Anyone else get really sad after they worked so hard to train for a marathon and then BOOM! The race comes up and it’s all over? Time to sign up for another race right!
Before that happens let’s go over the marvelous events that took place during runDisney Marathon weekend. I was mentally ready and pretty pumped to race the first marathon back after my 5th spine surgery. While I didn’t get the training I needed due to some health complications, I worked with what I had. The morning of the race, the weather was ideal with a 10% chance of rain and it was cool! So almost perfect weather.
After taking off and getting close to the 10K mark my body started to feel “off”. All of a sudden my muscles from head to toe started to hurt. I was on my cycle and was already worried about that dreaded killer hormonal migraine attack. But this wasn’t it. I kept going and the pain only progressed. I knew McFly was up ahead so I took my migraine medication from him just in case.
As I got closer to him it started to pour rain, it cascaded off of my hat. Puddles everywhere because you know Walt Disney World parks love puddles and people were just splashing away. As that happened, it got cooler with quick little bursts of a breeze. Which would’ve been welcoming had I not been sopping wet. Not only were my muscles screaming for assistance, but they all started to lock up.
I was past the halfway point heading towards the now annoying Blizzard Beach parking lot. No matter what runDisney does to fill in this part of the distance, I will always hate this part of the race. It’s the wall. Runners are tired and already feeling it so putting a place like a visually challenging parking lot just kills. Plus the lack of character stops and all the Disney Jr. ones were kind of….there have been better ones in the past….just sayin’. But I can appreciate that the hydration stops they were refilling cups directly from Powerade bottles instead of mixing it which affects my stomach. Once I had run out of LiquidIV, this was a welcoming surprise.
I knew if I could just make it to MGM I’d be alright, but once I had figured out that the pain I was experiencing was in fact a Fibromyalgia flare-up, it made it easier yet harder at the same time. Because it hurt less when I would run yet caused intense pain in my head that bounced caused by running. So the rest of the way it was I..trying to find a happy medium between running and walking.
I was in so much pain, between limping, rib pain, and Fibro pain, migraine… all the -ains…I stopped at the med tent at the finish to get ice for my ribs swelling and apparently all the color drained from my face and I started to get really dizzy. The nerve and muscle pain had gotten so much I almost went into shock but I somehow managed to get it under control. The nice nurses kept me under a watchful eye and I was able to stay there as long as I needed but I just wanted to go home. So I forced myself up because I had an arsenal of technology at home to help with recovery thanks to my amazing massage therapist, Massage Pro Med.
I honestly don’t know how I managed to complete 26.2 miles in my condition. Everything was against me. The weather and my body were fighting it out. But my mind was also in the ring fighting along and winning.
I want you to know that I did no damage to myself or my body. It was just a very bad flare-up day that I happened to run a marathon on. And I do not recommend.
Empire Unleashed 
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