So I never wrote a post about the 1/2 marathon. I meant to and then life interfered. So I'll write about that first and then other stuff later on.
My biggest concern did happen, and I got picked up by the bus of shame. The morning started very very early. We had to be on the bus from the parks before 4 AM. It was already 70 degrees. I had been training with Frank in temperatures that were 30 - 40 degrees. It was also somewhere around 100% humidity. Hence it was super hot. Since I'm a damn flower in the heat, I wilted. It took almost an hour to even get to the official starting time. Right off the bat I was having difficulty with my right shoe. It had caused little problems in training and I knew I had to tighten it. Have I ever mentioned that during the first 2 miles my back and legs are really painful? Well, during training the first few miles my back would be super tight and painful. So trying to find a place where I could bend the way I needed to to tighten my shoe was difficult.
Early on I spent much of the race identifying a person I wanted to catch up with and then pass. I had read somewhere that was not a bad strategy. It helped keep me motivated and going forward. My sister did pass me (as I expected she would). I was in the process of tightening my shoes at the time. I had hoped to get a photo with her but she's too quick!
Along the route there were photo opportunities with various Disney characters. I kept going past most of them because there was a huge line and I knew I'd be cutting it close anyway. I did have to drink a lot at every water stop. I think I took 2 glasses of Gatorade and 2 glasses of water every stop. I was WEARING the Gatorade by mile 3. I did stop for one set of characters - the villainesses. I stopped mostly because those were my older sister's favorites. The line was short so I felt okay stopping.
Mile 5 was the first pick up spot. I was ahead of "the balloon ladies" so I was okay there. The balloon ladies are how Disney paces the course. They carry a balloon (obviously) and they are walking the 16 minute mile pace. During mile 5 the balloon ladies passed me, but at mile 6 they told me the ladies were only 2 minutes ahead. I possibly could have run to catch up but in reality I don't think it would've mattered.
Between Mile 5 and 7 we got to go through Disney. We went through the castle which was awesome. I was really excited about that and glad I made it that far. Before the castle, I think, I saw Lyday waving at me. (Oh maybe it was shortly after the castle now that I think about it because she was on Main Street.) It was nice to have someone on the course cheering for me. Even though I knew at that point I was done at the next bus point.
At mile 7 they said "You have 11 minutes to get to mile 8 to not have to get on the bus." I honestly laughed at that. If I could do an 11 minute mile I would've been doing them long before. Along mile 7 there were a few characters. In hindsight I should've stopped to do my photo with each. I knew I was done so why not? I think I just wanted to keep going. I also walked past the song from Frozen, Let It Go, which made me tear up a little bit.
At mile 8 there were buses. There were 3 buses and I'm sure we were not the first buses and I'm fairly sure we weren't the last buses. I didn't feel too badly on the bus. A lot of the other people on the bus did. One woman, with her 3 friends so how awesome are they, had fallen very early on the race and couldn't run. She and her friends were clearly competitors so I did feel badly for her. On the trip back to where the run started we went over this HUGE overpass. Had I continued on, I would've had to walk over that. That might have killed me so I wasn't sad to not have to go over that. According to my sister there were Army men there (from Toy Story not the real deal) and they were harassing the runners about running.
The bus dropped us off at the end of the race and we got our medals anyway. I did tear up a little then because I don't fully think I deserved it, although my FB friends and Twitter peeps were glad for me even trying. So found Lyday and my sister and we went back to the hotel. Lyday left back to her home and Amanda and I took a nap and life was good. My right foot had a blister and on Monday when we went to Animal Kingdom it got worse. But that was about all the bad from the whole adventure.
I have confirmed I don't really enjoy this kind of activity. My sister has decided to try the Marvel Avengers 1/2 Marathon (at Disneyland) in November so that she can get the Coast to Coast medal. I'm going and registered as a chearleader. I want her to have good pictures of her crossing the finish line and to see someone cheering for her along the course.
