The longest wog I did in preparation for the WDW Half Marathon was 12 miles - three weeks before the race.  I did a 9-miler on back-to-back days with a 3-miler two weeks before the race, then almost nothing until race day.  As mentioned on the last blog post, I was also sick the entire week ahead of the race (not to mention that whole 27 weeks pregnant thing).  Needless to say, I was not very confident in my upcoming performance.

The night before the half, I was talking to Mr. Andi and had my plan all mapped out.  All I needed to do was to beat the sweeper, so I was going to walk 4 minutes and run 1 minute.  Done.  Decided.  End of story.

Of course, I changed my mind at 4:00 a.m.  Standing in the runner’s area at an obscenely early hour, it was around 30 degrees.  Shortly thereafter, it started to snow, then to sleet.  Katie was planning to pace her dad through his first half marathon (using a 2:1 run/walk), and a few other ROTErs, including Tricia and Steve, were tagging along.  I decided to do the first 2-3 miles with them until I warmed up, then go back to my original plan.  Well, three miles came and went, and I decided I’d keep going to the five mile point.  At five, I was needing a potty break but thought maybe I could make it to Magic Kingdom.  I figured once there I’d be halfway home and could manage by myself.  Along the way, I ran up the full “hill” near the Contemporary (which is really just a viaduct) so I was feeling pretty good.

By the time we reached the Magic Kingdom, the sleet had turned to rain, which was unfortunate because the sleet would mostly bounce off but the rain soaked in.  As we turned onto Main Street, I felt sorry for all of the first-timers, because the crowd was much slimmer than normal for Disney races.  Margaret and some other ROTErs had staked out a great spot just in front of the castle to cheer us on we made the turn into Tomorrowland.  At this point, the only “throwaway” item that I had actually thrown away was a blanket I had at the start; I was still wearing my extra layer of sweats.  Tricia and I picked up the pace a little to give me some extra cushion (time-wise) in the bathroom (that belly support band can be rather unwieldy when trying to potty swiftly).  There was a line in Tomorrowland, so we kept going and found a virtually empty bathroom in Fantasyland.  Tricia (bless her!) helped me shed my extra sweatpants, which she held onto for the next couple of miles before I finally convinced her that I was not going to want them back.  Miraculously, we made it out of the bathroom ahead of the rest of the group (who waited in the Tomorrowland line) and once again we were all together - now headed back to Epcot.

I was feeling pretty good, and Tricia and I were chatting it up so much that we actually started to pull away a little bit from the group, though still within earshot of our Fearless Leader, Katie, who was calling the intervals for us.  Somewhere around mile 10-ish, Katie’s dad was lost somewhere in the field behind us, although we were able to spot him with another ROTEr, Roger, when we made the turn toward Epcot.  By this point, I was cold, wet, and feeling uncomfortable each time I switched from walking to running (and vice versa).  With enough time cushion to spare and her dad lagging behind just a bit, Katie (who was doing the Goofy) decided to walk the last mile.  I really didn’t think my hips would do so great with “just” walking, so I asked if anyone wanted to keep running with me.  Tricia said she would, so we headed on ahead of the others.  We actually ran for a bit longer intervals than the two minutes we had been doing, and our walk breaks were timed more to coincide with my being nervous about falling in areas with standing water and uneven pavement than watching the clock.

As we made the final turn at World Showcase back toward the finish, I decided it was time to take off my throwaway hoodie, as I was determined to get at least a couple of identifiable photos of me (my bib was hidden under the hoodie).  That lasted all of a minute before I realized it was WAY too freakin’ cold to go without it.  We came upon the gospel choir (Tricia and I both got a little bit teary...) and then ran toward the finish.  I stayed with Tricia through the Goofy tent, where I waited for them to remove my bracelet and give me a new one for Sunday (sigh).  The rest of our group came in just a few minutes later and we booked it on out of there - we were freezing!!!

All in all, I was pleased with my performance.  For a Gulf Coast girl who hadn’t run in anything below 40 degrees and certainly not in a cold rain, the conditions were brutal.  Although I was slow, I ran more than I walked, so I was happy about that.  And of course, you can’t forget that now Baby Nathan has three medals to his credit - a 5K, half marathon, and a full marathon!