Yes, 3:00am came very quickly. We were up and ready and at the bus stop by
3:30, actually running the last few yards to catch the bus. It was rainy and chilly, not ideal by any
means, especially because this was our only race that we were wearing non-tech
running clothes. We decided to dress
like lions from the Lion King and wore brown tee shirts and matching
tutus. Cotton absorbs water which makes
you cold and increases chafing.
Ugh. We arrived quickly to the
starting area and found some seats in the massage tent again. I had costume makeup that I used to make
Damaris and I look like Scar and Simba.
I think we turned out pretty good!
Not everyone recognized who or what we were but the people that did,
really liked it. Soon it was time to
line up in our corrals and wait for the start.
The rain kept going for our entire run.
I think this kept some of the characters off the course. We saw the duck from Ducktails and the bugs
from It’s a Bugs Life. I felt no desire
to stop for pics so we kept running.
This course did have us out on the bridges and on ramps outside Epcot so
it wasn’t a complete piece of cake run.
We entered Epcot and saw Mulan and her dragon outside of China so that
was our first picture. Next we exited WS
like we did for the 5k but this time we ran around the Boardwalk area. I got my picture with Mike from Monster’s Inc and
Mr. and Mrs. Incredible! 
Damaris and I are soaked by this time but not cold as the
running warmed us up. But our make-up
was water spotted so bad that it looked like we had skin infections! Back into WS and around to Innovations West
where we saw Phineas and Ferb so I had to get my picture taken with my favorite
guys. Then on to the finish line! Our finish time was a respectable 1:18:00 or
something. Back to the room for showers
and back to sleep. 
We decided to enjoy a big breakfast so we went up to
Wilderness Lodge and enjoyed their unlimited and amazing breakfast skillet
which included scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits with gravy and
waffles. We both had our fill! Then we drove over to Disney Springs
(formally known as Downtown Disney) for some shopping. I found some gifts for the kids and ordered
a custom painted Dopey Christmas ornament.
We wandered around some more, enjoyed some beverages and then drove over
to Wide World of Sports for a group meet-up I wanted to do.
I run a lot of my runs with an app called
Charity Miles. It’s a free app that logs
your running or walking miles and corporations donate 25 cents per mile to a
charity of your choice (they have 15+ to choose from). I started using Charity Miles for most of my
run in July and have been able to donate over $150! The founder of the app, Gene, was arranging a
meet up for his users at 3:00 and members of the Hogwarts Running Club, who
also use the CM app for “house points” were meeting as well. (I will write a blog about HRC and Charity
Miles soon to better explain, it’s a really great group that I’m very happy to
have found.) So anyways, about 3:00, I
wandered over to a group of people standing around and asked if they were there
for Charity Miles and they were. Conversations
about which “house” people were in and charities they run for quickly
started. Soon, Gene arrived with a box
of CM tee-shirts, which he gave each of us to wear for a large group picture. Then we did a HRC group pic and separate house
pics. It was really special to meet the
founders of HRC and hear that they were going to two different charities that
afternoon to present checks for tens of thousands of dollars, raised by people
running virtual HRC races. They also told us that one of the wheelchair athletes
in the half marathon was using a chair or “broom” that our contributions
purchased through Achilles International.
It made me feel really good to see the things that my small contributions
were helping make happen. #somuchgood
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| Gryfinndor HRC Hear us Roar! |
Next thing I know, Richard, Damaris’s husband, arrives from
Miami to pick up his half marathon packet.
He was only running that race this time. It was very nice to finally get
to meet him. Then we headed into Orlando
to find a place for dinner. They are Puerto
Rican and wanted me to have an authentic experience so we went to Melao Bakery,
a Puerto Rican restaurant. I was anxious
and took Richard’s advice on what to get.
I don’t remember what it was but it was SO GOOD! I do remember very sweet tasting plantains
that I devoured. Next we drove over to the Orlando Eye, a huge ferris wheel, but it was closed for repairs. We did walk around the area some and enjoyed some ice cream.
We returned to the resort to show Richard
around and prepared for the half marathon the next day. Richard might not have wanted a 9:00 bedtime
but Damaris and I needed it!
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