Sunday, October 14, 2012

Tower of Terror 10 Miler

Saturday was the one time in my life I was up for 24 straight hours, beginning with the 5K in the morning, ending with the 10 miler at night. In the middle I hit up the Magic Kingdom AND crashed a fan luncheon. So to say this was a unique experience is an understatement.  The race was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10 Miler in Walt Disney World. When I registered I was going to race it .... but then marathon training happened. I vowed that instead of racing I'd pace my dear friend Jessica to help her finish within the time frame and go home with a medal. (At the Vegas RnR they ran out and she didn't get her medal at the finish line.)


At 7pm Abby came to our room, we finalized costumes and were able to quickly get on a bus to take us to the start at the Disney Hollywood Studios. Dressed as the Wicked Witches from Wizard of Oz we were really for a night of fun. We weren't ready for the heat and humidity! The pre-race area was a blast. I took advantage of being Corral A and slipped into that area to get some water and soak up the coolness of being Corral A. Then we got photos (we made the runDisney fb page!!!), danced, and met up with friends while waiting for the time to pass before moving to the corrals. We were dripping with sweat before even seeing the start line. But soon it was time!

From runDisney .... our moment of fame!
With Sarah & Jessica.. "we are group!"
A little after 10pm we saw the fireworks and were off! Also off? Jessica's house hat. Oops! It lasted maybe 25 yards... it's a twister! For the record, my hat lasted 9 hours! The plan was to pace my friends and make sure everybody had fun. I told them that I'd probably annoy them, but I'd only be bossy when I HAD to be. Sadly my friend Sarah told us to go on around mile 1.5. So it was 8.5 miles of Jessica and I .... "Sister Witches" was our team name! We'd run and I'd pick out a point that we could start walking. Any time I said we dipped below 16 minute mile pace Jessica would take off running. Another motivator was seeing other runners we felt we should beat. So we'd be sure to keep moving to stay ahead. Bitchy? Maybe - but we were wicked witches after all!

The course was nice, if you don't mind Osceola Parkway - which I don't. We ran from the Studios to DAK, to ESPN and back to the Studios. It felt nice and short, and totally flat. There was a section from Osceola to Wide World of Sports where we were back on the 5K trail. Eh, cool... and I liked being on the trail in the dark with the spooky music. BUT the trail was just too narrow for the amount of people. We couldn't have run if we wanted to, and we found ourselves being stuck behind people not maintaining the minimum pace. We'd manage to push through, but ideally that shouldn't have even been a concern.

Home plate!
There were very few character stops, but when there were I'd run up ahead, snap a photo and then catch back up. This was a great plan when we were at the Haunted Mansion grave diggers spot. Jessica told me to go ahead and wait and she'd continue on. I said, "stay on the left, I'll find you!" I got to actually run and pass by TONS of people when I was catching up, and that was a total blast. That was my only character stop the entire 10 miles. 

SO Disgusting!!
We got to run around the bases at the big baseball field, so we did pause for just a second to take a photo together at home plate. Leaving the stadium the women with the balloons that indicate "don't get behind us or you could be swept" came into view. Fortunately they were behind us, but when I told Jessica we had to keep moving she took off running. We guaranteed ourselves a big gap and kept moving pretty quick for the rest of the race. At mile 7 we saw an empty sweeper bus that we later learned my friend Sarah ended up on. Sad.



Once in the Studios we were relived and total tourists checking out parts of the park you don't normally get to experience on foot, plus backstage areas. I didn't make us run at all, but we agreed that once we could see the finish we'd run it in together. And run it in we did! I was so proud of us. We had a blast, finished at exactly 16 minute mile pace and I got to see Jessica be awarded her medal. I never imagined someone would want me to pace them, but I'm so glad that I was able to help out my friend. It was so unique and I think staying together was much more fun than racing it would have been.

Finish line!!
The after party was fun, but a blur. I was delirious after being up since 4am, and once we were done the earth moved (I thought) and I realized it was Meniere's attack time. Dammit. We hit up Toy Story Midway Mania and Star Tours. I couldn't possibly do the big rides during the big attack. Also we got some character photos with the Evil Queen and Darth Vader. Oh Darth Vader .... he is so tall!!

It was a total blast! There is a lot of room for improvement. I don't feel I need to go it again though. Wine & Dine though? Yes, that one is still on my runDisney radar!!

8 comments:

  1. I was totally thinking the same thing, then We TOTALLY need to do it again and be legacies. That's the only reason. Plus, MNSSHP AND Wine and Dine all in the same weekend? It's insanely exhausting but when else can you go with so much fun stuff happening?

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    1. Right? I mean I was totally wiped out when I got home - but I had such a blast getting to that point!

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  2. Looks like so much fun! I wish they would bring a similar race to Disneyland... Easier to travel from AZ to CA than FL!

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  3. That looks like so much fun!! Aren't Disney races the best? :)

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    1. They most certainly are! Heck even in miserable weather it was beyond fun!

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  4. I love the picture of you with the Evil Queen!! The humidity sounds horrific though. And I love your costumes.

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    1. The costumes were a blast. That cape actually even helped ... when it would move it created a mini breeze and that felt glorious!!

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