrible and only ran about 3 miles. Today I felt much better and ran 6.5 for my final depletion run. I’ve put in all the training I could manage for this race and hopefully it is enough. This morning after running, my weight was 164; below my hoped for 167 which I was what I weighed in 1986 for my fastest marathon.
This week as part of my mental preparation, I watched “Chariots of Fire”; the movie about the 1924 Olympics. Remember: Where does the power to finish the race come from? It comes from within.
I bought some Kendall Mint Cake as a treat for carbo-loading. I couldn’t find it locally like I used to, so I bought it on eBay from England. It is made up of sugar and peppermint oil. It was taken by Sir Edmund Hilary to the summit of Mt. Everest. It is pure sugar energy when you need it.
I can’t eat any until tomorrow. For tonight on the plane, I bought a high protein energy bar.
I took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit train) over to the San Francisco Airport. My family dropped me off at the Orinda BART station. I had one medium sized rolling suitcase and an over the shoulder bag. The trip to the airport went fine. This is the first time I’ve tried taking BART. In the BART station near the International Terminal, you transfer to an airport train. It was a fairly long walk through the parking structure from the airport train station to the actual terminal, but not bad with rolling luggage.
I’m taking the 10:50 PM red-eye flight to save daylight hours in Florida. When I arrive early Thursday morning, I’ll be able to go to the parks. I have to transfer planes in Atlanta, but I’m hoping to get some sleep on the flight from SFO to ATL.
I was able to sleep a couple of hours on the plane using a neck pillow, earplugs, and eye shades, but I was in the last row near where the flight attendants work and the bathrooms are, so it was pretty noisy. I need to adjust to East Coast time, so I’m not that worried about losing some sleep tonight. It will just make it easier to get to bed earlier tonight.
Thursday January 5, 2006
Upon arrival in Orlando (around 8:00 A.M.), I used Disney Magical Express. It worked great. I had to wait about 15 minutes for other passengers. It took just over an hour to get from the Airport to my hotel (the Beach Club). We stopped at the Pop Century and the Caribbean Beach Resort along the way.
While on the bus, I opened up my Kendall Mint Cake. It tasted great. I’m officially in carbo-loading mode now!
I got checked in and luckily my room was already ready. My room was a suite (as I mentioned before) and it was HUGE. As you enter the room, there is a walk-in closet on the right and a sitting room straight ahead. Off to the right of the sitting room is a double sink and a door into the bathroom. Double French Doors lead into the bedroom which has a couch, desk, and sideboard/dresser. The sideboard has a refrigerator so I can keep my energy drinks cold.
I found out I was upgraded to Concierge level even though I was on the first floor. Perhaps all suites come with Concierge. That means I can get a continental breakfast in the morning which will save time. I’m not into wine and cheese, so I won’t be doing that in the afternoon. I’d much rather be in the parks! :)
I changed my clothes and was ready to head to the Magic Kingdom by 9:42 A.M! So far my plan was working perfectly. From the Beach Club you take the Bus to the Magic Kingdom. The first thing I did was buy a postcard to send home. I had read a suggestion by someone to get a postcard autographed by some characters, so that was my quest.
On the way up Main Street, I got my picture taken. They have a new PhotoPass system. They give you a card with a number on it and you can order your pictures on-line when you get home. You keep the card and reuse it every time you get your picture taken. It worked great.
Next I headed for Adventureland. The first thing I did was get a fastpass for Jungle Cruise and then I headed for Tiki Room Under New Management. I’m a big fan of the Tiki Room. The new show was okay, but it ended very abruptly. I like the original much better. It was too early for my fastpass for Jungle Cruise, so I went on the Pirates of The Caribbean. This is my favorite ride, but the WDW version pales in comparison to the CA version. It ends very abruptly too.
I still had some time before the Jungle Cruise, so I went to Frontierland and stopped at the Shooting Gallery. I used to love the Shooting Gallery when I was growing up so I couldn’t pass it up.
Jesse and Woody had a character greeting by the Rivers of America, so I waited in line for them and got the postcard autographed. Jesse gave me a big *SMACK* on the cheek which was fun since it was totally unexpected. The picture with them was the one I bought from PhotoPass.
Then it was time to ride the Jungle Cruise with my fastpass. Our guide was pretty funny. I haven’t been on the Jungle Cruise for many years. His gun wasn’t working, so he said that the hippo was very afraid of the rapid clicking of the gun. I had heard that they started using guns again on the Jungle Cruise. Since ours didn’t go off, I’m not sure if they are doing it at WDW or just at Disneyland.
After the Jungle Cruise, I went and got a funnel cake which was on my list of things I wanted to try. It wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. I assumed it was in the shape of a funnel. Instead it was a fried creation that covered a whole plate. I got mine with powdered sugar. Very messy to eat, but good.
Since I was in Liberty Square, I went to see the Hall of Presidents. I’ve only seen that once before. I thought it was an excellent show. It is cool to see all the Presidents in one place. The next time we bring the kids to WDW, I think they would enjoy it.
After that I went to the Pinocchio Restaurant in Fantasyland and bought a Mickey shaped Rice Krispie treat on a stick and chocolate milk. That was the first milk I’d had since I started my carbo-loading regime five days ago. Even though milk is high protein, it also has a lot of milk sugar in it, so it is not allowed during the depletion phase. I love milk, so it tasted very good. I bought an extra Rice Krispie treat for later.
Then it was on to the Haunted Mansion which was great. When we went to WDW with the kids in 2004, they didn’t want to ride because they thought it was too scary, so I was glad to catch it this time.
After that it was getting kind of late and I was a little tired since I hadn’t slept that much on the plane, so I decided to head back to hotel, take a swim, and then rest a little.
I’d read a lot about the pool at the Beach Club and it was just as good as advertised. It has a great water slide. You go across the pathway in back of the resort by the lake, then climb onto a shipwrecked ship, up a spiral staircase to the crow’s nest. You slide down a long tube that looks like the broken mast of the ship back over the pathway and into a mountain. You zoom down the mountain though one waterfall that splashes you, then you twist around a couple times, go through another waterfall and finally SLAM you go into the pool! What a blast!
The pool has a sandy bottom. The sand level was a little low and as I was leaving the resort on my last day I noticed they were adding more sand. The sinking sands area (supposed to be like quicksand I think) wasn’t working. There is a current that takes you around the pool. In one spot there is a whirlpool that was actually pretty hard to swim out of. There is another pool on the Yacht Club side that is just a lazy river with a very strong current. They had some inner tubes you can float along on.
It was a cut above the Polynesian Pool (on the other hand, it doesn’t have a volcano!). The water slide was definitely better at the Beach Club. It is not as good as a real water park, but for a hotel pool it is the cream of the crop, and very cool to have right in your “backyard” so to speak.
After I was rested a little, I headed back to the Magic Kingdom. I went straight to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain. The line said 40 minute wait, but it was really only 20 minutes. I got the front seat of the train which is a great position.
After that I got a fastpass for Stitch’s Escape. I’d heard it wasn’t a very good show, and I’ll always regret I never got to see Alien Encounter, but I wanted to go anyway. Meantime, I went on the Astro Orbiter which is up HIGH over Tomorrowland where it is supposed to be not like it is in Disneyland. I got a great view of the park. Then it was time for Stitch. It was pretty good, but I can understand the criticism.
It was time for dinner, so I had a grilled chicken sandwich, pasta salad, and milk (I was still starving for milk!) for dinner at Cosmic Ray’s. It was very tasty.
Then I went to the hub about 55 minutes before the Spectromagic parade. One advantage of being by yourself is that you can decide to just go and sit somewhere if you want. For my purposes it was a good time to rest since I had been walking a lot that day and didn’t want to use up too much energy in the days leading up to the race.
The parade was very cool. I think I’d seen it once before, but I’m not sure. I might be confusing it with having seen the Main Street Electrical Parade.
About 15 minutes after the parade was over, the Wishes Fireworks show started. I’d never seen that before and I was right in the middle of the hub in front of the castle which is the best spot. What a tremendous show! I picked a good night (Thursday) to see the parade and the fireworks since the Magic Kingdom was closing earlier than on other days so I could get to bed earlier and rest up.
I didn’t take too long to exit the park and I only waited about five minutes for the bus back to the Beach Club.
Before I went to bed, I called home and did a little planning for tomorrow: Disney-MGM Studios and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror!!!!!!! Bahahahawaaaaaa!!!!
Friday January 6, 2006
I got up a 6:00 this morning to get used to waking up earlier and earlier as I approach race day.
I got to MGM Studios by boat. I was there at the rope drop and went immediately to the Tower of Terror. They made us walk behind two cast members to make sure people didn’t run and get trampled. They were walking very fast though and I had a little trouble keeping up!
I was in the first elevator. The drop sequence we got wasn’t that scary. We were going up and down a lot rather than one big drop. I’ll try to ride it again this trip to see if I get a different sequence.
Next I went to Rockin’ Roller coaster. I had planned to get a fastpass, but it was only a ten minute wait. I was in the very last seat. It starts off accelerating to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds or something like that. Things happened very fast after that. There was an inversion and corkscrew and some other stuff. It was very hard to follow exactly what was happening because you couldn’t see the track (especially in the last seat). Very smooth coaster!
Then I went on the Great Movie Ride for the first time in my life. I really liked it. We got the Gangster Scene. I’ll try and ride it again on Sunday when I go to the Fantasmic show after the marathon to see if I can get the other scene.
In the Gangster scene, a person dressed up as a gangster comes out and there is a gun fight over your car. During the fight, he tells the ride operator to leave which is very unexpected and a great part of the ride. The gangster takes over the car! Later while traveling through the Egyptian tombs we see a big red ruby up on the wall. The gangster sees it and climbs up to get it saying, “I’m going to get that ice…”. There is a person standing next to the ruby in a robe that covers his face. Pointing at our car he says, “Touch the ruby and everyone in your party will be destroyed!” The gangster ignores him and after he touches the ruby, a lot of mist shoots up and when it goes away, all that is left is a skeleton…
Then the person in the robe threw off his robe and it was the ride operator! He jumped back in the car and took over the ride again. Very cool!
