2010 WDW Princess Half-Marathon Marathon of Posts Vol 4

Sunday, March 7, 2010. The alarm went off at 3:00 am. I don't call that "Early in the morning" but rather, the middle of the night...

Despite my hopes that I might "sleep in" until 3:30, I was up. Everyone else was up, I was up.

I had debated what to wear knowing a few things:

It would be cold.

I am highly susceptible to shin splits.

I don't like to be cold.

I would eventually get too hot in a sweatshirt.

The start of the race would be really really cold.

A few years ago at a Scout event, someone left behind a zippered hoodie sweatshirt. We tried to figure out who left it behind but never did and for some reason that sweatshirt stayed in my laundry room ever since. I brought that along with me. Many endurance athletes (such as myself,) begin events wearing more clothes than they need, in order to stay warm at the beginning of the event. They shed these clothes along the course. And by shed I mean, they take them off and throw them by the side of the road. In some cases they may have friends or family meet them along the route to pick up the clothes for them but mostly they tend to just throw them away to the side of the road. These clothes are often referred to as... get ready for it... it's almost too original to imagine... "Throw Aways." Do not dismay, the clothes do not go to waste. Volunteers would be out on the route to collect the throw aways which are washed and distributed to charities.

• I finally settled on my long-sleeve plum colored Reebok shirt that my sister had given me for Christmas, with my Champion sports bra from Le Tarjay underneath.
• My Champion capri length athletic pants from Le Tarjay, because they had a pink stripe and I had worn them at the Disneyland Half, thus my "Something Pink" and my "Lucky Pants."
• My pink compression sleeves on my legs (for the shin splint issue.)
• A message board cap, graciously on loan from my lovely roommate J. (Because I failed to order one when swanie took orders because for some reason I thought I might have another chance before the Princess. Oops.)
• My spi-belt (love that thing!) with my Key to the Kingdom, inhaler, lip balm and Shot Bloks inside.
• My bib carefully pinned on by J to make sure that it was straight because J has straight bib issues.
• My sunglasses and phone stashed in a secure area (my jogging bra. Yes, there's a big hole right in the middle there to stuff things. This turned out to be a horrible mistake, and not for the reason you may think, but that story's coming later.)
• My over-priced gloves.
• My "walking on marshmallows" Nike Vomeros with RoadRunner socks, the mid-ankle height with the orange stripe kind. C attached my D-tag for me.
• My sweatband with my Garmin Forerunner.
• My armband with my very special pink iPod Nano engraved with "Princess PerkyMommy's -- Go, Mom, Go!! We Love You!!" (a very special just because gift from DaddyDoc -- "I can't be with you in person so I wanted you to have something special from me." -- Apparently the Garmin didn't count.) And for the iPod - an armband to hold it and pink Panasonic ear buds with over the ear thingies to hold them in place better.
• A washcloth I brought from home to tuck into the shoulder strap of my bra.
• And my throw-away hoodie.

Phew! It takes a lot of stuff to finish a Half-Marathon if you're me.

Oh and just to clarify...

I LOOKED LIKE A FREAK.

Yes, I did. I told myself that it took a brave person to wear pink compression sleeves with capri pants. No. It took a freak. A total freak.

Oh my red cap and my purple shirt and my pink sleeves SO did not match. Very clashy. Very NOT Princessy.

I told myself that my Perky Self could pull it off.

I'm not sure I did. But. There is no fashion quiz required to get a medal so, there you go.

I had purchased a container of nonfat milk from the Kidani Village gift shop place, because I need it in the morning. I poured myself a cup of milk and pulled out my Luna Bar. I love Luna Bars. They totally work for me. No other "bar" has ever worked for me. I cannot handle a lot of carbs without enough protein and I really need protein first thing in the morning, especially before, you know, moving my body 13.1 miles in the COLD. I decided to grab a water bottle, too. J had suggested I might carry it. I wasn't sure about that but I figured worse case, I'd toss it when I got tired of it.

We piled into our car shortly after 4 am (you know, when it was still dark outside,) and headed to the Epcot parking lot. Only some of the Disney resorts had bus service to the race. Ours was not one of them but we had the rental car, which was better if you ask me because we didn't need to worry about getting out quite so early. We had plans to meet with the rest of our message board friends at the "H-tent" which ended being an "E-K" tent, or as it came to be known, the EEK tent.

