Wine and Dine half marathon

Wine and Dine weekend was a whirlwind of events. Friday I got off work at 4, opting out of the extra 30 minutes of overtime to make sure I could get home and get the boys ready to go to Sueann’s. I rush home, grab kids, head to Sueann’s and waited. Mike was held up at the bank. We finally hit the road 30 minutes later. We talked to Barry on the way out and made plans to meet up with him at the Expo. We sat through the usual I-4 madness and finally pulled into Disney about 7. We hurried through and got our packets, checked our DTags, and picked up our shirts. We got tshirts for the race and we each got a new running skirt, Sueann got pink flowers with shorts under and I got blue with capris under. We found shirts we wanted, but well, the skirts ate the budget up! I’m hoping they will be at St Pete, I have it on my wish list!! We finished as they were closing out the expo, poor Barry hung out with us! We all headed to Wolfgang Puck for some carbs before heading home.

Saturday I got up too early, wanting to sleep in, my internal alarm clock woke me up at 7. I got up and went in and watched TV for a few before the boys got up. I got them ready and got Cody in uniform for his 9:30 game. We headed out and when we got to the field, the grass was wet and the field they were on had no bleachers. I went back to my car upset I’d miss the beginning of the game. I was relieved that Cody didn’t start the game so I didn’t miss him playing. I set my chair up right before the end of the 1st quarter. Game was 0-0 at this point. Cody played his heart out the 2nd and 3rd quarters. I was so proud of him!!!!! They won their game 1-0. After the coach was handing me his picture forms for next weekend and told me how impressed he was with Cody’s playing, that he was really starting to get a foot on him. Cody loves the game so I am happy to see the change to a more aggressive playing. I’d love for him to stay in soccer, but I’m biased considering it was soccer that I loved the most before my knee was destroyed. After the game we headed to meet up with Sueann and her boys at Home Depot for the kid’s workshop. They were building fire boats and we knew that and that they’d have a fire truck there, but when we got there…WOW!!!! They had face painting, balloon animals, the build kit, plant your own palm tree, fire truck, police motorcycle, coast guard boat, wildlife department bulldozers, and free drinks and hot dogs! When we were done and I couldn’t carry anymore we headed out. The boys and Kevin wanted Mickey Ds and I didn’t. I got their food, dropped the boys and the food off with Kevin at home and I went to Publix and got a sub. Kevin and the boys left after I finished lunch so I could rest, they were all 3 staying over at his parents’ house in the tent. I laid down but couldn’t get to sleep. I ended up getting up and making some mashed potatoes, realizing all I had eaten was a sub, not enough calories to hold me through a race. I got everything ready and laid out and when Sueann texted me to let me know she was ready, I got ready and made more mashed potatoes and ate them on the way to Sueann’s. I also had a whole wheat bagel and a banana for right before the race. I picked up Sueann and we headed out. On the way we saw a car accident and a vehicle fire…got to love I-4!!

We arrived at Epcot and got parked. I asked an attendant where the closest bathrooms were, she said at the race site…great, I’m about to wet myself! We head toward the buses trying to reach Barry who we had told we’d call when we got there. He didn’t answer and when I looked up, there he was. We headed to the buses together and boarded, poor Barry had to hear me whine and complain with every bump in the road. We got to the race site and I was on a mission for a port a potty…man I felt 1000 times better after I got to it!! We went back and took pictures at the entrance and found a place to plop down, we had 3 hours until the start of the race. The DJ was great and we watched people dancing and making general fools of themselves. I wish I could be more like that! We got around, checked our bags, hit the port a potties and found the corral entrances. Barry and I were in Corral B, Sueann was Corral C, we decided we were going to try and sneak her in, if we got caught I’d go back to C with her. We maneuvered it just right and she got in. We waited 30 minutes more before the start of the race. We were set off with fireworks and after 2 minutes of walking we hit the start mat and started running. There were no waves in this race despite the fact over 11000 runners were signed up. Not the brightest idea on Disney’s part. We were running 4:1 intervals which I think ended up being perfect for us. We did our best to make our way to the sides during our walk intervals. There was sooo much congestion through 95% of the race we even had to stop and walk until we could get around people. It was crazy! This course is completely different than the January ½ and the Princess. This race runs from ESPN Wide World of Sports down Osceola Parkway to Animal Kingdom, back out of Animal Kingdom and onto Osceola Parkway where we actually had to do a hairpin turn, into Hollywood Studios, through the backlot and out and into a rear entrance to Epcot where the race ended. Another thing Disney could do better, a more organized bag claim!! The ½ was done sooo much better on this (minus Sueann’s experience.) The only thing that concerned me about this race was how much of this course would be included in the full marathon. Sueann and I are going to be working on some serious hill training!

The race itself was good, we both were tired and neither of us had run this late before (10 PM.) Neither of us got a nap in either. We were shocked how fast the miles went by. Mile 1 was all about getting warmed up and finding a comfortable pace. We hit the 1 mile sign before we knew it! The next several miles would be boring, minus the overpasses where we could look down on the cars and I asked Sueann at one point what we must look like to the passerbys, a herd of runners trotting along in a huge tight mass. Going into Animal Kingdom there were dancing fish that gave us a giggle. I really wish we got to run through more areas of Animal Kingdom. I do remember them cooking along the course, that was evil and mean! It smelled sooo good! That and the Green Army man from Toy Story yelling about the hill and we could do it…did you have to do it sooo loud we knew about the hill a mile away? LOL Mile 11 or 12 I was wearing out. I had this happen at Space Coast but managed to push through this time without bumming out. There was a hill in the last ¼ mile that I cursed through, Sueann was being the motivator not me. I wasn’t feeling good, I was tired. We got through though, sprinted the end. I remember the announcer yelling that’s how you do it!! We hit the mat at the exact same time. We got our snack bag, our medals, found Barry got our pics done and then headed in for the dreaded wait of bag claim. After that we waded through the throngs of people to the Food and Wine festival. Disney should only allow so many spectators per racer.

We walked around the World Showcase, had a beer and a margarita and missed the creme brulee, I was not happy...all the lines were 30-40 people deep. We left after 3:30 and headed home. I got home around 5 and finally go to sleep about 5:30, 3 hours later Kevin woke me up. I went back into the living room to try and sleep, I couldn't. I had to pick up the boys and find shirts for them to take pictures in. We headed to the mall, hit Gymboree, found shirts in the new firefighter collection and headed home. I gave the boys baths and got them ready. Pictures were quick and we were walking out of the fire department when we saw the fire. Some kids set the woods on fire, we drove up to take pics, pulled over and I let the kids out to watch the firefighters put the fire out. We stayed back a safe distance, up wind from the fire. A police woman was blocking the road by us and gave the boys Jr Police Officer badges and they thought that was cool. Once the fire was out we headed to the store to get stuff for tacos. We got home at 6 and I put up the groceries and laid down. Kevin luckily made dinner, I got 2 tacos down and then did dishes and went to bed at 8:30. I was shot. Let me tell you today was rough!!!!