Inside Baseball: The Accidental Marathon

Note: This story was originally serialized in my wife's blog, https://mrsfarrellhob.wixsite.com/amomwithmouseears

The Accidental Marathon

IT was very, very early and very, very dark. I had woken up in my own room at Caribbean Beach Resort (adjacent to my family’s, but with interior door closed so I wouldn’t disturb them), eaten, dressed in my running clothes, then walked out to the bus stop. By the time I arrived there, if was just before 5AM.

My first hint that I wouldn’t make that morning’s half marathon was when I arrived and was the only one there. It didn’t matter that there were no other runners there – what worried me was that there was no Disney representative there to keep track of passengers. They had a representative at the bus stops for all the other races I’ve done with runDisney – I didn’t know why they wouldn’t have one for this one.

I felt a little better a few minutes later when a few more runners showed up – they also confirmed that they had used this bus stop to go to the runner’s expo the previous day, so there was no reason to doubt that this was the correct bus stop.

The half marathon was scheduled to start at 5:30 that morning. With Caribbean Beach being a resort in the Epcot orbit, I could hear the pre-race festival, the national anthem, the call to the corrals. Then I heard the fireworks – the first wave of runners had started.

I can’t say I was worried at this point – my wave wouldn’t be starting for at least another half an hour – but I can say that I was concerned. Concerned enough to call the front desk of the resort, let them know where we were and that a bus hadn’t arrived. The cast member on the other end let me know that she informed runDisney.

More time passed, more people (now spectators) arrived. Each of them had taken buses from this stop to other races and the expo, and each was puzzled why one wasn’t coming now.

I called the front desk again. This time, the cast member informed me that (1) the buses to the half marathon didn’t stop at here, and (2) the buses wouldn’t be running again until 630AM. She told me I could take a regular Disney bus to the Transportation and Ticket Center, then take the monorail to Epcot. I hung up just in time to hear the last corral go off.

Stunned, I walked back to my room. I made a cup of coffee and listened to the other side of the interior door. I heard movement and voices, so I walked out of my room, unlocked my family’s door, and muttered “Surprise.”

Pro tip #1: When visiting for a race try to stay at the more “contained” hotels (i.e., Contemporary, Boardwalk) instead of the spread-out resorts

Pro tip #2: Spend some time reading ALL the fine print about the weekend, and if you have ANY questions make sure to ask them at the runDisney booth when you arrive at the Expo

AFTER spending an impromptu (but fun) morning at the Magic Kingdom, I drove over to the Expo – my third trip there in three days (the first to pick up my race number, the second to buy, ironically, my half marathon finisher shirt). After discussing with a friend who is a cast member, my wife told me I should go to the race information booth and push them for a credit or deferral.

I reached the booth in the Visa Center. I let them know my situation and that I was looking for a credit or deferral. They told me they couldn’t help me and that I had to go to the runDisney booth in the expo building.

I walked out of the Visa Center, walked into the expo, and found the runDisney booth. I explained my situation again.

“You’ll have to go to the race information booth in the Visa Center,” they said.

I told her that they had told me the opposite. She had me fill out an incident report and asked me to wait for her supervisor, who was just returning from lunch.

I filled out the report and waited a few minutes. Andrea, the supervisor, introduced herself and told me she had been briefed on my situation. I asked her for a credit or deferment.

“We can’t do either of those things, unfortunately,” she told me. “We had to stop doing them a few years ago.”

“Then how can we make this right?” I asked, with a surprising amount of conviction considering I was somewhere between partly and totally to blame for my situation since I had never read the fine print.

“All we can do is offer you a bib for tomorrow’s marathon,” she said. “Do you want to take it?”

What a stupid makegood! I thought. I came here prepared to run a half marathon, and can still count on one hand the amount of times I’ve run over ten miles – the last time was in July, and I was barely able to do twelve. How could I possibly be expected to run twice as far as I’ve ever run before on one day’s notice?

“Sure,” I said.

Pro tip #3: If you have any questions on any aspect of the race, make sure to visit the runDisney booth (and if you have questions about the buses, the transportation booth is right next to it)

Pro tip #4: What are you capable of? What can you actually do? There are so many things out there that we see people do that make us say “I can’t do that”. But if you take things apart Lego by Lego and remember how they snap together, can you do some version of it yourself – even if the bricks are the wrong color and one arm is a little longer than the other? Don’t wait for someone to ask you – start thinking about it RIGHT NOW.

