All because of Mickey Mouse – Disney world marathon, Orlando, Florida全都為了米老鼠—迪斯奈馬拉松全記錄

Walt Disney world, Orlando, Florida. The happiest place on Earth? Maybe. The happiest marathon ever? Not exactly.

I have to admit that I didn’t train properly for this marathon, but the worst part was that I under-estimated how cruel the sun of the Sunshine State could be. Not as advertised or hoped we would have an average 40-50 degrees temperature in January, in fact, on Sunday January 7th, the marathon race day, runners had to run under almost 80 degrees and extreme humidity.

I stopped at every water stop and replenished myself with as much liquid as I could acquire; I ate some banana; I greeted to Mickey Mouse and seven dwarfs. I tried my best, but the weather defeated me and my legs almost failed me. I was happy at least when the race started with amazing fireworks; I was happy at least for the first half of the marathon when the sun wasn’t able to force my eyes shut and I managed to maintain my training pace. Then, my respiratory and perspiration rate skyrocketed along with the temperature. I believed that I saw steam coming out of the pavement. I was even convinced that the smile of the evil step-mother of Snow White was sincere. No wonder desperate desert travelers see mirages.

At least I reached the finish line with four hours, forty-six minutes, and thirty-eight seconds of struggle – all because of Mickey Mouse. The cute, golden, Mickey Mouse finish medal allured me more than the first apple did to Adam and Eve.

Here is the whole story:

The race started at six o’clock. It was very foggy which made the fireworks extraordinary. The crowd was denser than the fog – we had over 12,000 runners – and it took me almost six minutes to get to the start line. Surrounded by numerous runners, my pace was set by the crowd; it didn’t matter that much because I could use the slow-paced first couple miles as warm-up. The problem was the warm-up was too warm: I constantly felt the heat radiated from the people around me. The steam room effect would be great if I were doing yoga workouts; however, during the marathon, this effect canceled the marginal benefit we obtained by running pre sunrise. Therefore I realized this marathon was doomed to be a hot and humid one.

My husband wasn’t able to accompany me for this race, so I registered his cell phone number on line so that he would get a text message when I crossed mile 5, mile 10, the half point, mile 20, and the finish line. I was glad that I did that because I could pretend that at those points he would wave at me and yell “you can do it.” Not until I participated in a race alone, did I realize how important it was to have someone there to cheer me on, even though for the most part I would not be able to see him.

I pushed with my training pace to the half point – the chip time gave me 2:09:24. Not like the previous two marathons I have done, this time I didn’t feel the second wind after I passed mile 13.1. Under the circumstances, I should have been more conservative; trying to run with my training pace was just too naïve because that pace was for ideal conditions. My exhausted legs echoed the mistake and delivered me that message that the second half of the marathon was going to be catastrophic.

Damage had been done, and I started to slow down, no matter how much my mind wanted to keep up. Soon enough, my mind surrendered, and to walk or not to walk became a question. My basic instinct refused to compromise and it never gave up bargaining with the exhausted muscles – “let’s push another two miles.” Another two miles after another two miles, I crossed the mile 24 marker, and I only have two more miles. My ego declared, “I am going to run the whole race.” The glory didn’t last long – after another 0.5 mile, my right hamstring cramped. It was so painful that I could barely walk.

I had to stop to stretch, and all the tears prepared for the finish line were about to dump. I pulled out my cell phone and called my husband, and he answered his phone with a sleepy hello. Damn it, he was still in bed while I was in pain. “Lovely, my right hamstring had a cramp; I don’t want to walk but I have to. I am so upset right now. Please say something cheerful.” I was begging for encouragement as a little girl wanted some candies. The sweetness carried me on to mile 25, and I decided to give it another shot. I hung up the phone and started to jog.

I jogged, I walked; then I jogged, and I walked. Finally I saw the landmark of Epcot Theme Park, the globe, which indicated that the finish line was up ahead. I decided that it was time to jog through the remaining distance at one go, and I jogged through mile 26. I was getting closer and closer; the finish line was upon reach. And all of a sudden, my left hamstring cramped on me. “Oh! Not again!” I wanted to ignore it, but my left leg was like stone. I leaned on the fence and stretched my left leg; my eyebrows were tangled because of pain or perhaps more because of disappointment. I could see the finish line. I wanted to minimize the stretch time, but my leg didn’t let me. After three times of going back and forth between stretching and standing up for running attempt, I started to jog again. The crowd burst out cheering and applauding. I was so moved even long after the host announced my name while I crossed the finish line.

It was a good experience – definitely memorable. Will I do another marathon? The answer is positive. I like marathons, because running marathons makes me feel good. I was never a “somebody” in any sports or gymnastics classes in school. The stars were those fast sprinters and I was always the last for the 100-meter running exams. I don’t run fast in a marathon either, but I know as long as I finish it, I can be proud of myself. And it’s nice to know that even though you are not good at something by a certain standard, you can feel accomplished looking it from another angle. Therefore you are motivated to keep working because all the efforts will be rewarded and your self of tomorrow will be better than your self of today.


