What have I done?

Oh boy. Oh boy.... In January of 2014 at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, not only am I running the inaugural Minnie Mouse 10K, but I'll also be running my first marathon as a part of this:

Source:here

So for those keeping track at home, that's 10K on Friday, a Half Marathon on Saturday and a Full Marathon on Sunday.

My husband is calling it a "Gopey". Halfway between a Goofy and a Dopey. All I'm missing is the 5K - but if I get into the Marathon Weekend Meetup, I'll practically be there.

Suddenly I'm running the Chicago Women's Half Marathon this weekend to try and get a better corral placement for Goofy.


I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

runDisney Marathon Weekend Registration is OPEN!

I'm hitting the pause button on my Pear Heart Rate Monitor review one more time because I have new race news!

Now, you know I love me some runDisney events, and this year they've sweetened their already super-sweet Marathon Weekend pot o'goodness with a new race distance (10K!) and a new mega-challenge (The Dopey). How could we refuse?

The addition of the Dopey is a clear response to runDisney fans everywhere who had already been running their own "unofficial" Dopey Challenge - meaning, 5K on Friday, Half Marathon on Saturday, Full Marathon on Sunday - but Disney doesn't do anything small. They've added the 10K race into that mix. So one could say that this is a "Race and a Half... and a Half..."

Now, it's not cheap, this mega-challenge. The price tag is almost $500, but... you get 6 medals... 5K, 10K, Half, Full, Goofy and Dopey. Plus 6 shirts. That's right. SIX WHOLE SHIRTS!

They're also responding to the ongoing outcry from all us lady runners, and they're finally offering race shirts in women's sizes! Hooray!

I'm also glad to see that they're taking the overcrowding on the course more seriously, by trimming back the number of participants in the half and full marathons, plus putting stricter controls on the corral placements. Hopefully that'll make the course a bit more enjoyable. I left my Half Marathon experience last year not being entirely sure that I wanted to attempt it again. It was frustrating to not have room to run, or MOVE for that matter.

Initially, we weren't going to register at all. We're Disney Vacation Club members and we could have signed up for the races a few days ago... but, being on the ship, you don't always notice dates, and you try not to think to far ahead because who knows where we'll be in January?

But then today, while trying to download Game of Thrones in Roatan, Honduras, my sister emailed to see what our Marathon Weekend plans might be. I was non-committal. Until I saw that the 10K was 80% sold out!

Say WHAT?

Didn't registration just open to the public this morning?

Yeah, let's get signed up for that. Now if I could just get the DVC Member website to open so I can make room reservations...

We figure 10k is a nice, civilized distance to do this year, and we can probably get a couple of rounds of golf in while we're down there.

And how can you say no to a Minnie Mouse medal? You can't. Don't even try.

Being a Marathon Spectator

After running the Walt Disney World Half Marathon on Saturday, it was time to change gears from "athlete" to "spectator". My amazeballs husband, Greg, was running the Marathon in his pursuit of completing the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge.

Now know this. We are not long-experienced runners, or experts in any way. We saw the amazing 20th anniversary Marathon medal and thought it was really cool. I thought it was cool, as in "Hey, look at that nice, shiny thing". Greg thought it was cool, as in "Me want". Then when he heard you get an additional Goofy medal for completing both the Half and Full Marathons in the same weekend, well... He Want.

So, without really considering all the implications, he registered.

He had a nervous conversation about it with Jeff Galloway at the Disneyland Half Marathon while we were there to get our Coast to Coast completion last year (we are bonus medal whores), and Jeff managed to allay his fears. Jeff told him, "You're going to make it. You wouldn't believe some of the people who do it, who look like they shouldn't be able to - you'll be fine. Just walk the half, then take it easy on the full. You get the same medal, no matter what, so make it fun."

To be fair, I'd been telling Greg the same thing, but it sounds better coming from a former Olympian, I suppose.

Flash forward to 3:15AM on Sunday. For this weekend, that was actually considered "sleeping in". I honestly don't remember if I saw Greg off. I'd like to think I did.

