We survived! And it wasn’t as tough as I’d expected!
This was an inaugural race, put on by the same folks who organize the Kentucky Derby Marathon & Mini-Marathon. Reports were that about 2500 runners were registered for the half-marathon. Thing One & Thing Two were handed over to my folks the night before and we drove up the morning of the race, bringing along my friend A who decided after completing her first 10-miler the weekend before that she needed to attempt 13.1 and this was as good a time as any.
We parked the same place as we had for the Derby Mini-marathon and waited in the car for start time. About 30 minutes prior to the start, we made our way through the chilly air to find the port-a-potty line and get ready. Those tricky race directors hid the port-a-potties around a corner on the opposite side of the start line from where the runners approached, which confused many folks. People were lined up 40 deep for a permanent restroom in the adjacent park but we kept moving until we found the lines we had a chance of getting through before the start.
As is only appropriate for a race in Louisville, the start featured a bugler and the “call to the post”. The Big Kid pushed up closer to the front while A & I reviewed our strategy to use 4/1 run/walk intervals. I had done my last three long runs with this interval but it was new to A and she was a bit skeptical. She was VERY skeptical when, 4 minutes after the start, I signaled it was time to walk and people were just pouring past us.
The first few miles were uneventful. There were some great bands stationed along the course. The water stop volunteers seemed absolutely overwhelmed, like the race directors had not prepared them for 2500 runners to descend upon them. We’d been promised Powerade & water at every stop, but I didn’t actually see Powerade until after the 8 mile point. If I’d known that none would be available for the middle of the pack runners, I’d probably have packed a third Gu.
Miles 4 to 8 were the hills. Massive hills. Cherokee Park. A started to see the value in the walk breaks we’d been taking from the start. We had the power to keep going up the hills while many around us stopped to walk. After mile 9, the elevation flattened out. After mile 10, we were in all virgin territory for A. By mile 11, I was really looking forward to my walk breaks. Our last one was around mile 12.5 and we just kept running from there. She had a bit more left at the end and finished about 15 seconds ahead of me.
My final time? 2:19:20, just 1:20 slower than I was for the much flatter Derby mini. I think that shows that running intervals is probably the way to go for me!
We got the awesome medals dipped in red Maker’s Mark wax.
Post race food was great – Powerade, bagels, chocolate milk, bananas, powerbars, pizza, and MAKER’S MARK SAMPLES. I think there was beer, but that doesn’t really excite me.
The Big Kid ran his fastest half ever at 1:47:20. I think he was pretty happy when I finally finished so we could walk another mile or so back to our car and get warm!
After lots of back & forth & trying to decide, The Big Kid and I are running the Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon on Saturday. Thing One & Thing Two will be with their grandparents for the weekend anyway and we’re already trained for 13.1, so why not?
I’ll be honest, it’s pretty much all about the bling!
How can I pass up a medal dipped in Maker’s Mark wax?
Here’s the scary part:
The hills of Cherokee Park look pretty rough. I’ve been trying to train for uphills & downhills in the last few weeks and definitely will be running 4/1 intervals. I’ve done 4/1′s for an 11 mile and a 13 mile run and seem to come out with about the same time as if I ran straight through, so interval running is definitely the way to go. Running 6ish miles tomorrow and 2-3 on Thursday, then racing Saturday.
People often ask, “Why do you need to go all the way to Disneyworld to race? Aren’t there races here?” I think this video sorta sums up my answer:
Running at Disney is just more fun!
I did not carry my camera through the race or to the after-party, so I don’t have a lot of photos for this post. I ran this race last year with friends, but The Big Kid did not arrive until later that trip, so this was his first experience with a Disney half-marathon. We ran the inaugural Expedition Everest Challenge in 2008, but this was his first time at a longer, bigger Disney race. We both ran the Kentucky Derby “mini” (half) marathon in April 2011.
We arrived in Orlando Wednesday night went right out Thursday and did exactly what we were not supposed to do – we walked 11.5 miles! So much for a “low key” day. We were in the Magic Kingdom, then went to Epcot for 2 laps around Food & Wine Festival in World Showcase, then back to MK for dinner & the trek to the parking lot. Friday totaled about 8 miles for me because I did 2 miles with Jeff Galloway, then walked around the Expo, the Beach Club, & the outlet mall/Downtown Disney that night. So much for taking it easy before the race!
