My results (PR is ~2:15--AND I had knee surgery--so I must say--this about means I won the event if I do say so myself!).
Lisa
START 10 Mile FINISH
6:17:59 AM EST
10 Mile: 2:17:40
Finish: 2:38:25
TIME Chip Time: 2:38:25
Clock: 2:54:52
Pace: 12:05
Placement Overall: 7022 Gender: 3718 Division: 636
Hubby was the same exact as me--except they let him place ahead of me---that stinker!
Wow--what to say. I will self admit--that I think I have a chip on my shoulder or something (no pun intended!) b/c I have seen so many negatives this weekend despite all the good moments...but to make up--at the end of the post--TWO REALLY REALLY COOL STORIES that show what this whole marathon thing is TRULY about!
Trails End was awesome--but the event coordinator in me just couldn't relax and enjoy the scenery. It was great meeting everyone--sorry if I didn't remember names and faces--but I did see TXBelle's hubby at the contemporary along the half course (would have hollered--but that whole name thing--just couldn't remember). And I saw Stitch Lover Sith someplace--either at the TTC or at the Entrance to epcot--but it was somewhere with a huge structure. Very excited to be recognized since I didn't have on any WISH gear.
Saw a bunch of WISHERs while cheering for the full--a "goofy" couple (I think at the Boardwalk victory breakfast this a.m.) and a few others--but the only one I "knew" was Lily--gave her a big hug at mile 9 and saw her at her "goofy" finish. Cheered on a few wishers at the finish line--but I think they were wondering either "who is that crazy person" or "where the heck is that finish already!".
Overall the weekend was great--but I did get an overall impression both as a TNT participant--and just as a regular participant as though Disney is tiring of the event. I dropped my sister off at the airport today. We ate lunch at Chick Fil A and met a Canadian woman. Her first marathon and she finished 5th in her age group at 3:29. She was VERY disappointed in the awards ceremony as the announcer seemed to be a chauvinist and was saying repeatedly how he was tired and wanted to get off the stage or something like that. The event has kind of soured for me. It's getting too big for its britches IMHO. The half took over 30 minutes to get the entire field across the start. I don't think they treated the half participants as respectfully as they did the full participants--very much a lack of toilet paper at 4am is a prime example. As well as the big cattle call in the name of profits--I don't mind all the corrals--but what on earth made them think it was wise to not have two starts like the full is beyond me. We zigzagged for about 6 miles and it was not until mile 8 that I found a port o potty without a line but that was the only set (funny enough--this was 10 potties...a couple hundred yards up the road was a line 6 deep for 2 potties. OOPS!). I could write a whole separate thread on the kid's races, but I digress.
Now onto the good stuff!!!!
After Trails End, I headed to my TNT Pasta Party where none other than John Bingham was our speaker (major celeb moment for me). He was VERY funny. And for all those worried about PR's at the race---he says it like this (or better than this--but this is what I remember): You're on vacation! It's Disney! It's the most magical place on earth. You trained for months for this moment--WHAT'S THE RUSH?? I did see him at our victory party as well and got a picture with him and with Coach Jenny (his co-author of MFM) as well.
Race morning was cold--the paper outfit people lied! They said those puppies would keep you warm down to ~37 degrees. I think he pulled a number out of the cold air--b/c I had on layers underneath it and a layer above it--and while I was not shivering--I was cold. I did shed down to my running outfit with just the paper jacket. It served its purpose throughout the run. My outfit consited of: 3/4 sleeve shirt (wicking material), Team in Training Singlet, running shorts (needed my pockets), and running pants (standard line/windbreaker matl from wal-mart). I'm not too incredibly big--but I had an XL paper jacket and a M pant. My paper pants tore while sitting on the ground before the race. And b/c of the pre-race potty visits...very oddly, the seam on my running pants ripped as I discovered post-race.
I called Transportation the night before to get the scoop on road closures and how my sister could drive the van (vent warning). They gave me the whole shabang--which turned out to be the wrong shabang. The route she travel was still closed at the time she was told to travel--she was directed to CM parking behind World Showcase for spectator parking--only to be told--"never mind--leave NOW!". She didn't know what to do and ended up using the regular entrance to park. Later I found out from a teammate that despite signs saying that the auto plaza would be closed at a certain time frame--that she drove right on in and there was nobody blocking her entry. So I had my sister have special instructions for nothing.
The race itself--PACKED! No offense to our walkers here--b/c we know you were trained properly
--but it seemed that all the walkers were on the left---and runners had no choice but to pass to the right. Hubby and I followed the rules for every single walk break and I know we must have peeved some runners when we did walk on the right. And we had several instances of walkers blocking the entire road as they lined up--so we passed a lot in the grass. We showed ~13.5 miles at race finish--so the zigzagging accounted for nearly half a mile extra. During the race--the water was properly spaced (YEAH!!!)--it was every two miles for a good bit and at some point it became every mile. The goodies offered: Bananas & Hershey kisses. They also offered clif shots--which from what I hear--were DISGUSTING! I didn't try it as I already had my gu and was all set. I thought they said we would have oranges--but I didn't see any.
We saw LOTS of characters--didn't stop for pictures as there were runners doing that at every stop--so we just took pictures of them with the characters
.
