Despite my near panic attack the night before, I woke up exactly with my phone wake-up call. But: NEW PANIC ATTACK. Due to the time change, my bedside clock read 4am, the exact time the buses to the start STOP RUNNING. Okay, no worries - the clock needed changing. I could deal with that. What I could NOT deal with was the fact that my phone said 4am too.
Naturally I freaked out, because as a rule I have found phones to take care of themselves where time changes are concerned. Perilously close to a true tailspin of fear, I did the only thing I could do to quiet my mind: call the front desk. I asked the CM who answered for the time, he was like: Uh, it's 3:09? I turned my phone off and on and lo and behold, it said 3:09am too. And just like that, the day was saved.
Now decidedly less shaky, I was able to prep for the race with a light heart. I hit the bus line just after 3:30am and arrived at the ESPN Wide World of Sports just before 4.
There wasn't a ton to do - I made my obligatory bathroom break and then milled around a little. I took up an early position outside of corral D and filed in as soon as I was permitted to take a prime seat at the front. I passed the time by watching some sort of television spot being recorded in corral C.
Naturally at this late hour it took foreeeeever to power through a bathroom line. Corral A was being sent off as I finished, and as I power-walked back to the corral area I stripped my top layer and affixed my earphones so as to shave off as much prep time as possible. I assumed by that point my corral must've moved up, but as I requested entry from a volunteer he told me I was ahead of my group. Rather than send me back, however, this beautiful man let me wait around a minute for corral D to move forward one spot before letting me in. Good sir, I salute you.
Two corrals later and we were off! Being only one week removed from running a full marathon, I wasn't sure how the race would go, really. Upon starting I found my legs were not what I would call fresh, but they were willing. I plodded along at a steady pace that was nonetheless faster on average than my MCM pace. >.<
AND THEN I SAW WHO WAS WITH HIM AND CAME TO A SCREECHING HALT.
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I AM THE TERROR THAT FLAPS IN THE NIGHT!! I AM THE WINGED SCOURGE THAT PECKS AT YOUR NIGHTMARES!!! |
Riding my Darkwing high, I stopped for a quick picture with Lilo and Stitch.
Anyway, I blasted through the final mile or so before sprinting under the finish with a time of 2:15:22, anywhere from 5 to 10 to even 15 minutes faster than I would've expected in a post-marathon context. And that's with a full four character stops, probably costing me a solid three minutes at least. Hell, during my first W&D Half, I had an extra week of recovery time and came in about five minutes slower. I was pretty thrilled.
But mostly DARKWING DUCK.
Next up: day two in the parks. Let's get exhausted!
Don't forget, you can follow us on Twitter @fairestrunofall. To see how our training is going, check out Jenn's dailymile here and Moon's dailymile here. If you have any questions for us, leave a comment or email us at fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!
Okay. Same stilt walker dude had the same look in my pic too. I wonder if we had errant zebra poop on our heads....
ReplyDeleteThe regular kind, or the chocolate kind they had for a hot second?
DeleteThe equestrian kind of course, lol!
ReplyDelete