The MEDAL!!!
I like this year's medal better than last year's.
I like this year's medal better than last year's.
Even though Disney closed the course in my face at 23.5 miles after only 6.5 hours, I got a MEDAL!!! That's the important thing, right???
Still trying to figure out what happened. I was ahead of my pace for last year, and I finished that in 7:23:03 - I crossed the starting line around 6:00-6:05AM, and there were about 1,200 people behind me at least. So the last person didn't cross the starting line until well after me. They closed the course at the boardwalk (23.5 miles) at 12:35pm, which would be about 7 hours from when the FIRST person crossed the starting line, not the LAST.
I would've dragged myself the last 2.7 miles (or my coaches would've taken turns kicking my ass to keep me going). I was still moving, still able to walk - just not as fast as they were pushing us to get to the next point. So, I ended up having a nice semi-private van ride back to the parking lot. I got my medal, AND didn't have to walk the 6,0001 miles to the Team in Training tent and THEN another 6,001 miles back to the resort bus.
My legs for the race with my honorees on one, family on the other.
Writing on your own legs is not easy. I'm surprised it came out this legible!
Writing on your own legs is not easy. I'm surprised it came out this legible!
I really am more curious about the timing of the course closing than anything. I mean seriously, I didn't stop to pee, take pictures, OR update facebook! Apparently, I had a major rock star moment throughout the main street of Disney Hollywood Studios that I was a bit oblivious to, and I got on the JUMBO BOARD at mile 20.6. Thanks to coaches Tom, Bethany and Pam for putting up with me during what was, to quote John "The Penguin" Bingham, my "BITE ME" mode. It wasn't pretty, and whoever decided to put an on-ramp HILL at mile 22 needs to be fired. That's all I have to say.
However, what I did do was very a solid run-walk for 15 full miles. This was something I had never done before, so I'm really thrilled. I'm also not used to racing in less than 4 layers of clothing, so that took a little getting used to. Oh, and as an added bonus, I was up and on the dance floor at our victory party quite a bit later in the day.
It's also an AWESOME testament to the training of my Team In Training - NYC Chapter coaches that I was able to spend almost an hour shoveling snow less than 72 hours after run-walking/race walking 23.5 miles.
Shortly after the day of the race, this appeared in my e-mail:
“Whenever something doesn’t work out the way you thought it would,instead of thinking that something went wrong, see it as something that went unexpectedly well, but for reasons that are not yet apparent. Everything plays to your favor. Score!
The Universe”So, we shall see:-)
