Supervising children ages 2 to 72 while running a Half Marathon! *update 3/5*

[DrMomof3]

Have you looked at the FW cabins or the All star suites. I haven't stayed in either one, but they would give you 2 rooms. Or have you looked into renting DVC points from an owner? That is usually a cheaper way to get a 1 bedroom. (I know the whole dilemma of the 5 people thing.) Good luck with the house thing. Somehow these things always seem to work out, but they can be stressful!

I looked at FW cabins. They are $1000 less for the week than BLT. BUT I think we'd need to at least rent a car and possibly and golf cart, too. That doesn't it make it much of a bargain.
With the huge room-only discount, renting points is actually MORE expensive than paying Disney. Crazy, huh?
I think Tom would absolutely hate staying at All Star. And we'd probably rent a car. Maybe POR? Or maybe just a regular room at BC - no villa, no CL. I'm certainly not cancelling our reservation yet!

OK so just wanted to update you since I had no idea what the C25K was just 2 weeks ago (DUH! new runner here.... )... I now am totally onboard with the C25K thanks to reading about it here on your TR! I am almost done with my 2nd week and downloaded an app for it on my iTouch last night. So I owe it all to you THANKS! Sorry to interrupt... carry on!

I'm SO happy for you!!! It's amazing that you've started. Keep up the good work!!!

Good luck with all of the house stuff! We're lucky that Chuck can get a VA loan with no down payment. Otherwise we'd be waiting a few years before buying. Hope everything works out and you're still able to take your trip in August.

Our issue has to do with the ridiculous cost of housing in our county. The median house price in our town is over $1 million. Our house is worth less than that but you get an idea of what we're up against. We can qualify for the maximum FHA loan with a good rate and we can definitely afford 10% down + closing costs. That still leaves a gap between the price of the house and the amount down. Crazy, I know.

I can't post pics at work because the photo sharing sites are all restricted. If I get a chance, I'll try to start updating again later...

Amanda

 

[carissanboys]

Our issue has to do with the ridiculous cost of housing in our county. The median house price in our town is over $1 million. Our house is worth less than that but you get an idea of what we're up against. We can qualify for the maximum FHA loan with a good rate and we can definitely afford 10% down + closing costs. That still leaves a gap between the price of the house and the amount down. Crazy, I know.

I completely understand. There is no way we could have afforded the kind of house we want if we were still living up in the D.C./Maryland area.

 

[DrMomof3]

I completely understand. There is no way we could have afforded the kind of house we want if we were still living up in the D.C./Maryland area.

That's a good comparison only I think the NYC suburbs are even more expensive!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I think I already posted some of this but....

Zachary woke up at 2:45am and I moved him into my spot in bed. He went right back to sleep and I used this as my cue to get up. I had requested a 3am wake-up call so I unplugged the phone so it wouldn't wake up the family. I had already laid out all of my clothes and my drop-off bag was ready. I took my stuff into the bathroom and got dressed. I was nervous and excited! At 3am the phone in the bathroom rang (I had forgotten about that phone since it would never occur to me to have a phone in the bathroom!) and I listened to the Stitch and Mickey. Very cute!

Once I was dressed and ready to go, I headed up to the concierge lounge to see what food/beverages were available. I had a bottle of gatorade with me, 2 bags of "Sharkies" in my belt pack, and a handful of mini-cliff bars. In the lounge I got some coffee (yucky, yucky coffee) and grabbed a banana. I met a few other runners in the lounge. I knew that "last call" for the monorail was 4am but I was antsy so around 3:30am I headed over to the TTC to catch the monorail to Epcot.

