THE EXPO
Time for an adventure!
After staying in Charleston for a few days, it was time to head down to
Florida. We sprinted down, it felt like,
wanting to make it down to the expo in time for the seminar that covered Dopey
Challenge Tips. We had a little bit of
time to spare, so we stopped at Total Wine to get some local beers for the
week. I had stopped here last year, on
the way out of Florida, and wanted to make sure that we hit it again.
At the expo, since it was our second time there, we felt
like we knew the drill. Last year, I had
some trouble navigating the different buildings to complete different steps in
the packet pickup process. I had shared
that feedback in the post-race survey.
This year, it may just be confirmation bias, but I felt like there were
more cast members directing traffic and pointing out the way to go, so good
job, Disney.
We started at the Dopey Seminar, since we wanted to make
sure that we didn't miss it. On the
panel, they had the RunDisney race director, plus a Perfectly Dopey Runners
World Ambassador, plus Dave McGilvary (the RD for Boston), and two health
experts.
My take-home tips:
- Run the same pace on all the races, as you plan to run for the marathon, to avoid overdoing it. I had considered racing the 5K just to be able to race at least one of the Disney races, but this had me sold. Plus, I found out that the 5K was untimed with no awards, so a PR wouldn't have even meant anything officially.
- Don't go to the parks: Save your legs
- Put your feet up after the races, to help with recovery
- During tough times during the race, think "I'm fortunate just to be here"
- Lay out gear the night before, since you're going to be tired the morning of, and you don't want to forget anything
The following seminar was about special moments in
Marathoning, led by Dave McGilvary, and I kind of wished that I could stay, but
I didn't want my parents to have to wait for a long time, so we moved on o the
rest of the expo. I got my bib, took my
proof-of-being-the-same-person-in-each-race picture, and got a big back of race
shirts - 5K, 10K, HM, M, Goofy, and Dopey... 6 nice shirts! Mine actually had an extra, somehow. Birthday surprise. After the expo, we went out to Golden Corral
for dinner. I had a meat-heavy
meal. Since I wasn't going for speed
during this race series, I didn't feel the need to carbo-load or do anything
special. Just go with what my body
wanted. I love BBQ and pot roast and
vegetables.
We checked in at a 3-BR condo. Nice and comfortable!
PLUTO 5K
I woke at 3:30am, to get ready for the 6am race. I decided to start a tradition of taking a
pre-race picture in the same spot in the condo each morning, with my race shirt
and costume. For the 5K, I was Mickey,
which is what I was for both the Half and the Full last year.
The drive from wherever I'm staying to the Epcot parking lot
was confusing again, during our first ride there, just like last year. I don't know why it ends up being so
confusing. Maybe all of the temporary
lit-up signs trying to help, but really just adding to my confusion. That's why it's good to get there early,
though. They had bag searching security
in the race area, again. I dropped off a
gear bag, to hold my clothes and have a place to stash post-race food. The temps were comfortable enough in a sports
bra.
I was placed in corral A.
This year, they decided to break up the corrals into mini-waves, to
alleviate congestion. I suppose they
didn't just create a bunch of additional corrals, since it would be fireworks
overkill, and each corral needs its own barricades, balloons, and staff members
to maintain, so it makes sense. I ended
up being in the first mini-wave of corral A, based on where I was in the line.
The fireworks went off, and we were off. The street was dark. I ran with a very controlled pace, yet ther
was still race-day excitement in the air.
It was an odd feeling, to not be pushing the pace and not even worry
about going fast at all. It was my first
"fun run" race. The mood
therefore felt different. I didn't care
about tangents or about having to wave around people. It didn't matter whether I stopped for
pictures with characters, or stopped to take pictures of the course, or if I
stopped to make phone calls to let my parents knew how far along I was.
The course went through parking lots and roads for the first
half, then went into Epcot for the second half.
There were photographers everywhere in Epcot, it seemed, on both
sides. I probably should've switched
sides periodically (between the World Showcase lake-side and the building
side), to get both kinds of backgrounds in my pictures. At first, I would put my phone in my pouch
during the run, and then I'd take it out for character stops, but I should've
just left it in my hand, to not have to deal with fumbling around with zippers
and potentially dropping the phone. It's
not hard to hold the phone for 3 miles, anyways. Last year, I held my GoPro in my hand for
26.2 miles.
I ended up being in lines for pictures for as much time as I
spent running. The lines were longer as
the course went on, probably because I had started in the first wave, and other
waves caught up to me as I stopped for more and more pictures. There was a good number of characters on
course, and I may have only skipped one stop.
Since this was going to be an untimed fun run, I might as well take full
advantage of the opportunity.
I finished, and after the race, I got my water, my banana,
and my food box. I like the snacks in
there well enough. Not
"healthy", but not bad, either... oreos, tortilla chips and cheese
dip, dried fruit mix, mini Clif Builder's Bar, apple sauce. This year was the first year they had metal
medals. In the past, they were
rubber. Good choice! It would've kind of ruined the Dopey
collection to have a random rubber medal.
