DAY 3 – HALF a MARATHON and a MOUNTAIN OF LASAGNA!!
Well, I can tell you for sure that 2:15 a.m. comes very early, and if you are worried about your own ability to finish a race without getting swept and also worried about 2 20 year olds who hadn’t had time to train, sleep is even more elusive.
So, at 2:15, we all got up and dressed in race gear. I walked the girls through getting themselves fueled and hydrated and getting all their gear together. We met up with a lot of the WISHers at the start, but Howard and I left after just a couple of minutes to attend the prayer service. Unfortunately, it was delayed several times and then went longer than it has the past 3 years and we were late getting back to the meeting spot. We had time for a few pix at the meeting spot and at the start:
Here are our friends Matt and Kevin. Matt decided to provide course support for the half-marathoners and was all over the course, cheering people on and being absolutely amazing in that Sorceror hat and those wonderful, smile-inducing Mickey gloves. At one point, I saw him up on an overpass and he screamed something along the lines of “Cam, Look at you running!! Every time I’ve seen you, you are running!” and he encouraged me so much. What a great guy! Kevin wears these really fun running tights as a show of camaraderie for our team and to make us all smile. Two really wonderful WISHers! Seriously, what awesome guys!
I have no idea why my cheeks were so red, but here I am with my girls at the start
And then we were on our way! I knew my hip was hurting that morning and it usually lasts for a duration of time, rather than distance. Rhonda, who has been my race partner at every Disney race was fine with me trying to get as far ahead and build a time cushion as possible. My dear Kathy took Jenn and Adrienne under her wing (she is nowhere near as selfish as I am), so I was free to make a break for it and try to get well ahead of the sweepers. I had my best race ever in that I was able to jog most of the way. I was astounded at how healthy and energized I felt. I was wearing my Tokyo
Disneyland bride ears and everyone was so sweet, congratulating me. Patty had helped me do iron ons for my tee shirt and though I cant' remember exactly (and the shirt got ruined when I washed it), the back said something like “Marrying My Prince Charming All Over Again” with our two wedding dates. The front said “Marrying Him Once Was Not Enough" with both our dates (I stole this from the slogan Howard had come up with for his honeymoon tee-shirt)
It was so amazing to run past the Grand Floridian:
And the Wedding Pavilion:
I stopped for lots of pictures along the way but I look so goofy in all of them with my red cheeks and ear to ear grin, that I’m not going to embarrass myself by posting them. LOL! One of the highlights was seeing Kevin and Michael (Heather and Rhonda’s hubbies) in the Magic Kingdom on Main Street. What a wonderful surprise! I still can’t believe I was still jogging at that point, stopped for pix, and took off again. Soon, I saw Judy, but she quickly blasted past me – she is so fast!!!
My race time was not great. Truly, my time was pretty bad, but I had the BEST TIME!!! I got to see so many WISHers along the course and our Scream Teamers were beyond amazing. And best of all – Rhonda and Heather caught up with me in EPCOT and we were able to finish together. Actually, they finished just ahead of me – they still were so strong and fast at that point, and I was not. But finishing with them was just the cherry on top!
It was great to see everyone at the end of the race, but I was wiped out and still had lasagna to prepare for about 60+ people, so we soon headed to the line for the resort buses. We waited a really long time for a bus back to BCV. Howard quickly showered and headed out to meet some WISH friends at Macaroni Grille. I was so jealous that he'd see some of my favorite people, but I knew he'd give them my love and hugs and take lots of pix. And he did: