See Julie Run

If you’re a marathon regular, make sure you check this race off your list!  This marathon was as magical as you would imagine and it’s done in true spectacular Disney fashion.  From fireworks at the starting line to characters along the route, this experience makes running 26.2 miles a fun and entertaining feat!   It does get a tad crowded along the service roads in the parks, so I think if you go into this race not hoping for a time, you’re much better off.  I ran this race with my sister once again and we both decided to dress up, have fun, take pictures and just relax the whole way.

While the race itself was an awesome experience, the weather was not.  Florida was suffering record low temperatures and it was in the low 20s when we got up at 2:30AM the morning of the race.  As I said before, my sister and I decided to dress up.  I was Tinkerbell and she was Minnie Mouse and while we both played the parts very well, our costumes did not fair well with the 26-degree temperatures while waiting for the start!  Once the fireworks lit up the sky and  it was our turn to begin, it took quite some time (at least the first two miles) for me to really warm up and shed the old hoodie that I had bundled up in.  Even my feet were tingling as they hit the ground because they had become numb.   Here’s a picture of us at the start.  Notice the bright red noses…

Once we got through the first couple of miles and started setting a steady pace for ourselves, we started taking in the course.  The course went through Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdon and Hollywood Studios.  It did get a little long running along the long stretched of highway between parks, but it was during those times that we were able to check out all of the other costumes.  I was glad to have my sister along with me to chat and take photos of each other, and boy did we get some great ones!  We stopped quite a bit along the way to wait in line for photos with the characters (again, not at all concerned with a time as we had already BQ’d during our last marathon!).  We crossed the finish line at 4:20.  I was extremely happy with the race even with the colder weather.  It really is the most magical place on Earth

10/11/09…a date that will live in infamy!  Well, at least to me.  I had gone home to PA on Thursday to spend some time with my family and relax a little before the big day.  I visited with some of my best friends from high school and college, ate some amazing food courtesy of my momma and just enjoyed being home for a long weekend.  To be completely honest, I was never really nervous about the whole thing.  I knew I’d trained the right way and after my 23-mile training run at an 8:30 pace, I was very confident that I was going to do what I set out to do.

Sunday morning my sister and I got up, obviously very excited.  This was my first marathon and her 4th.  Our parents drove us to the starting line (the race started north of Scranton and finished in downtown Scranton).  It was a very small crowd, only 1,700 participants but that was a benefit to me.  The less people, the more the spectators will cheer on each individual who passes by!  It may have been a tad over-confident, but I had come up with a great method to add some extra motivation to our run…custom t-shirts!!  I picked up some champion technical tees (pink, of course) and some iron-on letters from Michael’s and printed “Boston Bound” on the front and in GIANT numbers on the back I wrote 3:40 so fellow marathoners on the course knew what we were aiming for. 

Turns out, those t-shirts worked like a charm! We had tons of people calling out 3:40! Yeh Boston! Woo!  and the like.  We even picked up a 26 y/o girl who was also aiming to qualify at the same time around mile 2.  I felt very strong the whole way and was having a great time.  The weather was a cool 50 degrees and there was no rain in sight.  I had read about the course’s ups and downs prior to the race and knew from the many humorous emails from the race director that if you tried to take advantage of the 6 miles of down hill in the beginning at a sprinting pace, you were going to end up seriously burned.  I’ll admit that though I had prepared myself mentally to take it easy in the beginning, it was a lot easier said than done.  With the energy of doing my first marathon coupled with the crowd cheering along the streets, I found it difficult not to just “let loose” and go full out down the steep hills in the first few miles.  But my older sister has that “older sister way” about her and kept me in check.  Once we got to the point where course evened out to rolling hills, I found my “happy pace” and also found that we were banking about 15-30 seconds every mile for the first ten or so miles.  We built up to 4 and 1/2 minutes ahead of schedule and then steadied out.  I knew those four minutes would come in handy towards the end! 

I found out this race just how great the Garmin really is.  I found myself being sort of a “watch hawk” because  I wanted to make sure that we were on track.  I had printed out a schedule of what our time should be at every mile to finish at a 3:39 and I made sure we were right on schedule at every mile announcing our times.  This course was known for it’s 950-foot drop from start to finish, HOWEVER they don’t let you get away that easy.  Right between miles 23-25 there were hills, rather large hills.  I made it a point in my training to run the only hill around me, a bridge, several times back and forth during my training to prepare for the PA hills.  However, what I hadn’t really tried was running that bridge back and forth at the end of one of my long runs. Oops.  I took the advice of one of the well-seasoned runners from my group and looked 20feet ahead of me and just kept on chugging up.  It worked!  As tired as I was, I knew I had come this far and had to keep going.  My sister was struggling, but I kept urging her to move forward.  Our “bank time” kept decreasing over the last 4 miles and we were cutting it close.  Due to the weaving we had done throughout the course, the milege on my watch was a little off.  I was getting very nervous.  I told my sister to give it all she had and sprint with me, but she was pooped.  The competitive side in me came out full force so I told her I was going to go ahead and make sure that I made it in time.  I sprinted in the last 1/2 mile to see the clock time – 3:37.  I knew I had made it!  But I also knew that I promised my sister we’d cross together if we could make it the whole way together, so I stopped short of the finish line and went off to the side.  My family of course knew what I was doing, but the crowd did not.  All I heard was “what are you doing?!” And because of the big 3:40 on my shirt I heard “Keep going, you’ve made it!!!”  Around 3:38 I saw my matching pink shirt coming up over the hill, so I ran towards Amy.  I grabbed her hand and together we ran to a chip time of 3:38:33. 

It was an awesome first marathon experience and I felt great the whole way.  I never really hit the infamous “wall” so I was extremely pleased with my training and the way I ran. 

My parents were also very proud, and to make this race even more memorable, as it turned out the photo below would be the last picture taken as a family of four.  My dad passed away suddenly one month after my sister and I ran this marathon.  Every race here on out is dedicated to him for being one of my biggest fans…

Dural Family at the Steamtown Finish