It's Not the Years, It's the Mileage - birthday marathon training journal

[avondale]

Terrific job! So glad you had such a great experience for your first marathon!

 

[Naomeri]

It really was more fun to finish the marathon with friends.

 

[superchime]

It really was more fun to finish the marathon with friends.

I've got to get faster so I can finish with team Not So Fast next time!

 

[nancipants]

You did it! Awesome job!

Thank you!

OMGosh literally crying. Your first marathon is so precious. I am so glad you did it and can feel good about it.

Thank you so much! There's a lot I would do differently, and there were points I definitely never wanted to do another marathon again, but... famous last words. LOL.

Terrific job! So glad you had such a great experience for your first marathon!

Thank you!

It really was more fun to finish the marathon with friends.

I've got to get faster so I can finish with team Not So Fast next time!

See, you said next time!

 

[nancipants]

Overall Thoughts

The race was not perfect by any means. I'm so grateful it was cold, because by Western Way I felt so hot with the sun blazing overhead. After the race I asked my husband how hot it was and he said 52. I was like, are you kidding me??? It felt like 90. While I like running in the cold, I'm really not used to it for such a long period of time. I was drinking a lot, but I wasn't sweating, so my body felt very discombobulated at the end with the sun out.

My legs started hurting before the halfway mark, and while I know your legs are pretty much always going to hurt during a marathon, it really drove home that I can't skimp on strength training next time. (Yes, I said next time, lol.) Pace wise and energy wise, I felt fine throughout. But my legs felt SO heavy.

While the race wasn't always enjoyable, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I was so proud of myself for toughing out the hard parts. Mental toughness really is a huge part of the marathon and I never felt myself spiraling or thinking I couldn't finish. I definitely WANTED to stop, but I repeated my mantras and listened to my playlists and tried to soak in the Disney environment as much as possible. Plus, the wonderful people from this board both cheering me on and running with me at the end were invaluable.

During the Western Way part of the race, I thought to myself, I don't know if finishing will be worth all this misery. After finishing, I told my husband "never let me do this again." And, well, I've already signed up for next year's marathon through a charity. I know, huge shock. I feel like so much of this race for me was learning and getting that first marathon under my belt. I'm an overplanner and while I trusted my training, there was so much unknown after the halfway point, both mentally and physically. Every race is different, but knowing is half the battle. (Yo, Joe!)

Here's the list I made not long after the race.

Positives:

• No cramping! I was worried about getting leg cramps later in the race, but this was never a problem. I had some knee pain during training, and calf soreness, but everything was fine for the race. The taper works! Also, in the week leading up to the race, I had bad stomach cramps like I was getting my period, but it never came. I worried they would persist into the race, but thankfully, they went away beforehand and I haven't had them since. Nerves? Quite possibly!
• Related, I didn't have any other soreness during the race, like my back or shoulders. I made sure to take stock of my posture every mile or so, which helped me avoid slouching or clenching my fists.
• My fueling before, during, and after the race were all great. I never felt hungry or weak or close to bonking. After the race, I prioritized rehydrating and refueling.
• I finished! That was my main goal. I also made four character stops, two photo stops, and three bathroom stops.

Negatives:

• My bathroom stops were waaaaay too long, mostly because of pushing down and pulling up my leggings with all my fuel stuffed in the pockets. I don't mind running with stuff in my pockets, and my shorts can hold SO MUCH STUFF, but it would have been so much easier to take off a belt and quickly push down my leggings/shorts. So I need to learn how to run with a belt at least for marathons. (My last half I didn't have any bathroom stops at all, but I don't think I could go an entire marathon without one.)
• Like I said, my legs felt heavy before I hit the halfway point. I know I need to strength train. I just need to find exercises/a program that works for me.
• I should have slathered on sunblock when I stopped in AK to see my husband. It might have kept me from feeling so overheated.
• I wore a new hat and while it didn't bother me, I realized that my usual visor really helps keep my sunglasses in place. They kept falling down and I really needed them on Western Way. So definitely stick to visors.
• My phone battery got really low due to me taking video and texting. I need to carry a small charger next time.
• Related, my AirPods died in AK. I was able to charge them enough to get me through Western Way, but I need to remember to put them back in the case when I'm not using them so they can stay charged for longer. (Also, I will probably be asking for the next gen AirPods next Christmas which have longer battery life!)
• And the worst - I developed a humongous blister on my right heel and one on my right toe. The one on my toe didn't really bother me, but I definitely felt the heel blister during the race, and thought it was just my foot hurting because I was, you know, running a marathon. I still don't know whether I should have stopped at a med tent or not. If I had, and realized I had a blister, that might have messed me up mentally. But they could have taped it for me and stopped it from getting worse. Anyway, I will definitely have to tape that area next time, and experiment with different socks/shoes. I'm not sure if those were even the problem, or if my shoe just wasn't tied tight enough. Anyway, it's mostly healed by now, thankfully!

