I know you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for this!!
My race report. I had alot to say.
Friday 1/9/09
Arrived at WWOS around noon for the expo. Packet pick up was not crowded, but I could not bring the stroller inside. ACK.
It was a bit difficult keeping up with Delena and picking up my stuff, but we managed.
Headed to the expo to get my shirt and look around. Again, no stroller. And it was more crowded in there, and there were a lot of things for Little D’s inspector gadget arms to grab (So so Sorry to the people at the huge table of Gu!
) I got my shirt and bought a couple other things from the race merchandise area. Lastly, we picked up my volunteer stuff for the full on Sunday. This was easy, no line.
We then headed to POR to check in. The room was ready and I tried to have Delena take a nap before we headed to POP for the WISH meet. No such Luck. Around 430 we headed over to POP for the WISH meet. It was great to be able to put some faces to screen names.
After the WISH meet, we headed back to POR. I had hoped DH would be here soon, but he got caught up at work and traffic so he wouldn’t be there for awhile. Delena and I headed to the food court where I got the traditional pre race pasta dinner. I had a meet up with my half marathon teammates from my charity team, the children’s tumor foundation (CTF). I met so many nice people.
We talked for a bit and discussed plans for meeting up at the bus stop in the morning for the race.
DH finally arrived at 745 ish. We walked back to the food court so he could get some dinner.When we got back to the room, Miss Delena went to bed and I organized all of my stuff for the race. Obsessed over placement of my number on my shirt, obsessed over what I should wear for a shirt. Finally got it all figured out and tried to go asleep around 11 pm. I needed to be up no later than 245 am. I tossed and turned forever. Everytime I would fall asleep, I'd have dreams of oversleeping and missing the race.
RACE DAY. 1/10/09
I ended up getting up around 245 since I wasn't sleeping anyhow. I got dressed, checked one more time to be sure I had everything I needed. I walked down to the food court and got some coffee and ate a clif bar before meeting up with my CTF team to get on the bus at 345. I am guessing by 415 the bubs dropped us off at EPCOT and we walked what I am guessing was close to a mile to the bag check area. I hung out there for awhile, drank some G2, and had a team picture taken with my CTF teammates. After that, everyone kind of went on their own to the appropriate bag check tent and then it was on to port o potty city. OMG. So many potties! And I still waited about a half hour to use one! (note to self: pack tissues or some TP next time!) I started to make my way to the start corrals, and I caught up with another WISHer ( hi Tracey! JustSmile) that I had met the night before at POP and “know” from the lean/mean/weight loss thread on the Events board. We walked at least a mile to the start corrals. Wave 1 had not started yet and we were both wave 2 so we used the potties there one last time. We then headed to our respective corrals to await the start of wave 2! The wheelchairs started at 545, And wave 1 at 550 There were fireworks at each start which was really cool! At 6 am Wave 2 was started! More fireworks. It took about 10 minutes for me to cross the start! Upon crossing the start people started dashing off to the sides to take advantage of nature’s bathroom. Boys and girls were doing this. And massive amounts of clothing were being shed. I got rid of my Disney towel that I had borrowed from the room. I did throw it in one of the clothes bins though. They do donate all throw away clothes to charity. Some of it was pretty nice stuff!
Miles 1-6 went by literally in the blink of an eye. The course was crowded and I am not one to weave in and out of people constantly, but I pretty much jogged the first 6 miles, albeit slowly, until we hit the outside of the MK. I took water or Gatorade at every stop up until this point. I wanted to soak up the atmosphere of running through the MK, so I walked more through the park. In fantasyland I saw one of the “coaches” for CTF who was checking on everyone and he ran with me for a bit. I will say right now it was SO SO nice to have the WISH support and CTF team support on the course. It made all the difference. And running in the MK was awesome. Totally had tears during this part of the race.
It was outside the MK, maybe around mile 7.5-8 ish where I started to realize I was probably overhydrated. SLOSH. SLOSH.
