Let me start by saying that I am so proud of everyone who finished the marathon, whether you ran the full course or the shortened course. The conditions were brutal out there from the beginning. I am especially proud of
@Neon Cactus who was given the option to skip Blizzard Beach but chose to run it anyway. You are a rock star!
However, as someone who ran the full course but was severely affected by the course change, I am still struggling with my performance.
The cumulative fatigue from five days in the parks (even though I took it easy), running the 5k and 10k, and the extra 20 minutes waiting in my corral combined with the heat and humidity made for a very slow start. I am prone to heat illness and fainting, so I had to make sure my hydration game was on point. I felt like it was better to spend time in the restroom then to end up on the side of the course with an IV. I probably could have made do with a few less restroom stops, but I had it stuck in my head that I needed to take advantage of real restrooms (which of course had much longer lines).
Due to the heat I decided to walk (and enjoy) the parks on the back half of the course, resuming running intervals in between. But, what I am struggling with was the aftermath of the course modifications. I received the text that the course had been modified as I was exiting Blizzard Beach. I wasn’t sure what that meant until I exited the parking lot and turned right. All of the back of the pack runners, that I was only a couple of miles ahead of at this point, were being merged into the course in front of me. Once I reached the merge, the course had narrowed and everyone was walking. So, I walked the final 6+ miles of the course adding what I estimate to be 25 minutes to my overall time.
I did make the best of things and stopped to see Pluto a second time on the Boardwalk and diverted 1/10 mile (each way) from the course to purchase my Finish Line Margarita. But, only about 150 runners finished behind me. Who knows how many hundreds of runners that were once behind me had finished in front of me. I know these are not normal circumstances, but it is still nagging at me that I performed so poorly.
I think you all know what these thoughts are leading to...but I just don’t know...