Short report: First penguin encounter, first marathon, and tigger, too! Had
dinner with some penguins, sat in the cold with some penguins, ran with some
penguins & finished!!!!!!!!!
Long report: I went to the expo early because I was picking up a friend from
the airport friday afternoon, so the expo was not too crowded, I picked up a
couple of little gifties for myself (but didn't wear them because I didn't want
to invite evil spirits to come a-visiting) along with my bib & stuff. Started
to get excited, but tried not to show it too much. (I don't think I was too
successful).
Saturday was a whirlwind trip around the Magic Kingdom & EPCOT for a friend
who'd never been to Disneyworld. A bit of walking, but nothing dangerous - I'm
used to walking a lot. Dinner was at Chef Mickeys & my first penguin encounter
- organized graciously by Dr.Dolphin (Terri). Lani made pengiun buttons for
all of us - very very cute - pink background with a mickey-mouse-eared penguin
& the words "proud to be waddlin'" I wore my button proudly on Sunday!
Unfortunately, we were split into 2 tables, so I didn't get to chat with
everyone, but I did get to chat with Russ Armstrong, El Fernandes, Kathy Flippo
& Carolyn. We loaded up
on dinner, and really enjoyed the dessert buffet! (Carbo loading, that's all it
is, right?) I packed up all the stuff I wanted to take with me, laid out my
clothes, pinned by bib to my pink fleece, put the championchip on the shoes,
and went to bed early. And laid in bed pretty much wide awake for most of the
short night, because I was just too excited. And then the alarm went off at
3am.
Amazingly, I was awake & alert that early in the morning, and got dressed & out
of the house on schedule. I had to get gas & coffee (keep both me & the car
going...), and then I was off to Disney! MY CHEERING SECTION would be
following later. There was a bit of traffic once I was on Disney property, but
things were moving (and I knew I was in the right area - just follow the busses
& cars ahead of me - no thinking involved!) The info packet said to plan to
arrive no later than 4 - which I did - I was on Disney property by 4, but so
was everyone else!! I ran into Terri (Dr.Dolphin) & her friend (Pam? I'm
sorry, I don't remember your name) on the way to the staging area. Hooked up
with Kathy F, El, Peggy & Steve on the way to the corrals, and picked up
another penguin on the way (Kathy [?i think] from California, along with her
husband [Graham?]). We huddled in the starting corral, spotted Larry over in
the half starting corrals, and then made fun of the last minute stragglers
(mostly out of jealousy, since they probably got more sleep than the rest of
us). It took 9 minutes to cross the start after the fireworks got things
moving.
I saw a few penguins on the course, but we didn't stay together long enough to
chat. One was running with MOOSE; and there were two women running together
that traded places with me a few times, until they passed me for good. I'm
very impressed that they noticed my penguin socks while we were running!
Of course, I ran the first half too fast. I couldn't help it. I was too
excited. I promise I'll do better time management next time. I followed my
plan: walk through every water stop (about every 2 miles for the first half,
then about every mile) until mile 19. I then had to walk about every 1/2 mile,
and I noticed that my walk breaks were getting longer at the water stops. The
hardest part for me was between miles 19 & 25 - not too many distractions, it
was hard to get going once it was time to start running again - I started
playing the get to the turn/sign/whatever to keep going. Once I was in Epcot,
I walked about 1/2 way around the world showcase (I think I saw Julia cheering
us along about Norway, but I've never met her before, so I'm not sure) & then
just decided, OK, I'm going to finish this thing, and I'm going to finish it
running - so I ran to the end. I was so glad to get there, upright, smiling, &
DONE! Kind of wandered around a little shaky for a little bit while I had the
mylar wrapped around me, collected medal, got my picture taken, got some food.
I was a little dazed, but boy am I happy.
Thank you thank you thank you penguins for (even though I don't post much)
encouraging me & getting me through my recovery from a herniated disc & my
training. I just love running!
I'll post a link to pictures once I get everything together.
Erin in Orlando :)
