The Walt Disney Marathon Weekend

Wednesday, January 4th, 2017:

After work, I drove to meet my ugly stepsister (Michelle W.) at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports to pick up our race packets and to try to get moved to a better corral.  Thankfully, we were able to get moved to three corrals better! Before we left, I mentioned that I wished my bestie was going to be at the race, but I was still thankful my sister Kim was going to be there. We took a selfie before saying goodbye. Once I got to my car I texted the selfie to Taylor letting her know I picked up my race packet!!

Thursday, January 5th, 2017:

My supervisor and I are so busy that executive management has approved me to work any overtime I want in the hopes that we will be able to catch up without hiring an assistant. After work, I got a cute haircut and my best friend came into town. We hadn't seen each other since our trip to NYC, so it was awesome to get time with Taylor!  Before we went to dinner, we opened our Christmas gifts! Then, she surprised me by dressing up as Cinderella and announcing that she was going to go to the marathon and cheer me on! She was going to be my ugly stepsister's and my Cinderella!!!! 

Last month, when we made plans for her to come visit for her job interview/hair appointment, I was really disappointed when she said she was going to sleep in and drive home on Sunday (race day) because she couldn't wake up at 2AM, cheer for me at the race, and then drive 3+ hours home. I hated the fact that she would rather sleep in and be rested for her long drive home (even though I know she hates driving) than to wake up at an ungodly hour and be bored while waiting for me to run another marathon. She just saw me at the NYC Marathon. Am I really that selfish? Umm, maybe, but in my defense having someone at the finish line is awesome motivation! I felt pretty bad about letting her let me down, but that didn't stop me from asking again multiple times if she was sure she didn't want to go to the race. Each time, to my complete disappointment, she declined. Heck, the last minute selfie with my ugly stepsister after picking up our packets didn't even change her mind.  Meanwhile the whole time she was planning to go to the race dressed as Cinderella!!! I was speechless!

Friday, January 6th, 2017:

I went to work and left at 2PM to go home and prep for my colon and rectal specialist appointment. Taylor had an interview in the morning. She went with me to my Dr. appointment and afterwards we went to a place called Better Than Sex Dessert Restaurant. It was absolutely delicious! I got The All Nighter, which is coffee with coffee liquer, and I got the Better Than Sex dessert, which is bread pudding in like a chocolate cake/brownie. It was amazing! Taylor had wine and some kind of cookie with ice cream. After Better Than Sex, we went to BJ's Restaurant for a drink and some pizza!

My colon and rectal appointment went surprisingly well. It always surprises me when it goes well. My stricture barely needed any flexing. It didn't even hurt when the doc put her finger up my rectum to flex it. I don't have to go back until SIX MONTHS!!!  My butt didn't bleed after and I wasn't sore or in pain either.  I could totally get used to that!

Saturday, January 7th, 2017

RunDisney cancelled the half marathon and kid races and delayed race related activities like the expo until 11AM due severe weather.  It was rainy, Taylor hates to drive, and I can't get enough time with Taylor, so I drove Taylor on an errand before driving her to her hair appointment!  I jammed out in the car mentally preparing for the race while I waited for her to get her hair done.  I would imagine waiting for a two hour hair appointment is easier than waiting on a 6+ hour marathon. I was tempted to cheer for her when she returned to the car, but instead I just gave her some fruit I got at Wawa while she was getting her hair done because I knew she must be hungry. Once we got back home, we ate lunch, went over some wedding details, and made some DIY bridal shower things. Thank goodness she's helping because she made it so easy! I'm sure I would have complicated the shit out of modge podging glitter on vases. We watched the movie Bad Moms... okay, Taylor watched the movie while I got all my race stuff ready. My family ordered Olive Garden to go and Taylor and I watched the movie Dear John...okay, Taylor watched the movie while I was WhatsApp messaging my running friends to see where everyone was going to be on the course. Most of my group was volunteering at the race, while a few others were going to cheer on the few of us actually running the marathon. We also messaged complaints about the freaking cold weather. More on that in a minute. We stopped the movie short and went to bed around 8PM.

