First of all…you’re probably thinking “Hey! This is not in the correct order!” and you are absolutely correct.
Also, this is likely going to be a two-parter cause the timing is pretty expanded!! If you were there, you know!!
But first, take a trip with me back to January…and let’s go to Walt Disney World for Marathon weekend where I was all set to run a 5K and a half marathon and hang out with my awesome Disney Ohana.
This trip involved a couple of travel plan changes but eventually it was all straightened out and me and the Phred got to Orlando Tuesday morning and after some confusion I found where I had to pick up my rental car and was on my way! Eventually I made it to Celebration and was able to relax. Or…get to work since I had work to do!
As we were running the 5K on Thursday – and I was volunteering on Friday – we would have to brave the expo on Wednesday to pick up bibs and shirts and credentials. I drove in the red Kia that I had rented (it’s the one in the hamster/rat/gerbil commercial!) and we blasted …um Christmas music on our way to ESPN Wide World of Sports.
The Disney expos have been come a bit of a cluster in the last few years…seems like way too many people in one place at one time! Fortunately, the building for picking up bibs was not too crowded and the 5K shirts were out in the stadium. Don’t even ask about picking up the other shirt – that building had a massive line to get in so we decided to pick up the Half Marathon shirt after the half on Saturday figuring the crowds would really have died down!
Then I had to hunt down where to pick up my volunteer credentials. After getting mis-directed SEVERAL times I finally found the door to go in and grabbed my things!
The plan for the 5K was to run as a group – we had gotten some awesome wigs and we had matching skirts (not my favorite Skirt Sports but we’ll call it Brand X). Angela and I had Fellow Flower tanks -“Progress Not Perfection” since this is something I need to remember!
As usual I was in a farther back corral than my friends. Happily, for me, Vanessa and Angela dropped back to start out with me. As we got into EPCOT we were joined by a couple of others and eventually, while waiting in line for a picture, we gathered our whole group for an amazing rainbow finish!!
Since Disney races are early enough, I had time to do a little work after my shower and before we headed over to the Grand Floridian for afternoon tea with the ladies!
I was volunteering the next morning, bright and early, at the start corrals for the 10K so we headed home fairly early…after all, a 2:00 am check-in comes REALLY early!! 🙂
I do love volunteering at Disney — it’s always easy to find the fun and the magic! For this race, I was one of the people leading the corral to the start line. While waiting I met an internet friend, possibly for the first time. Also, watching the faster corrals go past I noticed that not too many of them seemed to be in a very magical mood…More like a dwarves – lots of Grumpy faces! The further back in the race, the more Happy people we saw! Naturally all of them were pretty Sleepy!
Anyway….after getting my group to the start I decide to wait to see more of my friends off. One of the volunteers standing next to me said “wow, you sure know a lot of people!” And I do! Some pretty awesome people!
After all of the runners had left the corrals and were approaching the start, I headed to the meeting area for our group. As I was walking about 3 or 4 runners came speeding past to get into the lines to start – it was a close call for one of them!! We got released early, I headed home for a couple of conference calls and then decided to head over to the parks.
Now, it had been threatening to rain for our Half Marathon on Saturday but the race was “rain or shine”. It isn’t like we haven’t run in the rain before, right?! But…around 5 or so in the evening, people staying onsite started seeing signs go up in the hotel lobbies that the race was being delayed…Okay. But I bet we still need to be there at Dark O’clock. I continued my trip around the Magic Kingdom, texting and checking social media for updates.
And then it happened. Cancelled.
WHAT??!! What??
Seems that there were thunder and lightning expected around the times that volunteers would be setting up and runners arriving and this is no bueno. Way too dangerous and no where to put 20,000 people if things got bad.
As I was leaving the park I met up with some friends over at the fancy Bay Lake Tower DVC club for a drink. Walking in I was passed by more than a few people who had put on the costumes they had planned for Saturday and were heading out to get their 13.1 in before the storms (this was a trend — the next morning there were makeshift half marathons being held all over Disney property and other guests came out to cheer and provide support!)
I actually did *not* do my half that day. I had gone to bed with a decent head cold so given the opportunity to NOT run in the rain…I took it. Of course, had the official race gone on I would’ve been out there making myself sicker!
I should add here — runDisney took the fairly unprecedented action and actually offered refunds in various forms to those running the half. Which. They did NOT have to do. Rarely does this happen. I’ve personally had 2 races cancelled (one at the very last minute like this one) and got nothing. So… ps – I took the cash – as you should know I would.
I did plan to run a half, completely separate from another registered race (no double-dipping for me!) And I did eventually get it done even if it took me a few months…
But first…there’s other stuff going on that I need to share 🙂
outrunningthefork 