Wow, what a week end! We (daughter and me) flew out Friday am, and arrived
at MCO Friday evening after a 3 hour layover in Chicago.
DIL from Jacksonville was to pick us up at MCO and hustle us to WWoS for
packet pick-up before 7 PM (plane arriving at 5). She got held up in a
traffic jam, moving only 4 miles in 2 hours near Daytona, so was frantic at
being late (I would have freaked out!!!). We arrived at WWoS at 6:45.....no
problem! Signed in for both races, and picked up packets. Nice shirts for
the Komen and an APRON for the Race for the Taste (which somehow didn't
arrive home with me). The "expo" was really small, but maybe we just missed
a lot because it was late.

At Riverside check-in, we thought we were all set. However, the really slow
check in clerk (Meg) forgot to give us our keys (and we were in a fog, and
didn't realize it until we got out to our car). Back for keys. Finally
found our room --- third floor of Oak Manor (there was an elevator, thank
goodness), only to find it was a smoking room and absolutely REEKED of smoke
We called for a new room, traipsed back to the car armed with all of our
luggage, back to the lobby to get new keys, and then finally landed in our
new room......which we were told was third floor but was actually second
floor..........argh. Gosh, Disney was letting me down.

This was my zany idea of a fun week end. I proposed it to some friends and
relatives as a perk to get my WDW marathon training off pause and into full
mode. Only my daughter and daughter in law were zany enough to take me up
on it. All three of us registered for the Komen 5K, DIL and I registered
for the Race for the Taste. As a surprise, my daughter made shirts for us.
They were pink, with blue lettering "Last Place Runner's Club" on the front,
and our names (Uh, nicknames: Weezer - me -, Speedy, and Pokey). We wore
them in the park on Sunday, and had a lot of fun with people trying to
figure us out, and lots of giggling. We've retired them for next year!

We woke up at 5:30 Saturday morning to 100% humidity (per the weather
channel -- but it wasn't raining......) and 73 or 74 degrees at 6 am. I do
not do well in heat OR humidity, so mild panic started to set in. There was
no transportation provided to the start, so we made our way from Riverside
to AK, with no problems. There was lots of traffic waiting to park, but it
was quite manageable and we were directed quickly to a parking space on the
grass. There was a nice aerobic warm up and a nice rendition of God Bless
America. There was a chip timed 5K, a Fun Run/Walk (not timed), and a 1 mile
.......maybe more, but that's what I remember. The 5Ks both started at the
same time. It was a cool course thru AK, with a water stop at 1 mile and
another just short of 2 miles (same watering hole -- after an out/back to
the Conservation Station --), some on service roads and some in the park
itself. It's always interesting to see parts of Disney that you don't
normally get to see. They had good yummies at the end...........oranges,
bananas, chocolate mousse with raspberry Yoplait, water, Power Ade..
probably more, but that's what I had. Yoplait was one of the sponsors......
..I wasn't crazy about the chocolate mousse whipped yogurt.........

I did "ok" in the 5K, considering I was trying not to burn myself out for
the 10K the next day. My time was 42:30 (we did the Fun Run/walk, not timed
so there's no "official" time for me, just my Timex time), averaging 13:42
I think. Considering the heat and humidity, I was ok with it. Daughter,
who doesn't run --- but remember, is much younger than me, despite the fact
that she turned 40 this year!--- ran a 35 something, and DIL, who we named
Speedy ran just under 10 minute miles. We were dripping wet at the finish.
We spent the rest of the day at DTD, had lunch at Rainforest (we split a
China Chicken Salad 3 ways and still left about 1/3 of it!!! It's HUGE!!!).
We tried to use our 15% discount certificate from our packets at Ghiradelli
s but it was SO crowded, we skipped it.

