In Every Run That Must Be Done; There is an Element of Fun (comments welcome)

[Naomeri]

Some more race pictures

 

[Naomeri]

Half Marathon Day

 

[jmasgat]

It was nice to meet you at HH--hope I didn't freak you out trying to buy you a "sorry 'bout your job" beverage.

AK was a highlight for me this time because, yeah, the lions were out and more visible than usual. And the gorillas, what a blast. I never knew they climbed the trees, but two were way up at the top. And I had to ask the CM, but yes-- this little guy had the biggest Kong toy I have ever seen!

 

[nancipants]

Great pics, and great job in very uncomfortable race conditions.

 

[Naomeri]

Everything Since W&D

Training was not great. Runs were mostly fine when I got them done, but I got very few of them done. I'm choosing not to stress about it and using "well-rested" instead of "under-trained" I know I can do the first 3 Dopey races, because I didn't die at W&D. I know I'll have about an hour extra time over the balloon ladies for the marathon, making my necessary overall pace just about 18 minutes. The cooler forecasted temps have me worrying even less, the heat saps my energy but the cold makes me move. I'm going to be smarter about photo stops, and I've figured out ways to carry some water and snacks of my own so I'm not 100% reliant on what rD provides.

Training runs completed since W&D:
November 12: 4.21 in 58:38
November 16: 6.03 in 1:26:43
November 17: 4.70 in 1:06:33
November 21: 5.62 in 1:18:07
November 22: 2.36 in 30:45
November 23: 11.03 in 2:41:22
November 28: 13.12 in 3:00:01 (that one second irks me )
December 8: 6.01 in 1:24:53
December 10: 6.50 in 1:27:28

So not exactly marathon-level mileage there But with all the stuff going on to prepare for the holidays, my daily steps outside of running have about doubled from what they were when I was working, so I haven't been just sitting around.

We made a ton of Christmas cookies, and that was days on end on my feet in the kitchen.

Chocolate & butterscotch chip cookies with sea salt


Gingerdoodles


Spritzes


Example of the cookie box we give to family and friends. There was also a little package of chocolate treats that I forgot to take a picture of.


In addition to baking, there was a bunch of decorating, and we had a ton of problems with lights not working, so we had to scramble to replace things or readjust to make do with what was working.

Also, we had 2 dead trees fall down shortly after aI got home from Disney, so I had to deal with that. Thankfully, they were just small enough that I could get it done with a small power saw, instead of us needing to hire someone with a chainsaw.

I had to help my grandma buy and wrap presents for the whole family, which is now up to 24 people, including ourselves. December 21/22, we had my aunt and her adult sons and their families over for a Christmas celebration. This brought 5 kids ranged 5mo-8y, 6 extra adults, and a medium-sized dog into the house. It was insane and exhausting, and someone brought the extra gift of stomach flu, which hit my grandma, then my grandpa, then my aunt, then my mother, and finally me (though mine was extremely mild and possibly more due to stress than actual illness)

Because of how miserable and pathetic my mother was (there was a lot of moaning and crying and swearing in her sleep) I had to try to sleep somewhere upstairs, and nowhere was comfortable and I got less than 2 hours sleep the night before I got sick last Friday. I rested for a day and I've been eating carefully since then to not tax my system, and I've been fine. We finally got my mother sent back to Kentucky last night, and things are 90% back to normal. The 10% is because my aunt had a crisis overnight Sunday and we'll be taking care of her dog for a while.

Somehow, amongst all this, I was able to get some props done for Springtime Surprise (meanwhile, I still have to finish some things for MW ) because the 5K costume was my grandma's big surprise present. She was really excited and though it was really neat. The Captain America and Captain Carter shields were kind of a pain because of how shiny the original finish was.

I sanded them down, used gesso as primer, painted them by hand with craft paint, and sealed them with a matte finish top coat. I also had to put a couple layers of modeling paste on the Carter shield to give a flat surface for the flag--I wasn't about to try to work with the 3D star in the middle I'm shocked and amazed at how well the flag on the Carter shield turned out, even if it's not 100% accurate. I sealed the edges of the tape with clear gesso for each layer, so I didn't get any bleeding, but it's still amazing that it worked this well.



These are the mockups of the dresses I had printed, and they turned out perfectly. I used the image as a reference for the shields, but used more comic-accurate colors, especially the retro colors for Captain America.



