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!