Race #41- 2013 Wine and Dine Half Marathon

The Wine and Dine Half Marathon was on November 9, 2013.  The year before, it was our first half marathon.  I remember how nervous we were.  This time we were ready to just enjoy it.

But first up, one of favorite parts:  The expo!

I thought the race shirts were cute!  Still didn't like the material or that it was unisex but I wasn't gonna complain since I knew that for my next Disney race, they were starting with gender specific shirts.

 And now for the bought goodies:  This cute New Balance tee to go with our Minnie shoes.

These cute shirts from Raw Threads (the space one was perfect for my Space Coast Half coming up!)

 And we bought our normal: The I Did It tee, Sweatybands, the vinylmation medal, and the necklace.

 We found a cute Brooks tee and got our Lasting Commemoratives art card.

 And of course we found some new Sweatybands!

 We were ready for the race!  Our costumes were last minute--a friend was going to run with us and we were going to do a Monsters Inc thing but she got injured so we changed....

 to Donald and Daisy!!

 The line for the bus was a lot longer this year but it still went pretty quickly.  We met up with Justin (Always Running Forward) for a little bit then met up with Kristin (A Mom on the Run) before we headed into the corral.

Before we knew it, the first fireworks went off!

 I love the new corral system.  It seems that the fireworks go off, you walk up some and then they're counting down for the next corral to go.  It seems to go so much quicker!

Soon it was our turn and we were off!

 We only stopped for one picture--in the Spectacle of Lights (it's where I got engaged and I got a funny picture last year there so it's becoming a tradition to stop there)

These next pictures make me laugh so I have to include them.  During the Tower of Terror 10 Miler, we had the most perfect jumping pictures.  So Cori wanted to recreate it

 Only she forgot to tell me this...So I'm laughing at her

And asking her what she was doing

Oh, so you want to jump?  Okay

Definitely not as good as last time.

But soon we were running through Epcot

And before we knew it, we were done! 

We finished in 2:37:17--a PR of 8 mins and 13 seconds!  My knee was hurting pretty bad at the end.  They taped it up but it was a bag of chunky ice and the ice on it hurt even more so I took it off.

We headed into the drink line which was forever long---way longer than last year.  Cori doesn't drink so she skipped it.  Or so I thought.  She actually had found a spot with a nonexistent line and had somehow grabbed an extra beer along with her soda.  So I had two!

We headed back to the car to change--so much easier than checking bags and having to change in the bathroom and drag clothes along.  And then headed back to Epcot for a little Food & Wine.

 We saw Justin for a second then headed into the countries to meet up with Kristin and her hubby.  And that's when the worst part of the night happened.  There's this spot right around where the new Starbucks is where the runners run in the path of where parkgoers walk.  So they have this area where they switch the path of runners back and forth to get the people across.  I've seen this tons of times and I've never seen a problem.  But that night, the cast members were horrible.  The backup was insane.  You had to cross from one side, to an island in the middle, to the other side.  But the cast members weren't effective.  Instead of switching every time the island got full, they were holding the runners for way too long--we were stuck in a crowded small area for about 25 minutes.  Not good for the legs of just finished runners.  And people were nauseated.  We even saw one person faint.  It just wasn't smart and hopefully won't be a problem next year.

Anyways, we met up with Kristin and Adam and grabbed food in Italy.  I had the lasagna and it was so good.  By that time we were tired and pretty cranky from the earlier issue so we all decided to just head home.

Still, we had a blast at the race!

Some fun finisher's certificates

My official time was 2:37:27.  I was 4994 out of 12153 overall.  Top half...not bad.  I was 2785 out of 8049 for gender.  Top half again.  And then 574 out of 1514 for division so top half there too.

I love Disney races!

Post-Marathon Thoughts

I did it!!  I am officially a marathoner!