YOU can tell from the above that running a marathon was rather unexpected. Considering I hadn’t trained for it, it would be grueling, and I would do terrible at it.

But just because you would be terrible at something doesn’t mean you can’t do it. That’s where you have to separate the physical and mental aspects of any challenge. Physically, this is not something I was prepared for. But that’s not the same as saying I couldn’t do it. Mentally, even knowing I would do terrible in this race, and that it would likely suck the life out of me, would it still be worth doing? To run through the happiest place on Earth? To run with thousands of other runners, including many who would likely be running at my pace? And at the end of the day, be able to say that I completed a marathon?

Additionally, it’s important to be clear about what I was doing. People will say “I’m going to run a race”. Oftentimes, they’re not outright lying, but definitely using shorthand.

Let’s take the word “race”. In most events, there are really very few people who are actually “racing” – usually the ones near the front who have the chance to win – their goal is to reach the finish line first. Most of the other participants have other goals. Some want to break a certain time limit (“I want to finish this 10K in less than an hour!”). Others just want to take a light jog with a group of friends. And some have the simple goal of just completing the distance.

Obviously, for me, just completing the marathon would be my goal – there’s no way I could put a time on it. Since my goal was just to complete the distance, that threw a modifier on that other word: “run”. If the distance was comfortable, I could run. If I had put in the training, I could run. But for an immediate race at twice the distance I had ever gone, when my goal was just to complete the distance? There’s no way I could possibly hope to “run” the race – running, jogging, walking, crawling – anything that would move me forward was acceptable. Instead, in order to complete the distance, my strategy was as follows:

· Slow jogging to start

· Walk at each water station and always take something

· Walk up any steep uphills

· Slow down to a walk at the slightest hint of an overuse injury

· If all steps are followed and I still incredibly have something left by the time we re-entered Epcot, turn on the jets

With my gameplan down, all I needed was a chicken-and-fries basket at Hollywood Studios and a cupcake from the hotel and I was ready for my first marathon.

Pro tip #5: Before undertaking any serious training or event, make sure you’re checked out by a doctor. Seriously – I know this is a disclaimer you see just for lifting a 5-pound box, but if you’re going to be undertaking a grueling physical endeavor, you need to be sure you don’t have any underlying problems with your heart, lungs, etc. Don’t be that guy.

Pro tip #6: Make a reasonable goal/objective (“I just need to complete the distance”), strategy (“I just need to move forward”), and tactics (“So what I’m going to do is….”). Make sure they are actionable and achievable, and make sure the juice is worth the squeeze – if the event no longer sounds fun, make a new goal.

Pro tip #7: Make sure to carbo-load. The science is iffy, but there’s still enough of it that you can eat a gigantic slice of cake and tell your partner “I’m fueling up for the race.” Don’t let this opportunity go to waste!

WHEN I woke up at 4AM the morning of the marathon, this time I did so in the same room the rest of my family was staying in – paying for a second room for another night was too expensive. While Caribbean Beach is a nice resort overall, one shortcoming is that the rooms are rather small – most of the size is taken up by the two twin beds, and with my son sleeping in the pullout there was very little walking room, especially in the dark. One thing the room did have, though, were sliding doors separating the bathroom from the sleeping area; I had set up my pre-race materials there before going to sleep.

I slowly got out of bed and using the light of my phone crept towards the bathroom (loud enough to wake my wife, though, based on her kick to my behind). I shut the sliding doors as quietly as I could, flipped on the lights, and sat down on the chair I had placed next to the sink the night before. I ate a bagel with peanut butter and drank some water and coffee as silently as I could, then got dressed. Grabbing my race-ready bag (banana, water, beet juice) I flipped off the lights and walked out of the room.

This time, I knew exactly where to get the bus, and saw the cast member with the clipboard standing by. I waited for a couple minutes with a few other runners until the bus reached us, then grabbed a seat onboard for the short ride to the Epcot parking lot.

After letting us off, I walked over to the festival area to eat my banana and use the restroom one final time. By the time I exited the port-o-john there was around 10 minutes to go until the first wave went off. I looked around for the corrals but didn’t see any. Then I overheard another runner asking the same question to a cast member.

