Hey-o! Look who's back ... back again?!
Let's see if I can remember enough details to finish out this Dopey Weekend recap!
2018 Dopey Challenge: The Half
It was going to be another cold one, so I'd laid my layers upon layers of clothes out the night before in the bathroom. My alarm went off, and I was up to get ready for the day. I decided to save my cupcake for post-race and instead opted for a Kind Bar - Cherry Chocolate, AKA the best Kind Bar.
It was about 15 minutes before I needed to leave to go grab the crew over at Boardwalk ... and DISASTER struck. I felt a slight flutter of nerves in my stomach, and I coughed three times ... and next thing I knew, I was hurling. It had been a WHILE since I'd had pre-race nerves, and this felt the same as that last time. But this was Dopey. This was the Half, and I still had the Full in front of me.
Did I mention One and Two are moms? So, yeah - they couldn't wake up to hand out booze during the 10K, but man ... they can be dead asleep and hear the sound of puking no problem. I promised them I was OK, I didn't feel bad (I didn't feel sick or anything), and they plied me with Powerade and another water, offered a million other Mom kinda things and then let me go on my way.
As I made my way out of the Villas - about 15 minutes later than I wanted to -
@croach sent me a message asking for a "sock check":
Socks were accounted for! (And, also two pairs of fleece-lined leggings, running leggings, two long-sleeved compression tops, a funnel-neck top, a down running vest and a windbreaker, trail ears, gloves and hand warmers).
The drive to the race was uneventful, as was the trek to the corrals. I did not check a bag for this race as I didn't think I'd be hanging out in the parking lot long - why? The crew and I had a fun brunch reservation at Disney Springs to get to! So, my plan was to finish the race, go straight to my truck and then head back to the resort to get ready for brunch.
And we're off!
Before this race weekend, I was actually kind of excited to run this half course again - I'd run it twice previously (Dopey 2016 and Princess 2016), so when it was canceled during Dopey 2017 I was a little disappointed and was looking forward to experiencing it again.
About three miles in, I remembered that this was my least favorite Disney course of all time. So, I just set out to get it finished - but thanks to the Official Character Text Group (TM), I knew how to plan my time to stop for characters!
I was really disappointed that the Big Hands "motivational speaker" DJ wasn't atop the water bridge outside of the Contemporary ... and because I stopped for multiple characters, it felt REALLY tight going through that area this year - and I also got pretty nervous because there were so many cops every where and cars passing through were being escorted and followed by Orange County Cops. I guess that's just the things we have to deal with now ...
Really liked running straight through the front entrance of the Magic Kingdom, and of course everyone likes running down Main Street.
Look how bundled up everyone was! This cold was ridiculous.
Anyway, the rest of the race was uneventful. Run some, stop for characters, rinse and repeat.
I did say that by the time I got to the sharp switchback right before you get into Epcot - the last mile clock I said showed race time at 3:30, but I was SHOCKED at how many people were packed in SO tightly still behind me:
Remember this - it will become important shortly.
I made it into Epcot and it always makes me SO happy to see finishers out there cheering for incoming runners. This guy was easily my favorite:
And while I didn't know these gals, I feel like they made this finish line sign for me:
Right at that point, "Despacito" came on over my headphones - so I went Rapid-ito to the finish line and the half was over!
Three races down, one big race left to go!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Because I'm a #NewMillennial, I HAVE TO BE IN CONTACT WITH PEOPLE ALL THE TIME. So, during the race - and more specifically, the last couple of miles - I was in heavy contact with #TeamWhitti and
@croach ... mostly because we were supposed to all be meeting for brunch at STK at Disney Springs. I want to say it took the Whitti's 50 minutes to get through bag check just to get on the Epcot monorail, and Cliff had been sitting on a bus trying to get back to Poly for at least that long.
I came through the finishers chute and sent a quick message to a friend who I knew would be coming in right before the balloons. At this point, she was JUST passing the 10 Mile mark. WHAT?!? I asked if she saw balloons and she said all she saw were just a massive pack of people.
So, I decided to grab a beer and make a call to STK while I walked back to my truck to drive back to the hotel. As I made the turn to head towards the parking lot - remember that photo of a mass of people? Yeah, it was still massive groups of people coming up the ramp heading in to the Epcot bus area. I stood at the sign that said "No Alcohol Past This Point" and finished my beer while I just watched the masses continuing on in the race. I'd been cocky thinking that I was all good because I was driving, but based on my late arrival, I wasn't in the good side of the parking lot ... I was about four cars away from the ramp the runners were on - the ramp that happened to be what I needed to use to get back to Beach Club.
I was stuck.
I got to my truck, and finally got someone on STK on the phone - 15 minutes before we were supposed to arrive for our 11 a.m. reservation. Luckily, they were VERY accommodating. But I feel REALLY bad for those with ADRs at places that weren't as busy as STK.
As I sat in my Tahoe on the phone, I saw the last "safe" runners coming down the ramp - and then finally the bike monitors. The cones were moved and the ramp was open to outbound traffic. I was back at Beach Club Villas by 11:20, grabbed a quick shower and then One, Two and myself were off to Disney Springs! We arrived at STK around 12:15 (Mr. Keels came from offsite and got there right at Noon, with #TeamWhitti right behind him).
My post-half marathon treat:
STK brunch was ... just a'ight. I'm a big brunch person, but they'd changed the menu the week before we went - and it was MUCH smaller, and not at all appealing. So, I just ended up ordered the tomato & burrata and Brussels sprouts from the dinner menu.
Brunch over, we all headed our merry ways - which included me with a long nap in my future.
Up Next: One Last Time Down This Marathon Road