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Comments: So, I was a little bit worried about the foot. Flashback to Christmas morning...ran 21 miles at a very easy pace but was foot was not happy after the run...in fact that night, I was a little bit in tears over how much my foot hurt after spending the day cooking, then driving to a family gathering. After that run, I decided to do the rest of my runs with Ripley, my awesome dog...who seems to need a little break every 5-10 minutes. Well, she chose 8 minutes and hey, that worked for me. Suddenly, my foot was no longer sore later in the day post run or the next day. The lightbulb went off and I decided that week that maybe I would do run/walk for the upcoming half and full marathons. I have been recovering from a plantar fasciitis issue with my left foot and knew I had to make it at least halfway through Sunday's marathon without my calves tightening up or I was in for a whole lot of hurt and a much longer recovery, so I committed to the run/walk. As Donald did the countdown backwards "1, 2, 3!"...lol, the crowd started moving forward and once we hit the line, people started getting up to speed quickly. My foot was mildly sore for the first 5 minutes or so and then I forgot about it (which was terrific as the initial discomfort has lasted up to 15'). It was still pitch dark out, so I just stayed at a nice pace to begin but over to the side of the road. In no time at all, my walk beep went off. Bummer...this was the single hardest thing in the world to do with everyone going at such a nice clip. I have never done the run/walk in a race intentionally, and hadn't really prepared for how it would feel to be walking when everyone else was flying by. It kind of sucked at first but then I got over it. One minute never seemed so long! Happily, it beeped and I got back up to speed...only to see Donald Duck over by the side of the road ready for photos!!! I ran over, took a quick pic and continued on...my mind did some quick thinking...should I adjust my run/walk for the photos? Oy. That would take math. So I decided to just continue as the watch told me, stopping for photos all along the way, with pretty much all of the characters I was familiar with, Buzz Lightyear, Mickey in plaid, got to the castle and stopped for Daisy and Donald, some princesses...it was a ton of fun, and I continued taking the full 1' break whenever the watch beeped. It was really fun running past the castle and through the various parks, but I think because it was so dark, it was sort of hard to see much. But for some reason, mile 10 came very quickly and I was once again bummed to hear the watch beeps because it seemed like whenever I was passing huge crowds of spectators, I had a walk break! "keep going, you can do it!", I just smiled and thanked them and then as soon as the watch beeped, off I went. I think after Chip and Dale, there were no more photo opps...I almost decided to bag the run/walk, it was just a 5k after all! But my brain said, no, you have a marathon to do tomorrow, don't be stupid!!! I skipped the last walk break and ran the last 1.5 miles straight through. I have NEVER felt so good at the end of a half marathon. My mile pace was the fastest for the last 3 miles. High five with Goofy at the finish line. What would you do differently?: Nothing at all. I had a blast, my heel did not hurt one bit during the run and I have some awesome photos with Mickey and friends.  Post race
Warm down: Got some fruit, drinks, and headed back to the bus to the hotel. Foot started to throb a little bit walking to the bus and then especially sitting on the bus. Traffic jam again darn it. Ice bath immediately after getting to the hotel...brrrrr. Iced my foot a few more times preventatively after Hollywood Studios and later that night after dinner. What limited your ability to perform faster: Heel recovering...photo opps! Event comments: I give this race a 5. There was a bit of traffic on the way to the Epcot, but hopefully everyone behind us got there on time. Not too much instruction on getting from the sweat bag drop off to the corrals, but I just followed the crowd. Being in Corral A, I didn't have to wait at all for photo opps with the characters. I rarely had to wait more than a minute since most folks were flying by. I would definitely do this race in the future! Flat and fast! Profile Album Last updated: 2011-10-02 12:00 AM
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United States
Walt Disney World Endurance Sports
48F / 9C
Overcast
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = F45-49
Age Group Rank = 18/1310
Flew into Orlando on the red-eye Thursday night and arrived Friday morning. Took the Magical Express Bus to our hotel which was fabulous! Ate a little something and decided to head to the expo at about 1pm. The Disney expo was pretty crowded but very organized. Since I was doing the Goofy, I got 3 very nice long sleeve tech T's. Took lots of fun pictures with Kathy and realized we were doing exactly what I probably shouldn't have been doing, walking around, wandering the crazy ESPN Sportszone....so went back to the hotel, then out to dinner at a really great Mayan restaurant, I had the most delicious meal of salmon and some creamy potato thing. Those who know me, know how regimented I can be about my food (pasta with chicken!) before races, but I was really just intending to have a fun trip and pick up some nice swag while visiting the happiest place on earth! My foot was a little achy so iced it while watching a little tv. Went to bed at around 9:00-9:30.
Got up at 2:30, ate a bagel with PB and had a cup of coffee. Remembered to use my Rocktape and decided to just tape both heels and wrap the arches. Headed to the lobby at about 3:30 and glad I did, the bus I hopped on was only half full and the lobby was still full of people, but there was a ton of traffic on the way over to Epcot. I think we got there close to 4:30 and I just followed the crowd to the corrals, but I literally did not get into my corral until 5:30 and the race started at 5:35!!! Argh, oh well, I was way back in the corral and I was intending to do a run/walk, so figured I would stay out of harm's way by staying further back.
Just the 45 minute shuffle to the corrals...that took only 15-20 minutes the next day! I think there were 20K+ for the half and only 13K+ for the full. Not the smartest but I didn't wear any donation sweats or at the very least a garbage bag to stay warm. Because it was pretty cold out there! Would recommend that for temps below 50's.