A Walk In The Park - Or From Park To Park

When people go to Disney World, they do a lot of walking.  So do I.  It’s just that sometimes I walk from one park to another and back – on purpose.  In other words, I have a love of Disney half-marathons.  Today was one of those days I got to wog 13.1 (or 13.3 as my Garmin recorded today).

I was a bit concerned because I haven’t been training (even though that’s unfortunately an all-too-common trait of mine).  I was a lot concerned because of my recent back complaints, especially the fact that on Tuesday night I could barely even get out of bed.  But I really wanted to do this race, because I needed yet another jump start on my 2013 exercise goal/hope, and I really wanted to wear the cute yellow race shirt that you get for entering.

So, this morning at 4:50, Molly and I headed for the race start (we purposely stay at a resort close enough to walk to the start).  We found our corral (actually climbed over the fence to an earlier starting corral) and waited for the start.

The first corral went off at 5:30 am, and we started about 30 minutes later.  Quite a while later, I managed to make it across the finish line, receive my medal, and earn the right (in my opinion) to wear the race shirt.  Just in case you weren’t a participant in today’s race, I will give you the highlights, or at least what I consider the best parts of today’s race:

The start which includes fireworks.  The first ones are big, and then every corral that starts after that gets its own fireworks.  Pretty cool way to get started, even if it’s at dark-thirty in the morning.

·         

     All the costumes that the runners wear – everything from Mr. Incredible (who really wasn’t so incredible to look at in his red lycra jumpsuit) to Disney princesses to pirates and more.  Me?  I just have on a t-shirt and jogging capris, hoping the person behind me (and there are fewer and fewer as the race progresses) isn’t offended by any possible wedgie.

·    The turn when you enter the Magic Kingdom and catch the first glimpse of the castle – it’s just a cool moment.  Almost as cool as when you enter the castle from the other side, accompanied by the trumpeters heralding you through the castle, and run through to the front.

·        

     The runner I talked to at Mile 8ish, who said she had her gallbladder out seven weeks ago and had survived cancer twice, and was doing the Goofy, which meant she was doing the half-marathon today and the full tomorrow.  Sort of made my Texas-size blister on the bottom of my foot seem like nothing.

·          

     The gospel choir singing just before the 13 mile marker – so inspiring and a joy to hear!

·         

      Every mile marker, because it meant I was a mile closer to the finish.

·     Finishing.  Period.

The weather was great for the race, even though it got a little warm toward the end (at least my end – if you were a normal runner, you probably never experienced the warm part because you were D-O-N-E by the time it got warm).  I didn’t fall down (although I saw a few people who did).  I finished.

And the extra-best part?  After I finished, I showered, had a bit to eat and headed to the cruise port for a 7-night cruise!!

*******************************************************************************

The Good Stuff From Today:  the race and all its components; boarding the ship; boiled shrimp lunch; dinner table mates; rain forest room