On the whole lost-my-job front: I was able to get unemployment--the letter from the review from unemployment was basically "yeah, this firing was stupid and you people overreacted to something minor so we're giving her money" and I'll be jumping into the job search with both feet when I get home from MW. I've been working with my therapist, who also does career counseling, to get my resume freshened up and we'll be working on interview skills, because I haven't had to do a lot of interviewing.

To finish up this post, here's a goofy Christmas cat, enjoying her new catnip play mat

 

[jmasgat]

Here's hoping for a calmer new year and a successful job search.

 

[avondale]

Going back to W&D: you always have the best outfits! You got some great photos, too.

Good luck in MW coming up!

Between you and @WillRunForPizza , I am realizing how much I miss the fact that no one in my family or my husband's family makes Christmas cookies anymore... I had a serious cookie deficit! LOL

 

[xjillianpaige]

2025 is going to be your year! I can feel it.

Great mini-recap. I'm now 99.9% sure that my dad and I were behind you right before that really sharp turn of the half. Way to get it all done in tough heat! And great photos!

Good luck at MW!

 

[superchime]

Great photos! Your Wine and Dine costumes were all fantastic, and those shields look amazing. What a great Christmas present.

 

[Naomeri]

Initial Marathon Weekend Thoughts

I'm going to be writing up a full trip/race report shortly, but I wanted to get some overall thoughts and pictures out there.






So, as I've said before, I really kind of failed at my Dopey training plan. As originally written, there were about 465 miles to be done before Marathon Weekend. I adapted it from Hal Higdon's novice marathon plan, but since I'm slow, I took the total number of MPW in his plan and redistributed them so my long runs maxed out at about 3 hours (which is about 13 miles for me) and rearranged the running days to suit my schedule. I also added in a few extra miles in weeks where I had scheduled races (TCMW 10 Miler and Wine & Dine weekend) I completed just 175 of those 465 miles, and my last run before MW was 6.5 miles on December 10.

Going into the weekend, I had no idea how things were going to go. The cold weather, as much as it sucked for the waits in the corrals, was a major blessing for this MN girl. I'm not sure I would've been able to finish the half marathon, let alone the full, if it had been hot. The 5K and 10K went great, right in line with previous Disney races at those distances, so that gave me a good confidence boost. I think I might've been better for the half if there hadn't been so much crowding and potential for slipping and tripping in the dark and wet. Something about the shortened stride of the slow shuffle jog in the crowd messed up my right knee and calf and I had to stop a few times and rest it.

I had no idea how I could possibly turn around and do the same thing twice (!!) the next morning. But I showed up, and the full went much better than the half, at least until the time between the Star Wars mile and Animal Kingdom, and then again between Animal Kingdom and catching up with Team Not-So-Fast. runDisney needs to add some entertainment/distraction in that section, and I'd be delighted to share that feedback with them if they'd send me a survey. As proof of how much better the full was for me compared to the half--my official half split from the marathon (so including 6 character stops, plus the castle pic) was 3:32:47, and my total moving time for the half marathon (so, not including picture stops) was 3:23:16.


What Worked (whether they were in my control or not)

* 90% of weather--the running gods were mostly smiling on me there

* My various waist pouches--though I need to practice more having the water pouch at the back instead of the front

* My costumes--even with the added layers

* Having friends on course--I think I would've slogged through the last 5-6 miles of the marathon with my intervals, but I probably would've been absolutely miserable. Walking those miles with Herding Cats and The Expert made it a lot more bearable, even though my feet were screaming bloody murder with every step

* My race-morning/in-race food choices--my trusty brioche waffles are still the perfect 2nd breakfast in the pre-race and corral areas, and fruit snacks worked for on-course food. I wouldn't have objected to someone giving me a Coke at some point though

* Staying at Saratoga--I got exactly the room I requested and it was as perfect a location as I was hoping

* Continuing my practice of using the stairs at my resort, except when I have luggage--ask Kerry about me running up the steps in Mexico like an absolute freak of nature at the beginning of DATW

* My pace vs balloons tracking spreadsheet--it worked exactly as planned, and it was really helpful to me to know my overall pace, according to the mile markers on course, rather than my watch (which gets paused at stops and captures all my weaving, and any doubling up caused by character lines) and to know about where the balloons (or really, the last pace group) were at any given time. I really like that Numbers iOS has the capability to do time math for me. It even works if I forget to hit the "now" button on the first couple miles like I did on Saturday. You can really see how much faster I was overall on Sunday, compared to Saturday.




