Orlando was hot. Very hot. For the entire week, we had been experiencing temperatures that reached almost 90 degrees, but with the humidity, it felt like 100. Don't get me wrong--our family likes heat (as evidenced by our trips to the Caribbean), and you will rarely hear us complain, but there was a certain welcome relief when we walked into any restaurant on any resort and felt the cooling balm of the air conditioning.
The main reason that we made this trip was to run a Disney run. Since every marathon and half-marathon sponsored by Disney is on a Sunday, and since we don't run on Sunday, we were thrilled to find a race that was run on Saturday....kind of. The Tower of Terror Ten Miler began on Saturday evening at 10 p.m.
There was a certain relief in knowing that we would be running at night in Florida. Back in my running days, when we would visit my grandparents in Tallahassee, I would head out for a three mile "maintenance run" (down to the gas station and back along Killearny way). I only tried this once for a very good reason--I could hardly make it because of the heat and ended up walking a lot of the distance. Just three miles, a distance that I could have run in my sleep. When we were considering where to move after living in Germany, I begged John to look at Tallahassee as a possibility, but he refused for one reason: he couldn't run in the heat.
So, we thought we would be safe, running at night.
In the words of the Grinch, "Wrong-O!"
After picking up our packets Saturday morning and eating at my favorite restaurant, First Watch, we spent the day in the hotel room, watching General Conference and overall resting up. Glo had come on vacation with a cold, and both John and I had been suffering through a stomach virus the entire week. While we didn't stop because of any illness, it had taken its toll on our energy levels. We got dressed and headed out.
A beautiful thing about Disney is that they know how to move people. Most races are a stressful mess, just trying to get to the starting line and getting back to the car after the race. Parking, walking--not exactly easy. Disney did it all perfectly, due to the fact that they own everything start to finish. We parked at The Wide World of Sports parking lot (owned by Disney), took Disney buses to the starting area, waited in the large parking lots of Hollywood Studios, ran the race along the roads leading to and from those parks, ended back at Hollywood Studios, rode the same Disney buses back to our car. I wish every race was this easy!
Only one problem.
Have I mentioned that it was HOT?!
While we sat down and waited for the race to begin, it was almost uncomfortable because the asphalt
was so hot. We were already sweating.
John headed up to the winners' corral "B" while Glo and I stayed back in loser corral "I". We had originally signed Johannah up for the race as a precursor to her running the Baltimore Half Marathon this weekend. Unfortunately, she had Chamber Singer callbacks the evening of the day we left for Orlando, and her choir director made her choose--Chamber Singers, or Disney.
So, we came with all the information for me to pick up her packet, and I handed it over to Glo, the girl who hasn't run much more than a couple of miles her entire life.
Too, I was participating. Like I wrote earlier, this trip was scheduled back in February, before I pulled my hip abductor muscles. In the old days, ten miles would be nothing. In fact, there was a time limit on the race of 16-minute miles. Just walking, I do 16-minute miles. I wasn't worried.
Fast forward to race day, and I was a nervous mess. I stopped training back in June, and my worst fear was that the Disney pace bus would end up picking me up because I couldn't maintain the pace.
The race began. Of course, Glo and I didn't really know this, because there were 9,000+ people running in it, and we were so far back. But again, Disney didn't disappoint. For each corral, they set off a new set of fireworks, and made it seem like a fresh new race. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the starting line, but it felt like we were in the front because of all the pomp and circumstance.
The great thing about being a fast runner like John? There aren't that many people in your corral. In fact, there are more pictures of him than of Glo and me combined. He was running free and easy. Back in the tortoise corral, it was not that way. It was wall-to-wall people. In fact, Glo couldn't even get running in the beginning. I told her to head out to the edge and run in the grass which she did.
Oh my goodness, words just can't describe how hot it was. I could feel the heat of the asphalt rising through my shoes. Some of the people were talking and they specifically headed to the grass to try and cool off their feet. It was like running ten miles in a sauna. At night. Very weird.
At this point, I can only recount my own race and what I remember from hearing Glo and John talk.
The first three miles, or 5K, wasn't too bad. I kept a nice jog going. However, when the course doubled back on itself, I could see the pace bus catching up with people, and this is when I mentally began falling apart. I was so stressed out that I wasn't going to finish the race. I forgot all about just chillin' and keeping on, keeping on, and mentally fell apart. In fact, by the time I had hit 5 miles, I wasn't sure that I could keep putting one foot in front of the other. I've never not finished a race, but all I was picturing was being driven to the finish line. My hands were swollen so large that I couldn't even bend my fingers, and I felt sick to my stomach.
