Friday morning we previewed the New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately Belle was out of commission but we did get to see the new Be Our Guest restaurant, see Gaston's Pub, and go on the new Little Mermaid ride. We did a few more rides and then headed over to ESPN Wide World of Sports for packet pick up. I was in and out within 15 minutes which was nice. The expo is too overwhelming for me and I'm not that serious of a runner to check out all the sneakers and headbands and skirts and armbands and yeah I just wear lulu clearance and call it a day.
After packet pick up we headed to Downtown Disney for some lunchtime Earl of Sang-wich action, and then to MGM (Hollywood Studios if you're proper) to do a few rides. After MGM we took the boat over to the Beach Club for dinner at Cape May Cafe. My cousin lives in Orlando and met us at dinner. With his new girlfriend. She was probably horrified at all the food on the table but she seemed to like us despite our appetites.
Saturday (Lilly's birthday) we slept in a bit and headed back to Magic Kingdom to finish up the rides we wanted to go on and have lunch at the Liberty Tree. After lunch we went our separate ways. My father was diving at EPCOT so he made his way over there and I went back to ESPN WOW to get my knees taped by the nice people at the KT Tape booth. I then obviously went back to Downtown Disney to get another sangie before I tried to rest.
I got on a bus within 5 minutes of getting to the bus stop and made it to the start of the race by 8:00 pm. Now there was a waiting game. I was solo so I found a spot on the grassy area and people watched. There were some great costumes and then some questionable outfits. The girl wearing a sports bra and booty shorts had to be cold. It was warm, 60 degrees-ish, but we weren't moving around and that's not really a costume sooooo.
The race starts with fireworks for each corral and you are off, running on a Disney roadway. I started to get warm, really warm, before we even reached the first mile marker and got a little nervous. I am similar to a dog, in that I overheat and get too cold very easily. Since I had finished my water while waiting, I hit up the first restroom stop before mile 1. I had some issues with my ipod, namely, my new running playlist did not sync so I was left with my old playlist, and the new songs I downloaded at the end. Central Florida, you smell like a latrine. We did some running up and back down overpasses, and the sewage smell was gag-inducing. Disney, check yourself.
Our first park was Animal Kingdom and this is where we hit 4 miles. My plan for the race was a- not die b- finish- c- run 4 walk 1 run 4 walk 1 etc. I powerwalked about a half a mile before I started running again...namely because I saw a photographer up ahead and girlfriend did not want an official race photo of herself walking.
We snaked around Animal Kingdom, and eventually came out in the parking lot. The bird exhibit smells even at night, the weird orb lights they set up were very weird, and the fake animal noises on the path as we left were a nice touch.
Our next stop was MGM where we ran through some of the Backlot Tour exhibits, the Osborne Family lights, and around Mickey's sorcerer's apprentice hat. I took another walk break here because my knees were screaming. I probably only walked about a half mile, maybe a little more, at this point. During my walk break at Animal Kingdom I ate one of my fruit strips for some sugar, and had a little bit of powerade at one of the water stops. I stuck to water for MGM and for the rest of the race.
After leaving MGM we ran on the Boardwalk towards EPCOT. Thank goodness we were almost done. The path was really narrow and I did have to bob and weave but the atmosphere was great. Lots of signs and cheers as we ran by. We finally made it to EPCOT and I kept my eyes darting around to try and spot my father in the crowd. I was able to find him and waved frantically so he would recognize me. We left the park and started towards the parking lot, where the finish line was located. As we rounded the corner at the 13 mile mark you were in a tunnel of lasers, which was awesome (slash hopefully they gave people with light sensitivity, people with epilepsy, etc. notice about this???). The finish line was in sight and I crossed at 2:55, below my goal of 3 hours. My official time was 2:44 something which is almost 30 minutes faster than the Princess half.
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| I look like an alien. One eye is closed, the other had red eye, and I'm grimacing. Percy is cuter. |
But I felt fine. My breathing was fine, yes my knees hurt like every vulgar word you've looked up on urban dictionary, but my stomach wasn't any more upset than it normally is, and I could walk fine.
I got my medal, grabbed my box of goodies that I would end up giving to my father, and slowly shuffled through the crowd to get back into EPCOT for the afterparty. If you have never been to EPCOT during the Food and Wine festival, I would highly recommend it. The vendors stayed open until 4:00 am for us. I had some pierogiis, nachos sin carne, and churros. I also had a few sips of hard cider before giving it to my father to finish. We ended leaving around 3 and after a quick shower I crawled into bed at 4:00 am. Which is crazy late for me.
Monday we dropped our bags off and headed to Animal Kingdom to see some lions, tigers, and HIPPOS. After plotting how to fit a hippo on an airplane it was time for Downtown Disney and the T-Rex restaurant for lunch. Where we were seated in the herbivore room. Alone. Like we were the only people eating in that section of the restaurant. Super awkward but awesome at the same time. After lunch I hit up Goofy's Candy store for my third visit of the trip and we got more sangies to go for airport dining. From there it was onto the sad bus to go to the airport. Where both of our flights were delayed. By two hours. So that was fun.
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