I was sick the whole week before the WDW Marathon Weekend.  Sore throat, pressure in ears, congestion...not good.  I was scheduled to leave on Thursday morning after dropping The Girl off at school, but as late as 3:00 a.m. that morning I was thinking to myself “I’m not sure this is such a great idea.”  However, after spending over $300 on an entry fee for a half marathon (remember I was registered for Goofy, but doc said no to the two-day thing), wild horses really couldn’t keep me away.  Well, maybe wild horses could have, but some congestion and a sleep deficit couldn’t.

I arrived at the expo a little after 4:00 and met up with Katie and Margaret, my buddies from Maryland that I would be spending the weekend with.  I was a little bit sad when I picked up my race packet and was given Goofy 5th anniversary commemorative shoelaces and a beaded necklace, and, feeling like something of a martyr, I dutifully let the volunteer put my special Goofy wristband on my arm (they won’t let you walk away with it in your hand).  Sigh.  No Goofy for me.  Then I headed over to the main floor where the merchandise was - let me tell you, it felt like it was 1000 degrees in there.  All of the half marathon merchandise seemed to be white, gray, or an iridescent shade of green (Yuck!), so I only bought a little medal replica keychain (I figured I could clip it to Baby Nathan’s diaper bag).  That was about it for the expo - it was so stinkin’ hot in there that I had no desire to window shop (plus all of the cool girlie clothes wouldn’t fit me right now, anyway).  I didn’t even bother to go to the RunningSkirts.com booth - Unbelievable!  I did end up with one additional souvenir, though - Katie and The FG bought an adorable onesie with “In Training for WDW Marathon 2030” on it (somehow I had missed seeing it in the merchandise area - probably because the sweat was in my eyes from walking around in the 1000 degree expo).

On Friday morning, Margaret and I got up early for the 5K (bless her for getting up to go with me!)  She wasn’t running and just came to support me and the other ROTErs.  We met up with rest of the ROTE runners and before you knew it, we were off!  I had decided just to walk the 5K, as it had been nearly two weeks since my last wog and there’s really no time limit to the 5K (they say there is, but I’ve never seen any evidence of it).  Pam and Tricia joined me and we stayed together through Epcot until the last little bit when I decided that a potty break in a warm bathroom in Epcot would be preferable to a cold porta-potty at the finish - Tricia stayed with me and we finished the 5K together.  It was in the upper 30s that morning, which would feel warm compared to the rest of the weekend.