Race Report!
Ok, you know I hate going out of order for TRs, but since Lisa is leaving and getting impatient (and since everyone else is posting their perspectives), Ill go ahead and do this part and then go back and get back in order. And you should know that as I write this, I am wearing my tiaraso I can channel the energy of race day! Ha!
Bad nights sleep. To be expected. We had wake-up calls scheduled, but woke up before then anyway. Everyone was great about getting up, ready, and out the door pretty quickly. We checked the tempsa balmy 42*. I was psyched, since that is my preferred running temp. Everyone else, not so much.
I have been battling a pulled lateral quad for 2 weeks. I shouldnt be running, realistically, but there was no way I wasnt going to. So I just put on an assload of BioFreeze and took ibuprofen and sucked it up.
Finally, we were ready to go. We met Paula in the lobby and we were on our way.
Got to the parking area without much trouble. Traffic was there, but moving well. If there is one thing Disney knows how to do, its move people, right? So we parked, bundled up, and walked over to check-in. There were just thousands and thousands of people everywhere. It was a mob scene. So we had to come up with a central meeting place since we had to separate to check our bags by last name, etc. The energy was palpable. There was music blaring, teams grouped together everywhere, lots of people running in tiaras, full princess costumes, everything you can imagine.
This was not a womens only race. Yes, it was like 98% women, but there were male runners. And all of them had a GREAT attitude about running in a womans race. Many of the men were wearing running skirts! It was great to see. And one guy was dressed as The Frog Prince, which I thought was such a great touch. And there were some Prince Charmings as well.
We got in line at port-a-potty city. Everyone. And then when done, we turned around and got on the end of the lines again. This is just part of race day culture.
It was finally time to head to the corrals. I had been anxious up to this point. Just normal pre-race anxietynot at all worried about anyone not finishing or anything like that. But now that it was here, I was excited. I turned to Liz and said, There is nothing like race day! And I was woo-hooing, etc. She looked at me like was insane.
The walk to the corrals was LONG. Maybe half a mile or so. I mean, it was not big deal, we werent moving fast or anything, but I was surprised by how far it was. As we approached the corrals, there was one last bank of port-a-potties. But there were long lines. Being the hard core endurance athletes that we are, we said screw the port-a-potties and ran around the back side of them and just peed outside. See? Totally hard core. I took this time to shed my blanket. I was down to only race shorts, race shirt, and a light running jacket. Like I said, perfect running weather for me. And I planned to shed the jacket once I started running. Liz, on the other hand, was wrapped up like Nanook of the North!
At this point, it was time to separate. We had been assigned to different corrals. There were 5 corrals lettered A through E. Usually, A is for the fastest and E is for the walkers and/or those who dont have proof of time of ever having done a race. We all found out our corral assignments the day before. I had expected that Nancy, Amy and I would be somewhere in the middle like Corral C and everyone else to be in E since they were walkers or newbies. Surprisingly, though, we were all over the place. I was placed in A with the fasties (still dont know how or why!), Liz and Amy were in C. Kat, Amiee, and Paula were in D. And Nancy was in E. Long story (and this is why I hate writing out of order, but Nancy ended up getting switched to corral A, and dont worry, you WILL be getting that story!).
So the rule is that you can drop to a lower corral if you want to run with a friend, but no one can move up to a higher corral. So Nancy and I decided that we would drop down to Corral C to be with Liz and Amy decided to drop to Corral D to stick with Paula, Kat, and EE. It worked out perfectlyeveryone had someone to be with.
Entering the corral, you had to show two different race officials your bib that said which corral you are in, since it is common for people in later corrals to try and jump to an earlier corral. And for those who are intentionally going to a lower corral, the race officials double check that. So they kept asking me and Nancyare you dropping down? So yes, that was another one of our quotables of the weekWe dropped down for our friends!
