The Big Story Part 2 Pre-Race NIGHT!

The night before the race was marked by incredible anticipation.  We, (my husband, children and I), checked into the Dolphin Resort Hotel around 4:30 pm.  I chose that hotel after doing a lot of research online regarding the transportation for runners in the morning of the race.  It seemed to be one of the most highly recommended for that process.  Buses taking runners to the EPCOT starting point  would begin at 3 am from the hotel.

I have to say that I did a lot of research during this entire process from choosing this race, training methods, details regarding the race itself, procedures for the night before and the morning of and even details on spectators and anything else regarding this particular race.  I also have to say that knowledge is power, that is my personal philosophy of life and in this case it truly paid off!

It was obvious that a lot of runners were indeed staying there.  Of course, with tens of thousands of people converging on Disney that one weekend, runners were everywhere!  We got in our room with two things on the agenda:  when to eat the "final dinner" and finalizing details on how my family would get to the spectator sight and when.  My husband began to get his plan together.  I really didn't have a stream of thought left to do that with him and I was uptight they would have to get up so early and stand and wait hours.  He finally got a final confirmation that buses would run around 7 am to the finish area.  That seemed good...SEEMED being a key word to emphasize!

It felt so odd that my family was all together at Disney and we weren't going to go DO DISNEY!   We opted for a walk on the "Boardwalk" and a possible little boat ride around the lagoon that is surrounded by the boardwalk and hotels in that area.  I was giddy yet too focused with the looming race on my mind to totally enjoy it.  But it was sweet.

I highly recommend the Dolphin or Swan Hotel for the Marathon Weekend!

We couldn't all agree on a restaurant on the Boardwalk area so we went back to the Dolphin to eat there.  I was determined to not eat junky and thought for sure I could get some pasta or something energy storing.   We sat down in a crowded cafe-like place in the Dolphin as the clock now ticked toward my bedtime preparation.   The menu had NOTHING Marathon worthy and definitely no pasta.  FAIL!   I ordered the best thing I could find and justified this epic fail of the sacred last meal by recalling how dedicated I had been in the weeks before to fueling my body. Certainly one meal wasn't going to cripple my entire training efforts besides I had lots of energy snacks!

A good pre-race meal:  carbs like pasta

What I ended up having:  falafel balls...

 As we sat there my racing buddy, Lisa and her hubby, walked in.  They joined us and I cringed as they looked the menu over.   I had now led her into my delinquency of proper last meal nutrition! After the meal we headed to our prospective rooms agreeing to meet at "the fountain" in the lobby at 3:30 am.  I could let out a 13 year old girl scream right now thinking about it!

This is when the swirl and haze of the weekend took over.  As soon as I got back in the room  I laid out all of my race gear on the credenza.  I made a last minute final decision of wearing my hair in pig tails for the race.  I was going for a whimsical - not pimped out in Disney Costume (aka tutu) - I'm a runner but fashionably so!  I tried everything on to trouble shoot any anticipated needs.  There would be NO TIME for indecision in the morning!  Fortunately the weather was going to be cool to mild, so I wouldn't be struggling with heavy clothing and my decision was pretty concluded on how to handle the cool to mild transition as the sun came up by simply taking my lightweight jacket off and wrapping it around my waist.  (Other people would be wearing old stuff and throwing to the ground as the morning progress.  This isn't littering, it is actually a part of a clothing charity Disney does. They picked up several tons of clothes and donate it to local charities!  I didn't have anything I wanted to throw away... is that bad?!)

 I then made sure that I had access to every important thing I would need while running for almost three hours. (I was hoping more like 2:30).

- On top- my sport bra, duh!  Hot pink Cami, my new "runGIRLrun" shirt from the venue,  and a very lightweight running jacket with convenient pockets inside and out and thin enough to wrap around my waist when I got warm which I knew would be my mile two.  On the bottom - Capri running pants with running shorts over them - I hate running pants and cellulite - just not right.

The back of my runGIRLrun top.  Love their line of clothes!

-My Nike hat and sunglasses.  (I never wore the hat and it irritated me to have it in my jacket pocket the entire time.)

- My race belt with my number attached with two attached Velcro pockets with as many protein bites I could stuff in one and a small ipod in the other for no other purpose but to take video.

- In my running pants hidden zipper pocket I put an extra mini cliff bar and in my shorts hidden pocket two segments of toilet paper. (I was alerted to the possible need for this in the porta-potties...I never needed it)

-My iPhone & earbuds in my armband which would be giving me the run/walk interval prompts. (Unbelievably my sacred Gymboss Interval Timer broke the night before we left for Orlando! )

-Lipgloss.   Yeah that's right - I am a running DIVA! I struggled with a place for it during the race- in my sports bra, in my protein bite pack, in my hand, my jacket pocket and finally squeezed with Ipod.  But my lips remained moist and shiny!

I then set out my breakfast for in the morning.  I had brought from home a packet of oatmeal, a plastic spoon and a paper bowl.  This was one of my smartest strategies.  My hubby got me a banana and some milk from hotel store.  I knew that I would do best with some breakfast and coffee since we would be boarding the bus at 3:30 am and not cross the start line until almost 6 am.

So about 9:30 pm, which was right on cue, with my hair in my pig tails, and my running clothes on, minus the belt, jacket and shoes, I got in bed!