Something had to change. Along the way, Disney had set up photo ops with Disney villains. Because I was so worried about time, I didn't stop for any of them. However, when we were running through The Wide World complex, I couldn't help it, and I stopped to use the restroom. Waiting in line, I felt like I was going to pass out, and believe me, I have never been so relieved to sit down...on a toilet seat of all places! I called John (who had already finished the race and was riding The Tower of Terror), and just cried into the phone.
I don't know what happened, but between the crying, or the sitting, my hands went down a bit, and I felt like I could finish. I gave up on the idea of running anymore (except when I passed by photographers) and knew I needed to just press on.
I called Glo. I was so incredibly worried for her. She's never run a race, and there race was pretty brutal because of the heat. She sounded so incredibly sad, and tortured, but she was proud to say that she was at mile 8, and she was going to finish.
Well now, I HAD to finish!
A mile later, I called John again. Glo was at mile 9, and he needed to get to the finish line to see her. Funny thing? The heat had caught up with John, and he couldn't get up, because he was about to pass out. Like literally pass out.
Glo crossed the finish line, grabbed her medal and snacks, and proceeded to some nearby grass....where she vomited several times. John wasn't sure where she was, and he wasn't sure that he could get to the finish line to see me either. Glo certainly couldn't get there.
I had to laugh when I finally reached my mile 9, and I heard a woman behind me say, "Yay! The pace bus isn't going to catch me!" I couldn't have agreed more.
So, I crossed the finish line alone, but I didn't care. I crossed that stupid finish line, heat exhaustion and all. If I hadn't been so emotionally messed up, I might have taken a picture of all of the people sick at the finish line. People being wheeled away in wheelchairs, people sitting on the side with their heads between their legs. The heat had hit everyone hard.
A ten mile run is a daily run for John. Even he finished slower than he runs at home which is unusual for a race situation.
Glo finished! Oh my goodness, we were so proud (and so relieved)! She vomited after she got off the bus back to the parking lot, and vomited again back in the hotel room, but she was a sport about it.
Seeing as it was 3 a.m. when we finally arrived home, the hot tub wasn't open. No worries--I filled the bath tub with as hot water as I could (I know, strange, right?), crawled in for my poor, aching legs, and promptly fell asleep.
In retrospect, I know that I have not felt as proud before about finishing a race (with the exception of my first marathon) and you better believe that we proudly sported the race t-shirts the next day. No training, heat, and health problems. I figuratively pat myself on the back for even crossing the finish line. As John says, "We earned those medals!"
We are already talking about going back. My only question is this: does Disney have a theme park in northern Canada?
The main reason that we made this trip was to run a Disney run. Since every marathon and half-marathon sponsored by Disney is on a Sunday, and since we don't run on Sunday, we were thrilled to find a race that was run on Saturday....kind of. The Tower of Terror Ten Miler began on Saturday evening at 10 p.m.
There was a certain relief in knowing that we would be running at night in Florida. Back in my running days, when we would visit my grandparents in Tallahassee, I would head out for a three mile "maintenance run" (down to the gas station and back along Killearny way). I only tried this once for a very good reason--I could hardly make it because of the heat and ended up walking a lot of the distance. Just three miles, a distance that I could have run in my sleep. When we were considering where to move after living in Germany, I begged John to look at Tallahassee as a possibility, but he refused for one reason: he couldn't run in the heat.
So, we thought we would be safe, running at night.
In the words of the Grinch, "Wrong-O!"
After picking up our packets Saturday morning and eating at my favorite restaurant, First Watch, we spent the day in the hotel room, watching General Conference and overall resting up. Glo had come on vacation with a cold, and both John and I had been suffering through a stomach virus the entire week. While we didn't stop because of any illness, it had taken its toll on our energy levels. We got dressed and headed out.
A beautiful thing about Disney is that they know how to move people. Most races are a stressful mess, just trying to get to the starting line and getting back to the car after the race. Parking, walking--not exactly easy. Disney did it all perfectly, due to the fact that they own everything start to finish. We parked at The Wide World of Sports parking lot (owned by Disney), took Disney buses to the starting area, waited in the large parking lots of Hollywood Studios, ran the race along the roads leading to and from those parks, ended back at Hollywood Studios, rode the same Disney buses back to our car. I wish every race was this easy!
Only one problem.
Have I mentioned that it was HOT?!
While we sat down and waited for the race to begin, it was almost uncomfortable because the asphalt
 |
| Waiting for the race to begin. Don't we look happy? ;-) |
John headed up to the winners' corral "B" while Glo and I stayed back in loser corral "I". We had originally signed Johannah up for the race as a precursor to her running the Baltimore Half Marathon this weekend. Unfortunately, she had Chamber Singer callbacks the evening of the day we left for Orlando, and her choir director made her choose--Chamber Singers, or Disney.
So, we came with all the information for me to pick up her packet, and I handed it over to Glo, the girl who hasn't run much more than a couple of miles her entire life.
