My first Half Marathon at Walt Disney World

By Casey Dylan

Back-story

Last fall, in what can best be described as a moment of mid-life crisis, I decided to put down the beer, turn off the TV, get off the couch, go outside and”¦(wait for it)”¦run a marathon. Due to my rotund shape, and generally lazy disposition, this was a statement far fetched enough to make those around me smirk openly.

About a month into training, I found myself in the back of an ambulance being rushed to the cardiac lab at one of the major hospitals in Boston. When the doctor leaned over to me and said “In a few minutes we might have to crack you open, is there a loved one you want to speak with?” I was blindsided by the possibility that I wouldn’t see my wife and two little boys again. It’s funny the things that race through your mind in moments like that, and one specific thought kept repeating: “I can’t be sick, In a few days I’m supposed to take my little boys to Walt Disney World for the first time.”

It turns out that I wasn’t in quite the dire straights they feared, and after several days in the cardiac ward, recovering from a case of strep-related pericarditis, I convinced the doctor to release me in time for our family vacation. Getting to see my boys discover the enchantment of Disney for the first time was magical to be sure, but I was unable to hold them, ride the attractions with them, or swim with them in the pool”¦in short, it was not the experience I had envisioned. While thankful to have been able to go, I came home with some degree of disappointment. Shortly after my return, the cardiologist placed me on a 3-month hold to any strenuous activity”¦my nascent commitment to running was put on the back burner.

After the requisite waiting period, and upon receiving the “all clear” status to resume training, I started looking for a big hairy audacious goal to set for myself. I learned about the Walt Disney World Half Marathon from a friend who had run it previously, and was planning on doing so again with her running group, Team All Ears (a group of runners dedicated to raising funds to fight breast cancer). The opportunity to set a daunting challenge for myself, while leveraging the support of a team and doing something good for others, was exactly what I was looking for.

Training

I began training with the “Couch Potato to 5K” plan. The C25K program seems simplistic at first glance, but really works well for fat, lazy, out-of-shape guys like myself, and in no time I was huffing and puffing my way through 3 to 4mile runs.

Unfortunately running around with a bunch of extra pounds takes its toll on a body, and it really wreaked havoc with my knees. My wife suggested I look into Jeff Galloway’s Run/Walk training, and I tried a 3/2 split on my next five-miler. It was the easiest five miles I’d done, with the average minutes per mile about the same as when I shuffled along. Furthermore, I felt great during and after the run. I was a convert! I shifted to the Galloway half marathon training regime. As the mileage grew with each successive “long run”, the daunting nature of what once seemed impossible became less so, and the day I ran/walk for 10 miles I knew I could do it.

The Race

When the alarm went off at 3 am on race day, I was already awake and anxious to get going. I arrived at the race sight at 3:45 am shivering both from the cold and from nervous excitement”¦getting to this day had been a long journey. Walking to the corral took longer than I anticipated, but it kept me warm and gave me something active to do. I was gratified to have my wife (who had trained with me, but due to a knee injury couldn’t run) and a group from Team All Ears to chat with on both the walk to, and in, the corral.

The race began and I was pounding the pavement so quickly that I hadn’t even gotten my iPod plugged-in and fired-up (rookie move). It was hard not to let adrenaline get the best of me, and at Mile 1 I entertained thoughts of running hard to Mile 2, but I was committed to running the race I had trained for, so I reigned it in and forced myself to walk. Things were going well until around Mile 5, when I really started feeling sluggish. I got to Main Street USA and decided to take it easy, enjoy the spectacle, and fuel up on GU Chomps and PowerAde. I was already feeling better by the time I left the Magic Kingdom. The next few miles flew by quickly.

Miles 11 through 13 are a bit of a blur, as tunnel vision started set in and I focused on driving to the finish. I remember looking at my watch and thinking “It would be great to do this in under 3 hours!”, but I didn’t really have enough energy in the tank at that point to speed up, in fact my run/walk splits were inverted from 3/2 to 2/3 and I was slowing down. I was able to pick up the pace thanks to the energy of the crowd at Epcot, and when I rounded the corner to the grandstand and I saw my wife and boys I felt wings on my feet carry me across the finish line.

Final Thoughts

The next day, as I alternated carrying my boys on my shoulders on our way to riding just about every ride at the Magic Kingdom, it occurred to me that it had only been a year since I had to scooter around and watch my kids riding those same rides from afar. I was moved to tears as I realized that in that year I had demonstrated to my boys how to get up off the mat when you get knocked down; achieved a key milestone along the road to realizing the ultimate goal of running a marathon; added years to my life; and raised money to try and help add years to the lives of others.

It was a fantastic experience, and I look forward to doing it again (this time with my wife) next year!