Sunday, January 8th, 2017:

Wake up call at 2AM! I jumped right out of bed to get ready for race day! Kim, Taylor, and I left the house around 2:40AM and we were parked at Epcot by 3:15AM. They start closing roads at 3:30AM, so it's best to get there early and not deal with road closures. My ugly step sister stayed on Disney property, so I met her in the starting area. Security was actually kind of a joke. Sure they had a bag check line where security inspected bags, but I easily went through the no bag line with my flip belt hidden underneath my sweats. As soon as I saw Michelle I knew something was wrong, but I didn't say anything. Maybe she just did an excellent job on her makeup for the ugly stepsister. The first thing she told me was that she vomited last night after dinner and again race morning on her bus ride to the start area.  She was a mess. Right away, I took her bag that she was going to check and carried it for her and we went to find a porta-potty with a short line. It was fucking FREEZING!!! Literally the feel like temperature was 24 degrees! After we went to the bathroom, she pulled out heat sheets for us from her bag! She was so out of it that I had to help her wrap her heat sheet around her because the wind kept blowing it up so that it wouldn't lay flat on her back.  Those things were life savers because it blocked the wind from chilling us to our bones. I continued to carry her stuff while we walked to the self aid station to see if they had water. While she was talking to a medic her Drisella bow fell off her head and I grabbed it to hold so that she wouldn't lose it. At this point, I'm mentally preparing to give up a chance at a PR if I have to in order to stay with her to make sure she finishes her first marathon.

Once we checked her bag (I didn't bring a bag to check because I gave Kim and Taylor the shit I might need and the car wasn't parked too far away from the finish), we hit the porta-potties one more time before starting our 20 minute walk in the freezing cold to our start corral. At this point I'm still carrying her bow and feeling bad that she's sick on this one day that she has worked her ass off training for the past five months! I gave her bow when we got inside our corral and she slowly started pulling herself together.

We crossed the start line and she talked a little, but not as much as usual. *red flag* When Michelle is quiet that means she's not doing well. We actually passed another lady in our group right before mile two. It's always cool to see people you know on the course. Once we passed mile three, I learned Kim and Taylor were confused about where they were supposed to be seeing us on the course. Oh well, as much as I wanted to direct them to where they were supposed to be I had other things on my mind (don't lose Michelle in the crowd).  Michelle used bib magnets to hook her race bib to her shirt, but she lost some and her bib wasn't staying on. So, I took off one of the safety pins on my bib and gave it to her to use. In the process, she dropped one of her gloves. Thankfully, it wasn't too far back on the ground and she was able to find it. We took off our sweatshirts at mile four and then stopped at porta-potties in the MK parking lot for Michelle. I held her sweatshirt and waited for her because I didn't have to go. Gatorade made her nauseous so she was only taking water and salt tablets. One of our running friends was on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, which was awesome!!  I went live on Facebook as we ran through Cinderella's Castle! 

The Ugly Stepsisters stormed the castle!!

Instead of seeing us at MK, Kim and Taylor just went to the Polynesian where I'm sure they waited forever in the cold judging by Kim's text she sent when we were passing mile seven: "Where the fuck are you". Michelle and I were averaging like 3 minutes slower per mile than our typical training pace. We finally saw Kim and Taylor at mile 7.7 where they cheered us on and I gave them my jacket to hold. After we passed them, Michelle told me that I could leave her because she was slowing me down. Prior to this she had already mentioned her fear of the balloon ladies passing us. The balloon ladies set the pace for the slowest pace you can maintain and still be allowed to finish. If the balloon ladies pass you, you get picked up by a bus. Since I had been passed by the balloon ladies and picked up by the bus in 2013, I knew I couldn't leave Michelle if she was already having these thoughts by mile 8. I know the disappointment of a DNF (did not finish) and I was not going to let that happen to her. I could live without a PR, but I would be extremely disappointed if I left her and she didn't finish. I had to talk more than usual, so I told her about how Taylor and I met and how we became best friends. She couldn't believe I didn't get a birthday card for Taylor when I went to Blue Man Group for Taylor's birthday. Sorry, Taylor!

