Subsonic Radio

OK this is where I will post my TR from the awesome trip to WDW for the Full Marathon with special guest star: NaCler! I am busy fiddling with photobucket (which I have come to despise) and other obstacles (work blocking SSR ugh!!!).
But soon enough, my friends!
Day one will follow.

This trip was hatched after the 2012 Half Marathon that my wife, my sister-in-law and I ran (that is well chronicled on these very boards). We convinced my brother to join us in 2013—all four would run it together! Then with all the hub-bub about the 20th anniversary of the full marathon and the super awesome medal they unveiled, my wife was thinking about signing up for that. I told her, “Good luck with that! I will cheer you on.” I was sending her videos of the medal unveil and I think I pushed her over the edge—she signed up for the full 26.2! This was in April or May—something like that.
The day registration was open, my wife signed up for the full and the other three of us signed up for the half. Then my wife did something ridiculous: she signed up for a half marathon in November. I can’t stand to see her train alone, so we began to train in July. I figured that since I was already training I might as well sign up for the (local) half as well…so I did.
Interesting side note: We visited WDW in August of last year (when we met with NaCler for ‘Beers around the World’) and we were on a strict running plan, so we had to run while at WDW…in August…in the heat…Yikes! You can read all about that in the Marauders Mayhem Part Deux thread.
Anyway…all through the training, my wife was telling me evil things like: You ought to just switch to the full marathon—you are training with me anyway…and…where else would you want to run 26.2 miles, etc…? She was working me over…well, it worked and on 9/7/12 I switched registrations to the Full. It was official!
Somewhere in there NaCler and I agreed to run Friday morning’s 5K together. So that just added to the excitement. It was going to be a busy (but fun!) weekend.
The Plan:
Fly down on Wednesday and stay at POR (my other true love!) until Monday (with free dining). Then switch to my brother’s timeshare somewhere offsite until Wednesday.
Who:
Just my wife and me—no kids!!!! We took them out of school last year for the Half, but decided against it this time. Plus what is more romantic than just us two lovebirds at POR ?
The Catch:
Because it’s so hard to get to the race from offsite, we decided to let my brother and his wife stay in our place Friday night, while we watched his kids and then move back in for Saturday night. It’s just so much easier to walk onto that bus from a resort, then to fight it from outside our comfortable bubble. A slight hassle moving around and such—but it was only fair.
Actual:
Wednesday Jan 9, 2013
We both worked that morning—our flight left at 2-ish, so we worked up until 11 and then headed over. We planned to arrive, check-in and eat. No parks this day. If the mood struck us, we were considering heading to DTD. The flight was uneventful and we were at POR around 5. They put us in the Alligator Bayou section which we had never stayed in—how exciting! After admiring the room and this unexplored section of POR, we decided to eat at DTD---yes you guessed it: The Earl of Sandwich! One of our favorites. We wandered around the stores and I eyed up a few things (including a shirt I almost bought for NaCler ).

An Alligator Bayou refurbed room:


One thing about the next few days---there was this uneasiness about us. We both knew we were about to attempt something that was monumental! It was the proverbial elephant in the room—we both tried to forget about it, but every time we did, we would see a sign or hear a fellow runner and the reality of 26.2 miles would come crashing down. It certainly didn’t ruin the trip, but it was a weird feeling.
Enough of that…
We were back at the room by 7 after a quick drink at Muddy Waters pool bar and you’re going to laugh but it’s true—we were in bed by 8:30. I swear it! Our kids called and woke us up—they laughed at us. If you ever text me after 8, don’t expect an answer until the next day—we are pretty lame.
A view from Muddy Waters:

Thursday Jan 10th, 2013
Today’s plan was to do Epcot hard all AM then head over to WWOS for packet pickup, then go back to Epcot in the afternoon. Two ADRs today: Rose and Crown at 8:00 for Illuminations and The Coral Reef for lunch.
The excitement when you get to you first (and favorite) park:

We got there very early and flew right through the fancy new RFID entry area—it’s pretty nice, but people can’t figure it out and sometimes the line was backed up OR they would have “regular” tickets and cause a full-on panic with the CMs (they had to call over some other person to let them in). Test Track was first up! My review: It’s OK—not bad, but I don’t think it’s any better than version 1.0. It’s not worse, just different.
At the exit (showroom) of TT:

