Road Trip - Destination Indy!

When you get the call to work the race expo for the 2nd largest half marathon in the country, you don't say no!  After months of waiting, Tracie and I were ready to head to Indy for some fun!   6 hours on the road with this girl makes the time fly!  Listening to Beiber and Adele will never be the same again!

By the time we got to to Indianapolis, sleep was all that I had in mind!  But the Thursday morning, I was up early and ready to go, so I headed out for a running tour on the downtown area!  What an amazing, beautiful city!  I was out early enough to miss the crazy morning hustle and bustle.  Once I made it to the trail heading towards the zoo, it was just me, my thoughts and the small critters scampering around.  Next thing I knew, I needed to head back.  I had planned on 3-4 miles and by the time I got back to the hotel, I was at 5.5 miles.  One does not get "lost" on a run, they just discover new places to visit!

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent  wandering around town, getting ready for the expo and all kinds of shenanigans in between!   The state capitol building, Memorial Circle and of course, No trip to Indy is complete without a stop outside Lucas Oil Stadium - of course the building was closed so we couldn't get a peek inside, but anything was better than nothing!

When we realized that we could actually visit the observation tower and get a birds eye view of the city, we knew where we were heading!  When we got there, we were greeted with 2 options.  1. purchase a ticket to take the elevator up 2. walk the stairs for free!  330 steps?  Game on!

OMG!  You don't realize how far 330 steps is until you start heading up them!  But we were not giving up the fight.  In the end, we made it to the top in less than 5 minutes!  The view was well worth it!  After we caught our breath, took a few photos and enjoyed the view, it was time to head back down!

One of the awesome things about working the race expos is the awesome people I see and meet.  This year, I got to see  Boston Marathon champion and Olympic Medalist Meb, as he was in town to run the Half Marathon.  This year he was running "with the people"... starting at the back of the pack, to give everyone a chance to run with him.  They even had a contest at the Expo - guess how many people Meb was going to pass while he was running his Half Marathon.  

My highlight of the weekend tho?  For all you American Grit fans out there, I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Brooke Van Paris (aka BeastModeBarbie) while she was shopping the booth!  What an amazing, down to earth, yet extremely inspirational woman!  Hearing her story, direct from her, is enough to inspire anyone!  This was her first road half marathon and she killed it!  Although I didn't get a chance to get a photo with her while she was shopping, since I was so busy (one of the downfalls of working one of the most popular booths at the expo), but she sent me this photo, wearing one of the BondiBands that she picked up from the booth on Thursday!  Since the day I met her, I've been doing some reading on more of her story and what it took her to get to where she is, I am more than inspired!  Her Never Give up Attitude is amazing!

Side note: I also just found out that Brooke just qualified for the 2016 Obstacle Course Race World Championships in Canada this October!  Way to go Brooke!!!

After the expo on Thursday, I met up with Tracie and we were on a mission to find dinner and then some sleep.  However, on the way to find food, we spotted a horse drawn carriage that we HAD to go take pictures of!  While Tracie was taking pictures of the carriage. I managed to capture this photo of a pup introducing himself to (hopefully) a new friend! 

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After working all day at the expo on Friday again, when the alarm went off at 5:15am for the race, I really just wanted to stay curled up in bed! I was tired!! But it was race day!  Before long, it was time to take the short walk to the heart of downtown to the start line!

After running the half marathon here last year, it was exciting to be back at the start line again this year, even if I was "only" running the 5k.  Tracie was going all out and signed up for the Mini Challenge - running the 5k and then heading straight back to the start corrals to run the half marathon!  For those of you that know me, this would be a challenge that I normally would be all over.  However, since I was working the race expo for 2 days and being on my feet all day, I was not sure how my legs were going to be. so I opted just for the one (short) race.

In the end, even tho I was running on limited sleep and tired legs, I was very happy with my race. I felt strong, the weather was perfect and I was running in a dress for the first time!  Just a week before this trip, I got my first dress that I ordered from Skirt Sports.  I was not sure how running in a dress was going to be and yes, I broke one of the cardinal rules of running - I tried something new on race day... running, wearing something that I have never worn to run in before.  

Thankfully my chance that I took paid off.  I think I was more comfortable running this 5k than I have for any other race!  Yes, I am a Ambassador Captain for Skirt Sports, because I love their products! I live in my SS whenever I can. I can tell that this dress is quickly going to become one of my go-to pieces of clothing this summer, both for running and every day comfort wear! 

Zero Expectations can work out to your benefit sometimes!

Before each race, many of us probably go through some of the same questions to prepare ourselves mentally for the event...

Goal time to finish? Average Pace? Whatever it may be, we usually have something that we are shooting for.

Last weekend, I threw all of that behind me.

I went into the Oshkosh Half Marathon with ZERO expectation.  Why would I do this?  Why sign up for a race and not have a goal in mind to measure my success?  It was simple.  I was running this one completely for fun.

