Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Weekend - The Race

(Trip report begins here)


Just because I got into bed at 8:30 PM doesn't mean I fell asleep then ... or at all! Well, I do think I got some sleep, maybe about 20 minutes around 1:30 AM. By 2:30 I was already considering getting up and starting to get ready. By 2:45 there was no reason to wait for the wake up call or my phone alarm, so I got out of bed, cancelled the wake up call, and turned off my phone alarm. First step is a shower ... partially to wake me up and partially ... well, for the usual reason.

After the shower (and the usual morning routine) it's time for a 3:15 AM snack - otherwise known as breakfast. My stomach is confused and wants to know what's happening, but grudgingly accepts the nutrition. I grab a Powerade to take with me to get the bus to the starting line in the EPCOT parking lot. Transportation begins at 4:00 and a bus is waiting there when I arrive at the pick-up location. There is already a significant line waiting to get on. I get on line and start chatting with the folks in front of me. One thing that I have noticed is the sense of community among those participating, and this morning is no exception. Just before 4 AM we board the bus and at the stroke of 4 the bus pulls out ... we are on our way.

I should take a moment here to mention that Wednesday night at Disney Springs, another RADPer, Kim Fajerski, contacted me to tell me that she had a colleague/friend who was also running her first 5K and wanted to know if I had any advice for her. I passed along the advice that I had received and told Kim that her friend, Tara, could text me directly, and perhaps we could meet and support each other. After texting for a while the previous night, we made up to meet before getting into Corral F. Once on the bus I heard from Tara that she was on the way herself.

The bus arrived in the EPCOT parking lot and I walked to the area where the characters were available for photos and quickly found Tara on line to have a picture taken with Darth Vader. We introduced ourselves and then had our pictures taken. This would be the only character picture I would take this morning as the lines grew large rapidly.

Looking around we saw the crowd grow and watched/listen to the DJ and MC keep us entertained as we waited until it was time to move into the corrals - somewhere after 5 AM. Tara and I head for Corral F along with our fellow first time 5Kers and the not so fleet afoot. Now it's time to do last minute stretching, meditating, visualization and/or other techniques that the people around us are using to calm themselves and ready themselves for their moment to cross the starting line.

At 6:00 AM, the first waves of Corral A start crossing the start line at 2 minute intervals. It will still be about 45 minutes until Coral F makes our way to the chute. I watch the runners in Corral A take off on their run, remembering Jenny's advice not to be intimidated by them. I knew what I would be seeing and knew I wouldn't be doing anything like it, so it wasn't too intimidating. I know my current limitations.

We stand there and watch Corrals A, B, C, D and E all head out onto the course, and then Coral F starts to move. We were towards the front, so possibly the third or fourth wave to be allowed to get started. I did remember to start my Garmin activity tracker watch so I could make sure I knew my pace and didn't start out too fast as I had been doing recently. While I would have liked to be able to do the race faster, I knew if I didn't control myself I wouldn't have the strength to stay at even a reasonable pace through the race. (And when I say reasonable, that still is slower than I had hoped to be by now. I could blame the month-long layoff but it wouldn't make a difference.) Shortly after we got started, I looked at my watch and saw that I was moving faster than I had ever clocked myself in training. I liked the look of it, but I knew it wasn't a good thing at this point.

The first mile or mile and a quarter was through the parking lot and through rather unremarkable backstage areas. Under normal circumstances this would be as boring as the route that I condition on at home, but this being the actual race, it all seemed like the most interesting run I had been on. This is where we pass the 1 mile marker ... still close to a quarter mile until we get into World Showcase. Finally we approach a nondescript building from behind. When we get to the side it starts to show a familiar pattern which instantly identifies it as the Mexico pyramid. We enter World Showcase between Mexico and Norway, take a left and come upon a water station. I grab my cup and continue past Norway towards China. Cast members from each country are outside and cheering us all on.

On familiar ground now, we continue on past each country in its turn. So far the course has been virtually flat, but now as we pass France on our way to the International Gateway, we go up over the bridge. This is the first time I feel a strain on my legs and my breathing ... but I know that this will be the only challenge of this sort this morning and I put it out of my mind and get to the top, after which I know there will be an equal downhill section during which I can catch my breath a bit. After the race I discover that the change in elevation here is exactly the same as the stretch of road I use back at home. The difference is that there it happens over the space of a mile - not a few yards.

