We arrived home safely Saturday night after spending 9 days at Disney. We arrived on Thursday morning and boarded the Magical Express right away arriving at the Boardwalk by 11AM. After registering (our room wasn't ready yet) we headed to MGM to renew out annual passes had some lunch and then walked back to the Boardwalk where we met Bart and Isabelle at the expo bus stop. We didn't buy too much at the expo after spending quite a bit at the Disneyland and Marine Corps Expos. Thursday night we went to see the Osborne Lights at MGM.
Friday morning Eileen and I jogged over the the Studios to watch the start of the Fun Run where we met up with the Druckenmillers and Stan and Shelia. After showering we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. We missed the group, but was able to take in most of the attractions including Everest. Then we headed over to Pop Century for the typical pre-race meal of Belgian Beer and Chocolates (Thanks Bart).
Saturday morning, met Tom in the lobby of the Boardwalk and headed for the bus. After de-busing somewhere in the Epcot parking lot, we took the 4 mile walk to the D Tent. One thing about Disney is they really make sure you get a warm-up in before the races. Got to stretch out on one of Boardwalk towels that Robert supplied. See Bob F, the towels did come in handy. We must have missed the call for the A corral because when we started in the B corral runners were making their way to the start. After bypassing them we made our way to the the A-1 corral. We even managed to get our 3 seconds of fame on the jumbo tron.
The Race
I ran the half in 1:48:25 which is just what I was shooting for. Wanted to start out at 8:20 pace and was 25:00 at 3 miles. I picked it up slightly from there and stayed pretty steady most of the way. But even though I took a cup of powerade at each stop, I noticed that I had stopped sweating as I made my way thru the MK. So from there I drank two cups of water at each of the remaining stops. At 10 miles my legs started to tighten some probably from dehydration so I walked some and drank some extra water. I lost a little time, but was able to accelerate some over the last two miles to finish 2 minutes better than my initial running half at Disney '06.
Sunday morning I was up early (although not as early as some) and did an easy walk / jog around the Boardwalk and then spectated as the marathoners passed thru. We went to lunch with our Aunt and Uncle so I missed seeing the 5:30 + runners.
Monday we met the gang at the Boardwalk for the morning after shuffle and met the group at the start of the World Tour at the Rose and Crown. We hadn't eaten yet so we headed off to Mexico for lunch and then decided to go see the afternoon parade at MGM and from there ended up in the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the evening, so we missed the finale.
Tuesday morning I met Tom running around the Boardwalk and we did a few miles together.
It turned cooler on Tues and Wed but warmed up nicely Thur - Sat. After our Buffalo crew left on Wed, Eileen and I got to bop around the parks hitting all of the attractions that we had missed over the weekend.
So another great trip to Disney is in the books. I'm sending in our goofy registration today for 2008.
Dave Lawrence
Back in Buffalo where we have freezing rain and snow.
