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| pretty bright-eyed for 4am, no? |
When the race started at 5:30, my corral (D) still hadn't moved. It was sort of strange to go through the National Anthem (by a trumpeter -- it was awesome!) and the "official" race start in the same waiting pen I'd spent the previous hour in. For some reason, they spaced the corrals out with ten minutes between, so I didn't actually start running until 6:00, more than two hours after I arrived at Epcot. I wish I had realized this in advance - the extra unexpected waiting put me on tilt and I was pretty grumpy when we started.
...and then we ran out of the Epcot parking lot, out the toll plaza, around a hairpin turn, and up one of the awful overpass hills I'll see again tomorrow around mile 11. We went under an overpass where Princess [Anna or Elsa? the blonde one] from Frozen was waving and talking to the crowd. My reaction was pretty much "hey it's that princess from that movie that everyone but me has seen!" And then I realized they had the snow machines out. Though it was hot and humid, somehow that fake snow really made me happy. The rest of the pre-Epcot half of the race was congested, with walkers and runners tripping over each other. I ignored my intervals a lot because I kept getting boxed in. Until things spaced out around mile 2, I pretty much just ran when I could.
My general theme today with other runners on the course was something like "Please Make Them Go Away." I had a young teenager who was whining at his mother come to a complete stop in front of me and I yelled "woah woah woah" as I slammed into his back because I couldn't stop in time. Another woman near me yelled at him to get on the grass if he needed to stop, and then his mother finally realized maybe she should pay attention to her kid. I also had people stop in front of me to pose for on-course photographers -- the ones who are there to get pictures of people running the course. I may have yelled at a pair of girls who cut me off and did that. Aaaaand I also yelled "get off the course" at the handful of people waiting to take pictures at one of the mile markers.
Yeah, not my finest hour. But people seriously need to learn race etiquette!
Anyway, once we got into Epcot, my mood brightened considerably. The run through the World Showcase was really nice, with music playing and lots of photo ops. It's always interesting for me to see places I've been a million times before under different circumstances, and this definitely fit the bill.
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| mile 5 - this was my cheering point for the last 10K |
My favorite spectators of the day (aside from the guy with the sign that said, "you look HOT when you sweat") was a family sitting on a bench outside the Beach Club. They were clapping as people passed, and for some reason when I went by I yelled "wooo" at them. This was all the instigation they needed, and they went cheer-crazy. I did the balled-up shaking fists of excitement completely involuntarily, and cracked up laughing. They were totally cheering for ME! I'm fine with pretending people are cheering just for me, but this time I totally take credit for the outburst. It was so awesome!
We re-entered Epcot backstage at IGW and actually ran right by the trailer a friend of mine works at. I was all of a sudden bummed that it wasn't a weekday or I'm sure he would've been out watching the crazy parade. I considered going over and leaving a note (or sweaty butt print) in his cubicle, but I figured it was probably locked.
We ran back into Epcot next to Imagination, and then through the Innoventions breezeway, past Spaceship Earth, and out of the park backstage the same way as the half marathon. The last .1 mile happens in the parking lot, and I managed to run about half that length, finishing with my arms way up in the air. (no worry about sweaty pits -- at that point I don't think ANY of me was dry!)
After the finish line, I looked for a volunteer placing medals on people, but every single one was just handing them out. So I took my medal, placed it proudly around my own neck, and headed toward the rest of the post-race stuff - Powerade, wristband (that plus tomorrow's medal are what combine to get my GSC medal), finisher photo, banana, snack box... Before the race, they mentioned that there would be princesses doing photo ops in the reunion area, and I really wanted to stop and do that, but the sky was getting darker and darker and I had a long walk to the car and didn't want to risk getting soaked. I'll have to take my medals over to MK one day (when I'm not dripping sweat down my face) and do "hero shots" like the ones Nicole and I did last year.
Considering the sticky weather, my generally crappy starting mood, and the inconsiderate runners, I had a really good time today. The first half of the course was dark and boring, but the Disney folks did their best to make it slightly more interesting. But there really is something special about running through the parks. I wish I could do it all the time!
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| the 10K medal has Cinderella's coach on it! |
My Race Stats:
Clock Time: 1:58:58
Chip Time: 1:28:01
Pace: 14:10
Overall Place: 4723/8964
Gender Place: 4062/7922
My Splits (according to RunKeeper, which imploded on me around mile 4 but apparently still kept time and believes my pace was 13:35 for the whole race):
Mile 1: 13:14 min/mile
Mile 2: 13:24 min/mile
Mile 3: 13:27 min/mile
Mile 4: 13:37 min/mile
Mile 5: 13:57 min/mile
Mile 6: 13:54 min/mile
The Minnie 10K that's part of Marathon weekend is still on my bucket list - mostly because I want the medal - but I think it's going to have to wait 'til 2016 since I'm pretty sure I'm going to sign up for the Marathon (!!) in 2015. The course is worth doing again...and maybe in two years I'll be fast enough to get into a corral with fewer people getting in my way.
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