“The start is about a half mile that way,” she said, pointing to the back of Epcot.

I joined a few runners in speed-walking the distance – while I was in Wave F I was in no real danger of missing my start, but I did want to move the morning along. After 15 minutes we reached the corrals – by that time only the first few waves had gone off. We trudged along as the waves started, watching the fireworks launch, hearing the Disney music send them off, and then waiting to inch closer to the starting line. Once Wave D went off I found a little space to do some warmups – it was almost time for a twenty-six mile run. Wave E went off…then Wave E2 a few minutes later…then Wave E3.

Finally, we lined up for Wave F. The fireworks went off. I started walking towards the starting line; I never start running until crossing the starting line, which turned out to be a good thing because they were divvying up this wave as well. Wave F2 went off – I started walking quickly without knowing if this would be my start or not – we stopped just short of the finish line. This time, though, I was only a few rows of people from the starting line, so I knew this would be my start.

After a few minutes of waiting, we received the thirty second warning. I jumped in place to stay loose. Mickey Mouse gave us the “Runners ready…set…” and the fireworks went off.

I walked quickly to the starting line, and once over it picked up my feet. The run had begun.

Pro tip #8: If possible, try to stay in a one-bedroom room, or anything that has partitions, on race-day to avoid waking up other members of your party

Pro tip #9: While there’s hardly ever a reason to get to the corrals as early as runDisney suggests (they had recommended being there by 3AM for a 5:30AM start), make sure to save extra time in case you need to walk an extra distance to the starting line (which is usually hard to tell from their maps)

IT was still pitch black out when the fireworks went off. We switched through a few side roads until hitting World Drive to the Magic Kingdom.

One big difference between the marathon and other Disney races I’ve done before is pace. Disney races are the best races to do when you’re trying out a distance for the first time – if you try your first 10K at Disney but bonk with two miles to go, you could wait to get your picture taken with Goofy while you rest up. The problem is when you return to Disney races after you know you can do the distance – they are full of first-timers slowing or stopping with no warning, changing direction without looking, walking with a group across the entire road. I’ve had that experience up through both of my past half marathons. But at the marathon, everyone was working – even when the roads were narrow, everyone kept moving – nobody wanted to be caught and pulled off the course by the balloon ladies.

With the pace moving, I had to force myself to stick to a slow jog – my legs had no grasp of what a twenty six mile race would feel like, but I knew I had to save something for the end. This was much harder to do on World Drive, where the lanes open up and the first monorails of the morning drove by. After a turn through the TTC, with the sun just starting its ascent, we entered the Magic Kingdom.

We entered through the main entrance, with cast members and supporters flocking Main Street USA to greet us. After turning right into Tomorrowland we ran past the Speedway and Cosmic Ray’s and entered Fantasyland. We ran past new Fantasyland over to Gaston’s (where I took a quick bathroom break), then around the Carousel and straight through Cinderella’s Castle. After running through the castle you could keep running to the right or stop and get your picture taken in front of the castle – feeling good, I stopped and jumped in the air for the photographer (although I have yet to see that picture – probably lucky for me).

After leaving the castle we ran up through Frontierland and backstage through the passageway next to Splash Mountain. Once there we ran past a few parade floats and then out to Floridian Way.

Over the course of the route there were many opportunities to stop and take a photo. On the way to the Magic Kingdom they had the Guardians of the Galaxy, inside the park they had the mime from Tangled, in the backstage area they had a collection of villains, and outside the Grand Floridian they had the penguins from Mary Poppins. While these were great to see, I didn’t have any reason to stop for them. But whoever put the race together must have circled Bear Island Road as the “40+ section”, because they included two opportunities I couldn’t pass up. The first was a collection including a submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the See, a cart from Snow White’s Scary Adventures, a cart from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and an orbiter from an older version of the Astro Orbiter. The second stop was to take a picture with the Adventurer’s Club (Happy New Year!), who’s inclusion always makes me laugh. Not only did these two stops speak to me, but since none of the younger runners knew what they were there were no lines either.

With the sun moving higher in the sky, we continued down Bear Island Road past…the garbage dump. But right after the dump was the back entrance to Africa in the Animal Kingdom. We ran out past the African Safari entrance, then turned left towards Asia. We passed the bird show (where you could get a picture with Kevin from Up) and Expedition Everest, which was open to runners (although it was a 10 minute wait, and I’m too scared of that ride anyway!).