Last winter, I was at a benefit for myTeam Triumph and ended up with the winning bid of one of the silent auction baskets.  Part of that basket was 2 entries into any DuTriRun events in the area.  As part of my training for the Titletown Ultra Marathon, I decided to add the Oshkosh Half marathon to my training calendar.  After running the Dark Side Challenge at Disney World the weekend before,  I was coming off  22.6 miles of running through the parks.  This race was just about getting out and enjoying some time with the racing community, exploring some new areas (I've NEVER run in Oshkosh before!) and just enjoying the spring weather!

Kris and I headed to Oshkosh early so we could pick up get a parking spot near the finish line, pick up packets and relax a bit before we had to run.  He had run this race before and knew all the minute details!  He got us a parking spot literally 25 yards from the finish line!  We walked the short distance to the hotel where packet pickup was and had no wait to pick up our bibs.  Granted most people probably picked up there stuff the day before, but there was literally no wait for us in the morning!  No sooner than we got our bibs, Tracie found us (the joys of smaller local races - it's easy to find your running friends in the crowd!)

When it was time to head to the start line, everyone was talking goals, psyching themselves up to run at their peak, making plans on how the rain would (or wouldn't) affect their plans, and everything else to get themselves ready for the race.  I simply headed to the corrals, did some stretching, took a few photos and just enjoyed the morning.

Once the race started, I headed out, found a happy pace and just stated running.  I ran into a few friends from the Saturday morning Prevea training runs and chatted with them for a bit as we ran.  Just before Mile 2, I heard a voice being me "hey Fanatic, where ya from?"  Wearing my Half Fanatics Tank usually gets a few questions or hello's during any race). I replied back, "Green Bay" and turned to see the 2:30 pacer fall into pace with me.   (so I guess now I knew about what my pace currently was!).  We chatted or a bit and were joined by one of the other gals that I always see at the Prevea training runs.  We all ran together until just before mile 4 when I caught up with Tracie and we ended up running together.  I think at this point, I finally set ONE goal for myself today.  Since I was feeling good, I wanted to keep moving and finish in front of the 2:30 pacer. 

 

Tracie and I and I ended up playing leap frogfor then next 4 miles or so. She was dealingwith a Klee that was not playing nice, so she was doing some walk/run intervals to make sure she didn't push too hard (we head to Indyin a few weeksso she wants to make sure she will be ready to run there. I evenually lost her around mile 10.  I couldn't keep up with her cheetah legs anymore!

Running the trail and across the bridges in Oshkosh was awesome!  It may have been an overcast cloudy day, but that didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits.  One of the biggest things that I noticed tho?  The crowd support throughout the course!  Every few blocks it seemed like there were crews ready and willing to keep runners going!  One lady, I saw several times and each time I saw her, she had a different sign... I'm still waiting for those tacos she said were at the finish line!

This was also the 1st half marathon I ever ran WITHOUT my hydration belt!  I knew that I had enough pockets in my Skirt Sports running skirt to carry all of the race fuel that I needed, bit I didn't have my water bottles (still need to break down and buy myself that hydration best for the ultra).  Since I didn't water with me, I was forcing myself to hit all of the water stations and actually drink something!  There was no shortage of water stations of the course either - always love that!  Looking back, I actually think I consumed more water during this half marathon than I usually do, when I am carrying my own with me!  Many times, even though I have water (or Hydrate) with me, it's almost like it's too convenient and I forget to drink!  Note to self... drink your water!!

Overall, I get strong until about mile 11. My feet had enough (thinking back now, I probably should have replaced my running shoes already so that was probably part of the problem).  I wasn't giving up tho. I keep pushing on, and really started to dig deep. I started digging even deeper when I saw the 2:30 pacer had caught up to me!  I pushed on. I wanted to walk. I wanted to be done. Easiest way for that to happen? Keep running. 

Once I turned the corned off that last bridge and entered the park, it was time to leave it all on the trail.  I forged on ahead, finished strong and a good minute ahead of the pacer that I was determined to beat!

Official time:  2:27:33

Missed my PR by 0:2:30!

Best thing about this race?  Being done and having friends at the finish line to celebrate with!  Fellow Skirt Sport Ambassador Hannah was there waiting for me!  We big ran strong races. It was a good day!  After catching up with a few other friends, cheating on a few more myTEAM Triumph teams and walking off some tight calves it was time to head home for a shower... And food!

My go to post race or long run refueling? Healthy Bellyz!  Today it was the zucchini burrito!  Gluten free, dairy free and beyond amazing!  

In the end, I went in with no expectations, Ran a strong run, had fun and came up extremely pleased with the results!

Remember, it's not always about that finish time or pace!  It's about getting out there and just enjoying the fact that you have 2 legs that can carry you through these adventures!  Some people aren't that lucky!  Cherish these days, embrace the journey!

Disney Star Wars weekend - Part 3... The Good, The Bad and the Not So Pretty

 Running Disney...

Something I've had on the bucket list since I started running nearly 9 years ago.  Running though the Happiest place on earth!  Who wouldn't want to chase that dream?

