Disney Marathon Completed

The Disney Marathon was really something. I can't tell you how moving and inspiring it was to be there with my family and to watch Stephanie accomplish such a difficult feat. There were a bunch of marathoners that weekend, all running for their causes -55,000 people in all. The Leukemia Lymphoma Society Team in Training counted in at 1,200 and managed to raise $4 M. What an accomplishment. Stephanie finished in a little under 7 hours. Her feet and muscles were sore for a couple of days, but still she was able to bask in the glory.

I was going to write a big post here about the marathon, but decided instead to include what Stephanie wrote instead. There isn't anything that I could have said that could have topped this. Read on:

Awesome Marathon Weekend
by Stephanie Nuke on Monday, January 10, 2011 at 9:03pm
Thanks for all the good wishes and the support! I wanted to share some details about the marathon and Team in Training for anyone that is interested. And if you aren’t interested, well, it won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t read this note.

Last summer, I signed up to train with Team in Training for a marathon. I did it for many reasons, including the desire to be more active, feeling like I needed a challenge in my life and also because it had been on my “bucket list.” But, the main reason—the big one—was that I wanted to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which receives the funds raised by Team in Training. My mom was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009 and received a bone marrow transplant in May 2009. At the time of her diagnosis, she was in blast crisis. Without the transplant she would have died. Luckily, her brother was a perfect match and she is now doing very well. It’s amazing that a disease state that was once invariably fatal can now be successfully treated. Stuff like that doesn’t happen without research—both bench research and clinical research. And research doesn’t happen without money. I wanted to support that research.

So, I signed up to raise money for TNT by participating in the Disney marathon. Since August, I’ve been training. I’ve run a lot of miles since August, spent countless hours running in freezing and unpleasant weather, suffered injuries—but managed somehow to keep going. Mostly, because I had so much support from so many people. My husband took on a lot of the child care and housekeeping because I was out running. So many family members and friends encouraged me, cajoled me, and pushed me. The TNT coaches and mentors were FABULOUS in every way and the other runners became friends. And so many people donated to my cause. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for helping me in so many ways! Special thanks to those who opened their check books and for Debi who opened her home for a fundraising party! And to my Aunt Donna who lives in Orlando for making this weekend so much fun and so easy for us!!

OK, so I sometimes overestimate my ability to commit time and energy to projects. And I always have a few too many projects. But somehow, this marathon project seemed totally doable back in August. It even seemed easy in the beginning when the runs were still pretty short. Soon enough, though, the runs got long and hard. And I kept doing it. Four times a week, with a really long run on the weekend. It was hard setting the alarm for 6:00 on a Saturday and going out in the freezing cold to run for hours. ‘Cause when you’re slow like me the runs take a looong time. And when it’s cold, your hair frosts and your nose runs and your muscles seem to cramp more. Training was just something I did. It was something I committed to do and therefore needed to keep doing. And I was a little embarrassed sometimes when people I hardly know asked about it. Because I never did and still don’t feel like a REAL runner. And I guess I just never felt like what I was doing was anything all that special. Until I arrived in Orlando.

I flew in on Thursday with my husband and the kids. Travelling with the kids is often fun, but can be a bit of a hassle. My Aunt Donna picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel in Disney. And then we drove over to the sports complex to pick up my packet, including my bib and my D-chip tracker. And I started to get scared because there were all kinds of super fit runners there. And I talked to lots of them and many had done dozens of marathons before and were expecting to finish in no time flat. And there were loads of exhibits and booths set up selling running gear that I had never heard of had never even imagined a need for. So, I got my packet as fast as possible and flew out of there. Quote from Julian as we were leaving, “There is a super freaky running subculture that I never knew about before.” Spent the evening at Epcot, which was less intimidating and also fun for the whole family and lay awake all night freaking out about whether I could actually do this thing.