It was a little struggle but I finally fell into a light sleep at an unknown time while worrying the bizarre occurrence of my alarm not going off happening.  I woke up intermittently and even woke myself up once talking.  I obviously was not going to get a good night's sleep and I knew that all along.  I only sleep well in the best of circumstances.  I knew this night would be hard this being part of the pushing through.  I was just too geared up and excited.  I think I got into a deep sleep about 2:30 am because when I heard the faint sound of my alarm  at 3 am I was grasping at consciousness.


The rest is a story of its own!  To be continued in part 3- THE RACE!

The Big Story PART 1 - Pre-Race

So here it is, the BIG ACCOUNT of one best achievements I have experienced!  My FIRST Half Marathon!  I am going to put it into 4 segments - just in case it gets too boring and trivial you can take a break and check in later for more tantalizing details of my big moments!  I would equal this blog to decades ago when people made friends and acquaintances sit for long slide shows of their vacations!

I just have to say from my perspective, that the race is so much more than just the 13.1 miles.  At least for the Disney Half Marathon, it is so so so SO much more of an experience!  Put all eight months aside and narrow it down to 24 hours and there is an experience that puts you into a daze that has to be picked apart and sucked out of your sub-conscious just to recall it in detail. It wraps itself up into one big ball, more like a cloud or a foggy swirl of energy and leaves you with almost a post traumatic syndrome where you have to debrief yourself to make sense of it.

It all begins with packing hastily and getting everyone in the car, even though I've known about this for almost a year.  It inevitably now is at the end of a busy week, jammed between the start of more busyness, so there's a little "let's just get in the car" attitude!   I have packed my race bag with several extra pieces of race clothing in case I change my mind on my "race look", along with my number belt and various attachments like my iPhone strap and energy boost packets.  The most important thing I carried in my race gear was likened unto the holy grail - the race waiver!  You can't get your packet without it - that was the warning in the repeated email reminders!

As we arrived on Disney property toward the hotel....  I have to digress here for a moment.  I must make it VERY CLEAR to whom ever is reading this, THAT, DISNEY WORLD is one of the most favorite places in my life - I love love love just being on Disney Property.   To me it IS THE HAPPIEST PLACE IN THE WORLD.  Perhaps because I remember as a little girl born in Orlando, when it wasn't even built yet and we went to see the little schematic of the park and I got my first Winnie-the-Pooh and Tinkerbell.  I remember a book of tickets that was lettered A-F for the different park areas.  I remember many "Nights of Joy" with my youth group and later taking my children there to scream in terror as the characters came near them.  GOOD TIMES and SWEET MEMORIES.   So to have my first Half Marathon there is SERENDIPITY...which I' have always wanted to use in a sentence!

SO - as we arrived on Disney property towards the hotel, we passed the ESPN Sports Complex where the Expo and Check In was and I had an instinctive urge to go there before we checked in and THANK GOD we did.  The place was swirling.  This is when the enormity of the race became too clear!

As we got out of our car, my husband turned to the right to walk toward a white tented area.  I quickly corrected him- he thought we were going to this little tent to pick up my packet.  He thought that because the Triathlon at Ft. Wilderness two years ago with about 800 people had that....this however was over 20,000 people running not counting their entire families with them...it was in the COMPLEX.   As we now turned to walk with the sea of people toward the complex a wave of excitement hit me.  I was now possessed by a girl 13 years old going to see Justin Bieber!  I was pointing and jumping a little...I wanted a picture of everything.

On the way into the complex

Still on the way into the complex

In the complex...race packet pick up

The Expo with a lot of awesome vedors....

On the way out of the Complex!

I just had a compulsion to remember it all! 

What struck me the most was how organized, welcoming and detailed this part of the event was.  For a first timer coming into this type of race it could not have been more special!  There were plenty of workers directing you to the right place to go.  I am sure we all had a look of "first day out of the egg"!  We were directed in a perfect flow into the Check-in Building with everything clearly marked as to where to get your packet.  The woman who have me my packet explained everything so explicitly that I felt entirely confident of what was happening even though it was overwhelming! 

 I was only a little miffed when I saw an entire Kiosk with printers for people who hadn't brought their Race Waiver.  They made it sound like you would be jailed and fined if you didn't have it when you came but there were plenty of empty printers waiting for the negligent waiver criminals.  I was miffed because before we crossed the bridge out of St. Pete I had my daughter climb over the back seat to confirm I had it in the outside pocket of my race bag!   Later my racing buddy Lisa commented on it as well.  I then knew my intimidation with the waiver was a well organized move by the Disney Race Organizers.  Brilliant!

Signing the racers wall on the way into the Expo!

 As we exited the Check-in building the flow of people went right into the Expo Center with the vendors.  This was a very exciting because I had come determined to get a really cool, girly shirt to wear.  It HAD to be black and hot pink and voila - there was a perfect one for me!!!  I could have bought so much more but I had my hubby with me and I felt a little restrained on that end! He did splurge on me and bought me one packet of some super delicious energy bites that I ended up eating throughout my race!  Thank you honey!

love these

We then took a family picture at the HP Printer - "don't you want to buy our printers"  booth and I practically floated to the car with my excitement energizing me!  I had my own CLEAR Race bag stuffed with papers, samples, a huge glossy thick program, my race number with a chip on the back, and my new super cute race shirt.  WHAT MORE could a Virgin Half Marathoner want!  

More to come on my Pre-Race NIGHT!