This year I finally had that opportunity!   I was able to run t he Star Wars Half Marathon at Disneyland in Anaheim California.  Then a few weeks ago, I also had privilege to travel to Florida to run the Inaugural Dark Side Half Marathon at Disney World!  This trip ended up being a family vacation and my husband and son were taking on the 5k!  I, on the other hand registered for the Dark Side Challenge (the 10k and Half Marathon) and then I also decided to add the 5k in, just to complete the trifecta!

In the end, 2 states,  4 races, 5 Parks, 7 medals... and a huge credit card bill and a ton of lasting memories.

There is always so much hype about Disney Races.  Now after doing races in both US parks, I'm torn on if  I will do another one.  Don't get me wrong, running through the parks was awesome, I got some amazing pictures and met some fabulous people.  But was did it really live up to all the hype??  Since I already covered all the details of the trip in my previous 2 posts, this is more a look back on the overall experience... would I do it again?

Transportation

When we got all checked in to our resort, we headed straight for packet pick up.  It was about 10:30am so the expo had not been open that long.  Disney does make a point to have special buses for the run Disney events and we headed straight to the appropriate bus stop to head to the expo.  We pretty much had the bus to ESPN to ourselves!

Each morning, when we had to be up and on the buses well before the sun came up.  The bus that served our resort (Art of Animation), was also the same one that stopped at Pop Century.   Apparently, since AofA was the first stop these runDisney buses made each time that they made their loops, we usually only had a 10 minute wait or so and always had an empty bus to get on. A friend of mine was staying at Pop Century and told me that they did not have the same luxury.  For the 10k on Saturday, she was at the bus stop at her resort about the same time as me, but waited over 20 minutes for a bus because when the bus stopped at AofA, by the time it left, it was full, so it headed straight to the start line, leaving those at PC waiting.  THEN, onc eshe finally got on a bus driver got lost!  YES, the charter bus driver that was hired to get people to the start line DIDN'T KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING!  How is it that these drivers are sent out without explicit directions to get people where they needed to be in a timely manner!  Thankfully she was on the bus early enough that she didn't have to worry about being late!  Sunday for the Half, I had good luck again, but she still had to wait a bit.  Not as bad as Saturday, so she wasn't complaining.  I also heard stories of runners at one of the other resorts (Wilderness I think, but can't be positive) that never had buses!  Not sure if it was some of the similar issues as to the ones we saw between our resort and PC, but this is not cool!  If you a re providing transportation to the race from your own resorts, make sure you have enough buses and don't forget about anyone!

After the races was another crazy mess.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that they are shuttling a few thousand people around, things can get backed up, but to me this seemed like organized chaos. Now, the 5K, post race transportation was not bad at all,  We walked from the post race area and waited about 2 minutes for a bus.  The 10k and half were another story. After leaving the finish line area, you walked for, what seemed like forever (but in reality was probably the equivalent of a few blocks).   Here, you found lines for each bus stop/resort and had to find the end of the line and wait.  for the 10k, we only had a short wait and then Mary and I were on buses towards showers and food.  For the Half marathon, the way the lines zigzagged back and forth it was hard to figure out where the lines actually went and where the end was.  Thankfully there was a Disney Cast member standing at the end of the line with a large sign on a pole, but since these people were always moving, it was often difficult to read the signs!  I ended up waiting for almost a half hour to get on a bus... in the warm sun (no shade to be found near the bus lines).  Again, I understand the idea of having to shuttle 12,000+ people around can have it's backup.   Just frustrating when you are hot, tired and HUNGRY!

Packet Pickup

My advice?  Get here early!  We didn't have to wait in many lines to get our packets and were in and out in record time.  We heard many people talk of long lines and waits as day went on.  Can't really say anything negative.  Disney has their packet pick up figured out and gets you through without much delay!

After we headed out from Packet Pickup, we were directed outside, down some stairs, around the building, back up stairs and into a different side of the building where we found Disney Race Merchandise, the pick-up for any pre-ordered Race merchandise and the Dooney and Burke purses.  I was rather disappointed that there was a lot of the merchandise already picked over.  Only a handful of pins, etc.  The Kessel Run shirts that I wanted were only available in size small and then 2XL and larger!  This really didn't make a lot of sense to me, since the expo and packet pick up was supposed to have only been open since 10.  I did find out later that they actually opened an hour early and the first people that were there were grabbing armful and handfuls of stuff.  NOT COOL!  If you post hours, stick to them!

Just my luck, the Kessel Run shirts that I was looking at actually ran small so the 2XL that I tried on actually fit pretty good.  I grabbed that and a Dark Side Challenge magnet and headed for the lines to pay for my stash.  Then it was off to the rest of the expo, which was actually in a completely different building.

