| Blogs / Ramblings
1/29/2009 - Trapped In An Elevator
1/27/2009 - The Close Call
1/14/2009 - Tom McCoy
12/23/2008 - Political Science
12/09/2008 - Grinch
10/08/2008 - 30th Birthday
7/25/2008 - Installing Blinds
6/03/2008 - The Great Wall
5/30/2008 - Rudeness
5/22/2008 - Sick Days At Work
4/09/2008 - Home Warrantee
3/31/2008 - Animal Crackers
3/17/2008 - Green Beverage Day
3/05/2008 - I Should Write A Novel
2/26/2008 - The Evil Oak
2/18/2008 - A Tribute To My iPod
2/11/2008 - Criminology Textbooks
2/04/2008 - The Surgery
1/31/2008 - WDW Marathon Part V
1/25/2008 - WDW Marathon Part IV
1/19/2008 - WDW Marathon Part III
1/17/2008 - WDW Marathon Part II
1/16/2008 - WDW Marathon Part I
1/12/2008 - Marathon Details
1/09/2008 - Running From My Run
1/04/2008 - The Holidays
1/01/2008 - First Blog
WDW Marathon Part II
Part II: The Wee Hours Of The Morning . . . Hello and welcome to Part II of my marathon tale. Check the Blogs archive
(the notebook drawing on the left) if you missed Part I.
Part II: The Wee Hours Of The Morning
On the morning of the race, I awoke to the blaring of my alarm. I use the
term "morning" very loosely, since the alarm went off some time around two
thirty. This was a special treat for me, since I was unaware 2:30 came twice
in one day.
Despite the fact that I had slept for mere moments, I managed to stand up
long enough to down a bowl of crunchy granola cereal and a salt bagel. I'm
not entirely certain if the bagel was supposed to have milk poured in the
center, but at two something in the morning, I wasn't about to second guess
myself.
Since this was my last chance to run around in a panic before the race, I
decided I would lose a few things and frantically tear the house apart to
find them. It turns out that this is a remarkably inefficient way to find
things, but with only three and a half hours until the marathon, I probably
needed the warm up.
At three, we had no more time to waste. I gave up my hunt (shorts are for
suckers anyway) and ran outside. Shannon and I piled into her car and took
off toward Disney, a destination which was 24.7 miles from my home?
chump change for us marathoners (it is a well known fact that chumps carry
that exact amount of change).
Since it was foggy out, we should have been able to do about 90mph. Upon
reaching the interstate, however, we immediately ran into traffic ("encountered"
traffic, Shannon was driving, so we hardly ran into anything). Even with
Central Florida roads designed for horse and buggy days (the 1970's), this
was an odd sight at 3:30 in the morning. We assumed that every car was heading
to the marathon, a self-centered assumption that remarkably proved correct.
The "flow" of traffic gradually moved off the interstate in the same direction.
Following a slew of incredibly unhelpful signs that directed us in circles,
traffic merged into one large line just outside the park.
Surprisingly, the vehicles in front of us kept moving. I guess that Disney
World is no stranger to crowds. In fact, I would speculate in any given year,
they must get almost as many visitors to their parks as my website has readers
(I'm assuming readership will pick up a bit in the second half of the year).
As a policy, Disney funnels all traffic through several small gates. This
is where their thugs shake you up for money. We broke out five or six $50
bills, just in case they wanted parking fees, but there was no one there.
As we rounded the corner approaching Epcot, we could see the faint outline
of "Spaceship Earth", the trademark futuristic silver sphere that has famously
been a model for all buildings built since year 2000. Lit up purple at night,
it looked like a giant planet disappearing into the fog. I can't be certain what
a giant planet would be doing in the fog, but it sure made a good hiding
place.
Parking was a smooth procedure. Thousands of cars were hastily crammed into
the furthest lot possible from the starting line. The parking attendants,
normally a model of serenity, were yelling at each other about misplaced
Segways and poorly parked SUVs.
Shannon and I groggily stepped out of her car and dragged ourselves a good
half-mile to the staging area. It wasn't hard to find, since this was the
only place I was aware of that had spotlights and a live band at four in
the morning. I checked my bag with a change of clothes and the two of us
started searching for anyone we would recognize from training.
This was no easy task (you would be surprised how much runners dress alike)
but after only a few minutes of searching, some of my friends actually found
me by the stage. Apparently, even with 20,000 people hanging around the same
area, I still stick out.
Over the course of the last year, I had hung out with (or "stalked" as the
police like to call it) the same group of runners. We trained together, grew
stronger together, and signed up for this marathon together. So I was a bit
surprised to find that I was in a different corral from all my friends.
Before that weekend, I wasn't exactly sure what a corral was. Much like the
dictionary, I was under the mistaken impression that it had something to
do with a confinement of livestock. Apparently, this is nowhere near the
truth. According to runners, it has something to do with your starting group
for the marathon. In order to keep people from being trampled, the race officials
divided everyone up according to their expected finish time.
Ignoring the fact that none of us had a problem with our designation as
livestock, I was a bit bugged by the fact that I was in Corral D,
whereas everyone else was in C.
Upon my questioning, they had a lot of answers:
"Oh? uh? it must be a mistake."
"Just to be safe, though, you'd better stay in your corral."
"I told you before, we don't want you here!"
Okay, to be fair, I may have made those up. They really said:
"Man Jeff, we'll miss your humor and your wisdom."
"It's too bad this isn't a handsome contest, because you'd win hands down."
"I told you before, we don't want you here!"
Regardless of what they said, it was great to see them. Between the band and the crowds, it was growing difficult to hear what people. Shannon leaned in close and looked me square in the eye.
"Jeff, before the race, I have something very important to tell you?"
To be continued (again)
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