Too, I was participating. Like I wrote earlier, this trip was scheduled back in February, before I pulled my hip abductor muscles. In the old days, ten miles would be nothing. In fact, there was a time limit on the race of 16-minute miles. Just walking, I do 16-minute miles. I wasn't worried.
Fast forward to race day, and I was a nervous mess. I stopped training back in June, and my worst fear was that the Disney pace bus would end up picking me up because I couldn't maintain the pace.
The race began. Of course, Glo and I didn't really know this, because there were 9,000+ people running in it, and we were so far back. But again, Disney didn't disappoint. For each corral, they set off a new set of fireworks, and made it seem like a fresh new race. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the starting line, but it felt like we were in the front because of all the pomp and circumstance.
The great thing about being a fast runner like John? There aren't that many people in your corral. In fact, there are more pictures of him than of Glo and me combined. He was running free and easy. Back in the tortoise corral, it was not that way. It was wall-to-wall people. In fact, Glo couldn't even get running in the beginning. I told her to head out to the edge and run in the grass which she did.
Oh my goodness, words just can't describe how hot it was. I could feel the heat of the asphalt rising through my shoes. Some of the people were talking and they specifically headed to the grass to try and cool off their feet. It was like running ten miles in a sauna. At night. Very weird.
At this point, I can only recount my own race and what I remember from hearing Glo and John talk.
The first three miles, or 5K, wasn't too bad. I kept a nice jog going. However, when the course doubled back on itself, I could see the pace bus catching up with people, and this is when I mentally began falling apart. I was so stressed out that I wasn't going to finish the race. I forgot all about just chillin' and keeping on, keeping on, and mentally fell apart. In fact, by the time I had hit 5 miles, I wasn't sure that I could keep putting one foot in front of the other. I've never not finished a race, but all I was picturing was being driven to the finish line. My hands were swollen so large that I couldn't even bend my fingers, and I felt sick to my stomach.
Something had to change. Along the way, Disney had set up photo ops with Disney villains. Because I was so worried about time, I didn't stop for any of them. However, when we were running through The Wide World complex, I couldn't help it, and I stopped to use the restroom. Waiting in line, I felt like I was going to pass out, and believe me, I have never been so relieved to sit down...on a toilet seat of all places! I called John (who had already finished the race and was riding The Tower of Terror), and just cried into the phone.
I don't know what happened, but between the crying, or the sitting, my hands went down a bit, and I felt like I could finish. I gave up on the idea of running anymore (except when I passed by photographers) and knew I needed to just press on.
I called Glo. I was so incredibly worried for her. She's never run a race, and there race was pretty brutal because of the heat. She sounded so incredibly sad, and tortured, but she was proud to say that she was at mile 8, and she was going to finish.
Well now, I HAD to finish!
 |
| A "selfie" I took at mile 8 to show John and Glo that I was still alive. A miracle truly. |
A mile later, I called John again. Glo was at mile 9, and he needed to get to the finish line to see her. Funny thing? The heat had caught up with John, and he couldn't get up, because he was about to pass out. Like literally pass out.
Glo crossed the finish line, grabbed her medal and snacks, and proceeded to some nearby grass....where she vomited several times. John wasn't sure where she was, and he wasn't sure that he could get to the finish line to see me either. Glo certainly couldn't get there.
I had to laugh when I finally reached my mile 9, and I heard a woman behind me say, "Yay! The pace bus isn't going to catch me!" I couldn't have agreed more.
So, I crossed the finish line alone, but I didn't care. I crossed that stupid finish line, heat exhaustion and all. If I hadn't been so emotionally messed up, I might have taken a picture of all of the people sick at the finish line. People being wheeled away in wheelchairs, people sitting on the side with their heads between their legs. The heat had hit everyone hard.
A ten mile run is a daily run for John. Even he finished slower than he runs at home which is unusual for a race situation.
 |
| The coolest medal we have! The elevator is actually spring-loaded and moves up and down. Leave it to Disney to do things RIGHT! |
Seeing as it was 3 a.m. when we finally arrived home, the hot tub wasn't open. No worries--I filled the bath tub with as hot water as I could (I know, strange, right?), crawled in for my poor, aching legs, and promptly fell asleep.
In retrospect, I know that I have not felt as proud before about finishing a race (with the exception of my first marathon) and you better believe that we proudly sported the race t-shirts the next day. No training, heat, and health problems. I figuratively pat myself on the back for even crossing the finish line. As John says, "We earned those medals!"
We are already talking about going back. My only question is this: does Disney have a theme park in northern Canada?
Wow, that sounds like a miserable experience. You Kennedy's are so hard core!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like they should do this in the winter when it's 50 degrees in FL not when it's 100! Yikes! But it sounds fun and way to go guys! :)
ReplyDelete