...or something like that anyways.
So here it is, my second official "Sports" blog on this here MySpace, and the blog about the WDW 1/2 Marathon.
Alright, let's start way at the beginning. When I was a little girl...just kidding. :)
1:45am -- Wake up time. I've set everything out that I need to wear or take. We head down to the hotel courtyard at 2:30am. It's amazing how chipper you can be at 2:30am without any coffee and after a mere 2 hours of sleep. I felt cool, calm, and collected, however; maybe that's why my 2 hours of sleep were a really good energizing 2 hours. Yeah...
2:45am -- After pictures, head count, and final supply check, we head to the bus stop. During our 15 min. wait on the cold bus (does a bus really need to be kept at 60 degrees inside at 2:45am, ugh), we talk to a Canadian guy who has been training in -29 degree weather. Let me reiterate -- NEGATIVE 29 DEGREE WEATHER. Yeah, you can barely get me out to run at 36 degrees. He's been training in 4 layers of clothing with only his eyes exposed for a few months. Well, buddy, welcome to Orlando, where the current run temp will be between 67 and 80 degrees.
3:15 am -- We're at the staging area. There's a DJ, a band, a souvenir tent, and baggage tents ready for check-in. Here is where I will sit on a garbage bag in the Epcot parking lot and wait...and wait...and wait. I buy a 1/2 Marathon pin (which I lost on Test Track later -- I was mildly heartbroken) and I get my first experience with the 1/2 marathon port-a-potties. No different from your average can, except some actually had hand-sanitizer inside, nice. As I'm sitting in my dark port-a-pottie, doing my business, I hear a girl next to me...
"Hello?!"
Um, okay, should I say hello back? And then...
"It's so dark in here!"
Uh, yeah, it's a port-a-pottie...at 4:00 in the morning. Good luck to ya, kid.
Well, that was a unique port-ex-perience.
5:00am -- Time to head to the start! Wonderful...except for one minor detail. The fast runners don't start until 6:00am, and the rest of us don't start until 6:20am. Sigh. So, let's kill time by checking in bags and using the port-a-pottie one more time.
5:something am -- The herd of cattle (that would be all of us) make our way to the start line. The walk alone should have counted as the first mile.
6:00am -- Along the way, I notice that the walk has taken its toll on others, and they are all looking for that perfect place to call "nature's port-a-pottie". A fellow Team In Training person can't help it, and in all this walking I have come to the point where I have to go again as well. With an additional person and an old beach towel in tow, the two of us look for a good opening in the bushes. We pray for no poison ivy, and in a few minutes I have just had my first "runner's pee in the bushes". Swell, everything my coach told us about back in August and September is coming true.
6:20am -- The fireworks go off, everyone cheers, and the WDW 1/2 Marathon has begun! I hope I can get a chance to hi-five Mickey & friends, just like I saw the other folks before us do. By the time I get to the start line, they've moved to the other side. Bastards.
Miles 1-5 -- Here's where I started out slow...slower than I wanted to, in fact. The reason being that I was running/walking with a Team In Training member who happened to break her toe the day before on the armoire in her hotel room. I was enjoying the pace, however, because we got to talk a bit and still avoid the dreaded sweeper bus. There are DJs stationed sporadically along the course, and the cars on the adjacent highway are honking their support. This part moved along really fast.
Miles 6-7 -- God help me, this is where we run through the Magic Kingdom. I almost -- ALMOST -- cried running down Main Street. I don't even know how many characters were there to greet us because I was so enthralled. I know that Belle & the Beast were there. Mickey & Minnie were at what I call the "parade door" on Main Street, by what may be the magic shop or the hat store. Cast members were getting ready for the day, and there were a few wearing Mickey gloves, great for hi-fives. :) We ran through the Castle, through Frontierland, backstage to see some parade floats, and then - VOILA - back out into Mickey's boring backyard. There was a station with water, Powerade, and bananas. One man complained to his running partner that the people shouldn't throw the bananas on the ground (okay, I agree.) He said they should at least throw it into the woods for the raccoons or something (huh?!) I guess raccoons eat bananas, but his comments made me think about that for the next mile...
