Climbs and Crossings

Crossing the finish line of the Half Marathon was the moment we had to begin to recover.  We spent the day eating, sleeping, and icing, just kind of shuffling around. In the evening we watched The Spirit of the Marathon for inspiration and went to bed early. And then....here we go again...3am. I am sleepy, sore, and about to run my first marathon! Once again we were at Epcot in the cold 4 in the morning dark. It was colder than the morning before. At 4:30, 17,000 of us marched a quarter mile to the start.  We were again in the second to last starting wave, and with the course making a loop through Epcot before going out to the Magic Kingdom, we got to see the lead runners as they came through heading into mile 5. And they pretty much looked like they were running at an all out sprint. And I'm shuffling up to mile 1 at a 12 minute pace trying to loosen up and be able to feel my feet. So here we are, we are running a marathon. The first 6 or 8 weren't too bad, the sun came...

There was to be a Half Marathon completed the day before the Marathon, and then all three golden medals would be ours. THE GOOFY CHALLENGE 2011.  39.3 Miles We spent the week prior to Marathon weekend in Orlando doing Disney, swimming, laying in the sun, and avoiding alligators and large snakes. On Thursday we visited ESPN Wide World of Sports to hit up the race expo.  Angie texting, live from the Wide World of Sports overstimulation. Friday we stayed off our feet and loaded up on the carbs. I took one more dip in the pool and then layed out our supplies to ration for the weekend.  gu, gu, and more gu. And then here we are at Saturday morning. 2:45 am, actually, because the cab is coming about 3, and traffic is supposed to be backed up and horrible, and if you're not in your corral by 5 YOU CAN'T RUN. We got there. We got a cup of coffee and tried to loosen up despite the chilly early morning. At about 4:30 they opened the gate and 27,000 of us marched a quar...