Daytona 5K and a morning out with the girls!

The morning started 15 minutes earlier than planned. Kevin woke me up worried I forgot to set my alarm. I got around, got dressed, called Sueann and woke her up. Suezette called and I headed out to get Sueann. We met up at a gas station before we got to the race track. We head over to the track and sit in traffic for about 5 minutes until I realized these were people going into the infield for the Rolex 24. I pull out of the line and Suezette followed and went up and pulled through a parking lot to get into the unused lane that would take us to the lot we needed to go to for parking. We get situated then head into the track to catch the tram to the starting area. We pick up our chips and meet up with my friend Rich who was volunteering at the race. We are going to the line up when we found fellow runner Zik and said hello and caught up some. The Daytona 5 in 2009 is when we first met Zik and we have run a couple of races since with him! The gun is about to go off so Zik heads off closer to the front and we sit and chat until they sing the national anthem and then give the GO! The worst part of this race is the start, all these runners are trying to squeeze through this little start gate. There is NO mat at the start so it's a race you know your Garmin will be the official time for you. We head out and Suezette and I pull a little ahead of Sueann, then Suezette pulls way ahead of me. I'm still sick and not pushing a thing so I stay right where I am. I went into this race as a NO PR race and I was only there for a good run and good times with friends considering I was just getting over the flu and an upper repiratory infection! We turn the first corner before heading on to the track and over the big press box on the speedway is a bright, full rainbow. I considered running up to Suezette or stopping to wait for Sueann to point it out and figure with all the people who stopped to take pictures, they'd notice. It was beautiful! I ran on. When we met up with the walkers that were just walking the 2 mile loop of the track, it was bad, I lost time, had to slow down as they were bunched up and the runners on the left were running about 3 abreast, some would stop for walk breaks. I was glad when I finally jumped through them all and got ahead of the walkers and settled back into my pace. I hit mile 2 and I'm finally starting to feel comfortable (minus my lungs) and talked briefly to a couple whose 6 year old was running and running fast for her little legs! I passed them and then a few minutes later, that little girl went flying by with daddy who had finished much earlier and run back for her and her mom. She ran strong all the way to the finish!!! I got beat by a 6 year old!!!! I picked it up and saw Suezette, waved for a pic and picked up some more into a dead sprint for finish. I finished Garmin time in 33:41. No CR or PR but a nice almost easy run. I coughed a bit, got some water and inhaled 2 glasses! Sueann was coming in as I was getting my water, I knew she'd PRed but not by how much. Suezette came back and joined us and she had just barely missed a PR, she had an incident at a water stop with unexpected gatorade. I was 2 and 1/2 minutes slower than my CR for Daytona. We found my friend Rich and got my camera and said our goodbyes to him as we head toward the finish line on the race track for some post race pictures.

We head out to the cars and take Suezette's to Sueann's office before heading to Target to change LOL (no where else to change.) We went to breakfast at Monterey Grill and had omelets and potatoes. We then shopped for a bit then went to lunch at the Ocean Deck. We never thought to get pictures through the morning. When we left lunch it was raining, it had held out until the end of our day out. We dropped Suezette back at her car and headed out. My day was far from over. I dropped Sueann off and headed home to get some clamps for my husband and dropped them off to him at his parent's house and picked up Cody who had been running a 102.8 fever and took him to urgent care, Kevin wasn't feeling good so no Couch 2 5K for him. I decided since I was still really congested to see the doc too. Cody had an ear infection and I have the start of a sinus infection, antibiotics all around! Cody and I leave Urgent Care and head back into town when Kevin called needing brackets from Home Depot. We run to Home Depot, take the brackets to him, then head to the store for groceries and free antibiotics. I've been visiting the store regularly to get more chocolate vitatops, but yet again, sold out!!!! I called Sueann to see if she was going by the other Publix, she was so I asked her to get me some if they had them. She did! She dropped by after the store, all I had managed to do was put up groceries and get a 15 minute hot bath and she called that she was just up the road. I grabbed a banana nut vitatop for her to try and met her outside. We planned to get together this morning for a 12 mile run. I headed in and Kevin and I caught up on 24 and had a bite to eat and then I was shot and headed to bed where I slept fitfully.

Sueann and I have delayed our 12 miler until 8ish. The high today only supposed to reach 61 makes that possible. Hopefully Kevin is OK with it. As he is headed back to his parents to work on the train table for Cody. Well, I think I have made this long enough and I'd like to rest some more before heading out to run 12 miles, so off I go for now!