Ugh. So obviously I quit drinking from this point on. I couldn’t run. Too much sloshing and stomach cramping. Yuck. Outside on the long road out of MK I walked with a girl from my CTF team who was walking to save her legs since she was doing the Goofy. I walked with her from about miles 8-12. It was so nice to have someone to talk to. This was her 3rd goofy!! She ran again right outside EPCOT (about mile 12) and I then happened upon an ex-coworker (not co-irker, thank goodness) who was hurting due to some bad sciatica pain. It was so nice to catch up with her and we really helped each other through that last mile. Which BTW, I was very disappointed didn’t go around world showcase. The Minnie 15 K did. Despite practically puking
, I ran the last quarter mile. No way was I going to cross the finish line walking! So, 3 hours and 15 minutes after I started, I crossed the finish line! I got my chip cut off, got my Mylar blanket, and finally my DONALD medal!! I then made my way to bag check and promptly put on my flip flops. They felt so good! I had a huge blood blister on my right pinky toe, and some other smaller blisters. I was still feeling really sick to my stomach, so I drank just a little bit and got on the bus to go back to POR. I had hoped to get a picture with a character and catch up with my WISH and CTF teammates, but all I wanted to do was take a bath and lay down. So I did.
I pretty much lost it when I got back to the room. I got physically ill from the overhydration. I was mad at myself for over hydrating. I was disappointed about my time since it was a half hour longer than my first half in November. And elated that that I was able to finish. And just overly emotional in general. These long distance races have a huge mental aspect to them and they do mess with your head and emotions.
The day after (Sunday)
On Sunday I volunteered at Water Stop 11 for the Full marathon. So much fun. (Hi, Maura, Tracy and Bryan
). WS 11 was in the MK in the back of Splash Mountain. We had to be at the volunteer tent at around 5 am and were transported to the WS by 6 ish. We set up a water table towards the end of the stop. Bryan was called away to go mix powerade, so Tracy, Maura and I ran the WISH water table. Since we were at the end, not too many people took our water, but it was so much fun to cheer people on. And AMAZING to see the wheelchair athletes and elite runners come through. Our first runner came through LESS than an hour from the start of the race. 11 miles in an hour! And awesome to see all our WISH teammates come through! It was also fun to dump the remaining water cups we had on our table into the street and watch this massive street cleaner thing suck them up! I loved volunteering and would do it again!
Lessons Learned:
1. Overhydration is likely as bad as dehydration. I was sufficiently hydrated pre-race and had I not taken any drinks until mile 4, I probably would have been ok. Lesson Learned. I was thinking of my first half, where it was warmer and more humid. I needed to drink every mile or so. It was colder and drier for this race. Very important to take these things into account.
2. No strollers allowed at EXPO!!
3. Time spent talking, walking, running with people on the course is priceless!
4. Starting the race is JUST as important as finishing.
5. Volunteering is fun (and gets you a free ticket and really cool jacket!)
I had a ton of pics, and didn't want to bog down the thread by imbedding them, so here is a link to my album from the weekend.
http://picasaweb.google.com/AmyKAB/Disney12MarathonTrip2009?authkey=mT3xlul1M9E&feat=directlink
...before BankNorth it was the Fleet Center and before that it was the Garden! We still call it that once in a while, too).
Occupational hazard, I guess. But can you tell that I am passionate about this? 
He gets blisters so easy on that darn graft site...
and without even realizing it my head has gotten back into what I call "the good place".
) it's SO easy to find an excuse as to why we "can't" do something now (and for most of us it IS an excuse - not a REASON. There's a *big* difference)....start now- find something, anything to get yourself moving. No fancy equipment needed - just a decent pair of sneakers. You can run up and down your staircase even. 
so it kinda changed my plan a little - did an upper body strength workout. 
I've played so many "games" with WW and the points and what can I eat for how many points - that sometimes I look back at the big picture and find a HUGE piece is missing. For me, the culprit is typically fat. I can get myself so fat-phobic that I go too far and avoid it completely - which is not healthy either....
