2014 WDW Marathon mile 8-finish!

After my last check in with the support crew at mile 8 it was time to just keep pushing forward under my own positivity with not much to look forward to after the disappointing mile 20 extravaganza from the previous year.  The course change meant I couldn't place my Papa Bear at mile 19 to look forward to seeing and keeping a positive outlook on the most difficult part for me.  After that little hiccup I am good.

After my shoe change it was on to the speedway for a lap on the track.  Although this is a nice addition to the course it is awful to get to the track due to a very steep down hill and up hill.  Steep like the top of a mountain single track climbing stairs steep.  Not cool... also not cool having to run across the grass median as we leave the track to get my dry shoes wet!

 Totally cool though was the villains and their bad to the bone area.  Yes, they totally freak me out every time.  And this was by far the best motivational sign ever.

 I kept hearing who let the dogs out and then stumbled upon these 3 critters.  The song was stuck in my head since they played it shortly after we left the start of our corral and I was finally onto another song just to gain this one back.  Oh well, at least it was up beat.

 I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of characters they had and opportunities for photos before entering Animal Kingdom.  Typically there isn't much happening on the back road other than a few signs and I always figured it was because the noise of music (typically accompanying the characters) was somewhat stressful to the animals in their backstage area.

 This was the last character I stopped for on as I was on my way into Animal Kingdom.  To be honest I don't think I saw any in Animal Kingdom (Safari Minnie and Daisy was all).  Leaving AK I realized that I felt better if I wasn't constantly stopping for photos and just kept running so that was my plan.  Did I miss out on some photo opportunities--yes.  Am I bummed about it--yes and no.  The remaining character stops didn't have a character out when I went running by (they were in a transition) so I wouldn't have been stopping anyways.  I think I missed about 6 characters but I am ok with that.

I texted my mom at mile 18 with the following:  Mile 18 Suckfest.
Mom's response:  Sorry in stands just past finish on the side we have visors and sunglasses sorry take it slow and don't pull anything.  you are loved.

I busted out my Honey Stingers, sucked down some powerade and went for it.  If I was already hurting it wasn't going to get any better dawdling.  I must have found the sweet spot though because I was able to hit my stride and not get tangled up with other runners on the narrowness of the Wide World of Sports area.  I got to mile 20 and was feeling great so I kept on truckin' along.  A guy came up next to me around mile 22 and asked if I was going sub 4 hours cause he'd been pacing off of me since Animal Kingdom (mile 13) and I was hitting the miles perfect.  Um, no cause I started in the corral before you but keep up the effort mister!  FYI I did finish in 4:07 though so not bad and I bet that guy did finish in 4 hours since he stuck with me until I stopped for a minute to text my mom I had a mile to go.

 I felt amazing the last 3 miles of the race and very strong.  I could feel myself picking up the pace and it was very strange.  I am usually a hurting turkey but everything felt good this time.  The Hansons Marathon plan must have worked amazingly well since I followed it almost to a T.  Even my mom was shocked at how well I finished based on my Mile 18 suckfest and my legs hate me comments at mile 3 and 8.  At the halfway mark I was averaging 9:50 miles and by mile 20 I was averaging 9:33 miles.  Curious how it would have gone if I hadn't stopped for photos the first 13 miles.

 My mom made Perfectly Goofy visors for her and my dad to wear in the stands.  She knows that the sun is always just right in her eyes as she waits for me to round the corner for the finish.  They also used the towel I wiped my feet on to dry the bleacher bench off with.  Spectators around them were quickly their friends wanting to use the towel.  They are geniuses.

 My view at the end of the marathon of the BEST mom EVER!  Seriously, untying my shoes and getting my crocs on.  I didn't want to really hang out and take pictures with the characters but I was willing to have just the banner in the background for my momma.  Well these two just happened to show up.  I was more about getting on the bus and showered to go spend the afternoon at Magic Kingdom.

That's a lot of bling and it was an amazing weekend that I wouldn't have survived without my support crew.  Yes, we runners have to put in the miles and training on our own but when our day to run comes it is the positive words of encouragement via a text message, email, phone call or in person that really helps us to dig a little deeper and realize that we are so much stronger than we though.  Thanks for everything Momma and Papa Bear!