An excellent race. A very enjoyable couple of days at Disney World. Good friends to share it with. It all added up to a great weekend!

 

Finally got to meet Scott (Scottydog on the RWOL forums) and Gail. We enjoyed Sat night dinner and Sun post race and breakfast with them. It was a pleasure to get to know two wonderful people! And, I’m happy to confirm that Scott had no misadventures while we were with him. J Just an excellent half marathon adventure!

 

It was great to see Celeste and Doug again. Celeste’s enthusiasm about everyday and everything is contagious! And she is making good progress in her running. But, she will tell her race story.

 

The only downer of the weekend was not being able to hook up with another forumite and Bridgestormer, Sharon and her family. We tried, but it just didn’t work out.

 

My race went well. I was coming off of a 3-week December R&R break, during which I ran a total of only 30 miles. Last week was the first week of a spring 10k season for me. I ran 27 miles Mon-Fri and had two hard, one-hour weight workout sessions Wed and Fri and my schedule called for a 12 mile weekend run. So, my race plan was to run the Disney Half as a hard, long training run, not treat it as an all out race, and just enjoy the experience. I even decided to do something I had never done previously in a race.....carry a camera. I figured to be in the 2:00-2:10 range, probably in the 9:15-9:45 average pace range.

 

It isn’t possible to start out fast at Disney, unless you are in the first of the ten corrals used for the 14,000 runners. But, the corrals were very effective in assuring a smooth start. At 9:47, my first mile was my slowest. The only time I felt I was obstructed throughout the race was at the first mile marker….thanks to Jeff Galloway. L He was leading the Runner’s World 3:40 marathon pace group and abruptly brought the entire group of about 40-50 runners to a walk at that point a short distance in front of me. Now I have yet another reason to not like his run/walk system! J

 

I reached 10 miles in 1:33:49 (9:23 average pace) and felt good. I realized that, if I ran a 26:30 (8:35 pace) last 5k, I might be able to break 2 hours, which would be a PR for my second running life. So, I decided to race the last 5k. I picked up the pace easily, but shortly into the 11^th mile we entered the Magic Kingdom. It was awesome! Running down Main Street and around and through the Castle was quite an experience. All the Disney characters were out. The crowd support at that point was fantastic! There was so much to see and enjoy, that I lost all race concentration. It got a little congested, which made it difficult to maintain a faster pace than those around me who had not increased pace. And I stopped four times during that mile to take pictures. All thoughts I had about a sub-2 hour race quickly vanished. It was clearly fun time, not race time! J After leaving Fantasyland, I still pushed the last couple of miles a little and got a 27:32 last 5k (8:53 pace).