Sorry I haven’t updated. I (We) have been really busy since I got home on Sunday it’s not even funny. But here is my report:
My flight was on time and arrived at Orlando about 10 min early. Walked to the Magical Express area and waited about 15 min for my bus. If we ever fly to Orlando, we definitely going to use this service, it is fantastic. I was then wisked to the All-Star Sports resort but my room wasn’t ready. I was a little miffed because the lady just gave me an envelope with stuff but didn’t tell me my room number or anything. But I was too much in hurry to worry about it because I needed to get my race packet. I left my suitcase with the bell boys, they told me where to catch the bus to go to Wide World of Sports (there was a direct bus there).
I was smart enough to leave my jacket behind because it was hot. Unfortunately, I was still wearing my pants. I should have changed to my short but I was in a hurry. Oh well. I arrived to WWoS, got my stuff and went back to wait for the bus. The bus was running every 30 min so I didn’t wait long.
I was starving by the time I got back to the hotel. So before I went to the front desk to get my room number, I got some lunch/dinner from the cafeteria. It was turkey and cheese on a focaccia bread with a side of pasta salad. It wasn’t too bad. Very tasty.
I finally got my room number. The guy told me where to go but I still got lost looking for my room. This is when I realized how big the All-Star Sports was. It has a ton of buildings. I don’t think I will ever stay there again. It was nice but not for me. So I got to my room (third floor) but no bag. Called the bell boys and one of brought it for me. Got my things in order.
After eating my lunch, I was ready for a nap. I couldn’t. Figures the one time I could take a nap with no kids and I couldn’t. So called DH and he convinced me to go do something. So I did. Went to Downtown Disney. Glad I did because I did some shopping for the kids and DH. I had a feeling I wouldn’t have time to go on Sunday (and I didn’t). So got back to my room, changed and grabbed the direct bus to Disney Hollywood.
I called my coworker that was there and he was on his way. So I just walked around. Got in a line that I thought it was gear check but it wasn’t. It was the pre-race picture. Then found gear check. My friend finally showed so I hung out with him and his family.
Then it was time. My friend is a hardcore runner (he won his age group last year) so after his warm up, we walked to the start line. He made me start in the front which was funny because I am three times as slow as all of the runners there. It was intimidated standing up there with all those runners. I just had to laugh. Since this was a 5K and 13K race, we had to wait for the 5K to start before we can start lining up. Once that race started, we had to wait 15 min for our turn. They counted down (again), fireworks went off (again) and then finally we took off.
The weather was perfect. Probably in the low 60’s and partly cloudy. We ran around WWofS and then back to park. Once we go into the park, we ran on the service roads (not so magical back there) and we ran down the main streets of the park. Ran thru the car stunt show and we were on the jumbo screen. I am not exactly sure were the finish line ended but I think it was right behind the RocknRoller coaster.
I was shooting for 1:40:00 and my official time was 1:35:51. I was just happy to finish. My metal is super cool (it has a moving elevator).
So we got a little food bag, a 1.5 liter Disani and some Powerade. Guzzled the Powerade, scarfed down the muffin then got my gear. Called my friend to see were he was and walked over to the Mickey’s hat. He told me he came in second in his age group. He was only 20 sec behind the other guy. Poor him. lol
There was only an hour left to be in the park (they closed it at 2 am), so we went to see Muppet’s 3d, then walked to Toy Story Mania but the wait was 50 min. My friend and his family left at that point. I walked over to ride the Tower of Terror (awesome!) and I had enough time to ride the RnRoller coaster. Then my night was over.
I caught the bus back to my room. Showered and packed. Slept for 4 hours. Got up and finished packing and left. I went to the hotel store, where I bought a couple more things. I finally checked out and then went wait for my bus back to the airport. My flight was on time and even got to Midway 20 min early.
Too bad this was the last year for this year. It was a great experience. I have memories and an awesome medal.
Wow, this a long report and I was only there for about 24 hours. I am so glad I went. I did miss my family but I was there such a short time it wasn’t too bad. But I’ll be back in January 2010 for the marathon. 😛
see angie run 