I was really dragging LAST year--so I was AMAZED--just floored with all the cheers---Magic Kingdom was packed! (It was full last year as well--but it seemed thinned out by the time I had arrived a year ago). There was no photog coming directly out of the castle--but there were 2 or 3 coming down the ramp. A wisher said that for the full--they had one inside the castle and another said that for the half when she went through--there was a pile of bags on one side and a pile of bags and camera on the other--but no photographer.
(again--another sign of how I think the half got a bit of the shaft!).
The hardest part of the race (for us anyway)--was coming up the ramp to get to EPCOT CENTER DRIVE and head on into EPCOT. It got very drafty and very cold in the shade. Had to put the jacket back on even. Then we got to mile 12 and it was like WOW--only one more mile...we're going to beat our 2:45 goal (Which I thought was incredibly optimistic). The path inside EPCOT was thankfully short--for some reason--it seems so long when your there as a day guest--but it was to the Christmas tree and loop around for the return route to the finish line. We had a Gospel Choir--I think they were singing "Oh Beautiful for Spacious skies..." I think "America the Beautiful" (so bad for not knowing, aren't I?
). Hubby and I held hands to come in and it was soooooo cool.....amazing that we finished at a good time and the crowd was just jam packed! We went right past my sister and my girls--OOPS! We should have paused for a moment to take it in--but had "good time" on the brain (despite "The Penguin's" advice 2 nights before). At the finish line--we checked for anyone behind us--and it was clear--so we kissed at the finish line. No idea if the photogs got it--it was a quickie as we didn't want to get run over. I finished in one heck of an awesome time! Felt really great during the race (the 11 hours of cheering on Sunday was responsible for my severe limping on Monday
).
I was a bit miffed that there was NO water for participants until after the photos. They had water by the Goofy tent we were refused which ticked me off--I respect the GOOFY participants for a race well done--but after the half--I just didn't understand what made them any more special to receive water at that point and to not have anything for anyone else until later (which when finising in the middle of the pack meant about 10 minutes from the time you finished until you got your photo and could head to water--early finishers and late finishers--probably not too big of a deal).
Sunday we cheered---I apologize for whomever said you can access the race course from the Polynesian. I said that was impossible---but it is not. Their parking lot does touch the course. We walked from TTC through the TTC parking lot to a crossover bridge to access mile 12. After seeing all we had to see--we stopped at Poly to get a sandwich and headed to the EPCOT monorail. At this point I had a SEVERE pain in my foot making it difficult to walk and my knee was swelling. We stayed after our county had finished racing and our last participant crossed. I remember how it sucked last year to have such a small crowd left cheering those who were feeling like crap and just trudging along to get to that finish line. We cheered for EVERYONE who finished over regulation time and they appreciated it big time (a few had that "just shut up and get this darn thing over with" look on their faces--but most had tears of joy to finally finished what they set out to do when they got to the start 10 hours earlier). One was a new mom with a 4-6 month old baby. Her hubby was waiting for her at EPCOT and he walked her in. We cheered for her--and then I suggested that when she gets to the finish line--to turn the stroller around and pull it and she and her baby could finish together and get a photo of it.
COOL STORY #1--what it means to be in this race.
At mile 9 on Sunday--my friend and I were cheering our TNT and anyone else we could figure out a name or an organization or some other way to identify them and give them a push. This lady comes up--a TNT person not from our chapter--she had been looking for a TNT person for a little bit to take her picture. To keep her warm that morning, she had her chemotherapy cap. She wanted us to take a picture of her tossing it away. Not sure if I got a good picture--but she tossed that thing in the air, took her camera and went on her merry way---no more chemo and on her way to a Mickey medal. We never saw her again.
COOL STORY #2--we stayed until the very last person cross the finish line on Sunday. There were long gaps as it came down to the very end between people. We kept asking a CM how would we know. They told us what to look for and we would know. So we see coaches in swarms walking in one participant from various groups--mostly TNT. We stayed to cheer. Some looked beaten too death, others just looked plain exhausted. They had heard many times that it was just around the corner. BUt from personal experience--you get so sick of hearing it that you just will not believe it until you see it. We had THE perfect spot. We were positioned at the VERY location that when the participant rounds the corner--we were where they would first see that FINISH line. VERY cool---one lady earlier on (finished on time)--I guess she had heard it--we all pointed and said look there it is and she looked up and got this huge smile on her face and FLEW to the finish line.
It was the end of the race--clock time passed 7:40 and around the corner comes a Train to End Stroke participant. A coach or TTES staff member of some sort was walking with her. She was beat. She was tired. She had 5 or 6 bicycles circling behind her. And a cast member had a hand truck holding a clock and was walking behind her. She rounded the corner and what handful of us were left started cheering her. She came around that bend and we pointed at the line and said there it is. She put her hand to her face beginning to cry b/c she made it. Right next to the finish line--half the grand stand was filled with Team in Training members. Now--she was walking slow--but in my pain I was going to walk along side her from the spectator area and I just couldn't keep up with her. The Announcer went crazy---he played her the theme from Rocky--chip and dale and pluto went up to her and grabbed her hands and escorted her across the finish line. She had a GRAND finish and made it! And right then we knew--that is the coolest part about this whole distance thing.
to you on your Goofy Challenge!!!!!!!!
. I would love to do it again sometime in the near future. 
) I hated leaving yesterday. For anyone that is considering this-DO IT! It is a great experience, there are all types of people there & everyone is supportive and it is great wearing that "bling" afterwards!
