WDW Marathon weekend with Team in Training! Day 3 Part 1, January 9, 2010

My alarm went off at 2:15. We were required to meet at 2:45 so that we could be on the first buses over to the race. If I were traveling on my own, I probably would have slept until 3 am and tried to get on a bus around 3:30 or 3:45. I got some pictures while we we waiting for the bus:



I really wish this picture came out better. I didn't tell the person taking it how to use the focus on the camera. Whoops!





Once we got on the bus it was a quick ride over to Epcot. The buses stopped somewhere out in the parking lots and we had a pretty far walk just to get to the holding area. The music was blaring and we were all struggling to get warm or at least not get colder. I shared a towel with one of my teammates and we leaned up against each other. I was hoping I would fall asleep and get a bit more rest, but that didn't happen.

We made our way over to the starting lines after what seemed like forever trying to get through the bag check. I was in Corral G. I think if I had registered on my own I would have been in a higher corral as I saw many people online with similar finish times and lower bib numbers.

Once we got to the corrals, we waited,

And waited

 

and waited 

and

OOOooh fireworks!

 

And then we got a little bit closer...

And finally, about 25 minutes later, we found the start line

I took pictures along the way, but I wasn't stopping for anything so none of them came out clear.  I stayed with my coach for the first 5k.

I saw this before my coach left:

And then I was on my own...

WDW Marathon weekend with Team in Training! Day 2, Part 3, January 8, 2010

I took the Monorail over to Epcot and made my way over to Sunshine Seasons for a snack before getting onto a few rides. Disney we attempting to protect the plants from the freeze that was coming:



I got myself a pasta salad and a few bags of pretzels to take with me and took some time to sit down and enjoy the food. The I headed over to Living with the Land. I hadn't been on that ride at least since 2003, but the last time I can definitely remember the ride was from my senior trip that my mom took me on. I still really enjoy the ride and I don't really miss having the cast member tour guide.

Here are some pictures from the ride:



I just had Jackfruit at home the week before. I never liked the canned stuff, but fresh it was delicious so I was excited to see the tree.





After the ride I decided to head over to Mouse Gears and get myself a backpack. The free one from the expo just wasn't getting the job done and I had put a tear in it around the drawstring area so I was concern about more rips and then the chance of losing my stuff. After I got out of the store, I saw that the rain had started:



It was almost time for the Inspiration Dinner so I started to make my way over to the World Showplace Pavilion. I got there and didn't need to wait long before they started letting people in. All the coaches and staff were lining the walkway with tons of noisemakers to cheer on all of the runners.



Inside, they had several buffet tables full of salads and pastas and the pavilion was full of tables. I had been in there before, but the set up was different.



I grabbed some food and found our tables. Once the presentation got started, we were able to hear many stories about the great work that our fundraising does. John "The Penguin" Bingham was our host. He is a back of the pack runner like most of the TnT participants.




After the dinner I made my way to the front of the part so that I could catch a bus over to Pop for my WISH meet. I snapped some pictures of the Christmas tree and the Monorail on my way out.






I didn't have to wait too long for the bus and when I got to Pop I easily found the WISHers in the food court area. I got to meet Jeff Da Runner (Aloha Jeff) and my friend Tim (who was one of my supporters in my fundraising).



Jeff had Aloha Mickey with him, so I got a picture with Mickey too:



After a little bit, we all headed outside for the group picture. Here's the picture from my point of view:



Once the meet was over, I headed over to the expo one more time to do some more shopping (I got paid that day!). I picked up a race tee shirt, pins, and an "In Training" shirt for next year's marathon. I also spent enough money to get the special throw. Once I finished up with the purchases, I made my way back to the resort and headed back to my room before heading to our team meeting.




My coaches even decorated my door!



I quickly dropped my stuff off and grabbed my singlet and my roommate and headed to the team meeting. Our coaches gave us all of the updates and reminded us where to meet in the morning, then we decorated our singlets and headed back to our rooms to get a good (albeit short) night's sleep.



Next up: RACE DAY!!!