At 7:00 we boarded a bus from the Beach Club to ESPN Wide
World of Sports. Our wait was about 5 seconds and the bus wasn’t even that
full, which was a nice surprise since I’ve heard other folks had terrible
experiences. Upon arriving at WWoS we immediately ran into a group of ROTErs
who were amassed in the field. Since I had not met them in person before, I
introduced myself and we all talked a bit. They were all very helpful in
delivering points of advice based on past W&D experience that helped me
navigate the evening (both running and non). After bidding a fond adieu to the
ROTE running crew, we met up with Eileen who I used to work with at the Great
Movie Ride.
Off to the Race!
Calm Before the Storm
Eileen runs an amazing blog dedicated to smart & healthy
eating and is a must read for those who are interested in weight management (Hello Skinny). We
found Eileen and her boyfriend, Kyle and settled in for the 3 hour wait for the
race to start. During the pre-race, we saw quite a cast of characters (no, not
Disney ones) in crazy costumes, including a girl who looked about 8 months
pregnant in nothing but a sports bra and shorts dancing around. Yikes! Also,
during this time I ran into another fellow Movie Rider, Randy. He and I were at about the same pace so
we decided to start together (as we were both in Corral A), but agreed to keep
going if one of us faltered.
Finally, the time came when the DJ asked folks to start
queuing up. Randy and I headed into Corral A and tried to stay in the back, but
were ushered up to the very near front due to the sheer influx of fellow Corral
A runners, which intimidated me a bit. Once were all corralled, they started
the Star Spangled Banner. Whoever sang it was terrible. Seriously, it was like
Mariah Carey but ultra intensified. Heck, it wasn’t even in the right key!
Certainly, not a fan but I had more pressing matters to attend to; I was about
to put my body through excruciating paces. After the lone wheelchair competitor
took off, it was our turn. I could feel every fiber of my being trying to
propel me forward while I was standing motionless.
The view from the Back of Corral A. We moved up right behind the Start Line
Everyone else
BOOM! The fireworks exploded over our heads and we inched
closer to the Start line. Crossing the Start line, I could hear the beeps of
all the running watches (including my own) signaling the wait was over. I fired
up the playlist of Hip Hop, Rock, Drum n Bass, and a few choice Disney Parks
tracks on my Nike Plus GPS program on my iPhone and headed out the gate.
Mile 1:
The first mile was really only one of the very few places we
runners were bunched, but it wasn’t horrible. Randy and I headed down Victory
Way (main thoroughfare of WWoS) for about 3/4 mile and made a left turn onto
Osceola Parkway. My pace was slow and steady at about 9:45 p/mile. Typically,
my pace for shorter races is about 7:50-8:00, but since this was my first half
marathon and I had that pesky lingering stress fracture I didn’t want to overdo
it early. “Run your own race.” I kept telling myself, expecting to be passed
up. But, here’s something I didn’t expect; I was holding my own against all the
other racers. It felt great!
Mile 2:
Mile 2 was still on Osceola Parkway, adjacent to Blizzard
Beach, and headed towards Animal Kingdom. There was a little bit of
entertainment along the way including some glowing stilt walkers and some
cheesy band that was a DJ, singer, and drum set player. Since I also play
drums, I popped out my ear buds to listen to what they were playing which
turned out to be some Taio Cruz song. I just chuckled it off and kept running.
This was where Randy and I broke off and I was on my own. I still felt great
physically, but a little bored of the scenery. Luckily, I could see the Animal
Kingdom parking gates ahead me. I was about to enter the first theme park of
the race.
Mile 3:
Mile 3 put me past the parking gates and headed towards the
cast parking/Animal Kingdom Lodge access road. But, instead of going straight, we turned right towards the
parking lot. There was a lot of energy here with some folks cheering and a few
Spectromagic floats/characters. This was also an area that we would be covering
again on the way out of AK, I didn’t see anyone at that point yet, so I new I
was still pretty close to the front. We headed into AK through the front
turnstiles and up through the path that leads you towards the Tree of Life
(similar to the 5K course we ran previously that morning). Here is where I ran
into a little bottleneck. I had caught up with the wheelchair competitor and
the security bike behind her and got stuck in the tight pathways. Finally, I
was able to pass her just as we came to the clearing and what I saw was
unbelievable. Standing, majestically in front of me was the Tree of Life lit up
perfectly with a dark night sky behind it. This was a rare occurrence as AK is
seldom open past when the sun goes down. I was so inspired I almost stopped to
take a picture with my phone. Instead, I agreed a picture would not do justice
to what I just saw, so I kept on my brisk pace.
Mile 4:
Mile 4 put me over the bridge and right in front of Harambe
village (again, the same path from the 5K) with a right turn towards Asia.
