That was one of the hardest things to see and be a part of.  I never realized how challenging it would be and I envisioned a completely different experience.  I knew it was going to be ridiculously hard, but this course was not like just a long run around a city.  This was one loop over two cause ways we had to run over 4 times.  After that half way point there was no one on the course to cheer us on, that alone hurts and makes things challenging.  Then there were some points on the course that ran out of cups for water and drinks.  The course was supposed to have bands all along the way, but only two of the bands played some great rockin music to keep us going, while at least 4 bands weren’t playing when I ran by, were small orchestra and playing very melodic music that could have put anyone to sleep.  So throughout the course I would just look at the beautiful sky with the sun shinning and the little bit of clouds showing and start to cry wanting the whole experience to be over.  I did receive some great support from Team Thompson and Mandy, they all ran with me throughout the last 4-6 miles of the marathon and really helped me keep going.

Despite it all it was a great experience, and would recommend running a marathon to anyone, but the only marathon I would run again would be a Disney Marathon.  I’ve seen it twice with Mandy running them and the experience although painful is much more bearable and enjoyable.  So if you ever plan to run a marathon, run one of the larger marathons you can, because there will be more people to help you keep going.  Here are other photos from previous races of Rowland and I.

Running Pictures

Mandy after a 21.2mile run taking an ice bath

I never understood the desire of running a marathon (maybe for health reasons?).  I just thought you would train for a few months, then get to the marathon and pace yourself and keep pushing yourself and that’s it.  It’s much more than that…

Mandy’s been training for her January 11th Disney Marthon since around the end of July.  The time training, ice baths, the money spent on shoes; equipment, clothes,  and power packs for her long runs has been fascinating.  She first started to run 2-5 mile runs a couple times a week and once a week she would have a long run.  Her first long run was 8 miles, second was 10, third was 16, and now she’s up to 21.2.  These runs occur anywhere between 5am-7am in the morning (the longer the run the earlier the start).  I watched her first official 5k, which is a short but still hard 3.1 miles.

Saturday she ran her first official Half-Marathon at the OUC Half.  I never imagined it was that hard till you see your wife, her friend and many others struggle to stay on pace.  I have a whole new respect and understanding of how hard you push your body to it’s absolute limits.

Friday night before the OUC Half we watched Spirit of the Marathon.  A documentary recommended to us that follows 5 marathoners from first timers to Olympic Champion runners.  You’re moved at why these people do it, be it just to finish, or to finish and beat your last time at the age of 65.  It’s unbelievable the struggle you go through to accomplish such a challenging goal.  That really pumped me up for supporting Mandy at the OUC Half.

Mandy and Jen on their first 21.2 mile long run.

At the race, I wanted to cheer Mandy on at least 4 places.  I was able to do so, and the last few places I saw her pass I ran from one place in the course to another via shortcuts (that was hard in itself and I was thinking how can these people run this long!?!?)!  As some of you know I can be pretty loud, and I wasn’t just cheering on the wife, I was cheering on everyone that passed.  I’ve never gotten so many thank you’s before and I was glad to be their cheerleader too.

Marathons are fucking hard!  Pushing your body to the ultimate extreme looks like a humbling experience.  I would do it once to experience such a satisfying life long learning experience.  I would also do it to build up such an incredible endurance!

Now I know this Christmas season everyone is asking for money, so I won’t push it but if you could donate a few bucks to Mandy’s cause that would be very honerable of you.  And Team Mandy could use all your support for the race on Sunday, January 11th, at Disney!

Scott a co-worker taught me what to do (I don’t think they offered lessons…and especially in English). I took my first hill down to the ski lift like a champ, not falling once! He didn’t believe that this was my first time, because I looked so natural. I did fall though, and once pretty hard where I flipped. I couldn’t get comfortable trying to stop with my toes, only my heels (you’ll know what I mean if you’ve tried snow boarding before). Regardless it was a fun and difficult challenge to snowboard.

Though, I’m not sure if I’d do it again. They say I need to go twice to really get the grasp of it, and I’m not sure how much I want to. Being surrounded by so much snow as a born and raised Floridian was a little much. In addition, the whole, take the trolley car up one side of the mountain, trolley car down the other side of the mountain, stomping around with these huge boots on, carrying this board, then taking the small hill down to the ski lift with gloves, a big jacket, ski pants, goggles, beanie, scarf, etc was just too much work! I think the novelty wore off. I’m a simple man, give me some swim trunks and a surfboard and I’m good to go! The video below shows me snowboarding down this really small hill. I wanted the video to remember how messed up I looked. The secret is I just fell before Scott started shooting.

Snowboarding in German Alps from Jesus Salgueiro on Vimeo.

After settling in on the second floor where the nicer restaurant is we ordered an appetizer and some food, we were all very hesitant because of the looks of the place, but let me put your minds to rest. Eating at the restaurant was some of the best food, and prices I have had in Orlando hands down!! Now you may think oh for fifty cents you get a huge meal…no no…what I mean is, I had the italian grill a huge sandwich that they prepared fresh with a lot of meat, and some amazing fries for 8 bucks! There was so much food I couldn’t eat the whole meal and had to take the rest home. There was not one person in the group that didn’t like their meal, definitely thumbs up on the food.

After I learned how to bet, I bet 2 dollars on my first game as a ‘Win’ bet (I lost that). On my second bet I bet on the ‘Win’ bet again, and lost that. My last bet I did the ‘Quinela’ bet and won 20 bucks! We watched 6 games, and it was awesome! Watching the players jump off the wall, make some amazing catches and throw the ball from the ground was really awesome, I personally know how hard that game is to play and that was really exciting for me.

If you’ve never seen jai-alai, I highly recommend going, and you don’t even have to bet, watching is exciting enough!