Marathon Man: Disney Style

Last Sunday, Dad finished 26.2 miles, and we couldn't be more proud!

Finished!!

There's another photo of me, SMoo and Dad running when we met up with him at mile 23 (our 6 mile plan was thwarted by the super-controlled Disney race map), but it's not loading at the moment.  We ran with him to the end and got to be there as he crossed the finish line.

He pushed through and made it, despite the unexpected knee and hip pain that began on mile 12.  We got text updates at miles 5, 10, 13.2 and 20, so we kind of knew where he was.  Isn't modern technology grand?! 

We caught him coming out of MGM/Hollywood Studios, and I swear I looked like a complete idiot jumping up and down, yelling, "Go Dad!  Woohoo!  Come on Gary!"  It was really exciting, and I didn't care.  Everyone around us started cheering, too.  SMoo and I jumped in (which is technically banditing a run!) and got to run behind Disney and through Epcot.  We tried to come up with anything and everything imaginable to talk about and try and keep Dad's mind occupied.  I'm pretty sure I even said, "Look!  There's England!  Hey, We're in France!" as we were running through all the countries.  At least we tried.

After you cross the finish line, they give you a space blanket to stay warm, then your medal, and then you stop at the medical tent. They have people ready to help you with ice packs.  We determined that saran-wrap is only good for attaching ice packs to knees, nothing else!  Dad said if he could've run with those, that would've been perfect!

The whole experience was really inspiring.  Mom was saying that as an adult, you don't have many opportunities to hear people cheering you on like it was happening on race day.  People were lining the route, and everyone had names on their bibs, so you could cheer for them by name, even if you didn't know them.  Mom, SMoo and I nearly froze as we waited, but we kept warm by jumping up and down and walking along the route waiting for Dad and cheering others on.  We even got a few Delta should outs, since SMoo was wearing a DDD fleece.  Fun stuff.   

SMoo is ready to run the half marathon there, but I haven't quite caught the bug yet.  I'm just going to stick to my 5k for now and hopefully add a 10k this year. 

Dad, we are so proud of you!  Thanks for letting us tag along and visit Disney World with you.  Love you bunches.