Shortcut version:
It was hot! But I finished. :-)
My long-winded version:
Arrived in Florida on Wednesday evening to light rain. We were more than two hours late due to our plane arriving late in Philly, then a computer self-check failed, so we had to wait for a mechanical check. Yuk! So much for trying to get there earlier. Checked into Pop Century for overnight. Ellen and I drove to Wolfgang Puck express at Downtown Disney for some take-out. The meatloaf and mashed were really very tasty. Either that, or anything would have tasted good, because we hadn't eaten all day.
Thursday:
While Mark had a golf game scheduled with buddies, first Ellen and I did some grocery shopping. No one wants to get sick while on vacation. But I can tell you from experience, many people do!! This year, that included both my parents! For future reference for anyone needing medical attention, we can wholeheartedly recommend going to the ER at Celebration's Florida Hospital, where we told anyone who would listen that we were friends with Scott King! They had a steady stream of sick vacationers coming in through the door. And while we were still in the ER for the better part of an afternoon, it WAS Celebration, and feels like a country club compared to a "normal" city hospital. If you don't have a car, there is a free van that will come and transport you there. Both received excellent care, and were diagnosed with relatively minor respiratory/viral infections, and both have recovered nicely. Thank goodness! While Disney hotel info lists the Centra Care facility near the Crossroads as the closest, beware that these urgent care clinics do not take all insurances, and may require an up-front payment, which can be over $100. You can also arrange for one of these Florida Hospital doc's to make a hotel room visit, if necessary. Hopefully no one will need these services in the future, but it is good information to know, just in case. Got to the expo near 7pm. We didn't really "do" the expo, but I guess it was a good thing we went so late, as we heard reports of long lines to get in most of the day.
Friday:
Well, we didn't REALLY want to get up early 3 days in a row, especially after a tiring day Thursday, but we had all our pirate gear along from the Disneyland Half with us, so we drove over to MGM for the Pirate and Princess Fun Run. Personally, I was a bit disappointed. But I think this is in comparison to the Fun Run at Disneyland. We were all so pumped and had such a large group in California, with so much energy. And the course in California was fantastic! We ran into Stan and Sheila, Bart and Isabelle, our friend Mike Tuohey who joined us at WDWDW on Monday, the Lawrences were there to cheer us at the start, and we saw Wendy Sibley, all dressed up as a pirate! I really do think they could do a bit better on the t-shirt design. I feel this way overall about most of the recent WDW Marathon merchandise, though. It is all starting to look like "just another race shirt" to me, rather than, "WOW, did you see that cool Disney marathon shirt??!?!?!" Maybe I'm getting old and jaded!!! But this is a GOOD thing - I spend way less money at the expo!!!
Didn't make it to Animal Kingdom to meet up with the group until a bit after noon, so I missed BOTH cruises :-( As I was also on the verge of getting sick, this is probably a good thing. Did manage to get on Expedition Everest though. Very cool ride!
Met up with Deads at the Pop Century food court for dinner. I had scoped it out on Thursday morning when we were there, and I saw an area that is a bit set off to the back from the rest of the seating area. This is where we pulled a bunch of tables together for our encounter. I forgot the pirate flag, though!! I'm pretty sure everyone found us. Presented Stan with the now famous Pink Fairy Boat picture. Sorry I didn't have time to frame it, like your King and Queen picture in California. Icing on the cake was Alvaro presenting Stan with his honorary Pink Fairy Boat Captain certificate before the WDWDW2 on Monday. Alvaro, great minds think alike!! I think Pop Century was a nice alternative to our traditional Dixie Landings encounter, as everyone seemed to find appropriate food choices.
Saturday:
It was HOT. When you start sweating in the corrals before the race even starts, you know you're in trouble. This year, due to a lengthy battle with the dreaded PF, I followed the Mark Druckenmiller training method™ (which is basically none.) So I wasn't sure what would happen over the course of the next two days. My goal was just to finish, so I could just finish on Sunday and get my second Goofy. Met up with a bunch of deads in the D-tent before the race. Took a few pictures along the way, but didn't really stop anywhere. Decided I would not carry my digital camera with me the next day. From now on, its a disposable 35mm for me. I can keep switching one of those between hands, and find it is much less bother than worrying about a digital. After leaving the MK, I went to put my mp3 player on for the trek back to Epcot. Didn't work!!!!! It was on my waistband, and I figure I shorted it out by pouring water on myself. This was not disastrous for today, but I knew on Sunday I would be in big trouble without it if I couldn't get it to work. Caught up with my brother somewhere along the way, and we finished the half together in about 3:16. My feet were hurting and I had some chafing from my bike shorts, even though I had body glided all over.
