Cindy D. - January 2006

Trip Report - Half Marathon

Who: Cindy D. (41), Gary (49), Nathan (9 1/2) and Zachary (8 1/4)
When: January 6 - 8, 2006
Where: Port Orleans French Quarter
Transportation: Driving

Gary ran in the Disney 1/2 Marathon on Saturday morning. Runners had to be at the starting line at 4 a.m. for a 6 a.m. start, and it was about 34 degrees. After getting only about 2-hours sleep, Gary got up, dressed, we told him good-bye, good luck, we'll see you at the finish line, and he left about 3:30 to catch the bus over. We stayed at WDW's Port Orleans - French Quarter which is a lovely resort and we'll stay there again. It's close to Epcot so we could hear a lot of the pre-race music, noise, announcements (although not clearly), and of course the bazillion buses running back and forth that early.

We got up at 5:30 with the intent of being at the Magic Kingdom by 6:30 so we could see Gary pass at the 5.3 mile marker. Turns out that the Spectator information was not complete - or else miscommunicated - in the information we had, so when we went to catch a bus at 5:45, the buses weren't going, the Mears lady in charge said she couldn't put buses on the road because the race was starting, and then the Disney people said that we could take a Disney bus to the MK starting at 6:20. So we figured ok, we'll be close, but we can do it. The Disney bus couldn't get there to pick us up til 6:45 or so, and when it did get to the resort, a charter bus was blocking the way. By this time, there were about 30 of us waiting and trying to figure out where we should go to see our runners based on their pace, etc.

Anyway, the bus finally took us and as we chugged along next to one section of where the runners were, we looked and looked to see if we could see Gary (as did the other spectators, looking for their own runners). The bus couldn't get to the MK, so they dropped us at the Contemporary. The boys and I took a quick restroom break and while I was in there, I heard another lady talking about going to the Grand Floridian which is the 8.something mile. I knew we had missed Gary at the MK, so I was thinking about just going to Epcot to be at the finish, but quick math said I would likely be able to catch him at the Grand Floridian, so we were off again. As we pulled into the station at the GF, I looked down at the runners and wouldn't you know it? I saw Gary go by.

At that point, it began to feel like the Amazing Race - the kids and I and Disney transportation vs. Gary and his feet :) We stayed on the monorail and then transferred to get over to Epcot. We had to wait for two monorails because there were that many people waiting to do the same thing we were doing. We got there, found a spot to watch and about 5 minutes later, Gary ran by! So we got to see him at the very end. He didn't hear us yelling for him, but we saw him and that was so cool for the boys. I used to go to races all the time with him before the kids were born and it was so fun. The spectator crowd is so awesome!

He finished in 2:05. We met up at the Family Reunion area and then got a bus back to the French Quarter. Nathan and I got beignets and took them back to the room while Zachary went with Gary to get him warmed and showered. We got back to the hotel about 9:30, just to give you an idea of the time frame. It was still "butt-kicking cold" (at least for us thin-blooded Floridians).

A dear friend and her family moved to the Orlando area a couple of months ago, so we met them at the Magic Kingdom. We met up at lunch (Liberty Tree Tavern - Gary's choice) and we enjoyed spending the day together. We let Gary pick everything we did because it was "all about Dad" day for my family.

Then something happened that has never happened to me before.... I actually was tired enough that I *wanted* to go back to the hotel for a rest :) Nathan wanted to stay and see Wishes (fireworks) at 10 p.m. but I was exhausted as was Gary, so we ended up going back to the hotel for a rest and dinner, and then the boys and I went back out. Normally we would've just sent Gary back to the hotel and the boys and I would've stayed, but going back was the right thing. I did threaten them with if either one of them showed any signs of crankiness or annoyance with each other or with me, then I was marching us all back to the hotel. They were model-children (LOL) and we got to stay.

Sunday was a typical Disney day for us - we had breakfast at the Whispering Canyon Cafe (at Wilderness Lodge), but what is normally a 45-60 minute Disney transportation effort took us over 1 1/2 hours because of the Marathon, so we had to adjust our plans for the day and instead of going to MGM, we just went back to the Magic Kingdom. Another weird thing = we actually left the park at 3 p.m. :) Normally we say a certain time and then it's 1 - 1 1/2 hours later before we actually leave. We had said 4 o'clock to leave, but we had done everything we wanted to do, so no sense in just hangin' out, especially as this is going to be a busy week.

We had a great trip, enjoyed our time as a family and with friends. The sad part is that we're now home until Spring Break.... but we started thinking about how we want to do things for Spring Break since we'll be there and have more days to do things! So there's something to look forward to.