On Saturday I attended the Disney Moms Panel Meetup at Epcot, then spent some time resting by Stormalong Bay before heading out to the race start. We stayed at the Beach Club and were pleasantly surprised when we walked out to the regular Beach Club bus stop around 7 PM and hopped right on a bus to the start. Last year, my friends & I waited 30-45 minutes at the Yacht & Beach Convention Center for a bus with available seats. It did take a while for the bus to let us off once we reached the Wide World of Sports, but that was fine.
Once we arrived at the Wide World of Sports, we dropped his bag off at bag check – since he was likely to finish at least 20 minutes faster than me, we decided to check only one bag using his bib number. Then we waited. We wandered and snacked, then finally found the WDW Radio Running Team and spent some time chatting with everyone there. We listened to the DJ, watched everyone dancing, marveled at some of the costumes, and checked out everyone’s bib number to see if those lower than The Big Kid (424) looked faster or slower than him.
Finally, after a quick port-a-potty stop, we headed over to Corral A. We tried to hang near the middle but kept being asked to move forward. More waiting. Finally – an “interesting” version of the national anthem, fireworks, and we were off! I was so glad RunDisney moved to a wave start for those in the back corrals and also glad that every wave got their own fireworks. Running out of the WWOS through the turn on to the Osceola Parkway was a bit crowded, but not too bad. I mostly tried to hold my pace down and not chase the faster runners who were passing me. I still started out too fast, my 5K split was 31:33, technically a 5K PR for me by about a minute! Yikes. My first mile was a 9:53 and I pretty much slowed down every mile from there.
I loved the Animal Kingdom this year! Last year I felt boxed in by walkers & had to fight the desire to push & shove others out of my way. This year it was comfortable & easy. I caught up with the wheelchair racer near Expedition Everest and we passed each other a few more times before the end of the race. I did know I’d been moving too fast and tried to back off a bit as I left the Animal Kingdom. I ended up walking some short stretches once I was back on the Osceola Parkway.
At about 80 minutes into the race I made the turn onto World Drive and was so glad the out-and-back part of the course was removed. After that, the course changes messed with my head a little bit. I’m happy with the new course, for sure, I just kept remembering the 2010 race. Last year, we entered the studios at mile 10. I was at exactly 2 hours at that point and realized I did not have a 30 minute 5K in me to meet my goal time of 2:30. This year, it was right about mile 9, which was great. I knew I’d beat last year’s time but wasn’t sure how fast I’d be able to go for the next 4 miles. After coming through the costuming tunnel, I started wondering about The Big Kid. At 1:45, I hoped he’d finished and at 1:50, I really, really hoped he’d finished and felt good.
Out of the Studios, around the Boardwalk, waved to Deb Wills & the All Ears crew, then up & over the walkway to the International Gateway… oh, no, I have to keep running, the finish isn’t right here? Hey, there are people cheering. Hey, there’s some spotlights. Where the heck is the finish? Keep going, keep going, keep going, finally! The finish!
I crossed the finish line & almost immediately The Big Kid was calling me. I’d been hoping to finish around 2:15 since I was 2:18 at the Derby half. I was actually right at 2:24, so he was starting to get concerned that he’d missed me. I couldn’t hear him, but we stayed on the phone, I got my medal, my bag of food, and then I found him waiting for me right where runners could exit into the mix of non-runners & finished runners. He had already retrieved our checked bag and changed. I couldn’t believe it when he said he walked right in and the volunteer practically had the bag waiting for him to get to the table! What a change from last year, great job, RunDisney! The changing tents were fantastic too, much better than stripping down behind the entrance gate to the Millenium Pavillion.
I quickly changed into dry clothes & my compression socks, we grabbed our “free” beer, and hustled into the PARTY! I’d have much rather had a “free” wine, I think we ended up giving mine away to a random stranger. We met up with our friends for one loop around World Showcase. It seemed to me to be MUCH less crowded than 2010, both because I arrived at the finish earlier and because the partygoers were more spread out. Finishing in the front of Epcot made the experience SO much better. We were able to sample food & wine from some of the booths we skipped on Thursday during the soft opening of Food & Wine Festival. We dropped back by the WDW Radio Running team meet-up at 2 AM but did not stay long enough to be in the group photo, it seems. About 2:45 AM we finally gave up and headed back to the Beach Club Villas for a few hours of sleep before flying home to Thing One & Thing Two.
