Life is Short. Wear the Mouse Ears in the Rain!

January 8, 2016. Weather forecast. Rain Rain and more Magical Rain! But you know what 'they' say! Its all about Location. Location. Location! I have participated in the Walt Disneyworld Marathon Weekend for the last 5 or 6 years now. Every year I run one or more of the races offered depending on my goals for the year. Sometimes the weather is a little unpredictable!

Picking up my waiver for the race!

My favorite race is the WDW10k. It has been Minnie Mouse themed since its origin 3 years ago. Of course the whole Minnie Mouse theme, medals, bibs, participant shirt, Minnie everything puts this race at the top of the Oh My Gosh list and I have found my way to the start line of this race every year! Its a really fun race. There are more Minnie Mouses running around than you can count, there are polka dots in every color everywhere and wearing mouse ears with a big hairbow is just plain fashionista! I really love this 10k! The distance is nice. 6.2 miles. The course is pretty perfect! It starts in the Epcot Parking Lot takes a short exit out of the Park then around the loop up the hill and back into the World Showcase. The course exits out of Epcot again through the Boardwalk area then back thru Epcot Future World for the Finish! Just about the time you begin to feel a little winded its time to enter Epcot again so the energy level is always on high!  Its easy to keep a steady run/walk pace and still have plenty of time to fool around on the course and take character pictures. I never complain about my clock time on this race. If Im speedy or if I'm slow my time is always good for me! 

I finished! Soaking wet and freezing!

My goal for Marathon Weekend this year was to hang out with my daughter Kristin aka @bamagirlruns who was running the Dopey Challenge for the third year in a row! I am so proud of her accomplishments but honestly I don't know how anybody can do it! Its alot of running and getting up sooo early! I just don't think I'm Dopey Challenge material. Thats probably debatable as far as being Dopey is concerned but I don't think I could run 48.6 miles in 4 races 4 days in a row. Maybe one day I'll try it but for now There is no Dopey Challenge in my future! For 2016 I  opted to to have a great 10k run and instead of running any of the other races I decided to Volunteer and work them! I can only say Wow what an experience for now. The recap deserves its own blog post! 

Kristin and I drove down to Orlando on Wednesday in order to be there in plenty of time to pick up our race & volunteer packets. And of course to be there in plenty of time to shop at the Expo! The only thing I bought was a Magical Miles Coffee Cup! Trust me there were plenty of things I could have bought but I was trying to be frugal! I'll make up for it at Princess Weekend! 

Our first O dark thirty wake up call came in at 2:30 am Thursday morning. Kristin went to the Dopey bus I headed to my Volunteer spot! The 10k was on Friday morning. Same O dark thirty wake up call came too early Friday morning too! Keep in mind after we are coherent enough to acknowledge the alarm clock we spend a few minutes trying to rationalize the clock! Its a hour earlier on Alabama time! Nobody mentions out loud how painful that is! We get ready in a quiet still half asleep zombie kind of state and hope we have everything we need when we step on the bus! A sleepy short bus ride later we are usually wide awake and ready to go!

It's so early for a photo shoot! 

The roommates made it on the first wake up call! Beth, Christy, Kristin & Me!

Scott and Ronnie were in the crowd!

Friday morning we made it to the start area early and in plenty of time. We met a few friends at baggage check and took the usual wee hour pre race photos! Its hard to look happy and awake and cute all at the same time at 4 o'clock in the morning which is really 3 o'clock Alabama time and its cold and its rainy! Somehow we pulled it off!  Since all of our early morning friends were running the Dopey Challenge i was in a different coral than all of them. I grabbed a big garbage bag for rain control and headed to my own coral! I was wishing i had brought a hot cup of coffee a rain jacket and an umbrella at that point! 

Looking for the best possible light situation! Love the folks in the background!

The rain was steady and beginning to get cold already by the time i made it to D coral. Somehow in between raindrops i found a friend! Shawna! Its always so fun to see a familiar face! We caught up on our social chatter as we moved up to the start line. We stayed together for about 2 steps to start the race! Shawna was in skinny minny PR mode and left me in her mist! I found out later she had an awesome PR in each of her races! Way to go Shawna!

Yay! I found Shawna!

The first 3.1 miles were fairly miserable! I was drenched! By the time i made it back into Epcot from the Boardwalk the rain finally stopped just enough to take some pictures and finish the race in typical Disney fun! 

Absolutely drenched! But I took time to enjoy the View!

The second 3.1 miles were a little more fun! The rain never let up! I challenged myself to take one picture in each World Showcase country and one in each part of Future World.... In spite of the rain. Since i was running by myself the real challenge was finding strangers on the course willing to snap a quick picture of me! As it turned out there were plenty of runners willing to trade pix in the rain! If you take mine Ill take yours! So it all worked out perfectly! 

World Showcase! Just waking up!

Morocco

Japan

I found my friend Marc in France!

Journey into Imagination!

The homestretch! The Geosphere!

I had a good time on the course. I had a really good run (for me) and I felt really strong and healthy throughout the whole 6.2 miles. No sore legs or feet no blisters or leg cramps. I was happy to finish and excited to receive my third Minnie 10 k medal! Its such a good size and the perfect amount of Minnie gold bling! The lanyard was red with polka dots! Who doesnt just love that combination! I was equally excited to wrap up in a Mylar sheet and find a little relief from the rain! 

It's all about the bling!

My sweet daughter who is not even sappy was waiting for me at the Cigna balloon in the family reunion area! I think Olaf is on to something! Warm hugs are nice!

After a warm up shower and some dry clothes back at the resort we all split up into different journrys! Social Media Meet ups & Expo shopping was on everybodys list! Except mine! I went back to Epcot for the afternoon for a little photo shoot with the Fab 4's! Later that evening our room mates met up for a big pasta dinner at Art of Animation! Shrimp Alfredo cooked on the spot was the perfect night cap! We had another early wake up for the Half Marathon! 

Love Pluto!

Awww. Always so much cuteness with Minnie!

They are such flirts when I'm around! They were so happy to see the Minnie Bling!

I had a really great day. My big run was done! I was still chilled from being soaked all day! But I was happy. I accomplished what I came to do. I reached my goals. Sometimes adversity as in terrible weather jumps right out in front of you and makes you rethink the situation using logical common sense! It doesn't really make any sense to run any distance in the rain. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to to spend that much money to be miserable!   But in the big picture of it all sometimes you just have to throw common sense to the side! I mean seriously. You should always choose the Mouse Ears and chase the medal!  Even in the rain! Because what if you don't? What if you miss that? Now that is what doesn't make any sense! Not to me anyway! Life is Short! Wear the Mouse Ears!

Xoxo Peace Love & Grandmary