Rachael and I got up after he left, and did the whole "quick, light breakfast" thing, decided what to wear (our Half Marathon shirts, medals and Sparkle Skirts with our ChEAR shirts and clappers in my runDisney Coast to Coast shoulder bag) and made our way to the bus stop. We opted to wait till 4AM, since the runners were supposed to pretty much all be gone by then. Even so, we saw a few runners hustling to the bus with their bibs on and getting in line behind us. We urged them to the front to make sure they got the first available bus seats.

The busses were moving quickly and efficiently, and before we knew it, we were dropped off at the Epcot parking lot. I thought about running into the Race Retreat tent (I'd bought the Platinum ChEAR squad package, my sister bought a Gold at the expo) to grab a couple of bagels (it really was a very light breakfast), but we had no idea how long of a wait we could expect at the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Centre, or from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom, and Greg was in Corral B, so we figured we'd better get a move on.

Surprisingly, we were able to get right on the monorail, and we settled in for our trip to the TTC. There was a lot of shuffling, a lot of confused people who didn't know where they were going, and so Rachael and I bobbed and weaved our way through the doodle-doots (our term for people who seem to just meander, aimlessly, humming "dooooodle-ooot-dooooot") and quickly glanced up to see a large crowd heading up to the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Another glance to our left showed us that there were only about 10 people waiting for the ferry, and it was on it's way.  Off to the ferry!

Standing by for the ferry - see the castle waaaay back there?

We made it to the Magic Kingdom and hustled our way up Main Street, past the heaps of people waiting along the course, shoulder to shoulder. Immediately I was glad we'd bought the ChEAR packages because I knew we'd have a reserved cheering area in a "premium" location.

But of course, there was time for a couple of photos on the way.

Rachael and the Castle - still lit up for Christmas.

And ME!

The reserved viewing area was indeed "Premium". It was right, smack-dab in front of the castle. There was coffee, tea, hot chocolate and cold beverages available. We had received blankets as part of our packages, which I didn't bring along since I didn't think they would be useful since it was so WARM, but when I saw people sitting on the ground on theirs... well.. duh... We cozied up on the blanket-less pavement with some hot chocolate and waited. I wasn't entirely sure what Greg's pace was going to be today, so we were at the mercy of the runner tracking via text and email. I knew his start time, but that was it.

When around 45 minutes past his start time passed, and I hadn't received his 5K split yet, I started to worry. I realized shortly after, the splits were, of course, in MILES. That's when it really hit me how far a Marathon is.

Now, people who come so early are dedicated and devoted to their runners. Some. optimistically so. We had to negotiate a temporary space swap with a couple of people whose runner was in the H corral so that we could be up front to see Greg when he came through the castle. I mean, their runners had barely just started at this point but there they were, right up front... Cute.

Here's our front row view!

Before we knew it, here came THIS guy! (He'd also texted us a little along the way with his progress.

Ok, you can barely see him.

He's a BLUR, he's so fast!

Somehow he totally missed that I was trying to get him to go to the race photographers and get his photo done, but I didn't want to keep him, so we checked in and sent him on his way. He was doing GREAT!

We tried to catch him on the roadway past the Polynesian, but realized when we got there that it had taken too long (but I did see Heather from Running with Sass and her husband, Bobby! Lookin' good, you two!) 

We hustled to catch the Animal Kingdom bus. It was pretty full, and the driver warned us that it might take 45 minutes to get there (DARN), but somehow we made it just as Greg was entering the park, and we negotiated yet another front of the line spot with a family whose runner came through just before Greg.

Here he comes!

He's taking a photo of me...

And I'm taking a photo of him... which Rachael took a photo of.
So meta.

We were torn at this point. Greg had reached the halfway point in about 2.5 hours. He'd been pushing to get as far as he could before the sun came up, and planned to slow down a bit now that it was heating up.

I was curious about the Mile 20 "surprise" that Disney had planned, and we thought about heading to the Wide World of Sports to try and catch Greg there, but then I was worried about  making it to the finish line in time if there was gridlock out that way.
So far the transportation had been amazing, but I'd never taken a bus to the WWoS, and I didn't want to risk it, so we headed straight back to Epcot.

We knew we'd have some time to kill, so Rachael waited at the finish line in the reserved area for ChEAR package holders to watch the runners come in while I went over to the Race Retreat to try and snag us some snacks. Surprisingly (and this is my only complaint) the food was not available. I mean, it was out, but it was all covered and staff were shooing people away.  People who included some (from what I could see) pretty hungry runners. Not cool.