My race splits:
5K in 31:33
10K in 1:05:56
15K in 1:40:36
13.1 miles in 2:24:14
Overall Place 3203 / 8254
Gender Place 1568 / 5213
Division Place 322 / 953
I’ll spare you The Big Kid’s stats, but I do know that he was the 477th finisher overall.
I thought I had missed out on the opportunity to RSVP for the Jeff Galloway pre-race meetup this year. I was busy at Thing One & Thing Two’s school that morning, doing PTA volunteer stuff. When I got home and saw the blog post, I quickly fired off an RSVP with my name but figured I was way too late to be accepted.
A few days later, I got an email from RunDisney saying I had been pulled from the alternate list and was now invited to attend. Unfortunately, I didn’t include The Big Kid’s name in the RSVP, so he was not invited. Doh!
We decided I’d take our rental car to the Wide World of Sports at 7 AM and he’d meet up with me there at 10 AM for the expo.
Everyone met out front, signed liability waivers, and then we were driven around to the track at the back of the WWOS on golf carts.
Once there, we were treated to a “physics & form” lesson from Brooks Johnson! I was not expecting anything more than just to show up & run with Jeff Galloway, so this was a real treat. He actually had us up & running on the track in small groups while we focused on posture, foot strike, and arm swing.
Race director John Hughes talked a bit and promised us great weather for the run!
We also heard from last year’s winners about their experiences.
And then Jeff Galloway talked about his run/walk method.
Then it was finally time for us to run! A group of faster runners took off with last year’s winners, mentioning something about 6 minute miles… the rest of us knew then we’d made the right choice. Jeff wouldn’t quote us a pace, just that he wanted to “avoid huffing & puffing” and that we’d be doing 30 seconds running/30 seconds walking. Overall we moved about a 13 minute/mile pace, I didn’t quite run the intervals since I dropped to the back to talk to someone from the Running of the Ears group, then caught back up to the main group. In the last mile of the run, something he said finally “clicked” with me – he reminding us that his numbers are ratios, not minute:minute prescriptions. One of the reasons I’ve resisted using his run/walk method is that I CAN & WANT TO run for longer than 3-4 minutes at a time. I just keep thinking “3:1 or 4:1″ means “3 minutes running, then 1 minute walking”. I think I’d actually be more comfortable with 6 or 8 minutes running, then 2 minutes walking. After running this race, my third half-marathon, I’m ready to try this new mindset, especially if I ever attempt a full marathon.
Once everyone finished our 2 mile trail run through the swamp behind WWOS, we hopped back in the golf carts and moved back to the WWOS Grill, where Chef Gary Jones and Chef Mickey were waiting for us.
There should be no shortage of official Disney video & photos from this event…
The chefs and their assistants put together a quinoa-based muesli. We all had a small taste.
We heard more about the future of RunDisney, including the promise of more events on both coasts and a focus on international participants. Personally, I’m hoping for another full marathon, but we’ll see.
There were photo ops with both Chef Mickey & Jeff Galloway.
The RunDisney folks took some of the meet up, eat up participants to the front of the line for packet pickup. Since I had to wait for The Big Kid anyway, I went on into the expo and bought a shirt from the One More Mile booth while there were no lines. This year packet pickup was in an entirely different building at WWOS, which meant more walking around but a little less chaos in the main expo room.
Finally! That’s The Big Kid in the Perry shirt and our fantastic South Florida-based friends who were coming to pick up their after-party tickets.
At the end, we were given a RunDisney goodie bag that included both a WWOS bag and an individualized t-shirt with my Twitter name on it! All in all, this was a fantastic meetup! I was so grateful to be included and really enjoyed the entire morning. Thanks, RunDisney!
(photos not tagged with @StateOfChaos were stolen from RunDisney’s Facebook page)
Waivers with bib numbers are now available for RunDisney’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon!
