I was totally ready for this half– I had everything laid out the night before, my pre-race nutrition set up. The alarm was set to go off at 2:30 so I could catch the first bus at 3am. Alarm clock goes off at 2:30 as scheduled and I get up and get dressed. I am feeling good and have a few minutes so I figured I would turn the tv on to get an idea of the weather outside. The TV clock says 1:45. 1:45?? I check my phone– also 1:45. Apparently, I hit something on the alarm clock and changed the time. So I was up an hour earlier than I needed to be. And since I had so much adrenaline running through me at that point, I wasn’t able to get back to sleep initially.
I get to the start line with 12,000 other people. I initially felt a little wierd about not knowing anyone, but overall people were really nice and friendly and it made the time pass by pretty quickly.
I was in Corral D, out of E. Which gives you an idea of how slow I am. But even being in that corral meant I had a little bit of a cushion in front of the sweepers. Corral by corrall, waves of runners are sent off. Finally it is out turn. Minnie and Daisy are on stage along with the runDisney folks. A digital Tinkerbell sprinkles some digital pixie dust, and we are off!
One of my biggest problems is letting the excitement of race day get to me. I tend to start out too fast and not doing my 1:1 intervals. I made a conscious effort this time to stick with both, and it was hard because I was getting passed like crazy. I had already decided I wasn’t going to stop for any pictures when I came across Sully from Monsters Inc. I quickly took a picture and carried on. Until I got to Phineas and Ferb and the Fireside girls. My girls love this show (as do we). I had to take a pic, and the line didn’t seem to too long so I hopped into line. This was a situation were appearances could be deceiving because that line took me about 4 minutes, but I love the picture.
I continued with my 1:1 intervals as we ran through the park. As we were in Tomorrowland ( I think), I saw this huge line for Darth Vader and two storm troopers. I am not a huge Star Wars, but J is. So I hopped in the line– this one took about 10 minutes and I was getting worried. I was starting to see people with Corral E bibs pass on by, and I had no idea where the sweepers were. My garmin told me I was still at less than the 16min/mile requirement, so I figured I was ok.
Picture taken, I dashed off again until I saw Merida. Stood in line for about 4 minutes and got a pic taken. I was annoyed because the CM who took this picture with my camera totally messed up– it just looks like a big blur. So now if i want the pic, I am going to have to buy the overpriced one.
As we are running along, I see the castle approaching. It’s all algow in pink and so so pretty. I run through the castle and see Aurora and Prince Philip to the side. Get into line and get that picture taken. This ends up being the only castle picture I got. I think there were so many people and not many photorgraphers, so there is no picture of me running through the castle which was really disappointing.
As I continued on, at this point (mile 5 maybe), someone yells out that we are 13 minutes ahead of the pacers. I feel a little tension leave because I know I will be able to keep ahead of them. My fear of getting swept has diminshed. We leave the parks with the Red Hat Ladies cheering us on. They were awesome! I wish I had gotten a picture of them. I was feeling really good, keeping with my intervals and not tiring out. I remember distinctly thinking how much I was enjoying this run and reminding myself to pay attention to the details. It felt like a breathrough for me– that I had gotten to a point where I felt my body could handle this and i could just enjoy myself. If it makes sense that running 13.1 miles would be enjoying, lol.
From here until the finish, it was running through Anaheim which I thought was pretty. People were sitting on their front porches cheering us on. There were a lot of high school bands and dance troops. I was doing well with my 1:1 until mile 8. And then I felt my right thigh muscle cramp up. It hurt to run, it hurt to walk. I hopped on the sidewalk and massaged it out some and tried to stretch it. It felt better and I tried walking again. But before hitting mile 9, it happened again. I was diligent about taking a GU every 4 miles, drinking plently of water and powerade on the course. I don’t know what happened,but it hurt! After that, I was running 1 minute and walking 2-3 minutes, after walking the entire next mile. I was pretty disappointed because I really wanted to do the 1:1 thing the whole race and see what kind of time I could get.
Finally, I see mile 12, and I know I am close. I try to start running and am able to without any pain. So I keep up the 1:1 intervals. I was in a pretty good place so I didn’t get the mile 13 sign. Nor did I take pictures with Mickey, Minnie etc at the finish line. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get back moving!
I crossed the finish line in 3:29 minutes. Which techinically is a PR for me. I was pretty proud of myself, esp since I spent about 20 minutes in line.
After crossing the finish line, there was a mass of people crowding around to get their medal. This part was a little frustrating. It seemed like there were only 3 or 4 volunteers handing out medals. Of course, there could have been more and I was too tired to notice. After getting my medal, I got another box of food, a mylar blanket (which was really helpful because I was starting to get cold fast). Then we stood in line to get out official pictures taken and then sent off.
It was a long long way from the finish line at the back of the parks to the front where the buses were. And everyone- runners, spectators, and park goers had to stand in line to get bags checked. Once I made it through there, it was to the hotel. I had time for a quick shower and to throw my stuff in my suitcase before the van came to take me back to the airport.
All in all, it was a fun race and I am really glad I did it. I was so happy with how I did , physically and mentally, that I am sure Princess next month with be just as good, if not better.
Chai and Chocolates 