This mile is where my back REALLY started to hurt.
I'd had had some dull soreness since just before the Magic Kingdom...but the dull soreness had now turned into constant burning pain. It did not feel good, and was frustrating because my legs felt really good...probably because to keep the back pain at bay I had slowed my pace down 1:00-2:00/mile compared to what I think I actually am capable of...you know, without a gimpy back. So it was a little disappointing to feel this pain now, but at the same time, I’d made it pretty far before it got REALLY bad, so that’s a plus! All throughout the race I’d thought about making a med tent stop to get Biofreeze (similar to Bengay) or Tylenol but never actually did that. Looking back on it, I feel like maybe it would have helped, but who knows.
Back pains ... oh no! It's nice that they waited until the 22 mile mark to show up, but still ... I'm sure you would have been happier without them.
I've heard people mention Biofreeze before, but I've never used it ... does it smell as bad as Bengay? (seriously, I can't use bengay because of the smell)
Anyway - Hollywood Studios! For like, a minute. Thanks, construction!
When Beth and I went to the NYC marathon expo in November, we were talking to the runDisney booth guy, and I was saying that I'm excited to see what the race courses look like once they finish the DHS construction. This "barely going into DHS due to construction" thing is just not cool.
Oswald! With a super short line! The CM that took my phone to take my picture looked at me and said, "you're Heimlich, right?" 
I guess he was right, I did want to shed those layers and become a beautiful butterfly! 
I'm super jealous of the Oswald picture. That's a character you don't get to see very often - so cool!
Although ... it's been a while since I last saw A Bug's Life ... does Heimlich ever actually become a butterfly?
I left the park...now I needed to make it to Epcot. The course went past the DHS bus area where some kid (teenager) was shouting about “I’m sorry for anyone running behind the butterfly [me], that would give me a migraine this late in the race!”
Someone needs to educate this child on what awesome looks like - because I looked awesome.
You did look awesome. And this kid clearly needs an attitude adjustment. There is nothing migrane-inducing about an awesome butterfly outfit.
Another mile marker with a non-functional clock. What's going on here, runDisney???
I continued around World Showcase and waited for something to go wrong - for my back to totally give out, for my calf to knot up like it had during the Wine & Dine half, for IT Band pain to creep up...but none of those things happened. Nothing went wrong. I just kept running.
I totally know this feeling. Sometimes you get close to success and you just know the other shoe is going to drop. I'm glad your fears of gloom, doom, and injury did not come true!
Except for during the occasional photo-op. Please check out my little friend with the cone hat in the background!
You look great in this picture ... but the kid kinda steals your spotlight. Cone hat!
I just couldn’t believe it. I’m still getting teary just typing this. 2016 was a hard year for me...for a few reasons, but mostly due to this back injury (WAY more on that
here), which dealt a huge blow to my confidence and self-worth.
But I was about to finish a marathon. Something that I did in
2015 quite easily (and 45 minutes faster than I would do so today - actually, this was my slowest of the 4 marathons I have done) and something that I wasn’t sure was possible for me anymore...I did it. I freaking did it. And it was a battle the entire way - the physical part went way better than I expected (I’d gone into it thinking I would be in excruciating pain for a good chunk of the race - while the soreness was there, miles 22-24 were really the only bad parts). But the mental part - the self-doubt I had had for pretty much the entire morning, wondering over and over if I should just give it up and get on a sweeper bus, and the lack of confidence I had in the weeks leading up to this day (example: a few weeks before arriving in WDW, I’d seriously considered trying to transfer to the half to skip the marathon entirely - which, glad I didn’t do that considering that the half was canceled!) - was way harder to overcome.
This is going to sound incredibly self-congratulatory, but I don’t think I have been as proud of myself for anything I have ever done (granted, I don’t have kids yet, so I’m sure that will change!). It’s hard to put into words what this meant to me - I’m not sure I ever will be able to do it justice. It was such a huge turning point for me and something that I think I needed more than I realized. Not saying everyone HAS to do a marathon, obviously, but for me, I think I needed to know that I COULD finish one again, since I had 3 times before this stupid injury!
As someone who followed along with this journey ... seeing all of your struggles this year, from the original back pain to the official diagnosis to the rest and PT exercises to the recovery to the struggles in the weeks before the race ... I have to say, I'm really proud of you too.
None of this was easy, but even as you struggled, you tried to maintain a positive attitude (even if you didn't always feel happy and positive), you worked hard at coming back (even though the coming back process was slower than you hoped), you went out there and challenged yourself (registering for the Tink 10K after having to defer the PDC was definitely a big step), you overcame bad races (I think we'd all like to forget that 10-mile race), you accepted the fact that you had to shorten a few of your long runs (those last few runs were definitely a killer, but you knew that you couldn't push yourself too hard), and at the end of the day, despite everything that had happened, you showed up on that very cold Sunday morning and ran 26.2 miles. Shannon, you are awesome.
Maybe the marathon was "just" a race, but it was also a sign that all of your hard work over the past year has been worth it. You did it. You are officially a four-time marathoner! Congrats!!
And of course Pluto was there, because we have a thing now. It’s fine. 
Pluto couldn't miss your triumphant finish!!
I headed to the challenge tent where I was presented with 3 additional medals: the half marathon, Goofy and Dopey Challenge medals. Like I said a few pages back, I’ve had people tell me what I should do with these medals, and in the end, to be frank, the only opinion that matters is my own - I can’t quite explain why, but I’m keeping them. They have a story to tell, and they are hanging with my other medals on my medal rack at home.
Every medal has a story ... and the people who matter only care about the story you tell, not the distance you ran or whether anyone else feels the medals are earned!
Since my husband doesn't run, I really know very little about their running needs.
(4 marathons completed, and I have cried at some point during all of them. 
Running is so emotional, you guys). This was when it hit me how sure I had been that I wouldn’t be able to finish this race...but knowing that all I had left was a lap around the World Showcase...I finally knew, after weeks of doubting myself, that I was going to do it. And I really couldn’t friggin' believe it.
Dopey again...sort of!
