The BIG Day! Sunday Jan 12th 2014 Day 4 of Dopey
Well, surprise, surprise! The alarm actually went off today…or should I say all THREE went off at once lol. I guess running and the lack of sleep finally caught up with us!
Check us out on Day 4--
A little different that Day 1 isn’t it?!
(Is it just me...or is that guy in the red checking out my behind??
)
My brother went off to his corral and Mary and me went to ours way in the back
Our plan today was the same as yesterday—2:1 run/walk. Nice and easy. It was supposed to get hotter as the morning wore on….too hot. I was having flashbacks to last year’s hot race and I did not like it.
At 5:30 the first wave was released (the wheelchairs) and we didn’t even move for half an hour. At about 6:15 we finally had our moment. This was it—every weekend we sacrificed for the last 4 months and all the hundreds of miles we put in—it all came down to this one morning at WDW.
At the last minute we decided to jog the first mile to let the crowd thin out before we started the walk/run. The first 6 miles or so are the exact same as the half so it was like de ja vu for us. We felt great! So far there were no ill effects from the previous three days of running.
Mile 5 and 6 were (just by coincidence) dedicated to the two people that I “blame” for getting us hooked on running and WDW. Our nephew Codie, who passed away at age 12 from Leukemia—Mary ran her first half at WDW in 2007 for Team in Training in his honor. And my sister-in-law—she put us up at POR on that trip (she worked for TnT back then) and re-ignited my love of WDW. I even yelled to Mary—this is all their fault!
Into the MK and then out—I swear it never gets old when you come around that corner and there’s the Castle. It’s a great sight. Plus there are people just lining Main St cheering you on!
At mile 8 you go into the WDW Speedway and make a lap around it. They have all these exotic and old cars. We stopped for a few pics—our sons are real car fanatics.
Mile 10---headed toward DAK and the sun starts to come up—still doing good but the heat was just going to get worse. Coming out of DAK I felt a little spacey and just then some young boy held up a bag of pretzels to me and I grabbed them and ate all of them. Wow they were better than a steak from Le Cellier! I felt like a million bucks.
Mile 14. Mile 15...
Mile 15 is out on Osceola Parkway and it’s a bad part of the race—it’s nothing but open highway (no shade) and a sea of racers as far as you can see. This is what broke me last year. I walked this whole mile last year—but not this year! We got to Mile 16 and my sis-in-law texted us our pace 13:37. For some reason Mary didn’t like that and said, “Come on we got to GO!” I said, “but we’re on a walk and it’s time to Gu!!! Where are you going???” She left me…
So I finished my Gu and my walk and started jogging again. Without Mary’s watch to beep at me, I had no idea when to start and stop the jogging… Since I was on a downhill I just jogged the whole thing—probably about 3 mins instead of 2. And there she was walking waiting on me…
I said what the heck are you doing? Are you crazy? Lol Who knows—she just had a moment there. But we were back on track. I told Mary to take her Gu and hush up
Something about mile 15-16 breaks you down I swear!
OK less than 10 to go—single digits, but still a long way…Just before 17 you enter WWoS complex and without a doubt this is the worst part of the race. It’s all sorts of turns and you run around soccer fields and baseballs diamonds and tennis courts and even a track at one point. Its only saving graces are that it’s shaded in parts and the Sponge. Ahh yes The Sponge...
Last year entering the complex, they have small plastic kiddie pools filled with water and long, thin sponges. They were heaven!!!! I kept mine until the end last year and re-wet it at every water stop. So Mary says—hey this is where the sponges are! And we came around and saw the kiddie pools and they were filled with….washcloths!????? What the? It was a real bummer. I said to the volunteer—hey these were sponges last year and his reply was: Well come back last year and get one. Wow!! Now that I look back I can imagine that he heard that complaint 5000 times before I got there and was sick of it.
So, I grabbed my washcloth and cooled off—I was glad to have it.
Mary breaking rules during the race. Silly Mary!
In and out of WWoS and back onto Osceola Parkway at about mile 20.5. As we made the left we saw the dreaded balloon ladies entering the WWoS. For those that don’t know, the balloon ladies are sort of like the Alamo---if you are behind them, you are in danger of getting swept. They are not official by any means, but they sort of set that 16min/mile pace so you know if they are coming up on you---you better get moving. People dread the sight of them but they are actually very nice ladies that run every WDW race. There were a few people behind them and Mary and I knew what that meant…
Then just up a little farther, there was the sweeper bus. Their race was over…
Mile 21 was upon us and I asked who it was dedicated to and Mary said “my Mom” and that was it for Mary—she was overcome with emotion. Between the poor folks getting swept and Mary’s Mom—it was enough. She (we) sucked it up just in time for the last hill of any sort (if you can call it a hill)---the onramp from Osceola to World Dr.
It’s a bear running up it, but you are rewarded with a nice, long downhill and into DHS. As you turn into DHS there is a character stop—this year it was Wreck It Ralph. We don’t stop for many characters, but Mary talked me into this one.
Just inside of DHS you get candy! It’s a nice treat after 22 miles. Last year I got two Hershey minis, but this year we got gummi treats. I grabbed a few bags—they might come in handy around mile 25!
DHS is always a good part of the course. There are TONS of people there cheering you on and you are in a WDW park and…you are so close to the end! As you exit, you leave all those people behind and make the long lonely trek down along the waterway between Epcot and DHS. Spectators are scarce until you get to the Yacht and Beach Club.
Mile 24.
Up onto the boardwalk… It was right around here that we looked at our time and Mary declared that we might still run this in under 6 hrs. I tried to do the math in my head, but that’s hard to do after 24.5 miles! Eventually, I agreed and said—no more walk stops—let’s finish this out!
So off we went. Mary grabbed a pretzel from a spectator at mile 25—she needed salt. We were so close!!
At the bridge to France, we saw a woman who we trained with back home---she didn’t look good, but she was moving along. We encouraged her and kept moving. After the hill by America—we kicked it into high gear. I told Mary to let it all out—don’t save it for tomorrow—there was no tomorrow! It had to be our fastest mile of the race—man, we were rolling. We were passing people like crazy.
Down past SSE—hang a right to the choir. Yes they have a full on choir singing at mile 26—it’s very inspirational.
Mile 26. Point 2 to go!
Once we cleared Epcot, I started to look for NaCler. There he was, cheering us on!! We kept moving—we were still hustling to beat 6 hrs. And there it was—the finish line…
What a sight! I high fived Goofy at the end and Mary stopped her watch: 5:57:41. We did it! Mary CRUSHED her prior time by more than a half hour. Plus we felt great!!! Lots of training and the run-walk paid off.
At the end you get three medals: The Dopey, The Goofy and the one for the Full. It’s a lot of weight but nobody complained. I think I may have even cracked a little tear there (or was it sweat) it was very emotional.
Me and my bling:
Glad to be done!!!!!
We met up with NaCler and my brother’s family. It was time to rest…and drink beer!!!
And there it was…a year in the making. Months and months of training and lost weekends. 48.6 miles was in the books.
Not to sound like a broken record but: Never again!
I will post the rest of trip soon enough, but this is the end of the running portion. We stayed one more night at POR (alone!) and then moved into my brother’s time share at Bonnet Creek.
I keep telling myself I'm investing in their future, and their ability to care for me when I'm senile and (more of) a major pain in the butt.