We are out of the park once again, at least for a little while, while we go around the International Gateway where we pass the 2 mile marker. This excursion out of the park is brief and we are shortly back in World Showcase and quickly on the path into Future World. Past Club Cool and at the fountain we encounter Storm Troopers. Spaceship Earth is almost within reach when the route takes a typical Disney move. At the breezeway we take a left turn towards The Land and follow along towards Imagination, then back past the land towards The Seas with Nemo and Friends before taking the turn back towards the breezeway and back past Spaceship Earth towards the park exit. Shortly after exiting the park itself we come across the mile 3 marker. The finish line is so close now and you can feel the emotion of the other runners change knowing that. 0.1 miles left to go ... then we make a turn into the parking lot and off in the distance ... there it is ... the finish line!

Suddenly the adrenaline kicks in again as it did at the beginning of the race ... the legs don't feel as heavy, the breathing is easier and all I can think of is running across that finish line. I had always hoped to have enough left in the tank to have one more run left in me - most of the race had been a walk with the occasional run mixed in - and now that it was here, I found that I did indeed have that final sprint left in me. I crossed the line and wasn't nearly as tired as I was at the end of 3.1 miles at home. Still not as fast as I wanted - will have a lot of work still ahead of me for future races, but for now I accomplished something that only 6 months ago I would have told you was impossible for me to do. And while it wasn't nearly as fast as the goal I had set for myself, it was still the fastest 3.1 miles I had ever covered, according to my Garmin when I checked it later. For now I was happy ... I finished the course and was still on my feet. Good thing too as there was still a lot of walking to be done.

After crossing the finish line I got my medal and continued on to pick up my water and snacks. Then off to get my post race picture taken.

Later, the GPS tracker function of my activity tracker showed me this map of the route I had just covered.

After getting my post race photo taken, I touch base with Tara who is getting some more character pix taken and then head to the bus to go back to the hotel. I am meeting my daughter and granddaughter around noon (it's now just around 8 AM) and hope to get a bit of a nap before they show up. As it turns out, sleep doesn't come this morning any more than it did when I tried last night.

I spent the next few days in the Magic Kingdom and then Animal Kingdom with them and then it was time to make the drive home.

So, now with the 5K in my rear view mirror, what are my thoughts? I enjoyed the experience to the fullest. I didn't accomplish all I wanted to, but I have another 5K already scheduled for the November Wine and Dine race weekend. And true to her word, Jenny will be running it with me. I hope to accomplish the increase in speed that I had hoped to reach this weekend, and will also be conditioning towards running a 10K during the January Marathon Weekend. So still a lot of work to do.

On a personal fitness level, I haven't felt this good in many years. I have lost close to 40 pounds since I started back in October, and I hope that I will continue to lose as I continue to condition for the next races. 

All in all I had an amazing experience over the last 6 months, and look to enjoy the continuing journey. I want to thank Jenny from the bottom of my heart for starting me on this path as well as all of her support - and kicking me in the butt when necessary - along the way. Even today she was still cracking the whip keeping me on track for a 10K. Thank you Jenny!

Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Weekend - Before the Race

(Trip report starts here)

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 came with a mixture of excitement and quite a few nerves - this was the day that I check in to All Star Sports which will be my home throughout race weekend. It meant that all of the preparation was just about done and for better or worse, race day was almost here. Was I fully where I wanted to be? No. Did I feel that I was prepared for finishing my first ever 5K? Yes.

Ordinarily, packing and leaving for a few days at Disney World, especially from my house in Florida, is a quick process, and if I forget something, it's no big deal, but this time I had so many things that were not on my usual list of things to bring. My printed waivers (yes, I know they can be printed there), my race clothes, my running shoes, food for breakfast the day of the race, and the list goes on and on. When it came time to leave I kept going over what I needed in my head again and again. It was almost as if I didn't really want to leave the house since that would mean it was time to do this thing.

Finally, the car gets packed and we make the hour long drive to WDW. Along the way I get a text from my daughter with our room number, so we can go directly to the room since we already have magic bands. However, not fully unexpectedly, my magic band does not open the door but my wife's does. (I say not fully unexpectedly since this is almost always the case.) Once I get the car unloaded I walk over to the front desk to get the situation fixed. 

Next we head to Disney Springs where I have made a reservation at The Boathouse for an early dinner so I can get to bed early, with the hopes that it might help me when I try to go to sleep even earlier on  the evening before having to get up at stupid o'clock on race day.

We walk around Disney Springs for a while before it is time to have dinner. I have eaten here before and this meal did not disappoint. I will admit that I splurged a bit with the lobster bisque followed by the crab stuffed lobster, but I was completely vindicated as it was one of the best meals I have had in a very long time. Everything was done perfectly!

