Ryan and I signed up to do the Wine and Dine Half Marathon together in Disney way back in March or so. I got my butt in gear and started training harder than I had been, because this wasn't no measly 5K, son. It wasn't until about 2 months or so before that the training got me past 5 miles or so in a single run. Luckily I had Sarah to help me out with my first few long runs (and she was super patient the first time I ran 8 miles in the Texas humidity, while I was convinced she was trying to kill me).
2 weeks before the race on Nov 8th, our Disney training guide had me running 14 miles for my long run for the weekend. So Ryan and I decide to sign up for the Houston Half Marathon that weekend...because well, if we were gonna run that far to train we might as well get a medal for it, right?
Sarah is training for the Houston Marathon in January so she decide to run with the half with us as well for training. We even got our next door neighbor Ken to run with us too! It was a neighborhood running club, haha.
Ryan skillfully tagged me with "I run 4 Will" for my buddy!
The first words I said upon crossing her finish line were " I am never f@*king doing this again". It was hot, humid, and I ran into the sun for the second half of the race. I was not feeling it when I finished. Ugh.
Ryan and Sarah laughed and reminded me I had to do it again in 2 weeks at Disney.
I'm not going to lie....I began dreading the Disney race. All I could remember of the Houston Half was how hot and miserable I felt at the end. I was SOOOO not looking forward to running the Wine and Dine. I was excited to go to Disney with Ry, but I was totally nervous about the race. So nervous I couldn't sleep the night before the race at Disney.
Then the forecast came in for rain during our race. I got even more annoyed. I was going to be running at night past my bedtime (our corral didn't even start until 10:30 pm, and yes I know it makes me old to whine about, but I get tired at night, man!), and now I was going to be wet and cold, too.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
We spent most of the day we arrived getting stuff ready for Saturday night's race. We had to pick up our bibs and race packets. We also had to get our new RunDisney New Balance sneakers. I wore last year's Minnie version for the half this time, and I think it's time to retire them. (They ran last year's Jingle Jungle 5K at Disney too, and also the Castaway Cay 5k from our Disney cruise last Dec).
Before we knew it, it was saturday afternoon and we were heading back to our room to grab some sleep before having to leave for the race by 8pm.
We met up with my friend from NY Christi at the start of the race, and got to meet up at the after party too. Sadly I don't have a pic of us, and neither does she. Sheesh we're idiots.
I had big plans to take photos and tons of selfies during the race, but due to the rain forecast, I had my iPhone in my armband completely covered with a ziplock baggie, so it wasn't accessible at all.
The rain started while we were in our corral waiting for the race to start.
It wasn't just raining, it was frigging pouring.
It was a little chilly at the start, but I warmed up quickly. The more frustrating part of finally getting to start the race was weaving our way through all the walkers. Yes, you read that right. Walkers at a half marathon. I'm not judging y'all for walking, but seriously, can you get the eff out of the runners' way, and stay to the right, like all traffic? Grrrrr. We spent the first 2 miles legitimately trying to run out of a hoard of walkers, and then it wasn't until about Mile 6 or 7 or so, that we finally made it into a group that was more suitably paced to us.
So from our starting point at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, We ran about 3 miles until we got to Animal Kingdom, then we looped through the park and back out again. The we had another really long stretch along the highway to get to Hollywood Studios, where we got to run through the Osborne festival of dancing lights, which was going to be one of my planned selfie stops, but since my phone was safely tucked away in its plastic bag and it was still pouring, there was no way I was taking one.
But look at that! A race photographer! Too bad she snapped the pic so damn fast, Ry didn't have a chance to smile!
I also had BIG plans to get my photo taken with Darth Vader. I even specifically bought a "The force is strong with this one" running tank for the photo. (Yes, I am that nerd.)
Ry claims last year Darth was stationed outside the Star Tours ride at HS. As we approached we saw a well-lit area where we would have assumed he was, but alas, No Darth. My disappointment was massive. Before the race even started, I was telling Christi and Ry that my only goal for the race was to get my pic with Darth. It was sad. I didn't want to stop for any other character photos (there were a few along the way but I would've needed to use my own phone for the pics, and alas my phone was still tucked away safely, staying dry)
What made it worse was when we met up with Christi at the after race party and she told me he was there and she got her pic with him when she made it to Star Tours.
