Congrats to all the WISHers and their companions on a great job this weekend at the Minnie Weekend race!
Thanks to Carrie for the link to the results.

Okay the numbers first.
322 of 1489 finishers based on gun time
1:32:07 gun time, 1:27:55 chip time, 1:23:22 watch/Garmin time

Does anyone notice quite a range between the 3 times? This race report is hereby known as "The tale of the porta potties"

I had an exam Friday morning and then 4 hours of lecture Friday afternoon until 5 pm. Biked home, grabbed my stuff and headed for the airport in NH. Got there about 6:50 pm for a scheduled 7:55 pm flight. Got to the gate and discovered it was delayed- actually ended up leaving at almost 9 pm and arriving in Orlando around midnight. Magically expressed to All Star Sports where we(NYcpa/mom and I) were staying on an AP rate. Checked in, went to the room- wait a minute this is a smoking room. Back to the desk, no non smoking rooms available at that time which was about 1:30 Sat morning. Went to bed about 1:45 am and went to the front desk again to get moved to a non-smoking room later that same morning. They told us to leave our bags and we would be moved that day. They did and the 'new' room was much better.

Met sister(Stitch_lover_Sith) at Rose and Crown for lunch at 1:30 pm. She had worked Grad night at Magic Kingdom and had gotten out of work at 5:15 that morning so it was her breakfast. I had a birthday pin so the Cast Members at Rose and Crown sang and gave me a card.(Yes, it really was my B-day: the trip was my present to myself) We then went to DTD to meet at EOS. Nancy and Barry(PerfectMatch300 and DH) were the first ones we spotted. Hung out w/ the WISHers for a while- great getting to see people we had met in January and getting to meet new people in real life.

Got up about 5:15 am race morning and sis picked us up at ASSp about 5:35. Sis and Mom dropped me off at Animal Kingdom parking lot and then headed to Epcot. I walked around the start area and marvelled over the porta pottie lines. Decided to forego getting in line at that point- mistake!!!! Instead found Mel/Chimera by the WISH shirt and stood around talking w/ the other WISHers.

Eventually decided to get in the porta pottie line. 15 minutes to the start, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes, 90 secs- still in the line. Figured no big deal- it's chip timed so I was still in line when the race started. After about 2 minutes or so they started announcing that they were shutting the start line down and emphasizing that there were porta potties on the course so I went and started and that's why there is about 4 minutes between my gun time and chip time. So I started behind almost everyone else and by the Garmin was through the first mile in around 8:30. Needless to say I was seriously bobbing and weaving through people. There was a line at the first pp so I ran on, got to the second and there was a line but I really needed it at that point. After that stop, I was almost 9 minutes off the gun time.

So the benefit of starting at the end but finishing in the top 1/4 of the field is that this was the first running race I ever spent doing nothing but passing people. I don't think I got passed at all. Run segment pace per mile was 8:36 and overall pace per mile was 8:56. I liked the DJs playing music before entering the parks and thought that there were ample aid stations. I did miss the amount of spectators that there were for the marathon. Other miscellaneous notes- I much preferred the volunteer shirt to the race shirt. The race singlet is okay but I would have gotten alot more wear out of a more normal T shirt. And they weren't even available for sale. All I got at the expo was the pin.

Another first for me was I spent the time after I finished to the last person/people(it was 2 ladies wearing matching shirts) came through cheering. Mom and sis had parked themselves just outside Epcot, right before the last turn to the finish. After I collected my bling and a powerade, I walked back to them. We then cheered the rest of the time and I think we saw most of the WISHers. In summary, I would do this race again and I was happy w/ my actual run time. I would have placed around 157 of 1489 if that had been my official time. I studied for my pharm exam Sunday afternoon at the resort and then on the trip back north and I did pass it so it was worth going.