Several weeks ago, DH & I submitted our finishing times from the Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon and the RunDisney folks updated our estimated finishing times. I finished Derby in 2:18:01 so RunDisney adjusted my estimated finish time to 2:03 – yikes! Yes, my Derby time was an 18 minute improvement from the 2010 Wine & Dine half, but to cut another 15 minutes from my times sounds a bit ambitious. Derby was The Big Kid’s first-ever half and he finished in 1:57:18. RunDisney didn’t send back a new estimate for him, but he’s hoping for 1:50 or under.
His bib number is 424 and mine is 1736. Looks like we could both be in the first corral! I’m not confident I belong there, will have to try hard to EARN it!
RunDisney just sent out the race details for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Just 75 days to go! I’m excited to go back and run this race again, this time with DH along for a short mini-vacation, just us. Thing One & Thing Two will stay home with their grandparents and go to school like all good second graders should.
I’m also really excited that RunDisney is changing several logistical things that should make this race more enjoyable.
Most importantly, they’ve promised to fix the nightmare that was the finish line & bag claim last time. The finish is moving to the front of Epcot, which shortens the out & back part of the course on the Osceola Parkway (a great added benefit as far as I’m concerned!). I hope to be able to claim my bag quicker and avoid feeling sick from being crammed in a small space with lots of sweaty runners.
They’re also planning a wave start with five corrals instead of one start with all four corrals slowly shuffling to the front. Waves will be five minutes apart. I emailed in our finish times from the Kentucky Derby Mini-marathon, so I shouldn’t be in the last corral and I’m really hoping our finish times will put us in corrals 2 & 3. I can live with 3 & 4, but I’ll definitely push my way to the front. The sooner we start, the sooner we get to the finish line party!
With any luck, the streetlights will be working for the World Drive/Buena Vista Drive part of the race, the “cooking stations” along the course will be moved to the after party, and Epcot will actually be cleared of guests who did not purchase a ticket to the party. If those things happen, Wine & Dine will be a perfect race no matter how my run goes!
I still can’t believe it. That’s 18 minutes total, 1:20 per mile, faster than I ran at the Wine & Dine half last fall. The courses were reasonably similar, and overall the races compare fairly well.
This weekend was made possible by another great friend who invited Thing One & Thing Two to their first official sleepover. Her B/G twins are about a year younger than my boys and while they live about an hour from us, all the kids love to play together whenever possible. We left the boys there early Friday evening and headed to packet pickup in downtown Louisville.
We were in & out pretty quick, the expo didn’t have a lot of interest for me. I did buy a few bondibands but several of the booths had packed up and left with about 2 hours to go on the schedule. We had a pasta dinner and hit the hay pretty early.
Of course DH had us up, ready, and waiting for the start with plenty of time to go. I went with a banana, coffee, powerbar, & water breakfast spread over the course of 2 hours or so. DH & I were in different corrals, of course. He actually qualified to go up from the 3rd to 2nd corral but chose not to. I was in the 4th. This was the first race I’ve been to with a mixed full/half marathon course and we found out later that all full marathoners were spread across corrals 1-3. This means that my expected finish time of 2:25 had me starting behind the 6 hour marathoners. Many runners & walkers slated for the 5th & 6th corrals hopped in right in front of me when they saw the 5:45 & 6 hour pace teams.
First few miles were in downtown Louisville right near the river, then we headed in towards the University of Louisville campus & Churchill Downs. I felt pretty good and tried to run all the turns as tight as I could. The group really slowed down inside Churchill – it just seemed crowded going into the grandstand, through the tunnel, & out around the infield. We were all looking up at the twin spires and thinking about how much faster racehorses run, I guess.
Coming back towards the river I just tried to keep it together. At mile 10 I realized I was slightly ahead of my 10-miler time and way ahead of where I was at the 10 mile point for the 2010 Wine & Dine. About mile 11.5 I was really ready to be done. Finally made it through that last left turn and across the finish line.
It took forever to get through the food line but I was desperate for some salt as my hands were really swollen. I got a drink, a bagel, and some sun chips and headed to the spot where DH & I had agreed to meet. He actually found me before I made it to our meet up spot. He was happy to have completed his first half but unhappy with some GI issues and a wait for the portapotty that slowed him down. We cleaned up and retrieved our children before heading back home later that afternoon.
