We did it! The three of us started together and ended the race together at 2:59:37. Amazing morning spent with two wonderful girls who have now finished a half marathon!
We flew down to Orlando on Saturday morning, just beating the snow. We made it in plenty of time for the expo although I think we were all worried a little bit. I even made them run to the expo shuttle which didn't thrill them at all. The expo was easy and after a fast walk around, we went back to our hotel, All-Star Movies, to grab the rest of the gang and hit Downtown Disney for dinner. No surprise, Downtown Disney was packed. We had dinner at the carry out pub but I think we were all happy. Early night to bed since 2:30 wake up was super early!
 |
| Expo pic! |
2:30am Sunday--Day starts
Jo and I amazing made it out of bed easily, amazing what adrenaline does. Caught the shuttle at 3am and made it to the race site super early. We had fun taking pictures and decided to jump in a line for a picture with pretty scenery behind it. When we were third from the front, Cinderella decided to jump into the pictures. Jo was pretty excited since she was Cinderella for the race. It was a huge pre-race party that we enjoyed. The DJ was great, we got pictures with Cinderella and Pocohontas, and I got to see one of my college friends that was also running. Overall, a very good pre-race setting. It is a long walk back to the corals so we took off early and enjoyed sitting and getting some last minute rest.
 |
| Ready to run! |
 |
| Princess pose (we all determined we are bad at it) |
 |
| The Cinderellas! |
 |
| Posing with Pocohontas |
 |
| Showing the evil while celebrating at the dance party |
What I love about Disney is they go big all the time. Each coral starts with fireworks and they truly try to make you feel special. We didn't have a goal in mind other than running more than walking and only stopping if the character lines were short. So we passed most of the characters at the beginning although they were fun to look at. We were all entertained and the first 5 miles went pretty fast. We didn't take our first walk break until right before the Magic Kingdom. It is always fun running through the Magic Kingdom. We had already decided to take our bathroom break there, but were surprised to see short lines for Buzz and Woody so we stopped for both. After exiting Magic Kingdom is when the course gets boring and harder. Jenny and I took to entertaining Jo and keeping her mind off of her legs (Shut up legs!). We took turns singing songs and encouraging when possible. She did a great job of pushing herself when possible. People watching was also very entertaining during this time. I can't believe some people can run 13.1 miles in those costumes.
 |
| Each corral starts with fireworks! |
 |
| Running through Magic Kingdom entrance |
 |
| Running through the Magic Kingdom |
 |
| BUZZ! |
 |
| Can't get enough Castle |
 |
| Woody made Jenny's day. |
 |
| Run away Jenny! |
 |
| Love the signs. |
Our run through Epcot was nice but mostly because you realize you are less than a mile from the finish line. We realized that we could finish under 3 hours so we tried to kick it into gear. As I said at the beginning, we all finished together and under 3 hours! It was great seeing the rest of our gang at the finish line cheering us on. They took some great pictures and brought us pretty flowers.
 |
| Just outside Epcot |
 |
| 1/2 mile from finish |
 |
| We did it! |
 |
| Thanks for the support! |
 |
| Did we mention it is only 9:30 and we have a park to get to? |
As I said in my last post, it is great being a part of something new. I was able to witness the joy and emotions of two people's first endurance race and it was fun. We were all sore for several days after the race but it was all worthwhile. Oh yeah, and we had 3 days to enjoy at Disney and 1 day exploring Universal which also made it worthwhile.
Now I have til January til I get to run around Disney again. Goofy in January and I get to triple the mileage from this past weekend. Hopefully I can con my family into joining that one with me.