I hiked back to the finish line, hungry. I noticed a cupcake truck and purchased our second breakfast there. A peanut butter chocolate cupcake. Boo-hoo. Poor us. We ate it in the shaded area behind the ChEAR bleachers where there was cold beverages, private portolets, tables and stools, and materials to make cheer signs.

We weighed our options at this point. We knew Greg would be over an hour, and we were entertained at the finish line, but EPCOT was right there. And so we went! We hopped on the  new Test Track (Test Track goes Tron, in my opinion) and then made our way to Sunshine Seasons to get something for Rachael to eat. On our way in, a nice lady congratulated us on our medals and gave us a pair of Soarin' tickets she couldn't use.

Well, ok!

So we rode Soarin'.

Once we were done, I started to get antsy about the time, considering I'd have to walk all the way back to the finish line, so I left Rachael to grab her food and I made my way to the reserved viewing area, grabbed a bottle of water and waited. I got the notice that Greg had just passed 20 miles, so I settled in. Before long, Rachael found me. We made some Cheer signs, and watched the runners stream in.

Some ebullient, some in agony, all of them awash in joy.

One runner in particular scared the crap out of me. He was coming along at a good clip, when he suddenly stopped about 20-30 feet away from the finish line. He started moving in a very strange way - it looked like he was starting to do a jig, or trying to do the moonwalk. At first I thought "Ha, go dude!" but suddenly that turned into a "Oh no, dude!" as he collapsed to the ground, felled-tree-like, stiff as a board. I was a double barricade away from him, helpless. I looked up at the booth (he'd dropped right in front of it) and I thought I heard them calling for a medic. For what seemed like and eternity, he just lay alone on the ground. No other runners were coming in, so it couldn't have been that long, but suddenly a couple ran to him, each putting one of his arms around their shoulders, and they carried him across the finish line. His legs below the knees were twisted inwards, his calves obviously cramping up terribly. Then, just as suddenly, the couple ran back across the finish line to the stands. They'd leapt the barrier to help this runner complete his race.

Wow.

About 10 minutes later, I got a text from Greg that he was close and before long I saw him jogging into view. Rachael and I hoisted our signs into the air and cheered. Greg high-fived Goofy and then continued on in his runner's daze.

We ran after him, on our side of the barricades (you can only access the runners in the chute after the finish line if you have access to the reserved ChEAR Zone) and yelled his name till he turned around. We congratulated him and arranged to meet over by the Race Retreat tent.

Rachael couldn't come in with her Gold package, so she and I planned to meet soon after at Mission: Space, she snapped a picture of Greg in all his glory, and Greg and I did the post-race chat in the Race Retreat.

So much BLING!!

He was pretty exhausted, blissed out and emotional. And proud. We were both very proud. I focussed on making sure he ate what he could, and drank water and Gatorade, and sent him back to the resort with instructions to take an ice bath as soon as he got there.
I had a momentary pang of guilt for not going with him, especially after he told me that a gentleman had collapsed on his bus on the way back. But he got there fine, iced up, and had a nice jacuzzi session and a nap.

Yeah, dude!

If you ever find yourself at Walt Disney World during any of the runDisney events, I would recommend making it a point to get up early and watch at least part of the race. It's fun, inspirational and exciting.

If you find yourself there WITH a runner, I thought the runDisney ChEAR team package was pretty fun. I liked the reserved areas, I liked the beverages, I thought the T-shirts, clappers and blankets were cute, and if I were by myself I would probably made more use of the Race Retreat itself. Again, I wasn't crazy about the fact that food wasn't available right away when runners were coming in, but that's my only complaint. It was a nice perk.

Mascara Review

Let me start by saying: I am NOT a makeup person. It's not a part of my daily routine, I find it fussy and a little smothery, but its a necessary evil for work.

You hit the stage without makeup, and you look like a cross between a zombie and ghost.

Now I am told that my combination skin is a blessing which will keep me looking young beyond my years (add 'vampire' to my list of ghouls), but it also has a way of having a negative effect on any mascara I have ever tried.

