Minnie Marathon Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos

[Kristi1357]

Hope you all have a great time (even though I'm very jealous of you)! Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!

Ditto!

Have a blast, everyone!

 

[princessrunner]

GO WISH TEAM GO

 

[dsnyfan21]

Go Wish Team, Go!



And please have a Margarita in Mexico for me too!

Go WISHers Go!!!
I am up and out the door this morning!!
I Hope to get one of those margartas TONIGHT!!!

 

[Caseydilla]

Wow, big weekend here. Best of luck to you all!

 

[JimB.]

Jim's Race Rules:

1. Don't trip.
2. Don't fall.
3. Don't get run over.
4. If you get tired, slow down.

I like WATCHING, not WORKING!

Everyone have a great day, have fun, & I may see you there (on a non-professional basis, I hope)

 

[monte]

GO TEAM GO!!!! HAVE FUN

 

[AuntieM03]

Wow, big weekend here. Best of luck to you all!

Good luck everyone!!!

Boy does that cupcake in your avatar look good!

 

[msblrobs]

GO WISH TEAM!!!

I'll be with you guys in spirit this weekend . Have a blast and safe travels to all.

 

[Superdebbie]

I can't wait to cross that finish line! Those sweepers better not try to stop me!! GO WISHers

 

[Theta]

As Matt would say... "I am SO first!" Gosh, I will miss him this weekend.

OMG! I'm ON that list!

:

Yes, Judy you are on that list!! Good luck! Hugs to everyone.


GO TEAM GO!! Whoooo hoooo!

 

[chimera]

Jim's Race Rules:

1. Don't trip.
2. Don't fall.
3. Don't get run over.
4. If you get tired, slow down.

I like WATCHING, not WORKING!

Everyone have a great day, have fun, & I may see you there (on a non-professional basis, I hope)

We'll see what we can do I'm going to ask every bike medic I see if his name is Jim

 

[Krispy]

OMG I made the list - one little post about walking the 5K and I made the list - I feel soooo special - what a warm welcome!

Picked up my packet - got my picture taken with a princess, made up my ipod playlist and I am ready for tomorrow - I will walk this thing in under an hour - I have to!!! I hope to meet some of you in the morning - bright and early!

Good luck to everyone!

Kristina

 

[joan4mickey]

Back from a quick weekend trip to the World. We left Friday...arrived and went to get my race packet. I have only run a of couple local 5K's so it was a big deal to see all the stuff and get my goodies. Then off to dinner. Saturday we went to the Flower and Garden show-first time again and we really loved it. Beautiful gardens and I got to let some ladybugs loose, and the butterfly garden all just wonderful. Next, meet the Wishers. There was a lot of you gals and I had a hard time getting screen names and real name straight, but maybe there will be another chance in the future. We had an early dinner and to bed.

Up at 4am. Dress and meet my ride (thanks Kathy and Lori, and thanks Paul for riding DH to finish line). We caught the first bus to Animal Kingdom. I rode next to some lady who said she was a running coach in Tampa. She said she would be running the DL 1/2. Then wait until race, the weather was cool so I was glad to have brought a towel from the hotel room. I ate my banana and drank a little Propel.

Race starts, I skipped water stop one-as planned-next stop I had hoped for sports drink,but got water. I have not mastered the art of drinking and running so I took a big gulp and choked on it. Running okay and doing about a 9 min. pace. Ate my gel just before mile 5-I think, things are a bit jumbled from 5-8 miles. Fluid intake was bad as I'm used to a bottle with pop up top. At 8 I hit the wall. Just didn't have anything left. I did finish in under my long goal, but far from my ultimate goal. I keep telling myself I did great, as this was my first "big" race and I just started running this year.

Now the results....... 1:26:18 Pace 9:14 (I had hoped for 8:50) Finished 18th in my age group(women 45-49)

Link to photos http://picasaweb.google.com/baumann6/MinnieMarathon2008

 

[mkymsehi]

Great photos Joan, and wonderful job on your race. Thanks for sharing!

 

[dsnyfan21]

Got to the World on Friday around 10:15am. Got on a bus right away to Hollywood Studios, we had ADR at Sci-Fi for lunch at 11am. My Mom joined me for this little trip. After a nice lunch we headed over to the bus stop to catch a bus to WWOS. While waiting for a bus we bumped into Liz (another WISHer). Got over to the WWOS and picked up my packet and shirt (very small tight fitting black tech shirt. Walked around a bit. I had to pick up my SPIbelt at there both because I never got it by mail. After that we went back over to HS and then a bus to out hotel - All Start Sports.

