Disney Marathon Weekend
The best weekend of the year has come and gone.
The short story -my main goal was to finish the marathon feeling stronger than the last, and I accomplished that despite much hotter weather. Even better, I was 24 minutes faster than last year even though I stopped for 8 more minutes! I'm very happy and feel like I can take a year off without feeling like I need anything to prove.
Wednesday - Expo
Because I was doing the 5k, I had to go to the expo on the first day, which I hate. Thankfully (?) I had to work during the day, so I went to the expo after picking my son up from the bus stop. I got there around 4:30 and met up with
@SheHulk and her friend. We had no line for bib pickup, which was a relief after seeing pics of the awful lines earlier in the day. When I got my 5k bib, I was shocked to see that I was in corral A. What??? I'm not fast! I told
@The Expert I would drop back to B to run with her, but she insisted I start in A. I might never again get that opportunity, so I took it, LOL. We went over to get our shirts and then split up to do some shopping. It was so nice meeting SheHulk in person! I spent way too much money at the expo as usual, but my mom had told me to buy myself stuff for my birthday, so who was I to say no?
I also stopped at the Galloway booth and finally met Chris Twiggs, my running coach. We had a nice chat and took a selfie. The runDisney merch had no virtual queue at that point, so I went over there and got the marathon weekend shoes, which I've been wearing ever since.
I also picked up the marathon weekend spirit jersey. I don't NEED another one, since I live in Florida and all, but I love them and I loved the design of this one. Then I headed home and thankfully didn't hit much traffic, because I needed to go to bed! It was a battle trying to get my son to go to bed, and at one point I told him "you can stay up but I need to go to bed."
Finally we were all settled. I fell asleep later than I wanted but it was okay because I could take a nap after the race!
Thursday - 5k
The next morning I woke up around 2:30, cursing all my life choices as usual. I had organized all my costume pieces the night before and also styled my wig. I was going as Mara Jade from Star Wars. No issues getting to Epcot (yay team car!) and wandered over to the light pole. I had more time than usual since I didn't need to worry about getting to the front of my corral! I got into A right around the time it closed and hovered at the back. Thankfully I saw some kids in there so I didn't feel THAT out of place (but runDisney should really use POT for both the 5k and 10k!). The race started and I ran to keep up with the crowd, but settled into a run/walk groove. I didn't even bring my GymBoss timer so I just ran on feel, mostly to test out my knee. It was bothering me a little, but not too bad. In the beginning I caught up with Chris and said hello before passing him - the ONLY time that will ever happen.
I stopped for Moon Girl because her line wasn't long and she's a rare character. The CM playing her was so cute and energetic! I loved running through Epcot with all the space themed music playing, and especially all the Star Wars music. I was halfway around World Showcase when Duel of the Fates started playing, and that might be the coolest experience I've ever had at Disney. I couldn't help but run with that song playing! I didn't stop for any other characters because their lines were so long, even from A! Disney REALLY needs to add more characters or figure out something to make the lines shorter if they're going to explain the 5k entries. Thankfully the lines went quickly, but I waited longer during the 5k for some than during the marathon. Chris caught up with me near The Land and we walked together for a bit until I stopped for a picture with Pleakley. In line I took videos of me vibing to the Star Wars disco themes. Again, it was SO COOL and I was so glad I went back on my "no more Disney 5ks" rule for this race. I also stopped for a photo with Spaceship Earth.
@The Expert caught up with me in line so we got a pic together as well as by ourselves. We ran together for the rest of the race, and it was so fun finishing with a friend! I grabbed all my goodies and promptly went home, took a shower, and rested until my first meeting at 11:30. Funny note: I got home right as my husband and son were leaving for the bus stop, and my son was so weirded out by my wig. He refused to hug me until I took it off!
Friday - Meetups
I wasn't running on Friday, but I headed over to the expo around noon for the Customized Training Group meetup. It was short, but it was nice to see so many folks in person instead of over Zoom. I chatted with some folks before going back into the vendor area to see Jeff Galloway. The line wasn't too long and I thanked him, again, for making me a runner and asked how he was recovering after his fall last month. He was in great spirits and eager to get back onto his feet. Afterwards, I chatted with one of the pacers and then wandered around to do some more unnecessary shopping. Picked up a pair of space-themed Feetures for The Expert and also got myself some Fuzzy Fizzies recovery bath salts. (I used them on Monday night and they were REALLY nice.) Also got some of the glitter freckle tattoos to try, because regular glitter comes off me almost immediately. (Spoiler: the face tattoo mostly stayed on despite me constantly dumping water on myself and sweating like a pig!) I also went to the merch area to look around some more and ended up buying the men's marathon weekend tee and the runDisney medal holder. I'm still REALLY annoyed that all of the women's marathon shirts were gone by Wednesday night. So many people who are only running the marathon don't even go to the expo until Friday or Saturday. ORDER MORE MERCH, RUN DISNEY!
After that, I parked at DHS and walked over to Hurricane Hanna's. The meetup was huge! It was so nice talking to everyone again and helped with the pre-race jitters. Oddly, I didn't start feeling nervous until Saturday night. I shared a skyliner back with
@Herding_Cats and crew, and her daughter must have sensed that I have a kid her age, because she decided I was her new best friend.
Thankfully it did not take too much time to get home, and we met my husband's family for dinner at a restaurant by our house. I stuffed my face with hibachi and we sent my son with them for the weekend. I missed him, but it was so nice being able to go to bed whenever I needed to and rest on the couch as much as I wanted!
Saturday - Spectating the Half Marathon
Saturday I woke up only slightly later than before the 5k so I could get to Epcot in time before they started closing the roads. Spoiler: they closed the road early! But thankfully, I was able to get around the detour without being stuck in traffic. I took the monorail to the TTC and was one of the first people there. It was nice being able to sit on a bench and have some breakfast before all the crowds arrived. I found a spot and got ready for the first athletes to come through. It was so much fun spectating! I had a blast and honestly, one of the reasons I
don't want to do the marathon next year is because I want to spectate.
@AZMermaid caught up with me for a few minutes. I saw a bunch of folks come through -
@The Expert,
@Herding_Cats,
@sandam1,
@marty3d,
@camaker,
@GuinnessRunner,
@Mr_Incr3dible, and so many others I forgot. (Sorry!!!) I stayed until the balloon ladies came through and then monorailed back to Epcot. I tried to find a spot at the bus loop but it was way too crowded. I did see Herding Cats come through there, though!
After that I headed home and stayed on the couch working on my carb-loading for most of the day. I tried really hard not to take a nap, but ended up dozing off for 15 minutes or so. I got all my stuff organized and ready to go for the next day and tried not to be too anxious. I got in bed a little after 6 pm, but didn't fall asleep until around 8 pm. Still, I got a decent amount of sleep before my alarm went off at 2 am.
Next up - the marathon.
