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With a group that's been around as long as this one there are a ton of good stories to be told. You'll find everything from race reports to the history of some members nicknames in this section. |
My First Marathon: Walt Disney World 2005 Bob Fraser |
In 2005, I ran the Disney Marathon….if someone had told me ten years before that I was going to run a marathon I would have told them they were nuts, but you all know how that goes. So I signed up for the Full run, never having run any further than a 15K….fear was my greatest motivator, so I trained and trained, running in the 100 degree Oklahoma heat and the 20 degree Oklahoma cold and finally, January 2005 arrived. Wait a minute, I am getting ahead of myself….for the 6 months prior to the race, I must have driven every Disney Dead crazy with a million questions about preparation, where to report, what time to wake up, what time to go to bed, etc. I showed up at the Dixie Landings get together the day before the race and knew I was in trouble when I introduced myself and Sheila screamed "it's Bob from Oklahoma, the guy with ALL the questions!!!!" I woke up the next morning, munched on a banana, drank some water and got dressed….nervously wandered to the bus pick up location and off I went in total silence to my first marathon……never could find "D" tent (which to this day I think they hid from me!) so I went to my corral, getting there about an hour earlier than I should have…..the music blared, people on microphones and me trying not to hyperventilate. The start of the race was magnificent and the early part of the run, through Epcot in the early morning, music playing as we ran through the park, was truly magical. My training paid off and I was in great shape as I left the Magic Kingdom, started having some worries between there and the Animal Kingdom, started sinking into depression on the lonely stretch of highway between Animal Kingdom and Wide World of Sports, slunk my way through MGM (no, not Hollywood Studios, it will always be MGM to me!) and the next stretch past Boardwalk and over the bridge to Beach Club. By then I was exhausted and the excitement and the fun was gone……however, sitting on the bench at the corner of Beach Club wearing running clothes and shoes was my dear daughter Jordan who greeted me with a smile and said "you don't have to say a thing, I just thought you might need some company for the rest of the way in"………WOW!!!! Okay, so she broke the rules and shouldn't have done it, but she ran with me into Epcot and pulled out about 300 yards before the finish, but the memory I have of seeing her smiling face at a point that I was way past hitting "the Wall" and then having her run with me and encourage me to the finish is the kind of memory that every Dad should have….it made my first Marathon the best ever, thanks to her!! I ran another Disney including the first "Goofy" and she and I ran the NYC in '06, but the first one was my fastest and the first one was my favorite, for lots of reasons! Bob Fraser, CEO The Frank Phillips Foundation, Inc. Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve |