Marathon #3

I achieved my primary goal at the 2022 Walt Disney World Marathon. I
finished. Yes I had fun and enjoyed the experience. I really hated
life during my other marathons. I made the decision around mile 15 or
so to just walk hard, try to run when it made sense, and avoid
emptying my tanks all the way. I think it was the right decision. I
have my medal and I will be able to start running again after giving
myself time to recover (especially the chafing on my thighs, brutal).

The last time I ran a marathon I wrote a whole post about what I
needed to improve the next time I attempted the distance. Fielding was
a big topic in that post. I definitely noticed a pick up in energy
after I ate something. If I had only been better trained to actually
take advantage of that insight. I knew that I wasn't physically ready
to take on the distance in a way that would be consistent with how I
like to think of myself as a runner. I frequently forget (or choose to
ignore) that running identity is based on running accomplishments that
are years in the past. My 10K PR, my sub two hour half marathon, my
first sub 5 hour marathon. Those are four or five years in the past.
I'm not that runner anymore. I looked at the times of the YouTuber who
passed me on the course, the guy who hosts the podcast I listen to
(that I found when looking for podcasts about runDisney), and the
people who were in course pictures with me. The version of me who ran
the RIchmond Marathon in 2017 would have beat all of them. I still
think I'm that guy. I'm not.

Yes, I'm older, but the 2022 marathoner didn't put in the miles needed
to be competitive with the 2017 version of myself. I was probably in
the best shape of my life when I did my first marathon. I ran the half
in 2:06 at the marathon. I will acknowledge that I went out way too
fast, but I was only 3 minutes slower than the Patrick Henry Half I
ran in 2015. I probably could have put down a 1:45 half if that was
the target distance. My first half was in 2013. That was 9 years ago
(well, more like 8.5 but let's not get too picky). What I could do
doesn't have anything to do with what I can do now. I can't just coast
on athletic achievements from the distant past. I have to be someone
who runs like this, not someone who ran like that.

So how do I go about reclaiming my former prowess? Realizing my run
1000 miles resolution is a good step in that direction. A big part of
running is volume. I will get on my 5, 5, and 10 plan next week. Those
numbers are just guidelines. That's the minimum I need to hit on my
primary runs to get to 20 miles a week, which will get me to 1000
miles. The volume is just a part of it though. At the end of the
marathon I ran for short spurts. I focused on my form. There was a
difference. I've been so much slower this year. I just can't get down
to the times that I used to run. I have no doubt that my mechanics are
playing a role. Better knee drive, more open stride, better push off
or something could all be a factor in my pace. I will pay better
attention to my form as I ease back into my regular running routine.

This form thing isn't just idle speculation. I did some intervals on a
treadmill where I got the speed up to a point where I had to really
concentrate on how I was running to keep up. My next run outside was
much faster than previous runs (and the runs soon thereafter). My
effort didn't feel any harder, but I was moving much faster. That
should have been my cue to really dig into form and find a way to make
that kind of effort a permanent part of my running. I didn't. I just
kept on doing the same old thing.

I'm proud of finishing this marathon, but I want my running reality to
match what I have in my head. (That's actually a pretty good summary
of all my goals). I just got a very real (and accurate) picture of my
current fitness level. I know what needs to be done to make my
imagined reality my actual reality. Lots of sweating in Florida
humidity while staying aware of what my knees, hips, and arms are
doing (and building up the strength of my lower body and core when I'm
not dripping sweat).

Marathon #3 incoming

It's going down Sunday morning in Walt Disney World. In a way, my
entire distance running effort has always been aimed at making it to
this race. I was running regularly before our first trip to Disney
World (as parents anyway) in 2015. I'd done the Patrick Henry Half
Marathon in 2013 (injury got in the way of me running it in 2014, damn
calves). That 2015 trip was the weekend after marathon weekend. I had
never heard of the Dopey Challenge before that weekend. I read about
the races while laying in bed after we turned out the lights so my
kids could sleep. I wasn't so sure about the Dopey Challenge (I don't
really have any desire to do it, getting up that early 4 days in a row
would be brutal), but I was very intrigued by the marathon. I ran the
Patrick Henry again that year (I was actually just recovering from the
injury that prevented me from doing the PH in 2014 while during that
Disney trip). I wasn't as fast as the first time I ran it, but I felt
like moving up to the marathon was the right next step.

I ran my first marathon a couple of years later, the RIchmond marathon
in 2017. I just looked at my Garmin data from that race. I ran a great
first half but really struggled in the second half. I was reasonably
well trained but had no idea what I was doing and really struggled in
the second half. Tiffany and I did the half marathon at Disney World
in 2018. It was a great trip to Disney, but the race was less than
stellar. It was very cold when we were standing around for a couple of
hours waiting to start the run (in the middle of the night) and
Tiffany was not really in half marathon shape. The race was very
stressful. It was not the experience I really wanted. My big lesson
from the 2018 WDW half was that it pays to submit a time to get up in
the starting corrals. Lots of people do a run/walk combination at
those races. That's not really my style so I always planned to make
sure I had a good qualifying time to ensure that I could get out of
the mass of run/walkers if I did another runDisney event.

Getting a good time for the marathon sounded like a good idea, but the
logistics were a bit of a challenge. I ran my second marathon, the
Marine Corps marathon, in 2018. I paced myself better, I didn't
collapse until after mile 20 versus about mile 15 for the Richmond
marathon, but I did not fuel very well. I just had nothing left in the
last couple miles of the race. I was very grateful for the snack boxes
that they handed out at the finish line. My time was just over 5
hours, which really wouldn't have done me any good for the WDW
marathon, but I left that race really wanting to figure out how to
complete a marathon feeling strong. The logistical challenge for
getting a time for the marathon was the timing of these two marathons,
which are the marathons closest to where I used to live. They are both
in the fall, October for the Marine Corps and November for Richmond.
That is after the deadline for submitting times for the Disney race.

Logistics for getting to the Disney marathon got much easier when I
moved to Florida. The parks are a 2 hour drive away now. I can work
all week, like I did this week, and head to the resort on Saturday for
the marathon. No flights, no day long drives. Just a short drive and
I'm there. It won't really surprise me if this doesn't become an
annual thing. It's just so close. My running is always better when I
have something to train for. The big block for me in marathon training
are the long runs. Anything over 10 is just a real struggle. My
primary motivation in signing up for the WDW marathon, aside from it
just being a long standing bucket list race, was to get back to
training runs longer than 5 miles. I've accomplished that so I have
achieved one marathon goal. Having a marathon in the distance will
give me a reason to put in longer runs every week.

My goal for Sunday's marathon is simple. Finish. I would also like to
avoid injury. If those things happen, that's a win.