What Didn't Work

* Sleeping--I have a lot of problems sleeping in hotel beds. I ended up sleeping sitting up on the pathetic little couch in my room at Saratoga and at least I woke up less times overnight. This probably led/contributed to some of my mini-mental breakdowns during and after the Half and Full.

* Obviously, training--as it turns out, I don't have time to train for a distance race in November and December. I ended up having extra complications this year, but I don't foresee future Novembers/Decembers getting significantly better, so MW is off the menu. But, I honestly feel so good physically after doing it that I'm SUPER curious about what I could do at Dopey with a properly-completed training plan

* Post-marathon choices--I should have taken the extra however many steps needed to go sit on the bleachers to change my shoes and eat my sandwich after the marathon. Sitting on the ground really really hurt, and started me on a downward spiral. Also, I should've made sure I had everything I needed waiting back in the room for me, which would've prevented a near-hysterical call to guest services because the vending machine buttons didn't work (seriously, it was like they weren't even connected to anything) and I was in desperate need of sugar, caffeine, and food after my bath (I had food, but nothing to drink but water, and that's not what I want with food)

* Some of my corral covering choices--I was fine on 5K day with my super cheap plastic poncho, so much easier to deal with than a Mylar sheet, and I should've used that on 10K day too because it would've worked better over the chipmunks on my shoulders than the button down throwaway I had. I stupidly checked my bag, and the poncho in it, about 5 minutes before the rain started on Half day and then stupidly politely refused an offered Mylar in the corral because at that point, I was already soaked, what difference will it make? (Spoiler: a lot, that wind was COLD!) My 2nd button down on Full day worked pretty well in the corral--the collar was nice to keep my neck warm






I'll write up my full reports tomorrow. I got all the picture collages done today, so it's just the writing that I need to do, which is probably the faster part of the process

 

[superchime]

Congratulations on your first Dopey!

 

[The Expert]

YOU DID THE THING! So super proud of you for pushing through and finishing strong. It was so funny/amazing to see you tap those "tap for power" signs toward the end of the race and go zooming off!

 

[Naomeri]

YOU DID THE THING! So super proud of you for pushing through and finishing strong. It was so funny/amazing to see you tap those "tap for power" signs toward the end of the race and go zooming off!

I needed some of those in that dead zone to/from AK.

I love power up signs, and in less crowded races, I've been known to cross several (empty) road lanes to tap them and go zooming off. They're most often held by little kids at races around here, and I like to imagine that it makes them happy to see that their power up signs actually work.

 

[avondale]

Huge congratulations! And somehow you always get fantastic photos!

 

[Naomeri]

Marathon Weekend Report--Day 1

Arrival day started shortly after 3am central, when I got woke up to take a shower before driving to the airport with my grandma. The only things I remember about the travel is that St Louis needs more seats at their gates, and that departure from STL was delayed because some of our flight attendants were on a delayed flight from somewhere else. But we still landed at MCO just about on time, so no big deal.

When picking up my backpack, I discovered that someone's water had leaked, and the whole back and bottom was damp Nothing got wet inside, but it meant that I wasn't about to put it on my back. It also meant that even briefly setting it on my lap while waiting to deplane left me slightly damp. Once I got off the jetway, I was able to secure it over the handle on my carry-on roller bag.

I got my checked bag and headed to the Mears area. I miss when it was just Sunshine Flyer and it was right at the bottom of the escalators. Mears was handing out free Bib Boards to runners at check-in. I don't use them, but I also don't turn down free stuff that could come in handy at some point.



I got my room ready text for Saratoga right about when I landed, and I was shocked (in a good way) to see that I'd gotten exactly the room I'd requested through Touring Plans. I usually get something close to what I request, but I've never gotten exactly what I wanted before. I was on the top floor of the middle Springs building, on the water side and right around the corner from a stairway. This meant that I only had neighbors on one side of my room, and I didn't have to wander the hallways at 2 in the morning to get to the stairs to go to the runDisney bus (which picked up just at the other end of my building) It also put me in a prime position to get off the park buses sooner, since it was about the same distance to get off at the Paddock station and cross the bridge to my end of the building as it was to walk from the Springs station at the other end of my building.

I also had a lovely view of the sunrise from my balcony, not that I was there to see it very often



After I unpacked everything, I headed to Magic Kingdom. I had missed my Tiana VQ by a very long time, and since I had a LL, I didn't bother asking if I could use the VQ late. Considering the temps, I'm guessing the demand wasn't high and they would've said 'yes' I deliberately left this until the 2nd-to-last ride of the evening so even if I'd gotten soaked (which I didn't, and never have on this ride) I wouldn't have been walking around cold for very long.

