I'm officially a half marathoner! I did it! I ran (and walked a little) 13.1 miles and crossed the finish line alive! I'm still a bit amazed at my body's ability to do things.....
So now for the recap:
Friday, November 7
Arrived in Orlando around 3pm. Caught the Mickey's Magical Express bus to the hotel (we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside Resort) and got up to our room.
Took the shuttle to the Health & Fitness Expo to pick up our race packets and do a little browsing/shopping.
Went to Downtown Disney for dinner -- Lava Lounge at Rainforest Cafe. Decent but not impressive.
Putzed around Downtown Disney, then went back to our hotel to sleep.
Saturday, November 8
Woke up at 7am. WAY too early! But it is what it is so we went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
Went to Downtown Disney. I can't even remember why, but it seemed like something fun to do. It was. I was with my girls so it was definitely fun!
I got to eat Earl of Sandwich for lunch. LOVE!
Went back to hotel. Kerry, Terri, and Liz went to the pool while I took a 3(ish) hour nap in the hotel room. Needed to make sure I had enough battery power for the coming run...
Got up around 4pm and we went to the hotel restaurant for a light dinner.
Got ready for the run, then around 7pm, we got on a shuttle that took us to the ESPN World of Sports complex, which was where the start line was. During the shuttle ride, I got a picture-text from Dan:
Yep. I cried.
Runners had to be there at no later than like 8pm for a 10pm start time, so we were super early. But the weather was nice and there were characters for pictures, so we stood in line for pics with Goofy, then Minnie.
By the time we had done a couple of pics, it was time for runners to find their starting corral. We were in Corral L (the last one). And this is the point at which it started raining (it was about 9:45ish).
At 10:00, the first set of fireworks went off and the Elites took off (the people who were set to finish the half marathon in a stupid-fast time). Five minutes later, the second set of fireworks went off (Corral A), then the third (Corral B), etc.... It was still raining.
It was about 10:45 before I actually crossed the start line. And then we were off! It was still raining.
The first several miles were a breeze. I was so full of adrenaline, trail mix, and a 3-hour nap that I figured I could go on like that forever. Despite the fact that it was still raining.
It wasn't too long after the start that Liz & I lost Kerry & Terri (rather, they lost us, haha! They do a quicker pace than we do). But we kept plugging along, slowing down for water when we hit a water station, and waving at the characters along the way. It continued raining.
The first several miles were actually very boring. It was a lot of long, dark roads. I've heard that normally, Disney has a lot more entertainment along this part of the course, but the rain kind of forced them to lighten up on that part. So we just ran. In the dark. In the rain. It just. kept. raining.
We hit Animal Kingdom around Mile 3 or 4 and it was kinda cool running through the park, but it didn't last long. Maybe a quarter of a mile. Then we were back to parking lots and boringness. It was still raining.
Miles 5-9 were boring too. Lots of long dark roads with an occasional character here & there. It continued raining.
Miles 9-13 are what made the whole thing worth it. We hit Hollywood Studios and it was lit up and gorgeous. Granted, part of that run was through the back alleys and around the garbage bins (?!). I hit my wall around Mile 10. I was losing steam and really didn't want to be running anymore. It was still raining.
At some point, Kerry & Terri caught up with us in Hollywood Studios and we ran together through the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Unfortunately, we didn't get there while the lights were dancing. Still, it was gorgeously lit up and spectacular, with Christmas music playing..... made it feel okay to keep running. The rain even took a brief hiatus at this point.
Got out of Hollywood Studios and proceeded toward the Boardwalk. I was exhausted and felt like I was running on fumes at this point. I was also very wet and uncomfortable. This was the point where, if it hadn't been for Liz, I might possibly have requested a ride home. She was an amazing cheerleader! We did run/walk intervals (more running than walking still). It started raining again.
When I hit Epcot at Mile 12, I knew we were in the home stretch, and I even experienced a small burst of adrenaline that allowed me to do more running. I knew I was going to really do this! It was still raining.
At around 1:45am, I crossed the finish line. I threw my hands in the air as Liz yelled "Amy! You ran a half marathon! I'm so proud of you!" It was still raining.
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| This is just the proof, obviously. I absolutely plan to purchase the original. |
When I got to the part where the volunteer hung the medal around my neck, I burst into tears. I had just finished a freakin' half marathon! In the rain!
Liz & I caught up with Kerry & Terri beyond the finish line. Though we all really just wanted to go back to the hotel and get dry & warm, we opted to take advantage of the fact that some Epcot attractions were open to the runners, and we did Soarin'. It was still raining, but it was totally worth it! (Soarin' is an indoor ride anyway)
But after that, we were D-U-N, done! It was around 3:30am, we were cold & wet, and I was actually feeling uncomfortably nauseous. I had no idea what I should eat (or not eat) to make myself not feel like I wanted to get sick.
We made our way to the shuttles and got a ride back to the hotel. It was still raining.
We took turns taking a short, hot shower and got into bed. I drank some chocolate milk, and that seemed to settle my stomach enough that I could go to sleep.
For the record, at around 4:30/5:00am when I finally went to bed, my Fitbit already had over 20,000 steps on it. BOOM! (and it had stopped raining)
Sunday, November 9
I woke up at 8am (yep, only about three hours after going to bed) with an asthma attack. I kept trying to will myself to go back to sleep and deal with it later, but it's pretty difficult to sleep when you're not breathing. Just sayin'... I tried not to wake up the girls, but I was coughing and wheezing as I was reaching for my inhalers. I was fine after I hit the inhalers.
Long as we're up, we may as well start our day. We went to breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We wore our medals.
After that, Liz went back to the room to get some shut-eye while Kerry, Terri and I took the water taxi to Downtown Disney. We wore our medals.
I met my childhood friend Christina and her husband and kids for lunch at Earl of Sandwich (why yes -- yes I did eat Earl two days in a row, haha!), while Kerry & Terri shopped. Then they took some Earl back to the hotel for themselves and Liz while I hung out with Christina. We wore our medals.
I went back to the room around 3:00 -- Kerry & Terri were sleeping, so I met up with Liz at the hotel restaurant, where we just sat there drinking Diet Coke & chatting. It was super nice! We wore our medals.
After Kerry & Terri woke up, we all got ready and went to Downtown Disney for dinner & drinks. We wore our medals (along with many, many other people who were running around rockin' their medals too, because we're all kinda bad-asses).
Monday, November 10
Got up, got dressed, got packed, got breakfast, got on the Magical Express back to the airport. Medals around our necks, of course.
When the pilot came on the intercom and said it was going to be a bumpy flight, I knew right then Kerry might need more Xanax. About 15 minutes into the flight, it was clear that the pilot was right, and so was I.
And by the way, do you know how hard it is to play a touch-screen game on the Kindle during turbulence? Geeze.
The last third of the flight was totally fine and smooth and we got into Detroit on time.
I arrived home around 5:30ish and the boys were outside with Dan. It was BEYOND AWESOME to see them!!! I knew I missed them but I didn't realize exactly how much until I got home.
I came home to a card from Dan & the boys saying how proud they are of me. I promptly burst into tears. Again. And I don't even cry!
This experience has been like no other. I worked so hard for so long, pushing myself and constantly amazing myself with what I'm capable of. I had no idea I could do this! I'll never be an "elite" runner, that's for certain. But on Saturday, I had never done a half marathon, and by Sunday, I had. No one can ever, ever take that way. I'm a half marathoner now.