I'm so far behind on race recaps but I wanted to get my thoughts out now before I forgot them.  I was sooo nervous in the corral waiting for the race to start.  Because of my injury, I honestly had no idea if I would even make it to mile 1.  And so when I got mile 1.5 (with a stop at the 1 miler marker for a picture of course) I realized that I really needed to start my run/walk intervals because everyone said to slow down at the beginning.  But I was feeling that good that I could easily have kept going.  I had no pain in the beginning!  I had a few twinges in my calf start at about mile 2.5.  It was really only the first few steps of my run intervals so I was playing around with which foot to start with and then it went away in a few miles.  And that was the end of the leg pain for the whole race!!

I got a huge blister on my left pinky toe at mile 19.  I stopped twice during mile 19 & 20 (to see what it was & then at the medical tent to put a bandaid on it).  Putting tight compression socks back on sweaty legs takes FOREVER!!  So the blister hurt for a few miles and then I felt it pop.  Yes, that killed but then the pain went to something manageable. 

I don't think I really ever hit the wall.  Yes, miles 19 & 20 were tough due to the pain and I was wondering how I was going to do 7 more miles like that.  But then it went away.  At mile 20, I dropped to 1:1 intervals since that was farther than I had ever gone but I never hit that mental point where I didn't think I could do it.  I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't going that fast or hard.  Or maybe it was because I had had a mental wall for the past week wondering about if I was going to be able to run at all due to the injury so that the last few miles weren't tough.  I mean, I DEFINITELY got tired.  After WWOS, I was wondering if the we were ever going to get to the Studios.  But it wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it was going to be. 

Except for during the blister part, I didn't take any extra walk breaks that weren't planned (the walk intervals, picture stops, and water stops, oh and one bathroom break).  So I was proud of that.

I never got bored either.  I think it's because I'm used to the long runs by myself on the boring stretch of street where I live.  So even though Osceola Parkway was a long stretch of nothing, I was completely entertained by the other runners.  And I was also checking my Facebook and Twitter a bunch too.  The comments on my page were sooo motivating!  And I loved the crowd support, especially towards the end from the Studios on (I definitely took advantage of some spectators that were passing out pretzels--just what I needed!!!)

My finishing time was 5:31:19.  I was only 7 minutes off my pre-injury goal.  And even though I had said that my only goal was to finish, I kinda got mad at myself because I was so close!  If I hadn't fought with getting my compression socks on, I just might have made it!  Oh, and the almost 50 picture stops affected my time too.

I was feeling so good after the race.  No leg pain or soreness.  The only thing that was bugging me was my feet--I wanted my shoes off immediately and luckily I had told my hubby to bring flip flops.  Everyone kept trying to help me around but I didn't need it (including getting down to the ground to take the socks off and then standing up again).  But yesterday afternoon was a different story.  I didn't have much muscle pain but my joints hurt--both knees, both ankles and then both Achilles hurt.  And I had a weird bruising sensation all of the top of my body.  Still can't figure that one out (but it's gone today).  As for the pain today, my  muscles are a little more sore but nothing terrible.  My right ankle is the only thing still really bothering me.  It hurts quite a bit!  Its the same one that was hurting before the race, so a doctors apt might be necessary--agh.

People keep asking me if I'd do another marathon and the answer is yes!  But probably only if it's a Disney marathon.  I need the stimulation of the parks and the characters and entertainment and people dressed in costume.  I don't think I could handle a regular marathon without all of that to keep me occupied.  As for Dopey or Goofy, I don't think my body could handle the training or the races so that's out.  But one day I will do another Disney marathon!!  I had a blast!!

Final Thoughts Before the Big Race

It's the night before the Walt Disney World Marathon--my first full marathon and I'm freaking out.  I always knew I would be because I tend to get really nervous about things.  But it's a different kind of nervous. 

Before I was nervous because I just wanted to finish in a way that I was proud of--mostly keeping up my 2:1 intervals with only a few extra walks thrown in.  But now, with my hurt leg, I'm worried about finishing at all.  I've had guys at running stores and the KT tape guy tell me I probably shouldn't be running. But I trained for so long that I just can't NOT try. Oh, and lets not talk about the fact that I'm running a marathon in brand new shoes in a new-to-me brand.  I've been walking around in them in the past week so hopefully that counts as breaking them in.    