Before this trip, I promised my wife that I would ride RnR with her (I only rode it once and swore: never again!) and I might be talked into M:S. But not before the marathon. I am really scared that thing will mess up my balance and such. So as we walked out of TT, I asked her if she wanted to go on M:S and I would wait—she passed…Whew! I avoided it that time. We did the usual, SSE and Soarin` then we did something she had never done: we walked around the Living Seas aquarium. She enjoyed that and pretty soon we realized it was beer thirty!!
My lovely Bride hanging out with some shady sealife:


We hit Captain EO and moonwalked our way to WS for a cold one. The beer cart in Canada was closed, but the CM was there so we asked her what was up---she was having some problem with the slushie machine that she was trying to resolve—we just wanted beer!!!! So, dejected we headed to Germany—the beer there always seems to be flowing. Jackpot! We plopped down for a cold, delicious Oktoberfest and a pretzel. It was here that we realized we had done so much so soon that we decided to cancel our 1:30 ADR at Coral Reef and just eat in China---roll out and over to WWOS for our packets. It worked out perfectly. We stopped at Norway for a beer and then backed up to China. In and out in 20 mins---good food served promptly—how can you beat it!? We really enjoy eating here.
On the way back we spotted Belle with no one around!


I found a beer at the R&C after all:


We walked out the International Gateway and into the Beach Club to catch the bus to WWOS. I had agreed to pick up my brother and his wife’s packets also which meant I was getting 5, count`em 5, packets. 5 bibs, 5 swag bags and some “I did it” merchandise later, we left and headed for our beloved POR. While in WWOS we jokingly sent my sis-in-law this pic:

She said: “Let’s do it next year!” Hmmmm More on that later…
We got back to the resort and hit the pool, took a nap and got ready for our evening at Epcot. Life at WDW is great isn’t it?
It was a little warm out—that was a running theme of the weekend—but it was beautiful and my bride and I had a great time just roaming around WS. It’s really amazing when people ask why we like Epcot so much and we can’t really explain. It’s just “our place.” We went one year at Christmas and it was jam packed—but it was one of the best times we ever had. Such a magical place.
Several beers later we made our way to the R&C. My wife asked me, “Why do we always eat here?” I just winked at her. After the meal we were escorted to our private viewing area with some other folks and a gentleman at one of the tables there offered my wife his seat. Why thank you! An older lady sat next to her while I stood behind and after a few minutes she turned to my wife and said, “Is this one a good one? “ (pointing at me) My wife replied, “Yes, a very good one.” The lady turned to someone on her other side, who handed her another chair for me to sit next to my wife. How awesome! She was from the NE somewhere (Philly maybe?) and was visiting with some relatives. She was telling us she comes here without her grandkids because they break her bank account when they come here! Lol We had a good time talking with her while waiting for Illuminations.
We got back to the room around 10pm (crazy right?! How did we stay up that long?) and promptly went to bed. We had to get up early tomorrow to run the 5K with NaCler and his crew.

Awesome start with an ominous tone to it also. I'm pretty sure inquiring minds are going to want to know which shirt you were going to get me. Haha... I love that pretty much everything you posted is something I love, have thought about or felt while at EPCOT. Btw, Nine Dragons is quickly becoming my favorite place to eat at EPCOT. It's vacant, fast and good.

Why have I never tried Earl of Sandwich?

Can I get a beer count for days one and two?

NaCler wrote:Awesome start with an ominous tone to it also. I'm pretty sure inquiring minds are going to want to know which shirt you were going to get me. Haha... I love that pretty much everything you posted is something I love, have thought about or felt while at EPCOT. Btw, Nine Dragons is quickly becoming my favorite place to eat at EPCOT. It's vacant, fast and good.

Why have I never tried Earl of Sandwich?

Can I get a beer count for days one and two?

Thanks, Bud
You need to try the Earl! I can't believe you never have. It's good and very reasonable! You can almost split a sandwich if you aren't that hungry. Try it- you'll love it!

Beer count? Wow. We didn't really track it but I would bet it was around 4 at just epcot alone. Plus the others we had at POR and the bud lights we brought. Whew! Don't make me think about it

More soon.

Great start to the trip report H! I had to laugh when you said the beer is always flowing in Germany So true! I can't believe there was no beer count for this trip That marathon really was taking up space in your head wasn't it?!
NaCler ~ you guys have never eaten at Earl of Sandwich?? You really need to go, the sandwices are mighty tasty
Can't wait for the next installment of the report. Loving the pictures so far Mark me down as not a fan of the new photobucket either I don't know why they have to "improve" things that are already working just fine...until they mess them up!

