Did you sign up for any races this weekend?
Oh, you’re only running the marathon?
For running our first marathon, Deena and I were getting pretty bothered that people kept discrediting our potential accomplishment. Any other race, running the New York City Marathon, the Chicago Marathon, the Boston Marathon, running a marathon would be enough.
Not at Walt Disney World. In 2015 we only ran the marathon. The Walt Disney World Marathon! Have you ever run a marathon? Admittedly, we haven’t yet either. There was copious amounts of walking involved. But we finished a marathon! And yet, at this magical place, we only completed a marathon.
We woke up before dawn. We parked in the Epcot parking lot. Then, shivering and cold, we walked almost a mile to line up to run another 26.2 miles. Please do not forget that extra point two. Small though it may be, it is extremely significant.
We tried not to think about the journey we were about to embark upon, yet at the same time tried to pump ourselves up. Despite our lack of training, neither of us had jobs that required sitting at a desk all day. If these people around us could get up for three consecutive days before this and still run a marathon, we could totally run a marathon. But it was cold.
We found an empty tent. How, in a crowd of 26,7000+ people we found an empty tent, I’m not sure, but I won’t question the luck. We were able to stretch under protection from the wind. Comments made about the princesses, pirates, and other characters shuffling past us were less likely to be overheard. We could make gestures without being completely rude. We could call the other people that paid good money to do this crazy. Just like ourselves. All of these emotions and the clock hadn’t even struck 5:30am yet.
Fireworks! That must mean we should leave the comfort of this tent and find our corral. So many people were running, it was bound to be slightly warm from the body heat, right? Still unable to part with our clothing donations, we huddle ever forward. Did I remember to pee? Wait, my shoe is untied. Did you remember to bring chapstick? Want a piece of my egg? Crap! It’s time to shuffle!
Jogging over the starting line is not nearly as exciting as it should be. I mean, there are fireworks, a DJ, characters and I think confetti, but there are also 26.2 miles looming ahead of us. On the other side of the starting line, we were safe. Now we have started an epic journey. But we’ll be fine. After all, this is only a marathon.
More on the 26.2 miles of fun coming soon!
schmidtbyamanda 