Walt Disney World Half Marathon 2013: The Donald!

 For months, weeks and days before the WDW half, I was tormented with a decision: do I try for a PR in the half, or take it easy so I can be sure to finish both races? I wanted to run my PR at the Disneyland half in Sept but I ran a 2:05 due to injury and a very crowded start that didn't allow me to get up to pace until mile 3. This was not only my first attempt at a Goofy, it was my first marathon EVER so going for a PR in the half would be pretty stupid right? I mean my IT band injury had been patched up enough to get me through Marathon weekend and the Princess Half but after that I had promised my physical therapist that I would take March and probably even March/April off from running to really let it heal. What if I went for it and blew something out?  What if I ended up limping up to the starting line at the full - would I even be able to finish? But what if... the planets aligned, the crowds were light at the start and we could pull it off. I mean I didn't want to hold Jeff back in his first half either. Back and forth, back and forth. So I had the angel runner on one shoulder and the devil on the other. Jeff by the way was AMAZING in all the months and days leading up to the race. He never asked me what we would run, just told me that he was going to run with me no matter the pace or the time.
    I also really saw touring the parks as a non-issue. I thought that for someone who did as much running as I do, walking around the parks all day for days before the race would be no big deal. But I was wrong. My IT band was hurting by Wed/Thurs of the trip and it was to the point of popping and locking when I went to stretch it. It hadn't been that bad for a loooong time and it concerned me quite a bit in the week before the race, so much so that I had planned on doing 3 mile runs on Monday and Wednesday and I skipped both because my injury was already flaring up. The angel on my shoulder said "See! You've already strained it and you're not even running yet. Just take it easy in the half and focus on finishing both runs."
   The devil runner's first victory came at the expo when I got moved up to B corral because of my DL half time. I assured the angel runner on my shoulder that this meant NOTHING but secretly the devil and I were chortling and high-five'ing each other. "Yes!! Corral B means a less crowded start for SURE!" Not that I had decided to go for it, but it was nice to know.
    The day before the half I had butterflies in my stomach all day. This was the hardest day of race prep ever. I just wanted to have the half under my belt and know that I would be starting the full with no outstanding injuries or issues. But could I do that and STILL PR? hmmmm...
   The alarm went off at 3:30 am on Saturday morning and I had gotten 6 hours of solid sleep despite that damn electrical water pageant. I leaped out of bed, grabbed breakfast and coffee in a to-go cup and Jeff and I headed out the door. We hit the front of the Wilderness Lodge and it was jam packed with runners. It was 3:50 and you have to be on a bus or monorail by 4am so I was very nervous. It looked like if a bus came we would not be on it, and we wouldn't even be on a bus after that because we were toward the back of the crowd. But then 3 buses came in quick succession and we got on the third one. We were off to Epcot!

   We got to the race start and began the long walk to the starting corrals. And I mean it's a LOOOOONG walk. It must be more than a 1/2 mile. We stopped for the port a potties twice just to offload coffee and got into B Corral 15 minutes before the race started. It was very warm out, and I had worried for months that we would have a freezing race start but instead there were signs everywhere warning everyone to slow down and drink a ton and not go for a PR because it was going to be much warmer than planned.
Angel: "It's not even a good day to PR - even the folks at runDisney say so. It would not only be stupid to try, it would be DANGEROUS!"
Devil: "One more reason to run really fast and finish before the sun comes up. You'll never even see those high temps!"
   We were in the corral and I STILL hadn't decided what I was going to do. At this point Jeff turns to me and goes "So, what are we shooting for?" I told him that we would check in with each other at mile 5. I decided to let the crowds settle it. Why stress about your time when it may be too congested at the start to even run a PR? We'd just have to see. So we turned to the front, listened to the National Anthem, and then:

We were off!!! The great thing about a WDW start is that you go from a corral about the width of one lane to a 3 lane road almost immediately (VS DL races where the course actually NARROWS for the first mile grrrrr.....) and everyone in B Corral was pretty peppy so we were able to run under the starting line and get into a nice pace right from the beginning. The amazing entertainment began right away - we hit all these cool kites being flown above our heads. Then after mile 1 we hit pirates! At this point I checked my watch and saw that we were running about 8:40 minute miles. We needed to stay under a pace of 9:17 to finish in less than 2 hours. No way was I stopping for pirates!

