surfde22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2015
- Messages
- 765
Dopey Challenge and the Worst Disney Trip Ever
So, I decided to do a brief trip/race recap, before getting into my future running plans.
So the trip was a family get together. My parents are DVC members, and got a 2-bedroom suite at OKW to be shared with the family. The players involved were my parents, my brother, my SIL, my nephew, my wife, my son, and myself. As the trip approached my wife and I had some apprehension about spending so much time with my parents, as they are really bad about listening to us when it comes to our son. They seem to think they know him better than we do. In advance, I called my mom and talked to her about it. I informed her that Alistair is very attached to his mom right now, and that if he gets fussy or starts to cry the need to listen to us when ask to have him back. He only really cries for one of three reasons usually, he's hungry, tired, or needs a new diaper. She seemed on board as my brother was the same way as a baby, and frankly still is to an extent.
Well sadly my mom being on board didn't last more than 24 hours, and my dad was never on board. At least when my brother showed up, my dad became much more interested in my nephew. Still, anytime we needed to feed or change Alistair, there was visible annoyance with my dad. I tried to tell him in advance not to pack the days so full when there would be a 7 month old and 13 month old, but he wouldn't listen. This behavior went on most of the week, but on Friday I came down with a stomach bug, that was then passed to my wife. This gave us an excuse to not spend every waking minute with them for the rest of the trip. That was a small relief.
Ok, enough with the venting and on to a brief recap of the races. Thursday morning arrived and it was time for the 5k. I told my brother I planned on going to the race early to join the disBoards meet up. He wasn't thrilled about having to get up so early, but I told him he didn't have to come with me. It was great meeting the member of the board that showed up for the meet up. As the race approached we made our way to the corrals. I'm pretty sure a single corral was bigger then any race I've ever participated in. The 5K was a lot of fun, and my race was going well, until GI issues hit me, and I had to walk a little between Imagination and The Land. If it wasn't for that I would've achieved my goal of beating my brother and his time from 2014 Dopey. I finished in 24:24, which I wasn't the most happy with, but it was a good start.
Then Friday morning We woke up for the 10k. Made it to the meet up again, and had some more good conversation. As the race started my brother was running with me. Then somewhere around mile 2 I noticed he was gone. I have no idea when I dropped him, but I just kept my pace. I ended up having some lower back problems, and walked most of the "uphills" after we left EPCOT to head to the Boardwalk area. The crowd support around EPCOT the boardwalk was great and I kept my pace as well as I could. I finished in 53:25, not a PR, but better than my brother and his 2014 time. YAY!!!
Friday night the news broke that the half marathon was cancelled. I, for one, was relieved. Shortly before hearing the news I had spent about 20 minutes outside of Mouse Gear in EPCOT puking. I had hoped it would pass over night, but no such luck. I was hardly able to eat Saturday, so things weren't looking good for a decent marathon effort Sunday morning. I decided I would go into the marathon and give it the best effort I could, but knew I would likely walk a good portion of it. We started out, and things were feeling good. My time at the 5 mile mark was 48:16. Not too bad considering. I was a little off my goal pace, but it was still within reach. Shortly after that is when the wheels started to fall off. I took my first gel around that point, and shortly after it decided to come back up. Well so much for fueling on my gels during the race. So, not only did I not have much energy to start the race, I couldn't even supplement my energy during the race. I chugged along as best I could, walking when I needed to, running when I could. Around mile 10 or so I started running .75 miles and walking .25. At about mile 15, it dropped to run .5 walk .5. My body wouldn't let me run more than .5 miles at a time at that point. I tried taking on anything I could for fuel. Powerade at every aid station, candy from spectators, even had a Coke in WWOS from the spectators handing them out, but at that point it seemed to late. My body wasn't absorbing the glucose I was pumping in. All I could do was hang in there and give everything I had to make it to the finish. Around mile 19 in WWOS I got a text from my wife, who was waiting at the finish with our 7 month old. She told me she knew I could do it no matter how long it took me. I really needed that at that point. It nearly brought me to tears. Eventually I made it the the 25 mile marker. I thought I would try to run it in from there. I figured I could push myself for one last mile. Nope, that didn't happen. About a half mile later my legs all but gave out on me. I was determined to run across the finish line though. So I walked to the 26 mile marker and ran it in from there. I did it. I finished my first marathon. Was it how I had hoped? No. Was I disappointed in how it went? Very. Am I determined to run and finish another marathon on my terms? Absolutely. I finished in 5:18:35. Not at all what I wanted, but given the circumstances, I'll take it. I know now I can do it, and I can only get better from there.