Between foundation and my natural glistening self after running around under hot stage lights, and I end up wearing my mascara a lot lower than it was initially applied.  As in, UNDER my eyes.

Not cute.

I've been on the hunt for a mascara that will not slip and slide it's way down to accentuate the dark veins under my eyes.

Enter the Shoppers Drug Mart Eye Studio Sampler.

I found this shortly after Christmas (it was a holiday gift box which, according to reviews, seems to be an annual offering) and thought it was right up my alley.  I plunked down the $39 for the box of 7 sample sizes of their top selling mascaras.  Also in the box is a coupon to exchange for a full sized version of your favourite.

I haven't tried all the samples - I read the descriptions of some of the offerings and dismissed them immediately.  I was looking for something long lasting, water-proof and generally tough-as-nails since I attribute much of my smudging to oiliness.

I narrowed it down to the Lise Watier 24 Hrs Glam Mascara sample:

Source: LiseWatier.com

From their website:

Our mission: to boldly lengthen and volumize lashes while providing extreme, long-lasting wear. Once you try our 24 Hrs Glam Mascara, you'll agree: mission accomplished. Its elastic polymer formula and FlexiQueen TM brush surround each lash with a 3D waterproof film to create an infinitely glamorous look that lasts all day, and all night for an astonishing 24 smudge-free, waterproof, sweatproof, humidity proof and, sob, tear proof hours. Need yet more proof? Okay. It's opthalmologically tested.

I wore it to a couple of long shifts running single serve coffee machines at a bridal show (read: Lots of steam) and was pleased to see that there was no smudging, but it wasn't really the toughest trial I could think of.  It gave good coverage, good definition, good lash separation.  Nice product.

Meanwhile, I gave the Smashbox Full Exposure a run for it's money - facilitating a corporate event in a hot room for 90 minutes, then running home. It did well in the facilitating portion of the day - less good in the running part of the day. That said, the quality of the product was amazing. It looked great. I would happily wear it for regular, non-sweating events.

Source: smashbox.com

But back to my pal Lise Watier.

Yesterday I really put her to the test. I hadn't had a good run in since the Half Marathon, and despite the rain, it was time to get back out there. Since we're heading back out on the ship in a couple short weeks, I figured it was a good idea to get my whole mascara situation settled.  So I did what any normal person would do.

I put on a layer of mascara, suited up, put on a layer of Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream, and went for a 5 mile run in the pouring rain.

Since I didn't run past any reflective surfaces, I wasn't sure if the "what a nut" looks I was getting from other soggy pedestrians was due to the fact that I was out running in that weather, or because I looked like Tammy Faye Baker had a love child with a raccoon.

Guess what?

They just thought I was nuts because I was running in rain, freezing rain, thunder and lightning!

My mascara did NOT BUDGE!

I know a lot of ladies like to wear a touch of make-up for races, and runDisney's Princess Half Marathon is only a few short weeks away, so if you haven't found your mascara of choice, perhaps the Lise Watier 24 Hours Glam Mascara is for you!

Note: I paid for these mascara samples myself and this review is the opinion of a happy consumer. I have no relationship with any of these companies.

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - Half Marathon Recap

Here it is: the much delayed and not at all ballyhooed race report for the Walt Disney World 20th Anniversary Weekend Half Marathon!

The coffee maker was prepped, the race outfits laid out, the multiple alarms were set.  We went to bed on Friday night after a surprisingly good meal at Carrabba's. We'd never been before, and had low "Olive Garden" type expectations and those expectations were pleasantly exceeded. (I am a self-admitted 'food-snob', and I will admit to sending my food back to be reheated.  Tepid food is a pet peeve of mine, but I'm always happy enough to just have it thrown in a microwave if the kitchen has one.)

We got back to our lovely one bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs, and tucked in for the night later than we'd have liked, excited for the next morning but dreading the early wake-up.

There is nothing quite like the confusion you feel when your alarm goes off at an ungodly hour.

"What happened? Where am I? WHO am I?"

We scrambled some eggs, toasted some bread, slurped down some coffee and spooned up some yogurt, grabbed a banana for the road and headed out the door.  We got to the bus stop around 3:15, had less than 5 minutes to wait for a bus and watched as the line up suddenly mushroomed behind us.

