Sorry for the delay, everyone. Crazy week at school! Now, where was I ...
We really didn't want to oversleep on Sunday, so all three of us set our cellphone alarms for 3:20 am. Twenty minutes later, we were geared up and on our way to the Polynesian Resort, where we could board a shuttle bus to take us to the start of the race outside Epcot. When I sat down on my bus seat, it was already covered in sparkles from the runner who sat there before me!
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| There was a long line for the bus, so we had a nice lady take our picture while we waited |
The bus dropped us off in the Wonder lot and we followed a whole bunch of other runners to the bag drop.
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| Disney grammar fail |
It was pretty cold that early in the morning, so we decided to wait in the port-a-potty line before dropping off our gear bags. I was not going to give up my jacket one minute before I had to!
After dropping our gear, we headed for Corral A, which was a nice change from last year when Heidi was in Corral A and Diane and I were back in B. What was not so nice was the huge runner traffic jam leading up to the corrals. We ended up going off road and through some bushes to get around the crowd so we could make it to our corral with a comfortable time buffer. Heidi headed to the front of Corral A with all the speedsters, while Diane and I stayed at the back of the corral, just behind the two hour pacer.
A few minutes after 5:45 am, we were off! I love races where they use fireworks instead of a starter pistol. Diane and I managed to stick together for the first 7 miles or so, although she never stops at rest stops, so I ended up sprinting to catch up a few times when I needed water.
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| Passing the Tomorrowland Speedway in the dark. Check out that quad! |
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| Me and Diane leaving Cinderella's Castle |
Unfortunately, right around mile six I started getting some pretty nasty stomach cramps. I should have stopped at one of the numerous port-a-potties as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom, but of course I did not. About a mile later, the cramps were bad enough that I had to walk for a bit while I scouted for the next rest stop, which is when I lost Diane. Fortunately, I found one just before mile 8. Actually, I believe it was the exact same rest stop where I had to stop thanks to some GI issues during last year's race, too! The stop set me back a few minutes, but after that I felt much better and only needed to walk out the cramps one more time around mile 11.
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| My watch picked up an extra .19 miles somewhere. Methinks the first mile split might be a bit off. |
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| A not totally horrible action shot! And an even better shot of Monster Quad! |
Overall, I was happy with my race. I wasn't expecting to PR coming off a heaviest part of my marathon training, so my goal was to hit 10 min miles or better. I finished right at 2:11, even with my little pit stop, and ran 11 out of 13 miles under 10 min pace, with quite a few of them significantly under.
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| I got a high five from Minnie Mouse at the finish line! |
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| Pretty proud of my perfectly even 5K and 10K splits |
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| Loving the purple medal! |
After the race, the super amazing race volunteers strapped an ice bag into my bum knee and I picked up all my post-race goodies. Pretty solid food choices, including Luna protein bars, Pixar-themed fruit snacks, and these nice little snack boxes filled with healthy yumminess.
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| Snacks! |
Then I found Heidi and Diane, and after a few minutes of resting on the asphalt, we dragged ourselves to a shuttle bus for the ride/walk back to the hotel so that we could get cleaned up and continue our Disney adventure!
UPDATE: I can't believe I almost forgot the most important part. This is what happens to my brain when I get sleepy.
Congratulations to Diane for a new PR, and to Heidi for winning the military division!!!!
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