I don't do DTD if I can help it and when we do go, the kids win out so we end up at TREX or Rainforest. I need to ditch the family and take a lunch trip over there. Anyone want to join me?

NaCler wrote:I don't do DTD if I can help it and when we do go, the kids win out so we end up at TREX or Rainforest. I need to ditch the family and take a lunch trip over there. Anyone want to join me?

Earl of Sandwich will take a much smaller bite out of your wallet than TRex or Rainforest! I would love to join you for a sandwich someday...just can't give you a definitive date just yet
On a related note, any suggestions on how to light a fire under family members who are willing to move, but aren't real speedy about going about it? Sadly that also includes me...so much to do and fix and spruce up, so little money, time or energy to do it with

Amy wrote:

NaCler wrote:I don't do DTD if I can help it and when we do go, the kids win out so we end up at TREX or Rainforest. I need to ditch the family and take a lunch trip over there. Anyone want to join me?

Earl of Sandwich will take a much smaller bite out of your wallet than TRex or Rainforest! I would love to join you for a sandwich someday...just can't give you a definitive date just yet
On a related note, any suggestions on how to light a fire under family members who are willing to move, but aren't real speedy about going about it? Sadly that also includes me...so much to do and fix and spruce up, so little money, time or energy to do it with

Could you trade piano lessons with a family whose parent(s) is/are good with tools and can help you out? Especially if they otherwise wouldn't be able to do piano lessons. And even better, if they all could come to your house, you give the lessons while parent(s) do the work. Know what uh mean?

BTW I am really enjoying this T R!!! Impatient for more!!

cy1229 wrote:

Amy wrote:

NaCler wrote:I don't do DTD if I can help it and when we do go, the kids win out so we end up at TREX or Rainforest. I need to ditch the family and take a lunch trip over there. Anyone want to join me?

Earl of Sandwich will take a much smaller bite out of your wallet than TRex or Rainforest! I would love to join you for a sandwich someday...just can't give you a definitive date just yet
On a related note, any suggestions on how to light a fire under family members who are willing to move, but aren't real speedy about going about it? Sadly that also includes me...so much to do and fix and spruce up, so little money, time or energy to do it with

Could you trade piano lessons with a family whose parent(s) is/are good with tools and can help you out? Especially if they otherwise wouldn't be able to do piano lessons. And even better, if they all could come to your house, you give the lessons while parent(s) do the work. Know what uh mean?

Not to hijack poor H's thread, but this is a clever idea cy1229. Doubt it would work though. Most of my families are in professional positions ~ doctors, lawyers and the like. I might end up asking them for good recommendations for handymen though, but most of them are not worrying about price.

Amy wrote: Not to hijack poor H's thread, but this is a clever idea cy1229. Doubt it would work though. Most of my families are in professional positions ~ doctors, lawyers and the like. I might end up asking them for good recommendations for handymen though, but most of them are not worrying about price.

Ok last Hijack (from me): What about your neighbors / fellow church members / friends?

Friday January 11th, 2013
The plan was to meet up with NaCler and run the whole race, err excuse me “Fun Run,” with him. This was just a nice easy warm-up for me to keep my legs moving. The Fun Run started at 6:30 but depending on your corral (we were in the last one-except for strollers) you might not get out for 30 mins. NaCler texted me and said that he was not carrying his phone, but told me what he was wearing and said, “See you there.” My wife and I milled around aimlessly and we took a few pictures. We were in the general vicinity of the impending race just two days away. I can’t speak for her, but I was crazy nervous just thinking about it.
I kissed my wife good bye and went to the corral to look for NaCler---nothing. I looked around, looked around—nothing. No sign of him. Hmmmm. I sat down and though that maybe he wasn’t here yet…? I got up and looked some more---they were asking people to get into their corrals—I was getting nervous! The corral filled up and at one point I was resolved to the fact that I was running alone. Bummer. Then I turned around and there he was in all his glory. I shoved my way back to him and it was on! We were ready to run. After all the other corrals went ahead of us---lol.
Can you spot NaCler?


