What a fun weekend I had! The "race" stunk for me, but the rest of
it was great. I stopped at the Sea World store at MCO when my plane
landed to buy a stuffed penguin, hoping that would make the pool
party easier to find for those who didn't know me. It was truly
weather for a penguin pool party on Saturday... I'm not sure the
temperature exceeded 50, certainly not with the wind as strong as it
was. But we had fun anyway! Russ & Annette, Jim & Joyce, Silvia &
Frans, Daria, Stephanie & Alex stopped by. And every time a male
who appeared to be over 30ish walked by looking lost we asked if his
name was Mark, but alas they all said no. At this point I was pretty
sure that Mark really didn't exist and since the stuffed Penguin
needed a name... "Mark" also joined Russ & Annette, Silvia & Frans,
Stephanie and myself for dinner. We had a great time there as
well...and again, anytime a male would walk by who appeared to be
alone we'd ask if he was Mark. Imagine our surprise when one fellow
said "yes"....too bad he wasn't "the" Mark that we were looking for.
We missed quite a few people at dinner -- I tried to call those for
whom I had cell phone numbers to make sure y'all knew where we were.
Lani & Alex arrived just as we were getting ready to be seated and
the folks at the All Star Sports Cafe would not allow us to add two
more people to our group so they weren't able to eat with us. During
dinner we tried calling Mark again and left him a two minute (or so)
voice mail while we passed the phone around the table. We also
called Kathy Flippo in PHX who said the weather there was nice &
warm!
On my way to the Epcot parking lot pre-race Sunday morning, I ran
into Lani & Alex at the TTC waiting for the monorail so they helped
me to wake-up. At the "P for Penguin" tent we did find Silvia &
Frans, Russ, Col(!), Daria and her son...and I'm sure I'm forgetting
someone at the moment but please forgive me as it was TOOO early for
me to be awake and functioning at that point! And then....drum roll
please....Mark showed up!!!! Not the stuffed penguin Mark but the
real Mark who kept avoiding us last year!!!! Yes, we did take
pictures with him to prove his existence...hopefully they'll turn out
and I'll post them later this week after I get the roll of film
developed. We never did find Terri & Cheryl (now we know why),
Charles Wait, Stephanie, or Alex. Charles Cohn racewalked by us but
must have missed us as we called his name several times to no avail.
Peggy Myers did show up for a bit to say hi as well & wish everyone a
good race. We all headed over to the start around 4:50-4:55 and by
the time we all got out of the portolets it was 5:00 and time to move
to the corrals. It was a spirited walk to the start area, and I
ended up in Corral F with Silvia, Frans, Lani & Alex. We all started
together but once we hit the start line, Silvia, Lani & Alex were
gone! I sure hope they all had great races! Frans stayed with me
until the Epcot parking lot (just after mile 2) where he was going to
head over to the Magic Kingdom to run the last few miles with
Silvia. Frans set me up at a 15 mpm pace which is where I wanted to
do my half since I wanted to take it easy, and unfortunately by the
time he left me my left Achilles tendon was already starting to
bother me. At that point it wasn't hurting, just reminding me to
take it easy. I found Daria (or should I say she found me) around
the end of mile 6 or 7 and we walked the rest of the half together (I
tried running some after Frans left me but it only took a mile for me
to realize that was NOT going to happen). We slowed to a 17 mpm pace
although that includes stopping to take pictures along the way once
we hit the Magic Kingdom & Floridian Way...oops!!! Oh well, we were
both hurting (the walking wounded) and just wanted to finish and have
fun while we did it. If Daria hadn't been with me, I think I very
much might have pulled out when I got to the TTC as my entire ankle
was really hurting at that point...I didn't think it was that
apparent until Daria asked about it and said I was favoring it
considerably more than earlier. We did find Daria's family as we
were heading into the finish line. I don't remember what the finish
lines were like...if they were quiet like Charles Wait had mentioned
or otherwise...I just hugged Daria & crossed the finish. We were
directed to the "special" line where marathon registrants were to
pick up their medals (that box was pretty empty). By the time we
finished, they had already run out of mylar blankets, and they still
had water & powerade, bananas & oranges left, but no power bars or
muffins (plenty of muffin wrappers on the ground though, darn it!)
I realize I have no right to complain or comment on it since I
registered for the full & finished the half, but figure the result
would've been the same had I been registered for the half, and there
was still at least a half-mile of people finishing behind us.
Needless to say this was my worst chip-time to finish a half-marathon
EVER.
After we finished I headed back to the GF to grab a quick bite to eat
and a shower, then headed to MGM for lunch and the afternoon. I blew
off my priority seating at the Brown Derby as there were still
marathoners going through and I had the privilege of cheering on the
last hundred or so of them. All but a handfull looked absolutely
wonderful given that they'd gone 23.5 miles at that point. It was
great to cheer them on and tell them they were doing great and to be
proud of themselves. I also reminded them that they had a "date with
Mickey" waiting for them and how worth it that medal would be. I
absolutely couldn't believe it when many of them congratulated me on
my Donald medal....after all, here these folks were at 23.5 miles
when I had only done 13.1!!!!!
I did end up talking to a couple of doctors about my Achiles tendon
issue before leaving WDW...both by coincidence as I ran into one on a
bus and one at the hotel. They both told me to stay off of it
(except for normal daily activity) for at least 2-3-4 weeks (I have
to be pain-free and feel no pulling for a week) and then start re-
building my mileage base from 0. The pain is better now but not
completely gone (better at times & worse at others) I still feel it
pulling/rubbing a bit.
I'm putting up pictures on the board now from the pool party and
dinner. I should have the others from the non-race this afternoon or
tomorrow and will post any that turn out (since my darn camera didn't
have a flash). Anyone else who has pictures to share is welcome to
post there as well!
Cheryl in very cold Chicago
