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Tag: Fitz Kohler

Glass Slipper Challenge – Day 3 Half Marathon

March 14, 2017

The last day of the Glass Slipper Challenge weekends ends with the half marathon.  I took the time the night before to lay out all my race gear, get my food and tea prepped, and had most of my bag packed for the trip home.  All I had to do was get up when my alarm went off at 3:30 to plan on being on the road for 4:30.  I was on the road at 4:30 but there were major traffic issues.  I didn’t arrive to my parking spot until 5:21… the race starts at 5:30.  However, as I was making my way to the corrals, Mandy sent me a text and then I got a Tweet from runDisney that due to the traffic issue, they were going to delay the start of the race.  I was concerned about that because I had a very tight window of time for when I could finish the race, shower at my hotel and be to the airport for my 12:20 flight home (more on that later).

I got down to the corrals after the start of the race.  I was in Corral G so I wasn’t worried; but I did run into a problem.  As the corrals moved forward, the volunteers for the corralled sections wouldn’t let me move forward to Corral G.  I was stuck in Corral H.  Had I been there 5 minutes earlier I could have snaked my way up to where Mandy was.  I told her I was stuck and that I would meet up with her.  She told me she’d stay to the right of the road so I could find her.  My corral released at 6:01 and I kept a pretty consistent run the entire first mile.  I stopped for a picture of the mile marker and then continued over the bridge and on the road towards Magic Kingdom.  With no sighting of Mandy, I called her.  She and Kenn had to make a pit stop and I found them and meet up with them on World Drive.  As you can see from my splits, my first mile was quicker because I ran most of it to catch up with them.

splits

After I caught up to Mandy we ran past the photo stops which were the Pirates of the Caribbean and further up was the heroes.  We took our usual pictures at the Magic Kingdom toll gate and then continued to run towards the Magic Kingdom.  Again, the plan was to save our time for photo opportunities in the Magic Kindom.  The photos along the way were the Incredibles, the Evil Queen, Malificent and then the drummers were at the TTC.  My favorite DJ was on the overpass leading to the Contemporary.

Once we got into the Magic Kingdom we planned on using a real bathroom, and then I knew to look for Sam Ganow from the Mickey Milers and Kenny from Team Shenanigans.  Found them and proceeded on towards the back of the park to Fantasyland where we wanted to see who was going to be out for photos.  We skipped past Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and found Gaston.  He was the longest wait for us.  This was between miles 5 and 6.  The Beast was the next photo stop after Gaston; but the line for him was VERY long, so I took a selfie with the Beast in the background.  We ran through the castle and towards Frontierland.  We skipped the photo with Woody and Jessie and ran on towards backstage.  Sadly, because the train was being refurbished it was not on the tracks on the way to the backstage area.  They had Cinderella and Prince Charming at the large float backstage; but that was a very long line as well.  We continued up through cone alley and tried to run as much of that as we could to make up for time we spent taking photos in the Magic Kingdom.

After cone alley were the Penguins from Mary Poppins.  Then I found Richard from the Floridian!  I found him during the marathon weekend as well!  The gentlemen singers were on Floridian Way as well as vacation Genie on the golf course.  I had been tracking my friend Kim and saw that she was catching up to us and I spotted her just before mile 8!  We stopped for a quick picture and then pushed on.  This part of the race gets boring and I had a plane to catch so I didn’t want to slow down at the end.  We set up little mini plans to make up time and make that portion of the race course more tolerable.  We’d run up to a water stop and then walk.  Then run up to the mile marker and then resume our run/walk intervals.  After mile 10 we decided to run the entire ramp up to the bridge and walk across the bridge and then run downhill towards mile 11.  It was good to keep pushing forward because by that point in the race it is easy to decide to walk it in for the end.

Finally we were in Epcot and there were a few chances where we wanted to get some photos.  We took one with Daisy just near the turn around, and then attempted another jump photo in front of the waterfall.  Then we brought it in for the finish.  I HAD to get my Fitz hug before the finish line and then we took pictures with Donald and Goofy!