Tip: Everyone and their mother plans to line up for the bus at 3:30. If you don't like line-ups or stress on race morning, go earlier.

Our bus driver got a little confused and made a wrong turn, which lead to him dropping us off right at the Runner's Village, as opposed to farther down the parking lot.  Score!  We hustled to the Race Retreat, but I saw the Pacebook Running Club Pace Group gathering, so I popped over to wave (They nicely waved back, but probably had no idea who I was considering how big the group is. Next time I'll be more outgoing at the runDisney Meetup, and will try to get to at least one PbRC meet up!) and then we flashed our armbands to the Race Retreat bouncers and made our way inside.

We joined a quiet couple at a mostly empty table, grabbed coffee laced with hot chocolate and tried to relax (and snack) while we waited for the "get moving" announcement which came quickly enough.

Tip: When joining the 'herd' heading to the corrals, understand that you are heading into an inevitable gridlock. Keep your head on a swivel.

For some magical reason, runDisney ushers you past a huge bank of port-o-potties and through a teeny bottleneck on your way to the corrals. Be patient, but purposeful as you move along. You're walking into a line of people facing the potties, and they aren't going to move in the same direction as the corrals, so don't be afraid to move forward. They aren't stopped because there's nowhere to go, they're stopped because they're criss-crossing a crazy-long line. We moved to the front of the potty-line and walked through the 6 foot space that people left in front of the potties to by-pass the worst of the blockage.

Tip: Do NOT succumb to the lure of these potties. They will waste your time. There are SO MANY more potties on the way to the corrals. More than you could ever dream of. Bide your time, clever runner.

We finally got to our corral (Greg and I moved back from B and C respectively to join Rachael in E) and settled in. We looked around, checked our phones, took photos, aimlessly stretched and then finally sat down to wait for the race to start. Before we knew it, we were listening to the National Anthem, and watching the sky erupt with fireworks as the wheelchair athletes were sent off.

Disney had the corrals starting every 7 minutes, like clockwork. That said, these corrals were the biggest I'd ever been a part of. Bigger than the Princess Half, bigger than the Disneyland Half, comically bigger than the Downsview Half. As a result the corrals seemed to start to bleed together, one corral was barely through before they'd have to start the next corral.  

We were pretty far up in our corral, and while we were waiting, Greg looked around and noticed Drew Carey hanging out and watching the monitor. He ran over to shake his hand, we got a quick photo, my sister shook his hand and he backed away, but soon called her back over to shake her hand again. It must have been her bad-ass Wonder Woman outfit.  He was super-nice.

As we were getting organized for our start, I realized that I had never reset my Garmin to our regular 2/1 intervals after my :30:30 practise run and I couldn't program it on the fly. Greg quickly programmed his 310XT for our intervals and Rachael chose a 2/1 program on her 410 as well (this would later become significant). I opted for an open workout to track our splits. My Garmin is also set for the city-running, auto-pause option for stoplights and busy streets, so my perception of the actual time is a little off.

Soon enough it was time for Corral E to start. According to my Garmin, we started at 6:02am.   

We had another problem, immediately. I realized that I also had not tried on my Nathan hydration belt recently - meaning that it was sized for wearing over my thermal pants, coat and layers.  So... bounce, bounce, bounce. We switched to a walk interval and I started tugging and re-adjusting to get the belt tightened down to a less bouncy size. I finally got the straps re-attached when I got jostled from behind. My gel bottle went flying. I took 10 steps before I realized that this would not do. We hadn't even gone a quarter of a mile. I needed that bottle. So I did the least safe or responsible thing I could have done. I went back for it.  I bobbed and weaved, arms in the air so people could see me, waved like a crazy person to alert the other runners that I was bending down, grabbed the bottle and hoofed it back in the right direction. I wish that was the only backtracking I would do that day. We'd been running less than 5 minutes, and it was already a shambles.

With the three of us running together (in a row, not side by side) it was very difficult to get into a groove at the same time. We'd be trucking along and one little thing or another would cause us to slow (foggy glasses, or side by side teams in training walking along) or stop (photos or potty breaks).