 

[nancipants]

Up Next

I’m doing the Princess Challenge in four weeks. It’s my first challenge, so I have no goals other than finish both races without feeling terrible. Depending on the weather and how I feel, I might try to push a bit during the half marathon, but that’s entirely a day of decision. @superchime is also running that weekend and we mentioned running together based on our corrals.

I have one more week off running. I’ve been doing my daily dog walks, and in the upcoming week I plan to add some treadmill walks and strength training. For running, DopeyBadger advised running 30-45 minutes on my normal days, with one long run before the race. I’ll stick to my marathon training training schedule of:
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Sunday (long run)

I’m going to try to add strength training and stick to it even after the races are over. I also want to do at least one walk per week on the treadmill to try to increase my walking speed. It is impossible to walk fast with my dog.

I’ve already come up with costume ideas! For the 10k, I’m planning a Spaceship Earth theme, and for the half I’m planning Snow White. I have some skirts coming within the next few days that will help me make decisions. Hopefully it’ll be a little warmer for Princess race weekend! If not, I can just wear my leggings under the skirts.



Rest of 2025

I’m still debating if I want to try to get a POT with a 10k. I’ve been looking for races in the area and I don’t think I have enough time to train properly before the weather starts getting too hot. But I’ll keep looking. Regardless of finding a race, I do want to work on my speed after Princess before summer hits.

I’ve already signed up for the 2026 marathon, so that will take up the bulk of my fall again. I want to do another half marathon during training, so I will either do the Space Coast half or the Orlando half again. Orlando is easier to get to but Space Coast is more relaxed.

 

[superchime]

Up Next

I’m doing the Princess Challenge in four weeks. @superchime is also running that weekend and we mentioned running together based on our corrals.

Heck yeah! But, only 4 weeks away?! I need to work on costumes!

 

[GollyGadget]

Congratulations again. Your finish line photos as simply amazing.

(Side note about the corrals, both D and E were separated into two smaller mini-corrals based on color. This seemed really dumb to me - why not just have two extra corrals, period?)

They used to have a ton of corrals but folks would complain when they got split from their friends with the same pace. The solution was that you could go back a corral to be together but there were still lots of complaints. So now we just have massive corrals and it's up to everyone to arrive with their friends if they want to run together. I'm not saying this is better. I really have no dog in this fight but wanted to provide some context on why it is that way now.

When we made our way to the start chute I darted out the back for one more pee stop

This is such a veteran move! I wish I had done this but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get back in my corral.

I saw a bunch of guys peeing in the woods. I was also slightly jealous of that ability.

I saw guys doing this the whole race course! I must admit a bit jealous at the beginning but by mile 22, you've had plenty of bathroom opportunities.

The water pageant was off by the time I got there

Oh, well. I didn't like the jaunt around the MK parking lot, and it was around that time my legs started to make themselves known. It was like my brain realized hey, you're not even halfway done, you have these super boring parts of the course coming up, time for your legs to register ALL THE PAIN! At one point DopeyBadger texted to ask how I was doing and I said that my legs hurt but I was ignoring them

I had to tell my legs to quiet down at the exact same part! I was quite nervous when they started to hurt so early but luckily they never got any worse.

This stretch of the course, even in the daylight, made me sooooo happy

I'm so glad to hear this. I thought of you while I was running that stretch but I did start to wonder if it would ever end .

Can't wait to read about your next challenge!

 

[nancipants]

Got my hat painted and embroidered.

 

[GollyGadget]

Where did you take your hat? The shop in the MK has refused my colons the last few years so I have these weird periods. I always tell myself I'll embroider the extra dot, but I never have

 

[The Expert]

Got mine in the mail today. Yours turned out so good!

 

[nancipants]

Where did you take your hat? The shop in the MK has refused my colons the last few years so I have these weird periods. I always tell myself I'll embroider the extra dot, but I never have

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That’s so weird! I took mine to the art store in Disney Springs, right across from the Christmas store. The Christmas store paints the ears.