The 3:00am wakeup call on saturday was no big deal, the same cannot be said for sunday. That was a brutal. When I looked in the mirror my eyes were so bloodshot you could hardly see any white through the
overlapping freeway system of blood vessels.The one thing I didn't have to worry about was my body. I woke up and physically felt fantastic. My quads were a the tiniest bit sore but overall I felt great.
Anyway, Because I just did this routine 24 hrs. ago I was able to prepare without really thinking about it at all autopilot all the way. Loaded with gear, full of instant oatmeal and Source of Life shake I head to the monorail once again. The buzz is still there, the monorail is still full of other runners waiting to get taken to Epcot so we can once again walk a mile to start running 26.2.
I'm not sure who the dj's were they had doing the commentary at the race start but the have that morning banter down pat. They were overly happy for no reason like most morning show dj's but they weren't horrible.
Fireworks, wave goes, fireworks wave goes etc. until wave D my wave is up and were off. I took it SLOW I mean the first couple of miles I felt like I was crawling but I knew this was the smart play. 26.2 is a long way to go especially since i just did 13.1 the day before.
Heading down the highway I start thinking about my plan, Relax, take your time, stop often for pictures with characters. The exact opposite of what one would normally do during a race. I was running the Goofy for enjoyment and to also prove to myself that the breakdown that happened last year wasn't going to happen again this year. That with proper training I can run a marathon without hitting the wall so hard that my legs have a hard time moving fwd. and my entire emotional state goes haywire.
Hey theres Professor Von Drake and old school character i'm going to stop for a picture. In my enthusiasm I rested my arm on top of the characters head and as soon as the picture was snapped whoever was in that costume shook my arm off and glared at me through those big plastic eyes. Sorry professor!
Heading Epcot is awesome, its still dark so Epcot is all lit up and the music is playing its fantastic. Every time you enter a park its a fantastic feeling, your off the highway and surrounded by cheering spectators and cast members and best of all your off the highway and surrounded by wonderful Disney distraction.
Alas the times int he parks are short we are quickly back on to the highway this time we are looping around and headed toward the Magic Kingdom but first there is the teaser that is the TTC. The TTC is the transportation and ticket hub. It looks like its the beginning of a park but no it's just a hub, sure there are tons of cheering spectators there but its a quick respite.
Tons of runners in costumes Tinkerbell and Peter pan and pretty popular which I guess makes sense. Since I was documenting the event I passed a lot of time people watching. So many people of different shapes and sizes running the marathon or goofy for the first time. Lots of different charities are represented at WDW runs my favorite sign is GO BILE! I don't know what the research is for all I know is that whenever I saw the GO BILE sign I started cracking up.
We leave the TTC and head on the highway toward the Contemporary, I told Danielle that i would get to the Contemporary around 8:00/8:10 but I actually got there at 7:50. I crossed a median and actually stopped to text her that i was early.....I didn't get to see her because although i will slow down to send a quick text i will not hang out and wait for an indeterminate amount of time that's to far.
Ah the Magic Kingdom, what a terrific place to run through. We followed the same route as the half but that didn't take away from the excitement and the energy from the crowd is even bigger on marathon day. Unlike yesterday I did stop for cast pictures in the MK, Princess Tiana, and the croc. from The Princess and the Frog., Alice and the Mad Hatter I stopped to get a nice shot of the castle before we ran through it. The walkway through the castle covered in an amazing glass mosaic, beautiful. During the half the Pirates of the Caribbean ship was positioned as you leave the MK this time is was Mary Poppins, I passed. Once you leave the MK you're almost half way or in my case two thirds of the way done.
My next post will talk about the second part of the marathon. Until then....
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