On top of this, I was moderately concerned about our pace. I knew we had a 21 minute buffer between us and the sweepers, but that did not give me 'let's take our time' confidence. I was also concerned about the sun coming up and the unseasonably hot temperatures that would come with that.

Mile 1: 14:11

Mile 2: 14:41

Mile 3: 15:09

We bypassed the Black Pearl and Captain Jack Sparrow. It was still pretty dark, so we figured we'd take photos on the way back when it was lighter outside.

Before we knew it, we were heading to the Toll Plaza.

We made our way towards the Contemporary, and under the bridge where a DJ with giant Mickey hands Gangnam-styled us up the hill.

We made our way through the parking lots and encountered our first cheering spectators, and a group of cyclists on Pennyfarthing bicycles.

From there, it was a hop-skip-jump situation to the backstage area where we were dumped out onto Main Street, USA for arguably the best part of the race.

No left turn?  I LAUGH at your 'no left turn'.

Great view, eh?  Enjoy my bouncy Nathan Hydration belt, and MY BUTT!

Best view, ever.

And with a sunrise?  Come ON!

We hadn't yet had a chance to see the new Fantasyland expansion yet, so this was our first exposure to that beautiful bit of Imagineering. Looks great. And we stopped so Rachael could get this epically awesome photo. It was a long line, but worth it.

As we waited for Rachael to get this photo, I started worrying a bit more. Greg and I were noticing the uptick in the crowd, the pace of that crowd, and then finally the BIBs on that crowd.  There they were. Lots of bibs from corrals G and H. The back corrals. We'd lost some ground.

We trotted toward the castle.

You could not run through the castle if you wanted to. You could probably comfortably have crawled through... backwards... blindfolded... things had gotten pretty slow and crowded. Still, we had to have this photo:

Mile 4: 14:47

Mile 5: 14:53

Mile 6: 16:08 (actual 10K split 1:46:55 thanks to bathroom & photo stops)

From here, we tried to pick up the pace as much as possible. 

Look out! Train!

We hoofed it through Frontierland and out of the park, past the Grand Floridian, past the Wedding Chapel, past the golf course and past the Polynesian. I was focussed on keeping us moving.

Mile 7: 13:36

Mile 8: 15:00

Mile 9: 15:41

We made a restroom stop, paused briefly at the Medical Tent for some BioFreeze for Greg's shoulder and made our way to the Clif Shot station.

Except the Clif Shots were all gone.  Bad sign.  Bad, bad sign. I'd noticed the water stations were getting more and more sparsely populated with cups, too. It was time to try a little harder, so we pushed on.

Or so I thought.

We started on another run interval, pushed it out, slowed to a walk and I did my customary shoulder check to see where Rachael was.

Except that she wasn't.

Greg and I moved over to the side of the road and watched the runners go by.  We debated what to do, but we were both a little run-drunk at this point and not communicating at our best.  I suggested that he run on ahead and see if somehow she'd passed us and I would go backwards to see if she'd been sidelined, or had to stop for a medical reason - then we could call each other if we found her.

I kept checking her Facebook page to see if she'd crossed the 15K split mat, since we'd just hit it.

Nada.

Greg wouldn't leave me alone - he knew that I would stop the race altogether if I couldn't find her and he knew she wouldn't want me to do that.  We opted to walk back towards the medical tent we'd just passed to see if she'd ended up there.  As we were walking that way, Greg said "There are the Balloon Ladies".

"No, those are just ladies with balloons... oh, crap".

Yes.  Yes, we had walked back to the VERY BACK of the race and the Balloon Ladies (aka, the sweepers) had just passed us.  Greg confirmed their identity with the bike cops right behind them.

Gut check time.  Greg HAD to go on.  He was doing the Goofy Challenge.  If he DNF the race, his Goofy medal was in jeopardy.

I did not feel right going on.  I was worried that Rachael had already been swept, even though I KNEW that wasn't really possible.  We didn't see her on the side of the road from where we were standing all the way back to the medical tent, and we didn't think it was realistic that she would have been discovered, assessed and moved in the amount of time since we'd last seen her, so the only thing to do was continue on and hope that we could discover her fate from runner relations.

It didn't make sense to me that she would have been swept - she was more than capable of making and keeping the pace. I called and left a message on her phone that we were moving on and that if she was at a medical tent, to have the staff call me.