Orignally we wanted to hang around the Boardwalk for an early dinner so we could get to bed early, or at least put our feet up, but no place started serving before 5:30! So we made plans to meet the Lauxes at our old APD place, Macaroni Grille, where as Tom reported we ran into Jakson. It was nice seeing an old "dead" friend and catching up with him.
While Tom was buying blister pads in CVS after dinner, I was scoping out the baby aisle. I decided to buy some Desitin, to help with the chafing. This is a new must-have addition to my marathon kit. I would not have been able to think about putting on another pair of bike shorts the next day, without having done this. The zinc oxide in the cream really does start healing overnight, and I highly recommend this to anyone who has problems with chafing. If you have friends with babies, very often pediatricians offices will have sample size tubes, which is great for travelling.
Sunday:
It was HOT!!! Well, it was actually cooler first thing in the morning than on Sat, but it would eventually get much worse. Started the day at the D tent again, then led Mark and Alvaro to a new route to our corral-over a couple of fences! I was purely in this today for survival, and that's about all I did. I guess its fitting that my PR is at Disney, where I won the Racewalk Division back when they had racewalk awards, and now my PB is also at Disney. Once the sun came out after about the half-way point, I really started feeling the heat. I am NOT a water person, don't like to swim, don't like it on my head. When I start pouring water on myself, it is a bad day! My feet hurt the whole time, too. By mile 15, I knew I was developing some blisters. Plus I could not keep up any semblance of a racewalk stride, due to the heel pain. It was a bit better after Animal Kingdom, where I took some Tylenol (had to wait for a water fountain, as water stops were running dry, as reported by others!) and put in gel heel pads. Up until AK, I was maintaining 14-15 min miles. After this, I really slowed down (no musical beat from the mp3 player to keep my feet mindlessly going.) I knew I had the time in the bank. But I wanted to stop with every step. Add in two medical tent stops for the blisters and re-tying my shoes a couple of times. This brought me in just under the 7 hour mark, around 6:55. The only thing I know for sure is I NEVER want to do another 7 hour marathon again!!!!! Thanks to Tom Laux, for hanging out at the Boardwalk long enough to cheer us back-of-the packers in, and to Stan and Sheila for hanging at Mexico so long (although "I" did not take any beer!)
Two GOOD memories from the marathon.
1. After crossing the railroad tracks in the MK to the backstage area, there were some characters on the left hand side of the road. I was on the far right side. It sometimes amazes me how tuned in the Disney characters can be. My girl Cruella was over there, she looked up, spotted me clear across the road, and pointed to my dalmation-spotted cool-tie. "LOVE THAT!" she called. Really brought a smile to my face.
2. The "angels" who went to McDonald's near the Animal Kingdom and brought out boxes of ice onto the course. This was in the middle of the stretch where water stops were running dry. A few pieces of ice to suck on, a few under the hat, and a few held in each hand, really helped to cool me off for a bit. Thank goodness for ALL the kind spectators who bring out oranges, gum, candy, pretzels, etc!
Well, I finished, and got my Goofy 2, which was my goal, right? Back to the room for a nap, to the Bragathon, then onto the Yachtsman with friends for a good marathon recovery steak dinner. Oh, and I lost my voice (I know, Stan, this is a GOOD thing, right??) and did some work on my own case of bronchitis!
Had to get home for a good night's sleep before the WDWDW2!!
Monday:
What can I say that hasn't already been said? Start with a nice easy morning stroll twice around the lake to loosen up the legs. Then had a wonderful day with a great group of friends touring the countries in Epcot during WDWDW2. Many memorable moments, and pictures that are destined to be classics!! I only had a few beers, figuring the alcohol would help to kill my cold germs!! Ended the day with our rowdy Dead group in England, watching Illuminations. What could be better?
Tuesday and Wednesday:
Family days in the parks, trying to cram everything we didn't do yet into 2 days!! Got on Expedition Everest 2 more times, and hopefully gave a family an unoffical Magical Moment, when I handed them our EE Fastpasses as we were leaving AK!
Thursday was a sad day as we left all our Disney-dead friends and returned home. Can't wait until we see you all again!!!!
Thanks for hanging in this far.
Eileen D.
