When I left off, hubby and I were napping in preparation for our first night and Disney race.
We planned to leave the hotel around 7:30 (we are staying at Art of Animation Resort, which is just a few minutes from Wide World of Sports where the race shuttles were). The pre-race info said to be on the bus by 8:00 to be at your corral by 9:15. This seemed crazy for a race that didn't start until 10, but I had read about the "hurry up and wait" pre-race activities at other Disney races.
Hubby and I got up from our nap about 6:30 and got dressed for the race. That pasta I ate for lunch/dinner was not digesting, and I had this terrible feeling in my stomach. We got dressed and my daughter snapped this picture before we left.
This was my first race "costume." I didn't go all out, but I was worried about wearing too much that might annoy me on a 10 mile race, especially given the heat.
We headed out and saw immediately that traffic was terrible. What was a 5 minute drive earlier that afternoon turned out to be a 20 minute drive that evening. I will say that Disney does crowd control right. There were a zillion volunteers helping to make things run smoothly. The traffic kept moving, thanks to the direction from many volunteers, and we had the car parked and were on a bus by 7:57. I will also say that they had plenty of buses, and we didn't have to wait at all.
The pre-race area was so much fun. There was a DJ and they were playing fun music (there was even the Thriller dance) and they had plenty of port-a-potties. Hubby and I stopped by those right away, and then sat down in the parking lot to wait. We both had a bottle of Nuun, and I tried eating the Kashi bar I usually eat for breakfast, hoping that might quiet my stomach. (By now my headache was gone, but my stomach took over.)
Despite the upset stomach, it was a blast sitting and watching all the runners and costumes.
Again, the race volunteers and support was phenomenal. They had tables with cups of water at the start, and plenty of port-a-potties. About 9, I decided I wanted to make one more stop, so hubby and I headed that way. He was in corral A, and just as we got into the line, a volunteer called for corrals A and B, so he headed over there. I was in corral H, so I had plenty of time for one last bathroom stop.
I headed over to my corral, and was very impressed with the organization. We went into a holding area, and volunteers were checking bibs to make sure runners were in the right corrals. We waited for a while, and then started the walk toward the start line. At 9:55, we heard the National Anthem, and then the wheelchair start.
There were speakers along the way so even though we couldn't see the starting line, we could hear everything. They started the corrals about 2 minutes apart, so we still had a good little wait until we started. The whole time I was mentally preparing to run. I kept telling myself I was not going to ruin my first Disney race by getting sick.
I got a picture of the fireworks at the start for corral G.
Then it was our turn. Most everyone in my corral was doing a run/walk combo, and there were plenty of people. I did really have to pay attention to the people in front of me, and there was a lot of passing walkers when I was running, so I had to weave in and out sometimes.
There was a lot of fun stuff on the course, including characters, music, and volunteers just cheering everyone on. I was a little nervous about finishing in a decent time and avoiding the sweepers, so I only stopped for one character picture along the way, because that was the only line that wasn't huge.
Stitch! It was a lot of fun to get at least one photo. In hindsight, I could have stopped for a few more and been fine, so I'll know for next time.
In the last mile, I saw hubby with the spectators cheering as I made my way through Disney Hollywood Studios. He had of course finished well ahead of me!
My stomach never really felt great during the race, but I just kept going and pretty soon, I was at the finish line!
The medal is fabulous!
Again, I can't say enough about how much fun this race was. And Disney really knows how to do a race! The volunteers and support were amazing.
After the race, hubby found me and he wanted to get some food. I wish I had felt better, because I would have loved to share some food with him and hang out at the party. Surprisingly, I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be.
After he ate some ice cream and a pretzel, we headed back to the shuttles. There were a lot of people heading out as well, but the waiting time was very minimal, and before we knew it, we were back at our car at Wide World of Sports and driving back to our hotel.
The next day, hubby and I both wore our race shirts to Hollywood Studios and got lots of comments from the cast members about the race. We saw others with their shirts (and some with medals too) and it was fun kind of being in a special club of people who had braved the Tower of Terror 10-Miler!
So for the rest of the week, we'll be doing a lot of walking through the parks, and I still plan on getting up early for my Tuesday and Thursday runs.
Have a great week!
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