The entire family and I made our way up early Friday morning, and drove directly to the expo. Since this was our second Disney race weekend, Lindsey and I were already pros on how to plan out our activities. The race shirts were very nice (long sleeve) and the merchandise was outstanding. After breaking the bank, we parked our car at the Port Orleans, and took the bus to the Magic Kingdom. To our surprise and delight, the park was not very crowded. After our fill of food and fun, we went back to the hotel for an early dinner. It was lights out by 9pm, and up and out the door on Saturday morning by 3:30am.
I can’t remember the last time I had seen EPCOT this crowded. The lines for the food were insane. We were able to sample many different adult beverages, and tasty food as well. The Gators were playing that day in Columbia, Missouri, and I watched most of the game on my phone. It made me almost as sick as Glenda. We left the park early again, and hit the sack around the same time as the day before. One added bonus was Daylight Savings Time; hooray for an extra hour of sleep!
As we entered the bus early Sunday morning, I could already tell that I would be dragging during the race. It wasn't so much the race on Saturday, as it was spending the day at the park. As long as my brace didn’t break, I could deal with the sluggishness. 13,182 runners were signed up for the half marathon, which was more than 3,000 less participants than the Star Wars half marathon (I was surprised to see that). It took 22 minutes for us to start the race, and I could tell right away that I would be paying many visits to the bushes. My knee felt very sore from the day before, but not enough to influence my pace in any way. As we got to the point in the race where I was injured during the Star Wars half marathon, Lindsey and I were all smiles. History would certainly not repeat itself. It was very overcast, which helped keep the temperatures down a bit. As we ran though Animal Kingdom, we were able to see the new Pandora area. Once we made our way out of the park, I told Lindsey to take off on her own. I was running extremely slow, and taking too many potty breaks.
The race was very enjoyable. Since I was able to run the entire time, I was not stuck in the back with the walkers. It allowed me to really enjoy the course, and not feel as though I was stuck in a cattle call. My finishing time was not the best, but I was very satisfied with the race weekend. The medals were very nice, and I would certainly entertain doing this race again.
KEEP TRACK OF MY RUNNING ON