I'm back home and easing into normal life after Dopey #10. My calves are still a little sore, but other than that, I seem to have recovered pretty well. I went down for New Years with some friends and stayed through the races, which arguably was a bit too long, but overall it was a nice trip and nice to not feel too rushed on any given day.
The expo was generally fine. We lucked out with an early time for the virtual queue, but it was still a madhouse in the merchandise area. Given that they know how popular the merchandise is, how many people are registered for each event, and even everybody's shirt sizes, it never ceases to amaze me how they never seem to have enough merchandise to go around. Sure, if they make more they might end up with a few things leftover, but surely that would be offset by the vast amount of stuff people are buying.
I wasn't expecting much in the way of a Perfectly Dopey gift, so I really enjoyed the lunchbox with the hat and cookies (and Otterbox gift certificate). I already have tons of Dopey swag from all the years, so it was really cool that these were all things I didn't already have.
The courses were fine, if not overly interesting. The 5K and half marathon were the old reliable routes we all know so well. The 10K was kind of interesting since it ended up basically being a backward version of the typical course; I think this must have been done to help with post-race traffic, which flowed very well. The marathon had some interesting moments, like going through Adventureland for my first time, but the Blizzard Beach parking lot was terrible once again with no shade. I was also disappointed that all four courses shared the same final half-mile with so much boring backstage distance when you're looking for a boost. Hopefully next year the Epcot construction will finally be complete enough to allow the old finish route that's only backstage for a brief moment.
The weather was generally pretty good this year. The 5K and 10K were a good balance of warm enough to be comfortable in the corrals without extra layers, and not overly hot during the races. The half marathon was much chillier than I expected, even after leaving the room that morning. I finished before the sun came over the top of the trees, so I was pretty damp and cold at the post-race area for a few minutes waiting for my friends to finish. The marathon started out chilly, but really warmed up once the sun came out; I was surprised to feel the temperature difference going back into the shade at the end of the sunny Western Way, where I could suddenly see my breath again. After a couple years with a blazing hot marathon, this seemed to be a decent balance for all four days
The 90's theme also seemed like an odd choice to me (particularly since the visual style of the medals and merchandise wasn't really current by the first race in 1994), but people really seemed to embrace it with all the costumes and themed outfits. It was fun at first, but after 4 days of seeing the same dozen characters and hearing the same dozen songs (several of which are guilty pleasures on my longtime running playlist), the novelty wore off. In a way, it reminded me of the old Avengers and Tinkerbell races at DLR, where they only had theme-specific characters out, which really limited their selection; Marathon Weekend wasn't as strict (Geppetto was out one day), but I still wish there was more variety from one day to the next.
In general, it was a really fun trip and I'm looking forward to next year, though I'm worried that the way the calendar lands means it will be very busy in the parks again. But for now, I'm looking forward to taking a bit of a break in my training and just resting up some more!
So......
I was set to fly American from Colorado Springs to Orlando on Wednesday.
Was supposed to arrive at 1:40. My flight was cancelled. Naturally I panicked and ran to the American kiosk. Luckily while I was waiting in line the guy in front of me got a flight later in the day, and then took my phone and booked it for me as well.
It was the last flight out of Dallas and I was worried. Apparenlty hundreds of flights were cancelled Wednesday. I sat in every standby line I could and even looked into switching flights to Charlotte (that flight got cancelled too, whew).
Luckily the storm dissapated a little and the last three flights out of Dallas landed in Orlando after delays. However once i landed at 1:10 am, my plane door got stuck We sat on the plane for an half an hour. It was 2:00 before I caught the Mears Shuttle. Then my Mears driver got lost lol. I got to the resort at 3:00 only after every one in the shuttle kindly asked the driver to skip their stops and take me first.
I arrived at my resort, changed shoes and shorts, and hoped on the bus.
As far as the races go, I did meh....
I don't try at the 5K, 10K, or Half, but I ran a 5:02 Marathon mainly because I thought I had five more minutes to finish under 5 hours lol.
Pretty sore tonight, sitting on a balconey at the resort typing this.
I think I was near you in the corral for the 5K, or at least was near somebody with the misfortune of having a similar story of flight trouble! I was in the group of it's a small world penguins with the purple gaucho hats, if you happened to see us.