EXPO

After maneuvering out of the one building and following signs for the Expo, it was shopping time! I realized that I forgot my calf sleeves at home so I was hoping to find a new pair at a decent price!  The expo was a little crowded, but nothing worse that what I was expecting.  This is Disney and there were 12,000+ people running the Half Marathon on Sunday.  John and Darrin found sunglasses, I found a few new shirts, picked up some race fuel and found calf sleeves!  We did find out that there was another area to pick up Disney race merchandise down here too, but since I found the 2 things that I wanted, we didn't wander in.  All in all, the expo was fun, variety of vendors and all that jazz.  It was fun to check out some new stuff and I was able to replace one of my favorite shirts that I bought at an expo a few years ago that was now stained and worn out!

ESPN Grill

I'm adding this as a separate section because it was NOT at all up to Disney Standards.  After the expo, we needed lunch so we decided just to grab food at the ESPN Grill right outside the expo.  This was probably our first mistake because EVERYONE was stopping there after they finished shopping.  But we ordered our food in a timely manner and headed outside to grab a table.  After a half hour, we knew something wasn't right.  There were people that grabbed tables AFTER us that already received their food.  Ok, at first, we chalked this up to... maybe they were sitting inside and then moved outside.  Just to be sure, Darrin headed inside to get a refill on his soda and check on our food.  One of the servers came to our table with him to check on what our table number was and what we ordered.  Apparently, their computer system went down and the order numbers and orders were not matching up.  Not really a good thing to happen on a busy day like this!  She then took our receipt and headed off to the kitchen.

25 minutes later....

No food and we were done!  This was beyond ridiculous.  We headed up front to find someone to ask about a refund... oh yeah - we had already PAID for our food, so we couldn't just leave!  The server that we found took our number and headed to the kitchen.  A few moments later, a manager came to see us.  She informed us that our food had just come up and she was going to have them box it up for us (we had zero desire to stay there and eat anymore) and refund us the entire amount we paid for our meal.  She apologized several times for the wait, again telling us about the computer system failure.

I understand that one never knows when a computer system goes down, but please, please please... be a bit more proactive on trying to get orders figured out and customers food faster.  Don't wait for your customers to get annoyed.  Had we been informed, we may not have worried!

The races

In reality, the reason we are here!  To run Disney!

I really can't say much negative about the 5k.  Well organized, start line and finish line at the same place.  It was fun to run through Epcot in the dark and see the place all lit up.

The thing that I can't understand tough is why would you run a race course, with 10,000+ people (12,000+ for the half) through an area where the sidewalk is no wider than a standard sidewalk?  The bottleneck that this created was NOT COOL!  This it what we dealt with between Epcot and Hollywood studios.  Yes we were in a scenic area along the river, but when you are trying to run and maintain a decent pace between photo ops, having an extremely narrow course is only cause for issues.  I did hear from a few people that were in corrals closer to the front that the area was not as much of an issue, but as we came through (for both the 10k and Half) there were so many people walking 2 or 3 people abreast that anyone wanting to run was forced to slow down to try and get around them, many of us taking to the grass to just keep moving forward.

When I paid my money to run Disney, I wasn't paying to run on open highways for miles upon miles, with NOTHING to see or do!  For the 10k, once we left Hollywood Studios, there was a long boring stretch of highway.  Wasn't a huge deal for that race, but the Half left more to me desired.  Running from HS to Animal Kingdom is a long boring run along a closed highway for several miles.  The extent of course entertainment was a single DJ about halfway between the 2 parks.  Oh yeah, and 1 single photo stop. I actually got excited when I saw the sign for AK as I figured the long boring stretch was over.  I was wrong.  We spent the next LONG stretch basically running around the parking lot at AK!  Yes, the parking lot!

Then once we got into AK, it was all in the back lots!  Overall time spend in AK seemed like it was virtually nothing!  We ran past Everest, and then the Tree of life and all of a sudden, we were heading back out of the park.  More parking lot and then back to long stretch of boring highway!  

Sorry Disney, I paid to run through the parks and the enjoyment of the crowd along the way - Kinda like it was in California!  When I first looked at the course for the race at Disneyland, I was disappointed that the second half of the course was all just on the streets of Anaheim.  HOWEVER, these streets were pretty much lined the ENTIRE way with cheer squads, high school bands, church groups and more!  Everyone was cheering for runners, some dressed in super cool costumes and more!  I actually had just as much fun, if not more fun, on the second half of that course!  This course in Florida was BORING!  yes, the parks were fun, but I'm not flying halfway across the country to run on quiet streets and highways!  I can do that for free in Wisconsin!

Finish Line area (does not include 5K)

Disappointment!

Let me clarify... the finish line itself was awesome!  Between the announcers, the crowd support and organization of everything beyond the finish line, everything was awesome.  Everything was close and convenient.   Once you get past the food and bag pick up, it all falls apart.  

There was nothing!  or at least that is what we thought after the 10k.  We left the finish line area and then headed straight to the buses since we didn't see anything else.  Come to find out, there was an area where you could get back over to the finish line etc, but we saw no signs etc telling us that was the way we needed to go.  So we left.

