Day One Recap - runDisney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon

Okay, I've waited long enough, and now I absolutely positively must start recapping the Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend. With so much happening in just a few days, I now understand why everyone's runDisney recaps usually require a few separate posts. In fact, this is already my second, and in my first, I spoke briefly about some very inspirational people who entered my thoughts while on my way to the starting corrals (you can read that post HERE).

So without further ado, let's review the weekend's first day. Here we go...

Friday, November 8 - The Expo, The Beach Club, and Epcot

One of the advantages to where I live is that it takes just a couple of hours to drive to the Walt Disney World Resort, so I don't have the frustrations of battling airports, ground transportation, and general travel challenges faced by many who partake in the Florida runDisney races. In fact, I guess I'm fortunate in that I have yet to take a "race-cation"  since my feet have been back on the pavement. That said, I do see a few in the stars for 2014...but more about that in future posts.

After getting the car packed up, my wife Michelle and I picked up our daughter Mary at school around noon, grabbed a quick "on the go" (and completely unhealthy) meal at McDonald's, and were on our way to see Mickey. Admittedly, with my first half marathon about a day and a half away, I was feeling a little jittery, maybe a tad anxious, but overall I would say that I was still doing okay.

Over marathon weekend back in January (Mary and I ran the 5K, which you can read about HERE), we drove straight to the expo before heading to our hotel, and since it worked out well back then, I decided on the same strategy this time around. So at around 2:30, we arrived at the Wide World of Sports Complex for the expo, which at the time had been open for about four hours.

With Mary at Wide World of Sports

And to much pleasure, it was an easy and painless experience. Because I had printed and signed my race waiver in advance, I walked right up to where I needed to pick up my bib, waited zero seconds, and picked up my bib.

From there, we had to head over to the other building to get my race shirt, and again the experience was easy and painless...total time at the expo was maybe a half an hour at this point. Oh, and that includes Michelle and Mary having to wait in a line to pick up their $10 Gift Cards for the Finish Line Party.

Not really having too much to purchase at the expo - some KT Tape for me (and my Achilles) and a Sweaty Band for Michelle (Mary decided to get her prize at Epcot) - we did a little bit of meandering but ended up getting out of there in a couple hours at the most...probably more like an hour and a half.

From the expo, we got back in the car and headed over to check in at The Beach Club Resort. While we typically don't stay at the Deluxe resorts for our Disney trips, I decided to go the extra mile this time for two reasons: First, I knew that we weren't going to be doing much on Saturday, so since we were going to be hanging around the resort, we should at least hang around one of the nicest pools on all of Disney's Florida property; Second, knowing that the Finish Line Party was taking place in the Epcot World Showcase, I knew that being able to walk back to the hotel after the race would be much easier than having to jump on a bus...turns out I made the right call.

Here's a great shot of Michelle and Mary right after we arrived at the hotel and were already heading to Epcot...

Mary & Michelle - My Cheering Section!

I had made dinner reservations in advance for the San Angel Inn in Epcot's Mexico, one of our favorite restaurants around the World Showcase...but we had planned a couple of hours for rides before dinner, so we went over the Future World and took rides on Test Track (yes, we had gotten Fast Passes in advance), Spaceship Earth, and Living with the Land before heading back to dinner in Mexico.

Dinner actually gave us the first of just two disappointments of the weekend....and it had nothing to do with the food.

One of the negative facets of Epcot's Food & Wine Festival is that some people have more difficulty handling the wine part than others. Unfortunately, we were seated next to three who were about twelve sheets to the wind, and there were quite a few F-Bombs and other not-family-friendly crude comments flying around. At the end of it all, though, we asked if we could change tables, the staff complied, and we ended up having a lovely dinner.

As a side note, I did have some initial "how's my stomach going to react to Mexican food before a half marathon?" concerns when making the reservations at San Angel; however, when taking into consideration that we were eating about twenty-seven hours before Saturday night's race, I made the judgement call that all systems would be functioning properly come race time. Fortunately, I was correct; and even more fortunately, there were no stomach issues resulting from any meals over the entire weekend.

After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll through the countries, stopped off in Japan to get Mary a "trip gift" she was asking for, and then headed back to the hotel for some shuteye. Saturday was, in fact, going to be a very big (and ultimately a very long) day. But let's talk about that next time.

