Race #53- Tower of Terror 10 Miler

I love runDisney races.  I get so excited for them.  And the Tower of Terror 10 Miler is no exception!

Cori and I were dressed as the Queen of Hearts and her Card.

A bunch of DisBrides were running the race, so we met up with them.  And unknowingly (to me & Cori) they had all dressed up from Alice in Wonderland too!!

We fit right in!

We also met up with Kate from Raw Threads.

Soon it was time to head to our corrals.  After not too long of waiting, the fireworks went off!

I started off with Cori but ran the race on my own.

 As I entered the Wide World of Sports, Christianna caught up with me.  We ran together briefly and then played tag for quite a bit of the racec--quite literally.  We'd run by each other, tapping each other and saying "tag!"  It made the time pass by quickly!

I didn't stop for any pictures until I got to the end.  I had to have one with my medal in front of the Tower of Terror!

I waited for Cori to finish and then we went and got changed and met up with a bunch of Raw Threads people.  Then we grabbed some food.  Peanut butter and jelly, fries, and chocolate milk is the perfect post-race treat!

We were pretty tired but had to stop for a quick picture with Pain and Panic since I don't think I have one of them.

It was another great runDisney race and I have to say that I'm quite sad that they won't be  having it next year!

I ended up finishing in 1:45:05.  Not bad.

My overall place was 1751 out of 9387 so well into top quarter.  For gender, I place 748 out of 6146 and age and gender I placed 146 out of 1102.  Pretty good.  

Race # 40-- Evergreen Pumpkin 10 Miler

This year for the Walt Disney World Marathon, you had to submit a proof of time for a 10  miler race or longer.  So when Kristin (from A Mom on the Run) told me about this run, I signed up.  Plus it was on October 27, her birthday!  I was planning on using my best pace: the chORD half or this race, but since the half wasn't a true half, I knew this was going to be my only shot so I was a little nervous.

Kory, Adam, Kristin, and I headed to the race and got there pretty close to race time.  Kory was just watching so he held all of our stuff.  It was cold, so Kristin and I kept long pants on until the last minute.  And I do mean the last minute.  I'm used to Disney races where you have to be there super early and are in the corrals at least 30-45 minutes beforehand.  So when we were in line for the portapotties and I heard them say that they were about to start, I was freaking out a little.  We got into the corral with about a minute to spare.

 



I had been training by running the first three miles then doing my 2:1 intervals so that's what I did for this race.  Kristin and I ran together for those first 3 miles at a pretty quick pace. 

 

Then we said our goodbyes and she took off and I took a minute walk break.

 

This course is beautiful!  It's all shaded with huge gorgeous trees.  The course wasn't too crowded.  There was one out and back part that was a little congested but not bad. 

By looking at my watch, I knew my pace was pretty fast, for me.  But I was feeling good!  My knee wasn't bothering me, I wasn't that tired, it was cool and shady.  Pretty perfect race conditions.

Close to the end, I went to take a walk break.  I had about a half mile left.  I like to continue my walk breaks until about a quarter mile left and then take off sprinting.  But I met a friend.  He meant well, I know.  But he came up by me and told me I could do it.  I think he thought I was feeling exhausted and needed  motivation or something.  I told him I was okay and just taking a walk break.  He said we were too close to the end to take a walk break.  So I ran again but stopped after a minute.  And he wouldn't let me!  So by the time we got close to the finish line, I was too tired to really push it.  Oh well!  (You can see my "friend" in the finish line picture)

 My official time was 1:43:28 for a pace of 10:26.  I was really excited!  It would be a great proof of time for the marathon.

 I was 217th overall (I think they do it by gender) out of 361.  Lots of fast people!  I was 37th for my age and gender out of 56.  Not so great place-wise.  Lots of fast people running the race!

But I enjoyed it and I'd definitely do it again!

Race # 39- Tower of Terror 10 Miler

I was excited to run the Tower of Terror 10 Miler on October 5, 2013.  I love night races.  I'm much more of a night owl, so these are right up my alley.


We got to the race early since we hate stressing about time and we needed time to chalk our hair (it showed up so much better in Cori's hair) and put our rainbow stickers on.
















I had bought one of those iphone cases that recharges your phone because I planned to watch the Florida/Arkansas football game (I never miss Gator games).  But I forgot that due to all the people around, I can never get service.  And I had to miss my game.  Boo!

But soon we were ready to go!

 Soon it was time to line up in our corral.  I was in corral D.  For some reason, Cori was in E (even though we had the same proof of time and finish time estimation) but she showed her proof at the expo and she got switched to D.  I love how the new corral timings work.  It seems that just as soon as your corral walks up, they're counting down 30 seconds until the next corral is ready to go.

Soon it was our turn!

 
 
 
 
And we were off!  I felt pretty good at the beginning.  Around mile 3, my knee started aching a little.  By mile 5 it was killing me.  At one point I stopped to get some biofreeze from the medical tent.  There were some volunteers with goopy stuff on popsicle sticks.  I scooped some up and put it on my knee--only to discover it was Vaseline!!!  Oh man.  That stuff was so slimy since I was sweaty.  Ugh!  At the next med tent, I asked before I just scooped some up.  I put it on over the Vaseline but it didn't do anything.  So I ran in pain for the last 5 miles but I wasn't about to slow down or stop!!

  

 I like this picture because of the stars in the background.  But for some reason, I cannot remember where it was taken.

And here's my favorite race picture of all time!  I really need to buy this one!!  We had talked about doing this before but weren't sure we could get the timing right if we were in the middle of a run.  But we saw a photographer, counted 1-2-3 and jumped!

 Even though I was in pain, I still love runDisney races.  Nothing compares to them!!

We got a new 10 Miler PR by 8 minutes and 11 seconds!  Official time was 2:04:36.  Overall, I was 3750th out of 9480 so well in the top half.  For age, I was 352nd out of 1003 (top half) and for gender I was 2013th out of 6134 (top third).  Not bad!

And some fun finishers certificates

After the race I met up with Kristin who had been watching her hubby run his first Disney race.  We chatted for a bit the Cori and I went to get some food.  My knee hurt but overall, I felt pretty good!  My back-to-back-to-back weekends of racing was done.  I had 2 weekends off before my next race!!

Race Recaps--2

Race #11--Dawn Brancheau Dream Big 5k, April 21, 2012

Race #12--Disney's Expedition Everest Challenge, May 5, 2012.  We came in 39th place in the female team division out of 701!  We are kicking ourselves that we didn't sign up for the 2013 race in time!


Race #13--Disney's Tower of Terror 10 Miler, September 29, 2012 (our first long run)

 

 

Race #14--Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon, November 10, 2012 (our first half!)

Race #15--Reindeer Run, Sea World, December 15, 2012














Race #16--Walt Disney World Half Marathon, January 12, 2013

Race #17--Dick Batchelor Run for the Children 5k, Universal, January 19, 2013

Race #18--Lady Foot Locker 5k, Winter Park, February 2, 2013

 

Race #19--Winter Garden 10k, February 16, 2013

 

 

Up next will the Princess Half Marathon.  I can't wait!