Double Double

Today's race was a walk from Epcot to The Magic Kingdom and back.  Did you know that it's 13.1 miles from Epcot to the MK and back?  And did you know that 13.1 miles is the same distance as a half-marathon?  Well, it all became pretty convenient, since today was the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. 

Because of the recent security concerns over sporting events, we are no longer able to walk from Old Key West to the start (which saved us valuable hours of sleep time).  Instead, this morning we had to get up around 3am to board the race bus by 4am to get to our corral for a 5:30am race start.  Jealous yet?

Anyhow, once we got to the race start, Steve went to his much-faster-runner corral, Molly met up with Katie and they went to the corral just ahead of mine, and I wandered into my corral.  Much later I finally crossed the start line and much, much, much later I crossed the finish line.  Although the weather was warmer than I would have liked, the sun stayed behind the clouds and kept me from passing out from heatstroke.  I managed to stay ahead of the balloon ladies (two chicks doing the race with balloons attached who signify that you are going too slow and should be run off the course - or something like that).  I got my medal and my free water/gatorade/snack pack and headed for the bus.  Where I found Molly (yes, actually found her, or she found me) and we boarded the bus for the resort.  Where we ate and showered and took a nap.

Anyhow, today's race is for my sister Marilyn.  Many years ago we came down for this race.  Sam and I did the full marathon and Steve and Marilyn did the half.  It was her first half, and although we've done many races and walks since then, this one just always reminds me of that trip.  Especially the part where we got lost (a common thing when we're together) and wandered around the parking lot of the All Stars Music resort until some nice employee driving a golf cart offered to help us find our room.  Marilyn will be in attendance for our annual Princess Half Marathon weekend next month where we should be able to find our room - more than likely ...

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Today was a great day because:  I finished the half-marathon; I met several interesting people in the corrals and on the course; Molly was waiting for me at the bus line; leftovers for breakfast; napping; Steve bringing us afternoon snacks