Sunday, Minnie 15k

This Minnie, oddly enough, is not on the race course, but it is one of my favorite sights from the Flower and Garden Festival.

Now, on to the race:

I was insanely tired Saturday night, but what's new at Disney? Becky and I made plans to have me pick her up at her hotel at 4:30 a.m. Her hotel was maybe 10 minutes away and it would probably take close to 10 minutes to get from my room to my car. So I decided to get up at 4:00 a.m. Yeah, that was kind of cutting it close.

I jumped out of bed, turned off the cell alarm that I didn't need, and did the whole shower routine. This time since I decided to get up as late as possible, I ate my bagel in the shower. Oh yeah, that's a time saver! I managed to get dressed and out the door.

I scurried down to the car, didn't glare at the insanely chipper woman in the lobby with a race bib, and went to pick up Becky. Of course my contact started doing weird things to my eye when I reached the car. It was now about 4:25 a.m. and I was a little worried that my organized friend would be tapping her shoes waiting for me. But no! She must have been tired from the day before too- she called me saying she was running late. Whew! Oh, and I saw the mile markers along the road on the way to pick her up- yep, they were in the middle of nowhere. Now I was officially thinking this might have been too ambitious, but so was the Goofy, and I survived that. My power of positive thinking was being tested.

I found Becky easily and we made it to Epcot. We parked the car and hopped on a bus where we found more WISHers. We were at the Animal Kingdom in no time. A big group of WISHers had assembled. We chatted some and sat around- I was having a second breakfast of Goldfish and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Oddly enough, no one else wanted any Goldfish! It seemed like a good salt replacement strategy to me.

We got up and spent some time wandering around looking for some Bio-Freeze for Becky's knee. We decided they didn't think anyone would hurt at the start, so no Bio-Freeze! Generally speaking, it's not a good thing to start a race hurt. Hmmm...

Finally, we got in a porta-potty line. You have to time it just right: too early and you'll start to panic thinking you have to go again; too late and you're worried about the race start. I've now officially experienced the too late thing! I think we made it out of the line maybe 2 minutes before the start. We took off across the parking lot grumbling about how the race hadn't started and we were already running. There was no way to make it into the proper corral to start, so we just headed for the very back as the fireworks started.


The view from the very back.

We spent the first couple of miles weaving around walkers. Things were pretty congested. I vaguely remember miles 3, 4, and 5. They were a horrible flashback to the full. People say they like to run the Minnie to see what the last bit of the full was like because they were so out of it. Well, trust me, it comes back to you. Asphalt, asphalt, asphalt, overpass, repeat. Poor Becky was still looking for a medical tent, and I was fussing about how they only had 5 water stops for 9 miles (I had my own water bottle, but still...) There's a turn around along the way. As much as it sucks to know you have to go back on that same road, it is fun to wave to people as you go (although more fun to wave to those behind you than in front!)

It felt like a fast pace to me, but we were usually somewhere in the 11-12 minute range. I guess that's what adding 10+ pounds and a stowaway can do to you! It's a good thing I had Becky to kind of pull me along! I was surprised to find it so much of an effort. True, my training had been somewhat shaky, but I was hoping the Goofy would carry me through.

Somewhere around mile 5 we found the medical tent and Becky got her Bio-Freeze. It didn't help right away, but she'd been on a mission for it, so that was good. Bio-Freeze basically numbs the area where you apply it. Unfortunately, the "applied area" during a race is your hand, a trickle in the right spot, and your shoes/socks. Becky was laughing about her cold hand.

Finally, finally, we hit the backside of Hollywood Studios. We both laughed about wanting the candy bar table they had from the full! We ran through the really dark tunnel and I managed to take a picture of the costumes from High School Musical 2 for Emma- I was proud I remembered!

Another runner yelled "it's just another 5k, ladies!" which I know she meant as encouragement, but wasn't so helpful.



Then we hit the Hat and found a few characters- of course, we took pictures. Pictures are fun to have and they require stopping!



After the hat, we focused on attempting to look reasonably cute for the official photographers. "Keep smiling, keep smiling!"


We left Hollywood Studios, and ran to the Boardwalk. Stupid death march strikes again!



I'm always surprised that the little hill by the Swan/Dolphin is more daunting that you expect. We ran past the Beach Club. Becky took a phone call from her husband without stopping! I'm telling you, the girl was on a mission! She had looked for her family to be on the balcony when we ran by her hotel, but they weren't there. We'd joked that we were too fast for them- turns out we were right!

We hit the countries and met up with Tricia from WISH- hey girl! We ran together for awhile but again, Becky was on a mission, so we drifted apart. Last year I walked the countries and took pictures of almost every one because of the Flower and Garden Festival. This time I barely even looked up (mostly because when I did look up I'd think "are you kidding me? we're just by Japan- will this never end!?") I love the countries at Epcot, and it feels sacrilegious to say it, but I'm getting a little tired of that route...

The last Epcot stretch-- Woo hoo- Spaceship Earth, parking lot, sad to see no choir... WISHers cheering. Can't slow down when WISHers are cheering! And we blazed through the finish somewhere around 1:48, which was considerably faster than last year. We took pictures, joined WISHers for cheering, and generally just enjoyed not running. Becky laughed at me because I freaked out over having fine grit all over my body. It was salt! In all my running, I've never experienced that one. I didn't take any gels or anything with me. I drank a little bit of PowerAde at the water stops, but it was nothing like the PowerAde I drank at every stop for the half. Maybe that made the difference?

I have never been able to stick around for the end of the race. I loved seeing the last finishers. Sure, the runners at the front of the pack are impressive, but the last people- now that's some true determination and courage! It was really getting hot so they had to be suffering.

Final thoughts: it was a great race. Having Becky with me helped tremendously. She was going fast, but it wasn't a bad pace. I told my doctor I'd make sure I could still talk while running, and we did chat during the race. Her knee bothered her throughout the race- she was pretty tough! I enjoyed teasing her about the pace, but I know she would have slowed down the second I asked. It was really crazy fun!

I hate that they are getting rid of the Minnie- it's such a great distance. I've already signed up for the half in January, and I don't know if I'll be able to convince my family to head back in March for the new half. And, if I'm reading the information correctly, the course looks too similar to the Minnie. If you're going to do a half, you need to go through Magic Kingdom!

Very tricky, Disney... Minnie had left before we finished the race and never came back. Princesses, on the other hand, were everywhere.



Every time I finish a race, I always get hit with that "why do we do this to ourselves voluntarily?" feeling, but I get over it pretty quickly. I am going to probably focus on trying to increase my walking speed (I am the slowest walker ever) until this baby is born. I really wanted to kind of slow down on my own terms, and I think having a Minnie medal is a great way to do it!

So that pretty much wraps it up. I dropped Becky off, went back to the hotel, showered, packed, etc. And, in memory of last year's cinammon roll after the Minnie, I split a waffle with Harry, who insisted on wearing my medal.