We lost track of time, but at some point we were finally running…or not. It was so packed at first that you could not run at all—we walked for every bit of ¼ mile. Finally we were running—NaCler was doing great! We jogged around past the old backlot tour cars—decaying in the FL sun. Back behind TT---at one point I saw a pallet—yes, a PALLET, of tequila—Mexico must be nearby!! Then hang a right and into the WS we go. NaCler would stop here and there—but he really did a great job. We jogged left and into Norway when he started begging for a break---nope!!! We saw a character stop just ahead, but we couldn’t make out who it was, but he wanted to stop anyway—he said, “But Henry, it has always been my dream to have my picture taken with…” And finally the character comes into view…”…Norwegian Daisy…?” LOL I laughed at his preposterous request, but I said, “You make it to Germany and we can stop there.” I don’t think we made it that far, but he was doing great anyway. We stopped at the Italian Donkey and I snapped this beauty:


As we came around past England, we saw another character stop and of course NaCler tried to tell me that it had always been his lifelong dream to get his picture taken with ‘Canadian Donald’ LOL—yeah right buddy not buying it! …But more on that later.
All around the WS and back toward SSE—I had NaCler take this one of me:


We got close to the finish and he told me wanted to wait for his wife. Wait for his wife…? I thought she was ahead of us---nope—we had passed her at some point. I told you he was doing great!!! I told him I was going to go on and finish and meet with my wife, while he waited for his. I was very proud of NaCler—he did great! Only a few stops. It’s too bad they don’t actually time you, because I know he would be proud of his first timed 5K.
I got my rubber medal :


The plan was to go back and shower and hit DHS—meeting up with NaCler and his wife and friends, but no definite times or plans after that.
If you recall I promised my wife I would ride RnR with her because it was just us on this trip (I can usually count on one of the kids to go on it with here---she knows I hate it) but for some reason, at the last minute she said I didn’t have to ride it with her if I really didn’t want to. I was OUT! She hopped on single rider line and I went to the gift shop/exit area to wait for her when I got a text, “no single rider—meet me outside.” She grumbled a little and we headed over to Star Tours-The Adventure Continues…
We love the re-do of ST---I think we rode it 3 or 4 times. We went ‘into the movies’ on TGMR and for the first time…wait for it…yes, I actually saw the ‘cowboy’ version. I have been going to WDW since 1985 and first went to MGM in 1989. I have visited that particular park more than 20 times and never have I seen that version. I remember when I first heard about it, I thought the person was mistaken, “What? There’s no cowboy part?” Then last summer my kids rode it and said, “Hey Dad—did you know that there was a cowboy version?” LOL wow! It’s true what they say…you can go there a thousand times and still not see everything!
It was right around now that NaCler texted me that he was in the park and wanted to meet up. We were just about to do the ToT/RnR FP shuffle---grab FPs for one and ride the other—it usually works out pretty good. So I told NaCler about that and he said it sounded like a plan and after a little confusion, we met up at RnR.
Now I was waffling—I really didn’t want to ride this monstrosity, but we were all hanging out and the wait time was low, so we said what the heck and got in line. We talked about the 5K and chit-chatted in general and eventually it was time. I believe we were worried about our FPs for ToT expiring and I kept saying that we should get out of line and go use them. Nobody bit.
Just breathe Henry, keep breathing. Launch!!! Breathing stops----ride over. At least this time I remembered it. So NaCler and his wife can say that I ride RnR with them half of the time. I can check that box for another 5 years (or more hopefully).
Off to the best attraction in all of WDW---ToT!!! We got in line behind some BTGs and there was a significant amount of eye-rolling going on…and not just from me! Nuff said about that whole scene.
ToT was excellent as usual…I think I bent the grab-rail…LOL. That’s what makes that attraction so great—I hate it, but I love it and go on it every time. It’s not too much terror, just enough---if that makes sense…
From here we meandered over to MuppetVision, I believe, Right NaCler? I think we (and by “We” I mean “I”) decided to do something tamer---the Muppets fit the bill. It was getting closer to our ADR of 1:50, so we settled on Muppets and then go our separate ways. We had to eat then go over and swap rooms with my brother before too long.
We waved good bye to Mr. and Mrs. NaCler---it was great to spend time with Mrs. NaCler---she is just as good as he is---great folks and I look forward to many more trips to WDW with them…and possibly some races.
We had a quick meal at Mama Melrose’s—we ordered our meals and drinks at the same time to get out quicker. I don’t recall why we were in a hurry, but we sure got out of there quickly!
Took this one when she wasn’t looking. Shhh don’t tell her:


We had a nice relaxing drink (or two) at the pool bar and we decided on a swim at the quiet (and apparently unheated!) pool. Wow was that cold! You know that it’s cold when the kids from England are swimming around and laughing and playing, but nobody else will even dip a toe in it.
After skimming the ice off the pool and figuring out that it was too cold, we headed to the room to get ready for the marathon swap. Tonight was the night that my bro and his wife were going to stay there while we watched their kids. They were running the half in the morning—it was my brother’s first long race ever---I was excited for him.
My nephews are 5 and 2 and they are spitfires! I guess I am just getting old is all…we relaxed with them all evening and we were in bed by 8:30 again. I think my wife stayed up to watch some House Hunters or whatever and fell asleep with the TV on.
Another great day at the World with great friends!

