I arrived on Thurs and immediately upon stepping off the plane, one could feel
the warmth. The extreme warmth. ;-) During my entire 5 days there , all there
was was sun and temps in the 90s. The one consolation was that it did not seem
to be as humid as it could have been.
I will skip the non-race stuff but let's just say that I walked miles and miles
and miles on Friday. ;-) Expedition Everest is the absolute best! I screamed the
whole way...see I don't do roller coasters. lol
Saturday , bright and early the alarm went off at 4:30am as I was picking up
Wendy and Laurel at 5am at All Star Music. I pulled up and opened my door and
said "Wendy, your chariot awaits". I had no idea that they had slept soooooooooo
little getting in so late the night before.
Off to Downtown DIsney as I needed to be checking in to the volunteer tent at
5:15am. (race was at 7:30). I apologized several times to Wendy and Laurel for
getting them there so early but my shift started then. In true Disney fashion,
I got there on time and wasn't moved to my station until 6am!! We could have
slept later! They gave the volunteers a nice t shirt and a "breakfast" which I
gave to Wendy and Laurel as the food courts were not open at either resort.
At 6am, I was pulled into a van as a "course monitor" and sent with the Water
Stop #1 people to set that up. That turned out to be just before the 1 Mile mark
near Wolfgang Puck's place. The 5K wound through DD and then around Saratoga
Springs, then the golf course and back again to Cirque de Soilel. There were 8
of us at the water stop and we got it set up right quick. Then we just hung out
and waited for the runners.
First runner was a male (and he had a commanding lead) and then about 400 runners
came through. I haven't seen the numbers so I am not sure how many were in the
race. My job was to point and to applaud and I did a lot of both. Women are
sooooooooo cool, at the water stops, they run over to you and GIVE you their
cups as opposed to trashing them on the sidewalk! VERY nice.
Screamed and hollered for Laurel and Wendy as they went by. They were far from
the end, I might add. As the last runner went by we closed up the water stop,
cleaned up and I was done volunteering by 8am. :) Checked out and went to the
finish line to cheer in Wendy. Didn't see Laurel but saw Wendy smokin to a great
finish, way under what she thought. (and if Wendy learned to eat and drink before
a race I think she could go even FASTER!!!)
They got beautiful medals and a shirt and off we went to the hotel.
QUick shower and change and to the WWoS complex for the "expo" and packet pick up.
That was a sad excuse for an "expo" let me tell you... a few vendors but hardly
anything. I guess they were thinking it was too small to do a big expo as they
were at 1800 women I believe. The "shirt'
was a technical singlet, very nice but VERY small. I never will be able to figure
out sizes! Danskin stuff is way too big and Disney stuff is way too small. Maybe
it will be an incentive to drop some weight. lol
We stayed all of 10 min there and then I took Laurel and Wendy to the MK for
their wonderful lunch! I spent the day at the pool before meeting a friend for
dinner.
It all started again on Sunday at 5am when Wendy and I headed to EPCOT.
We dropped the car there and were shuttled to AK. (there were NO busses from the
hotels as there are in the marathon....). Wendy, remind me to remember the row #
next time...,I had a HELL of a time figuring out where my car was parked after
the race! LOL
Wendy and I sat on the ground scanning faces to see if we could pick out Tom or
Yvonne Foo . No luck. Panic set in as Wendy and I realized that we weren't going
to make it out of the portapottie line (20 porta potties for 1800 women! NOT
good planning) in time for the start. They delayed it a few minutes and then I
wished Wendy well. (oh side story ....the guys in the portapottie line were
hearing grief from the women....lol too funny) Temps are race time were 74 or so
and that was BEFORE the sun came up.
Minnie was there and started us off with a few fireworks. (VERY few I might add).
But it was powerful being in a sea of women (with a few men) running for Heart
health. We circled the AK lot and suddenly I was having pain in my left leg. I
had no idea why but it was really really painful to run. I was then panicking as
I realized at just passed the mile mark that I might not be able to finish. :(
I guess I was tight or too much walking before or something as I was a hurting pup.
Of course I wouldn't stop to stretch or anything and it just got worse. I was
down to running a little and walking a lot. The only thing I can think of was
that I had been training in different shoes and maybe it was coming back to haunt
me. I finally, at mile 3 , decided to run on the grass and finally by 4 it was
working out. From that point on, I was able to run the rest of the way but the
time I lost was long since gone. It was all about just having fun and that's what
I did.
If you have run the marathon at all, then you have run this course.
It's beautiful to watch the sun rise over the Boardwalk and EPCOT. But the sun
was cruel and it was pretty warm as it beat down. It could have been worse though
and I have to admit that the sun and heat weren't my enemy. It was my shins/ankle
of my left foot. I blame the banking of the roads as the culprit though but no
excuses. I did my best for the day.
I was fading at mile 8 though as we entered EPCOT and didn't feel well.
I did really fine until that point but my stomach was reminding me that I ate way
too much junk in my day before at the parks. ;-) I finished in 1:42:53 or
something. I haven't looked at the results yet.
But the finish line was a great thing to see and the medal is outstanding as
always. It took me 15 minutes to find my car because who ever remembers what
their rental car looks like in the EPCOT parking lot? lol
I headed back to the hotel and left a voice mail for Wendy but they must have
already gone. I hoped she had done well.
SO there you have it...my inaugural Minnie 15K.
I told you if wasn't brief... ;-)
