39 miles… in my own words PART I / The Nightmare Before the Race
Job.
That’s what my running partner was calling me the day before the race. I felt like him too. Everything seemed to going against me the days before my Goofy quest to run 39.3 miles over a two day period in Disney World. Some of it was my own doing I think, particularly the mind games I was making myself go through. Some of it was just plain old dumb luck. And I was really beginning to believe that God really didn’t want to me to run that weekend.
Here’s a small recap of what happened in the couple of weeks leading up to the race.
It started with me going to buy a pair of new running shoes. I had just come back from visiting Javi, my long distance running counterpart, who I somehow wound up training with more than anybody from here in Miami (and the person I trained with the most after him lives in Gainesville… is there nobody I can train with in Miami?). Upon returning I realized my shoes had seen their last days. So I went to buy new shoes. Problem was that my wife had lost her ATM card and the new one hadn’t come in yet so I had to take cash out to buy the shoes. I went to the bank and withdrew $200, some for my shoes and some for whatever else I was to buy until the cards arrived. Well, I bought my shoes all right, but apparently I left the envelope at the register when I left… so my $100 shoes turned into my $200 shoes. I was bitter to say the least. And little did I know but this was just the beginning.
All along I figured that this would be a relatively inexpensive trip. Most of the money that I was going to pay was already paid when I registered for the race. Now, I was planning on staying at a roach motel that cost me $20 a night, and I was going to eat some cheap pasta to carbo load all weekend. I would take I-95 as far as I could to save money on tolls. The majority of the money I would have to spend would be in gas, I figured about $90 on the round trip. Wow, if only I knew what lay ahead… God had plans for Job. And Job was me… (or I should say Job was I if I want to be grammatically correct, but it just doesn’t sound right… let’s get back to my story.)
Two weeks before the race, I looked at the forecast for Orlando and I remember seeing that the temperatures were going to reach highs in the 70’s. This worried me a little because I remember the heat I felt when I finished my first marathon in Disney when the temperature was around 70 degrees. The day was nice, but I definitely was overheating from the long run. Little did I know that the heat was going to be the LEAST of my worries. As the days passed, the forecast changed, and I began feeling better as I saw the predicted highs go into the 60’s and then the 50’s… and then the dread started to set in as those same highs fell into the 30’s and eventually towards record lows in the 20’s… with possible sleet and snow flurries! I wasn’t ready for this!! I had never run in less than 50 degrees, and I hadn’t run in rain in over a year. Suddenly I had to deal with these two new elements. I started to freak… especially when I started to read how I need to be properly dressed for my run. I had nothing that I needed for this run. I had to go out and spend some money… there went my budget.
I do have to say that I stayed on the frugal side. Nonetheless, I spent upwards of $100 to make sure I stayed warm. An Under Armor shirt cost me $35. A running “beanie” to keep my head and ears warm cost $25. I bought two sets of warmups, one for each day, so that I could stay warm and then discard once each race started. A friend of mine, Roly, coming down from DC was bringing me gloves (I still owe him $20 for those), and I also spent some money on some other minor accessories. Then, I made sure to buy a nice pair of shades so that I could protect my eyes and face from whatever elements Mother Nature had to offer. Well, that night I tested all the equipment out and it all worked out great during a 45 degree run. I was set. Then I went on my computer and got an e-mail. My reservations were now on stand by. Apparently where I booked there was some sort of an issue and they couldn’t guarantee me my room for the price being offered. They would have to get back to me over the next 24 hours. That’s all I needed before I left to Orlando… uncertainty.
Well, I woke up the next morning (Thursday) and went to work. I had asked my colleagues at work if anybody had any intentions they wanted me to pray for. Last year when I ran my marathon, I prayed an entire rosary (20 decades) and I was planning on doing the same thing this year during my long run on Sunday. God must be on my side, right? (well, he was, but it wasn’t feeling that way too much at the moment… you’ll see why shortly) Many intentions were requested and I made sure to get them all down. Right before I left, a friend and colleague of mine shows up with a small sculpture he made of Jesus. He said he didn’t know why he had made it, but now knew why and he gave it to me. I felt great. I could carry it with me and feel that I was running with Jesus all along. I went home.