他們說，佛羅里達最老牌的迪斯奈，是地球上最快樂的地方，嗯，也許。但這個馬拉松是最快樂的馬拉松？那可未必。

好啦！我是得先承認沒有針對這次的馬拉松，做好萬全的訓練，不過最失策的地方，還是在太太太小看陽光州陽光的威力了。和廣告的或是期盼的，說一月平均溫度大概在華式四五十度之間相左；事實上，星期天，一月七日，跑者必須在濕度極高，以及溫度接近華式八十度的情況下，跑完全程。

我已經在每個水站拼命地喝水，喝運動飲料，也吃了些香蕉，還和米老鼠、七矮人相見歡，互打招呼。已經很盡力了，卻還是被天氣整慘，腿也差點報廢了。哎呀，至少開幕的時候，那場漂亮的煙火讓我頂高興的；至少，前半段太陽的威力還不足以逼迫雙眼迷濛，還得以維持訓練的速度，我也是頂高興的。只是，很快的，呼吸和流汗的頻率，隨著溫度不合理的攀高，也直衝頂端。我發誓我看到從柏油路面發散出來的陣陣熱浪；甚至白雪公主的邪惡母后的笑容，也顯得相當誠懇。難怪，沙漠中絕望的旅人會看到海市蜃樓。

至少過了四小時、四十六分鐘、三十八秒的掙扎，我越過了終點線，全都為了米老鼠。那可愛的、黃澄澄的米老鼠完成獎牌，比伊甸園中那顆智慧的蘋果吸引夏娃，還要更吸引我，就這樣中計了。

以下就是迪斯奈馬拉松的全記錄：

馬拉松在清晨六點鐘開跑。霧很大，襯地煙火異常的豔麗。人很多，人潮比霧還濃，這次馬拉松，應該至少有一萬兩千人吧，等我終於穿過起跑線，已經是約莫六分鐘之後了。前後左右，緊緊圍繞著我的是形形色色不同的跑者，只能跟著群眾的速度跑，這倒是沒關係，剛開始慢慢跑，可以當作暖身。不過這暖身也未免太暖了，無時無刻我不感受到從周圍跑者發散出來的熱蒸汽，這股溫室效應要是讓我做瑜珈，可是再好不過了。可是在這馬拉松，可把拼著比太陽早起，爭到的一些些的清涼效應，全都給抵銷了。看來，這馬拉松注定是個悶熱的馬拉松。

老公沒能來，所以我註冊了他的手機號碼，這樣一來每當我跑過五英里、十英里、中點線、二十英里、以及終點線的時候，他都會收到簡訊。我很高興我這樣做了，所以我可以假裝有個人在那些點，會興奮地向我揮手，大喊「妳可以做到的！」一直到這次我單槍匹馬來參加馬拉松，才了解到有個人在當場為妳加油打氣，有多麼重要，雖然大部分的時候，妳都看不到他在哪裡。

一直到完成半程馬拉松之前，都還能維持練跑的速度，計時器告訴我半馬的時間是兩小時九分又二十四秒。不過不像前兩次馬拉松，這次跑過中點，我一點都沒有輕鬆的感覺。在這樣悶熱的情況下啊，我早應該跑得保守些，維持練跑的速度是太天真了，練跑時的條件可不知比當天的條件好過多少倍。我疲累的雙腿回應著我的錯誤，告訴我「這下妳可糟了，接下來的路段，妳要辛苦了。」

損害已然造成，就算心裡頭再不願意，雙腿交換的頻率也開始減慢。很快地，我的意志也投降了，「要走還是不要走？」變成最重要的問題。本能卻還是拼命地打保衛戰，堅持和雙腿肌肉談判，「就再多跑兩英里吧，會讓妳走一走的」，兩英里之後又是一個兩英里，竟通過了24英里，也只剩下兩英里了。我的腿這時挺驕傲的宣布，要跑完全程了。沾沾自喜不到半英里，右大腿後側突然抽筋，痛得我馬上停下來，連走都走不動。

只得開始拉筋，為終點線準備好的眼淚也快湧出眼眶了。我抓出我的手機，撥了老公的號碼，「Hello」話筒那頭竟傳來慵懶的招呼，這這這，我在這裡痛得要命，他還在床上睡覺，太過份了。「親愛的，我的腿抽筋了，不想用走的，這下還是得走了，我好沮喪喔，快點講些好聽的來鼓勵我吧」，像是小女孩要糖果一樣，我纏著要些鼓勵話，聽著聽著也撐過了25英里。我決定再試試看，掛上電話，開始慢慢地跑。

跑著跑著，又走了一陣；不甘心，又開始跑，接著又走了一陣。好不容易我看到Epcot主題樂園的地標，那大大的地球，昭告世人，終點線已經不遠了。我說這下該一鼓作氣慢跑到終點。過了26英里，愈來愈接近，終點線在望了，說時遲那時快，左大腿後側居然也來玩抽筋，「天啊，別這樣啊！我可以看到終點線啊」想撐著不管左腿，先穿過終點線再說，左腿卻固執地像石頭。雙眉揪著像包子一樣，不知道是因為痛還是因為失望。我想要盡量減少拉筋的時間，左腿卻不合作。掙扎著要走卻還是得回頭拉筋，這樣的情況反反覆覆了三次，終於可以開始慢跑。這時群眾中響起熱情的歡呼以及掌聲，這份感動，在我越過終點線之後，還是纏繞我心頭久久。

是個好經驗，絕對難忘的經驗。我還會繼續跑馬拉松嗎？答案是肯定的。我喜歡馬拉松，因為馬拉松帶給我的滿足是難以取代的。以往在學校，每逢體育課，心總是黯淡的，那些閃耀的總是短跑高手，而我，總是在一百公尺測驗中，敬陪末座。雖然我跑馬拉松的速度也不是很快，但是只要完成了，就值得自傲。而這是件好事，在用某種標準看來妳怎麼樣也做不好的一件事，換個角度來看，妳知道妳可以從中獲得成就感。這份感覺推著自己往前進，因為所有的努力會得到肯定，而明天的妳將會比今天的妳，更美、更燦爛。