On Saturday morning, we headed to the ESPN Wide World of Sports to pick up our stuff and check out the expo, then headed over to Epcot for a few hours.
This is the weekend of the Wine and Food Festival, so there were all sorts of yummies to taste as we walked around World Showcase. But, we decided to save most of that for the next day after the race. Having never raced a nighttime race before, we were a little concerned about how that was going to go. So, instead we hit a few rides and a few of the countries, then headed back to our room for a small dinner and a nap.
It was suggested to leave our hotel around 7 to get to the race start. All I kept thinking was, "what are we going to do for two hours before the race?" Duh...it's Disney. They kept us entertained with a DJ, dancing, and characters. We waited in line to visit with Mickey Mouse and by the time we got our picture taken, it was time to hit the porta-potty and go to our corral.
At exactly 10:00, the first heat started (Randy was in that group) with a flourish of fireworks. Two minutes later, my corral got our own fireworks. I wasn't expecting much from this race - travel, wandering around the park, nighttime race - but I wanted to have fun. I settled into a decent pace, about 9 minutes per mile. Unfortunately, the humidity started to bug me and I had to stop drinking water because it was actually bothering my stomach. I was able to handle the Gatorade, so I stuck with that. As for having fun...I was entertained most of the race. There were DJ's and characters along the course, as well as lots of volunteers. We ran through Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT. Running in the parks was tough. It was dark and there are a lot of turns, which slows you down. But, being in Florida, there were no hills! Although I heard some people calling the overpass a hill...seriously??
Anyway, I finished slower than I wanted to, but I can say that I had a lot of fun. I even got a pound-dog from Mickey Mouse at the finish line! After the race, I changed into normal clothes, grabbed my glass of wine (water, too) and wandered the Wine and Food Festival with Randy until about 2:30 in the morning. How we were even functioning at that point is beyond me. We made it back to bed at 3:30 and slept until 10:00 Sunday morning.
We spent Sunday in EPCOT again, hitting more of the Wine and Food vendors and more rides and attractions. There is so much to do in EPCOT. We ended the day with dinner at the Restaurant Marrakesh in the Morocco pavilion, which was soooo good, and buying our souvenirs (salt and pepper shakers for Randy and a Mickey wine glass for me).
It was probably not the most organized Disney trip, nor was it our best half-marathon. But, we had a lot of fun. It's always nice to get away from the real world and visit the Happiest Place on Earth for a short time. Thanks, Mickey!
