Yoga: loved it. I liked how they led us in small groups to the set-up mats. It was a fabulous practice for 1200 people. I did yoga teacher training in late 2019, and my cousin has never done any yoga, and we were both met where we were and challenged at the same time. I cried, she felt serene, and our hips felt great. I loved that they had the main teacher and then demonstrators on raised platforms in smaller groups of us. The mats are not high end, but who wants to pay enough for it to take home a manduka?
Expo: went back to the room, got clean, and headed out. Got to the run disney merchandise bldg and in line at 10:05. It took us 2.5ish hours to get in. Sigh. And then we bought nothing. I hated everything in there (if the shirts didn’t say “I did it” I might have liked them, but I don’t do “I did it” shirts) and my cousin couldn’t find her size. All that time, and nothing. For me it was basically the same at the vendor area.
10k: was decent. I liked how quickly each group got out. My training plan fell apart in December and I was sick in January, so I was walking. And I hate walking. Oh well!
Half: I was at beach club and wasn’t in line at 2. That meant we waited. And waited. And waited. The people who had been there since 3ish and maybe the official finally told us that there had been 3 buses that left empty starting at 2 and then no buses. So frustrating.
A 15 minute delay barely helped imo. Many of us needed bathrooms, some had gear to check, and then to get to the corrals. A lot of stress.
My cousin’s husband was staying at the dolphin with their kids, and saw that firsthand because he wanted to spectate at MK. He gave up that plan and left much later to meet us at the finish.
I hadn’t gotten beyond 4 miles in this training cycle. I chose to walk. I had new shoes. It was a perfect storm. I got stuck in the 3:30 pacer group right around splash and then cone alley (hate hate hate) and couldn’t get past the group to do my own race.
We had two miles of being loudly warned of sweeping. (I don’t understand how “heat warning, take it easy, don’t go for a PR” goes along with the pace being insisted upon, especially since there were still people finishing half an hour after I got off the bus that took an hour to get to Epcot, or how it works when the balloon ladies have sped up to 13-14 min/mile as they showed up at 7ish miles, but oh well. I also don’t know how they were 7 minutes beyond at the Ariel ride and 1.5 minutes behind before plash… I was hoping they would just cut the course, but that’s just selfish of me)
I made it 9 miles and got swept at the MASS sweep. I had purposely slowed down before that. When I tried to go along with the 3:30 pace group I couldn’t feel my legs during the runs. I couldn’t imagine doing that for another 5+ miles, to be pushing so hard and being so “scared.” I was shaking and my ears were doing weird things, and my hands were more swollen than ever.
I needed to stop and therefore didn’t fight it when they basically blocked the road at mile 9.
9 miles, given what was going on in my life, is something to be proud of.
Having seen a balloon lady up close and personal, along with being on the “parade bus,” are both good learning experiences.
At this hour I’m 95.5% fine and .5% sorry for myself. My cousin and her husband are livid that we don’t get challenge medals. If you get the medal for the race you attempted, in their eyes, you qualify for the challenge since you attempted it. But of course I knew I wouldn’t get it, and know it’s a sunk cost. I might make it up with selling my challenge shirt, since it makes me sad.
Our driver was turned away at Epcot two separate times. He didn’t communicate until my new friend asked him specifically. It was maddening.
And when did they drop the letter signs for meeting up? That was maddening. The answer given when I asked about them was “you have a phone, don’t you?” Dude, that’s definitely not the point.
And during the year-long bus ride (lol) I realized I have the biggest blister on a non-big-toe that I’ve ever had. I had no idea it was there. It’s horrid. I’m sure it would have broken if I tried to keep going, and that would have been awful.
Lessons learned. Education received.
And I promised my parade bus buddy that we would see each other next year for our comeback.