Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Walt Disney World Half Marathon - January 2010

Race day was a disaster for me, but it was a fun trip with a great friend. My guidance counselor and friend, Cheryl, and I signed up for this one (as mentioned in a previous post.)  Unfortunately, I let my job and life commitments get the better of me for this race.  I was way under-trained but had a great time anyway.

As soon as we got to our resort at Port Orleans Riverside, we made our way to the Expo.  Disney transportation took us to the Wide World of Sports.


Here is Cheryl waiting for the bus:



We got to Wide World of Sports and the excitement was in the air!

The Expo was amazing . . . lots of vendors and even bigger crowds!  We got our shopping on that day!



We picked up our race packets, checked to make sure our timing devices worked, and soaked in the atmosphere of pre-race excitement!


Since this was our first race in years (or at all) we had no proof of time and wound up in corrals near the back.  We both decided to start in G.  At Disney races, you can move back, but they will not let you move up.  They are pretty strict about this, too!

After the Expo and the next day, we did some serious park touring.  Then, it was time to start thinking about what we really came for.  We got ready for the race with some not-so-traditional "cheesy" carb loading.  I don't think this is what "real" runners do . . . and I paid for it dearly the next day.


Then, we set off for our resort and set the alarm for a 3:00 am wake-up call since we needed to catch the bus by 4:00.  Race day attire . . . we never thought we would need several layers of long sleeves and long pants!



Oh yeah!!!! I forgot to mention that we were lucky enough to travel to Florida during their never-before-seen-in-this-lifetime ARCTIC BLAST!  When we got to the staging area of the race, it was SNOWING!  YES, SNOWING in Florida.  Later, it turned to sleet and then an icy cold rain.  Race day had the most miserable conditions I had ever seen in Florida - or anywhere else.  

Here we are at the start area.  
I had on at least 6 layers (2 were winter coats), and we are wearing silver heat suits.

Soaking wet hair from the snow at 4:30 in the morning!

Cheryl, still smiling...



Now, remember that cheesy meal I mentioned above?  It came back to haunt me SEVERAL times during the race.  It was torture to even pull down my pants in the porta-potty during an ARCTIC BLAST!  I swore I'd never have another race like this one . . .

but I managed to finish in a little over 3 hours (embarrassing, I know) despite being under-trained, surviving a Floridian Arctic Blast, making at least 4 porta-potty visits while desperately needing Immodium throughout the course.  Ewwwww!

We returned to resort to thaw out, take hot showers, and a nap.  


 

Then, it was time for some more serious park touring - this time showing off our "I DID IT!" shirts and our BLING!








Now, I had a great time on this trip - but learned a lot. I will never under-train like I did for this race, and I will NEVER go to the start line without Immodium!

 I also never thought I'd travel to Florida and wear UGGS during park touring at Disney.  


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