Plus, for the money people pay for this 5K, they'd better not skimp on
the medal.
After the race, the lines for pictures with characters like
Dopey were super long, so I skipped it.
I'd save it for after the Marathon, when I had completed my Dopey and had
all of the bling to do the picture with.
After the race, we went to Walmart for supplies. For a post-race meal, I wanted salt, so I had
tortilla chips and cheese dip, a hummus sandwich, and pita chips.
MINNIE 10K
The next morning, a hot shower helped to restore my tired
ankles. The 5K had made my legs
surprisingly tired, between the slow running and standing. Waking up at 3am wasn't that bad. I had probably gotten 7 hours of sleep. I ate an orange and a carrot for
breakfast. Not a typical pre-race
breakfast, but it was another run for fun, so it didn't matter. I had bought some glowsticks to race the Half
with, for my sister, her boyfriend, and my parents. I wasn't sure if freezing temps in the car
previously back at home, or transit had pre-activated them already, so I tested
one out during the 10K. I convinced my
mom to stay home and sleep, since she was tired and was still getting over
jetlag from a trip to Asia. My dad came,
though. I did my pre-race pics. For this race, I would be a Jedi. It would be neat to do a Star Wars-themed
Disney Race, since Star Wars fans really get into it with the costuming. People don't do much Star Wars during the
other races, but I wanted to run with a lightsaber while I had a chance.
Going back to the race start, it was good to know the lay of
the land. I was in the first corral, but
in the second mini-wave this time. The
race started with 3 miles of road.
Having done lots of characters the day before, I skipped a couple of
characters this time, that were either ones that I didn't care as much about,
with long lines, or repeats like the Incredibles, which I had gotten last
year. It wasn't hard to run with the
light-saber. During the race, a couple
of people had lights on their shoes, which looks cool, makes the race more fun,
and is also nice from a safety perspective, in the early morning darkness. My lightsaber would've been much cooler if it
lit up.
I felt better running today, and did inject a couple of
bursts of speed, because I could. I
enjoyed the course a bit more today, since I knew more what to expect with the
positioning of the photographers, and I already had pictures under my belt and
therefore didn't worry as much about hunting for more photo ops. Everything felt comfortable and familiar. It was fun to hear cheers for the jedi, along the course.
Expo Round 2 & Night Before the Half
After the 10K race, I didn't crave salt as much as I had the
previous day. It was the day before the
Half Marathon, so we picked up my sister and her boyfriend from the airport,
then went to the expo. We hit up some of
the vendors' booths again. Expos are
always a fun time. There's excitement in
the air, and it's a pump-up celebration.
That night, we played Sushi Go, for a low-key night before
the race. Some time during the game, I
was scrolling on facebook, and saw that the Half Marathon was cancelled. It was crazy and seemed out of nowhere. The forecasts had a chance of lightning, but
nobody had really raised concerns about potentially impacting the race with a
delay, let alone cancelling it altogether, the night before. Facebook lit up with shock, anger, etc. This was perhaps at around 6 or 7pm, and they
indicated that more info would come at around 10pm, to give more details about
reimbursements. It was crazy. Some people had spent a lot of money on
travelling to Florida (like lots of Brazilians), or on training for this one
race.
It's a tough call.
Reasons for cancelling were that on the race course, there wouldn't be a
place to pause the race and shelter everyone, if the need arose. Volunteers would also be out there, even in
the early morning hours. It was for
everyone's safety. I would've thought
that they'd wait until closer to the race time, to make the call, in case
things improved, rather than jumping the gun.
But I guess it would've been messier to have to cancel the morning of,
and have to deal with hoards of angry runners who have little warning. I guess people could at least get the news
the day before and have time to plan, before they went to bed only to wake up
early the next morning to a big surprise like this. The setup crews would've had to take action
through the night, too, if the race were to go on.
We were kind of in disbelief. Since the race was cancelled, we might as
well stay up and play games. We played
Cards Against Humanity, and I had a beer.
Interesting game to play with your parents.
During the game, I continued watching all of
the Facebook posts. One person created a
meme re-naming the Dopey Challenge as the Grumpy Challenge, and that won the
internet. Some people, particularly
those staying at Disney resorts, made their own plans to meet up and have
informal runs on their own, to fulfill either their Half Marathon, Goofy, or
Dopey Challenge. Runners are determined
people.
For re-imbursements, they gave Halfers four options to
choose from: 1) Choose a different Half to register for within the next two
years, 2) Money back in the form of a Disney Gift Card (which wouldn't work for
races, since those are paid directly to Active.com), 3) 2 one-day park hopper
tickets, 4) limited spots available in Sunday's full marathon. Dopey Challengers only had option 2. If I were a Halfer, I would've been
interested in option 4. Some people
applauded Disney for at least providing these options, since they weren't
legally bound to give any reimbursements, but if they hadn't, there would have
been outrage at a cancellation with no reimbursement or partial
reimbursement. The race is like $185 or
something. I was pretty determined to
run on my own the next day, at some point.
