This happens to only be my second 5K ever. The first one was with Miguel, Ada and Luis in Manchester...It was one of the most horrific running memories I have. The race in a nutshell: Miguel not realizing his headset made him yell every part of a conversation including the fact 'children were beating me', holding his hand thinking he was being sweet and actually being dragged, him picking people in front of us and making us beat them, crossing the finish line (before him!!!!) seeing a girl throw up and wishing I was her...oh and somewhat blacking out. Yeah. A blast.
I had trained up to 9.75 miles so I thought 3.11 shouldn't be too bad. There is no way it could be worse than my first 5k. I was so excited that I laid my clothes out the night before.
I had to get this shirt from Germany. It means 'last call', I had gotten it for Miguel in October and hoped it would be good luck for me.
I woke up at 3.30am got dressed and ready pretty fast. Grabbed my water and headed down to the lobby. I saw the bus sitting, waiting and decided to walk over. It was probably 3.45am. I said hi to the bus driver, another amazingly sweet and sane man! When I got on the bus I realized I was the first princess awake at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I had the whole bus to myself. We waited until about 3.55am and then the same Mears Transportaion lady from the day before yelled at this bus driver as well for not going to Kidani Village first and being early. I will never understand it! So because she told him not to bother with Kidani Village I had personal VIP transportation to the race. The driver and I had a great conversation about life, jobs, families and the 5K/Half Marathon. He wished me good luck and I was off! I was very early to the EPCOT parking lot but that helped ease my nerves. And it helped that all the port-o-potties were empty because I had drank wayyy to much water and had to go about every 20 minutes. I had initially walked past Minnie and Mickey but when I noticed Minnie was in her Aurora attire I couldn't pass up a good photo-op plus the line wasn't too long....and it was only 4.30am I still had two hours to wait...
I also love that at 4.30am runDisney had hired a cupcake truck...I wish I had remembered after the race. Darn it!
After getting my picture with Mickey and Minnie I walked over to Corral C and walked all the way to the other side. I continued to stretch and people watch. This would have been one of the good times to have a friend or someone else to talk to. I did make friends with a guy about my age. He seemed just as nervous as I was, it was his first 5k. We chatted as Corral A got walked to the start line.
When it was Corral C's turn to be walked we got to see the fireworks go off for Corral B.
I got more and more nervous and excited as we go closer to the start line... My foot was literally on the line as we waiting for our cue to go. I got my Garmin Forerunner 10 all set up and made sure my armpocket was comfortable.
When the fireworks went off all the adrenaline I had pumping was at a max! I typically set my Garmin to 2/1.30 meaning a 2 minute run/1.30 walk cycle. I had gone out not too fast and felt great the first walk cycle so I decided to not walk.... Long story short, the course was awesome, I RAN THE WHOLE THING!! ALL 3.11 MILES!!! I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE IN MY LIFE!!!!
....okay...so I stopped for a picture with Marie... but look how friggen cute she is! How could I pass by her!?!
I ended up running the fastest 5k I have ever done and that includes all my training runs as well. I could have cried. I couldn't breathe by the end so crying was out but I felt amazing the whole race and to finish strong was the confidence boost I needed.
Once I grabbed my Powerade and delicious snack box from the voluntEARs I hopped on the bus to Coronado Springs....yes ma'am....this little sneaky princess was heading BACK to the expo. My goal was to hit the runDisney merchandise as it opened to try and minimize the chaos that was bound to happen. I had some of my snacks on the bus ride there. I am head over heels in love with all of it...(except the hummus...no one is dying for garbanzo bean hummus) Of course I got off the wrong Coronado stop...So I had to walk to the Veracruz room through the hotel.
I got rerouted outside and noticed there were already about 5 people in line. As sweaty and as gross as I was I had great a blast waiting because of the conversations I had. I met 3 other runDisney half marathon princesses and a father of a 5k princess . It was so nice to ask questions to those who had been running for a while and then to be able to commiserate with the first timers on their nervous. As we were waiting for the time to get closer to 9am those of us at the front of the line noticed how the rest of the line behind us disappeared then reappeared about 50 yards away (I'm probably exaggerating). Once we were let inside the hotel and then into the Veracruz Room I immediately ran for the merchandise. Huge scores here. I was able to get a gorgeous black Champion zip jacket with the anniversary logo on it, the I Did It! shirt which is a perfect pink, long sleeve Sorry Charming Gotta Run black tee, white tech shirt with this years anniversary logo on it, a car decal and the last I'll call it a tumbler thing with a straw. I was also able to walk around and snagged a pink headband from Lady Foot Locker with a tiara on it, 2 sweaty bands: a black sequin one and a blue one with a tiara on it, annnnnnnd dun dun dun.... THE PIRATE SKULL WITH PIG TAILS FROM RAW THREADS!!!!!!!! Not only did I have NO shirt lined up for the half marathon but I thought there was no chance they would have this specific shirt there. I am still so pumped I got it. Totally worth the $38. I will explain more when I do the Half Marathon post. So after all my shopping I got on a bus to the Boardwalk. My parents had made us reservations there for the last three days of the trip. It is our favorite after all. Because I ran the 5k, my parents and Emilia got all the luggage together at the AKL and went out for breakfast. I got to the Boardwalk while they were still eating. I got to sit on the balcony off the lobby and eat my croissant, orange and drink my water to relax, rehydrate and people watch.
I was able to get into the room and have the rest of my snack before they returned to the Boardwalk. I would run every race JUST to get this box of heaven. Our view was of the main pool, during renovation. Could have been worse I guess. I just am excited Disney is constantly trying to do better and update what they have.
After a quick trip into MGM (I will never refer to it as Disney's Hollywood Studios) we tried out the Legend of Capt. Jack Sparrow. It was cool but is better if you have young children I'd say. We grabbed food at Toluca Legs Turkey Co and got pulled pork sandwiches. I have a problem...I just realized it as I type this. I am obsessed with pulled pork. We headed back to the room and I tried to rest my legs. I knew I shouldn't have gone out so fast at the 5k that morning.
The four of us headed into EPCOT and did a couple laps around World Showcase, we stopped in Mexico at the Cantina San Angel and got a quick bite. I think it is safe to say I should have probably been born Mexican for the amount of Mexican food I eat.
In bed by 8pm, had a quick phone call from Miguel - a much needed pep talk. Then lights out, I needed to be up by 2.30am to get ready for the biggest race of my life.
I will leave you with the video from runDisneyTV of the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse Royal Family 5k. LOVE LOVE LOVE Dennis Marsico!
No comments:
Post a Comment