I Knew I Was Slow, But...

In a vane attempt to get a higher corral placement for the Wine and Dine Half, Mark and I decided to get in a little more local race experience and signed up for the Senior Bowl Charity 10K a week before going to Disney.  

Up until this point, we'd done probably two local races, both 5Ks.  We knew to expect a smaller race with intermittent water stops and no real crowd support.  Well, we got that right, but we didn't account for one thing:  people around here are FAST!

See, we're used to 5Ks and Disney races where there are people of every running level, plenty of leisurely walkers and even some kids.  And we saw plenty of those walking to the line.  But when we got to the start line, we thought "Uh oh."  These people did not look like our people.  They looked like serious runners.  Even the guy with the backpack with a six-pack of Budweiser stored in it looked like he'd be running 7 minute miles. All of our people were running the 5K.

There were no corrals, so we snuck into the back of the start line crowd.  Nearly precisely at 8:30 ish, the start gun went and we were off.  Or should I say, they were off.  Even though mark and I ran the fastest mile of our lives, the bulk of the pack took off like shot!  Mercifully there were a handful of other turtles like us so we didn't feel completely alone.  It was pretty warm for October and I started to feel the humidity, so around mile 3 I sent Mark along on his merry way.  Even then, I ran some of my fastest paces so far, beating my 5K PR and hitting 4 miles under 1 hour.  And I wasn't last.  Which I let every policeman and person waiting for the road to open know.

Oh, and even though the road was closed, I almost got hit by a car.  I mean, I felt something right on my left hip and turned and IT WAS A CAR!  I don't know how she got there, but one of Mobile's finest was not doing their job at that point.

Oh, and I chicked a 70 year old man who shuffled the entire way.  Race accomplishment!

For the record, 500 or the 700 runners finished in less than 1 hour.  See?  Fast.

So even though I didn't do well enough to move up a corral and finished last in my AG, I was really proud of my race.

And then, the next day, the local newspaper website captured my moment of glory for everyone I know to see.  I guess that's what happens when you dress like a walking glow stick.

Tower of Terror 10-Miler 2013

Mark and I trained all summer for the Tower of Terror 10-Miler. It was our longest distance race ever, and, let's face it, we did it for the medal.  My sister tagged along for the weekend.  She's a much faster runner than us, but she's happy doing her own thing.

Mark and I had done the 5K Trail run in 2012, so we knew what to expect from the expo.

Being the planners that we are, Beth and I decided we would dress up like Alice in Wonderland characters. She was the Cheshire Cat, Mark was a card, and I was Alice, of course (thanks to Raw Threads, Bondi Bands and Sparkle Skirts).  

I have terrible race anxiety and was just sick with nerves for the week before the race.  It did not help that somehow Mark ended up in the corral behind mine and I wouldn't have my cheerleader and running buddy. And Mark had the handheld so I wouldn't have access to extra water.

The weather was pretty cool but still humid in early October in Orlando.  I'd hoped that it would let up as we got closer to the 10 pm start, but of course it didn't.

I'd also heard horror stories from the 2012 race that the course was boring with little entertainment, but Disney listened and really stepped up their game.  The first character was less than a mile into the race, and it seemed there was a character or something at least once a mile.  This helped the long, lonely run up Osceola Parkway to Animal Kingdom. And there were lights and special effects (fireballs!) all over the place.

For the first couple of miles I did pretty well.  My shin splints didn't bother me and I kept to my 1/1 run/walk intervals.  In fact, I was running faster than I probably should've.  The worst part was that, once we turned onto Osceola Parkway, the breeze completely died, making the humidity really bad. We ran through the autoplaza for Animal Kingdom and everybody grumbled that runDisney shouldn't tease us by letting us be that close but not run through the park.  It sure would be better than the portion that goes through Wide World of Sports.

After the water stop at mile 3, I felt a presence at my left shoulder.  It was Mark!  He had hauled butt to catch up with me, and I was so glad to see him.  He was feeling great and looking forward to getting his picture made with the gravediggers.  I, on the other hand, was starting to feel really nauseous.  My fingers we swelling and I had been taking some Power Aid with my water at the stations, but it and the humidity didn't agree with my stomach.  I started walking more than I wanted to.

The absolutely worse part of the race for me came about mile 3.5, when I looked at the other side of Osceola Parkway and saw the balloon ladies and sweepers.  I just panicked, even though I knew they were three miles behind me, I was convinced I was going to get swept.  It wasn't pretty.  But Mark got me calmed down and we made it to Wide World of Sports and the horrible gravel trail.  The entire portion was really tight and crowded and we had to walk most of it because there was no way to get around anyone to run.  My feet didn't love the changing surfaces: gravel, small gravel, track, cement sidewalk.  But WWOS had the one photo stop Mark and I had agreed on: the Haunted Mansion gravediggers.

I was pretty much done by the time we left WWOS.  I knew the turn back onto Osceola Parkway at mile 8 was the last sweeping point, so getting past that was a relief.  Mark really wanted to run though, so when we got to Hollywood Studios he took off.  It took everything I had to make myself run some through the park, but I was determined.

I saw my sister who had just killed it and that gave me a boost.  So I gave it my (very slow) all.  The volunteers were wonderful and I began to hear we had less than a mile to go.  Then that the finish line was just around the corner.  I rounded the building corner and ran as fast as I could.  I high fived Goofy and crossed the finish line.  I was SO proud even though I wasn't terribly pleased with my effort.

Time: 2:44:22.

I felt really nauseous afterwards and sat on a bench for a couple of hours while Mark and Beth rode the rides.  I was really disappointed that I couldn't celebrate by riding the Tower of Terror with them, but I also didn't want to vomit all over them either.  By the time we got back home, I'd already decided that I want to go back next year and redeem myself.  My goals for the next year will be to figure out what I need to do to avoid heat exhaustion, get into a higher corral, and run longer intervals, not so much to improve my time, but so I'm not so worried about getting swept and that I have time to stop for a couple of more pictures.

Overall I thought it was a good race, but crowded if you are in the back. A lot of fun.