So at this point, it was me, Nancy and Liz in corral C waiting for the race to begin. We instantly struck up a conversation with two awesome women there. We had about half an hour to just stand there before the race began, so we totally bonded with these two. They were like instant BFFs of all of us. We found out that they were at the exact same pace as Liz and this was huge. Nancy and I had both been worried since we were both injured and neither one of us was going to be able to walk as much as Liz was planning. Running actually felt better than walking. So once we determined that Liz was going to be in great hands, we all breathed a little easier.
It was fun watching the fireworks go off for each corral start. Finally, it was our turn! All 5 of us stayed together for the first half mile or so, and then Nancy and I had to start running. The pack was THICK. Lots of people and it was really hard to get up to pace. Nancy and I ran over to the far left and actually hopped off the road and ran on the grass since we were passing everyone (we should have been in Corral A remember! With the fasties!) So, it was lots of on your left, excuse me, passing on your left
for a good 2 miles. No way I could even put my iPod on. Too much race traffic and I needed to be able to hear in order to not injure myself or someone else.
Nancys pace is faster than mine, which I knew ahead of time. So she was in front of me and I was just following her purple back for quite a while, though she was far enough ahead that we werent actually running together or anything. I just had her in my line of sight. (Youll have to ask her about her purple throw-aways!) But I was having a great time chatting it up with all of those around me. It was such a great race atmosphere! EVERYONE was happy and polite and chatty! No competitive nastiness at all. Refreshing!
As others have said, there was something to see or listen to about every half mile. Either characters or a float or a band. Lots of stuff! It made things so entertaining. And it was an emotional environment, too, because of the crowds. There were little girls dressed as princesses holding up signs for their moms. Men cheering for the various female members of their families and holding up signs, etc. I found myself getting choked up a lot.
I was cruising along comfortably and it was time to take my jacket off. I decided to tie it around my waist instead of tossing it, though, since I thought it might be needed after the race (I knew that Liz would still be cold and I thought she might want it). This proved to make me more comfortable in terms of temps, but it also start to create havoc for me emotionally.
I ran this race, as I do every race, for the National Kidney Foundation. So I had a bib on my back that had the NKF logo on it and said that I was running for my daughter Kelly. Thus, when people passed me or were right behind me and could read my tag, they would say wonderful words of encouragement, like Way to go, mom! or Kelly is lucky to have you! and all sorts of beautiful sentiments. But it made me SO emotional and weepy.
It was right around this point that I lost sight of Nancy. So I popped on my iPod and settled into my race. I was feeling good though I knew that I was going SLOW. It was crowded enough that I just never could really get up to my race pace. And this was fine with me. I noticed that I had been running with the same pack of women for quite a while. They all had matching shirts, etc. and I would pass them, then they would pass me, etc. Finally, I asked them what their team was, and it turns out that they were a Costa Rican team. Didnt speak much English, but they adopted me just the same! I was in a ton of their team pictures and everything!
Coming in to the Magic Kingdom was, well, magical. Nothing like it. I was teary and happy and all of it. And OMGthe support and the characters! Tons and tons and tons of characters throughout the MK! It was awesome. I stopped for Pluto and considered stopping for some others. But since none of the others were true favorites of mine, I passed them by. I never saw Goofy or Chip-n-Dale or Mickey and Minnie. (Though I know that Amy and Paula saw them.) Through the castlehammed it up with a BIG SMILE and thumbs up for the camera, and continued out.
The back side of the MK path was narrow and in the direct sun. So the pack got tighter together making it hard, yet again, to maintain a decent pace. I was still hanging with the Costa Ricans, though, so it seemed like everyone was having similar issues.
All of a sudden, it seemed like I was going to run over the woman right in front of me. I realized that she was actually falling back into me. Literally. I stopped and caught her. At first I thought she passed out. But she screamed my knee! Sure enough, there was her knee cap, on the side of her leg. I carried her to the side of the road and put her on the grass. She looked at me and yelled, Go! She was hard core. I left her there knowing how well patrolled the race was. And sure enough, maybe a minute later I saw the ambulance coming toward us on the service road. Said a prayer for her and kept chugging along.