I really like the way everyone else riding with me is hiding under ponchos and jackets, while I'm just having the time of my life.



I grabbed a Christmas picture on my way out, because "why not?"



I went food shopping at the resort before I settled in for the night. It was nice to have an actual fridge because I picked up a little block of cheese to balance out all the salty snacks that I tend to keep in my room.

 

[Naomeri]

Marathon Weekend Report--Day 2

It's expo day. On a Wednesday. This is weird!

Herding Cats offered a ride to the expo if she got a low VQ, and she did, so that was a nice alternative to grabbing a Lyft to get there for Club runDisney shopping time. I headed straight into the merch area, and picked up a complete set of the race pennant pins, a Marathon Weekend pin, a MW sweatshirt, the MW jersey that I'd had my eye on since the merch preview (a little sad that it's thinner than my Disney Pride jersey), and a rD medal rack.

I headed up to the CrD Platinum bundle pickup area and got my bibs and shirts, a complimentary Goofy cupcake, a Coke, and a picture with Thumper!





I still had time to kill before the general expo opened, and thankfully they were letting people into the rest of WoW earlier than they did for W&D. I grabbed a table up by the line for the general expo to eat my cupcake and drink my Coke. Someone in line behind me for the expo asked for the tab off my can because they're making chainmail, which was pretty awesome in the pictures.

Once I was in the expo, I wandered around for a while before I headed over to the Sparkle Athletic booth to pick up my Dopey Strong skirt and get a visor for my marathon costume. I also needed to drop off my Sparkle Squad gift exchange gift, and pick one in exchange. I picked the biggest bag in the bin, because of course I did

I got a little clutch/makeup bag, some socks, and a cute encouragement necklace







After the expo, I headed back to the resort, and it was only 10:30! Plenty of time to get to my LLs at Animal Kingdom.I started with Dinosaur, which I don't ride that often, but I might as well use a LL on it. I got caught looking legit scared by the camera, which I wasn't actually.



The giraffes on the safari were feisty and right up at the truck, until an elephant stuck her trunk up over the hill behind on of them and they got spooked and ran away.



Next stop was lunch, then Festival of the Lion King, and then the rides in Pandora. I will never get tired of Flight of Passage. Quick stop for a Christmas tree selfie, and I was on my way back to the resort. I wanted to try to go to bed early in an attempt to get a routine started for the rest of the weekend.

 

[Naomeri]

Marathon Weekend Report--Day 3

It's 5K day! And it's not very warm outside!

5K Flat Me



Obligatory "it's really early in the morning" SE selfie--why can't it be pretty like this when I stop for posed pictures??



I headed to our light pole and found people already there. That's different, I'm usually first on other weekends. I decided to break out my poncho and that worked great to keep the wind off me, and so much easier to handle compared to everyone trying to keep Mylar sheets around them. And it covered me most of the way to my knees (score one for being short, I guess)

I started the race at my usual time of 5:08, and finished just before 6. They were still releasing runners when I passed through the snack tent. I picked up my bag, and headed over to get a picture with a character, since I had time to kill before the buses started running. I decided to get in the Pluto line, since I had my Pluto skirt on. I didn't put my sweatshirt on yet, since I didn't want to have to take it off again for the picture. I was fine while I was waiting for Pluto, but once I was partway through the bus line, the cold hit me suddenly and I started shivering. I had my sweatshirt on by that point, so there wasn't much more I could have done. The heat was keeping the bus toasty warm though, so once I was on board, everything was fine. I took a nice hot bath once I was back in my room, and hung out for while until it was time to go to Hollywood Studios.

I wasn't sure how I would feel for this race, since I hadn't run for a month. But I felt completely normal and this was my 2nd fastest Disney 5K by moving time and 5th fastest by overall time (of 9 total) I stopped for 2 characters. I think this was the race where Mickey was out somewhere and I totally missed him, otherwise I probably would've stopped for him too.





As usual, I got a bunch of good on-course shots, and even a good finish line shot!



At Hollywood Studios, I had to stop for another Christmas selfie



I rode Tower of Terror, Runaway Railway, Midway Mania (121,200, with 44% accuracy), Swirling Saucers (standby, which was cold, and longer than expected because of a reset), Smuggler's Run (I got to be a pilot--the original pilot declined the position)--we got 2 containers, and probably would've done even better, but the L/R pilot had never done it before, Star Tours, and I watched Muppet Vision before heading back to the resort.