Love seeing my brothers in pictures I would have freaked out a bit trying to find someone in that crowd of runners Nice of NaCler to wear a shirt that was nice and colorful so you could find him easily
I could probably handle a 5k if a lot of the first part was walking. I guess you are the perfect running partner to have along for motivation H...poor NaCler not getting his character photos though
The picture you took of Mary when she wasn't looking is really beautiful ~ I think she would be ok with it Whenever we have the opportunity to be at the parks at the same time, I will ride with whoever wants to go on whatever attraction ~ I love them all!
That was nice of you to watch your nephews so your brother and his wife could get a good sleep before their race. Isn't it funny how someone always will be in the pool no matter the weather?!

(cy1229, neighbors are both widows, kind of in the same boat as us although they have far more money to work with as their husbands have just recently passed away while my Dad has been gone 24 years now. Mom has a big heart and has never had much luck with workers...picking people who she thinks really need the work and trusting they are doing the job well, instead of people that will get the job done correctly. I'm definitely checking people out with the better business bureau before anything gets done this summer. And making sure they have insurance!)

Saturday January 12th, 2013—Half Marathon Day
My bro and sis-in-law told us not to bring the kids over to watch them because it would require waking them up too early and apparently they did not wish to deal with demon-children all day. So we slept in and when my nephews finally woke up they asked if they could climb into bed with us. It was cute—it was like when my boys were that little.
My text machine started going off earlier that morning with race updates. My brother was shooting for a 2:00 half (in his first half—makes ya sick doesn’t it?) and he was right on pace for that.
Let me tell you—it was hot that weekend. There were all sorts of warning about the impending race heat. One sign said something like, “This might not be the best weekend to go for a personal record!” It had us a little worried. There was no way to train for heat like this in November and December, so it was an X Factor. I decided that this was going to be my first and only full marathon so I needed to just dial back any thought I had about a finish time and just simply finish.
The heat was apparently not bothering my brother…yet. The good thing about running so fast is that you are done when it’s still cool. He said he was fine until the last mile when it hit him. The sun came up and training can only carry you so far.. He finished in 2:00:21—wow! Technically he did it, but he is bummed that the first digit is not a 1—he’s nuts I say!! Sis-in-law is a seasoned runner and she finished at her normal pace. No worries with her—this was her 10th half or some such. Good for them!!
They came back to the room all smelly but proud with their Donald medals. I started to get antsy to go, but I had to wait on them---and even if I left, we had all day to kill. My job that day was to relax and hydrate!!!! So what did they decide to do? Go to the pool—UGH! Just what I wanted to do—sit in the sun. So I found some shade and acted bored so they would take me back to POR, but no luck—my sis-in-law bought me a beer and we chilled out until lunchtime. My nerves were shot. It was all I could do to distract myself from the 26.2 miles staring at me. We trained for almost 6 months and it came down to less than 24hrs…and this heat was really scaring me…
We ate lunch at his timeshare and headed over to POR. We had a drink at the pool bar and then took a nap.


We woke up and went over to the food court to eat—I honestly have no idea what we ate. We ate in silence as we watched all the Donald medals go by. It was going to be an early morning (we had the alarms set for 2:45) so we decided to just chill out and watch some football while we prepped our stuff for the morning. I think I drank about 5 bottles of water! This was it—everything was ready. 6 months of training…all we had to do was go out and execute.
We saw the end of the first football game and it was lights out…

No parks at all on this day?! I think that would be the thing that would bug me the most about running any of the races at Disney ~ it would cut into park time! That and the heat and humidity. It really was unseasonably warm while you were there wasn't it? Did the drinks not bother you before the race? I would think the alcohol might not sit well before running a lot. And you didn't eat a big carbohydrate loaded meal for dinner? I always hear about people carbo-loading before races.
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