Disney has many races all year long. I decided to sign up for the Tower of Terror 10 miler because it looked like you get the best race, mile wise, for you dollars. It was still an expensive race though. I signed up for it as soon as I was able to. I knew all summer that I needed to train for this race. It was so hot this summer in Florida that I didn’t have the motivation to run outdoors. I tried several times to get on the treadmill but I can’t ever get more than a mile or two on there, ever.
Day of the race:
I drove down there the morning of the race. I went to the expo and was so excited to see all the vendors and everything. I wanted to keep it low key at the hotel pool before my race at 10. I didn’t get that relaxing plan I had in my mind though. We had friends come over from Sarasota to hang out with. We went to dinner around 5:30 maybe. I has some wings and fully loaded mashed potatoes. It was good but I was ready to get to the park and ready for the race.
Race Time:
I had planned to go to the MRTT meet up before the race but because of dinner I was late for it. About 30 minutes late for it. When I got to the park where we get on the buses I was on one of the last few buses. I got to Hollywood Studios with about 30 minutes to sit and relax before the shuffled us into the corrals. I had to wait, standing in my corral for almost an hour and a half before we began the race. It was miserable. The humidity seemed to be intensified from 1,000-1,500 people in the corral with me. Once we started moving, slowly, it took us about 30 minutes before our corral was even able to see the starting area. It was a miserable wait and it made everything worse from there.
Racing:
Once I started moving I thought I was pretty good to go. I was energized, I had my GU packed, water on my back so I wouldn’t have to really stop, phone, no music though. We come out under the Hollywood Studios sign and immediately went up an interstate ramp. This was the worse angle I had ever ran on. It was completely miserable. This was the point where my buddy I was running with took a huge lead ahead of me. I was hurting coming around that ramp. Not to mention to huge balls of fire that were exploding from the holding pond in the center of the ramp. Hot Hot Hot. After I got across the bridge I was excited to see the potties, boy did I have to go. When I was getting out I saw the pacers jog right past me. At that moment I knew I was going to get swept up but I had to keep going. I wanted to see how far they would let us stay behind. They got us at mile 3 by the way. I was at least hoping they’d let us get to mile 5 or even 6 before picking us up. I was devastated.
I know what I need to do to keep going in a race like this. I have to push myself no matter what the conditions and get all my training in. Next time Disney…I will complete the race.