After that it was on to the new car stunt show: Lights, Motors, Action! It was great. Very exciting. It was also very cool to see how they do the backwards driving over the ramp (they have a driver looking out through the back of the car and a dummy in the driver’s seat). They also had a funny bit where they tricked a kid into thinking that he was driving a car by remote control when in fact there was a driver hiding alongside the car on the far side.
I had lunch reservation at the Sci-Fi Drive-in later, so I headed over to that part of the park. On the way I went to Muppet Vision 3-D for the first time in my life. That was hilarious.
There was still had some time before my reservation, so I went on Star Tours which I always enjoy. Afterwards, I did some souvenir shopping in the Tatooine Traders. I got a Yoda keychain for my son and an R2-D2 keychain for my daughter. I looked at a Millennium Falcon die cast model, but it was $60, so I got a Millennium Falcon keychain instead for $8. The key chains had very high quality die cast figures.
Finally it was time for priority reservation at the Sci-Fi Drive-in. I had the penne pasta with shrimp with cheesecake dessert. I was in a car with two other couples who were together. The waitress got me to laugh by calling me a hitchhiker. The “movies” were mostly trailers for the craziest set of movies I have “never” seen. It was great. The weirdest alien I saw was somebody called “Robot Monster”. It was a guy in a gorilla suite wearing a space helmet!
I was a little surprised at the menu. I expected more of a burger/fries/milkshake menu like a traditional drive-in restaurant. I guess you can get that with counter service at the Studios, so they didn’t need to repeat that here. The food was okay, but there wasn’t that much else on the menu that I would have liked.
After lunch I went to “One Man’s Dream”, the story of Walt Disney. His story is so inspirational to me. I wanted to watch the movie at the end, so I rushed through parts of the exhibit. I’ll go back on Sunday to see it again so I can spend more time looking at the models of the Tree of Life, etc.
It was close by, so I went on the “Magic of Animation” tour. We saw that at Disney’s California Adventure, but I really enjoyed it so I wanted to see it again. Mushu, the dragon from Mulan, is hilarious interacting with the cast member host.
Then it was time for the Backlot tour. I was on the wet side. The host made a funny joke at the beginning by warning the people on the other side, that “you may get wet, ***pause***, but the people on the other side (my side) will get drenched”.
I’m really glad I went on this tour because I saw the 23 mile marker for the marathon. It was a billboard with Stitch on it that read, “Do or do not, there is no try”. This is Yoda’s famous saying and something I think about when faced with a challenge. I’ll be looking for that on Sunday and I’m sure it will be inspiring to me as I enter the last 3+ miles of the race.
There are of other things I wanted to see, like the Narnia exhibit, but it was time to go to the Race Expo to check-in for the race. I’ll have to catch those on Sunday. All in all, a great day at the Studios.
Normally the only way to get the Wide World of Sports using Disney transportation is by taking a bus from the Studios. During the marathon weekend, they have buses directly to and from the resorts. However, since I was already at the Studios, I walked over and waited for the bus from there to the Wide World of Sports.
It took about an hour to get through everything at the check-in. It took a little longer than it should of because I had my own timing chip for the race. I should have mentioned that to the person behind the counter right away. It was lucky I brought my chip with me since I needed it to check out. You have to put your chip on a sensor to verify that you are registered. It was reassuring to see my name pop up on the monitor when I placed my chip on the mat with the sensor. So if you buy a souvenir chip, make sure you bring it to the Expo!
I spent some time in the Expo area looking for any souvenir like a shirt, etc., but I didn’t see anything that grabbed my fancy. I did get a sample dose of Tylenol 8 hour pain medicine which I may use before the race. It has two parts, one half of it dissolves right away and the other slowly releases medicine over the eight hours. I haven’t run more than hour in my training and I know my joints are not what they were 15+ years ago.
When I got back to the hotel, I rested a little while. At this point in the trip, I’m getting a little tired. I’ll be up a little bit late tonight, but tomorrow I’m going to the Animal Kingdom and I’ll come home early to rest some more. I have my last carbo-loading dinner set up at Alfredo’s in the Italy pavilion at EPCOT tomorrow night.
I’ve always wanted to see the Osborne Family Lights at MGM studios. That was the only Christmas entertainment besides the Christmas tree in the Town Square at the Magic Kingdom that I’ve seen on this trip. I’m also interested in seeing how they do the fake snow effect. But I’m not going to stay there. Tonight there are extra magic hours at EPCOT, so I’m going to head over there and go on some of the major rides.
Well, the Osborne Family Lights were a spectacle, but I don’t think I ever need to go see them again. It was very strange to imagine that someone had all these lights just on their house. It doesn’t seem possible. They didn’t have the snowing effect turned on very high, so it wasn’t that impressive.
On the way into EPCOT, I got my Extra Magic Hours wristband. Once inside, I immediately went to Mission SPACE. I rode this once before on a previous trip. This time I didn’t notice any spinning at the beginning like I did before. Maybe I kept my head a little straighter. Anyway, last time I rode Test Track first and then Mission SPACE and my stomach bothered me. This time even though I hadn’t eaten for five hours, my stomach still bothered me at the end. So I may not ride this again.
Test Track had a 30 minute wait so I decided to try and ride Soarin’ over California. But there was a two hour line and they had given out all the fast passes for that day. I wanted to see Illuminations which started in 90 minutes, so I decided to eat dinner. I was already in the Land pavilion, so I ate at the food court there. Keeping with my carbo-loading scheme, I ate Chinese food: rice, vegetables and beef. It is okay to eat some protein at this stage; you just want to emphasize carbohydrates.
I didn’t want to ride Test Track right after eating, so I headed for Norway and rode the Maelstrom ride. I like it better than Rio del Tiempo. Neither is great, but the Maelstrom ride is more fun. I watched the movie afterwards and I wasn’t impressed with it. I rode this ride many years ago and I seem to recall that the old movie was more of a travelogue for Norway. This movie tried to celebrate the people of Norway, but it was very poorly done. I liked the old movie better although I don’t remember that much about it.
It was getting cold, so I bought a cinnamon roll at the Kringla Bakeri to keep myself warm. I found a good spot to watch Illuminations by Norway. I stood behind a stroller so I had a good view. Illuminations was spectacular; probably the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen. The music is very inspiring and rotating images on the Earth are amazing.
Many people left after Illuminations, so it was a good time to catch Test Track which was a walk-on. It is scheduled for rehab on Monday (my last day and when I was going to go back to EPCOT) so I needed to ride it today. It definitely needed a rehab. The video screen in our car wasn’t working.
After that, it was time to go back to the hotel and get some sleep.
Saturday January 7, 2006 (day before the race)
Today is Animal Kingdom day. I scheduled it for this day because I wanted to not do too much the day before the race. I got up early and was there when it opened. I headed straight for Dinosaur. A couple of years ago when I went to WDW with my family we had ridden the safari ride, so I didn’t feel like I needed to do that again. I enjoyed Dinosaur last time so I wanted to get it out of the way while there was a short line. It was just as much fun this time. Especially at the end when the Carnatorus emerges out of the darkness when you think the ride is almost over.
Last time we didn’t have time to do anything in Asia, so I headed over there to walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Unfortunately it was too cold (30’s!) for the bats, komodo dragon, and the tapir, so they were hiding. Hopefully it will be a little bit warmer tomorrow for the race. I’ll be dressing warm though.
The tigers weren’t moving around much, but one was very close to the glass and very impressive looking. It was licking its paw just like our cat does at home. :)
I had a lot of fun in the aviary. There was a docent there who pointed out many of the birds and told me a little about each one. I had brought along a 8x monocular and it worked great! I was able to get close up looks at all the birds.
I was in the area, so I walked over by Expedition Everest. I had always hoped that it would be open by the time I got there, but I missed it by a few months. Oh well, another reason to come back some day. The mountain is very impressive looking and it seems like it belongs there. You can see it from the road as you approach Animal Kingdom much in the way you can see the Matterhorn as you approach Disneyland.
They were running some trains without people in them, so I got to see that at least. It looks like it is going to be a great ride.
Next I went to the Flights of Wonder bird show. I thought it was great. I really like the trick where the bird took a dollar bill out of someone’s hand and brought it back to the trainer. He then asked the audience if anyone had a $20 bill which got a big laugh. Eventually the bird took the dollar bill back to the person who lost it earlier.
I wanted to see Tarzan Rocks. It was closing in a month or two so this would be my one and only chance to see it. I’d read a lot of good things about it and it lived up to its billing. It was a very impressive show with roller skating stunts and Tarzan and Jane flying through the air on ropes all set to rock and roll music.
I bought a pork sandwich from the Flame Tree BBQ with Key Lime Pie for dessert. Yummy! Key Lime Pie is highly recommended when carbo-loading! I ate it by the river and gazed at Mt. Everest. Where else in the world can you do that?!
After lunch, I decided to go on Kali River Rapids even though I’d forgotten my poncho back at the hotel. It was pretty cold still so there was absolutely no line. When I got to the turntable, there was a family of three in a raft. Since there was no line, they were going around for another ride. They were all wearing ponchos and they were completely soaked! They said this was their tenth trip around. I thought to my self, uh-oh…
In the middle of the raft there is a compartment that is semi-waterproof. I put my warm hat, jacket and fanny pack in there (my camera was in a Ziploc bag). I figured at least I could put on a dry jacket and hat afterwards.
The ride was great. This was my first time on it. There is one fifteen foot drop that seemed about a 45 degree angle. You slam down into the water at the bottom. Luckily I was facing into it; the family was opposite me. When we hit the bottom, an 8-10 foot wave curved up and over the family; completely covering them. They were completely soaked again! I only got a few drips on me. If I ever ride it again, I will definitely bring my poncho.
My only criticism of the ride is that the anti-logging message is confusing and detracts from the overall experience. I realize that is the point they are trying to make, but I wish they would just re-landscape it to all jungle.
Having escaped getting soaked, I walked over to see “It’s Tough to be a Bug”. I had been wanting to see this show for a long time, but I thought it might be too scary for the kids, so we didn’t do it the two times (once in FL and once in CA) we had the chance. I got someone to take a picture of me with my “bug eyes” on while we were waiting to go in.
What a great show! I would go to see that again anytime.