*Insert even serious-er disappointment here*
We ran all over Hollywood Studios, it was so much fun, and from there we ran to the Boardwalk resort area, and ran along that for about 1.5 miles, then we got to EPCOT, our final destination. By this point I was feeling good, and wasn't overheated like the Houston Half due to the pouring, cold, 62 degree weather I was running in (oh and wet sneakers for 13.1 miles? YUCK.) All I kept thinking was "holy shit, I made it!". Then I hit mile 12 as we rolled into the back of EPCOT and all of a sudden my ankles were screaming. Screaming so bad I didn't think I could keep running, but I tell you what: I was so close I could taste it. I hadn't stopped once to walk yet, I wasn't going to walk at mile 12, dammit!!!
We crossed the finish line holding hands! We did it!!
I was very thankful that Ryan kept pace with me, making sure we ran and finished together. It was incredible! It was 1am, and it hadn't even really hit me yet that it was so late!
We were so thankful for these blankets they gave us at the finish line, because once we stopped running, it became painfully obvious that it was about 50-something degrees, and we were soaking wet. We quickly got our things from bag drop and headed to the changing tents to get dry clothes on for the after party at EPCOT.
The line for the women's tent was really long, and I was literally shaking and shivering at this point. The only shoes I had with me other than my running shoes were flip flops, so since I was wet and freezing my feet never warmed up even with all the dry gear we put on after. It absolutely poured while we were at the after party. We had ponchos on, but when it's raining that hard and you're already completely chilled to the bone, it does nothing.
Plus, my ankles were shot.
I was limping around because my ankles were so stiff, and my feet were numb with cold. I'm sure I wasn't the only one, but man was it painful to walk around the World Showcase when you're that stiff.
We met up with Christi around 3:15 (yes, AM), and we started to venture back out of EPCOT from France pavilion, and at that point I was too numb to even want to sample any more things from the food and wine festival kiosks. I just wanted bed. Christi generously drove us back to our hotel so we didn't have to get a cab. (thanks again, you rock), and Ryan insisted that I take a shower before bed. I so didn't want to. I just wanted to collapse in bed, because at this point it was 4:45 am. I am glad he convinced me to warm my old bones before going to sleep though. I wasn't glad that I was covered in chaffing and blisters all over my chest and shoulders from the seams of my sports bras though. The hot water hitting those was not cool. My PSA is : no matter how much Glide you use, if you run 13.1 in the pouring rain, you WILL chafe. My poor armpits too. I even had bruises on my arm from where my armband holding my phone was! I was a hot mess when we finally climbed into bed at 5am, but was thankful I got cleaned up and warmed up.
I slept like absolute shit. From 5am to 1030 am I woke up almost every hour on the dot. It was horrible. I am a girl who likes her sleep, and I am not used to pulling all-nighters (we only took a small 1.5 hr nap before the race Saturday night).
We finally decided it was time to get up and enjoy what we could of the parks that day. We managed to get a last minute lunch reservation over at Kona at the Polynesian, so we grabbed some coffee, and hopped on the monorail for a ride over to Polynesian.
I can't vouch for Ry, but I felt like a zombie at this point. I honestly can't even tell you where we went after lunch. The day is a sleepy blur. I do remember ending the night at the Top of The World Lounge at the the though. We were staying at our vacation club "home" resort which is Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary, and if you get there early enough (only so many can go up there at a time) and you are a vacation club member, they let you up a special elevator to the coolest bar in the world. You have a front row seat to Wishes, and they even pipe the sound in to the bar. It was so cool!
We woke up Monday well-rested, managed to get to MK for rope-drop and get right on the 7 Dwarfs mine train, since I didn't get to go on in July. Then it was time to hop back on the Magical Express to the airport and head back home to our babies!!!
Disney without kids was amazing. We could stay out late, and go on whatever rides we wanted. We could even wait 45 mins for a table if we felt like it!
However, seeing all the other kids around sure did make me miss my Bubbas. Which is a good thing because they will be tagging along to Disney World for the Princess Half in Feb, and to Disneyland for the Tinkerbell Half in May!
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