runDisney is giving the Walt Disney World Marathon course a serious revamp. They recently revealed the course and…GUESS WHAT???…I’m in the reveal (at 2:51)…WOOT! A full millisecond of Disney fame. hahaha.
Runners now arrive at the Magic Kingdom earlier in the race (Mile 5, instead of Mile 10) after completing a loop around the Walt Disney World Speedway. Runners will also spend more time at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, with a full lap around the field at Champion Stadium.
I’m excited about the change but a little nervous. I’ve run that marathon course so many times now that it feels like second nature. I know when to speed up, when to slow down, when I’ll hit the hardest portions of the course to mentally prepare. It’s going to be different with so many changes.
I know! Another running post! But this is to get me back into this. It’s long but there are pictures and a cool video at the end!!!!
There is something special about having 10 friends and yourself pack into two 15 passenger vans and begin on a 200.53 mile road race that takes you from the mountains to the beach.
Sweaty, sleep deprived and crazy. Sweaty Mad Assassins - you killed every leg. I am lucky to have such people in my life.
The journey began on May 17, 2012. Jill got the house around 3:30 so I could take her up to the rental place to pick up the Van 1 and get her off the airport to pick up team members Jay, Paul, Chris and Mark. I would get back to the house to find Gracie, GlenN and Eric at my door ready to crash the house while I finished working. I grabbed Eric and we went to pick up the other van.
We had a fun and rowdy dinner at Buca di Beppo in Shrewsbury. Good food, great company, lousy service. Then it was off to the hotel to chuck my bags in a room so I could hit Walmart and head off to the airport to grab Mama Pam and Sean. The Walmart in Worcester at 11:30 p.m. is an interesting place. The drive to the airport was uneventful. Eric came with me so the ride went by fast with good company. We got Pam from the Hertz rental car drop-off. Yes, this fine woman came from CA to MA to drive our van. She flew in stand-by into Providence and then drove up to Boston to meet Eric and I when we met Sean. Sean’s flight came in at 1:15 am. Then it was back to Wachusett where we almost were taken out by a semi that was either texting or falling asleep at the wheel.
Back to the hotel at 2:30 am, we all managed to crawl into bed for a couple hours of sleep until we had to meet the team in the lobby to make orientation at 6:10 am.
5:45 am came way to quick as we got my sorry butts out of bed and headed down to the lobby to get to the start with the team. We had orientation and packet pick-up to attend. The Reach the Beach people really know how to run a race. Though we did feel we cut orientation and the start really close.
By 7:45 am, Mark and I headed out to the vans to “shoot them up” for Gracie so she’d have a van decorated during her leg. At 8 am, the Sweaty Mad Assassins were off! Gracie started to climb the mountain for us. Van 1 started their adventure while Van 2 went to get some shut eye before we hit the road around 1 pm.
We hit Panera with our dec’d out van. The looks were got were hysterical.
The first major exchange was at Assumption College. We got to sit and hang out in the sun while Ray chased around pretty college girls and the Tutus.
I love both these shots that Sean took. So fun! You can see Pam, Jill and I in the window.
The vans were awesome during this relay…we leapt frog with 4 Dudes and 16 Boobs, Because I’m a Girl (the Tutus) and quite a few others.
I had three legs, one at 3 pm on Friday (7 miles), second one at 1:30 am on Saturday morning (9 miles) and the third (7 miles) sometime Saturday morning around 10 am. I don’t even remember it’s such a blur.
The course was beautiful and we had so much fun on the route.
The relay was one to remember - it was so much fun. We cheered, we ran and we finished in style. Just AWESOME!
It’s no secret that I love my yudu. I have used it for so many unique creations. Here are a couple that I did this fall to get myself decked out for Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.
I used a Brooks Long Sleeve EZ T that I got on sale for the shirt. The shirt has sparkly lettering but it doesn’t show up too well in the pictures. I put this shirt to the test the morning of the half marathon during Walt Disney World Marathon weekend.
You can’t really read the shirt here but I though the photo was fun! The shirt is comfy though a little shorter than I would like it to be. But it worked out just fine.
The next one is fun but looking back I thought I could have executed it a little differently. I put “runs like an animal” on it instead of “runs like animal”. This was mostly because Animal from the Muppets doesn’t run but I want to insinuate that I am somewhat wild and maybe a little crazy, like Animal.
I wore this shirt during the full Mickey marathon because I knew it was comfortable. I used another Brooks EZ T. Brooks shirts are great tech shirts for screening because they don’t have a logo on the front. It’s on the sleeve. I mixed the Animal pink by hand with the yudu Wine ink and Speedball white. Very easy.
Not the most flattering picture but it was fun. Only 1 mile to go during the marathon at this spot.
I have so many more shirts but I need to take pictures of them. I’ve certainly gotten my money out of the yudu!!!.
I was busy organizing photos last night when I had a small fury visitor distract me. I accidentally deleted my memory card on my camera. I had moved most of the files onto my hard drive but lost all the recent pictures of crafty creations. So, instead of a parade of crafty projects, it’s going to be more like a short caravan. The photos were taken with my phone so pardon the quality.
First up:
This is a layout that I keep turning to. It utilizes the Papertrey Ink Fillable Frame #1. The colors are Papertrey Ink Royal Velvet and Spring Moss. I’m trying to diversify my color combination selection. I thought this one was pretty. The leaf background was stamped with the leaf branch from Beautiful Blooms.
Next:
Same great layout, new look! I loved the new color Blueberry Sky put out by Papertrey Ink. It’s such great blue. The patterned papers are scraps that I had in the hanging bin in my craft room.
Which reminds me, I need to post about my new craft room. It’s not quite finished. I still have to order my Marathon Maniac medal rack, frame some pictures and buy a few cabinet doors but it’s getting close. New houses are a lot of work. haha.
Really? It’s been almost three months. No race reports, no t-shirts, no crafty projects….just silence.
I guess I just haven’t been motivated. I’ve still been running, screening and crafting but I just haven’t had an original thought to share with the projects, no matter how uninspiring.
I hope to be better in the upcoming months. I’ve missed blogging and visiting other blogs.
Since the last post I have completed the Clam Chowdah and Goofy Challenge. I have also started to train for the Shamrock Marathon in March. It’s been a great race season. I will post reports even though they aren’t timely. haha.
Here are a couple of teaser photos from recent races:
