Back from a very cool RftT!
We got in late Fri night, checked in at SSR and went to DTD for a bit. Got up Sat morning (can't remember the last time I didn't need to get up early for a Sat LR ) and went to packet pickup. Our 'commerative race gift' was a lunchbox and water bottle. They did have Tshirts for the race, but at $18.50 a pop...no free race shirt
Had a nice WISH team mini-meet on the BW. Got to see Lynnda, Bill, their Billy (who's very close in age to the wild todd), Krista, Steve, Nancy and Barry. We had a little ice cream and beverage and chatted for a bit!
Slept better for this race than the half or the Minnie, but still not great. Logistics were a bit weird for us from SSR this time. In the past, we've stayed at BCV for easy EPCOT/finish line access. I was planning to drive to EPCOT and ride the bus to the start, but that we were afraid that would make it hard for DH and wild todd to get to the finish line since we didn't know when the morning park buses started running. So DH offered to get up and drive us over to WWOS. We bundled up the wild todd and all got in the car...got to the start at about 5:30am. Spent some time stretching, eating and visiting the porta potties before moving into the start gate around 5:45. They had food from All Star Cafe. I saw some bananas...and Buffalo chicken wings....love 'em, but not my choice for pre-race food
I didn't see any WISHers until Anne found us about 10 min before the start. Got to hang out with her and her DH, Bob, until the start. We were probably a bit forward of mid-pack and crossed the start line within the first minute of the race, I believe. I went with the R4/W1 which worked out great! It was hard to stop running after only 4 min at first since I'd been training with R8/W2 for so long. DD13 only hung around for the first interval, then she took off ahead.
This was one of my better race experiences overall. The course started at WWoS, but there was only about 2 miles of road before we got to MGM. They took us through Lights, Motor, Action where we saw ourselves up on the big screen, then down New York Ave
We followed behind the big hat,then around and out MGM, to the standard BW to EPCOT loop that they use in many of the races.
No characters during the race, but seemed like lots more cast members.
I met a lot of neat people during the race! Scott ran up and introduced himself first (yep, that was me...don't think I ever told you who I was ). Then I got to meet Matt's DW, Cheryl. I traded places with Anne's DH, Bob, throughout the race, but lost him somewhere after entering MGM. I met a nice lady who told me somewhere after MGM that she'd been using me as a pace person and was hoping we could finish together. Our intervals weren't quite in sync so we traded places a bit. I found her near the finish and said "Are ya ready?", so we booked it in over the finish line together. I got to see Krista and Steve after the race...they did great! And I met Matt with his DW and got to see Anne and her DH again. Post-race F&W food was salmon, salad with some wild onions, blackberry cobbler and lemonade. I only ate the blackberry cobbler and fed the rest to DH.
Clock time was 1:19:01. Garmin time was 1:18:26 over 6.34 miles for a 12:22 pace. I was pretty pleased...splits were
1 12:20
2 12:02
3 12:28
4 12:16
5 12:48
6 12:38
DD13 finished at about 1:15, 5th in her age group
The shirts were a huge hit! I had so many people come up to me and tell me how much they liked the saying on the back. And there were several that passed me and I heard them telling their running partner, "Did you see that lady's shirt? It said Dead Last Finish....". I think it's especially neat since it was a team effort. Round of applause for the creative talents...this is the coolest shirt ever
But...I know what you really want to see. Show me the bling!
And our post-race photo:
Thanks to each and every one of you! I took all of you with me and I couldn't have done it without all of your advice, commiseration and cheerleading! We make a great team!