After we settled our stuff into our room and chilled a bit, we headed over to EPCOT. We meet Maura over at Test Track around 4pm. Maura works for GM and offered a tour of the lounge and a ride on the ride. Mrs.Mightyduck, her husband, my MOm, Liz and I went to check it out. The lounge was very nice. I loved getting to talk to people and put the words to people's faces. After we sat up there checking out the view, we were able to get in one of the cars without waiting in line!! Pretty cool. The photo thing wasn't working, but I'm sure it would've been a great shot!!

Afterwards, Liz, Jen, Noah, My Mom and I talked for a long time. Liz finally had to go to meet up with some others. My Mom and I asked Jen and Noah to join us for dinner. We all had wet burritos over at the Outside Cantina. I loved talking with Jen and Noah - very nice people!! We split up and told Jen to relax and she would do really well and complete the 5K no problem.

Watched Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, my all time favorite!!
Back to the room to relax and then off to sleep.

Saturday: Up and out the door to Animal Kingdom. Did Safari ride, the treks and safari ride again. Took lots of pictures of animals. Then next to Magic Kingdom. Ate lunch at Starlight Ray's. Did some window shopping along Main Street. Next up was over to Downtown Disney for some more shopping and people watching.
Caught a bus over to Port Orleans Riverside for the meet. It was very nice to meet all the Wishers in person. Saw Liz, Jen, Noah and Maura again. Met up with SamSa (Sharon) and her DH Mike. They were my ride over to EPCOT on Sunday morning. Nice meetin up with some of my Walt's Warriors. Nice to meet SmileyKate, Mel, Anne, Scot, Amybeth and all the others!!!!!
Took bus back to Downtown Disney and then back to our resort. Relaxed, got stuff ready for Sunday and tried to pack back up my stuff.

Sunday: Had a hard time sleeping because of restlessness and the neighbors getting in late. Was up around 4:15am. Got everything on and in order. Out the door I went. Waited for my ride near the lobby doors. SamSam and her DH come around the corner right on time to pick me up. Again I have to thank them for doing that!! (Thank You!) We drove over to EPCOT and parked. SamSam's DH was commenting on the amount of cars and the line up of buses. I told hime he should see WDW Marathon weekend crowds!! Getting the buses from EPCOT to AK was effertless! Very organized and fast. Off the buses and over to the staging area. There were some water areas, port-a-potties, stage, baggage drop off and stage for the officials to start the race. Hung out for a bit saying hi to the other Wishers. I then decided to get in line for the Potty. By the time I got done with the line there was 14min until the start. I lined up in the back corral. They even had a corral behind the last one for walkers. I decided against the walker corral because I can keep a 13-15min pace. A few of us Wishers were together for the beginning of the race. After the start line I started with my pace and unfortunately had to leave my fellow wishe.rs behind. The ANimal Kingdom parkin lot was dark and quiet. On to Oseola Parkway, again kind dark and quiet. I did catch up to some other WIshers as I went along, saying Hi and trying to come up with something encouraging to say. Wasn't always able to do that, but I think I did it most of the time. Going around the turnaround on Oseola Parkway I was able to pick out the wishers that started with me and I yelled for them. At around the time we left HS and did the little sidewalk over to the Boardwalk I was feeling a bit tired. I used the one CLifShot gel I had with me and I think it helped.
I kind enjoyed the last part of the race around world showcase. I wasn't feeling stressed and that helped to keep me relaxed. Towards the end I was seeing alot of wish shirts and hearing them scream and cheer for me. That is always uplifting and just helped me that much more to get across that finish line!!
According to my Garmi I walked 9.45 miles with an average pace of 13:51!! Yeah!! That is a PR for me!! I had to get back to my room to shower, ice bath, eat and finish packing and get out of the room by 11am. We went back over to EPCOT to get a ride on Soarin'. That's about it for me.

**UPDATE** Official chip time was 2hr10min54sec.!!!!!!

Link to my Minnie 15K photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/dsnyfan/WDWMinnieWeekend

Superdebbie: I'm so glad you made it to the finish line!! You scared me when I saw you that time under the bridge going into the Boardwalk area.

Tracy

 

[Scott H]

Great results guys, Lynn's time was about 2:14 and mine was 1:47. My Ipod pace indicated 10:30ish, good enough for me.

I must compliment all the WISH folks I saw as having very very good race manners. Good to see.

Later kids we got a few more days here.

Time to get ready for teh BolderBoulder.

 

[Krispy]

I wanted to go ahead and write a kind of back of the pack review of the race on Saturday....

I got up about 530 since we had to leave the house about 6 threw on my walking gear and got the kids and the husband ready to go.

Arrived at epcot about 6:40 or so and headed over to the start/finish line area... I lined up at about 10 minutes to race start I found a spot at the beginning of the walkers area and happened to line up around a bunch of WISHers.

At 7 exactly the race was ready to start and off we went, there was a lot of jostling for position since it was crowded going through the start/finish line.

