My day (as well as my mother's) started promptly at 2:45am on 2/27/11. We needed to get ready and go out to catch the bus to the start line. I was a little groggy and didn't notice that I put my reversable tutu on with the wrong color on the outside. The last bus left at 4am so my OCD tendencies told me to get on the bus by 3:15am. I told my mother she could take a later bus, but she was having none of it. Her chEAR squad duties apparently involved telling any other princesses in earshot that I was the best and cutest princess of them all. It's not that I don't disagree, but I also did not want to draw the ire of any large, angry, tutu-clad princesses.
The bus dropped us off at the family meeting area around 3:45. This is when I noticed that I put my skirt on inside out. I finished choking down my bagel, took some pre-dawn pictures, peed in a very dark portapotty, and then joined a sea of princesses on a mile-long (for real) walk to the start line. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was in corral C when I picked up my bib on Friday (corrals were lettered A-F). It was very satisfying to walk past the later corrals, if I do say so myself! Also, there were more men running this race than people may realize, and they were not relegated to the last corral, either. Some were princes, and then there were a few drag princesses. And one Captain America, who clearly was oblivious to the fact that he was running a Disney race and not a Universal race.
The fairy godmother from Cinderella sent each corral off, followed by a firework blast. At 6am I was finally across the start line. It was already 60 degrees out! I needed to move it because the temperature would only go up from there. As usual, Disney did an excellent job with entertainment along the way. Running down the highway from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom, my fellow princesses and I encountered the Black Pearl with Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm, a hot air balloon version of the Epcot ball, photo ops with all of the Disney princes and the very random yet equally entertaining, men jumping on trampolines. After 5 miles we were finally headed into the Magic Kingdom, up Main St. USA, through Tomorrowland (where we met space ranger Chip and Dale), and then onto Fantasyland, where perhaps the best photo opportunity arises: Running through the Cinderella's Castle! This year, I was determined to take some fabulous race photos, as I have often ended up with less-than-stellar options in the past. This time, I'll have a hard time choosing which picture(s?) to buy.
By mile 7 my fellow runners and I were back on the highway, and running directly in the sun that had risen somewhere around mile 6. Where were my sunglasses? In my car. In Massachusetts. As the temperature started to rise, that's when the course wound up a highway entrance ramp and onto an overpass. Oh yes, there was some walking going on at that point. I kept going, and eventually made it to mile 10, where I encountered a life-size plastic army man yelling at me to keep going. At mile 12 we entered Epcot, where I was met spectators shouting, "you're almost there". I stopped believing them around mile 12.5. It was the longest mile ever! But I needed to get it together, because it was almost time for my close-up. If there's one thing I've learned, its that I need to be able to smile and leap across that finish line, lest I be cursed with shitty finish line photos that look like I'm taking an unusually strenuous Sunday stroll.
This is the part where I cross the finish line. In case you don't remember, my finish time was 2:45:57. Not a personal best, but I only missed it by a couple minutes. Considering the 80+ degree whether, it wasn't too shabby a performance. Again, I was just happy to finish (and not last)! In some of my finish line photos, I'm looking to my left. Why? Because I could hear my mother screaming my name from that direction. I couldn't see her, but I could hear her!
After getting my medal and post race snacks, I made my way to the family meeting area. At this point, my feet were numb so I lost the shoes, even before I found mom. Then I found mom and my body quickly started to shit the bed, dry-heaving for a bit (can't leave that part out!) and the numbness in my feet spread through my whole body. Very pleasant, what happens to one's body after running 13.1 miles! But that passes, and then it's time for the obligatory picture taking. Last but not least, you go back to the hotel room, wash the salt off, put on your "I did it!" t-shirt that you bought before you actually "did it", put your medal back on, and proceed to wander through a Disney park for the rest of the day.
So for those of you who are keeping track, that's one 1/2 marathon down, but I still have one more to go for that coast to coast medal!
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