And we moved on.

Moving time for Mile 10: 16:40. Real time: 26 minutes.

It was hot. I felt like a heel. The sweepers were right behind us. Mile 11 to the finish was not the most fun I've ever had at a race.

Mile 11: 12:54

Mile 12: 14:05

Mile 13: 14:14

Mile 14 (yes, our back-tracking added another .90 mile): 12:02
Official Finish Time: 3:47:20 (ouch). Moving time, per my Garmin: 3:24:07 (still, ouch)

We finished the race (we really did, despite the fact that there are NO official photos to prove this...) rushed through the chute, grabbed our medals, checked the self-treatment icing area for Rachael, took our food boxes and made our way to the Race Retreat tent.

We figured we could get information there on what happened with Rachael.

We entered the tent, were handed our commemorative socks and barely had a second to look around when we heard:

"TAAAAAB!  GRRRRREG!!"

There was Rachael!!

She learned that she had finished a good 17 minutes ahead of us.

She'd gotten a stitch as we started our last run interval together, wasn't able to call our to us, and consequently lost us as we pushed on.  She hustled along, assuming that if she pushed, she could catch up to us... except she never saw us.

And in an effort to get around slower runners/walkers, she ended up on the grass a fair bit, missing the 15K split mat altogether.

She'd looked for us for a while, figured we'd just gone on ahead and so she just kept pushing long, listening to her Garmin beep out her intervals, and passing a ton of runners/walkers along the way.

She finished, headed to the tent to look for us, assuming that we'd finished well before her only to discover via the runner tracking that we had not finished yet.  For a while SHE started worrying about US, wondering the same things we'd been wondering about her.

TIP: If you're running with others, talk about a "if we lose each other" strategy ahead of time, and HAVE A PHONE ON YOU! (hers was back at the hotel)

Once we were all together again, the situation quickly went from "stressful and guilt-ridden", to "funny anecdote". We laughed about it, teased each other (I still think she lost us on purpose so she could 'beat' us), and enjoyed our breakfast at the Race Retreat tent before heading out to take some more photos, and wait for an unreasonably long time for our bus back to the resort.

Once back at the resort, I filled up 5 grocery bags with ice, and took an ice bath to ease my legs - something I'd never done before, but I will ALWAYS do in the future.  My legs felt fresher the next day than they ever have before.

TIP: Have an ice bath. The 5 - 10 minutes of discomfort is well worth it, when you consider that you'll be able to sit down AND get back up like a normal human being the next day.

Afterwards, Rachael and I went to Downtown Disney to meet up with our dad and step-mother to grab a bite to eat while Greg finished up his own ice bath and had a rest in order to prepare for the Marathon the next day.

All in all, it was a lesson in 'running your own race' and managing expectations. I was not thrilled with how incredibly full the course was, but it was something that I certainly expected. It probably would not have phased me if I hadn't let myself stress about all the other shambley stuff going on.

But most importantly we all finished - maybe not together - but we finished! And it was an adventure. And isn't that what it's all about?

TIP: No matter what happens, have a GOOD TIME!

Sisters conquer Donald!

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - Travelling & Getting settled

I've sat on writing a race report for a couple of weeks for a couple of reasons.

1. Sometimes I'm lazy.
2. It's taken me this long to figure out how I feel about the race.

Hang in there, and you'll see what I mean.  But first, travel day.

Our trip started out inauspiciously.  On Thursday afternoon, we drove from Toronto to the Buffalo airport to fly with JetBlue to Orlando.  As soon as we arrived at the airport (and we were pretty early to begin with) we discovered that our flight was DELAYED. 

It wasn't long before we were given meal vouchers, which is always a bad sign.  You know if they start throwing free food at you, you're going to be a while.

The delay ended up being just over 3 hours - which I chirped about on Facebook.  Almost instantly, my runner friend Penny came to the rescue with a link for the JetBlue Passenger Bill of Rights.  A quick perusal softened the blow of the delay, because we learned that we were entitled to a $75 credit for our troubles.  They weren't making announcements to this effect, so I went to the desk, and made sure they had my information on file so that we would receive our credits (they initially had no idea what I was talking about, so I showed them their Bill of Rights on my phone).

