Disney Marathon Weekend Day One: Family Fiesta 5k

Last weekend was Disney Marathon Weekend! If you can imagine every emotion on earth, that's how I felt going into it. I felt undertrained, unfit, nervous, terrified, excited, anxious, happy, and so on. It was crazy. Last year, I ran Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge- a half marathon Saturday and a full on Sunday. Last year, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was my first full marathon. This year, I threw in an extra 5k, making it 42 miles in three days. This time, I knew what I was getting myself into and it made me more anxious.

I'm going to blog separately about each race in order to make it more concise and easy to read. Anyways, this is day one: Family Fiesta 5k.

By "Day One", I mean beyond too early in the morning. I got up at 4:30ish to get ready and head out to the bus stop. The best part about Disney races is the fact that, if you stay on property, the continuous Disney transportation will get you to the races on time (assuming you get to the bus stop on time. ha.).

Needless to say, it was cold. Actually, it has been warmer than usual this winter. Well, it has only been my second winter in Florida, but last year it was colder, from what I remember. It is definitely much warmer than my 23 winters that I spent in Indiana. haha. However, it cooled off over the weekend for sure. It was slightly miserable each morning, but warmed up throughout the day. Friday, I forced Katherine to go with me to spectate, because that's the kind of best friend I am (mean and demanding. haha).

I wasn't too worried about the 5k. The game plan was to have a good time and stop and take lots of pictures. The game plan was to run the whole thing, except when stopping for pictures. I tend to do more of a run/walk combination, but 2012 is all about getting faster, adding speed and endurance to my running.

We got off of the bus at EPCOT and walked over to the start, where Katherine and I stood and talked a little. Actually, I had a spontaneous dance party while Kath laughed and sort of participated. Not long after we got there, my mom and sister showed up! I was super excited, because I wasn't sure if they would make it. They flew in pretty late the night before. So that was exciting.

There were about 8,000 runners who did the 5k with me, so that was a little overwhelming. I've done big races and very small races, but outside of Disney, the amount of runners in a race is miniscule in comparison. I mean, the first half marathon that I did had about 5,000 participants, so a 5k with 8,000 felt insane to me. It was super fun though.

The race went through EPCOT. There were a lot of characters out cheering along the way, taking pictures and waving to runners as they (we) went by. It was super fun. I stopped for the majority of the pictures. I would have stopped for more, but I accidentally put my sister's contacts in when I got up instead of my own and, thus, could not see. Believe me when I say that distance running without vision is terrible.

I have no idea what my finishing time was, but I do know that I had an awesome time and that it was a great way to start off my weekend of running.

And afterward I had to get a picture with Donald in the park:

Anyhow, that's part one of my three part blog on the Disney Marathon Weekend.

Update on my 2012 running goal:

So far: 49.03 miles/11 days

To go: 950.97 miles/355 days