When we arrived at Disney, packet pickup was not as mobbed as I thought it would be, though the lines upstairs in the Goofy area were fairly long. Even if you take out the time I spent getting my corral changed to a faster one, Heather still had her packet well before I did. Where things really got crowded was the line to get into the expo. Rather than being 20-30 people waiting right outside the door, a line of several hundred went down the stairs, wrapped around the entire grassy area in front of the building, and back to the field house where the packet pickup was. Once inside, things didn't get much better. It was easy enough to get our shirts and goodie bags, but that was the only uncrowded area. Just like when you get off one of their rides in the park, Disney funnels you through their official merchandise area before letting you out into the rest of the expo, and there are always tons of people shopping or waiting in line to buy stuff. We pushed past them and made our way through the throngs to the only two vendors I really wanted to fight the crowds for, Asics and CW-X. Asics didn't have any of the socks I wanted (strike one), and CW-X only had one of the two shorts I was looking for (strike two). On the plus side, we got out of there pretty quickly.
Next stop was our home for the weekend at Disney's Boardwalk Villas. Our friend Holly and her family graciously let us stay in one of the rooms in their villa, so not only did we have a great view of the water and the nightly fireworks at Epcot, we also had fun people to hang with. Definitely a much better option than staying in a hotel. After running some more errands Friday afternoon, we finally got to put our feet up and rest for a few hours before dinner at Jiko at Animal Kingdom. Heather's choice, and it was a good one. The food and service were excellent, as was the company, friends from In Flight in Houston and from my days in business school at Michigan. Those of us running the next morning skipped dessert and went home to bed.
The alarm went off on Friday at 330, and I started into my new pre-race routine: Clif bar right away and sip PowerAde for the next hour. I hate eating right when I wake up, but I can't argue with the results of doing this in my last few races. About 415, we left the hotel for the race. Huge thanks here to Holly's father who, despite flying in late the night before, was kind enough to drive all of us over to the start area, saving us the hassle of waiting for and riding the bus. We met up with our friends at bag check at 5, dropped everything off, and began the long walk to the corrals with 27,000 of our closest friends. It was exponentially more crowded walking over for this year's half than any of the other WDW races any of us have done. I managed to get to my corral just as the fireworks to start corral A were going off, giving me 7 minutes to ditch my throw-away top, tie my shoes, and suck down a pre-start gel.
While it's not exactly the best strategy for getting through Goofy, Mary wanted me to try for a PR in the half, so I left the phone/camera behind and just focused on the task at hand. My plan was to go out at 8:15-8:20, hold that as best I could, and finish somewhere between 1:45 and 1:50. As soon as the gun went off and we started down the course, I knew those were going to be tough times to reach, and not because of jet leg or anything. I felt great and was raring to go, but there were just way too many people on the course to be able to maintain a smooth and steady pace. Even in corral B, supposedly for people who plan to run sub-2, there were dozens if not hundreds of people walking off the line or running Galloway intervals that would clearly not get them in under 2, let alone 2:30.
Mile 1 - Ran in the grass most of the time trying to stay on pace. Tried not to let the frustration of dodging and weaving cause me to lose focus. No characters yet, so not much to look at but the backs of everyone in front of me. 8:28, nice and easy.
Mile 2 - More frustrating running in the grass. Thankfully I was able to get on the inside of the ramp taking us towards Magic Kingdom. Still no characters, but there was a very talented high school band playing "Word Up" with a kick-ass brass section taking care of the melody. Korn's cover is better, but they did get me singing in my head and picking up my pace. 8:24, still nice and easy.
Mile 3 - The first characters! Finally something to look at. They moved Captain Jack and the Pirates of the Caribbean ship out of Magic Kingdom to this lonely stretch of road. The line was at least 30 people long. Made a mental note to stop here during the full. More dodging and weaving, and then characters again! Jack Skeleton from Nightmare before Christmas! Told myself I'd definitely stop for this one during the full too. 8:28 again, still feeling easy.
Mile 4 - A really boring mile for the first half of it. Nothing to see since they took the cars that are usually here and moved them onto the track for Sunday. The highlight was seeing Maddy and her #nocandyasses sign just before the TTC. Great crowd support there, but also tons of people walking to say hello, blindly cutting across the road to use one of the real bathrooms, and generally getting in the way of everyone else. First gel 30 minutes into the race. Another 8:28 and not feeling like I'm working hard. I think that's because I had to keep speeding up and slowing down.
Mile 5 - I made up some really good time by using the sidewalk when running under the Seven Seas Lagoon and back up the other side. The course was still way too crowded when the sidewalk ended, though, and I found myself back on the grass. Grrrr. 8:23, easy.
Mile 6 - Through Magic Kingdom. Very crowded here with everyone slowing down to take pictures at the castle, wave for the cameras, etc. I noticed Donald off to the left of the castle entrance with only a couple of people waiting. I really hoped he would be there on Sunday since I never got a picture with him in my previous Disney races. I had to slow down and watch my footing in a few places as the dew made some of the corners and turns a bit scary. 8:28, easy.
Mile 8 - This is one of my favorite miles during the race. The crowd support is great, the golf course on the other side is really pretty, and you know you're heading back to Epcot and the finish. The course widened a little at the end of this mile, allowing me to run a little easier and get back to the pace I wanted to be at. 8:24, and feeling good.
Mile 9 - Finally another solid mile. The crowds were thinning out and I was in a groove. It felt good to relax a bit and just run. 8:16, easy.
Mile 10 - When we turned onto World Drive again, we had the entire three lanes to run in, so I spent much less time weaving around people. I ran through some quick mental calculations in my head and realized that if I could drop to 8-minute miles, I'd get damn close to breaking 1:50. That was enough of a challenge for me to pop my last gel, bear down, and go for it. 8:14, still easy.
Mile 11 - The 270-degree turn up the ramp halfway through this mile didn't help me very much in reaching my 8 min/mile goal. I had a nice burst of speed when I saw Thunder Matt cheering from the top of the overpass, but it wasn't enough to offset the climb up. Only 8:18 for this one.
Mile 12 - I knew if I didn't really kick it into a high gear that I'd never stand a chance of hitting 1:50. By my estimation, I was looking at a 1:51 at the pace I was currently running. I told myself that if Kevin can drop three minutes in the last three miles of a marathon, I could surely try the same thing in a half, so against my better judgment as to how this would affect me the next day, off I went. I hit this one in 7:56, getting faster as I went. This is when I stopped looking at my pace and started looking at my elapsed time.
Mile 13 - I was only checking my watch once in a while to see how close I was going to be. I was pushing as fast as I could safely go given the number of runners on the course and the footing in Epcot. The fountains were on and the mist was creating some very slick places along the route, the hairpin turn where the Christmas tree sits being the most treacherous. As I rounded the corner by the gospel choir, I glanced at my watch and smiled. I had just about a minute to get across the line with less than a tenth of a mile to go. I found myself a mostly-clear path along the left-hand side of the finishing chute and dashed across the line with 30 seconds to spare. I ran the last mile in 7:36, including having to brake hard at the line to avoid getting cock-blocked by the woman in this video.
It was strange to be one of the few people turning it on over the last few miles. Everyone else was running the race like I normally do - taking pictures, waving at the crowd, and enjoying the scenery. That's why Disney is such a tough place to get a PR, especially when combined with the overcrowding they had this year. The last two miles were really hard work pace-wise compared with the rest, but the mental challenge of not getting frustrated by all the people on a crowded course was toughest for at least the first half of the race. Makes me wonder what I could do on a decent course without having to waste time and energy zigzagging around.
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