4 Disney Races, 6 Disney Medals...

That was last year, right after I finished my very first race in a wheelchair with my Rabbit friend right beside me... later, I agreed to potentially signing up for Goofy. To soooome person I seem to like traveling with, that is the same as a verbal commitment. And then RunDisney decided to make the Dopey Challenge a reality; for those of you that don't know, some Goofy participants would also sign up for the 5K and call it Dopey... RunDisney caught wind of this and also added in a 10K, making it four days of running. After some convincing, I found myself hitting the button for the Dopey Challenge.

After the extremely hard ending to the year and missing out on some important training days, I wasn't sure how I would fare. I never really questioned finishing (because I'm just too stubborn to stop), but I just didn't know how I would hold up. I had the best support I could ask for with me, with even more cheering me on from afar, and I ended up making some new friends over the four days of races.

I could do this.

First day was the expo, where we loaded up on bibs, shirts, and other various race gear. More importantly, I found my magic feather; a blue Dopey BondiBand that I decided to wear under my helmet all four days. I can't say it actually did anything, but it made me feel better to christen my new headband with the races emblazoned on the front of it.

5K

Because of the early mornings and my wheelchairs, we signed up for the accessible van to pick us up all four days. Our driver for the first two days was Ariel, a large, friendly man who loved that we talked to him. The first time he went to pick up Tsunami, he just about threw it over his head because he wasn't expecting it to be so light. He dropped us off with plenty of time to spare and gave me his number so I could call when we were ready to head back.

I had brought my cane because there weren't any arrangements made for Saber for the 5K and 10K and no one knew what to do, so I figured I would ask questions for the next day. I quickly made friends with the people at the information tent and was able to secure a spot for my stuff, for Saber the next day, and was able to share the information with a hand cycling friend I had made back at Dumbo.

After we got to the Start, we learned there were five wheelchairs participating in the Dopey Challenge; two hand cycles and 3 push rims. And for the 5K, we had a kid from Achilles International joining us (who was the cutest damn thing as we started- "I'm doing it! I'm really going!!!"). It was great to know I would be starting with at least four others every day and even better that they turned into instant friends.

The start was surreal... just a year ago, I was on my own, in a chair that wasn't really made to be doing what I was about to do to it. This time, I was starting with five others; three that had much more race experience than I do and two that were doing their first race. And I was sitting in my very own chair that practically sang with the cheers of everyone that sponsored me to get it, and hummed with its own excitement for its first race.

Needless to say, I took off pretty fast. My first mile was 7 and a half minutes and the more I tried to back off because of three more races, the more I seemed to want to stick with the speed. I did manage to get myself to 8 minutes in the next mile. Then a Rabbit caught up with me.. and since she was under orders not to pass me (she also wanted to go too fast, but had three more races), we ran in the last mile together, which made the race even better!

10K

Soooooo, when you schedule something with Disney, you're almost guaranteed that it's going to happen.... there was no van when we walked out to the pickup area of our hotel. I called Ariel and he said he was at Animal Kingdom, but would get to us in ten minutes. When he got there (in ten minutes!), he apologized and said he had gotten sent to Animal Kingdom for some reason, but wasn't sure why... then we pulled into the drop off area at the Start.. the woman that was in charge of the vans stuck her head in as soon as the door opened and asked for my last name. Turns out the woman that wrote my name down turned Kingdon into Kingdom, and for some reason they interpreted that to mean a pick up at Animal Kingdom. They assured me it would be fixed for the next two pick ups, and we had a good laugh about it the rest of day.

Once again, I took off like a shot... but was able to hang onto 7-8 minute miles. It seems that was my new average, when I had just been able to do a steady 8 minute mile training day just a week before we left. I'm always a bit faster in races, but this was an unexpected jump.

There was a Rabbit pretty close to me at the finish, so we got to take our finisher pictures together again and walk out together. We joined the other finished wheelchair athletes and talked to them for a while. If you look close in the picture below, there's some Rabbit feet behind us ;)

Half Marathon

Much excitement for the Half Marathon! Achilles International had a small army of hand cycles, bringing our numbers up to 19! I never heard it confirmed, but they're pretty sure that's the biggest wheelchair start they've had. The line was very impressive when we headed out to the start. After a trip through the woods, across the highway and over some grass, we made it to the start. I was lined up with the other two push rims, and was otherwise surrounded by hand cycles.