So, I decided to do a brief trip/race recap, before getting into my future running plans.
So the trip was a family get together. My parents are DVC members, and got a 2-bedroom suite at OKW to be shared with the family. The players involved were my parents, my brother, my SIL, my nephew, my wife, my son, and myself. As the trip approached my wife and I had some apprehension about spending so much time with my parents, as they are really bad about listening to us when it comes to our son. They seem to think they know him better than we do. In advance, I called my mom and talked to her about it. I informed her that Alistair is very attached to his mom right now, and that if he gets fussy or starts to cry the need to listen to us when ask to have him back. He only really cries for one of three reasons usually, he's hungry, tired, or needs a new diaper. She seemed on board as my brother was the same way as a baby, and frankly still is to an extent.
Well sadly my mom being on board didn't last more than 24 hours, and my dad was never on board. At least when my brother showed up, my dad became much more interested in my nephew. Still, anytime we needed to feed or change Alistair, there was visible annoyance with my dad. I tried to tell him in advance not to pack the days so full when there would be a 7 month old and 13 month old, but he wouldn't listen. This behavior went on most of the week, but on Friday I came down with a stomach bug, that was then passed to my wife. This gave us an excuse to not spend every waking minute with them for the rest of the trip. That was a small relief.
Ok, enough with the venting and on to a brief recap of the races. Thursday morning arrived and it was time for the 5k. I told my brother I planned on going to the race early to join the disBoards meet up. He wasn't thrilled about having to get up so early, but I told him he didn't have to come with me. It was great meeting the member of the board that showed up for the meet up. As the race approached we made our way to the corrals. I'm pretty sure a single corral was bigger then any race I've ever participated in. The 5K was a lot of fun, and my race was going well, until GI issues hit me, and I had to walk a little between Imagination and The Land. If it wasn't for that I would've achieved my goal of beating my brother and his time from 2014 Dopey. I finished in 24:24, which I wasn't the most happy with, but it was a good start.
Then Friday morning We woke up for the 10k. Made it to the meet up again, and had some more good conversation. As the race started my brother was running with me. Then somewhere around mile 2 I noticed he was gone. I have no idea when I dropped him, but I just kept my pace. I ended up having some lower back problems, and walked most of the "uphills" after we left EPCOT to head to the Boardwalk area. The crowd support around EPCOT the boardwalk was great and I kept my pace as well as I could. I finished in 53:25, not a PR, but better than my brother and his 2014 time. YAY!!!
Friday night the news broke that the half marathon was cancelled. I, for one, was relieved. Shortly before hearing the news I had spent about 20 minutes outside of Mouse Gear in EPCOT puking. I had hoped it would pass over night, but no such luck. I was hardly able to eat Saturday, so things weren't looking good for a decent marathon effort Sunday morning. I decided I would go into the marathon and give it the best effort I could, but knew I would likely walk a good portion of it. We started out, and things were feeling good. My time at the 5 mile mark was 48:16. Not too bad considering. I was a little off my goal pace, but it was still within reach. Shortly after that is when the wheels started to fall off. I took my first gel around that point, and shortly after it decided to come back up. Well so much for fueling on my gels during the race. So, not only did I not have much energy to start the race, I couldn't even supplement my energy during the race. I chugged along as best I could, walking when I needed to, running when I could. Around mile 10 or so I started running .75 miles and walking .25. At about mile 15, it dropped to run .5 walk .5. My body wouldn't let me run more than .5 miles at a time at that point. I tried taking on anything I could for fuel. Powerade at every aid station, candy from spectators, even had a Coke in WWOS from the spectators handing them out, but at that point it seemed to late. My body wasn't absorbing the glucose I was pumping in. All I could do was hang in there and give everything I had to make it to the finish. Around mile 19 in WWOS I got a text from my wife, who was waiting at the finish with our 7 month old. She told me she knew I could do it no matter how long it took me. I really needed that at that point. It nearly brought me to tears. Eventually I made it the the 25 mile marker. I thought I would try to run it in from there. I figured I could push myself for one last mile. Nope, that didn't happen. About a half mile later my legs all but gave out on me. I was determined to run across the finish line though. So I walked to the 26 mile marker and ran it in from there. I did it. I finished my first marathon. Was it how I had hoped? No. Was I disappointed in how it went? Very. Am I determined to run and finish another marathon on my terms? Absolutely. I finished in 5:18:35. Not at all what I wanted, but given the circumstances, I'll take it. I know now I can do it, and I can only get better from there.