Sunday morning we were up early again, 5:30 again, to get ready for the 10K.
This time daughter got to "sleep in" since she wasn't running, but only had
to get to EPCOT for the finish. DS came from Jax with the grandkids to join
DD's scream team. The arrival at WWoS start was the same traffic situation
as Saturday. But it was ok. The race was delayed 10 minutes to allow those
still arriving to start with everyone else. They had a record number of
runners, but I don't know how many...........thousands. There was a nice
rendition of the national anthem by one of the female members of the Voices
of Liberty (American Adventure, EPCOT -- if you haven't heard them, be sure
to try to see them next time you visit EPCOT -- they are AWESOME). We all
started at the same time -- no corrals or anything. It didn't take long for
me to be in a "thinned out" crowd! LOL! Waiting for the start, I just had
the awful-est panic. It was so warm, and so humid, and I was remembering
the heat exhaustion from the marathon last January (where I bailed at the
half, and was sick for a week). I wanted to throw up, have the runs, hit
somebody, run for cover, etc..............but once I got started, I was ok.
I knew I had to take it slowly........even more slowly than ever.........
but I didn't want to be LAST or GET SWEPT!! I finished in 1:33:54 (my watch
time) for a 15:08, which is pretty darned slow, even for me. A few minutes
after I finished they announced that the last runner was passing Mexico, so
I wasn't anywhere NEAR last. I walked the last 2 miles -- just really didn
t care that much at that point. Honestly, that 10K FELT like the last 10K
of the full marathon! It IS the last 10K of the marathon course, so maybe
it was playing tricks with my brain, but I felt like I had done the whole 26
when I finished...............the scream team made a lot of noise for me,
the announcer announced my name and where I was from when I crossed the
finish, and I smiled for the camera -- but can't find that photo........the
grandkids came into the chute and ran part of the chute with me, but they
were afraid they'd get into trouble so they didn't "finish" with me. There
was not a thread of fabric on me that was not DRIPPING!!! Whew!!! Since
this event was part of the "Go the Distance" week end, and the Wine and Food
Festival at EPCOT, we were all given green snap-on bracelets which entitled
us to free food samples at the finish. I can't eat at the finish of a race,
but I did manage to sample a bite or two........the bbq from the American
pavillion was excellent -- along with the cornbread. They also had the
typical oranges, bananas, Power Ade, water, cans of Minute Maid lemonade,
etc. Cast members and security people (and volunteers) were excellent with
water stops every 2 miles I think, and clapping, smiling, and encouraging
all the way. They had food stops of cheese, bread, and Ghiradelli chocolate
(I passed on the cheese and the bread, but tore open the chocolate and
licked the melted brown stuff off the wrapper!!

After cleaning up (and cooling off), we took the grandkids to MK. I couldn
t believe how crowded it was. It was elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder.
We wanted to do Splash Mtn, but it was closed. We ended up only doing Buzz
Lightyear, the Blue Line (WEDWAY), and Pirates of the Caribbean before son
and grandkids had to leave. Son needed a nap, having left Jax at 4 am,
before driving the kids home so the kids went to the pool and he (and I)
napped for an hour. After they left,since I had insisted on buying a park
hopper ($101 for a one day hopper!!!), we had to go to another park! I
wanted to see Soarin' and Illuminations, and we wanted to eat. It was a 70
minute wait for Soarin'. It was good, but I'm not sure it was THAT good.
We thought we wanted to eat at Sunshine Food Fair, but they've completely
changed it and didn't like the new menus. Still we managed to find
something we could all tolerate there, but weren't impressed. By the time
we finished eating, we decided we were just too whipped to wait for
Illuminations, so we hopped a bus back to Riverside and packed for the
flight home on Monday.

Monday was a long day. Got to the airport at 9AM, got home to northern MI
at 10:30 PM. I'd say I've recovered, but I haven't been out running yet due
to work and other commitments I've had all week. This week end's long run
is only 8 miles, but I should do last week's LSD 15-16. We'll see.

This was a really fun week end, and I'd recommend it. We decided we'll do
it again, but add another day at WDW for "fun" (or maybe go somewhere else).
I'll be back in January for the marathon, so I wasn't feeling "deprived".
Disney is fun anytime......I'm always glad to visit, and sad to have to
leave! Hope to see some of you in January!

Thanks for reading --- if you got this far! LOL!

Louise