Next I continued to walk around the marketplace to walk off that dinner. When we came to the shop where you can make custom tee shirts, I decided, since I always wanted to try it, to make a shirt for my granddaughter. Since we are taking a cruise on the Disney Fantasy at the end of June, I made her a shirt with her favorite Disney TV character, Doc McStuffins, that said ... Ready to sail/Brooke/Disney Fantasy/June 2017. A half hour later and it was ready. I have to say that it was really cute and will most likely be the shirt she wears on the day of the cruise for the embarkation photo.

After a bit more walking around it was time to get the bus back to the hotel. Being that we are staying at the All Star resort, even the walk to our bus location is a walk in itself. We get back to the hotel and while I am just chilling out a bit and trying to wind down ... not to mention dealing with an increasing series of nerves ... I get a phone call from Jenny. Her days are very hectic at the moment so she called now as she might not have had a chance before the race itself. We talked about if I felt I was ready (as ready as I was likely to get) and some things about race day itself. She gave me some advice about going to the health and fitness expo the next day - where I would pick up my race bib and probably spend more money than I should on "stuff" - and of course just general advice about race morning. Before we ended the call, she requested a I take a particular photo when I was at the expo the next day. (Here it is!) When we ended the phone call, most of the nerves had (at least temporarily) been replaced with a sense of calm. I would be able to do this!

I got to sleep earlier than usual, and managed to get to sleep right away. 

Thursday, April 20, 2107

Today is the day that I have to pick up my race bib ... another solid reminder that I am actually doing this. I have been to the last two health and fitness expos during the last two race weekends as a volunteer. This will be the first time I am on the other side of the counter. Having been told by Jenny not to be there at opening - a piece of advice that I found out was right on the money - I got on the bus about an hour after it was scheduled to open. The bus was filled by the time we left the All Stars and arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. I headed to the field house as I had done before, but instead of signing in as a volunteer, I went to the booth which listed the range of bib numbers that included mine. There was only one person in front of me and before I knew it I had in my hand that piece of coated paper that was my entrance into the race. While it wasn't necessary - since I knew I would be placed in Corral F ... the last corral - since I had never run a race before, I did check to see the "F" on the bib. 

My next stop would be to pick up the official shirt and gEAR bag. This was the strangest part of this morning since this was the location I had been as a volunteer. This time I was the "runner" on the other side. With bib and shirt now in the bag, I headed to the J Center (I guess Josten dropped their sponsorship and Disney simply kept the "J") to see what was going to suck in my money. I stopped and checked out a few booths, and then spotted Jeff Galloway, the Olympic marathoner who literally wrote the book on running (one of which Jenny gave me for my birthday) and is runDisney's official training guru. I stopped to have a picture taken with him and to have him sign my bib. Would it be good luck? I could use all I could get!

Continuing along, I was (mostly) pretty good in keeping my credit card in my pocket. As I passed the section for the official Disney Dark Side race items, the line was so long that I decided to pass it by. I did - but who was I kidding? I came back and stood in line. Happily the line was moving rather quickly and soon I was able to get into the area and look around. 5K shirts ... of course I had to have ... two of them as it turned out. A 5K hat ... of course! A generic runDisney shirt ... have to have one of those as well. (Though at this point I still felt like an imposter here who would soon be discovered! Buying a shirt which said "I Did It!" seemed like the ultimate sacrilege. What if I <gulp> didn't?) The final item was a pin which was a mini version of the 5K finisher medal. (Did you hear that ... FINISHER!!) Then on another long line for the privilege of paying for all of this! One of the things that Jenny did inform me of that I might have passed over on my own, was that at this location (and this location only) I would get a passholder discount as well as being able to charge it on my magic band. The discount did take a bit of the sting out of checking out but ... the discount was more than I usually spend on souvenirs in the parks! (Okay, I don't often buy souvenirs any more but I needed a good simile ... got it?)

Before I finished my stroll through the expo, I got a chance to see the finisher medal in person for the first time. Yes - it IS about the bling! 

Finally, making it through with my bank account somewhat intact, I headed back to the bus back to my room.

Since I would be waking up at 3:00 Friday morning, I had made an early dinner reservation at Trattoria al Forno at The Boardwalk. I had eaten there twice before (and it was where Jenny had given me the Jeff Galloway book) and I wanted a good meal the night before the race. They did not disappoint. I left the restaurant with a definite need to walk the lake once to help my food digest - and get the last bit of walking in before it became real!

