Yup, I said it.
I am a marathoner. It never gets old.
I'll try to sum it up in as few words as possible, but a weekend as life changing as this, takes time to rehash.
When I arrived in WDW on Thursday, I parked my car at the hotel and immediately jumped on the bus to the expo to meet up with some friends. We sat in the sun, talked and eventually made our way over to the expo (grabbing beer along the way).
After packet pick up, we checked out the runDisney merch. I am SO happy to report that the merch was well stocked the entire weekend, even at the post race tent. I didn't see a single item out of stock. Sadly, I didn't actually love most of it. The theming this year just wasn't my style. But, I did manage to pick up a few things.
After that, I checked into my hotel, had dinner and went to Disney Springs for a bit before heading to bed. I planned to get up and cheer at the 10K very early the next morning.
I didn't sleep well and by Friday morning in was pouring rain. I decided to skip cheering and just rest a bit. I was meeting the team for breakfast anyway, so I did that. We had a huge group and pretty much took over Kona. It was a wonderful breakfast full of many laughs. After breakfast, I tagged along with 2 teammates to the expo before we all headed off to Epcot for our team meet up.
That's where it all got crazy. We are a fun loving bunch and at a few margaritas from La Cava into the mix and, well.... the 12 year old was doing all the adulting. We could not be trusted. We took a Grand Fiesta Tour that was so epic, there was a boat between our groups. We sang, badly and loudly, and had an amazing time. After that, people started to drift off in separate directions, but some of us ended up going over to the boardwalk and having dinner.
We walked back through Epcot and I headed back to the hotel. Even though I wasn't running, I was meeting the group before the race for a pre-race picture. So, I got up at 2am and was on the bus at 3am. After the pre-race shenanigans and pictures, I headed out with a group, including the Chicken Hat Cheerer to our spot on the course, near the Poly. We were out there just after the first runners came by. We cheered, high fived, screamed, hugged, gave out candy and supported anyone who needed it. It was so much fun!
When finally the clean up crew was opening the road, we headed back. I went back to the hotel to warm up and then went back to the expo. My ankle was bothering me a bit (really tight calf) and wanted to get taped up. However, that was a disaster. The line was so long and they kept turning people away and asking them to return at a certain time. However, if you returned at that time, you'd be turned away again. After the 3rd time, I gave up and just taped myself up. I really appreciate the free taping service, but really hope they come up with a better system for managing the line next year.
After that debacle, I grabbed a snack and met a friend to listen to the presentation being done for 1st time marathoners. The main message of that hour was, go slower than you think you need to, especially at the beginning. Slow down. That's a hard message for runners to hear, but was an important one.
I was still deciding what my race plan was going to be. Part of me wanted to run with all the fun friends I had made. But, I knew they were 2 corals ahead of me and were faster runners. They stop for lots of pictures and shenanigans, so I'd be leap-frogging them the whole way. On the other hand, I knew that above all else, finishing was my top priority. I knew I needed to go out slowly. My ideas started to form. After the presentation I headed to Disney Springs to have dinner with friends. It ended up being much longer than I planned and I was exhausted. And, as a bonus, by the time we left it was pouring rain. I was soaked by the time I got back to the hotel. I laid out all my stuff for the morning and fell asleep easily. 2 am comes early....
When finally the clean up crew was opening the road, we headed back. I went back to the hotel to warm up and then went back to the expo. My ankle was bothering me a bit (really tight calf) and wanted to get taped up. However, that was a disaster. The line was so long and they kept turning people away and asking them to return at a certain time. However, if you returned at that time, you'd be turned away again. After the 3rd time, I gave up and just taped myself up. I really appreciate the free taping service, but really hope they come up with a better system for managing the line next year.
After that debacle, I grabbed a snack and met a friend to listen to the presentation being done for 1st time marathoners. The main message of that hour was, go slower than you think you need to, especially at the beginning. Slow down. That's a hard message for runners to hear, but was an important one.
I was still deciding what my race plan was going to be. Part of me wanted to run with all the fun friends I had made. But, I knew they were 2 corals ahead of me and were faster runners. They stop for lots of pictures and shenanigans, so I'd be leap-frogging them the whole way. On the other hand, I knew that above all else, finishing was my top priority. I knew I needed to go out slowly. My ideas started to form. After the presentation I headed to Disney Springs to have dinner with friends. It ended up being much longer than I planned and I was exhausted. And, as a bonus, by the time we left it was pouring rain. I was soaked by the time I got back to the hotel. I laid out all my stuff for the morning and fell asleep easily. 2 am comes early....
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