Next race up is Healthy Heart 10K!  Our first anniversary of our first 10K! 

Disney World Half Marathon AKA the Hypothermic Half!

Let's start with Friday night! Sueann and I got to the expo and got our race packets and I had been having some foot pain, I bought the stick for feet. It helped a lot! We missed CC at the expo and were very disappointed but had already told everyone we'd be at Earl of Sandwich at 5:30. After the expo we headed to Earl of Sandwich and met up with runners Danielle, Courtney, Barry, Mary, and Kathy. We all chatted for awhile in the cold air and then went our own ways. Barry, Sueann, Kathy and her daughter and I went to Wolfgang Puck's for dinner where Jeanine met up with us. We had a nice dinner and then headed back to our hotels to get some rest. We checked into the hotel and settled in to get at least 4 hours of sleep before the 3 am wake up call.


3 am: We get up and get dressed, text back and forth with Courtney and head down to the cafe to get a banana and some smart water to fill our fuel belts. We go out and the line for the buses is 1/4 mile long! They are moving quickly and we get on our way. We get to Epcot to the start area and one of the Disney workers welcomes us to Walt Disney World Alaska. We all laughed and wandered on into the staging area. We are cold, but up until now no precipitation. About the time we get in line for the portapotties the flurries started! I knew in these conditions and with 23000 runners in the field I would not be getting a PR at this race and I was OK with it!

We lined up, in the wrong corral!!!  I was assigned to E, Sueann to F, so I said I'd stay back with her, so we got into what we thought was F, wrong..it was G.  We jumped the gate and headed up to the correct corral.  We were watching the jumbotron and they announced it was official this was the first marathon weekend event  ever to get snow.  After we got started following fireworks and great energy from the characters on the stage, the sleet came! I looked down and saw a pink fleece scarf, so I grabbed it. Whoever left it behind, thank you!!! It kept my bare neck warm for the whole race!! The first mile flew by. I was maintaining an easy pace and when I realized I lost Sueann I slowed way down to find her. I wanted to make sure she was OK. I stayed close to her and we ran together for over half the race. I wanted to be with her when she crossed into the park and Cinderella's castle for the first time in her life. I was cold but maintaning Sueann's pace as close as I could, I really wanted to go faster, but with the tight quarters and people stopping to walk it was tough!  We got into a tight group of runners around mile 7 and as I bounded up, she wasn't able to. I noticed my pace was falling into comfortable, steady 11:45 pace, where I would have liked to have been all along. When I hit the 15K split I was down to 11:15 and feeling strong. I had several people cheering me on in my head. I needed it at times. I felt good physically through 99.9% of the run! I saw lots of characters, but didn't stop. I remember running into Epcot and thinking I did it! I ran the whole thing! We kept running and no finish line! Where is it?? I look at my Garmin, 12.95, ok just around the corner, but it wasn't, we kept turning and turning! I was trying to come across strong, but no finish line, finally at 13.24 I crossed the finish line at 2:41:07. I waited on Sueann who came in 6 minutes later at 2:47:06. We got our mylar blankets, our medals, then headed to the picture area. We got our picture taken together and then got to the food tent, then headed to baggage claim. Sueann's bag was MIA, I got mine quickly so I waited with her. I was so cold I couldn't stop shaking. A race official asked if I needed to be taken somewhere to warm up, I said I'd be fine. I wish I would have taken him up on it. We got our stuff, we were freezing, wet and miserable. We had failed to read the marathon packet all the way through (and we were not the only ones) so we had no idea the buses were in the Family Reunion area. We walked to the front of Epcot and there were NO buses to take us back to the hotels. The race was still going and the roads were shut down. We took the monorail to Magic Kingdom and got a bus from there. We went to the hotel, stripped off the wet clothes, got dry clothes on and headed to the gift shop for hot fluids and items for our kids. We headed back to the expo and bought shirts and then headed home. My husband had a hot bath with peppermint epsom in it filling for me when I got home. I took a hot bath, he brought in a hot towel from the dryer and I got out and headed to the couch. I took a short nap.  Cody has been begging to keep my medal, he loves Donald Duck! 

I know Sueann isn't as confident on it, but I'm seriously considering doing Goofy in 2011.  I will be watching registration which opens today at noon.  I'm hoping it won't fill up right away, I'd like to get a 20 miler in to make sure I like the long distances before I sign up for 39.3!