I found Brett at our meeting point afterwards and I had (and still have) the biggest smile on my face. I had done it. Little Miss, I cant run, Im not a runner, I cant get past the 5K mark, ran a 1/2 marathon!!
Now lets explain something - I did 'train' for this because I posted about my running adventures along the way. I say 'train' loosely as I only had 1 long run of 7 miles, which prior to this race was my longest run EVER! For the month of december I was in Europe for 11 days and then came Christmas and New Years so on new years day I ran a 10K and that was it prior.
Was this smart? Nope. Well how did I do this? I have no clue. I think I am very lucky that I'm not hurt, not super sore and I guess young enough still that my body bouces back. I do think what helped me finish was the fact that my 1st 6 miles were slower than my last 6.
So how'd I do? 13.26 miles 2:20:28..... how'd Brett do 13.25 miles 1:49:31.... with less training than me...crazy!
Distance: 13.26 miles
M1- 12:01 M7 - 10:16 M13 - 9:45
M2 -11:54 M8 - 10:30 M14 - (.26) 8:47 pace
M3 -11:07 M9 - 10:01
M4- 10:58 M10 - 9:55
M5 -10:51 M11 - 10:11
M6 -10:57 M12 - 9:41
Miles 1-3 were a breeze, I knew I was running slower than normal because well it was so freaking crowded. I didnt look at the garmin because I told myself its ok, this is your warm up, let the crowd spread out and then you can pick it up and stay strong to the finish. Because I at breakfast at 3am, I decided to eat 2 cliff blocks at the 5K mark. 1st time having these and they were quite tasty in Orange flavor.
Mile 4-6 were more fun as you got closer to magic kingdom and inside the park. The crowds were awesome cheering for everyone, the scenery was awesome, the music along the way. I left my music off and enjoyed looking around, listening to people, listening to the crowd. Downside as you got closer to the park there was this area with an overpass that you went under around mile 4 that had a nice incline that everyone was freaking out about.... in addition it was a 2 lane road everyone was on with only 1 lane for runners.... talk about cramped and not easy to move in or out of people.
The run took you into Magic Kingdom, down main street, through tomorrowland, through fantasy land, through the castle, into Frontier land and then out the back towards the main road back to Epcot.
Mile 7-9 were a little dull....at around Mile 8 I put on my music as this was offically my longest run ever and though I was feeling ok, there was less crowd support so I was a little scared I was going to wuss out and mentally break down.
Mile 10 came and I thought only a 5K to go, I can do this OMG I really am going to do this!! I'm not sure what I did but i noticed my hand hurt so i looked down and my hands were swollen. Like hurt when I bent my fingers swollen and I didnt have my wedding rings off! So then a mini freak out happened. I'm trying to get my rings off while still running....so then i have to slow to a walk to blow, lick, my fingers to wiggle the rings off..... finally i get them off in what seems like to be 10 mins and put them in my zipper pocket on my running pants.
Mile 11 - 12 I continually touch my butt pocket to ensure I havent lost my wedding rings, because eventhough the race fee was $140 and quite expensive, I didnt need to turn this race into a thousand dollar one by loosing 2 rings. With the ring dilema, I forgot what mile I was on and when I saw the mile 11 sign I couldnt believe it as I thought I was only approaching mile 10. 2 miles to go I thought! HOLY cow!! As I lost my dad this year, I said to myself, hey dad hope youre awake, if so go get nana and grampa and poppa and watch me finish this thing!!
I was on a runners high, I was so close it was awesome, my legs were cramping some but I couldnt stop, I was going to finish and I was going to be able to say I did it without stopping.
Mile 12 to 13.1 were in Epcot - you went in, down to where the World Showcase started then turned around - where the turn around was , it was cramped as it was narrow so that was a little tricky when getting around people / dealing with those walking. Once past the turn around you had maybe another .5-.6 to go. It felt so far but so close at the same time. I did my best weaving in and out of people and had a few run into me but I didnt care, I was almost there.
13.1 - the finish line was right infront of me and i picked it up to what I had left in my tank and crossed the finish line. My end photo will probably be so horrible because i was so confused on where the finish mat was. I couldnt see it at first to know i finished and there were 2 so I didnt know what to think and when to hit stop on my garmin.
Then medal and mylar time. I was so excited to get both. yes both! LOL. afterwards it was so congested and there were lines of people and I couldnt figure out why.... well now I know because I didnt get one. A race finish photo with the Disney 2012 marathon weekend backdrop. OH well - another time I guess.... For someone who reads a lot of running blogs you would have thought I would have known about this.... nope. not me! So instead I stood in line for all the freebies that they hand you (water, powerade, banana, orange, candy, bagels,) and seriously you cant hold it all. Someone should really think about getting little bags and just hand you one when you finish with all this inside.
We arrived at Epcot and parked the car at 3:50am, (traffic was congested but not horrible). Because it was cold out we stuck it out in the car until 4:15 to head to bag drop to leave a much too big of bag for one small pair of keys.
In the bag drop tent (Where it was much warmer) i told Brett to stay put as I was going to brave the cold to stand in line for a porta-potty. Yah about 20 mins later I finally get to one and then it was head for the start line.... well when they tell you it takes 20 mins to get from the bag area to the start, they really mean it. There were just sooo many people crammed into one area. Which wasnt bad because it was so freaking cold.
While we were closer to the corrals but not close enough we see the fireworks go off and everyone knew the race had officially started.....I started to get nervous thinking we wouldnt make it to the corral, but then we turned a corner and wouldnt ya know about 100 porta potties and all the corrals LoL.... after my 2nd stop and Brett's first we headed for Corral D and basically got into the back of the corrall and stood around for 2-4 mins before we started moving to the start line. Talk about perfect timing.
Race starts- Brett and I wish eachother luck, tell eachother to have fun, take it easy and see you at the finish.
I did it. I completed my 1st Half Marathon!! Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Now first things first - I didnt take a camera or my phone to take pics along the way. So there arent a lot of photos until I can find a blogger who took some that I can borrow. :)
So back to the event - Brett and I were both signed up - we did the whole expo thing on Friday
Holy Moly was that an event. Packet pick up was in one building and the expo in another.... a little pain in the butt but not horrible. So Packet pick up was super easy - with the number of cars and the thousands of people walking towards the buildings I thought oh this will take an hour at least. Nope not at all. Got our #'s and found out we were in Corral H....the last freaking corral..... ok ok I get it 1st race, youre not 'royalty' to be in the front just yet.
We head to the Expo because 1) we needed our goodie bags and 2) I signed Brett and I up for Pace groups by Cliff Bar....so we wanted to find out where they'd be. So we walk up and me being so proud of signing up tells the guy and he says ok pace group 1:50 is in corral A and 2:15 is in B what are your corrals.......my heart sinks and I say H.... hes like Oh just go back to registration and have them switch you.... Im thinking I know its not that easy so after a quick purchase at the trackshack booth for some cliff shots and body glide, back to registration we went.
We go to the lady and tell her what Cliff bar man said and shes like sure we can if you provide proof of a 10K race or higher......hahahh yah right lady I've only ran a 10K as practice not in race format. so we say sorry we didnt sign up for anything prior and she says well the closest I can put you in is corral D instead. So we easily agreed and were now in Corral D.
Brett was really happy and said it would work out to our benefit, just wait and see. So we headed home like 2 kids before Christmas and I laid out all of our stuff (clothes, ipods, garmins, race #'s, breakfast,) so we'd be ready to go in the morning.
Finally at 10:00pm we went to bed.......and at 2:45am we were awake, wanting but not wanting to get out of bed. at 3:10am we left our house for the Mouse house for the race.