I QUICKLY fell to the back of the pack and thats where I stayed for the race - I was passed by a couple at about the half mile point and then it was all me - and the dreaded golf cart. At the 22 minute mark I was just hitting mile one - was I disappointed with my self? YES! I had already wanted to turn back once and made myself continue, this again made me want to just stop. I was frustrated.

But I kept going - every cast member and volunteer that I passed made me feel like I was in the front of the pack. I crossed into the park and looked up to see six beautiful hot air balloons over the epcot area, a georgous site on a Saturday morning.

As I walked across into the world showcase EVERYONE (well most everyone) was coming out - some of the runners were cheering for me which made me feel pretty good. I hit the second mile at about 45 minutes and the sweet volunteer that was working that mile marker headed with me and kept me company.

As I was coming out of the world showcase area the medics kept me company as well laughing and joking with me and letting me know that walking out of there was better than some of the alternatives and I was too close to the end to give up. I do have to comment that having the world showcase LITERALLY all to yourself it an odd but calming feeling...

When the exit was finally insight I saw two ladies that I had spoken with as we were walking out towards the parking lot at the start of the race. They had finished and came back to wait with me. That right there made me feel GREAT, two ladies I didn't even know came back to make sure I didn't finish alone. Arm in arm we walked that last tenth of a mile, with about a hundred yards left to go I got just enough energy to run to the finish - everyone that was left was still cheering like I had come in first.

While I was disappointed in myself for finishing dead last... I was proud of myself for finishing. And I haven't gotten the WISH saying out of my head all weekend - DLF > DNF >> DNS

And I will be working on a goal of getting faster and hopefully signing up for the AK 5K Marathon weekend.

Kristina

 

[CarolA]

I am just going to post a few notes since my "theme" is the same as everyone elses.

It was GREAT to go to the WISH meet Saturday and meet everyone. Very nice group, so don't be shy!

Sunday I woke up at 3:30 paniced! I dreamed the sun was shining and it was 7 am and I had missed the race. That pretty much got up me. Of course I had set the alarm, left a wake up call and had the cell phone set to go off!

Anyway, I met up with Stacie and her DH at the lobby of SSR where we hooked up with another couple for the taxi ride to AK. We headed towards the other green shirts and hanging around made the wait go faster!

Lined up in the 11 to 13 corral and unlike my prior Disney race (TOT) this one started ON TIME! (There's a concept! ) I had decided to do run walk intervals based on my new Galloway program. My runs were 2:22 (don't ask, that's just what I screwed up and put in the thing) with a 1 minute walk. At the first beep I couldnot get out of the way to walk, but I was doing a nice pace for me (not too fast) and just ran through it. I did that a couple of times and a couple of times I just walked through the run when I was feeling tired etc. Going down Osceola Parkway it was great to be cheered on by the faster WISHer's so I made a point of running on the left and cheering on the walkers and others I saw. Another woman near me said "your shirts make it so easy, I am looking for red" It's the "MINNIE" I think half the group wore red and black!

The last mile I had to flip my run/walk. I was just out of energy....

The clock time was just over two hours, my Garmin was 1:59 or so. Haven't looked to see what the "offical" chip time was (are they up yet?) But.... I was SO HAPPY when I crossed that line and got my medal. Two hours was great for me and for the FIRST time I really thought "I can do the half" I did this with not as much training as I wanted and I made it!!!!!

I want to thank the WISH team for cheering us on at the end. Some of them even remembered my name!!!!

I went back and cheered folks on until the last one. There were a few at the end who brought tears to my eyes, the woman who after she got her medal went back and got mom... Mom was leaning on her hard, but they were going to make it!!! Lots of "teams" waiting for thier friends and racing out to hug them and congratulate them as they made it! Very nice!

I called Waldo while I was at the pool later doing laundry (Those clothes STUNK and were NOT going in my suitcase ) I finally confessed what I had done. I had not told anyone but the WISH team that I was doing this! I think he was shocked, but he sounds very proud of me. (I guess I figured if I chickened out or got swept you guys MIGHT understand. While Waldo really tries to understand he's a much more natural runner then I am and has been running his entire life!)

I want to thank the WISH team. Your support has been invaluable!

(And one woman did run up behind me and say "I LOVE THE SLOGAN ON YOUR SHIRT" LOL!)

 

[mkymsehi]

...finishing dead last...
Kristina

Kristina, you are the last person ever to cross the finish line of the very last Minnie 15K race. You retired the race into the history books. How cool is that? Look at it this way, you savored the experience.

Way to go WISHer!

 

[Krispy]

Kristina, you are the last person ever to cross the finish line of the very last Minnie 15K race. You retired the race into the history books. How cool is that? Look at it this way, you savored the experience.

Way to go WISHer!

Was it the last 5K to? I wish I could take credit for being last in the 15K - I don't think I could have done 9 miles!