Minnie 15K Report

I finished in 1:35:18. Not my goal time, but still a PR. Here are the details:

Miles 1-5
Were pretty dang boring.

But I knew that. See, what's deceiving about a Disney race, is that expectant racers believe the entire thing will consist of runs through the parks with Tinker Bell and her faerie dust nearby, but the truth is that the parks are several miles apart, and to get to them, you have to run on the highway. So, we started in the parking lot of Animal Kingdom (didn't actually get to run through that park), and then circled out toward the Wide World of Sports and then looped back toward MGM -- all highway, baby.

And the other deceiving thing about this is that Disney kinda touts itself as a "flat" course, but with highways, come on/off ramps -- those are hills in my book. So the first half wasn't real exciting, nor was it easy.

1: 9:57
2: 10:32 (had to make a pit stop)
3: 9:47
4: 9:56
5: 10:09

Miles 6-9.3
Were much more interesting.

At 5.5, we entered MGM, and as we rounded through the park from the back, a flood of memories about finishing the marathon along this course flooded my consciousness. When I entered MGM at the end of the marathon, I was hurting, but today, I was feeling fine, and I can't express what a relief it was to run up "New York Street" in MGM and not feel hobbled.

From MGM, we wound through the Disney Yacht Club and ran along the boardwalk that circles the enclave (I remember at this point in the marathon, I was crying), and then we headed directly into Epcot. Epcot is always cool, and in the early morning, before the park was open, it was literally like running through small streets in Europe. I knew at this point, I wasn't gonna come into the finish in under 90 minutes, so I just enjoyed the park and savored the fact that I succeeded in enjoying it (instead of wanting to die like I did in those last few miles of the marathon).

6: 10:39
7: 9:15
8: 10:03
9: 10:25
.5: 4:30 (must've been doing some serious swerving b/c the Garmin recorded .2 extra miles)

Finish Line
Was in the same spot as the marathon -- you cross behind the giant golf ball and exit into the Epcot parking lot into the expectant crowd. I got my medal, a banana, and a water, and then exited the chute.

Finish Time: 1:35:18

In the end, I was a little disappointed in my time, and can't fully account for my slowness except to say that some days are slower than other days, and I just couldn't light a fire under my ass, despite an attempt in mile 7. It was still a fun race, and I especially enjoyed the last 4 miles.

Plus, this Disney event has me thinking of other events Disney has that are unique -- the 10K for the Taste (during the Food and Wine festival in the fall), the Tower of Terror 13K in October, and they are introducing a new 1/2 marathon next March called the Princess Half. I may seriously consider that one. Any other women bloggers out there wanna mass meet in March for that?!