|
|
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. |
How Sheila Sosnowski became the Queen of Games Tom Laux |
It was the Disney Marathon 2003. My wife Colleen was registered for the full marathon as was I. Well as it turned out her training just never quite happened that year and she knew a full marathon would not happen. This was still the time when the full and half marathons were run together, with the half finishing outside the Magic Kingdom as the marathon runners continued on. So Colleen wisely decided that she would walk the first 13.1 miles and stop at the half. We had previously decided that I would walk the race with her so that now left me walking the first half of the race and then being on my own for the second half. I don't remember all the details but somewhere in here a plan was hatched... and it was all Sheila's doing. Where in the World: Being a marathon runner I decided that after my wife completed her 13.1 mile journey I would run the final 13.1, after walking the first part. That would be a strange enough way to run the race but then Sheila gets this bright idea that we should make a game out of it. My job was now to be seeing how many of our Disney Dead friends I could track down in the race. All those running the full would be way too far ahead to be caught, but the group has a large number of walkers and race walkers and it was a challenge I couldn't pass up. Now here was the problem; How was I to spot who was a Disney Dead as I approached them from behind? The Queen had the answer. Sheila made up purple ribbons with two parts. One part pinned to the back of the dead's shirt and the other part was attached with a small piece of velcro so it could be torn off. At the traditional APD dinner (our off property pasta bash that was always held at the Macaroni Grill) these were handed out to anyone who wanted to "play". At least 30 or 40 of them got distributed. Race day comes the next day and Colleen and I did our walk. We didn't spot a single ribbon in the first 13.1 miles of the race and I was wondering just how I was going to spot these things. At the half way mark I bid my wife goodbye (which is another story altogether!) and took off running. Now being trained to run the entire marathon you can imagine how fresh my legs still felt after walking the first half instead of the running I'd trained for. I don't think those around me particularly appreciated my weaving in and out and bouncing along at a much quicker pace that we'd been at before. But the game was on and soon I started seeing a ribbon here and there. I would run up behind whoever I caught and surprize them by saying "I think you have something of mine!". It was good for many laughs and much fun was had as I found more and more ribbons. The are two ribbons that are still particularly memorable to me. The first was catching Eileen Druckenmiller somewhere around the 20 mile mark. Eilleen is a quite accomplished race walker, with Disney hardware to prove her speed. She was determined not to be caught. But alas I nabbed her ribbon and she had quite a few words for me until we both broke out laughing as I left her to search for more. The last one was catching Bob Larson, who has since passed away. Bob was the biggest Disney fan on the planet and loved doing the marathon each year. He was my last "catch", happening somewhere past mile 25 in EPCOT. When I caught Bob he told me he wanted nothing more than to beat me to that finish line, which he almost did. We were well around the World Showcase before I spotted that last ribbon. In the end I managed to cross the finish line in just under 5 hours and a pack full of 15 or 20 purple ribbons. The next morning at the annual Monday Morning walk around Boardwalk, Ellen Druckenmiller, Eileen's sister, presented me with a homemade poster adorned with purple ribbons and a large title reading "Where in the World is Tom Laux?". To date I've run 11 Disney Marathons (including all three Goofy's) but my "Where in the World" run is still one of my most memorable. And the whole idea was Sheila's... The Queen of Games! Tom Laux March 2008 |