After that I did some shopping (I found a nice shell necklace for my wife) and then it was time to go back to the hotel. Tomorrow is Marathon Day and I wanted to take a nap. I allocated three hours, and I slept deeply for about an hour and fifteen minutes which really helped.
After resting another 30 minutes, I got up and organized my clothes for the marathon tomorrow. It is going to be cold, so I’m going to wear three layers: microfleece shirt, the long sleeve synthetic marathon shirt I got at check-in, and finally my trusty old Nike nylon running shirt with small holes in it. I pinned my number to the Nike shirt and put my champion chip on my shoes.
For shorter races (10k) and while training, I usually wear sweat pants unless it is really hot, but for marathons, sweat pants get soaked with sweat and really slow me down, so I’m going to wear bicycle type (long leg) shorts with regular running shorts over them. I brought along some old sweat pants to wear while I’m waiting for the race to start. I’ll discard them just before we start running. I also brought along an old piece of carpet to sit on. This was a tip I got from the MousePlanet web site. I think it is a great idea. It is much better than standing for an hour.
I’d made a 7:00 PM reservation at Alfredo’s in the Italy pavilion at EPCOT. It is a good choice for a final carbo-loading meal before race, and an easy walk from the hotel. I’d hoped to have gnocchi, but that wasn’t on the menu, so I ordered shrimp and pasta with vodka, cream and tomato sauce. Lots of garlic! This was basically the same dish that I’d had at the Sci-Fi drive-in at the Studios on Friday. I have to say that the Alfredo’s version was far superior.
What I think makes World Showcase special is that all the people that work at the pavilions are natives from that country. Halfway through dinner a guy started playing Finiculi- Finicula on an accordion and the waiters all waved napkins in a circle over their heads. There enthusiasm was contagious; pretty soon everyone was doing it. It was very funny.
A woman sitting at the next table had the same waiter as me. She was running too. She said she wanted to "create" something that wasn't on the menu. The waiter said "Great, I love it" in this wonderful Italian accent. But he was sorely disappointed when her "creation"¨ consisted of plain pasta with nothing on it (she didn't want to eat any fatty foods before the race). He at least convinced her to have some shrimp on the side!!
For dessert I had a strawberry mouse that was decorated with chocolate to look like a ladybug and surrounded by M&M’s. I think it was the “kids” dessert, but I didn’t care. It tasted very good.
I went to bed as soon as I got back to the hotel; around 8:30 PM. For some reason I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep that night. I wasn't anxious about the race, so I guess I was worried about getting up at 2:45 A.M. to get ready (the last bus leaves at 4:00 AM). I had a wake-up call arranged, my alarm clock, and my watch alarm set just in case.
Sunday January 8, 2006 (RACE DAY)
3:00 AM. I have finally reached my appointment with destiny! I have a good attitude and my body’s feeling good, so it should be a good race.
As is my custom before marathons, I had a Danish pastry when I got up. This was recommended by my carbo-loading instructions which is interesting because the recommend staying away from fatty foods. There is a lot of fat in Danish pastry!
Mentally I split the race up five parts. Four races of 6 miles each and then 2.2 miles at the end. Six miles was my standard training distance, so as I finished each 6 mile section, I mentally checked off another day’s worth of training. This worked out great for the WDW marathon because every six miles you go through another park: EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney/MGM Studios. The last 2.2 miles is around World Showcase and back to the front of EPCOT.
My strongest memories from the race are:
While waiting for the bus to the start, I met a couple who had run the Half Marathon the day before and were going for the Goofy Race and Half Challenge. I bet they made it.
Hearing a rock band playing full blast at 4:00 AM in the EPCOT parking lot.
Hearing the Green Army Men commander from Toy Story yelling at us to start moving to the start line. Move IT! :)
Walking over to the start line in the dark. Like a smoothly flowing river, people made their way quietly and calmly to the starting area.
Waiting in the dark, sitting on my piece of carpet.
The fireworks going off at the start.
Setting the time on my watch to 00:00:00 as I passed over the start line. It took over 5 minutes to cross it after the gun went off.
Having to stop in the first mile to go the bathroom (in the woods). The first mile took 10:30.
Dodging around people for the first six miles. I was in the last corral since I hadn’t run in a marathon in a long time. My first few miles were all over 9:00/mile.
Running under the ball at EPCOT (mile 2) with the sun not up yet.
Running across the bridge between Future World and Showcase Plaza at EPCOT. The Christmas lights were on and it gave me the chills to run under them.
Thinking that all I had to do was keep clocking in miles under 9:00 to make my goal (somewhere starting around mile 6 and continuing through the race).
Running past the Disney Cruise Line people on the way to the Magic Kingdom. They were out in force.
Approaching the Magic Kingdom near the Contemporary Hotel (mile 10).
My heart coming up into my throat as I turned onto Main Street and seeing the Castle. It gives me chills just to think about it even now.
Running through the castle and raising my arms when I saw the photographers. That picture turned out great so I bought it later.
The long road down to Animal Kingdom Park.
Feeling good when I passed the halfway point (13.1 miles) at 1:56. I had made up all the time I lost in the first few miles.
Running by Mt. Everest (Mile 17)
Starting on the long straight road to the Wide World of Sports (Mile 19). I remember reading about how dreary this road was in other accounts of this stretch. It didn’t bother me that much. Apparently it is shorter than it used to be before they started running through Animal Kingdom.
Surprising myself with an 8:45 minute mile at mile 21.
Seeing the Yoda sign in Disney/MGM studios at mile 23: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Reaching mile 24 behind the Boardwalk and switching over to thinking about my total time rather than checking my time/mile. I had a little over 20 minutes left to beat 4:00 hours. I was slowing down, but I knew I could make it.
Running under waterslide pipe I had slid through a few days before at the Beach Club. There were a lot of people lining the route at this point cheering everyone on.
Entering World Showcase again after over three and a half hours of running (mile 25). It is really cool to run all the way around World Showcase. At this point I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and not slowing down too much.
Passing back under ball (for the second time that day!) and turning sharply to the right to exit EPCOT to the finish line.
Seeing the finish line and sprinting across at 3:57:02, knowing that I had achieved my goal!
I ran an average of 8:52 min/mile in the first half of the race and 9:13 min/mile in the second half for an overall average of just under 9:03. For the last 6.2 miles of the race I ran an average of 9:33 min/mile, so I was definitely slowing down. I feel confident however, that if I’d needed to, I could have picked up the pace the last few miles to break four hours. After the race I was very tired, but not completely exhausted.
In past marathons I have alternated between water and energy drinks at each water station. That is what I did this time for the first 2/3 of the race. By the end however, I was going for energy drinks all the way.
After the race, I had a "Frozen Sunshine"¨ at Beaches and Cream when I returned to the hotel. It is a specialty of the ice cream/burger place they have there. It consists of vanilla ice cream, orange sherbet, and seltzer water. It tasted great. It was one of my planned rewards for finishing.
I also went for a swim and took some pictures going down the water slide using an underwater camera I’d brought along. Originally I was going to carry the camera with me during the race and take pictures along the way. But based on my training, I knew that I would have to work hard to get under four hours. So in the end I decided I didn’t need the distraction of carrying a camera 26.2 miles.
The afternoon after the race I headed for Disney/MGM Studios by boat. I had signed up for the Fantasmic Dinner package with dinner at the Brown Derby. My reservation was for 3:30 PM. I hadn’t really eaten much for lunch; just most of the rest of my carbo-loading supplies and the Frozen Sunshine, so eating early worked out.
I proudly wore my marathon medal. I had some time before dinner, so I went on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror again. The drop sequence this time was much more exciting the one I had on Friday. Lots of long ups and downs.
Next it was time for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. I’ve seen this every time I’ve been to WDW, but it is exciting, so I never seem to get tired of it.
I had a few more minutes before dinner, so I went on the Great Movie Ride for the second time this trip. I got the gangster scene again. I’ve never gotten the other scene, so hopefully I’ll have another chance next trip! :)
Finally it was 3:15, so I headed over to the Brown Derby.
For an appetizer I had scallops with “natural bacon”. The natural bacon was uncured pork belly I think. It tasted wonderful. The scallops were excellent too. For the main course I had Filet Mignon with Dijon red potatoes. Scrumptious! For dessert I had their house specialty, which is grapefruit cake. I love grapefruit, but it tasted really blah. That was a letdown, but after all the great food before my overall meal was great.
After dinner, I had about an hour before Fantasmic, so I went to see the Narnia exhibit. I had already seen the movie so nothing was a surprise, but it was fun. Outside they had a background from the movie set up with fairly heavy snow flurries so you could take a picture. This really showed how great the fake snow can look. I wished it had been going like this during the Osborne Family Lights night. It would have made it look much more interesting.
I had time to visit the Walt Disney Story again. This time I was able to look at all the models and see the movie again. Walt Disney is one of my heroes. I never seem to get tired of learning about his life.
The benefit of the Fantasmic dinner package is that you can arrive just before the show starts and get good seats anyway. The seats were on the right side and were excellent. It was a long walk up the stadium though. My legs were definitely feeling the pain at that point. Going up and down steps is not easy after running a marathon. :(
I’ve seen Fantasmic a few times at Disneyland in California. This was my first time in Florida. I thought the show was great in that setting. I missed the Peter Pan / Captain Hook scene on the Columbia, but other than that it was an excellent show with lots of water jets, fire, and fireworks. It was certainly nicer to sit down on a bench rather than stand or sit on the ground like you do at Disneyland.
After the show, I was starting to get really tired. I realized I had only gotten about three hours of sleep the night before. Originally I had planned on going to the after-race party at Pleasure Island to get my official time and visit the Adventurer’s Club. But since I wanted to be rested for the EPCOT Segway tour tomorrow, I went to bed. It was a good idea. It didn’t take long to go to sleep.
Monday January 9, 2006
My last full day in the World! When I was planning the trip, I figured the day after the race I didn’t want to walk around that much, so I thought it would be fun to take the “Segway Tour Around the World”.
I had to get the entrance of EPCOT to get in early for the tour. I think I could have walked through International Gateway, but no one at the hotel seemed to know for sure, so I took a cab.
After you enter the park, you go to Segway Central which is Future World. They have a training room with about a dozen Segways lined up. You practice going back and forth, turning left and right around some cones and up and down a ramp.