We were told at the startline of the half marathon that the characters would also be at the finish line - and would be there until 11:30am!   We made a point to check out the finish line area after Mary and I both finished (and found each other).  Another disappointment.  Unless they were hiding somewhere, there were no characters at the finish line. (and we were there at about 9:30am looking) Just a tent selling some of the remaining Disney race merchandise, a tent where you could purchase food and then (at the FAAAAAR end of the parking lot), the bleachers where you could sit and cheer on those that were still finishing.  

No characters

NOTHING!

Again, huge difference to the California race.  Yes, I understand that the start and finish line were in the same area at Disneyland, but this is Disney.  I expected at least a little more!

So, we headed to the buses!

 Final thoughts

I ran Disney.  I ran in both California and Florida.
The bling was amazing
The friends that I met there, and ended up running with, made lasting memories

Would I do it again?

Maybe.

Given the two choices tho, I'd head back to California!

Why?
Better spectator participation, better finish line festivities and less crowded race course (no bottlenecks, wider course)!
Overprice and oversold.
Overall cost is about the same depending on which park, when you consider flights from WI, but I just plain enjoyed the Disneyland race experience better.  Yes, I understand that this was the Inaugural Star Wars series in Florida, but with the number of Disney races that they do every year, the mistakes from this one were rookie mistakes.  Not a company that has been putting on races for many years!

Sometimes, there is more to repeating a race than just the medal...

Disney Dark Side Challenge weekend - Part 2

Of course, I couldn't go to Disney and just run one race!

I had to run all 3!

Day 2

(warning - this post is going to get a bit long, but I didn't want to forget any of the fun!)

Alarm set for 3:30am and after a quick shower to help me wake up, it was time to head to the bus... at 4:15am!

I was excited to see a bus pull in a few minutes after I was at the bus stop.  After just a few minutes, we had a full bus and were headed to the start line.  I would find out later, that some people, at other resorts did not have the same luck with early morning buses that I did. From the point in the Epcot parking lot where the buses drop you off, you have a short walk to get to the stage area, where again, there are characters out for photo ops, plenty of placed for you to meet up with friends before the race and grab some last minute breakfast or coffee (if you are one of those people that can actually eat before you run!).  Unfortunately, the start line for the 10k is NOT in the same place as the 5k!  This time, they herded us through the area behind the stage (ample port-a-pot's here in case you need a pitstop!) and along the road that was actually the beginning part ok yesterday's 5k.  By the time I arrived in my start corral (Corral B today!) I had walked almost 3 miles since I rolled out of bed!

I quickly was able to find Mary in the Corral - it was nice to have a friend to start the race with, in these huge crowds!  Remember, I live in Green Bay, I don't normally run in races that have 10,400 participants! (numbers courtesy of Disney Sport News)  Our local Cellcom Green Bay Marathon weekend usually sees a total of just over 8,000 runners between the Half Marathon, Marathon and Marathon Relay combined!  This was just the 10k and it was over 10,000 runners!

Disney starts off each corral with fireworks, not just the 1st corral of runners!  It's kinda nice to see everyone given the same start line fanfare, no matter what corral you are starting in!  At shortly after 5:30am we were off an running.  I lost Mary in the crowd after a few minutes but every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of her/Rey running ahead of me.  I ended up catching up with her just after she stopped to get in line for pictures with R2-D2 (right before the 1st mile marker).  I jumped in line with her, and we had a few laughs while we waited and chatted with the group behind us.  The lines for theses photo ops do seem to move fairly quickly, but for this weekend, I was not concerned about time - it was all about the fun, getting some great pictures and just enjoying running around the Happiest Place on Earth.

After R2 pics, we were off again.  Once again, Mary got off ahead of me, but I caught up to her for Chewbacca pictures.  We followed this same pattern for most of the 10k.  We would lose each other in the crowds and catch up at photo ops!  Running the streets of Epcot, in the dark was just as much fun today as it was yesterday, especially because we took a slightly different route through the park.

This would however, bring us to the one part of the course that I really did not like!  My biggest complaint about the 10k course was the section between Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  We were on a sidewalk, along the river, in front of one of the resorts.  When you have 10,000+ runners trying to get through a narrow place, while trying to keep moving - some running and some walking, caused some major bottle necks.  There were many times during this stretch that we were all forced to walk.  Some ran on the grass just to keep moving, but it was by far one of the slowest sections of the course.  Yes, this is just a short section, but when you are trying to keep a decent pace between photo stop, so as to not completely kill your overall finish time, it is very frustration.  Once you finally pass this section and you arrive at Hollywood Studios, everything opens back up and you can move about freely, at your own desired pace.

About halfway through HS, I ended up losing Mary.  No worries, I was over halfway done.  I enjoyed my run through the park and got myself ready for the last stretch, along the roads to get myself to ESPN and the finish line!  At one point, just after mile 4,  I ended up falling into pace with another gal that was moving about my pace and we kept each other going for those last 2 miles.   Just before we hit mile 5, the course took a turn and we were on a dirt trail, through the woods!  During this stretch of the race, there were more photo ops, great star wars themed music playing and just a ton of fun to be had.  Although it all looked fun, we actually didn't stop for any pics.  We were just ready to be done - it was starting to get warm and again, this WI girl is not used to the humidity in FL!