Until then, enjoy your journey...

RunDisney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon: Inspiration at the Start

Even without a race recap, many of you - my dozen or so readers - already know that just a few nights ago, I completed my first half marathon down in Orlando at Disney's Wine & Dine Half Marathon. And while I am proud as punch that I, a formerly obese smoker, was able to run 13.1 miles in just a little over two-and-a half hours, I really want this post to be about a few people who are much more inspiring than I'll ever be. Yes, I've lost 100 pounds; yes, as of Monday, I have been smoke-free for two years; and yes, and even though I'm a lot slower than I was twenty-five years ago, I have regained some of my running mojo and have put myself on that proverbial path to my first full marathon in January.

And while all this has required hard work and dedication on my part, walking to my starting corral this past Saturday night, I came to realize that my hurdles have been insignificant little bumps when compared to those of some other people...some real heroes...


Kimberly Markey

It wasn't too long ago that my daughter Mary, my wife Michelle, and I were watching Kim's YouTube videos to give us some motivation to run some RunDisney races. We like this one in particular (and Kim knows it!)...





But even though Kimberly's running served to inspire in and of itself, what she has been through in the last few months - and what she has done with it - is off the charts.

Not too long ago, Kimberly was diagnosed with a fairly aggressive type of breast cancer (read about it HERE), and she immediately was put onto an aggressive treatment path. But that didn't stop her...nope...not even close.

In just the last month, Kimberly has run RunDisney's Tower of Terror 10-Miler, both the Chicago and New York City Marathons (both races taking place on a Sunday following chemotherapy treatment just a few days prior), as well as this past weekend's Wine & Dine Half Marathon.

So as I made my way to my starting corral on Saturday night, look who I ran into...

Thank Goodness for Serendipity!

Kimberly - You are a hero and an inspiration, and I look forward to seeing you at RunDisney and non-RunDisney races for years to come!


Steve Bell

Parting ways with Kimberly, I had some time to think as I made my way through the crowds, and thinking about the New York City Marathon she had just run, I was reminded of a new Facebook / Team Boomer friend of mine: Steve Bell.

As many of you - again, my dozen or so readers - know, I am running for Team Boomer, which is the athletic fundraising side of the Boomer Esiason Foundation to fight and find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis, which is primarily a lung disease against which my niece and nephew have fought their entire lives.

Well, Steve battles the same illness, and sometimes he does so fiercely...





I was reminded of Steve because, like Kimberly, he too had run the New York City Marathon just a week earlier (read his recap HERE), and although he was disappointed with his performance, the last two sentences of his blog post certainly tell us who he is: Another New York City marathon under my belt.  Another great day of celebrating life.

Steve - You are a hero and an inspiration, and I look forward to running "your" race - the New York City Marathon - with you in the years to come!


Anna Corr

It's a good thing I'm not presenting this blog post to my dozen or so followers in person. I've already teared up a few times while writing about Kimberly and Steve, and I don't think I'd be able to get through telling you how my niece Anna was also there with me in spirit (and purely unintentionally) as I prepared for the race.

After making my way into my starting corral around 9:00-ish, I was checking out my phone to see whether Pandora was going to help get me through the miles in front of me. Well, as that app wasn't loading (14,000 people taking up the 4G airwaves simultaneously), I decided to see whether anything interesting had posted to Facebook...and I saw the following post from my niece Anna:

I just want to be able to breathe, it's not so much to ask for....

Standing in a sea of people, I just stared at the post for a few minutes before I tried (unsuccessfully) to respond...because of the whole 4G thing. It wasn't until a day or two later that I thanked Anna for reminding why I was wearing a Team Boomer shirt.

Anna - You are a hero and an inspiration, and my sincere promise to you, to Aidan, to Steve, and to everybody battling Cystic Fibrosis is that I will continue to run races to raise money to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.

And, no, Anna...it's not so much to ask for...

Anna & Aidan

Until next time, my loyal readers, do me a favor and put these heroes in your prayers...and if praying is not your thing, just send some positive thoughts.

And rather than me telling you to enjoy your journey this installment, I'll use Steve's words this time:

Until next time, celebrate your life...