 

[Naomeri]

Marathon Weekend Report--Day 4

I promise I didn't forget about my trip report, I was sick for a week (and missed all the good running weather )

So, now it's 10K day, and it's colder than yesterday (but later it will be warmer than yesterday? Weather is weird)

Chip & Dale Present: A Salute to All Nations (but mostly America--see the bib magnets and the shoes)



I really need to plan better if I want to attach things to my shoulders, it always ends up being a hassle. I didn't think ahead about what having chipmunks on my shoulders would mean for a pre-race throwaway layer, and should've used another poncho, instead of a button-down shirt. Also, I had to stop on the shoulder of the course and waste time adjusting safety pins because Chip kept trying to jump off my left shoulder (not that he could actually fall off, but he kept falling backward) And for the whole race, I kept having to readjust my shirt because it was getting pulled in weird ways.



I met up with everyone at our light pole, and we eventually took our group photo



This ended up being my 4th fastest Disney 10K by moving time, and 2nd fastest by overall time, even with my chipmunk-related delays. You can see my first mile was really slow because I was trying to fix Chip without actually stopping.



I don't remember a lot about the race, but I know I ran into a couple Dis-folks out there somewhere. I stopped for a SE selfie in Japan.



I stopped for the girl mice from Cinderella, Peter Pan & Wendy (the line was really really short), and a posed photo with Spaceship Earth, in which SE was at almost its most boring color scheme possible.



I got a bunch of really good on-course shots, including the one from the Boardwalk where I look totally alone, which was not photoshopped at all except for a single intruding elbow.



After the race, I grabbed my stuff and headed for the bleachers so I could get organized and grab a VQ for Guardians. I wanted to get back to the room and get cleaned up and get a reasonably early start at Epcot, since I only had so much time there before mini golf. I believe I got 25 for Cosmic Rewind, which worked out perfectly with my schedule for the day. I wandered through the shops, but didn't find anything I wanted. After Guardians, I grabbed a hot dog and chips to eat on my way to the International Gateway and my walk to mini golf (in case anyone is curious, my watch said it was a .83 mile walk from the IG to Fantasia Gardens, taking the Boardwalk side of Crescent Lake)

I met up with my fellow golfers, and we hung out a bit to wait for our turn to play. I still have no idea who won in either group, or overall, but it was a lot of fun, and great weather for it. Then we all headed for Hurricane Hannah's to hang out with the rest of the Dis-folks for a while. We had so many people, it was a lot of fun!

Eventually, it was time to leave and go back to the resort. I wanted to go to bed early, but my grandma ended up calling me and keeping me up later than I wanted. But I did sleep on the little couch in my room, instead of the bed, and I had a lot fewer wake-ups overnight, compared to when I slept in the bed.

 

[Naomeri]

Marathon Weekend Report--Day 5

Half Marathon Day! In which your heroine learns that one should never gear check their poncho when there's a chance of rain in the corrals.

Yeah, this race day really sucked. Although I did manage very patriotic "it's really damn early" selfie



It started sprinkling just a few minutes after I checked my bag (and poncho) and it started raining in earnest on the way to the corrals. I foolishly turned down the offer of a mylar from someone in my corral--"I was already wet, what difference does it make?" Spoiler: probably a big difference because that wind wasn't nice, especially when soaked.



Eventually the race got started and I stopped being so cold. But the misery was really just beginning. There was so much course crowding that I really couldn't stretch my legs at all, and this meant that by the time I got to MK, I was having unusual pain in my right knee and calf. But before I got to MK, there was that idiotic path between GF and MK, complete with idiotic water stop. My playlist very appropriately chose to shuffle to "Highway to Hell" for this section. I did stop for another patriotic selfie, this time with the EWP.



Another pic of the EWP



I made it to MK!! Not the greatest Main Street/Castle selfie ever, but I had an opening on the sidewalk and took advantage of it.



Running through MK was fun, but once we got out, my knee/calf was really unhappy. I walked through the backstage area, and ate a pack of fruit snacks and hoped it would get better. It never really got better, but it also didn't get worse. I just focused on moving forward and not favoring my sore leg. I finally got to the finish line, and these 2 dumb women in front of me decided to STOP right after the finish line, right in front of the cameras. I had to dodge around them, and I shoved the outstretched arm of one of them down and out of my way, and yelled at them. I stayed angry all through the finish chute, and then I got caught in a group of really tall (compare to me, at least) people in the snack tent line and the anger morphed into the beginnings of a panic attack, which was thankfully cut short by the guy stopping me to tell me that my bib was dead (which I knew) and what to do about it for marathon day.