After about an hour of training, we were joined by a second instructor and we headed out to the left side of World Showcase: Norway, China, and Germany. In each country the instructor would give us a “challenge”: some maneuver with your Segway that tested your skill. The trickiest was in China where you had to up and over a hump-backed bridge and then duck under a tree as you made your way downhill.
Next was Italy, but there was a wedding and they wouldn’t let us through, so we had to go backstage (“No pictures please”, said the instructors) behind Italy and re-enter World Showcase next to the American Pavilion. When we arrived at the Japan pavilion, they coned off an area for us to go around on our own.
To move forward on a Segway, you lean forward. Since ours were limited to 5 MPH, if you lean too far forward, you notice that it tilts you back some to slow you down. Very interesting. I was feeling very confident by then and I practiced my emergency stops by pulling very hard back on the handlebars. The Segway would stop on a dime and not let you fall over backwards. Very cool.
Then it was on to Morocco. It was quite a contrast to see the ultra-modern Segways passing through the narrow corridors of the ancient architecture of the Moors. Our last stop was the garden area on the bridge between France and the U.K. along the World Showcase lagoon. The instructors took everyone’s camera and took group photos.
It was a great tour and I recommend it to anyone. You have to be sixteen years old to do it. You get a special “Around the World at EPCOT” pin for doing the tour. It has a person on a Segway that can move from left to right attached to it.
During the tour, the instructor told us that Disney was building a off-road course for Segways, and was looking at offering them at the Fort Wilderness Campground. This rumor got onto the Screamscape website (my first rumor!):
WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort
Orlando, Florida (Abbreviation: WDW)
Resort News - (1/24/06) Guest taking the Epcot Segway Tour last week report that their guide mentioned a new “Off Road” style Segway tour in development for Fort Wilderness that would use the Segway XT line on a special off-road course.
(Jan 2008> I’m pretty sure this rumor turned out to be true).
I also got my Segway Trip report posted over on All Ears. I even have my picture (that’s me with the blue jacket and white helmet with Spaceship Earth in the distant background) there:
http://allearsnet.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php?product=232
I still hadn’t gone on Soarin’ Over California, so I headed over The Land and got a Fastpass with an hour later return time. That left me enough time to go over to the Living Seas and see “Turtle Talk with Crush”. I’d read about this on-line and I was anxious to see it. You really feel like you are sitting a big window looking underwater and talking to Crush who identifies kids in the audience by what they are wearing, asks them questions, and then answers them. A very clever idea expertly executed. Imagineering at its best!
After that, it was time to head back to Soarin’ Over California. I zoomed to the front of the line with my Fastpass. What a great ride. You really feel like you are flying. I wished it could have lasted about twice as long.
I hadn’t ridden the Monorail yet, so I decided to travel to the Magic Kingdom via Monorail to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Along the way, at the entrance to EPCOT, I stopped by guest relations and filled out a compliment form for the two Segway instructors. They really did an outstanding job.
So I took the Monorail from EPCOT to the Ticket and Transportation Center, and then transferred to an Express Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I went straight to Splash Mountain and got a Fastpass. I was getting hungry, so I bought a hot dog at Casey’s Corner. On the way back to Frontierland I passed by Aloha Isle (which was open today) and got a Dole Whip. Another of my “must-do’s” out of the way! I got pineapple swirled with vanilla which was tasty, but I think next time I will go for straight pineapple.
When I got back to Frontierland, I noticed that there was only a 30 minute wait for Big Thunder in the stand-by line, so I decided to do that first and then use my Fastpass for Splash. It took about 45 minutes, but by the time I finished, my Fastpass for Splash was still good. That was my last big ride of the trip.
I still had some time, so I went over to Tom Sawyer Island. I love the barrel bridge. I noticed that in the fort, the guns in the towers still put out sound. I think at Disneyland they took them out which is a shame. I also went through the caves which were pretty spooky. There is one section where if you aren’t careful, you just go around in a circle.
After Tom Sawyer Island, I hopped on the train and rode back to the Main Street station. Then I took the bus back to the Beach Club.
After resting for an hour I ate dinner at the Cape May Seafood buffet. It was good but not great. I had a dozen clams, clam chowder, and BBQ ribs. The peel and eat shrimp were a little too much trouble than what they were worth. I had a berry cake for dessert that was okay, but not spectacular.
For my last night, I headed over again to EPCOT. It was so great to be able to just walk there from the Beach Club. On the way to the Canada Pavilion, I saw Off-Kilter (the bagpipe/rock and roll band). I’d read a lot about this band and they were every bit as good as their reputation; lots of fun. Then I watched the Circlevision Canada movie, which is quite good.
I wanted to watch the American Adventure show in the American Pavilion, but the next show wasn’t until 8:15 PM. So I walked over to Norway and looked at their Viking exhibit in the Old Stave Church. I thought it was very interesting.
I really love the American Adventure show. It is very inspiring to me. Hopefully someday they will update it to include 9/11.
When the show was over I spotted a souvenir cart outside and bought gold medallion with Mickey ears that celebrated the Happiest Celebration on Earth. It had a big number 50 on it, so since I’m 50 too I couldn’t resist. Part of the reason I wanted to run the WDW marathon is that I’m the same age as Disneyland.
By then it was about 10 minutes until Illuminations, so I grabbed a spot in the area between America and Japan. This is where the globe starts from. Some of the fireworks blast off from in front of the Japan Pavilion which is very exciting. I enjoyed it as much as the first time. I later learned that inferno barge in the show was out of commission which is too bad. Oh well, just another reason to go back!
On the way back to the hotel I bought a couple of more souvenirs at the International Gateway shop. I found a cute Tigger pen. You can make Tigger jump up and down inside the pen by pushing on a bellows on the top of the pen.
With some sadness :crying:, but a lot of joy :), I headed back to my hotel. The next morning, after eating breakfast on concierge floor, I checked my bag at the hotel and boarded the Disney Magical Express Bus for the airport. My adventure was complete! I had accomplished all I had set out to do: train for and run a marathon under 4 hours at Walt Disney World for my 50th birthday. :)
Ken
===================================
WDW Marathon Trip Report
January 10, 2005
I signed up the first day it was possible. I had been thinking about running the WDW marathon for a number of years now. I’ve run 8 marathons before, but the last one was in 1989. My best time was in 1986 when I ran 3:21:45 in the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon. That is a beautiful run among the redwoods of Northern California.
I’m turning 50 this year and I decided that going to WDW to run the marathon was going to be my “mid-life crisis”. It was also a reason to get into shape after many years of being overweight. Since our kids were born in 1997, my running has been fairly regular at 3 times a week, but my eating habits have deteriorated. So the first order of business was to start eating right. I cut out dessert except when we go out to dinner and stopped going out to lunch. By doing this and making sure I run 4-5 days a week, I was able to lose 15 pounds. I’ve got another 5 to lose if I want to get down to my 1986 marathon weight of 167 pounds, but I’m not going to push that. I’m just going to see where I end up after I increase my miles in the four months before the marathon.
My plan is to keep running 4-5 times a week for total of 12-15 miles until mid year and then start increasing it until I’m at 40-50 miles/week starting on Sept 1st. To avoid changing my evening schedule very much, I’m going to be waking up early (5:00) to go running. I figure it will help me adjust to Eastern Time so I’ll be used to running early.
When I signed up, I checked a box for them to send me offers for accommodations. I’d really like to stay at the Beach Club since it is near the start and I’m guessing I can just walk there so I don’t have to wake up so early (this turned out to be impossible). I’d also like to use the great pool (Storm-a-long Bay) after the marathon to relax my muscles.
I’m planning on flying from the West Coast on the Thursday before the marathon. That will give me two days to get over jet lag and by visiting the park before, I’ll get some walking in which should help keep my muscles loose. I may stay one day after the marathon, but I’ll probably fly home on Monday.
May 10, 2005
Disney offered me a stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but I really wanted to stay at the Beach Club so I’ve been checking the WDW web site to see when they open up reservations for arrivals after Jan 1, 2006. So far they aren’t open. I’ve decided to fly on the Wednesday night red eye to give me another partial day (Thursday) at the parks and stay an extra day to relax after the marathon. I’ll fly back on Tuesday.
June 4, 2005
My training is going well. I’m up to 21 miles per week. I run 4.2 miles five times a week. I’ve been beating most of my old records for the routes I’ve run in my neighborhood.
July 15, 2005
They finally opened reservations on the WDW web site, but all they have are suites at the Beach Club for the week of the marathon. The AAA web site shows a regular room available, but their web site doesn’t work that well for doing a complete package, so I decide to go into the local AAA office to reserve the trip.
July 16, 2005
It turns out that AAA uses the same Disney & AAA web sites as me, so there is no advantage going into the AAA office. Oh well. The Disney person the AAA travel agent got on the phone thought that the AAA web site didn’t have the latest info. I can see that I should have called Disney right after I signed up for the marathon. I don’t know if they could have made reservations that far in advance or not, but at least I would have had a better chance to get a regular room.
So since I really want to stay at the Beach Club, I’m stuck with a suite. Oh well. :) This turned out to be a great decision since I spent a lot of time at EPCOT (which you can walk to) and Disney/MGM Studios which is easy to get to by boat.
September 15, 2005
I developed tendonitis in my left foot. It isn’t getting any better, so I started using the stepper and the NordicTrack machines instead of running. This is not the ideal way to train, but I can only take what my body will give to me.
October 12, 2005
I made all my priority seating arrangements. I’m going to be using counter service most of the time, but I decided on doing the Fantasmic Dinner package at MGM the evening of the marathon. Sitting down sounds like a good idea. I picked the Brown Derby because I probably will never go there with my family (too fancy). A steak will be nice after all the carbo-loading. My three other priority seating reservations are
SciFi Diner for lunch on Friday. I always wanted to go to that. Even though I’ll be carbo-loading, I can have the BBQ Chicken Breast sandwich with fries. For dinner that night I’m planning on going to the ABC Commissary for a Tabbouleh Wrap which will be almost all carbos.
Cape May Seafood Buffet Monday. Another place my family probably won’t want to go because I’m the only one who really likes seafood.
