Saturday, Minnie Marathon Weekend

The Go Red for Women 5k

Disney has this early morning thing going on with races. This race started at 7 a.m. from the parking lot in Epcot, which meant in theory you should be there no later than 6 a.m. You could say it's because of the heat; or you could say it's because the last 5k racer should be finishing before Epcot opens. Whatever. Either way, with the exception of horrible flights and the SATs, I've never had to get moving so early as I do at Disney (and this was actually a late starting race in Disney terms!)

But, on the bright side, I can never sleep before a big race anyway. As usual, I stared at the ceiling for probably two hours before finally giving up and getting in the shower at 5 a.m. I got dressed and woke up a fairly perky Emma. I realized this was going to be a very slow race when she made me pull her shirt over her head carefully so her pre-pinned bib wouldn't get wrinkled.

We drove over to Epcot with no problems. We wandered over to a bright group of WISHers. Everyone was totally cool and chatted with Emma who I think felt pretty important. We lined up with Becky (Lexxiefern) in the 13-15 minute category. Emma stole my favorite hat because her Minnie headband was too tight. I don't think she has any clue how nice that was of me. That's my marathon hat, girl!



The race started, and we were off through the parking lot of Epcot. I'm not sure Disney races should start in parking lots-- woo hoo, nothing but asphalt! Not all that inspiring. Regardless, Becky took off running, and Emma and I set off at what I called a "walking" pace and she called "sprinting." Ahem. I was a little nervous about her attitude, and rather pleased that Becky left us- I didn't want any witnesses to potential meltdowns.

Did you know the extra booths for the Food and Wine Festival are stored out in the open on the edge of the parking lot? Somehow the little thatched cottage for Ireland isn't as cute crammed off to the side. I tried to point the booths out to Emma, but she wasn't that interested. Here's a picture anyway.



We could finally see Epcot (Test Track) off in the distance. Emma's mood improved dramatically. At this point, I decided to go with the flow. There was no way we could maintain a "beat the sweepers" pace. They were allegedly going to enforce a 15 minute/mile pace. I had visions of having to toss Emma to the nearest WISHer while throwing my body in front of a sweeper bus... with this big belly, I'd be pretty good at passive resistance. Then I started to worry that I'd be officially banned from the races... yes, I really thought all of that through. There were tons of people ahead of us, but a not insubstantial group following. I kept my eye on the people behind us the rest of the way, just in case I saw them suddenly escorted to a golf cart or some other sneaky sweeper transportation.

The mile 1 marker was right outside Epcot. Then there was a water stop, and we were able to check out the backside of Test Track and some other rides. I finally threw away our water bottles that I'd been lugging around. Here's a sign of how fuzzy my brain is on Disney morning time- it never crossed my mind to pour out the water in our bottles when their weight was driving me crazy. (It's hard to carry two water bottles in one hand while holding an 8 year old's hand with the other- especially when "holding" is more like "dragging.")



We entered from sort of behind Spaceship Earth and then headed towards the long bridge to the countries. You'd think after this many visits I'd know it's name- International Gateway perhaps?





We saw some really fast people headed back the other way who'd already circled the countries. I'm proud to report there were WISHers in there! Emma usually spotted them before I did (remember I kept turning around to look for sweepers vehicles!) She'd scream "GO WISH!" like a wild banshee. Now that was some funny stuff!

Once we were in the countries in Epcot, life was better. There was music blaring and Minnie would shout out encouragement over the loud speakers- that was a nice touch. Living on the sweeper edge, I took a picture of Emma in each country. I'm pretty sure that was her favorite part- my girl loves to pose! Here's a sampling of the country pics:




Check out the two women who passed us at mile 2- one of them has a friggin' boot on! More power to her, but does that give you any indication of our pace?!



Here's the best part about races at Disney- no crowds in the parks!





Finally we were headed on back down that Gateway thingy. We left Epcot through the same spot where the choir was at the marathon. We stopped for yet another picture at the mile 3 marker. The volunteer there had a technical difficulty (stopwatch not working? I can't remember specifics) so she appointed herself photographer. At that point, I was much happier to find a photographer than to know our time!



We crossed the finish line and got our medals.





Feel free to mock our PowerAdes. I would.

Oh, and how could I forget?! The WISHers cheering were wonderful!



We stuck around for awhile, but Emma wanted to hit the Magic Kingdom early, so we headed back to the AKL. We changed clothes and were on a bus for MK by 8:45- not bad! The fact that we strolled through the race helped tremendously. I didn't even have to take a shower! Emma was acting like the race was no big deal, but she wore her medal all day.

So, off to Magic Kingdom. Harry was a little befuddled in the beginning.



We headed straight to Splash Mountain, Pirates, etc.



Alas, the crowds were building. Emma was obsessed with riding the RockNRoller Coaster at MGM, so we headed over by way of ferry/bus. Harry loved the ferry and bus!



Unfortunately, the ride had an 80 minute wait, so Ted and Emma went on Tower of Terror first. I wanted to take Harry to see some little kid stuff, but he passed out. I ended up buying some water and sitting in the hottest sun imaginable for about an hour waiting for them. I pretended sitting on a curb in blazing heat was good for me because it was sort of providing rest for the Minnie. Which was strange, since I didn't feel any more rested hopping off that curb. D'Oh!

We hightailed it out of MGM (or Hollywood Studios now), and headed to Epcot. I was weary, and the death march from MGM to Epcot made me nervous for the next day. It's ironic that I've always called that stretch of sidewalk from MGM to Epcot the "death march." My title was more appropriate than I realized- that's the last couple of miles of the Minnie 15k and the full. It makes me twitch.

We entered by the backside of England. As we were walking up the ramp, Chip (or perhaps Dale) spent some quality time admiring Emma's medal. That made me happy. No one else commented on it all day. I think the problem is that no one realizes a race took place, and lots of kids are wearing lanyards for pin trading that look a lot like the medals.



That's about as close as Harry will get to a character. Chip got down lower to chat and Harry wigged out. Maybe next year.

We ate a bunch of junk. See?



We wandered the countries... again and again. Emma and I'd just done the same route at 7:30 that morning. And I was going to have to face them after 8 miles at about the same time of day the next morning. Ouch. We ate more food, walked more, shopped some, got rained on- typical day at Epcot. I was getting crazy tired, and Ted kept asking if I'd "be okay to do the race." It sounded like a trick question- yes, if we could get out of Epcot, I'd be fine for the race. But, if I said I was so tired we had to leave, that might imply I was not okay for the race... So I just dragged along, because really who wants to ever leave the parks early anyway?

Here's my last shot of Epcot. That's not an illusion that it's getting dark- that's how long we stayed.



We went back to our hotel. So, it's about 8 p.m. I have to get up in roughly eight hours; I've been on my feet since 5 a.m.; we've been to 3 parks after walking a 5k; I'm bound to be dehydrated; my race stuff isn't ready; and I'm 20 weeks pregnant. Good thing I like a challenge.