Miles 8-11 -- Resort time! We passed a few resorts, mainly the really expensive ones that are connected to the Magic Kingdom by a mere monorail ride (once again, bastards.) I waved to some people standing on their balcony on the Contemporary Resort. The man waved back, which was cool. I felt like a celebrity, so I honored my public with a smile & a wave - 'tis the right thing to do, no? ;) There were some of Mary Poppins' penguins hanging out at the Grand Floridian (even the damn penguins had better accommodations than I did) and I did hi-five Goofy somewhere in there. By the end of Mile 11, I was oh so thirsty and oh so hungry and dying for some sustenance, when...
Mile 12 -- WTF??? There was an area strewn with dixie cups and empty water bottles, but NO tables, NO people, and NO food or drink!!! What the heck is this, Mickey?! When I'm told there's going to be a water station here, I want to see a damn water station here! UGH! Thoroughly disgusted with Disney for these brief moments, I trudged onto the bridge that led into the Epcot parking lot. Oh, glorious day, there was our Team In Training staff rep standing at the middle of the bridge with her camera in hand! She took my picture and promptly asked if I needed any water or pretzels. I believe I answered something akin to "OH MY GOD, YES!" I took the bottle of water and a giant handful of pretzels. I paused for a moment for a brief chat and then I was on my way. I glanced at my watch -- 30 minutes left to finish. I decided right then and there that I would enjoy my last mile and walk at a slower pace to the finish line.
Mile 13 & Finish Line -- What a wonderful mile this was, sort of. I was tired. My muscles were on auto-pilot, I think, because had I sat down, they would have just stopped working altogether. There were people everywhere now, cheering and shouting. A few of our team members were there taking pictures. Now began my annoyance of the phrase, "You're almost there!" Liars, I say, they were all liars. Had I been "almost there", I would have turned a corner to find the beautiful finish line. At every corner, I heard "almost there" and, much to my chagrin, no finish line. FINALLY, after thinking that maybe Disney was playing a cruel trick and leading us on yet another mile, there it was, the finish line. I got a few yards before it and decided I would run across it like the cool athletes do! Yeah, no go. My legs started cramping as soon as I was running. Fine, I'll just saunter over the finish line like a Hollywood starlet. Does that work for you legs? Good. At 3:20:27, I finished the 2007 Walt Disney World Half Marathon. God bless America.
Post-Race -- I turned in my timing chip, grabbed a mylar blanket (which I confused for a souvenir banner or something -- hey, I'm new to this), and proceeded to look for my teammates. I ran into two of them, who quickly informed me that they were out of medals. WTF, again?! No medals?! Uh-uh, I don't think so. I didn't raise all this money, fly my a** out here, and run/walk 13.1 miles to get back on a plane with no bling to show for it! Did I want my finish line picture taken? NO, not without my damn medal! Disheartened, I went to the food tent, grabbed a banana and some bars, and tried to eat my disappointment away. When suddenly, "They've got medals!" Nice, Mickey, nice. I was beginning to be on not-so-friendly terms with the Mouse. Of course, this was Donald's race; maybe I should blame him. He's not as organized, you know.
So I did get my medal there, I was so happy, and I promptly treated myself to a gloriously freezing cold water soak in my hotel bathroom. I emerged unscathed, with only sore muscles and a painful right baby toe, nothing that a few more cold soaks couldn't fix.
Would I do this again? In a heartbeat! In fact, I'm already planning. I don't want to lose what I've gained through four months of training. In fact, I just went out for a 2-mile run in the 36-degree weather today! I even bumped up my pace from a 15-min. mile to a 13-min. mile! If I keep this up, I could finish half marathons with a 2:10 time to show for it. :)
As I look back at the race and look forward to more, I still can't believe that I'm so excited to take on the next race. And I used to say, "Arlene doesn't run" -- HA! She does now, boy, does she run now...