We flew down World Drive, past bands, characters, amazing cheering crowds at the TTC, past the DJ on the water bridge, and past the Contemporary. It was HOT!!! I was carrying Goofy in my hand but I put him back on before we hit the MK. The cool thing about entering is that the 1/2 mile before you get there you're in almost total darkness, running next to the monorail. Then you run backstage where some great cast members were shouting "Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!" and then you BURST onto Main Street USA with screaming crowds and gorgeous lights and it's just amazing. You have goosebumps and tears and you want to run faster but you don't want it to go past too quickly. It's the best 1/4 mile of running in the world. The dreamlights were still on the Castle and it looked amazing.

We ran thru Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland, then thru the castle, as trumpeters heralded our passing:

 Then off to Frontierland. At this point we were around mile 5 and we had stayed at a really solid 8:40ish pace. Our slowest mile was actually thru the MK because you do have to slow down on Main Street and thru the Castle because of congestion. But we were still in great shape for a PR and at that point I brushed the angel off one shoulder, fist bumped the devil on the other and just RAN!
   There is one point after the MK when you're on your way past the Grand Floridian that the course goes down to one lane and it gets very crowded. We really had to go single file and yell "WALKING!" over our shoulder each time we hit our walk interval so we wouldn't get bumped into. But we stuck with it, passed on the grass and pretty soon we were past the TTC looking at all the runners who were still heading in and feeling very happy that Epcot was in our sights.
  I had one tough spot around mile 8 where I was not sure I could keep the pace up for 5 more miles. It was hot, I had Goofy in my hand, and it was just that tough place in a race where you've come a long way, but still have a significant way to go and you're not sure if you can do it. The thing that got me thru this was knowing that all my LLL'ers were tracking me and pulling for me and how bummed they would be for me if I let myself down. There was no way I was going to finish with a big dip at mile 8 where I wussed out. I thought "once I finish, all the pain goes away and I will wish that I had run harder. Pain is temporary but a PR is forever!" (until you beat it right?!?) so I thought happy thoughts and ran. At around mile 10 we saw the final runners and the sweepers on the other side of World Drive and then we headed up the ramp toward Epcot. The best is that they have the Green Army Men screaming at you as you are heading up the hill to "Go Soldier, GO!!" but Jeff Galloway gave us a walk break right in front of them. It must have killed Jeff to walk by those army men, but he did it! We had decided that at mile 12 no more walk breaks, we were just going for it and before I knew it we were heading into Epcot. Almost there!!

It was hot but I had to put Goofy back on for Epcot and the finish. And the sun was not quite up yet thankfully! Spaceship Earth, a Gospel choir and then the Finish!

 We did it!

What a great feeling! The clock time reflects the A corral starting time so we actually pulled off our sub-2 hour half with a finish of 1:56!

 Soooo excited!!!

Our Finish line video:

 One medal down, 2 more to go!! It was so amazing to be done with the half and feel tired but not hurt. Barring tumbling off a curb and spraining my ankle, at this point I knew I could pull off the full the next day and I was so excited to get 'er done!

 Leslie and Bill were waiting for me at the finish and they brought Niki and I roses and oranges. They were delish!

 Not a good day to PR?!? Says who???

 We jumped on the bus, headed back to WL and were received with hugs and congratulations by our whole family. We showered up and headed off to Whispering Canyon. I planned on eating my body weight in Mickey Waffles!

 Happy, relieved, proud, excited for tomorrow, and very, very, HUNGRY!

We ended up with the most hysterical waitress in the whole restaurant. She busted our chops so hard, flirted with my Dad, and just made us crack up the entire time. What a great post-race meal!

 Us and our awesome waitress:

A meal memory I will always cherish:

 After that Jeff and I took a nap, we relaxed by the pool and had a nice, mellow afternoon. That evening we headed into the MK for dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We got to celebrate my Mom's 70th Birthday!

 Dinner finished at 7pm and we rolled out of the restaurant and found a perfect place right outside to watch the parade. There were even benches for the Grandparents. Disney Magic.

 See you tomorrow big guy!

 Love this parade!

 And after that we headed into the central hub for Wishes. It was just the send off I needed before my big run. I already felt like my wishes were coming true, but I had one more early morning and one more run to make that happen. So we jumped on the boat for WL and once again I was sure that I was too excited to sleep but I went right off. Marathon next!