Sunday, November 19, 2017

"Hello? Excuse Me, Is There a FastPass to the Finish Line?"

Despite endless complaining about how 13.1 miles is after running the 10th Meia Maratona das Cataratas in Foz do IguaƧu, I still signed up for another one. I know, I know. Worst.


Approximately three-ish years ago, I sent a Facebook message to a friend saying that we HAD to complete a race at Disney World during Princess Weekend. At the time, I had no idea that I would actually end up moving to Florida, so it kind of seemed like one of those "Oh, we should do this sometime in the future, whether it be near or distant." and kind of left it at that.

Little did I know, I would actually become a Florida resident and my RunDisney dreams could come to fruition.

RunDisney offers approximately four race weekends throughout the course of the year and the Wine and Dine weekend was the first race weekend that took place after moving here. As soon as I knew that I was officially moving to Florida, I signed up. And since I was CrossFitting and running a lot at the time, I figured I could handle running the Two Course Challenge-- a 10K on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday.


Much like my last half, I completed these races with very little training, which is a bad habit that I need to break. Honestly, the worst part wasn't even the running, not for the 10K anyways. The worst part was waking up at 2am to get ready, drive to Disney, and wait for a race that started at 5:30. But luckily this is Disney and there was plenty to do while we were waiting-- character meet and greets, a DJ, crowd interviews, lip sync competitions, etc.


I got into my corral and soon we were off! The first part of the 10K was just down the highway, so it could have been pretty boring. But again, this is Disney. There was a marching band out playing for us, big screens set up with video clips and music, DJs, and more character meet and greets.

It was all downhill once we got to Disney's Hollywood Studios, though. Not literally speaking, of course. Sunset Blvd was all decorated for Christmas and since it was still dark out, the lights were all on. It was so pretty! There was so much music and holiday cheer and we were so close to the end-- it was a lot of fun. So much fun that I called Pops at 6am and wheezed out how freakin' fantastic it was.


After a quick jaunt through Hollywood Studios and a trip around the Boardwalk, we entered Epcot and the finish line was near! It was still dark, so there was a cauldron of fire lit in front of each country and it was just beautiful. I may have teared up a little bit-- sorry not sorry.

I may have also teared up a little bit when I crossed the finish line because I'd finally done a RunDisney race and it was awesome. And the medal was awesome. And I didn't feel like I was going to die.

After just one 10K, I made the bold statement that 10Ks are my favorite distance. At the 5K point of the race, I definitely had enough energy to keep going (thank god!) and I was glad that the race wasn't over yet. 10Ks are just far enough that you have to work, but not far enough to seem impossible. Not too much work that I couldn't go to Magic Kingdom to watch the Hoston Astros World Series Champs parade or to Animal Kingdom for a showing of the Festival of the Lion King, but enough work that I felt like I accomplished something in the morning.

Up next-- Wine and Dine Half Marathon!