Our fourth Glass Slipper Challenge accomplished.  Just one more year to go in hopes to get legacy status.  With the announcement of a new name for the challenge next year we aren’t sure that we will be recognized for doing five consecutive Princess weekend races in a row.  Same holds true for Dumbo; so I think once Dumbo comes around we will know what the result of that will be.  But I still enjoy this weekend with Mandy and Kenn and it’s a nice race to run mid-winter to keep my mileage up.  Considering I hadn’t run longer than 4 miles since the WDW marathon, I felt great during these races.

2017 runDisney Walt Disney World Marathon…The Second Half

February 6, 2017

This blog post is the second part to the first one I wrote last week highlighting the first half of the Walt Disney World Marathon on January 8, 2017. This was my friend PK’s first marathon and we really wanted to make sure he had a enjoyable experience. I think we were very successful in that. So much so that he wants to do the Dopey Challenge next year!

Something PK and I noticed during the first half of the race was the number of discarded clothes and socks on the side of the road.  In past  years the discarded clothing dwindled off after the first 2 miles.  But this year we saw it as far as mile 10.  The funny thing were all the socks we saw.  I assumed that since people didn’t have gloves they used socks to keep their hands warm.

The second half of the race was going well.  We ran through Animal Kingdom and the long tour of the Animal Kingdom parking lot and then to the long stretch of Osceola Parkway.  I played my game of tag with Nick Takacs just outside Animal Kingdom; but didn’t see him the rest of the race.  The temperature was ideal, the sun was out and we were having a good time.  I found a few friends out on the road.  I saw Jon Biel and his friend Sara dressed as Bob’s Barricades.  Then a few miles up I found my friend Linda Bachand Jackson.

john

linda

After about 3-4 miles of Osceola Parkway we made our way into ESPN Wide World of Sports.  I was starting to do some mental math in my head and PK thought it was funny seeing me try to calculate the balloon ladies and our arrival time, etc.  He never saw that side of me.  I also knew that it was time to take in some sugar because I was starting to get a little mental in my head.  I was also feeling a little bit fatigued so I wanted to make sure I was going to finish strong.

At some point during the second half we were talking about our strategy.  He thought that maybe we would walk a mile or two near the end and then finish the end running.  I was ok with that plan.  But then, during our miles in ESPN, we got caught up with the 6:30 pacing group.  We couldn’t really get past them; so when they ran, we ran, when they walked, we walked.  It actually felt good.  They were doing a 15/30 pace.  We had been consistently using a 30/30 pace.  So I suggested to PK that we follow them until we get to Hollywood Studios and see how we feel.

That was a great plan, because I remembered that back on Osceola heading to Hollywood Studios there is an incline.  So if we stick to the pacer group that would help us get up the hill without walking the whole thing.  It worked out very well.  We made it to Hollywood Studios and continued with the group all the way to Epcot.  I actually felt a lot better using their intervals because it kept us at a consistent pace and the intervals left me less fatigued.  We made a new plan that at mile 25 PK was going to run ahead and I would meet him at the finish.  That was the perfect plan because I wanted to savor that last mile through Epcot.  Given everything the family had gone through since Thanksgiving I wanted to reflect during that last mile.  I wanted to have time alone with my thoughts.

With just about 3/4 of a mile left I saw a small child wearing a Pokemon hat and I swore it was Lyla.  It stopped me in my tracks.  I totally felt that it was a sign of her telling me that I had the strength to finish and that I could do anything I wanted as long as I worked for it.  So for the last 3/4 of a mile I was sobbing.  I couldn’t wait to finish and see my family.  As I rounded the corner after mile 26 I saw my family and blew them a kiss.  Then I saw Fitz waiting to give out hugs and I got the biggest hug from here.  It was so special to share that moment with her.  I had finished my 3rd Dopey Challenge (aka the Grumpy Challenge).  And I will continue to do the Dopey Challenge as long as my friends want to be crazy and do it with me!

Enjoy a recap of the entire race from start to finish!

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