So what did I do after the race?

I'm going to try to finish the rest of my trip in 2-3 posts.

After finishing the race I got a quick massage, checked into the TNT tent and got in line for the buses.  I was thankful that I saw a teammate and I was able to hop in line with her instead of waiting in the LONG line for the buses.

After I got back to my room I hopped in the shower and I took what is possibly the longest shower of my life.  Just when I was about ready to get out of the shower, I started shivering all over again.  So I stayed in the shower a bit longer until I was warmer.

I got dressed quickly and made my way back to the parks.  I headed over to the Magic Kingdom to Lou Mongello's meet.  It was moved inside because of the weather.  I hung out there with Tim and his son while Lou walked around showing the people at the meet to the people in the Box.  When the meet was over I hung around to meet Lou:

I texted my friend Mike to see where he was and since he was heading to Space Mountain, I headed in that direction.  The wait was long so I grabbed a fast pass and went over to the Carousel of Progress and then went for a spin with Buzz Lightyear.  I snapped a few more pictures and then headed into Space Mountain.

I was able to ride Space Mountain plus two more rides in the same time that it took Mike to go through the stand-by line for Space Mountain.  Just sayin...

I wanted to get pictures of the places I had passed during the race so I followed the course that I had taken a few hours earlier:

Past the Speedway towards Fantasyland.

Whoa!  I see the castle ahead!

Um, I guess I can't go that way now...

So, I went this way...

And got this picture:

And look!  The lights were still up!

I decided to make one more stop on my favorite Magic Kingdom ride.

And just one more bit of proof of how cold it was.  There was no line at Aloha Isle!

I headed out of the park and decided to try to get dinner reservations.  Sanaa and Boma had no spaces avaiable for a single diner, so I tried Epcot restaurants.  Of course, Biergarden had places available, but I didn't think my stomach could handle it, but Teppan Edo had a spot open so I headed there!

Continued in next post!

Finishing in record time?

So, I finally make it out of the Magic Kingdom.  Somewhere within the next mile I see the same TnT coach.  I was trying to speed up since that mile through the park had really slowed me down.  I was thinking about having my Clif Shot but I thought that they would be distributing them soon so I tried to hold off.

I kept moving forward and maintaining my walk/run pattern.  I was expecting to see my coach around mile 7, but she wasn't there.  

 

She wasn't there at mile 8 either.  I knew I would be seeing her eventually though.  I did get to the food.  Unfortunately, the only flavors left were vanilla and raspberry.  Yuck.  I really only like mocha.  At least I had a mocha with me so I finally gave in and ate that.  Somewhere in this mile I saw one of my teammates.  I encouraged her to keep moving and went on my way.

Finally, just before mile 9 I saw all of the coaches.  They were waiting there for all of us.  My coach got out on the road with me.  That's her arm in the picture pointing out the time (and probably saying "Only 4 more miles!").  She still had on her poncho and had a towel wrapped around her legs like a skirt.  She helped me stay focused on maintaining my intervals.  I was certainly hurting by now.

I missed the picture of the 10 mile marker, but soon I was seeing a fellow WISHer, Thunder Matt!

I managed to get a good picture of him this time!

We made our way up the entrance ramp, on the right side (see my Princess Half report coming soon for that issue).  About half way up, my coach decided to finally drop her towel.  I didn't blame her.  She had been up and down the course several times and standing in the rain, I'm sure that towel was pretty heavy.

I snapped a picture of the people behind me who hadn't gotten to the ramp.

We made it to mile 11 and I then told my coach my goal of beating my time from the Philly Distance Run.  Once I told her about that, she had me pick up the pace.

I finally saw Spaceship Earth!

 

We got to mile 12 and then made our way into Epcot.  My coach had me run through the last water stop.  I was thirsty, but I had water on me to drink at the end.  We ran from the water stop all the way to the Christmas tree at the lagoon.  Once we got around the tree, I was able to walk.  I ran a little more in the downhill sections as we were leaving the park.

When we got the the mile 13 marker, my coach told me to run again.  We took off.  I ran as fast as I could to reach that finish line.  I managed to finish the race in 3:22:52.  50 seconds off of my time for the PDR.  I guess that wasn't to bad considering the horrible conditions that we were running in.  And, I got my picture in front of the castle finally!

We take a break from this trip report...

I just wanted to share some of the Disney-related blogs that I follow, including some that I've appeared in recently...

One of my favorites is The Disney Driven Life.  I guess you could say I'm a founding member of this page.  I met J.L., the original Neurotic Disney Mom (or NDM#1), on the Disboards when I was reading her trip report.  I became a Neurotic Disney Auntie (NDA#1 to be exact) before she even created her website/blog.  Stay tuned to this blog and I have requested that she create an NDP challenge for me.

I am also a huge fan of Jonathan Dichter's blog Voice of Mouse Tunes.  He is one of the main reasons I started running.  I am a huge fan of his podcast (All About the Mouse) and I am also an All About the Mouseketeer.  He writes regularly about his trials and tribulations while training to run in Disney races and lead a healthier life for his lovely baby daughter, Elizabeth.

Another blog associated with a podcast is Running to Disney.  Gordon is a 40-something guy who has discovered a love for running, Disney and his family.  He usually takes you along with him on his runs.  His blog includes show notes and updates on his training, weight-loss, and recipes.

A blog that I recently started following after meeting the writer on my last trip is The DVC Life.  Katie is a great resource for all things DVC.  She has some very useful posts on DVC whether it be about points, resorts, or the newest incentives being offered.

The last blog I will refer you to today is the one on the Touring Plans website.  The Touring Plans Blog features a variety of writers.  The current post actually includes a picture of me since I was with Kristen and friends Drinking Around the World the day after the Princess Half Marathon this March.

I will update in the future about other Disney blogs that I read, but I really wanted to share these ones with you today!

Heading through the Magic Kingdom!

So I left my coach around the 5K mark just after going to the gates to the Magic Kingdom.  I wasn't alone for too long though when I saw another coach from the Lehigh Valley chapter around mile 4 and he went with me into the Magic Kingdom.  But first I saw the place I was really looking forward to visiting:

Bay Lake Tower!

I couldn't wait until the day that I could stay there.  I couldn't spend too much time dreaming about it though because soon I saw my next mile marker.

I was doing okay with my time but I wanted to keep moving and get myself to the castle.  It was somewhere around here that I decided to get ride of my poncho.  I was really enjoying the race despite the rain and freezing temps and I felt like I was pretty warm after the first 5 miles. 

We made it past the Contemporary and then headed backstage and onto Main Street.  Surprisingly, it was the first time I had entered the Magic Kingdom during the trip.  I tried to take some pictures along the way but my fingers were cold and I didn't want to slow down until I got to the castle.  I kept snapping pictures along the way and these are some of the best ones:

I made it through Tomorrowland and into Fantasyland and I heard the trumpeters as I made my way behind the castle.  Before I knew, this was the sight in front of me:

I snapped that picture and then quickly made my way down the ramps to get the picture I had been dreaming about for the last year.  I did get my picture with the full castle behind me.  There was a short wait.  I think they should have had two photographers there so that people didn't have to wait too long.

I then promptly started heading out of the Magic Kingdom since I have another goal to make.  I wanted to beat my time from the Philadelphia Distance Run.  I didn't stop, but kept snapping pictures on my way out:

I grabbed some water and then it was back out to the roads!

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!!!