Archives for October 2013

Way back in April, probably thanks to enjoying a couple of cool spring runs and wishing I had a Disney trip planned for the fall, I decided to register for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 1o Miler, which is a runDisney race held in October. If the name didn’t give it away, I registered for the 10 Mile run.

So after registering, I started training and running and did pretty well for a while! (If you don’t Instagram it, it didn’t happen, right?) I had a love-hate relationship with running all summer long. And if I’m being totally honest, it was mainly hate…because people who enjoy runs in the hot and humid Southern summers are crazy people!  So I followed the official runDisney training plan off and on, but I did get some runs in…and finally, it was time to head to Florida for race weekend!

BUT wait…a couple weeks before race weekend, my brother ended up having to back out of the trip. Thanks to him being a responsible adult and getting a brand new job, he was no longer going to be able to take time off, so I had a couple of days to find someone else to go with me. Enter my dad. He was able to get off work and happy (I think) to take Matt’s place. Since my mom went with me on my July trip, I felt pretty lucky to get a father-daughter trip in the same year! (I should mention that I’m also incredibly lucky that Dad kept all 4 dogs (my 2 and their 2) in July while Mom and I were in Disney, and Mom kept all 4 while Dad and I were gone. I guess this means that it’s my turn to stay home and dog-sit?) Thank you, Mom and Dad! You are the best!

Now, Disney is my happy place. I’m kind of obsessed with it, and usually my trips are planned and scheduled months in advance and I obsess over every single detail…but because of other stresses, and life, this one wasn’t exactly like that. If I’m being completely honest, I was also stressing about the race…because I’ve never run a race longer than a 5k, and this was 10 FREAKIN’ MILES. Not only that…but on average, we walk 7-10 miles daily while in Disney, and would be in the parks starting Thursday. And even though I wanted to do well running…I was not giving up precious Disney time to sit in a hotel room! So to say I was nervous and scared about the race was probably a bit of an understatement. Even so, Dad and I had a great time in the parks on Thursday and Friday. We had Fastpass + reservations for the rides we wanted in Epcot on Thursday and Magic Kingdom on Friday. In just a few hours in each park , we got to do pretty much everything we wanted! We also really enjoyed meals at Yachtsman Steakhouse and Cape May on those nights.

I knew that I wanted to get to the Expo before Saturday, so we headed over on Friday afternoon to pick up my bib and race packet. Since we stayed at one of the host resorts, Disney’s Beach Club, there was shuttle bus service to the Expo, which was at ESPN Wide World of Sports. We waited for a bus for maybe 10 minutes and then it was a quick drive to the expo parking lot, followed by a long walk! I’d never visited WWoS, so it was pretty neat to see! I think that this Expo, which was small by Disney standards, but huge compared to the local 5ks I’ve run was super organized! I loved picking up my packet and t-shirt in one place, and all the volunteers were super friendly and helpful. The only regret I have from this was not buying a finisher’s t-shirt. They were long sleeved, which would be perfect for fall/winter runs here in North Carolina! Honestly, I was still freaking out about maybe not finishing, and I didn’t want a finisher shirt (or medal) if that didn’t happen!

Since this was a night race, we had all day Saturday to freak hang out and rest. We spent the morning at Hollywood Studios making sure to ride Tower of Terror, Rockin’ Roller Coaster, and Toy Story Mania (thank you Fastpass +) since I wasn’t sure I’d want to stick around at the after party to ride.  I also made sure to step up my hydration game on Saturday…it was around 89 outside, sunny, and humid! We headed back to the resort around 1 or so to grab lunch and rest up! After inhaling a turkey sandwich from the Marketplace and texting back and forth with my friend who was running to figure out a meeting place, I tried to take a nap! And I kind of did…so around 5, I woke up with butterflies to start getting ready to run!

Since this is already so long…I think I’ll wrap it up here and post separately about you know, actually running! Stay tuned!

Do you get super nervous before races? Have you ever run a Disney race?