When last we left, fireworks were in the sky and our corral was taking off for the race. Did I make it to the finish line? Let see. Again. I'm going to apologize for the few photos I have on here, as with most race photos, I brought my iPhone with me, and tried to snap quick pictures while running at night, which is NOT the iPhone's forte to say the least. Also, well, we'll get to that during the race.
We're off. Slowly. Now, I'm not expecting to set the world afire with my first 1/2 marathon. I trained this race specifically so that I would finish, and it would be the longest run of my life. I had considered trying to make a specific time, but when the training plan called for a 16 mile run a few weeks before the race, I decided that I'd rather just train to finish 13.1 miles, run with my father, enjoy myself. I didn't want the race to be some form of letdown, being a distance I'd finished weeks earlier while training. So, I'd not run further than 12 miles in my training leading up to this.
Still though, saying the beginning of the run was congested is an understatement. I was fairly surprised at the number of people who we passed (at a slow jog) who were walking before the 1/2 mile point. I have NO problem with folks walking, really, I don't. I'm just surprised that they were assigned to a corral equal to or greater than mine. I was planning on running 10 minute miles or so, and to have to weave past groups of people walking within the first mile was crazy to me. Note to self for future Disney races. Submit my fastest qualifying time, even if I have no intention of running that fast. I had a nice 10k time a few weeks before the race that could have shown me running 8 minute miles, and likely would have jumped me up a few corrals, but since I was not planning on running anywhere NEAR that fast, I didn't submit that time, but a slower one from a 15k much earlier in the year.
By the first mile marker, we were just starting to be able to pick up the pace a little. The first mile was around 11 minutes, which was slower than we had planned. Still, very enjoyable, great crowd, loved seeing our first characters, the Country Bears, out to take pictures (for which I did not stop). Past the 1 mile mark, we were able to pick up our pace to something that felt a little more comfortable at the time. Keeping track on my RunKeeper app, that turned out to be about 9:30 pace. Mistake, yes, as we picked up the pace too much, but we're feeling good and it doesn't seem to feel like a mistake at the time.
Running on the roads in WDW at night is crazy, fun, and everything I had hoped it would be. Running past people in costumes was also great, and if I ever do a Disney run again, I may just have to brainstorm a good costume that is running friendly.
I'll state now I loved how much to see and hear that Disney put out for the race. Lots of portable music setups, characters, folks out cheering. It was really great. Also, any Cast Members that might read this, thank you and your fellow CMs who were out cheering, especially as the miles went along. DHS seemed swamped with CMs cheering for ALL of the runners. If I had a hat, it would be off to all of you.
Around the point that we hit the 5k mark, we're making the turn to head into Animal Kingdom. One very positive about this race is that just when you were getting tired or bored at staring at the open road ahead of you, it was time to enter one of the parks, which was a treat.
I tried to take a picture of the Christmas tree at the gates, as it was really our first sight of DAK, but I did it while still running, and it's pretty much a blur:
As we run through the Oasis and make that turn to the Tree of Life, it looks fantastic lit up for night. I tried this time running ahead of my dad for quick second, stopping off to the side, and taking a picture, but that one turned out so bad I won't even link it here. Lets just pretend everyone has seen nice pictures of the Tree of Life at night and everyone can pretend I took one that looks like those.
(side note, as I type this, about Florida and running outside and stuff, snow is falling outside my window, UGH)
The cool thing about DAK is how BIG it is. And you don't realize just HOW big until you're running it in a race. We entered DAK just around the 5k mark, and exited it around the 10k mark. Lots of great character stops throughout, but as I wanted to really run this race from start to finish without really stopping, I passed these up. I did take a quick snap of one of the great large lighted puppets they had, this one Tigger right at the "entrance" to DAK (which was where we were leaving the park). This one ALMOST turned out to be not a horrible picture.
Nope, still pretty terrible.