Look at how close behind these idiots I was! You can see me already pivoting to not ram into them.



This ended up being my 2nd slowest Disney half by both moving time and overall time, despite the fact that it was my shortest Disney half by distance, according to my watch.



I grabbed my bag, and stripped off my wet shirt and shoes and socks as soon as I could, and headed back to my resort. I had no idea how I was possibly going to turn around and go twice the distance the next day. I was almost 100% sure I was going to fail spectacularly at my first marathon/first Dopey. @Herding Cats assured me it was totally normal to feel that way, but I wasn't really convinced.

I got good character pics from the half...



But not nearly as many good on-course shots. They needed more photographers in Magic Kingdom. I do like the 2nd shot from the right, where you kind of get all the runner emotions personified in one picture--I'm grinning like an idiot because there's a camera to show off for, lady in blue is totally chill--just another walk in the park for her, lady in lavender looks on the verge of panic, and the guy in the back is just sort of blank.



After I got cleaned up and rested back at the resort, I headed to Animal Kingdom to get some active recovery and lunch. I like the new pride of lions, they seem to like lounging where we can see them a bit more than the now-retired pride did.



I went back to my room, and once again failed to get to sleep as early as I wanted to, but I managed 5 hours or so.

 

[Naomeri]

Marathon Weekend Report--Day 6

It's marathon day! Oh my god, it's really early!



I managed to get off the bus at Epcot with all of my skirt jewels, though they weren't all attached to me properly anymore. I got them re-stuck to various empty spots on my skirt and grabbed my usual selfie.



I was feeling remarkably good, and I was starting to think that I might not fail quite as spectacularly as I was thinking I would the after the race the day before. I hung out at the light pole, checked my bag, and then headed to the corral. After getting a slightly late start to the race the day before (5:11, instead of my usual 5:08), I got a slightly earlier start at 4:36 for the marathon, which was great because I wanted every minute I could get. I planned to avoid most or all character stops before MK, because I wanted to try to stay out of any post-corral B crowding as long as I could. But the Gaston was like, the 2nd character, and I had to stop. He was so good at W&D, and I'm sure this was the same actor, and he was just as good, it was a nice boost. The lady behind me in line had the character list, but I didn't get a chance to grab a pic before it was my turn, but she managed to catch up to me a few minutes later and let me grab some blurry shots so I could plan the rest of my race.

I would love to have stopped for Belle & Beast, but the line was long and I was trying to stick with my "no early characters" plan. I did stop for Launchpad because his line was short, and for Chip & Dale because I hadn't had a chipmunk picture yet this weekend, and it seemed like a bad idea to risk a jinx by breaking that tradition. Jack Skellington's line was shorter than Marie's had been in the same spot for the half, so I stopped. I don't think Jack's been out for any other race I've done.

The EWP was less exciting today because it was much closer to sunrise when I went by. But the idiotic path was less awful, and my playlist opted for inspiration today, rather than commiseration, and played "Seize the Day" from Newsies, followed by "The Other Side" from Greatest Showman. Then I was in MK, and running down Main Street to the castle! I didn't stop for a selfie, just kept moving. I was still feeling really good, 1000% percent better than I did on Saturday. Once again, there's was a definite lack of photographers in MK. You'd think Disney would want as many magical photos out on social media as possible, but there wasn't a single photographer until after we came through the castle.



I was feeling the need to make a stop, but for some stupid reason, I didn't do it while I had the chance for real bathrooms. I was going to stop at a porta sometime after we left MK, but I took one look and decided to suck it up for a while longer. In the meantime, my playlist had an epic fail in it's usually flawless timing: it played "Livin' on a Prayer" nearly 2 miles too early! I was definitely not 'halfway there'

Shortly after the actual halfway point, I absolutely had to stop, so I hit the porta at the med tent. To make my life easier, I took off my crinoline and skirt (and all attached waist pouches) and left them outside the door. I had to trust that my fellow runners wouldn't do anything nefarious (plus, my phone with ID and money was in my leggings pocket, so it was just food and water in the pouches) I forgot to pause my watch for this stop, which is why mile 14 is so much longer than most of my other miles.