It wouldn't be Dopey without it.
The Inaugural Grumpy Run:
The next morning, we debated what we would do. At first, we considered having my sister and
her boyfriend go to Universal. I thought
about going, but I rather get in my run, since that was my main goal. The tickets weren't cheap, though, so we
decided that we'd all go to the expo for its 11am opening, pick up the park
hopper tickets, and make the most of the rest of the day in the Disney
parks. We went early, partially to get a
good spot in line and maximize the rest of the day, but also, I wanted to get
in a run at ESPN. I hoped that those
grounds would give me a reasonably large space to run in, while still having
the feel of some place more interesting than the condos where we were
staying.
While the family waited in line at the gates (it kind of
felt like there could be a riot of angry people at the gates of ESPN), I went
off on my run. While doing my initial
loop around the parking lot, I ran into a couple of people from Brazil who were
also getting in their Grumpy run. They
asked for a picture with me, because I was wearing my 7 Dwarves gear. I had seen a couple of other groups running
on our way to ESPN, and we can't say for sure whether they were fellow Grumpy
runners, but it was nice to think that they were. We felt a sense of camaraderie, of those who
were trying to make the most of the situation.
I made my way all over ESPN.
There were some places that made for nice cross-country trails, but who
knows if those are its real purpose.
There was also a section of road behind it that had one of the main
signage places for Disney, so it was cool to get a picture there, during my
run. I made it only 12 miles before
realizing that my family had been going crazy trying to call and message me,
but I hadn't felt my phone buzzing. They
had their tickets and were eager to get the parks.
I changed clothes on our way to Epcot, where we started our
day. I was a sweaty Dopey, but it didn't
matter. I crammed food into myself, and crammed
food into my bag for the day. We hit our
favorite rides in Epcot (tried Frozen for the first time, did Soarin, Mission
Space, Test Track). Next, we went to
Hollywood Studios for Star Tours, Tower of Terror, and Rockin' Roller Coaster
(first time on that), followed by the Fantasmic night show. We finished at Magic Kingdom, where my dad
and I did Buzz Lightyear while the others ate a real meal at Pinnochio Haus,
and we did Pirates of the Caribbean. We ended up walking 8 miles in the parks. So, I didn't run 13.1 miles, but I consider
the long 8 miles on my feet all day as a "magic mile" that more than
compensated for the missing 1.1 miles of my run. I had no idea how I'd finish the marathon the
next day.
Disney World Marathon:
The next morning, I dressed up as Dopey. We'd see how my legs would hold up. I had originally planned on wearing my
backpack during the whole race, to be able to carry bananas and clothing. However, I decided to go light, and just wore
a Cigna waist pack that they had given out at the expo. I'd need to make this race as easy on my feet
as possible, so the less weight and more range of motion, the better. I was going to go in my new green-colored Run
Disney Tee, which was a good color for a Dopey.
It was too chilly for just a sports bra.
It was actually too chilly for just a tech tee, too, and that's coming
from someone who would wear a sports bra even when there's snow on the
ground. It was really windy that day, so
what would've normally been tolerable cool temps was bitingly cold. In the corral (corral C), people were tossing
away clothes, and since I was so cold, I grabbed someone's throwaways. It was an Under Armor sweatshirt, and I ended
up running with it during the whole race.
There were times when it was too warm, but there were also times when
the
wind and cold temps would pick back up, and I was glad that I still had the
jacket with me.
I went along, stopping for pics with characters, and sending
"I'm still alive and kickin'" pictures to my family once every 5 or
so miles. My mom and sister had stayed home, but despite my attempts to get my dad to stay home to avoid the cold temps, he came, so I wanted to keep him up to date on my location. I went steadily, not sure how
long my legs would hold up, but they held.
The course was similar to what it was the year before. I saw my dad at Magic Kingdom. I took in the experience, took pictures,
trucked along. One fun thing was finding
Nemo. There were two Japanese girls
dressed as Nemo and Dory, which was awesome.
I felt reasonably strong the whole way through. The toughest part was staying in phone
communication with my dad as I approached the finish, since it was hard for him
to hear anything among the crowds at the finish line.
I finished and got the remainder of my medals. 6 is crazy.
5K, 10K, Half, Full, Goofy, Dopey.
The line for Dopey pics wasn't that long. It was great to be able to take a picture
with him with all the medals, finally.
We looked like twins!
After the marathon and dropping off my sister's boyfriend at
the airport, we headed out to Disney Springs.
I got my vegan cupcakes and cookies at Baby Cakes NYC, just like last
year, to celebrate my close-to-birthday, and we hit shops that we enjoy, like
Star Wars and the Boathouse. Fun times.
Long post.. probably the longest I've ever done, but it was a marathon of a race series, too!
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