So day 3 started very very early. I was a little obsessed with how early we got up b/c when Cathy and I did the Disney Princess half in Feb we literally spent forever on the bus getting to the start and then had to run to our corral to make it on time. I did not want that to happen again. This experience was just the opposite. I got up at 2am (Clark slept until 2:30). We were out the door by 3am. Did not have to wait long for a bus and arrived at the start really fast. You walk nearly a mile from where the bus drops you off to the start. What I didn't like was that they made all 25,000 people wait in one spot sort of far from the corrals until 4:30 and then opened it up. Made it really congested. I thought it would have been far less crowded to just let people trickle to corrals as they arrived.
Here is a picture of us before leaving our hotel room! Clark and I decided to wear matching Goofy hats since we were doing the Goofy challenge. We did it only for the half b/c it would have driven us crazy for the full. Yes the ears hit me in the face several times but it was all in good fun!
He looks so serious.
Since we did not care about times at all and knew that we would be taking pictures, we carried my phone. This made it much easier to find Cathy and Alan when they arrived (much much later than us). Alan was the only one in corral C. The rest of us were corral B. They are really insistent about being in the correct corral (which I TOTALLY appreciate). I heard one girl getting escorted out with an "H" bib on saying, "I really thought it was a B".....ummm sure you did!! It really was fine b/c once again we were planning on going slow so we just stood in the very back of corral B and Alan stood in the front of corral C so we all waited together.
Here is a picture of Cathy and Alan
Me and one of my very best friends.
The race started shortly after 5:30. We were off. It was crazy crowded and congested really for the entire race. This is not the race to do for time. That would have been impossible due to crowds. I wanted a nice easy pace, so I often hung back and let either Cathy or Clark lead the way with the weaving in and out. I would just follow. We were at conversation pace the entire time. I should mention that when we started the race, the temp was in the mid 60's and the humidity was 97%. I felt pasty from the start. This race basically takes you from around Epcot to Magic Kingdom and back to Epcot. It was dark for about half of the run. Once we started it was clear that I had to go to the bathroom. I kept thinking it would go away within the first few miles but it didn't. Eventually I stopped and after that felt much better. We had so much fun on this run. Talked the entire time. The 3 of us always stayed together. I would slow everyone down any time they wanted to get under a 9min per mile pace. Not b/c I didn't think I could do it, but b/c I thought it would ruin my chance of even attempting to run the full marathon.
Here we stopped to take a picture in front of the large sign with the characters running. It was a good place to stop b/c no line but the picture taken with our phone did not turn out all that great.
I really do think I was smiling the entire time!
Check out the weird skin folds on my leg. Freaky!
Here is a picture of Cathy getting her knee wrapped with ice.
After the race Clark and I went back to the resort. We showered and decided to hang out at the pool and try and nap. We stayed out there for about an hour, but I was worried the hot sun would suck the life out of us and we still had a marathon to run the following day. So we went in and ate lunch at the resort. After that Clark wanted to go back to the Expo to see about exchanging his race shirts for smaller sizes. I just didn't want to walk that far, so I sent him by himself, and we agreed to hook up at Downtown Disney for dinner.
Clark had no trouble switching his shirts. I went to Downtown Disney a little early and walked around some shops before he arrived. We had a nice dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We were trying to carb load. You can see he does that by beer, and I did it by chips and dip and a horribly fattening pasta meal with white sauce. We set ourselves us for stomach issues during the marathon!
Here I am proudly displaying my bling. At Disney everyone wears their medals the day of the race. Then while you are walking around the parks everyone is just always congratulating everyone else. Runners are such nice people. Running has a way of bonding people. Did I mention I LOVE it!
After dinner we walked in a couple of shops but headed back to our resort relatively early b/c we were about to wake up at 2am for the second day in a row. The football games were too exciting however and we stayed up too late watching.
The big kids were hanging with my parents this entire day and night. They slept in and went to Dolphin Tale. They watched the movie the night before so they would be all caught up. My mom had already warned them that they would learn that 90% of that movie was not true and made up. Per report they had fun. The kids really liked seeing the dolphin with no tail. They learned a lot about her. Alexis now has a new stuffed animal with a detachable tail. Nick was kind and spent his own money on little stuffed animals for the triplets (one shark, one dolphin, one sting ray). I think they spent their evening playing games and eating at some nice restaurant. I do have
one picture from the day but it is just a hard copy and not one I can add. My mom paid 40.00 to take a picture of Alexis touching a dolphin.
one picture from the day but it is just a hard copy and not one I can add. My mom paid 40.00 to take a picture of Alexis touching a dolphin.
That is the end of day 3! Awesome day!
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