Now among the group were some members of the military preparing to deploy for a very long time to places that are very warm. One had come to the Princess with his wife so that she could run while he took care of their children. That was James. James had completed a marathon on Saturday morning, in 3 hours and 28 minutes. In September, at Disneyland, i had completed a half-marathon in 3 hours and 30 minutes. Upon learning of James' time, I informed swanie "I can complete a Half in the time it takes James to finish a FULL MARATHON?!?!??" James had been hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon but in his age category, which is very close to mine (and will be mine all too soon,) he needed to finish faster than 3:20. To add insult to James' injury, I decided that I would beat James' time. Every girl has to have a goal, right? I mean, other than "finish without being taken off the course or horribly embarrassing myself more than the pink compression sleeves sticking out of the capri pants already do."

G of the Gnooooooooommme incident was the other soldier. He and his wife planned to run together, but his wife was injured and unable to run. G ran in her honor. He wore her number on his back with a sign that said 'Running for my Injured Princess' (oh wait, don't start tearing up yet, it gets worse,) in his full fatigues and boots.

Ok, now you can cry.

Go ahead, everyone else was getting misty over it.

We admired the costumes of those who dressed up. Oh and we were cold. Swanie was "wearing" a large garbage bag that C had brought along from home. I had my gloves on. After a few photos and such, we walked through the bag-tents, I left my "drop bag" and we made a group stop at the porta-potties. One of my other goals is to not make a porta-potty stop during the event. I don't want to risk losing that much time when I am already on the slow side. Plus, there was that whole "Beat James" thing I had going on.

Do you see swanie's trashbag? And people with blankets? And gloves? Because it was coooooooold! This is not my picture. I think I stole it from G's wife S.

When everyone was out, we headed to the start line. For those of you familiar with Disneyland, the walk to the start line there is at most a block from the tent area/finish line. A mere hop skip and a jump if you will.

Not at Walt Disney World. Oh heck no. It's a walk. It's a hike. The could have offered tram service. I mean, really, did we need to walk MORE than we already were? Because it wasn't just a walk, but a walk between a bunch of tall trees. We started in the cold parking lot and then the temperature dropped when we were walking between the trees!

I was the only one in Corral C so I bid farewell as the rest of the group headed to Corrals A and B. I misread the signs and walked all the way to Corral D and then back up to Corral C. One advantage of being alone at this point was that I could walk deeper into the corral. I made some small talk with the group around me. We could not really hear the speakers at the start line. We did hear a bit of the National Anthem. And then we saw the fireworks explode for the Corral A start. Everyone moved forward, stopped and waited... and then we saw the fireworks for the Corral B start. We moved forward and stopped... and watched a woman off to the side, down near the swampy area, wearing her half-marathon bib... having a smoke before the half started. HUH???

The Fairygodmother was up on the stage with the other announcers and after some small talk, we counted down, our corral's fireworks went off and so did we!

I started my Garmin just before the start line and then I turned on my iPod... which was really quiet and not quite right...

For the first half mile or so I was futzing around with my iPod. I finally figured out that my ear phones were not quite plugged in all the way. I got that fixed and could finally focus on the half!

I looked down at my Garmin to check my pace and I was UNDER 14 minutes. What the hey!?!? I couldn't believe it. I was making fast time and feeling pretty good. The only thing was that my mouth was really really dry. I still had my water bottle with me and I was so glad to just have a small enough drink to get my mouth feeling better. Now, I realized I better start with my Shot Bloks because by the time I feel like I need one, it's too late. My plan is 1/2 package per 45 minutes or 4 miles or so. But to get into my spibelt, I had to take off my gloves. They were a bit of a pain in the tush but it was still cold and I was glad to have them. At one point I dropped a glove and someone told me so I could go back and get it. Ugh! I was really in the middle of a pretty big group still but I went back and grabbed it.

Before I knew it I was rounding the corner and hearing the DJ at the first mile! I was still keeping under a 15-minute pace, too!! I started to wonder, hey, forget beating James, maybe I could "BQ" -- Maybe I could beat the Boston Qualifying time!?? Each time I saw a mile marker I would start to tear up. I could not believe how well I was doing!

And so the long stretch up World Drive went along. There was a giant pirate ship filled with pirates along the way. There was another stop with a pile of princes smiling and waving at us: Two Charmings, Aladdin, Tarzan... and some others but I could not remember who... Oops. As we came up to the big Magic Kingdom toll booths (is that what you would call them?) I really wished I had a camera with me. Wow. That felt pretty darn cool to walk right through there. And I was still keeping up my pace! The ipod music was really keeping me going. I spared my fellow atheletes the sound of my singing voice but I was mouthing along with the songs. (How much worse could I look???)