People were mostly quiet on the monorail but I met one nice woman who lives in Hawaii! She gave me lots of helpful info about general stuff and walked over with me. She didn't have any stuff so I headed over to bag check by myself. My big decision was this: I had purchased 2 fleece jackets from Old Navy for $6 each. My original plan was to wear one and toss it and keep the other in my checked bag for after the race. The kids were very upset about me throwing away a perfectly good and brand new jacket (yes, I spent hours explaining about giving it to charity to no avail!). I decided that it was warm enough that I didn't really need the jacket and put it in my bag. I was a little chilly but it wasn't a bad decision. I walked through the bag check to the waiting area. It was SO crazy! There were a lot of port-a-potties and just tons of people hanging out. You could get water or powerade but I had my own. I just took it all in!

It was a little weird being there by myself. Especially because I had never run a race before so I wasn't totally sure what to expect. I saw a couple wearing W.I.S.H. shirts and decided to take a chance and introduce myself. It was a great decision! Jennifer is a pediatrician in New Jersey and her husband (Robert, I think) does something with computers. Jennifer and I had a lot in common and they were SO nice. They really helped calm my nerve and were perfectly happy to stand and chat with a total stranger. I finally decided to get in line for a port-a-potty since we'd have to head to the corral soon. I met 2 young women who had trained with the Lymphoma/Leukemia Society. They were super nice (but young!). We chatted in line. The line seemed endless! After using the potty it was time to head over to the corral.

The walk to the corrals was going to be about 20 minutes according to Disney. I met some nice people walking over, including a mom of 4 who was starting in corral A. I was quite impressed! I was very pleased with how friendly and nice everyone was. Nobody seemed to look down on me because I was a novice and everyone had something nice and encouraging to say. I found corral F and found a nice spot in the middle to wait. And wait. There was some pre-race entertainment but mostly I was trying to stay warm, sending out some Facebook updates and Tweets, and trying not to be too nervous. I met a few other novices in the corral and someone was nice enough to take a picture of me.

Sexy, right???

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

It was amazing how they had fireworks in the morning>

Not the best pic but you get the idea.

Finally it was our turn to start. I decided to go with a run 5, walk 2 strategy and I really wanted to try to keep the adrenaline for causing me to start too fast. My longest run had been 10 miles and I had only run outdoors once before the race. It was crowded but not so much that I couldn't do my own thing.

I made it to mile marker 1 in about 12 minutes (which is faster than I had trained). I never saw mile marker 2.

These guys were cheering us on!

Magic Kingdom toll booths.

Mile marker 3! I was still maintaining about a 12 minute/mile pace but I really had to go to the bathroom. Nerves, cold, and that bottle of gatorade! The lines were pretty long and I lost about 3 minutes on my bathroom stop. I was still maintaining a 3 hour finish pace at this point but I wanted a little faster.

Disney has this cool system where you can have some send updates to your family/friends via text messaging. Apparently at the 5k mark Tom and my parents thought I was going too fast and sent me a text to slow down (I didn't get it until after the race!).

Mile 5. Many of pictures were too blurry because I didn't really want to stop to get good pictures. I was too worried about finishing!

Running down Main Street was a huge highlight for me!!!

The mayor was out and lots of Cast Members. It was really cool!

We took a right turn to Tomorrowland.

And then past the "Stinky Cars."

Toontown was closed at that hour.

No time to ride Winnie the Pooh!

Trumpeters announced our arrival to the castle!

Mile 6 was in MK.

The Mountains!

Those lazy trainmen are just hanging out!

See the couple in the Green WISH shirts? Those are my new friends Jennifer and Robert!!!!

Past the halfway point!

Amanda

(More to come - need to take my daughter to ballet!)

 

[DrMomof3]

Somewhere around mile 8 or so (?) I ran past the Polynesian where my family was camped out waiting to watch me run.

The kids waiting for mommy!

The characters from Pooh seemed to keep appearing during the race.

Mile 10!

Green army man!

The fairies!

Epcot in the distance. The end is near!

Club Cool!

Phineas and Ferb!

And finally to the finish line!
My time? 2:44:40. I was SO pleased!

Amanda

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

That is an awesome time!!!!!