It's at this point though, right around mile 7, that my dad really started struggling. He's an avid runner, and much better than me typically (he's finished a 1/2 under 2 hours in the last 5 years), but he's almost 65, and the pace we had set after mile 1 really was too fast for him at this time. So, he told me I'm welcome to run ahead if I wanted, but he had to slow down. I decided I wanted to run with him, so we both slowed down, him to what basically was a speed walk (or what he called a Senior Shuffle). Still, I was able to keep at a jog with him, and we paced around 11 or 11.5 minute miles for the next 5k or so. This took us over towards DHS. They really drag out that entrance to DHS though, as I saw our first signs for it, and over a mile later, we still had not entered. Lots of fun things to see on the way, including a great Lilo and Stitch stop blaring Elvis. We had our "snack" that they handed out around the 8.5 mile mark, which was some sort of gel pack. I didn't pay attention to what I grabbed, squeezed it into my mouth, and was not happy when what seemed like sludge-textured chocolate went in. I would have liked anything at that point, but that chocolate one really didn't sit right in mid-run. I was glad when a water/power-aid stop was close by, to get that taste out of my mouth.
Into DHS it was great to see a lot of the backstage areas. And finally, when we entered under the Tower of Terror and ran down Sunset Blvd, it really was an awesome experience. All the lights and themeing really sunk in.
As we chugged through over into the parts on the backstage tour, I really enjoyed the disco tunnel they had set up, with disco balls, fog machines, and music blaring. Anything to keep us going at that time.
Out of the tunnel, I see something that finally had convinced me that I could easily stop and take pictures and then pick up the pace and catch up to my dad, The Incredibles, who are Charlotte's current obsession. She would have gotten the biggest kick out of seeing a picture of me with them. I pull my phone out of my arm-holder and get ready to stop and jump in line when I see the wondrous "low-battery 20%" popup. Crap. I'm tracking my run on RunKeeper as I run. Every piece of training I'd done this year has been tracked in that app. Every bike-commute, every run, everything. I wanted badly to get this run in there as well. So, I put my phone back into the holder, don't pull over to stop, and keep along. Then I pass Sheriff Woody and Buzz (Woody is Evie's current obsession, in fact, in the past month or so, she 90% of the time will only answer to the name Woody "I'm not Evie, I'm Woody"). Finally, I pass Wreck-it Ralph, who is what Evie has taken to calling me for the past 3 months or so (again, 90% of the time I'm Wreck-it Ralph, not dad). They're really rubbing my low-battery in on me now, aren't they???
We're coming up to the 11 mile mark when I pull my phone out to check in on it again.
"low-battery 10%".
Double Crap.
At this point, I am probably going to lose my race tracking. I turn to my dad, say "Well, I can either lose this race, or I can try and beat the battery to the finish". He once again says that I'm welcome to take off, he'll meet me around the finish line. So, after running with my dad for 11 miles, I decide to give it a shot. I take off.
The last 2.1 miles of the race I push myself, and end up running an 8:30 and a 7:55 minute mile, running through the Yacht and Beach club (seeing my favorite T-shirt on a runner "This is the worst parade EVER") into Epcot just trying to keep the pace up. Behind the scenes past the Soarin' building, out in front of the fountain, under Spaceship Earth, and out towards the parking lot, I'm just trying to make it so I can click "Save" on my run before my battery dies. Round that last bend, I'm pushing hard. Final turn, a quick high-five to Mr. Mickey Mouse, and I'm across the finish line. I click "Done" and "Save", and it looks to have worked! I can't believe I beat the battery! I wander ahead, grab my medal, my snack box, and pull off to the side to try and wait for my dad to come up. I try to open my phone to take one last selfie of me and my medal, and as I try and unlock the phone, blink, it shuts down. Oh well. Wait, what was my time??? I didn't pay any attention to it! Oh well. I finished. I'm done. I made it! I didn't walk any more than occasionally in the water-stations so I didn't spill power-aid on myself. I just ran 13.1 miles. Holy crap.
