Starting the year off strong, a race report from Disney Dawnie and her amazing effort at... THE DOPEY!!!
Day 1 - Thursday - 5k - up at 3am to catch the bus. Got into my home-made outfit for this race Minnie! complete with blinking red LED laces! Met my running buddy Mike who lives around the bend from me and was doing the races too. My goal for the weekend was to get my picture in the annual book they publish for the runners. We made our way around and then through Epcot stopping to take pics with each character we came to - we saw Dopey but he had a line that spanned multiple countries and figured he'd be out again. Before we knew it we were done with race - got on the bus - showered and off to Hollywood Studios (MGM) Jim and I went for the day. You didn't think I was gonna sit did you! When we got in later that night and looked at the pics I discovered I made the front page of the Run Disney website blog!!!!
Day 2 - Friday - 10k - up at 3am again to get into my Minnie outfit again (the theme for the 10k was Minnie). Today Jim joined us as well. The 3 of us headed out to Epcot again and made our way literally around the back of Epcot until they finally had us enter the park around mile 3 near Norway (very dissapointed that we spent very little time in the park this race hopefully they change it next year). The running joke (no pun intended) was that every time the 3 of us stopped to take a pic with a character they walked away for a pee break (seeing as we were in the first corral and within the first 20 min. of the racers we couldn't figure it out - oh well we did manage to get a few pics along the way so it wasn't a total loss) ... No Dopey on the course though ... so we headed back - showered - and headed to the Magic Kingdom - yup hit another park to ride some rides!
Day 3 - Saturday - 1/2 marathon - well what do you know I was up at 3am again (slept only 2 hours the night before wasn't feeling well - my body is not a powerade fan I discovered! Dressed up as Tigger today - my 1/2 tradition ... Couldn't find Mike today b/c I was up a few corrals from him so ran on my own. Stopped every mile for a 20 second walk break and to get some fluids/gel intake. Also stopped for every character along the route. We ran from Epcot up to the Magic Kingdom then back to Epcot for the finish. Today was the start of the good races - tons of characters out, Magic Kingdom still dark since it is at mile 6-7 and you start running at 5:40am or as I call it the crack ass of dawn but I love it so peaceful. Think I got pics with about 15 different characters that day (but still no Dopey) and a great shot in front of the castle. Met tons of people along the way - imagine that me talk through 13.1 miles ;-) finished up, showered, changed and hit the POOL (yes I finally relaxed for a bit). Headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and to watch some of the football game (the first one not the grand one with the Pats - I hit the hay by that time!) ... up next the marathon - was really nervous since the longest two runs I had put in were just under 16 miles which really was to prepare for the 1/2 - I did manage to do several two day in a row runs but had to stop after the third week of it since my achilles couldn't handle it (figured out later that should have spaced them out more - next time???)
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Day 4 - Sunday - Marathon - up at (yup 3am) slept like a log the night before and felt great ... Put my Snow White outfit on and headed out the door. Met some nice people at the bus stop (yup I was warming up my mouth by 4am!) ... Tried to find Mike to wish him well but the bus was late and didn't get to Epcot parking lot till 5am ... waited till 5:10 then had to hustle to get to my corral - made it just as they started the wheelchair race ... Finally our turn and I couldn't wait for the challenge - would I feel pain right away, mile 11, 13, 16 who knew bring it on! Started out feeling fine with the plan to stop every 1/2 mile to take a 20 second walk break and fluids every mile and of course take my pics with the characters (which of course I think really exist!). Went along feeling really good chattin up people along the way till I reached the Magic Kingdom Fantasyland where I saw Tigger and almost lost my cookies! He gave me a huge hug (yes I refrained showing him my Tattoo!) around the corner there was Minnie dressed as a princess and Mickey as the tailor in Brave - of course as I got in line they said to me Minnie had to go freshen up (yeah ok I had enough and she was stayin for me - I jumped in before she could be told to leave and got my shot!) down the ramp of the castle to do a huge jump in front while they took my picture with the castle all lit up in the back - sweeet! next it was off to run around the Tom Petty race track - which looks small but must be almost 2 miles around! Next up Animal Kingdom where I was going to ride the roller coaster Everest but it wasn't open ... next I was off to Wide World of Sports where Jim surprised me by being on the 3rd base line - I got my name called out as I was put on the Jumbo tron then jumped into the stands to take some pics with Jim ... then it was off for the last 8 miles and I was jazzed up so I decided to only stop at each mile marker for water or if I saw a character. Ran through Hollywood Studios out the front and off to the boardwalk - by this time the parks are open and people are everywhere - you feel like a rock star! Got to the end of the boardwalk and turned the last corner before entering Epcot and who is there but the one and only DOPEY!!!! Entered by England and waited for each country to pass so I could celebrate Disney Dawnie style ... which included skipping the whole way down to the finish line with my hands swinging above my head like a lunatic - Got my final three medals and went to meet Jim - showered, changed, and yup off to Epcot for the day/night to celebrate!!!! bought some beers to give away at the last mile to some runners, drank in Mexico, England, and France with my cousin and her husband who live down there and waited for Mike and his family to meet us to congratulate each other!
I have to say I truly had the time of my life and smiled all 48.6 miles - I was acually disappointed I didn't have a run through a park when i woke Mon and no I didn't get up at 3am I slept till 6:30!
... everyone asked what's next - well I hear a rumor Disneyland's Dumbo challenge happens to fall on some Disney freaks' b-day this year ;-)
disney dawnie
Get some sleep Dawnie!
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