Day 3 Part 2

After the Segways, we got back to the Magic Kingdom a little before 2. The deadline for picking up the race packets for that night was 4:00, or so we were told (more on that later). This gave us just enough time to go to Liberty Square and ride the newly rehabbed Haunted Mansion before driving over to Pleasure Island to pick up the race stuff. There was nearly no line when we arrived, though I have heard the lines were pretty bad earlier in the day. Dave and I went to Disney Quest for a bit, mostly because I was feeling restless, and then headed back to the room. The Boardwalk is walking distance to the Studios so we didn't have to worry too much about how to get to the race.

Len texted me to say there was a 50-70% chance of rain, but no lightning forecasted.

I had my pre-race meal of cereal and soy milk, and tried to rest a bit after a pretty busy couple of days in the parks.

We got to the park around 8 or so and ran into Len right at the entrance. I didn't notice it so much at the time, but there really wasn't any clear signage telling runners where to line up or anything. After an unnecessary tram ride into the parking lot, Len and I found ourselves in a staging area for the race. Where they were still distributing race packets. Dave had run into Matt and Newell and they decided to join the runners' area as well. No one was sure where Scopa was. It turns out lots of runners were late getting to the start (which wasn't signed) because of traffic issues. Scopa turned up. Matt got some audio for the podcast while we were waiting around. Len, Scopa, and I headed in the direction that looked like the beginning of the race.

It was pretty festive. There was music and announcers and the usual pre-start stuff. 4000 runners signed up for either the 13K or the 6.5K, which I think makes it the largest race I've run in so far. The race was supposed to start at 9:30, but when that time rolled around, they announced a 20 minute delay of the start. It hasn't been explained what the delay was. The spectators (Dave, Matt, Newell had since left us and headed to the park entrance) were told they couldn't enter the park for the party until after the race started.

FINALLY, the race started.

More to follow.