Off to the side, I wait in the glow of accomplishment to see if I can pick my dad out of the thousands of runners streaming by. About 10 minutes later, give or take, I spot him and head out. He's doing ok. Tired, but ok. We stop for a quick photo from one of the folks there taking pictures
Phew. My dad needs to do a little walking to make sure his legs don't cramp up, so we pretend to wander lost a little as they try in vain to herd everyone through in a straight line, from finish to medal to photo to bag-check to changing area to beer stand and out the exit. We take a quick walk to the end of the row, then back to get our bags. My dad wants to change at some point, hit the restroom, and I want to get my well-deserved beer. I get in beer-line while he heads back to change. At this point, the beer line at the end is so backed up, they're not taking the "drink vouchers" or even checking IDs. Just kind of trying to get people their drinks and get them moving. I grab my Yuengling and wait for my dad to meet back up.
I've never had a "runner's high", but I will say, the sense of accomplishment really had me in what I can only describe as a glow. I can't believe I did it.
After we're all done in the running area, we head into the park. It's right around 1:20am. We make a quick decision to hit up SSE for a nice little trip through time, joking with the CM that they might need to call a fork-lift to get us standing again at the end of the ride. SSE is in fine form, and very enjoyable in the middle of the night. It really does need a new script though. And they need to swap out the video-screen based ending. Can't we get ... wait, I don't really want to get into my EPCOT ranting now. I just ran 13.1 miles, just enjoy it. There's plenty of room for ranting later.
We pry ourselves out of the cars, email our "trip to the future" to my wife, sleeping soundly in bed at this time, and head over for Soarin, which is one of my dad's favorite rides. I have not done Soarin in probably 6 years, I just don't like it enough to justify the lines. This time, around 2am though, it's walk-on. No wait. so I give it a chance. Nope, still don't like it. It was good-enough for the 0 minute wait I guess, and my dad loves it. Maybe when we head back to Epcot later in the trip, I'll devote some time to my thoughts, but again, lets not spoil a perfectly good post-race moment by complaining here.
We decide it's time to get a snack, and head towards the World Showcase. Now, the race is still going on, so getting to the WS is not easy. They have a pretty decent gating system set up to try and shuffle people across by actually modifying the race-course a touch and "staging" people in areas that let some people through while letting the runners (or at this point, walkers) continue towards the finish. Still though, it takes us 20 minutes or so to get across that point to where we could start heading out to the WS. We're tired, hungry, it's 2:30am. We make a snap decision (without consulting any Food and Wine maps) and take a right, over past Canada. My dad needs some food, and I want something as well. And another beer.
We wander a little, he gets an Orange Dole Whip, and I keep looking for something that appeals to me, but doesn't have a huge line. Hard to find. The one thing I really want is to try the Kimchee Dog over in the Korean stand, but I have no idea where it is. I also just ran 13 miles, I do NOT feel like walking too far. Also, I have young kids that will be waking up, ready to do our first day in the parks in a scant few hours. We make it as far as the UK, decide to stop, turn around, and I ask a CM where Korea is. If it's in front of Japan, I'll push on. If not...
It's in front of China. No way. So, we make our way back to the front. I stop at Hawaii and get a few pork sliders and a big beer from the Kona Brewing Company (their porter, which I really enjoyed). At this point, it's 3am. We decide to call it a night. I walk and finish my beer as we head to the bus area. It's just about the furthest bus in the section, and we make it barely. A quick bus-ride back, and I'm sneaking into the room probably close to 4am, trying not to wake anyone. Plug my phone in and hit bed. I'm not waking the kids up with the shower. Sorry honey, you're waking up next to a stinky runner. A stinky runner that just ran 13.1 miles. A stinky runner who just toured the World. A stinky runner with a sense of accomplishment that really puts a smile on his face.
Oh yeah. The times. The next morning, phone charged, I see my time. 2 hours, 21 minutes. Good enough for me. My dad finished around 2 hours 29 minutes. Pretty good for an old man
Next up. Limping around the Magic Kingdom on 3 hours sleep and 13 miles run!
