I'm finally back at home after a FABULOUS weekend! The race was sooooo much fun!!
We ended up dropping back to start in Corral D with our friend who came last minute. Unfortunately that meant that we started with a lot of people who were running a lot slower than our pace. Over the first few miles, we actually ran an extra 0.5-0.6 miles weaving around and trying to pass people to keep our target pace.
We saw the woman down on the ground around mile 3 and heard she had a broken clavicle.
Our friend had to make an emergency bathroom stop at TTC, which was unfortunate, because we waited so long for her that we got cold and stiff and never really got back to feeling as good as we did at the beginning.
The character lines were a lot longer than I thought, and we didn't end up stopping, especially after the bathroom break, because I couldn't stand around and get cold and stiff again. The only picture we got was the castle picture, which I hope turned out. I think most of the pictures I tried to take with my camera are going to be blurry because I just didn't have the patience to stop-- I was too excited!
Running through MK--especially down Main St--was the highlight for me! That was so exhilarating! The stretch after Grand Floridian was pretty bad-- they had some slow quiet music that made we want to go to sleep! I was so glad to see the "awful overpass". It was amazing to stop at the top of the overpass and see the wall of humanity as far back as the eye could see! (I hope in the future to move up to an earlier corral so the course is a bit less crowded.)
When we came to the mile 12 marker entering Epcot I got a bit emotional-- I knew we were going to make it! At first I was unhappy that they extended the course inside Epcot-- until I realized how close the finish was to the park exit (I had heard last year there was another 0.5 mi in the parking lot). We all held hands and crossed the finish line together in 2:32! I was hoping for closer to 2:15-2:20, but with the 7 minute bathroom stop and the extra distance we ran due to "traffic", it probably was pretty close to that pace.
I can't believe how FUN the race itself was. I was expecting to enjoy the experience of the weekend but have the race be tough-- I just had so much more fun running than I thought!
I was so cold at the end of the race, especially when it started "misting". They kept telling us we could get the mylar blankets at the medical tents, but the only people who seemed to have them were the Massage people. (Later I realized I should have just paid $1 and not had the 1 minute massage to at least get the mylar wrap.) We ended up just heading back to the buses rather than hanging around after--we were back in our hotel room by about 9:30.
We had remembered to bring throw-away sweaters for wait at the beginning. We left our room at BC at 3:50 and got on the bus at 4:00. We followed the crowd to the bag-check porta-potties (only waited about 15-20 minutes to go--but they were GROSS), which we left at 5:00. It then took us until 5:40 to get to Corral D with the terrible crowds. At least we didn't wait that long to start. We threw the sweaters away as the fireworks went off, and I was completely warm by a few minutes in.
We got to the expo Saturday late morning-- I did manage to get an "I Did It" tshirt, which I proudly wore on Sunday after the race.
The other awesome thing about the Expo was that we were able to sign up for the
Disneyland 1/2! I'm so excited to be doing the CtC! They gave us a CtC backpack for each registration. I think they must have only had a few spots left by then, but we made it in under the gun. (It sounds like a lot of DISers are doing that one too-- anyone want to point me to the thread for it?)
We are also planning to do the Tower of Terror 10miler in September (haven't registered yet). I'll be excited to not have to wake up at 3AM for that one.
Clearly I am now a runDisney addict!
