Disney World Marathon Results
Well, I finished. That's about the only thing I can say about my race on Sunday at the Disney World Marathon. I was shooting for a sub 4-hour race and was on track to accomplish that at mile 13. But it was SO humid that by that point both of my shoes were soaked with sweat and the balls of my feet were already blistered. I realized that this would not be the day that I got a PR and really backed off, just aiming instead to finish under 5 hours.
Some lessons learned:
1. Training, training, training - admittedly, I was not as prepared for this race as I should have been. My longest run was only 20 miles, and I simply didn't get enough miles in before race day.
2. Location, location, location - I feel like I could eliminate the humidity factor if I trained a little more frequently in humid conditions. In the month and a half leading up to the race the majority of my runs were done in Montana, Calgary, and Nashville (during a cold spell). I haven't run in humidity since the summer, basically - not helpful when you're running in Orlando.
3. Keep the shoes dry - it's time I figured out how I can keep my shoes dry (or at least driER) on race day. Any suggestions? I'm wondering if there are sweatbands for legs or something like that. I've got the "moisture wicking" socks - but they really didn't do much for me. This will be the thing I'm going to be working on figuring out in the next couple of weeks.
So, that's the end of that run - it's over, in the past, and now I've got to start thinking about the Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Nashville in April. To read more about how the rest of the Rockstar Runners did, check out the website.
[This post is part of Works-For-Me Wednesday - check it out!]
Congrats... I was 14 seconds behind you. Had a blast!!!
Posted by: JD | January 23, 2008 at 05:46 PM
I just read a blog post saying that synthetic wool and not cotton is the secret to keeping feet dry.
It's part of a much longer post, but thought I'd pass it along.
http://alangage.blogspot.com/2008/01/well-if-there-was-any-doubt-about.html
Posted by: Carstairs38 | January 21, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Well, finishing is probably far better than what I could have done.
I don't have any helpful hints about the "dry shoes" issue, not really being a runner. I do know that the humidity can make a huge difference!
Here's to the future. :)
Posted by: Melanie | January 17, 2008 at 06:59 PM
You make running a marathon sound like so much fun!
Posted by: nancy | January 16, 2008 at 07:12 PM
Well done man. Props to you. And maybe for your feet, try wearing double pairs of socks. And you could also try getting like wrist sweat bands and placing then right above your shoes. Im not sure how much it would help, but I was just thinking. Thanks for the posts!
Posted by: Bryan2 | January 16, 2008 at 03:33 AM
Well, good job anyway! You ran, and you learned a lot from it. And either way you put most of us to shame. :) Just walking around in Orlando could make many people sweaty and tired. :)
Posted by: Carla | January 15, 2008 at 06:12 PM
You say, "Well, I finished. That's about the only thing I can say about my race. . ." as if that were something unimpressive. You FINISHED. A MARATHON. With blisters on your feet. That's amazing. Congratulations!!
Posted by: ellen | January 14, 2008 at 03:35 PM
Congrats on finishing. That's still huge in my book.
And reading all your posts about running make me wish my leg weren't still bothering me. I guess I'm going to have to give up and go see a doctor about it.
Mark
Posted by: Carstairs38 | January 14, 2008 at 12:42 PM