Saturday January 10, 2009
The alarms went off and up we got! I think I had them set for like 2:45 ish. We woke and I was so jittery/excited! We got ourselves ready and ate a bagel with some peanut butter. Made multiple checks of what we needed. Had our chips on, had our numbers, had our Sport Beans and some money, I had a camera, chapstick, our room key. DH used his Body Glide, we double triple checked (we do that alot!). Our friends were up and we all headed to the lobby to catch the bus. It was so dark and if I recall chilly as well.
I had my WISH shirt under my pink shirt and figured as I got hot I'd peel off the pink. The fleece would stay in the bag we could check at the race. I had my WISH hat too. I knew there would be WISHers cheering along the race and wanted all the support I could get and wanted to be able to identify myself to my fellow peeps in the lime!
We got to Epcot and had to walk waaaaay over to the area where everything was set up. We got our bags and figured out what we wanted to store in them and checked them in. It was crowded but things went smoothly and we didn't wait a long time. There were more porta potties than I have ever seen in my life! We repeatedly used them.
I had brought some disposable blankets I had gotton in the camping section at Walmart and we huddled under them to keep warm.
Finally it was time to head down to the corrals. Grumpy and I were in a closer corral than Snow and Doc and to this day I don't know why or how. They are much faster than us. It didn't matter we had waited too long to get down there that we didn't get to our original corral anyway. It was a sea, an ocean, of people and the excitement was palpable.
The first corrals went off and I know there were fireworks, at least I think there were? LOL! I took off my capris and tossed them to the side with all the other abandoned clothing. Yes I had a running skirt underneath! I have been told they take all the cast off clothing, clean it and donate it. There sure was a lot!
The start is slow as you wait to get to the front. The characters were there to wave and see you off!
The plan was Grumpy and I would run together and Snow and Doc would catch up. Then we'd pair off, girls and boys. I gave Julie every opportunity to not hang back with me (she finished 3rd for women in a recent Marathon in NC, she is speedy!) but she wanted to run with me the whole time.
They had a later start being in a further back corral but caught up to us around mile two. Grumpy had run to the side to tinkle and then they showed up. We all ran together till about mile 3 I think, near the toll booth. Now before this point, or around this point, we saw the elite runners coming BACK on the other side of the highway, amazing!!!
To give you an idea there are walkers, runners, walk/runners, the whole gamut. The one thing that was tough was sometimes keeping a pace because it was so crowded and you would be going along and then hit a bunch of walkers or slower runners and you would need to adjust, go around, etc. We did see a few accidents where people fell over the curb trying to go around or bumped into other people. There were something like 18,000 people running to give you an idea and I think just under 13,000 finished. If you don't keep a 16 minute mile pace (or maybe it is 16 1/2 minute mile pace, I forget) they will sweep you off the course.
At this point I needed to stop and walk a bit. We had run the first 3 miles which was kind of amazing for me as in training I had only been running a mile/walking a 10th and so on. So at Mile 3 we walked a short stint (maybe 2 minutes or so). Then ran again and so it would go, run a mile, walk a few minutes, etc. Towards the end of the race my walk breaks got a bit longer but Snow was great about encouraging me along.
At each Mile Marker was a sign with the time. This was the time from when the first person crossed the line. We crossed later being so far back. At this Mile 5 marker it had actually been 1:05 for us.
As you can see the sun is starting to come up! It is probably around 7:20am at this point. We are getting ready to hit the CR area and then enter the MK!
Allyson
The alarms went off and up we got! I think I had them set for like 2:45 ish. We woke and I was so jittery/excited! We got ourselves ready and ate a bagel with some peanut butter. Made multiple checks of what we needed. Had our chips on, had our numbers, had our Sport Beans and some money, I had a camera, chapstick, our room key. DH used his Body Glide, we double triple checked (we do that alot!). Our friends were up and we all headed to the lobby to catch the bus. It was so dark and if I recall chilly as well.