Kona Café for Breakfast on Tuesday (the day I leave for home). Got to have that Tonga Toast!!
I also signed up for the Segway Tour for the morning after the marathon. I’ve ridden a Segway at a science museum once and really liked it. This tour sounds like so much fun, and a good thing to do after running. I got a 15% AAA discount.
November 4, 2005
Just over two months to go! Final payment due on November 14.
My training is mostly back on track. I’m up to 30 miles per week: 5 days a week, 6 miles/day. My tendonitis is manageable. I’m icing it after every run. On the weekends, I’m running on the local high school track. Last weekend, my training pace was sub-9:00/mile. I started at 8:40/mile and slowed down to 8:59/mile for the last mile.
In all the marathons I’ve run, I’ve never used a training schedule with lots of varied workouts like the ones you see in books or on the Internet. What works for me is consistent running at my training pace for the same number of miles each workout. During the race, that is what you have to do, just keep plodding along at a steady pace, so that is what I do during training. In the past I’ve run 8 miles per workout in the three to four months before the race. This time my body is telling me that 6 miles per workout is what it can handle.
In 1985 I tried running a half marathon (actually a 25 kilometer race) a month before the marathon like some training schedules recommend. It just about killed me. My body couldn’t recover before race day. I ended up running 3:59:06, which was my worst time other than a year when I injured my knee and ran anyway.
My attitude is good. I’m dedicated to finishing the marathon, and my training is doing okay now. I’m hoping next month I can get up 40 miles/week. We’ll see. I realize now that trying to run a sub 3:30 marathon is not in the cards. That would qualify me for the Boston Marathon. It is just out of the question now. When I ran 3:21:45 back in 1986, I had run a 43:05 10k race 5 months before the marathon. This year (in May) I ran a 50 minute 10k. According to a pacing calculator I found on the Internet, a 50 minute 10k leads to a 9 min/mile (3:55) marathon. That sounds about right and is now the target of my training. I’m going to try and run 8:40 – 8:45 min/mile for my track training. I would like to be able to maintain that pace for 8 miles before the marathon. If I’m able to run a sub-4 hour race, I will have met my goal in every way. Qualifying for Boston was a nice dream, but reality has set in and now I can concentrate on my original goal.
November 6, 2005
I was able to run below 8:40/mile for 6 miles on both Saturday and Sunday at the track. That is a very good training pace for my 9:00/mile target. Sunday I ran all 6 miles on the track and averaged just under 8:37.
November 28, 2005
I received my Race Info packet. I ordered a souvenir “Champion Chip” for the race. This chip is used to record your time in the race.
My training is going well. I lost one day to rain, but the weather has been cooperating for the most part. It is getting very cold now. I’ve been watching the weather in Florida and it has been in the 40’s in the morning. Good running weather!
I’m going to try and increase my mileage in December to 40 miles/week.
December 3, 2005
I picked up my airline tickets and other reservation information today.
December 31, 2005
Well, increasing my mileage didn’t work out. My joints said 6 miles/day is all you can do during training. In the last week or so though, I’ve felt like I’ve got a lot left after running on the track. That is a good feeling. This last month of training has really paid off. At the start of the month I was mentally prepared to run the race, and I was a little depressed that I had a whole ‘nother month to go. Now I’m glad I’ve been able train one more month at high mileage per week.
It has been raining a lot this month. I didn’t let that stop me. Quite a few days I ran in the driving rain in the dark with only street lights to guide my way. I think it helped me develop the mental toughness I’ll need in the race.
Today is my last day of major training. Tomorrow (Sunday – one week before the race) I start the carbo-loading regimen of eating protein and fat until Wednesday. For breakfast I’ll be having bacon and eggs. For lunch, cheese and bologna. For dinner steak and other meat and fat. Then I Thursday I switch to carbohydrates. One the marathons I did, I skipped this strict carbo-loading regimen and I really paid for it late in the race – I hit the WALL.
I’m going to try and run 8 miles slow and perhaps work up to 10 miles by Wednesday if I can. I’m going to run before breakfast as part of my plan to switch to east coast time early to minimize jet lag.
Wednesday January 4, 2006
All my depletion runs are done. I ran before breakfast each time, getting up around 4:45 A.M. to help the transition to East Coast time. Yesterday I felt terrible and only ran about 3 miles. Today I felt much better and ran 6.5 for my final depletion run. I’ve put in all the training I could manage for this race and hopefully it is enough. This morning after running, my weight was 164; below my hoped for 167 which I was what I weighed in 1986 for my fastest marathon.
This week as part of my mental preparation, I watched “Chariots of Fire”; the movie about the 1924 Olympics. Remember: Where does the power to finish the race come from? It comes from within.
I bought some Kendall Mint Cake as a treat for carbo-loading. I couldn’t find it locally like I used to, so I bought it on eBay from England. It is made up of sugar and peppermint oil. It was taken by Sir Edmund Hilary to the summit of Mt. Everest. It is pure sugar energy when you need it.
I can’t eat any until tomorrow. For tonight on the plane, I bought a high protein energy bar.
I took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit train) over to the San Francisco Airport. My family dropped me off at the Orinda BART station. I had one medium sized rolling suitcase and an over the shoulder bag. The trip to the airport went fine. This is the first time I’ve tried taking BART. In the BART station near the International Terminal, you transfer to an airport train. It was a fairly long walk through the parking structure from the airport train station to the actual terminal, but not bad with rolling luggage.
I’m taking the 10:50 PM red-eye flight to save daylight hours in Florida. When I arrive early Thursday morning, I’ll be able to go to the parks. I have to transfer planes in Atlanta, but I’m hoping to get some sleep on the flight from SFO to ATL.
I was able to sleep a couple of hours on the plane using a neck pillow, earplugs, and eye shades, but I was in the last row near where the flight attendants work and the bathrooms are, so it was pretty noisy. I need to adjust to East Coast time, so I’m not that worried about losing some sleep tonight. It will just make it easier to get to bed earlier tonight.
Thursday January 5, 2006
Upon arrival in Orlando (around 8:00 A.M.), I used Disney Magical Express. It worked great. I had to wait about 15 minutes for other passengers. It took just over an hour to get from the Airport to my hotel (the Beach Club). We stopped at the Pop Century and the Caribbean Beach Resort along the way.
While on the bus, I opened up my Kendall Mint Cake. It tasted great. I’m officially in carbo-loading mode now!
I got checked in and luckily my room was already ready. My room was a suite (as I mentioned before) and it was HUGE. As you enter the room, there is a walk-in closet on the right and a sitting room straight ahead. Off to the right of the sitting room is a double sink and a door into the bathroom. Double French Doors lead into the bedroom which has a couch, desk, and sideboard/dresser. The sideboard has a refrigerator so I can keep my energy drinks cold.
I found out I was upgraded to Concierge level even though I was on the first floor. Perhaps all suites come with Concierge. That means I can get a continental breakfast in the morning which will save time. I’m not into wine and cheese, so I won’t be doing that in the afternoon. I’d much rather be in the parks! :)
I changed my clothes and was ready to head to the Magic Kingdom by 9:42 A.M! So far my plan was working perfectly. From the Beach Club you take the Bus to the Magic Kingdom. The first thing I did was buy a postcard to send home. I had read a suggestion by someone to get a postcard autographed by some characters, so that was my quest.
On the way up Main Street, I got my picture taken. They have a new PhotoPass system. They give you a card with a number on it and you can order your pictures on-line when you get home. You keep the card and reuse it every time you get your picture taken. It worked great.
Next I headed for Adventureland. The first thing I did was get a fastpass for Jungle Cruise and then I headed for Tiki Room Under New Management. I’m a big fan of the Tiki Room. The new show was okay, but it ended very abruptly. I like the original much better. It was too early for my fastpass for Jungle Cruise, so I went on the Pirates of The Caribbean. This is my favorite ride, but the WDW version pales in comparison to the CA version. It ends very abruptly too.
I still had some time before the Jungle Cruise, so I went to Frontierland and stopped at the Shooting Gallery. I used to love the Shooting Gallery when I was growing up so I couldn’t pass it up.
Jesse and Woody had a character greeting by the Rivers of America, so I waited in line for them and got the postcard autographed. Jesse gave me a big *SMACK* on the cheek which was fun since it was totally unexpected. The picture with them was the one I bought from PhotoPass.
Then it was time to ride the Jungle Cruise with my fastpass. Our guide was pretty funny. I haven’t been on the Jungle Cruise for many years. His gun wasn’t working, so he said that the hippo was very afraid of the rapid clicking of the gun. I had heard that they started using guns again on the Jungle Cruise. Since ours didn’t go off, I’m not sure if they are doing it at WDW or just at Disneyland.
After the Jungle Cruise, I went and got a funnel cake which was on my list of things I wanted to try. It wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. I assumed it was in the shape of a funnel. Instead it was a fried creation that covered a whole plate. I got mine with powdered sugar. Very messy to eat, but good.
Since I was in Liberty Square, I went to see the Hall of Presidents. I’ve only seen that once before. I thought it was an excellent show. It is cool to see all the Presidents in one place. The next time we bring the kids to WDW, I think they would enjoy it.
After that I went to the Pinocchio Restaurant in Fantasyland and bought a Mickey shaped Rice Krispie treat on a stick and chocolate milk. That was the first milk I’d had since I started my carbo-loading regime five days ago. Even though milk is high protein, it also has a lot of milk sugar in it, so it is not allowed during the depletion phase. I love milk, so it tasted very good. I bought an extra Rice Krispie treat for later.
Then it was on to the Haunted Mansion which was great. When we went to WDW with the kids in 2004, they didn’t want to ride because they thought it was too scary, so I was glad to catch it this time.
After that it was getting kind of late and I was a little tired since I hadn’t slept that much on the plane, so I decided to head back to hotel, take a swim, and then rest a little.
I’d read a lot about the pool at the Beach Club and it was just as good as advertised. It has a great water slide. You go across the pathway in back of the resort by the lake, then climb onto a shipwrecked ship, up a spiral staircase to the crow’s nest. You slide down a long tube that looks like the broken mast of the ship back over the pathway and into a mountain. You zoom down the mountain though one waterfall that splashes you, then you twist around a couple times, go through another waterfall and finally SLAM you go into the pool! What a blast!