Back at the room, I got all my stuff ready for the morning, though you should have seen how pathetic I looked pinning the bib to my shirt - trying to center it, get it straight. (I guess all that stems from my first career in the fashion industry!) I left a wake up call for 3:00 AM and set my watch for the same. My body must have thought I was crazy when it realized what time it was that I crawled into bed and tried to go to sleep!

(to be continued!)

Trip Report - July 2013 - Day 0/1

Day 0

For the past week, friends from Australia have been visiting New York City - the beginning of a multi-city US adventure. This evening, they head to their next destination, Walt Disney World (WDW) in Florida. Naturally my wife and I don't need much of an excuse to visit WDW (and our daughter and son-in-law), so this afternoon, we too are flying down to Orlando.

We park at our usual offsite parking facility and are driven to the terminal, clear security and have time to relax at the gate before our flight boards and leaves early - arriving in Orlando 20 minutes ahead of schedule. I let my daughter know we have landed and proceed to pick up our luggage. She and her husband meet us and we proceed to Pop Century and check in to our room before going out for dinner.

Our friends arrive later in the evening, and it is after midnight when they check in to their room at Disney's Art of Animation Resort. As you can see from this shot, they are quite close.

Day 1

Since we have no agenda when we come down, while our friends are here, we will try to be in the same parks as they are. They have a four day ticket, so will spend one day in each of the four theme parks here. Today they choose Disney's Animal Kingdom (DAK).

Since they arrived so late, they will not be getting to the park until much later. As it turns out, they like to have the same type of schedule that we do while we are here ... very relaxed ... no commando days. Arrive late and leave early - just as we do. This is going to work out fine.

Our daughter picks us up at our hotel and we arrive at DAK well before our friends, so we head back to Kilimanjaro Safari and find that the stand-by line is quite short. We are soon on our way.

As we get off the safari, we encounter what - until the very end of our trip - will be the only little bit of rain all week. We decide to head back to Rafiki's Planet Watch. We just arrive and enter Conservation Station when we get a call that our friends have arrived at DAK. I explain where we are and wait for their arrival. When they get to Conservation Station, I show them around, including a trip into Affection Section.

At this point, we decide that while they go on to the Safari, we will head over to Restaurantosaurus for lunch, and then see Flights of Wonder before we meet them for Finding Nemo - The Musical. When it is over, we head off separately, after deciding which park they will be going to the next day. We see It's Tough To Be A Bug before heading out and back to Pop Century.

That evening, my daughter, her husband and I meet our friends at their resort pool for a swim. It was a fun and refreshing end to our first full day in WDW.

You can see some more photos from today by clicking here.

   

Disney by Sea and Land - Days 8 & 9

Day 8 - January 24

I wake up this morning and the Port of Miami is what I see from my veranda. The Wonder still has to turn 180° before she ties up, and we get ready for breakfast. Since our dinner last night was in Triton's, this morning - the only day we have an assigned location for breakfast - we will be back there. Before we all meet and head out to breakfast, we hear that US customs has cleared our part of the ship to disembark. However, we will do so after breakfast, and head to Triton's for our final meal aboard ship.

Breakfast finished, we head off the ship and went to retrieve our luggage and pass through US Customs. The next step is to retrieve the cars and make the drive back to the Orlando area.

Once back at my daughter's apartment, we say goodbye to her mother-in-law who is heading back to her own home, and we settle in. After dinner at a NY style pizzeria (whose pizza actually tasted as if it could have come from home) we headed back to her apartment where I uploaded all the photos from the cruise to my laptop, and then headed to sleep.

Day 9 - January 25

After a bit of a lazy morning, we head out to breakfast before "checking-out" of my daughter's apartment and checking-in to Pop Century which will be our home for the next week here in Disney World. Once we are in our room, the experiences of the past week catch up with us and we (My wife, my daughter and myself) fall asleep for a nice long nap.

Earlier in the week, my cousins arrived in Disney World and tonight we would be meeting them at the Polynesian, where they are staying, to watch Wishes from the beach at the resort. We get there a bit early so we can have dinner at Captain Cook's (no Dole Whip this evening) and then meet my cousins in the Great Ceremonial House.

We head out towards the beach and once again feel the wind and the chill which has been here for a few days now. We find a nice spot and I set up my tripod to photograph the fireworks. While waiting I notice a perfect full moon so naturally I take a picture.

Soon it is time for Wishes to start over in the Magic Kingdom. I have photographed it a number of times, but never from here.