I had a surprise when I got home… my dog (first one I ever had, and only 2 weeks in my house so far) had decided to go through my bag (I had left it open… you live and learn) and he decided to grab my brand new glasses and make them his new chew toy! UGGHH! I hadn’t had them for 16 hours and they were done for… Now I needed NEW glasses! I then realized that my running clothes was not all ready because some of it was still not washed from my last couple of runs earlier in the week. I had to wash, dry, fold, and pack them. The stress was elevating. Well, I did what I had to, and then grabbed the stuff to pack it. I was still in my work clothes from earlier in the day and had forgotten that I had put the little sculpture of Jesus in my shirt pocket. As I was folding my clothes, something fell to the floor. As I bent over to pick it up, Jesus fell out, and broke into pieces!! I felt so bad! For me, for Dave, for Jesus (I mean it WAS an image of him). I looked for all the pieces and found them… his torso, then one arm, then his head, and finally (in my dog’s mouth) the other arm. This little porcelain figure was coming with me, I decided. I would just have to rebuild it… like Steve Austin!!! Hopefully my budget won’t reach $6 million dollars!
I got up the next day with every intention of leaving work at eleven and heading straight to Disney. Unfortunately, poor planning on my part meant that I had to help my wife finish an errand we didn’t get to do earlier in the week. So at eleven thirty I met up with her to finish doing what needed to be done. After about 30 minutes I left, only realizing that I had to go home to get my race waivers… whew! I’m glad i hadn’t left without them. And then I remembered there was something else I forgot and something else, “and don’t forget to get your pre race snacks… and you haven’t eaten lunch, and you have to check your tire pressure…” Before I knew it, it was almost 2pm before I left. I had to be in the Expo in Orlando by 8pm. I still had plenty of time, but I had little room for error in case something did go wrong. You guessed it… something did.
Forty-five minutes after I left Miami I heard a helicopter over me in the highway. I looked around but didn’t see it. Man, but I could hear those rotors! Then, I realized there was no helicopter. I had blown a tire. Completely. It was ripped to shreds. I maneuvered all the way to an off ramp close by (fortunate for me) and made sure to move FAR away from traffic. Then I had to go through the trouble of changing my tire. Now, not too long ago, I took my car to a garage to change my tire and in the process they put my spare back in its place, attached on the under belly of my truck. But they did it wrong. So when I went to take my spare out, it wouldn’t come out completely… I couldn’t get my spare out, so I couldn’t change my tire!! Hey God! What’s up with that, man!! I’m Wency remember? Job was just a bible story!!! A play some scholars say! I never auditioned for the part, dude! Can you let me off the hook? Apparently God had had His chuckles and after squeezing under the truck (that was a bit scary doing this on an off ramp on I-95), I was finally able to get the spare tire free and I changed the tire. Then the paranoia set in that I’d blow another tire… and the extreme praying began. Coincidentally, just as my tire blew, Roly had been texting me. I called him back and promptly blamed him for my blown tire. Roly then relayed to Javi what had happened to me. He called me. Then he called me Job. I wasn’t the only one who saw that I had been playing the part apparently. I explained to him my situation with my room… he told me I could stay with him, then was convinced that I was Job incarnate.
Well, I made it up to Orlando by 6:30 and got to the expo to register. I was clear of any problems now and was off to meet up with Javi and Roly and their families for dinner. I’d know in about an hour if I actually had a room but at least I had the peace of mind of knowing I had a place to sleep. As it turns out after a nice dinner eating mucho pasta at Macaroni Grill, I did finally have a room at my Roach Motel. I then took the opportunity to go to a 24 hour CVS next door and bought shades for my race (knowing there was no dog this time around to eat them). I also got some Super Glue because there was a small Jesus figurine that needed fixing to make sure he ran with me. As Friday came to a close, everything was finally falling into place. And as all those things “fell”, so did the temperature. And off to bed I went…
(PART II: The Races will be posted tomorrow)