Reevaluating Goals from A to ZZ: WDW Marathon 2020 Recap

We are almost two weeks out from WDW Marathon Weekend, so there’s been some time to rest, recover, and regroup. This marathon was TOUGH due to the heat and humidity - not that they are ever easy. What follows is part race recap, part discussion on reevaluating goals while mid-race, on the run.

To set the stage, keep in mind that I’m a goal A to ZZ kind of person. Whenever possible, I try to stay positive and am known to rearrange goals on race day. If things aren’t quite going in the right direction, I tend to move down the list of goals.

I ran this race with my friend, Jenn. This was her fourth race of the weekend as part of the Dopey Challenge (consisting of a 5k, 10k, half marathon, and full marathon on four successive days). I have run some shorter distance races with my mom and with my husband by my side, but I have never run a longer distance race with anyone, and I have to say, this was the best decision for this particular race.

The marathon was to start at 5a, but due to traffic issues getting into the staging area and a new start to the course this year, the start was delayed about 20 minutes. The temp at 5am was 70 degrees, with 90% humidity. 

Going into the race, Jenn and I had talked a little bit about trying to go for our A goal. Based on our current fitness, in the right conditions, on the right day, feeling 100%, we had visions of going for the sub-5 hour marathon.  

As marathon day got closer, we saw that the weather in Orlando was not making a change toward cool, so as late as AT the start line, we quickly abandoned any sort of time goal and decided that we wanted to enjoy the race and get to the finish line safely in the heat. I suppose you could call this our B goal!

We started at our easy pace, and this turned out to be a very smart decision. We were dripping with sweat by about mile 4. We fueled ourselves well, taking advantage of all of the fluids being given at each aid stop. 

When the sun came up, it was blazing hot. We each had a cooling towel with us, left over from some other race, and that sucker was amazing. I re-wet it frequently and kept it on the back of my neck. We poured water over our heads and on our shoulders. Keeping the core temp and heart rate down was the name of the game. 

We settled into long run pace and decided to hang out there. Maybe now we were onto a C goal - C for “Cruise” - cruise at long run pace and see where we end up. Neither of us was feeling like pushing it. The pace felt just a touch harder than long run pace usually feels.

At about halfway, I started to get a little nervous. We were passing a lot of first aid tents where strong, athletic looking people were staggering pale and dizzy from the course. We took this as a reminder to check in with ourselves from head to toe about how we were feeling.

Regarding our mental game, Jenn and I repeated positive statements to each other and checked in with each other at each mile and each water stop. Some of our statements: We are strong; We are doing okay; We are hydrating; We are fine; Everything is fine; We are having fun (and we were!); We are doing this thing! This motivation and the positive affirmations were absolutely key to keeping our heads in the game.

There were such great moments inside the theme parks, especially with so many spectators cheering and the Disney characters out and waving at us. If I’m honest, I was over the heat by mile 20 and wished the finish line would be coming up soon. But, my mantra going in was “I can do hard things” - probably said this in my mind and to Jenn 100 times over. And also, that I could eat the remaining 10k for breakfast!!

Smiles at Mile 24!

My mom and some dear RunDis friends were cheering at mile 24, which provided a huge energy boost! It was at this point that we realized if we could speed up just a tiny bit, that I could actually PR the race. On the list of goals, which we reevaluated again in the moment, even as late as mile 24, we decided to GO FOR THIS GOAL, which we’ll call the D goal (which is now the new A goal, if we’re keeping track)! And you know what? We did it - snuck in a little PR despite the crazy heat and sun!  

Marathon #2 held many lessons. The most important one: that it is perfectly okay, and sometimes very necessary, to change our goal at the start line and/or mid-race. Sometimes, we have to remember the big picture. We can’t change the weather, but we can change our thoughts and prepare our mental game for race day. 

The marathon can be a beautiful beast of a race.

A reminder that:

We can do hard things.

And that we are stronger than we think.

I feel truly grateful to Jenn for sticking with me for nearly 27 miles and for helping to motivate me to keep that PR hope alive, even at mile 24 when the sun was so sweltering - when it would have been easier to slow it way down for the rest of the way to the finish. I’m so proud of her for completing her first Dopey Challenge! And I’m proud of all of my runDis friends who raced during Marathon Weekend. What a pleasure to share the courses with you all! Thanks for reading!