Disney Marathon Mementos & Running News

Over the years I've found different souvenirs to commemorate my Walt Disney World Marathons.  I try not to buy clothes as souvenirs as a general rule but have gotten some Disney gear now and then since the race shirt is pretty much a dust collector for me.  I rarely wear these garments solidifying in my mind the uselessness of garment keepsakes.

Here are my favorites:

Got this in 2008 to commemorate my first Goofy.  Wasn't a huge fan of it, but it was the one of the few things I could find with Goofy, Donald, and Mickey.

Can't remember if I got this in 2010 or 2011.  The race runs through all four parks so I had them personalize the ornament with "26.2."  I meant to use it as an ornament, but with the races in January the tree trimmings were in storage so it went on the shelf in the interim...  And stayed there.

 This year, I finally got the keepsake I had been eyeing for years:

I never quite knew what I wanted on this.  Did I want Goofy since that was the pinnacle race experience I completed.  Did I just want Mickey?  Did I want the whole gang to show the whole Goofy Challenge?  I saw this again this year and thought maybe I'd wait until my 10th anniversary to get one.  But then I was struck like lightening with exactly what I wanted to be written on this and went straight to an artist to put an order in.  I had my favorite Walt Disney quote which I think pertains well to long distance running ("It's kind of fun to do the impossible.")  put on the drawing as well as, "26.2 Magical Miles."  I told the artist, "No year.  I do the race too often for that."

I was having a conversation with the artist who drew my marathon Mickey.  I really wanted to ask him more about what he did, but he kept questioning me about the races and how many marathons I had completed.  While I was chatting with him a gentleman walked in who I learned walks 3 miles, five times a week in a Disney park.  Wouldn't that be a great thing to do when you're retired?  Mr. Disney Walker pretty much dominated the conversation after that with a lively debate about whether Disneyland or Disney World was the better location (interestingly, I felt World is superior but he prefers Land).  He proceeded to show me all the photos he had of Disneyland on his phone to prove his point.  The artist pretty much had to segue to an exit strategy for me (I guess Mr. Disney Walker is a bit of a talker) so I never got to ask him about his job as much as I wanted.

Ed, the artist, and Mr. Disney Walker.

I thought I'd just share some of the things I've brought home over the years to commemorate the races even though none of this stuff was for sale at the expo.

My return to running has been going okay.  I started adding mileage, days, and eventually speed work very conservatively.  I have to do as much damage control as running to keep my leg happy but it is work I am willing to do if it means I can run.  

I've been going to Bikram yoga 4x a week for a while now.  Not running as much I have the energy, time, and hydration reserves to do this.  I got totally burnt out on it after the marathon and didn't go in for almost two months.  I really wish I had as I think this whole injury would have been much better if I had been doing yoga back then.  My annual membership expired right around the time of the marathon and I couldn't bear to pay per class after the awesome rate I had gotten the year before.  I also didn't want to purchase another unlimited plan since the entire month of December was pretty shot yoga-wise with our honeymoon.  But I pump so much money into the chiropractor, massages, and PT and none of that does as much for me as yoga does.  Even if I had to pay per class it would be worthwhile.  Lesson learned.

I am actually really enjoying the yoga now and going 4x a week I am making progress in the poses which hadn't happened in a while previously.  I'll probably start dreading the heat and time commitment later but for now I'm going with it.

I unwisely penciled the half marathon training plan I had wanted to use into my calendar.  I'm trying to slowly bring myself up to following it more or less.  As of this week I am doing 50% of the workouts the way they are written and am not stressing too much about the other 50%.  I am still uncertain what will happen at my half in May which was supposed to be a goal race.  I am feeling pretty confident I can finish it and not be crippled at the end which is progress from a month ago.