Day Four - Part One: Early Morning Wake-up! (January 8, 2016)
This was an extremely early morning - we were getting up when a younger version of myself would have just been heading to bed...But I was okay with it - this was our entire reason for this trip! It was 10k day!
Luke woke up around 2:45am so he could eat his yogurt parfait and cereal he had picked up the night before, and start getting himself hydrated. I heard him get up, but I refused to open my eyes and swing my legs over the side of the bed until 3:30. I quickly brushed my teeth, threw my hair up into a messy ponytail and we left the room about 15 minutes later. When we got to the front of the hotel where bus-pick up was, there was already a bus for the race sitting there waiting so we walked directly on (seriously, Disney transport had been so good to us so far on this trip!). It was a short drive to the parking lot at Epcot, and then we got into the line for people carrying bags. It moved really quickly, and it did not take us long before we were in the main area for the race. There were so many people! While we walked around a bit, it started raining - good thing I was wearing my rain coat! Around 5am Luke had to head to the starting corrals, so I gave him a hug, wished him good luck and told him to not worry about his time and just enjoy every minute of the race! I went around to the spectator viewing area to watch the start of the race.
At exactly 5:25am, the first countdown was held and the wheelchair athletes were off! At 5:30 the actual competitive athletes (Corral A) took off. Each 10 minutes, another group had their chance to leave the start gate and set out on their 10km, and with each group there were fireworks set off.
Eventually, Group D was led into the starting corral!
I was texting Luke, and let him know where I was so he could wave to me as he went by to start his race
After I watched him go through the start gate, I made my way over to the finish line. I knew he'd be at least an hour and a half, since he did want to stop and meet a few characters (because seriously, where else can he do that during a race?!). It was raining this entire time, and it was kind of cold but luckily I had dressed in layers. I found a spot to sit on the grandstands beside the finish line, set Luke's sweater down so I could keep my bum dry haha, and made myself comfortable. I did have a great view of this:
Luke's group started the race at 6am, and it rained until a little after 7:30 or so. I actually got to sit there and watch the sunrise around Spaceship Earth - so cool!
I had taken my bookbag with me, I was planning on using the time to write down my notes of everything that we did the day before in the new travel journal my mom had bought me for Christmas but the rain put a damper on that. I was not bored at all though, it was a ton of fun to just people watch! Some of the costumes were phenomenal! People put so much effort into their outfits, and they all looked great! Some people just have so much creativity! Luke was texting me every so often, and stopping to update his Facebook to let our families and friends know how he was doing with pictures like this one:
Just past the 4 mile marker, he texted to say he was going to stop to meet his first character - Remy from Ratatouille! About 10 minutes later, I had this picture sent to me:
So cute! I love how happy Luke looks in this picture!
Next post: the rest of Luke's race!
I am enjoying all of the details, your comparisons, and of course, your awesome photography of food and the characters (Beast and Tusker House were my favorites! 
. Your trip report is definitely giving me some awesome ideas for my next trip (not sure when?), like trying Be Our Guest for dinner (I have only done lunch on my trips in 2014 and 2016) as the atmosphere and food looked amazing! 
