Finally the big day arrived. Given the 5am start time and my usual pace, where I used to go on a few rides inside of DHS, I arrived at and exited from DHS before park open, even with all of the stops for photos, so that wasn't possible. The plan was to see how well I could do pace-wise. But I was fairly pessimistic about being able to get a BQ given the fact that we were starting at about 60-65F, and it was only going rise quickly from there once we got to sunrise.
While Laura had a bib that let her start in S1, three of the four days she was running with people whose bibs were in later corrals, so she only started in S1 when we ran the half together. But, membership has its privileges, so she was able to come into the corral, even if briefly, to take a selfie and some photos of the starting line and stage from up close.
As with the other two start photos, I'm very close to the front on the right side of the photo.
Two quick photo ops before we even hit Mile 1!
Definitely too warm to have a chance of a BQ if this is my time at Mile 8. Totally fine by me, given the good time that I was having.
No, it's definitely not a figment of my imagination that I'm more than ⅓ of the way through with a marathon an hour before sunrise.
Amusingly, this was the first of many times during the marathon that Danny (he that I met yesterday) and I seesawed paths in/out of the photo ops.
No, it did NOT take me more than hour to get here. As the CM stationed there was telling everyone, this mile marker was one hour fast (somehow). Not that they really needed to tell US that, we knew how long (at least approximately) that we had been running.
I love the sight of the castle as we run up Main Street USA. And while I do like this version of the castle for the 50th anniversary, I vastly prefer the castle draped with icicles. I'll take it, though. (Like I have a choice.)
Let's bounce!
Boy, did my camera get wet by this point, both from a little bit of sweat and LOTS of water that I had dumped over my head by this point.
The CM was giving me a hard time that he couldn't take my photo, I had to take a selfie. Umm... I can't take a selfie with a regular camera! He finally deigned to take this photo. Hmm... maybe I shouldn't have bothered?
Ah, the aroma from this part of the course...
Alas, this was as close as I got to a photo with Carl. As I was passing the photo op where Carl and Dug appear, they were walking away for the break. Ugh!
Hey, Jessie, Bullseye is about half a mile back!
Oh, goody! Blizzard Beach parking lot lap, now! Sweet! (Not.)
Olaf was surely loving the temperatures by this point, but it was really getting overly warm for those of us running.
This spot was so horrible for photos that they actually had a CM there with a tarp that he would hold up to block the sun from the camera taking the photo. And, unfortunately, Chip didn't make it into frame. Phooey!
We were in DHS for such a short time (as has been the case for years, now), that they barely have any photos taken inside. Oh well.
At this point in the race, what would come over the speakers by
"Hot Diggity Dog". Damn, this was PERFECT time. My pace quickened to match the tempo, I started singing along, and snapping in time with the music. Damn, that was a great energy boost. And the PhotoPass photographer was truly surprised: "Wow! You have that much energy AND your in tempo!" Perfect for putting a little pep in my step past Mile 25.
Hey, where's Perry? For that matter, where's Phineas?
Having taken a little time to have a cold soak, then shower and change, I made my way back to Epcot. First up, some lunch at the new BBQ place. With a couple of familiar faces who were STILL running the marathon (since they were taking a more leisurely pace AND getting on many rides along the way).
Then it was off to a shady spot up just a smide from the American Experience to cheer on the last of the runners for the next 45 minutes or so. It's great to see how many of them got some extra motivation seeing the medal(s) that were in store for them. All were getting Mickey (held in one hand), some were getting Goofy, too (topmost around my next), and lots were getting Dopey, even (held in the other hand). "Less than 1 mile to go!" "You really ARE almost there." "A few more miles to bling!" "You got this!"
Even after the Balloon Ladies passed me, it was still at least another 5 minutes or so that participants were still passing. Finally, there was a golf cart taking up the rear who confirmed for me that there were no more runners behind him. Phew. With that, I was off to get some water (since I had run out, and I had been light-headed for most of those 45 minutes, despite having had sufficient food to that point) and then some ice cream in France...