The pool has a sandy bottom. The sand level was a little low and as I was leaving the resort on my last day I noticed they were adding more sand. The sinking sands area (supposed to be like quicksand I think) wasn’t working. There is a current that takes you around the pool. In one spot there is a whirlpool that was actually pretty hard to swim out of. There is another pool on the Yacht Club side that is just a lazy river with a very strong current. They had some inner tubes you can float along on.
It was a cut above the Polynesian Pool (on the other hand, it doesn’t have a volcano!). The water slide was definitely better at the Beach Club. It is not as good as a real water park, but for a hotel pool it is the cream of the crop, and very cool to have right in your “backyard” so to speak.
After I was rested a little, I headed back to the Magic Kingdom. I went straight to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain. The line said 40 minute wait, but it was really only 20 minutes. I got the front seat of the train which is a great position.
After that I got a fastpass for Stitch’s Escape. I’d heard it wasn’t a very good show, and I’ll always regret I never got to see Alien Encounter, but I wanted to go anyway. Meantime, I went on the Astro Orbiter which is up HIGH over Tomorrowland where it is supposed to be not like it is in Disneyland. I got a great view of the park. Then it was time for Stitch. It was pretty good, but I can understand the criticism.
It was time for dinner, so I had a grilled chicken sandwich, pasta salad, and milk (I was still starving for milk!) for dinner at Cosmic Ray’s. It was very tasty.
Then I went to the hub about 55 minutes before the Spectromagic parade. One advantage of being by yourself is that you can decide to just go and sit somewhere if you want. For my purposes it was a good time to rest since I had been walking a lot that day and didn’t want to use up too much energy in the days leading up to the race.
The parade was very cool. I think I’d seen it once before, but I’m not sure. I might be confusing it with having seen the Main Street Electrical Parade.
About 15 minutes after the parade was over, the Wishes Fireworks show started. I’d never seen that before and I was right in the middle of the hub in front of the castle which is the best spot. What a tremendous show! I picked a good night (Thursday) to see the parade and the fireworks since the Magic Kingdom was closing earlier than on other days so I could get to bed earlier and rest up.
I didn’t take too long to exit the park and I only waited about five minutes for the bus back to the Beach Club.
Before I went to bed, I called home and did a little planning for tomorrow: Disney-MGM Studios and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror!!!!!!! Bahahahawaaaaaa!!!!
Friday January 6, 2006
I got up a 6:00 this morning to get used to waking up earlier and earlier as I approach race day.
I got to MGM Studios by boat. I was there at the rope drop and went immediately to the Tower of Terror. They made us walk behind two cast members to make sure people didn’t run and get trampled. They were walking very fast though and I had a little trouble keeping up!
I was in the first elevator. The drop sequence we got wasn’t that scary. We were going up and down a lot rather than one big drop. I’ll try to ride it again this trip to see if I get a different sequence.
Next I went to Rockin’ Roller coaster. I had planned to get a fastpass, but it was only a ten minute wait. I was in the very last seat. It starts off accelerating to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds or something like that. Things happened very fast after that. There was an inversion and corkscrew and some other stuff. It was very hard to follow exactly what was happening because you couldn’t see the track (especially in the last seat). Very smooth coaster!
Then I went on the Great Movie Ride for the first time in my life. I really liked it. We got the Gangster Scene. I’ll try and ride it again on Sunday when I go to the Fantasmic show after the marathon to see if I can get the other scene.
In the Gangster scene, a person dressed up as a gangster comes out and there is a gun fight over your car. During the fight, he tells the ride operator to leave which is very unexpected and a great part of the ride. The gangster takes over the car! Later while traveling through the Egyptian tombs we see a big red ruby up on the wall. The gangster sees it and climbs up to get it saying, “I’m going to get that ice…”. There is a person standing next to the ruby in a robe that covers his face. Pointing at our car he says, “Touch the ruby and everyone in your party will be destroyed!” The gangster ignores him and after he touches the ruby, a lot of mist shoots up and when it goes away, all that is left is a skeleton…
Then the person in the robe threw off his robe and it was the ride operator! He jumped back in the car and took over the ride again. Very cool!
After that it was on to the new car stunt show: Lights, Motors, Action! It was great. Very exciting. It was also very cool to see how they do the backwards driving over the ramp (they have a driver looking out through the back of the car and a dummy in the driver’s seat). They also had a funny bit where they tricked a kid into thinking that he was driving a car by remote control when in fact there was a driver hiding alongside the car on the far side.
I had lunch reservation at the Sci-Fi Drive-in later, so I headed over to that part of the park. On the way I went to Muppet Vision 3-D for the first time in my life. That was hilarious.
There was still had some time before my reservation, so I went on Star Tours which I always enjoy. Afterwards, I did some souvenir shopping in the Tatooine Traders. I got a Yoda keychain for my son and an R2-D2 keychain for my daughter. I looked at a Millennium Falcon die cast model, but it was $60, so I got a Millennium Falcon keychain instead for $8. The key chains had very high quality die cast figures.
Finally it was time for priority reservation at the Sci-Fi Drive-in. I had the penne pasta with shrimp with cheesecake dessert. I was in a car with two other couples who were together. The waitress got me to laugh by calling me a hitchhiker. The “movies” were mostly trailers for the craziest set of movies I have “never” seen. It was great. The weirdest alien I saw was somebody called “Robot Monster”. It was a guy in a gorilla suite wearing a space helmet!
I was a little surprised at the menu. I expected more of a burger/fries/milkshake menu like a traditional drive-in restaurant. I guess you can get that with counter service at the Studios, so they didn’t need to repeat that here. The food was okay, but there wasn’t that much else on the menu that I would have liked.
After lunch I went to “One Man’s Dream”, the story of Walt Disney. His story is so inspirational to me. I wanted to watch the movie at the end, so I rushed through parts of the exhibit. I’ll go back on Sunday to see it again so I can spend more time looking at the models of the Tree of Life, etc.
It was close by, so I went on the “Magic of Animation” tour. We saw that at Disney’s California Adventure, but I really enjoyed it so I wanted to see it again. Mushu, the dragon from Mulan, is hilarious interacting with the cast member host.
Then it was time for the Backlot tour. I was on the wet side. The host made a funny joke at the beginning by warning the people on the other side, that “you may get wet, ***pause***, but the people on the other side (my side) will get drenched”.
I’m really glad I went on this tour because I saw the 23 mile marker for the marathon. It was a billboard with Stitch on it that read, “Do or do not, there is no try”. This is Yoda’s famous saying and something I think about when faced with a challenge. I’ll be looking for that on Sunday and I’m sure it will be inspiring to me as I enter the last 3+ miles of the race.
There are of other things I wanted to see, like the Narnia exhibit, but it was time to go to the Race Expo to check-in for the race. I’ll have to catch those on Sunday. All in all, a great day at the Studios.
Normally the only way to get the Wide World of Sports using Disney transportation is by taking a bus from the Studios. During the marathon weekend, they have buses directly to and from the resorts. However, since I was already at the Studios, I walked over and waited for the bus from there to the Wide World of Sports.
It took about an hour to get through everything at the check-in. It took a little longer than it should of because I had my own timing chip for the race. I should have mentioned that to the person behind the counter right away. It was lucky I brought my chip with me since I needed it to check out. You have to put your chip on a sensor to verify that you are registered. It was reassuring to see my name pop up on the monitor when I placed my chip on the mat with the sensor. So if you buy a souvenir chip, make sure you bring it to the Expo!
I spent some time in the Expo area looking for any souvenir like a shirt, etc., but I didn’t see anything that grabbed my fancy. I did get a sample dose of Tylenol 8 hour pain medicine which I may use before the race. It has two parts, one half of it dissolves right away and the other slowly releases medicine over the eight hours. I haven’t run more than hour in my training and I know my joints are not what they were 15+ years ago.
When I got back to the hotel, I rested a little while. At this point in the trip, I’m getting a little tired. I’ll be up a little bit late tonight, but tomorrow I’m going to the Animal Kingdom and I’ll come home early to rest some more. I have my last carbo-loading dinner set up at Alfredo’s in the Italy pavilion at EPCOT tomorrow night.
I’ve always wanted to see the Osborne Family Lights at MGM studios. That was the only Christmas entertainment besides the Christmas tree in the Town Square at the Magic Kingdom that I’ve seen on this trip. I’m also interested in seeing how they do the fake snow effect. But I’m not going to stay there. Tonight there are extra magic hours at EPCOT, so I’m going to head over there and go on some of the major rides.
Well, the Osborne Family Lights were a spectacle, but I don’t think I ever need to go see them again. It was very strange to imagine that someone had all these lights just on their house. It doesn’t seem possible. They didn’t have the snowing effect turned on very high, so it wasn’t that impressive.
On the way into EPCOT, I got my Extra Magic Hours wristband. Once inside, I immediately went to Mission SPACE. I rode this once before on a previous trip. This time I didn’t notice any spinning at the beginning like I did before. Maybe I kept my head a little straighter. Anyway, last time I rode Test Track first and then Mission SPACE and my stomach bothered me. This time even though I hadn’t eaten for five hours, my stomach still bothered me at the end. So I may not ride this again.
Test Track had a 30 minute wait so I decided to try and ride Soarin’ over California. But there was a two hour line and they had given out all the fast passes for that day. I wanted to see Illuminations which started in 90 minutes, so I decided to eat dinner. I was already in the Land pavilion, so I ate at the food court there. Keeping with my carbo-loading scheme, I ate Chinese food: rice, vegetables and beef. It is okay to eat some protein at this stage; you just want to emphasize carbohydrates.
I didn’t want to ride Test Track right after eating, so I headed for Norway and rode the Maelstrom ride. I like it better than Rio del Tiempo. Neither is great, but the Maelstrom ride is more fun. I watched the movie afterwards and I wasn’t impressed with it. I rode this ride many years ago and I seem to recall that the old movie was more of a travelogue for Norway. This movie tried to celebrate the people of Norway, but it was very poorly done. I liked the old movie better although I don’t remember that much about it.
It was getting cold, so I bought a cinnamon roll at the Kringla Bakeri to keep myself warm. I found a good spot to watch Illuminations by Norway. I stood behind a stroller so I had a good view. Illuminations was spectacular; probably the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen. The music is very inspiring and rotating images on the Earth are amazing.