It was really awesome to see the crowd support during the final stretch of the race!  As soon as we came off the trail and onto the property at ESPN, the sidewalks were lined to people cheering, waving signs, giving high 5's and more!  Then just when you think it's over and the finish is just ahead, you turn the last corner to find a army of storm troopers and more, available for photos!

As I approached the last turn, up do the finish line, my legs were on fire.  I was ready to be done.  I knew that I only had a short distance to be done and about that same time, I caught up to a gal dressed at BB-8.  I told her, "Come on BB - lets go!  We've got this!"  Her legs were ready to be done to, but we pushed that last tenth of a mile together with miles on our faces!  

Done.  As you can see from the above picture, it was a warm one.  In the grand scheme of things, it was actually a pleasant morning, in Florida standards, but coming from WI, I am definitely not accustomed to the humidity and unfortunately I was not able to find my inhaler in my luggage after the 5k yesterday.  Thankfully since I made a few photo stops and got slowed down in the bottlenecks, I didn't actually NEED that inhaler today, but this is something that might come in handy tomorrow!  Time to dig through the suitcase and backpack again!

Today's medal did NOT disappoint!  What Star Wars Fan wouldn't like a giant Tie Fighter medal!?!?  Yes, yesterdays Storm Trooper finisher "medal" was cool, but it was rubber!  Granted it still has a cool look to it, but Disney is the only place I know that you get a finisher medal made of rubber!  This one today makes up for it tho!  Big, heavy and flashy!  Just how I like my race bling!!

Day 3

Half Marathon day!

 

Today, the alarm went off at 2:20am.  Yes that is 2:20 IN THE MORNING!  In my younger days, there were times that I was coming IN from a night out... not getting out of bed to go RUN!   It still amazes me that I actually have learned to love mornings like this!  The excitement of a race, especially in a new place, with new people and new experiences!  And this is Disney!  Why would I NOT be excited!?!  Especially since I decided to go with the Chewbacca costume for today!

On a bus by 3:10am and at Epcot by 3:30!  It was time again for that long walk from the buses, through the stage festivities, and along dark road towards the start line.  Yesterday's crowd of 10,000 for the 10k was increased to over 12,000 for the half marathon!  It was very slow moving from the stage area to the actual start corrals that I was wondering if I was going to make it in time! 

I knew ahead of time that this half marathon was not going to be my usual half.  I was out to enjoy the day, have fun, get lots of pictures and just enjoy the morning.  However when I was walking to the start line, I started to get a weird, almost vertigo type feeling.  Not sure if it was the humidity and heat starting to get to me, combined with the excitement of the weekend.  Or who knows what else!  Thankfully I had some extra Stinger waffles with me (since I wasn't sure how the heat and humidity was going to affect me on this longer run).  While I was walking to the corral's I ate that waffle, drank some more water and hoped for the best.  This was just going to help me make sure that I didn't push it too hard, making me enjoy the atmosphere around me.

Once again, it didn't take long to find Mary in the Corrals - so excited that we were in the same start corral again today!  Yesterday it was so much being able to spend the morning running with her that I was really looking forward to doing it again!

Any runner always jokes around about being in the port-a-john during the national anthem.  No, that didn't happen this morning, but it was close - I was in line for one!  The funky feelings that I had earlier seemed to have lead way to my stomach not being happy with me.  Fingers crossed that this was going to be the last of my stomach and weird feelings.  Somehow, after my trip to the bathroom, I managed to find Mary again in the corral, in time to shill for a few minutes before our corral moved up to start.

Once again, more fireworks at the start of each corral.  Although the fireworks are a nice touch, the rest of the "entertainment" while we were in the start corral's was fairly uneventful.  At the start of a race, I always enjoy music, entertainment or anything else to get me pumped up and excited to run.  The pre-race entertainment was clips from the movie.  Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge Star Wars geek and love seeing the video clips, but I would have hoped for a little more hype!

Before long, we were off and running.  Just to save myself a few minutes on my time, I oped to skip stopping for pics with R2 today, knowing that stopping for Chewy was going to be a MUST today!  I also knew that there was a few more photo stops that I was most likely going to want to stop at.  So I kept running!  Just as I was getting to to my target stop with Chewy, and I was making another pitstop at the bathroom (those actual bathrooms in the parks are like a little oasis!).  I was concerned about my pending visit with Chewy, as I saw him walking into the building near the bathroom!  Hopefully he was not going to be gone long!

After my pitstop, I headed to the Chewy photo op, I found Mary waiting in line so I joined her.  Chewy came back shortly and a few minutes later, I had some of my favorite pictures from the weekend! 