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

That's a great time for your first half! Congratulations! I bet having all that entertainment along the route makes it go by too fast. I would almost want to go slower to enjoy it longer! Great pictures too. I can't wait to run a half at Disney!

 

[lovesdumbo]

And finally to the finish line!
My time? 2:44:40. I was SO pleased!

WOW!!! Incredible!

So awesome that your family was able to wait for your right at the Poly!

 

[dismagiclover]

You just flew through that race! Awesome job! You're much more focused then me during races How do you like those arm warmers? I've seen runnners with them, but I've never tried them myself. Oh and I noticed your shoutout to "Stinky Cars."

 

[counselormom]

I know nothing about marathons but I'm impressed! It must take some serious dedication to get up at that early in the morning and run! I loved the pics of you talking to your family as you were running. Great update!

 

[DrMomof3]

That is an awesome time!!!!!

Thank you! I need to get fast like you!

That's a great time for your first half! Congratulations! I bet having all that entertainment along the route makes it go by too fast. I would almost want to go slower to enjoy it longer! Great pictures too. I can't wait to run a half at Disney!

Thank you. I was too worried about finishing to slow down and enjoy the scene. I loved it though!

WOW!!! Incredible!

So awesome that your family was able to wait for your right at the Poly!

It was one of the reasons I picked the Poly so my family could just walk to the road and see me.

You just flew through that race! Awesome job! You're much more focused then me during races How do you like those arm warmers? I've seen runnners with them, but I've never tried them myself. Oh and I noticed your shoutout to "Stinky Cars."

I loved the arm warmers! You can see that I took them off after running through MK. They were great! Really comfortable and easy to take off. I totally thought of you as I typed Stinky Cars.

I know nothing about marathons but I'm impressed! It must take some serious dedication to get up at that early in the morning and run! I loved the pics of you talking to your family as you were running. Great update!

Thank you!!!

Amanda

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Amanda, I swear I posted yesterday! I think I was so amazed and in awe by your time, I forgot! You rocked it! I would LOVE to get under 3 hours! Congrats!!!

 

[DrMomof3]

A few thoughts about the race before I move on to the rest of the day...

Disney did an amazing job with the race. Getting into the corrals was a bit disorganized and I know that a lot of people in the earlier corrals ended up starting in the later corrals. I heard that getting into the parking lot before the race was a disaster! Another reason I'm glad we stayed at the Poly!

I met a lot of really nice people before the race. Waiting to go to the corrals, walking over to the corrals, and waiting in the corrals. People were SO friendly and nice. There was lots of entertainment during the race to keep me motivated. My adrenaline was definitely high! I must have been smiling the whole race - lots of strangers cheered me on by name and I think it was because I looked so happy!!! There were high school marching bands with cheerleaders, DJs, characters, CMs, and even the band from Canada (can't think of the name right now but someone else will know it!).

I ran into my new-found WISH friends (Jennifer and Robert) during the race, too. They went Goofy so they were taking it easy during the half. I think they stopped for pics at every character stop! I talked to them around mile 8 or 9. What lovely people! I don't know their DIS names so I haven't been able to thank them.

Seeing my family as I ran by was AWESOME! I was starting to get tired and it was so energizing to see them. I kept a run 5, walk 2 pattern until around the 2 hour mark. Then it was more like run 3, walk 3 or whatever I could do. I walked through every water/powerade stop and took whatever was being offered (gel, water, powerade). I figured that someone smarter/more experienced than me set up the stations and I would follow it!

One of my favorite moments from the race came towards the end. It's a very flat race but there's one entrance ramp near the end that is tough. It's around mile 12 so you're already exhausted. They had a Green Army Man stationed halfway up the hill with a megaphone and he was yelling at us, "Come on civilians! Move it out!" Too funny. Instead of feeling exhausted I just laughed and laughed.

I high-fived Minnie at the end of the race. They had Mickey and Minnie. I didn't get over to the side fast enough for Mickey.