As I continued towards the Magic Kingdom, I remembered the first time we came to MK with the kids and how swanie was on the cell phone telling me that it was NOT POSSIBLE to WALK from the parking lot TO the Magic Kingdom. All I could think of was: Swanie LIED! I'm WALKING to the Magic Kingdom.

Walking through this toll booth was so neat. I loved it. I sooo wished I had a camera when I walked through! It was a bit sunnier by the time I got here but here's what it looked like when swanie arrived.

Around a corner near mile 4 I took off the hoodie, maneuvered over to the side of the road and tossed it. I continued on and soon I saw that bridge that my friend from another message board always talks about - it is really a canal between the Wilderness Lodge area lake and the Magic Kingdom. She regularly holds her breath when she's on a Disney bus under this bridge because she's "under water." I did not hold my breath but I found myself amused at walking under water.

That said, the amusement was short lived.

HOLY CRAP.

The hill back up from under that canal SUUUUUUUUUUCKED. I got down to 17-18 minute pace on that sucker. OH it was bad.

Shortly we were backstage at Magic Kingdom and then onto Main Street! This part was surreal. It was familiar but it was not. This was my first time in MK since October and I was taken aback there - I'm not in Anaheim, this is not Disneyland, that's right, Magic Kingdom is different. I wanted to look around at the stores as I was walking but I was looking for red caps in the crowd to see if I might recognize anyone or if anyone would see my red hat and "recognize" me. And then, bam, I was in Tomorrowland. And through Tomorrowland, the same thing happened: Wow, that's right, we are not in Disneyland anymore, Toto... Which really continued into Fantasyland!

Getting ready to go THROUGH Cinderella's castle! (From swanie's camera...)

I have seen other people's pictures from Marathon events at WDW before, and I always envy the castle pictures. I remembered one friend's picture in particular. I could tell about where she was standing when it was taken and so as I headed through the castle, I maneuvered to the right side of the road. I KNEW I wanted to find that photographer for my million dollar castle shot. I saw him and I put my two thumbs up. And I walked. And I walked. And I got closer to him. And closer. And closer. And I thought "TAKE THE DAMN PICTURE ALREADY BEFORE I'M OUT OF THE SHOT." I finally saw the flash but of course I worried that I missed him.

Next I looked out for a message board member who was supposed to be waiting outside of the castle. Unfortunately, I missed him. I was seriously bummed later when I saw some of the pictures he had of my friends. Oh well. I tried! And then we were heading through Liberty Square, which you may not have heard of if you have only ever been to Disneyland, but it takes you from the castle into Frontierland. Before I knew it we were out of the MK and down the very very long road going past the Grand Floridian, Shades of Green and a golf course.

During this time I saw another woman who had been with me on and off to this point. I would pass her, she would run past me, I would pass her again, then I would see her run past me. This time I was coming up to her and she had shedded her jacket. Beneath her white t-shirt I could see a Disneyland Half Marathon shirt. I asked her if I was seeing correctly and found out she had finished the Disneyland Half in 2006. We walked together for about a mile or so, talking about Walt Disney World versus Disneyland - many of our opinions were the same. Near Mile 9 she had the urge to run again and we parted.

During this time we passed through the fueling station. At Disneyland they ran out of Gu shots long before we arrived at this station. Personally, I cannot wait until 2 hours into my event to take in fuel, and I am not really a Gu person. But they had plenty of Gu when we arrived. In fact, they offered a couple of different flavors. I wished I had picked one up to stash in my spi-belt to try later, but that was ok.

At this point I could tell I was slowing but I still was keeping a pretty darn decent pace.

Crossing the 15K marker, I saw the photographer on the crane stretched out over the street. Notice the toll booths are now open to car traffic.

As we approached the 10 mile mark, we came to the point where Epcot Drive crosses over World Drive. We had to walk through the cloverleaf from World onto Epcot Center. Therefore, when we were down on World Drive, we could look UP and see the people ahead of us on the overpass of Epcot Drive. Way.Up.There.

The mile markers featured Disney royalty on storybooks.