So, thanks Penny!

When the plane finally did arrive, the DirectTV wasn't working.  They gave us all free headphones and free movies for the flight, and I followed up afterwards to get an additional $15 credit, again, thanks to their Bill of Rights.

Again, thanks Penny!

I was sporting my runDisney Coast to Coast challenge bag, and my Pacebook Running Club logo.

Our 9:00pm arrival time in Orlando turned into a 9:00pm departure time from Buffalo.  Yes, we were leaving when we were supposed to be arriving.

Uneventful flight for me (although Greg had to sit next to a very chatty dude who also spent a lot of time yelling across him to his mother in law across the aisle, and my sister sat in front of his seat-kicking son.  I was lucky).  Watched Perfect Pitch.  Just ok.

We picked up our rental car from Hertz, using their Jetsons-inspired video booth customer service kiosk and grabbed our teeny-tiny car.  Oh, so teeny.

Here's where I got surprised.  We needed to grab something for me to have for breakfast the next morning before the runDisney meet up, since I would be up and about before anything at our resort was open, so we headed to the nearest Target/Wal-Mart.

They were CLOSED!!

Granted it was midnight, but still.  This is America!  Isn't everything always open in America? *sputter-sputter-outrage*

After some quick googling, we made our way to the overpriced, but conveniently open, Goodings.  Bing-bam-boom, cereal-yogurt-milk-coffee-bananas-eggs-bread-peanut butter (Really?  THAT much?  What are we?  Back in Canada?), let's gooooo!

There was a surprisingly long line at check-in for such a late hour (especially since I did online check-in) but we got our room requests honoured (ground floor, close to transportation) and hustled to get settled.  Also at the front desk was my Dolotech SparkleSkirt which I had arranged with Leah to have delivered to the resort so I could wear it for the runDisney Meet Up.  We had a travelling trunk show scheduled in our room the next morning at 10am so my sister and I could try on some more styles, but I wanted one to wear to the run!

We hustled over to our one bedroom unit (hello Jacuzzi tub!) and had to do serious battle with the sofa-bed before it would agree to come out of hiding and behave like a flat surface, but we got there...

It was an imperfect day of travel, but, much like the sofa-bed - we got there.  And that's all that matters.

Now I just had a few short hours to get some sleep before I had to be ready for the runDisney Marathon Weekend Meet Up, which I wrote about here.

Up next - the HALF MARATHON race report - aka, the Shambles Run.

Ready to Go

Today = Whirlwind.

I had planned to spend the last week packing and getting ready for our trip, however apparently I need a hard deadline in order to get my ass in gear.

The hardest deadline of all?

TOMORROW.

For that reason, today has been a whirlwind of final loads of laundry, sweeping, mopping, kitchen cleaning packing and errand running.  I'm going to go ahead and say it's all done, because at this point there's not much more I can do if it isn't.  The house looks decent for our pet sitter arriving tomorrow (crap!  Forgot to get cash to leave for her!  One more errand early tomorrow.)

I did a last minute run to Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up a small travel sized spray bottle for my KT Tape Adhesive Spray:

Source:  http://www.theratape.com/kt-tape-ultra-stick-adhesive-spray.html

We're not planning to check a bag (not letting my bag out of my sight!) on the flight down, so I needed something a little smaller for my spray.  It almost didn't make it home from Anaheim, but the airport scanner felt sorry for me and overlooked my inability to gauge what 3 oz looks like.  Or is it 1 oz?  I may be in trouble.

Love my KT Pro Tape, love my KT Tape Adhesive Spray.  They are the real deal.

I'd like to think I have everything (except that darn cash for the pet sitter... dang it!) ready to go.  Most important are my race clothes, shoes, and Garmin.  Everything else can be replaced at the Health and Fitness Expo (aka Runner's Shopping Heaven).

I don't think I need anything from the Expo.  I never think I need anything from the Expo.  We'll see how it goes.

Mostly, I'm just ready to be at Walt Disney World, snug in my bed at Saratoga Springs Resort counting down the hours till we start our race!

But first.  Sleep, then a quick weigh in at Weight Watchers in the late morning, then a drive to Buffalo...

So many steps!