On Friday, we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom and we had a blast. Then on Friday evening, my perspective changed in a big way. We had the TNT Inspiration dinner on Friday. As the participants were walking in, the TNT coaches, support team, and mentors from all over the country were lining the corridor with noise makers and clappers and horns and they were screaming and clapping for us. It was raucous and wild and wonderful and it started to hit me—hey, maybe this is a big deal. During the dinner, we learned that TNT 2011 Disney participants have raised over $4 million to fight blood cancers, and that TNT has raised $700million since its inception. There are people who are alive today, who wouldn’t be without TNT. And some of them don’t even have a blood cancer—47% of cancer treatments for other types of cancer started out as treatments for leukemia or lymphoma. So, if you know anyone anywhere that has had cancer, you probably know somebody who has been affected by the research funded by LLS. The keynote speaker was a 12 year old leukemia survivor. OK, I had tears in my eyes. I wasn’t the only one. I left that dinner understanding that the marathon was secondary to the real victory. I left there with the understanding that I had already succeeded.
On Saturday, we went to Disney Quest in the afternoon. The kids played while I sat in a very Disneyesque chair in the Wonderland Café and read. Needed to rest the legs before the big event! That evening, we went to Aunt Donna’s for dinner. My Mom and Ray and my sister, Lisa had arrived. Some of Donna’s friends were there to help us celebrate. We spent a great evening eating great food and enjoying great company. Again, an “aha” moment. Not only had my family gone to great effort to come see me do this thing, but even Donna’s friends, whom I had never met before, were genuinely enthused about it. Again, maybe this IS a big deal.

Had to get up a 2:30 AM Sunday morning, meet the team at 3:00 and catch the bus to the starting area. The camaraderie among the team members was fantastic. At about 4:00 we started moving into our corrals. It was sooooo cold in the predawn hours and we were huddling together under mylar blankets to keep warm. I was so happy to have some of my running buddies to hang with during this very anxiety-inducing time. Again, I was feeling intimidated by the “real” runners, some of whom seemed to be doing some very odd stretching routines. But, the awesome thing is that I also saw a huge number of purple TNT shirts. And so I made new friends on the spot, too.

We were in one of the back corrals, so we started about 35 minutes after the first runners. Disney really knows how to put on a show and there were fireworks at the start, along with Mickey, Minnie and Donald. J I started very strong and was feeling pretty good. I have been nursing a case of Achilles tendonitis and I knew that I would not be able to run the entire distance. I had hoped to run about half. I ended up giving that up at mile 10 and switching to run/walk intervals. Around the half way point I knew that I had to walk the rest or risk real injury. I ended up finishing in 6:56, which is dreadfully slow. But, that does include my potty breaks (6 times, and waiting in line each time—and yes, I know I need to manage my hydration better to avoid that if I ever do this again.) I also stopped along the way and got into a couple of group TNT pics, which my friend promised to email to me. I hope she remembers so I can show you! There were Disney characters all along the route, bands, DJ’s and countless performers. Even some weird little goats and furry puffy things were out along the route with their trainers near Animal kingdom. The route started outside Epcot, then went over to Magic Kingdom. We went down Main Street USA and all around the castle. Then we went over to Animal Kingdom and through the park there and then on to Hollywood Studios. Finally we went from the Studios to the boardwalk and entered Epcot at the World Showcase. We went around the World Showcase lake and then on Spaceship Earth. The finish was just outside of Epcot.

The first half seemed pretty easy, but I really started to struggle around mile 18-19. My feet hurt, I had blisters, and my Achilles ached like crazy. I can not say enough good things about the TNT coaches and mentors along the route. So many times during the race when my energy was fading, a coach would run along side me and give me words of encouragement. There were mentors and staff in purple shirts all along the course cheering and clapping. They really want their participants to succeed and offer so much encouragement. I never felt alone. And the other TNT runners and walkers were also wonderful. We cheered for each other, struck up conversations, and urged each other on. It was amazing in every way.
Once I got to mile 20, I knew that I had it, that nothing would stop me from finishing and getting my medal.

As I approached the finish, I saw my family there cheering and I got all choked up. It was great. I was also just so relieved to be done. I was exhausted.
(Note to anyone thinking of doing a marathon—if you’re over 40 and *not* a runner, training for a full marathon in a mere four months might not be the smartest thing ever.)

That evening we had the victory dinner to attend. Of course, I wore my Mickey Medal and so did many others. There was a definite sense of triumph in the air. And I got to share this with my family. Mom and Ray, Donna and Bill, and Lisa were all there along with Julian and the kids. This was just such a touching/ moving thing for my mom and me. When they asked all of the leukemia and lymphoma survivors to step forward, my mom went right on up. There were quite a lot of survivors there. It was so amazing and so wonderful. My mom danced to “I Will Survive” with the other survivors. My kids danced as only young kids can, with utter abandonment and no rhythm whatsoever. We cried, we laughed, and we hugged. And then we laughed and cried and hugged some more. It was a truly special, wonderful thing. One of the best days ever.