Even more exciting, this was my aunt's first half marathon!! She had done the 5K with us the last couple years, but desired a medal that would clang and started aiming for higher miles. After cheering her on in training from afar all year, I was so happy I would get to see her cross that finish line.

This start was sooooo cool with all the people, but also pretty chaotic with all the wheels trying to carve out a spot. Fortunately, most of the hand cycles took off quickly and we all spread out pretty fast. I ended up briefly leap frogging with one of the hand cycles, a man doing his first half marathon in a chair because his legs were weakened after fighting cancer all year. We introduced ourselves after I made the comment that we would probably be playing together all day... then I promptly lost him during the very next downhill, but I was able to talk to him again after we finished.

This particular half marathon course happens to hold my personal record on foot... and now I can't figure out how I managed it. There's a lot of ups and downs; most of them are small, but there is a lot of them. I must have been really good at hills two years ago when I got that time because they really took me down with the wheels..... well, that is a little subjective. I just about matched the time I did with Phil in Disneyland, which only has two big hills and not nearly as much of the random inclines. Comparatively, I was going faster this time, but all the inclines slowed me down a bit and most of the declines had a turn, which meant I didn't get the full speed I wanted to recover that time. Although, my record speed for the weekend of races happened during the half: 27.8 mph.

As I came into the finish, one the volunteers taking care of the wheelchairs came over to me, saying he had just come to look for me. He escorted me all the way back to the tent, including a stop in medical for the blister I aggravated and made much worse than I had when I started it a couple weeks before. Inside the tent, I was talking to the other volunteers and a hand cyclist that had also just finished when I informed them I was about to change my clothes, so I hoped none of them were shy. There was one offer to escort me to the port-a-potties, and a comment that the one woman in a past army unit was the least shy of everyone... I responded to both that I was a trail runner. As if on cue, a Rabbit showed up pretty close to the end of that conversation. We got some food and headed over to the stage for the awards ceremony. We got to see the other two push rims get their awards, a Donald Duck trophy and ears. Unfortunately, DisneyWorld only does 1st place wheelchairs at the race so while I got second place, I would have to wait to get mine in the mail later.

After that, we stowed Tsunami over by the vans, then went to the finish to watch for my aunt. My uncle and cousin were in the crowd somewhere as well, so we traded texts as we waited. They ended up catching her at the finish, but we missed her in the chaos somehow.... then took a while to find her outside the finish area. We scattered pretty quick after she came in so we could get cleaned up and head to our lunch reservations.. mmm, pizza......

Victory!!

Marathon

I had a minor breakdown the night before. I worried about my missed training days, including the important 24 mile day... the farthest I had gone was 21 miles with Phil, 18 miles with Tsunami. I asked my brother to be sure to be with me in the morning, to watch over me. I missed him and needed him at that point. I was such a mess in the morning, I forgot my bib. When we left the hotel for the second time, we got caught in the race traffic and by the time we made it to the wheelchair tent, they were getting worried about me. One of the volunteers was waiting for me and helped me get into Tsunami in record speed, stashed Saber and my bag, and led me out as I waved to my Rabbit. She handed me off to another volunteer to get through the woods and over the grass, where I headed the rest of the way to the start on my own and met up the third volunteer. I then made it to my new push rim friend, who was also worried about me because I told her about my brother the morning before at the half start. I assured her I was a bit of a mess, but otherwise okay.

This time we had more wheelchairs, including some repeats from the Half going for the Goofy Challenge. We also had the tailwind from the day before turned into a headwind, although we decided that would be good later since most of it would be tailwind this time.

I found a comfortable rhythm pretty quickly and was happy to just keep pushing. The course had its own ideas though... Going on a downhill in Magic Kingdom, I had a woman dart in front of me to get a  picture with characters. I hit the brakes pretty hard and slid sideways, finally stopping with hand on my wheel and saying some non-Disney things. After recovering and throwing a glare at the woman, who chose to pretend I didn't exist, I headed back out. Another fun moment.. I had been warned about a bad spot at about mile 9, but was told there should be help there. The bad spot was a steep decline followed quickly by an equally steep incline in order to get up on the test track. I made it down just fine and made it about halfway up with the momentum. Unfortunately there was no help, and my front wheel started to come up, and I couldn't offset it... and I flipped backwards, tearing up my elbow (and causing various bruises). I was immediately surrounded by runners, who pulled me up. I told them I needed to get to the top to get back in the chair so one took Tsunami up while one man threw my arm over his shoulders and started pulling me up the rest of the ramp. Someone else came up on my other side, but I saw one of the hand cycles sitting just a few feet from the top, and had been sitting there since I came down the hill, so I asked her if she needed help. When she confirmed she did, I asked if someone could help and the person that was coming up on my other side turned to push her up. I was helped back to Tsunami and as soon as the man decided I was going to be okay, he took off down the track. Just outside the test track, the Disney Villains were set up for pictures and playing Bad To The Bone, the song that most reminds me of my brother. He was there, I was going to be okay. Soon after that, I rolled up to a medical tent and just held up my arm to request they clean it up a bit. They washed it down quickly and sent me on my way.

