We flew down to Orlando on Thursday night. We got in around 10pm. We collected our friends Amber Lea and Paulie and our luggage and got our rental car. We grabbed a quick dinner at TGI Fridays and happily checked into our condo at 12am.
I had a pretty good night's sleep and woke up at my normal weekend time of 7am. (I was the only one in the condo awake at that time) I got to enjoy my coffee and a Luna bar and some HGTV. Once the gang got up Amber Lea and I took a 2 mile run. It was on her half marathon training schedule and I really wanted to acclimate my body to the Florida weather. I have been running all of my runs in the New England winter climate. Granted it has been a mild winter but it is a heck of a lot colder then Florida. We finished in about 32 minutes, not bad considering both of us agreed the humidity made our legs feel like lead.
Then we were off to breakfast and the expo to pick up our race packets. The expo was stupid crowded. I didn't take any photos because I don't think I could get my arms up to do it. The goodie bags were pretty lame this year. There was a mini cliff bar in it and a bunch of advertisements. The shirts were pretty awesome though.
We had dinner Friday night at the House of Blues. I had the pasta of course. Got to load up on some carbs. We got to bed pretty early. The 3 am wake up call is a little earlier than my regular 5am. I didn't have any trouble sleeping. Last year I was a bunch of nerves. My hubby dropped us off at the meeting point for the half marathon and we began our (what felt like) 4 mile trek to the start line. We lined up in the corral that was third from the back. I was placed in the third corral and my friend Dave was in the first corral but we all wanted to stay together and because Amber Lea and Paulie haven't raced before they were in a later corral.
I think the race went well. Dave, Amber Lea and I stayed together for the first 6 miles. I am slower than the two of them so I told them to go ahead of me once we reached Magic Kingdom. Paulie had us go ahead of him at the start line.
There were a lot of people racing, which I expected since there was a lot of people last year. There was a lot of bobbing and weaving to get around slower runners. I kind of wish slower runners would stay to the right. I didn't stop for pictures with any of the characters. I wanted to beat my time of 2:38:10 of last year. I was hoping to break 2:30 this year.
I ended up with 2:31:48. I shaved almost 7 minutes off my time. I am pretty proud of that. Amber Lea and Dave finished about 10 minutes before I did. And Paulie finished a little under an hour after I did. I am very proud of both Amber Lea and Paulie for training and finishing the half marathon. It is quite an under taking. It is a big commitment.
Me, Amber Lea, Dave and Paulie after the Half Marathon
Amber Lea and Dave after they finished
Amber Lea and her fiance Paulie
Me and my husband, not sure why I am getting such a dirty look.
Dave in his costume for the race.
Me in my race costume.
Totally proud of Dave too. He did the Goofy challenge this year. This is when you run the half marathon on Saturday and then the full marathon on Sunday. That's 39.3 miles in two days. He rocked it.
Dave right after the Marathon on Sunday
All three of Dave's medals.
What's next for me? I signed up to do the Providence Full Marathon on May 6th of this year. A new round of training starts in a week and a half. I am hoping to finish it in five hours.
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