Hey WISHers!
Well, I'm back from Minnie weekend and of course, it was fabulous!
Friday: We drove straight to the Expo. It's a much easier Expo to deal with than marathon weekend! Packet pickup was confusing because I had to pick up 3 different packets- 2 5ks, 1 15k. And then I had ordered all different size t-shirts... Still, it was pretty smooth. We headed to the AKL and played around that night.
Saturday: In the grand tradition of Disney racing, I stared at the ceiling for at least 2 hours before finally giving up and getting in the shower right before 5 a.m. Emma and I put all our clothes out the night before. I got dressed and then woke her up. She was very perky considering the time! I did realize this was going to be a very slow race when she made me pull her shirt over her head very carefully so her pre-pinned bib wouldn't get wrinkled.
We drove over to Epcot with no problems (I have no sense of direction, so this is always a challenge!) We wandered over to a bright group of WISHers. Everyone was totally cool and chatted with Emma who I think felt pretty important.

We lined up with Becky (Lexxiefern) in the 13-15 minute category. Emma stole my favorite hat because her headband was too tight. I don't think she has any clue how nice that was of me.
The race started, and we were off through the parking lot of Epcot. Becky took off running, and Emma and I set off at what I considered "walking" and she called "sprinting." Whatever. I tried to distract her with the sight of the Food and Wine Festival booths sitting on the edge of the parking lot. Emma's mood was such that I decided there was no way we could maintain a "beat the sweepers" pace, and just hoped we'd make it. She was much happier when we hit the mile 1 marker (and a nice WISHer took our picture). Then there was a water stop, and we were able to check out the backside of Test Track and some other rides.
Once we were truly in Epcot, life was better. Emma was much happier, and I was too! We headed towards the countries- seeing some really fast WISHers pass us by on their way back. We did the crazy yelling/waving WISH thing, and headed towards Mexico. Having accepted that we couldn't meet the 15 minute pace, I just decided to have fun. So, I took a picture of Emma in each country. I'm pretty sure that was her favorite part- my girl loves to pose!
Finally we were headed on back through Epcot (stopping for a picture of the mile 3 marker because we were on a roll). We crossed the finish line and got our medals. Oh, and how could I forget?! The WISHers cheering were wonderful!
We stuck around for awhile, but Emma wanted to hit the Magic Kingdom early, so we headed back to the AKL. We changed clothes and were on a bus for MK by 8:45- not bad! Emma was acting like the race was no big deal, but she wore her medal all day.
Sunday: I was insanely tired Saturday night (5k, 3 parks, no real breaks, 20 weeks pregnant- bad combination!) But, I hopped out of bed and did the whole shower routine again. This time I decided to get up later, so I ate my bagel in the shower. Does that show you how fuzzy my thinking was?! Oh yeah, that's a time saver!
I scurried down to the car, managed not to glare at the woman with a race number who was insanely cheerful in the lobby, and went to pick up Becky. Again, no problems getting to Epcot! We hopped on a bus where we found more WISHers and were at the AK before I knew it.
A big group of WISHers were assembled. We chatted some and sat around- I was having a second breakfast of Goldfish and Diet Dr. Pepper. Oddly enough, no one else wanted any Goldfish! We spent some time wandering around looking for some Bio-Freeze for Becky's knee. We decided they didn't think anyone would hurt at the start, so no Bio-Freeze!
We got in a porta-potty line. Of course, we picked the slow line. They were counting down the minutes to the start. I think we made it out of the line at about 2 minutes before the start. Becky and I took off through the parking lot and made it into the last corral as the fireworks started. We spent the first couple of miles weaving around walkers (because we literally started at the very back). Things were pretty congested. I vaguely remember mile 3 and 4. Poor Becky was still looking for a medical tent, and I was just fussing about how they only had 5 water stops for 9 miles (I had my own water bottle, but still...) The out and back stinks, but it was great looking for WISHers and waving like crazy.
It felt like a fast pace to me, but we were usually somewhere in the 11-12 minute range. I guess that's what adding 10+ pounds in a couple of months can do to you!

It's a good thing I had Becky to kind of pull me along!
Somewhere around mile 5 we found the medical tent and Becky got her Bio-Freeze. It didn't help right away, but she'd been on a mission for it, so at least we did find it! (It did make her hand nice and cold though

)
Finally, finally, we hit the backside of Hollywood Studios. We both laughed about wanting the candy bar table they had from the full! We ran through the really dark tunnel and I managed to take a picture of the costumes from High School Musical 2 for Emma- I was proud I remembered! Another runner yelled "it's just another 5k, ladies!" which I know she meant as encouragement, but it really didn't work for me.

Then we hit the Hat and found a few characters- of course, we took pictures. After the hat, we focused on attempting to look reasonably cute for the official photographers. "Keep smiling, keep smiling!"
We left Hollywood Studios, and ran to the Boardwalk. I'm always surprised that the little hill by the Swan/Dolphin is more daunting that you expect! We took off down past the Beach Club. Becky took a phone call from her husband without stopping! I'm telling you, the girl was on a mission! We hit the countries and met up with Tricia- hey girl! We ran together for awhile but again, Becky was on a mission, so we drifted apart. Last year I walked the countries and took pictures of almost every one because of the Flower and Garden Festival. This time I barely even looked up (mostly because when I did look up I'd think "are you kidding me? we're just by Japan- will this never end!?")
The last Epcot stretch-- Woo hoo- Spaceship Earth, parking lot, sad to see no choir... WISHers cheering. Can't slow down when WISHers are cheering! And we blazed through the finish somewhere around 1:48, which was considerably faster than last year. We took pictures, joined WISHers for cheering, and generally just enjoyed not running.

I have never been able to stick around for the end of the race. I loved seeing the last finishers. Sure, the runners at the front of the pack are impressive, but the last people- now that's some true determination and courage!
Final thoughts: it was a great race. Having Becky with me helped tremendously. She was going fast, but it wasn't a bad pace. I told my doctor I'd make sure I could still talk while running, and we did chat during the race. Her knee bothered her throughout the race- she was pretty tough! I enjoyed teasing her about the pace, but I know she would have slowed down the second I asked. It was really crazy fun!
I hate that they are getting rid of the Minnie- it's such a great distance. I've already signed up for the half in January, and I don't know if I'll be able to convince my family to head back in March for the new half. And, if I'm reading the information correctly, the course looks too similar to the Minnie. If you're going to do a half, you need to go through Magic Kingdom!
Every time I finish a race, I always get hit with that "why do we do this to ourselves voluntarily?" feeling, but I get over it pretty quickly. I am going to probably focus on trying to increase my walking speed (I am the slowest walker ever) until this baby is born. I really wanted to kind of slow down on my own terms, and I think having a Minnie medal is a great way to do it!
So that pretty much wraps it up. I'll eventually add my pictures to my blog. I tried here, but they were enormous (and I really have to do some work...)
OH, and there was no Team in Training- I think we were the biggest group there. The announcer said things like here come more runners from the WISH group! I thought that was cool...
Jen in GA