I stopped at a bathroom inside Animal Kingdom while Michelle kept walking. I didn't want her to stop moving if she didn't have to, so I told her to walk ahead and I would catch up. It seemed like the line for the bathroom took forever. As soon as I was done I took off and passed the halfway point (13.1) running really fast to try to find Michelle on the course. Thankfully, she messaged me saying she was in front of the Dino ride and sure enough I looked up ahead and saw her. We chugged along and came across our group leaders right before mile 16 where they were standing on an overpass cheering the racers on. They gave us big hugs and even brought snacks. They are amazing group leaders!!! They are invested in everyone's success and we couldn't ask for a better running group.

I'm not sure how she managed to smile here.

While we approached ESPN Wide World of Sports I told Michelle this is the worst stretch of the race. I told her about my AAU National Basketball Tournament that I played at ESPN when I was 13 and all about being a great basketball player back in the day and she even found the strength to tell me a few stories as well. As we were coming out of ESPN approaching mile 21 we saw the balloon ladies pass us as they were going into ESPN on the course, which meant that the balloon ladies were 4 miles behind us. There were times I glanced at Michelle and I could tell she was about to cry or had been crying. I could tell she doubted she was going to finish. This was right around the point in race I got picked up in 2013, so it was an emotional period for me too. I felt so bad for Michelle and I wasn't entirely sure what she needed or what else I could do to encourage her. Was she tired of me saying that "We are going to make it", "You are going to become a marathoner today"!  Knowing we were averaging 15 minute miles (course pace requires at most 16 minutes per mile), by mile 23 I knew that even if we walked the rest of the way that we would make it. Around that time, I put my arm around her and said something like "You are going to finish this fucking marathon! We can walk the rest of the way and you will still be a marathoner!" We walked hills, but otherwise I kept running hoping she would too...and she did, she followed me. I looked back every few steps to make sure she was still with me. I felt like somehow I was pulling her with me!



I know when we entered Epcot, she finally believed she was going to finish. We ran around the world and took a walk break before running to the mile 26 marker. We saw Kim and Taylor right before the grand stand seating cheering us towards the finish line, yay!!! We even saw Michelle's wife and son in the grand stands waving at us! As we approached the finish line Michelle asked if we could hold hands and cross. So we put our hands over our heads victoriously and crossed the finish line hand in hand!!!

If we weren't friends before the race, we are certainly friends now. Seriously, helping a friend cross the finish line beats a PR any day! I played this scenario out in my head before race day and every time I thought I would choose a PR over slowing down to stay with someone, but in the moment I made a different decision entirely and I don't regret it one bit. That unexpected, awkwardly HUGE hug says it all! She said that without me she would not have finished.  I know running a marathon is never easy, especially when you don't feel well.


Two ladies in our group (Michelle S. and Cindy) were volunteering at the finish line handing out heat sheets. They were screaming for us and it was awesome!!!  After we got our medals and heat sheets, we picked up Michelle W's bag from bag check and met her family briefly before a medic came with a wheel chair and wheeled her to the medical tent. On our way to the medical tent, I found Taylor and Kim. They were good sports, helped carry our bags, and followed us to the medical tent. Michelle was very nauseous and likely a little dehydrated. She was totally not herself. Michelle's family found us again in the medical tent. We stayed for a few minutes, and then I gave all of Michelle's stuff to her wife. I hated to leave while she was so down, but I had a Cinderella photo op with my best friend awaiting me.

The moment you've all been waiting for... one ugly stepsister was too sick for this memorable picture, but this still made my day!!! Taylor is the best!  Mind you, it was still freaking cold when we took this picture! I want to send a BIG thank you to Kim and Taylor for being at the race to cheer me on!  It means the world that you would waste your Sunday freezing your ass off just so you could cheer me on!! This was my fifth marathon (not counting the one I DNF)! My first run of 2017 and not likely my last run any time soon!