RACING FOR FRANK!
an unforgettable adventure through disney.
These are my crazy running friends who meet with me before dawn to train!
Me and matt. This smile is totally fake.
This smile is fake too, but i did like my shirt a lot!
stupid broken watch. and my medal! yay!
this was the one photo matt snapped. i am behind the girl in blue! you can see my foot!
BEWARE, long post.
So.... when dad got diagnosed with lymphoma in September i felt pretty helpless, we all did. but i needed to do something, anything. 2 days later i found myself registered for the Disney Marathon through Team in Training and promised to raise $2400.00. i hadn't run more than 9 miles in 3 years!!! what is wrong with me?
i ended up reaching my fundraising goals and even surpassing them by double! Thanks to all the generous people who donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of me. I trained with an awesome group of people who helped give me the confidence to not only finish the marathon, but have a blast doing so! I finished in 4:31:49. Much better than i was expecting. We spent 2 and a 1/2 months waking up at 3:00am to meet for our long runs. I am so thankful i had a moment of insanity where i decided to do this. here is what i remember of the four and a half hours galloping around Disney World!
5:50 am- fireworks set off above mickey mouse and we all take off.. well we start jogging in place for 3 minutes then we take off. The first 14 miles were a blast. My face hurt from smiling so much. i truly felt like a kid in a candy shop when we ran down main street and through the castle. I think my friend, Trish, might have thought i was crazy when i grabbed her hand for a photo-op. we were plugging along at a fabulous 9:45 pace--our happy pace. Matt had found us at mile 8 and managed to snap a picture of us before we bolted out of sight. sadly i didn't see him again until after i finished.
8:00am-we were finished with more than half of the race... all down hill from here, right??? we passed through the un-disney part of Disney. the water treatment plant... stinky! it smelled like a toilet for a good mile and a half. the next 3 miles went by pretty quickly thanks to some local high school bands and a runner's high. I was definitely enjoying myself. the sun was starting to get a little hot. mile 19 had a long steady climb and Trish got tunnel vision. I knew that if I slowed down I wouldn't be able to finish, so we separated.
9:15- for the out and back that were miles 21 and 22 (which by the way i find ridiculous in a place as big as Disney) i made a friend named Miles. I think amid my dehydration and delerium, I told him that I didn't like his name... at this point i was still on track for finishing in 4:20. My watch had stopped working for some mysterious reason so I was on my own with pacing. I knew the last few miles were entertaining (MGM, boardwalk and EPCOT) so i wasn't too worried. mile 23 my muscles were starting to ache a bit and i was having trouble swallowing calories that i knew i needed. thankfully, a Team in Training coach saw me make a face at a water stop and he ran with me for half a mile. Mile 24 was close, 2.2 miles, simple. That is when the bear got on my back. a big giant bear and he wanted me to stop. i wanted to stop. I didn't care about finishing. all i wanted to do was lie down and wait for the bus. i hated running, i hated Tiffany who told me i could do it, i hated everyone who had encouraged me along the way. what did they know?? i was MISERABLE. i felt like i was hardly moving, i was still running, but i don't think that is a fair word to use because my pace was sloven. my emotions were out of whack at this point. i felt like i was having an anxiety attack. my breathing was erratic, my heart rate was frantic and i had a huge knot in my throat like i was going to break out in sobbing hysterics. somehow i kept going. i seriously thought EPCOT would never end. i was rounding the 'world', in front of Germany, when a man came up from behind and said "Frank is proud of you and he loves you." that was when my final wind hit me. i almost started crying again and i picked up to a running speed. half a mile to go. i was picturing everybody i love. Theresa prancing beside me singing "running with Jesus"! Daniel next to me telling his marathon recap. Dad getting chemotherapy. Mom singing "it's uppy uppy time". Tiffany busting 50 yards from the finish line of her recent marathon. Matt at the end with a camera. THE END, the end was soon, so soon. i had already ruined any chance i had of finishing under 4:30, so i was just looking forward to when i could stop running. i would never run again, ever. and then i saw it, the finish line. the hallelujah chorus singing in my ear. i mustered what speed there was left inside of me and took off. Blowing kisses to the camera man i crossed the line and immediately slowed to a walk. The euphoria only lasted a minute. i was so happy to be done. then the anger set in. i smiled for the camera with my medal on, even though i wanted to be horizontal on the pavement, crying. i had to walk another half a mile just to get to the snacks. food, blah. and then even farther to the F tent where my bags were. Matt, sadly, missed me crossing the finish line because he was busy staring at a jogger dressed in gladiator garb who was about 1 second in front of me. when we were finally reunited, he thought i was mad at him, but really i was just mad. i was so mad at myself for deciding to run a marathon. who did i think i was? blah. i felt like poo. i thought people said you were happy when it was over, where was that happiness?? With a lot of effort, i finally got some calories in me, called my family and the anger began to wear off. i got giddy when my running buddies started crossing the finish line and was able to vent and share my adventures.
12:00pm- There it was, the euphoria! At last! what an amazing feeling. I ran 26.2 miles. I rock! I will do it again some day, and i will probably wonder why (again) on miles 24 and 25, but the pain in the end is totally worth the thrill of victory!
it is beautiful here.. even with the cold.
and yes, I am in shorts. I never claimed to be good at dressing for the cold.... That is a frozen lake that I stood on for approximately 10 seconds before Matt had a fit.
Here are some more pictures from this Fall. 
The giant elk at Rocky Mountain National Park!
My Favorite children in the Universe!! Ellie and Campbell Fox
Laughing at Uncle Matt
Apparently kids in colorado don't sled on snow days... they snowboard.
so this is Bailey climbing out of snow that came over his head. I couldn't snap a picture fast enough to catch him covered. He was freaking out it was so sad. he started crying. poor boo.
Our covered porch... covered in snow!
matt... slightly regretting his decision to move to colorado. or at least his decision to wear crocs and scrub pants out in the blizzard. 
BRRRRR
May 2009: My girlfriend Lindsey came for a visit just before graduation. 
April 2009: Visiting the NC Fox clan. We went to the Duke Gardens and got to spend some time with the girls.
April 2009- Foxes from behind :)
April 2009: Mom came to Denver with me right after we found out we were moving here to look for a place to live and to interview. It was beautiful and obviously, the interview was a success! This is at Red Rocks Park.
May 2009: one of the many going away parties celebrated in Tallahassee! These are some of the best people in the world to work with-- many of my girlfriends from the pediatric ICU.
April 2009: Girls night (+ bruce and chuck). My running buddies and me, celebrating many things, including the upcoming move to Colorado. 
March 2009: Disney Princess half marathon. The Pancotto clan (- Theresa) registered for this last year... little did we know that dad would be smack dap in the middle of receiving chemotherapy. Not that that fact held him back! All of us crossed the finish line in the allotted time. It was a blast!
Pancotto Parents post 13.1 miles!
Our family! We look pretty good for finishing 13.1 miles!
These are my crazy running friends who meet with me before dawn to train!
Me and matt. This smile is totally fake.
This smile is fake too, but i did like my shirt a lot!
stupid broken watch. and my medal! yay!
this was the one photo matt snapped. i am behind the girl in blue! you can see my foot!
