The time has finally come and it quickly passed and I loved every exhausting minute of it!
The race weekend started off with a visit to the Expo at ESPN Wide World Of Sports! Thursday afternoon mom and I headed over to check in and check out all the goodies. This is when it set in I was about to run at Disney World and run my first half marathon!
The expo was a little overwhelming mainly because there was so much to see and being my first time there I wanted to see it all! First you go to one building where you check in, get your bib, t shirts, photo taken and then there are some booths on the main floor.
After building one mom and I headed over the main building to see everything!!! I wish I had the video off the gopro it was amazing! There was one booth in HAD to visit and it was Sparkly Soul! The owner is Pam- the lady whose post I saw a year earlier about the race that led me setting as a goal!!! It was so awesome to meet her and get some awesome new headbands. Girls, if you wear headbands check them out .. It didn't move at all! I wore them all week in the pool and everything. Never needed to readjust them!
Mom and I spent an hour walking the booths and we stumbled upon the runDisney booth that Jeff Galloway was at!! We got to meet him and he signed a copy of his book for my mom. I wish I had gotten a picture with him and mom oh well.. Next year!
After the expo we headed back to the camp ground BBQ and make some s'mores!
Because I was running for a charity I got 2 nights at Coronado Springs Disney Resort so Friday afternoon Chris and I headed over there to get some rest for Saturday morning!
We had a beautiful meet and greet with the rest of Team Noah and then headed to Downtown Disney for some food - bad idea it was packed, we at at the Irish place and went back and hit the sheets and get some sleep for the 10k!! But first I enjoyed a margarita- it was vacation after all!
2:45 am comes pretty fast especially when you can't fall asleep because you are filled with excitement and your so nervous about missing the bus or missing the race all together. Buses start headed to EPCOT at 3am so I figured I would get up at 2:45 get dressed and be on the 3:15 bus.. It worked out perfectly! The bus was fun! Everyone was excited and wide awake and ready to get to the race!
Once you get to EPCOT there are tents set up for all the charities, back check tents, a medic tent, which at 4am is used for heat and rest. There was a massive stage with a dj who was leading a warm up dance party, and lots of Disney photographers everywhere... And lots and lots of tutus and tiaras!!
At 5am it was time to head to the corrals and get ready!! I was corral C (a-e) it was at this point I started regretting my decision to run, it was cold and the standing around sucked! But as the corrals started moving I started to get super excited!! Fireworks went off at the start of each corral! Finally about 25 minutes after the first corral started we were at the starting line!
The first part of the race was all on the highway so that part wasn't fun at all. It was rather boring. At mile 1 Anna and Elsa were hanging out on the overpass cracking jokes about it being so cold, there was even fake snow!
There were characters along the route for photo ops - tinkerbell, mad hatter, Minnie Mouse ... I'm not sure who else, I didn't stop for any!
There were parts of the route where the road narrows and in all those spots I got stuck behind walkers and it really slowed me down. Mile 2 also slowed me down because I had to wait in the porta potty line.
I don't remember what mile we at when we entered EPCOT, but the feeling I got was unforgettable! The music and the lake and the view was amazing. It made all those highway miles worth it!
People were stopping everywhere to take photos.. I snapped the one above quickly ;)
The course was beautiful it takes you around the lake to the boardwalk where there were tons of people cheering us on and someone holding my favorite sign "Run like Kanye is going to give Beyonce your Medal", we ran past the beach club and yacht club where there kids waiting for high fives. After that it was back into the park for the last leg of the race!
Once you round the final corner and you can hear the names being said at the finish line your energy picks up and you get a rush! I just wanted to cross that finish line!! It was so awesome approaching the finish, it was more then just a line for me, it was a symbol of how far I had come in a year. I went from having baby #2 to starting running to running a 10k and getting ready to run a half marathon 24hrs later!!!
Notice the banana? I think I was more excited for that then I was for the medal at this point.
Chris was awesome he was up at 430 to catch a bus to watch the end of the race!! During the race he was sending me encouraging messages :) I couldn't have done this without him!
Running through EPCOT was surreal! It was beautiful and I got to see it in a way that not many do. I am so grateful that I had to opportunity to do this!! It has taken me a week to reflect on the race and to really appreciate it! The running portion wasn't easy but the feeling of accomplishment and ticking off another goal was amazing and made it totally worth it!
It was then time to catch the bus back to the hotel to get some sleep before we met my parents and the girls to spend the afternoon at EPCOT. Then it was early to bed (8am) to get up and get ready for the half!
Check back tomorrow