 After a few more miles through Epcot and Hollywood studios (where I met up with a few other Skirt Sports Ambassadors along the way!) and making my way through the crowds, it was off to the next (pretty boring) part of the course... the highway to Animal Kingdom.  Those miles down the highway were long and pretty uneventful!  

But then we finally arrived at Animal Kingdom.  I was actually pretty disappointed that we really were just mostly running around the parking lot... the time that we spent in the actual park was really fairly short!  Yes there were some cool photo ops in the park and in was fun seeing the monkey's playing and yelling as we ran through while they ate the breakfast, this was fairly disappointing.  Not to mention the last stretch as we worked out way back out of the park was very narrow and another bottle neck.  They had an area with more characters to take photo's with, but the people waiting in lines ended up actually blocking the path of the runners just trying to get through.  

As I was heading out of the boring lornar AK, back to the highway, I saw those infamous balloon ladies. Those are the ladies you don't want to see behind you. If they pass you, you will be picked up by the sweeper bus and driven to the finish line... And recieve no medal!  Since they were in their way IN to the parking lot, I knew that I was a few miles ahead of them... They were not going to catch me!

Finally after another long stretch of boring highway miles, in the bright, warm FL sun, we made our way through the trail to ESPN, through the same spectator lines sidewalks to the finish line.  This part of the course was pretty much the same thing as yesterday, so I felt no need to stop for any pictures etc.  I was ready to be done!  Show me the bling! 

I earned it!

This was one of the toughest races I've run, even though I know I didn't push myself nearly as hard as I usually do for a half marathon.  Today was all about the fun, the experience and the memories.  once I got through the finish line corrals, I had 4 medals clanking around my neck as I walked around the finish line area!  It was one of the toughest challenges I have done, to date, and I am so glad that I did it!

Afterwards, I somehow found Mary again!  I had not seen her since Hollywood Studios!  Somehow, at some point, I ended up in front of her and actually finished about 10 minutes before her!  Apparently, she actually stopped for a few more of the photo ops than I did, and I didn't see her in line as I ran past.  Yes, part of me wishes that I had made those few extra stops, but I was warm, tired and hungry!

Thanks again Mary for helping make my Disney race weekend so much fun!  I can't wait until our paths cross again!  Maybe one of these days I will actually make it down to Baton Rouge for a race!  If you even want to come to Green Bay, I have a spare bedroom waiting for you!

1 weekend

3 races

6 Medals:

Storm Trooper 5k

Tie Fighter 10K

Dark Side Half Marathon

Plus bonus medals:

Dark Side Challenge (completing 10k and Half this weekend)

Kessel Run Challenge (completing half marathon in California in January and here this weekend)

Disney Coast to Cost Medal (completing half marathon on both coasts in the same calendar year)

All in all it was a good weekend!

Next and final post of the weekend to come...

The good, the bad and the ugly of Disney Races! 

Disney Star Wars Dark Side Challenge weekend... part 1

As many of you know, I just came back from a long weekend in Orlando for the Disney Dark Side Half Marathon.  After running the Star Wars Rebel Half in January, I have been looking forward to this weekend since!  This was an awesome weekend filled with tons of fun, laughs and adventures.

This time the family was coming with me, and participating in the 5k too!  Since we had an EARLY flight out (6am), we drove to Milwaukee.   the night before and stayed at my favorite "go to" airport hotel!  The Clarion is right near the airport has reasonable rates as well as Stay and Fly packages so you can leave your car parked in their secured lot while you travel!  Since we had such an early flight, the first day of vacation started with the alarm going off at 3:30am!  by 4:10am, Thursday morning, we were on the way to the airport.  It was 19 degrees when we left Milwaukee and a pleasant 75 when we landed in Orlando!

Time to conquer the Dark Side

 One of the best choices we made for this trip was booking the Disney Magical Express to take care of our transportation.  We really wouldn't realize how much of a benefit this was until later in the weekend, but I'll get to that later!  Without having to worry about collecting luggage at baggage claim, we headed straight for the Disney Welcome center, checked in and were on a bus withing 15 minutes of when we got off the plane!  A short ride later and we were at out resort!  Again we didn't have to worry about collecting luggage and were able to just head inside to check in!

runDisney time!

After dumping our carry-on bags in our room, we headed for the expo.  One of the awesome things that Disney does for race weekend is provide race specific busing.  On Thursday, since anyone that was already on property was heading to the expo, there was a bus that just went from the resorts to ESPN Wide World of Sports.  There were only 2 resorts assigned to our bus so it was a short ride!

One of the advantages of arriving about an hour after the expo and packet pick up opened, the lines were short!  We had all of our packets picked up in less than 15 minutes - 5k for John and Darrin, then the 5k and Dark Side Challenge for me.  Disney always does a great job of having a well organized packet pickup with plenty of friendly volunteers to answer any questions.  With how many people I know will be running these events this weekend, I am glad we were able to get here before everything got really busy.