Many people left after Illuminations, so it was a good time to catch Test Track which was a walk-on. It is scheduled for rehab on Monday (my last day and when I was going to go back to EPCOT) so I needed to ride it today. It definitely needed a rehab. The video screen in our car wasn’t working.
After that, it was time to go back to the hotel and get some sleep.
Saturday January 7, 2006 (day before the race)
Today is Animal Kingdom day. I scheduled it for this day because I wanted to not do too much the day before the race. I got up early and was there when it opened. I headed straight for Dinosaur. A couple of years ago when I went to WDW with my family we had ridden the safari ride, so I didn’t feel like I needed to do that again. I enjoyed Dinosaur last time so I wanted to get it out of the way while there was a short line. It was just as much fun this time. Especially at the end when the Carnatorus emerges out of the darkness when you think the ride is almost over.
Last time we didn’t have time to do anything in Asia, so I headed over there to walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Unfortunately it was too cold (30’s!) for the bats, komodo dragon, and the tapir, so they were hiding. Hopefully it will be a little bit warmer tomorrow for the race. I’ll be dressing warm though.
The tigers weren’t moving around much, but one was very close to the glass and very impressive looking. It was licking its paw just like our cat does at home. :)
I had a lot of fun in the aviary. There was a docent there who pointed out many of the birds and told me a little about each one. I had brought along a 8x monocular and it worked great! I was able to get close up looks at all the birds.
I was in the area, so I walked over by Expedition Everest. I had always hoped that it would be open by the time I got there, but I missed it by a few months. Oh well, another reason to come back some day. The mountain is very impressive looking and it seems like it belongs there. You can see it from the road as you approach Animal Kingdom much in the way you can see the Matterhorn as you approach Disneyland.
They were running some trains without people in them, so I got to see that at least. It looks like it is going to be a great ride.
Next I went to the Flights of Wonder bird show. I thought it was great. I really like the trick where the bird took a dollar bill out of someone’s hand and brought it back to the trainer. He then asked the audience if anyone had a $20 bill which got a big laugh. Eventually the bird took the dollar bill back to the person who lost it earlier.
I wanted to see Tarzan Rocks. It was closing in a month or two so this would be my one and only chance to see it. I’d read a lot of good things about it and it lived up to its billing. It was a very impressive show with roller skating stunts and Tarzan and Jane flying through the air on ropes all set to rock and roll music.
I bought a pork sandwich from the Flame Tree BBQ with Key Lime Pie for dessert. Yummy! Key Lime Pie is highly recommended when carbo-loading! I ate it by the river and gazed at Mt. Everest. Where else in the world can you do that?!
After lunch, I decided to go on Kali River Rapids even though I’d forgotten my poncho back at the hotel. It was pretty cold still so there was absolutely no line. When I got to the turntable, there was a family of three in a raft. Since there was no line, they were going around for another ride. They were all wearing ponchos and they were completely soaked! They said this was their tenth trip around. I thought to my self, uh-oh…
In the middle of the raft there is a compartment that is semi-waterproof. I put my warm hat, jacket and fanny pack in there (my camera was in a Ziploc bag). I figured at least I could put on a dry jacket and hat afterwards.
The ride was great. This was my first time on it. There is one fifteen foot drop that seemed about a 45 degree angle. You slam down into the water at the bottom. Luckily I was facing into it; the family was opposite me. When we hit the bottom, an 8-10 foot wave curved up and over the family; completely covering them. They were completely soaked again! I only got a few drips on me. If I ever ride it again, I will definitely bring my poncho.
My only criticism of the ride is that the anti-logging message is confusing and detracts from the overall experience. I realize that is the point they are trying to make, but I wish they would just re-landscape it to all jungle.
Having escaped getting soaked, I walked over to see “It’s Tough to be a Bug”. I had been wanting to see this show for a long time, but I thought it might be too scary for the kids, so we didn’t do it the two times (once in FL and once in CA) we had the chance. I got someone to take a picture of me with my “bug eyes” on while we were waiting to go in.
What a great show! I would go to see that again anytime.
After that I did some shopping (I found a nice shell necklace for my wife) and then it was time to go back to the hotel. Tomorrow is Marathon Day and I wanted to take a nap. I allocated three hours, and I slept deeply for about an hour and fifteen minutes which really helped.
After resting another 30 minutes, I got up and organized my clothes for the marathon tomorrow. It is going to be cold, so I’m going to wear three layers: microfleece shirt, the long sleeve synthetic marathon shirt I got at check-in, and finally my trusty old Nike nylon running shirt with small holes in it. I pinned my number to the Nike shirt and put my champion chip on my shoes.
For shorter races (10k) and while training, I usually wear sweat pants unless it is really hot, but for marathons, sweat pants get soaked with sweat and really slow me down, so I’m going to wear bicycle type (long leg) shorts with regular running shorts over them. I brought along some old sweat pants to wear while I’m waiting for the race to start. I’ll discard them just before we start running. I also brought along an old piece of carpet to sit on. This was a tip I got from the MousePlanet web site. I think it is a great idea. It is much better than standing for an hour.
I’d made a 7:00 PM reservation at Alfredo’s in the Italy pavilion at EPCOT. It is a good choice for a final carbo-loading meal before race, and an easy walk from the hotel. I’d hoped to have gnocchi, but that wasn’t on the menu, so I ordered shrimp and pasta with vodka, cream and tomato sauce. Lots of garlic! This was basically the same dish that I’d had at the Sci-Fi drive-in at the Studios on Friday. I have to say that the Alfredo’s version was far superior.
What I think makes World Showcase special is that all the people that work at the pavilions are natives from that country. Halfway through dinner a guy started playing Finiculi- Finicula on an accordion and the waiters all waved napkins in a circle over their heads. There enthusiasm was contagious; pretty soon everyone was doing it. It was very funny.
A woman sitting at the next table had the same waiter as me. She was running too. She said she wanted to "create" something that wasn't on the menu. The waiter said "Great, I love it" in this wonderful Italian accent. But he was sorely disappointed when her "creation"¨ consisted of plain pasta with nothing on it (she didn't want to eat any fatty foods before the race). He at least convinced her to have some shrimp on the side!!
For dessert I had a strawberry mouse that was decorated with chocolate to look like a ladybug and surrounded by M&M’s. I think it was the “kids” dessert, but I didn’t care. It tasted very good.
I went to bed as soon as I got back to the hotel; around 8:30 PM. For some reason I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep that night. I wasn't anxious about the race, so I guess I was worried about getting up at 2:45 A.M. to get ready (the last bus leaves at 4:00 AM). I had a wake-up call arranged, my alarm clock, and my watch alarm set just in case.
Sunday January 8, 2006 (RACE DAY)
3:00 AM. I have finally reached my appointment with destiny! I have a good attitude and my body’s feeling good, so it should be a good race.
As is my custom before marathons, I had a Danish pastry when I got up. This was recommended by my carbo-loading instructions which is interesting because the recommend staying away from fatty foods. There is a lot of fat in Danish pastry!
Mentally I split the race up five parts. Four races of 6 miles each and then 2.2 miles at the end. Six miles was my standard training distance, so as I finished each 6 mile section, I mentally checked off another day’s worth of training. This worked out great for the WDW marathon because every six miles you go through another park: EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney/MGM Studios. The last 2.2 miles is around World Showcase and back to the front of EPCOT.
My strongest memories from the race are:
While waiting for the bus to the start, I met a couple who had run the Half Marathon the day before and were going for the Goofy Race and Half Challenge. I bet they made it.
Hearing a rock band playing full blast at 4:00 AM in the EPCOT parking lot.
Hearing the Green Army Men commander from Toy Story yelling at us to start moving to the start line. Move IT! :)
Walking over to the start line in the dark. Like a smoothly flowing river, people made their way quietly and calmly to the starting area.
Waiting in the dark, sitting on my piece of carpet.
The fireworks going off at the start.
Setting the time on my watch to 00:00:00 as I passed over the start line. It took over 5 minutes to cross it after the gun went off.
Having to stop in the first mile to go the bathroom (in the woods). The first mile took 10:30.
Dodging around people for the first six miles. I was in the last corral since I hadn’t run in a marathon in a long time. My first few miles were all over 9:00/mile.
Running under the ball at EPCOT (mile 2) with the sun not up yet.
Running across the bridge between Future World and Showcase Plaza at EPCOT. The Christmas lights were on and it gave me the chills to run under them.
Thinking that all I had to do was keep clocking in miles under 9:00 to make my goal (somewhere starting around mile 6 and continuing through the race).
Running past the Disney Cruise Line people on the way to the Magic Kingdom. They were out in force.
Approaching the Magic Kingdom near the Contemporary Hotel (mile 10).
My heart coming up into my throat as I turned onto Main Street and seeing the Castle. It gives me chills just to think about it even now.
Running through the castle and raising my arms when I saw the photographers. That picture turned out great so I bought it later.
The long road down to Animal Kingdom Park.
Feeling good when I passed the halfway point (13.1 miles) at 1:56. I had made up all the time I lost in the first few miles.
Running by Mt. Everest (Mile 17)
Starting on the long straight road to the Wide World of Sports (Mile 19). I remember reading about how dreary this road was in other accounts of this stretch. It didn’t bother me that much. Apparently it is shorter than it used to be before they started running through Animal Kingdom.
Surprising myself with an 8:45 minute mile at mile 21.
Seeing the Yoda sign in Disney/MGM studios at mile 23: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Reaching mile 24 behind the Boardwalk and switching over to thinking about my total time rather than checking my time/mile. I had a little over 20 minutes left to beat 4:00 hours. I was slowing down, but I knew I could make it.
Running under waterslide pipe I had slid through a few days before at the Beach Club. There were a lot of people lining the route at this point cheering everyone on.
Entering World Showcase again after over three and a half hours of running (mile 25). It is really cool to run all the way around World Showcase. At this point I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and not slowing down too much.
Passing back under ball (for the second time that day!) and turning sharply to the right to exit EPCOT to the finish line.
Seeing the finish line and sprinting across at 3:57:02, knowing that I had achieved my goal!