My phone buzzed in my bra and I pulled it out to find a text message from Doc. Having signed up for e-mail alerts and sleeping with his iPhone very nearby, my 15K split had come in and he saw how well I was doing. He sent me a little message to encourage me. Awwww. I picked up the pace as I entered that cloverleaf. And at the bottom of the cloverleaf, the incline wasn't too bad. As I rounded the corner, fresh off my text message, who did I see? Toy Story's Green Army Men!!! Toy Story is one of our household's favorite movies. My ring tone for phone calls from home is "You've Got a Friend In Me." We LOVE Toy Story. And here they were to remind me of my guys cheering me on from the warmth and comfort of their beds in California. Or at least, the one who was awake off and on...

I kicked up the pace a little more.

That is... until the top of the darn cloverleaf.

Ay! Overpasses SUCK. Holy Crap.

And so it continued down Epcot Drive. Or rather, UP and down Epcot Drive.

My pace really slowed down quite a bit. At this point I still clung to some hope that MAYBE I could beat the BQ time. But the hope kept fading with each hill. Off on the opposite side of the highway, several cars passed by honking their horns in support and that did cheer me up. Down below on the right, eventually we came to the Epcot parking lot booths and I saw several cars of spectators had pulled off to the shoulder and climbed the tall embankment UP to Epcot Drive to cheer us on.

At this point, you have to know that I was more or less waddling and somewhat limping badly. For the week leading up to the Half, I experienced an unusual to me hip pain. At the beginning of the Half, I could already feel it starting but I "pushed through the pain" and did what I came to do. By this point, I was waddling and walking very strangely. The pain did not prevent me from continuing but I am sure the gait did nothing to help my freak appearance.

As I passed the Mile 11 marker, my spirits picked up again. I was so darn close!! Every time I passed a porta-potty I told my body NO, you WILL NOT STOP. And I had not! At the water station just beyond the Mile 12 marker I passed on the water. I just had to finish. I still wondered in the back of my mind if I could BQ but it was becoming clear that I could not. But the tears were coming more frequently now because I knew I was almost there. We entered on the west side of Spaceship Earth and at one point I ran. I could see by my Garmin that I was at an 8-minute mile for a short time. I really wanted to see that finish line. The day guests inside Epcot were crossing the course and all I could think was that if I had to slow down for one of them, it was NOT going to be pretty. One man seemed to cross before the Cast Member gave him the ok. He is darn-tootin' lucky he didn't block my path...

Once at the entrance to World Showcase, we walked around the large circular planter and headed back up the East side of Spaceship Earth. As we neared the "exit" I heard the choir up ahead that swanie had mentioned to me earlier in the weekend. They were singing us in just before the bleachers began. I never did hear the announcer say my name but that was ok because I saw what I came for: The Finish Line!!!

I threw my hands up in the air as I finished. And I grabbed my washcloth to cover my face as I sobbed.

3 Hours, 25 Minutes. I did not BQ but. I beat James!

Looking around I saw a woman handing people their medals.

As in she was taking a medal in her hand and holding it out for participants to take it from her into their hands.

WHAT?

Oh no. I don't THINK so.

I assessed the situation and toward the back I found an older gentleman holding out the medals appropriately, prepared to place them over people's heads. I walked up to him for my medal and thanked him. I had tried to call swanie and J near miles 11 or 12 and at some point J called back - I think it was just before the finish line or just after. Swanie called back as I was waiting for my finishing photo. I came out of that area and found her standing near a gate to snap my picture!

She warned me that the line to pick up my bag was really long and I might want to go get it later. So I went to get my food and left the fenced off area to find our friends at the EEK tent.

T was waiting for me just as she told me she would. The support from a group of Endurance Athletes is the best. They are absolutely amazing. Others who were still around congratulated me. My right leg was cramping which is not typical. T suggested that the cold may have contributed to it. Meanwhile, I ate the banana I grabbed off the goodie table and drank some blue PowerAid. Many were leaving and we waited a bit for some who were slower than me. I had hoped to see Sweet But Sneaky's godmother but she came out and headed directly for the bus back to her resort. I went to get my bag at the bag check and the Security Guard said I could not enter.

What???

I still had my bib (and now my medal!) I was clearly a race participant. (Did he not see the klassy compression sleeves??) But he said he was given strict directions that no one was allowed BACK in until everyone else had come OUT. I explained that I only wanted to go to the table in the tent 25 feet away, to get my bag and leave again. I asked if he could go get it for me. He said no. I started to walk away, wondering how I might turn on the cute and perky and get another Security Guard at another entrance to MAYBE let me in? The Security Guard called me back and told me to go ahead. Maybe he saw my pathetic waddle?

My roommates and I headed back to the car and back to our room. And most importantly, our shower!