With all of our packets picked up, and I collected my wrist bands to verify medals that I was eligible to earn once I finished all my races for the weekend.  I felt like I was checking into the hospital for major surgery with the 2 race wrist bands, plus my magic band (room key, park passes, everything all in one) on one wrist and my running watch and JayBird on the other!

Then it was on to the expo!  Shopping time!  Since I really didn't have a ton of time to explore the expo when I was in California for the Star Wars Half in January, I was excited to have time to really see what was here!  I found a few new flavors of my Gluten Free Stinger waffles that I love, so I had to get a few to try!  Luck was on my side too - one of the vendors had calf sleeves on sale for a decent price, so I was able to pick up another pair (since I forgot mine at home!).  A few shirts later, it was time to find some lunch!

Unfortunately lunch was NOT up to Disney standards!  We opted to stop at the ESPN Grill right outside the expo.  After ordering, we grabbed a table outside, in the shade to enjoy the Florida weather.  about a half out later, we still didn't have our food, so Darrin went to get a soda refill and check on where our food was.  Someone came over to check on what we had, told us that they were having a computer issue and took our receipt and headed to the kitchen.  Another half hour later, we STILL didn't have food.  We waited long enough.  But unfortunately, we couldn't just leave - we had already paid for our food!  We headed back inside to find someone to inquire about a refund so we could go find food elsewhere.  Of course they asked us for our receipt, which we did not have anymore as the last gal took it from us when she went to check on our order!  Apparently, their computer had crashed and orders were not matching up with table numbers and everything was a mess.  They were able to find our order, based on the number that they gave us for our order.  After talking to 2 more people we were informed that our food had just come up.  They offered to box it up for us AND refund us the full amount of our meal.  Although not ideal, but at least they did what they could to make it right.

With bag of food in hand, we headed out from ESPN to catch the bus back to our resort.  But not before we took a few more pictures outside the entrance to ESPN!  The whole family was running the 5k on Friday and I would also be taking on the Dark Side Challenge - the 10k on Saturday and Half Marathon on Sunday!

 When we got back to our room, we magically had luggage!  Everything made it, in one piece!  Gotta love it when a good plan comes together! We officially could start the adventure and have clothes to change into!  The rest of the day, we explored out resort a bit, relaxed and then headed to bed early.  Alarms were going off at 3:30am so that we could get ready to catch buses by shortly after 4 to make it to the start line on time!

5am is early, no matter which way you look at it, but we were hanging gout with a few thousand other people at the start line of the inaugural Dark Side 5k!  I will have to say that the start line area was well organized, there were ample volunteers around to make sure you made it from the buses to the start line,  and plenty of Disney Photographers were on hand to take any pictures that you wanted!  There were also about 6 Star Wars Characters at the start line area, around the stage, for photo opportunities!  Since I was in an earlier corral for the race, I left John and Darrin at the stage area to head to my corral to stretch out and get ready for the race.  They used this time to get a few photos before the race!

I opted to wait until I hit the course to take any pictures, and even tho this was the Dark Side 5k, the only photo op I stopped for...   Chewbacca!  This was the one day that I decided I was only going to make the one stop, and was going to try and push my time a little.  I felt good, the temperatures were mild and I was ready to run.  I did stop along the way to snap a few pictures along the way, but nothing too exciting!

In the end, I finished this 5k in my normal a few minutes of my average 5k time (with the exception of the 10 minutes that I waited for my picture with Chewie).  I was actually excited to know that I pushed myself enough that it was still dark out when I finished!  I beat the sun!

Since I knew that John and Darrin were just walking the 5k, I had some time to spare.  So I used this time to get a few other pictures at the stage area.  The lines seemed long, but in reality, they did move fairly quickly.  I managed to get a few different picture before heading back over to the finish line to watch them come in. 

When I say them come around the corner, I tried to get a video of them actually running to the finish line, but apparently I couldn't' operate the camera on my phone and ended up just with a photo.  Oh well, you can tell from the picture tho, that they were actually running!

Proof of finish!  Medals and official finish line photos!

Race 1 for the weekend for me done!  After showers and breakfast, we spent the rest of Friday in the parks, wandering through Magic Kingdom (Where I met up with fellow Skirt Sports Ambassador Mary, who joined us for the morning!), then Hollywood Studios.  We actually had some issues with getting our Fast Passes to work with the Disney Experience app that morning at MK, so when we talked with the awesome young lady at the resort, she added a Fast Pass package onto our account to use at Hollywood Studios that afternoon!  We had 3 fast passes to use, any time, any ride that day!  We were able to hit 3 rides, literally no waiting in less than 2 hours in the park!

Once we used our passes, it was time for this Crazy Hamster to get some sleep!  I left the boys at the park and headed for the bus, and ultimately back to the resort so I could get some shut eye. While I headed back, they hit another show and then the Fireworks - which apparently were set to the opening theme from Star Wars!

Next part of the adventure was coming soon... and the alarm was going off at 3am! 

Stay tuned for Race Recap Part 2, coming soon!