It took a couple more miles to get my head back in the race, but I finally found my comfortable push again. At about 18 miles, heading into ESPN, I could hear Born To Be Wild playing.. another song that I'm sure came from my brother, and it pushed me as we wound through ESPN and made it to mile 20. Back out on the road, I made it to 21 miles at almost exactly three hours. My only goal for the day was to make it to the finish under four hours. I had an hour to go 5 miles. I could do that, I knew I could do that.

My confidence grew back, if only to offset my waning energy. There were some rough spots with too many tired runners not paying attention, and a couple small, steep bumps that almost flipped me again, but I caught the first one and called out for help; the second was close to the other one and my help was still behind me ready to push.

More importantly, those small inclines we had been doing the last few days took up the last two miles of the marathon. In the last mile, I consistently had a person or group of people at the top cheering me all the way up (sometimes telling me how to stay on course because I was pushing so hard, I had my head down) and cheering even louder as soon as I crested the top. I'm not sure how I would have gotten up some of those hills without them.

As soon as I saw the choir that is right before the last turn, I brightened up quite a bit and was able to give a good last sprint into the finish. I pulled off to the side because someone flagged me down. Turned out he thought I was someone else, but it worked out because the race director found me quickly. He had told me to be sure to find him at the finish because they had not gotten my finish time for any of the races and he wanted to get my times from my Garmin. I then headed into medical again to get my elbow patched up and a new bandaid for my finger. By the time I got out of there and headed for the water table and medals, I found a Rabbit just ahead of me. She was afraid she had passed me and missed it, but I assured her she probably passed me when I was in medical.... and very nicely informed her that I didn't like her very much anymore for making me do all those races.

We took our finisher pictures, my aunt cheered for us from the other side of the fence, then we all headed to the wheelchair tent. As we made it there, we could hear the awards ceremony, so we rushed over to see our friends get their awards.

1st and 2nd Place Women's Push Rim!!

After taking pictures and comparing notes for a few minutes, we headed back to our respective tents. I had to reassure the volunteers and the hand cycle I had gotten help for because all they knew was I had fallen, but didn't know what had happened after that. Once everyone was caught up, I got a big hug and a rose from my aunt. I then demanded a hug from my Rabbit friend. Not surprisingly, I changed and started eating everything in my bag at the same time after that.

The Next Day....

Total Dopey miles: 48.6

Because I travel with a crazy person, there was a get together planned for anyone that wanted to finish off 50 miles. And because I cannot just leave it, I joined in. There's a trail at our hotel that is just under a mile, so we all went around twice...

Bonus Race:

Soooooo a week later, Tinkerbell Weekend happened at Disneyland. There was a Rabbit there, so I drove down to cheer for her and a few other friends. I took my signs and found a spot on the corner next to our hotel for the 10K, a spot in Downtown Disney and a spot near the finish for the half. I had a lot of people thank me for being out there, take pictures of my signs, and with me.. one lady even came over a gave me a lei. Another woman made it a point to come over and tell me she was walking for her sister, who wheelchair bound after a recent stroke. A man that had run the 10K, walked by me during the half and thanked me for being out there both days. More than anything, I'm glad to be the person that I so appreciated during my own races/hard moments.

A Year In Review

I started 2013 in an entirely new direction that had lurked in the back of my mind for years, but I don't think I ever really believed I would have to follow that path. My legs had been mostly taken away from me in late 2012. And instead of sitting on the sidelines, I decided to turn to wheelchairs.

To run with. To walk with, when needed. Someday, to ride with.

The year has been a roller coaster of highs and lows, physically and emotionally. I have had to learn to become active in an entirely new way. I have learned to travel with a wheelchair (or two). I have made some new friends and lost some old ones. I have had to adapt to a world I thought I knew, but is entirely new from this different perspective.

