After the great fun we had at the half the day before, and relaxing day, we were ready to roll. I fell asleep before 8:30 and woke up at 3:30 feeling pretty refreshed which was great after all of the early morning wake up calls I've had lately.
We did our routine as it was our 6th day out of 11 we had to get up and get ready to run. We were out of the door around 4:15 and made it rather quickly to the team rundisney meetup which is always great fun at 4:30. After the group pic, me and Devin and Greg (here is Greg's recap!) headed over to the bag area, meet up with Chris and Mallory (here is Mallory's recap!) and hung out for a bit before the trek to the corrals. We decided to use the bathrooms in the paradise pier hotel. PROTIP: there's a second set of bathrooms upstairs, no wait!
Corral A went off and they walked us up. We had about 10 min between corrals which seemed long at first but there was never really a period of course crowding. I still wish the corrals were 1/4 to 1/2 than they were now. Then there really wouldn't be crowded.
We kept going back stage and eventually came up to Main Street-we ran by the castle, through frontier land and I saw the first character stop-Luke and Leia and the line was crazy. As we went through frontier land into fantasyland, there were storm troopers stationed in front of the carousel and they were telling people not to stop at all. Seriously? If you don't want people to stop and a take a pic, don't station things there.
We ran by Matterhorn and Chewbacca was back there with a line in the dark and I couldn't see the end.
Our plan actually worked as I finally came upon Darth Vader at star tours. Devin ended up waiting about 15 min (Vader did take one break but it was only for 3 min unlike the crazy that was the WDW 10k). When we saw Vader I said-what's up dad? And he was NOT pleased with me. haha!
We continued down Buena vista street and towards paradise pier and Disney did something so smart-double storm trooper stops! We continued to the pier and out through Carsland before being backstage for awhile. Soon after we were on the streets of Anaheim.
The best part of this course was seeing the winners almost done as we first headed out. Wow-they are so incredible and they make running that fast look effortless. It really is a beautiful thing to watch.
This course is very flat and fast so there's not much to report but that our mile splits stayed pretty even, and the miles flew by. The bands and spectators were a great motivation.
The ones we took pics with from 501st were pretty mind blowing. Chewbacca made noise, same with C 3P0 and they were all so nice and gracious.
After that, it was all down hill for there. We had about 4 miles left and felt very strong. I am still in shock how much we weren't struggling. The miles plugged away and we even chatted with fellow runners and it was awesome. We had been talking and decided we needed a pic immediately after with all of our medals so we texted Brian to bring them from the hotel. We saw Pam outside her hotel around mile 10.5 and then turned back onto Harbor Blvd-we are close to the end!!
The great thing was the end was by a lot of hotels so the spectators out were FANTASTIC! The signs and people were so supportive. What was not fantastic-people trying to cross and pretty much play Frogger with all of the runners.
We took a pic with the mile 12 marker and kept going. I realized I needed to pee so I did a quick portapotty stop (less than a minute!) and we kept going.
Before we knew it, we were in the parking lot and heading towards the finish. Ralph called and said he was stuck in traffic and wouldn't meet us at the finish line. Sad but I was so ready to be done.
We rounded the corner and it was all so overwhelming. I was about to be done with 67.9 miles in 11 days and I started crying. I can't believe that we feel as great as we do and it was so mind blowing what we had accomplished.
FINISH! Less than 3 hours and feeling great. And the best part WE FINALLY GOT MYLAR BLANKETS!! 6 races and it was my first one.
After we took pics, we went back to the room to shower and roll and walk to breakfast. Ralph met us there and it was great! I highly recommend Storytellers and the character interaction was great. After that, Ralph and I headed to a super bowl party then home to pass out. I didn't have to work on Monday so I able to unpack, do a bit of laundry and put up part of my Christmas decorations and do some homework.
Anyone else participate in Star Wars weekend? Anyone have it on their bucket list?