I ran an average of 8:52 min/mile in the first half of the race and 9:13 min/mile in the second half for an overall average of just under 9:03. For the last 6.2 miles of the race I ran an average of 9:33 min/mile, so I was definitely slowing down. I feel confident however, that if I’d needed to, I could have picked up the pace the last few miles to break four hours. After the race I was very tired, but not completely exhausted.
In past marathons I have alternated between water and energy drinks at each water station. That is what I did this time for the first 2/3 of the race. By the end however, I was going for energy drinks all the way.
After the race, I had a "Frozen Sunshine"¨ at Beaches and Cream when I returned to the hotel. It is a specialty of the ice cream/burger place they have there. It consists of vanilla ice cream, orange sherbet, and seltzer water. It tasted great. It was one of my planned rewards for finishing.
I also went for a swim and took some pictures going down the water slide using an underwater camera I’d brought along. Originally I was going to carry the camera with me during the race and take pictures along the way. But based on my training, I knew that I would have to work hard to get under four hours. So in the end I decided I didn’t need the distraction of carrying a camera 26.2 miles.
The afternoon after the race I headed for Disney/MGM Studios by boat. I had signed up for the Fantasmic Dinner package with dinner at the Brown Derby. My reservation was for 3:30 PM. I hadn’t really eaten much for lunch; just most of the rest of my carbo-loading supplies and the Frozen Sunshine, so eating early worked out.
I proudly wore my marathon medal. I had some time before dinner, so I went on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror again. The drop sequence this time was much more exciting the one I had on Friday. Lots of long ups and downs.
Next it was time for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. I’ve seen this every time I’ve been to WDW, but it is exciting, so I never seem to get tired of it.
I had a few more minutes before dinner, so I went on the Great Movie Ride for the second time this trip. I got the gangster scene again. I’ve never gotten the other scene, so hopefully I’ll have another chance next trip! :)
Finally it was 3:15, so I headed over to the Brown Derby.
For an appetizer I had scallops with “natural bacon”. The natural bacon was uncured pork belly I think. It tasted wonderful. The scallops were excellent too. For the main course I had Filet Mignon with Dijon red potatoes. Scrumptious! For dessert I had their house specialty, which is grapefruit cake. I love grapefruit, but it tasted really blah. That was a letdown, but after all the great food before my overall meal was great.
After dinner, I had about an hour before Fantasmic, so I went to see the Narnia exhibit. I had already seen the movie so nothing was a surprise, but it was fun. Outside they had a background from the movie set up with fairly heavy snow flurries so you could take a picture. This really showed how great the fake snow can look. I wished it had been going like this during the Osborne Family Lights night. It would have made it look much more interesting.
I had time to visit the Walt Disney Story again. This time I was able to look at all the models and see the movie again. Walt Disney is one of my heroes. I never seem to get tired of learning about his life.
The benefit of the Fantasmic dinner package is that you can arrive just before the show starts and get good seats anyway. The seats were on the right side and were excellent. It was a long walk up the stadium though. My legs were definitely feeling the pain at that point. Going up and down steps is not easy after running a marathon. :(
I’ve seen Fantasmic a few times at Disneyland in California. This was my first time in Florida. I thought the show was great in that setting. I missed the Peter Pan / Captain Hook scene on the Columbia, but other than that it was an excellent show with lots of water jets, fire, and fireworks. It was certainly nicer to sit down on a bench rather than stand or sit on the ground like you do at Disneyland.
After the show, I was starting to get really tired. I realized I had only gotten about three hours of sleep the night before. Originally I had planned on going to the after-race party at Pleasure Island to get my official time and visit the Adventurer’s Club. But since I wanted to be rested for the EPCOT Segway tour tomorrow, I went to bed. It was a good idea. It didn’t take long to go to sleep.
Monday January 9, 2006
My last full day in the World! When I was planning the trip, I figured the day after the race I didn’t want to walk around that much, so I thought it would be fun to take the “Segway Tour Around the World”.
I had to get the entrance of EPCOT to get in early for the tour. I think I could have walked through International Gateway, but no one at the hotel seemed to know for sure, so I took a cab.
After you enter the park, you go to Segway Central which is Future World. They have a training room with about a dozen Segways lined up. You practice going back and forth, turning left and right around some cones and up and down a ramp.
After about an hour of training, we were joined by a second instructor and we headed out to the left side of World Showcase: Norway, China, and Germany. In each country the instructor would give us a “challenge”: some maneuver with your Segway that tested your skill. The trickiest was in China where you had to up and over a hump-backed bridge and then duck under a tree as you made your way downhill.
Next was Italy, but there was a wedding and they wouldn’t let us through, so we had to go backstage (“No pictures please”, said the instructors) behind Italy and re-enter World Showcase next to the American Pavilion. When we arrived at the Japan pavilion, they coned off an area for us to go around on our own.
To move forward on a Segway, you lean forward. Since ours were limited to 5 MPH, if you lean too far forward, you notice that it tilts you back some to slow you down. Very interesting. I was feeling very confident by then and I practiced my emergency stops by pulling very hard back on the handlebars. The Segway would stop on a dime and not let you fall over backwards. Very cool.
Then it was on to Morocco. It was quite a contrast to see the ultra-modern Segways passing through the narrow corridors of the ancient architecture of the Moors. Our last stop was the garden area on the bridge between France and the U.K. along the World Showcase lagoon. The instructors took everyone’s camera and took group photos.
It was a great tour and I recommend it to anyone. You have to be sixteen years old to do it. You get a special “Around the World at EPCOT” pin for doing the tour. It has a person on a Segway that can move from left to right attached to it.
During the tour, the instructor told us that Disney was building a off-road course for Segways, and was looking at offering them at the Fort Wilderness Campground. This rumor got onto the Screamscape website (my first rumor!):
WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort
Orlando, Florida (Abbreviation: WDW)
Resort News - (1/24/06) Guest taking the Epcot Segway Tour last week report that their guide mentioned a new “Off Road” style Segway tour in development for Fort Wilderness that would use the Segway XT line on a special off-road course.
(Jan 2008> I’m pretty sure this rumor turned out to be true).
I also got my Segway Trip report posted over on All Ears. I even have my picture (that’s me with the blue jacket and white helmet with Spaceship Earth in the distant background) there:
http://allearsnet.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php?product=232
I still hadn’t gone on Soarin’ Over California, so I headed over The Land and got a Fastpass with an hour later return time. That left me enough time to go over to the Living Seas and see “Turtle Talk with Crush”. I’d read about this on-line and I was anxious to see it. You really feel like you are sitting a big window looking underwater and talking to Crush who identifies kids in the audience by what they are wearing, asks them questions, and then answers them. A very clever idea expertly executed. Imagineering at its best!
After that, it was time to head back to Soarin’ Over California. I zoomed to the front of the line with my Fastpass. What a great ride. You really feel like you are flying. I wished it could have lasted about twice as long.
I hadn’t ridden the Monorail yet, so I decided to travel to the Magic Kingdom via Monorail to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Along the way, at the entrance to EPCOT, I stopped by guest relations and filled out a compliment form for the two Segway instructors. They really did an outstanding job.
So I took the Monorail from EPCOT to the Ticket and Transportation Center, and then transferred to an Express Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I went straight to Splash Mountain and got a Fastpass. I was getting hungry, so I bought a hot dog at Casey’s Corner. On the way back to Frontierland I passed by Aloha Isle (which was open today) and got a Dole Whip. Another of my “must-do’s” out of the way! I got pineapple swirled with vanilla which was tasty, but I think next time I will go for straight pineapple.
When I got back to Frontierland, I noticed that there was only a 30 minute wait for Big Thunder in the stand-by line, so I decided to do that first and then use my Fastpass for Splash. It took about 45 minutes, but by the time I finished, my Fastpass for Splash was still good. That was my last big ride of the trip.
I still had some time, so I went over to Tom Sawyer Island. I love the barrel bridge. I noticed that in the fort, the guns in the towers still put out sound. I think at Disneyland they took them out which is a shame. I also went through the caves which were pretty spooky. There is one section where if you aren’t careful, you just go around in a circle.
After Tom Sawyer Island, I hopped on the train and rode back to the Main Street station. Then I took the bus back to the Beach Club.
After resting for an hour I ate dinner at the Cape May Seafood buffet. It was good but not great. I had a dozen clams, clam chowder, and BBQ ribs. The peel and eat shrimp were a little too much trouble than what they were worth. I had a berry cake for dessert that was okay, but not spectacular.
For my last night, I headed over again to EPCOT. It was so great to be able to just walk there from the Beach Club. On the way to the Canada Pavilion, I saw Off-Kilter (the bagpipe/rock and roll band). I’d read a lot about this band and they were every bit as good as their reputation; lots of fun. Then I watched the Circlevision Canada movie, which is quite good.
I wanted to watch the American Adventure show in the American Pavilion, but the next show wasn’t until 8:15 PM. So I walked over to Norway and looked at their Viking exhibit in the Old Stave Church. I thought it was very interesting.
I really love the American Adventure show. It is very inspiring to me. Hopefully someday they will update it to include 9/11.
When the show was over I spotted a souvenir cart outside and bought gold medallion with Mickey ears that celebrated the Happiest Celebration on Earth. It had a big number 50 on it, so since I’m 50 too I couldn’t resist. Part of the reason I wanted to run the WDW marathon is that I’m the same age as Disneyland.
By then it was about 10 minutes until Illuminations, so I grabbed a spot in the area between America and Japan. This is where the globe starts from. Some of the fireworks blast off from in front of the Japan Pavilion which is very exciting. I enjoyed it as much as the first time. I later learned that inferno barge in the show was out of commission which is too bad. Oh well, just another reason to go back!
On the way back to the hotel I bought a couple of more souvenirs at the International Gateway shop. I found a cute Tigger pen. You can make Tigger jump up and down inside the pen by pushing on a bellows on the top of the pen.
With some sadness :crying:, but a lot of joy :), I headed back to my hotel. The next morning, after eating breakfast on concierge floor, I checked my bag at the hotel and boarded the Disney Magical Express Bus for the airport. My adventure was complete! I had accomplished all I had set out to do: train for and run a marathon under 4 hours at Walt Disney World for my 50th birthday. :)