I have been in and out of doctors' offices all year, even spent a couple months in physical therapy, and  didn't really get closer to an answer. In early December, after stopping the physical therapy because I wasn't benefitting from it, Dr P decided the problem probably is not orthopedic. My next doctor is a rheumatologist; Dr P is afraid that all the damage I've taken is causing my body to attack my legs or a lot of the damage is a result of said attacking. I will be tested for different kinds of arthritis, lupus, and anything else the new doctor suspects. It is nice to feel like I'm on a path that has a destination at this point.

Physically, I started this year off in fairly good condition. I was building up my upper body to be able to push the chairs and I was still able to ride my bike and walk a good distance on my own. However, I quickly lost strength in my legs. May was the last time I comfortably rode a bike on my own and my birthday in July was my last real ride (with the wonderful help of my tandem partner). My walking time went down until I was forced to use my cane on a regular basis, Saber when I would be on my feet too long. On the other hand, my upper body strength and endurance has built up to taking me 21 miles in a racing chair and climbing some hills in a street chair. I went from moving pretty slow and taking breaks during a day at the Disney Parks to playing all day and doing just fine. Also, I finally got to try out a hand cycle and now I look forward to the day I can get one!

I made some changes in my relationships. I've changed a lot over the years, especially these last few years... I went from a shy kid that didn't know how to say no and probably just agreed to things to avoid confrontation/to make everyone else happy, to someone that has learned to express opinions, refuses to settle for second-best, and learned that all those people that were happy to keep taking and rarely giving back were just taking advantage of me. That final jump in realizing that some relationships were unhealthy for both parties led me to letting go of some people... It was a hard process with some, a gentle pull back from others, some even felt the pull and decided to fight for me. I also made some new and wonderful friends in this process and I am forever grateful to have met them at just the right time.

Emotionally, there are the high times of accomplishing something new and the low times of missing the things I was able to do before. I was able to help my Start Training team to their half marathon during the beginning of the year. I pushed my way through starting my own training over from the beginning. Found the friends ready and willing to pull me back up when training wasn't going so well, or I lost another activity to my dwindling legs... and those same ones that were more than happy to cheer me on when training was going well or I got to try something new. I made it through another Relay For Life with a whole new team, and lots of extra help in the background. I finished my first half marathon in a wheelchair and made new friends in the process. I started making new plans, new traditions for the holidays.... then I lost my brother, one of my biggest supporters, just a few weeks ago. He never really understood my jumping headfirst into the art world or the running/active world, but he was proud of me in his own way; he expressed it by telling others about the tattoos I designed and in calling me Hop-A-Long (we were complicated, but it worked for us ;) ).

I finished the year with a broken heart, but also with a soaring one. For every person that circled around me when I made the move to a wheelchair, another stepped in to help hold me up when my brother passed. And so I'm heading into 2014 with a hope to continue to grow, to keep following my heart wherever it may lead me.

Thank you all for a wonderful year. I love you.

Goodbye Phil, Hello Tsunami

Phil went home a couple weeks ago because my struggle all year to get my own chair finally resulted in the prettiest blue chair arriving on my doorstep. I had already named her Tsunami, which is why she ended up being blue. I have been drawn to blue since I shifted into the wheelchairs (Saber got a new cover, which also ended being blue) and looking up the color meaning gave me all kinds of reasons why. Blue is the color of the sky and sea, and is often associated with depth and stability; it also symbolizes trust, loyalty, confidence, and faith.

Some people race to show how fast they can go, how far they can go, how high they can climb. I just want to show everyone that I can keep moving.

I will admit that all those other things make me smile as well.. but that's more because I fought so hard for those things that I was able to accomplish before my leg gave up and now it seems so much more natural.

I will always be grateful for Phil, for the things I learned, and the places I got to go. He got me started on this journey and I'm glad I happened upon the community center that allowed me to borrow him. Hopefully he gets to rest up before someone else that needs his help comes through.

My first two runs with Tsunami were 9 and 18 mile days, and I finally got to start learning the correct technique for pushing... and I found all those muscles I was supposed to be using, but hadn't found yet. Luckily, I was at least building up my endurance all this time so I'm still pretty confident that I'll do okay at my first marathon next week. Also, building up my faith was a 6 mile run the other day where I stayed at an 8 minute mile pace while just trying to run easy. Another plus is I traded in overall exhaustion for muscle soreness. I'll take that any day!

So here's to my new adventures with my very own chair. Thank you to all that sponsored me!