After Wishes, my cousins are heading back to EPCOT (Extra Magic Hours) and ask if we would like to join them. Thanks to the nap we took, my daughter and I decide to go, but my wife heads back to Pop Century where she will get a good night's sleep to be ready for a full day tomorrow.

Tomorrow we begin our Disney World portion of our vacation at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

   

Anticipation is Half the Fun

Anyone who has planned a trip to any Disney park (or anywhere for that matter) knows the excitement of anticipation is often as much fun as the actual trip. First the decision is made - that is usually the hardest part actually - then the planning begins. Finally there is the "getting ready" portion that includes the actually packing.

For us right now, we are in the final two weeks before we cruise aboard the Disney Wonder. My wife and I will be taking a five night cruise out of Miami along with my daughter and her husband, and his mom. This will be our second Disney cruise, but our first one in eight years! At that time we took a seven night Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Disney Magic.

We started talking about this trip before our last visit to Disney World, and my daughter would send me dates and prices as they came out. Since my wife and I are now both retired, our plans depended strictly on when my daughter and her husband could get the time off together for us to go. One night she called me and everything fell into place and while we were on the phone the cruise was booked. The planning (and the anticipation) had begun!

This trip I swear I will start packing before the night we have to leave. Although I do have it down to a science, this is the time of year when we can expect the unexpected when it comes to weather. More than 20 years ago we spent the beginning of January in the Bahamas. Much to our surprise, we were on a snow alert there! Since nobody actually expected it, the resort shop quickly sold out of every sweatshirt and piece of warm clothing it had. The snow only reached as far south as Miami, but it was darn cold that week in Eleuthera! So warm weather and cold weather items are a must pack!

And if the anticipation of the cruise were not enough, when we return, we will head back up to Disney World for a week there before we come home. And while we have already been through New Fantasyland, there is still new stuff for us to see - such as the new version of Test Track! Always something to see and do of course, even if there is nothing new!

So while there won't be much activity on this blog for a while, there will be trip reports, and lots of photos to share when we return, so keep an eye out!

   

Disney Fireworks

One of everyone's favorite things at a Disney park is the fireworks, and I am no exception. On this last trip we watched two sets of fireworks ...

The first group is Hallowishes - from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in the Magic Kingdom.

And the second set is from Illuminations - Reflections of Earth at EPCOT.

October 2012 - Final Day - New Fantasyland

As happens each trip - we have reached our last day here in Disney World. But although we leave tomorrow morning, we still have one day left here, so we are off to The Magic Kingdom this morning.

Our first destination will be Liberty Square and the Haunted Mansion. As my favorite attraction, I always try to do it whenever at The Magic Kingdom, but since I have ridden it so many times, if the queue is very long, I usually will skip it at that moment. That was the case when we were here earlier in the week, but today the line is fine so we head in - and take the trip through the graveyard before entering the foyer. (You can see pix of today here.)

Tomorrowland is next and then we decide to see if there will be a soft opening today for the New Fantasyland. When we were here earlier in the week we had just missed one. When we get there, this is what we find.

We head inside. Be Our Guest will not be opening today, but most of the rest of the first phase of the expansion is.

We make our way to Gaston's Tavern where we purchase LeFeu's Brews (two of them in souvenir cups). They are a very refreshing concoction of frozen apple juice with foam - and a hint of marshmallow taste. We find a table in the Tavern and enjoy our drinks.

Next it's off to Under the Sea with The Little Mermaid. This was a case in which I wish the queue had been longer as we walk right through. I would have liked to have had to wait a bit and have time to really spend some time there, as it may be one of the more interesting parts of this attraction. Like in The Seas with Nemo and Friends, you ride through the attraction in a clamshell shaped omnimover. It is a classic dark ride but well done.

On our way out of Fantasyland my wife and daughter stop to look at the gift shop and while I wait outside, Gaston is meeting with guests. At one point he excuses himself to check himself out in the reflection in his tavern's doors, and do a little preening.

By this time we are all tired and a bit hot - and I am still reeling from this nasty cold that has been plaguing me all week - so we decide to head back to the hotel to relax and (sadly) pack for the next day's departure. We had, however, accomplished our main goal of seeing New Fantasyland so the day has been a success.  (Don't forget, you can see pix of today including more of the New Fantasyland here.)

We spend our last night at Disney's Art of Animation Resort and then in the morning our daughter drives us to the airport for an uneventful trip home.

At this point it looks like our next trip down (shortly) will be for a DCL cruise ... so keep checking back here to see how that develops.