The next characters I came upon were Aurora and Prince Phillip. And since she is my girls favorite (and she was the princess on my bib), I pulled over for another photo op. Back on the course and at about mile 8. Feeling ok, but definitely needing BioFreeze. Saw the med tent, and grabbed two huge handfuls of the goop and slathered it on both legs. Just past the med tent, I saw yet another hard core runner chick do a quick boot-and-rally. She pulled over to the side, puked, wiped her mouth with the bottom of her shirt, and got right back on the course. I am sure she was counting steps to the next water stop, though!
It was also at this time (I think
it is somewhat of a blur in this part of the race) that I had my Lisa moment. The wheelchair division started before the runners. And it was at a point in the race where you can see the earlier runners running back the opposite direction from you. And so I saw a wheelchair competitor. And I thought, At least I have legs! And thought of Lisa and smiled.
Mile 9-10 was where my race started getting difficult. I was doing fine and had been maintaining a pretty solid 12:00 pace. And all of a sudden, the running coaches for NKF found me and started to run with me. I didnt even know this would happen, so it was a nice surprise. And the first thing they said was, What do you need? Just name it
we have food, race fuel, water, meds
.what do you need? I asked from some ibuprofen. One guy zipped off to get it while the other paced with me. After I popped some pills, they asked if I wanted them to stay with me for the mile and I said yet. I think that they re only allowed to jump on for a mile max. Anyway, he spent the next several minutes just pounding out the statistics about kidney diseasethe number of people who have it, the number of people who die, the amount of money needed for research, etc. And they both kept saying things like, Remember why you are doing thisyou are doing this for Kelly
and on and on and on. And I totally understand what they were doing. They were trying to motivate me and keep me focused on the cause, etc. But it just made me SOB. I mean I was all out bawling. Snotty and gross and everything. Then I made them run and get me tissues! Ha! Seriously though, it got in my head and I just lost my pace from there for the rest of the race. Not that I blame them. It was just overwhelming.
Once they peeled off, I looked around and noticed that the Costa Ricans were gone. Sad! But right next to me was the Harvard Crew Alum runners (they were early 30s). Yay! So again, I joined their team for a bit and had fun chatting it up about life in Cambridge, etc. We compared notes and it was nice. But they were doing a better pace, so off they went.
Mile 11and there I wason the ramp that wasnt a hill! I thought about Nancy and was laughing! I actually like Mile 11 because at this point, I know that I am going to finish no matter what.
Time to head back into Epcot! Woot! More crowds, lots of cheering. But I was strangely not energized. Actually, mile 12 13 was my worst mile. I just couldnt get it going. Of course, once I saw the 13 sign, I kicked it in gear and ran hard to the finish. Got my medal and began to look for Nancy.
Our plan was to double back on to the course so that we could walk Liz in. I texted Liz and found out that Kat had found her on the course so they were together. She said they were doing fine and didnt need the escort. At this time I also got a text from Amy and she filled me in on how she, EE, and Paula were doing. She didnt know where Kat was, though, so I was glad to be able to tell her that everyone was accounted for and no one was alone.
Got in line for the official photo, saw another girl puking, found Nancy and she and I both had our pics taken. Then it was time for a massage since I didnt need to double back for Liz and Kat.
After the massage, well, lets just say that things got interesting for me and Nancy! But that is another part of the story!
I have just adored reading your thoughts on the race. Very emotional for me to read so I can only imagine how it was living it. I just feel so proud of you all. It's hard reading all of it - joy and some sadness for me. But regardless I am so proud and thrilled for a bond/memory you will never ever forget. And no one can take that away from you. And Amiee, that last line makes me cry with happiness for you especially. Lovely. 
I had to let her steal you - which she did QUITE willlingly 
.).
People forget about it. Thanks. 
Oh they have no idea how creative we are! 
Everyone had packed their bags the night before, but that didn't stop me from having my own personal freak out. Several times over. I was going over and over my list of stuff making sure every last thing I needed was packed.
A volunteer with a gallon jug of Bio-Freeze. "HIT ME", I laugh and she gave me this huge gob of bio-freeze that I slathered on my problem spots. Instant relief. Good to go for a while.
