Met Bill at 5:15 AM at this house. We dropped some water at mile 12 and my jeep at mile 17.5 and then back to Bill's to meet Jeff for 22 miles as we're training up for the Walt Disney World Marathon. My first marathon.
I bundled up pretty well this morning since it's like winter outside with a cold wind. Patches of ice/snow too. After running into the wind, we looped back to Bill's after a mile 'cause he needed his meds to breath. We got another dose of cold wind as we ran back to the trail. Miles, miles and more miles. The refill of water at mile 12 was very welcome. I'm glad I hid some cookies too.Bill made a pit stop at a gas station. I walked around the parking lot.
At about 13.5 miles my right knee was a bit sore. I had to be careful with it because I still had a lot of miles to run. A walk break at Brookfield Square parking lot helped. We continued north as we watched to the time. We're on a deadline...we're heading to run a local 5k race!
Dropped my coat and Fuel Belt at my Jeep. We arrived at the starting line with 17.6 miles behind us. Sections of the race was on grass. That felt good on the feet.
The course looped twice...what was a I thinking! A lady tried to pass me at about 1.25 miles. I decided to run with her. At 2 miles my legs wouldn't or couldn't go faster so she ran ahead. I didn't let anyone else pass me as I picked up the speed for the final 50 yards. I finished in 28:10 for the 5k. My 2nd slowest 5k race ever, but I had just completed 20.7 miles!
Oh no! We're running 22 mile today...so off Jeff, Bill and I went for another lap. About 15 miles later, I crossed the finish line once again to the confusion of the race organizers. I continued another 25 feet to the grass and laid face down. Turned my head to look at my watch and stop it. Exactly 22.0 miles in 3 hours 44 minutes.
...I'm starting to sense that Disney is possible.
