2016 Dopey Challenge: 10k time

Part three of our Dopey Challenge Experience: The one with the rain..

Friday morning.
Almost a carbon copy of the day before.
Out of bed at 3:00, bad coffee, PB sandwiches, dressed and ready to go walked outdoors AND.

........It was raining........ Like a lot. Real rain, big fat angry drops.

This was not exactly what the forecast had called for but we were more prepared than the day before. We were armed with multiple throw away layers, mylar blankets, gloves, the works. We quickly caught a bus and were on site ready to enter the lovely corral F by 4:00.
Expect the corral did not open until 4:15.

We tried to hide in a tent for a bit. We knew that we wouldn't be allowed to linger but for 5 minutes we stayed nice and dry. I was able to check the radar while lurking behind the rain fly and it did not look good.

Short lived tent hiding.

Once settled into our corral I made my emergency blanket into a make shift tent of sorts and hunkered down, eating all my snacks for a good half hour or so. By the time I emerged the corral was full and Eric and Andy had once again made friends (shout out to our fun Texas triathlete friends!)

My cozy tent

Right at 5:30 things got underway and right off we knew something was up. There was a 10 minute hold between corrals. UGH.
One part of my brain was pleased and hoped that this would take care of the unbelievable gridlock that we experienced in the 5K. The other half of my brain just wanted to get going already! In the end it was no big deal. Other than getting very hungry we suffered no ill effects and actually had good time with our new found race friends.

The start of the race was a carbon copy of the day before, we headed to the start, race announcers told the same lame jokes, tiny fireworks and BOOM off we went.
Except it was pouring. I was glad that I was wearing my less favored pair of shoes!

See the rain? Yeah.

We proceeded to have a perfectly pleasant run. I can't speak for Eric and Andy but I enjoyed myself much more than the previous day. We had a small stretch of highway which really freed up the bottleneck and allowed for some actual running. Right around that time we lost Andy to a bathroom break (we had decided before the race, that if anyone needed to stop they would be left! Bwahahah.)
Eric and I continued on. There was a lot of dodging puddles as well as other runners. This was a big day for five-across-walkers so that made for a unique challenge.

Rain rain rain, running in the rain! There we go!

We kind of looped back to Epcot and at the International gateway turned towards the Boardwalk. This was a really cool stretch of the race from a visual aspect but very challenging because the crowds were thick and the ground slick. We then went back into Epcot and did a bunch of funky windey turns that eventually took us "out back" (that's the best description that I can muster) and to a glorious parking lot finish (same as the day before.)

Glorious parking lot finish!

We finished in 54:45 which both Eric and I felt good about, with the miles to come, and the crowds and congestion we were both staying remarkably close to goal pace.
Well. I was. Prior to learning of our #lastcorral placements I was shooting for a 26:00 5K, a 52:00 10K, a 2:00 Half and a 4:14 Full. So honestly, this is so much better than I expected!
Plus, I really enjoyed the 10K race and while it was still an adventure of strategy and skill it involved a bit more actual running!

VERY pretty medals!!!

Eric and I headed back to the hotel and due to the amazingly efficient (and warm) bus system we were home and showered before Andy got back. And he was only about 10 minutes behind us!

We originally had considered heading to Universal for the day but the lousy weather promoted us to (happily) change plans. Whether it is Disney or Universal, if you are going to drop $100 on a park ticket then you better plan to make use of it!

We spent the day doing delightful things.
First we all sat in bed drinking hot chocolate and watching terrible TV.

We also had a lot of shoes to dry

Then (at about 9:45) we were (wait for it) ready for lunch so we took a lame bus in the rain to Downtown Disney for some lunch.
When we got there the skies OPENED UP. It was raining so hard that the rain was bouncing off the ground, total, full on pouring!

We hunkered down in Wolfgang Puck's and had a combination of some breakfast and then, when lunch was available some lunch. Eric and I have been here before and we think it is one of the better food choices available. I was so hungry that I basically inhaled my food, and any scraps that the boys would give me so it has my seal of approval.

After eating and a little shopping a miracle happened.
THE SUN CAME OUT!!!!

THE SUN!!! THE SUN!!!

We then got to take the awesome boat back to POFQ. Because I always enjoy a little walk I rode down to Riverside and walked back. It was gorgeous and I thought happy thoughts about how lucky I am to be able to travel to beautiful places to enjoy my hobby.

Yeah, it wasn't ugly

When I got back I found the twins at the pool bar because we had finally decided to let housekeeping in to clean up. Despite our best efforts there was a pile of towels the size of Mt Everest and about 3 full trashcans. Housekeeping might actually have hated us had we not left them fat stacks of cash.

After some relaxing hot tub time it was time to depart for our one fancy dinner at California Grill.
We wanted to take a ride on the monorail beforehand so, with over an hour in hand off we went to catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom.
We waited. We waited more. And some more.
And for a while longer.
And then we got old and died.

We gave up our plans of pre dinner monorail-monorail and started to hope that we would make it there 15 minutes before our reservation to check in, as they expect you to do.

The bus did finally arrive and we proceeded to hit every red light. Then we disembarked as far away from the foot path to the Contemporary as humanly possible. 

We had given up all hope of arriving with 15 minutes to spare and were just hoping to make it in time. We started hoofing it over from the bus ports to the Contemporary with 7 minutes in hand.
SEVEN. SEVEN MINUTES.
We totally would have made it if we had been able to cross the road but no, there was a shit ton of traffic. Andy was somewhat behind us literally cackling in glee as his fitbit was recording a record setting day of steps. This made the power walk of doom more fun! More steps! Winning!

In the end, we made it to the check in booth at exactly 5:15 and found a big ass line.
As previously discussed Disney is good at lines and since we were late we were seated immediately instead of being made to wait. So, we basically won. And dinner was kick ass good so there's that!

You really can't beat the view!

After dinner we did take a loop on the monorail and made more friends (shout out to the family of 21, yes 21 who we had a very amusing conversation with!)

Then we were back on the bus and in bed. Not on the bus.
We knew that the next day would be a little different with a longer walk to the start, twice the number of runners and (obviously) twice the distance for us to cover. We felt that our 8:00 bedtime was a touch on the rebellious side!

And for those of you keeping track:
Today's 10k results:
Sara: 54:46
Eric: 54:47
Andy: 1:07:26