We exited the park outside of Dino Land USA, swept through the parking lot, and went back out on the road. The sun was high, and the air was heating up, but my legs kept moving. I took a quick picture at the mile 14 marker – longer than I’d ever run before – and kept on going. The next few miles melted away at a slow and steady pace. I was amazed to see the mile 15 marker (15 miles!!!), and even more so the marker for mile sixteen.

Then, right after that marker, my right calf started to twinge.

Pro tip #10: Use the bathroom as close to race time as possible, and try to have some idea of when the race will take you through the parks – the bathrooms are all open, and are much cleaner and nicer than using a port-o-john

Pro tip #11: Hydrate

THROUGHOUT the race runDisney had set up aid stations – I would guess none were farther than two miles apart. At the start of the race, with the run still young and the sun yet to rise, I took Powerade at every stop. This continued until right before the Magic Kingdom, when my stomach started to ache and I switched to water. I kept having a cup of water right up until mile sixteen.

We all have limitations as runners, and mine is a propensity for charley horses at the slightest sign of dehydration. I actually live in some fear of this – while calf cramps usually occur at night, I once had one in my living room after a race and watched my calf muscles curl up upon themselves until they were the size of half a tennis ball. Since then I’ve taken pains to avoid charley horses, including hydrating and wearing compression socks for long runs.

For the compression socks, I’ve got to give them credit – they held my calves together for sixteen miles. But the hydration problem was on me.

In order to fight through this cramp I had to make a few changes. The first change was in regards to my form: when I run, it’s more of a “hopping” motion, relying on ankles and calves. With my calf failing, I had to rely more on pumping my knees up and down to run. That led to change #2: I ran a whole lot less. I started taking extended walking breaks each time I felt the cramp flare up; feeling refreshed, I would then start running again, rely on my knees, at some point switch back to my normal gait, and start cramping up again.

The third change was to drink a lot more at each aid station: I switched to two waters and one Powerade per station. At this point it was clear I was dehydrated – not only was I cramping up, but when I touched my face I could tell that I was barely sweating anymore.

This was dangerous not only because of the rigors of the race, but also because of a nuance I hadn’t considered. Like most runDisney races, this race began in the total darkness of the early morning. If it had been a 5K or 10K it would have been over by dawn. If it had been a half marathon it would have ended with a morning sun. But by mile 17 it was approaching 80 degrees with the sun high and no clouds in sight. I had not thought to bring sunscreen (again: total darkness) and wrongly figured they would have some at the aid or medical stations. After finding none, I had to struggle on in the rising heat with nothing to protect my skin.

Shortly after mile 17 we entered the next park. I had hoped for Hollywood Studios – I would definitely feel a boost from running past Star Wars and Slinky Dog – but this was a different park. This was the ESPN complex, which we had no connection to besides it being the expo location. A DJ was playing peppy songs near the entrance, and told both us entering the park as well as the runners on the other side of the road leaving the park that those entering were just past mile 17, while those leaving were almost at mile twenty one.

We would be running roughly a 5K in an area with no significance and, more importantly, little shade, under a blazing sun in order to put twenty miles behind us. It was here that I brushed up against The Wall.

Pro tip #12: Again, hydrate. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty because by then it will be too late. Take a few cups of water at each aid station to make sure you don’t dry out

Pro tip #13: If you have a spare pocket somewhere on your race kit, if you’re entering a race that will include significant amounts of daytime, buy a travel-sized tube of sunscreen and apply after the dawn – don’t count on the race to provide anything

WITHIN the confines of the ESPN complex are several fields for many different types of sports. All the way towards the back of the complex is their track and field stadium. The runDisney folks either thought we would be excited to run on this track or just needed to burn some miles, so we ran past the expo center, past the arena, past the football and soccer fields, all the way to the back of the complex so we could run three quarters of the way around the track. After that we looped around some paths until we came to the Brave’s spring training stadium, where we ran along the warning track and then out of the stadium. I’ve run on the warning tracks of Yankee Stadium and Fulton County Stadium before – it’s a pre-requisite to jump at the highest point in the outfield to see if you could snag a likely homer in case you’re ever called into duty. I made my leap in this stadium, rose two inches off the ground, felt my calf tighten up again, and walked the rest of the way.

