Our biggest concern going into this 2 day, 39.3 mile race was the weather. This was the concern months before race day as well as hours before. The concern was much different hours before than during our training. The heat and humidity were a condition we knew would most likely be a factor on race day. However, as we watched the weather days and up to hours before the race we worried about sleet, ice and possibly snow? Seriously? We purposely did some of our training in a hot, stuffy gym on treadmills to hopefully simulate humid anticipated race day conditions. We had talked on our 18 mile run weeks before how the bitter cold training is the problem of this race because it just wouldn't prepare our bodies for the heat. WRONG!!!!
DAY ONE: Half Marathon
We woke up to freezing rain on Saturday morning. As we walked to our car in the parking garage it sounded like hail was hitting the roof. Nice. Yes, we were ready for this but it was still hard to get excited to spend the next few hours in these conditions. In our layers, gloves, earbands, and Mickey antennae (heehee) we headed towards Epcot (Brock was our chaffeaur). Our start to the half resembled our training.....pathetic! Our corral was scheduled to start at 5:50am. We reached the start position at 5:50am. Seriously we ran about a mile to the corral and then just kept on going. I could feel the pellets of freezing rain hit my eyes and mouth. They were actually salting the water stations because as people drank they then threw their cups and the remaining water was freezing and causing some pretty slick roads. I just knew if anyone would be the one to go run in Florida and slip on the ice it would be me.
Along the way we saw a lot of "disney freaks". I can label these individuals because I am of their kind :). (Note the antennae) We totally had TinkerBell costumes ready to run in but due to the weather our attire had to be adjusted. We saw a Jasmine and Aladdin couple- full costume. An entire Mickey Mouse including huge yellow shoes. And then we saw a fashion malfunction. You know how some running shorts have flaps on the sides so the slit actually goes up to the waist band? Let me just tell you I will never wear those again after witnessing this. Let's just say it got tucked in somehow and one cheek was fully exposed (and I am not talking face here). Some brave soul told this poor woman but she didn't seem to care or correct the problem. I have seen pretty much all the Disney movies and I do not recall a character with this attire??? Anyways, we headed to the Magic Kingdom and then returned back to Epcot where we started. We finished in 1:49 for our first third of the Goofy Challenge. We felt good and as though we reserved some for the next day but only time would prove that to be true. After we crossed the finish line was when the real race, both physical and mental, began. The traffic to get into Epcot was horrible. We didn't exactly have a good game plan with Brock to meet up after the race other than "see ya at 8:20." I guess we were trying to keep our theme of "unprepared" going. So we stood out in the rain, whoops freezing rain, for over an hour. I honestly can say I have never, ever been this cold in my life. I was so cold I couldn't talk. I know this is a lot to take in, yes I, Emily Ryan, was quiet. Eventually we got back to the condo, I took a scalding shower and about 9 hours later I finally warmed up. Yes, I do this for fun.
DAY 2: Marathon
Alarm went off at 4:15am. No sounds of hail pellets, so already the mood is up from yesterday. Bagel, powerade and mascara and we were off to the race! One would think that we would have learned from our start yesterday. Nope. We once again, ran to the start and ended up starting in the back of our corral. This was bad, very bad. Our first 6 miles were total zig-zagging and well above 9 minute miles, some as slow as 9:30s. After exhausting ourselves, we just decided to stop fighting the crowd and enjoy the ride. It was 29 degrees, but dry today, so it was much better. At mile 6, the roads opened up and we picked up the pace. I finally felt free! I think Elissa did too because we clipped along with some sub-8 minute miles before realizing we needed to pull back some not knowing how we would feel later in the game. We had a couple bathroom stops, but after the slow congested start we totally blew off any idea of finishing in good time so we just stopped without the typical panic rush feeling. The course takes you from Epcot to Magic Kingdom then Animal Kingdom, then MGM Hollywood Studios and ended through Epcot. The parks were such a pick me up. There were always characters, cheering crowds, and music with a Disney feel. The water stations were incredible- every 0.75 mile. They were salting the water stations again due to the cold. There were GUs, bananas, chocolate, etc. Disney is always first class and this race was no exception. We felt so good the whole way. I was hoping that the 50 miler endurance was still lingering in there somewhere and I now can say, without a doubt, the endurance was still there. We were truly in shock of our time of 3:48 after our slow, slow start and bathroom stops.
We finished the race and collected our hardware.....a Mickey Marathon Medal and a Goofy Challenge Medal to accompany our Donald Half Marathon Medal from the half the day before. Izzie calls these "my medals" and is constantly putting them all on.
We really enjoyed these races as well as our Disney vacation surrounding the race. The girls had a blast! I think we may have been more sore from walking the parks than running!
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