10 Scares, 100 Discoveries: Scare 7 – 13.1

For me, 2011 is about a year of change, fun and new experiences. With that in mind, I decided to create my own adventure, 1 Year, 10 Projects, 100 Discoveries. This post is part of that project. You can see all 10 Scares here and the entire project here. Enjoy the experiences, I sure am!

I made jokes that not finishing meant that I would get to the wining and dining faster. Secretly, I was scared. Secretly, I knew that if I didn’t finish, I would be crushed. When I picked up my race bib and discovered I was in Corral D (one of the last), I got even more nervous. Corral D meant that I wouldn’t have a very big start from the end of the pack. Which in my mind translated to: there’s no leeway for the 16 minute pace.

Luckily, with a few hours left, my nerves settled in. Whatever happened, happened. It probably helped that the boyfriend came with me to the start and I knew he’d be at the finish too. He was one of the few spectators (and the only from our group) that rode the bus and hung out with the runners in the queuing area. While others chilled out at their hotels or got a jump start at Epcot, he hung out with me. To say it meant a lot would be an understatement.

At 10pm on the nose, the first runners in Disney’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon were off! The energy was high, the course was fun and the amount of runners was absolutely staggering… I never did see the end of the runners.

This is 13.1 things I remember about the race:

1. As we ran through Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, characters and entertainment lined the course. Pluto, Woody, Darth Vader, the Hippo from Fantasia and the boy from Up were all around for photo ops.
2. I started dying somewhere between mile 7 and 8. This is when my right knee and groin really started to hurt. Luckily, the knee pain abated shortly after. At this point, I was also low on energy. Originally, I wasn’t going to have any Clif Gel at the race, even though I knew it would be available shortly after mile 8. This is the point where I changed my mind. I ended up taking two packets of the stuff and my was it tasty and helped a little.
3. A little chafing from the new sports bra (I bought it at the expo that afternoon), but nothing crazy. Whew! The blisters on my feet weren’t too bad either.
4. For the past few months, I had been “training” to audiobooks thinking that they would help keep my pace slow but steady and be a nice distraction for 13.1 miles. But, they didn’t do the trick during the race. Music was the way to go for this one.
5. Everyone lies. The last 3 miles of the race were the absolute hardest. It also didn’t help that the majority of those last three miles were on sidewalk vs. pavement. Ouch!
6. Volunteers rock! Major props has to go out to all the spectators, volunteers and Epcot workers who stayed to almost 4am to make the race possible!
7. This was not a spectator friendly race and that was tough. The people along the race course were few and far between.
8. One of my favorite parts were the mile markers. There was one at each mile. While some don’t like seeing each mile tick by, I did. In other races, it’s rare to see mile markers or you only see them at the 5k, 10k and 15k marks. Having a mile marker at each mile helped to make the race seem shorter… I just had to make it to the next mile vs. the 10k, etc.
9. Another awesome thing was that you could sign up to receive text, email, facebook or twitter alerts of your splits (5k, 10k, 15k, finish). This way, friends could track you. My boyfriend was smart enough to sign us both up. The alerts were instantaneous and during the race it was a relief to see my splits and that my average pace was well below the 16 minute cut off mark!
10. One of my best last minute purchases was an SPI belt! Thanks to the BFF’s sister who wanted one last minute, I picked up one too. It was perfect for holding my phone, which for multiple reasons I’m glad I brought along with me. During the race I was able to take (bad) photos, check-in on foursquare and text my boyfriend my progress.
11. To me, the race was a well coordinated production. I read a lot of complainants on Facebook after the race about how awful it was. Granted, I didn’t have much to compare it to, but from the transportation, to starting on time to entertainment along the course and after party, I thought it was well worth the $160-ish entry fee.
12. I have the most amazing boyfriend ever! He was there for the start, the finish and all the miles in between (via text). After, he gave me a huge hug (amidst the absolute stink of my sweat) and spent the next two hours walking around Epcot with me at a snail’s pace.
13. For the majority of the race, I used a modified version of the Galloway method with a run/walk ratio of 2:1. In the beginning, I did a lot more running and towards the end, I did a lot more walking

And… 13.1: I FINISHED!