With the race on Saturday morning I had my usual cup of Ramen noodles for dinner. Laugh all you want but this works for me and travels well.
We were up early on Saturday morning (oh, 3am how not fun are you). We had to catch the monorail by 4am--so much for thinking we could "sleep in" staying at a monorail resort. Luke stayed in the room sleeping and the plan was I would text him when I started and he would go out front and see me run by the resort before hopping the monorail to the finish--guess who didn't get up.
I had on my warm toss away clothes and we kept joking that I was a flying pig. Miss New Hampshire went with my mom and I to the start area and then they hopped the monorail back to their spectating locations. I have the best support crew/chEAR squad in my mom. She started calling me her high maintenance runner with all the stuff she carries in her bag for me.
I always look forward to seeing my Momma at about mile 4 and again about mile 8. I might not stop a long time or need anything that I stuffed into her bag but just knowing that she will be there for me is enough. There have been years where I am struggling terribly at mile 4 and she magically appears at mile 8 with exactly what I need to get back on track. She is absolutely the BEST support crew and she deserves the medal more than me for all the she does for me.
The race started with the usual fireworks and excitement in those pre-dawn dark miles. There were long lines for most of the characters so I just skipped most of them. We were going to have breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 10:55 so I wanted to make sure to have time for a shower and such before breakfast. I took the race pretty easy and made it my goal to drink a lot of water and such in hopes that it would help with recovery and the fact that I missed 3 weeks of training in December thanks to a strained quad (thanks Yoga).
Feeling a little "let down" from the character lines they had the Taylor Swift song Shake it Off playing on the stretch of the road and I love that song. It makes my feet itch to dance and it put the pep back in my step. Heading back towards EPCOT for the Finish I spotted the Balloon Ladies headed towards Magic Kingdom. They exist. And from what I hear are the most wonderful, supportive people out on the course that really try to encourage those around them to keep it up so they can finish.
I finished the race and spotted my mom in the stands, whistling, hootin' and hollerin' for all the runners.
We headed back on the monorail (at this time is is approaching 9am so shower and breakfast--no nap). From the monorail we were able to see the sea of runners snaking out of the Magic Kingdom and down the highway towards EPCOT. It truly is amazing that that many people are there to partake in the half marathon and the amount of organization and planning that goes into hosting such a large scale event.
I will say that I am very impressed with all the changes Disney has made over the years to the race in terms of things to see and music along the course. The water stops have gotten longer (several tables) and this makes it less congested trying to get a cup of water. My only complaint is that I wish they would go back to the old course where we wound through EPCOT for the first 3-ish miles and didn't do the Wide World of Sports for the marathon. There is something about EPCOT in the dark and having the park closed to ONLY runners that made it beyond magical.