And I'm mad.  Mad because I should have listened to my gut when getting new shoes instead of the running store guy.  Mad because until 2 1/2 weeks ago I was pretty good at following the training plan.  Mad that I'm letting this get to me.

I haven't run in 2 weeks.  The last time I ran, it was when I was trying on new shoes in the store and it hurt just to do that and I was limping while running.  But I'm really hoping the 2 weeks rest was just what I needed and that I'll feel great tomorrow. 

There is a part of me that's excited for tomorrow.  But it's smaller than I thought it would be.  I think once I get there tomorrow and see all the runners, it'll kick in.  I hope so.  I just need to relax and enjoy the magic like I do with all the other runDisney events.

Enough of the negative--I've had so much fun this week meeting up with different groups of running friends.  It's been so great talking about running and life and getting great advice and support.  And I've thoroughly enjoyed spending lots of money at the expo (is going to the expo 4 times in one week too much?  NAH!!!)  Spend all the money!!

My costume is ready--it's a loose version of Sleeping Beauty.  I had a way better shirt but it bugged me on a training run so I ditched it.  But I still think it's pretty cute.

Good luck to everyone running tomorrow!  I have the alarm set for 2:45am.  See you out there!

runDisney's Wine & Dine Meetup

I was lucky enough to get into the Wine & Dine Meetup.  It was at night so I wouldn't have to take off from work, so it was perfect!  It was my first meetup and I was so excited!

Cori and I met up with Kristin (A Mom on the Run) and her hubby, Adam.  We showed up at the entrance to Epcot to get our shirts and we got another goody too--a fastpass for Test Track!  I hadn't ridden the new version so this was a plus!

So right after changing into our shirts, we headed over there.

 Once inside, you get to design your vehicle

 

Then it was time to get on board

After our ride, we headed to the countries for some Food & Wine goodies!

 I had to get my favorite--the Dragonberry Colada!

I also stopped in Canada for the filet with the yummy mushroom sauce!

 Then we headed to the special viewing area to watch Illuminations.  It was fun to see so many runners that I chat with on Facebook and Twitter (although I was too shy to say hi to most of them!)

 

 

Then we headed over to America.  We got in line for a picture with the head Chef himself!

 Then we got to the food! This was a vegetarian dish with a spicy curry sauce.  Not sure who thought it was a good idea to feed runners something spicy before a run.  But it was okay.

We also had some fruit, veggies, humus, and cookies.

Then we listened to some speakers. Darrell Fry, Sports Media Director, and Faron Kelley, Director, Marketing and Communication for Disney Sports started us off.

 We listened to Jeff Galloway and runDisney nutritionist Tara Gidus.

 We learned about the new New Balance runDisney shoes that will be coming out as well as other New Balance products.  (Cindy shoes, I'm coming for you!!)














And we learned about some of the food and wine from the countries from some of the chefs and a sommelier. 

They also had several prizes to be won.  Cori won a free entry into any runDisney race.  How lucky! 

We got to take a picture with same famous people: Minnie, Goofy, & Mickey!

Then it was time for the running portion.  We usually do run/walk intervals but when I heard that the group was going to be doing something like :20/:20 I knew I couldn't handle that much starting and stopping.  Cori was worried about the straight running pace so I asked and they said it would be a slow 11ish minute pace.  Well, it turned out to be about a minute faster but we kept up the whole time! 

We ran around the countries once and then back to in front of the fountain where we stopped for some pictures.

Just the straight runners group

And everyone

Then we ran to in front of Spaceship Earth where they had special champagne toast for us!  I forget the exact toast but it went something like "May the road rise up to meet you.  May the wind always be at your back.  May your splits be negative.  And your miles be magic."  Something like that.  Anyways, it was great!

 

 

 

 

I had so much fun and hope I get to participate in another runDisney Meetup!