After the race I grabbed some snacks and water and powerade. Then I got my bag back from bag check and headed to the family reunion area. Tom was there waiting for me. Apparently the TTC was INSANE with huge crowds of people trying to get over to Epcot for the finish. My parents stayed at the Poly with the kids and Tom came over alone. We walked back to the monorail (strangely, you have to go through Epcot bag check to get on the monorail ) and headed back.

I seriously hope that everyone considers running (or walking) this race some time in their life. I never imagined I could do this. It was AWESOME! I'm still glowing and it's been almost a month!!!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Amanda, I swear I posted yesterday! I think I was so amazed and in awe by your time, I forgot! You rocked it! I would LOVE to get under 3 hours! Congrats!!!

Thanks Karen!!!!

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

I love your race recap! It really is great to see family and friends out on the course. Liz and Carissa and my family all cheered me on during my race and it was one of the best parts. Really gives you a lift! DH said traffic was nuts getting into the lot before the race. It took him an hour to get from the Boardwalk to Epcot on the bus And I'm sure the TTC was crazy. My SIL went to see my brother at the finish. She drove and they wouldn't let her in the Epcot parking lot. She had to go to the MK and take the monorail. There were probably thousands of people doing that. Congratuations again! It's a great accomplishment

 

[Native NYer]

Congrats on the half marathon!
You and Carissa have definitely inspired me to try it.
A knee injury has always kept me from running, but I may try.
Are there people that walk?

 

[carissanboys]

Congrats on the half marathon!
You and Carissa have definitely inspired me to try it.
A knee injury has always kept me from running, but I may try.
Are there people that walk?

There are MANY people who walk! As long as you can maintain a 16 minute mile pace while walking, you can do the half.


Amanda! I already told you how awesome you did, but so impressed with your time. You rocked it!

You were so lucky to have your family there to take pictures of you during the race. That would have been so cool.

 

[DrMomof3]

I love your race recap! It really is great to see family and friends out on the course. Liz and Carissa and my family all cheered me on during my race and it was one of the best parts. Really gives you a lift! DH said traffic was nuts getting into the lot before the race. It took him an hour to get from the Boardwalk to Epcot on the bus And I'm sure the TTC was crazy. My SIL went to see my brother at the finish. She drove and they wouldn't let her in the Epcot parking lot. She had to go to the MK and take the monorail. There were probably thousands of people doing that. Congratuations again! It's a great accomplishment

Tom was really glad he left the children at the hotel with my parents! He told me that it was hard to describe the scene at the TTC waiting to get to Epcot.

Congrats on the half marathon!
You and Carissa have definitely inspired me to try it.
A knee injury has always kept me from running, but I may try.
Are there people that walk?

Lots and lots of people walk! I'm hoping my DH will walk the 1/2 next year...

There are MANY people who walk! As long as you can maintain a 16 minute mile pace while walking, you can do the half.


Amanda! I already told you how awesome you did, but so impressed with your time. You rocked it!

You were so lucky to have your family there to take pictures of you during the race. That would have been so cool.

Thank you Carissa. You really deserve so much credit for inspiring me! I know I've never met you but I can't thank you enough!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Thank you all for your kind words!!!

A few comments that I forgot to mention... At the end of the race I really thought I was going to puke. I realized that I had really pushed myself to my limit. And I'm proud that I was able to do that. I don't think I realized how hard I was pushing until it was over.

After the race we headed back to the Poly. I took a shower and changed into clean clothes (although I was amazingly not sweaty at all and was glad to have warmer clothes to wear right after the race). I don't think my medal left my body again except when I was sleeping or showering!

Once I was cleaned up and presentable, we headed over to MK. We had lunch ADRs at Crystal Palace and I thought it would be good for me to walk around (my legs were KILLING me at this point so it wasn't easy to stop myself from collapsing). We packed up my parents and the kids and headed over to the monorail. BTW - staying at a monorail resort was nothing short of brilliant!

Amanda