It’s SNOW Goofy!

Every hour on the hour till 2:40 AM, I pressed the light on my watch to see if it was time yet to wake up. With less than an hour before meeting Sean and Cherry at the elevators, I sprung into action. By the time I got every layer on my body, I looked like a ninja version of the Michelin Man! I can't even describe the feeling of my body leaving the warm hotel room into the glacial pre-dawn air ! It was a shock to the system, that's for sure! BRRRRR! The cute couple (Sean, stop gagging!) was promptly at the elevator doors at 3:35 AM, and then off we went to hop on our courtesy bus. Sean was kind enough to pull a “Crocodile Dundee” when I explained my concern of how I would yank the sweatpants off with shoes. Before I knew it, the Sarasota version of the Australian icon whipped out a knife and made slits on both sides of my pants faster than you could say “G-day, Mate!”. Once off the bus, we still had a few minutes before they allowed us brave or crazy (you choose) runners take the 20 minute walk to corrals. Sean “Sarasota Dundee” put his skills to work by calculating the exact speed and direction of the wind (or just noticing where all the non-shivering runners were huddling) to pick us a perfect spot to stay warm. It did not take long for the Trail of Fears to begin… that long walk to ponder… Why am I doing this? , Will I make it? , Will I resist the urge to plow down the five-wide walkers? Funny enough those thoughts never entered my head. Instead we were all focused on the fact it was SNOWING! Before separating to find our designated corrals, we all gave each other well wishes and hugs for our journey ahead. Now to find my cousin in this massive frozen sea of runners…

Since Melanie did not bring a cell phone, I was unable to notify her of my location. I was able to find Stitch, a male version of Snow White and either ignorant or insane people (you choose) in shorts and t-shirts (I am NOT kidding!), but no Melanie. After an unsuccessful attempt of searching, I found the tallest guy with a posse and huddled right behind them. No one could get warm. My toes were numb. I was begging for the race to begin. Due to the enormous number of runners, we all did not start at the same time. It took a good 20 to 30 minutes before my wave took off running. Thankfully I had enough time to shed the sweats beforehand and away we went! Within seconds I regretted not sending in an official previous half marathon time which would have placed me in Cherry’s corral. For the second time in a Disney Half, I was surrounded by walkers! But I did not let that get me down. It took some creative weaving and running on the grass for a bit, but I did manage to get around most of them (without acting on the urge to plow them over). I honestly can’t tell you much more about the actually run because it flew by so fast. Before I knew it, I was running through the castle – the half way mark! All I remember most from the race was the feeling of pins hitting my face thanks to the sleet. The first half was running in sleet, and the second half was in cold, cold rain! Next thing I knew there was the finish line. Before approaching the mark, I glanced down at my Garmin to see if I made my goal of 2:30, and it looked like I was going to achieve it. Once I crossed the finish line, I leaped in the air with pure joy and excitement! Next stop was to receive my Donald Duck medal, and it wasn’t until I had waited in line for at least a couple of minutes that I realized I had forgotten to turn off my Garmin after finishing the race. It showed 2:31, so I still felt very confident I had reached my goal. After going through the Goofy tent to switch out wrist bands (proof of running both races), I called Scott to see where he was. Thankfully the love of my life and our offspring were still warm and snug in the hotel room. While desperately searching for the Pop Century courtesy shuttle bus, I placed my post-race drink order with Scott and asked for a little something extra – chocolate milk with a cinnamon roll on the side. By this time all body heat was GONE! It felt colder than when I did at the start of the race. I could not stop shivering! Once inside the warm bus, once sitting down on the cozy seat, a warm sensation began to engulf my stomach. And then I thought- my stomach? And now why do I feel as if the middle section of my body is on fire?!?! I totally forgot to take the hand warmer packets out of my pockets. Boy do those things last for hours!!! Highly recommend them.

While heading back to the hotel, Annette called to praise me on a job well done. Without hesitation, I asked Annette if she could look up my finishing time. I was dying to know. My mouth dropped open when she congratulated me on my 16 minute mile pace with a finishing time of a little over 3 hours. I thanked her for the call, said good-bye and then started my melt-down. Three hours? How in the world – there must be some logical explanation. Unfortunately I could not hold back the tears as I explained to Scott my dilemma. My husband quickly found the issue: somehow they had my start time at 5:43AM. Uh, HELLO! The race did not officially start until 5:45, and that was for the wheelchair wave!!! Scott is not only my husband, best friend and soul mate; he is also my super hero! Next thing I know we are heading to the Runner’s Relations booth at the Expo to straighten this all out. The answer to this problem was not the one I wanted to hear… WAIT! Simply to wait it out until the official results are posted. They assured me that this was just a glitch, but if it wasn’t, then to e-mail the issue to Disney’s Endurance Series Staff. Scott even tried to get more out of them (in a nice and calm way!), but that was all we could do. My long face said it all. And do you know how wonderful my husband is?!! This man truly knows me because what better way to distract his upset wife than with shopping! He looks over at the Goofy merchandise, picks out a shirt he likes for me to wear and buys it. He then takes us over to the vendor side of the Expo for some more distractions of additional merchandise, Wii games and possible future racing events! The kids were so thrilled with this as well since the only excitement they had was watching TV in the hotel room. And sure enough a few hours later the official stats were posted: My finishing time: 2:29:27. Sigh!