Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend - Friday, January 6

The alarm went off at 3:00am.  Which is basically the middle of the night! We got up and got dressed and decided to walk down to the little food court thing and get a bagel and coffee.  Upon arrival we were very sad to discover that they were not opening early today, only Saturday and Sunday.  Which was a bummer since I was not a good packer and did not bring any breakfast.  So we headed back to the room and I grabbed my mini Luna bar that was in my "goody" bag.  I think this was actually the only "goody" in that bag, but whatever.  Taking that walk was actually a good thing because we both realized how cold it was outside, and so we grabbed an extra layer before heading out to the bus stop.  I have heard nightmares about the whole bus system, so I was nervous to wait too long to try to catch a bus.  But there was one waiting there for us and we made it on without any problems.  There was not much traffic and we got to the EPCOT parking lot with lots and lots of time to spare.  That is the one thing that I hate about Disney races, they have super early wake up calls, and then you have to sit around and wait forever for anything to start.  I do not think it would be possible for them to get everyone there and assembled on time if they did it any other way, but it still makes for a long day. 

The bag check was right when we got off the buses.  This was somewhat of a dilemma for me because I was just not ready to part with my warm clothes, but did not want to have to walk all the way back out here.  I decided to just suck it up and deal, and check my bag.  We headed around the corner and there was a DJ playing music and keeping the crowd pumped up.  Mom got in line to get coffee, but did not have any cash on her, it was in the checked bag.  So I took this as a sign that I just needed to go get the bag back and warm up.  I re layered, mom got her coffee, and we huddled under a generator powered light.  Great for giving off a small amount of warmth, bad for the fumes we were breathing in while staying warm. 

Eventually it was time to line up for the race.  This is only my second Disney 5k, but this is the first time I have seen them do a corral start.  It was not anything really organized or official, so it was sort of confusing.  They kept saying they were going to start things off in three separate groups, which was good, since it would alleviate some serious crowding.  But then they just made a general announcement that it was time to be in the corrals, and people were lining up everywhere.  Mom and I headed to the middle/back, figuring this was going to be about the second or third start.  But alas it was the first, which freaked me out since I am not that fast and certainly do not want to cause people to have to dodge around me, but I think everyone was somewhat confused because there were a variety of speeds all around me. 

The race itself is somewhat of a blur.  I know the first mile is around the EPCOT parking lot, and then we end up in the park, and the finish line is back in the parking lot.  This was the first time I was running with my inhaler, and I had to make myself slow down after I saw how speedy I had been during the first mile.  This was probably part adrenaline and excitement as well as the lack of my chest feeling like someone was standing on it.  I did not want to go too crazy since I had to run again in the morning, so I slowed down and just took things easy.  After crossing the finish line, I got my medal and tried to wait for mom so I could get her picture as she was crossing, but there was starting to be a cluster of people and they forced us to move out of the way right as she was crossing.  I should have waited on the other side so we could run across together, but I was not thinking straight that early in the morning.  We took our finisher photos and got on the bus to head to breakfast at Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. 

Let me just say - I love Boma.  Their juice is the best thing I have ever had.  I think our server said it was mango, passion fruit and something else.  I could not replicate it if I tried...actually I wonder if there is a copycat recipe floating around the internet somewhere.  I must research this.  To eat I had: eggs, tomatoes, potatoes, bacon, a blueberry muffin, chocolate chip muffin, and cinnamon roll.  This list makes it sound like I ate about 6 meals, but they were all small portions plus the muffins were minis and it all fit on one plate, so its really not as bad as it seems :-) Plus I was starving!

After breakfast we took the bus back to EPCOT and switched to the bus to take us back to the Caribbean.  We showered and hung out for a while and then decided to head over to EPCOT.  Only, somewhere in the time that we were waiting for the bus to EPCOT we decided to go back to the expo.  Mom wanted to get an "In Training for 2012" shirt.  I was not going to discourage any shopping, plus I was pondering maybe getting the marathon version of the same shirt, so we went back to the expo.  The Disney merchandise was completely picked over.  There was nothing left.  Mom did manage to find her shirt, but as far as any Marathon or Goofy training shirts, there was nothing to be found.  We did wind up at the Bondi Band booth and had fun looking through all of the funny sayings and stuff.  I look like a complete dweeb in those things.  Everyone else that was trying them on looked totally normal.  This guy even came over and tried on a princess one, and he looked normal, but me, not so much.  Once the Bondi Band girl came and helped me fix it up a little it was better.  So we each grabbed a few.  Mine say "Powered by Pixie Dust" and "Will Run for Cupcakes".  I probably will not give a crap how ridiculous I look when I am running in the middle of summer and sweat is dripping in my eyes, so these will certainly come in handy!

We left the expo and went to EPCOT.  We had some time before our dinner reservation so we just walked around and shopped a little.  Dinner was at Teppan Edo, the hibachi restaurant in Japan.  It was so yummy.  The show was pretty much the same as it is at every other hibachi restaurant, but the food was really good, and you can never go wrong with white sauce.  I have no idea what it is, or how it is made, and I do not want to.  I just want to enjoy it guiltlessly :-)  After dinner we headed back to get ready for bed, since yet another early morning wake up was coming!