Along the dark path, Disney had set out these football sized glowing pebbles
that looked really cool in the jungle atmosphere. We then cut around Expedition
Everest, up towards Finding Nemo: The Musical and into DinoLand. This is where
the course differed from the morning’s run, as instead of going straight past
Countdown to Extinction and backstage, the evening’s run took us into Chester
& Hester’s area of the park, past Primeval Whirl
and backstage behind the Countdown to Extinction show building. From there, we
headed out to the parking lot and on to Mile 5.
Mile 5:
The end of Mile 4 was the hand off point for the relay teams
which was somewhat bittersweet. On one hand it was great to see so many people
cheering for you, on the other hand it was tough to watch all the fresh legs
take off and sprint past. However, I wasn’t that upset as I was feeling great
and hadn’t given much thought to the distance still ahead of me. I will say,
though this included one of the mentally toughest point of the races as we had
to backtrack a bit around the entire parking lot to exit AK. I had to watch all
the people ahead of me and for some reason was very depressing and my positive
attitude started to wane a bit. As we left the parking gates of AK, there were
these giant, bright LED boards that kept changing colors which made me nauseous
to the point of where I needed to look down and cup my hands in order to not vomit.
Mile 6:
Mile 6 put me back on Osceola Parkway and to one of my
first points of mental exhaustion. Halfway through the mile, my legs
began to ache terribly and I started focusing on the race, specifically, the
mileage. Aside from the few folks cheering on the side of the road this area
was barren. I couldn’t help but start to think about my stride and my time, so
I tried to figure out how to optimize my run by trying some asinine running
stride that felt like ice skating. I probably looked like an idiot, but at
least it kept me busy and refrained from walking. I would just like to forget
about this mile as soon as possible.
Mile 7:
Mile 7 was really no different from Mile 6, except looking
across Osceola Parkway I was able to see the “cleanup crew”, which was the
group of Disney race officials that picked up runners who couldn’t keep a 16
minute mile. It consisted of 2 motorcycle cops, a Disney van, a Track Shack
van, and a bunch of street cleaners. To be quite honest, the whole thing looked
quite ominous and worse yet, I could see a few runners in its path fighting in
vain not to be gobbled up by the machine. This was inspiration enough for me to
drop it into an extra gear and keep up the fight. Mile 7 is also where we
turned from Osceola Parkway onto World Drive. Here, Disney had more Spectro
floats and music which was nice. Coming around the turn I was stuck in a
horrible mental hole where all I wanted to do was stop (still had yet to walk),
and then I ran into the Toy Story Army Man on a hill. Now, some people say he
inspired them; all I wanted to do is punch him in the face as hard as possible.
Yeah, I wasn’t doing so well.
Mile 8:
On World Drive for a bit was nice and flat. I was looking
forward to running through the Studios which I could see was coming up.
Unfortunately, there were two obstacles in the way: An on ramp, and GU gels. As
I mentioned during Mile 7 I was in a really bad place mentally and my calves
were on fire, but I wasn’t ready to quit. I could see the hill coming up and
also most people were stopping to walk it. Right before the hill, volunteers
were handing out GU gels which I had never tried before. Now, throughout the
whole race I was sucking down Jelly Belly Energy Beans but they were no longer
doing the trick so I grabbed some gel and muscled it down. Oh my God, it was
the absolute worst stuff in the world! I thought I was going to vomit, so I
grabbed a cup of water but that just made the gel feel like a big loogey in my
mouth. Worst of all, I was approaching “Das Hill”. I did everything I could to
overcome it all, kept up my pace, and enjoyed my prize of a downhill run following the battle.
Mile 9:
That victory was short lived as I entered the Studios
through the old castmember parking area and behind Tower of Terror. My legs
were screaming at me to stop and I couldn’t get the taste of GU crap out of my
mouth. Just a few hours earlier I was so excited to cover over the Studios
reminiscing of my Movie Ride days, but here I was entering the park and lamenting
the sheer amount of land I needed to cover in this hell hole of dreams. Through
the Rock n Rollercoaster courtyard, to left of the Tower bathrooms and into the
Fantasmic queue for about 100 feet (which was odd), we headed out onto Sunset
Blvd (one of my favorite areas). From there we headed onto Mickey Avenue and
Pixar Place. As I ran by the Great Movie Ride I showed her some love and gave a
quick smile. Unfortunately, my grin turned to immediate grief as I was about to
go to serious war with MGM Studios…and it was about to make me it’s bitch…..
End of Part 2
1 comment:
I can't believe you remember each mile! My mind shuts down at some point :) Loving the recap so far though! Time to read the last installment...
(oh and they were Cliff Shots, not Gu. I LOVE Gu....despiseeeee Cliff Shots!)
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