I feel much, much better than I did last fall. I don’t know if it’s the compression socks or the fact that I’m not schlepping around Disneyworld, but feel better. And so excited with my time improvement! Now to talk DH into registering for Wine & Dine 2011…
Yes, the 365 photo project got a bit derailed by a little thing called the Kentucky Kids Consignment Sale. So did running, for that matter. The spring 2011 sale ran from beginning setup at 8 AM on Sunday, March 13 to finishing teardown at 10 PM on Saturday, March 19. Approximate number of hours worked either at the sale or at home doing reports & answering texts & emails? 100ish. Approximate number of miles run during sale week? ZERO!
The sale was awesome, as usual. I absolutely love organizing it and I love sale week most of all, despite the insane hours. After another week or two off, I’ll be ready to regroup and start planning for Fall 2011. But this post is supposed to be about running….
Post-sale, I managed an easy 3 miler, a crappy 4 mile run/walk mess, a rest day, and an 6 miler that felt good even with the cold & rain. I took two rest days and then tackled the 10 miler. The Papa John’s 10 miler is the last leg of the Louisville Triple Crown of running. We did not end up running the 5K or 10K, but really wanted to get in the 10 miler as we prepare for the Kentucky Derby mini-marathon. I STILL don’t understand why this is a “mini-marathon” and not a “half-marathon” but that’s what the Derby folks call it and it’s still 13.1 miles.
Our awesome friend not only went to packet pickup for us, but she kept Thing One & Thing Two under control during the race. She took them to breakfast and then they waited at Papa John’s stadium for us to finish. It was about 40 degrees and clear at the start. DH and I waited for the start together and then I didn’t see him again until I had a bagel, Powerade, and slice of pepperoni pizza (yes, really!) in hand.
We ran out on mostly flat ground, around Iroquois Park with some killer hills, then back & into Papa John’s stadium. I had never run the park before and just did the best I could for those hills. I ended up walking a bit here and there to get up them, then flew down them. I felt pretty good at the mile 6 water stop as we exited the park but started to struggle by mile 8, probably because I had not run longer than 6 in the two weeks before the race. I ended up walking a bit up the overpass and again right before we headed into the stadium. I did see our crew in the stands as I made the last turn to the finish. After the finish was a madhouse of runners & spectators grabbing entire boxes of bananas, drinks, bagels, & pizza. I fought my way in the crowd to get some food, then saw DH coming to find me.
My chip time was 1:47:16 and my Garmin reports I actually ran 10.22 miles. My 5 mile split was 53:45. I tried to avoid weaving back & forth between runners, but I guess I didn’t do a very good job of running the tangents of the course. Still, I’ll take the 10:43 min/mile average, that’s over a minute per mile faster than I did the Wine & Dine half. I know I hit the 10 mile marker there right at 2 hours and it was a pretty flat course. I have four more weeks to train before the Derby half. DH’s chip time was 1:24:12, so I really think he can pull off a 1:50 for the half.
We armed the boys with their cameras for entertainment purposes. Seeing the photos they take is always great entertainment for us! Once they got to the stadium, it seems like they snapped a picture of every man in a red shirt and every woman in a purple shirt as they came towards the finish. Here’s a small selection, cropped & edited by me. We’re in the final two photos. DH is wearing a black hat, black gloves, & red shirt. I’m in purple, carrying my hat & gloves:
I’m not bothering with the usual list of resolutions this year… lose weight, get the house organized, do better menu planning, don’t lock Thing One & Thing Two in the basement for extended periods of time… you know the drill.
My other goals for the year are for running. Finishing the Wine & Dine Half made me realize I want to run more races and get faster. So, DH & I are going to run the Louisville Triple Crown of Running and the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon. The triple crown races are a 5K, 10K, & 10 miler set two weeks apart. Then it is five weeks between the 10 miler and the half marathon. I’d like to do a fall half as well, and then I’ll feel more ready to decide if I ever want to try for 26.2.
So, here’s my time goals:
31:00 – 3.1 miles
1:05:00 – 6.2 miles
1:50:00 – 10 miles
2:25:00 – 13.1 miles
