Dopey Challenge--Mickey's Full Mary--26.2 miles, day 4

Mickey Madness through all 4 parks + ESPN Wide World of Sports

We finally all got the message on race morning, and we all wore our mylar blankets from the day before in addition to any other number of layers. This was the view in the corral on race morning:

So much mylar...and so much time!

The strangest thing for me on race morning was that I had no idea how to think about the day ahead. I had spent so much time trying to figure out how I'd get to that start line, that I really had no idea what to think about what should happen when I crossed it. I've run several marathons, and I usually spend a lot of time working on my thinking heading into race day, but at the start of my fourth race in four days, I remember just thinking that I would figure it out as I went along.

They announced several times that we should not cross the start line wearing our mylar blankets because it would screw up the timing system, so I shed my two mylars (one on top and one on the bottom) before I crossed the start line. Other people were tossing off jackets, blankets, and sweatshirts, as well, and I saw a man walking next to me who grabbed someone else's discarded fleece blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. I knew I'd be doing a lot of walking, and I knew from the previous three days that it would take me a couple of miles to warm up, so I snagged the first fleece blanket I saw hanging on the railing, and I wrapped it around my shoulders. Great decision  #1 of the day! 

From park to park on the half day was exciting. But from park to park to park to park on marathon day was amazing. Knowing that I was going to see so many new sights and to cover so much new ground made it easy to get excited about the distance. (And if you read the earlier post about porta johns, you'll know that I was also excited about having access to real bathrooms in each of those parks!). 

While we entered the Magic Kingdom in the dark, the sun came up while I was making my way through the park. 

Notice I remembered both a hat and sunglasses for the daytime run. We came up on the back of the castle, and it was an incredible rush. Then we were off for some uncharted territory for me--the other parks. 

There were a lot of miles between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, and not all of them were pleasant. There are about 30,000 runners in the marathon, and at times the course was restricted to a single lane of a road. That made for some incredibly crowded (and sometimes frustrating) conditions. I only heard one nasty exchange between two women--one who was mad because the other started walking and didn't move over before doing so, and the other who pretty much told her where to eff off. The reality, though, was that the course was so narrow in places that it was really difficult to run comfortably. And it was really difficult to walk comfortably. And if you were run-walking, heaven help us all. The only possible solution was to have a lot of patience. 

At the halfway point, we got to run through Animal Kingdom. The park was already open, and Disney managed the crowds incredibly well. And some of the rides were open to runners. Some of my braver running pals jumped on to Expedition Everest. I was afraid that if I even tried to sit down on a ride, I would never get up again. (Plus, Everest kind of terrified me when I rode it on our Spring Break trip down.) 

Everest is really THAT tall. And THAT terrifying.

We left Animal Planet and ran into the misery that is ESPN Wide World of Sports. Narrow paths (think 10 feet wide) running between sports fields. When we first entered the complex, they were blaring "Hail to the Victors" over the speakers, and that was definitely the only highlight. 

Notice that I'm smiling as I run in. 

I hit mile 20 in the baseball stadium at WWOS, and I took my first picture of a mile marker. Because, well, mile 20.

I've yet to see anyone say that they enjoy the run through WWOS, and I'll jump on that bandwagon. I'll also add that somewhere in there, Disney put a guy next to a car with a speaker and a microphone, and I think he was supposed to be encouraging us, but he was the worst motivational speaker ever. If I were going to give Disney any feedback on the entire experience, I'd holler at them about the expo, and I'd holler at them about that guy. He was just truly awful. 

BUT, then we moved on to the next park!

The run through Hollywood Studios isn't long. When we entered the park, I had to stop and capture this moment.. the Tower of Terror. Any Culver friends reading this post will understand why this picture had to be taken. 

And just like that, I was running into Epcot again to finish the race and the Dopey Challenge. The last mile around the World Showcase at Epcot is pretty incredible. Again, the parks are open, and there are people everywhere, but the path for runners is clear. 

I made this face often on marathon day. But this version was my "I did it!" face. 

And here's the marathon medal.

One really cool moment on marathon day was when I was finally coming into the finish line, and a man was standing off to the side of the race chute high-fiving incoming runners. It was only after I had finished that I realized that I had been congratulated on my finish by Jeff Galloway. What a great treat. Jeff's run/walk training was a large part of why I was at the finish line, so it was incredibly apropos that he was there. I am grateful to have gotten to thank him. 

That's it for a marathon report... Dopey wrap-up coming in my final Dopey post.