What was all the hubbub about the weather, y’all?
I will say that I was super slow. It took me a little over 7 hours to finish the race. So, maybe all the people who were saying it was hot were pushing themselves to the max. Plus, I live in Los Angeles. I’ve become very used to the heat. But I didn’t even notice it was “hot,” even though that’s all most people were talking about.
I’d had the begoodness scared out of me throughout the weekend with all the billions of heat warnings/weather advisories Disney had been bombarding us with. I usually try to look at least someone cute at running events. (There are people there whose job it is to take your picture!)
But I’d had the terror implanted in me hard enough, that I opted for a shirt I didn’t look super cute in, because it was white and made of really light fabric.
I’ll admit I was a bit on the nervous side for this race. I had a plan for what I wanted to wear, but I still changed shoes about five times in the morning. (I didn’t have five pairs of shoes. I was just switching back and forth between the two pairs I had – and they were just two different pairs of Aasics Kayanos!)
I changed socks a number of times. “No, these… No, wait. These. Definitely these… Uh, maybe this one for the left, and then one from this pair for the right.”
I changed shirts a couple of times. I asked myself if I had to use the bathroom about 30 times. “Do you have to go now? Okay, you just used the bathroom five minutes ago. So, you don’t have to. Maybe just one more time right before you leave…”
Intellectually, I knew I’d made a great strategy for the weekend (which I’ll get into later, but basically it just involved a lot of rest and sleep), followed the strategy, and felt great. I knew I was ready. But there was still something about the marathon that gave me butterflies.
I’d only ever done one marathon before, and it really barely counts ’cause it was through the woods, and I took a million breaks. It was basically just a day-long hike.
I’d just heard oh so many stories of people being swept. In fact, after I put my neurotic energy aside for long enough to get out of the room and on the bus, I sat next to someone who’d been swept before!
But, I had Ty’s bandana wrapped around my wrist. I knew he was with me the whole time. (He even sent me an encouraging text the night before, so I doubly knew he was with me.) I’m gonna be just fine!
I made it to the race, and walked on the red carpet under an arch shaped like mouse ears to go toward my corral. (All runners got to do that. It wasn’t ’cause I’m so (obviously) super famous.) Once I got closer to my corral, I had a quick stop off for an interview with Run Disney TV’s Dennis Marsico. I told him the channel had been on loop in my hotel room practically all weekend. And then we talked about twitter because we both love it so much!
After the interview, I worked my way over to my corral.
And this is where I’ll pick up next time.