The night before the race I didn't sleep well. I woke up at 2:00 am. My alarm was set for 2:20 am. The joys of Disney races :) I got ready and headed downstairs to get on the bus. After a quick bus trip to Epcot I walked to the staging area. It was cold and I was very thankful I went to the thrift store the day before. I was only able to find what I call Mr. Rodgers sweater. It was an ugly green sweater, but that ugly green sweater kept me warm all the way too Magic Kingdom!
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| Mr. Rodgers Sweater! |
Once I got to the corral, is when I really started getting nervous. I had been fine the night before, which was surprising since I was a crazy nervous person the entire week prior. Once the fireworks went off for corral A it got real. CRAP WHAT WAS I DOING! I had plans for this race. I had fueling plans, I had pacing plans, I had it all mapped out what was going to happen. Oops that went out the window before the start. I forgot to take my ENERGYbits before the start. Luckily I had taken 30 ENERGYbits and 30 RECOVERYbits before I left the hotel. Now I had to rethink my whole plan and then remember different mileage stops.
The week before the race I was a basket case. Yes I was bat shit crazy. Thankfully I had a friend who helped talk me down a few times. She made me realize this is my first marathon and it was at Disney so don't worry about time, just enjoy my victory lap. I love that!
I was in corral J, after my calculations I would be waiting about 30 mins from the time we heard the first fireworks go off.
Let me tell you that was the fastest 30 mins EVER. Before I knew it we were up and it was our time to start. CRAP... It's real now!
The first two miles flew by. Seriously they went very fast. Next thing I know we are running through Magic Kingdom. My favorite part of running Disney, is going through the castle!
After we left Magic Kingdom we ran around Disney's Speedway. It wasn't as bad as people said. The entrance was a steep hill, but not really sure what everyone was complaining about. It was a great seeing spectators on the track with their cars.
Around mile 10 my friend Casey caught up to me! We ended up sticking together for the rest of the race. BEST THING EVER! She pushed me to the finish line.
When we entered Animal Kingdom we were planning on riding Everest. The line was too long and we didn't want to wait.
I had mixed feelings about running through World Wide of Sports. From reading everyones posts it sounded like it was going to be a long boring part of the run. Well I liked the fact that we had things to look at other than the road. I get that it was about two miles of the run, but it didn't seem long or boring to me. I guess that goes to show that you shouldn't always listen to what people say.
The road between WWOS and Hollywood Studios seemed very long. People on the course said once we get to Hollywood Studios it goes quick! Once we got to Studios I knew that I would be seeing my husband soon!
I got caught talking on the phone. I called my husband to let him know we were running out of the park. Text messages weren't going through very well and he wanted to make sure he was waiting for me, so that's why I was on the phone.
My husband met us outside the Boardwalk. We didn't stop and talk to him for long, but it was nice to see him for just a quick second.
Next up the last park, Epcot. WOW Epcot is a huge park when you are tired and just want to be done running. We saw the 25 mile marker outside of France! As we were running by we saw Belle, no line.
Then we saw Jasmine, again no line!
Epcot seemed to last forever. Once we saw the 26 mile marker I was so excited!! Almost done!
When I saw the finish line that was best feeling ever. I realized I just finished my first marathon and I'm never doing this again!!
After it was all over and I was trying to walk to the bus I thought nope I'm never doing this again. I got back to my hotel room, showered, napped then went and hung out in the park. Still nope never doing this again. Three days later I decided I'm doing it again!! I'll be running this marathon again in 2016!!
