We had just got to mile 10 when I last left off. We were going under the overpass and so close to being done!
Probably one of my favorite sights of the whole race was the army man from Toy Story. I have a video of him telling us runners to "Move it, move it, move it" - so cool!
The course evened out here for a while and I felt better and we were able to run for most of the next mile. It was crazy to look back and see all of the runners that were behind us.
It made me feel better about our decision to take it easy. I somehow missed the mile 11 marker picture. At this point all I could really think about was being done and I just really wanted to see the Gospel Choir. My knee was killing me, I was tired and hungry. I can tell that I was just over the whole thing by then because I only have a couple of pictures after the army man. When we turned the corner at the big cone barrier to head into the Epcot parking lot, there were a handful of coaches hanging out looking for their runners. They were so upbeat and positive and kept telling everyone how close we were and it was a walk in the park (literally) from there. It was nice to hear that, I sure needed it!
Next up was mile 12 and we headed into the park.
We took one last stop at Pinocchio, just to say that we did. Then we went around the loop in Epcot where there were a lot spectators. At this point we were so ready to be done. I was hurting, my sis was really hurting as she had strained a muscle in her calf and we were tired. And, she just wanted to get back to her 6 month old (she had gone since 2:30 am without breastfeeding - she was hurting!) But, we were so close! We heard the Gospel Choir, and then came around the corner to see them. People are not wrong when they talk about these guys - they are a wonderful, wonderful sight!
Then we came across mile 13! We were so close.
We were determined to run across the finish line, but we had to stop and get one last picture with Minnie. This one I do have on my phone.
After that, we grabbed each other's hands and crossed the finish line together. I won't lie, I totally cried at this point. All of that training, the runs in single digit temperatures and double digit winds, the after-work runs in the dark and miles on the treadmill - it was here. The finish. It all hit me at once. I was emotional. But, I pulled it together, found a volunteer with a medal and got one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip:
and then found the ice tent.
I was so happy to be done, but I was also kind of sad that it was over. I was really proud of myself. I was never a runner, ever. And most people I know would never believe that I did this if I didn't have the medal to prove it. Another thing that I think is pretty neat is how many people I have talked to who say doing this race is on their bucket list, and I have done it. I take some pride in that.
Anyway, back at the ice tent. I had them tape my knee with ice, which was much needed. Then we went and gathered our bags from the nice Red Hat Ladies, got our food boxes, some water and we headed for our bus. Then we saw it. The longest. line. ever. Seriously, this thing doubled back on itself it was so long. We literally waited 30 minutes. We waited while we watched every single other line move at what seemed like warp speed. That was the worst. All we wanted to do was to get off our feet, get back to our families, our showers and dry clothes. But instead we waited in line forever.
Eventually a bus came, and then another one pulled up at the same time and finally they were able to load almost the entire line at once. Apparently someone over at Disney transportation got the message that there was a serious backup at the Pop/AoA line and sent a bunch of busses at once.
I will say that the bus ride back was much calmer (and more smelly) than the ride there. Everyone just seemed done.
The ride back was quick and pretty soon we were pulling up at AoA. I had called DH on the way back and found that the whole family was at the pool. Sis and I headed straight for them - she really needed to breastfeed her baby. We all said our hellos, congratulations, and I headed for the room and a shower. By this time my knee was really starting to swell and it was not feeling very good.