By this time I had two additional problems. The first was my back. I hunch forward normally, but all this time running had absolutely drained my upper back muscles. It felt like the top half of my body was on a broken hinge, and it took a concerted effort to lift my head up just to see what was in front of me. The second problem was that my experiment with knee-driven running was over, as my knees were exhausted. Unfortunately, this didn’t just impact my running, but also my walking. I was reduced to shuffling with measured steps with my hips and abs throwing my dead legs in front of my body. My only semblance of running was when I pumped my arms when I did that, and I could only keep that up for a few seconds at a time.

I had always heard of marathoners hitting The Wall, the point you must overcome in a marathon where it overwhelmingly feels like you can’t go on. The Wall is not only a physical challenge but also a mental block – the feeling like there’s no way you could overcome this, no way you could possibly go the distance.

In the physical sense, I hit the wall at mile 16 when my calf failed – the rest of my body collapsed within the next couple miles, and I was reduced to slow shuffling. So slow, in fact, that after exiting the ESPN complex and trudging up a highway on-ramp, I was passed by a woman with a crutch. I had passed this woman only a few miles into the race and wondered how long she could keep that up and how much that would slow her down. Now, eighteen miles later, she was moving in front of me. I told myself that once the incline ended I would try to run for a bit and move in front of her again. The ramp leveled off, I pumped my arms into a run for a few feet, then shuffled back to a walk. I never caught up to the woman with the crutch again.

While I was physically at my limits, and I was definitely in pain and worried about dehydration, I cannot really say I had hit The Wall for one reason: I still knew I would finish this race. I had stuck to the plan I had made for myself the day before, and while I was clearly in a worst-case scenario, I could feel how close I was to doing this. For people who do hit The Wall, I think it can be easy to be overwhelmed on the total distance of the race, and even swallowed up by how many miles you have already run. To me, though, I kept thinking about how many miles were left, and how I had handled those distances before. At my first sign of calf pain, I realized that I only had about 10 miles to go – I had just run a 10 mile race in October, so I knew I could do that. Hobbling after exiting the ESPN complex, we had just under 6 miles to go – 10Ks are my favorite race distance, so I knew I could do that. I just had to keep moving forward.

As we moved up the road to Hollywood Studios, I walked alongside another fellow shuffler. “I think it’s only 5 miles from this point,” she said.

“Yes,” I said, trying to balance a bag of ice from a recent medical station on my head, “won’t be too bad. They’ll take us through Hollywood Studios, we’ll see some Star Wars stuff and some Toy Story stuff, then we’ll run out through the front, down along the water past the Boardwalk, into the World Showcase, then leave Epcot for the finish line.”

“Thanks,” she said, “you made it sound a lot easier.”

It was anything but easy, but it would also not be a surprise. We did enter Hollywood Studios near the Tower of Terror, then hit the main entrance and left the park. I’m sure they had a few characters out there, but it took so much effort to raise my back that I wasn’t able to see any. The one thing I did notice that was very unexpected were the cast members on the main road who were handing out…tissues. There had been cast members earlier in the race handing out food (bananas, jelly beans, and candy), but I didn’t know tissues were called for. Then I realized my nose was running – I guess I wasn’t alone. I took a tissue.

We were only in Hollywood Studios for a short time, then out to the walkway to the Boardwalk and Epcot. Along the path there was a unique photo opportunity – a bench with a few of the dogs from “101 Dalmations”. There was no line, so I thought about stopping for a picture. Then I realized if I sat down I may never get back up. I kept hobbling.

We ran over the Boardwalk and then backstage to Epcot. Upon entering the World Showcase, there would be only around a mile left to go.

Pro tip #14: As Yoda said, “Remember your training”. Not just the physical training (which could eventually fail you, like it did me) but your mental training. Stick to your plan, cut the distance into manageable chunks, focus on your goal, and JUST KEEP GOING

WHEN we entered the World Showcase between Canada and the UK I was choking back sobs. Strenuous work always seems to bring out strong emotions in me – I’ve run plenty of races that ended with me in tears on the finish line. This time, with just over a mile to go before completing my first marathon, the tears started early.