Very soon after my pit stop, I saw a pair of familiar skirts up ahead. I caught up to Herding Cats and The Expert, and said hello, and then went on ahead when it was time to run. We leapfrogged for a little bit, and possibly longer than I realized through the start of the Star Wars mile. I got a couple character pics, and then that part was over and the boring parts started. I have to say, seeing a whole flock of vultures hanging out in the trees just when the fatigue and foot pain started kicking in was a little demoralizing. I could just imagine them talking to each other (sounding like the vultures in The Jungle Book, of course) "that one looks like she'd make a good meal"

The whole section heading toward Animal Kingdom, where there were runners in both directions, was really really hard on me. The foot pain was setting in, making walking really painful, and the fatigue was setting in, making running harder to do for very long, and seeing all the people going in the other direction, and not having any idea of how long it would be until I was one of those people, it just really hit me hard mentally. I was definitely crying a lot through that section. I kind of got snapped out of it at the point where the incoming runners split off from the outgoing runners. There was a sheep (named Rose) doing photo ops at that point, and I stopped. It seems a silly thing, but it really did help to hold a sign that said "Ewe Got This"



I finally got to Animal Kingdom, and there were finally people and cameras to show off for! I ran almost the whole time I was in AK, and I was sad that Everest wasn't taking runners through the single rider line, even though I was a little close to the deadline to really contemplate riding anyway. I rode the high from AK for a little while, but then the mental breakdown hit me again on the boring stretches. I stopped for a picture with Bob the donkey (or maybe it was Bill? I can't remember) On the two-way stretch of course, I saw the balloon ladies. It was nice to have a basic visual idea of how far behind me they were, in addition to my very helpful spreadsheet.



My mental health was really going downhill, and I was in trouble. I stopped for Lilo and Stitch, not just because I love them, but in an attempt to turn my brain around. I'm not sure if it would've worked for long, but as I ran away from the photo stop, I saw that familiar combination of skirts and football jerseys again, up at the top of the hill. I raced up the hill and caught up to them again, and this time I stayed with them.

There's a decent chance my body would've been able to drag me across the finish line that day, but there's almost no chance my mental health was going to let it happen without intervention. I needed friends, and there they were! Team Not-So-Fast got me moving forward, and got me out of my head. At one point, Herding Cats did have to literally drag me along against my will for a couple minutes, but we got through that and I was able to make myself keep moving forward.

We made it through the rest of the boring parts, occasionally running, but mostly walking. We got to Hollywood Studios (all five and a half seconds of it ) and got some chocolate biscuit things, which were a little too dry for that point in the race, but tasted okay. Since there were people and cameras, I did some more running in this part. I always knew when the rest of the team was catching up to me again because I could hear people behind me shouting "go Chiefs!" or "go Lions!" as they passed. I got a Twizzler from a random spectator, and that was tasty. Then we had to walk on the stupid path to Boardwalk, but it wasn't horribly crowded at this point in the race, and we weren't trying to run anywhere, so any slowdown wasn't much of a problem. Once we got off the path, we knew @nancipants wasn't too far behind, so we stepped off course behind some cones to wait for her. A cast member gave us Mickey stickers to celebrate Nancy's birthday, and then we were off to the Boardwalk. We saw @garneska and got hugs, and then I saw the photographer tent at the other end of the Boardwalk and decided I was going to run until I was past it.

Running felt so much better than walking! My feet really hurt and were really ready to be done with this damn race. After the photo spot, I walked slowly so the rest of the team could catch up, and then we were walking up the bridge toward the International Gateway. I think we decided to run down the hill to the IG. Then we were in Epcot! We were sad not to have any Jammitors, and sad when we "ran" past a photographer and he missed us because he needed to fuss with his camera

Then we were backstage, and we were hoping that the rumors of a Sorcerer Mickey stop were true, I volunteered to run ahead and grab a spot in line, but it turned out to just be Olaf We went past the choir and sang along. Then it was the big curve and we ran around that, walked together for a bit, and then ran to the finish line! We did it! Nancy and I were officially marathon finishers!! I had officially joined the ranks of Dopey runners!

I got a lousy finish line picture because of another bunch of idiots with poor etiquette. This time, it was a guy (in a Spider-Man suit) who had waited for his friends on the finish line, and then walked backward in front of them (backing toward the official camera people and blocking them), recording his friends waking across the finish line. Why can't people just cross the finish line properly?!?

Team Not-So-Fast walked through the finisher chute and collected all our treasures (I am so happy that I followed advice from people here about adding a plastic bag to my on-course gear to hold all this stuff--I wasn't about to put my shiny new ear hat on my gross, sweaty head!) and we stopped for a group selfie under the "Congratulations Runners" sign.



