Unless you are so beaten up by the end that the walk from the front of epcot through the international gateway and over to your room at the boardwalk seems like it is the longest stretch you've traveled ever. in your whole life. including the 13 miles you just ran.
I laugh now, but if anyone happened to see me after the race that night, I was not laughing then. Not on the bench outside the bathrooms, or the curb in the UK, or those outside the international gateway or the EPSN club, or the Boardwalk lobby. I swear I did not think I was going to make it back to my room and I practically begged my DH to carry me. I would sit down, try not to get sick or pass out, get up, speedwalk as long as I could and then repeat. When I finally made it back to the room I got sick, felt immediately better and spent the next three days enjoying the parks!
Lessons learned:
1. Do NOT sprint the end of your race. Especially not starting immediately when you enter Epcot. I seriously underestimated both the kick that I would have left in me at 12.5 miles due to adrenaline and how far I still had to go to the finish line. Had I kept to my pace, I would probably have felt a LOT better after.
2. Do not stop moving and drink beer while waiting to have your medal engraved. Have someone else stand in line and do that for you while you keep moving.
3. If you plan to go to the after party pick a meeting spot on the spaceship earth side of the fountain. Although appreciated as a runner, the herding of spectators across the course meant that 20 min after running for hours, you could be standing around, packed like sardines with 100 of your new best friends, some of whom smell like they just ran 13 miles waiting to cross the course when all you really want to do is collapse and/or stretch.
That being said - I can't wait to do it again!