Some of the emotion came from other runners – I had seen one runner in a shirt honoring her lost father. I had seen another runner in a shirt honoring her lost daughter.

Some of the emotion came from my family – my wife had done so much to arrange and rearrange our schedules so I could do this. She was spending the whole morning entertaining our son, and I could only hope he was behaving himself. On top of that, I really wanted to see his smiling face. He inspires me in every race – no matter how much I struggle through any challenge, I compare it to what we witnessed him go through – learning to speak, learning to walk, learning to crawl, learning to lie on his stomach. I really needed a big Ronut hug.

A lot of it, though, was the crowds. One of the things I hadn’t thought about in this race, which was currently in the afternoon, was what the parks would be like. When we entered the Magic Kingdom it was dawn (although they had allowed spectators in); however, by the time we had hit the three other parks, they were open for business. They had used cones to mark out where the runners could race vs. where the park visitors could walk. Not only did this severely crowd in the visitors, but since the runners had right of way, there were many choke points where cast members had to hold the visitors from crossing until there was enough space between runners.

With all of this, especially this late in the race with the slower runners like myself clogging up the lanes, I would think the visitors would be frustrated. However, they chose instead to cheer for us. They clapped loudly, shouted encouragements, told us we were doing great. Throughout the race this had helped me along, but now, with only Epcot to get through, the cheers from these strangers brought me to tears. Physically I had little left, but in order to show my appreciation for their well wishes I did everything I could to run when going past them.

Just about every Disney race ends in Epcot, and for just about all of them the last mile is the longest. We reached mile 25 early on in the World Showcase. While running through the countries and trying to regain control of my emotions, I thought of how the rest of the race would shape up. Would we exit the park past Mexico, then run backstage to the finish line? Maybe there was an exit near Mission Mars we would go through?

We ran that last piece of the race all the way through to Mexico. Then over the bridge to Future World. Then all the way down to Spaceship Earth. Once there, we shuffled and stumbled to our right and exited backstage behind the bathrooms.

The backstage segment here was short but powerful. On the left, cast members were lined up clapping and cheering for us. On the right, a gospel choir sang us on.

We shuffled along this short backstage segment, then made a left into the parking lot. We made a quick right turn, and there was the finish line. I had hoped that I would have saved enough energy to run towards the finish line, but my tank was empty. With my legs dead, my back hinged, and my lungs burning, I pumped my arms and threw my legs in front of me as fast as I could.

On the left, Chip and Dale were giving runners high fives just before finishing; on the right was Daisy. I love Chip and Dale, but ran towards Daisy for a simple reason – I no longer had the muscle control to raise both arms. Instead, I gave Daisy a high five (and almost knocked her over since I also had trouble bringing my arm back down), then stumbled along a few more yards until, six hours and forty eight minutes after starting the race, I crossed the blue stripe.

I had run a marathon.

Pro tip #15: Feel – let the emotions carry you – grueling tasks require both your body and mind, so don’t be surprised by big feelings

EPILOGUE: After crossing the finish line, volunteers are there to hand out medals – this one included a spinner showing Mickey running. The volunteer put it around my neck and…boy was it heavy. We then passed through volunteers handing out bottles of water, then bottles of Powerade, then cold towels. Then, something I had never seen in a prior race – red marathon finisher Mickey ears! All of these items were welcome; however, with only two hands and in a lot of pain, it was a lot to manage.

I had wanted to rest for a bit, eat and drink a little bit, and go to the merchandise tent to buy a finisher shirt. However, it was already past one in the afternoon – I was still concerned with how long I’d been away from my family and really wanted to see them. I decided to move towards the buses as quickly as I could (which wasn’t much).

To get there runners passed through the tables where the volunteers prepared the food boxes. I stopped and a volunteer gave me a box and placed two bananas on top. I really wanted the two bananas, but considering I was already juggling two bottles plus the Mickey ears plus my phone plus my headwear from the race (which was soggy from the icepack), I had to give one back.

I hobbled over to the resort bus and sat down – or more like fell down since I couldn’t work my knees. I texted my wife that I was done and on my way back. At the same time I received a text from my mom congratulating me for finishing the race. I hadn’t known this, but my wife had been able to follow my progress remotely and had already posted my finish to Facebook, so she wasn’t surprised that I was only done now.