You know the best part about running a distance for the first time? That's right, it's an automatic PR!!!



I got my bag, and headed for the reunion area (not that I had anyone to reunite with) I made the mistake of being lazy and not walking all the way to the bleachers and tables, and instead chose to sit on the ground to change my shoes and eat. Trying to sit upright on the ground was incredibly difficult and painful, and I ended up not staying to rest as long as I should have. I managed to collect all my stuff, and stagger toward the buses. I ended up having to wait a minute or two for a bus, and my brain started freaking out a little. The volunteers were a little worried about me, and kind of fussed over me until I got seated on the bus. Once I was sitting down in a proper seat, I was okay again.

In the last part of the race, I had gotten advice from The Expert and Herding Cats. The Expert told me that the post-race fatigue and physical effects would hit me somewhere in the finish chute or shortly after, and she was right. Herding Cats told me to go down the bus stairs backward and to not be stubborn and to actually use the elevator at the resort. I completely ignored her advice and I was totally fine going down the bus stairs forward, and climbing all the stairs to the fourth floor of my building at SSR. My real pain issue was the bottoms of my feet, not any part of my legs, and it hurts my feet less to be in motion than to stand still.

I managed to get to my room and peel off all my clothes and get into a hot bath. After my bath, I wanted to rest and eat, but I needed some Coke, and I was all out. I headed toward the elevator, not because I wanted to use it, but because vending is always near the elevators. As it turns out, vending is only on the first floor, so I used the stupid elevator, just to save time since it was right there. I got to to the machine, scanned my credit card, and it said I had credit on the machine, so I hit the button for Coke and...nothing happened! No message that it was out or anything. I hit the button a bunch of times, and nothing worked, so it cancelled my credit. I scanned again, and this time hit the button for Cherry Coke and...it still didn't work! I honestly just started sobbing--it was one thing too many for my exhausted brain to handle.

I trudged back to the stairs (which were closer to my room anyway) and when I got in my room, I called "the front desk," which as we all know, is actually a call center somewhere. I told the CM what happened, and probably sounded a bit hysterical when she suggested going to a different building, so she offered to have the actual front desk call me. A couple minutes later, I was telling Thomas what was going on, and probably still sounded a bit hysterical, so he offered to send a runner up with a bottle of Coke. It took way longer than I thought it would (the better part of an hour) and I didn't want to get settled on the couch because then I'd have a harder time getting up and making my way all the way to the door when my Coke arrived, so I was sitting/laying/collapsed on the bed, waiting for a knock on my door. Finally, my savior arrived, and he wouldn't even take a tip from me (I was prepared, they were doing me a big favor after all) and I must've looked pretty terrible, because he asked if I needed medical attention I finally got to sit down on the couch and eat and get some sugar into me. Of course, a short time later, I had to get up and go to the door again, because my security check was scheduled for between 3 & 4 in the afternoon, which was perfect for all the other days of my trip, but less perfect for marathon day.

I had a 6:30 reservation at Beaches & Cream, and figured that I could just bus hop at Disney Springs, since it's so close to SSR. And obviously, I could, but what I didn't realize is that while the Springs stop at SSR is the last stop before buses head to the parks, it's NOT last before buses head to DS. So my timing was way way off and I was really late to my reservation. Which was apparently not a huge deal, because B&C was running really late with their seatings. The table of 4 next to me had a 6:15 reservation and were seated about the same time as me. They got their meal comped for the delay. The timing of my shake and food was off, and I ended up not finishing much of my shake. They were super backed up and it took forever to get the check and get it paid, and my MK lightning lanes were fast approaching. I was really crashing, and the long posted wait for a bus when I got to the stop, combined with the sleep-deprivation-induced shivering, convinced me to eat the cost of the LLs and just go back to my room. None of the Beach Club buses were coming any time soon, so I decided to book a Lyft. But the app wouldn't work properly! It kept wanting to make both my drop-off and pick-up at SSR. I didn't even think about downloading Uber, I just went in and talked to the concierge to see if they had any suggestions of what to do. He said someone else had just had the same problem, and offered to just book it for me on the website. This turned out to mean I didn't even have to pay, which was a nice little bit of pixie dust. The Lyft was just dropping someone off, so it was only a 2 minute wait before I was headed back to my resort and an early bedtime (if 9:30pm can really be called early when you've been awake since 12:45am and run a marathon)