I had my WISH shirt under my pink shirt and figured as I got hot I'd peel off the pink. The fleece would stay in the bag we could check at the race. I had my WISH hat too. I knew there would be WISHers cheering along the race and wanted all the support I could get and wanted to be able to identify myself to my fellow peeps in the lime!
We got to Epcot and had to walk waaaaay over to the area where everything was set up. We got our bags and figured out what we wanted to store in them and checked them in. It was crowded but things went smoothly and we didn't wait a long time. There were more porta potties than I have ever seen in my life! We repeatedly used them.
I had brought some disposable blankets I had gotton in the camping section at Walmart and we huddled under them to keep warm.
Finally it was time to head down to the corrals. Grumpy and I were in a closer corral than Snow and Doc and to this day I don't know why or how. They are much faster than us. It didn't matter we had waited too long to get down there that we didn't get to our original corral anyway. It was a sea, an ocean, of people and the excitement was palpable.
The first corrals went off and I know there were fireworks, at least I think there were? LOL! I took off my capris and tossed them to the side with all the other abandoned clothing. Yes I had a running skirt underneath! I have been told they take all the cast off clothing, clean it and donate it. There sure was a lot!
The start is slow as you wait to get to the front. The characters were there to wave and see you off!
The plan was Grumpy and I would run together and Snow and Doc would catch up. Then we'd pair off, girls and boys. I gave Julie every opportunity to not hang back with me (she finished 3rd for women in a recent Marathon in NC, she is speedy!) but she wanted to run with me the whole time.
They had a later start being in a further back corral but caught up to us around mile two. Grumpy had run to the side to tinkle and then they showed up. We all ran together till about mile 3 I think, near the toll booth. Now before this point, or around this point, we saw the elite runners coming BACK on the other side of the highway, amazing!!!
To give you an idea there are walkers, runners, walk/runners, the whole gamut. The one thing that was tough was sometimes keeping a pace because it was so crowded and you would be going along and then hit a bunch of walkers or slower runners and you would need to adjust, go around, etc. We did see a few accidents where people fell over the curb trying to go around or bumped into other people. There were something like 18,000 people running to give you an idea and I think just under 13,000 finished. If you don't keep a 16 minute mile pace (or maybe it is 16 1/2 minute mile pace, I forget) they will sweep you off the course.
At this point I needed to stop and walk a bit. We had run the first 3 miles which was kind of amazing for me as in training I had only been running a mile/walking a 10th and so on. So at Mile 3 we walked a short stint (maybe 2 minutes or so). Then ran again and so it would go, run a mile, walk a few minutes, etc. Towards the end of the race my walk breaks got a bit longer but Snow was great about encouraging me along.
At each Mile Marker was a sign with the time. This was the time from when the first person crossed the line. We crossed later being so far back. At this Mile 5 marker it had actually been 1:05 for us.
As you can see the sun is starting to come up! It is probably around 7:20am at this point. We are getting ready to hit the CR area and then enter the MK!
Allyson
Thanks for sharing!!
Although I suppose the feeling of accomplishment is worth it. And to do it with DH and best friends? Well that would be AWESOME!
It is awfully fun, though. And way to go beating Grumpy! 
I've always wanted a tattoo but worry about sagging, stretch marks or professional occasions where I don't want a tattoo to be visible. Did it hurt a lot to get?
but I always prefer things that are at my beck and call and work on my schedule. 
And I like helping Belle get over her taxi fear.
but I do love them and I only eat the at Disney which makes them more special! I'll fill you in on the Taxi/Shuttle saga in my next post! 
Will send you my name PM....be on the lookout!!
So glad she agreed to one set of matching shirts (cute that she has a limit!). Have you picked a design?
That would be ambitious but I would love to do the Half again.
I can't believe it! Time is flying by, seems like you're in good shape with things. And I'll pray you didn't just jinx us weather wise!! LOL!