When the bus arrived at my stop, it took every remaining ounce of effort to not only grab onto the seat in front of me and pull myself up without using my stiff and painful legs, but also to bend over and pick up all the food, drink, and headwear I had accumulated from the race before the bus closed its doors.

One of the peculiarities of running a runDisney race is that when it is over, you’re in Disney World. If you were to run, say, the New York City Marathon, when you returned home you could decide that you were to spend the next two days eating delivery food in an ice bath. For me, instead, I showered up so we could spend the next several hours walking around Epcot.

Keep in mind that this was not the original plan – since I was supposed to run the half marathon the day before, we had planned that day as a rest day, where I would have had time to lay by the pool and hit the hot tub before a late dinner. Since this race had come up on only one day’s notice, and since my wife and son had already spent the entire morning and parts of the afternoon at the pool, we really had to hit a park.

I remember hearing something about “marathon flu” before, how due to all the inflammation and chemical imbalances caused by continuous running, runners can feel like they had the flu after the race. I definitely experienced it walking around Epcot. The most surprising thing to me was that I had no interest in eating or drinking anything. I figured I would be gobbling up churros and ice cream left and right to make up for the lost calories, but didn’t want to eat anything.

We ate a late lunch at Sunshine Seasons and I had to force myself to eat the Sweet and Sour Chicken, which I usually love, since I knew I needed the calories. Later, after riding some rides and watching the acrobats in China (amazing!), we had a quick-service dinner at the Liberty Inn. Again, I had no interest in food, but I took a bit of hot dog…and it was like a choir singing in my mouth! I have known of foods and drinks that are supposed to help runners recover/feel better – Coke, bananas, chocolate – but had never heard anyone mention hot dogs before – maybe it was just me. But with the saltiness, the vinegar and spices, the beef, and the mustard on top, it was the most delicious meal I can remember having.

The second symptom of marathon flu I experienced was that due to all the inflammation I was running a fever. I could feel how hot my body was, and between the pain and soreness, the general fatigue (not only the running but that I had been up since 4AM), and the fever, I quickly became grumpy, which was not what I intended to show the people who changed everything to support my racing.

I had my wife feel my head to make sure I wasn’t crazy about the fever. She felt it too and told me I should take some aspirin. I had intended to give blood shortly after returning from our trip and told her all I needed was rest. I promised her, though, that if I still ran a fever in the morning I would get some from the first aid center.

We Ubered home from the Boardwalk (we had walked there to end the night with some ice cream) and returned to our room. Luckily, my son went down to sleep easily. I read a couple pages from my book, then turned in and closed my eyes, the pillow cooling my warm forehead.

When I woke up in the morning…everything felt fine! My legs were still sore, but they moved. My fever was gone. And my appetite had definitely returned! We started the morning with a breakfast at the Crystal Palace, and I ate my weight in buffet food. I spent the rest of that day eating and drinking as much as I could manage.

Each day my legs became less and less sore, and by the time I had to start the seven hour drive home I felt like normal.

The medal and bib are currently hanging on a medal rack in our basement. The headwear I had worn is in a garbage dump – apparently at some point after the race I accidentally threw it out when I thought I was getting rid of the cold towel. The finisher shirt remains unpurchased – I was hoping I would get another chance during the rest of our vacation to find one but never did. And the marathon finisher Mickey ears sit on my desk at work.

No, nobody at work has asked me about them, and yes, I’m dying to tell them the story. But I’m happy with what I have. I’m still the same person – a slow, chubby runner who can focus on goals. I don’t get discounts at restaurants, I don’t get special lines at airport security, I don’t get priority seating on the bus. Externally the world is the same. But internally I still feel pride at my accomplishment and still roll the words around in my head.

I ran a damn marathon.

Pro tip #16: If you have a pocket somewhere in your running kit, stuff a plastic bag there – that will make it easier to hold all the food and drinks you’ll accumulate post-race

Pro tip #17: Do your best to manage the rest of your day so you can rest and relax after your race. But also remember you’ll be at Disney with your loved ones who sacrificed for you, so do what you can to accommodate everyone’s needs

Pro tip #18: If all else fails, try hot dogs

Pro tip #19: Sign up for a runDisney race now at a distance you’ve never tried before. No, really, now.

Pro tip #20: You can do it