The alarm went off at 3:00 am. Joseph and I, with that glorious Fall Back extra hour of sleep, woke up amazingly refreshed and ready to run. The weather was as good as we could have hoped for – temperature in the low 60’s and lower humidity than the day before.
Out the door in record time, we were in line for the bus just after 3:30. Like the previous day, the other runners were quiet in the early morning darkness. I looked at the different race bibs wondering where people were from. The people-watching is prime during these things! I spotted a few other runners who would be with us in corral C. I’d had Ratatouille-themed shirts printed for us to wear during these races and for the half marathon we chose the one that said, “Anyone can cook but I’m here to eat”. We didn’t have long to wait for a bus and soon we were loaded up and on our way again to the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
The excitement in the air was even more than it had been the day before. We made our way to our corral to wait for our turn to go (I swear this part feels like forever and Joseph’s face says it all). The National Anthem was especially good and once it was over, runners began moving up into groups aligned behind the starting line. Ready, set, go!
The best part about this half marathon is the course. We headed towards the first of three parks we’d visit: Animal Kingdom. Just after we passed the sleepy rhinos in their night barn, we found ourselves backstage behind Harambe Market. Joseph was excited to tell me about each building and what he did there during his stint in the Disney College Program last spring. We ran through Africa, Pandora, Asia, and Dinoland USA. When I spotted Kevin from Up! near the Tree of Life, I insisted we stop for a picture. I must say, Kevin was everything I’d hoped she’d be – absolutely adorable. She greeted every runner enthusiastically.
As we exited Animal Kingdom and headed towards Disney’s Hollywood Studios, I started feeling blah. Hoping it was just a blood sugar issue, I opened a pack of Clif Bloks and shared them with Joseph as we continued along. Between miles 8 and 9, I was dragging. We’d turned into the sunrise and it was blinding as the sun sat just above the horizon. Joseph felt sorry enough for me to offer a stop to meet Donald. Well, Donald did the trick! After that, we turned into a delightful breeze and I felt much better. By the time we’d zipped passed the Tower of Terror and headed towards Epcot, I was back to my usual self.
I can’t describe how great it is to run through World Showcase during these events. It’s not the same (or as emotional) as running through Magic Kingdom (hello, Cinderella Castle), but it has its own charm and brings on happy memories while passing each pavilion.
Backstage and out into the Epcot parking lot and we were finished! Raymond found us right away and we took some time to enjoy the post-race festivities – celebrating with our favorite recovery beverage…beer.
I’d skipped the runDisney post-race snack box the day before, but I snagged one after the half marathon. I love LOVE the chips and cheese dip in these boxes and thoughts of that cheese (pasteurized, processed liquid gold!) kept me going when I felt bad. Imagine my (and apparently hundreds, quite possible thousands, of others’) disappointment to find that the cheese had be replaced by some quite unpalatable hummus. This was the only truly disappointing thing about this race. I wanted that cheese, dadgummit! I’m confident runDisney received quite a bit of feedback about this glaring omission and hopefully for our next events this unacceptable situation will be rectified.
So…the Dopey Challenge is just days away. Anyone else going to be there?